Witnessed; The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions
by Budd Hopkins, Bud Hopkins
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Book Summary Information
Author: Bud Hopkins, Budd HopkinsEdition: Hardcover
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 1996-08-31
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 399
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Book Reviews of Witnessed; The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions
Book Review: Extraordinary but true: the most complex abduction case ever investigated reveals much about the phenomenon
Summary: 5 Stars
This milestone book is the crowning achievement of Manhattan-based writer and researcher Budd Hopkins in a lifetime of groundbreaking investigative work on the alien abduction phenomenon, and one of the best-written and most absorbing you'll ever read.
After 10 years of research into abductions, two best-selling books ("Missing Time" in 1982 and "Intruders" in 1987), many high-profile TV appearances and international lecture tours presenting evidence on this superficially outlandish subject, Hopkins received a letter on 1st February 1991 marked "Personal and important" from two men claiming to be "police officers." The letter claimed the officers had witnessed the abduction of a woman accompanied by three small humanoid figures from an apartment block in Manhattan facing the Brooklyn Bridge at 3am on 30th November 1989, in full view of a number of third-party witnesses. The abductee-group was seen emerging from a 12th floor window in the apartment block and rising in a beam of light into a large, brilliant red-orange glowing disk-shaped craft hovering alongside the building. Reportedly all vehicles in the vicinity were engine-immobilised and radios, phones and communications equipment ceased to function for the several minutes' duration of the spectacle.
The motorcade in which the two "officers" had been travelling carried a man whom Hopkins refers to in the book as "The Third Man" and who is now universally acknowledged to be Javier Perez de Cuellar, then Secretary General of the United Nations. He and several other high-profile international politicians travelling in the temporarily immobilised motorcade had a grandstand view of the spectacle. Following publication of the book, a number of other witnesses subsequently came forward and most said that at the time they thought they were seeing a movie employing special effects or holograms being staged in Manhattan in the middle of the night.
The two men were in fact not regular police officers but agents in the National Security Agency, and wrote to Hopkins on their own initiative because the subject of alien abductions was not to be "officially" acknowledged or discussed by the NSA. It turned out that the abducted woman, whose ID is disguised in the book as "Linda Cortile", had already worked with Budd to recover some of her repressed memories from previous events. She partly remembered the night's events herself, as did her family (as is common with this phenomenon other members of her family were, and are, repeat-abductees).
The book follows the investigation into this case which turned out to be enormously detailed involving some 40 individuals (in addition to the third-party witnesses to the triggering event on 30 November 1989) and eventually revealed a great deal of information about the abductors' agenda, methods and possible motives, the involvement of government agencies and correspondence implicating awareness of this phenomenon at the very highest international political levels. It's truly astounding and just as you think it can't get any more detailed, labyrinthine and extraordinary - it does just that. Hopkins' investigative skills are formidable and his critical reasoning when new evidence is uncovered an object lesson in how to approach this subject and work out what is going on without prejudice.
Many clues to the abductors' methodology are explored in "Witnessed." There's so much detail it's impossible to summarise in a short review, but the extraordinary "Mickey and Baby Anne" syndrome in particular (explored in Chapters 17 & 18) stands out as one example of how the abductors seem to weave together the lives of certain abductees in a planned way, as though they want to observe the development of human one-on-one relationships, as if this plays no part in their society and they need to understand it. The role of alien-human hybrids and the ability to co-opt abductees to assist in abduction tasks is also explored.
The inevitable conclusion about the original 1989/11/30 triggering event is that the aliens PLANNED TO BE OBSERVED. Exactly why they should do this at this particular location (a mile or so from the UNHQ) and time (when the Secretary General was present and could observe the abduction) becomes at least partly clear as the investigation unfolds.
"Witnessed" employs a ton of meticulous detail: documents, multiple testimony, photographs and drawings, a truck-load of supporting evidence. Some aspects of the case find corroboration in other unrelated cases. The material revealed is too far outside the comfort zone for some unacquainted with the phenomenon to accept, but having discussed many detailed aspects of the case in face-to-face meetings with the author and having visited the site, I can assure readers that it all checks out: after 20 years, the case is stronger than ever. No-one has even dented the authenticity of this important case, despite several sustained debunking efforts: there are too many witnesses, too much supporting data. Incredible as it sounds, it's true in every detail.
To quote Greg Bateson when discussing this phenomenon: "Commitment to grapple with uncomfortable evidence and to speak publicly is the difference which makes the difference", and this is what Hopkins did so admirably with this case. Hopkins is a fine writer: literate, humanitarian, warm, intelligent and often intentionally humorous. His books are superbly written and thoroughly enjoyable to read. You would be wise to read his books in the order they were written, as they reveal gradually increasing knowledge of this extraordinarily important phenomenon. Bear in mind the "boiling frog" experiment: if you begin with "Witnessed" with no prepared ground, your mind is going to be blown completely. Start with "Missing Time," enter a journey of discovery and find out why Budd Hopkins has been respected as the number one researcher worldwide of this important issue for the past 30 years.
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