Published by Armagh Observatory and Planetarium on August 19, 2011
On a dark September night in 1961, Barney and Betty Hill had a frightening experience in the mountains of New Hampshire. Later they came to believe that they had been captured and studied by beings from another world. During their ordeal on the spaceship, Betty saw a star map said to contain astonishingly accurate astronomical details. We look at what some ufologists see as proof of alien contact.
A real UFO, almost certainly a Chinese lantern, seen in a still from a short movie made by a member of the public and sent to the Planetarium. (Image credit: Armagh Planetarium)
Here is a strange story.
On 19 September 1961 Barney (1922–1969) and Betty Hill (1919-2004) were returning from a holiday. Middle-aged, the Hills were respectable pillars of the community, living quiet, decent lives. They drove overnight from Montreal, Canada to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Their journey took them through the forested and deserted White Mountains of New Hampshire. Both observed a bright light in the sky under the Moon. As they drove, both believed it to be following their car, the couple rationalised it as an aircraft or satellite. Barney observed the light through binoculars, revealing it to be an odd-looking flying vehicle, a flying saucer with extensive windows, bright lights and variable geometry wings. It was clearly not of this Earth (interestingly, to the best of my knowledge, no subsequent UFO of similar appearance has been reported). Through the craft’s large windows Barney Hill could see humanoid beings standing as they controlled the craft by manipulating long levers. To Barney’s horror some of these creatures were grinning as they looked right back at him. Anxious to escape this ominous presence, the Hills drove on at high speed…and then it was dawn and they were nearly home.
The New Hampshire sky on the night of the Hill’s journey looking south. Under the Moon are Jupiter (left) and Saturn (right). (Image credit: Armagh Planetarium, made with Stellarium)
On their arrival, the couple were puzzled; their journey seemed to have taken a couple of hours longer than it should have. The Hills were worried by this missing time, more alarming still, they also had a selection of minor cuts, grazes and clothing damage that they could not remember receiving (other intriguing-sounding physical evidence claimed by the Hills’ supporters, such as odd areas of exposed bare metal on their car and strange “chemical” stains on Betty’s clothing have been lost to history). Frightened, the Hills began to suspect that something very odd had happened to them.
In the following months, Betty suffered from severe nightmares of a kidnapping. Betty was interested in UFO stories, and she began to believe that during their journey she and Barney had been abducted and taken on board a spaceship. Eventually the Hills sought help, initially from UFO investigators (who, it seems leaked the couple’s details to the press, the Hills had wanted their experience to remain private). Increasingly distressed, the Hills looked to more professional help. Hypnotised by a distinguished psychiatrist, Dr Benjamin Simon, both gave detailed accounts of what they believed had happened on their fateful drive. This is the most important points of their story as recorded by Dr Simon in 1964.
The Hills had been forced to stop their car by a landed spaceship and its crew who compelled their captives to board their vessel. Their kidnappers were small greyish-coloured men who seemed to be conducting a scientific investigation of earthlings. After performing a strange, bumbling but painful and degrading medical examination of the Hills (using technology which seems oddly archaic now, such as the chart recorders the Hills’ vital signs were plotted on), the alien’s leader showed Betty a star map. The alien, who spoke English, told her that the map showed trade and exploration routes between stars and that our Sun and the aliens’ home star were marked on it (he pointed out roughly where he and his crew came from). The abducting aliens intended that the Hills would be unable to remember their ordeal, presumably using their advanced technology to block the couple’s memories. The dazed Hills were released and allowed to go on their way while the spaceship disappeared into the dark starry sky.
(It should be emphasised both that Dr Simon believed that the Hills were utterly sincere but sharing a delusion and that Dr. Simon personally believed that he had witnessed UFOs: he in no way matched the stereotype of “mean old sceptic”.)
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