I am currently reading Stanton Friedman's "Captured: The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience", and I am quite astonished with this case so far. For those of you who are not familiar with the case, I will sum it up for you in my post.

From what I have been reading, Betty and Barney Hill (both very intelligent people) were on their way home to Portsmouth, New Hampshire from Canada on September 19th, 1961. On that particular night, however, their trip would take an unexpected turn. Betty had noticed what she thought to have been a falling star. The star suddenly stopped in the air, and slowly began to inch its way upward. Her curiosity grew as she began to examine the object more closely. She was reminding herself that it was probably a conventional aircraft, or perhaps a satellite as her father had told her about (he was a fan of the space program, and took an interest in watching the satellites in the night sky).

The object had stopped, and ascended towards the moon until it stopped. She had noticed that the object began making erratic movements near the face of the moon, which signaled her to hand the binoculars to Barney. Barney was more of a "logical" thinker, and he believed that what she was seeing was nothing more than a conventional aircraft. The object began descending rapidly to their position, and Barney eventually came to a stop after turning off of a curve towards Indian Head (a Native reserve). Barney had jumped out of the car with the binoculars, and grabbed Betty's gun and kept it near him. Barney had begun to examine the object through his binoculars, when he noticed 8 - 11 "men" staring out at him from the window. The men swiftly jumped into action, and seemed to have been pulling levers on the wall. At this point, the object was hovering over the tree top nearly 80 - 100 feet away, and slowly descending towards him - however, there was one particular humanoid figure who remained fixed on him, which seemed to bear a foreboding. Barney had gotten uneasy, and told Betty that they needed to get out of there or they were going to be captured.

As Barney accelerated down the highway, a series of buzzing noises had plagued them. The "buzzing" sensation seemed to have been felt throughout the car, and it was as if the buzzing was touching the back of the car. They expected to get home at 3 AM, but to their shock, the sky was now streaking with the light of dawn.

----

Theories:

One theory that was proposed was one of which came from Dr. Simon Benjamin, a psychiatrist/psychologist who knew how to utilize hypnotherapy. He basically said that the nightmares which followed the incident about six days later were vocalized by Betty as she was dreaming them, and were picked up by Barney.

Dr. Simon Benjamin had conducted a series of hypnotherapy sessions on the Hills, but to no avail. He had even suggested to them (through hypnosis) that they were not abducted. This, however, did not work. The Hills were STILL convinced that they had been taken by some form of beings.

Officials from the Pearse AirForce Base near Portsmouth had said that the Hills had spotted an advertising light, however... why would they have an advertising light out in such a rural area? Not to mention that the streak of light would have been spotted. Another theory which was proposed was that they had saw a planet. Last I checked, planets didn't look like they have windows with little humanoid figures staring out of them.

The Evidence:

Well, we have a few pieces of evidence.

a.) The "highly-polished" spots on the trunk of their '57 Chevy. These spots were about the size of silver dollars, and if a compass was left on the back, it would start rotating in a rapid fashion.

b.) Betty's torn dress. Betty had described that the creature ripped her dress off, and the tear was indeed still found on her dress.

c.) The deep scrapes on Barney's shoes.

d.) The stopped watches. They had noticed that their watches had stopped working after the event.

My opinion:

There is really too much detail in this story to put into words, so I will say this: in my honest and humble opinion, judging from the description and transcripts from their hypnotherapy session(s), I believe that they WERE, indeed, taken by extraterrestrial beings. The magnetic fields on their trunk, the torn dress, the stopped watches, the EARRINGS along with the pile of leaves found on her kitchen table when they got home... it all leaves me to believe that they were taken. Buy/borrow the book and judge for yourselves, people. I think this is one of the very few actually BELIEVABLE cases.

i just dont believe they would have much of a reason to fake it, or stage some event, and then tell their story, and Keep telling it to this day. they didnt really have anything to gain. other than the usual "youre a friggin crack pot"

Exactly, and in fact... it was THEIR choice to keep the story confidential. The only reason their story had gotten leaked is because of some moronic reporter writing about it after they had specifically requested him not to do so.

yeah i know, and some of the physical evidence they found as well.
and then betty showing people a star map of where they came from was pretty interesting. i thought so anyways

I'm still undecided. I wish there was a bit more specific physical evidence. Otherwise, it's a peculiar set of evidence and a good story. I'm torn.

