Incident at Devils Den, a true story

 

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ terry lovelace; 1st edition (10 Mar. 2018)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 246 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0692072012
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0692072011
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 1.42 x 22.86 cm
• https://www.amazon.co.uk/Incident-Devils-story-Terry-Lovelace/dp/0692072012
  
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Terry Lovelace has an undergraduate degree in psychology and a juris doctor from Western Michigan University. He worked in private practice, mostly in civil litigation and criminal defense. He entered public service as an assistant attorney general for the United States Territory of American Samoa. He later retired as an assistant attorney general from the State of Vermont in 2012. He lives in Dallas Texas with his wife of 44 years and family. He served on active duty in the USAF from 1973 to 1979. He was trained as a medic/EMT and drove an ambulance at Whiteman Air Force Base for his entire enlistment. 

In 1977 he and a coworker named Tobias went to Devils Den State Park in Northwestern Arkansas to photograph wildlife. Eagles in particular. Rather than stay in the designated campground they opted to drive deep into the wilderness to find an area of high ground better suited for eagles. They came to a small summit, a plateau with a carpet of late blooming wildflowers and a treeline almost halfway around. It was perfect. They set up camp with the meadow in front of them and the treeline to their back. Exhausted from the day's travel they were sitting around what was left of a campfire. Terry noted that all of the wildlife sounds they had heard just an hour earlier were now silent. He found it unnerving. He asked Toby, "It's so quiet ... is that normal?" Toby assured him it was and said their laughter had quieted them. "Just wait, they'll be back," Toby said with confidence. At that moment something on the western horizon caught Toby's attention. It was a triangle of three bright stars. "Hey, were those there before," he asked? "No," Terry replied, "not that I recall." 

They were discussing what they could be when they suddenly moved. They were both amazed! The three stars rotated as if on an axis. A few minutes later they began a slow ascent straight up. As it climbed higher in the night sky it grew larger, with its three points of light spreading further apart as it climbed. It was obvious this was a single solid object and not three objects moving in unison. Toby noted the area inside the triangle was deep black, much darker than the night sky. 

They both noted that as it moved past a field of stars they would bling-out for a moment until it had past, and then blink back on. Terry noted the uneasiness he felt earlier when the forest fell silent had left him. He felt a calm wash over him. Later, Toby would admit to feeling almost sedated. They watched ...

I also saw Lovelace in a live chat on You Tube and various other recorded videos. Having seen all of this I decided that it was worth reading more about the account and so purchased his book.

Firstly, I noticed in the live video there were slight variations in his account. However, this is to be expected as he has repeated the account so many times that you expect something to be slightly added or changed -often it is the mind filling in a gap so recalling something or making what is being said more logical. This is why you always interview people to incidents (whether crimes or observations) as soon as possible.

The "monkeys in the bedroom" can be explained easily as can the flying saucer he saw as a child. Waking dreams are vivid and believe me when your father is being told at 0200hrs by your older brother that he can't go back to bed as he is talking to a star fish at the top of the stars you understand how vivid. There were other incidents but none of them (including the star fish conversation) was recalled by him.  The mind is a strange thing.

We have the the Sheryl story of UFOs and aliens on her property and photos she took showing teens with backpacks on rail lines -oh, and a blurred night time photo that could have been anything. I have met a few "Sheryls" in my time and Lovelace does admit that she probably had some mental health issues. If you are shown your own photo of human teenagers and insist that "if you look closely you can see they are aliens" then best thing to do is pass that person on to MUFON -I'm sure they will find the aliens in the photo.

Above: Terry L:ovelace (c)2022 Terry Lovelace https://www.terrylovelace.com/

When it comes to the incidents surrounding Lovelace and Toby's camping trip and forgetting things at home and getting lost and being very tired after hiking all over the place there is no need to  pull in phenomenon of any type. That happens to normal people.  

I knew an avid photographer who went on a holiday to Wales and intended photographing wildlife and the scenery. He drove to Wales in a camper van and set things up. Food all stored correctly even after bumpy roads. Water tap connected to the water container.  He sat outside the camper and watched a bird of prey flying in his direction so he turned to get his camera and...he then realised that he had left it on the stairs at home (200 miles away): "I was in an isolated area and I could hear the obscenities I was hurling at myself being echoed back at me for good measure!"  I have known naturalists go out on day hikes to specifically look for tracks to photograph and plaster cast and...found they left the plaster or camera at home.  Not one of these people ever claimed alien abduction so for me all the account given does is show two men out camping and like normal men they fecked up. End of story.

We then come to the actual UFO sighting while they are camping and that rings so true of many other observations and even the account of looking out of the tent and seeing the small entities move about. It is classic CE3K and I've files full of these reports. Then we come to the boots and socks -socks put on sideways, boots partially laced up rather than fully laced up as before they went to sleep. All the aspects can be found in other cases but were Lovelace and Toby abducted?

That is something you have to decide because for me personally there are major problems. For one thing; did Toby exist? I have seen no photographs of him -Lovelace was a keen photographer and he never took photos of his best friend or his wife and Toby's who were best friends, too? No documents showing Toby existed, no photos and, basically, Toby might as well have been described as a 6ft tall white rabbit named Harvey.

Another problem was that there is absolutely no documentary evidence or back-up to support his post abduction condition which was severe and also involved extreme thirst (something else those familiar with CE3K reports will be familiar with). Nothing. When you read about the objects in his knee/thigh area you think "proof" but looking at what Lovelace writes you find that he claims the VA Hospital altered or changed the doctor's report. The x-ray itself can be altered using photoshop and then -the implants were gone...except a tiny wire was left

and that gets me asking more questions.

