Where the Debunkers Went Wrong

The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Abduction: Where the Debunkers Went Wrong

Betty and Barney Hill are best known as the first alien abduction experiencers to stir worldwide attention because of their 1961 UFO abduction. Despite the efforts of a wide range of skeptics, debunkers, disinformants, and deniers their story has not faded into the annals of unfounded claims. Over a period of sixty years researchers have presented compelling evidence that the Hills did indeed encounter an unconventional craft in New Hampshire's White Mountains on September 19, 1961, but deniers have refused to accept the verified evidence. However, many openminded skeptics have been impressed by the evidence, the historical documents, and the Hills impeccable reputations that will not permit their UFO encounter to be dismissed. One rational skeptic was the late Karl Pflock, a former CIA operative and US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. He conducted an extensive investigation of the Hill's UFO sighting and their evidence of an alien abduction. He visited Betty at her home several times and used the records in her files. At the end of his investigation, he authored a chapter in Encounters at Indian Head titled "A Singular Visitation" regarding his investigation and many of the skeptics' untenable hypotheses. He wrote, "The Hills abduction really happened the way they described it—and may well have been the only case of its kind." (p. 209)

Anti-UFO propagandists and their believers have disseminated false and misleading information about Betty’s interest in the topic, stating that she was a longtime believer in UFOs and had read many books and articles on the subject. It appears that they were suggesting that interest or knowledge implies guilt. But according to investigators Betty had almost no real interest in nor knowledge of UFOs prior to her spectacular sighting with the exception of one brief discussion by her sister in 1957, regarding a strange object she and other witnesses had observed in the night sky during her weekly grocery shopping trip. Barney informed Dr. Benjamin Simon that he was a confirmed skeptic on the topic and did not comment on this statement. By all credible accounts, Betty thought that a UFO presence might be possible but the conversation ended there.

Additionally, it has been falsely stated that Betty was a science fiction enthusiast who watched many movies pertaining to UFOs and alien abduction. During his investigation Karl Pflock scanned Betty's bookcase for science fiction books and did not find one. Betty and Barney denied having an interest in watching science fiction. But deniers choose to ignore statements made by the Hills the true skeptics who do not endorse imaginative false tales being passed off as fact.

The truth is documented in a letter written by Barney to Major Donald Keyhoe, Director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. Barney wrote, “I was a skeptic prior to this (UFO sighting), although my wife felt they could exist. Neither of us had any training or knowledge in the past." Despite this fact one so-called skeptic contends that the story has every indication of being merely an "inventive tale from the mind of a lifelong UFO fanatic." One might ask if the inventive mind is that of an individual who created an outright fabrication, possibly to dissuade the public from the belief that any of this is real.

NICAP investigator Walter Webb, in 1961 an astronomy lecturer at the Hayden Planetarium, was the first investigator of the Hills' UFO encounter. He rightfully raised the question of the Hills prior interest in and knowledge of the UFOs. He wrote the following in an article dated August 30, 1965: “Before the experience, Barney Hill apparently had a total lack of interest or curiosity about UFOs. His wife had a mild interest in the heavens which she shared with her father, but she had not read any books on the subject of UFOs.” But the denier and fraudulent writer will ignore this clear statement. The fact is that my family was interested in the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. I had never heard anyone speak of UFOs.

The truth is important and the dissemination of false narratives do nothing but muddy the waters. One must wonder if this is their intention. Do charged emotions fuel their unfounded beliefs? What is the psychological motivation behind the irresistible desire to produce and distribute false information? Are deniers so fearful of the evidence that they feel compelled to deny its existence? Are they working as disinformation specialists for a government agency? Why must people whose integrity has been long established be attacked by character assassins?

False information about the Hill’s credibility

I stated above that the Hills were credible people. It is a point that is often ignored by deniers who have an agenda to color them as anything but credible. I’ve read the false charges that Betty was fantasy prone and Barney was mentally unstable. Or that Betty was the delusional one, not Barney. The fact is that Betty and Barney were grounded, stable individuals whose primary agenda was to advance their shared political agenda. Their UFO experience and the evidence that they could not ignore troubled them and disrupted their lives. Betty sought answers but Barney hoped that he could forget about it and move on. But it was Barney's anxiety over what he saw on the night of September 19, 1961, that led to his bleeding ulcers and subsequent referral to Dr. Simon, a famed neuropsychiatrist who had successfully treated people's emotionally generated physiological problems.

I knew Betty well and lived with her during my college years. My college education focused on psychiatric social work. I believe that I can identify a delusional person when I have had the opportunity to observe one over a period of time. Betty was not psychotic, nor did she ever have a major psychiatric disorder. She was stable and her reality testing was normal. Several people who knew her, as a friend or a social worker, have made comments to me about Betty’s personality. The most frequent comment I have received is “She was the salt of the earth. The people who criticize her don’t know what they’re talking about.” I have never heard a negative comment about Betty or Barney by anyone who knew them. But I have heard many comments that make me proud to be their niece. In my opinion, the distribution of their confidential UFO encounter to the public, by Boston newspaper reporter John Luttrell, was the worst thing that ever happened to the Hills and our family. It shamed us and altered our lives.

