Betty and Barney Hill Alien Abduction (1961)

Betty and Barney Hill Alien Abduction (1961)

On the night of September 19th, 1961 a mixed-race couple, Betty and Barney Hill, from Portsmouth, New Hampshire witnessed something which shaped the modern extraterrestrial folklore. At around 10:30 p.m. the couple was on their way home from a vacation in Niagara Falls and Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Betty noticed a bright sphere of light in the skies while Barney navigated U.S Route 3. She initially thought the object was a falling star, but oddly it shifted upward, just like an airplane or a satellite. As it grew bigger and brighter and moved erratically, the couple stopped the car at a scenic picnic spot just to the south of Twin Mountain. Betty took binoculars and observed a unfamilliar craft flashing multicolored lights. In the meantime, Barney retrieved a handgun that he had hidden in the trunk of the car. Suddenly, the object swiftly descended in their direction and they realized that the object in question was not an accustomed phenomena. They quickly jumped into the vehicle and drove toward a narrow, isolated, hilly stretch of the road – Franconia Notch. The couple drove very slowly to observe the object, which approached even closer to their location. The craft was moving erratically and bounced back and forth in the night sky. Eventually, a mile south of Indian Head, the object swiftly descended toward their vehicle causing Barney to stop the car in the middle of the road. Just approximately 100 feet above the Hills’ 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, the massive, noiseless object hovered and filled the entire field of the car’s windshield. With the handgun in his pocket, Barney
moved away from the car, closer to the craft.






Using the binoculars, he was able to see about 8 to 11 humanoid characters who were looking at him out of the craft’s windows. One of the figures allegedly even communicated a message to Barney telling him to “stay where you are and keep looking”. Barney frightened for his live, took the binoculars from his eyes and ran back to his car. He drove away at a high speed, asking his wife to look for the craft. Betty rolled down the window and looked up and observed solely darkness above them, although it was a clear, starry night. At that time, the vehicle began to vibrate and Hills heard a rhythmic group of buzzing or beeping sounds which bounced off the trunk of their car. They then heard the second series of identical sounds, realizing they were suddenly 35 miles farther down the road compared to a minute ago. They were now in Ashla.
The Hills eventually arrived home safely. They were exhausted and instantly went to sleep. When Betty woke up the following day, she telephoned her sister, Janet and told her about the unusual event they witnessed. Janet advised her to call Pease Air Force Base and report what they have experienced. After hearing Betty’s report, Major Paul W. Henderson, confirmed that The UFO was also discovered by their radar. Among many strange consequences subsequent to the alleged alien abduction (broken watches, the torn leather strap for the binoculars, strange pinkish powder on her dress damaging it irreparably, shiny, concentric circles on their car’s trunk, nightmares etc.) the couple decided to contact a Boston psychiatrist and neurologist, Dr. Benjamin Simon. Famous in his field, Dr. Simon suggested a regressive hypnosis treatment, which might ideally uncover the memories of the two missing hours of time. After 6 months of therapies, Simon expressed his opinion that Betty and Barney Hill had been abducted and brought onboard a mysterious craft. He played an important role in their abduction story and with the latter statement he elevated the credibility of their testimonials.


 


Some of the memories that were later unveiled include extraterrestrials comming to their car, carrying the Hills onboard the craft, performing various medical and scientific tests on them and before releasing them, Betty and Barney were hypnotized and directed to keep their abduction as a secret. Further, the couple described their captors as “… bald-headed alien beings, about five foot tall, with greyish skin, pear shaped heads and slanting cat-like eyes.” Needless to say, subsequent to the event a number of sceptics suggested the Hills’ hypnotherapy triggered confabulation – the blending of fantasy with memory – arguing that recovered memories are unreliable. However, a thing that critics were not able to explain is that Betty could draw a detailed sketch of the Zeta Reticuli star system which is in the Reticulum constellation, six years prior to astronomers even discovered it.
This event has turned into a milestone case in the UFO folklore and it is still researched and discussed today. The significance of the Hills’ abduction encounter cannot be over-emphasized. It altered the concept of ufology for good.More in the video below.