Post by Andrei Tchentchik on Aug 15, 2019 11:28:53 GMT 2
(.#299).- Betty and Barney Hill.
Betty and Barney Hill.
Betty and Barney Hill are an American couple who claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials in 1961. This is the first case where people claim to have been abducted by aliens and where aliens of small size and color gray, the "Grays" are mentioned.
Hill couple's personality
Betty Hill was born in 1920 and Barney in 1922. In the early 1960s, Betty was a supervisor in the Child Welfare Department of the City of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Barney was employed at the Post Office. He is also particularly involved in the cause of African Americans since he sits on the civil rights commission of the governor of New Hampshire. Barney Hill died on February 25, 1969 from a stroke. Betty Hill dies on October 17, 2004 of lung cancer.
Events as reported by witnesses
On September 19, 1961, after a week's vacation in Canada, they drove on Highway No. 3 southbound to their home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Shortly after passing the city of Lancaster around 10 pm, Barney sees a light in the sky that moves erratically. He signals this light to Betty who does not understand what it may be. Taking a break, Barney gets out of the car and observes the strange light with his binoculars. He then sees a discoidal object with two short wings ending in two red lights. He even discerns what he thinks are portholes. Panicking and finding that the object seems to get closer to them, the couple goes back into the car and reboots. A strange sound, described by Barney as a "beep-beep", then invades the cabin of the car. The same sound is repeated a second time and the Hill discover that they have just traveled more than 55 km without them keeping any memory. In addition, their two watches are stopped.
When they arrive at their home, they understand that they are two hours behind their schedule and no memory that may correspond to this period of their trip. In addition, Barney discovers many scratches on the leather of his shoes, as if dragged on the floor, and feels a sharp pain in the back. Finally, he discovers that in several places the paint of the bodywork of their car disappeared, leaving the metal bare.
From September 30, Betty begins to have many nightmares where she is pursued by "deformed faces with big eyes of cats". She also develops various depressive symptoms: melancholy, loss of appetite and anxiety. In the spring of 1962, after several unsuccessful treatments, their family doctor referred them to a psychiatrist at the Exeter Academy who would eventually diagnose post-traumatic stress on Barney and Betty. This psychiatrist will direct them to Dr. Benjamin Simon, a psychiatrist specializing in hypnotherapy, to try a regressive treatment to bring back memories of the trauma to a conscious level. On December 14, 1963, Betty and Barney began hypnosis sessions supervised by Dr. Benjamin Simon, which lasted more than seven months and during which the doctor recorded more than forty hours of audio tapes.
During these sessions, Betty and Barney, who were still interviewed separately, reported that after the observation of the UFO, Barney tried to escape the UFO and entered a forest road where their vehicle stalled. The UFO landed about sixty meters from the car and a dozen small creatures descended and headed for the couple. The creatures raised the couple into the UFO, separated Betty and Barney, and subjected them to what the Hill took for a sort of medical examination. Betty claimed to have managed to communicate with one of the creatures who presented her with what looked like a star map and asked her if she was able to locate the Earth on this map. As she answered in the negative, the creature told her that it was of no use to her to show her where she came from. The creature walked Betty out of the UFO, where she found Barney already in the car and promised that she would forget everything about this experience.
Betty and Barney made many UFO drawings, creatures, and various maps and symbols they could see during this experiment. In 1969, an amateur astronomer by the name of Marjorie Fish claimed that she had managed to find a match between Betty Hill's stellar map drawings and a three-dimensional model of known constellations, and concluded that the map Betty claimed was to have seen represented the system of Reticuli.
Ufology approach of the case
Questioned separately for more than seven months, Betty and Barney never contradicted each other and their versions were always consistent.
Dr. Benjamin Simon, who oversaw the hypnosis sessions for more than seven months, considered the couple to be in good faith, although he concluded that they had "shared fantasy."
Walter Mitchell, professor of astronomy at Ohio State University in Columbus, and David R. Saunders, statistics expert at the Industrial Relations Center at the University of Chicago, validated the work of Marjorie Fish and felt that his interpretation of the map drawn by Betty Hill actually corresponded to the Zeta Reticuli1 system. (1.)