It has long been argued by debunkers that Betty’s personality was so dominant, and Barney’s so submissive that he would do, say, and believe anything coming from her mouth. This is another blatantly false accusation. Betty was a competent and proud. She was not a submissive or self-deprecating woman. She often attempted to influence Barney, but he often challenged or ridiculed her ideas. They did not become his own without careful scrutiny, measure, and balance. These statements are supported by the late Leo Sprinkle, Ph.D. concerning the results of a personality test he administered Barney. His test indicated that Barney fell within the normal range on measures of suggestibility, self-confidence, self-doubt, excitability, inhibitions, disposition, conformity, and anxiety. His scores were above average in the areas of perseverance, responsibility, achievement, self-control, commitment to truth and justice, sincerity, dependability, self-discipline, and hard work. He had a mind of his own and a healthy sense of self. This is certainly not an assessment of a weak, pliable man. Barney was strong.

Barney was politically active in state and community affairs. He held the position of legal redress officer for his local chapter of the NAACP and sat on the regional board. In a letter dated May 21, 1965, a representative from the US Civil rights commission wrote a letter to Barney stating, “It gives me great pleasure to advise you that the United States Commission on Civil Rights, at a meeting held May 4, 1965, appointed you a member of the New Hampshire State Advisory Committee for a term ending December 31, 1966.” Any rational person would conclude that this recognition would not have been awarded to a pathologically submissive or mentally unstable man.

It was Barney’s advocacy for equal rights that brought him to the committee’s attention. Prior to his appointment, he had voiced concern in a letter to the editor about how ridiculous it was for the committee to be staffed by five white men, although there were many people of color in the state. He considered this unfair and discriminatory. Valerie Cunningham is an African American historian from Portsmouth who knew Barney and addressed this issue in an interview in the film titled Strange Septembers. She said, “Barney was fearless and outspoken.” These are not the activities of an effete man.

Betty and Barney worked tirelessly with a team of volunteers from Portsmouth, NH, to set up the Rockingham County Community Action Program through the U.S. Office of Economic Opportunity. Barney served on the Board of Directors in this program. They also worked to promote voter’s rights and literacy, and for their efforts were invited by President Lyndon B. Johnson to attend his 1965 inauguration. I received an invitation as well and accompanied Betty and Barney to this historic event. This was before a violation of confidentiality thrust the Hills into the public eye as UFO abductees. Prior friends only a few scientists, UFO investigators, close friends, and family members were informed of this information, and knowing the negative consequences that this kind of publicity could deliver to my family, we had been sworn to secrecy. Public awareness of their UFO encounter and abduction was the worst thing that could have happened to the Hills and possibly contributed to Barney’s early death from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1969.

Both Betty and Barney performed their jobs well. After receiving an honorable discharge from the Army and being assessed as having “excellent” character, Barney landed a job with the US Post Office. He remained employed at the post office until his death in 1969. Betty was promoted to Intake and Referral Supervisor at the welfare office after her abduction story was made public.

Despite his excellent character assessment, a particularly nasty disinformant has circulated an alleged defamatory statement by Dr. Simon in which Barney's morality is referred to as that of an "alley cat." Some fantasy prone individuals will stoop to new lows with slanderous tales regarding alleged, but false information. It is impossible to believe that a reputable neuropsychiatrist would verbally slander his patient's character for use by a known promoter of false information.

False statements about their trip to Niagara Falls

Deniers often speculate authoritatively, but without knowledge, that Barney was under so much stress prior to his and Betty’s vacation to Niagara Falls and Montreal that he had intended to use the time to rest. This is another blatantly false and irrational statement. If it were true, the Hills could have remained at home or vacationed nearby. The facts can be found in Barney’s statement to Dr. Benjamin Simon, the prominent Boston psychiatrist who saw the Hills over a six month period in 1964, for hypnosis regarding their 9/19-20/1961 experience. Dr. Simon asked Barney, “Tell me what made you suddenly decide to go to Niagara Falls?” Barney replied, “Betty had never been to Niagara Falls and she had a vacation for a week, and I had been, but I knew she wanted to go somewhere…I made that decision when I was driving down to work at night and I was thinking, ‘I wish there was something I could do with Betty, while she was off from work for a week.’ And when I got to work I started to call her back, and then I thought, ‘I will tell her in the morning when I get off from work and drive back to Portsmouth.”

Another false statement was issued on a National Geographic documentary on which I appeared several years ago. I had agreed to do a televised interview for the program, but when I arrived in Washington, DC, I discovered that the director focused on putting me behind the wheel of an antique car at a park with narrow, winding roads. They required an interview in the dark on a frigid night and voiced their regret for my extreme discomfort. Nevertheless, I answered their questions. When the show was televised I was disappointed at their editing. Additionally, they used a well-known debunker at the end of the sequence who falsely stated that the Hills had been driving for “something like 16 hours” that day before they sighted the UFO. The implication was that they were so fatigued they must have been hallucinating. Factually, the Hills reported that on September 18, 1961, they had a spent restful night at a motel only two hours west of Montreal. They had planned on spending the night on the outskirts of the city, but decided to continue on their route to Portsmouth, NH, as Barney was feeling energized and felt that it wouldn’t be a problem. They had a contingency plan to stop for the night if he began to experience fatigue. In a conscious interview with Dr. Simon, Barney stated the following: “I was well rested from the night before. We had spent a delightful day, and I knew I could drive on from the White Mountains down to Portsmouth. So, I didn't stop. I didn't feel too tired.”

