History Main / AlienAbduction

* The concept has proven to be [[https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=alien+abduction+asmr good fodder]] for WebVideo/{{ASMR video}}s.

* A widely accepted theory for why people have such vivid memories of alien abductions is because of a phenomenon that's basically "dreaming while awake". When you dream, not only do you have very strange and surreal images, but your body actually shuts down most muscles so you can't move and accidentally hurt yourself. Sometimes you can "wake up" -- i.e. your eyes open and you're aware of the room you're in. So imagine; you wake up. You can't move your body. You're dreaming of strange lights. It fits all the tropes of alien abduction, further influencing your dream, and you become convinced it actually happened. This is why it's called "sleep paralysis". It can also lead to dreams of ghosts and other paranormal/supernatural beings. A common account was once of a "crushing hag" sitting on the person's chest, crushing them-hence the term "hag-ridden" for one plagued by nightmares. Demons that sucked people's breath away, or abused them sexually (familiar to UFO abduction) were prevalent in Medieval Europe. With multiple people, misidentification of natural phenomenon, hallucinations, and outright fraud are often proven behind many alien abduction stories.

* One of the most unusual alien abduction stories was that of American logger Travis Walton. Walton was allegedly abducted by a UFO in Arizona in 1975. His abduction was reported by several coworkers who claimed to have witnessed the event, resulting in a state-wide manhunt (and a possible homicide investigation). Walton did not reappear until five days later, claiming he had been abducted by aliens. The movie ''Fire In the Sky'' is very loosely based on the alleged abduction.

[[folder:Fan Works]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* AlienAbduction/LiveActionFilms

[[folder:Comc Books]]

