Episode 10: Alien Abduction: The Betty and Barney Hill Story

On a warm September night in New Hampshire, the world would be forever changed when a couple on their honeymoon were pulled into a spacecraft by little grey men. Featuring discussions of hypnosis, star maps, and probing, we do a deep dive into what happened the night Betty and Barney Hill got their names put into the UFO Lexicon for decades to come! 

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Music Featured in this Episode:
"Your Call" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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"Spacial Harvest" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Main Theme
"Dream Catcher" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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Transcript

Episode 10: Alien Abduction: The Betty and Barney Hill story 

1. Hello and Welcome to the Odder podcast. I’m your host, Madison Paige, and today we are hoping in 1957 Chevrolet Bel Air, adjusting our mirror, and tearing out into the backroads to see if we can find or be found by an alien spacecraft. Today on The Odder, we are talking about the horrifying and highly debated abduction of Betty and Barney hill. The First widely reported Alien Abduction in the United States. So grab your compass and adjust your tin foil hats, and away we go!
2. Hello, greetings, salutations and live long and prosper my friends. Alright, maybe the star trek reference was a bit too far but I actually do enjoy the show. Anyway, Welcome back everyone. I am ecstatic to have you all back with me on Episode 10. We did it! We made it to 10! I cannot believe the podcast has made it so far but I am absolutely elated. Thank you to all my listeners, those who were with us in the beginning, those that jumped in my train half way through and those that are new! If you are new, Welcome Welcome, on The Odder we are a mixed bag of trail mix as we discuss all the strange, unsolved, unexplained and just plain odd things about the world and the people in it. There is a warning with this episode: we will have some discussion of probing and I will be using the correct anatomical names for the areas so if you have little listeners nearby whom it may be uncomfortable for, please be aware. It’s nothing graphic but just be warned. Today we deep dive into the Milky Way as we discuss The Betty and Barney Hill abduction, a well known and highly debated claim of Alien Abduction. So, everyone settle in, get comfy, and make sure you have a couple glasses of water to protect yourself from the Grays as we head back to New Hampshire, September 19, 1961.
3. It was late, about 10:30pm just south of Lancaster, New Hampshire, Betty and Barney Hill were driving back from an impromptu honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls. They had spent the day in Montreal and had debated spending the night there but following reports of a hurricane coming up the coast, they decided to try to make it back to Portsmouth. While navigating U.S Route 3, Betty peers out the window of their car and sees what she at first thinks is a falling star. But then it begins moving erratically and starts to grow bigger and brighter. Betty turned to Barney and asked about the light. He pulled over in a picnic area to get a better look. Betty described seeing an odd-shaped craft with flashing multicolored lights. Barney told her it was a commercial plane or a satellite. This quickly changed though when the craft began to rapidly descend and turn in their direction. The couple quickly returned to their car and drove onward through a narrow, mountainous stretch of road. As they drove, the object continued to gain speed on them and got closer and closer. Betty kept an eye on it and noted that it was at least 40 feet long and seemed to be rotating. When they were just past an outcrop of rocks called Indian Head, the object suddenly descended upon their vehicle, causing Barney to stop in the middle of the highway. The craft stopped as well, hovering about 80-100 feet above their Bel Air. Now Betty had a small pistol which was in the car so Barney took this pistol, getting out of the car, he went forward to confront the craft. Hefting the binoculars, He saw what appeared to be 8-11 humanoid figures. These figures wore shiny black uniforms, they were tall with no hair, gray skin, and black eyes that were so large they wrapped around their heads. Barney watched as they maneuvered around the craft with military procession. Barney felt he received a message from the leader directly into his mind that said “Stay Where You Are and Keep Looking”. 
4. The Craft came closer and Barney saw what looked like a ramp or a bridge descending from it. Barney became filled with panic and ran back to the vehicle, tearing the binoculars from his face. He yelled at Betty “They are going to Capture us!”
