64
MISSING TIME
This seven-month gap between hypnotic sessions presented us with an unforeseen advantage. Steven had n ever heard the tape recording we made of his first session, nor had he seen the transcript. Apart from two or three days immediately after his May hypnosis, neither Ted nor I had talked to him in any detail about the events he had recalled. We were therefore in an ideal position to see if any new material that might surface would dovetail with what we already knew, or instead might in some way contradict it and thereby cast doubt on the accuracy of Steven 's recall. In the months since the session with Dr. Franklin, Ted and I had met still another psychologist, a charming and incisive woman of Greek-American background whose exotic name never fails to elicit surprise. In a world full of Marys and Bettys, when people ask Dr. Aphrodite Clamar how she came by her first name, she looks them straight in the eye and says, "My parents gave it to me," thereby invariably laying the matter to rest. Dr. Robert Naiman originally met Dr. Clamar at a party and happened to mention that a group of UFO researchers he was acquainted with were looking for a female psychologist versed in hypnotic techniques. Our problem had arisen because a woman who had been abducted in April of 1977 near Tucson, Arizona, had agreed to undergo hyp足 nosis only if the psychologist were female.9 Her experience, parts of which she recalled consciously, evidently contained events that were unnerving in a particularly intimate way, so this shy, fifty足 three-year-old woman requested a psychologist of her own sex. For a complex series of reasons, the hoped-for regressive hypnosis n ever occurred, but the situation nevertheless led to our meeting Aphrodite Clamar, whose subsequent help and cooperation have proved to be invaluable. The appointment we made for Steven was for December 1, 1978. Ted had described to Aphrodite the obvious fear Steve expe足 rienced in his session seven months earlier and she adapted her technique accordingly. After conducting a short interview, she led him into a deep trance state and gave him as a protective image a "warm, solid house to stay within, safe from everything threaten足 ing, but from which you will be able to watch any events which might unfold outside . " She carefully established this imaginary refuge. "There is a wooded area, a wooded area of your choice. There's lots and lots of land. . . . Sit yourself in such a way that you can look " and then she led him back to his experience of out. . 1974.