Someone here mentioned Harvard studying abduction accounts - can anyone verify?

I saw a post a few months back about Harvard having a legitimate department doing research on alien abduction narratives - not from a "these are true" angle but from a psychological and sociological perspective. Can't find the original thread and I can't remember who posted it.

I'm trying to verify this because it would be a big deal - actual mainstream academic institution taking abduction reports seriously enough to research them, even if the framework is skeptical. Does anyone have links or details about this?

It rang a bell because I remembered reading about John Mack years ago and his research at Harvard being controversial. Is this the same project or something newer?

John Mack died in 2004 but his work is still cited. Harvard might have people interested in the subject but I'm not aware of an active formal department. You might be thinking of programs at other universities?

There's definitely academic interest in abduction narratives from psychology and anthropology angles though. Worth checking university websites directly if you want specifics.

Even if Harvard doesn't have a specific UFO/abduction research group, individual researchers often study these topics under different names. Someone might be researching "cultural trauma narratives" or "mass phenomena and psychology" which includes abduction accounts without it being a dedicated UFO program.

I remember Mack's work being genuinely rigorous even though it was controversial. He was actually listening to abductees rather than dismissing them, which got him in trouble with his colleagues. That's where the real academic work should be - treating these accounts seriously even while maintaining scientific skepticism.