Fact or Fantastical Fiction?

By Mary Carter
Eagle Times Correspondent
Sixty-two Septembers ago, on a dark and remote NH highway, Betty and Barney Hill were allegedly abducted by humanoid creatures aboard an illuminated spaceship.

While there’s been a steady flow of UFO encounter stories since, the Hills were the subjects of the first widely documented and publicized alien abduction tale in US history.

The Hills had celebrated a delayed honeymoon in Niagara Falls. Hurricane warnings convinced them to head home on that late Saturday night, so they fortified themselves with coffee in a Colebrook, NH, diner before forging on.

While Barney drove south on NH Route 3, Betty noticed what she called “a falling star that moved upward.” Betty urged her husband to pull over and take a closer look at the erratically moving light. Peering through a pair of binoculars, Barney was about to dismiss the craft as a Montreal bound airplane when it suddenly descended.

The Hills returned to their car and rapidly drove away. The “bright light” kept a steady pace, at one point emerging alongside the Old Man in The Mountain profile. South of Franconia Notch, the object hovered above the Hills’ 1957 Chevy Bel Air, fully encompassing their view.

Barney stopped and got outside the vehicle. Within the “pancake-like” spacecraft, Barney noticed a number of humanoid creatures staring back at him. One spoke to Barney telepathically saying, “Stay where you are and keep looking.”

It was the last thing he remembered.

The Hills arrived home in Portsmouth, NH, on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 20, 1961. Their journey had taken two hours longer than anticipated. The strap on Barney’s binoculars had broken and his shoes were badly scuffed. Betty’s dress was torn, and her earrings were missing. Both their watches would not work. Additionally, on their car were unexplainable, shiny spots that could set a compass needle spinning.

Betty began having nightmares about being led through the woods by two small men. Barney was behind her, moving as if in a trance. In Betty’s dream, they were returned to their car and told to watch the spacecraft depart. Later, under hypnosis, Betty spoke of terrifying and evasive probes of her body aboard that airship.

Also under hypnosis, Barney would recall similar events. These medical experiments were conducted by “small gray creatures with bulbous heads and catlike eyes.”

The Hills suddenly found themselves famous. Their story was told in the best-selling book, “The Interrupted Journey.” Barney appeared on a December 1966 episode of “To Tell The Truth.” A movie entitled “The UFO Incident,” starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons, was released in 1975.

Barney died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1969. Betty, who did not pass until 2004, was a magnet for UFO enthusiasts, speaking at gatherings and conventions.

The Hills’ testimony would be dissected by skeptics. New Hampshire author James D. Macdonald believes that the sleep-deprived Hills mistook a Cannon Mountain aircraft warning beacon and a pumpkin image atop the North Woodstock Jack O Lantern Resort as an alien spacecraft. It was also suggested by others that the Hills’ recollections under hypnosis were influenced by the “Outer Limits” episode “The Bellero Shield,” as well as from the 1953 film “Invaders From Mars.”

Nevertheless, the Hills set the tone for future alien abduction stories to come. Betty’s recorded memories, written reports and her torn dress are archived at her alma mater, the University of New Hampshire. Fact or fiction, Betty and Barney Hill’s incident warranted a state historical marker which stands near the site of their otherworldly experience.