[1] Mainstream scientists and mental health professionals overwhelmingly doubt that the phenomenon occurs literally as reported and instead attribute the experiences to "deception, suggestibility (fantasy-proneness, hypnotizability, false-memory syndrome), personality, sleep phenomena, psychopathology, psychodynamics [and] environmental factors.
"[2] Skeptic Robert Sheaffer also sees similarity between the aliens depicted in early science fiction films, in particular, Invaders From Mars, and those reported to have actually abducted people.
Dr. John G. Miller says that in the cases he's studied, abductees report that when they ask their captors why the invasive and humiliating medical procedures are being performed on them, the entity will often express sentiments like "We have the right to do this.
[6] According to Nick Pope's book The Uninvited, the grey aliens use a device that is black, cylindrical, is the size of a US Number 2 pencil, has a bluish light on one end.
[8] One alleged abductee claimed that when the device was used, the chest opened bloodlessly in "slow motion," and compared it to watching a flower blossom in time lapse photography.
"[6] Bullard, in something of a concession to skeptics, has noted that the presence or absence of hypnosis as a method for memory retrieval in abduction claimants seems to affect descriptions of the abductors themselves.
"[6] Although proponents have argued that there is a core narrative consistent across abduction claims, there is little doubt that variation occurs in the details of reports across cultures and geographic boundaries.
[7] Brazilian abduction researcher Gilda Moura reports that following an increase in spiritism in the 1980s, there was a surge in the popularity of "Spiritist Centers" where paranormal healings occurred that "involv[ed] actual surgical cutting".
"[7] Sheaffer also sees similarity between the aliens depicted in early science fiction films, in particular, Invaders From Mars, and those reported to have actually abducted people.