What happened to alien abduction stories? I feel like they were a constant in the 80s and 90s but hardly ever come up now. Did the extraterrestrials just get bored and go elsewhere?
Posted by cherry-care-bear@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 196 comments
Granted, I was a super curious kid who was into stuff like that but still.
Throw-away17465@reddit
Every generation needs its own bogeyman. There is the scare of radioactive animals for a long time, then aliens, then the millennium/tech stuff, and these days it’s the end of the world.
ouijahead@reddit
Are the New Jersey drones still a thing ? I saw a UFO in 2001. I thought it would be all over news but apparently it’s a lot more common than I thought.
zorandzam@reddit
These night drone sightings amuse me so much because even if they're drones, like, they're most likely earthly and there are teenagers messing around laughing at people freaking out.
Sumeriandawn@reddit
Remember crop circles?
Why would aliens travel trillions of miles just to leave on a design on a field?
zorandzam@reddit
That was pretty much debunked as a guy wanting to do something silly and then copycats sprang up. There was never anything supernatural or alien about it, and in fact what's the coolest part of that is how mathematical and artistic the designs are and that you can accomplish them with some planning and VERY cheap materials under the cover of night.
pntball420@reddit
In the words of Neil deGrasse Tyson, any extra terrestrial who came to earth would return and report there is no intelligent civilization here, so why would they return?
Konnorwolf@reddit
Psychics also dropped out a lot. The internet likely helped with that so people could cross reference stories and confirm if events really happened or not. And the more people that talked the more they found out they are full of nonsense.
NewPresWhoDis@reddit
Miss Cleo died without leaving a sealed envelope with her date of death, so there's that.
fricks_and_stones@reddit
Strangely enough, a corporate psychic company recently started a large radio advertising campaign in my city.
Konnorwolf@reddit
Even for people that believe in this stuff there are so many ways to research. Sylvia Browne was popular yet once the internet came around you could find out how much nonsense was being said. People just believed things and then you find out these people never looked into messing persons cases or helped solve a thing nor be right about anything. Even if these people could see something I think it would have to be what has been or is vs the future. And even all of that is a joke from what I've seen.
Gullible-Lie2494@reddit
Remember when my coworkers would discuss their star signs.
whoisbill@reddit
Now people just wear crystals.
Konnorwolf@reddit
Crystals are cool yet I do not believe they don't do anything.
TiEmEnTi@reddit
Oh astrology is unfortunately still very alive
Konnorwolf@reddit
That I have seen a lot of.
AddlePatedBadger@reddit
Do you believe in telekinesis? "No!" I hear you think.
Gloom_Pangolin@reddit
ReliefAltruistic6488@reddit
There is literally a meme for everything
RedDemonTaoist@reddit
How do people know and find them though? That's what impresses me the most.
NewPresWhoDis@reddit
Grow up closeted in a rural area with cable TV as your best friend. This gives you the requisite pop culture background and the rest is bending giphy to your will.
Kylynara@reddit
Search for a couple keywords and see what comes up. Or sometimes they'll remember a scene from something and be able to search directly for that.
ReliefAltruistic6488@reddit
I’m in the same boat as you!
Jolly_Line@reddit
Simpsons accounts for 99% of it
Eric848448@reddit
Bob Dole doesn’t need this.
Darmok47@reddit
What the hell is this, some kind of tube?
MechanicalGodzilla@reddit
We are merely exchanging long protein strings. If you can think of a simpler way, I'd like to hear it!
Bredda_Gravalicious@reddit
https://i.redd.it/a80qnwcqx5mf1.gif
Jolly_Line@reddit
KITH! 🥰
Wild-Drag1930@reddit
X-Files milked it to death
onepostandbye@reddit
Different t kinds of bullshit go out of fashion
Ok_Recipe12@reddit
art bell died.
trifecta000@reddit
Man, I used to love Coast to Coast AM once I discovered one night that there was a late night paranormal talk show. I hated those crazy long commercial breaks and was less.tja enthused by the right-wing influence from the majority of the station, but Art Bell and George Norrey kept me company on many nights while stoned lol.
ApplesBananasRhinoc@reddit
Maybe the aliens were looking for Art Bell?!?!