It appears that this denier hasn’t done his homework. It would have taken close to sixteen hours to drive home from Niagara Falls via Toronto, Montreal, Coaticook, and then down US Rt. 3 to I-93 to Rt. 4 to Portsmouth, NH. However, the Hills were on the third day of a multi-day trip. Two books (Fuller & Friedman-Marden), stated that Betty and Barney spend the night before their UFO sighting at a motel 112 miles west of Montreal. They slept in on the morning of September 19 and had a leisurely breakfast before they made their two hour journey to Montreal.

My husband and I tested the hypothesis that Betty and Barney were experiencing such an extreme level of fatigue that their sensory input was hallucinatory. We drove to Niagara Falls, went sightseeing, and spent the night at a hotel. The following morning, we drove along the north side of Lake Ontario east through Toronto, to the Thousand Islands, and onward to a motel located approximately 112 miles west of Montreal. We enjoyed a leisurely morning and a nice breakfast, just as the Hills did on September 19, 1961, and proceeded to drive along the roads that they traveled on toward Montreal. We spent the afternoon there and left on the same route that Barney took to Coaticook and on toward Colebrook, NH. We stopped in Coaticook and Colebrook for a snack, just as Betty and Barney did, and headed south on US Highway 3. We stopped at the locations where the Hills did when they looked up at the strange aerial vehicle. Finally, we navigated our way south to Interstate 93 in Ashland. At the time of our investigative journey, my husband and I were nearly twenty-five years older than the Hills were during their fateful trip. We were tired, but not so exhausted that we hallucinated a UFO and its crew. In fact, we did not have an anomalous experience.

False statements about the UFO sighting

Time and time again, I have read false statements which allege that Betty and Barney had observed only a bright star-like object in the night sky that seemed to be following them and although it increased in size, it remained star-like throughout their observation. Deniers adhere to the false claim that Barney feared they might be harmed, so he left the main highway for narrow mountain roads and arrived home two hours later than expected. This is an imaginative fabrication. The fact is that the bright star-like UFO descended quickly in their direction approximately two miles south of Franconia Notch and one and a half miles south of Indian Head. Almost directly in their path, Betty and Barney encountered a flattened circular disc, hovering silently an estimated 100-200 feet above and to the right of their vehicle. It was no longer rotating. Barney rapidly brought the car to a halt in the middle of the road and grabbed his binoculars for a closer look, opening the car door for a less encumbered view. Rapidly, it shifted from its previous location across the highway and descended even lower. Still attempting to identify it as a conventional craft, Barney the skeptic walked toward it.

The silent enigmatic craft was huge; maybe sixty to eighty feet in diameter, with a row of rectangular windows extending across its rim. As he approached it, two red lights at the end of fin-like structures parted from the sides of the craft, and it tilted toward Barney. Lifting his binoculars to his eyes, he spied a group of figures dressed in black, shiny uniforms looking back at him. In a letter dated September 26, 1961 (only six days after their abduction), Betty wrote to NICAP Director Donald Keyhoe, “He (Barney) did see many figures scurrying about as though they were making some hurried type of preparation. One figure was observing us from the windows. From the distance this was seen, the figures appeared to be about the size of a pencil and seemed to be dressed in some type of shiny black uniform.” Given this readily available information it is impossible to believe that the Hills observed on a star-like object. One has to wonder why intelligent, educated people, who have had the opportunity to read the reports and research the case, consistently produce false claims for public consumption.

On October 21, 1961, Barney told NICAP investigator Walter Webb that the figures he observed thought the craft's windows were “somehow not human.” This quote is readily available in his report on this website. In 1964, Barney told Dr. Benjamin Simon that when the craft tilted downward and began to descend toward him, one of these strange creatures, who remained at the window, communicated a frightening message. His conscious, continuous recall of the close encounter frightened him greatly. Webb's 1961 report reveals that Barney had the immediate impression that he was in danger of being plucked from the field "like a bug in a net."

Betty informed NICAP Director Donald Keyhoe of Barney’s response to observing the non-human entities staring down at him only six days after their encounter and after she had checked out a book at the library that listed NICAP’s address. She wrote, “At this point, my husband became shocked and got back in the car, in a hysterical condition, laughing and repeating that they were going to capture us.” Those who impart the impression that the Hills observed only a bright, star-like object, or that all of this was brought out under hypnosis are simply uninformed or dishonest. It is a sign of the strong emotions that surround this case. Some people feel so distressed by this UFO encounter that their emotions override their intellect and they feel compelled to report promote false information. Others could be employed by a three letter agency.

