Key figures
The artist and author whose books shaped abduction research. 5 events, newest first.
Select any year above to see what happened that year.
Open Budd Hopkins as a timeline
Close encounters27 Feb 1996
The PBS science series NOVA examined alien abduction accounts, giving time to Budd Hopkins, John Mack and abductees, then weighing them against sleep paralysis, suggestibility and false-memory research presented by Carl Sagan, Elizabeth Loftus and other skeptics.
Photo: PBS, Public domain
Close encounters1992
A report funded through Bigelow Holding Corporation analyzed 1991 Roper poll questions written by Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs and Ron Westrum. It projected that about 3.7 million Americans might be abductees. Critics such as Susan Blackmore said the questions did not measure abduction.
Photo: Carol Rainey, CC BY-SA 4.0
Close encounters30 Nov 1989
Linda Napolitano told researcher Budd Hopkins she was floated from her Lower East Side apartment into a craft. Hopkins cited letters from purported witnesses, including men claiming to guard a world leader. Investigators Hansen, Stefula and Butler published a detailed critique of the case.
Photo: Carol Rainey, CC BY-SA 4.0
Close encounters6 Apr 1987
Random House published Budd Hopkins' Intruders, built on hypnosis sessions with an Indianapolis woman called 'Kathie Davis' and describing claims of alien-human interbreeding. Skeptic Philip Klass argued in the Skeptical Inquirer that leading questions under hypnosis shaped the accounts.
Photo: Carol Rainey, CC BY-SA 4.0
Close encounters1981
New York artist Budd Hopkins published Missing Time: A Documented Study of UFO Abductions, drawing on interviews and hypnosis sessions with people who reported unexplained gaps in memory. It helped put abduction reports at the center of UFO research.
Photo: Carol Rainey, CC BY-SA 4.0
