Page 37 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - September 2021

The Barney and Betty Hill Case Explained? 37

Alien Abduction or

“Accidental Awareness”?

Scientists report on a long-
ignored problem

by Anne Skomorowsky

“So then they roll me over on my back, and the
examiner has a long needle in his hand. And I
see the needle. And it’s bigger than any needle
that I’ve ever seen.” So testifies Betty Hill, of
her experience inside a flying saucer near
Franconia Notch, New Hampshire, in 1961.
Betty and her husband, Barney Hill, are the
earliest known victims of alien abduction, and
the 1966 bestseller The Interrupted Journey
describes how they recalled the event under
hypnosis. Their story includes nude medical
exams and invasive probing—an alien
abduction scenario many of us recognize from
on behalf of the profession to all those patients memory has been at the heart of controversial
the TV shows and movies of the past 50 years.
who have hitherto been let down by a collective claims of childhood sexual abuse, satanic cults,
failure to understand or accept the condition.” and other disturbing and difficult-to-prove
But in 2008 a Columbia University
allegations by one family member against
psychoanalyst published “Alien Abduction: A
Of course, most patients who experience another. The difficulty of distinguishing between
Medical Hypothesis” which suggested that what
awareness never claim they were abducted by recovered memories and so-called false
is known as “accidental awareness under
aliens—none of the hundreds of patients memories has troubled psychiatrists and patients
general anesthesia”—in which a patient
interviewed for the new report did—but the alike.
awakens on the table during surgery—might lie
Royal College report documents the potential
behind stories of alien abduction. The analyst,
for lasting, perhaps permanent, psychological (Continued on Page 39)
David V. Forrest, noted the similarity of the
damage to afflicted patients. While half the
classic alien abduction scenario—bug-eyed
patients in one survey experienced pain, two-
greenish humanoids surrounding the subject as
thirds experienced helplessness and panic. Over
she lies on an examining table under a bright
40 percent of the patients studied for the report NEW
light—to the operating room situation, where
experienced moderate to severe psychological
surgeons in scrubs and masks hover over the FROM
harm, with some incapacitated by post-
patient and enter her body with tools. Asked if
traumatic stress disorder. KEVIN E RANDLE
being probed by aliens felt like his prior
tonsillectomy, Barney Hill agreed: “Like that,
One awareness patient describes a flashback:
but my eyes are closed, and I only have mental
“It struck again days later as horrifying images
pictures. And I am not in pain. And I can feel a
and terror that rose from the depths of my being.
slight feeling. My groin feels cold.”
I was once again in the grips of horror, again
not comprehending, again trapped, again
While in a hypnotic trance, Barney Hill told his
struggling to survive, yet wishing for death.”
psychiatrist, “I don’t want to be operated on.”
Alien abduction seems almost restful in
He described a spacecraft lit by blue fluorescent
comparison.
light, which didn’t cast any shadows, as in a
surgical suite. The aliens had oddly shaped
Assuming Barney Hill wasn’t actually brought
heads with large craniums, and indistinct lips
aboard a spaceship that night in 1961, he may
and nostrils; they were all foreheads and eyes.
have experienced a flashback to his
Though he was terrified, he felt sluggish. He
tonsillectomy. He was cold. His eyes were
was struck by the all-business, professional
closed. He didn’t want to be operated on. Then
bedside manner of the alien “doctors,” and
he woke up under general anesthesia, to full-
impressed by their determination to do whatever
blown terror, surrounded by distorted beings,
it was they meant to do.
squinting in the blue light of the OR. Perhaps
the pain and horror of awareness overwhelmed
He could have been describing the well-
his mind, or maybe it was the anesthetic drugs,
intentioned members of the Royal College of
but somehow the experience disappeared from
Anaesthetists, who have just released the largest
his working memory--until he and Betty came
collection of data on accidental awareness ever
to believe they had crossed paths with an
assembled. Awareness during general
unidentified flying object on a dark and lonely A deep dive into UFO cover-ups
anesthesia first attracted interest in the late
New Hampshire road.
1990s, when patient/activist Carol Weihrer by the deep state. A wake-up call
publicized her own awareness experience.
Alien abduction has been considered a fantasy, to what has and is being hidden.
Awareness has since spawned support groups,
a hoax, and even to some, a fact; but it is now
Facebook pages, a horror movie, and an episode
clear that it may also represent a recovered
of Grey’s Anatomy, but is only now being Visit:
memory. Recovered memories are frequently
generally recognized by the medical
astounding and implausible—if they were
community. The Royal College notes that one kevinrandle.blogspot.com
orderly and digestible, we would not have
purpose of the report is “to present an apology
forgotten them. Most famously, recovered