The Invisible Abduction

Classification (Hynek): CE4.
Witnesses: Maureen Puddy, Judith Magee, Paul Norman.
Time & Place: July 1972; Melbourne, Australia.
Entity Type (Lawson): Apparitional.
Craft: Glowing blue oval.
Summary: Abductee visits alien spacecraft without leaving her car.

Tailed by a Blue Light

Are aliens able to induce out-of-body experiences? An abduction case from Australia suggests just such a possibility, although it could equally be said to indicate that alien encounters are 'all in the mind'.

Housewife Maureen Puddy was driving home from Melbourne along the Mooraduc road one afternoon in July 1972 when she noticed a blue light in the sky following her. She stopped the car and got out to take a closer look. A glowing blue oval object, 100ft wide, was hovering directly overhead, humming faintly.

Panicking, Puddy jumped back into her car and drove on. The mysterious object continued to tail her for the next eight miles then broke off its pursuit and shot away into the distance.

A Heavenly Voice

A car-stop incident involving Batman.

Three weeks later, Puddy was driving along the same stretch of road when the same UFO reappeared. Her engine cut out and the vehicle rolled to a halt.

A disembodied 'metallic sounding' voice began speaking to her. "Do not panic - we mean you no harm," it intoned. "Tell the media all your tests will be negative." Then it announced "You now have control," and the car came back to life.

Seven months later, in February 1973, the disembodied voice returned. This time, it spoke to Mrs Puddy in her own home. "Maureen, return to the meeting place," it commanded.

Puddy phoned the Victoria UFO Research Society (who had investigated her previous sightings) to ask for their assistance. They dispatched two investigators - Judith Magee and Paul Norman - to meet up with her on the Mooraduc road.

Abduction?

The researchers arrived at the rendezvous point at 9pm to find Mrs Puddy in a near-hysterical state. She told them that whilst driving to the meeting, a golden-suited figure had materialised beside her in the front passenger seat.

Aliens examine their helpless captive on this 1927 pulp cover.

Even as she was talking, she saw the same figure materialise outside the car and beckon to her. Unfortunately, neither investigator was able to see it.

Paul Norman exited the vehicle and walked around it without spotting anything out of the ordinary, although Mrs Puddy claimed she saw the entity duck out of his way as he passed it.

As they tried to calm her, Mrs Puddy entered a trance-like state and underwent a disturbing out-of-body experience. Still able to speak, she claimed that she was now on board an alien craft together with the gold humanoid and a strange mushroom-shaped machine.

When she returned to normal consciousness, she was mystified to find herself 'suddenly' back in the car. Both investigators were convinced of her sincerity throughout the incident.

Nuts and Bolts

The implications of this case are potentially fatal to mainstream 'nuts and bolts' Ufology. Had Mrs Puddy been alone during her experience, her story would have been classified as a typical - even routine - abduction scenario. Hypnotic regression may have uncovered further lurid details of her experiences aboard the alien craft, and she would undoubtedly have passed any lie detector test with flying colours.

Nevertheless, despite her sincerity, as far as the two other witnesses were concerned, there was no flying saucer, no alien, and no kidnap.

Taken at face value, the Puddy case suggests three possible explanations for abduction experiences:

They take place in some other level of reality than the one we normally inhabit.
They are illusions generated by a remote source, which can project images directly into the percipient's consciousness.
They are internally generated visionary experiences, which are no more real than dreams.

Despite the fact that it may never have even happened, the abduction of Maureen Puddy is surely one of the most important close encounters ever reported.

Sources