An Encounter with a Shapeshifter?

In December 2002, two Oxfordshire researchers (who it would be fair to say were looking at aspects of the paranormal from very different disciplines and perspectives) had been having a discussion about UFOs, and particularly abductions.  One of these was APRA Coordinator Brian James - who has experienced some ‘other beings on numerous occasions’, and 'Tony' (pseudonym) - who also once had a very clear feeling of other beings in his home, who he asked to ‘go away’ as he was not ready at the time.

The conversation moved to talk of the different types, or races, of ‘beings’ that have been reported down the years in UFO CE3K’s, and abductions experiences (which may or may not be connected).  Both Brian and 'Tony' pondered whether there was any obvious chronological pattern to suggest a ‘structured plan’ of presence by ET beings.

For a reason that neither can obviously recall, Brian related the very different types of beings being reported in Australia, which are being investigated by ACERN, and Brian started discussing the beings related in Mary Rodwell's video Expressions of ET Contact: A Visual Blueprint? (Brian had bought the video when he met Mary at an AEM meeting in Norwich).  Brian specifically referred to the Leonine beings that are reported to Mary and ACERN, and which are far from common in European encounter accounts.

At this point Brian became very aware of the classic ‘dread’ feeling – hairs standing on the back of the neck and an icy chill down the spine, and there was a strange sensation around his skull (no it wasn't MSG effects are a Chinese meal!).  He glanced at Tony, who at this point was almost trying to climb away over the back of his chair while uttering “You’ve changed – I don’t like this!”

What Tony had seen, or perhaps more accurately perceived, was Brian somehow ‘shapeshifting’ into a Reptilian form, and then quickly also adopting a Leonine form – as if Brian had three ‘bodies’ all in one.  Tony had clearly perceived Brian’s head to change shape as it adopted these two new forms, complete with a spiny crest as Reptilian and with part of a mane of hair as Leonine.

However, as peculiar as this visual perception may have been, this was not what had really scared Tony.  As well as the visual aspect to this experience, Tony was aware of a very powerful ‘wave’ of a feeling of total domination and control emanating from Brian (who was not aware of this himself), and Tony felt very much under 'attack' from Brian and these other ‘entities’.  Tony admits that these entities/beings – if that is what was emanating the ‘control’ that he was feeling – were definitely not to be messed with.  From Tony’s perspective, Brian’s ‘alternate forms’ took a few minutes to recede and for him to be ‘just human’ again.  Tony still describes this ‘event’ as the scariest thing he’s experienced in his life.

Is there a rational explanation, assuming that neither person was hallucinating, and if Tony was simply hallucinating why did Brian experience the ‘dread’ feeling at precisely the moment that Tony saw the first shape change?  There is some research to show that human’s can attain ‘shapeshifts’ to other creatures by way of the astral bodies, and this is perhaps more commonly thought of amongst shamans etc – shifting to a wolf form is very common amongst most cultures, perhaps also hence werewolf legends.  While it is possible that Brian subconsciously shapeshifted his astral forms around him, many books on the subject suggest that it requires considerable physical and mental ability to complete astral shapeshifts, which Brian does not feel he would be capable of,a nd certainly would not have been capable of at that time in his personal life. 

We should not rule out some form of projection, whether by either person, or indeed from some other ‘force’, perhaps even something more akin to a ghost. While it may seem unlikely, we should not ignore the possibility that some other entity chose to project images around Brian for a purpose. 

Tony’s reaction was one of fear as if a warning had been given by what he perceived as powerful entities, but of course one can also experience fear when faced with a challenge – was a window of opportunity missed for a very different encounter?