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They said they were placed on examination tables in the UFO, before being subjected to scientific experiments while the aliens stripped them, plucked their hair, took clippings of their nails, and scraped their skin.
Betty also claimed to have been shown an intricate star map that she knew from memory. When asked to produce it later, she identified star system Zeta Reticuli, around 39 lightyears from earth, as her abductor's home planet.
Their story was picked up by a Boston reporter and spread like wildfire, propelling the Hills into fame and fascination. In 1975, a made-for-TV movie starring James Earl Jones and Estelle Parsons was made about their story.
Before the Hills came out with their claims over six decades ago, stories of alien abductions were far different - and bordered on nonexistent.
Most appeared to be about more casual encounters where the extraterrestrials were friendly. After the Hills captured national attention, abductions almost all came to include issues including medical experiments and invasions.
The stereotypical wide-eyed, grey beings and plate-like UFO described by the Hills also went on to become a benchmark for other alien sightings for decades to come.
'Not to carry it over too far, but they were kind of the Adam and Eve of alien abduction,' said Bill Ross, Professor Emiritus of UNH, to NewsCenterMaine.
Just as with skeptics now, experts tried to explain how the couple, who were seemingly regular, stable individuals with no prior history of mental illness, could come up with such a tall tale. Even Simons, who conducted the hypnosis sessions on them, said he didn't believe their story.
But after Barney's death in 1969 at the age of 47, Betty seemingly struggled with people questioning her story alone.
She dove further into conspiracy theories in her later life, and she claimed to be followed by black helicopters as she became increasingly alienated from society.
Betty also claimed to be abducted several more times in the years since, as she earned legendary place within the conspiracy theory world.
Now, more than 60 years on from the Hills' encounter with the third kind, experts have warned their legacy has had a lasting impact on conspiracy theories today.
Discussing his book, Bowman insisted that the dismissal the Hills were faced with when they came forward with their story, including from their own hypnotist, could have made them dig in.
'It would have been a real slap in the face for them, and that's the point they began giving up on the idea that the government, scientists, experts are going to help them.
'They turned to this alternative infrastructure of conspiracy theorists who will affirm to them what they remember.'
He added that the revival of conspiracy theories, from the JFK assassination to QAnon, can be traced back to the Hills and the first UFO sighting.
'One of the quintessential features of the last 60 years in western history is a distrust of institutions and the emergence of conspiratorial thinking,' he said.
'The sense among many citizens in the west, that there are vast institutional powers running our lives, a major vector for that sort of discourse stemmed from belief in UFOs.'
But, as put by Harvard psychologist Richard McNally to History: 'The ‘alien-abduction’ phenomenon, in my opinion, shows how sincere, non-psychotic individuals can develop beliefs about, and false memories of, incredible experiences that never happened.'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12215637/We-abducted-aliens-unbelievable-story-Betty-Barney-Hill.html
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