Netflix viewers were gobsmacked by the jaw-dropping true story after watching the true crime documentary.

Jan Broberg thought she was saving her family from aliens by sleeping with a man 30 years her senior (Image: Netflix)

Abducted in Plain Sight can be streamed on Netflix, having arrived on the platform in 2019. The film chronicles the abductions of Jan Broberg, an Idaho child who was taken by neighbour Robert Berchtold on two separate occasions during the 1970s.

This acclaimed production features interviews with Jan herself, drawing from the account detailed in Stolen Innocence: The Jan Broberg Story, a memoir she co-authored with her mother in 2003.

Jan endured sexual abuse and abduction at the hands of Berchtold, a family acquaintance they’d encountered in 1972 at their local church, all whilst under her parents’ watch.

In 1974, he informed the family he was taking her horse riding, but instead imprisoned the 12-year-old in his motorhome and travelled to Mexico, reports the Mirror.

It’s been called ‘the craziest documentary ever’ (Image: Netflix)

Remarkably, Jan’s family delayed contacting authorities for several days, concerned about causing distress to Berchtold’s wife.

The documentary also reveals how Jan was manipulated into believing she’d been taken by extraterrestrials, and that she needed to bear Berchtold’s child to rescue her family.

Following five weeks, the FBI located Jan and Berchtold, though she remained too frightened to reveal the abuse she’d suffered.

Berchtold served a brief stint in prison for kidnapping, but it later emerged that he had manipulated both of Jan’s parents into sexual encounters prior to the abduction. He then used this leverage to coerce them into signing affidavits granting him permission to take Jan to Mexico.

Upon his release from jail, Berchtold returned to their tight-knit community and resumed his abuse of Jan under the guise of an alien conspiracy, leading her to believe she was in love with him.

Viewers were left absolutely horrified (Image: Netflix)

In 1976, when Jan was just 14 years old, Berchtold kidnapped her once again, this time taking her to California. There, he enrolled her in a Catholic school, posing as both her father and a CIA agent. This second abduction lasted several months before the FBI intervened and rescued Jan..

Viewers have been left horrified by the documentary, with one sharing on Reddit : “Made me rage. Like wtf,” as another said: “Absolutely horrifying.”

Recalling aspects of the plot, one person wrote: “I watched that a while back but absolutely can’t recall the relationship with both parents’ part. Guess my brain noped out and deleted everything (valid),” while another agreed: “That part absolutely floored me. If that was written into a movie, people would say it’s unrealistic. But it happened.”

Someone else said it was “the craziest documentary ever,” while another admitted: “I couldn’t sleep the night I watched it.”

Jan was abducted twice (Image: Netflix)

One review from a viewer read: “Absolutely wild. Hard to pick which part is the most mind-blowing, the most stunning, the most unbelievable, the most jaw-dropping. There are so many to choose from.”

They continued: “You could drop at least two major things from it and it would still be a great documentary. And every single separate mind-blowing or whatever incident generates at least two questions. Like what’s more unbelievable, that that this thing happened, or that the people are talking about it to a Netflix documentary? Unreal.”

Someone else said: “Every time you thought it couldn’t get more shocking, it does,” while another called it “a must watch”.

Yet another added: “Truly, this is A TRUE CRIME MASTERPIECE! I saw this at the Tallgrass Film Festival and it kept me engaged through every twist, turn and shocking revelation.”

Someone else echoed: “This is one of the creepiest scariest documentaries I have ever seen. A cringing edge of the seat story about a sexual predator and his targeting of one family, in particular their young daughter.

The harrowing true story is available to watch on Netflix (Image: Netflix)

Filmmaker Skye Borgman later spoke about making the documentary, telling Vice: “The interviews were brutal. I mean, for everybody involved. There was a lot of emotion in the room, and they were long. I think really for me it wasn’t so much during the interviews where a lot of judgement came in on my part. It was really during the editing process.

“There were times when I really judged them, there were times when I really didn’t judge them. There were times when I judged Berchtold, there were times when I didn’t judge Berchtold.

There were times when I really cared so deeply about them, and then I didn’t care deeply about them. I went through all of these different emotions and different levels of understanding throughout the editing process.”

Abducted in Plain Sight is available to watch on Netflix.