Original subtitles

- The following story is based on the records

of the United States Air Force,

the files of The Hayden Planetarium,

and the actual transcripts of the tapes

made by Betty and Barney Hill,

under hypnosis by Dr. Benjamin Simon.

The purpose,

to penetrate an extraordinary case of double amnesia,

precipitated by their claimed sighting of a UFO in 1961.

- We know it was Route 3.

I mean off Route 3, and we've been on every single-

- Side road, dirt road, dead end,

and there's no road, there's no, no clearing, nothing.

- Of course there is, we just haven't found it yet.

- Left or right?

- I dunno, let's try right.

- I saw the thing, I knew I saw the thing,

but if my best friend told me he'd seen it,

I'd say he was crazy.

- Barney.

There've been UFO sightings all over New Hampshire.

Are you saying they're all nuts, all those people?

- Maybe, yeah, maybe.

And it's crazy to keep coming back here.

It's like a,

like a compulsion,

like some of those people you deal with at work,

compulsive gamblers,

compulsive wife beaters.

- What does that make us, compulsive travelers?

What's so bad about that?

- Because we only traveled to Indian Head,

we only traveled Route 3,

looking for a road that doesn't exist.

How many times we been back here, Betty?

Seven, eight times, you know?

Always end up exhausted and fighting each other.

I don't wanna fight with you, Betty.

- Let's not come back.

Let's just decide not to come back again, ever.

- But-

- But we will, you know. - We will, you know.

- Oh, it's funny how we do that.

Say the same thing at the same time.

- Just a little tolerance, that's all I ask.

- Barney, let me out!

Stop, let me out!

No, don't stop!

Keep going, Barney!

No, don't stop. Keep going!

Don't slow down!

- Come on, let's go get 'em. Come on!

- I saw the moon sitting on the ground.

- That was a dream, Betty.

- The men in the road,

I saw the men in the road.

And then I saw the moon sitting on the ground.

- Dreams are dreams, and reality is reality.

We almost smashed up this car because you had a dream!

- Don't do that, Barney.

Please.

Don't shut me out.

Talk to me, tell me what you feel.

- I feel that your dreams are dreams.

And that reality-

- Is that reality?

That every dumb kid in a leather jacket is out to harm you?

- What are you talking about?

I wasn't scared, you were.

- Oh, don't do that, Barney.

You were too. I saw your face before.

And just now.

- I was brought up to be careful, remember?

It's like an old, scratched, broken record

playing inside of me.

"Be careful kid, or they all kill you."

- Marrying me wasn't being very careful, was it?

- I loved you so much,

I forgot to be careful.

First time in my life, threw out careful.

- Barney?

What are we gonna do?

- How do I know this thing happened?

How do I know I wasn't just seeing things?

I'm in this terrible position where I know it happened,

but I can't get myself to believe it.

And it's bugging me so much,

that my ulcers are kicking up again.

Just when they were getting better.

It's worse than that, I try to

minimize,

I was outta work for six months on disability.

The doctor said I was suffering from the

complete physical exhaustion,

anxiety,

and Betty,

Betty was having those nightmares,

sudden fears outta nowhere,

things that are really not like Betty.

She's so calm.

- And it's been almost two years since the experience?

- Yes.

I keep trying to remember what happened,

where we were.

There's a whole area that's lost.

36 miles, ain't they?

Between the time we saw the UFO or whatever, and,

and when we heard the beeps.

- Now, Concord's about where you heard the beeps?

- Ah.

It was a beeping sound.

Beep, beep, beep.

Is there something shifting in the car?

- I don't know.

- Oh, do you think that thing is back again?

- How strange.

- Wait a minute.

I wonder if I could make the car do that myself.

- All right, it was at this moment, the beeping,

when your memory returned,

it's a time previous to this that you can't remember?

- Yes, Dr. Simon. That's right.

- I see.

- We go back there.

Weekends, holidays, whenever we get a chance.

We were just there a couple of days ago.

- Uh, to Indian Head you mean?

- Yes, trying to find, uh...

Sort of woke up from a daze,

and saw the sign, Concord, 17 miles.

- Suddenly, Concord.

It was so strange.

- Barney and Betty Hill began general history

of their anxiety problems and amnesia,

highlighted by their claimed sighting

of a UFO at Indian Head two years ago.

The Hills' clearest memory is their return home

from the UFO sighting experience.

Treatment is to be centered on their anxiety reaction

with their apparent amnesia.

Unidentified flying object, secondary matter.

Major job is to determine treatment of patients,

and overcoming this unique case of double amnesia.

Most probably by means of hypnosis.

Barney Hill, 39, works for the Post Office,

is distinguished member of NAACP,

and active in community fairs, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Well-read,

educated.

IQ of 140.

Previously married,

two children.

Suffers deep guilt about leaving marriage and children,

but sees them as often as he can.

Also suffers from childhood of racial strife.

Betty Hill, 42,

comes from an old New Hampshire family dating back to 1629.

Previously married 13 years, two adopted children,

now grown.

Returned to university after divorce, received degree.

Presently works as welfare worker

for the State of New Hampshire.

Has a background of security,

in both upbringing and heritage.

- Barney?

Barney, did you take the clothes in the house?

- What?

- The clothes, did you bring them in?

- No, I was too tired.

I'll bring all that stuff in tomorrow.

- I didn't want you to bring the clothes in the house.

- About the clock.

You said you glanced up at the clock,

'cause you were undressing.

Did you see the time?

- I saw that it was five after five.

I didn't register, I don't think Barney realized it either.

Neither one of us realized till months later

that it was that late.

Wasn't that strange, Barney?

Whatever it was.

- Tops of my shoes are scuffed.

- What?

- Tops of my shoes are scuffed.

- I don't understand. How could that be?

- I don't know.

- All right, Mr. Hill, when you woke up the next morning,

did you experience any particular discomfort on your groin?

- No.

It was there, I could, uh...

Just,

just had a feeling,

but there was no pain or anything.

- Well, how much later was it that the warts appeared?

