Are other
worldly beings abducting humans, tampering with their memories, and collecting
their DNA? Is our planet threatened by extraterrestrial invasion?
And why
did this issue seem so much more important 20 years ago?
If one
had travelled, physically or intellectually, in certain circles during the early
1990s and the beginnings of the new millennium, it would have been easy to come
to the conclusion that alien abduction was a very real and important issue.
And if
you had begun to look into the issue a few names would be prominent, John Mack,
David M. Jacobs, and Budd Hopkins. All were known as prominent UFO researchers
who had published books on the subject with mainstream book publishers and who
had developed a following, often with their own network of researchers, administrative
staff, and, of course, abductees and support groups for abductees.
John
Mack was a Harvard professor of psychiatry who had come to the belief that his
patients were being abducted by beings from another world or dimension, perhaps
come via UFOs.
David
M. Jacob was a Temple University professor of history who had developed the
belief that the world was being menaced by extraterrestrials who were cross
breeding with humans and that their cross-breed offspring was infiltrating our
society without much notice.
Budd
Hopkins, who we will focus on a bit here, was an artist by training, and apparently
a surprisingly successful one with work in several prestigious museums. Ultimately
his career as an abstract painter and sculptor, began to become overshadowed by
his enthusiastic effort to explore UFO phenomenon and claims. According to the Budd Hopkins Wikipedia page
(accessed on July 5, 2021), Hopkins first became interested in UFOs after
apparently seeing something he could not identify and that he found quite mysterious
and important on Cape Cod in 1964. When he reported the sighting to the
government, he was not satisfied with their answer, and suspected a government
cover-up. His response to that was to begin to investigate such claims himself.
In 1975, Hopkins was approached by
George O’Barski, a man who claimed he had met the occupants of a UFO after the
object, an alien spaceship, had landed and taken soil samples. This was the beginning
of seeking out people who either claimed or simply wondered if they had
encountered alien visitors or had been abducted by such beings. According to
his New York Times obituary ( Hopkins died August 21, 2011, at the age of 80. See
Fox, Margalit. “Budd Hopkins, Abstract Expressionist and U.F.O. Author, Dies at
80,” New York Times. August 24, 2011. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/25/arts/design/budd-hopkins-abstract-artist-and-ufo-author-dies-at-80.html
) Hopkins was “the father of the
alien-abduction movement.”
On the other hand, being “father of
the alien-abduction movement” is not necessarily a good thing, particularly if
people are not actually being abducted by aliens and the entire movement was
based on delusion, paranoia, and poor investigation techniques.
With luck, fate, karma, and God
willing, I’ll share more on this in future installments.
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