Witnessed: The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "Outwardly the envelope was unremarkable, but the letter inside drove a spike straight through the heart of reason..." (more)
Key Phrases: confirmation anxiety, four security people, hypnotic regression session, New York, Brooklyn Bridge, Baby Ann (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It is 3 a.m. on November 30, 1989. On the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a motorcade carrying international diplomats, including a U.N. representative of the highest standing, stalls out and comes to a halt beneath the FDR Drive. An enormous reddish-orange UFO looms above an apartment building, where a pretty housewife is seen by the members of the motorcade to float out of a 12th-story window, accompanied by three ugly gray aliens, and into the spaceship. Because those involved, including the woman ("Linda Cortile"), the U.N. diplomat and his security men (probably "CIA or NSA"), eventually read Hopkins's bestselling last book, Intruders, they all end up contacting him. One of the security men becomes completely unhinged and is either assassinated or consigned to the back wards of a government insane asylum. He gets off easy. The other G-man falls in love with "Linda," only to discover that he has been trysting with her since the age of 10 under alien auspices. Hopkins contends that the "Brooklyn Bridge incident" is the most-witnessed UFO abduction of all time. Because he has changed the names of all the participants?allegedly to spare them ridicule?little in his text can be checked. In any case, according to Hopkins, "outing" abductees is done only by "vicious debunkers" who have "rigid belief systems." Even so, the author himself does everything but write the words "Perez de Cuellar" in describing the high-echelon U.N. diplomat with the tinted glasses and Spanish accent. Hopkins isn't the storyteller that Whitley Strieber is, but his last book rode high on the bestseller lists, and there's a creepy, nightmarish quality to his new one that may ensure it the same fate. Meanwhile, believers will believe and skeptics will remain skeptical. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

The long-awaited investigative report by artist and veteran UFO researcher Budd Hopkins (Missing Time, 1982; Intruders, 1987) details a remarkable abduction that took place in downtown Manhattan early on the morning of November 30, 1989. The case is unique for many reasons: several witnesses from vantage points on or near the Brooklyn Bridge saw the UFO and the abductee (Linda Cortile) floating 12 stories up in a blazing blue-white light; three of these witnesses (a highly placed United Nations diplomat and his security guards) later came to understand that they had been abducted at the same time. One of the security guards eventually realized that he had met Cortile years ago during a shared sequence of abductions in which each recalled the other as an "imaginary playmate." Hopkins does his best to document this bizarre series of events and at one point confronts the unnamed UN official with evidence of his involvement. Cases like this illustrate why there are no simple explanations for UFO abductions. George Eberhart --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (May 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671570315
• ISBN-13: 978-0671570316
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,044,903 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Scared the ... out of me, February 17, 2003

By	psychsound "psychsound" (Upstate New York) - See all my reviews

Believers will believe and nonbelievers will not believe. To believe the story of a real-life abduction and how it affected those who witnessed it, you have to trust the author who writes it. I must say, Hopkins seems like a nice guy and he also seems believable. Reading the book, you get to know the guy and how he does his investigatory work in trying to verify whether this incident actually happened.

Problem is, of course, that reading the book is an act of faith. You will never really know if the sources made anything up. On one hand, you think, these sources have no motive to lie, and too many people would have to conspire to weave a web of lies and remain consistent in reporting the story to Hopkins. Based on their lifestyles, social class and professions, several critical sources could not possibly have known each other before the witnessed abduction. What what about the power of suggestion? There are no real answers, but this is a great read. It will change the way you react to UFO stories.

And I'll say this: if even HALF this book is true, we are in big trouble. BIG trouble. Read the book to find out why.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There goes your reality rug!, September 20, 2001

By	Reality Rug (Westford, MA USA) - See all my reviews

I've enjoyed other books by Budd Hopkins and this one met my expectations. I feel for the people who have lost their reality, and that's why I say their "reality rug" is gone.

Budd has written about how certain people are repeatidly abducted throughout their life. Through hypnosis the main events concern Linda. Linda finds out she's been abducted numerous times starting when she was very young. How does one's brain process these tramatic events? How can she protect her children? How does a marriage survive inconceivable events like this?

Then Linda is abducted by two men that witnessed a particular event. They want to find out if she's a human or a "half-breed". She is fighting for her life on an earthly plane and with her alien abductors...and then it gets even more strange. I won't tell you everything, but let's just say, "the butler didn't do it". :-)

I started reading this genre, because I saw a white cigar shaped object floating over a lake one night with my parents and siblings. We were out watching the bats fly around. Never found out what it So very glad for that!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This one scared the pants off me!, June 21, 2000

By	Deanna (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

By far, this book on Alien Abductions is one of the best I have ever read and was so well written. It was almost like reading a Dean Koontz novel except more frightening by the possibility of this being true. Having had my own similar experiences, I have no doubt that it was true! How this woman was able to escape not her alien captors, but her human ones, will amaze you. And that there are such people supposedly working within the government ranks is too frightening! Read this book to learn more than you want to know!