The Manhattan Alien Abduction: Where Is Linda Napolitano Now After Alleged Extraterrestrial Encounter — And Why Is She Suing Netflix Over the Docuseries?

Thousands of people have reported alien sightings over the years — but few stories have garnered as much media attention as Linda Napolitano’s.

Alien abduction in Manhattana three-part Netflix documentary series released in October 2024, explores her claims that she was abducted by aliens from her New York apartment in November 1989. The incident became highly publicized when artist and UFO researcher Budd Hopkins said he found nearly two dozen witnesses who saw the Neapolitan floating in the sky.

“If I was hallucinating, then the witnesses saw my hallucination,” she said Vanity Fair 2013. “That sounds crazier than the whole abduction phenomenon.”

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Carol Rainey, director and Hopkins’ ex-wife, refuted Napolitano’s claims and claimed in documentaries that it was all an elaborate hoax. Alien abduction in Manhattan features comments from Napolitano, who still stands by his story, and Rainey, who questioned it until her death in 2023.

Napolitano sued Netflix days before the project’s release, alleging that it “defames her, portrays her in an unflattering light and steals the work of the author who first wrote about her story more than 20 years ago,” according to Forbes.

So where is Linda Napolitano now? Here’s what she said happened to her in 1989 and why she’s suing Netflix Alien abduction in Manhattan.

What was the alien abduction in Manhattan?

Linda Napolitano and Carole Rainey.

Courtesy of Netflix

Napolitano claimed that on the night of November 30, 1989, three non-human beings appeared in her bedroom. She said she was forced to levitate through a window and fly into a craft hovering above her 12th-floor apartment in Lower Manhattan. After allegedly performing experiments on her, Napolitano said the aliens took her back to her bedroom.

She later reported the incident to Hopkins, who then wrote a book about it in the 90s called Witnesses: The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge Kidnapping. In it, Hopkins claimed to have found over 20 witnesses to Napolitano’s abduction, but only used pseudonyms to identify them.

None of these alleged witnesses have been verified – including two security officers who Hopkins claimed wrote him letters about what they saw while allegedly guarding former UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar. The diplomat later denied any connection to the kidnapping, saying in a statement to PBS that “the allegations are completely false.”

IN Alien abduction in ManhattanRainey shared footage that shows how different the descriptions of some of the alleged witnesses are. “Budd cherry-picked compelling details but ignored anything that presented difficult questions,” she claimed in the documentary series.

Who is Linda Napolitano?

Linda Napolitano.

Courtesy of Netflix

Linda Napolitano is a former New York housewife who claimed she was abducted by aliens in 1989. But that wasn’t her first alleged alien encounter.

A few months before the alleged alien abduction in Manhattan, she wrote to Hopkins about another encounter she said took place 13 years ago. IN Alien abduction in ManhattanNapolitano said she dreamed she was levitating and woke up with a nosebleed in her first alleged alien encounter. Afterward, she claimed to have found a strange lump — which she and Hopkins believed was a foreign body — on the side of her nose. When the expert tried to remove it, the object was gone.

Napolitano was also part of a support group for people who claimed to have been abducted by aliens, which Hopkins organized. In his book Witnesseshe refers to Napolitano as Linda Cortile.

Who is Carol Rainey?

Carol Rainey.

Courtesy of Netflix

Carol Rainey was a filmmaker and Hopkins’ ex-wife who worked to debunk Napolitano’s kidnapping story until she died in 2023. Although she said in Alien abduction in Manhattan initially believing Napolitano’s claims, Rainey began to have doubts when Hopkins hypnotized the housekeeper to retrieve memories of their supposed encounter.

Rainey, who had seen Hopkins hypnotize several people for his work, believed that Napolitano did not behave like most people while under hypnosis.

“I felt Budd lost his objectivity,” Rainey said Alien abduction in Manhattan. “I don’t know if it was through the Linda case or earlier. I couldn’t respect what I heard he was doing to people who were vulnerable, very vulnerable. I had to try to protect other people from this kind of torture.”

She continued: “I was sick. I was literally sick from all the work and the only thing I could think of was to talk about it.”

According to The New York TimesHopkins died in 2011. Rainey died in 2023, according to the Netflix docuseries.

What happened to Linda Napolitano after she was allegedly kidnapped?

Budd Hopkins and Linda Napolitano.

Courtesy of Netflix

IN WitnessesHopkins wrote that around 3 a.m. on Nov. 30, 1989, Napolitano awoke to find “a small figure with a large head and enormous black eyes” walking toward her. The UFO researcher said he used “hypnotic regression” to help her recall more details such as allegedly levitating in a “brilliant, bluish-white beam of light”.

Napolitano claimed that once in the UFO she was subjected to a “series of quasi-medical procedures” for two hours before being returned home.

“There were these creatures around me and they were examining my stomach,” claimed u Alien abduction in Manhattan. “One of them came after me with a needle the length of a turkey baster… I didn’t want to believe I was a lab rat being experimented on. But after a while I just couldn’t deny it anymore.”

Napolitano also claimed that years after the incident, the aliens continued to target her family and give them nosebleeds.

Why is Linda Napolitano suing Netflix?

Linda Napolitano.

Courtesy of Netflix

Napolitano filed a defamation and fraud lawsuit against Netflix, Alien abduction in Manhattan filmmakers and producers and the Rainey estate in October 2024, trans The Independent. The lawsuit — which includes Peter Robbins, who was a friend of Hopkins, and the estate of Budd Hopkins as plaintiffs — alleges Napolitano was misled about the direction of the project and positioned as a “villain for the purposes of controversy and conflict.”

In the lawsuit — which seeks an unspecified amount in monetary damages on six counts, including fraud, defamation and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing — Napolitano claimed she was forced to read from a script that misrepresented her and her story. Napolitano also took issue with her on-screen wardrobe, which the suit said portrayed her “in a grotesque and unusual manner, wearing unflattering clothes that were not her style of dress, making her look old and haggard.”

Another major complaint about the alleged alien abduction is how prominent a role Rainey was in the documentaries. Napolitano’s claim states that she agreed to the documentation because she was promised that there would be only one interview with Rainey and that “the real story of her abduction would finally be presented.”

Napolitano also claimed that Rainey, who provided the film’s directors with Hopkins’ research documents, notes and videos of the kidnapping, forged a letter that said Napolitano admitted “the whole incident was a hoax.” In the lawsuit, she claimed that she never made that confession.

Prosecutors asked the New York Supreme Court to ban the premiere of the documentary, but the request was denied, and Alien abduction in Manhattan premiered on October 30 as planned. PEOPLE has reached out to Netflix for comment.

Where is Linda Napolitano now?

Linda Napolitano.

Courtesy of Netflix

Hopkins wrote Witnesses that at the time of the alleged abduction she was married to a man named Steve and had two sons, Steven and John. John (who goes by the name Johnny and hid his face from the camera) appeared in the Alien abduction in Manhattan along with his mom and said he also saw three “beings” in the family’s living room as a child.

“It has to be the most terrifying and hopeless thing I’ve ever felt,” he said. “So I was very hesitant to even start talking about this again. It’s been over 30 years since I sat down and had a serious conversation about this with anyone other than my therapist.”

Johnny added: “I know my mum better than anyone and I’ll tell you right now – there’s no way I believe she’d want to make something like that up.”

According to Napolitano’s lawsuit, she now lives in Tennessee.

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