David M. Jacobs


David Michael Jacobs is an American historian and recently retired Associate Professor of History at Temple University specializing in 20th-century American history. Jacobs is particularly well known in the field of ufology for his research and authoring of books on the subject of alleged alien abductions.

Career

Jacobs obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1973, in the field of intellectual history. He wrote his dissertation on the controversy over unidentified flying objects in America. A revised edition of his dissertation was published as The UFO Controversy in America by Indiana University Press in 1975, and sold out.
As a faculty member of the Department of History at Temple University, Jacobs specialized in history of 20th-century American popular culture. He stated that his current research interests "involve a delineation of the role of anomalous experiences in personal and cultural life." For over 25 years Jacobs taught a course on "UFOs in American Society."

Ufology

Jacobs has a high profile in the field of Ufology. He has lectured widely, been interviewed, and participated in numerous television and radio shows on the subject of alien abductions.
David Jacobs has written five books on the topic of UFOs and alleged alien abductions. In recent years Jacobs has argued publicly that the evidence from his research, which sometimes includes utilizing hypnotic regression with alleged alien abductees along with traditional interview techniques, purports that alien-human hybrids were engaged in a covert program of infiltration into human society with possibly the final goal of taking over Earth. He asserts that some of his research subjects are teaching these hybrids how to blend into human society so that they cannot be differentiated from humans, and that this is occurring worldwide.

Criticism

Jacobs' hypotheses have been criticized as unsupportably dire by those who take a more positive view of the alien abduction experience such as John E. Mack; Jacobs labels these critics as "positivists" in his writings. Details of alien abductions reported by Jacobs and so-called "positivist" researchers may not differ to any great extent; criticism of Jacobs by such peers therefore focuses on Jacobs' interpretations, e.g., where Jacobs sees "infiltration", others may see "integration". Where differences in reports are more substantial, Jacobs has explained that elements not matching his own perspective are what he terms "confabulations."
Carl Sagan and Susan Clancy have criticized the methods used by Jacobs and other abduction researchers. Sagan asserted that sightings and experiences could be attributed to mistaken identity and faulty memory. Clancy has highlighted problems associated with abduction research, such as faulty memory retrieval when hypnotists "lead" the patient, and sleep paralysis.
Jacobs has argued that Clancy's methodology was flawed, stating that in numerous cases people report they were abducted when fully awake and conscious, and that therefore sleep paralysis is not a tenable hypothesis. Moreover, he has stated that her book was factually incorrect.

Major publications