We can't escape them; aliens are everywhere. They sell us soft drinks and star in their own sitcoms. But to the many people who believe they have been abducted aboard strange crafts, aliens are a very serious reality. Stories of these encounters, taken from investigators' files, have been vividly depicted in television specials and motion pictures.

Despite their predominance as a cultural phenomenon, experts offer drastically conflicting opinions: aliens are harmless creatures whose aim is to better understand humans; aliens are angel-like entities here to enhance our spiritual awareness; aliens are conspiring with the government in a plot to enslave humans; and aliens are genetically breeding with humans to create a new race of hybrids.

But, what is really going on? Are aliens abducting thousands of unsuspecting people each year? Are they then inserted with tracking devices and monitored? Based on his own investigative files and almost twenty-five years of research, science writer Chris Rutkowski asks hard questions, looking critically, yet compassionately, at the stories of abductees. He is an astronomer, educator and published commentator within the area of study known as "ufology." Rutowski presents case histories of many abductees, showing both their diversity and similarities, and examines how our understanding is shaped by media, by science, and by society itself.