5. He saw the object shift to hover directly over the vehicle but Barney threw himself into the car and slammed his heel onto the gas pedal, racing away. Speeding away as fast as the chevy could take them, Barney instructed Betty to watch the craft. Rolling down the window, Betty stuck her head out to watch as the craft kept pace, directly overhead. A sudden series of rhythmic buzzing and beeping sounds which bounced off the trunk of their vehicle. The car vibrated and the hills felt a tingling go through their bodies. They suddenly felt fuzzy and seemed to lose consciousness. A second series of beeps brought them back to full awareness but they then discovered they had traveled nearly 35 miles south with no real memory of how they got there. 
6. Betty and Barney Hill's story goes down in the books as the first widely publicized alien abduction in the United states. It came to be called the “Hill Abduction” or  the “Zeta Reticuli Incident” referring to the star map later drawn by Betty to show where the gray men came from. This case has boggled the minds of ufo enthusiasts, scientists, and critics for years. One of the most compelling parts of this story were the hills. It is a long common theme in pop culture of the “crazy uncle” or the “backwoods redneck” who “was probed by the aliens”. Popular media paints those who claim abduction as attention seeking lunatics or drunks. The hills could not be painted this way. BEtty was a social worker and Barney was a veteran employed by the United States postal service. They were part of their local Unitarian Congregation, members of the NAACP and community leaders. Barney sat on the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Betty was a driven woman who strived to help children and families and never back down from a spirited debate. Barney was exceptionally intelligent and had wanted to be an engineer but went into the armed services because he was told that he couldn't be an engineer due to the color of his skin. Betty and Barney were self assured and strong minded people; they had to be because they were also an interacial couple in a time when interracial marriage was still banned in 31 states. 
7. The horrifying ordeal of the men in the black suites and floating spacecraft would change this couple's lives forever and cause them to put everything on the line in an attempt to get some answers and relief.
8. Following the strange encounters, the Hills arrived home around dawn. They began to experience weird impulses. Betty was insistent that the luggage remain by the back door rather than be taken into the house. The couple wore watches which never worked again. The strap for the binoculars was broken although neither could recall how this happened. Barney had a compulsion to examine his gneital area in the bathroom although found nothing amiss. They both took excessively long showers to remove possible contamination and each drew a picture of what they believed they saw. Although they separated to do this when they compared the pictures later, they found them to be nearly identical. 
9. After a night spent trying to reconstruct the events from a spotty memory, both headed to bed. Betty awoke a few hours later and placed her shows and clothes that were worn during the incident in her closet. During this, she realized her dress was torn, stained and the zipper and hem were broken. She would later note a pinkish powder on the dress. Taking it outside, she hung the dress where the wind blew the powder away but the dress was beyond repair and she threw it away. A moment later, she changed her mind, retrieved the dress and hung it in her closet. This would be key later as it would have tests conducted on it from five separate laboratories. The Dress is now held in the archives of The University of New Hampshire. 
10. Their car now sported shiny concentric circles on the trunk. At the recommendation of a scientist, Betty and Barnye would use a compass and note that when passed over the spots or put near them, the needle of the compass would spin rapidly. When it was moved away from the spots, it would stop. 
11. The unusual circumstances and bits of evidence they found overwhelmed them. On September 21st, Betty was compelled to telephone Pease Air Force Base after talking to her sister who had also claimed to see what at the time was referred to as a “Flying Saucer”. She reported what she could but held back some details so they would not be labeled as quacks. Major Paul W Henderson called the Hills back on September 22 to launch a more detailed interview. However, this was not taken seriously and the major reported the couple had misidentified the planet Jupiter. Now, I’ve been to my fair share of observatories and astrology classes. I have no memory of being told that planets are boot scootin boogie across the night sky ok? I feel like the second someone says “Oh yeah and it flew in a circle  and hovered over us” then that knocks planets out of the equation. 
12. But who am I to question the reports of the government Cough cough coverup. 
13. But anywho
14. While at the Library, Betty found a book on a UFO’s written by retired MArine Corps Major Donald E Keyhole who had become the head of the NICAP, which is a civilian UFO research group. She wrote to Keyhoe on september 26th, relating the full story and all the details they could remember. This letter would eventually end up in the hands of Walter Webb, a boston astronomer and NICAP member. Webb arranged a meeting with the Hills in October 1961. They had an interview that lasted 6 hours where every detail was scrutinized and documented. Barney told Webb he felt he had a “Mental Block” and that there were things that had happened that he had not wanted to remember. Webb would come out to say he fully believed they were telling the truth. 