[[folder:Comc Strips]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* In some of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons: WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' [[HalloweenEpisode Halloween specials]], [[StarfishAliens Kang and Kodos]] are aliens from the planet Rigel VII who tend to abduct humans (especially the Simpsons of course) for various reasons. ([[NegativeContinuity Though obviously none of these events are canon]].)
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E3TreehouseOfHorror Treehouse of Horror I]]" ("Hungry Are the Damned"), the whole Simpson family are taken captive by Kang and Kodos. They're actually very nice and hospitable to the Simpsons, and treat them to a grand dinner feast. However Lisa is suspicious, and she finds a cookbook entitled ''How to Cook Humans'' ([[ShoutOut spoofing]] the famous ''Series/{{The Twilight Zone|1959}}'' episode "ToServeMan"). [[spoiler:However, Kang and Kodos blow off some dust to reveal the book's title as ''How to Cook '''for Forty''' Humans'', and then they kick out the Simpsons for their rudeness.]]
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E1TreehouseOfHorrorVII Treehouse of Horror VII]]" ("Citizen Kang"), Kang and Kodos abduct Homer Simpson while he's out fishing. Though instead of eating Homer or [[AnalProbe rectally probing]] him as he initially feared, the two aliens simply [[TakeMeToYourLeader ask to know who the leader of Earth is]]. Homer replies that it's US President UsefulNotes/BillClinton, though he may be replaced by Senator Bob Dole in the then-current 1996 presidential election. So Kang and Kodos abduct Clinton and Dole in order to [[TheyLookLikeUsNow impersonate both of them]], and they run in the election. [[spoiler:[[TheBadGuyWins They successfully]] {{take over| the world}} [[AlienInvasion America (and the Earth)]].]]
** In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS10E4TreehouseOfHorrorIX Treehouse of Horror IX]]" ("Starship Poopers"), the Simpsons discover that Homer is not the biological father of Maggie, who is really a [[HalfHumanHybrid half-alien hybrid]] that was conceived when Marge was abducted by Kang; who, after trying and failing to seduce her, blasted her with a {{ray gun}} that [[MarsNeedsWomen made her pregnant with his offspring]]. Kang arrives with Kodos to kidnap Maggie, which leads to a fight with Homer, [[ItMakesSenseInContext which they try to settle on]] ''Series/TheJerrySpringerShow''.
* In the ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' episode "Spanish Fry", Fry gets kidnapped and [[OrganTheft has his nose stolen]] by alien poachers, [[ItMakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext who intend to sell it as a black-market aphrodisiac to]] [[EvilOverlord Lrr, ruler of the planet Omicron Persei 8]]. Judging by a news report, alien abduction is a fairly common occurrence in 31st century life.
-->'''[[KentBrockmanNews Linda]]:''' "Alien abductions: Until now, a harmless nuisance. But recently they've taken on a sinister dimension as unsuspecting victims are returned... without noses."
* In the ''{{WesternAnimation/Recess}}'' episode "The Experiment", there's an {{urban legend}} about a boy named Jimmy Cratner, who was allegedly beamed up by an alien spaceship and never seen again. [[spoiler:[[BrickJoke At the end]], [[RealAfterAll they return Jimmy]] to his school, who thanks them for the ride.]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', Drakken is abducted by TheGreys once, and the Lowardians snatch both him and Kim.
* The {{Pilot}} episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', "Cartman Gets an {{Anal Prob|ing}}e." Almost a hundred episodes later ("Canceled") the aliens abducted him ''again,'' revealing that their secret motive this whole time was to monitor Earth because [[spoiler:it's actually a giant intergalactic reality TV show]].
* Chuck Jones put out two alien-abduction themed ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' -- "Hasty Hare" has Bugs captured by Marvin the Martian, and "Jumpin' Jupiter" has a mutant-turkey alien abduct a vacationing Porky Pig in a visually awesome scene where the flying saucer burrows beneath his campsite, and carries off a whole section of ground with tent, campfire, car and all.
* The ''Series/WaltDisneyPresents'' special "Mars and Beyond" featured a frenetic take on a "typical sci-fi story" where a scientist's secretary is nabbed by aliens, done by Creator/WardKimball in peerless '50s style.
* Played for laughs on ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim,'' where the title character, an insane alien posing as a human, gets abducted by a pair of even-stupider aliens who think he really ''is'' human. We find out that the aliens are so stupid and ineffective at doing anything, all their victims ''escaped without harm''.
* Parodied and shown from the aliens' point of view in the WesternAnimation/PixarShorts film ''WesternAnimation/{{Lifted}}''. A nervous trainee flying saucer pilot struggles to control his vessel, which is controlled by [[BillionsOfButtons hundreds of unmarked, completely identical switches]], and successfully abduct an Earthling.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}'':
** Parodied in a special relating to an episode plot-making contest (of which the episode itself [[TruthInTelevision was the direct result of such a contest]]), where Buster's plot idea was having Buster's character trying to get aliens to come down; they do, [[TheyKilledKennyAgain landing on Buster's character]], and take Arthur's character into their ship, doing anal probing (although, as it is a kids show, Arthur's character is just shown in his underpants, although the implications [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar were still on there]]), then leave Arthur behind. Also, the entire sequence was a direct ShoutOut to WesternAnimation/SouthPark (ironic, considering how that show was anything ''but'' kid friendly).
** Similarly, in the episode (and book) "Arthur's Slumber Party", a subplot involved a newspaper headline mentioning that someone thought they saw a UFO. DW got obsessed with [=UFOs=] as a result, and so during the slumber party, Arthur, Brain, and Buster decided to pull a few pranks on DW by first placing one of their sleeping bags and using a cutout of an alien to cause DW to think its a real alien, and then (episode only) create a UFO contraption for DW to take pictures of until it landed via Brain's remote control.
** Hilariously implied to be what happened to D.W.'s Snowball in the episode "D.W.'s Snowball".
* Happens to WesternAnimation/DangerMouse and Penfold in "Close Encounters of the Absurd Kind". But DM thinks the alien captain is Baron Greenback in disguise.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Homeworld initially seemed totally disinterested in humans, only [[AlienInvasion invading Earth]] [[PlanetLooters to take its resources]]. Later, we see they also abducted numerous humans [[spoiler:to create the starting population of a PeopleZoo, because one of their leaders found humans interesting]]. More recently, [[spoiler:they decide to expand their Zoo. Because of a [[HumansThroughAlienEyes misunderstanding from when Steven talked to a Homeworld gem]], they start with his friends.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': Happens to Stumpy in Episode 98. The aliens abduct him from the couch he's sitting on and examine some acorns he happened to have with him. [[spoiler: Turns out it was AllJustADream ... OrWasItADream]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/Prey2006'':
