The True Story of the Worlds First Documented Alien Abduction: A Betrayal of Trust
In 1975, the movie rights were sold to Academy Award nominee James Earl Jones. He had read the book and wanted to play the dramatic part of Barney in the movie. In addition to Betty Hill, John Fuller and Dr. Simon took part in the negotiations for the production contract. The picture was based upon John Fuller’s The Interrupted Journey and was supplemented through many hours of conversation between Betty and screen- writer Miss Hesper Anderson. Just before the production began, Betty flew to New York to meet the producer/director and Estelle Parson, the Academy Award-winning actress who would play Betty in the movie.
Stanton served as the technical advisor for the film. The UFO Incident, a two-hour motion picture, was presented for the first time on NBC on October 20, 1975.
In August of 1983, Betty was invited to appear on the F. Lee Bailey Lie Detector show. At first, due to the controversy regarding the validity of lie detector testing, she was apprehensive. However, Bailey’s representative explained that the controversy stemmed from the test results interpreted by inexperienced and untrained personnel. When she learned that the president of the American Polygraph Association planned to do the testing, she agreed. She was asked three questions: (1) Did you ini- tially receive the star map information while onboard a UFO? (2) Did you obtain it from a source other than a UFO? (3) Do you believe your star map is a hoax? Betty passed with flying colors.
After the show, Ed Gault, who administered the test, informed Betty that he had received many letters from individuals who claimed they had been abducted, and wanted to prove it by taking a lie detector test. Everyone failed, except Betty.
Then in 1989, Harper and Row Publishers produced a three-hour audiotaped version of The Interrupted Journey read by Whitley Strieber, which included excerpts from the original recording of the Hills’ hypno- sis sessions. These are the only audiotapes of the Hills’ hypnosis sessions that Betty approved to be released to the public. In 1996 Betty Hill took possession of the tape recordings and turned them over to Kathy for transcription and analysis. Except as the transcripts appear in this book with expressed permission of Betty Hill, no copies of the hypnosis tapes will be available to the public. The raw emotion and sheer terror expressed by the Hills on the audiotaped sessions is difficult to listen to. Additionally, personal information of a sexual nature is discussed in confidence. The voyeuristic exploitation of these tapes would not only be cruel, but also unethical.
The opportunity to travel and meet a variety of interesting people, including television celebrities, added a new dimension to the Hills’ lives. They lectured at schools, colleges, and pubic facilities throughout the United States. They didn’t become wealthy, but their standard of living increased somewhat. They were able to purchase new living room furniture and upgraded from a Chevy to an Oldsmobile.
On the surface, Barney seemed more comfortable with the publicity than he previously had. On November 17, 1966, in his second televised interview, Barney recapped his and Betty’s activities as social activists.
Appearing on the Louis Lomax television program, Barney explained that he and Betty were promoting the agendas of the New Hampshire Archdiocese in the areas of civil rights and family structure. Additionally, he spoke of his activities as legal redress chairman for the Portsmouth chapter of the NAACP and Betty’s position as the editor of their news- letter. He was most proud of his appointment to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. The Hills gave a brief outline of their initial sighting, their close encounter, period of missing time, evidence, the investigation, their recovered memories of abduction, and the aftermath.
Barney described how Henry, a young sergeant at the air base, and his wife, along with the Hills, experimented with the compass over the silver-dollar-sized, highly polished circles on the trunk of their car. The ensuing conversations with investigators Walter Webb, Hohmann, and Jackson, according to Barney, were so long and involved that all forgot to look at the evidence on the car’s trunk.
Then, Betty’s friend Lei Stewart testified about her recall of the Hills’ return of her cooler when they arrived home, and their detailed account of a UFO sighting.
Later, Barney discussed Dr. Simon’s hypothesis that he had absorbed Betty’s dreams, refuting this as being unbelievable:
What is implied here is that Betty’s dreams would become my reality. One theory is that I absorbed Betty’s dreams as she talked in her sleep. She would have to talk in complete sentences and when I am asleep they would have gotten into my subconscious. But I commuted from Portsmouth to Boston where I was employed nights, so we didn’t sleep together. Next, as she told her dreams to Walter Webb and the other two scientists that visited with us and the many others that were involved in getting the evidence of this, I obviously would have been in the same room and I would have overheard these dreams. This is much like saying that if you were hypnotized, having talked to me or listened to me, that you would have gone off and relived the same experience that I am telling you. It’s incredible…the dream theory [laughter].
Barney’s closing remarks summed it up: “We’re not defending UFOs. I couldn’t really personally care less. What we were compelled to do as the result of a newspaper article that ran in one of the Boston papers for five days…we had not cooperated with this reporter, so he wrote a story much like we had talked to Lei and told her. All of this got around and in 1965 everyone was talking; although the place and the people were not put into proper perspective, he put the story together and wrote it with- out any cooperation from us. So we, after that, we were more or less compelled to put down the documentation. The tapes are part of the record. They are something that you can listen to, although we would never permit anyone, other than the scientists, with the doctor’s obvious cooperation to listen to these tapes.”
Next, a question and answer session ensued. One of the participants cited his curiosity of the Air Force’s failure to investigate the UFO sighting and evidence, even though they could easily have driven to the Hills’ home. He then mentioned that Dr. James MacDonald had recently dis- covered a CIA document that ordered the debunking of UFO reports.
