RGMP Case Report #19 James: "Something was different..."

Taken fifteen hours after they were found. These marks faded fast. Original image cropped and adjusted slightly for sharpness and contrast

.

      James is a thirty-two year old male located in Virginia. He is Christian, holds a master's degree, works in the corporate world and describes himself as an average, suburban, middle-class guy who enjoys football. He balances the more material aspects of his life by being an inveterate outdoorsman who enjoys hunting, fishing, hiking, really any opportunity to get outside. He is, in general, in good health with no allergies.


      Much of this article will be in his own words as he comes across as intelligent, honest and well-spoken. I suspect he is not as average as the image he conveyed to me though.

         James is not consciously concerned with anything paranormal, certainly not aliens. I often ask about this since it tends to come up pretty quickly in people's explanations. According to him, he can't even remember any dreams from the past fifteen plus years though he does remember some dreams from childhood. He has also suffered from sleep paralysis several times throughout his life, which according to WebMD happens to about forty percent of us. His experiences involve a feeling of imminent danger, a not uncommon experience in these events.

      His wife discovered the marks on June 21, 2015 but he believes they appeared the previous night on the twentieth. He woke on that day with a "terrible" crick in his neck. He writes:

Normally, I can specifically remember waking up several times a night. I have two young children and I am a light sleeper as a result. My youngest is two years old and he wakes up several times a night. When he wakes up, I always do. Additionally, at least once a night, I use the bathroom and usually walk to the kitchen to get a glass of water. This usually happens anywhere between midnight and 3am. I can always remember getting up at night. This is normal for me. However, on the night in question, I slept heavily. I have no recollection of waking at any point in the night. I have no recollection of any dreams either. I never heard my children. I can't remember using the bathroom. I can't remember getting a glass of water. I can't remember anything about that night after laying down. Nothing. I never sleep like this. That was abnormal for me. 

      I too have woken during the night, every single night for years (with a possible exception a few weeks ago) and I would feel unsettled and even weakened to be taken out of this routine. It's part of my routine as a man to be vigilant, even in sleep, and I suspect this is the case for James as well. As mentioned before, he is an outdoorsman, so finding all sorts of marks on his body is normally not worrisome at all, it's an important part of his lifestyle and indicative of past adventures. However:

Something was different with this red dot grid pattern. I cannot explain it in a quantifiable way, but I will do my best to define it. 

When I looked at the red dot grid pattern on my back, I was filled with anxiety. I had a physiological response to looking at it. It was like adrenaline. My heart rate increased. Looking at these marks unsettled me in a way I cannot put into words. I felt scared. I felt fear. You know how you feel unsettled when you have déjà vu? Imagine that unsettling déjà vu feeling coupled with an unmitigated. fear. That's how I felt when I looked at these marks. I spent my day at work obsessively going to the bathroom to look at them. Every time I looked at them, I felt the same fear/apprehension/unsettled. The feeling never abated. That's when I looked online and found your website. Looking through your page and seeing pictures of red marks on other people gave me (and still does) the same fear/apprehension/unsettled feeling. 

I can't explain why I have this response to seeing my (and others') red marks. But, it is not like me to even think twice about marks on my body. 

I asked him, "I'm wondering if you've noticed any sort of different orientation towards life since this has happened. Have your interests or values changed or is this just an odd bump in the road?"

This is more difficult to answer. I have two items I'd like to talk about. 

First: When the incident with the marks first happened, I spoke to a few people about it. I explained it to the few I spoke to in the exact same manner I explained it to you (matter-a-factly and with healthy skepticism). Everyone had one of two reactions: 1) they told me that I must have forgotten that I slept on something that caused the marks, or 2) they mockingly say something like "oh, did little green men take you to their spaceship?" Either of the two responses, for whatever reason, REALLY frustrate and - to a lesser degree - anger me. I've stopped talking to anyone about it. With the exception of the folks you've interviewed and reported on your website, I don't feel like anyone understands what it's like to wake with these marks: not knowing why or how. I feel angry and isolated that I have no one to talk to about it. Almost bitter. 

      I have to insert here and point out that I have never once, after hearing and reading scores of alien abduction tales, found a single person to report seeing "little green men". This is the retarded and overworn cliche that I hear being used by various ignorant people, particularly those in the news media. We can also see in his experience how often people try to shut out others' experiences because they are non-ordinary. For some, it's as natural a defensive reaction as blinking. He continues:

Second: As I mentioned in an earlier email, I'm always outdoors - many times by myself. I loved the peacefulness of being with alone with nature relaxing, fishing. However, recently, when I've gone fishing by myself - or have otherwise been alone outdoors - I feel a slight - yet unmistakable - unease. For reasons I cannot explain, this uneasy feeling intensifies when I look up at the treetops (not the sky, but the tree tops specifically). This uneasy feeling is like the proverbial 'pebble in my shoe' - it's slight, but ever-present. I wish I could explain this better. I don't feel alone out there in the outdoors. The best way I can explain it is like the feeling you're being watched.

      This is fairly common among abductees, though it could certainly have many other sources as well. Also, it's telling that he puts "love" in past tense. Continuing:

I feel like this is more than just 'an odd bump in the road'. I feel like, somehow, something is different. I just don't know yet how. I'm angry I don't have an answer of how or why these marks came to be on my body. I'm angry that, of the entirety of the Internet, your website seems to be the only one taking a serious approach to investigating this phenomena.  I'm perplexed about the unease I feel when alone outdoors. I guess I'm angry that I don't know the 'why/how' of any of this. 

      My impression is that on an unconscious level he knows something that his conscious mind does not want to let in. This is true for myself and others who have experiences that touch us on a primal level. We are faced with the truth that we are not always in control of our bodies and something as simple as marks on our skin seem to be mocking our natural, reasonable need to be in control. Memory, so often our day-to-day aide, evaporates when we turn to it for help. Whatever is happening, perhaps the best thing we can do is let it bring out one of the most critical of all human faculties: curiosity. That is what leads me to research this phenomena and leads people to visit this site. We can't go wrong as long as we are honestly searching for the truth in all of this and I hope that everyone who has experienced this can continue to let their curiosity guide them. Perhaps in our imaginative, conscientious efforts we can break through to some objective truth.

     I checked in with James in late November and he had nothing new to report, but I suspect that this story is not over.
  
      Author's note: We received his original communique back in June and I'm just now getting to this write-up at the end of November. This is unfortunate, but school (I'm getting my master's degree) and work have kept me a little too preoccupied. I look forward to doing more write-ups during the winter break and I really do appreciate everyone who comments and writes in. We do, at the very least, see your communication and add it to our growing mountain of data.

 

_________________  

If you or someone you know has experienced the RGMP, please contact our investigation team by filling out a General Info Collection Form here to help us gather the initial details of your case. Send any photos or sketches of your mark in your initial email for consideration to experientialdreaming@gmail.com.