The Betty and Barney Hill Incident

We all like good science fiction stories and mysteries.  Well, this episode speaks to both.  In this episode I look at the alien abduction event involving Betty and Barney Hill.  Although not the first documented alien abduction event, it is perhaps the most well known and well documented.

I inivte you to listen to the story behind the story of this strange event from America's past.

References:

Appalacian Mountain Club

allthatisinteresting.com

Wikipedia

Historical Marker Database

Transcript

Hello Friends,

 I’m your host Dave Laton and welcome to Signs of Our Time, Discovering America’s heritage, one sign at a time.

 This podcast is designed to provide the story behind the story found on America’s roadside historical signs and markers.  

 We usually see information on historical markers that record historical events, people, or locations.  In this episode I want to look at a historical marker that captures an unusual, and some say bizarre event of the alien abduction of Betty and Barney Hill.  Now, whether you believe in UFO’s, extraterrestrial beings, alien abductions, or other strange phenomena, you have to agree that this event was very unusual.

 Although not the first alien abduction story, it was the most documented and thought of as feasible legitimate.  

 As the story goes, the event happened around 10:30 in the evening on September 19, 1961 in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  Betty, a social worker, and Barney, a postal worker, were returning home from a delayed honeymoon.  

 Around 10:00 that evening they left a diner hoping to arrive home by 2 am.  But things took a strange turn.  As they drove, they noticed a bright light that seemed to be following them.  As they continued to drive, the light grew bigger and brighter.  Barney thought it must be a commercial plane or helicopter, or perhaps even a satellite that had gone off course.  

 Eventually, their curiosity won out so they pulled over to investigate.  Betty looked at the object through a pair of binoculars and realized it was some sort of spinning object.  The image of a flying saucer came to mind.  Barney was skeptical of extraterrestrial phenomena but had no viable explanation as to what the object was.  The couple got back into their car and drove on until they reached Route 3 in Lincoln where the object began to hover over them.

 Barney stopped the vehicle again to investigate.  Apparently the object was now much closer to where they could see more detail.  Barney described it as bigger than a jet, flat as a pancake, with windows all around.  Behind the windows were several humanoid beings that operated an instrument panel.   Barney relates that they became afraid of being captured by the beings so they ran back to their car and sped off.  They then heard strange beeping noises, felt drowsy, and eventually lost consciousness.

The next morning, they woke up in their house in Portsmouth with no memory of events from the night before.  There was evidence however of scuffed shoes, torn clothing, and their watches had stopped working.

 Following this, they began investigating related events related to theirs.  They also reported the event to the Air Force due to concerns about radiation.  And they began seeing a psychiatrist to help them piece together the events of the night.

Following months of hypnosis, they began to recall what had happened.  According to their memory, the UFO landed on their car and put them to sleep.  Then the grey beings they had seen earlier led them into the spacecraft.  The beings then collected physical samples from them such as hair, clippings from their nails, and parts of their skin.  The beings also probed needles into their arms, legs, and heads.  Betty recalled that they had even conducted a pregnancy test on her.

Apparently, they were able to communicate with the beings.  Betty tells that she had spoken with the leader of the beings who showed her a star map of where the beings were from. Later it was determined that the beings were from a star system called, Zeta Reticuli.

One rebuttal to their story came from a resident of the area where the encounter happened.  The resident states that their event was a misperception caused by an aircraft warning beacon located on one of the nearby mountains.  It could easily be mistaken as a possible UFO by someone not familiar with its location.  The beacon’s rotating light projects the image of appearing and disappearing.  

We now have all sorts of stories of alien encounters.  Some seem to be based on the Hill’s experiences.  If you’ve seen movies such as the 1977 Close Encounters of the Third Kind, you will see some similarities to the Hill’s abduction such as the remoteness of the event, the shape of the UFO, the identify of the beings, just to name a few.  Even TV shows like the X-Files borrowed from this event.

 I’ll leave it up to you to explore this event and other extra-terrestrial, UFO, or as it is now called, UAP’s or Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.  True or not, it makes great science fiction stories.

One more point, my friend and fellow podcaster, Robert Barber has a podcast called State of the Unknown.  He is a thorough researcher and great storyteller about such events and is planning a deep dive into the Hill’s close encounter.  You can find his podcast on iTunes by searching for State of the Unknown.

Well friends, there you have it.  A story behind the story from America’s historical signs and markers.  I hope you enjoyed this episode.  I invite you to subscribe and continue listening as we bring more episodes about the rich heritage of our great nation.

Please share this podcast with others.  If you have interesting stories about historical signs and markers, email me at: americanhistoricalmarkers@gmail.com.  Maybe your story behind the story will be featured.

I’m your host Dave Laton and thank you for listening, and safe travels!