March 23, 1998: Alien Abductions - Phillip Krapf

Art Bell interviews Phillip Krapf, a retired copy editor from the Los Angeles Times who spent 25 years on the metro desk and shared in a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the 1992 LA riots. The first portion explores his mainstream journalism career and lifelong skepticism toward UFOs and the paranormal, carefully establishing his credentials before the conversation takes an unexpected turn.

Krapf reveals that in June 1997, he was taken from his bed aboard an alien starship into a vast room filled with hundreds of examination tables. Slightly built beings about five feet tall attended each table. Rather than being examined, Krapf says he was brought to a boardroom and told that humanity had been deemed worthy of joining an intergalactic federation of sovereign planets.

He claims to have spent three days aboard the craft, receiving an orientation on a planned timeline for formal contact with Earth over the next decade. Hundreds of influential people worldwide, he says, have been given similar briefings. His book, The Contact Has Begun, presents the full account. Art presses him on whether it could have been a delusion, and callers respond with a mix of fascination and doubt.