We must address the claim that Barney turned off the highway because he feared the UFO. The documented evidence is clear. After fleeing from the field Barney raced down US Highway 3 in Lincoln, NH. He had looked back at the craft before he entered his vehicle and saw the UFO moving in his direction. He then instructed Betty to roll down her window and look up to see if the craft was overhead. She complied with his request, but all she saw was blackness. There were no lights from the craft—no stars above—even though it was a bright, light night. (Later, Betty realized that she must have seen the bottom of it.) Soon thereafter, she and Barney heard a series of code-like buzzing sounds that seemed to be striking the trunk of their vehicle. This caused the car to vibrate and according to their report to Pease Air Force Base on September 21, they could feel this vibration. Then, as if only a moment had passed the Hills found themselves thirty-five miles south of the Lincoln field. Barney did not intentionally turn off US Highway 3 onto narrow, winding, mountain roads. They heard a second series of buzzing sounds in Ashland, but this time they didn’t see the craft.

According to Karl Pflock, Robert Sheaffer claimed that Barney had"mis-remembered his lines" when he claimed that he heard the buzzing tones for the entire thirty-five miles. This slam on Barney's character is typical of deniers. The fact is that APRO member C.W. Fitch mistakenly reported this false information in his 1963 report to APRO. (Pflock pp. 214-215) Barney had never stated that he heard the buzzing tones for a full thirty-five miles. He heard only two sets of codelike buzzing tones separated by 35 miles.

Both Betty and Barney retained vague memories of finding themselves on a dirt road, but their journey there was without conscious intent. Betty's memory was clearer than Barney's. Barney's desire had been to report his observation of the UFO to a highway patrolman. Now he and Betty had to reconcile the fact that they were suddenly and without explanation, miles south of their former location. They had conscious recall of a dirt road lined with tall trees, a fiery orb, and a roadblock. Their search began early in 1962, but they did not locate the unpaved road or the abduction site until September 1965.

Misleading statements about the weather

One debunker authored an article stating that Betty spoke in error when she stated that the sky was clear on the night of her UFO sighting and therefore should not inspire confidence in the accuracy of the rest of her testimony. He claimed to have contacted the Mount Washington Weather Station and other weather stations throughout New England who informed him that at the time of the incident high, thin cirrus clouds covered more than half the sky.

In order to verify this debunker’s statements, I contacted the director at the Mount Washington Weather Station and requested its weather report for the night in question. Tim Markle, Chief Meteorologist at the Mt. Washington Observatory wrote, “It appears that the 19th and 20th were beautiful late summer days atop the Rockpile. The evening and nighttime conditions on the 19th were quite tranquil…visibility was 130 miles throughout the night.”

This neither confirmed nor denied the debunker’s statement, so I researched the characteristics of high, thin cirrus clouds and discovered that they are virtually invisible at night. Stars can easily be seen through them. Betty’s statement that it was a light, bright night was absolutely correct! This should inspire confidence in the accuracy of the rest of her testimony if we follow the debunker’s logic.

The same debunker postulated that the Hills’ hysterical excitement had caused them to misinterpret the planet Jupiter as a UFO. He ignored the fact that the Air Force had considered but rejected this explanation years earlier. The Air Force’s Project Blue Book, known for dismissing even the most compelling UFO cases, stated in its report that there was a strong inversion in the Lincoln, NH area on the night of the sighting. I asked a senior meteorologist to research the US Weather Service’s archival records for this date and received the following reply: “The light east airflow that night would have caused subsidence warming, just the opposite of an inversion as claimed by the Air Force.” False statements made through official channels and debunking organizations demonstrate that emotionality is a prominent factor in their decision making. Intelligent researchers should not have been misled by a few falsehoods they have read. Nor should they select bits of information to manipulate readers into accepting distorted claims that lead to dismissal. It appears that they might be fearful of the truth, orthey have not done their homework.

Misleading statements about two hours of lost time

Years ago, a debunker attempted to explain away the period of lost time noted by the Hills, simply by contending that they were lost and couldn’t find their way for two hours. The fact is that both stated under hypnosis that they had discovered they were on a new stretch of road with no plausible explanation for how they arrived there. They recalled observing a fiery orb on the road that was moving, although they weren’t moving and a roadblock, but they didn’t know where this occurred. Barney was particularly concerned, because it is impossible to unintentionally turn off US Highway 3 onto State Route 175 along this section of highway. One has to come to a nearly complete stop and turn left over a bridge crossing the Pemigewasset River, then stop at a stop sign in order to turn onto Route 175.

In separate hypnosis sessions in which amnesia was reinforced, both stated that immediately after they heard buzzing sounds on the trunk of their vehicle they found themselves in a new, unfamiliar location. It is as if the craft had lifted their car and set it down in a new location, or Barney was under a mind controlling force that directed him to make a turn without consciously intending to. Whatever occurred (we’ll never know for certain), the Hills wouldn’t have been lost for long. Visible road signs clearly mark several right turns off State Route 175 and easily guide a person back to US Highway 3. Betty and Barney drove along these routes repeatedly from early 1962 to 1965 searching for the spot where the fiery orb had landed. They didn’t find it until Labor Day Weekend 1965. But very significantly it had the precise characteristics of the location they had remembered under hypnosis.

