Chilling Virtual Reality Experience From peta2 Promises Alien Encounters at Florida A&M University

For Immediate Release:
September 18, 2025

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

In this eerie experience, visitors will enter a mysterious truck containing a mobile virtual reality studio and find themselves seemingly stranded with a couple of fellow humans in the desert, only to be abducted by aliens, taken aboard a spaceship, and subjected to a shocking experience that mirrors what other species endure in laboratories. They’ll watch as their friends are subjected to painful tests—knowing that they’ll be next.

When: Monday, September 22 – Thursday, September 25, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. each day

Where: “The Landing” next to the Student Union and Will Parker Amphitheater, 1628 S Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd

Watch the trailer here. Broadcast-quality footage of the Abduction virtual reality experience is available upon request.

At Florida A&M University, experimenters injected viruses into the brains of genetically modified mice, dripped liquid chemicals into the mice’s nostrils for 21 days straight, and subjected them to various tests, including placing them on spinning rods and measuring how long they could stay on before falling off. Ultimately, all the mice were killed and their brains were cut out. Other experiments involved implanting human breast cancer cells, prostate cancer tumors, or pancreatic tumors into mice and administering various drugs as the tumors grew.

“Many students don’t know that on their own college campuses, frightened and confused animals are psychologically tormented, mutilated, and killed in laboratories with no way to escape or even understand what’s happening to them,” says peta2 Vice President Rachelle Owen. “peta2 is a trailblazer in using immersive VR experiences to open young people’s eyes to this cruelty, help them understand what it feels like, and motivate them to join our call for a switch to superior, non-animal research.”

Studies show that 90% of all basic research—most of which involves animals—fails to lead to treatments for humans. That’s why peta2 is pushing universities to invest in research relevant to humans through Research Modernization NOW, a roadmap to better science.

Since its debut, Abduction has traveled from coast to coast, visiting more than 50 colleges and universities, including Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California–Los Angeles, and the University of Texas at Austin. Abduction was filmed in VR180 with assistance from the immersive content creation studio Prosper XR, won “Gold” and “Audience” honors in the 2023 Shorty Impact Awards, and was a nominee for the 2024 Webby Awards.

peta2—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to experiment on”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers young people positive, empowering actions to help animals. For more information, please visit peta2.com or follow peta2 on TikTok or Instagram.