Interview-Alternate Perceptions Magazine, June 2015
An Interview with:
Jo Ann Koch,
the author of the newly released book Aliens, Abductions and Other Curious Encounters: Contact with E.T.s and Alternate Worlds
by: Brent Raynes
Jo Ann Koch of southern California is a registered x-ray and therapy technologist and holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in art and psychology. For the first time, she is going public with her lifetime of alien and paranormal experiences that have plagued her since childhood. She is the author of Aliens, Abductions and Other Curious Encounters. She may be reached at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Brent Raynes: Beginning in early childhood you encountered the woman in the long white coat, who made you think of a doctor, and then the smaller figures. Later the woman became replaced by a man in a long white coat. These were all Greys, or Grey like beings, right? How tall were they? What other characteristics did they possess?
Jo Ann Koch: As a child I couldn’t tell the size of the “others” but I remember believing the “lady doctor” was an adult. She seemed stern and never smiled and I thought she was mad at me.
As I grew older and more informed I realized that the two smaller figures were probably greys. The doctor had facial expressions and was very intent. I don’t know much about other types of entities but she was not a grey. The man who came in my late 20’s was the same but he was more responsive. I even felt we had a relationship of some type. I trusted him but that’s probably because I was so used to the experience. When we were in Russia I was abducted and there were more entities that time. The greys were there, plus a “doctor” but there were also two or three men wearing military uniforms. That’s when I decided that the governments were probably involved and perhaps each country had their own contacts. I knew they were excited and wanted to see what was going on with me. The greys have always been kind of peripheral and were always the workers, directed by the doctors.
Brent Raynes: Around ages 7-8 you began to have out of body experiences. There was a young boy and through the years of having these experiences you and he both grew older together in these experiences. Could you tell us more about these experiences. Also, later as a young woman you were walking along a street one day in Long Beach, California, and time seemingly slowed down and you locked eyes with this handsome blue eyed guy and you felt this strong spiritual connection with him, and you could see that he obviously recognized you too. You wrote that you felt that this was the same young man you had encountered in the astral realm. As I read this part of your book I wondered why one of you didn't stop and get together at that point and talk. You later mentally wished him happiness and a wonderful life, and wondered if he might have been your soul mate.
Jo Ann Koch: My astral projections were one of the most pleasant aspects of my experiences. Of course, I didn’t realize what was happening and it was an extremely difficult process, although it did get easier. When you reach that level/realm, or whatever, it is indescribable. It was softly dark and safe and happy. There were many others but as I mentioned the one little boy was special. We were happy to see each other and then continue our “journey”. I don’t know where we were going but we were going together and with the others and we were always joyful and excited. This was similar to attending the classes from my handler when I could never remember what we were being taught. When I was older and saw the young man it gave me great joy to know it was him. In a way, it has given me courage to think about him. I have no idea why we didn’t acknowledge each other, other than a deep knowing. Being so unresponsive kind of follows my usual reactions and I assume that he reacted the same way. How could two strangers approach each other and say “it was nice astral projecting with you.” I may be able to do that now but not then.
Brent Raynes: Although you kept silent to your family, friends and co-workers over these many years about what was happening to you, occasionally others, like your high school friend Sharon, would share in an experience. In that case it was a ball of light at close range that split in half. The two of you ran away and so don't know what that may have been about. With another person, years later, it was awakening and seeing a "little man" that disappeared. But most of the time it was just you and you alone living day to day with this secret life you were leading. Your years of silence was very difficult and painful on you obviously. If you had it all to do over again, what might you do differently?
Jo Ann Koch: In the past few years, I have started asking myself the same question: would I handle things differently today. On one hand, I would say yes. These experiences are much more in the open now and even if you are ridiculed there are some who would support you. Also, I am a different person now. I am more aware of what is going on and I am stronger and more self-assured. When I was a child, no, I don’t see how I could have handled things differently. First, was the fear of something terrible happening, probably suggested by the entities. Second, my family would not have accepted it. Even though I believe they were involved in some esoteric things they never admitted to it and ridiculed people who believed otherwise.