Several researchers have incorrectly stated that the Hills drove along US Highway 3 around Squam Lake and the west side of Lake Winnipesaukee. This would have added time to their trip, but it is not the route that Barney took. He clearly stated that he travelled along Route 3 to Route 3B to I-93, as shown on the map below.

This 1961 map shows the route the Hills took on September 19, 1961. The yellow line depicts their period of amnesia, which began near North Woodstock (not on this map). You will see Mill Brook Road in Thornton and the blue dotted line with the word "Mill" beneath it designating Mill Brook. The Hills found the abduction site on this road in 1965. The red line marks the return of their memories at the second set of buzzing tones in Ashland, and their route toward their home in Portsmouth, NH. (Labels added by Kathleen Marden.)

Physical and Circumstantial Evidence

Debunkers would have us believe that there was no compelling evidence that anything unusual occurred to the Hills on the night of September 19-20, 1961. This too is a false claim. The facts speak for themselves. When Betty and Barney arrived home they discovered that the tops of Barney’s best dress shoes were so badly scraped that he had to replace them with new shoes. He and Betty had no memory of how this occurred. The dress that Betty had been wearing was in fine condition when she dressed on the morning of September 19, but when she arrived home it was torn in three places. There was a two” tear in the stitching at the top of her zipper and a one inch tear in the thick zipper fabric. Additionally, the lining was torn from waist to hemline, and the hem was torn down on one side. There was no prosaic explanation for the damage to Betty’s dress.

Betty discovered highly polished concentric circles on the trunk of her car that hadn’t been there the previous day. They were in the exact location where the Hills had heard buzzing sounds striking their trunk after the UFO shifted above their vehicle. I observed them only two days after the Hill’s close encounter. My childhood neighbor, a physicist, had advised Betty to take a compass to her car to determine whether or not it would react in an unusual way, not just fluctuating over the metal surface or in proximity to the battery. Betty discovered the circular marks and placed the compass over them, which caused the needle to whirl. Barney confirmed Betty’s finding when he experimented with the compass. But time and time again, debunkers state that Barney did not observe anything unusual. Their trick was to quote a statement of denial that Barney made to Betty because he was irritated with her at that moment. He wanted to forget “the whole thing” and was being disagreeable for that reason. The fact is that he told Dr. Benjamin Simon, “I put the compass close to it (the spots), and the compass would spin and spin, and I could move the compass as few inches to a spot on trunk that did not have a spot, and the compass would drop down, and I could not understand this.” Debunkers who quote statements out of context for the purpose of misleading the public are dishonest.

The couple’s wind-up wrist watches had stopped, and they assumed that they needed to be rewound. Despite all efforts they never ran again. This is circumstantial but seems more than a coincidence, particularly when we consider the effect that a strong electromagnetic field can have upon a watch.

There was more circumstantial evidence than is mentioned above, but space limitations prevent me from discussing it in this paper. Please refer to my book (with Stanton T. Friedman), Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience for the full story, including Newington, New Hampshire’s Pease Air Force Base and North Concord, Vermont’s Air Force Station’s Project Blue Book reports.

Scientific analysis of Betty’s dress

One debunker has stated that he can think of prosaic explanations for the torn and degraded condition of the dress Betty was wearing on the night of September 19, 1961. His exact words were “The lining and zipper are torn, supposedly confirming her account of the aliens forcibly removing it from her, although a number of earthly explanations come to mind.” Personally, I can think of no valid prosaic explanation for the damage to Betty’s dress. Is he accusing her of intentionally damaging her dress? It sounds to me like he is making a thinly veiled attempt to defame Betty’s character. How can this explain the biological growth in specific dress locations or the presence of rare earth elements that should not have been there? Betty couldn’t have doctored the dress for testing that was not even in existence (DNA), or known to her (IR), in the 1960’s. Perhaps she should have filed defamation charges against these public deniers. When I inquired about this, she informed me that it would have been too costly and disruptive to her life.

Betty stated that her favorite blue dress was in fine condition when she dressed for her ride from Eastern Ontario to Montreal. She and Barney went sightseeing in Montreal and then travelled east toward New Hampshire. They stopped briefly for a snack in Coaticook, QE, and Colebrook, NH, before heading south on US Rt. 3. She stepped out of the car to observe the UFO through binoculars at the Mt. Cleveland picnic area and at the Old Man of the Mountain. This was her last conscious memory of exiting her vehicle until she arrived home at 5:00 on the morning of September 20. When she undressed she discovered that her dress was inexplicably torn in several areas. Her activities on September 19 couldn’t possibly have resulted in the extensive damage. There was a two inch tear in the stitching at the top of her zipper and a one inch tear in the thick zipper fabric. The lining was torn from waist to hemline, and the hem was torn down on the same side. Knowing that it needed to be repaired, she placed it in her closet. When she finally removed it she discovered that it was partially coated in a pink powdery substance. This pink powder had saturated the areas of the dress where Betty stated her alien escorts touched it. She hung it on her clothesline, and the powder blew away, but the dress had been reduced to a rag. It was stained pink, and the fiber was degraded.

