Post by auntym on Sept 9, 2013 11:57:16 GMT -6
www.sunjournal.com/news/0001/11/30/portland-alien-abduction-conference-discusses-stor/1420449
Portland ‘alien abduction’ conference discusses stories, truth of close encounters
Kathleen Pierce, Bangor Daily News
Sunday, September 8, 2013
PORTLAND — It had all the trappings of a typical conference — books, bumper stickers, name tags and free coffee.
But the 80 or so people that filled the Clarion Hotel in Portland on Saturday had one thing in common that’s uncommon: Alien abductions.
The Experiencers Speak conference held in Maine for the second year in a row helps people who have had brushes with extraterrestrials realize they are not alone.
“This is not a club you want to be a member of,” said James Weiner of Wayland, Mass.
And he should know.
As a college student in 1976, Weiner set off on a fishing expedition with three friends after a hike up Mount Katahdin. While paddling a canoe through the Allagash Wilderness Waterway one night, a whitish, yellow ball “the size of a two-story house” appeared in the sky before them.
“It was both beautiful and terrifying,” he recalled.
The following night they saw the image again. His friend Charlie Foltz grabbed a flashlight and flicked it on and off. This time their canoe “lit up like a Roman candle.”
“[Then], a beam of light, a craft, came toward us,” Weiner said.
After watching the unidentified flying object for what they thought was minutes, the members of the group were exhausted. When they returned to camp, they discovered that the fire they had set to burn for hours was reduced to embers, Weiner recalled.
“We were half mesmerized. All we wanted to do was go to bed,” he said.
That incident, like all alien abduction stories shared at the conference, would go on to shape his life. It wasn’t until years later, when Weiner sought medical help for sleep deprivation brought on by nightmares, that he discovered he had been abducted.
The incident, known as “The Allagash Abductions,” brought Weiner and Foltz to Portland this weekend to tell those who have had close encounters that it’s not in their heads.
CONTINUE READING: www.sunjournal.com/news/0001/11/30/portland-alien-abduction-conference-discusses-stor/1420449
Portland ‘alien abduction’ conference discusses stories, truth of close encounters
Kathleen Pierce, Bangor Daily News
Sunday, September 8, 2013
PORTLAND — It had all the trappings of a typical conference — books, bumper stickers, name tags and free coffee.
But the 80 or so people that filled the Clarion Hotel in Portland on Saturday had one thing in common that’s uncommon: Alien abductions.
The Experiencers Speak conference held in Maine for the second year in a row helps people who have had brushes with extraterrestrials realize they are not alone.
“This is not a club you want to be a member of,” said James Weiner of Wayland, Mass.
And he should know.
As a college student in 1976, Weiner set off on a fishing expedition with three friends after a hike up Mount Katahdin. While paddling a canoe through the Allagash Wilderness Waterway one night, a whitish, yellow ball “the size of a two-story house” appeared in the sky before them.
“It was both beautiful and terrifying,” he recalled.
The following night they saw the image again. His friend Charlie Foltz grabbed a flashlight and flicked it on and off. This time their canoe “lit up like a Roman candle.”
“[Then], a beam of light, a craft, came toward us,” Weiner said.
After watching the unidentified flying object for what they thought was minutes, the members of the group were exhausted. When they returned to camp, they discovered that the fire they had set to burn for hours was reduced to embers, Weiner recalled.
“We were half mesmerized. All we wanted to do was go to bed,” he said.
That incident, like all alien abduction stories shared at the conference, would go on to shape his life. It wasn’t until years later, when Weiner sought medical help for sleep deprivation brought on by nightmares, that he discovered he had been abducted.
The incident, known as “The Allagash Abductions,” brought Weiner and Foltz to Portland this weekend to tell those who have had close encounters that it’s not in their heads.
CONTINUE READING: www.sunjournal.com/news/0001/11/30/portland-alien-abduction-conference-discusses-stor/1420449