The Andreasson Affair

by Raymond E. Fowler

  Harold: Betty, is this Quazgaa who is telling you this?

  Betty: No.

  Harold: All right, I want you now to lock this point in your mind. Lock this point, and when we start next time, you will carry on from this point in time. You will remember where you left off. Do you understand what I’m saying to you?

  Betty: Yes.

  Harold: You will store this particular spot in your subconscious mind, and when we start the next time, you will start from here and continue to go further.

  Figure 13: May 5.

  At this point, Betty recovered from hypnotic trance.

  The investigators awaited each following session with burning curiosity. What would happen next? But two weeks passed before we met again with the witnesses in the offices of the New England Institute of Hypnosis.

  It was a hot, sultry June day. The steady drone of an air conditioner pervaded the otherwise-silent atmosphere that soon enveloped the room as Dr. Edelstein prefaced the session by speaking into an activated tape recorder.

  Harold: Today’s date is the fourth of June 1977. The time is 12:21. This is a continuation of the session we made two weeks ago. Betty, I want you now to induce hypnosis into yourself. Very good. Now deepen this hypnosis by relaxing. Let yourself relax. Let yourself relax. When I touch your shoulder, let yourself go into the deepest point of relaxation you have ever been. Deeper and deeper—deep, deep, relaxation. I want you now to take yourself back to the last session that we had. You will go back to that point. Tell me you are there. Are you there now? Fine! I want you to continue.

  We were amazed at how, week after week, the witnesses would pick up their accounts at the precise point where Dr. Edelstein had left off on the week before. Deep trance hypnosis, properly administered by a skillful hypnotist, can produce near-total recall of everything a subject has ever experienced. In this trance state, a person must tell the truth, as he or she believes the truth to be. Betty and Becky were turned off and on like biological tape recorders! It was fascinating to see a practical demonstration of the mind’s remarkable facilities for storing memory.

  Betty: The lights are getting brighter, and—that door opened again. And there is somebody coming. I’m glad they are coming, ‘cause it seemed like a long time in there.… They’re sort of gliding toward me, not moving their legs, but gliding. And it’s one of the beings, ah, it’s two of the beings. They are waving their hands and telling me to follow them. I’m going over with them.… And, ah, they are taking me over to the center of the room. One is in back of me and one is in front of me. I asked them, “Where are we going now?”… And they said, “You will come over here.” I went over to the center of the room, and I stood there. And the one in front of me turned and looked at me.

  Figure 14: Lightning and rushing wind from the hatch. June 17.

  Again, Betty was instructed to assume the familiar follow-the-leader stance between the two entities. Abruptly, she found herself sinking through an opening in the floor.

  Betty: I’m standing there, and we are slowly, slowly being lowered through a tube. It looks like a—silvery tube… slowly lowering down. We are going down…we are going down. We are stopping. And one of the beings tells me to get in back of him again. I’m getting in back of him, and the other one’s in front of me. And the door is lifting up—couldn’t see the door before. The door just looked like a tube—clear, straight-through tube. I’m going out into another room that looks—looks like a hatch or something on top there. Looks like lightning spears coming out of it. [See Figure 14.] I don’t know what it is, but it is there, and they are bringing me over to the side.

  The rectangular construction that Betty referred to as a “hatch” looked similar in appearance (but not in size) to the enclosed walkways employed at airports between terminal gates and parked aircraft. Its surface was marked with both jagged and straight lines, which looked to Betty like graphic representations for wind and lightning. At this time, the hatch extended downward out of the wall and into the floor.

  When Betty returned through this room later, the hatch had been telescoped into the wall, revealing an opening in the floor over which it had extended.

  Next, Betty was directed to a platform illuminated from above by streaks of dazzling light. (See Figure 15.)

  Betty: I’m seeing this brighter light shining down, and it—it’s shining down so much, it’s leaving like, ah, thin, tiny bars of light, surrounding it—like you do in a cartoon with a light bulb… having streaks of light from it, coming down.

  “Would you get under that, please?” the entities asked.

  “Well, what is it first?” Betty asked.

  “It is just a cleansing thing.”

  “Well, will it hurt?”

  “No,” the entities replied. “It is just to cleanse you.”

  Figure 15: The cleansing device. June 17.

  Betty: And so they didn’t touch me, but they held out their hands as if to assist me. There seems to be a platform there [sigh], and I’m stepping on the platform. The light’s above there. And it’s bright—bright, and it’s got those streaks of light coming out of it. It seems like it’s moving me upward!

  The platform itself moved upward and immersed Betty in the brilliant light.

  Betty: The light is getting brighter and brighter. It’s all engulfed in light—like I’m engulfed in light. I don’t know if there is a covering or what, but I can’t seem to see them. It’s just bright white light.… I’m just standing there. It doesn’t seem to hurt. It is not hot. It’s just white light all around me, and on me. And now it is going back down. The platform is going back down…it is stopping.…

  Betty stepped off it, and the entities said, “Would you follow us, please? Now!”