** This happens to the protagonist, his [[DamselInDistress girlfriend]], his grandfather, and apparently half of Texas.
** Also if you listen to the radio they have also done this to Garland, Texas, and if you look around they are planing on doing this to New York City. [[spoiler:They already got a school bus filled with kids, you watch them take an airplane, and they have abducted other human-like people from different planets. Plus with a ship that size who knows what else could be up there?]]
** The protagonist of [[{{Vaporware}} the sequel]] is one of the passengers on that airliner. He has a few missing years in his memory (starting with the abduction) and is looking for the truth, while working as a bounty hunter on an alien world.
* ''VideoGame/TheSims'' games allow your Sims to get abducted by aliens if they spend too long stargazing. (It's a very small chance without hacks or cheats.) In ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', they can also come back pregnant with an alien baby... [[MisterSeahorse if they're male.]] Now ''that's'' extreme AnalProbing. Even if they're not pregnant, there's a possibility of [[http://cloudlessnights.livejournal.com/26890.html them starving to death]] after their return if they aren't fed immediately; the aliens don't have human food, it seems. This was also introduced in ''VideoGame/TheSims3: Seasons'' expansion pack and ''VideoGame/TheSims4: Get to Work'' expansion pack.
* The {{Backstory}} of ''VideoGame/XCOMUFODefense'' includes humanity being terrorised by mass abductions, and the aliens continue mounting missions to abduct humans through the game... while [[WhoYouGonnaCall it's up to you to stop them]].
** This is also a major component in [[VideoGame/XCOMEnemyUnknown the reboot]]. The most common mission type are alien abductions occurring in major cities across the world. It's also the most straightforward mission type: Kill all aliens on the ground. However, the aliens will ''always'' attack three cities on three different continents at the same time, forcing the player to make a choice, as each mission provides a different reward (all of them useful for different reasons), and panic increases in the continents you don't save, putting them at risk to stop funding you. Fortunately, every country with a satellite over them at the start of the month will no longer suffer abductions, so they can be minimized and eventually shut out entirely.
** And the theme returns in the X-COM series' SpiritualSuccessor, ''VideoGame/{{Xenonauts}}''.
* The ''VideoGame/Fallout3'' add-on ''Mothership Zeta'' has the player and various wastelanders being abducted and studied aboard an alien ship. The evidence on the ship indicates that they have been doing this for centuries. In fact, one of the abductees is a Japanese samurai in full armor who proceeds to slice up his abductors with his {{katana|sAreJustBetter}}. Naturally, you can't understand each other. Another is a Wild West cowboy, whose Colt comes in handy.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear'':
** In the fourth game, ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'', the Colonel, shortly after Raiden manages to escape Arsenal Gear's torture room, suddenly starts telling what seems to be a typical UFO story where it is implied that he was abducted while trying to get home from work, giving the early implication that the Colonel is not who, or rather, [[AIIsACrapshoot what]], he claims to be.
** The third game, ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'', has Sigint remarking that Zero claimed that he was abducted by Aliens once as a reason for him to suspend disbelief in regards to Snake procuring the Spirit Camo.
** In the novel within a video game, ''The Shocking Conspiracy on Shadow Moses'', the main character once thought he was abducted by aliens.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidPeaceWalker'' implies that most of the UFO encounters, Alien abductions, and Cattle Mutilations were actually caused by the CIA, more specifically their rogue unit: the Peace Sentinels, and their AI weapons.
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand'', where Mario had to save Princess Daisy (who made her debut here) from an evil alien [[spoiler: who kidnapped her just so he can distract Mario while the game's ''real'' villain, Wario can succeed in his evil plans as revealed in the sequel.]]
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'': Rosalina, according to her backstory was actually abducted by the Lumas because one of them thought that she was its mother. When Rosalina realizes that her real family is now long dead since her departure, she eventually becomes their leader, and even helps Mario save both Peach and the entire Mushroom Galaxy from {{B|igBad}}owser, who at the same time did this to Peach.
* In ''{{VideoGame/Disgaea 4|APromiseUnforgotten}}'' all of the generic classes have introductory cutscenes which play when you create a new one to add to your team. The [[InfinityPlusOneSword cyborg]] class's cutscene shows a female fighter being abducted in this manner, before being StrappedToAnOperatingTable and undergoing UnwillingRoboticisation.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has ''mass'' alien abduction; the Collectors are abducting entire human colonies at once. [[spoiler:They're using said colonists to build a [[EldritchAbomination Reaper]].]]
* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'', undertaking specific quests on Very Hard difficulty or above has a small chance of the players' campship getting abducted and thrown into the Darker Den.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'', one of the side quests involves some aliens attacking Romani Ranch on the Night of the First Day. They mostly seem interested in [[AliensStealCattle the cows]], but if Link fails to stop them, they'll abduct poor Romani as well (she was in the barn, trying to save the cows). [[spoiler:If she's taken, she'll be dropped back around the afternoon of the Second Day, dazed and having obviously had her mind wiped.]]
* In ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'', [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Professor Eri Anzai]] is kidnapped by the [[Characters/SuperRobotWarsAlpha Ze Balmary Empire]] because of her vast knowledge on ancient history.
* ''VideoGame/OnEscapee'' is about a man who survives his abductors' shipwreck, leaving him stranded on a distant planet.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'', after Jimmy Hopkins collects all the radio transistors for The Hobo, the latter is beamed up into the sky, implying that he was voluntarily picked up by a UFO.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' empires that engage in "Active Observation" of a pre-FTL species will abduct specimens for study. Fanatic Xenophile empires won't tolerate the practice and it has a chance of making the natives more Xenophobic.
* ''Videogame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' uses this twice. Nearly every adult resident of Youngtown was abducted by aliens at some point before the protagonists arrive there, leaving it to become a NeverLand populated almost entirely by children. And in the game's [[spoiler:BackStory, the protagonist's great-grandmother and great-grandfather, Maria and George, were abducted and held for an unspecified amount of time by a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien race. Maria became the [[ParentalSubstitute surrogate mother]] of the then-infant BigBad Giegue and raised him to adulthood, while George studied and presumably gained the ability to use [[PsychicPowers PSI]], well against the alien race in question's wishes. George eventually made it back to Earth, but Maria wasn't so lucky.]]
* In the shooting minigames of both ''VideoGame/WiiPlay'' and ''VideoGame/WiiPlayMotion'', there is one level in which some UFO will try to abduct Miis with [[TractorBeam Tractor Beams]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': In the "Sands of Inaros" quest, we find out that that the primitive human inhabitants of Mars were preyed upon by "golden spacemen," while Inaros did his best to defend them. Eventually Inaros disappeared, and the people were wiped out. [[spoiler:The golden spacemen were most likely the Orokin, a human empire of immortals who, among other horrible things, [[GrandTheftMe stole the bodies of children]]]].

