by Charles Lear
Out of the three most prominent people in UFO abduction research, Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs, and John Mack, only Mack had any formal training in psychology. Hopkins was an artist, Jacobs was an historian, and Mack was the head of the psychology department at Harvard Medical School. Mack’s interest in UFO abduction research first gained major media attention when he co-chaired the Abduction Study Conference at M.I.T. in June of 1992. His position at Harvard lent credibility to the subject, and he worked to convince other academics to consider it seriously. Harvard’s leadership didn’t interfere with Mack’s interest until he published a book in 1994 titled Abduction: Human Encounters With Aliens based on his research with 13 subjects. Mack had had previous success as an author with a 1976 book on T. E. Lawrence, A Prince of Our Disorder, which won him a Pulitzer Prize in 1977. Abduction was a hit and Mack was featured in many newspapers, television news shows, and talk shows. As Mack’s position at Harvard was part of the story, there were some there who felt it was necessary to examine the validity of Mack’s investigations.