abduct me We have lift off.  Well, not literally ... yet.  But Chris Bell's extraordinary quest to get himself abducted by aliens has begun.  On the basis that I used to investigate UFOs, alien abductions and other strange phenomena for the Ministry of Defence, Chris began his journey by meeting me and getting an overview of the abduction phenomena, together with a few suggestions about the sort of things he might try.  I also alerted him to some of the more, errrm, intrusive procedures that some abductees have reported.  Unsurprisingly, Chris looked a little uneasy.

Next, I mentioned something very controversial, but something I suspect Chris will have to look at later in the series, as he continues on his journey: regression hypnosis.  Some abductees have little conscious memory of their experiences.  The first clue may be a period of so-called missing time, e.g. where a regular car journey inexplicably takes much longer than it normally would.  They may then have strange dreams and flashbacks, suggesting that something odd happened on this interrupted journey, but that the memory of it has been wiped, or maybe even suppressed by the person's own mind, in the way that some crime victims have no recollection of a traumatic attack.  Some UFO researchers believe abductees can be put under hypnosis, taken back to the period of missing time and that hidden memories can be unlocked.

There's massive disagreement about this and Chris will need to tread carefully.  While some hypnotherapists have regressed people who claim to have been abducted by aliens, other scientists regard the technique as questionable at best and downright unethical at worst.  They point out that there's not even any scientific consensus on what hypnosis is, be it an altered state of consciousness or simply a relaxed and focused state of mind.  This being the case, can we really be confident about memories that emerge only after hypnosis?  Interestingly, it's not a technique used by police forces or accepted as evidence in court.

After his meeting with me, Chris decides that it might be worth taking out an insurance policy to cover the possibility of his being abducted.  It sounds like a long shot, but he manages to find an insurance broker with whom to discuss this highly unusual request.  Chris confesses that he is, of course, trying to get abducted, but is told this isn't a problem and that underwriters would allow for this, provided the information is predisclosed.  It also emerges that in the event of any revenue deriving from this (e.g. if he manages to get abducted and writes a best-selling book about his experience), underwriters would claim a percentage as "salvage" - hmm, very sneaky.  I do wonder what evidence would be demanded if Chris does make a claim, but he'll doubtless cross that bridge if and when he comes to it.  In the meantime, he emerged from this surreal business meeting clutching his policy and is now ready to really get down to business.  His next step, he decides, must be to meet someone who claims to have been abducted.  This sounds like a good idea to be and should be very interesting.