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* An alternate ending to the GrandFinale of ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' would have played this for laughs. After [[spoiler: Dick removes Mary's memories of him and the Solomons return to their home planet, Mary regains consciousness and gets into the now abandoned Rambler. Then Dick beams in naked, yells "Alien abduction!", and beams out with her.]]
* ''Series/{{Arrowverse}}'': In ''Series/TheFlash2014''[=/=]''Series/{{Arrow}}''[=/=]''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow''[=/=]/''Series/{{Supergirl}}'' CrossoverEpisode, the Dominators abduct Oliver, Sara, Ray, Thea, and John with teleporters and put them into a LotusEaterMachine, where they live completely different lives. The ''Queen's Gambit'' never sank, Oliver is about to marry Laurel (still alive), Sara and Thea never became assassins, Ray is still a CEO and is set to marry Felicity, and John is the Hood. However, they quickly start to see that something is wrong and eventually remember the truth and break out. They manage to steal an alien fighter and flee TheMothership. A swarm of fighters gives chase, but the ''Waverider'' appears for a GunshipRescue.
* ''Series/BabylonFive''
** Spoofed in the episode [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhC_KHkihKY "Grail"]], in which the great-grandson of a human abductee sues the great-grandson of his alien abductor for damages.
** They later did a reenactment of the torture scene from ''Fire in the Sky'' when a new race was scouting for easy invasion prospects.
** There does not seem to be any indication that the Vree have ever abducted anyone, although there is a possibility that the {{Roswell|ThatEndsWell}} incident involved a crashed Vree survey ship (their ships are saucer-shaped). The source material is very vague on what exactly happened, it only mentions that the Vree are greatly amused by the huge impact a "routine survey" had on Human society. The more likely abduction candidates are the Streib (who resemble the Vree despite being unrelated) and the Vorlons.
** The Vorlons did abduct [[spoiler:Jack the Ripper]]. Presumably on the assumption that no-one would be eager to have him back.
** The Minbari abducted Sinclair and subjected him to the JackBauerInterrogationTechnique before [[spoiler:discovering that he was Valen]]. Sinclair met Delenn there in those rather awkward circumstances. As far as we know he never talked about it with her even after his memory was restored.
* In ''Series/TheChronicle'', one of the main characters claims that she was abducted several times when she was a child by at least two different alien races. One of these later returns to check up on their subjects... and remove their brains.
* In the ''Series/DarkSkies'' series finale, Majestic-12 replaces an official who is about to be abducted by the Hive with the protagonist in order to infiltrate the mothership. Since the series was cancelled, the outcome is unknown.
* In ''Series/{{Defiance}}'', it's revealed that the Votan have abducted the crew of Space Station Bravery in order to experiment on them and [[spoiler:create Indogene copies of them]] prior to engaging in FirstContact. This fact remained a secret until many decades later.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** The Doctor has been known to do this by accident if a companion is recruited by them wandering into the TARDIS and him taking off before noticing. [[Recap/DoctorWhoS11E1TheTimeWarrior Sarah Jane Smith]] became a companion this way.
** The first two human companions, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild Barbara and Ian]], stumbled aboard the TARDIS because they were worried and curious about a genius student of theirs named Susan, whose grandfather was an eccentric and unnamed doctor. When they saw that the TARDIS was bigger on the inside and saw proof that Susan and the Doctor were {{sufficiently advanced aliens}}, the Doctor felt they had seen too much and decided to abduct them. No one else liked this idea.
** Tegan Jovanka is on her way to a garage to replace her aunt's dud spare tyre when she comes across the TARDIS and, mistaking it for a real police box, ventures inside. As a result, she becomes one of the Doctor's companions.
** [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride Donna Noble]] was another accidental example, notable for being beamed on board the TARDIS while it was in flight, which the Doctor had considered completely impossible.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"]]: This is, in essence, what the Stenza's ritual hunt is, crossed with HuntingTheMostDangerousGame. Rahul's sister Asha is heavily implied to have been the previous target, seven years before.
* Subverted in ''Series/FirstWave'', where the members of the Alien Abduction Support Group are revealed to be hypnotized by aliens to recall false memories as part of an experiment. Aliens don't have starships in the series.
* Is a plot point throughout ''Series/{{Ghosted}}'' that people have been disappearing, and if they return they have been driven insane. Doctor Max Jennifer believes that aliens took his wife and destroyed his career trying to get people to listen to him. [[spoiler: He's right.]]
* The aliens that supplied the supersuit in ''Series/TheGreatestAmericanHero'' do this to various people, although for benign reasons.
* Played with in ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. West Rosen [[spoiler: was once abducted by the company for bagging and tagging purposes. When talking to Claire about the circumstances around the marks on his neck, he attributes it to aliens.]]
* Played with and averted in ''Series/{{House}}''. A child patient is being treated due to having beliefs that he was abducted by aliens. Turns out that it was false, but not because the kid was making stuff up: [[spoiler:He actually did believe it due to the "abduction memories" being a side-effect of his birth. He was originally supposed to have a twin brother who he absorbed in the womb. We end up seeing two [[TheGreys Grey]]-like aliens appearing next to House, but this is just a figment of the boy's imagination, deliberately prompted by House in order to replicate the symptoms]].
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'':
** In "Sightings", Harm and Meg debate the possibility of this, given the blinding lights in the sky, deafening noises, and strange smells people have been reporting. Harm [[AgentScully is dismissive of it]] and tries to find mundane explanations, while Meg [[AgentMulder is more open to the possibility]]. [[spoiler: Harm is right, as it is revealed to be drug runners employing an elaborate cover-up.]]
** In the 3rd season episode "Vanished", an F-14 Tomcat has disappeared in TheBermudaTriangle. On a helicopter flight back to shore, skeptical Harm spots that nerdy Bud is reading a book titled ''The Abductee’s Survival Manual'' and starts a conversation on the topic (see quotes.) [[spoiler: It eventually turns out that the missing F-14 has nothing to do with aliens, but they do manage to get several vital clues to the puzzle from UFO enthusiasts.]]
* In ''Series/LoisAndClark'', Lois feels weird after coming home one day. A new neighbor, who is a trained hypnotist, helps her recover the memories, and she realizes that she was the subject of a typical alien abduction. When she confides in Clark, he expresses disbelief, even after she points out that he's an alien himself. However, it's eventually revealed that the memory was implanted by the episode's bad guy, who triggers a post-hypnotic suggestion in Lois several times in order to distract Superman, while the bad guy's people get away with some crime.
* An episode of ''Series/TheMentalist'' deals with the murder of a man who believed that he had been abducted by aliens and was planning to set up a charitable foundation for other abductees. Unusually, the show never settles whether he was really abducted or just crazy.
* ''Series/PeopleOfEarth'' is half {{Dramedy}} about a support group for abductees (or "Experiencers", as not all of them view the experience negatively), and half WorkCom about the aliens who've been abducting them.
* ''Series/{{Soap}}'': Poor Burt gets abducted, cloned and [[spoiler:temporarily]] replaced.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** As always, the series came up with an "explanation" fitting into its cosmology. The abductions were carried out by Loki, a rogue [[TheGreys Asgard]] scientist performing genetic experiments on humans by beaming them onto his starship, temporarily replacing them with short-lived clones.
** Also, there was one episode where Thor did transport O'Neill to his ship, although its subverted in that it wasn't to do testing on O'Neill as much as request for his help (since the Replicators were attacking his planet, and it was very likely the Replicators would attack Earth next).
** The entire Milky Way galaxy is populated by descendants of ancient humans who were abducted by the Goa'uld and made to serve as slaves.
** ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' reveals that a rogue Asgard faction called the Vanir have been doing this for centuries in the Pegasus Galaxy for the same reason as Loki. Unlike Loki, they have partially succeeded and have outlived their Ida Galaxy cousins. However, thanks to the Wraith, they're stuck on their poisonous planet and are unable to leave the galaxy.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' did its own take of this in "Schisms", where the crew gradually realise that aliens from another dimension have been abducting and conducting sinister experiments on them, then wiping their memories and returning them to the ''Enterprise''. Unusually for ''Franchise/StarTrek'', their actual purpose in doing so is never revealed.
** There are at least a couple of inversions in the series - where the Enterprise beams up an unsuspecting local alien (at least one from a "bronze age" society). However, there was generally a lack of probing and prodding, but they do try to erase the alien's memories of the event.
*** To be fair, if you've already taken someone apart and put them back together again at a subatomic level then a rectal probe seems a bit blasé...
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' did have that one time that the crew of the ''Enterprise'' accidentally abducted a 20th century US Air Force pilot during some unintentional TimeTravel. Most of the rest of the episode's plot centered on trying to figure out what to do with him, having accidentally given him knowledge of the future.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** Played with in episode "[[Recap/SupernaturalS06E09ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]". A series of mysterious disappearances in a small town lead Sam and Dean to investigate. A group of UFO nuts are convinced that the abductions are alien in nature. Their theory seems to be confirmed when Dean is abducted (he escapes when he pulls a gun and just starts shooting everything, which, as he notes, he doesn't think anyone else had done), [[spoiler:only for the perpetrators to be ''fairies'', not aliens.]]
** Played with in an earlier episode, "[[Recap/SupernaturalS02E15TallTales Tall Tales]]". Sam and Dean are investigating a campus where a bunch of bizarre urban legends are coming true, amongst them an AlienAbduction. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a {{T|heTrickster}}rickster, a RealityWarper with a dark sense of humour.]]
* The Illacks in ''Series/TripForBiscuits'' pretty much do this as their modus operandi. [[spoiler:When Bajo finds this out about halfway through the series, it becomes a major plot point in regards to his parents' abductions.]]
* ''Series/{{UFO}}''. Aliens from a dying world abduct humans in order to harvest them for their organs.
* ''Series/TheXFiles''. Subverted in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E20JoseChungsFromOuterSpace Jose Chung's]] ''[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E20JoseChungsFromOuterSpace From Outer Space]]''" where the fake alien abductors got abducted by real aliens. [[RashomonStyle Prob]][[UnreliableNarrator ably.]]
** Of course this happened a fair bit in the X-Files. Mulder and Scully's first case together involved AlienAbduction, and later [[spoiler: both of them were abducted, albeit at separate times - Scully in "Ascension" and Mulder in "Requiem"]].
* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'':
** In "Beyond the Veil", Eddie Wexler checks himself into a psychiatric institution which caters to people who were, or at least think they were, abducted by aliens.
** In "Down to Earth", Dale [=LaRose=] claims to have been abducted by aliens but he later reveals that he made it up as he wanted the other members of the organizing committee of the North American UFO Convention to accept him. [[spoiler: However, it turns out that Dale is in fact Agent Paulson of the Tri-Fab Commission and that he either works with aliens or is one himself.]]
** {{Subverted|Trope}} in "The Awakening". Beth Carter believes that she was abducted by aliens but it turns out that Joan Garrison and Kevin Flynn were trying to [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslight]] her.
** In "Abduction", Cody Phillips, Jason, Ray, Brianna and Danielle are abducted by aliens.
** In "Dark Child", Laura Sinclair was abducted by aliens in 1984. Her friend Susan, whom Laura met during her voluntary stay at a psychiatric institution, also claims to have been abducted.
[[/folder]]