15. Betty had no such mental block and 10 days following the encounter, She began to have vivid dreams. They continued for five straight nights. They were so real that she could remember them during the day. November 1961, Betty finally wrote down the details of these dreams that had been plaguing her mind. In one dream, the couple encountered a roadblock and their car was surrounded by strange men who stood about five feet to five feet four inches tall and wore matching blue uniforms, with caps similar to those worn by military cadets. They appeared nearly human, with black hair, dark eyes, prominent noses and bluish lips. Their skin was a grayish color. She was forced by two small men to walk in a forest at night, and saw Barney walking behind her, though when she called to him, he seemed to be in a trance or sleepwalking and did not respond.  
16. In the dreams, the men walked up a ramp into a disc-shaped craft of metallic appearance towing the couple along. Once inside, They were told that they wanted to perform a few simple tests and that they would not be harmed but they would be separated. She protested and was told by a man she called "the leader" that if she and Barney were examined together, it would take much longer to conduct the exams. She and Barney were then taken to separate rooms.
17. Betty then dreamt that a new man, similar to the others, entered to conduct her exam with the leader. Betty called this new man "the examiner" and said he had a pleasant, calm manner. Though the leader and the examiner spoke to her in English, the examiner's command of the language seemed imperfect and she had difficulty understanding him.
18. The examiner told Betty that he would conduct a few tests to note the differences between humans and the craft's occupants. He seated her on a chair, and a bright light shone on her similar to how a doctor might examine you with a flashlight. They cut off a lock of Betty's hair and examined her eyes, ears, mouth, teeth, throat and hands. He saved trimmings from her fingernails. After examining her legs and feet, the man used a dull knife, similar to a letter opener, to scrape some of her skin onto what resembled plastic wrap. He then tested her nervous system and he thrust the needle into her navel, which caused Betty agonizing pain, whereupon the leader waved his hand in front of her eyes and the pain vanished. When Betty asked about the purpose of the needle test, she was told it was a pregnancy test.
19. The examiner left the room and Betty engaged in conversation with the "leader." She picked up a book with rows of strange symbols that the "leader" said she could take home with her. She also asked where he came, and he pulled down an instructional map dotted with stars. This would be important later as Betty would use this to draw a star map of where the men told her they were from. This map would later show a start system that hadn't yet been discovered but very much existed. 
20. In Betty's dream account, the men began escorting the Hills from the ship when a disagreement broke out. The leader then informed Betty that she couldn't keep the book, stating that they had decided that they did not want her to even remember the encounter. Betty insisted that no matter what they did to her memory, she would one day recall the events.
21. She and Barney were taken to their car, where the leader suggested that they wait to watch the craft's departure. They did so, then resumed their drive. 
22. On November 25, 1961, the Hills were again interviewed at length by NICAP members, this time C. D. Jackson and Robert E. Hohmann.
23. They were mainly curious about the time disparities on the trip. Although the trip should only have taken 4 hours at most, the hills did not report getting home until 7 hours had passed. The couple had no explanation for the time lapse. This is a common phenomena in alien abductions called “missing time”. The Hills claimed to recall almost nothing of the 35 miles of US Route 3 between Lincoln/Indian Head and Ashland. Both claimed to recall an image of a fiery orb sitting on the ground that caused them to stop the car. Betty and Barney reasoned that it must have been the moon, but Hohmann and Jackson informed them that the moon had set earlier in the evening. The group discussed and decided that hypnosis would be the best practice to help the Hills recover the lost memories from that time. Barney was hesitant but thought that it would be helpful for Betty’s dreams. The Hills made frequent trips to the site of the encounter hoping to spark memories but they were unsuccessful in locating the spot where they saw the men. 
24. On March 3, 1963, the Hills first publicly discussed the UFO encounter with a group at their church. Captain Ben H Swett of the United States Air Force was a guest speaker at their church where he talked about hypnotism. The Hills approached him about hypnotizing them but he cautioned them against using an amateur and instead recommended they talk to Barney’s psychiatrist. The psychiatrist recommended them to Benjamin Simon of Boston. On November 3, 1963, the Hills spoke before an amateur UFO study group, the Two State UFO Study Group, in Quincy Center, Massachusetts.
