CAPTURED! The Betty and   

Barney Hill UFO Experience

  Stanton T. Friedman, MSc., and Kathleen Mardennton T.  

Kmarden@aol.com

 

The 1961 UFO abduction of Betty and Barney Hill stirred worldwide interest, because of the book The Interrupted Journey, the subsequent media coverage, and the 1975 TV movie The UFO Incident.  It also became the target of debunkers, who still attack it today. 

 

But the complete story of what really happened that day, its effect on the participants, and the findings of investigators has never been told.

To order an autographed copy (by both authors) of Captured!, ($18.99 US via Priority Shipping) mail a check or money order to Kathleen Marden, P.O. Box 93, East Kingston, NH 03827, or by PayPal to Stanton Friedman at www.stantonfriedman.com  . 

 

Kathleen's Upcoming Interviews, Presentations and Book Signings: 

May 8, 2008, Wiggin Memorial Library, Stratham, NH, 6:30 PM.

May 11, 2008, Paranormal Cafe' radio interview with Stanton Friedman.

May 15, 2008, Epping Public Library, Epping, NH, 7:00 PM.

July 2-7, Roswell International UFO Museum, Roswell, NM

 

Kathleen Marden, coauthor of CAPTURED! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience, is available to present the true story of the Betty and Barney Hill UFO abduction and its fascinating aftermath, including a slide show of their encounter route, the evidence that it was real and rare audio taped excerpts from their hypnosis sessions with Dr. Benjamin Simon.  

      Kathleen Marden was thirteen on September 20, 1961, when her aunt Betty Hill phoned her nearby home to report that, the previous evening, she and Barney had encountered a flying saucer in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.  A primary witness to the evidence of the UFO encounter and the aftermath, Kathy has intimate knowledge of the Hill’s biographical histories, personalities, and the never before published historical data pertaining to their sensational story. She recorded hours of taped interviews with Betty and the two made several research trips along the close encounter route through New Hampshire’s White Mountains.  Additionally, Kathy transcribed the audio tapes of the hypnosis sessions Betty and Barney participated in with renowned psychiatrist Dr. Benjamin Simon and conducted a comparative analysis of the Hills’ individual testimony versus Betty’s infamous dream material.  Kathy believes that there is conclusive evidence that the Hills were abducted.  This new information, along with the Hills’ historical records and scientific reports, became the foundation for her recently published book Captured!  The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience, coauthored with scientific ufologist/ nuclear physicist Stanton T. Friedman.

     This notice is to inform you not only of Kathy’s availability as a lecturer at your conference, but that her lecture would include excerpts from the Hills’ historic audio taped hypnosis sessions with Dr. Benjamin Simon.  Her personal and intimate knowledge of Betty’s and Barney’s personalities makes them come alive before her audience.  She is the only person in possession of and with the legal right to present the Hills’ recordings.  As such, conference attendees would find her material truly unique and exciting.  Additionally, if you desire a joint lecture by the authors, Stan and Kathy offer a combined PowerPoint presentation where Stan examines the scientific evidence and Kathy presents factual information to prove that the Hills experience was real. 

     Kathleen was trained as a social worker and educator and holds a B.A. degree from the University of New Hampshire. She participated in graduate studies in education at The University of Cincinnati and U.N.H.   During her fifteen years as an educator, she innovated, designed and implemented model educational programs.  She also held a supervisory position, coordinating, training and evaluating education staff. Additionally, she taught adult education classes on UFO and abduction history.

     For ten years Kathy served on the MUFON Board of Directors as the Director of Field Investigator Training. In 2003, MUFON publicly recognized Kathy for her outstanding contribution of advancing the scientific study of the UFO phenomenon and demonstrating positive leadership. She has written articles for The MUFON Journal and the book Best UFO Cases. Additionally, she has appeared on news programs, dozens of radio shows, The History Channel and The Discovery Channel.  Most recently, her tenth television appearance aired on the History Channel’s “UFO Hunters” series.  Kathleen has lectured at numerous locations throughout the U.S., including the 2007 MUFON International Symposium in Denver, CO, the East Coast UFO Conference at the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ, and the CERO Conference aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA (joint lecture with Stan Friedman).

     She can be contacted at Kmarden@aol.com..   Her mailing address is P.O. Box 93, East Kingston, NH 03827.

