Page 12 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - Late January 2019

12 The Hills: A Study in Madness

Betty and Barney Hill: A

Study in Madness

Continued from Page 11

Anyway, the beeping sound was supposed to
have come from the trunk area of the car. Later,
Betty discovered some shiny spots each about
the size of a coin on the trunk, which most
investigators assumed were the natural products
of wear and tear. Not so Betty; to her, they were
physical evidence that space aliens had
somehow manhandled the car, and I feel bad for
treating her story so roughly when I read the
account of her rushing terrified into the pouring
rain with a compass to check the car for
radiation. When placed on the spots, the needle
flickered briefly; Barney, called out to assist,
thought this to be the product of the compass
being in such close proximity to a large mass of
metal (the car) but Betty was convinced: they
had been exposed to radiation. They had become
somehow contaminated, dirtied, befouled by the track of what was going on. and later, he's looking at some sort of bald big-
encounter with the spacecraft. A later On a personal note, I can relate to this. I eyed naked space gorilla.
investigator pointed out that his own car had once got up at 6 AM and rode with some friends One thing that Barney mentions in early
such marks, and as he had not been abducted by from Philadelphia to Niagra Falls to see a reports is that the UFO had short, stubby little
concert. After the concert ended around 11 PM, wings on either side. Through the binoculars, he
space monsters, it was probably the result of
I was nominated to start the drive home. I was was able to see a grinning man pull a lever that
wear and tear.
That Betty was worried about relieved around 6AM the next day, right as we made the wings extend outwards, as though this
contamination is evident. Upon arriving home got onto the Pennsylvania turnpike. The point is, would help the ship land or some such. Wings
the night of the abduction, the Hills realized that I remember absolutely nothing of that night. It's rarely figure in today's UFO lore; at the time,
it was 5 am, that is to say, they had lost 2 hours a total blur. Driving for long periods of time retractable wings were a cutting edge advance in
of time. Barney starts hauling in their luggage, along featureless backwoods roads in the dark, avionics that would have been very hip to the
but for some reason Betty argues that it shouldn't while extremely tired, just flat-out puts you into times. And the idea that these wings were
be brought into the house, and they leave it on a trance. controlled by a giant lever in the cockpit seems
Barney Hill resisted attempts to recover similarly dated; it would have seemed normal in
the porch for a few days. The first thing that
his "memories" through hypnosis for many light of the technology at the time, but in
Betty does is take a number of long showers
with plenty of scrubbing, because she felt months and apparently based his description of hindsight today, it is hilariously non-modern. It's
somehow "dirty." It is the next day that she his abductors on an episode of a TV show he had the technology equivalent of spotting an 8-Track
discovers the spots on the car, calls her sister, seen. This is Kottmeyer's theory that I tape player. The lights bring up another point:
and does the thing with the compass. This tidbit mentioned above: an episode of The Outer the aliens state a number of times that they do
could go two ways: it either was or was not an Limits that aired a mere fortnight before not want people to know they're visiting the
isolated incident. If it was a one-time, isolated Barney's hypnosis session seems surprisingly earth. Yet, I submit to you, dear reader, that one
incident the argument could be made that even similar to the story that Barney eventually tells. way to ensure people on earth know you are here
Two canards are usually thrown against this is if you put giant glowing lights on your
at that point she knew something was wrong and
theory: that Barney worked nights and therefore spacecraft. Anyway, Betty and Barney couldn't
was subconciously trying to repair whatever the
UFO did to her. On the other hand, if she did couldn't have seen the show (in fact, his shift even agree on this point: Betty doesn't mention
things like this frequently, it shows a sort of started well after the show would have ended, so the wings, and speculates that there is a rim
muted hypochondriac tendancy that implies she he could have seen it before going to work) and around the outside of the craft that would spin
was deeply worried about her health. And for that the Hills didn't like science fiction and during flight. That the front of the spacecraft is
people that are worried about their health to therefore would not have watched it (but that made up of (more or less) a giant window seems
have dreams involving medical procedures... doesn't mean that Barney never saw a especially strange: there's no real reason that
well, that's not so strange. Certainly no space commercial for it, a few minutes at a friend's people inside would need that much windshield
house while waiting to go to supper, a few to fly safely. On the other hand, if there's a more
men need be involved.
minutes through the window of a TV repair earthly explanation for the whole thing, maybe
The "missing time" part of the story was
looked at in a paper by Peter Brookesmith. He shop, whatever.) That Betty's memories seem the point isn't for them to see out. It's for the
points out that the Hills assumed that they were strangely similar to cinematic features of the Hills to see in. What's the point of having a
missing two hours of their life because the trip film Invaders from Mars is another thing nightmare if you can't see the monster you're
home took two hours more than usual. One Kottmeyer brought up; but he makes the supposed to be afraid of? I mean a flying saucer,
important fact generally goes unmentioned: the argument better than I, so if you're interested, that's creepy, but a flying saucer containing a
trip is usually made at daytime. The Hills had search him out. Anyway. bunch of dudes that are out to get you, now that's
gotten up that morning "bright and early" but Even when they first spotted the object creepy deluxe.
from the car, Barney thought the object was an
didn't cross over into the US until well after
airplane or helicopter and felt that his wife was (Continued on Page 13)
dark. Barney should have been pretty tired, and
to assume that an exhausted man driving along pressuring him into thinking it was a spaceship For The Best Radio Programming
twisting, turning, backwoods forest roads is from beyond the stars. I think a good indicator of From the
gonig to travel the same speed as he would if he Barney's unwillingness to change a totally
were wide awake and it was daytime is insane. terrestrial, albiet perhaps a bit strange and a little World of the Paranormal
The two missing hours could easily be explained scary, incident into something involving space To
as simply as the fact that Barney was exhausted, monsters can be seen in the fact that his story The Science of Parapsychology
travelled a little bit slower than normal, and changes over and over again. Initially, he's 24/7/265 Visit
looking at a perfectly human man, wearing a
since there wasn't anything to keep his mind on www.xzbn.net
leather jacket, a black scarf, and a nice little hat,
the time (radio, sun in the sky, etc.) he just lost