1961: Betty and Barney Hill Abduction – Article

In 1961, Barney Hill was a 39 year old black man who worked for the US Postal Service. His wife Betty was a 41 year old white woman, who owned a Master’s Degree, and was the supervisor for the child welfare department. The fact that the Hills were an interracial couple has been given weight by some who state that Barney was suffering stress in dealing with some public ridicule about the black and white union, which was not nearly as readily accepted in the early 1960s as it is today. In my research into Mr. Hill’s life, I can’t find any reason for his stress being the cause of telling such an incredible story. What ensued after the couple went public with their story, was much more stressful to him than any anti-racial remarks he may have encountered.

The story of Betty and Barney Hill begins in September 1961, in the state of New Hampshire. Barney had recently developed an ulcer, and he and his wife Betty decided to take a short vacation to Canada. The couple had visited Niagara Falls, and Montreal, and on the 19th of the month, they began their journey back home to Portsmouth. The night was clear, with a crescent moon shining on the heavily wooded landscape, that surrounded US Route 3 in the central part of New Hampshire. At about a quarter past 10:00 P.M., three miles south of the city of Lancaster, Barney noticed what appeared to be a bright star, or planet which seemed to move erratically. Barney pointed this out to Betty, and they both began to keep track of the object.

The couple began to believe that they were watching a plane, appear and disappear, as the movement of their vehicle caused the trees to come and go in obstructing their view. Later Barney would state that he tried to convince himself that the object was a plane, but that Betty thought it to be something else; an unidentified craft of some kind. As the two continued to the Flume, just north of North Woodstock, the object appeared to move in an odd way. As they reached Indian Head, Barney actually stopped the car to have a look at the object with his binoculars. He saw multicolored lights, and rows of windows on a flat-shaped object, which now seemed to be moving toward him. As the object moved to within a hundred feet of him, he could see occupants inside. Frightened, he ran back to his car where Betty waited. They climbed inside and sped away. Soon, two hours of their lives would vanish into oblivion.

At this time, neither Betty nor Barney recalled any abduction. Soon, Betty began having nightmarish dreams of her and her husband being taken aboard a craft of some kind, against their will. In a matter of weeks, two writers got wind of the story, and after interviewing the Hills, made an intensive log of the events of the night. They discovered that there were two hours of unaccounted time in the Hill’s story, even allowing for stops for the Hills, and breaks for their dog, who also had made the trip with them. Another interesting note that I should interject here is that these “two writers,” which are mentioned in almost every report of this incident, (and there are literally thousands of them), have not been named, or I cannot find their names. However, the story is true, because their interview was attended by Major James MacDonald, a former Air Force Intelligence Officer. Shortly after Betty began having these disturbing dreams, she wrote a letter to Major Donald Kehoe, who passed her information on to one Walter Webb, who was on the staff of the Hayden Planetarium. Webb, at the time, was a scientific advisor for the National Investigations Committee on Arial Phenomena. (commonly referred to as NICAP) What he did with the report is unknown.

After the many sessions with Dr. Simon, the following details became evident. The Hills related that their car had stalled, and then the alien craft landed on the road in front of their vehicle, forming a kind of roadblock, hailing them down. They were taken into the craft, and given medical examinations by these aliens, and before being released, were ordered under hypnosis not to recount any of the details of their incident. The entities were described by the Hills as “….bald-headed alien beings, about five foot tall, with greyish skin, pear shaped heads and slanting cat-like eyes.”– This was the very first mention in UFO folklore of the so-called “greys.” The Hills were taken into separate rooms during their examinations. These “tests” involved both physical and mental procedures

As part of these tests, skin, hair and nail samples were taken. Betty had a long needle inserted into her navel, and was told it was a pregnancy test. Under duress, Barney related that he had given a semen specimen. Betty stated that she was given a kind of book as a token of her visit, but this item was later taken back. Another odd fact related under hypnosis was that the aliens seemed to have no conception of time, or of colors, whatever this may mean. At one point, the aliens seemed surprised to find that Barney’s teeth (dentures) could be removed and replaced. Betty asked one of her abductors where they were from, and in reply, she was shown a star map of sorts, which will be discussed in more detail later. After these events, the Hills were taken back to their car, and the last thing they remembered was an orange glow disappearing into the night sky. It is very important to note that the Hills tried to keep these events out of the press, but unfortunately, an inaccurate version of the events was leaked to the press, after which, the Hills decided to come forward with the true events of the case.