AlludedNuance@reddit
He didn't die. He just went home.
_deep_thot42@reddit
r/artbell 🥹
sneakpeekbot@reddit
Here's a sneak peek of /r/ArtBell using the top posts of the year!
#1: The first time I’ve seen this meme and actually enjoyed it! | 44 comments
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TaySanity@reddit
thank god
Ok_Recipe12@reddit
why would you say that?
TaySanity@reddit
my mistake, i keep confusing him with Bill Cooper
Fools_Errand77@reddit
When he beheld that pale horse, it was dressed like sheriffs deputies. Idiot should have hired a lawyer. Art on the other hand, very sad. George Noory was the best of his “replacements” and couldn’t hold a candle to Bell. Insomnia just isn’t the same anymore.
kellyasksthings@reddit
The same thing as the satanic panic. For a lot of people it was more believable that their childhood sexual abuse came from aliens or satanists than normal friendly family men and trusted family members. And the leading questions and repressed memory recovery by therapists isn’t practiced so much any more.
be_loved_freak@reddit
The fact that a lot of the population carries a camera in their phone now has something to do with this imo. You can't tell a tall tale & make excuses for why you captured no photographic evidence.
Sonny_1313@reddit
Watch the documentary Love and Saucers. It's free on Fandango. The guy claims to have carried on a sexual relationship with an alien for decades. He also claims to have fathered hundreds of hybrid children. He paints his "memories.". It's actually fascinating and kind of sad.
Loop22one@reddit
Same as Beanie Babies - as with any fad, you reach saturation point and then no-one wants any more. After X Files, there was nowhere to go so if stopped….
BlueProcess@reddit
lol I knew people that thought they were investing
GloomyAsparagus7253@reddit
Loop22one@reddit
They’re in crypto now…..
bloomdecay@reddit
Which is hilarious because at least beanie babies were tangible objects. If nothing else you could give them to kids to play with.
BlueProcess@reddit
NFTs! Dolarz!1!!
Loop22one@reddit
CantAdd123@reddit
Cell phones with HD cameras and video and, more importantly tracking.
peeingdog@reddit
Funny how once everyone started carrying high def recording devices on them at all times, UFO abductions stopped completely while police brutality exploded.
hypothetician@reddit
All those anal probes were just plain old police brutality.
Fools_Errand77@reddit
Or distorted memories of creepy late night relatives.
ghandi3737@reddit
Somewhat relevant.
WhatTheCluck802@reddit
They would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for us meddling kids.
ScreamThyLastScream@reddit
They were just batons all along
Appropriate-Neck-585@reddit
This maybe the comment of the year!
joshhupp@reddit
Maybe it was police brutality all along
1block@reddit
Yeah. Aliens figured out quick that they couldn't get away with it any more.
LanguageNo495@reddit
Reports of ghost encounters and haunted houses also stopped.
Siphoneder@reddit
There are subreddits dedicated to ghost and aliens being seen on home cameras that is positively just due to low bitrates and shitty video compression.
Burlington-bloke@reddit
I swear honey, an Alien DID abduct me, I don't know why he took me to the pub? Describe him??? Well he was wearing his human disguise so he just looked a guy... Of course he was an Alien, why else would he have done all that stuff to my bum???
PBRmy@reddit
That tricky son of a bitch dressed just like me mate Thomas to lure me out!
Burlington-bloke@reddit
Exactly! He even bought the first round. And Tommy wouldn't have bum fun with me, he has a Missus for that.
IceManYurt@reddit
So the aliens are smarter than the cops.
That tracks.
James_Vaga_Bond@reddit
Claims of divine miracles hit a sharp decline when personal photography became common.
Claims of alien sightings closely followed the rise in popularity of science fiction as a genre.
andiepandee@reddit
This is the answer.
badger_breath@reddit
I think the aliens are on their way back to return them
Designer-Contract852@reddit
You never hear about the Bermuda triangle anymore either
MexicanVanilla22@reddit
Or spontaneous human combustion
Melancholy_Rainbows@reddit
Funny how a decline in smoking led to a decline in spontaneous human combustion. I’m sure there’s no correlation between fewer people falling asleep with a cigarette in their mouth and that, though.