25. The Hills first met Simon on December 14, 1963. Simon began hypnotizing the Hills on January 4, 1964. He hypnotized Betty and Barney several times each, and the sessions lasted until June 6, 1964. Simon conducted the sessions on Barney and Betty separately, so they could not overhear one another's recollections.  At the end of each session, he reinstated amnesia so they couldn't share stories before the next session. 
26. Simon hypnotized Barney first. I’ve heard excerpts of these tapes and let me tell you, you can hear how frightened he is. This was so real to him. He cries and screams and the panic is so evident. Under hypnosis Barney reported that the binocular strap had broken when he ran from the UFO back to his car. He recalled driving the car away from the UFO, but suddenly he felt irresistibly compelled to pull off the road and drive into the woods. He eventually sighted six men standing in the dirt road in front of a glowing red and yellow orb. He stopped the car and three of the men approached the car. They told Barney not to fear them. He was still anxious, however, and he reported that the leader told Barney to close his eyes. While hypnotized, Barney said, "I felt like the eyes had pushed into my eyes."[26]
27. Barney felt the being hypnotized him by staring into his eyes. Under hypnosis, Barney said things like, "Oh, those eyes. They're there in my brain" (from his first hypnosis session) and "I was told to close my eyes because I saw two eyes coming close to mine, and I felt like the eyes had pushed into my eyes" (from his second hypnosis session) and "All I see are these eyes…. I'm not even afraid that they're not connected to a body. They're just there. They're just up close to me, pressing against my eyes."[27]
28. Barney related that he and Betty were taken onto the disc-shaped craft, where they were separated. He was escorted to a room by three of the men and told to lie on a small rectangular exam table. Barney's narrative of the exam was fragmented. He continued to keep his eyes closed for most of the exam. A cup-like device was placed over his genitals. He did not experience an orgasm, though Barney thought that a sperm sample had been taken. The men scraped his skin and peered in his ears and mouth. A tube or cylinder was inserted into his anus and quickly removed. Someone felt his spine and seemed to be counting his vertebrae. He reported that none of this caused him pain but he felt he had to keep his eyes closed and very still during this.
29. While Betty reported a conversation with the "leader" in English, Barney said that he heard them speaking in a mumbling language he did not understand. Betty also mentioned this detail. The few times they communicated with him, Barney said it seemed to be "thought transference"; at that time, he was unfamiliar with the word "telepathy".[28] Betty and Barney stated that they hadn't observed the beings' mouths moving when they communicated in English with them.
30. He recalled being escorted from the ship and taken to his car. In a daze, he watched the ship leave. He stated that he attempted to produce the code-like buzzing sounds which seemed to strike the car's trunk a second time by driving from side to side and stopping and starting the vehicle. His attempt was unsuccessful. 
31. He reported as they drove away, they were both grinning and felt almost manic. 
32. Betty’s hypnosis started after Barney’s finished. Under hypnosis, Betty's account was similar to her five dreams about the UFO abduction. Simon gave Betty the post-hypnotic suggestion that she could sketch a copy of the "star map" that she later described as a three-dimensional projection similar to a hologram. Though the map she saw had many stars, she drew only those that stood out in her memory. Her map consisted of twelve prominent stars connected by lines and three lesser ones that formed a distinctive triangle. She said she was told the stars connected by solid lines formed "trade routes," whereas dashed lines were to less-traveled stars. This is absolutely wild to me. There was no internet during this time, there was nothing for her to reference for this but her map was shockingly accurate and would be referred to as the strongest evidence of this being the truth for years. 
33. After the hypnosis sessions, Simon speculated that Barney's recollection of the UFO encounter was possibly a fantasy inspired by Betty's dreams. He believed that during these dreams, Betty had spoken aloud and Barney had picked up on this in his own sleep, leading to him having the same dreams. These dreams were the explanation for this encounter. That’s it, It was all just a dream. Barney rejected this idea, noting that while their memories were consistent in some regards, there were also portions of both their narratives that were unique to each. Barney was now ready to accept that they had been abducted by the occupants of a UFO, though he never embraced it as fully as Betty did.
