Academia examines an alien encounter

Academia examines an alien encounter
Apr. 17, 2009
By CLYNTON NAMUO
UnionLeader.com

A DISC-LIKE CRAFT, unearthly creatures with almond-shaped eyes and, some time later, dormant memories of abduction coaxed forth via hypnosis.

This is not the synopsis of an "X-Files" episode, though it very well could be. It is the story of Betty and Barney Hill, two of the most celebrated, and some say credible, supposed alien abductees in history.

Staunch civil rights activists who campaigned for Lyndon B. Johnson and sat at his inauguration as invited guests, the Hills' lives changed on Sept. 19, 1961, when they were allegedly abducted and taken aboard an alien craft while driving home to Portsmouth from Montreal.

The alleged encounter eventually turned the Hills into international celebrities as it hit the press. Although Barney died in 1969, Betty spent the next few decades immersed in UFO culture until her death in 2004.

"It was amazing they had no interest in UFOs prior to this event," Betty's niece, Kathleen Marden, said.

Now much of the Hills' belongings are on display, warts and all, at the University of New Hampshire's Diamond Library in Durham. The school plans to host a forum on the couple's lives today at the Memorial Union Building.
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Betty and Barney Hill pose in an undated photo.

Artifacts available at the library include volume after volume of diaries Betty Hill kept of her supposed UFO sightings throughout the years, a letter naming Barney to New Hampshire's civil rights committee as well as the dress Betty wore the night of the alleged encounter.

That dress is considered a holy grail of sorts because it is stained with an unknown substance that Betty believed to be alien material. To this day, scientists have not been able to identify the substance.

"She really maintained confidence that if the dress was preserved, one day science would catch up," said David Watters, director of UNH's Center for New England Culture.

One of the few stipulations Marden included when she donated the collection to UNH was that the dress be made available for scientific testing. It is written into the gift agreement.

The exhibition is simple, basic really, and includes a single wall in the library's special collections section, but the real treasure trove is Betty's collected works.

There are diaries, star charts, transcripts, photos and more, all related to UFOs.

Betty recorded every sighting in her diaries, from blinking lights in the sky to unknown sounds. She seemed to see and hear UFOs everywhere.

This is the Betty Hill many people knew later in her life: a woman consumed by UFOs.
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David Watters, left, director of University of New Hampshire's Center for New England Culture, shows photos Betty Hill took of what she believed to be UFOs. (CLYNTON NAMUO)

"Over time, I think she started to associate with some credulous individuals and they convinced her that UFOs disguised themselves as conventional aircraft," Marden said of her aunt.

Marden said she once went with her aunt and some friends to spot UFOs and they saw many in the night sky, all of which Marden believed to be planes.

"To me they were identified flying objects," she said.

Marden said she became so concerned after Betty Hill began speaking out about her new experiences that she finally took her aunt aside and told her it threatened to undermine her credibility. After that, Betty quieted down, Marden said.

It is that initial encounter that has launched countless science fiction stories, movies and TV shows, including a TV movie in which James Earl Jones played Barney and Estelle Parsons played Betty.

Those who knew the Hills seem to fall into two camps: those who believe their story and those who believe the couple believed the story.

"I do believe that Betty and Barney did have a close encounter with an unidentified flying object," said Marden, who authored the book "Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience: The True Story of the World's First Documented Alien Abduction."

Watters falls into the other camp.

"I don't believe in UFOs, but Betty Hill, I had no reason to believe she's lying," he said, adding, "She seemed salt of the earth to me."

No matter what happened that night, the Hills' legacy endures to this day.

Barney was a co-founder and the first executive director of Rockingham Community Action, a leading nonprofit, and both were members of the NAACP. Barney even marched on Washington with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

One thing few know of is the couples' sense of humor, said Dudley Dudley, an old friend of the Hills who learned of their encounter before it became public in 1965.

"Among the things they said, Barney said, was that he pictured in some galaxy far away some guy doing his PhD work who was relying on the information from their encounter," She said. "He's sitting there and thinking, 'Now the male of this species is black, the female of the species is white, their offspring was brown and has four legs.'"

The Hills never had children together. The "child" in question? Their dachshund.