AxelShoes@reddit
Plus filtered and self-extinguising cigarettes becoming the norm.
BlueProcess@reddit
Wicking is real.
BlueProcess@reddit
That one is solved. Most of what was believed to be spontaneous combustion turned out to be wicking.
pixelpheasant@reddit
Jesus christ.
BlueProcess@reddit
When like 40-some percent of the population smoked, you used to see PSAs about not smoking in bed all the time. That didn't stop people from falling asleep in their chairs (people drank more too). Or just dying with a cigarette in the hands.
ArchaicBrainWorms@reddit
Idiots. That's why I used to sleep on an air mattress when I was a smoker. Shit just pops and you wake up with a sore back.
BlueProcess@reddit
Have you ever had it play out that way?
ArchaicBrainWorms@reddit
You got me. Nope, never happened. I was just too poor to afford a real mattress from buying all those cigrits
BlueProcess@reddit
I appreciate your candor
JeffTS@reddit
Season 7, Episode 12 of The UnXplained with William Shatner was about spontaneous human combustion. It just aired this summer.
Blutos_Beard@reddit
Sasquatch has been quiet too
throwawayfromPA1701@reddit
Sorta yes. There's still a site that regularly collects sightings though. https://www.bfro.net/
Flashy-Share8186@reddit
nuh uh he has a band!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am7kr_lLbsw
Novel_Towel6125@reddit
He made an appearance just a year ago (highlight at 1:19). Spoiler alert: it wasn't actually him.
Kingston023@reddit
Do you guys remember that news story that aired about 15 years ago, stating that scientists had found frozen Bigfoot remains? Another story aired the next day when they found out it was a frozen suit! Bet someone got fired on that one!
scottwsx96@reddit
Three things happened: 1. Scientists learned how to predict and track hurricanes. 2. The shallow waters around the Bahamas were better mapped. 3. Ships carried better, more accurate navigation equipment.
There’s also the fact that, statistically, there really wasn’t an unusually large number of accidents or disappearances in the area.
FledglingNonCon@reddit
Lots of hurricanes do pass through that area. I imagine running into a category 3 or 4 hurricane or even just a large tropical storm in a sailing ship would basically be instant death.
throwawayfromPA1701@reddit
It is. Look up the El Faro disaster.
thebarbalag@reddit
Yeah, learning that there was nothing to the myth of the Bermuda Triangle was one of the great bummers of my life.
Shortbus_Playboy@reddit
Shut up nerd!
/s
UnicornSheets@reddit
Or quicksand
MechanicalGodzilla@reddit
UnicornSheets@reddit
Classic
SwissCheese4Collagen@reddit
I know it's a joke but my uncle has a steep steep twisty gravel driveway and my cousin got stuck last weekend after it rained and all I could think of was "huh, I think he made quicksand with that left front wheel." 😂
midnight-dour@reddit
Or Elvis sightings
Funandgeeky@reddit
Elvis went back to his home planet, that’s why.
MotherofaPickle@reddit
“Elvis didn’t die. He just went home.”
PMMeYourPupper@reddit
I remember flying through the Bermuda Triangle. Pretty boring.
AddlePatedBadger@reddit
Where do you think you are right now?
LooseAlbatross@reddit
I remember going to Bermuda as a kid at around 7 years old and being really concerned when we were flying into the Bermuda Triangle
Ok_Researcher_9796@reddit
They're still around. You just aren't looking for them anymore.
DoctorFenix@reddit
We all have high definition video cameras on our phones now.
ReverendHambone@reddit
My wife refuses to watch Fire In The Sky because it "happened" very close to where she grew up.
ouijahead@reddit
The guy who that movie was about said they changed his story to make it all scary.
ListeningForAnswers@reddit
Exactly. I believe Travis Walton made his own documentary-type movie and published a book with his actual account of what happened to him. It’s an interesting story.
Darmok47@reddit
I still have trouble watching the abduction scene as an adult.
_buffy_summers@reddit
I know a lot of people were scared of that movie. I wasn't, because my mother acted like it was a documentary. I tended to stay away from anything she liked.
MotherofaPickle@reddit
Only time I’ve watched it was in sixth grade. At night. On a bus full of other middle schoolers. Driving through the part of AZ where he was abducted.