- Oh,

two months, I guess, before they actually appeared,

before I actually saw them, 'cause that...

I had a feeling before they actually appeared.

- So you went to the doctor and he diagnosed it,

and by means of electrolysis,

he was able to get rid of them.

- Yes, sir.

- And you haven't been in trouble with them since?

- No I haven't.

- I see.

Now, please continue.

- Betty.

I don't wanna talk to anybody about last night, all right?

- All right.

I guess.

- If you wanna talk about it,

we can just talk about it to ourselves.

- But we can't just not talk about it, you know?

- Oh, I know that.

I wanna talk about it to you.

I don't like feeling alone with this thing.

- You're not alone with it, love.

How could you be?

You're not alone with it, love.

How could you be?

Well, we wondered about it, and we talked about it,

and then I asked Barney

if he thought we could draw what we saw,

and he didn't wanna do that.

- But Betty found a way to talk me into it.

- Well, I'm good at that.

And then when the drawings were identical,

well, Barney thought they were only similar,

I wanted to call my sister,

and Barney didn't want me to do that, he got angry.

And then when she wanted me to check for radiation,

Barney got really upset.

Where's the compass? Where's the compass?

- I don't know what you're talkin' about, Betty.

- The compass, the compass, where's the compass?

- I don't know where it is!

How am I supposed to know where the compass is?

- Thanks a lot, Barney, you're a big help.

- It's in the drawer where it always is!

Why don't you look before you ask?

It's always there in the same place!

Betty! Listen.

I think you're getting too excited about all this,

and I think you'd better calm down.

I think we just better

forget about all this.

- Barney,

would you please come outside,

and look at the back of the car,

and see what happens to this compass?

Janet says a compass works like a Geiger counter,

and if the car has any radiation-

- Oh, Betty,

it's all so ridiculous.

A car is made outta metal,

and any metal would attract the compass.

- The compass just went crazy,

near the trunk, the spare tire,

not near the battery, or where you'd expect it to.

And there were these strange shiny spots

on the back of the car.

I finally got Barney to come out and look at them.

- I figured if I humored her and looked, she'd calm down.

- Well, did the spots stay on the car?

- No, no, they disappeared.

- They didn't disappear.

At least not right away.

What happened is that when I had the car washed,

they stayed.

- All right.

Well, let's go on.

- Janet. It went crazy.

Yes, the compass,

and there were strange spots on the back of the car.

I couldn't call anybody.

They'd laugh at me.

No, I'd be embarrassed, and Barney,

Barney and I decided not to tell anyone, not anyone else.

- Were you able to deal with that,

to live with that?

- Yes.

Well,

yes and no, you see so much of our life was so happy.

We'd only been married about a year,

and so many things were new,

especially for Barney.

- Why especially for Barney?

- Well, the only change in my life was that I was married.

To Barney, I lived in the house where I'd lived for years.

I had the same job and the same friends,

but for Barney, for Barney, everything was different,

he lived in Philadelphia,

in what was really an all black society, and,

and here in Portsmouth,

it's pretty much an all white society.

It wasn't just a new marriage for Barney,

it was a whole new life and new friends.

Barney makes friends so easily.

Our best friends then were Jack and Lisa MacRainey.

Jack's a Lieutenant Colonel at the Pease Air Force Base,

and he and Barney just hit it off.

I knew Barney wanted to tell Jack

about what we saw.

Hmm, he kept putting it off.

- But I finally came out with it.

The sighting, if it was a sighting.

It was still gnawing away at me.

- The sighting itself?

- No.

Whether or not there was a sighting,

and whether or not I was...

We were seeing things.

And Jack just confirmed my suspicion.

He said in so many words that anyone that said they saw UFO,

was nuts.

- And that only made things worse, you know,

they were our best friends.

They were around all the time.

We could talk to them about anything, anything at all,

except UFOs, that subject was just plain taboo.

And those terrible dreams were starting.

- Had you told Barney about your dreams yet?

- I'd mentioned them.

He had so little time,

Barney was working nights in Boston,

60 mile drive back and forth.

We were, except for weekends,

we were sort of passing in the hallway.

It's the moon, you idiot.

What are you barking at the moon for?

- Well, I imagine they were long nights for you.

Hard on you.

- Very long.

I keep saying this though, you know,

that we were having so much fun.

Barney had joined the Toastmasters,

'cause he thought he couldn't speak in public.

And he found out he could.

Then he found out he could make people laugh.

The house was filling up with old jokes books,

and old routines on records. - Come on in, attention!

All those of you whose mothers are still alive!

- He'd spring them at the worst possible moments!

- Front center!

Not so fast, Rodriguez.

- Barney, just sit down, you'll be late.

- Bossy little thing, isn't she?

You never knew she was the oldest of five children?

Just grew up bossing everybody.

- Do me a favor, Barney, love.

Wouldn't you really like to sit down?

- Call off your dog, buddy!

- And just like that, it would change,

and everything would get terrible.

Like that night,

Jack and Lisa were having their problems.

Lisa knew we thought we had seen something.

- Somehow we got onto Barry Goldwater.

Goodness only knows how we got onto Barry Goldwater.

I heard myself saying...

You know, you know the trouble with you white people?

The trouble with you white people-

- Don't call me "you white people",

don't ever call me "you white people!"

You can say "those white people",

but don't include me, Barney Hill.

I'm not white, I'm human.

- Well, I didn't ever say that again.

- No, you didn't.

And then they were getting ready to leave,

Barney too, because he had to be at the Post Office by nine.

And when they all were saying goodnight,

you could have cut the tension with a hatchet.

My fellow citizens,

let no one doubt that this is a difficult

and dangerous effort on which we have set out.

The path we have chosen for the present is full of hazards,

but it is the one most consistent

with our character and courage as a nation,

and our commitments around the world.

- And then Barney came back,

he said he was gonna call in sick.

He was so worried,

and he was just lying there with this white cloth

over his face to help his headache.

Better?

- Not much.

- Barney, I wanna ask you something.

- Uh-huh.

- I can't, not with that thing over your eyes.