At the end of the show, Barney expressed his desire to fight for civil rights and to become more involved in the struggle for human justice. The selling of his UFO story was a secondary issue to him, and one that had not changed him in a profound way. Betty concurred with Barney’s statement, joking that she was still the same person who had to defend herself, because she couldn’t expect Barney to do it for her.
The years 1966 and 1967 were busy for the Hills. They appeared on The Mike Douglas Show, To Tell the Truth, Art Linkletter, The Merv Griffin Show, and The Alan Douglas Show, to name a few. They traveled extensively, promoting the book at colleges, public meetings, and on radio and television programs.
In a telling 1967 letter to Walter Webb, Betty wrote:
We have been overwhelmed by the response to our book, and TV and radio programs. We have received letters by the basketful and we are answering every one of them, which is quite a chore.
We wrote hundreds of letters before we decided to have a special form letter printed, which we sign and send out—so this is making the letter-writing easier. Most people want to know where they can buy the book, cost, name, etc.
We enjoyed our trip to California—we were doing about four TV and two to three radio programs a day, as well as autographing books at the sellers, and having meetings with the newspapers. It was a hectic time and we really enjoyed it. While in Denver, we were interviewed by Dr. David Saunders of the University of Colorado UFO Study Group. On our return, we did a science program which will be shown either this month or next as a 90- minute special. Dr. Carl Sagan, Cambridge; Dr. Fred (Leo) Sprinkle, psychologist at the University of Wyoming; Dr. James McDonald, physicist from the University of Arizona; as well as the science editors from Time and New York Herald Tribune; John Fuller; and we were the panelists. Dr. Sagan does not believe in UFOs, but we met him in Boston one night and he wants to visit us in Portsmouth to discuss UFOs, and our experience, so we invited him to visit any time.
We feel that the scientific world is just beginning to take a look at UFOs; before this time all their reactions were emotional ones. In fact, those who still deny close contact with UFOs are still being emotional because of their own personal fears. They are closing their eyes and hoping they will go away. Also, the so- called scientific method of wanting to put one [UFO] in a box so they can feel, touch, and show it is an obsolete idea—a 17th century theory or practice which they are trying to apply to a 20th century fact. We feel that many of the top scientists who have been in contact with us—those who have had access to Air Force files (many of them have had Air Force files opened to them) have no doubt about our experience—to them it is an actuality.
To the public who have read the book there is also no doubt but the experience is a real one. If we should meet someone who says he does not believe it, we find that he has not read the book.
Last week we spoke on WLOB, Portland, Maine. The newscaster told us that when he read our story in LOOK he canceled his subscription because he objected to their publishing science fiction, but after meeting us, and hearing us tell our story, he was renewing his subscription.
Did you see the Air Force Times book review? They recommended Incident at Exeter and The Interrupted Journey as the two books about UFOs worth reading, and gave excellent reviews.
Confidentially, we plan NOT to go to any meetings of any groups of UFO enthusiasts, but we are hopeful of doing this tactfully—refusing, that is. Also it is unfortunate that NICAP took the position they did in reviewing our book before it was published. In this area, people have lost confidence in them, and John Reynolds, who receives the reports in this area, does not receive any. No one gets in touch with NICAP. About two months ago, Exeter had an excellent sighting at 7:45 p.m., witnessed by approximately 40 people—and no one contacted NICAP. A UFO hovered directly over a house for 45 minutes—approximately 15 feet above the house. The windows were clearly visible. Occasionally I send a sighting along to John—particularly the close daylight sightings.
Also, we have found that other people have seen UFOs fairly close and have suffered amnesia, followed by dreams. Efforts are being made to have these people undergo hypnosis. One man [was] found while still in the trance [or hypnosis] and underwent hypnosis right away. So, it is some consolation to us to know that others have had similar experiences.
The publicity surrounding the Hills’ UFO encounter increased the scientific community’s interest in the topic. In addition to the scientists who explore the UFO dilemma publicly, such as J. Allen Hynek, James MacDonald, Leo Sprinkle, David Saunders, and Carl Sagan, others were doing so quietly and secretly. They were most often interested in the propulsion system used by the craft. Betty informed family members that visits were scheduled with researchers from many universities. Scientists from many disciplines came quietly and secretly to question the Hills.
They all made it clear that confidentiality was imperative. Some revealed that they knew UFOs existed, but that nothing could be done until they became officially recognized. When they were asked why they did not take a public stand, they explained that their livelihood depended upon federal research grants. They stated that they were aware that prejudice existed. If their interest in UFOs became known, it would jeopardize their chances of securing the grants needed to conduct their research.
One scientist came for another purpose. He came quietly—so quietly that the Hills met him outside their home. He asked only one question: What did the aliens look like? When the Hills described their physical characteristics, he could barely control his excitement. Betty later re- called, “He stood there shaking his head. He said, ‘My God, you really were captured!’ We asked him how he could be so sure of this. He said that before such a tight censorship had been imposed, he had seen an official photo of the aliens, taken from a plane—a good clear picture of them. He did not know where the picture was now, but the aliens in the picture and the aliens that we had met were of the same description.
Then, he left as quietly as he came.” Betty maintained confidentiality and carried the scientist’s name to her grave.