Betty and Barney Hill | Alien Abduction or Hoax

hello this is dr grande today's question is can i analyze the alien encounter claims of betty and barney hill just a reminder i'm not diagnosing anybody in this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel consider supporting me on patreon and check out my podcast on youtube bellagrandemedia i will put the relevant links in the description for this video the betty and barney hill incident was an alleged alien abduction that took place on september 19 and september 20 of 1961. it was the first truly popular alien abduction story the narrative was adapted into a book and a television movie it really set the template for alien abduction stories from that point forward so it had a tremendous influence on the culture surrounding ufo encounters so i'll start with the background in this case i'll move to the timeline of the incident then offer my analysis betty hill was born in new hampshire on june 28 1919 she married in 1941 but divorced 14 years later because her husband found a girlfriend she went back to college and would eventually work as a social worker in new hampshire barney was born in virginia on july 20 1922 he dropped out of high school and enlisted in the united states army where he served for about three years during his service he married a woman named ruby barney would lose all of his teeth after an accident with a hand grenade they would be replaced with dentures this stresses the importance of the not for human consumption warning labels on hand grenades back then grenades did look like pineapples after all the term hand grenade accent is never followed by something pleasant like oh that guy had a hand grenade accent and gained five iq points or after the hand grenade accent his career really exploded although i could picture a version of that without the word career being involved in 1944 barney found work as a postal worker in philadelphia barney and his wife visited a boarding house in new hampshire where betty was renting a room this is how barney and betty would meet eventually barney and his wife would separate and barney would pursue a romantic relationship with betty betty and barney were an interracial couple during a time when that was uncommon in the united states however betty's family and friends approved of the relationship betty would later say that the interracial aspect of their relationship did not cause the couple any stress barney moved to new hampshire leaving his family and friends behind in philadelphia betty and barney hill would marry on may 12 1960. now moving to the timeline of the incident this is what happened as far as the ufo encounter according to betty and barney hill on september 17 1961 betty and barney set out in their 1957 chevrolet bel air for a vacation to niagara falls toronto and montreal their dog delci was with them and betty had a 32 caliber pistol on september 19 1961 around 10 30 pm the couple was driving in the white mountains in new hampshire on their way back home to lancaster it was a clear night the moon was out and it was warm betty saw a bright light in the sky at first she thought it was a falling star but it was moving upward it started growing brighter and moving erratically betty told barney to stop the vehicle so they could examine it and because their dog needed to walk so two purposes there barney pulled over just south of twin mountain at a scenic picnic area betty retrieved a pair of binoculars and looked at the light she said it was an odd-shaped craft containing multi-colored lights that were flashing she thought it was a flying saucer which she knew about because her sister claimed to see one years earlier barney also took a look through the binoculars he thought the object was an airplane but then changed his mind after the object rapidly approached their position at this point he was on board with the whole flying saucer theory the couple made their way back to their vehicle and drove to a mountain pass called franconia notch they continued to watch the object as it came closer but then the object rapidly descended toward them barney stopped the vehicle in the middle of the road the object hovered about 90 feet above their car barney exited the vehicle after putting betty's pistol in his pocket he looked at the object using his binoculars he saw eight to ten humanoid figures who appear to be looking out of windows in the object one of the figures communicated a message to barney saying stay where you are and keep looking a long telescoping structure descended from the bottom of the object barney ran back to his vehicle he told betty they're going to capture us he drove away from the area at a high speed betty was keeping an eye on the object as they were driving the couple heard a series of buzzing or beeping sounds and the car started vibrating the couple went into an altered state of consciousness when they returned to full consciousness they noticed that they had traveled about 35 miles they didn't have a lot of memories of their journey but they do remember making a sudden unplanned churn running into a roadblock and seeing a fiery orb in the road the couple drove back to their residence arriving when the sun was rising the couple said that after they made it home they started having unusual impulses bizarre sensations and they made strange observations a few examples barney was compelled to examine his genitals they took long showers due to concerns of contamination their watches were not functioning barney said the leather strap for the binoculars was broken and he did not know why the tops of his shoes were torn up betty noticed that her dress was torn and it had pink powder on it she said the pink powder blew away when she put the dress on a clothesline the couple found concentric circles on the trunk of their chevrolet bel air a compass reacted to the circles like the needle would spin around quickly the couple tried to figure out the timeline of events surrounding their ufo encounter but when they did this they started hearing buzzing sounds and their memories became fuzzy the next day september 21 betty callen air force base new hampshire to inform them of her encounter with the ufo but she left out the humanoid part of