  “Where are we going now?” she asked. “Just please follow with us.”

  Betty: They motioned again for me to get to the back of them and follow the leader.… And he walked to another place where a door is opening—whooshing open.

  Figure 16: The changing room. June 17.

  Betty faced the opening to a darkened wedge-shaped room. (See Figure 16.) The lead entity gestured, holding out his hand for her to enter. “It was a little bit dark in there,” Betty recalled.

  “Would you please change?” the entity said.

  “I don’t want to change!” she protested.

  “Please! Would you just please change?”

  “But why do I have to change?” Betty persisted.

  “There’s a white garment there for you,” the entity said. “Would you please get into it?”

  Now Betty bridled. “Look, I came here of my free will. Why do I have to change into this now?”

  “Please change. Quazgaa is waiting for you.”

  “I want to talk to him!”

  “Please change,” the entity repeated. His persistent request drummed in Betty’s ears until she finally relented. The white garment hung without visible support in the changing room.

  Betty: And he kept on motioning to go into that room. It was kind of dark. I didn’t like it. And so I said, “All right.” And I had to step up into that room too. And I’m in that room and it’s all—it looks like a pyramid on its side with a bubble where you went into the door.… Just enough standing room.… There—there’s that white garment there.

  Betty’s modesty clearly manifested itself as she timidly removed her clothes.

  Betty: And so I took off the first thing of my clothing, and I wondered if they’ve got something looking in there. And so I took that white garment, and I put it around me while I took off the rest of my underthings. And I slipped into that white garment. [See Figure 17 on page 56.] And that white garment was open in the front…[sigh] and loose around the arms, and it went down to about my knees, and it was sealed around the edges somehow. It had sort of like a scoop neck thing. And it had a—like a silver clasp up at the top. It had slits on both sides and a little slit in the back. But the front was kind of wide open, so I sort of wrapped it around me. And I
banged on the side there, and I said, “I’m ready!” And the door whooshed open again—went open somehow.

  Outside the changing room, the entities awaited Betty. She became fearful and prayed frantically for help. “Ah,” she thought to herself. “What is all this about? What are they going to do to me?… Oh, Jesus be with me!”

  Figure 17: The white examination garment. June 17.

  The entity nearest the door seemed to sense Betty’s fear.

  Betty: When I said that, that leader glanced at me quickly—sort of surprised or stunned. I guess he was reading what my thoughts were, and he seemed to move a little slower. I guess he saw that I was wondering what this was all about, ‘cause he said, “You’ll be all right. Follow us. Please get in back of me again.” He seemed a little concerned, because he kept looking back checking to see if I was getting in back. And the other one just quickly got in back of me and we started off again. It seemed we were just gliding along on rollers or something or other. He came to the wall and he just stopped, and the door opened.…

  CHAPTER 4

  The Examination

  Betty found herself entering a brightly lit room. (See Figure 18 on page 58.) We asked her to describe it to us.

  Fred: How large is the room?

  Betty: Very large. Very high over my head. Very wide, but it closes in on you.

  Fred: Does it have corners?

  Betty: No, it’s dome-shaped. It’s rounded.

  Jules: Can you see the source of the illumination?

  Betty: It comes from all over the place.

  Jules: Is the ship moving?

  Betty: I don’t feel as if it’s moving. I couldn’t tell—because I’m just in that room, that building, or whatever it is.

  Jules: Can you see any furniture?

  Betty: Yes. There’s something like a desk or boxlike thing.

  Jules: Can you see any welded seams on the wall or some type of seam?

  Betty: No, it seems smooth all the way around…smooth.

  Joseph: How did you gain access?

  Betty: They put me in there.

  Jules: How did the being touch you?

  Betty: They didn’t really touch me.… There was something that they had power that I automatically went.

  Figure 18: The examination room. May 7.

  When Betty entered the hemispherical compartment, the first thing that caught her eye was an elongated desk or table. A closer look revealed what appeared to be a control panel on its side. It reminded her of an operating table, and she shuddered.

  Betty: The two of them are there. And I see the table or that square thing, whatever it is, that’s a—examining thing? “No! I don’t want to get up there!” And on the side there are buttons. And that other one glided over to that other side there and…“I don’t want to get up there!” And Quazgaa is coming in now, and he’s in a different suit—with some others. And he comes over to me.…

  “You’re going to be all right,” Quazgaa said. “You are going to be okay.”

  Betty: And somehow they’ve got me—they are putting me on that flat center thing!

  Harold: All right, fine. You will have no apprehension, because this was all in the past. Did they actually put you on the table to examine you, or did you get on the table?

  Betty: No. It seemed like I floated up there somehow. I was just swept off my feet and laid there.

  The alien creatures’ physical examination of Betty was one of the most emotion-packed portions of the case. In the earlier hypnosis session devoted to this episode (on May 7, 1977), Betty was not allowed to relive this painful episode as a participant. Through hypnotic suggestion, she was removed from the role of active participant so that she could view the scene merely as an impassive observer.