I was the only person who knew the story, so I told it to a couple of friends. We were scared shitless the rest of the night. I have no idea what our teachers were thinking.
balding_git@reddit
the only thing i haven’t blocked out from that movie is something to do with eyes
zenerNoodle@reddit
Sleep paralysis became a more well-known condition.
And, as others said, the people who platformed the stories (like Art Bell) died or otherwise moved on.
I also think that much of the audience for extraterrestrial media has moved on to true crime. Certainly seems that the people in my life who were most into alien abductions in the 80s/90s and the ones addicted to the true crime shows. Might just be my circle, though.
toxictoy@reddit
Hello - I’m a mod of many of the related subreddits. There was a bell curve of these specific experiences that started in the 1960’s and peaked in the 1980’s - 1990’s. They dropped off in the classic form in the early 2000’s. But - because I mod so many of these related subreddits and speak to people in these communities the phenomenon of abduction is still going on. Maybe the NHI have gotten better at masking it. Maybe the government is doing more to prevent it or contain it. But people are still reporting abductions. This is a world wide phenomenon and actually abduction is the least part of being what’s called an “Experiencer”. This involves a whole range of phenomenon including out of body experiences, psychic and precognitive abilities, NDE’s etc. I do also want to add that there have been several studies conducted over the last 30 years and time and time again there has been found no prevalence of mental illness in people reporting anomalous experiences greater then the incidence of mental health in the general population. In fact, it’s actually less among Experiencers then the general population. Take that for what you will. I’m honestly answering you here about what is talked about in these communities. We know there have been whistleblowers such as David Grusch who have come forward within the last couple of years and who have testified about this in front of Congress. He is a highly decorated war hero and patriot.
fricks_and_stones@reddit
One big part of alien sightings craze of the 80s was multiple sightings of triangular quiet aircraft flying at night around secret US bases, with the government denying it.
These were likely F117 and B2 flights before declassification.
funnyname5674@reddit
Better camera technology has made proof less believable. The aliens wouldn't let you record an abduction so it makes sense not to have any pics or video of that. But UFO and alien sightings seem to be less talked about for sure. Not because there aren't pics and videos, but because none of us can tell if even the most convincing video is even real anymore. Notice how you rarely hear "pics or it didn't happen" these days. A picture doesn't prove shit
Ok-Recognition8655@reddit
It's funny how they stopped when everyone started carrying cameras
SleveBonzalez@reddit
If you got abducted by aliens now, would YOU come back?
Presumably, in the past, people wanted to return and then told their stories.
/s
jdathela@reddit
You should check out:
R/aliens R/UFOs R/highstrangeness R/njdrones
Among others.
scoff-law@reddit
Conspiracy theorists are having a moment politically and their attention is mostly focused on immigration and trans people. Hopefully we can get them out of government and back to those spaceships.
Jairoglyphics1@reddit
After much probing, they realized humans are trash.
ElderSkelder@reddit
They are started focusing on Kate McKinnon
1981denver@reddit
I scrolled way too far to see a Kate McKinnon meme. You beat me to it.
ElderSkelder@reddit
Her character has me shaking with laughter. I wonder if I invited her to dinner, if she would stay in character all evening?
North_Experience7473@reddit
Once they saw the rise of MAGA, they realized there is no intelligent life on Earth and moved on.
grown_folks_talkin@reddit
Those people were behind the human trafficking panic of 2015-2021
adammonroemusic@reddit
I think they got replaced by all those ghost hunting shows.
dandelion-tea-@reddit
They were a front for something far more sinister: https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/s/Oj5sptKacY
namasteriteherr@reddit
No need to abduct anymore. They walk among us. Just hiding better now.
Joes_editorials@reddit
Aliens met a few of us and promptly Noped TF out:m
Robossassin@reddit
They talked about it on Behind the Bastards, I'm pretty sure it's this episode . The gist is that in the 80s and 90s alien sightings were the domain of your sort of generic kook, but more recently alien conspiracies have merged with the alt-right somehow.
SweptThatLeg@reddit
They aren’t as publicized. It’s easier for experiencers to find support from other experiencers online today than it was back in the day.
sowokeIdontblink@reddit
ass-to-trout12@reddit
People have heard of sleep paralysis now.