In 1977, Betty found a UFO investigator, Leonard Stringfield, who took an interest in her damaged dress. He arranged to have it analyzed by the chemistry department at the University of Cincinnati. Sulfur, sodium, chlorides, and silicon were possible trace elements on the dress, and it appeared to be high in undetermined organic hydrocarbons. The pink powder was strange in relation to the inorganic elemental content. Several chemicals were applied to the blue section of the dress in an attempt to duplicate the color change, but none were successful.

Phyllis Budinger, MS, an analytical industrial chemist conducted an extensive analysis on Betty’s dress. She observed that the pink stains were most prominent in the areas that Betty said were touched by her non-human captors—around the arms and at the top of the zipper. She concluded that the stained areas were coated with a biological material of mostly protein and a small amount of natural oil. The protein attacked the fiber and dye in the stained areas and broke down the fiber structure. It came from an external source; not Betty. She concluded that the chemical analysis supports Betty’s statements about her dress.

The debunker disagreed. He stated, “I would expect that an item of clothing left undisturbed in a closet for forty years would pick up all manner of interesting biological substances from insects, spiders, mites, mold, bacteria, etcetera.” The truth is that the chemical analysis noted dust and trace environmental elements on Betty’s dress, but they did not account for the perplexing findings made by several laboratories. In addition to this, the chemist ran additional tests on a control sample—a dress nearly identical in description to Betty’s that had been hanging in a closet for 35 years. It displayed none of the unusual properties of Betty’s dress.

**Invalid speculation about the Outer Limits show**

Yet another debunker has attempted to demolish the Hill’s UFO close encounter and abduction by suggesting that Barney had merely described an alien that he watched on television— “The Bellero Shield” on the sci-fi horror show The Outer Limits. The show aired in February 1964, twelve days before Dr. Simon asked Barney, under hypnosis, to describe the figures that he observed aboard the UFO. The debunker apparently hadn’t read Barney’s September and October 1961 descriptions of the non-human entities. They were dressed in shiny black uniforms, just the opposite of the silvery white uniform worn by the Bifrost man in “The Bellero Shield.” Although a mental block occurred when he attempted to remember the facial characteristics of the non-human figure standing in the window, he noted the expressionless face of the “leader” and the smiling face of the occupant who looked over his shoulder from a control panel.

The debunker was so convinced of his assumption that he didn’t bother to ask Betty if Barney had watched the show. (Barney was deceased when the article was written.) She told several researchers that Barney couldn’t possibly have watched the show, as he had no interest in that type of program, nor had she ever viewed it. He was usually busy at that time of night attending community meetings and visiting with friends and family before he left for his night job in Boston. Researcher Karl Pflock addressed this question as well, stating that the Hills appeared to have little to no interest in science fiction.

I was very curious about this alleged similarity, so I did my own comparison of the two based upon Barney’s written descriptive details and the artistic renditions of the Hills nonhuman entities. In the end, I found very little similarity between the two. I studied the facial characteristics of the original Bifrost man’s mask and the newer version that is frequently displayed on the Internet. His most prominent facial features are slanted eyes that extend to the temples, a highly visible curved ridge above the mouth, and a strong chin. Let’s compare these features to the alien figure that Barney described. We can see the large eyes that Barney described to Dr. Simon as “slanted but not like the Chinese.” The comparison ends there. There is a marked difference between the Bifrost man’s eyes and those of the non-human that Barney observed. Barney did not describe the deep eye folds extending upwards from a small human eye, like the ones visible on the Bifrost man’s mask. The being he observed had eyes that might indicate peripheral vision—more like cat’s eyes than human eyes inside a fold. In addition to this, the Bifrost man’s eyes blinked, but Barney did not observe eyes that blinked.

The prominent ridge above the Bifrost man’s mouth is a highly visible feature. Significantly, it is completely absent in Barney’s sketches, David Baker’s paintings, and Barney’s written descriptions of the ET. If Barney had observed the Bifrost man, why would he fail to mention or sketch one of his most prominent features?

The Bifrost man’s strong, square cleft chin juts out as a highly visible feature. One would expect to find a prominent chin mentioned in Barney’s description. Yet he consistently stated that the ETs had “weak” chins.

The Bifrost man spoke with a mouth that had all of the characteristics of a human mouth. Its lips and teeth are visible when it speaks. Not so of the ET that Barney observed. He had a lipless slit for a mouth and no visible teeth. Barney also mentioned immobility of the mouth muscle and a membrane inside the ET’s mouth that fluttered. Not so for the Bifrost man.

