Witnessed: The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions

433 Pages·1996·5.58 MB·English

by  Budd Hopkins

POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc. 1230 Avenue of the
Americas, New York, NY 10020
Copyright © 1996 by Budd Hopkins
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions
thereof in any form whatsoever.
For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New
York, NY 10020
ISBN: 0-671-56915-5
First Pocket Books hardcover printing September 1996
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POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster
Inc.
Printed in the U.S.A.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Linda Cortile is, of course, the heroine of this piece, and her determination to
make the truth known puts all of us deeply in her debt. She, her husband, Steve,
and their two sons, Steven and John, have shown uncommon bravery throughout
an extraordinarily trying time. But there are so many others whose openness of
heart has allowed this story to be told (though many are pseudonyms): Janet
Kimball, who sent me her drawings along with her vivid recollections of the
events of November 30, 1989; Erica, who generously shared with me her
experiences of that evening; and Cathy Turner, whose warm presence and feisty
account lent so much credibility to these incredible events. And there is Marilyn,
who attended—involuntarily—one of the most unusual conferences one can
imagine, and Dr. Lisa Bayer, who persuaded Linda to be x-rayed. There are so
many whose testimony added to the weight of evidence: Carmela, Francesca,
Joseph, Peter, and Brian and his family, among others.
Special thanks are also due to Robert Bigelow, John Mack, Gibbs Williams,
Charles Strozier, Christine Morciglio, Sal Amendola, and Lou Anne Columbo
for their unique contributions, as well as to those patient friends who gave my
manuscript attentive readings. First among them is David Jacobs, my compatriot
and research colleague for many years, to whom I owe so much. Peter Robbins,
Jerome Clark, Richard Hall, and Jean-Luc Rivera have given insightful criticism
at various stages of this project, as have Frank Turner, Martin Jackson, and Sideo
Fromboluti.
My agent Phyllis Wender's faith in my work in this strange field has sustained
me through a decade and a half, and for this I owe her a great debt. Dona
Chernoff, my editor, has endured my missed deadlines with tolerance and good
humor, while offering invaluable editorial assistance.
A very unique kind of thanks must be offered, finally, to the anonymous
“Richard" whose letters, drawings, and desire to make these events public have
from the beginning fueled the engine that drove the investigation. I also extend
my gratitude to "the third man" for his decision to enlist me in bringing to light
the events of November 30, 1989. It is my profound hope that he will now come
forward and use his voice to help make the truth of that night known to
the world.
—Budd Hopkins New York City May 14, 1996