- It was your idea.

- This probably isn't the time anyway.

But I really wanted to ask you-

- Listen, Betty.

I was just listening to the news.

- Barney, I said I wanted to ask you something.

- This is important, Betty, really important.

If they actually do start shooting missiles-

- Who?

Nobody's gonna start shooting missiles, Barney.

- If they do,

and we're not together,

if I'm at work and can't get here,

now listen to me,

what I want you to do,

is make your way to your mother's house,

and I'll manage to get there.

Is that clear?

- Yes.

Yes. Sure.

- Good.

- Barney, what I wanted to ask you before,

was how come we can talk about this UFO business together,

and wonder what it was together,

but with Janet, with Jack, it was a plane, period.

- With you, I can look like a fool,

but with my friends, I can't afford to look like a fool.

- I got to hate that wash cloth

more and more,

he'd just lie there with it over his face.

- And I just kept calling in sick.

Well, I was sick,

the ulcers and the headaches, and I was worrying.

I mean, I've always been a worrier,

but this is really getting outta proportion.

Worrying about things that I didn't have any control over.

I really thought we were gonna be attacked.

- By whom?

- I don't know.

Well, I thought Russia, but,

I don't know.

- And were the nightmares continuing, Betty?

- Yes. On and on.

I started writing them down,

I'd get up in the middle of the night,

and write till I was exhausted.

I had done that before when,

when things upset me, I would write them down,

it would help.

- You, er, still have a copy of those dreams?

- Yes, I stuck 'em away somewhere.

You know, that's funny.

I,

I've forgotten I wrote them down.

- 'Cause I'd like a copy of them,

if you don't mind.

- Oh, sure. I'll look for them.

- And it was about this time, Barney,

that you went to see the doctor,

and he suggested that you take a rest,

take a sick leave.

- Yes, it was about this time.

So ,

I just started staying home,

trying to relax,

work in the garden,

read, stuff like that.

The kids came more often, you know?

I could see them more often.

They really liked Betty, I mean, you know?

They got along well with her, they really loved her.

'Cause I used to tease her, right?

I told her that it was her cooking they loved.

Mainly I was just lying around and reading,

reading UFO books.

- Hi.

- Hi.

What's the matter, you upset?

- No, I'm not upset. Why?

- You weren't smiling.

When you came in, you weren't smiling.

- I didn't notice.

- I did.

- Well, obviously you did,

or you wouldn't be uptight about it.

- No, I'm not uptight.

Sorry about that.

I'm uptight.

- What about?

- Well,

if I knew,

I wouldn't be lying around this house all day, would I?

Wouldn't be reading these stupid books.

My eyes are falling out, until-

- What?

- Till I think I'm nuts as they are.

When I asked you to marry me,

you said you wanted a psychiatric evaluation.

Don't laugh. You may have been right.

- Oh, what do you mean?

- I mean that you,

your instincts may have been right.

You may have sensed something.

- Oh no, my love, oh!

No, you didn't understand.

It wasn't you I questioned, it was me!

And I couldn't tell you.

- Tell me what?

- I still can't.

- Listen.

Don't you know by now you can tell me anything?

- I'm not pretty.

- Who says?

- Nobody, it's something I know,

something I've always known,

I'm not pretty.

- And that's nonsense.

And what's it got to do with a psychiatric evaluation of me?

- Oh,

you don't understand.

I was afraid,

I was afraid you thought,

you thought you loved me,

you thought I was pretty because,

because I was white.

- Hey.

That's like,

that's like me being afraid you didn't love me,

you only love my beautiful black body.

- Well, I do. - Oh, well.

There's that too.

You're right.

You're not pretty. You're beautiful.

And I see the whole world, Betty.

I see every bit of beauty in the whole world in your face.

- No. - I see you, Betty.

- My love, I see you.

Oh, Barney.

This is the way it should be.

This is the way it was.

This is the way it should be.

This is the way it was.

Well, finally I convinced him that we had to report it.

- She cried, that's really what did it.

- Well, we never did it.

We did call.

- Yeah, I mean,

I wasn't too impressed with how the Air Force handled it.

But when Wayne Webb

from The Hayden Planetarium contacted us,

then I knew that

Betty was right, and we had to tell everything we saw.

- No need for you to be concerned.

No need for you to be worried.

You are deeper and deeper asleep.

You are deep asleep.

You will remember everything,

and you will tell me everything.

It is now September 19th, 1961.

You will remember everything,

and it won't trouble you.

Your memory is sharp now.

I want you to go back to the time

of your vacation in Montreal,

beginning with the time you left your hotel in Montreal.

- Yes.

- I want you to tell me in full detail,

all your experiences,

all your thoughts,

all your feelings,

beginning from the time you left your hotel.

- Okay. - Now, were you in Montreal?

- It was approximately 112 miles from Montreal.

We were driving from Niagara Falls through Canada.

- Well, just go on.

Tell me about your arrival there.

- The thoughts that were going through my mind was that

would they accept me at the motel, because...

Would they say they were filled up?

And I was wondering if they were doing this

because I was prejudiced.

- Because you're prejudiced?

- Because they were prejudiced.

- You run into this a lot I take it?

- I have not actually

run into being denied accommodation yet.

- You mean you worry about it?

- But I know that this does happen,

and I am concerned.

- Did you tell your wife about your concern?

Does she share it?

- I express it, but,

she does not share my concern in this matter.

- Very well.

Go on.

- We are riding around,

and I'm lost.

And I'm concerned about the tollgate.

Customs.

- Why?

- I have a gun in the trunk of the car,

a .32

pistol.

And it is hidden in the well of the trunk of the car,

with the trunk mat over it.

And I'm thinking,

"Why did I do this?

Why did I bring this gun along?"

And I know it is all my fears,

that I believe the hostility of white people,

particularly when there is an interracial couple.

- Yes. Well, go on.

Your memory is sharp.

Where are you now?

- Now,

we're in the country part of New Hampshire, on Route 3,

and I'm thinking, "I've got to get a hold of myself,"

and not expect hostility when there...

