134: The History of Alien Abductions, Part 6: Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs and the Shaping of a Phenomenon

CW: Sexual abuse

When it comes to the alien abduction phenomenon, no two figures have played a greater roll in its shaping than Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs. And shaping, I think, is the perfect word, because, as we’ve covered on this series, before this point, abductions were very different animals. It was through Hopkins that it became an intergenerational phenomenon, that its captors all looked the same with slight variations, and that those captors were lying, deceiving assholes with an agenda that could be gleaned through hypnosis. Alien-human hybrids dominated the field because of Budd Hopkins. In short, the phenomenon that you know as alien abductions is the product of Budd Hopkins’ research, and the proliferation of that research from other figures, like David Jacobs.

In an interview with Ed Conroy, for his book Report on Communion, Whitley Strieber had this to say about Hopkins and Jacobs: "'He and Jacobs are censoring the experiences of people with visitor experiences in order to fit them into a theory they have about extraterrestrials,' Strieber told me in a December 1988 interview. 'If some of the experiences in people's lives don't fit with their theories, they just exclude them. In my books, I have maintained an account of the experiences which is very close to how strange and bizarre they really are. That is why my books have gotten such a tremendous response, while Intruders was a failure.'"

On this episode I dive into the work of these two figures, and expose the flaws and abuses that is contained within.

Sources:

Missing Time: A Documented Study of UFO Abductions by Budd Hopkins

Intruders: The Incredible Visitations at Copley Woods by Budd Hopkins

Budd Hopkins and Debbie Kauble on Dini Petty’s Talk Show

Secret Life: Firsthand, Documented Accounts of UFO Abductions by David Jacobs

The Threat: Revealing the Secret Alien Agenda by David Jacobs

The Greys Have Been Framed by Jack Brewer

“Co-creation of the ‘alien abduction phenomenon’” by Carol Rainey, Paratopia vol.1, n°1

Theme song:

"Ufo" by Floats, available on Soundcloud, iTunes and Spotify

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