her story she didn't want them thinking she was experiencing some type of mental health episode a major name paul henderson determined that the couple probably mistook the planet jupiter for a ufo betty claimed to have a series of dreams that lasted for five days starting 10 days after contact with the ufo she remembered the content of the dreams better than any dreams she ever had here are some of the details she recalled from the dreams on the night of the encounter the couple ran into a roadblock and were forced to walk into the woods by two small men the men were between five feet tall and five foot four their skin was gray they had black hair prominent noses dark eyes and their lips were kind of blue they were dressed in blue uniforms and wearing caps similar to those worn by military cadets as they were walking through the woods barney seemed to be sleepwalking so betty was paying more attention than barney betty and barney arrived at a disc shaped craft which appeared to be constructed out of metal they were taken inside and placed into separate examination rooms benny encountered a man she called the leader after she expressed her concern about being separated from barney the leader said it would just take too long if they were examined together his english was perfect with the leader still in the room betty then encountered someone she called the examiner this person was calm and pleasant the examiner's english needed a bit of work it was difficult to understand the examiner conducted a number of tests on betty including examining her eyes ears hands teeth arms and legs at one point he stuck a needle into her navel which was horribly painful the leader made the pain go away by waving his hand in front of her eyes apparently the leader didn't think to do this before the needle the examiner left the room and betty talked to the leader for a little while betty grabbed a book that the leader said that she could take with her it contained rows of strange symbols i'm guessing it was some type of survey like please rate your alien abduction experience from one to ten it could have also been any one of other popular book titles like so you've been abducted what do you do next making the most out of your alien abduction and 100 reasons no one will believe that you encountered a ufo betty asked the leader where he was from he pulled down a map that featured a number of stars as betty and barney were escorted back to their vehicle the men started arguing the leader explained to betty that she was not going to be able to keep that book after all the other men thought that it'd be better if betty and barney did not remember what happened betty told the leader that no matter what was done to her memory one day she would remember i wonder if this was the smartest statement at the time like challenging the aliens to do something else to her memory after the couple was escorted to their vehicle the leaders said that they should wait for the craft to take off before leaving and this is what the couple did i picture the leader kind of doing this like people really like this part right people like when the ship takes off with all the lights so you should stay and watch now moving back to the timeline not long after the alleged encounter betty went to the library and borrowed a book on ufos betty wrote a letter to the man who wrote the book telling him of her adventures and how she and her husband were considering hypnosis to improve their recall the man who was a member of a civilian ufo research group called the national investigations committee on aerial phenomenon or nycap for short sent them to an individual named walter webb an astronomer who was also a member of nycap webb conducted a six-hour interview with the couple on october 21 1961 he determined that the couple was telling the truth he believed that the incident occurred exactly as the couple described except for some minor technical details like the sizes of the objects distances and height and the exact time the couple would be interviewed by two other members of nycap on november 25. the couple would not go public with their tale of a ufo encounter until march 3 1963 when they revealed it to a church group in late 1962 betty and barney started traveling back to the mountains where they were allegedly abducted they were trying to jog their memories in 1965 they claimed they identified the site of their capture the couple had various hypnosis sessions at different times over the course of several years a mental health clinician named benjamin simon would begin hypnosis sessions with the couple in january of 1964. simon was a well-respected mental health professional who had served as a lieutenant colonel in the u.s army during world war ii he had no interest in ufos or aliens and did not believe the hill's story he only agreed to treat barney in order to help him with symptoms like anxiety and memory loss simon thought that barney might have dissociative amnesia the hypnosis sessions would lead to more recovered memories i will start with barney's hypnosis activated recollections then move to betty's arnie said that he was frightened during the encounter he kept his eyes closed much of the time he remembered that the strap on the binoculars broke when he was running from the ufo he felt compelled to drive into the woods where he encountered six men the men started staring at him with a mesmerizing effect he remembered the same thing as betty as far as being taken to the craft separated and examined barney's examination was much more focused on his genitals and anus men seemed to be telepathically communicating with barney their lips never moved the entire time betty's account was very similar to the dream that she started having 10 days after the encounter but some details were changed for example the physical appearance of the men was a little different betty was given a post-hypnotic suggestion to reproduce the star map the one that the leader pulled down and showed her the map that betty drew featured 12 prominent stars connected by lines and three smaller stars which formed a triangle benjamin simon's opinion after conducting the hypnosis was that barney's memories were really just a fantasy inspired by betty's