Abstract
Transient and localized plasma-like luminosities associated with intense electromagnetic fields appear to be systematically associated with tectonic strain within the earth's crust. Although contact proximity to these UFO-like luminosities is fatal, less terminal encounters have generated many religious and cosmic references. Unfortunately, the biobehavioral effects produced by these hazardous exposures have not been considered seriously. One hypothesis is that close-encounter experiences displayed near a luminosity are evoked by direct stimulation through current induction within the observer's brain. Because of the architectural and electrical characteristics of temporal lobe structures, their functions should dominate clinical profiles. Whereas the immediate experience would involve dream-like sequences, terror, perceptual changes, depersonalization, vestibular alterations, auditory sensations, and profound meaningfulness, post-episodic effects would include amnesia, time loss, confabulation, crisis suggestibility, and electroconvulsive shock symptoms. Progressive personality deterioration could be characterized by enhanced religiosity, “sense of the personal,” a compulsion to proselytize, affective disorders and modifications of memory from before the event.