34. Though the Hills and Simon disagreed about the cause of their distress, they all concurred that the hypnosis sessions were effective; the Hills were no longer tormented by abduction anxiety.
35. When the series of hypnosis sessions were complete, Simon wrote an article about the Hills for the journal Psychiatric Opinion, explaining his conclusion that the case was a singular psychological aberration.
36. I find this conclusion hampered by the issues that these dreams didn't start until 10 days after the incident. Also they were awake and driving for this whole time. And how does this account for the lost time? Many questions still left unanswered from the shared dreams theory. 
37. The Hills went back to their regular lives. They were willing to discuss the alleged UFO encounter with friends, family and the occasional UFO researcher, but the Hills apparently made no effort to seek publicity.
38. On October 25, 1965, a front page story in the "Boston Traveller" reported on the story of the Hill Abduction. This was actually against Barney and Betty’s wishes. They hadn't wanted the story to be spread too wide because of the effect it would have on their life. Following the publication of the article, many other newspapers would pick up the stories. The Hills would go on to do radio interviews, television spots, and even had a book written about them. 
39. In 1966 writer John G. Fuller secured the cooperation of the Hills and Simon and wrote the book "The Interrupted Journey" about the case. The book included a copy of Betty's sketch of the "star map." The book was a quick success and went through several printings.[32]
40. Barney died of a cerebral hemorrhage on February 25, 1969, at age 46, after which Betty went on to become a celebrity in the UFO community.[33] She died of cancer on October 17, 2004, at age 85, never having remarried.
41. The Story of the Hill’s Abduction rocked the world. While many people believed them, there have always been critics. As with every claim of interaction with alien life; there are plenty of people who have their own theories. Psychiatrists later suggested that the supposed abduction was a hallucination brought on by the stress of being an interracial couple in early 1960s United States.[40] Betty discounted this suggestion, noting her relationship with Barney was happy, and their interracial marriage caused no notable problems with their social circle. 
42. Jim Macdonald, a resident of the area in which the Hills claimed to have been abducted, claims that the episode was provoked by their misperceiving an aircraft warning beacon on Cannon Mountain as a UFO. Macdonald notes that from the road the Hills took, the beacon appears and disappears at exactly the same time the Hills describe the UFO as appearing and disappearing. The remainder of the experience is ascribed to stress, sleep deprivation, and false memories "recovered" under hypnosis. After reading Macdonald's recreation, UFO expert Robert Sheaffer writes that the Hills are the "poster children" for not driving when sleep deprived.
43. Fascination with the Hills story is still alive today. Bill Ross, a Professor Emeritus at UNH, who is responsible for curating the school's extensive collection on the 'Betty and Barney Hill abduction reports that the collection is quite popular. Of the more than 3,000 Special Collections at UNH, Ross said the Betty and Barney Hill collection gets around 17% of their web traffic. The couple was portrayed by James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons in the 1975 television film adapted by S. Lee Pogostin, The UFO Incident, and by Basil Wallace and Lee Garlington in the 1996 television series Dark Skies. In 2018 the story formed the basis of the "Dinner Party" virtual reality exhibit at the traveling art show Wonderspaces. You can find several documentaries on the couple on about every platform. No matter what side of the line you fall on, the story of that September night in New Hampshire keeps us all looking to the skies with a lot more questions than answers.

Well, that's all for this episode. So what do you think? Do you believe in Aliens? Do you think they were actually abducted or was it just sleep deprivation and recovered memories? What about the pink powder on the dress and the circles on the car? Let us know what you think on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and leave a review. The Odder Pod is now on TikTok. Come follow us there! If you want to do more digging into the Betty and Barney Hill case, may I recommend the book Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience which was written in part by the couple's niece or Alien Abduction: Betty and Barney Hill which is available on Discover. I found these resources the most helpful and informative.  The Odder Podcast posts every other Thursday. If you have a suggestion for a subject on the podcast you can email us at the theodderpod@gmail.com. Thanks for listening and I’ll see you next time on The Odder side.