dreams barney wasn't too happy with this conclusion he now believed that he had been abducted by aliens benny and barney were happy about something else however their anxiety seemed to be decreased after the sessions the couple went back to their regular lives every now and then they would talk to a ufo researcher or tell their story to family and friends but they did not seek fame their story became well known either way including in the form of a book titled the interrupted journey which was published in 1966 it became quite popular on february 25 1969 barney hill died from a cerebral hemorrhage he was 46 years old in 1975 a made-for-television movie about the encounter the ufo incident was released betty would go on to be a celebrity in the ufo community attending many events but eventually the reception became frosty in 1980 in new york city she gave a presentation at the national ufo conference she presented over 200 sites mostly containing blurry objects against a dark background she described them as ufos she was laughed and booed off of the stage in 1995 she produced an even more fantastical account of ufo encounters when she wrote a self-published book in that book she said she observed squadrons of ufos and a truck levitating above the freeway betty hill would die of cancer on october 17 2004 she was 85 years old now moving to my analysis what could explain the narrative of betty and barney hill there are four main possibilities one they were actually abducted by aliens this possibility seems particularly unlikely the only evidence of alien visitors is the story told by betty and barney there were no photographs no physical evidence no other witnesses absolutely no reason to believe that aliens flew to new hampshire in a spaceship to examine these two people two their story is a fabrication the mental health clinician who treated the couple benjamin simon did not believe their story but also he did not believe they were lying it seems like a lot of work to keep up this deception for no or minimal financial gain even still the deception theory seems likely it explains how they both delivered a similar story about alien visitors theory number three they saw something that looked like a ufo and built a fantasy around it due to sleep deprivation false memories encouraged by hypnosis and other factors or they never saw anything like a ufo and created that fantasy this is a reasonable theory the couple was tired they saw something like a star planet or an airplane and constructed a story around it which took on a life of its own once they talked to other people who encouraged them in the ufo direction theory number four says there is a mental health explanation for example psychosis like hallucinations and delusions many people believe this is the most probable explanation interestingly benjamin simon did not think the couple was delusional but at the same time he thought they had a fixed false belief this is interesting because that's the definition of a delusion if the mental health theory is correct what mental disorder could have been at work based on the history of betty and barney there is no indication of anything like a major mood disorder schizophrenia delusional disorder nothing like that betty was described as strong-willed and independent barney was described as intelligent pragmatic gullible and highly suggestible nothing that points to mental illness that doesn't mean the mental disorder explanation is invalid there still could have been an onset of delusional disorder or brief psychotic disorder the problem is how does one explain the fact that they both had a similar story about aliens if this was a mental disorder were the chances that both of them would have it at the same time one possibility would be shared psychotic disorder this is otherwise known as folia do it is really a specific manifestation of another psychotic illness like delusional disorder there is no longer a separate diagnosis for shared psychotic disorder in the dsm folia dew is thought to be responsible for a number of notorious cases like the slenderman attack what happens with folia do is that one person the primary partner develops delusions like they may have schizophrenia or delusional disorder and then another person close to them the secondary partner adopts the delusional thinking so in this case perhaps betty developed delusions and transmitted them to barney this would be consistent with betty being strong-willed and independent and barney being highly suggestible she was much more confident about what happened barney seemed confused and uncertain about much of his narrative when considering everything what is the best explanation i would say the most likely explanation is theory number two they were lying then i would go with theory number four the mental health explanation like shared psychotic disorder followed by theory number three false memories or sleep deprivation i don't think that theory number one the alien abduction was real is likely but anything's possible what lessons can we learn in this case the betty and barney story or hoax depending on how one thinks about it inspired the modern alien abduction story it's really hard to overstate its cultural significance it was a simplistic and almost certainly false narrative that really caught on during a time when not every story had been invented already it was a time when somebody could just fabricate a story and it would spread like wildfire people were fascinated by the idea of aliens with an unnatural and obsessive interest in genitals maybe the story is interesting because of projection like people are fascinated with genitals and they project that onto the aliens this probably tells us more about human beings than it does any type of visitors from outer space those are my thoughts on the story of betty and barney hill please put any opinions and thoughts in the comment section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always i hope you found my analysis of this topic to be informative thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

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Id: wBte0YjIBPA

Length: 19min 30sec (1170 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 08 2021