Strangers
by the Lake
The year 1968 was a historical one, full of emotional and political triumphs and tragedies. An abundance of vastly dynamic events occurred. These included the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, a stance against racism that was felt during the Olympics when African American medal winners took their honors with a bowed head and a raised fist, and the launch of the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, which could be considered the catalyst for the eventual withdrawal of the United States’ involvement in the war. Also, the Apollo 8 rocket was launched, which became the first human-habited orbit of the moon, and of course Richard Nixon was elected our country’s thirty-seventh president (inaugurated in ’69). Many a Mainer was wrapped up in the war and the election; Hubert Humphrey won over 55 percent of Maine’s vote. It seemed like the state was filled with both war supporters and detractors, and the economy was in question due to closing military bases.
While the first known use of the term “vacationland” for Maine occurred in 1927, it was during the early 1960s that Maine adopted the term for its slogan. While the idea seemed far from Mainers’ minds as Nixon took office and war support soured, a trip to a “vacationland” is what a lot of people around the nation felt they needed during tumultuous times. In the summer of ’68, the state had a resurgence of tourism due to so many people feeling the effects of the current culture in America.
“Vacationland” is indeed an appropriate term for the state’s vast coastline, lakes, and gorgeous villages. Sebago Lake is most certainly one of those areas, coveted and well-visited by out-of-towners and locals alike. Located in Cumberland County, the lake borders multiple towns, including Windham, which served as the location for a most peculiar encounter. The origins of the following story come from the website UFO Hunters.
Andrew (pseudonym) was about ten years old in 1968, and as a treat his father took him and his younger brother to Sebago Lake on an overnight camping trip. They planned for a day of fishing and fun on the water, and a whimsical night of sleeping in a tent. That night was the first time Andrew and his brother were allowed to sleep in their own tent, although Dad was nearby in his. After they cooked up the day’s catch, roasted some marshmallows, and told ghost stories, all three settled in for the night.
Hours later, Andrew awoke sleepy-eyed, and a bathroom stop was needed. He cautiously unzipped the tent flap so as to not wake his brother and stepped out into a brightly moonlit landscape. He found an area not far from the camp to do his business, but heard some commotion coming from the water’s edge. This caused him to duck behind a nearby bush and watch as shadowy figures spoke in a language he did not understand. As Andrew recalled, “While crouched, I heard voices … ” He noticed that the figures had big, black, piercing eyes and were naked!
The young boy was confused and frightened by what he saw, and he stood to run away. Just as he did this, the beings approached him and concentrated their stare on him. Andrew felt like they were reading his mind and body. He froze, scared that he might be kidnapped by crazed, naked creepers. However, as they got closer, he could see that he had been mistaken about their lack of clothing—all three were wearing skintight suits or uniforms. Two of the figures were short in stature, and the third was much taller; to Andrew, the latter seemed to be the one in charge. Even though he was frightened, he wanted to know what the beings were doing at the campsite.
The taller of the three approached the boy, who spoke telepathically to him. Using this form of communication surprised Andrew; he remarked, “I felt as though he talked to my brain and my brain answered! My mouth did not move, I put my hands on my lips, I felt them not move.”
The tall being continued his telepathic connection and explained that their presence was merely to learn about the boy. Andrew considered this for a moment, but then looked at the two other figures. He described them as having terrifying faces, and he could sense that they wanted to harm him in some way. He did not believe the taller being’s reasoning. More than once, he tried to run away but found that he could not move. One of the shorter figures continued to stare menacingly at him. Andrew described his thoughts during that time as follows: He “wanted to do awful things to me … his face was more scrunched and wrinkled with a brownish pink naked skin. Long arms, not hairy, just weak-looking arms with long fingers.”
The “ugly” being then spoke, audibly, in a high-pitched voice that Andrew described as “squiggled.” He could not understand its language but felt negative intent. The taller being tried again to reassure Andrew, but the boy felt distrustful of the situation and asked the taller being what they could possibly learn from a child. As he recounts, “I could only as a child think, what on Earth do you want with a kid? Aren’t you here to teach the big people how to behave? We have a war going on.”
Andrew was referring to the Vietnam War, which caused him a lot of stress as a child. Years later, he thought about this moment and questioned ever having had the encounter in the first place. He wondered if the event could be a kind of PTSD effect, asking whether his story could be some sort of rationalization he’d created in his life or “memories [that] are just a result of trauma of the Vietnam war? … You will never know how many times I have asked myself. If it is just a bad dream, why do I have that burnt-in-my-brain feeling there?”
After the taller being spoke again, Andrew remembered his brother alone in the tent and suddenly became deathly scared for his brother’s safety. After he had that realization, he was able to break out of whatever hypnotic state he was in, and he ran back to the tent. He huddled by his brother’s side and could hear the beings approach. He hid under the covers and kept repeating in his head, “If I can’t see you, you can’t see me.” Miraculously, their presence faded. He could no longer hear them outside, and peeked to be sure.
Morning arrived quickly, causing Andrew to think that time had sped forward. Or, and perhaps more terrifying, missing time may have occurred. If so, he wanted to know what it meant. He asked himself, “Did they take me somewhere?” He had a sense that his brother was taken as well, and despite having no memory of being abducted, his impression was that it most likely happened. Throughout the years, he remembered more visitations with the strange beings. He cannot recall any actual abduction scenarios, only telepathic conversations, but fears that his abduction memories may have been blocked.
After Andrew’s daughter was born, the beings visited him once again. Although his memories of the encounter are sparse, he does recall that the conversation involved his daughter. This made him angry, and he refused to let her be involved with them. He felt as though he took a stand against them during that conversation and like his voice was finally heard. He has not been visited since.
Despite his admission that the encounters could be a byproduct of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Andrew still had an unsettled feeling about the encounters. The events felt real to him, and he was convinced that more happened during the “conversations” than what he remembered. Regardless, he was thankful that the visitations had ceased.
Post abduction syndrome (PAS) is a theory that holds that people who have experienced one or more alien abductions (especially as children) could develop anxiety-induced stress, similar to PTSD. My thought is that Andrew could suffer from PAS, or a hybrid of PAS and PTSD. The syndrome was studied in 1992 by Dr. David M. Jacobs, Budd Hopkins, and Dr. Ron Westrum in their report Unusual Personal Experiences: An Analysis of the Data from Three Major Surveys. Registered nurse Rose Hargrove wrote a dissertation on PAS called “Post Abduction Syndrome (PAS): Description of an Emerging Syndrome,” which gained notoriety in 2000. The medical professionals involved with these studies had combined experiences in Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS), the operating room, the emergency room, intensive care, PTSD, psychology, psychiatry, and more. Furthermore, Hargrove was a field investigator and abduction consultant for MUFON.
Perhaps Andrew’s mental state from having been in combat, coupled with multiple alien encounters from childhood, created a hybrid anxiety syndrome that’s yet to be diagnosed. I did conduct a phone interview about my thoughts on the matter, but was advised that without meeting with the witness in person, it would be impossible to diagnose him. Fair enough. But I would argue that this hybrid syndrome, should it exist and go untreated, could complicate one’s mental well-being further.
Andrew seems to have adjusted well since the encounters stopped. Reflecting on the impact, he wrote, “I believe I have in some odd way gotten used to them … if there was something to be done to me or others they only needed to ask!” How dignified.