''The alien abduction story that seems to have started the cult beliefs about alien visitation and experimentation is the Betty and Barney Hill story. The Hills claim to have been abducted by aliens on September 19, 1961. Betty first "remembered" her abduction during a series of nightmares, which she told Barney about. Barney claims the aliens took a sample of his sperm. Betty claims they stuck a needle in her belly button. She took people out to an alien landing spot, but only she could see the aliens and their craft. The Hills recalled most of their story under hypnosis a few years after the abduction. Barney Hill reported that the aliens had "wraparound eyes," a rather unusual feature. However, twelve days earlier an episode of "The Outer Limits" featured just such an alien being (Kottmeyer). According to Robert Schaeffer, "we can find all the major elements of contemporary UFO abductions in a 1930 comic adventure, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century."

What you're failing to analyze here is the torn dress of hers, the rotating magnetic fields on the trunk of their car, the highly polished spots, the star map... the radar detection of the craft. I'm guessing you took that off of Wikipedia, didn't you? That's not a very reliable source.

and why would a mixed race couple want to get so much attention then anyways.

That's the point, they wouldn't. Not to mention that the only person that Betty had actually told in the first place was her sister, Janet Miller.

I'm undecided as well. There's enough to convince me that something happened to these folks...exactly what though, I'm not really sure. It's one heck of good story for sure.

Well, to be honest, Betty and her husband didn't really start the whole "alien abduction" thing. One can thank Indigenous societies, the Hebrews, and the Druids from thousands of years ago et al for that. Secondly, their being a mixed blooded couple plus the extremely high ridicule factor lends weight to their story. I for one tend to believe them, but then, I usually go with earlier reports and sightings, anecdotes rather than later ones - unless they're backed by high level witnesses.

What YOU are failing to analyze here is that the bit about the dress is hearsay. The dress, according to the book or some other source, hung in a closet for 40 or so years. There were NO rotating magnetic field on the trunk of their car, that's b.s. There were no witnesses to any of their claims. The star map b.s. has been blown out of all proportions dismissing common sense and logic and the fact that anyone can come up with all kinds of similar maps. You don't know about the radar reports. And Wikipedia can be a valuable source for info if you're smart enough to use other sources to confirm.

A mixed race couple in New Hampshire at that time IS the problem. Barney was "paranoid" about, always looking over his shoulder, so to speak, whenever they appeared in public. EVERYBODY looked at them!

That's not true, you're buying into the b.s. Betty was a big mouth about UFOs, attending meetings, writing to newspapers/magazines, etc.

so why would they wanna make up a story, to seem even weirder? to have people be more disrespectful to them? some kinda weird fetish they had? doubt it



and im sure she just somehow made a b.s. star map for the hell of it, that actually shows a real system.
not sure how common sense or logic is being dismissed there. maybe a weird coincidence, yeah.

The only thing that "happened to these folks" is that Betty was active in UFOology. Get away from this forum and do some in-depth research using the sources available AT THAT TIME, not the new crap especially from BIG MOUTH STANTON FRIEDMAN, NEWkleer Psychic.

Stanton Friedman has never let the truth or facts get in the way of making a buck off gullible people such as the ones that habitate this forum and which give themselves away with their ignorance because they're too young and don't seem to know about doing proper research.

but big old eddy sure knows how

Ed, still waiting for the PayPal button so I can donate to your cause.

With one sentence answers to boot. Ed'd the bomb baby Ed you make claims the same as everyone else no difference. Why don't you post something that directly contradicts the claims of the Hill's. Or are we to throw out anything Stanton Friedman says and use you as his replacment for knowledge on such matters?

I gave you all answers that you can take to the bank. Using Friedman as a source for anything shows your mental weakness/gullibility. Go to the original 1960s sources and don't rely on anything else. Earn your keep!

Or change this forum to Unexplained Gullibility!

im not sure if youre aware, but your Opinion isnt an answer. otherwise the world would be left without questions.

Now ed, you must know that you're not allowed to 'diss' Stanton. Didn't you know that he used to be a proper scientist (once), in fact to most ufo buffs he's God. But hell.......thar's money in them thar ufos.

it's "there's money in Those UFO's"
but no one cares i he doesnt like stanton. im not Insanely fond of the guy

I watched a show on Discovery about this, and supposedly, Betty described the aliens performing a test on her that was not done in those days. If I remember correctly, it was a hysterosonograph. That was a major point that got people thinking they weren't lying.

I agree, Stanton is making a pretty good living off this and probably will for years to come. I far from take him at face value, unfortunatly most people looking into this will no doubt be inindated with Stanton links and t.v. specials.

He's using his play on words for "There's gold in them thar hills."

