Alien Confidential Multimedia/Alien Confidential Multimedia (Disk 4 of 9).adf/ABDUCTION/045(abduction)

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From: [e-mail] (Thomas Bergen)
Newsgroups: alt.paranet.ufo,alt.alien.research
Subject: Hopkins' Napolitano Case 1/3
Date: Sun, 29 Jan 1995 13:53:13 -0500
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In light of the recent posts/threads on Budd Hopkins, I thought I'd post
this file from a couple of years ago...

Thomas Bergen
============================================================


This is the final report on the investigation of the Hopkins Linda
Napolitano case by George Hansen, Joe Stefula and Rich Butler.

 M E M O



To:   Those Interested in the UFO Problem

From: Joseph J. Stefula, Richard D. Butler, George P.
Hansen

Date: 08 January 1993

 Re:   Budd Hopkins' case of the abduction of Linda Napolitano

 Enclosed is our report on the much acclaimed case of the UFO abduction of
Linda Napolitano.  We invite your comments.

 Hopkins' claims have generated enormous publicity and have been mentioned
in the New York Times, Omni, the Wall Street Journal, and Paris Match,
among others.  As such, this case is likely to have a substantial impact
on the field of ufology.

 Leadership in both the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) and the J. Allen Hynek
Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) aggressively opposed our investigation, and
both previously refused to publish our criticisms.  This raises grave
questions about the scientific and journalistic integrity of MUFON and
CUFOS.

 Those organizations have many members, and we are unable to provide more
than a few copies of this paper to others.  We ask you to help us with the
distribution.  Please feel free to make copies of this article, post it on
electronic bulletin boards, and print it in periodicals.

 A Critique of Budd Hopkins' Case of the UFO Abduction

of

Linda Napolitano

 by Joseph J. Stefula, Richard D. Butler, and George P. Hansen

-----------------------------------------------------------------
ABSTRACT:  Budd Hopkins has made a number of public presentations of a
purported UFO abduction case with multiple witnesses.  The primary
abductee is Linda Napolitano, who lives in an apartment building on the
lower east side of Manhattan (New York City).  She claims to have been
abducted by extraterrestrial aliens from her 12th floor apartment in
November 1989.  It is claimed that three witnesses in a car two blocks
away observed Linda and alien beings float out of a window and ascend into
a craft.  One alleged witness was United Nations Secretary General Javier
Perez de Cuellar.  It is also claimed that a woman on the Brooklyn Bridge
observed the abduction.  Linda has reported nose bleeds, and one X-ray
displays an implant in her nose.

To date, Hopkins has provided no full, detailed written report, but he did
publish a couple five page articles in the September and December 1992
issues of the Mufon UFO Journal and made a presentation at the 1992 MUFON
symposium. We have made use of that information as well as records from
other presentations, and we have interviewed the abductee.  A number of
serious questions arose from our examination.  The case has many exotic
aspects, and we have identified a science fiction novel that may have
served as the basis for elements of the story.

Several prominent leaders in ufology have become involved, and their
behavior and statements have been quite curious.  Some have aggressively
attempted to suppress evidence of a purported attempted murder.  The
implications for the understanding of ufology are discussed.

Budd Hopkins is the person most responsible for drawing attention to the
problem of the extraterrestrial (ET) abduction experience.  His efforts
have been instrumental in stimulating both media attention and scientific
research devoted to the problem.  He has written two popular books
(Missing Time, 1981, and Intruders, 1987), established the Intruders
Foundation, and has made innumerable appearances at conferences and in the
media.

Although Hopkins is neither a trained therapist, an academic, nor a
scientist, he has involved such people in his work.  John E. Mack, M.D., a
Pulitzer Prize winner and former head of the psychiatry department at
Harvard Medical School, has praised Hopkins' work and acknowledged his
indebtedness to him (Mack, 1992a, 1992b).  Hopkins has collaborated with
university professors in co-authoring an article in the book Unusual
Personal Experiences (1992), which was sent to 100,000 mental health
professionals.  He has testified as an expert witness at a hearing
regarding the medical competence of a physician who claims to have been
abducted (McKenna, 1992).  Because of such strong endorsements and
impressive affiliations, and because of his untiring work on behalf of
abductees, Hopkins has become the single most visible figure in the UFO
abduction field.  His contributions, positive or negative, will be quickly
noticed by those inside and outside ufology.