Skeptical approach of the case
According to the Belgian sociologist psychologist Jean-Michel Abrassart, the skeptics, in the framework of the sociopsychological model of the UFO phenomenon, consider that Betty Hill had a personality inclined to the imagination. (2.) Different psychological indicators point in this direction. First, it was easy to hypnotise (which is, on average, rare in the general population), which is a personality trait strongly correlated with projective tendencies, and thus with the imagination-prone personality. In addition, following a classic UFO vision, Betty Hill began to make perennial dreams, which is another of the characteristics of such a personality. The skeptics' analysis is as follows: Through hypnosis, Betty and Barney Hill have both developed a false memory syndrome; before the couple consults a hypnotherapist, Betty told her husband Barney about her vivid dreams, which explains the common elements of the wife's and the husband's testimonies, as the husband only repeated under hypnosis what his woman had told him.
Regarding the sincerity of the couple, it must be emphasized that if the couple has indeed built a false memory via hypnosis supposedly regressive, as skeptics think, it is quite logical that they have the sincerely in what they testify; the sincerity of a person does not imply that it describes events as they really happened.
Skeptics consider this case as essential for the understanding of the phenomenon of abductions alleged by extraterrestrials, since later witnesses will rely on this story, widely publicized, to build theirs unconsciously. The Hill's story became the standard narrative for all subsequent alleged abductions. The "Grays" have since become extremely popular, and this "species" extraterrestrial is currently the most represented in UFO mythology.
Skeptics argue that the stellar map seen aboard the flying saucer and identified by Marjorie Fish as that of the binary star Zeta Reticuli, consists of vague dots and lines that can correspond to a pleiade of star systems. How could the pilots of such an advanced spacecraft, they add, have been able to be satisfied with such a rudimentary map (3.) ?
Notes and references
1.↑ (En) "The Zeta Reticuli (or Ridiculi) Incident" [archive], on astronomy.com
2.↑ Abrassart, Jean-Michel. (2006). "The personality inclined to fantasy and its
involvement in ufology". Inforespace, no. 112, p. 27-36.
3.↑ (En) Nigel Watson, The Hill Abduction [archive], June 25, 2005: "The most
powerful piece of evidence to support their claims was the notorious Star Map.
Working in conjunction with Betty, an amateur astronomer Marjorie Fish created
a three-dimensional map of the star system that matches the Star Chart seen
onboard the flying saucer. This seemed to indicate that the aliens originated from
the double star system of Zeta Reticuli. Sceptics have convincingly argued that
Betty's Star Map consists of vague dots and lines that could be matched with an
entire range of stellar systems. Would the pilots of a highly sophisticated
spaceship carry such a useless Star Map? "
F I N .
Betty and Barney Hill.
Betty and Barney Hill are an American couple who claimed to have been abducted by extraterrestrials in 1961. This is the first case where people claim to have been abducted by aliens and where aliens of small size and color gray, the "Grays" are mentioned.
Hill couple's personality
Betty Hill was born in 1920 and Barney in 1922. In the early 1960s, Betty was a supervisor in the Child Welfare Department of the City of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and Barney was employed at the Post Office. He is also particularly involved in the cause of African Americans since he sits on the civil rights commission of the governor of New Hampshire. Barney Hill died on February 25, 1969 from a stroke. Betty Hill dies on October 17, 2004 of lung cancer.
Events as reported by witnesses
On September 19, 1961, after a week's vacation in Canada, they drove on Highway No. 3 southbound to their home in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Shortly after passing the city of Lancaster around 10 pm, Barney sees a light in the sky that moves erratically. He signals this light to Betty who does not understand what it may be. Taking a break, Barney gets out of the car and observes the strange light with his binoculars. He then sees a discoidal object with two short wings ending in two red lights. He even discerns what he thinks are portholes. Panicking and finding that the object seems to get closer to them, the couple goes back into the car and reboots. A strange sound, described by Barney as a "beep-beep", then invades the cabin of the car. The same sound is repeated a second time and the Hill discover that they have just traveled more than 55 km without them keeping any memory. In addition, their two watches are stopped.
When they arrive at their home, they understand that they are two hours behind their schedule and no memory that may correspond to this period of their trip. In addition, Barney discovers many scratches on the leather of his shoes, as if dragged on the floor, and feels a sharp pain in the back. Finally, he discovers that in several places the paint of the bodywork of their car disappeared, leaving the metal bare.
From September 30, Betty begins to have many nightmares where she is pursued by "deformed faces with big eyes of cats". She also develops various depressive symptoms: melancholy, loss of appetite and anxiety. In the spring of 1962, after several unsuccessful treatments, their family doctor referred them to a psychiatrist at the Exeter Academy who would eventually diagnose post-traumatic stress on Barney and Betty. This psychiatrist will direct them to Dr. Benjamin Simon, a psychiatrist specializing in hypnotherapy, to try a regressive treatment to bring back memories of the trauma to a conscious level. On December 14, 1963, Betty and Barney began hypnosis sessions supervised by Dr. Benjamin Simon, which lasted more than seven months and during which the doctor recorded more than forty hours of audio tapes.