It was no hostility there.

And I look up through the windshield,

I

look up

through the windshield of the car where Betty saw a star.

Oh.

That's funny.

But I said,

Betty, that is not a star, it's a satellite.

Come on, Delsey. Let's get out.

Hurry up, Betty, so I can see.

It's not a satellite, it's a plane.

- Barney, what kind of a plane is that?

- What kind of plane was it?

- It is right over my right.

And it does not go where I thought it would go.

- Barney, I'm asking you a question.

What kind of a plane is that?

- Oh.

That's funny.

It was,

it was funny.

They're coming around toward us.

They're changing course.

It's just a Piper Cub.

- Barney, it's not a Piper Cub.

- You saw, uh,

a small plane?

- Barney.

That's not a plane, it's still following us.

Barney! Where are you going?

- I just wanna see it.

- Still there.

It's coming closer.

- It is not, it is not coming closer.

It's just way up there.

Betty, what are you trying to make me believe?

- All right.

We'll stop here for now.

Just relax.

Be comfortable.

Until you hear me speak again,

you won't hear any sound here.

Just rest and be comfortable.

All right. You may proceed now.

- And,

I am wondering,

why doesn't it go away?

- Do you still think it was a small plane?

- And I'm wondering why

these pilots...

Why, they shouldn't do that.

They shouldn't do that.

And,

I can't hear any noise.

And I think this is ridiculous.

I can't hear any sound,

and I want to get back in the car and get out of there.

I gotta get out of there.

And it is still coming around towards us.

And I look up and down the road,

and I think how dark it is.

And I think,

"What if a bear were to come out?"

And Betty is looking,

I think she said...

And I'm mad with her.

I think Betty is trying to make me believe

this is a flying saucer,

and I am wondering,

"Why doesn't it go away?"

I wanna wake up.

- You won't wake up.

You're in a deep sleep.

You can go on.

- It's right over my right.

What is it?

I gotta get outta here.

- This won't trouble you, go on.

You're remembering everything now.

- And I try to maintain control,

so Betty cannot tell that I am scared.

Oh, I'm so scared.

- Go on.

This won't hurt you, experience it.

It won't harm you now.

- I gotta get my gun! I gotta get my gun!

I gotta get outta here! I gotta get my gun!

I gotta get my gun! - Stay here!

Nothing can harm you here.

- I gotta get my gun! - Stay here!

Nothing can harm you here.

- I gotta get my gun! - Here!

You're in a deep sleep.

You can remember nothing.

Now.

Now calm yourself.

Calm yourself.

Here, come on.

Now come on back,

and sit down.

All right.

You can wake up now.

All right.

You can wake up now.

You can remember everything.

Just go on remembering.

There's no need for you to cry out, you're,

you're calm now.

You still feel you have to get your gun?

- Yes.

- It meant to harm you, you felt?

- Yes.

And I open the trunk and I take it out,

and I put it in my coat,

and I look, and I look and I say, "I'm not afraid.

I'm not afraid. I'll shoot it down."

And, and I run out across the road, and...

There, there, there!

There it is, up there!

Then,

a man?

A man?

Is he a captain?

What is he?

And,

he's looking at me,

and I say, "No," I have to shake my head.

This isn't true. This can't be true.

And,

still there,

and I look up and down the road, and I think,

"Can't somebody come along,

and tell me that this isn't there?"

It's there.

- Are you sure it's there?

- Yeah.

- You're not having a dream?

- And I touch my right arm.

It's not my right. It's my left arm.

And it's there.

If I let my binoculars fall and dangle,

maybe it won't be there.

But it's there.

Why?

What do they want? What do they want?

And this one person,

looks friendly to me.

He's friendly-looking,

and he's looking over his right shoulder at me,

and he's smilin',

and he's friendly.

But the other one with the evil face,

he looks like a Nazi.

He's a Nazi.

- Did he have on a uniform?

- Yeah. Yes.

- Did they have faces like, like other people?

- His eyes are slanted.

Oh!

His eyes are slanted.

Oh,

I feel like a rabbit.

- What do you mean by that?

- When I was hunting for rabbits in Virginia,

this cute little bunny

went into a bush that wasn't very thick.

And my cousin Marge was on one side of the bush and

I was on the other with a hat.

And this poor little bunny thought he was safe,

and it tickled me,

because he was just hiding behind this little stalk

that meant security for him.

And I pounced on him, and threw my hat on him,

and captured the poor little bunny that thought he was safe.

Isn't that funny?

I thought of that, standing out there in the field.

I'm that bunny.

I'm gonna be pounced on.

I'm that bunny.

This creature is trying to tell me something,

I can see it in his face.

- Are its lips moving?

- No,

his lips aren't moving,

but he's, he's looking at me, and he's saying to me,

"Don't be afraid."

- Did you hear him tell you this?

- No.

- You felt he said it?

- Uh,

I know.

And he said,

"Just stay there," he said,

and he's telling me not to pull the binoculars

away from my eyes,

and,

and,

I,

I , I!

Oh!

God,

give me strength,

I'll fight it off.

I'm not afraid.

And I run out across the road and there it is up there.

Oh!

Those eyes.

Oh.

Can I please wake up?

- Just a little longer.

You'll get through this all right.

- I don't understand.

Their eyes don't have no body.

They're just eyes.

Oh.

Oh, that's what it's got to be.

It's a,

a wild cat up a tree.

Oh, that's what it's got to be.

Oh,

I know.

It's the Cheshire Cat in "Alice In Wonderland".

It disappeared too, and only the eyes remain.

Oh.

- You don't seem to be frightened anymore.

- No,

they're not gonna do anything bad.

Just floating about,

I'm that bunny,

I've been captured,

but just floating about.

It's so ridiculous, isn't it?

Oh.

Really funny.

Who are they and where do they come from?

They're not gonna do me any harm.

I wish I could go with them.

Oh,

what an experience,

to go to some distant planet.

Maybe this will prove the existence of God.

Isn't that funny?

To look for the existence of God

on some other planet.