Last year, Hopkins made a number of public presentations about a
spectacular UFO abduction case occurring in November 1989 and having
multiple witnesses. The primary abductee was Linda Napolitano, a woman
living on the 12th floor of a high-rise apartment building in lower
Manhattan (New York City) [Hopkins has previously used the pseudonym
"Linda Cortile" in this case]. It is claimed that three witnesses in a car
two blocks away observed Linda and three ET aliens emerge from a window
and ascend into a craft.  Further it is claimed that a woman who was
driving across the Brooklyn Bridge also saw the event.

The case has generated enormous interest and drawn international
attention. It has been discussed in the Wall Street Journal (Jefferson,
1992), Omni (Baskin, 1992), Paris Match (De Brosses, 1992), the New York
Times (Sontag, 1992), and Hopkins and Napolitano have appeared on the
television show Inside Edition.  The Mufon UFO Journal labeled it "The
Abduction Case of the Century" (Stacy, 1992, p. 9).  Even the technical
magazine ADVANCE for Radiologic Science Professionals carried a discussion
of Linda's nasal implant (Hatfield, 1992).  We should expect continuing
coverage of the affair not only in the UFO press but also in the major
media.

In a short article previewing his 1992 MUFON symposium presentation, he
wrote: "I will be presenting what I believe to be the most important case
for establishing the objective reality of UFO abductions that I have yet
encountered" (Hopkins, 1992, p. 20).  During his lecture at the symposium
he stated: "This is probably the most important case I've ever run into in
my life" (tape recorded, July 1992).  In his abstract for the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Abduction Study Conference held in
June 1992 he wrote: "The importance of this case is virtually
immeasurable, as it powerfully supports both the objective reality of UFO
abductions and the accuracy of regressive hypnosis as employed with this
abductee."  Because of Hopkins' renown, and because of his evaluation,
this case warrants our careful scrutiny.

 THE AUTHORS' INVOLVEMENT

 The first two authors had learned of the case before Hopkins had spoken
publicly of it, and they decided to monitor its progress.  They regularly
briefed the third author as their investigation progressed.  As the affair
became publicized, all three became concerned about the long term effect
it might have on abduction research.

For several years Richard Butler attended Hopkins' informal meetings
organized for abductees and abduction researchers.  Butler became familiar
with the case during those meetings, and he invited Stefula to a gathering
in early October 1991.  At the meeting, Hopkins outlined the case, and
afterward, Stefula had a chance to chat with Linda about her experiences.
Butler and Stefula gave Linda their telephone numbers.  She was advised
that if she needed any assistance she could contact them.  Stefula told
her that he had numerous contacts in federal and state law enforcement
agencies that could be of aid to her.  The same information was provided
to Hopkins.

On January 28, 1992, Linda requested a meeting with Richard Butler, and on
February 1, 1992, Linda, Stefula and Butler met in New York City, and
Linda provided additional details about her experiences (described
below).  During that meeting, she asked them not to inform Hopkins of
their discussions.  At the 1992 MUFON convention in Albuquerque, New
Mexico in July, both Hopkins and Linda appeared on the podium and
presented the case.  Stefula attended the convention and heard the talk,
and disturbing questions arose.  Some of the statements directly
contradicted what Linda had earlier told Stefula and Butler.  We contacted
Hopkins in an attempt to resolve these matters, but he declined to meet
with us, saying that he didn't want to discuss the case until his book
manuscript was submitted.  Despite his initial reluctance, eventually a
meeting was arranged on October 3, 1992 at Hopkins' home, and a few more
details then emerged.

 SUMMARY OF CASE

 In order to compile this summary of alleged events, we have relied upon
Hopkins' and Linda's talks from the podium of the 1992 MUFON symposium, on
our interviews with Linda, on Hopkins' talk at the Portsmouth, New
Hampshire UFO conference, September 13, 1992, and Hopkins' two five-page
articles in the September and December issues of the Mufon UFO Journal.

In April 1989 Hopkins received a letter from Linda Napolitano, a resident
of New York City.  Linda wrote that she had begun reading his book
Intruders and had remembered that 13 years earlier she had detected a bump
next to her nose.  It was examined by a physician who insisted that she
had undergone nasal surgery.  Linda claimed that she never had such
surgery, and she even checked with her mother, who confirmed that
impression.

