Secret Life: First Hand Accounts of UFO Abductions

 

by David M. Jacobs, Ph. D.

as reviewed by Paul Clevelend

David Jacobs is no newcomer to UFO study, although his luring to the

field took place over many years. His interest was peaked in 1966 by a

lead article in the April issue of Life magazine about a UFO "flap" that was

occurring during that year...the same year that the now well publicized

Betty and Barney Hill abduction occurred. The pictures presented in the

Life article were the beginning of Jacobs' interest in the subject as

something "real". Later in the same year, he read John Fuller's Interrupted

Journey about the Hill abduction, and although he thought this to be a

rather "improbable story", his interest in the subject deepened. To answer

many of the questions Jacobs had about UFO's and abductions, he decided

to write his doctoral dissertation on the subject which he completed in

1973 and published in a revised version in 1975. Dr. Jacobs began

teaching at Temple University and, at the same time, continued to do

research and write articles about the UFO subject. Largely due to the lack

of answers in ongoing investigations and reports, Jacobs decided to begin

his own studies into the field. After meeting Bud Hopkins in 1982 and

reading his book, Missing Time, Jacobs was impressed with the detail of

the abduction scenario revealed while the abductee was under hypnosis.

These included lapses in time, bizarre examinations and screen memories

(false memories masking what may have been abductions). There was still

much confusion about reported UFO abduction experiences for Jacobs at

this point, because, "After all, people have always claimed that many sorts

of strange events have happened to them. They have lived past lives. They

have been in communication with denizens of the spirit world and even

Space Brothers (p. 22)." For Jacobs, the confusion could only be cleared

one way...,

"I knew that if I were to make sense of what was happening, I would have

to do abduction research myself. This meant that I would have to learn

hypnosis. I had never hypnotized anybody, and it was a frightening

prospect, but I was determined to learn. By 1985 Hopkins was doing his

own hypnotic regressions, and he invited me to sit in on his sessions. I

discussed hypnotic techniques with him and other researchers. I read

books about hypnosis. I attended a hypnosis conference. I learned the

dangers and pitfalls of hypnosis. (p. 23)"

I relate the background and educational training of Dr. Jacobs to give the

reader of this review an idea of the detail and quality with which the author

prepares his work. Secret Life is the end result of several years of research

done personally by Dr. Jacobs on the abduction experience. He has taken

the data from some 300 hypnotic regressions and interviews from sixty

reported abductees and assembled them in a "matrix" that he devised after

observing the number of similar components the unrelated episodes

contained. Following his observation that certain physical procedures were

almost always followed by other procedures and certain reproductive

procedures led to other reproductive procedures and the same was true of

mental procedures, he arranged the experiences into the physical,

reproductive and mental. From these categories, Dr. Jacobs arrived at the

following types of experiences for the abductees:

Physical experiences, which involve procedures that the aliens perform the

greatest number of times on the greatest number of people and that set the

structure for all other procedures to come.

Secondary experiences, which occur less frequently. All abductees have

some secondary experiences, but not during every episode, and some

procedures might never be performed on individual abductees.

Ancillary experiences, which involve specialized sexual and other irregular

procedures. These happen infrequently to the abductee population as a

whole, but may recur many times to an individual abductee. (p. 28)

So, here we have the platform from which Jacobs gathers and analyzes the

abduction data from his sixty abductees who. "were, by and large, average

citizens who did not desire publicity, who were not trying to commit a

hoax, and who, with one exception, were not mentally disturbed." (p. 24).

The occupational make up of the group was broad; from a university

student to a professional bicyclist to an attorney and a public relations

specialist. It made little difference where the abductions occurred; the

abductees were taken from every region of the country and from around the

world. They were taken from cities and from rural areas as well as from

highways and country roads. One fact stood out; those taken from rural

areas had a longer lasting abduction experience than those taken from

more populated areas. This was also true of those taken by themselves as

compared with those taken from a group.

This book is not written to "convince" the reader that the abduction

experience is really happening. Jacobs states, "The material is inherently

unbelievable, and I assume that many readers will be skeptical of it. It is

entirely possible that a psychological explanation for the abduction

accounts will be devised that fully explains the origin of these accounts."

His purpose in Secret Life is to put the experience into a coherent whole

which Jacobs hopes will help the reader make up his mind about the reality

of the accounts.

From this point, Dr. Jacobs begins the revelations from his interviews, all

of which are as he has indicated...unbelievable, scary and exciting. This

report is too limited to attempt to share the context of the various

interviews, but I think the student of the abduction experience will be

pleased and enriched by their content. Secret Life is a very readable book,

but at the same time, Dr. Jacobs has done an outstanding job in clearly

defining his methodology and adhering to those principles.

One common thread shinning through all of the interviews held by Jacobs

is clear... during the abduction experience virtually all of those interviewed

came away "knowing or feeling" that the objective of the abductors is

genetic engineering in general and child reproduction in particular. The

large majority of the women abducted recalled under hypnosis being told

that the abductors needed babies. Many of them were told that the babies

were to be raised...not on earth, but for work that was to be done in another

solar system. One woman clearly felt that she was, "being used as a baby

making machine for their purposes."

Again, it's hard to do justice to the quantity and quality of the material and

the presentation in Secret Life in this review. I recommend this reading

for all with the slightest interest in the abduction experience and for any

others who have an open mind toward the subject. The bottom line

is...people from all walks of life and all parts of the world are reporting the

abduction experience independently from each other, but with many

overlaying features. Aliens, hallucinations, shared dreams, hoaxes,

psychological aberrations? Take your pick, but don't pick

blindfolded...read some good books on the subject like Secret Life and then

make your choice.