Comments about Kathy’s lectures:

On Sunday, April 27, I had the great pleasure of watching and listening to Kathleen Marden’s outstanding presentation about the Betty and Barney Hill UFO abduction. She included interesting pictures and audiotapes of Betty and Barney responding under hypnosis and provided her first hand insight, as Betty’s niece. The audience on the Queen Mary, in Long Beach, California, was spellbound. I heartily recommend her presentation to any program chairperson wanting an exciting, informative and stimulating program. Stanton T. Friedman, Nuclear physicist-lecturer

 

Kathleen Marden recently spoke at the North Carolina Mufon meeting to a record crowd. My wife Suzanne and I were sitting on the edge of our seat along with the rest of the audience. Kathleen takes the audience through the incredible journey that Betty and Barney experienced that night with such great detail and pictures one would believe they are traveling with the Hill’s that night. Her graphic illustrations, maps, and photographs make it a world class presentation that no one would want to miss !! Suzanne and I recently purchased a copy of the book and could not put it down……Scott Ramsey, Aztec UFO Researcher  

                                                           

                                     What’s New in Captured?

                                            Kathleen Marden

 

Why did I write Captured when so much has been written about the Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience?

 

     Actually, up until this year only one book has provided the reader with a fairly complete and accurate account of the Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience.  That was The Interrupted Journey by John Fuller, a New York Times best-seller released in 1966.  It focused primarily upon the Hills’ close encounter with an unconventional craft in New Hampshire’s White Mountains, their amnesia in conjunction with a period of missing time, and the hypnosis sessions with neurologist/psychiatrist Dr. Benjamin Simon, whose excellent reputation was built upon his success in the treatment of amnesia and conversion hysteria through the use of hypnosis.   

     Subsequently, over a period that spanned forty years, other books and articles addressed various issues in the Hill case.  However, too often, accurate detailed information was omitted and replaced by false and misleading propaganda released by so-called skeptical writers.  This misinformation, or some would call it disinformation, has been blindly accepted by many scientists and members of the mainstream media who have been deceived by debunkers who do their research by proclamation, not examination.

     To add to the muddied waters, over time, Betty’s memory of the UFO experience morphed as a result of the normal adaptive process that is characteristic of one’s recall of events long ago.  This misinformation, unwittingly disseminated by Betty, has been published in recent years contributing to the creation of an inaccurate modern myth.            

     My decision to write Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience was made, in part, due to the vast amount of solid, accurate, scientific research conducted by early investigators such as NICAP’s Walter Webb.  Additionally, I found hundreds if not thousands of pages of letters, diary entries, memoirs, technical reports and scientific research meticulously done on the case.  Most of this information has never been released to the public.

     Then, in 1996, I hit pay dirt when Betty gave me a copy of the audiotapes of Barney’s and her separate hypnosis sessions with Dr. Benjamin Simon.  I transcribed the tapes for comparative analysis, and when I examined the Hills’ individual testimony; I discovered that an abundance of information had never been made public.  John Fuller had included the more emotionally charged excerpts of the Hills ’ hypnosis sessions in the Interrupted Journey, but often they were a combination of accurate and inaccurate information.  I discovered that Dr. Simon had asked Betty and Barney the same questions 2, 3, 4, or even 5 times.  With each new query about a specific event Dr. Simon was able to elicit more accurate information than he had during the emotionally charged sessions.  It was only in the retelling of the event, over and over again, that an accurate and consistent picture emerged, and that story has never been told.

      In order to confirm or refute Dr. Simon’s hypothesis that Barney had absorbed Betty’s dream material, I conducted a comparative analysis of the hypnosis transcripts versus her five page “Dreams or Recall?” paper written in November, 1961.  Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience provides the reader a fresh look at all of the never before revealed information pertaining to the Hill case and it examines old information in a new context. 

 

 

What did the Hills recall about the night of September 19-20, 1961?

 

     Betty and Barney were returning home from an extended weekend vacation in Niagara Falls and Canada.  They had planned to spend the night in Montreal, but as they were searching for a motel on the outskirts of the city, Barney decided to drive on to New Hampshire.  At some point along the route they heard that a hurricane was coming up the coast so they felt it was important to arrive home before the hurricane hit.  This meant that Barney would have to drive during the night.  But they agreed that if he became tired they would stop at a motel. 

     Barney, who was accustomed to working the graveyard shift, had a good night’s sleep the previous night and a pleasant day in Montreal.  Because he felt refreshed and energetic he continued to drive on through New Hampshire’s Wilderness and White Mountain regions.  In the Groveton/Lancaster area Betty spotted what, at first glance, appeared to be a satellite or a shooting star, only it shot upward.  As she watched it, the perplexing light increased in size and seemed to slowly descend in her direction.  Finally, she told Barney about her observation and requested that he stop the car for a closer look. 