- He, he, I,

I don't know if he was laughing or crying,

but he said to me,

"They were gonna capture us."

- They're gonna capture us!

Gotta get outta here.

Look out, look out, you can see them!

They're right overhead.

They're right directly over our car.

- If they're out there, I don't see anything.

It's all black. I don't see them.

- What's that?

What's that noise?

- I don't know.

- Now, just a moment.

This was the first series of beeps,

when your amnesia begins?

- I don't want to.

- There is the second series of beeps,

when your memory returned.

- I don't know.

- Well, you will remember clearly.

- Uh,

it was, I,

that my mind's, uh,

blank, I,

but,

oh, I,

I could not,

I...

Almost remember.

- You can.

Remember.

- Oh, I get this point.

I can't get beyond all this beeping!

- You can, you can get beyond it.

It's all right, you've never remembered it before.

This is the two hours you could never remember until now,

because you're there now.

It's all right.

Go on.

Remember.

No need to be upset.

- I'm not supposed to.

- Not supposed to?

Who told you you're not supposed to?

- They did.

- It's all right.

You're calm,

calm.

- We're driving along.

I don't know where we are, I...

I don't even know how we got here.

Barney and I we're,

we were driving.

I don't know how long, I, I don't know how long.

We haven't even been talking, I'm just sitting there,

feeling that

something's going to happen.

No, I'm not really too afraid, but,

but then, now I am.

That time I didn't feel afraid.

- Why are you crying if you're not afraid?

- I'm afraid now, but then I wasn't, I don't...

I wasn't, I wasn't afraid.

I was afraid.

I was afraid when I saw the men in the road!

- The men in the road?

- I've never been so afraid,

in my life before!

- Tell me about the men in the road.

It's all right.

You're safe here.

Tell me about the men in the road.

Betty. Betty.

Don't fall asleep.

I want you to stay awake,

so you can remember.

Tell me about the men in the road.

- But...

I wasn't too afraid of them, and then when I saw them,

they were standing there,

and I thought, "Oh, well, you know, they're not so awful."

I,

there was a,

I, I don't know there was,

I wasn't too afraid when I saw them, they were...

And they were just...

No, I, I couldn't get a good look at them.

Maybe their car's broken down.

What are they doing here?

And then they started coming towards us.

And then I,

when they did that, I got really scared,

and Barney tried to stop the car.

And then,

where this, uh-

- What was that? I, I, I didn't hear that.

- I thought,

if I could just get my hand on the door of the car

and open it,

I can run into the woods and hide.

And Barney is yelling.

"They're gonna capture us, they're gonna capture us."

Then,

they're coming closer, oh my, oh, oh.

They're coming closer.

I,

I just put my, my hand out,

I put my, my hand on the door in the car,

and I'm gonna open it and,

they open it for me.

They open it, the car door, this man,

this man, this man, there are these...

there's two men behind the door,

there's one,

two!

Three!

Three men!

And there's one, two,

more men,

my eyes are...

- All right. All right.

All right.

We'll stop there for now.

You'll be relieved and relaxed.

When you wake up,

you won't remember anything that's transpired here.

You won't remember anything,

until I ask you to recall it.

It's all right.

You'll be comfortable,

and relaxed,

and at ease.

- Oh, the beautiful people.

Don't do that.

The Kennedys don't giggle.

- What of that?

- You got no class, girl.

Don't gimme that talk about your Mayflower ancestors.

Mm, mm, mm!

Now, how could I go and marry a girl with no class?

No, Betty. Betty, no, not that.

No, Betty. Not, not, not that.

No. Anything but that, no!

- Serves you right.

"No class."

You're really feeling good, aren't you?

- Yes, I am.

Hm.

Just minutes.

I really feel good.

I come out of those sessions,

it's like a weight's lifted,

and I don't know what the weight is,

but something's working,

because there are these minutes,

before it all comes creeping back again.

- Hmm. With me it's a day or so.

And then I can't wait for the end of the week

to get back in there.

- Like today,

at lunch,

I felt so cool I had an onion with my hamburger.

- Barney, you know we said we wouldn't eat onions

unless we both had them.

- Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot, I'll get you one.

- What? - I'm gonna get you an onion.

- I don't want an onion, you lunatic!

- It's really strange, isn't it?

- It really is.

- So amazed.

So curious.

Just dying to find out what's going on in there.

- So am I.

- It's amazing.

I didn't think I could be hypnotized,

he's so unlike me.

Just have to be in control all the time.

But hey,

I walk in there and bang,

I guess I trust him.

Hmm, me, Barney Hill trusting somebody.

- Except me. - And him.

Yeah, it's funny, I trusted him right away.

- So did I.

- Oh yeah, but you're used to trusting people.

You know me,

I'm not paranoid,

it's just that the whole world is out to get me.

Especially boys with ducktail haircuts, and old ladies.

- Old ladies?

What are you kidding?

- Yeah, sort of.

No,

not really.

My earliest memory,

except that I don't think it was really a memory,

just that my mother told the story so much that

I feel I remembered it.

I was just a baby, six months, nine months,

and we moved into an all white neighborhood in Philadelphia.

And my mother put me out on the porch in a carriage.

She came out just in time to see an old lady

sneaking across the porch with a pot of boiling water,

and she was gonna dump it on me.

- Ugh!

Hmm!

- You're not crazy.

Well, I don't know.

Maybe it didn't really happen, but-

- Oh!

- I grew up on stuff like that.

All those summers in Virginia.

I remember my uncle,

all the men on the farm,

sitting up on the porch all night with their loaded guns,

all night,

because they were coming.

They said they were comin, but they didn't come.

- I know.

No,

I don't know, ah!

There's no way I could ever know, is there?

- No, thank God.

- My fears,

you know, it's odd.

My fears aren't ever of the real.

No it's, it's what I don't know.

The unknown.

Death,

and lost time and,

really, the unknown.

- Hmm.

It's not that that frightens me.

It's not being in control.

The idea of not being in control.

Will you promise me something? - Hmm.

- If I get a stroke,

something like that, that paralyzes me, so I can't...

