The Abduction of Jacob Jacobsson, 1759

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Today it feels natural to associate “alien abductions” with extraterrestrial kidnappers. But there are many cases over the last few hundred years that have all the elements of alien abduction but without all the aliens. The unusual experience of Jacob Jacobsson, as related in the parish records near Lonmora, Sweden in 1759, is a reminder that abduction scenarios date back well before the arrival of flying saucers and alien pilots, and may have nothing to do with extraterrestrials at all.
The Story
On September 16, 1759, a Swedish crofter sent his 22-year-old son, Jacob Jacobsson, across a nearby lake on a simple errand. After returning the boat to shore, Jacob saw a long, wide road at the place of his departure, one that wasn’t there when he left. Jacob climbed out of his boat, and walked down the road. He soon reached an extravagant red mansion.
The next thing he knew, Jacob was seated on a bench by the door to a large chamber. There was a table in the room, and at the very end, Jacob could see a chubby little man with a red cap on his head. Around him were crowds of little people running in all directions. The little people were proportioned exactly like normal humans, but they were of very short stature.
From the crowd came a beautiful young woman offering Jacob food and drink. When he declined, the little people asked him if he would like to stay with them. Frightened and confused, Jacob prayed to God to send him back to his parents’ house. As if in response, the man at the end of the table suddenly exclaimed, “throw him out, he has such an ugly mouth!”
The next instant, Jacob was standing back on the lake shore, with no sign of the road or the big red mansion. He walked home without incident, but when he got there, he realized there was much more to his experience than he’d thought.
The Aftermath
Jacob’s parents were thrilled to see him again, and told him the whole community had been looking for him for four days. Jacob, however, had only remembered being gone a little while - a matter of minutes - and he wasn’t the least bit hungry or thirsty, though he had no memory of eating. Aside from a general uneasy feeling, Jacob showed no signs of wear.
The incident was recorded by the Reverend Vigelius of the parish of Ramsberg, Sweden, who personally heard Jacob’s testimony in the presence of the parents. Vigelius remarked that the boy was of sound character, and was loved by everyone in the community. He seemed not to doubt the reality of Jacob’s experience, and considered it important enough to commit to paper in the parish records.
Conventional Explanations
With only one record of the event, it’s impossible to eliminate the possibility that the story was a hoax, either on the part of Jacob or Vigelius. However, neither had any motive for inventing the story, and there’s no way to explain how Jacob could have sustained himself for four days without detection by anyone in the community, if he did in fact go missing.
The hallucination theory could possibly account for Jacob’s perception of things, but it doesn't explain his four-day absence. Although it’s possible that Jacob could have been so disoriented from the hallucination that he wandered off into the wilderness, he could have never nourished himself in that state of mind. It’s also hard to imagine any hallucination lasting four days being experienced as only a few minutes, and coincidentally ending, abruptly, exactly at the time when Jacob wandered back to where the hallucination began.
Significance
Jacob’s experience would be easier to write off as a hoax or hallucination if it weren’t for the similarities it shares with other well-documented anomalies, and especially with alien abduction.
First is the presence of “missing time” during the experience. Jacob’s experience is eerily similar to that of Travis Walton, who was missing for five days after a UFO encounter in 1975. The Police and local community searched unsuccessfully for all five days of Walton’s absence, but Walton himself remembered only a few minutes on an alien spaceship before being deposited back near his abduction site.
The beings that Jacob encountered are also strikingly similar to the kinds of beings seen by UFO abductees. It is very common for abductees to recall several smaller, subordinate beings surrounding taller leaders. Whitley Strieber, the famous novelist and abductee, for example, frequently encountered little beings in his experiences, but mostly only communicated with a tall, feminine entity. In Jacob’s case, both the beautiful woman and the chubby man could have filled this interactive, leadership role, and the little people running around the table were like the little aliens that abductees see moving around the alien operating room.
Summary
However we explain the abduction of Jacob Jacobsson, it demonstrates the commonalities between abductions by the fairies and goblins of Medieval European folklore, and more recent abductions by supposed extraterrestrials. Fairies, aliens, or hallucinations, they’ve been with us for a very long time.
Source:
Jacques Vallée and Chris Aubeck. Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Anomalies from Antiquity to Modern Times. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Penguin, 2009, 259-261.
Support new videos on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3375417
Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau. Illustration by Colin Campbell. Music by Josh Chamberland. Animation by Brendan Barr. Sound design by Will Mountain.
