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This post is from 2011 and I ran across it recently and decided to repost it. We included it in our book Aliens in the Backyard: UFOs, Abductions & Synchronicity.

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We recently came across a long, but interesting article on the Internet by UFO author Budd Hopkins. It’s called Deconstructing the Debunkers: A Response. It appeared on a web site called The Alien Jigsaw: True Experiences of Alien Abductions. The article reminded us of the time we spent with Hopkins many years ago.

It was the early 1980s when we were writing for OMNI Magazine’s red pages about UFOs, hauntings and other paranormal activities. We were assigned to a UFO conference in Hollywood, Florida where Hopkins, was one of the speakers. We’d read his book, Intruders, so when we had an opportunity to go along with him on a UFO investigation involving hypnotic regression, we jumped at the chance.

Budd hadn’t rented a car so we drove him up the coast to meet a family with a dramatic story of repeated abductions, involving a woman and her young son. Hopkins hypnotized the mother, Carrie, and she told of being floated out of her bed down the hall and right through the wall to an illuminated ‘tube’ that lifted her and her abductees up to a waiting vessel.

Carrie remembered nothing about what happened to her when she was taken into the vessel, but she did recall details about the trip up the tube. Their house was located less than a mile away from the headquarters of the grocery store tabloid, National Enquirer, which during those years published UFO stories. Each Christmas season the Enquirer would put up a huge Christmas tree, a dazzling display of lights and  kiddie rides. It was a popular attraction. The tree was fully lit and visible during the abduction and Carrie recalled looking down, and pointing it out to the aliens. Hopkins matter-of-factly asked how they reacted, and Carrie, speaking in a hypnotic monotone in the present tense, said, “They aren’t impressed.”

Carrie’s husband, D, was also present, and he was a presence – to say the least. While Carrie and her son were gentle and sweet, her husband was imposing.  He was a big man, older than Carrie, with a mane of silver-gray hair. D wore black clothes, and a gold necklace bearing a thumb-sized gold devil pendant. He said he was a former Baptist minister, who told us that he had ‘changed sides.’

Yeah, that was weird. Trish and I were exchanging glances, wondering what was up with that dude, but Budd seemed to ignore him, as if he didn’t figure into the scenario, and just focused on the wife’s experiences. Budd was staying overnight with the family and when we left, we were glad we weren’t staying there.

In the aftermath, we asked for a follow-up interview and invited the couple to our Fort Lauderdale townhouse. We should have guessed that doing so would attract more high strangeness. Since we didn’t particularly want to be alone with them, we invited a few friends, ones we knew from other stories we’d done for OMNI and other magazines. So it was an eclectic group and among them were a few talented psychics. Carrie and her husband arrived early and again D wore black with his satanist logo visible. Everyone stayed late and seemed to be enjoying themselves, except for D. The ex-minister/satanist seemed out of his element, wary of everyone, and remained stoically silent for the most part. He never moved from one place the entire night.

It was around 1 a.m. and we were talking about MIBs – men in black – when the unexpected happened.

I glanced over at the sliding glass doors, which led from the living room to a small porch and the parking lot. Someone was standing on the porch staring in at us.  By the time I alerted the others, the man had moved away. I hurried to the doors, threw them open,  and could hardly believe what I saw. Instead of simply disappearing into the darkness beyond the parking lot, the man was making a scene of his escape. He crouched low, and moved from car to car, and kept looking back at us. He was hiding in full view.

Trish called the police, and the response was astonishing. Within a few minutes, eight or nine patrol cars arrived, some with dogs. The police spread out and searched the complex. We were baffled…until we found out that a man had been murdered an hour earlier, less than a mile away. As far as we know, they never found the man we reported, and we don’t know if he had anything to do with the murder. But it was a strange ending for an unusual evening, and hey, we never saw that couple again!