Hopkins took an interest in the case because there was a potential for
medical evidence and because Linda lived relatively close to Hopkins,
which facilitated their meeting.  Linda visited Hopkins and discussed her
past experiences with him.  She recalled some pertinent earlier events in
her life but believed that she was no longer directly involved with any
abduction phenomena.  Linda then began attending meetings of Hopkins'
support group for abductees.

On November 30, 1989, Linda called Hopkins and reported that she had been
abducted during the early morning hours of that day, and she provided some
details.  A few days later, she underwent regressive hypnosis, and Linda
remembered floating out of her apartment window, 12 stories above the
ground. She recalled ascending in a bluish-white beam of light into a
craft which was hovering over the building.

 Richard and Dan

Over a year later (February 1991), Hopkins received a letter signed with
the first names, Richard and Dan.  (We have no hard evidence that
"Richard" and "Dan" actually exist.  In order to avoid overburdening the
reader, we will typically omit the word "alleged" when mentioning them.)
The letter claimed that the two were police officers who were under cover
in a car beneath the elevated FDR Drive between 3:00 and 3:30 a.m. in late
November 1989.  Above a high-rise apartment building, they observed a
large, bright reddish-orange object with green lights around its side.
They wrote that they saw a woman and several strange figures float out a
window and up into the object. Richard and Dan said that they had come
across Hopkins' name and decided to write to him. They went on to say that
they were extremely concerned about her well being, wanted to locate the
woman, talk to her, and be assured that she was alive and safe.  The two
also mentioned that they could identify the building and window from which
she emerged.

After receiving the letter, Hopkins promptly called Linda and told her
that she might expect a visit from two policemen.  A few days later, Linda
telephoned Hopkins to tell him that she had been visited by Richard and
Dan. When they had knocked on her door, introducing themselves as police
officers, she was not too surprized because she reports that police
frequently canvass her apartment complex looking for witnesses to crimes.
Even with Hopkins' prior call, she did not expect Richard and Dan to
actually appear.  After they arrived and entered her home, there was an
emotional greeting, and they expressed relief that she was alive.
However, Richard and Dan were disinclined to meet with or talk to Hopkins,
despite the fact that they had written him earlier and despite Linda's
entreaties to do so.  Richard asked Linda if it was acceptable for them to
write out an account of their experience and then read it into a tape
recorder.  She agreed, and a couple weeks later Hopkins received a tape
recording from Richard describing their experience.

Some time thereafter, Hopkins received a letter from Dan giving a bit more
information.  The letter reported that Richard had taken a leave of
absence because the close encounter had been so emotionally traumatic.
Dan also mentioned that Richard secretly watched Linda.  (This information
is from Hopkins' oral presentation at the 1992 MUFON symposium in
Albuquerque.  At the Portsmouth, New Hampshire conference, Hopkins said
that he had received a letter from Richard saying that Dan was forced to
take of leave of absence.  It is not clear if Hopkins misspoke at some
point, or whether both individuals took leaves of absence.)

Hopkins received another letter from Dan which said that he and Richard
were not really police officers but actually security officers who had
been driving a very important person (VIP) to a helicopter pad in lower
Manhattan when the sighting occurred.  The letter claimed that their car
stalled, and Richard had pushed it, parking it beneath the FDR Drive.
According to Dan, the VIP had also witnessed the abduction event and had
become hysterical.

 The Kidnappings

Linda claimed that in April of 1991 she encountered Richard on the street
near her apartment.  She was asked to get into a car that Dan was driving,
but she refused.  Richard picked her up and, with some struggle, forced
her into the vehicle.  Linda reported that she was driven around for 3 1/2
hours, interrogated about the aliens, and asked whether she worked for the
government. She also said that she was forced to remove her shoes so they
could examine her feet to determine whether she was an ET alien (they
later claimed that aliens lack toes).  Linda did remember another car
being involved with the kidnapping, and under hypnotic regression she
recalled the license plate number of that car, as well as part of the
number of the car in which she rode. Hopkins reports that the numbers have
been traced to particular "agencies" (he gave no further details).

At the MUFON symposium, Linda was asked if she had reported the kidnapping
to the police.  She said that she had not and went on to say that the
kidnapping was legal because it had to do with national security.

