The Brattleboro Reformer from Brattleboro, Vermont • 5

5 OPINION Saturday, May 29, 1993 Brattleboro Reformer Kidnapping by aliens and other newsworthy events quote SARAH WOLFE Tonight, the House said no to gridlock, no to the status quo and no to the special interests. Tomorrow, we go on to the Senate and we go back to the country. -President Clinton, after the House passed his massive deficit-reduction tax increase Thursday. Today I am still not healthy, but for my nation, I have to come here to vote. I fear the Khmer Rouge, I do not want the Khmer Rouge to return to power in Cambodia.

I need a leader who can achieve national reconciliation and who is not warlike. Pres Him, a 73-year-old Cambodian nun, forced by illness to wait until the last day to vote in a U.N.-organized election aimed at ending a civil war. certain respectability and give credence, then perhaps some of the violence they describe should be omitted. Who wants to lend credibility to rape and torture? Or to stories such as the one I read this weekend about a mother in New York City who gave her little boy for adoption to a woman who had formerly been a man. The adoptive mother proved a poor guardian of the boy and an even worse selector of companions.

This past weekend, the 5-year-olds body was found in a dumpster. The mother is in the hospital recovering from knife wounds and the boyfriend is being sought. Id rather read about aliens. Sarah Wolfe is the Reformers correspondent in Wardsboro and the Deerfield Valley. in the paper.

When I mentioned to people what I was writing, the reaction was startled looks and eye-rolling. I keep an open mind. Sure, it sounds fantastic, but whos to say that sentient beings dont inhabit other solar systems? If were here, why cant they be? And why is this story more fantastic than stigmatas, burning bushes, or stories of men parting the seas? Wasnt there a recent news story about people gathering to look at a billboard or a tree on which the image of the Madonna appeared? That made the papers. Allegations of UFO sightings rarely make the newspapers and, yet, isnt it worth our attention that people believe they saw these things? If newspapers bestow a kidnapped by aliens. The aforementioned book, called The Allagash Abduction, was written by Ray Fowler and is being published in Oregon.

Chuck and one of his friends illustrated what he calls a docu-comic about the event. That is also being published soon by Tundra Press in Northampton, Mass. Finally, Joan Rivers interviewed the group for half an hour on national TV. Yet this papers editor refused to run a news story, claiming he didnt want to lend credibility to alien abduction stories. Apparently, people have strong reactions to stories about alien sightings and kidnappings.

Chuck himself is self-conscious about the story, which is why he does not want the name of his town printed WARDSBORO On a summer evening in 1976, at approximately 9 p.m., in the Al-lagash wilderness waterway of northern Maine, Chuck Rak and three of his friends were snatched from their canoe by aliens. Rak is a landscape painter and caricaturist and an articulate historian of the event. His way of telling the abduction story is filled with vivid descriptions and it raises interesting questions in the mind of the listener. Also interesting is the fact that the Reformer would not print a news story about what Rak a hard-working, law-abiding citizen of Windham County claims happened to him and his friends, a news story that would mention that Rak was on national TV and that the kidnapping incident is the subject of a soon-to-be-released book. This is how the non-newsworthy story of the abduction goes.

After spending the day on Eagle Lake, catching trash fish that fell apart when they were cooked, and tasted like mud anyway, the four young men, classmates at a Boston art school, went out after dark to try to catch trout. The Allagash wilderness is remote; the group had been flown in, canoes and all, in a float plane. Chuck describes the lake as looking primordial, with hulks of dead trees jutting above the surface of the water. That night it was eerily still and uncommonly dark. Because there was no moon, the foursome built a large fire on the beach to help them find their way from the lake back to their camp.

The campfire, which figures prominently in this story, was built to last for hours. Once on the lake, the fishermen continued unlucky; after about 20 minutes of fishing all they caught were more lake chub. Giving up on the idea of catching fish, they decided to return to shore, a distance of about 12 miles. They could see the fire from where they sat in the canoe. As they headed back Chuck remembers having a creepy feeling on the back of my neck, like someone was staring at me.

Thats when they saw it. The light. It was round and colorful, according to Chuck and very, very bright. It was also the size of a house and the colors kept changing. The whole thing "had a bil- lowing motion, like a thick sauce coming to a rolling boil.

He describes it further as pulses of energy traveling from pole to pole, dividing it into four quadrants of oscillating, plasmic-colored light. After a while a beam was emitted and, before long, both the beam and the light itself, which appeared to be eclipsing, moved away. When the friends got back to their camp, the huge fire had burned out. However, they did not wonder where they had been during the time it would have taken for the fire to go out, or how they had gotten back to shore, though no one recalls having rowed back. They were, as Chuck describes it, in a state of being unconcerned.

Though they continued to discuss the strange sighting in years to come, no one speculated about what had happened until an unfortunate incident brought the situation to a head. The incident was an accident suffered by one of the four that resulted in severe head injuries; the injuries developed into epilepsy. The man started having bad dreams about luminous, humanoid beings scratching on his pillow and emitting unintelligible sounds, according to Chuck. In the dream, the creatures levitated him and poked him with needles. Eventually, once the man had disclosed the dreams and talked about what he had seen that night in 1976 on Eagle Lake, he was introduced to Ray Fowler, described by Chuck as an internationally recognized UFO researcher.

Fowler suggested the four undergo hypnosis. It was when they were hypnotized that the abduction was uncovered. What all four remembered about that night was that during the un accounted for time, while the fire was burning out, they were being examined by alien creatures. Chuck remembers the beings themselves as having bulbous heads, pasty skin, large amphibious looking eyes, and small, atrophied features. Chuck claims they invaded his body, taking tissue, urine, and hair samples.

Now, isnt that interesting? Four ordinary men claim to have been Make it fun in Picnic Baskets! Napkins, plastic ware, utensils, fresh ground coffee beans, everything to create a beautiful gift for your favorite bride and groom. Second Floor Colony Mill Keene, NH 352-1626 ANNIVERSARY SALE 20 OFF HANDBAGS Cleaning Services Done Right the First Time Offices, Homes, Apartments My Specialty Fast, Efficient, Reasonable Free Estimates Fully Insured Call Donna Today 257-4619 factory handbag store THE OUTLET CENTER Exit One 1-91, Brattleboro (802) 254-4594 9-9 Sun. 10-6 ONE-STOP OUTDOOR FURNITURE SHOPPING Featuring TELESCOPIC WINSTON LYON-SHAW Wrought Iron BROWN JORDAN In-stock ready for immediate delivery or special orders. Hundreds to choose from. Stop in and see the Best Selection in the Tri-State Areal Tamlaml Dining Leisure by Brown Jordan HEARTH HOME CENTER Putney Road, Brattleboro, Vt.

OPEN 7 DAYS (800) 362-2424 (802) 254-4208.