All The Disturbing Details In Betty And Barney Hill's Alien Abduction Report
On a crisp, fall night in 1961, a recently wed couple spontaneously decided to embark on a romantic getaway that would, in hindsight, reshape history and forever alter popular culture. Where the moon hung low, a piercing light ripped through the sky overhead, seeming to follow them at every twist and turn. It didn't stop following them until they got out of the car in a remote area covered by a canopy of trees. It was there in the field that the couple was abducted by uniform-clad otherworldly beings who poked and prodded them through a series of experiments before returning them to the safety of Earth, their memories wiped by sophisticated technology.
As you might have guessed, this is an alien abduction story. It is replete with all the common cliches that make it sound familiar, but there's a twist. This one was first. It belongs to New Hampshire residents Betty and Barney Hill, whose romantic couple's escape into the vast White Mountains would soon leave its imprint on history, fantasy, and worlds beyond (via History).
Betty and Barney Hill's account was the first highly publicized alien abduction story in U.S. history
The premise of an alien abduction took pop culture by storm in the 1960s, prompting space odysseys and fantastic voyages galore. In the world of cinema, alien abductors were the legendary successors of the mad scientists and mindless monsters of the '50s (per Den of Geek). These otherworldly beings stalked the night with startling precision, daring to probe where no other mythical creature had probed before. A great deal of this is derived directly from the reported extraterrestrial encounter of Betty and Barney Hill (above), which was the first highly publicized story of its kind to rock the United States.
History reports that the Hill abduction tale was first picked up by a print newspaper in Boston in 1965. They spared none of the sordid details, sparking a frenzy of articles, films, and novels recounting how the couple was ruthlessly captured, experimented on, and then casually returned to the planet they call home. Their fascinating saga would soon serve as a blueprint for the myriad of alien abduction stories we've all come to know and love. Everything from the "X-Files" to "War of the Worlds" has borrowed bits of this bizarre real-life saga in order to set the stage for drama.
The Hill couple did not initially remember the extraterrestrial encounter
At its onset, this story finds its roots in mystery and amnesia-like confusion. The Hills were returning home from three days of frolicking through Niagara Falls. According to History, both Betty and Barney Hill admit to being exhausted when they set out to return home through the jagged countryside on the heels of a hurricane. They recalled all of the movie-worthy moments leading up to the extra-terrestrial encounter. They recollect the laser-like light that seemed to track them at every winding turn. They recall finally getting out of the car, curious but slightly alarmed, the way most scripted horror tales begin.
But here is where it gets interesting. They then forget. As the story unraveled, Barney and Betty clambered out of their car to catch a closer look at the ominous light overhead, and the next thing they knew they were home in New Hampshire, wearing tattered clothing and scuffed shoes. Their watches had eerily ceased to function, as if to suggest that wherever they disappeared to, time had disappeared as well. They believed they lost approximately two hours of the drive and it was just a fuzzy, blank space in their heads. So, what happened?
Barney and Betty's memories allegedly reemerged through hypnotic techniques
History reports that after a great deal of debate, Barney and Betty finally decided to meet with psychiatrist Benjamin Simon, whose special field of interest was hypnosis. After months of attending sessions, a lightbulb moment came. Gratefully, this time, it was not followed by extraterrestrials. It was followed instead by diagrams, dialogue, new revelations, and notorious star map illustrations (via Astronomy).
With the help of Dr. Simon, the Hills began uncovering jumbled memories, pieces of the startling abduction event, which turned out to be every bit as painful and unsettling as a longtime science fiction fan might expect. It was determined that these initial memories hadn't been suppressed due to their psychologically traumatizing nature. Rather, they had been wiped out via a sophisticated kind of memory erasing technology the aliens wielded over the inferior humans they encountered. If all of this is sounding a bit familiar, that's because this memory wiping wand is now a legendary piece of pop-culture storytelling.
The pair claimed they were kidnapped and experimented on
According to their psychiatric analysis, the hidden memories portrayed unimaginable experiments carried out by the extraterrestrial beings in an almost military fashion. It was determined that the couple was put to sleep as an alien task force hauled them up the ramp of a hovering saucer-like vehicle soaring through the galaxy skies. According to History, the "examination," if you will, took place in a large circular room with curved walls and a looming light dangling over a cold metal table.
Barney and Betty were allegedly separated and forced to undergo the grueling examinations alone. Samples of their hair, nails, and skin were taken. They were bound by protruding wires and probed with needles half a foot long, one of which was allegedly inserted into Mrs. Hill's abdomen. After the horrifying procedure was complete, the leader alien even shared a few jokes with Betty, reportedly.
Whether the event was real or imagined is an issue that's still up for debate to this day. One thing is certain, however: Both Betty and Barney Hill suffered real physical and emotional disturbances after this trauma. Betty struggled with vivid nightmares and Barney developed an anxiety-related ulcer.
Similar stories started to emerge
Just as the lights from the flying saucer reportedly appeared from nowhere, similar stories developed from thin air nationwide, ranging from fact to fiction to something in between. In an interview published by News Center Maine, Professor Emeritus Bill Ross referred to the Hills as "the Adam and Eve of alien abduction," and it's easy to see how their tale of woe became the origin for similar "sightings."
According to Quartz, approximately 2.5% of United States residents now claim to have "some personal experience" of alien abduction. Their close encounters often hinge on similar themes, like the hovering saucer, lights in the sky, gruesome experiments, striking physical features such as large eyes and oblong faces, even jokes with the leader alien, and of course the foggy forgetfulness that results from initial memory wiping, as seen in so many films. Skeptics claim they're victims of vivid imaginations. Believers swallow every savory detail. The rest of the world merely watches in awe, unsure of the mysteries that might exist in realms beyond imagination.
According to the University of New Hampshire, Barney died in 1969 at the age of 46. Betty died in 2004, age 85.