UFO expert Budd Hopkins joined George Knapp to talk about his new memoir, Art, Life and UFOs, which traces his life as a ufologist and alien abduction researcher, as well as a nationally known abstract expressionist painter. Active in the 1950s New York City art world, he met many of the painters of that era such as Jackson Pollock. Hopkins' interest in UFOs was kindled by his own sighting of an other-worldly craft over Cape Cod in 1964.
In November 1975, an interview with a store owner in his Manhattan neighborhood began his decades-long investigation into alien encounters. The storekeeper described seeing a vehicle hovering off the ground in North Hudson Park, and then a group of 10-11 small-sized beings emerging. The beings, which he said looked like "kids in snowsuits," appeared to be digging up dirt and putting them in "little satchels." In 1976, the Village Voice published Hopkins' first writing about the UFO enigma, and the Hudson Park case in particular.
In retrospect, Hopkins said his interest in UFOs had an influence on the style of his paintings, as he started using big circles as part of his compositions. After the publication of such books as Missing Time, Hopkins received a lot of media attention for his investigations, and was interviewed on TV over the years by people such as Bryant Gumble, Oprah Winfrey, and Larry King.
Based on numerous similar testimonies of abductees he's worked with, Hopkins has concluded that aliens are trying to produce a genetic mix between themselves and humans, though the purpose behind this is unclear. In recent times, there've been increasing reports of hybrids passing for human and functioning in the everyday world, he added.