!!Examples:

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'':
** Crimson Rubeus, Prince Demande and Wiseman of the Black Moon Clan, aliens from the planet Nemesis, succeed in abducting multiple protagonists with some variation by medium.
** In the Black Moon arc of the [[Manga/SailorMoon manga]], three of the Sailor Senshi (Sailors Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter) are captured by Rubeus; only Sailor Venus and Sailor Moon remain. Eventually, Sailor Moon is captured as well when she is teleported from Crystal Tokyo to Planet Nemesis. There, Demand tries to {{brainwash|ed}} her with his "third eye", but fails, and they soon free themselves en masse, only to have Wiseman kidnap Moon's young charge, Chibi-Usa, to successfully brainwash her for his own purposes.
** In ''Anime/SailorMoon R'', Crimson Rubeus captures all the Sailor Senshi except Sailor Moon, who frees them after defeating Rubeus. In a later episode, Prince Demand captures Sailor Moon and tries to brainwash her into being his bride, but Tuxedo Mask intervenes and saves her. One episode later, Wiseman kidnaps Chibi-Usa as in the manga.
* ''Manga/CromartieHighSchool'': Freddie being abducted by aliens is seen as more important than knowing the name of Hokuto's lackey.
* ''Manga/HidamariSketch'': Yuno gets abducted by aliens while relaxing on the school roof... only it was AllJustADream.
* A darker-than-usual example takes place in the manga version of ''Manga/ChronoCrusade''. [[spoiler:The creatures known as demons are actually]] aliens that abduct human women to replace their HiveQueen, who was killed on impact when their mothership crashed. [[spoiler:The last one to go through this process was Chrono and Aion's mother, who was pregnant with them at the time.]]
* ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'':
** Occurs on a global scale in the end of "Paint It White", where the invading Pict proceed to [[spoiler: have billions of converted humans]] enter their mothership and then fly back home to their home planet. Switzerland, Liechtenstein and [[spoiler:Iceland]] seem to be the only ones to escape unscathed.
** America's friend, Tony the alien, also seems fond of doing this.
* This is what kicks off the Monkey Hunter arc in ''Manga/{{Gintama}}''. Shinpachi wakes up one day to notice his index finger has been modified into a Phillips screwdriver, and recalls having a "dream" about seeing a strange light, then encountering some aliens who needed to fix their PSP. Gintoki doesn't think it's a big deal until he goes to the bathroom and discovers that his...joystick has been replaced with a hexagon screwdriver, at which point he snaps. They arguably have it better then the other victims, though, who more or less got turned into anthropomorphic screwdrivers.
* In one episode of ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'', Team Rocket disguises themselves as aliens who abduct Pikachu, much to Ash's bewilderment.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
%%* ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind''.
* ''Communion'': It's about a man who has to come to terms with being abducted by aliens who probed him. It's treated like rape, and he even has to see a psychiatrist who specializes in rape victims.
* ''Intruders'': Most of the film deals with aliens abducting successive generations in the same families. At the end, aliens themselves reveal their reasons to the abductees.
%%* ''Film/AlienAbductionIncidentInLakeCounty''
* In ''Film/FlightOfTheNavigator'', the protagonist wakes up 8 years after being abducted and returned to Earth, and hasn't aged at all because of time dilation caused by faster-than-light travel.
* In ''Film/IndependenceDay'', Russell Casse apparently ''was'' abducted by aliens, only [[CassandraTruth nobody believed him]] and mocked him mercilessly about it (some even implying that his "alien abduction" was really some people who abducted him and abused him sexually) until they showed up. Of course, it's never ''entirely'' made clear if it was true, or if the aliens in the movie were even the ones who did it. If you accept the comics as canon, then [[spoiler:it is, and they were.]]
* ''Film/ItCameFromOuterSpace'' (1953). The aliens abduct humans both to [[VoluntaryShapeshifting copy their bodies]] (so they can covertly steal equipment to repair their spaceship) and as hostages. They have no malevolent intent, but believe their [[BlobMonster alien appearance]] will lead to conflict with the primitive humans.
* Done in an unfriendly way in ''Film/FireInTheSky'' with examination/torture. It is worth noting that the abduction depicted in the movie is nothing like the account given by the real Travis Walton, whose story the movie is based on. In Walton's actual account, the aliens while frightening in appearance were not violent, and did not torture him.
* In ''Film/TheFourthKind'', the protagonist is interviewing people who claim to have been abducted.
* In ''Film/MysteriousSkin'' (which is also a book), Brian ''thinks'' this is what happened during a blank spot in his childhood. [[spoiler: The truth is much, much worse.]]
* Subverted in ''Film/RaceToWitchMountain''; Two alien siblings are captured by humans.
* ''Film/{{Oblivion 2013}}'': [[spoiler: What happened to the real Jack and Victoria. It was Harper's decision to uncouple the piloting section from the [[HumanPopsicle crew]] [[EscapePod section]] as it was being [[TractorBeam swallowed by the Tet]] [[HeroicSacrifice that prevented the rest of the "Odyssey"'s crew from becoming clones]].]]
* ''Film/DarkSkies'': TheGreys are experimenting on a typical suburban family and abduct one of its members.
* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' begins with Peter Quill being abducted from Earth by the [[SpacePirates Ravagers]].
* ''Film/FireInTheSky'': Loosely based on a true story, the movie doesn't focus on the abduction itself but on the struggle between those who are trying to prove it to be true and those who are trying to prove it to be false. Instead of believing the abduction, the police suspected Allan Dallas of murdering Travis Walton until Walton reappeared five days later.
* ''Film/{{Honeymoon}}'': [[spoiler:Bea is mind-controlled, abducted and impregnated by beings that are implied to be aliens]].
* As you can guess from its name, the segment "Slumber Party Alien Abduction" from the anthology ''Film/VHS2'' deals with a family hosting a slumber party when they come under an extremely chaotic attack by [[TheGreys Greys]]. [[spoiler:They all end up abducted, except the family dog who is both literally and figuratively {{kick|TheDog}}ed off their spaceship.]]
* The reason beyond [[DarkMessiah Bernard Phillips]]' apparent virgin birth in ''Film/GodToldMeTo'' is eventually revealed to be aliens who abducted his mother and impregnated her through artificial insemination. [[spoiler:And this is how the hero was made as well.]]
* ''Film/TheSignal2014'': This is [[spoiler:the true]] explanation for what happened to the trio of protagonists.
* ''Film/AlienAbduction2014'' is inspired by the actual phenomenon of the Brown Mountain Lights (a UFO phenomenon frequently reported in North Carolina), and recounts the ordeal of a family hunted down and abducted by aliens while on a camping trip.
