Elaine Douglass Onward & Ever Upward

I first came to know Elaine several years ago after I came across the magazine project she was so passionately working on at the time: JAR or Journal of Abduction Research. Like many who have come to accept the reality of alien intrusion into their lives, I am always looking for new information, and so when I saw the 2 free issues of JAR, I checked them out. I came away impressed because they weren’t hedging about the reality of abductions, they were just diving into different issues regarding the experience and taking it from there. No one seems to be doing that much these days, but there is still plenty to discuss, so I was happy to see someone start a project like JAR.

When I contacted Elaine, it was originally to offer my services as an editor. I’ve been working as an editor part-time for various projects for many years now (although my own personal writing can use an eccentric style that I wouldn’t normally use in professional publishing!) and there was a call for editors on their site. After we began to communicate, however, it quickly became clear that Elaine was much more interested in my own experiences, since I was upfront that I was, in fact, an abductee.

And so for a good part of a year, I worked on a couple of articles for her that were later published in JAR. I chose the most recent well-remembered experience (with “Ethan”) and then another very puzzling one to share (about the robed female greys who gave a demo to a roomful of human women showing how they could turn invisible.) During that year we spent countless hours on the phone and came to know one another very well, and we shared our views of the phenomenon we call alien abduction.

One thing not all experiencers seem ready to face are the darker aspects of this entire class of paranormality. Too many are too eager to whitewash every bit of this and turn it into a spiritual New Age peace and love thing. But to reach that conclusion, one must ignore a gigantic amount of information that includes sexual assault, continuous kidnapping, psychological trauma, and the stripping of human will and dignity, completely obliterating any sense of sanity and security. You can’t just gloss over that! However, many try, because to face these facts is to admit to our utter vulnerability to something far more powerful than ourselves.

Without a doubt, Elaine was an advocate for abductees, and she insisted on looking at the dark and scary things that made other people blanch and turn away. She kept shining a spotlight on those dark places, almost metaphorically shaking people to LOOK! LOOK! And this could make people uncomfortable of course, even angry. But Elaine was tenacious, and would not be censored.

Though I’m well aware of the negative side of alien abduction, I have also experienced wonder and had the amazing opportunity to be up close to an entirely different form of intelligent life. I’ve personally felt that the greys and hybrids, at least most of them, are sincerely trying not to cause harm. They’re clumsy about it, because their psychology is SO different, but I don’t subscribe entirely negative motives to them. And then there are the human aliens and they SEEM so much kinder and more gentle, but they still steal our bodies in the night and our memories when they return us. I don’t see the alien agenda as entirely a black and white issue. Its SO complicated!

Elaine also took the cases she heard involving a human factor seriously. Whether some quasi-government ultra-secret group or groups, or some alien manifestation that just appeared to be an official human agency– she paid attention to these very disturbing reports. I could tell her feelings regarding our government and military were complicated and often contradictory, but knowing her background, that made sense to me.

As you can imagine, when we compared notes on these things, it could make for some pretty intense conversations!

Yet I always listened. She generally had access to many more sources of information than I did, and so I was very willing to hear her out. In return, she gave me the gift of listening very carefully to my own memories and taking them very seriously. I couldn’t help but admire her advocacy for those of us who are taken, and her passion in going after the truth.

I launched my own paranormal blog (which I’m happy to say Elaine read and appreciated) after that year and began to tell more and more of my own story. Elaine Douglass was one of my cheerleaders, and we stayed in touch and on good terms even after I no longer wrote for JAR. Not too long ago, when a stalker harassed my husband and myself over a personal dispute with another abductee that occurred over 19 years ago, Elaine was an unwavering source of support. Familiar with the interpersonal melodramas that can often erupt in the UFO abduction ‘community’, she offered us some perspective when we needed it most.

People who make waves and force us to pay attention to things we don’t like are not always popular, but those people are needed. Without those passionate protesters in our numbers, too many vital things are dismissed prematurely and to the detriment of many. Up until the last few months of her life, Elaine was still active in the paranormal world, researching, advocating, sharing information, and figuring out new and important pieces of the many convoluted puzzles that make up the multifaceted features of these related Fortean events and encounters. Without her, the rest of us aren’t going to do as well, of that I have no doubt.

I didn’t always agree with her, but reaching agreement isn’t the point when you’re trying to find the truth. Widening your perspective and hearing out those who might catch something you miss is much more important. Too often during disagreements people forget that important lesson.

Regardless, on a personal level, I really liked Elaine. She was intensely curious, had penetrating insight into often difficult subjects, and was absolutely relentless in her passion to learn as much of the truth as she could. I respected her and appreciated what she brought to me as a friend, not just as a researcher.

I will miss her greatly.