GloomyAsparagus7253@reddit
and so many people now have CPAP machines, which would reduce or eliminate bouts of sleep paralysis in many cases.
ass-to-trout12@reddit
I have had sleep paralysis a handful of times in the last 20 years. If i was a person who had never heard of it i could definitely see why theyd think it was a supernatural experience
monkeysweets@reddit
The aliens got better at covering their tracks. /s
lawpoop@reddit
Like a lot of niche topics, it moved to online spaces. You tubers, podcasts, etc.
Search the term experiencers. That's the new word for it
sunnybcg@reddit
Oh, they still happen:
https://share.google/X0Elpqu6KZ89MabvF
nopester24@reddit
they abducted is, studied us, realized it was a terrible mistake and never came back
tdacct@reddit
It turned out that with cell cameras everywhere, the lack of evidence for aliens was pretty obvious.
On the otherhand, it turns out that endless police abuse and false witness / false accusations were true and is now caught on camera all the time. It hasnt stopped it at all, but now we have video evidence.
badmrbones@reddit
After reading Carl Sagan’s ‘Demon Haunted World,’ I tend to replace aliens with angels in my mind. Seems to me that 1/3 of the human population will always believe in some kind of supernatural entity that has superior powers/intelligence. Today, we dream of Ai and the Simulation.
YellgoDuck@reddit
UncleBuckPancakes@reddit
I can hear that gif.
YellgoDuck@reddit
Still scares the shit out of me.
TiEmEnTi@reddit
The people who come up with conspiracy theories moved on to more profitable conspiracies
Alarmed_Drop7162@reddit
Smartphone video or it didn’t happen.
Some of these scenarios were due to sleep paralysis.
Prestigious_Egg_6207@reddit
“Alien abductions stopped happening when I stopped being obsessed with them.”
nekkid_farts@reddit
And here i was waiting for our alien overlords to reveal themselves and begin the anal probes.....
PersonOfInterest85@reddit
Around 2006 the aliens looked at Earth and said "Nah, this isn't gonna work" and they've left us alone ever since.
enstillhet@reddit
Oh they're still around, there's some podcasts with some quite interesting ones. Although I don't believe them, they are fun to listen to sometimes.
ItalianBeefCurtains@reddit
It’s pretty simple. People aren’t as rad anymore, so the aliens don’t want to kidnap us.
polygonalopportunist@reddit
JeffTS@reddit
SublimeRapier06@reddit
Narrow_Ad_4037@reddit
They figured out that we're too stupid to study any more
Skipper0463@reddit
It was fun while it lasted though.
BlueProcess@reddit
So long and thanks for all the cosmic brownies
jailasauraa@reddit
They probably put an undetectable satellite in orbit to just tune in to the horseshit like we do with reality TV. Just sitting back laughing at us...
serenitynope@reddit
That's pretty much canon in Futurama.
"Single Female Lawyer!"
DUNETOOL@reddit
And on Southpark
Bakingsquared80@reddit
Fighting for her clients, wearing sexy miniskirts, and being self reliant!
BlueProcess@reddit
It was really being fed quite a bit by TB and Radio. Art Bell stopped encouraging it after heaven's gate. Then X-Files ended. The internet came about and people started to see the hoaxes and the crazies first hand. And pretty soon it was just a thing everyone lost interest in.
ShakeItUpNowSugaree@reddit
The aliens roll up their windows and lock their doors when they drive past Earth now.
Electronic_World_894@reddit
I was wondering this just the other day!
imnottheoneipromise@reddit
As the wife and man that very much is in to aliens of all kinds, let me assure you the stories are still out there, but now those people arent seen so much as crazy so it’s not publicized like it used to be. The majority of people now accept that we are not alone in this universe; however, many of us believe the tech to get here is most likely not out there. We just don’t know though. My husband thoroughly believes they are here.
Justkeeptalking1985@reddit
Smartphones
PeterPunksNip@reddit
Fear of ridicule, in an era where you risk being filmed exposed on the net for any perceived faux-pas... Abductions still occur, but the victims are afraid now more than ever to be targeted and ridiculed by legions of sceptics from the tank.