During these sessions, Betty and Barney, who were still interviewed separately, reported that after the observation of the UFO, Barney tried to escape the UFO and entered a forest road where their vehicle stalled. The UFO landed about sixty meters from the car and a dozen small creatures descended and headed for the couple. The creatures raised the couple into the UFO, separated Betty and Barney, and subjected them to what the Hill took for a sort of medical examination. Betty claimed to have managed to communicate with one of the creatures who presented her with what looked like a star map and asked her if she was able to locate the Earth on this map. As she answered in the negative, the creature told her that it was of no use to her to show her where she came from. The creature walked Betty out of the UFO, where she found Barney already in the car and promised that she would forget everything about this experience.
Betty and Barney made many UFO drawings, creatures, and various maps and symbols they could see during this experiment. In 1969, an amateur astronomer by the name of Marjorie Fish claimed that she had managed to find a match between Betty Hill's stellar map drawings and a three-dimensional model of known constellations, and concluded that the map Betty claimed was to have seen represented the system of Reticuli.
Ufology approach of the case
Questioned separately for more than seven months, Betty and Barney never contradicted each other and their versions were always consistent.
Dr. Benjamin Simon, who oversaw the hypnosis sessions for more than seven months, considered the couple to be in good faith, although he concluded that they had "shared fantasy."
Walter Mitchell, professor of astronomy at Ohio State University in Columbus, and David R. Saunders, statistics expert at the Industrial Relations Center at the University of Chicago, validated the work of Marjorie Fish and felt that his interpretation of the map drawn by Betty Hill actually corresponded to the Zeta Reticuli1 system. (1.)
Skeptical approach of the case
According to the Belgian sociologist psychologist Jean-Michel Abrassart, the skeptics, in the framework of the sociopsychological model of the UFO phenomenon, consider that Betty Hill had a personality inclined to the imagination. (2.) Different psychological indicators point in this direction. First, it was easy to hypnotise (which is, on average, rare in the general population), which is a personality trait strongly correlated with projective tendencies, and thus with the imagination-prone personality. In addition, following a classic UFO vision, Betty Hill began to make perennial dreams, which is another of the characteristics of such a personality. The skeptics' analysis is as follows: Through hypnosis, Betty and Barney Hill have both developed a false memory syndrome; before the couple consults a hypnotherapist, Betty told her husband Barney about her vivid dreams, which explains the common elements of the wife's and the husband's testimonies, as the husband only repeated under hypnosis what his woman had told him.
Regarding the sincerity of the couple, it must be emphasized that if the couple has indeed built a false memory via hypnosis supposedly regressive, as skeptics think, it is quite logical that they have the sincerely in what they testify; the sincerity of a person does not imply that it describes events as they really happened.
Skeptics consider this case as essential for the understanding of the phenomenon of abductions alleged by extraterrestrials, since later witnesses will rely on this story, widely publicized, to build theirs unconsciously. The Hill's story became the standard narrative for all subsequent alleged abductions. The "Grays" have since become extremely popular, and this "species" extraterrestrial is currently the most represented in UFO mythology.
Skeptics argue that the stellar map seen aboard the flying saucer and identified by Marjorie Fish as that of the binary star Zeta Reticuli, consists of vague dots and lines that can correspond to a pleiade of star systems. How could the pilots of such an advanced spacecraft, they add, have been able to be satisfied with such a rudimentary map (3.) ?
Notes and references
1.↑ (En) "The Zeta Reticuli (or Ridiculi) Incident" [archive], on astronomy.com
2.↑ Abrassart, Jean-Michel. (2006). "The personality inclined to fantasy and its
involvement in ufology". Inforespace, no. 112, p. 27-36.
3.↑ (En) Nigel Watson, The Hill Abduction [archive], June 25, 2005: "The most
powerful piece of evidence to support their claims was the notorious Star Map.
Working in conjunction with Betty, an amateur astronomer Marjorie Fish created
a three-dimensional map of the star system that matches the Star Chart seen
onboard the flying saucer. This seemed to indicate that the aliens originated from
the double star system of Zeta Reticuli. Sceptics have convincingly argued that
Betty's Star Map consists of vague dots and lines that could be matched with an
entire range of stellar systems. Would the pilots of a highly sophisticated
spaceship carry such a useless Star Map? "
F I N .
