Taken by Aliens: Can Psychology Explain the Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill?

In 1961, Betty and Barney Hill lost two hours of their memories while they drove through the Connecticut River Valley. Interviewed under hypnosis, they relayed a tale of abduction and experimentation by alien beings... but could psychology have explanations for their otherworldly encounter?

Here we look at the Hill's experience and some psychological phenomena that could be behind it... but it'll be up to you to decide how convincing those explanations are!

So, let's take a look at...

• The Strange Case of Betty and Barney Hill
• Under Hypnosis
• A Case of Sleep Paralysis?
• False Memories?
• The Trouble With Hypnosis
• Folie à Deux
• Could Something Have Really Happened?

The Strange Case of Betty and Barney Hill

It's September 19th of 1961 in America, and the Hill family are about to have an encounter that will change their lives. Betty Hill is watching the evening sky as her husband Barney drives through the Connecticut River Valley... when she spots a particularly bright light against the darkness.

Initially dismissed as a star or planet, then a satellite, then a commercial jet, then a piper-cub light aircraft and finally a helicopter, the couple eventually conclude that they have no idea what the flying object is - in fact, it seems to have a pancake shape... and might be following them.

Having stopped near Indian Head in the hopes of getting a closer look, Barney finds himself wandering into a field even as Betty screams at him to turn back. His binoculars give him a glimpse of humanoid creatures with strange eyes... and after returning to their car a strange beeping sound begins. Soon, an overwhelming wave of lethargy falls over the hapless couple.

The pair come back to their senses near Ashland, roughly 35 miles away from Indian Head. They were sitting in their moving car, with Barney behind the wheel... but seemed to have lost two hours. Some of their clothing and possessions also seemed to have taken damage during the missing time - their watches had stopped, the strap of the binoculars had been cut and the top of Barney's shoes were scuffed - as though he had been dragged forwards.

Things didn't quite stop there for the pair. Betty started to experience strange dreams (or nightmares) in which she was given a full physical examination by strange humanoids. In 1962 the Hills began a course of therapy with Dr. Duncan Stephens, who also enlisted psychiatrist and neurologist Dr. Benjamin Simon.

Under Hypnosis

It was Dr Simon that put forwards the idea of hypnosis. He thought that questioning the Hills while they were in a trance-state might help him break through their amnesia and uncover what had actually happened to them that fateful night.

Interviewed under hypnosis in 1964, Barney relayed a tale of a flying saucer and his subsequent abduction (and medical examination) by odd beings with rounded heads and strange eyes.

Betty's account shared a lot of the same elements (such as being abducted and examined) but also added details like being shown a star map by the aliens. Both of them spoke of meeting a group of men on the road who actually carried out the abduction.

By the end of the therapy, Betty held true to the idea that the Hills had been abducted by aliens. Dr Simon took a rather more conservative approach, suggesting that the Hills had seen or encountered something that had a strong effect on their emotions - a conclusion backed by at least some physical (but circumstantial) evidence. Barney himself hovered beyond the two views, not wanting to believe what he thought he'd seen.

So what might actually have happened to the Hills?

A Case of Sleep Paralysis?

You've probably heard of something called sleep paralysis. The limbs of the human body typically become paralyzed while we dream - this stops us from thrashing about or trying to act out whatever is going on beyond the veil of sleep.

Of course, this doesn't always work perfectly. Sometimes a person can be partially awake but still experience sleep paralysis... which can lead to all sorts of hallucinations as the mind races to understand what's happening. People in this circumstance often see ghosts, demons or other such nasties sitting on their chest and pinning them down... but being strapped to a medical table or seeing glowing lights overhead might not be such a stretch!

On the other hand, it does little to explain other elements of the story, such as being abducted from the road...

False Memories?

So if there's one thing psychologists have discovered about the human memory, it's that it is incredibly fallible. Elizabeth Loftus and John Palmer demonstrated just how easy it was to twist a memory in 1974, finding that even the way a question was worded could change the answer.

Their study was pretty simple - they had people watch a video of a car accident, then one week later asked them "about how fast were the cars going when they (smashed/collided/bumped/contacted/hit) into each other?" This was followed up with another question, "did you see any broken glass?"

Those who were asked the "smashed" version gave higher speed estimates and were more likely to say they had seen broken glass... despite none being in the video!

Given the long gap between the encounter and the hypnotic interviews, is it possible the Hills had discussed or gone over the encounter and unknowingly changed details?

Speaking of hypnosis...

The Trouble With Hypnosis

Have you heard of America's Satanic Panic? It was a series of high profile cases dealing with secretive Satanist cults committing ritualistic abuse, especially against the young. One particular victim was Michelle Smith, who claimed to have endured and mentally suppressed horrifying abuse in her early years... until the memories were unlocked by her psychiatrist Lawrence Pazder using hypnosis. They even wrote a book about it called "Michelle Remembers."

Here's the problem. Investigators found that the details of the story didn't add up. There were no records of her having gone missing for extended periods of time, no reports of screams or riots in the residential areas where the rituals allegedly took place and no physical evidence.

She wasn't the only one either. In another case Carol Felstead came away from memory-recovery therapy with a deep seated belief that her mother had left her sitting on top of the body of her sibling in a burning house. While it was true that the house of her mother had burnt down, Carol wasn't even born at the time.

Is it possible that the repeated use of hypnosis could have corrupted the memories of the Hills, twisting an otherwise mundane evening drive into a close encounter?

Folie à Deux

You might also be wondering how two people could end up with the same set of hallucinations - the answer is a rare condition called folie à deux.

Sometimes known as contagious insanity or shared psychotic disorder, this condition typically occurs between two very close people. It's been suggested that it happens when one member of the pair starts "going along with" the delusions of of the other, in order to prevent a breakdown of a close relationship.

Now it's worth pointing out that the condition is incredibly rare, but the Hills might have been particularly vulnerable... as a mixed race couple in 1960s America, their relationship would have faced a lot of challenges!

Could Something Have Really Happened?

So we've taken a look at how people can develop false memories, the problems involved in using hypnosis, how sleep paralysis can cause hallucinations and even how people can share delusions. Most of the details provided by the Hills emerged during the hypnosis sessions undergone in 1964... at around the same time TV shows like The Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone were featuring alien encounters - often with similarities to the Hill story.

I guess it all comes down to how much weight you give their account of traveling approximately 35 miles and losing a couple of hours worth of time. It stretches credibility to suggest that both of them succumbed to a fugue state and drove that far unaided without an accident.

For what it's worth, Dr Simon concluded that the Hills had likely encountered some sort of aerial phenomena that had caused a strong emotional response - though he drew the line at agreeing they had been abducted!

Thanks for reading - perhaps you'd also like

• Explore 3 Less Well-Known UFO Encounters (Including a Scottish Saucer That Left Physical Evidence)
• Exploring the Wendigo: Real Psychosis and Cautionary Tale
• El Chupacabra: Did a Sick Dog Spawn an Urban Legend?

Sources and Further Info:

• CIA Reading Room: Aboard a Flying Saucer
• National Library of Medicine: Sleep Paralysis
• Reconstruction of automobile destruction: An example of the interaction between language and memory.
• EBSCO: Satanic panic
• The legacy of implanted Satanic abuse ‘memories’ is still causing damage today
• National Library of Medicine: Folie à deux