In conversations with Butler in early 1992, Linda had expressed concerns
about her personal safety.  A meeting was arranged with Stefula because of
his background in law enforcement.  During the afternoon and early evening
of February 1, the three met in New York City, and Linda described further
details of the kidnappings.

She reported that on the morning of October 15, 1991, Dan accosted her on
the street and pulled her into a red Jaguar sports car.  Linda happened to
be carrying a tape recorder and was able to surreptitiously record a few
minutes of Dan's questioning, but he soon discovered and confiscated it.
Dan drove to a beach house on the shore of Long Island.  There he demanded
that Linda remove her clothes and put on a white nightgown, similar to the
one she wore the night of the abduction.  He said he wanted to have sex
with her.  She refused but then agreed to put on the nightgown over her
clothes. Once she did, Dan dropped to his knees and started to talk
incoherently about her being the "Lady of the Sands."  She fled the beach
house, but Dan caught her on the beach and bent her arm behind her.  He
placed two fingers on the back of her neck, leading Linda to believe that
it was a gun.  He then forced her into the water and pushed her head under
twice.  He continued to rave incoherently, and as her head was being
pushed under for the third time, she believed that she would not come up
again.  Then, a "force" hit Dan and knocked him back onto the beach. She
started to run but heard a sound like a gun being cocked.  She looked back
and saw Dan taking a picture of her (Linda mentioned that pictures from
the beach were eventually sent to Hopkins).  She continued running, but
Richard appeared beside her, seemingly out of nowhere.  He stopped her and
convinced her to return to the beach house and told her that he would
control Dan by giving him a Mickey Finn.  She agreed.  Once inside,
Richard put Dan in the shower to wash off the mud and sand from the
beach.  This gave Linda a chance to search the premises; she recovered her
casette tape and discovered stationery bearing a Central Intelligence
Agency letterhead.

In a brief conversation on October 3, 1992, Hopkins told Hansen that Linda
came to him shortly after she arrived back in Manhattan after the
kidnapping. She was disheveled, had sand in her hair, and was traumatized
by the experience.

 Further Contacts with Richard and Dan

During the February 1 meeting with Butler and Stefula, Linda reported that
she had met Richard outside a Manhattan bank on November 21, 1991.  He
told her of Dan's deteriorating mental condition.  During the Christmas
season, Linda received a card and a three page letter from Dan (dated
12/14/91). The letter bore a United Nations stamp and postmark (the UN
building in New York has a post office which anyone can use).  Dan wrote
that he was in a mental institution and was kept sedated.  He expressed a
strong romantic interest in Linda.  Some of his remarks suggested that he
wanted to kidnap her, take her out of the country, and marry her; Linda
seemed alarmed by this (she gave a copy of the letter to Stefula and
Butler).

Linda also asserted that on December 15 and December 16, 1991, one of the
men had tried to make contact with her near the shopping area of the South
Street Seaport.  He was driving a large black sedan with Saudi Arabian
United Nations license plates.  During the first incident, to avoid him,
Linda reported that she went into a shop.  The second day a similar thing
happened, and she stood next to some businessmen until he left the area.

 The Third Man

At the February 1 meeting, Linda mentioned that Hopkins had received a
letter from "the third man" (the VIP), and she was able to repeat entire
sentences from this letter, seemingly verbatim.  It discussed ecological
danger to the planet, and Linda indicated that aliens were involved in
ending the Cold War.  The letter ended with a warning to Hopkins to stop
searching for "the third man" because it could potentially do harm to
world peace.

Linda also related a few more details of her November 1989 abduction.  She
said that the men in the car had felt a strong vibration at the time of
the sighting.  Linda also claimed that in subsequent hypnotic regressions
she recalled being on a beach with Dan, Richard, and the third man, and
she thought somehow she was being used by the aliens to control the men.
She communicated with the men telepathically and said that she felt that
she had known Richard prior to the November 1989 abduction, and she
suggested that they possibly had been abducted together previously.  We
also learned that the third man was actually Javier Perez de Cuellar, at
that time Secretary General of the United Nations.  Linda claimed that the
various vehicles used in her kidnappings had been traced to several
countries' missions at the UN.

At the Portsmouth, New Hampshire conference, Hopkins spoke of the third
man saying: "I am trying to do what I can to shame this person to come
forward."

