Millions of Americans in the 1990s believed they had been abducted by aliens.

Evidence

An even stranger result had appeared in a 1992 Roper survey, which suggested that 2 percent of Americans (roughly 3.7 million) believed they themselves had been abducted. While the Roper result is almost certainly infl ated, a number even half as large would be extraordinary. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 407

Categorization

• QUESTION: What methods produced the Roper abduction figure, and how badly inflated is widely believed? Worth chasing the study’s design.
• XREF: connects to: Nearly half of Americans believed in UFOs half a century after first sightings. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 405; Majorities of Americans hold at least some conspiratorial beliefs — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 120; New World Order fears merged with UFO conspiracy theories during the 1990s — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 481 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• New World Order fears merged with UFO conspiracy theories during the 1990s #complicates (0.75) — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 481
• Nearly half of Americans believed in UFOs half a century after first sightings. #corroborates (0.72) — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 405
• Twentieth-century American conspiracy theories shifted from alien out-groups to the government itself. #expands (0.72) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 75
• Majorities of Americans hold at least some conspiratorial beliefs #expands (0.70) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 120