The latest documentary from Netflix, The Manhattan Alien Abduction, revisits Linda Napolitano’s abduction, who to this day, claims that she was forcibly removed from her New York apartment by aliens in November 1989.
Her story got some attention in the early 90s, but came under major spotlight in 1997 after the publication of Budd Hopkins, an UFO investigator’s book, Witnessed: The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge Abduction.
The book generated both skeptical and supportive views in connection to Napolitano’s experience. Moreover, the support increased when Budd mentioned that there were around 20 observers who claimed that they had witnessed Napolitano’s abduction first hand.
Budd himself was interested in the incident after he received a letter from two bodyguards who claimed that they had seen a woman floating through air over Brooklyn Bridge, on the very night Linda Napolitano claimed to be abducted by the aliens.
While the new Netflix miniseries The Manhattan Alien Abduction, provides an insight into the event and its aftermath, Linda Napolitano who first told her story under the name of Linda Cortile, has publicly shown her disappointment with the series.
Linda Napolitano’s age has not been able to stop her and she has even sued Netflix.
As reported by Independent, she claimed that the Netflix series shows her as a fantasist and she even tried to stop the release of the series.
What happened to Linda Napolitano?
According to Linda Napolitano, she was abducted by aliens in November 1989. However, even before that, she had sent Budd Hopkins a letter that described her previous extraterrestrial encounter that she claimed to have experienced 13 years back, during a weekend in the Catskills.
After this apparent first encounter with extraterrestrial beings, Napolitano claimed to have found a strange bump on the side of her nose. When it was x-rayed, the bump was revealed to be caused by some kind of a foreign object.
The presence of this object was taken by Hopkins as the proof of something that the aliens had inserted into Napolitano’s nose. He referred to it as
"radiological smoking gun."
However, when a specialist had later tried to remove the object, it had reportedly disappeared.
Then came the 1989 abduction case and Hopkins’ support for Napolitano’s claims were based on 23 people allegedly coming forward to say that they had indeed seen her float through the Manhattan sky.
In 2013, Napolitano told the Vanity Fair,
"If I was hallucinating, then the witnesses saw my hallucination. That sounds crazier than the whole abduction phenomenon."
However, not even a single one of these witnesses’ identities have been verified. Moreover, no concrete evidence has been put forth regarding the existence of the two guards, Dan and Richard who claimed to have seen a woman floating over the Brooklyn Bridge, and were apparently parked in a nearby car guarding the then-UN Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar.
Pérez de Cuéllar had denied any connection with such an incident and later issues a statement to PBS, saying,
"I cannot but strongly deny the claim that I have had an abduction experience at any time," he wrote. "On several occasions, when questioned about that matter, I reiterated that these allegations were completely false and I hope that this statement will definitely put an end to these unfounded rumors."
Moreover, some of Rainey's footage that has been included in the show depicted that the alleged witness’ claims of what they apparently saw that night varied greatly. One woman claimed that she simply saw a very bright light through her curtain.
Rainey, Budd’s widow, also criticized him for being unable to pay heed to the discrediting elements regarding the case, saying,
"Budd cherry-picked compelling details but ignored anything that presented difficult questions."
Linda Napolitano has sued Netflix over The Manhattan Alien Abduction
Linda Napolitano, now aged 77 years, is firmly sticking to her story. So much so, that she is extremely riled up with Netflix’s The Manhattan Alien Abduction as the series implies her experience as a fanciful one.
Linda Napolitano’s address is still New York and as per Forbes, Napolitano has sued the streaming giant in the New York Supreme Court, claiming that The Manhattan Alien Abduction is defamatory, not only because it shows her under an unflattering light, but also it is disrespectful toward Budd Hopkins’ work.
The author’s estate also joined her in this lawsuit and her goal was to stop the release of the series. Besides Netflix, Napolitano’s suit is also charged against Top Hat Productions, a number of producers, and Hopkins' ex-wife, Carol Rainey.
Rainey appears in The Manhattan Alien Abduction and claims that Napolitano was
"pulling the wool over Budd's eyes”
when he was researching for his book.
The Manhattan Alien Abduction can be streamed on Netflix.
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