     Just south of Twin Mountain, through binoculars, she observed its unconventional appearance as it passed in front of the moon flashing long points of multicolored light.  When Barney viewed it through binoculars, it reminded him of a large aircraft coming in for a landing, only it was silent.  Returning to their vehicle they traveled on through the 10 miles, or so, of Franconia Notch, a narrow cut through the mountains.  Over the next several minutes, the object descended to a position just above the mountain tops; and sometimes it dropped down in front of the mountain peaks. 

     Barney halted the car momentarily from time to time to get a better look at the enigmatic craft, and once, pulled to the side of the road for an unencumbered observation.  It was then that he was able to notice the stair-step flight pattern—the rotation—the blue-white lights—and the fact that it was completely silent, although it descended to approximately 1000 feet.  Betty’s description was identical to Barney’s, allowing for individual differences in phraseology. 

     Then, only three miles south of the Franconia Notch, the object suddenly stopped spinning and shifted ahead of Betty and Barney.  Barney stopped the car directly in the middle of the road and jumped out to look at the craft.  The elliptical object was now hovering only 80-100 feet above the car and a red right parted from each side of it.  Almost immediately, it left its position and in a gliding motion, it shifted to an adjacent field.  Fascinated, Barney walked toward it and through his binoculars he observed 8-11 humanoid figures peering down at him. 

     Suddenly, with military precision, all but one moved toward what Barney thought was a control panel.  Next, short bat-like wings began to slide out from each side of the craft and something dropped down its bottom.  At that moment the figure in the window communicated a frightening message to Barney to stay there and just keep looking.  He seemed to be losing the ability to carry out self initiated action and this loss of control frightened him immensely.  But he managed to pull the binoculars down from his eyes, breaking the strap in the process, and flee toward his vehicle, where Betty awaited his return.  As the object shifted overhead, the couple heard a series of code-like buzzing or electrical beeping sounds that caused the car to vibrate.

     Betty craned her neck upward through the open passenger seat window in an attempt to locate the craft, but all she saw was blackness.  The stars were blotted out and the bright sky had suddenly grown dark.  Reasoning that she would see the lighted UFO if it were overhead, she informed Barney that it had disappeared. Relieved that they were no longer in danger, Barney drove south on U.S. Route 3.

     Near Plymouth, NH, the couple saw a fiery red-orange ball that Betty reasoned was the setting moon.  Then, near Ashland, they heard a second series of buzzing/beeping sounds.  Betty turned to Barney and asked, “Now do you believe in flying saucers?”  He replied, “Don’t be ridiculous.” Barney stopped the car, and then, maneuvered it erratically in a futile attempt to recreate the peculiar sound.

     Betty and Barney were surprised to see that dawn was streaking the sky when they arrived home in Portsmouth, NH.  Their watches had stopped, but they noted that their arrival time was later than anticipated, even allowing for slow driving and three observational stops.

     Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience meticulously re-examines the Hills’ statements to Dr. Benjamin Simon about their trip through Canada and New Hampshire and reveals an abundance of new information.  

 

What events led to the Hills’ abduction?

      

     As you can see, the move toward abduction was a long, slow process taking about an hour to accomplish.  By the time Barney left the field south of Indian Head to return to his vehicle, the alien leader had already begun to alter his conscious state of mind.  Within 5-6 blocks Betty and Barney head a series of electrical buzzing or beeping sounds that caused the car to vibrate and imparted a tingling sensation upon Betty and Barney. 

     This series of events seemed to deepen the leader’s control over Barney, while it initiated mild control over Betty.  Her conscious memory remained clearer and was more detailed than Barney’s.  She vaguely remembered passing the Jack-O-Lantern Resort eight miles south of the field, and a sharp left turn over a railroad type steel frame bridge.

    Both consciously retained vague memories of a roadblock, but couldn’t place where it occurred or connect it to anything.  Later, the Hills witnessed a fiery red-orange sphere silhouetted behind a stand of trees and heard a second series of beeping sounds.  Then, full consciousness returned and the Hills traveled to their Portsmouth home, arriving more than two hours later than they had anticipated.

   Subsequently, they made many trips to the White Mountains to try to jog their memories and over time, more and more details emerged.  However, it wasn’t until 1964, after undergoing several grueling months of hypnotherapy with Dr. Simon that their amnesia was penetrated and they were permitted to recall the forgotten events of September 20, 1961. 

     I should add that Betty experienced a series of frightening dreams a couple of weeks after the initial close encounter.  In those dreams, she and Barney were abducted by humanlike men who escorted them to a spaceship where they endured physical examinations and she engaged in an interview with the craft’s leader.  This has always added a perplexing element to the story.  Did Barney absorb Betty’s dreams?  This was Dr. Simon’s hypothesis.  In Captured! I conducted a comparative analysis of the hypnosis tapes versus Betty’s dream transcripts to test Dr. Simon’s hypothesis.