Although the Bifrost man couldn’t understand English, he interpreted the Bellero family’s spoken messages by decoding their language through eye contact. This was not part of Barney’s perception. There was no spoken English. Communication was probably telepathic, as he and Betty understood the ETs in English, but did not observe the mouth movement that occurs when words are formed. There is no evidence that the ETs read Barney’s eyes. Barney’s statement to Dr. Simon gives us insight into the communication process that he experienced. He said, “He did not speak by words. I was told what to do by his thoughts making my thoughts understand. And I could hear him, and I could not understand, and yet I could understand him…” Betty stated, “I just knew what they were saying…what they wanted me to know.” Dr. Simon asked if they transferred their thoughts to her and she replied, “somehow or other…I don’t know how.”

The Bifrost man had a normal human torso and stood nearly as tall as Mr. Bellero. Not so of Barney’s ETs. He described “spindly” legs holding up a bulky, barrel chested torso. These thin legs carried the ETs along in what Barney described as a rolling gait. Not so for the Bifrost man. The ET’s head was larger in proportion to its body than with humans. And it stood only 4 ½ to 5 feet tall—at least eight inches shorter than Barney. (Note: David Baker’s paintings incorrectly depict beings with thick legs. He wrote that he was guided by his knowledge of human anatomy. ET anatomy is obviously not human.)

The Bifrost man’s gentle speech and radiant presence gave the perception that he was far less monstrous than Mrs. Bellero, who was willing to kill for his impenetrable shield. Barney perceived the ETs he encountered as terrifying and in complete control. It sounds to me like the Bellero Shield explanation is another “anything but ET” hypothesis.

False statements about Betty’s dreams

Debunkers have placed an inordinate amount of significance on five vivid dreams that Betty had had prior to waking, stating that her dreams were identical to her recall through hypnosis and that Barney had merely absorbed the information in Betty’s dreams and fantasized an abduction event of his own. This is touted because Dr. Simon hypothesized that although it is impossible to know for certain, the dream hypothesis was the most logical prosaic explanation.

He believed in the Hill’s honesty, but he personally did not believe in alien abduction and was certainly not prepared to go down in history as the psychiatrist that announced to the world that UFOs are real, and aliens are abducting American citizens. Remember, no other case of alien abduction had ever been publicized in the United States. Coral and Jim Lorenzen's book Flying Saucer Occupants was not published until 1967. Also, Dr. Simon had an outstanding reputation to protect. A letter written to him by a colleague chiding him about his involvement in an alien abduction case can be found in John Fuller's archival collection. There was pressure from his colleagues to separate himself from the case or suffer the consequences.

Betty’s infamous five dreams began ten days after her UFO encounter and occurred as she was waking in the morning. They told of being taken aboard a landed craft and undergoing a medical examination. She and Barney had been met, she wrote, by a group of men who surrounded their parked car. The men were human in appearance with black hair, large noses, bluish lips, ears, etcetera. They stood five and half feet tall and wore blue military cadet uniforms and blue cadet’s hats. Not so of the non-human entities that she remembered encountering after her memory had been enhanced through hypnosis.

Several debunkers have stated that Betty and Barney were plagued by dreams and nightmares about alien abduction before they saw Dr. Simon. This is false. During my investigation, Betty informed me that she had five dreams and only five dreams before she began her hypnosis session with Dr. Simon. Barney hadn’t dreamed of UFOs until he saw Dr. Simon in 1964. He had three dreams following a hypnosis session and told Dr. Simon, “I dreamed about a UFO Tuesday night and Wednesday night. And this is the first time in my life I had ever dreamed about a UFO.” I sometimes wonder if debunkers can get anything straight, but perhaps they are better described as "deniers."

One denier wrote authoritatively that Betty had written and rewritten accounts of her dreams during a two year period prior to hypnosis. This is false. The truth is she made notes about them on note paper in early October 1961 and rearranged them into a detailed typed account in November 1961.

Debunkers argue that Betty had told Barney “a great many details of the dreams.” But they fail to mention what those details are. Barney told Dr. Simon specifically what Betty told him. But I suppose that this accurate information would demolish their dream hypothesis, so it is best left out of their accounts. Here are the details in Barney’s own words. (Quoted below)

She would say that she had had a dream, and the dream was that she had been taken aboard a UFO.
She did not tell me about being stopped by the men. She did not have this in her dreams. This was only when I was hypnotized.
I was also in her dream and was taken aboard.
She was not certain to the location where we had stopped.
She had gone into this UFO and had talked with the people there onboard.
She was told she would forget, and she said that she was determined that she would not forget.
She would tell (Walter Webb) that they had stuck something in her navel causing great pain and that (with) just a wave of the hand, this pain disappeared.
They had come into a room with my teeth, and they were quite startled that her teeth could not come out and mine could. And this is all she knew about me.
I never believed her dreams.

Dr. Simon used suggestion in an attempt to elicit a response from Barney that Betty had told him about her physical examination when he stated, “Well now, all of this about your being taken aboard the UFO and being examined and having your teeth taken and all of the examination…this was all told to you by Betty, wasn't it?” Barney replied, “No, Betty never told me…only about my teeth.” It is interesting that the one thing he did know was not part of his memory under hypnosis.