 Witness on the Brooklyn Bridge

In the summer of 1991, a year and a half after the UFO abduction, Hopkins
received a letter from a woman who is a retired telephone operator from
Putnam County, New York (Hopkins has given this woman the pseudonym of
Janet Kimble). Hopkins did not bother to open the letter, and in November
1991, he received another one from her marked on the outside
"CONFIDENTIAL, RE: BROOKLYN BRIDGE." The odd outside marking and the fact
that she had written two letters, seem to have raised no suspicions in
Hopkins' mind.  The woman, a widow of about sixty, claimed to have been
driving on the Brooklyn Bridge at 3:16 a.m., November 30, 1989.  She
reported that her car stopped and the lights went out.  She too saw a
large, brightly lit object over a building; in fact, the light was so
bright that she was forced to shield her eyes, though she was over a
quarter mile away.  Nevertheless, she claimed to have observed four
figures in fetal positions emerge from a window.  The figures
simultaneously uncurled and then moved up into the craft.  Ms. Kimble was
quite frightened by the event, and people in cars behind her were "running
all around their cars with theirs (sic) hands on their heads, screaming
from horror and disbelief" (quoted in Hopkins, 1992d, p. 7).  She wrote:
"I have never traveled back to New York City after what I saw and I never
will again, for any reason" (Hopkins, 1992d, p. 5). Despite her intense
fear and all the commotion, she had the presence of mind to rummage
through her purse to find her cigarette lighter to illuminate her watch in
order to determine the time.

Hopkins has interviewed this woman in person and over the phone.  The
woman claimed to have obtained his name in a bookstore; she called the
Manhattan directory assistance for his telephone number and then looked up
his address in the Manhattan White Pages.  She alleges that she was
reticent about speaking of the incident and had only told her son,
daughter, sister, and brother-in-law about the event.

 The Nasal X-ray

In November 1991 a doctor, whom Hopkins describes as "closely connected
with Linda," took an X-ray of Linda's head because she knew about the
story of the nasal implant and because Linda frequently spoke of the
problem with her nose.  The X-ray was not developed immediately.  A few
days later the doctor brought it to Linda but was very nervous and
unwilling to discuss it.  Linda took it to Hopkins, who showed it to a
neurosurgeon friend of his.  The neurosurgeon was astounded; a sizeable,
clearly non-natural object could be seen in the nasal area.  Hopkins has
shown a slide of the X-ray during his presentations, and the implant is
strikingly apparent, even to a lay audience. The object has a shaft
approximately 1/4 inch long with a curly-cue wire structure on each end.

 Other Unusual Aspects of the Case

During our meeting with Linda on February 1, she gave us additional
miscellaneous details that might be pertinent.  We were told that she
believed that she was under surveillance and described a light silver-gray
van that had parked near her apartment.  She also claimed that she had
once been a professional singer and the lead on a hit record, but she had
lost her singing voice one day while in the shower.  Linda mentioned that
she was given to understand that her blood was quite unusual.  A doctor
had informed her that her red blood cells did not die, but instead they
rejuvenated.  She wondered whether this might be due to an alien
influence; some time later she attempted to locate the doctor but was
unable to do so.  Linda seemed to imply that she now believed that she was
part alien or somehow worked with the aliens.

Linda also told us that she had an agreement with Budd Hopkins to split
equally any profits from a book on the case.

 INITIAL PROBLEMS WITH THE CASE

 There are a number of obvious but unanswered questions that raise
immediate doubts about the credibility of the case.

The most serious problem is that the three alleged principal corroborating
witnesses (Richard, Dan, and Perez de Cuellar) have not been interviewed
face- to-face by Hopkins, although it has been over a year and a half
since initial contact with Hopkins and over three years since the
abduction.

Richard and Dan allegedly met with Linda and have written letters to
Hopkins.  Linda has a picture of Dan.  Yet Dan and Richard refuse to speak
directly with Hopkins.  No hard evidence confirms that Richard and Dan
even exist.

Though they initially expressed extreme concern over the well being of
Linda, the alleged "Dan" and "Richard" waited more than a year before
contacting Linda and Hopkins.  Why?  Furthermore, they contacted Hopkins
before they visited Linda.  How did this come about?  After all, they knew
the location of Linda's apartment, so it would seem that they would have
had no reason to contact Hopkins.  Why did they bother with him at all?

--
Thomas Bergen
<[e-mail]>