Quick Info
September 19–20, 1961. A dark, winding road through New Hampshire's White Mountains. Betty and Barney Hill, an interracial couple driving home from vacation, spot a bright light that follows them. Missing time follows. Under hypnosis they recall being taken aboard a craft, examined by grey-like beings, shown a star map. The case introduced many now-classic abduction elements: missing time, medical exams, telepathic communication, and lasting trauma. It launched the modern abduction phenomenon and remains one of the most influential and debated cases in UFO history.
The Couple: Ordinary Lives, Extraordinary Night
Betty and Barney Hill were not seekers of fame or fortune. Betty was a 41-year-old social worker, active in civil rights and the Unitarian Church. Barney, 39, was a postal worker, Army veteran, and also deeply involved in civil rights (NAACP member, local boards). They lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, enjoying a quiet, middle-class life together. In September 1961 they took a delayed honeymoon trip to Niagara Falls and Montreal, returning home late on September 19. They were tired but happy, planning to drive through the night along U.S. Route 3 to reach Portsmouth by morning.
The White Mountains were dark, the road empty. The sky was clear, stars bright. Nothing prepared them for what was coming.
The Night Begins: The Light in the Sky
Around 10:30 p.m., near Lancaster, Betty noticed a bright star-like light near the Moon that seemed to move oddly. She pointed it out to Barney. At first he thought it was a satellite or plane. As they drove south, the light grew larger, brighter, and appeared to follow them , descending, changing direction, hovering.
At Indian Head, Barney pulled over, grabbed binoculars, and stepped out. Through the lenses he saw a large disc-shaped object with windows and figures inside. The object tilted toward him. He felt intense fear, "They’re going to capture us!" shouted Barney, as he ran back to the car. Betty later said the object looked like a "huge, glowing pancake" with multicolored lights.
"I could see people in the windows... looking down at me. I was terrified."
– Barney Hill (hypnosis session, 1964)
They sped away. Behind them came a series of beeps, one set, then another. Suddenly they were 35 miles down the road near Ashland with no memory of the intervening time. The trip that should have taken ~30 minutes took nearly 2 hours. Their watches had stopped. Barney’s shoes were scuffed as if he’d walked through dirt; Betty’s dress had a torn zipper and pinkish powder stains.
The Missing Time: Hypnosis Sessions (1964) – Voices from the Unknown
For two years after that night on Route 3, Betty and Barney Hill carried a secret weight they could not explain: nightmares of lights, figures, and examinations; unexplained stains on their clothes; scuffed shoes; a torn dress zipper; and a persistent sense that two hours had vanished from their lives. Desperate for answers, they sought help from Boston psychiatrist Dr. Benjamin Simon in January 1964. Simon, a respected clinician with no prior interest in UFOs, agreed to use hypnosis, but only on the condition that the sessions be recorded and that he remain skeptical of any "fantasy" material that emerged.
The sessions were conducted separately. Barney first, then Betty, over the course of several weeks. What came out shocked everyone, including Simon himself. Below are some verbatim excerpts from the transcripts and Simon’s notes (as published in John G. Fuller’s *The Interrupted Journey* and NICAP archives). These are not dramatized in any way, they are the raw words of Betty and Barney under deep hypnosis spoke, reliving what they believed happened during the missing time.
Barney’s First Major Recall – The Beings Approach
Dr. Simon: You’re back on the road. The beeping has stopped. What do you see?
Barney (voice trembling): They’re coming… oh God, they’re coming toward the car. They’re not human. They’re… small. Grey skin. Big eyes. Slanted. No hair. They’re looking at me… right at me. I can’t move. My feet won’t move.
Dr. Simon: What are they doing?
Barney: They’re opening the door. They’re taking me out. I’m floating. I’m screaming inside but nothing comes out. They’re carrying me… up a ramp. Into something. A craft. It’s curved. There’s a table. They’re putting me on it. I can’t fight. My mind is screaming but my body is calm. They’re doing something… to my teeth. A cup. It’s on my groin. It hurts… it hurts… but I can’t move.
Dr. Simon: Do they speak?
Barney (crying): No words. Just thoughts. They’re in my head. They say… don’t be afraid. It’s necessary. I’m so scared. I want Betty. Where’s Betty?
Betty’s Recall – The Medical Examination
Dr. Simon: You’re inside the craft. What happens next?
Betty: They lead me down a hallway. It’s curved, metallic. There’s a room. A table. They lift me onto it. One of them , the leader , he’s taller, looks at me with those eyes. He says… not words, but I understand… they want to do tests. It’s important. I’m afraid but I can’t run.
Dr. Simon: What kind of tests?
Betty: They take a needle… long, thin. They put it in my navel. It hurts so much! I scream. The leader touches my forehead and the pain stops. He says it’s a test. They scrape my skin, take clippings from my nails, look in my mouth. One of them runs something over my body like a scanner. Then he shows me a map. Stars. He says… this is where we come from. He points to one star and says… that’s home. Trade routes. Exploration. I try to remember. I draw it later.
Dr. Simon: What does he look like?
Betty: Tall for them. Grey. Big black eyes. Small mouth. No nose really. No ears. He’s calm. Almost kind. But I’m terrified. I keep thinking of Barney. Where is he?
Betty’s Star Map Session – The Most Famous Moment
Dr. Simon: You’re looking at the map. Tell me what you see.
Betty: It’s a flat map, like a window. Stars, lines connecting them. He points to one and says… that’s where we are now. Then he points to another and says… that’s home. There are lines , trade routes, exploration routes. I ask where we are on Earth. He laughs , not mean , and says I wouldn’t understand. But I try to memorize it. I draw it later. I can still see it in my mind.
Betty later drew the map under hypnosis. Marjorie Fish’s 1969 analysis suggested it matched Zeta Reticuli , a claim that became legendary but was later challenged by updated stellar data (Hipparcos, 1990s). Regardless, the map remains one of the most debated pieces of evidence in UFO history.
Dr. Simon’s final conclusion (1965 report): The memories were vivid but likely confabulated under hypnosis, a psychological response to stress, cultural UFO exposure, and interracial tension in 1961 America. Betty and Barney disagreed. They believed it was real. Barney died of a stroke in 1969 at age 46; Betty lived until 2004, continuing to speak publicly and advocate for UFO research.
"I don’t care what anyone says. I know what happened to us. We didn’t make it up. We lived it."
– Betty Hill (late 1990s interview)
Physical & Psychological Aftermath
Physical: Concentric circles on car trunk (magnetic?), scuffed shoes, torn dress, pinkish powder. Psychological: Nightmares, insomnia, anxiety. Barney died of stroke in 1969 (age 46); Betty continued UFO activism until 2004. Medical: Betty’s abdominal pain; Barney’s ulcers/hypertension (stress-related?).
Archival Footage and Interviews
More archival interviews and documentaries on YouTube
Official Involvement & Skeptical Views
FAA/NICAP investigated; radar contacts reported but unconfirmed. Skeptics: Jupiter/Mars misidentification, autokinesis, sleep deprivation, hypnosis artifacts. Dr. Simon believed fantasy. Proponents: Multi-witness, radar, physical traces, credibility.
Legacy in 2026
65 years later, the Hill case launched modern abductions: greys, missing time, exams, star maps. Influenced books, films, culture. Recent scholarship (Matthew Bowman, 2023) frames it as a lens on 1960s civil rights, interracial stress, New Age. Betty and Barney’s story endures to this very day. Two ordinary people caught in something extraordinary.