My comparative analysis of the Hill’s independent statements to Dr. Simon versus Betty’s dream account uncovered significant differences between Betty’s dreams and the information recalled separately by Betty and Barney during hypnotic regression. Their statements about the capture interlocked but were different than Betty’s dream account. Barney had independent memories of being floated aboard the craft where only his toes bumped along the rocky ground. The ETs were entirely different than those in Betty’s dreams. Betty’s exam was more detailed than Barney’s, but he sensed each procedure as it occurred with his eyes closed. He and Betty gave independent details about the ET’s behavior and communication style that meshed. He also stated that he was returned to the car first and Betty came down the path a short time later. This is consistent with Betty’s recall under hypnosis, but different than Betty’s dream account.

The Souvenir Book

At the end of Betty’s physical examination, she was offered a souvenir book by the leader that she wanted as proof that her abduction was real. It was not a typical book. It had a stiff, thin cover and a page on the interior that had alien symbols imbedded in what resembled shiny plastic. This book was part of Betty’s dream account and was dismissed by many as a figment of her imagination.

I asked Betty to draw the symbols and kept her sketch in my files for many years. They were published in Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience in 2007. Don C. Donderi, PhD saw them in my book and decided to compare them to the symbols that Budd Hopkins had collected over a number of years from abductees. Dr. Donderi taught psychology at McGill University in Montreal for forty-seven years and also served as associate dean of the faculty of Graduate Studies and Research. He spearheaded an alien symbol study with the late Stuart Appelle, PhD, from the State University of NY at Brockport and Budd Hopkins. The symbols that Budd Hopkins collected were compared to symbols sketched by two control groups that participated in the study. He issued a statement that Betty’s symbols look remarkably like the symbols in Budd Hopkins’ collection.

This is yet another piece of scientific evidence that Betty and Barney Hill were abducted by non-human entities in New Hampshire’s White Mountains on September 19 and into the early morning hours of the 20th in 1961. In this case, we cannot present one piece of evidence that will convince the skeptics that a real abduction occurred. It is the preponderance of evidence that makes this case convincing and has changed the minds of many open minded skeptics. As is often the case with debunkers or hard core skeptics, no amount of evidence will convince them that alien abduction is real. They will continue to tout isolated statements that mislead or invent creative and often false evidence that supports their debunking agenda. This brand of dishonesty will lead us no closer to the truth but will blur the lines and dissuade the naïve public from taking alien abduction seriously.

Incorrect Dates and Sentences Aimed at Distortion

I have noticed that so-called skeptics have resorted to using incorrect dates. One suggested that the Antonio Villas Boas (1957) abduction in Brazil was widely known in the United States because Flying Saucer Occupants by Coral and Jim Lorenzen was available in the United States in the 1950s. Factually, the first edition copyright of Flying Saucer Occupants was in 1967. The public did not hear of the Antonio Villas Boas case until after The Hills' hypnosis sessions and after The Interrupted Journey had been published.

I have listened to my own recorded statements which were used by a skeptic in a podcast. He edited one of my statements which altered the meaning of my sentence. I consistently state that after the first set of buzzing tones on their vehicle's trunk the Hills' conscious memories began to fade. Thirty-five miles south of this event they were restored to full consciousness and had hazy memories of a dirt road lined with tall trees, a roadblock, and a fiery orb. My statement was edited to sound as if the Hills remembered nothing. This is a distortion of my statement and, in my estimation, an unethical act.

Speaking of ethics, let us consider the downfall of morality and civility among certain members of our population. It has come to my attention that an organized group of anti-UFO activists has been attacking respected UFO abduction researchers. I have interviewed several who have been subjected to threats of personal harm and harm to their families if they continue to work as public speakers. In one case, they heckled a speaker at a lecture and punched and shoved that person, a senior citizen, in a hallway. At least one UFO researcher landed in the hospital as the result of an attack when a toxic substance was dumped onto her head. Another could not return home after a UFO conference due to illness. He was treated for an anthrax infection. Two have had headless rabbits strategically placed in their front yards.

I have received reports from colleagues who had been threatened or harmed, so I conducted a small survey of twenty experiencers and abduction researchers who speak publicly. Of the twenty people I queried, nineteen informed me that they had been threatened. It appears that a well- organized group of deniers has become militant in its attempt to silence experiencers and abduction researchers. I am not aware of any threats to UFO investigators and researchers, only to those who speak of nonhuman contact with humans.

Some victims have filed criminal complaints against their attackers, but this occurs too infrequently. This type of unleashed, hostile behavior has to stop. The US Constitution guarantees our first amendment right to freedom of speech. Retired military officers have given sworn testimony of UAP sightings and nonhuman biologics at our Congressional Oversight Committee on UAPs. Fellow researchers and the public must step up to the plate and intervene when hecklers attempt to silence those who wish to speak on this topic. We cannot tolerate violence and abuse against those whose opinions differ from our own. A civilized society must enforce acceptable social norms.

If you have inadequate knowledge and desire more information about this reality, watch "The Age of Disclosure" on Amazon Prime.