Also, most cases of "alien abduction" go a little something like this: "being paralyzed in their bed, hearing strange, unrecognizable voices and sounds, seeing lights, and feeling intense fear."

Sounds to me like someone is having Sleep Paralysis... Thank you, PBS special, for helping me make the connections! (And for many UFO sightings, ball lightning fits the description... it's a glowing orb in the sky that changes direction randomly, hovers around, and then "vanishes" away... looking like it is either zooming away or disappearing... often when it finds somewhere to arc to, like a cloud.)