HOPKINS: A CLASH OF SYMBOLS

The latest excerpt from Carol Rainey's in-progress documentary about Budd Hopkins and his abduction research methods, has now been posted online. In her introduction to the clip Rainey says:

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This segment shows Budd Hopkins revealing, for the first time, strikingly similar symbols that numerous abductees have reported seeing aboard alien spacecraft. But in the process of shooting the claims made by the world's best-known abduction researcher, the filmmaker begins to question Hopkins' confident assertions.

In this ongoing series, producer/director Carol Rainey looks at how the collection of "alien" symbols came into being and asks whether faulty research methods may have invalidated the use of these abductee drawings as evidence for the phenomenon

Particularly revealing in this excerpt is Hopkins' on-camera admission "I'm stacking the deck here", when Carol Rainey asks to see some of the documentation that he is hastily rushing through.

Carol Rainey writes:

This is excerpt #2 from the rough cut of "Priests of High Strangeness: Co-Creation of the Alien Abduction Phenomenon." Producer/Director: Carol Rainey. The series of excerpts focuses on the controversial research techniques used by some well-known alien abduction investigators. Their subjects certainly are having inexplicable and baffling experiences and the researchers do offer the therapeutic, healing benefits that come from any  empathetic, willing listener.

But what have we actually learned about the phenomenon? The how, the why, the who, the where, and when? Coming out of the humanities and arts, the few researchers making the most lurid claims are simply extrapolating far beyond what their actual data or evidence can support. The tools used--primarily hypnotic memory retrieval--are also so unreliable that the testimony based on hypnosis is not allowed in the U.S. courts.

Linda Cortile, main subject of the book "Witnessed," has stated on several occasions that 80-85% of her memories of alien abduction were retrieved during hypnosis sessions. Her interactions with investigator Budd Hopkins are at the heart of this 18 minute segment.

It looks at the obligation an abduction researcher has to ensure that his subject is trustworthy--starting with the factual details of his/her past and present life history as they are presented to the researcher over a period of many years.. It also suggests reasons why both researcher and subject, when their story is challenged, only redouble their efforts (along with the efforts of stone-throwing friends) to speak with absolute authority about the soundness of the questioned case.

Includes Linda’s lying about interest in profits and shows her contract with BH (at 14:00)