I hope that as things come out into the open more no one has to face this loneliness and isolation. I believe this happens more than we realize.
Brent Raynes: In addition to the frightening abduction encounter experiences, some of the aliens seemed rather dark and negative while others not so much, but perhaps just doing a job. Then on the other hand, you also became aware of positive aspects, more of a spiritual nature, like when your daughter had a baby boy and you saw the three little angels, and later both you and the nanny observed little lights floating above the baby when he was about eight months old. How many of the lights did you see, how big were they, and what colors?
Jo Ann Koch: I believe that there are more types of entities than we can possibly know. The ones that I mainly interacted with seemed fairly benign. I don’t remember ever being hurt by them, other than being terrified as a child. When I was older I almost didn’t care. There were a few times over the years when I almost woke up screaming and I assume these were some other types. The dark ones I interacted with during my illness were evil, through and through, and I knew it from the first encounter. I don’t believe beings are all from other worlds but some are from other realms. I believe there is layer upon layer of these realms/dimensions and somehow some of us interact with them. I have also been fortunate to interact with very positive beings I have felt were angels (and what are angels but beings from another realm?). There have been other times I have gotten messages of hope, usually in times of stress. The three little angels were such a gift. The lights we saw around my grandson were small, 3 inches maybe, and white. There were about two dozen lights that seemed to circle around his crib.
Brent Raynes: It seems as though abductees/contactees, by and large, have a greater psychic awareness than the average populace. These abilities and sensitivities seem to run in family's. Like your mother was a healer, was intuitive, had a near death experience (though you didn't know that was what it was called back then) and when you were young shared with you various esoteric sounding things. And though your father tended to ridicule such things, he had a strong premonition of the death of one of his sister's one night and he did table tipping.
Jo Ann Koch:Yes, my family did seem to be involved in some things that definitely would not be accepted then. My mother was highly intuitive I believe. She always seemed aware of some things that others didn’t know. She was very intelligent but not well educated and felt that keeping up appearances for the public was very fundamental. She would never present herself as being different and her children had to do the same. I know that the NDE affected her deeply and I was the only one she told, except possibly my father. My father called everything unusual “bunk” but he was a Mason, and that, I have discovered, is very esoteric.
Also, his sister was a Rosicrucian and that is similar, so I am guessing that his family may have been a little involved in different things. I have finally admitted that I do have a psychic awareness and I have since early childhood. I think it runs in my family. My son is very intuitive, as is his daughter and also my daughters’ son. I don’t know about my brother but I do believe that his daughter is sensitive, too. I don’t know what came first, sensitivity or abductions; it’s a perplexing question. I wish there were someone still alive from my parent’s generation that I could question.
Brent Raynes: Skeptics and many mental health people would suspect that you were experiencing lucid dreams or night terrors through the years. However, you've studied the literature on these matters yourself and you disagree, and feel that you can definitely distinguish between hypnagogic imagery, dreams and real alien encounters. Can you please explain?
Jo Ann Koch: People who experience these things can always tell the difference; you just know. I have had ordinary dreams and also prophetic dreams but they are all completely different from these interactions. For one thing, I have been affected physically (i.e. the illness). I have had bruises and soreness after an experience. I have had some waking phenomena that correlate with these experiences. Also my experiences have gone on for many years and they follow a pattern. Some are complete experiences with a pattern that I fully remember. I think dreams are more disjointed and you don’t remember the whole experience and some of them do not make any sense. I have had many experiences over the years that I did not understand and as a read more I have discovered that what I experienced frequently happens to other people. That always makes me feel validated.
Brent Raynes: What do you hope that all readers will get from your book?
Jo Ann Koch: I hope people who read my book will open up to other possibilities. There is so much that goes on in different levels we cannot imagine. I hope that by finally talking about my experiences it will encourage others to come forward. We need to be out in the open about what is going on and if we all talk about this it may not seem so off the wall. Plus we can support each other. I hope my support research will help others understand more. I know that the more I found out the more I felt there were many connections than what we realize in our daily living. Finally, I hope that the skeptics may have questions and be more open to possibilities that can’t be proven but that some of us know.
