In the wee morning hours of September 20th, 1961, Betty and Barney Hill drove down New Hampshire's Route 3, through the Franconia Notch, and into the
UFO history books. Five years later, John G. Fuller's account of their story,
The Interrupted Journey, became the most well known alien abduction case of all time. Fuller's book was adapted into a made-for-TV
movie in 1975.
The book and movie brought the
"Greys" into the public consciousness as the quintessential UFO occupants, although it has been
alleged by skeptics that the Greys themselves were inspired by an episode of the TV show
The Outer Limits.
Last year, the state of New Hampshire erected a
historical marker at the site of the alleged abduction.
Skeptics and believers have been debating the case for decades now. Interestingly, a UFO enthusiast named John Oswald published an
account in 1980 that claimed "Mrs. Hill was unable to 'distinguish between a landed UFO and a streetlight'", which even included a photo of said streetlight. It was not until 2007 that a science fiction writer who lives in the area where the "abduction" took place published an article which reveals the real
"UFO" and puts forward a
plausible explanation.
[more inside]
posted by smoothvirus
on May 3, 2012 -
32 comments
In 2009,
Ctrl.Alt.Shift, the "youth
initiative of Christian Aid," held a national competition in the UK for aspiring filmmakers aged 18 to 25. Their mission: create a short film treatment based around three key issues: "War + Peace," "Gender + Power" and "HIV + Stigma." The results were then screened to an audience at the 2009 Raindance Film Festival. The films:
1000 Voices,
HIV: The Musical,
Man Made,
No Way Through and
War School.
(All YouTube links. Vimeo links and descriptions of each film are inside this post.) These films deal with adult subject matter and may be disturbing for some viewers. Some may also be nsfw. [more inside]
posted by zarq
on May 24, 2011 -
3 comments
Shin Sang-ok (1926 - 2006) was a Korean movie writer, director and producer, who studied film in Japan and returned to South Korea, where he gained fame and became the
uncontested leader of the film industry in the 1960s, in a time when regulations on the industry limited other studios. In the 1970s under the
Fourth Republic of South Korea, the film industry was even further limited, which lead to Shin's studio being closed. Things went from bad to worse, when
"the Orson Welles of South Korea" was kidnapped by request of Kim Jong Il, the son of North Korea's dictator, Kim Il Sung. The reason? Kim Jong Il wanted the nation's film industry to promote the virtues of the Korea Workers' Party to a world-wide audience. After being imprisoned for four years, Shin was reunited with his ex-wife (who was also a captive of North Korea) and the given relative freedom, producing seven films in North Korea. While setting up a distribution deal to share Kim Jong Il's vision with a broader audience for a Godzilla-like monster movie, Shin and his wife escaped and sought political asylum in the United States. Their freedom was possible because of that last film for Kim, entitled
Pulgasari. But Shin's life in movies was not over yet.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Aug 5, 2010 -
14 comments
"If your ex-spouse has run off and taken your children abroad, and the international legal system is failing to bring them back, what are you to do? One option is to call Gus Zamora, a former Army ranger who will, for a hefty fee, get your children back. Operating in a moral gray area beyond the reach of any clear-cut legal jurisdiction, Zamora claims to have returned 54 children to left-behind parents.
Here’s the story of number 55."
posted by andoatnp
on Oct 16, 2009 -
53 comments
Nearly 60,000* American children (mostly girls) are abducted by strangers each year. After seeing a
security video documenting a young girl's abduction, 15-year-old Dallas Jessup convinced her Filipino street fighting instructor to work with her on a school project and together they developed a method intended to teach young girls how to avoid
Carla Brucia's fate. The resulting 47 minute video,
Just Yell Fire, is viewable free of charge and teaches easy self defense moves created to help a potential victim avoid abduction or date rape. If there's a girl you love and want to protect from harm, the tips in
this video may just save her life someday.
[more inside]
posted by miss lynnster
on Jan 7, 2008 -
177 comments
From 1977 to 1983, between 16-70 Japanese citizens were
abducted in their home country by agents of the North Korean government. 13-year-old Megumi Yokota was the youngest
. This is her story.
posted by JPowers
on Jan 22, 2007 -
48 comments
Juan Gelman. An Argentinian poet's search for remains of his daughter-in-law, kidnapped in Buenos Aires in 1976.
posted by plep
on Mar 17, 2005 -
2 comments
Aristide Says He Was Kidnapped From Democracy Now:
Aristide says he was "kidnapped" and taken by force to the Central African Republic. Congressmember Maxine Waters said she received a call from Aristide at 9am EST. "He's surrounded by military. It's like he is in jail, he said. He says he was kidnapped," said Waters. "He did not resign.... He was abducted by the United States in the commission of a coup." Robinson says he spoke to Aristide on a cell phone that was smuggled to the Haitian president. Will this revolution be televised? (Accounts in ogg and mp3)
posted by ao4047
on Mar 1, 2004 -
105 comments
Kidnapped for Kicks! "Brock Enright, a 25-year-old artist, has created a business where people pay him thousands of dollars a time to be violently abducted." Brings a new meaning to escapism...
posted by hmgovt
on Aug 1, 2002 -
12 comments
“Although I firmly believe that my
panties abduction was real, I have tried to be as broad-minded as possible and show as much integrity as I can in questioning myself and the whole terrible experience.”
posted by gleemax
on Feb 26, 2001 -
6 comments