Would you put a pillow over my face?

- That's not fair, Barney.

Barney, that's not fair to ask me a thing like that now,

to ask me to promise.

- All right, don't promise now, but if,

just decide then, knowing, hmm?

- Okay, I'll decide then. When you're 102.

- It runs in the family, you know?

Strokes.

And I truly am scared.

I would've told you

about that and asked you about that before,

but I didn't wanna fight you.

Would you be all right?

- No.

No, I wouldn't be all right.

- Oh, baby. Don't cry.

Didn't mean to make you cry.

- Yes, you did.

You did.

Everything was just fine!

We were laughing. We were fine.

You had to spoil it. You had to.

- I'm sorry.

- I know.

I know, so am I.

Oh, we're always sorry.

We keep right on doing it,

and we're sorry.

Why?

Ah, will we ever know why?

- Go on, Betty.

- Why?

Ah, will we ever know why?

- Go on, Betty.

It's all right.

You can go on now.

- I, I don't know what happened.

- You can remember everything now.

What did these men look like?

Did you see their faces?

- No.

- How were they dressed?

Did they have on a uniform or ordinary clothes?

- I couldn't say, I don't know, I can't remember.

I'm not supposed to remember.

- All right.

Your memory is sharp now.

You needn't worry.

You can remember everything.

Now tell me what happened.

What are you thinking now?

- I'm thinking I'm asleep.

- Asleep in the car?

- I'm asleep and I've got to wake up.

I, I don't want to be asleep.

I keep,

keep trying to wake up.

And then I do.

I open my eyes.

I'm walking through the woods, I open my eyes quick,

and I shut them again.

- And Barney is behind you?

- There's a couple of men behind me,

and then there's Barney.

There's a, there's a man on each side of him.

And my eyes are open, but Barney's still asleep.

He's walking and he's asleep.

And then I begin to get mad.

And I said to myself,

"Who the heck are these characters,

and what do they think they're doing?"

And I turn around and I said,

"Barney, wake up, Barney, why don't you wake up?"

And I'm getting really annoyed at Barney.

And I say,

"Barney, wake up!"

"Is Barney his name?"

And I wouldn't answer.

And then the leader,

"There's no reason to be afraid.

We just want to do some tests.

And then when the tests are over,

we'll take you and Barney back to your car,

you'll be on your way back home in no time."

And then come to a clearing.

And there was,

oh, I wish it were light,

so I could get a better picture of it.

There's a ramp to the door.

The object was on the ground.

The moon sitting on the ground.

- The object was on the ground?

- I think that's the same one I saw in the sky.

And I thought it was the moon.

We go inside,

and there's a, there's a corridor to the left.

In the corridor, there's a room.

The man who spoke English is in the room.

And then another man comes in, I haven't seen him before.

I think he's the doctor.

And they both look through this machine here, and here.

- What do you think they were doing?

- I, I have an idea, they're,

that they're taking a picture of my skin.

They're doing all kinds of things.

And then they,

they took something like a letter opener, only it wasn't,

and they scraped my arm here.

And then they put the little

skin scraping in a piece of cellophane,

plastic, something like that.

And oh, then they feel my hair on the back of my neck,

and take a couple of strands and pull it out,

and the examiner tells me to take my dress off,

before I even have a chance to stand up to do it.

- Your dress has a zipper down the back?

- Yes, it zips down the back.

The examiner unzips it,

and slips my dress off.

And they're talking.

I, I, I, I don't know what they're saying.

I couldn't understand that part.

"I want to do some tests.

I want to test your nervous system."

I don't know how our nervous systems are,

but I hope we never have nerve enough to,

to go kidnapping people off the highways as you've done!

I'm laying on the table.

I don't know what they're doing,

but they seem so happy with whatever it is they're doing.

And they touch me with a needle.

Doesn't hurt.

It's something like a TV screen.

And then they turn me on my stomach,

and then back over on my back,

I see the doctor has long needle in his hand.

- Go on.

Go on, it's all right.

- What are you going to do with that?

And he tells me that it won't hurt, he,

just wants to put it in my navel,

it's just a simple test.

Stop, it's hurting, it's hurting! Take it out!

And it's hurting inside me.

He puts...

He, he, he rubs his hands over my eyes,

and says it would be all right.

I won't feel anything.

The, the pain's gone away,

but I'm still sore when they put that needle in,

I don't know why they did that,

because I told them they shouldn't do it.

- Did they make any sexual advances to you?

- No.

I asked the leader, I said,

"Why did you put that needle in my navel?"

And he said,

"It was a pregnancy test."

And I said,

"I don't know what you expected, but,

there was no pregnancy test here."

- When you had all of these experiences

with your dreams,

why would you have dreamed all these things?

The dreams were the same as the experiences

that you felt you had?

- I figured that in my dreams,

I remembered what actually happened.

- Did these men speak to you?

- Only the one I thought was the leader.

- What kind of language did he use?

- He did not speak a word.

I was told what to do by his thought,

his thoughts.

And I was always aware,

that somehow there was something peculiar,

which is the absence of a mouth.

- There seemed to be indications

that a great deal of the experience

was absorbed by Barney Hill from Betty,

in spite of his insistence that this was his own.

And there are definite indications

that her dreams had been suggested as a reality,

the implications are self evident.

Go on. It's all right.

- And so then I said...

I asked him where he was from.

And he asked me if I knew anything about the universe.

And I told him, no,

I knew almost nothing.

But don't judge this country by me.

There are people who do know all about the stars.

And there was this one big circle,

and it had a lot of lines coming out from it.

And then to another circle, quite close,

but not as big.

- Do you think you could draw the map?

- Yes, I think so.

He said these were places they went to occasionally,

and the broken lines were expeditions.

And I asked him again where his home port was,

and he said,

"Where are you on the map?"

And I looked,

I laughed and I said,

"I don't know."

And he said,

"If you don't know where you are,

there isn't any point of my telling where I'm from."

- Well, did they actually speak English?

- I've been telling myself I heard them in English,

with an accent, but,

I don't know.

