Many of us assume that a space traveling civilization advanced enough to visit Earth would only have our best interests at heart. Its citizens would shower us with scientfic knowledge, solve our most intractable problems, cure our most dreaded diseases, and imbue us with much-needed wisdom. In contrast, the reality of the film Independence Day was a world in flames, governments in chaos, and populations in panic.

But who is to say? Our foremost UFO abduction researchers, that's who. Unfortunately, they don't offer much consolation.

Artist Budd Hopkins, for example, who has worked with abductees for 21 years, is not optimistic. Hopkins, author of Intruders and the recently published Witnessed, feels the abduction phenomenon, which has as its goal the development of human/ET hybrids, is drawing to a close and that there are only two possible scenarios.

Either the ETs populate some distant planet with their hybrids, he says, "or directly or through human look-alike hybrids, they infiltrate our society." And since ETs have treated abductees like lab rats, Hopkins says he doesn't like to think about coexisting with a species "that is able to read my thoughts, paralyze my body, and which lacks the rich, loving, spiritual qualities that, for me, make my fellow humans so endearing."

UFO Apocalypse: The Wrath of Aliens

Fellow abduction researcher Dave Jacobs, a Temple University historian, shares Hopkins' fears. He also feels the UFO phenomenon is coming to a close "in the next five to forty years" and says that the results of his extensive hypnotic sessions with some 110 abductees do not paint a pretty picture. That picture is laid out in Jacobs' book The Threat, which will be released later this year, so he is reluctant to cut to the chase here. Still, he says the book "is sort of apocalyptic." Adds Jacobs, "I hope the end means they will fold up their tents in the dead of night and steal away, but I don't think so."

--Paul McCarthy