CONTENTS

PART ONE
1 Underneath the FDR Drive
2 Confrontation
4 The Third Man
5 Seizure and Interrogation
6 The April Abduction and the Third Man
7 The Search for Richard and Dan
8 The Downtown Chase
PART TWO
9 "Look and See What You Have Done"
10 Linda Hears Dan's Letter
11 The Long Island Kidnapping
12 "The Public Had a Right to Know"
13 The X ray
14 The Woman on the Bridge
15 A Letter from the Third Man
PART THREE
16 "She Wore Her Hair in Short Pigtails"
17 A Sunny Place, No Horizon”
18 More "Mickeys," Other "Baby Ann"
PART FOUR
19 "Pack Your Toothbrush"
20 Showdown at the South Street Seaport
21 And Then There Were Two . . .
PART FIVE
22 Drawings and Sand Samples
23 Richard Answers More Questions
24 Blood and Mystery
PART SIX
25 Another Generation
27 Around the Conference Table
28 The Man in the Striped Pajamas
PART SEVEN
30 "It Looked like a Giant Christmas
31 Expressways and Blind Alleys
33 Final Thoughts
ENDNOTES
INTRODUCTION
The story you are about to read, though true, is virtually unthinkable. In our
familiar, everyday world it cannot have happened. Yet it did.
Over the past five years I have interviewed and communicated with nearly a
score of individuals involved in this New York City UFO abduction case. After
conducting many hypnotic regressions and studying the various types of physical
evidence, I have come to a firm conclusion: This abduction event so drastically
alters our knowledge of the alien incursion in our world that it is easily the most
important in recorded history. No previous case has had such a profound
effect on so many lives, and none has ever been observed by so many
independent witnesses. Heretofore, UFO abductions have been
conducted covertly, witnessed only by the participants. And yet in this one
historical exception, Linda Cortile was floated out of her twelfth-floor window at
roughly three . . in full view of anyone awake and near her lower Manhattan
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apartment. Among the many stunned observers was a political figure of
international significance, whose presence was the likely reason for this
demonstration of alien capability.
Opinion polls have consistently shown that a majority of the population accepts
the physical reality of UFOs—there are too many photographs, eyewitness
accounts, and radar returns to deny it—yet no one seems ready to face the
implications of such a fact. Typically we say, "I believe intelligent life exists out
there, but I'm not sure they've made contact with us." This ambivalent attitude
has become less supportable in the past three decades as reports of the
systematic abduction of humans by UFO occupants have appeared more
frequently in the mainstream media. Supported by a range of compelling
physical evidence, many highly credible people have presented similarly detailed
accounts of being paralyzed and floated aboard hovering UFOs for extensive
physical procedures in an austere laboratory environment. An all-too-human
response I hear virtually every day underscores the problem: "I know there's
plenty of reason to accept these accounts, but the subject is so unsettling that I
really don't want to think about it."
Nor do I. Nor do the thousands of people who have undergone such experiences.
No one wants these things to be true, most especially Linda Cortile and the
others involved to one extent or another in the events of November 30, 1989.
Investigation of her case has led to many disturbing new insights about the depth
of alien involvement in human life. In one of these, we have learned that specific
pairs of children have been repeatedly abducted over the years and brought
together periodically in the same strange environment. The purpose, apparently,
is to allow the UFO occupants to study systematically the way human beings
form friendships and, eventually, sexual relationships.
None of the skeptics' psychological "explanations" and reassuring dismissals of
the abduction phenomenon is relevant to this case— not in the face of so many
independent eyewitnesses. Instead, we are left here with only two options: either
the events of November 30, 1989, took place as the many participants contend,
or this is an intricate, cold-blooded hoax perpetrated by a large group of
individuals—a conspiracy theory for which there is not a shred of evidence.
In the following pages one will find the information necessary to decide the
issue. The final judgment is yours to make.
PART ONE
November 30, 1989
1 Underneath the FDR Drive
Outwardly the envelope was unremarkable, but the letter inside drove a spike
straight through the heart of reason. It was postmarked February 1, 1991, and
addressed to my home. The envelope had been marked "Personal and
Important," though inscriptions such as this are not at all unusual in my daily
mail; as an investigator of reports concerning unidentified flying objects, I have
received literally thousands of "personal and important" letters from witnesses
and participants in these encounters. But, as I soon realized, none had
ever conveyed news like this:
Dear Mr. Hopkins:
My partner and I are police officers. We have been in a serious dilemma
because of our strict profession and our lack of knowledge on this subject.
We didn't know what to do or who to turn to and hadn't done so until recently.
We searched the bookstores over and came up with you. There was an address
in your book Intruders but it was through your publishers. In turn, we let our
fingers do the walking through the white pages. Much to our surprise, there
you were. We're hoping that you are the correct Budd Hopkins.
So here it goes—
One early morning, about three to three-thirty . . in late November, 1989, we
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sat in our patrol car underneath the elevated FDR Drive on South Street and
Catherine Slip, observing the surroundings ahead. Sitting on the passenger
side of our vehicle, I reached into my shirt pocket for a stick of gum. As
I opened it, I looked down at the silver wrapping that was left in my hand and
saw it reflecting a firelight type of reddish glow, I looked up through the
windshield to see where it was coming from, and there it was—a strange oval
hovering over the top of an apartment building two to three blocks up from
where we were sitting. We don't know where it came from.
its tights turned from a bright reddish orange to a very bright whitish blue,
coming out from the bottom of it. it moved out away from the building and
lowered itself to an apartment window just below, I yelled for my partner who
was sitting beside me, behind the wheel of the patrol car, and he was just as
excited as I was. I had to be sure of what I was seeing so I went into the glove
compartment to get a pair of binoculars. We grabbed hold of each other and
were going to get out of the car, but what could we do for that poor little girl or
woman wearing a full white nightgown? She was floating in midair in a bright
beam of whitish blue light, looking like an angel. She was then brought up
into the bottom of that very large ova! (about three-quarters the size of the
building across).
This poor person was escorted out of her window, I don't know if she was
willing or not. I don't think so, because it seemed as though she was being
escorted up into this thing by three ugly but smaller humanlike creatures, one
above her and two below. They seemed to be in charge. On top of our fear
of getting involved we were also carrying a load of guilt because we didn't help
her and we don't know what's become of her.
After she was escorted up and in, the ova! turned reddish orange again and
whisked away, coming in our direction, above us. It must have flown over the
FDR Drive while we were sitting underneath it. It then plunged into the river
behind us, not far from Pier 17, behind the Brooklyn Bridge. Someone else
had to see what happened that morning. I know what we saw, and we ’ll never
forget it.
Mr. Hopkins, the oval never came up from under the river. It's possible that it