Constant risk of being filmed killed parties too, kids these days won't know underground Skin parties or Project X style parties for the same reason.
FormerNeighborhood80@reddit
ICE is doing all the abducting now.
Sweet_Deeznuts@reddit
Individual_Sky_4612@reddit
After South Park made everyone think you got anal probes when you got abducted it became less glamorous.
missinglabchimp@reddit
Much like ancient myths, modern myths such as alien abductions are expressions of collective fears, beliefs, dreams. They communicate and give form to something faceless that lies beneath the surface, yet is commonly felt or understood.
X Files-style supernatural urban mythology in the public consciousness seemed to die around the year 2001. In the contemporary age of extraordinary rendition and black sites (9/11 onwards), and whatever tf is currently happening on the streets in plain daylight, recorded by hi-def phone cameras (i.e. quasi-legal masked abductions), those alien abduction stories are simply redundant.
ElectricPenguin6712@reddit
Would you want to come here right now?
millavemoe@reddit
Are the killer bees still a thing?
SwissCheese4Collagen@reddit
Not as much but the murder hornets are horrific.
Thirsty_Comment88@reddit
The CIA changed their tactics
Nervous-Rush-4465@reddit
They moved in and voted for this shit we have going on right now. No other explanation makes sense.
Melancholy_Rainbows@reddit
It’s disturbing how many conspiracy theories are mainstream politics now. I prefer back when I was naive enough to think that sort of nonsense was fringe and most adults were rational.
RobertBDwyer@reddit
Been forever since I saw a good crop circle too
801NYC@reddit
“Demon Haunted World” by Carl Sagan has a good explanation about how angel sightings/interactions used to be common, but then photography was invented and angel sightings turned into UFOs and abductions. The top comment in the thread is the logical extension of Sagan’s 50ish-year-old explanation.
Sufficient-Quote-431@reddit
No. The MK Ultra program ended. Turns outs it wasn’t aliens, but the federal government doing all that anal probing.
Illustrious-Lead-960@reddit
Whatever you mean by this, if you Google “Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar” you’ll find that it probably was the government all along. Experimental flights for spy drones with Cold War-related purposes, I would reckon.
numberonealcove@reddit
The people who believed hose stories back then run our country now
solemn_penguin@reddit
ICE
OptionWrongUsally@reddit
Don’t even tell me you guys didn’t watch Fire in the Sky and got terrified
Xx_SwordWords_xX@reddit
Now, you only hear about the missing persons cases.
Ever think about that?
Entropy907@reddit
Guess they learned everything they needed to know about our buttholes.
Ok_Rest5521@reddit
All the "alien" mythology was a cope for the Cold War. Then, soon after the digital cameras, then cellphones were everywhere.
Kinky-Bicycle-669@reddit
I think most of us know now thanks to the movies you don't say anything if it happens.
alliwantedwasajetski@reddit
They scoured the earth and found no intelligent life.
NoMercy767@reddit
It happens but then Scott Baio gave me pink eye
CuriousLands@reddit
I think people might still report that kind of thing, it's just not as big a deal in pop culture these days.
Sometimes I still miss those ring-watch woth a glow-in-the-dark alien head on the face, which I had as a teenager lol. It was a nice one. Ringwatches sound make a comeback lol
erkose@reddit
I don't know about abductions, but when I wake up in the middle of the night, my TikTok FYP is full of alien believer videos. It's interesting how well defined some of the stories in this subculture are.
cathode-raygun@reddit
I had a neighbor who swore he kept getting abducted to "collect reproductive fluids". He moved away about 5 years ago, after he realized that the aliens were able to slip between dimensions and had been spying on him.
I met him when he begged a pitbike engine from me because he knew how to make it hyper efficient and able to power a vehichle that was untraceable to those dimensional beings.
Definitely a troubled guy.
Consistent-Ad-6506@reddit
I guess they were never true and now that you can record everything…people shut up about that.
Maybe it was just people with serious auditory and visual hallucinations.
Smurfblossom@reddit
Aliens used to be bigger in pop culture broadly so this likely increased the abduction stories. Now they're less popular.
drawgs@reddit
Still happens. Listen to Blurry Creatures.