Dr. Simon was under a great amount of pressure to release whatever information the Hills authorized about their case. This was considered prudent, not to exploit the story, but to stop speculation that the absence of a statement by him would seem to shed a negative light on the Hills’ story. Simon concluded that the Hills were not fabricating their story. He further stated that he there were several conclusions that could be reached. [1] “The experience actually happened, or, [2] some perceptive and illusory misinterpretations occurred in relationship to some real event.” What the “real event” may be, I do not know.

As the facts of the Hills’ case came to public knowledge, two notable, respectable professionals investigated the story, and made their conclusions. One was Dr. J. Allen Hynek, who was at the time, Professor of Astronomy at Northwestern University, and later to be an Air Force Consultant on Aerial Phenomena. He eventually would create his own “Center For UFO studies.” The other was Stanton T. Friedman, a nuclear physicist and the nation’s only space scientist devoting full time to researching the UFO phenomenon.

As I mentioned earlier, when Betty was aboard the craft, she stated she was shown a star map, and was asked by one of the humanoids, “Where are you on the map?” to which she shrugged and said, “I don’t know.” There has been an immense amount of discussion about the so-called “star map,” and a lot of it’s interpretation is up for grabs. A full understanding of astronomy would be required to study it’s plotting and try to find it’s pattern in a specific point in the skies. I am certainly not qualified to undertake this task, but I will tell you what I consider some of the more reasonable explanations by professionals. The map that Betty says she was shown was a three-dimensional view with different size dots and lines on it. I vividly recall at the time of this incident, that the fact that scientists could not find any constellation that fit it’s markings, put much doubt on the Hills claims. However, approximately 8 years thereafter, when more powerful telescopes came into use, several scientist claim to have found a match for this map.

Being intrigued with the mystery of the map, (which Betty drew from hypnosis), an Ohio schoolteacher and amateur astronomer Marjorie Fish became involved in the case in 1969. Wondering if the stars and planets on the map would match any known celestial objects, Fish got an interview with Betty Hill in the summer of 1969. Barney Hill had died earlier the same year from a cerebral hemorrhage. After a lengthy discussion with Betty, Fish released the following statement:

“On Aug. 4, 1969, Betty Hill discussed the star map with me. Betty explained that she drew the map in 1964 under posthypnotic suggestion. It was to be drawn only if she could remember it accurately, and she was not to pay attention to what she was drawing – which puts it in the realm of automatic drawing. This is a way of getting at repressed or forgotten material and can result in unusual accuracy. She made two erasures showing her conscious mind took control part of the time.” “Betty described the map as three-dimensional, like looking through a window. The stars were tinted and glowed. The map material was flat and thin (not a model), and there were no noticeable Lenticular lines like one of our three-dimensional processes. (It sounds very much like a reflective hologram.)”

Betty did not shift her position while viewing it, so we cannot tell if it would give the same three-dimensional view from all positions or if it would be completely three-dimensional. Betty estimated the map was approximately three feet wide and two feet high with the pattern covering most of the map. She was standing about three feet away from it. She said there were many other stars on the map but she only (apparently) was able to specifically recall the prominent ones connected by lines and a small distinctive triangle off to the left. There was no concentration of stars to indicate the Milky Way (galactic plane) suggesting that if it represented reality, it probably only contained local stars. There were no grid lines.”