Alien Abduction: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

When an alien from another planet, whether one of the [[Little Green Men]] or one of [[The Greys]] or whatever, kidnaps a human. The alien generally leaves no trace of the human until it's done with it. Alien abductions do get witnessed, but the witnesses are almost always portrayed as a bit mad even when the alien abduction is real in canon.

Before aliens from outer space became a popular concept, literature and folklore used [[Changeling Tale|fairy abductions]], demon abductions, and gods abducting fair maidens. Many of these stories reflect sexual urges excused and resolved through the agency of an irresistible entity like a god or alien.

 

 

Compare: [[Aliens Steal Cattle]]

* In [[Christopher Buckley]]'s novel ''[[Little Green Men (novel)|Little Green Men]]'', alien abductions are the work of a top-secret U.S. government agency which had been manufacturing evidence of alien activity since 1947, and didn't start doing abductions until UFO sightings, crop harvesting and cattle mutilations had lost their novelty value. The [[Anal Probing|rectal probing]] and egg harvesting only started because the abductees seemed to demand it. Actual [[Little Green Men]] aren't used any more because of the difficulty of obtaining midgets with security clearances.

* In [[Diane Duane]]'s ''[[Young Wizards]]'' series the primary motivation aliens have for abducting humans is [[Sense Freak|to steal their chocolate]].

* ''[[The Puppet Masters (novel)|The Puppet Masters]]'' by [[Robert A. Heinlein]]. The titular aliens have been abducting humans for years, possibly centuries, as part of the plan to conquer Earth. It turns out that the protagonist's [[Love Interest]] was abducted from a human colony on Venus as a child; this provides a key to the eventual defeat of the invasion.

* In ''Slaves of Spiegel'' by [[Daniel Pinkwater]], Steve Nickelson is abducted by [[Space Pirates]], who have him and everything in his Hoboken restaurant wrapped in aluminum foil, shrunk in size and taken to the planet Spiegel for the pirates' great interplanetary cook-off. Steve sends in a report to the Flying Saucer Club of Hudson County, New Jersey, who pronounce his report to be totally inauthentic since all aliens are either [[Little Green Men]] or blobby eye stalk creatures, not "fat people," and nobody has ever heard of a planet named Spiegel. When the [[Space Pirates]] then find out about Steve's assistant, Norman Bleistift, and kidnap him too.

* The aliens that supplied the supersuit in ''[[The Greatest American Hero]]'' do this to various people, although for benign reasons.

* ''[[UFO]]''. Aliens from a dying world abduct humans in order to harvest them for their organs.

** There are at least a couple of inversions in the series - where the Enterprise beams up an unsuspecting local alien (at least one from a "bronze age" society). However, there was generally a lack of probing and prodding, but they do try to erase the alien's memories of the event.

* Subverted in ''[[First Wave]]'', where the members of the Alien Abduction Support Group are revealed to be hypnotized by aliens to recall false memories as part of an experiment. Aliens don't have starships in the series.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* In the world of ''[[Pathfinder]]'', hapless people sometimes disappear from their homes, only to reappear sometime later with mysterious surgical scars and no recollection of what happened beyond vague nightmares of short gray-skinned creatures with bulging eyes... except instead of aliens from outer space, they've been abducted by derros, [[The Fair Folk|fey-like humanoids]] from [[Beneath the Earth]]. A [[Shout-Out]] to the literature of Richard Sharpe Shaver and his "deros", which may have inspired the idea of [[The Grays]] in the first place.

 

== Video Games ==

* The ''[[Fallout 3]]'' add-on ''Mothership Zeta'' has the player and various wastelanders being abducted and studied aboard an alien ship. The evidence on the ship indicates that they have been doing this for centuries. In fact, one of the abductees is a Japanese samurai in full armor who proceeds to slice up his abductors with his [[Katanas Are Just Better|katana]]. Naturally, you can't understand each other. Another is a Wild West cowboy, whose Colt comes in handy.

* ''[[Metal Gear]]''

** In the novel within a video game, ''The Shocking Conspiracy on Shadow Moses'', the main character once thought he was abducted by aliens.

** ''[[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker]]'' implies that most of the UFO encounters, Alien abductions, and Cattle Mutilations were actually caused by the CIA, more specifically their rogue unit: the Peace Sentinels, and their AI weapons.

* In ''[[Alien Dice]]'', Chel, who's about to board a spaceship voluntarily, wonders for a moment if aliens abduct you through talking you into coming with them. Later it's revealed that humans were abducted in the past to create the Rishans but it was forbidden by the laws of [[The Federation]].

* ''[[I Was Kidnapped by Lesbian Pirates from Outer Space]]''. [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]].

* Was done in ''[[Does Not Play Well With Others]]'' to Harrisons [http://www.doesnotplaywellwithothers.com/comics/pwc-0012 in the middle of the night]. [[Skewed Priorities|Worst of all]], it was too loud.

* Prudence in ''Dangerously Chloe'' tried to abduct Teddy because he's a human who sees her angel wings that are supposed to be [[Invisible to Normals]] (and did already abduct a "suspicious" puppy). The other angels don't see it as a big deal. Amusingly, after Teddy and his succubi roomies are [[Mistaken for Aliens]] by Naomi, she thinks ''Prudence'' who dropped on Teddy (literally, knocking him out) was a "honest-to-goodness alien abductee", which was confirmed by their miscommunication via euphemisms ("from... you know... up there?").

 

== Web Original ==

 

== Western Animation ==

* One of the most unusual alien abduction stories was that of American logger Travis Walton. Walton was allegedly abducted by a UFO in Arizona in 1975. His abduction was reported by several coworkers who claimed to have witnessed the event, resulting in a state-wide manhunt (and a possible homicide investigation). Walton did not reappear until five days later, claiming he had been abducted by aliens. The movie Fire In the Sky is very loosely based on the alleged abduction.

* Wild animals captured by humans, examined and tagged, then released again. From their perspective this trope might be close to [[Truth in Television]].

 

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[[Category:Alien Abduction]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]