If you are an intelligent, well informed individual especially in the field of UFOlogy as I am - since 1958! - then you know that Friedman is in it ONLY for the money since being also an intelligent person he recognized that he could make a better living feeding b.s. to the gullible. If he had stayed on as a Nuclear Physicist you might have never heard of him. You are not experiencing the person, you are experiencing his ego. Friedman is the "Rev." Al Sharpton of UFOOlogy!

Phil Klass used to joke about Friedman always claiming he was a N.P. He WAS, when the dinosaurs were upon the Earth!

Gullibility, hardly I just have to question your motives as you don't offer anything but opinion and tell people to look at this and that, present something. Anyone can go back and read what ever and interprate it anyway they want. Present your claims and then show us why, not just tell us. Your debunking skills need a little work. No they don't, yes they do, no they aeee you get what I mean.


edit:
Had to add one of these , to make a sentence work properly

I totally disagree with this. Stanton puts so much effort into this subject, more than most ufologist, and to say he is only in it for the money is just ridiculus in my opinion. But people who dont agree with him tend to bring up the "in it for the money". I respect him as a researcher, and how much dedication he puts into the subject.

And another thing. Do you expect hime to do this for free? In the real world, things don't work like that. He puts alot of time and effort into this subject, so he should make money from it. I would do the same, and if anyone says they would not, they are lying. Money does not grow on tree's

Yeah, but that was after the reporter had released the information about the abduction. Once she realized that she was not alone, she just probably decided "Why the hell shouldn't I attend UFO conferences? Why shouldn't I accept interviews?"

There was a witness to their claims, and that's Friedman... not to mention Kathleen Marden (Betty's niece, whom had overheard her mother and Betty talking on the phone about their conversation). And how can you say that there were no rotating magnetic fields in the trunk of their car? You're nothing but a debunker, a typical debunker.

Sure, there was a witness to their claims - in that respect we are all witnesses. But there are no witnesses to what they claim! And where did this silly claim of a rotating magntetic field pop up? With a little knowledge of magtetic fields it should be blatantly obvious that it is just ridiculous. Lets see a scientific analysis, otherwise it is non-existent.

Three things that really goes against their claims for me:

1) ET converses in English
2) The so-called starmap. You can draw a horse and find stars that match it.
3) Hypnotic regression. Even the doctor performing it concluded that it was most likely a fantasy and not real.

Too many things going against it in my honest opinion.

Cheers,
Badeskov

When was she a big mouth about UFO's? I think that would be a factor in her potential..."truthiness"...

I think Betty and Barney Hill are 2 of the very few that are credible. Both were upstanding in thier community. Both had to be...... being an interracial couple then they had to work twice as hard to garner some respect because of how they were percieved.

the fact that Barney became suicidal after remembering a bulk of what happened..... where both wanted to originally keep it to themselves because they had everything to loose and nothing to gain.

as well as Convinced that something odd had indeed happened to them, the Hills filed a report of the UFO with Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, just 36 hours after the incident according to Report No. 100 - 1 - 61 of the SAC 100th Bomb Wing, Pease radar had registered an "unknown" at exactly the same time the Hills had their run in with the UFO.http://www.subversiveelement.com/alienAbductionHills.html

as for that 'star map' .. it didn't at the time fit any known star system. that wasn't found till years later when tech was better. if one thinks all you have to do is make one up and it would fit somewhere that of yet isn't mapped then I suggest they give it a try.

Heh, I presume that was a stab at me Well, I stand by what I said. First of all, we have a hand drawn map with no dimensions or error fields (i.e., how close to the exact position was each star drawn). That in itself is a problem. Secondly, that something matching was only found years later when we were able to look far enogh just adds to my belief. If you draw something (say, a horse), and you match it in some field of view to 80% of the stars there, chances are that with better equipment stars will pop up in the missing spots, especially if allowed some freedom given the lax accuracy with which it was drawn.

Cheers,
Badeskov

I looked at this back in the 60s-70s and decided that most likely they had a screaming menopausal fight, repressed the memory of it and confabulated the abduction to fill in the blanked-out time. My reasoning was hardly conclusive but they're middle-aged, a mixed-race couple back when that was a source of real tension, she's a college grad, he's not, he's in a dead-end job, they have no kids and they're coming off a vacation, going back to the same old grind. What's more, it's late at night so they're probably both tired. It's a setup for a fight where unforgivable things get said.

The pregnancy 'exam' is pretty peculiar when you think about it and probably hints at what the fight was all about.