  Harold: All right, now, I want you to relax. You can feel yourself settling, still more and more. All right; you will have nothing to fear. Did they have to tie you down in order to perform the examination? [Betty remained silent.] Were you strapped down or were you held?

  Betty: I was held somehow, because I didn’t want that examination.

  Harold: Fine. Just relax. Deeper and deeper.

  Fred: Were the beings all of the same kind?

  Betty: They were all the same kind, but one was taller than the others.

  Fred: Were they dressed alike?

  Betty: In that room, they seemed to be in different clothes—shiny white silver clothes. [See Figure 19 on page 60.]

  Fred: Were these different beings than the ones you met in the kitchen?

  Betty: Their skin seemed whiter. Maybe it’s because of the bright light in there. It didn’t seem so claylike gray.

  Fred: The leader was the same as the one you had in the kitchen?

  Betty: Yeah, he’s the same.

  Harold: What happened next?

  Betty: There’s a big block—long block-thing they had me on, and… lights coming from the walls, and…wires, needle wires. They took those long silver needles—they were bendable—and they stuck one up my nose and into my head!

  Jules: Did you feel the pain?

  Betty: Yes, but they touched the top of my head and took it away—touched my forehead. They said they were awakening something…

  Harold: Just relax for a moment, okay? Just relax, relax, just relax. You’re going deeper and deeper into a beautiful place of peace, of quiet—your whole body is relaxing as you go still deeper and deeper.… All right, continue now, Betty.

  Joseph: Are there any sounds associated with this particular experience?

  Figure 19: The entities in the examination room. May 18.

  Betty: When they stuck that needle up my nose, I heard something break like a membrane or a veil or something—like a piece of tissue or something they broke through.

  Jules: When this object was inserted in your nostril—was it a drilling effect, or just a penetrating?

  Betty: Just a penetrating-pushing.

  Jules: Which nostril?

  Betty: My left…left.

  Fred: Did they leave you alone for a while?

  Betty: No. They were getting it over and done with. And they inserted another long silver thing through my belly button—my navel. And when they did, they started talking with each other.

  Fred: What was this long thing connected to?

  Betty: I really can’t see it, ‘cause I’m lying down straight.

  Joseph: Did they tell you what the purpose was for the penetration of your navel? What was that examination for?

  Betty: Something about creation, but they said there were some parts missing.

  Joseph: Can you explain to us what was meant?

  Betty: It was because I had a hysterectomy, I guess.

  Shortly after young Cindy’s birth, Betty had had to enter the hospital for suspected cancer. The operation was even more complex because Betty was four months’ pregnant. Because the state of her health would have precluded her carrying the baby to term, the surgeons performed a hysterectomy. (Happily, the operation was a success, and Betty soon returned home.)

  Harold: Betty, just relax. I want you now to tell yourself within your mind exactly how you’re going to feel when you awaken. And then awaken yourself, feeling exactly that way.

  When Betty awakened from hypnosis, Harold asked her, “What do you think?”

  “It’s kind of unbelievable to me,” she replied.

  Later, at the June 4 session, it was decided to let Betty actually relive examination as a participant. We began at the point when Betty had been somehow swept off her feet into the air and slowly lowered onto the table.

  “What are you going to do, Quazgaa?” she asked.

  “Just want to measure you for light,” Quazgaa said.

  “That’s what you are going to do? Just measure me for light?”

  “We are just going to measure you for light.”

  Betty: And, ah, I’m lying there, and he, ah, has this thing—ah, two bars to the side, and like a fan and tulips on the end. [See Figure 20.] And, a
h—[long sigh] I don’t [sigh]…He’s waving it over me, and, ah, he says…

  “You have not understood the word that you have,” Quazgaa told her. “You’ve misunderstood some places.… There are spots there from it.… You are not completely filled with the light.”

  “I believe I am filled with the light!” Betty strongly protested. “I believe—I believe that I’m filled with the light!”

  “We will have to measure you physically,” Quazgaa replied.

  “You told me that I wouldn’t have to be measured physically…that you have measured others in the past physically, but you wouldn’t have to measure me because of the light.”

  “But we have to, because there are some spots there.”

  “Is this going to hurt?” Betty asked. “I thought that you would only measure me for light.”

  Figure 20: May 5.

  Betty: I feel shaky.… He’s taking an instrument and—I’m going to stand over the [sigh]…I’m in complete control…control. He’s taking an instrument and—ah-h-h-h!… Ow-wow!… [Deep, fast breathing.] Why do you have to put that up my nose—oh-h-h-h-!

  Our hearts went out to Betty, as the face of the attractive, gentle woman in the hypnotist’s chair was alternately creased with expressions of apprehension and pain. My hands gripped the notepad as I tried unsuccessfully to disassociate myself from the trauma being relived before me. In her mind’s eye, she was at that very moment held captive within a strange craft, pinned upon a rectangular metal block, and staring up in pain and raw terror at strange alien creatures, one of whom had pushed a long silver needle into her left nostril. Her deep, heavy breathing continued, her face distorted in pain.