* This is the premise of ''Film/{{Predators}}'', in which a bunch of killer humans (soldiers and criminals) are somehow abducted by the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Predators]] and taken to a faraway planet to be [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunted for sport]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* The disappearance of Oberon Navarro in Adam R. Brown's ''Literature/{{Alterien}}'' fits this trope. Strange people, Oberon later learns are aliens, took him from his home and returned him completely changed and without any memory of his life.
* Creator/MarionZimmerBradley:
** In ''The Brass Dragon'', the protagonist initially can't remember the last year of his life, but unexpectedly finds that he now knows a lot more about mathematics than he used to. [[spoiler: He and his alien companions were trapped on Mars for most of that year, since they had to wait for an enemy ship to be available to ambush for transport back to Earth. They passed the time by teaching the protagonist a lot of math.]]
** She co-wrote ''Hunters of the Red Moon'' with her brother Paul Edwin Zimmer, in which the protagonist, who is sailing around the world alone, is kidnapped off his boat by the Mekhar (who trade in slaves, and were expecting more people to be on the boat).
* K.A. Applegate's ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' features the Skrit Na, a species that seems to be the basis of "TheGreys". As an Andalite protagonist explains in their first appearance, the Skrit Na basically go around in their weird, saucer-shaped ships, abduct people from other planets and either do weird experiments on them or put them in zoos on their home planets. Interestingly, ''nobody knows why,'' making the Skrit Na the {{Cloudcuckoolander}}s of the galaxy. In this particular instance, the plot kicks off when the Andalites board the Skrit Na ship and rescue the two human teenagers whom they abducted, then try to bring them back to Earth.
* In ChristopherBuckley's novel ''Literature/LittleGreenMen'', alien abductions are the work of a top-secret U.S. government agency which had been manufacturing evidence of alien activity since 1947, and didn't start doing abductions until UFO sightings, crop harvesting and cattle mutilations had lost their novelty value. The [[AnalProbing rectal probing]] and egg harvesting only started because the abductees seemed to demand it. Actual LittleGreenMen aren't used any more because of the difficulty of obtaining midgets with security clearances.
* In Creator/DianeDuane's ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series the primary motivation aliens have for abducting humans is [[SenseFreak to steal their chocolate]].
* ''Communion'' by Whitley Strieber. Allegedly based on a true story; made into a movie starring Creator/ChristopherWalken; helped establish jokes about [[AnalProbing rectal probes]] (to Strieber's dismay).
* ''Literature/ThePuppetMasters'' by Creator/RobertAHeinlein. The titular aliens have been abducting humans for years, possibly centuries, as part of the plan to conquer Earth. It turns out that the protagonist's LoveInterest was abducted from a human colony on Venus as a child; this provides a key to the eventual defeat of the invasion.
* In ''Slaves of Spiegel'' by Creator/DanielPinkwater, Steve Nickelson is abducted by SpacePirates, who have him and everything in his Hoboken restaurant wrapped in aluminum foil, shrunk in size and taken to the planet Spiegel for the pirates' great interplanetary cook-off. Steve sends in a report to the Flying Saucer Club of Hudson County, New Jersey, who pronounce his report to be totally inauthentic since all aliens are either LittleGreenMen or blobby eye stalk creatures, not "fat people," and nobody has ever heard of a planet named Spiegel. When the SpacePirates then find out about Steve's assistant, Norman Bleistift, and kidnap him too.
* Although Pratchett hasn't seen fit to pull this off on ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'' (yet), one of his footnotes does poke fun at this trope, remarking that so many aliens seem to hang around isolated backwoods roads, waiting to abduct humans, that they keep screwing up and abducting one another. Oh, and Bigfoot.
** FromACertainPointOfView, Pratchett has indeed used this trope on the Discworld, only he's remembered that the original abduction stories were [[TheFairFolk Elvish Abduction]] stories.
* Similarly, the monster of Kim Newman's ''DiogenesClub'' story "Angel Down, Sussex", is obviously a by-the-book abductor alien. However, it's also an EmpathicShapeshifter, and the story's set in Edwardian times before such urban legends became widespread. Consequently, different people encounter it as a succubus, one of the FairFolk, or whatever else the earlier equivalent would have been.
* In ''Angry Lead Skies'', Garrett's associate and housemate [[spoiler:the Goddamn Parrot]] gets abducted by "silver elf" aliens, to the detective's considerable delight.
* A [[NatureSpirit non-scifi variant]] happens in Creator/AlgernonBlackwood's "The Wendigo".
* ''Literature/TheTumbleweedDossier'' by Creator/SugarRayDodge was written on the premise of "aliens abducting vampires."
* Happens to the protagonist in Ancient Baghdad in Andrey Belianin's ''The Thief of Baghdad'', who is snatched by a TractorBeam while running away from the sultan's guards. The guards, seeing the hateful thief taken by Saint Hyzr's Chariot, assume he's gone for good. The thief, who is actually a modern-day man transported into the past by a genie, whose spell also caused LaserGuidedAmnesia, breaks away from the short grey aliens and forces them to engage in conversation. They use their telepathy to tell him that they are agents of an interstellar union, made up of various races. They are scouting Earth before announcing their presence and integrating humanity into the galactic community. They claim they wish to eliminate racial, religious, and sexual differences among humans. When the thief hears about the latter, he decides to show the aliens why humans enjoy their sexual differences.
* In ''Literature/MrBlank'', [[spoiler: Mina]] is abducted by aliens. Though in that world, the aliens (referred to as Little Green Men despite being of the modern Grey variety) are one of any number of conspiracies that secretly control the world. Other groups want power, the LGM just want to kidnap and probe.
* Creator/HPLovecraft's ''Literature/TheShadowOutOfTime'' is very much a story of exactly this, once you get past the details that it's "only" the protagonist's ''mind'' that gets kidnapped (the better to [[GrandTheftMe leave his body available for use by the alien explorer taking his place in the meantime]]) and that the abduction is across time rather than space.
* ''Literature/{{Mindwarp}}'': The disappearance of Todd Aldridge is a major background event, and the other kids struggle to avoid his fate.
* ''Intruders'' and all of Buddd Hopkins' catalogue apparently are real life narrations of alien abductees's experiences. Mostly jogged and brought to the surface via hypnosis.
* ''Literature/{{Tunnels}}'': The Styx, [[UltraTerrestrials although they come from within the Earth]] and not from Outer Space, routinely do these to people who discover their secret city and scientists whose knowledge they desire.
[[/folder]]

