Portland Press Herald
11/18/17

LEWISTON — A Bates College professor has interviewed 300 Americans who believe they’ve been abducted by aliens for an upcoming book. She still doesn’t believe, but she thinks the stories tell us something about our society.

Stephanie Kelley-Romano, a professor of rhetoric, said pop culture is obsessed with aliens, and some people want to believe in aliens and abductions regardless of what experts say.

“If I go to a party and people say what do I do, people gather around, ‘Oh, my God, that’s so awesome, I can’t believe you get paid to do that!’ ” she told the Sun Journal. “And then people disperse. Invariably, at least one if not two or three people will come back to me and say, ‘I know this sounds crazy, but …”

The stories, which she’s compiled into an upcoming book, “What’s Up?” have evolved over the decades.

In the 1960s, more people claimed to be physically taken for hours at a time, she said. Over time, people claimed aliens were warping or freezing time…….

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