Sure, they're real. Exactly what they are is not clear to me. But I've talked to enough people who've experienced them, some of them scientists and none of them walking around with tin foil lined hats, to take it very seriously. These people all doubted themselves for a long time and assured me that they would prefer not to believe. My sense was that somethign external and intelligent was affecting these people and at times controlling them. Whether these were aliens or not, I don't know, and some of these people did not know. For the most part they viewed these experiences negatively. Which seems rational to me, given what they went through.