* ''Film/{{Oblivion 2013}}'': [[spoiler: What happened to the real Jack and Victoria. It was Harper's decision to uncouple the piloting section from the [[HumanPopsicle crew]] [[LifePod section]] as it was being [[TractorBeam swallowed by the Tet]] [[HeroicSacrifice that prevented the rest of the "Odyssey"'s crew from becoming clones]].]]

* ''Franchise/TheSims'' games allow your Sims to get abducted by aliens if they spend too long stargazing. (It's a very small chance without hacks or cheats.) In ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', they can also come back pregnant with an alien baby... [[MisterSeahorse if they're male.]] Now ''that's'' extreme AnalProbing. Even if they're not pregnant, there's a possibility of [[http://cloudlessnights.livejournal.com/26890.html them starving to death]] after their return if they aren't fed immediately; the aliens don't have human food, it seems. This was also introduced in ''VideoGame/TheSims3: Seasons'' expansion pack and ''VideoGame/TheSims4: Get to Work'' expansion pack.

* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': In the "Sands of Inaros" quest, we find out that that the primitive human inhabitants of Mars were preyed upon by "golden spacemen," while Inaros did his best to defend them. Eventually Inaros disappeared, and the people were wiped out. [[spoiler:The golden spacemen were most likely the Orokin, a human empire of immortals who, among other horrible things, [[GrandTheftMe stole the bodies of children]].

* Happens to ''{{Webcomic/Alice}}''. She gets very excited about it, though she momentarily references AnalProbing -- though [[http://alice.alicecomics.com/alicecomics/abducted-3/ the aliens tell her they don't do that anymore]].

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS37E1TheWomanWhoFellToEarth "The Woman Who Fell to Earth"]]: This is, in essence, what the Stemza's ritual hunt is, crossed with HuntingTheMostDangerousGame. Rahul's sister Asha is heavily implied to have been the previous target, seven years before.

** Spoofed in the episode [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhC_KHkihKY "Grail,"]] in which the great-grandson of a human abductee sues the great-grandson of his alien abductor for damages.

* ''Series/{{Soap}}'': Poor Burt gets abducted, cloned and [[spoiler:temporarily]] replaced.

** The Doctor has been known to do this by accident if a companion is recruited by them wandering into the TARDIS and him taking off before noticing. Sarah Jane Smith became a companion this way.
** The first two human companions, Barbara and Ian, stumbled aboard the TARDIS because they were worried and curious about a genius student of theirs named Susan, whose grandfather was an eccentric and unnamed doctor. When they saw that the TARDIS was bigger on the inside and saw proof that Susan and the Doctor were sufficiently advanced aliens, the Doctor felt they had seen too much and decided to abduct them. No-one else liked this idea.
** Donna Noble was another accidental example, notable for being beamed on board the TARDIS while it was in flight, which the Doctor had considered completely impossible.