Just to add to my statement, I have attached a single image taken from Celestia using the 2 million stars database (which is a very small fraction of the estimated 400 billion stars in the Milky way). I would think that no matter what drawing one comes up which, there will always be a set of stars matching this, given the accuracy it is drawn with and that we can rotate and size it any way we can think of

Cheers,
Badeskov

Edited for idiocy when uploading picture...

YOU supply a reliable, unimpeacheable source to verify the "rotating magnetic fields in the trunk of their car"! If you can't, and I know you won't, then disabuse yourself from continuing to perpetuate b.s. as is de rigueur on this forum.

Well, Kathleen Marden (Betty's niece) is a witness to the rotating magnetic fields in the trunk. When they applied the compass to the back, it spun rapidly.

Just because the ET conversed in English doesn't mean that an abduction didn't take place. She described the being as speaking in a thick accent, and could barely decipher what he was saying... so it is clear that the being was not fluent in the English language. And, while the doctor may have made the conclusion that it was possibly fantasy, that doesn't mean it was. No matter how much he tried to convince the Hills that it was all a "dream" through hypnosis, they somehow refused to believe it... and hypnosis is a powerful thing. I believe something more than a mass hallucination occurred in White Mountains, NH.

Would you, then, say the same thing about most posters on this forum?

Last I heard the star map Betty drew, was actually the Zeta Reticuli star system. I'm sure you all remember the Serpo hoax...don't think they have any connection though

I think that your bold signature ["Sincerity is NOT a check in truth." - Stanton Friedman] speaks volumes about your allegiance to the truth.

What I am asking is, when did she start the UFO interest and meeting attendance? Do you know? Was it after her "experience" or before? Just wondering.

According to the record, she had a history of being interested and outspoken about UFOs BEFORE the alleged experience and I think there's a comment somewhere about her wishing for a UFO experience or perhaps that applies to Travis Walton, another b.s.'er.

I was stationed at Pease AFB from 1958 to 1959 and I traveled the same mountainous areas and they're spooky. Every small plane becomes a UFO in the eyes of the beholder. Of course radar reports will included unknowns. The point is that there are no witnesses to their alleged claim. It's easier to accept the results of their sessions with Dr Benjamin Simon.

Nobody was with the Hills. Nobody was with the Hills in the privacy of their home. Nobody knows what they talked about and nobody knows if Betty was the dominant partner with Barney allowing her to control him.

The end result was that Betty's mind deteriorated to a point that nothing she said could be taken at face value.

And then there's the lingering knowledge that she saw certain TV episodes that fer her mind.

dont wanna get off topic, but why is walton (or any of his friends) b.s.'ers?
and for betty, im assuming you knew her personally, or Really well where you could say that:


thats a pretty bold statement to make about someone you dont you. and there were witnesses. TWO of them, betty and barney. now unfortunately, if there were about 100 witnesses, youd probably just say again "there were no Other witnesses at the time. and No one knew what they talked about in their own home"
and like i said before, im sure a mixed race couple would want Even More attention from the public at this time. especially for saying something 'out there' like they were abducted. just doesnt seem to make sense.

The human mind always keep creating histories over the facts, if this event was real and they were abducted by aliens the trauma would aggravate their situation and their minds would create fantasies for what happened, this is common with victims of abuse. So with the time the whole story would sound more bizarre, surreal and fantastic.


There are other cases of et contact, and much better documented, like in these where simple, poor and religious people used their believes to find some explanation.
Link 1
Link 2

OK, was the car running when she applied it? Lets just say that I put a lot more faith in the current knowledge in electro-magnetism than I do in Betty's niece, and that tells us that unless she had something in the back of her car or that her car was running, then what is described is simply not possible.



Indeed, but it does make it highly unlikely in my honest opinion.



Of course, it might have been a genuine abduction - but in my eyes that is so very unlikely, too many things going against it.

Cheers,
Badeskov

That was how it was interpretated. But if she had drawn it a bit different, somebody would have recognized it as another star system, I am sure. The Zeta Reticuli star system is about 39 light years distant, while Tau Ceti (also part of the map drawn) is ~12 light years distant. Again, given the freedom we have in picking and choosing, chances are that we can always find something that matches...

Cheers,
Badeskov

Ugh, forgot to add that I find it highly unlikely that ET would draw a 2D map of a 3D star constellation as we see it from Earth. Thus, any star map drawn would also have to be considered from any possible angle - the one being from Earth the most unlikely - increasing the odds for finding something looking like it tremendously.

Cheers,
Badeskov

Agreed. While I am highly skeptical of any abduction case, there are certainly some that are more intriguing that the one Barney and Betty represent!

Cheers,
Badeskov