Above: the leg x-ray showing alleged implants. (c)2022 Terry Lovelace https://www.terrylovelace.com/

When he found that there was still something present in his leg that was it. We have that "wire" x-ray.  I recall how Budd Hopkins raised funds to have an "implant" surgically removed from an abductee and also some MRIs to be taken of implants. Every single alleged implant had vanished (if they were ever present). Of course, "the aliens removed them before the procedures) which was frightfully awkward, wasn't it? Then how come Robert Leir managed to find and retrieve so many alleged "alien implants" -that in itself could take up a book looking at the scammery involved.

And that is that. Without a medical examination report (just a few pseudonyms to protect medical reputations -do not buy that in this day and age) to back up what he claims Lovelace has just his credibility to fall back on. Is he prone to altered states followed by memory loss -after 'missing' on a motorcycle ride (and his wife's OTT reaction to him getting back later than usual) where he admits his mind had wandered off and he had no idea why he was off-road on a dirt track his wife later asks him if it was possible that "what happened to Betty and Barney Hill" might have happened to him?  He then read the account of the Hills case and we see from things he is writing that he is fed one suggestion after another at different times feeding into his narrative and as I got to the end of the book (I received it yesterday morning and read it through by 2200 hrs the same day) I drew conclusions.

1) Lovelace appears to be a laid-back, polite and straight forward person and quite likeable. He gives his account in a straight forward manner and if the actual incident he refers to takes up just one minute of time you will get 5 before and after explaining the circumstances, etc.

 That is the plus point.

2) People prone to altered states see and feel and KNOW that what they have been involved with is real. Or they may just have partial recall which leads to paranoia and stress -one medical professional suggested that he had post traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Lovelace admits he had been in dangerous situations as a military  EMT (Emergency Medical Technician -paramedic) and so it is possible that an incident or series of incidents could have caused this.

That is a minus point.

3) There is absolutely no medical documentation of what he claims  or newer x-rays of his legs.

That is a minus point.

4) We have absolutely no evidence that Toby existed let alone that he fell into alcoholism and died.

That is another minus point.

5) We have Lovelace's account of being hypnotised by a senior medical officer, presumably from his account, sodium pentothal was used to relax him prior to the hypnosis. I have strong doubts that Lovelace thought the drug and hypnotism during chunks of the session "feeding" the officer and two OSI men what they wanted to hear. He states that on two occasions the officer checked his blood pressure and still believed Lovelace was "under". Recollection of a group of humans being in line, naked and awaiting some form of examination, the humans working with the aliens -which he was ordered to forget because that was secret- and other aspects all have the familiar Hopkins/Jacobs scenario and I suspect that this is false memory right down to the "Greys" being basically drones -which was not in any other accounts of abductees until the late 1990s/early 2000s when Hopkins and Jacobs "created" this. There are so many aspects to this alleged hypnosis session that it gave me serious doubts.

That is another big minus point.

6) Lovelace was almost paranoid about "something" having happened and this gave him panic attacks and nightmares and he refused to go to counselling to find ways of stopping the panic attacks and nightmares and all the way along his wife had concerns about the "possibilities".

Another minus point.

7) There was an incident in his child hood when his family sat motionless at the dinner table yet no one could recall that happening later. At the end of the book, Lovelace refers to "Betty, the Lady MIB"(alien) and a conversation with her:

"I performed my usual nighttime ritual of locking things up and setting the alarm. I made it to bed a little before midnight and fell soundly asleep for what felt like just an instant.

"When I opened my eyes, I found myself in our family room! I was seated upright in my chair and sweating profusely. I could see the alarm panel from my chair. The alarm was set and had not been triggered. Never in my life have I walked in my sleep. Not once."

Lovelace then sees the "Lady MIB" and feels "mildly sedated" and they have a conversation (she via telepathy). Firstly, there are many number of people who have no idea that they sleepwalk -my older brother when a teen for one. Only when someone moves into a shared tenancy or enters a relationship/gets married do they find out they do sleepwalk as other people have seen them do so.  The feeling slightly sedated adds to this scenario and could be indicative of sleepwalking OR being in a dream state in bed and sleepwalking seems likely as this account he ends by writing: "I woke up in the living room chair at dawn"

This is a massive minus point. 

Is Lovelace lying and just writing 'real life' fiction to earn money -the book sold well apparently. I give the benefit of doubt because watching Lovelace and his body language and facial expressions (and his eyes) he appears to be truthful. This is where we hit the major problem: as much as he may feel the events actually happened it is likely that he is perfectly normal but these are altered state recollections intermixed with real life events and fed by various sources -Ufological and his own wife. 

In this case he is genuine but not a UFO abductee.

I have spent over four decades listening to and reading this type of report and I would very much like to think that something happened to Lovelace at Devil's Den that set in motion his PTSD and that would be anything but unusual in these events. The biggest problem here is that we have a single person claiming this and adding things that he has learnt from Ufological sources over the years. This is why I prefer reports with two or more percipients as  well as some non-involved party back-up (see UFO Contact? for instance).

In this case there is absolutely no supporting evidence that the event took place. I note people rushing to proclaim the "bravery" for publicising the events but my guess is that those are UFO enthusiasts who really require no evidence and still believe that the decades ago revealed UFO hoaxes are real because "Why would someone hoax that?!"

There is a follow-up book, Devil's Den: The Reckoning which it is claimed offers previously unrevealed information. Will I buy it? Yes, because I want to see where this goes and I hope this does not turn out to be another Whitley Streiber.