- Could it have been thought transference?

- No.

I knew what they were saying,

and they knew what I was saying, but if it...

I knew what they were thinking.

I knew what they were thinking.

And I said,

"You promised I could have the book!"

And he said,

"I know it, but the others object."

And I said, "But,

but this is my proof!"

And he said,

"That's the whole point.

They don't want you to know what happened.

They want you to forget all about it."

I won't forget about it.

You can take the book,

but you can never, never, never make me forget.

I'll remember, if it's the last thing I do.

- Why do you think they were examining your skin?

You suppose it was because your skin and Barney's skin

were of a different color?

- I don't know.

I think it's because their skin and mine were different.

- And I started to get out of my car,

and I felt myself supported by two men,

and my eyes were closed.

- Now, just a minute.

Didn't Betty tell you this?

- No, Betty never told me this.

- But didn't she have dreams of this,

and talk to you about them?

- Betty said that we were inside a UFO

in her dreams.

Not how we got there.

- Yes but didn't she tell you

that you were taken inside?

- Yes, she did.

- Well, then she told you everything

that was seen inside,

and about being stopped by these men.

- No.

She did not tell me about being stopped by the men.

She did not have this in her dreams, I saw this.

- General Davison, please.

Hi, Jim.

Ben.

Look I've, uh, I've got a problem.

As I see it, there are four possibilities,

one, they're lying.

I mean, I can discount that,

because they're honest people,

high integrity.

Two, it was a case of dual hallucination.

It's improbable for reasons I won't go into.

And three, the incident was a dream or an illusion.

Now this, I intend to explore further.

- What makes you think it was a dream?

- Well, I didn't say I thought it was a dream.

I said I'd explore it further.

- You know, I remember you saying exactly the same thing

about a young lady in freshman biology

that you thought you were in love with,

that you wanted to explore that.

- All right. All right, no.

The reason I'm going to explore it further

is because a background existed,

a sensitized background existed

on which a fantasy could be imprinted,

to be experienced later as a dream.

- Now, hold it, Ben. You lost me.

- Yeah, well, forget about that.

I can't discuss the personal aspects of this,

but what I really want to know is,

is the sighting of a UFO probable?

More important than that,

has there ever been an actual case of an abduction

aboard a UFO, is that possible?

- Do you want the official Air Force position, or, uh-

- Well, I want whatever you can tell me.

- All right.

The official position is we don't know.

- Well, you think you could take that a step further?

- Yeah, but not too much.

Because each year,

after investigating about 1500 reports of UFO sightings,

we've come up with a 95% explained natural phenomenon.

- You mean balloons and things?

- Balloons, weather inversions, kooks, and 5% unexplained.

Now that unexplained is never denied.

We just file it under the heading of insufficient data.

But Ben, as a friend, I'll tell you, I wonder about that 5%.

There are just too many reports, good people, sound people.

And we can't,

we can't seem to find any answers that make any sense.

So as for the sightings, yeah, I really wonder about them.

But for an actual abduction,

now that I never heard of, and offhand I'd say that it's-

Extremely unlikely.

- No, no. I'm not saying that.

What I'm saying is I think a sighting is possible,

but an abduction,

Ben, I'd have to have an awful lot of proof,

an awful lot of facts.

- So you're saying that without the facts,

you would consider it highly improbable,

even impossible?

- Er, yeah Ben, that's what I'm saying.

- Barney and Betty Hill.

I've hypnotized each of them separately.

And each of them separately remembers in general

the same experience.

I suspect that in this stage of therapy,

the sighting of an object, which could possibly be a UFO,

triggered an externalized fantasy,

a fantasized trauma,

which the Hills have projected their inner turmoil.

- I just had a hysterical thought.

What if Dr. Simon were a spaceman?

- Oh, Betty, don't be ridiculous.

- Neither Barney Hill, nor Betty Hill,

realize that their experience as described

is almost identical to the long report

that she wrote about her dreams.

- If he changes his mind and decides

not to let us start listening today-

- Course he's gonna let us listen. He said so.

Oh, Barney, don't be ridiculous.

- If he changes his mind and decides

not to let us start listening today-

- Course he's gonna let us listen. He said so.

- So he asked me,

"What are vegetables?"

I just couldn't explain what vegetables are.

And he said was there one kind I liked, and I said,

my favorite was squash.

And he said, "Tell me about squash."

So I said, it was, it was yellow usually.

And he said,

"What's yellow?"

And I started looking around the room,

and I couldn't find anything yellow at all.

- Now I, I want to read something to you.

"He asked questions.

What did vegetables look like?

My favorite one, squash.

What did it look like?

I tried to explain the color of it,

and looked for some yellow coloring in the room,

but could not find any."

- It's from my dream,

what I wrote down.

- Yes, well now,

I want to explain something to you

that you probably know already.

The rules that operate for the conscious mind,

don't operate for the unconscious mind.

Things are and are not, all at the same time.

Now, under hypnosis,

what a subject believes,

determines what is truth to him.

- Wait a minute, would you say that again?

- Well, in other words,

what comes out under hypnosis,

you believe to be true.

It is true for you,

but a fantasy or a dream

can be as true for you as reality.

- I said I hoped that somehow we would meet again.

Maybe he would come back, and he said, well, he would try.

And then they all turned and started to go back,

and I get up to the car and Barney's inside.

And I say, "Come on out and watch 'em leave.

Don't be afraid, Delsey, there's nothing to be afraid of."

And so we're watching them leave, and it starts glowing,

getting brighter and brighter.

It's a large ball, a big orange ball,

and it's glowing and rolling just like a ball.

And I'm so happy.

- "Suddenly the ship became a bright, glowing object,

and it appeared to roll over like a ball,

turning over about three or four times,

and then sailing into the sky."

- There's one thing I don't understand.

Suppose it was a dream,

could we have both had the same dream?

- Well, that's an aspect that's been puzzling me,

and uh, no, I don't think you could.

At first I thought,

because Barney was more ready for a trauma,

that he had transferred a fantasy to you.