Today it feels natural to associate “alien abductions” with extraterrestrial kidnappers. But there are many cases over the last few hundred years that have all the elements of alien abduction but without all the aliens. The unusual experience of Jacob Jacobsson, as related in the parish records near Lonmora, Sweden in 1759, is a reminder that abduction scenarios date back well before the arrival of flying saucers and alien pilots, and may have nothing to do with extraterrestrials at all.
The Story
On September 16, 1759, a Swedish crofter sent his 22-year-old son, Jacob Jacobsson, across a nearby lake on a simple errand. After returning the boat to shore, Jacob saw a long, wide road at the place of his departure, one that wasn’t there when he left. Jacob climbed out of his boat, and walked down the road. He soon reached an extravagant red mansion.
The next thing he knew, Jacob was seated on a bench by the door to a large chamber. There was a table in the room, and at the very end, Jacob could see a chubby little man with a red cap on his head. Around him were crowds of little people running in all directions. The little people were proportioned exactly like normal humans, but they were of very short stature.
From the crowd came a beautiful young woman offering Jacob food and drink. When he declined, the little people asked him if he would like to stay with them. Frightened and confused, Jacob prayed to God to send him back to his parents’ house. As if in response, the man at the end of the table suddenly exclaimed, “throw him out, he has such an ugly mouth!”
The next instant, Jacob was standing back on the lake shore, with no sign of the road or the big red mansion. He walked home without incident, but when he got there, he realized there was much more to his experience than he’d thought.
The Aftermath
Jacob’s parents were thrilled to see him again, and told him the whole community had been looking for him for four days. Jacob, however, had only remembered being gone a little while - a matter of minutes - and he wasn’t the least bit hungry or thirsty, though he had no memory of eating. Aside from a general uneasy feeling, Jacob showed no signs of wear.
The incident was recorded by the Reverend Vigelius of the parish of Ramsberg, Sweden, who personally heard Jacob’s testimony in the presence of the parents. Vigelius remarked that the boy was of sound character, and was loved by everyone in the community. He seemed not to doubt the reality of Jacob’s experience, and considered it important enough to commit to paper in the parish records.
Conventional Explanations
With only one record of the event, it’s impossible to eliminate the possibility that the story was a hoax, either on the part of Jacob or Vigelius. However, neither had any motive for inventing the story, and there’s no way to explain how Jacob could have sustained himself for four days without detection by anyone in the community, if he did in fact go missing.
The hallucination theory could possibly account for Jacob’s perception of things, but it doesn't explain his four-day absence. Although it’s possible that Jacob could have been so disoriented from the hallucination that he wandered off into the wilderness, he could have never nourished himself in that state of mind. It’s also hard to imagine any hallucination lasting four days being experienced as only a few minutes, and coincidentally ending, abruptly, exactly at the time when Jacob wandered back to where the hallucination began.
Significance
Jacob’s experience would be easier to write off as a hoax or hallucination if it weren’t for the similarities it shares with other well-documented anomalies, and especially with alien abduction.
First is the presence of “missing time” during the experience. Jacob’s experience is eerily similar to that of Travis Walton, who was missing for five days after a UFO encounter in 1975. The Police and local community searched unsuccessfully for all five days of Walton’s absence, but Walton himself remembered only a few minutes on an alien spaceship before being deposited back near his abduction site.
The beings that Jacob encountered are also strikingly similar to the kinds of beings seen by UFO abductees. It is very common for abductees to recall several smaller, subordinate beings surrounding taller leaders. Whitley Strieber, the famous novelist and abductee, for example, frequently encountered little beings in his experiences, but mostly only communicated with a tall, feminine entity. In Jacob’s case, both the beautiful woman and the chubby man could have filled this interactive, leadership role, and the little people running around the table were like the little aliens that abductees see moving around the alien operating room.
Summary
However we explain the abduction of Jacob Jacobsson, it demonstrates the commonalities between abductions by the fairies and goblins of Medieval European folklore, and more recent abductions by supposed extraterrestrials. Fairies, aliens, or hallucinations, they’ve been with us for a very long time.
Source:
Jacques Vallée and Chris Aubeck. Wonders in the Sky: Unexplained Aerial Anomalies from Antiquity to Modern Times. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/ Penguin, 2009, 259-261.
Support new videos on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3375417
Think Anomalous is created by Jason Charbonneau. Illustration by Colin Campbell. Music by Josh Chamberland. Animation by Brendan Barr. Sound design by Will Mountain.