UFO UPDATE:

UFO researchers say their work involves endless stress
and deprives their families of time, energy and love.


To the typical UFO buff, the daily life of the UFO researcher seems
romantic indeed. According to the common perception, this lucky
individual spends days tracking down spectacular sightings and nights
hypnotically probing the psyches of alleged UFO abductees. When the
researcher comes up for air, moreover, he tweaks the nose of
established science and jousts with the government for classified proof
of UFOs. What a life!

But the UFOlogists themselves say their profession is costly and
stressful, exacting an enormous toll on earning capacity and family
life. The pain and pressure of the work, they say, is rarely mentioned
on the talk show circuit or in UFO magazines. Stressful career
problems, for instance, have plagued investigator Richard Hall, who
worked with the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena
during the Sixties and Seventies and is now on the board of the Fund
for UFO Research. Says Hall, "UFOs on my resume interfered with me
getting straight jobs for years."

UFOlogist David Jacobs, meanwhile, says his work takes so much time
it seems "like a bottomless pit." As an abduction expert and a
historian at Temple University in Philadelphia, he can't find enough
hours in the day for either activity. When push came to shove, Jacobs
says, he chose to study abductions. But a senior member of his
department at Temple informed him that he would have to go back to
regular historical scholarship if he "hoped to advance in his career."
His abduction work has also strained his family life, though he feels
guilty when he takes a break.

Toronto psychotherapist David Gotlib reports similar strains. Gotlib
spends hours providing therapy for abductees and also produces a
newsletter for abduction researchers. Between the newsletter and UFO
conferences, Gotlib says, he is "out thousands of dollars worth of
time." He deals with the pressure by reassessing his commitment to
UFOlogy every six months. "I'll close down the newsletter," Goblib
says, "when I get a relationship or get married."

Larry Bryant, head of the Washington, DC, office of Citizens Against
UFO Secrecy, says he has literally given up on a social life for the
sake of UFOs. Bryant, a Pentagon employee by day, comes home to a world
of unanswered phone messages and UFO correspondence. "It's a full-time
part-time job," he says. Bryant says he recently received a poor job
rating at the Pentagon because of his UFO work. The rating was improved
only after he paid a lawyer thousands of dollars and filed a lawsuit.

Finally, artist and abduction expert Budd Hopkins claims the research
has deprived his family of "time, energy and love." But even more
disturbing, he says, is a frightening feeling he calls "terminal
impotence." This oppressive sensation sets in, he notes, "because there
is no way to stop the abductions or ultimately help the abductees."

Given these drawbacks, why do the researchers persist? David Jacobs
explains. The work, he insists, is critical because "the abduction
phenomenon is the most important thing that has ever occurred."


--PAUL McCARTHY

Chuck,
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