Page 11 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Late January 2019

The Hills: A Study in Madness 11

Betty and Barney Hill: A

Study in Madness

by Dr. Aaron Sakulich
The Iron Skeptic

In 2005 I wrote an article on the supposed
abduction of Betty and Barney Hill. This
incident was one of the first stories of modern
alien abduction folklore; it ushered in the era of
abductees claiming to have been kidnapped
against their wills by space aliens, having
terrible medical experiments performed on
them, and so on. The Hills' story is a golden
icon of the UFO enthusiast community;
metaphorically, one could say that it is at the
center of their pantheon of higher powers. At the
time I was writing for my university newspaper,
which had a length limit of 1200 words;
therefore, the article was certainly not a long or
involved one.
road at night waylaid by a mysterious object; after whatever happened, they both forgot about
The response I got was startling. E-mails
tiny gray aliens with lightbulb-shaped heads, it. Betty then read a book on the subject of UFOs
poured in from every country on the globe, most
bizarre medical procedures, missing time, and by Maj. Donald Keyhoe's and started having
of them spending quite an amount of time on
memories only recoverable through hypnosis. vivid dreams about her "alien abduction". Mind
detailed descriptions of my mother's birth canal
There is no doubt in my mind that their story is you, of course, that dreams don't really work that
and what the author had done to it the previous
hogwash. Betty was already a UFO enthusiast, way: they pick and poke at unimportant details
evening. On The Triangle's website itself,
having read at least one book by the famous from the dreamer's daily life, and they rarely just
comments decrying my idiocy were posted by
UFO frontiersman Maj. Donald Keyhoe, when replay an entire event over again accurately.
numerous sources, many of whom I would later
the abduction supposedly ocurred and later These dreams were what convinced Betty to find
find out were well-known names in the field of
made claims such as her cat possessed the a hypnotist and drag the story out of her and her
arguing about Betty and Barney Hill.
power of flight. Some have argued that her later, husband's memories.
The effect of this excoriating literary
insane claims of cat-flight and invisible saucers While in their car, the Hills became
flood was like the opposite of what the authors
were the product of a mind addled by years of aware of a beeping sound; they suspected that
had intended; I dug in. Three years later I am
media overexposure. But the question remains: the first time they heard it, it was the trigger that
still writing articles for something that was
what if it wasn't? What if the problem that put them into a trance and led them to the ship,
originally a hobby to liven up bland evenings. I
created such beliefs was already present before and the second time they heard it, it was the
think the main reasons that I recieved such blind
the supposed encounter? Here's some expanded equivalent of a hypnotist snapping his fingers to
fury as a response to my article was two-fold;
information on the case; it's been dissected all to take them out of their trance. That beeping
first, it wasn't very long. The debate about the
death, so these are just the main points. would be used to put a person in a hypnotic state
Hill case goes on, and on, and on, and on. Even
is of itself fairly strange; Earthly hypnotists
the tinest variables in the case have been usually use some sort of visual stimulus, but, on
dissected and written up in long, long articles. "In fact, if you have a crime the other hand, the (at the time) recent and
Yet, only one group seemed to get the idea that committed against you, and you surprising delivery of Sputnik I into space
I was going for: a short review. Most took the go to have hypnosis, you can't involved beeping. In the minds of the people of
view that if it's not 300 pages long, it's not worth the time, beeping and outer space were closely
writing. Well. testify. Because there's no way to linked. It was later claimed that because Barney
The second reason is that the argument I test what is real, what's fact,
resisted more, he was put into a deeper trance
chose to look at was Martin Kottmeyer's idea what's fantasy." and his memories were a little groggier; this is,
that the alien Barney reported seeing was in my humble opinion, and excellent way of
similar to the one from an episode of The Outer ~ Betty Hill
explaning why he wasn't as enthusiastic about
Limits. I think my detractors were more furious
telling stories involving space monsters from
that I was discussing this idea than they were beyond the moon as his wife was.
that I was doing a very abbreviated view of the It all began as they were driving home from a
Hill case. And I can see why: Kottmeyer's visit to America's mysterious neighbor to the (Continued on Page 12)
argument is spot-on. People have tried to pick it north, Canada. As they drove through the lonely
apart, and it seems that there is always a forest roads, they spotted a strange object in the
reasonable response to any criticism. If I'd spent sky, by which they were fascinated enough for For The Best Radio Programming
long years futilely arguing against an idea and I Barney to pull the car over and try and get a From The
saw some guy in a college newspaper revive it view of the thing through some binoculars. And World Of The Paranormal
(even just temporarily) I guess I'd be pissed too. then something happened. What it is depends on
Also, copy editors added some mistakes your view: some say that Barney spotted a To
to the article, such as the phrase "an loving spacecraft through the binoculars, tried to run The Science Of Parapsychology
couple." Hell, even I sent myself an angry email away, and space aliens kidnapped him and his 24/7/265
about that. wife. Others suspect that after the incident with Visit
Their story is the basic plot to all the binoculars, Barney just got back in the car www.xzbn.net
modern abduction stories; a couple on a lonely and drove home. No aliens required. Anyway,

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