The True Story of the Worlds First Documented Alien Abduction: The Trouble With Betty’s Dreams
Betty didn’t tell her supervisor about another dream that recurred off and on for a period of time after her sighting. She thought it was irrelevant. However, she discussed it with Dr. Simon at the end of her hypnosis sessions. It gives us a key to Betty’s subconscious fears.
The dream is as follows:
I would dream that Barney and I were somewhere, not home, but we were maybe on vacation or something. I would look out the window and there would be waves and waves of UFOs coming; not just one. The sky would be all lighted up with them. I would say, “Oh Barney, come on, let’s go out. They’re back. Let’s go out and see them.” Then they would start doing something. I don’t know if they were dropping bombs, or what, but the whole world would be on fire. It would be all in flames, like a bombing, I suppose—I’ve never seen one. And then, I would become very frightened and say that they wanted to destroy us or capture us, or something like that.
Before we move ahead to the hypnosis transcripts, it is imperative that we explore what science has learned about the nature of nightmares. It wasn’t until the 1960s, when Vietnam War veterans reported their traumatic nightmares about war events, that the distinction between ordinary nightmares and traumatic nightmares was made. The research shows that posttraumatic nightmares are repetitive and vivid. They reveal more memory of the traumatic event than ordinary nightmares. In fact, these nightmares can be an exact replay of the traumatic event. The event can also replay during a waking period as flashbacks. Traumatic dreams are a normal way of working through the memory of trauma.1 They follow a predictable sequence: First come dreams that are characterized as exact recall of the event. Then they morph into different scenarios that incorporate the intense emotion felt during the traumatic event. Last, the dreams mimic other forms of life experiences but include aspects of the traumatic memory.2 This may have been what happened in Betty’s case.
Yet we cannot be certain that trauma caused Betty’s dreams. Some researchers have conjectured that the Hills’ captors hypnotized or some- how altered their memories through the employment of advanced technology we are only beginning to investigate. One important key to understanding the psychological dynamics behind Betty’s dreams might lie in Betty’s subconscious reaction to her hypnosis sessions. Although Dr. Simon employed the posthypnotic suggestion of amnesia after each of the Hills’ sessions, Betty experienced troubling dreams during the ensuing week, as did Barney. The dreams contained some elements of the UFO encounter and abduction, but in many respects were entirely different.
For example, in the week following Betty’s first hypnotic regression she had two nightmares. One was about water—perhaps a lake and a shoreline. But she couldn’t recall anything else. The second was more memorable. It was about a light, similar to the light of a flashlight, that was bouncing all around. It would bounce toward Betty, and then it would retract. She felt as though she was in great danger from the light—that it would shine on her and something terrible would occur when it did. As the light approached Betty she screamed and woke up.
In late spring 1964, prior to Betty’s last hypnosis session but while her amnesia was still in place, she experienced another frightening dream.
Betty told Dr. Simon:
We were riding along and I could see this object going through the sky with light in it and I was all excited. I told Barney, “There they are.” You know, we’re finally going to meet them. They land and we see them land, and we’re quite excited about this. And then, I see them in the road. Before this, I have no fear whatsoever. I’m looking forward to meeting whoever these people are. But the moment I see them in the road, I’m hollering in my sleep, saying to myself, “Oh my God, they’re not what I expected.” They don’t look like I expected them to look. They look like people but they’re sort of grotesque. I became very frightened.
Although Betty’s dream was vague, it contained elements of her hypnotically retrieved memories of abduction. She had already relived the trauma of the roadblock and subsequent capture, but they had not yet emerged as part of her conscious recall. However, on a subconscious level she seemed to be working through her distress. One can only speculate about the true source of her ordeal. Either she was working through the nightmare of a real capture by aliens, or her subconscious mind had created a disturbing fantasy, first as primary nightmares, then as confabulation in deep trance regression.
Now, we will move forward to a comparative analysis of the Hills’ hypnotic recall vis-à-vis Betty’s dream/nightmare material. A thorough analysis of all the available material is necessary for one to determine the true nature of the Hill UFO encounter and subsequent abduction. The Interrupted Journey by John Fuller presented a neat, chronological account of the Hills’ journey. However, a substantial portion of the couple’s testimony was omitted from the book, and this has led to speculation, confusion, and distortion. Dr. Simon asked the Hills to recall portions of their trip over and over again, and with each retelling, new facts came to light that filled in missing portions of their stories. Only a handful of researchers have ever heard the complete story.