A3 Refereed book chapter or chapter in a compilation book
Cosmic Kidnapping: Alien Abduction Narratives, Popular (Oc)culture and the Folkloresque
Authors: Östling, Erik A. W.
Editors: Robertson, Venetia Laura Delano; Cusack, Carole M.
- Publisher: Brill
Publication year: 2026
Book title : Handbook of Contemporary Religion, Film, and Television
Series title: Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion
Number in series: 24
First page : 403
Last page: 431
ISBN: 978-90-04-72758-8
eISBN: 978-90-04-72759-5
ISSN: 1874-6691
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004727595_022
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: No Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : No Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://brill.com/view/book/9789004727595/BP000029.xml
Beginning in the mid-1960s, and reaching its apex in the 1980s and 1990s, narratives about alien abductions would become an increasingly central part within the ufological movement or milieu. These narratives typically relate a purported experience where a victim is captured in bed, or on the road, at night, and is forced to undergo terrorising medical procedures. From a folkloric perspective, such narratives show an affinity with similar folk beliefs about supernatural assault, kidnap or capture. At the same time, the image of the abducting grey alien has spread outside of the confines of ufology and entered popular culture. Investigating this intersection of folklore and popular culture, this chapter discusses how films and series such as The UFO Incident, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The X-Files and Taken draws upon a wider occultural milieu, and further on how they can act as vectors in the proliferation of the contemporary legends of alien abductions.