 

 

How did the authorities respond to the Hills’ UFO sighting report?

 

     On September 20, 1961, Betty reported the sighting to a Newton, NH police officer who advised her to make a formal report to Pease Air Force Base.  Later, she stated in interviews that she placed her initial phone call to the 100^th Bomb Wing at Pease the same evening, but the Air Intelligence Information Report is dated 21 September. 

     She and Barney gave the interviewing officer a general description of the craft they had observed, but Barney omitted his observation of the humanoid figures fearing that he might be judged a “crackpot.”  Later that day, Major Paul W. Henderson phoned the Hills and questioned them extensively before transferring them to another location where their testimony was monitored.  The following day, he informed the Hills that he had been up all night working on the report and would require a few more details.  He also informed them that the control tower had reported “a strange incident” at 2:14 AM on September 20, which could hint of a possible relationship due to time and distance.  

     The initial project record card indicated that an object was observed through ground-visual and air intercept radar.  However, this was altered in later reports, and debunked as nothing more than a ground target due to strong temperature inversion.

     Even the initial report stated that both the radar and visual sighting was probably due to an optical condition resulting from a strong inversion in the Lincoln, NH area on the morning of the sighting.  However, the Mount Washington Weather Station’s archival material for the evening of 9/19-20, 1961 refutes the information given by the Air Force.  It seems that either the Air Force mishandled the Hills’ report through incompetence or a cover-up was in process, almost immediately.

     Chapter 3 in Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience provides meticulously accurate technical information about the Air Intelligence Report and Project Blue Book’s mishandling of it.  Additional chapters reveal just how interested the military was in the Hill UFO experience.

 

 

Who investigated the UFO report and subsequent abduction claim?

 

     Three days after her close encounter with a UFO, Betty visited her local library in an attempt to gain additional information.  She checked out The Flying Saucer Conspiracy by Major Donald Keyhoe, the director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena.  In the back of the book, UFO witnesses were instructed to write to NICAP’s address to report a sighting.  Betty wrote to NICAP and on October 21, 1961, NICAP investigator Walter Webb initiated a preliminary investigation in a six hour interview at the Hills’ home. 

     Over a period of several years Webb conducted an extensive, meticulous investigation of the Hills’ sighting.  Additionally, Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Dr. James McDonald, Robert Hohmann and C.D. Jackson, Dr. James Harder, Stanton Friedman, Karl Pflock, and myself, to name a few, have engaged in the investigation of the Hill case. 

     There was substantial evidence to support the Hills’ claim, including the scraped tops of Barney’s dress shoes, broken watches, 12-18 circular highly polished, silver dollar size spots on the trunk of their vehicle that caused a compass needle to spin and spin, only over the spots on the trunk; and Betty’s new dress that was badly torn, and later, became degraded by a pink powdery substance that ruined it.  The dress has undergone chemical and forensic analysis and the scientific reports appear in Chapter 24 of Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience.

     Additionally, Dr. Simon instructed Betty, through posthypnotic suggestion to draw that star map that she reported seeing onboard the alien craft, only if she could recreate it accurately.  The stars on the resulting star map were later identified through the painstaking, meticulous work of Marjorie Fish and underwent scientific review.  Stanton Friedman discusses the star map investigation in Chapters 22 and 23.

     Finally, the Hills’ individual testimony under hypnotic regression is subjected to a comparative analysis.  They were hypnotized separately and the posthypnotic suggestion for amnesia was enforced, so they were unable to remember even their own testimony under hypnosis.  Therefore, one could not communicate information to the other that might contaminate their testimony.  The only source of contamination could have been from “Betty’s Dreams or Recall?” paper, written two months after the close encounter with an unconventional craft.  Months later, Dr. Simon slowly and carefully permitted the Hills to remember, and then hear, the statements they made during their hypnotic regression sessions.  The true, complete story of the Hills’ alien abduction is revealed for the first time in Chapters 8-14.

 

                                                    Family Photos

                                                   

                                                          Kathy Marden, Janet Miller & Betty Hill           Betty and Barney Hill-1960

 

Betty Hill with Kathy Marden and friend--1949

            

      Betty's parents with Barney at the close encounter site            Betty and Barney with her parents in Kingston, NH               

       The late Betty Hill at the Capture site in Thornton, NH.

 

                                                         Betty and Barney Hill with Delsey--1965