* ''Series/StargateSG1'':
** As always, the series came up with an "explanation" fitting into its cosmology. The abductions were carried out by Loki, a rogue [[TheGreys Asgard]] scientist performing genetic experiments on humans by beaming them onto his starship, temporarily replacing them with short-lived clones.
** Also, there was one episode where Thor did transport O'Neill to his ship, although its subverted in that it wasn't to do testing on O'Neill as much as request for his help (since the Replicators were attacking his planet, and it was very likely the Replicators would attack Earth next).
** The entire Milky Way galaxy is populated by descendants of ancient humans who were abducted by the Goa'uld and made to serve as slaves.
** ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' reveals that a rogue Asgard faction called the Vanir have been doing this for centuries in the Pegasus Galaxy for the same reason as Loki. Unlike Loki, they have partially succeeded and have outlived their Ida Galaxy cousins. However, thanks to the Wraith, they're stuck on their poisonous planet and are unable to leave the galaxy.
* ''Series/TheXFiles''. Subverted in "[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E20JoseChungsFromOuterSpace Jose Chung's]] ''[[Recap/TheXFilesS03E20JoseChungsFromOuterSpace From Outer Space]]''" where the fake alien abductors got abducted by real aliens. [[RashomonStyle Prob]][[UnreliableNarrator ably.]]
** Of course this happened a fair bit in the X-Files. Mulder and Scully's first case together involved AlienAbduction, and later [[spoiler: both of them were abducted, albeit at separate times - Scully in "Ascension" and Mulder in "Requiem"]].

* ''Series/{{UFO}}''. Aliens from a dying world abduct humans in order to harvest them for their organs.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' did its own take of this in "Schisms", where the crew gradually realise that aliens from another dimension have been abducting and conducting sinister experiments on them, then wiping their memories and returning them to the ''Enterprise''. Unusually for ''Franchise/StarTrek'', their actual purpose in doing so is never revealed.
** There are at least a couple of inversions in the series - where the Enterprise beams up an unsuspecting local alien (at least one from a "bronze age" society). However, there was generally a lack of probing and prodding, but they do try to erase the alien's memories of the event.
*** To be fair, if you've already taken someone apart and put them back together again at a subatomic level then a rectal probe seems a bit blasé...
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' did have that one time that the crew of the ''Enterprise'' accidentally abducted a 20th century US Air Force pilot during some unintentional TimeTravel. Most of the rest of the episode's plot centered on trying to figure out what to do with him, having accidentally given him knowledge of the future.
* Subverted in ''Series/FirstWave'', where the members of the Alien Abduction Support Group are revealed to be hypnotized by aliens to recall false memories as part of an experiment. Aliens don't have starships in the series.
* In the ''Series/DarkSkies'' series finale, Majestic-12 replaces an official who is about to be abducted by the Hive with the protagonist in order to infiltrate the mothership. Since the series was cancelled, the outcome is unknown.
* In ''Series/TheChronicle'', one of the main characters claims that she was abducted several times when she was a child by at least two different alien races. One of these later returns to check up on their subjects... and remove their brains.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** Played with in episode "[[Recap/SupernaturalS06E09ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]". A series of mysterious disappearances in a small town lead Sam and Dean to investigate. A group of UFO nuts are convinced that the abductions are alien in nature. Their theory seems to be confirmed when Dean is abducted (he escapes when he pulls a gun and just starts shooting everything, which, as he notes, he doesn't think anyone else had done), [[spoiler:only for the perpetrators to be ''fairies'', not aliens.]]
** Played with in an earlier episode, "[[Recap/SupernaturalS02E15TallTales Tall Tales]]". Sam and Dean are investigating a campus where a bunch of bizarre urban legends are coming true, amongst them an AlienAbduction. [[spoiler: It turns out to be a {{T|heTrickster}}rickster, a RealityWarper with a dark sense of humour.]]
* An episode of ''Series/TheMentalist'' deals with the murder of a man who believed that he had been abducted by aliens and was planning to set up a charitable foundation for other abductees. Unusually, the show never settles whether he was really abducted or just crazy.
* Played with in ''Series/{{Heroes}}''. West Rosen [[spoiler: was once abducted by the company for bagging and tagging purposes. When talking to Claire about the circumstances around the marks on his neck, he attributes it to aliens.]]

* An alternate ending to the GrandFinale of ''Series/ThirdRockFromTheSun'' would have played this for laughs. After [[spoiler: Dick removes Mary's memories of him and the Solomons return to their home planet, Mary regains consciousness and gets into the now abandoned Rambler. Then Dick beams in naked, yells "Alien abduction!", and beams out with her.]]
* In ''Series/{{Defiance}}'', it's revealed that the Votan have abducted the crew of Space Station Bravery in order to experiment on them and [[spoiler:create Indogene copies of them]] prior to engaging in FirstContact. This fact remained a secret until many decades later.
* In ''Series/TheFlash2014''[=/=]''Series/{{Arrow}}''[=/=]''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow''[=/=]/''Series/{{Supergirl}}'' CrossoverEpisode, the Dominators abduct Oliver, Sara, Ray, Thea, and John with teleporters and put them into a LotusEaterMachine, where they live completely different lives. The ''Queen's Gambit'' never sank, Oliver is about to marry Laurel (still alive), Sara and Thea never became assassins, Ray is still a CEO and is set to marry Felicity, and John is the Hood. However, they quickly start to see that something is wrong and eventually remember the truth and break out. They manage to steal an alien fighter and flee TheMothership. A swarm of fighters gives chase, but the ''Waverider'' appears for a GunshipRescue.
* Is a plot point throughout ''Series/{{Ghosted}}'' that people have been disappearing, and if they return they have been driven insane. Doctor Max Jennifer believes that aliens took his wife and destroyed his career trying to get people to listen to him. [[spoiler: He's right.]]
* ''Series/PeopleOfEarth'' is half {{Dramedy}} about a support group for abductees (or "Experiencers", as not all of them view the experience negatively), and half WorkCom about the aliens who've been abducting them.

* ''Franchise/TheSims'' games allow your Sims to get abducted by aliens if they spend too long stargazing. (It's a very small chance without hacks or cheats.) In ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', they can also come back pregnant with an alien baby... [[MisterSeahorse if they're male.]] Now ''that's'' extreme AnalProbing. Even if they're not pregnant, there's a possibility of [[http://cloudlessnights.livejournal.com/26890.html them starving to death]] after their return if they aren't fed immediately; the aliens don't have human food, it seems. This was also introduced in ''VideoGame/TheSims3: Seasons'' expansion pack.