Then I thought,

because it seemed more likely

that you had transferred your dreams to Barney,

as Barney is more susceptible.

- Well, I'm not quite sure how to take that,

but I'll tell you something.

I don't really care if it's a dream or real,

because the longer these tapes play,

and the more we listen to them,

the deeper and deeper we get into it,

I feel as though something is being lifted off my shoulders,

and it's better than suffering with it, you know?

And all those anxieties and wondering.

- That's the whole point,

the point is to relieve the anxieties.

How do you feel now, Betty?

- I feel fine, I,

I guess it was just the fear of the unknown

had me so scared.

- And I don't want to be operated on.

- You don't want to be operated on.

What makes you think of an operation?

- Oh, I just remembered something.

I don't know if I went into this detail or not

when I was hypnotized.

- What detail?

- Well, as I was listening to myself...

Oh, I don't know.

Maybe it's just psychological.

I didn't wanna hear any more of that for a while.

- What detail?

- As I was listening to myself,

I remembered what they examined my groin with.

It was a circular instrument and they pressed down with it.

You know that small ring of warts that developed

in an almost geometrically perfect circle around my groin?

Since the therapy began,

it's become a little painful,

inflamed around the whole area.

And I was wondering.

Those warts originally appeared way back in 1962,

when I had no conscious memory

of the events aboard the craft, right?

Now, here it is 1964,

and they get inflamed.

How's that possible?

- I don't know.

It may still be part of a shared fantasy.

But I,

I just don't know.

- I wanna wake up.

- You won't wake up.

You're in a deep sleep.

You can go on.

- And I look, and I look and I say,

"I'm not afraid.

I'm not afraid. I'll shoot it down."

And, and I run out across the road,

and,

there, there, there,

there it is!

Up there!

Then,

a man,

and,

and,

I,

I, I,

oh!

God,

give me strength.

I'll fight it off.

I'm not afraid.

And I run out across the road and there it is, up there.

Oh, those eyes.

Oh,

can I please wake up?

- Go on.

This won't hurt you, experience it.

It won't harm you now.

- I gotta get my gun!

I gotta get my gun! - Shall I turn it off?

- No. - I gotta get outta here!

I gotta get my gun.

- Here! - I gotta get my gun!

- Stay here.

- I don't like them putting their hands on me.

I don't like them touching me!

- It's all right, Barney.

Now just be calm,

it's all right.

- Dr. Simon,

I don't want to offend you in any way, you understand?

I have a great respect and admiration for you,

and I can only thank God that we came to you with all this.

But,

your theory about a dream

or fantasy,

it's real.

It did happen.

I know that now.

I know it.

- Dr. Simon?

I haven't said before either how grateful I am.

I just wanna say too,

thank God we came to you with all this.

- Well,

thank you, Betty,

and Barney.

Thank you both.

- I had the feeling listening,

that I gave you a few bad moments there.

- Oh, I'll tell you,

this little old heart went pitter-patter a couple of times.

You're a big man, Barney,

and going for your weapon.

- I had that gun in my coat the whole time,

can you believe that?

Walking along,

with my eyes shut,

a scared little bunny rabbit,

with a gun in my coat, and you,

you didn't have a gun and you're half my size,

and you're telling those creatures off.

Mighty Mouse.

What in the world was I so afraid of?

Betty ,

you even had a good time.

- Well, what do you think?

You must have given it some thought.

- The bunny.

Capture.

Bondage.

- Of any kind?

- Yeah.

Of any kind.

The dark.

- The dark.

- Well, that's all I did, you know?

The child is frightened of his dark bedroom,

you lead him slowly, gently,

into that dark, frightening room.

Let him touch all the corners,

all the objects that seem like monsters,

until he knows that those corners are just corners.

The monsters are just chairs and lamps.

Dark bedroom,

a spaceship,

or the mind?

- Hey, listen.

The next time we go in the dark together,

would you please for Pete's sake,

tell me to keep my eyes open?

- I did. You didn't listen.

- I will.

Next time I will.

- With active treatment discontinued,

Barney and Betty Hill settled down to their routine life.

Betty Hill's schedule as a social worker

for the State of New Hampshire

was both demanding and rewarding.

Barney Hill continued in normal fashion

at the Post Office department,

and increased his community and political activities.

He served on the board of directors

at the United States Civil Rights Commission,

the NAACP, and the anti poverty program.

As their doctor,

I felt that their treatment had been successful.

The primary purpose,

to penetrate the amnesia in order to relieve their anxieties

had been accomplished.

The question concerning the real

or fantasized aspects of the trauma,

remains a question.

- Barney, you are so silly.

I'm so proud of you.

So proud.

You remember when we were in the middle of all that mess?

We were fighting all the time about just everything.

Well, I told you...

No, well, first,

you said that...

Well, you know, you were talking about if you had a stroke,

and you asked me if I would be all right.

- I remember.

- And I told you I wouldn't be.

Well, Barney,

it's not true what I said.

I would be all right.

You know why?

'Cause you've given me so much love,

so much laughter, snatches of song,

last the rest of my life.

So I could be alone,

if I had to.

And I would be all right.

- And you.

You made up for every bit of unhappiness

that I've experienced in my whole life.

- In 1963, under hypnotic suggestion,

Betty Hill drew from memory

the map shown to her aboard the spacecraft.

Astronomers became fascinated,

for what if the map corresponded to a pattern of real stars

from an alien viewpoint?

Astronomers reasoned that the majority of star systems

likely to have life-supporting planets,

were located in the obscure

southern constellation of Reticulum.

Yet three stars in the cluster were unknown until 1969.

No astronomer on Earth knew their position in 1963.

But that same year,

Betty Hill drew a map

which contained these undiscovered stars.

Astronomers at Ohio State University requested a computer

to put them in their correct position,

out beyond the incredible double star system

of Zeta Reticuli I and Zeta Reticuli II.

220 trillion miles, 37 light years away from Earth,

looking toward our sun,

and the computer duplicated with virtually no variation,

the now famous map of Betty Hill.