1965, SASKATOON, SASKATCHEVAN, CANADA, THOMAS BALLENDINE:
Brief summary of the event and follow-up:
About 2000, on a website gathering stories of "alien abductions" and "extraterrestrial contacts", Thomas Ballendine indicated that as he was 4-year-old, in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1965, he suddenly woke up in the middle of the night to see two sets of teardrop-shaped glowing eyes floating in midair in the middle of his very dark bedroom.
He had been sleeping on a large bed but when he had felt he woke up lying on a cold hard surface, his arms dangling at both sides. He went to lift his arms to his stomach, when he felt his arm rubbed against a musky hot damp wrinkly skin.
He was terrified and looked at the foot of where he was lying and saw another being. He was afraid since the beings apparently knew he was awake. He then looked up and saw a fourth being, who then grabbed his chin gently and began to open the kid's mouth. The kid then felt a cold metal object placed on his face and forced his jaw open once again.
Terrified, he "passed out" and later woke up in his bedroom.
Basic information table:
Case number:
URECAT-000681
Date of event:
1965
Earliest report of event:
2000?
Delay of report:
35 years?
Witness reported via:
eMail to "alien contacts" website.
First alleged record by:
"Alien contacts" sensationalist website.
First certain record by:
Ufology catalogue Rosales.
First alleged record type:
"Alien contacts" sensationalist website.
First certain record type:
Ufology catalogue.
This file created on:
June 5, 2008
This file last updated on:
June 5, 2008
Country of event:
Canada
State/Department:
Saskatchewan
Type of location:
In bed in bedroom.
Lighting conditions:
Night
UFO observed:
No
UFO arrival observed:
No
UFO departure observed:
No
UFO/Entity Relation:
None
Witnesses numbers:
1
Witnesses ages:
4
Witnesses types:
Not reported. Very young boy.
Photograph(s):
No.
Witnesses drawing:
No.
Witnesses-approved drawing:
No.
Number of entities:
4
Type of entities:
Not reported.
Entities height:
Not reported.
Entities outfit type:
Not reported.
Entities outfit color:
Not reported.
Entities skin color:
Not reported.
Entities body:
Not reported.
Entities head:
Not reported.
Entities eyes:
Glowing, teardrop shaped.
Entities mouth:
Not reported.
Entities nose:
Not reported.
Entities feet:
Not reported.
Entities arms:
Not reported.
Entities fingers:
Not reported.
Entities fingers number:
Not reported.
Entities hair:
Not reported.
Entities voice:
None heard.
Entities actions:
Were in bedroom, put cold object on his face, forced his jaw open.
Entities/witness interactions:
Were in bedroom, put cold object on his face, forced his jaw open.
Witness(es) reactions:
Observed.
Witness(es) feelings:
Frightened.
Witness(es) interpretation:
Not reported.
Explanation category:
Probably memories of hypnagogic hallucination experience.
Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1965, at night, four year old Thomas Ballendine suddenly woke up in the middle of the night to see two sets of tear-drop shaped glowing eyes floating seemingly in midair, in the middle of the very dark bedroom. He had been sleeping on a large queen size bed but when he woke up he was laying on a cold hard surface, his arms dangling at both sides. He went to lift his arms to his stomach when his arm rubbed against a musky hot damp wrinkly skin. He was terrified and he looked at the foot of where he was lying and saw another being. He was afraid since the beings apparently knew he was awake, he then looked up and saw a fourth being. This being then grabbed his chin gently and began to pry the witness mouth open, he then felt a cold metal object placed on his face and forced his jaw open once again. Terrified the witness passed out and later woke up back in his bedroom.
Albert Rosales indicates as source UFO Evidence, http://www.etcontact.net/newsite
Points to consider:
The source www.etcontact.net/newsite does not exist anymore as of 2008. This website used to publish alleged alien encounters testimonies sent by the readers.
A 4-year-old witness cannot be considered a witness at all. An experience dating back to that age cannot be a reliable experience.
It is rather obvious that the most likely explanation is that the very young child, who was sleeping when the experience begun, and was still in bed when it happened, made a vivid nightmare, or a hypnagogic experience, that impressed him and that as adult, he suspected to be a real alien abduction from reading the sensationalistic literature and websites on the topic.
I provide a few references among dozens about the topic of hypnagogic hallucination and sleep paralysis:
"The Old Hag phenomenon as sleep paralysis: a biocultural interpretation", paper by R.C. Ness, in Cultural and Medical Psychiatry, vol. 2 #1, pp 15-39, March 1978.
"Lucid Dreaming: The Paradox of Consciousness During Sleep", book by Celia Green and Charles McCreery, Routledge publisher, U-K., 1994.
"Wrestling With Ghosts: A Personal And Scientific Account Of Sleep Paralysis", book by Jorge Conesa Sevilla, Xlibris Corporation publishers, U-K., 2004.
"Hallucinations and pathological visual perceptions in Maupassant's fantastical short stories - a neurological approach", by L.C. Alvaro, in Journal of the History of Neuroscience, vol 14, #2, pp 100-115, June 2005.
"Effects of hypnagogic imagery on the event-related potential to external tone stimuli", paper by N. Michida, M. Hayashi, T. Hori, in Sleep, Vol. 28 #7, pp 813-818, July 2005.
"Sleep and Society: Ventures into the (Un)Known", book by Simon A. Williams, Routledge publisher, 2005.
"Mental representation of space: Insights from an oblique distribution of hallucinations", paper by T.A Girard, D.L. Martius, J.A. Cheyne in Neuropsychologia, vol. 45 #6, pp 1257-1269, 2007.
"Parasomnias", paper by D.T. Plante, J.W. Winkelman, in The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Vol. 29 #4, pp 969-987, December 2006.
"Paranoid delusions and threatening hallucinations: A prospective study of sleep paralysis experiences", paper preview by J.A. Cheyne, T.A. Girard, scheduled in Consciousness and Cognition for April 2007.
List of issues:
Id:
Topic:
Severity:
Date noted:
Raised by:
Noted by:
Description:
Proposal:
Status:
1
Data
Severe
June 2, 2008
Patrick Gross
Patrick Gross
Primary source disappeared.
Help needed.
Opened.
2
Ufology
Severe
June 2, 2008
Patrick Gross
Patrick Gross
Case is only a web report, no known investigation of checking.
Help needed.
Opened.
3
Ufology
Severe
June 2, 2008
Patrick Gross
Patrick Gross
Witness was 4, cannot be a reliable observer.
Help needed.
Opened.
Evaluation:
Probably memories of hynagogic hallucination experience.
Sources references:
* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.
