For those still clinging to the legitimacy of Jacobs, here are two reminders out of many from Brewer on Jacobs' techniques:
The UFO Trail: - While claiming to believe Emma Woods was being assaulted on an ongoing basis by sexually deviant ET-human hybrids, David Jacobs suggested as a partial solution that he could send her a chastity belt. He became familiar with the device, he explained to her, at a sex shop specializing in bondage dominance that he frequented quite often. Suffice it to say that is not standard protocol for providing functional support to the sexually abused. Neither is it indicative of sincere concerns for the woman or suggestive of authentic belief in dangerous hybrids.
Jacobs claimed to believe electronic messages originating from the computer of "Elizabeth," an alleged alien abductee, were composed and sent by a menacing ET-human hybrid, not Elizabeth. When pressed to explain why forensic evidence of the circumstances could not be obtained, Jacobs stated, among other dubious excuses that actually did not make sense, Elizabeth had curtains over her windows and one could not see inside. (Brewer, The UFO Trail)
Brewer points to Jacobs contradictory explanations of his research and his justifications. He wasn't doing research, merely collecting oral histories. Yeah.
But even collecting oral histories from human subjects contains within that method not only ethics, but protocols. Permission from said witness, certain behaviors on the part of the collector, etc. If I, as a student in folklore, behaved in such loathsome ways while collecting UFO tales, well, that would not have gone over well.
But Jacobs is well aware that his university would not publicly approve of any studies done regarding UFOs. (Possibly in the hard sciences and then to ultimately debunk) but a history professor? Nah.
Anyway, good piece, once again, from Brewer. Points taken from such individuals as Dr. Tyler Kokjohn, who gives good reasons why he will not collaborate with Jacobs.
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