Carl Sagan On UFOs

Many a well-known scientist, because they are well known, often have to venture outside of their area of expertise when say interviewed or pontificating within a broader arena of which their speciality is just a tiny niche. As such, they are on far shakier ground and thus subject to rebuttal by others who are more knowledgeable in that other part of that broader arena than the famous scientist in question. One prime example is the late astronomer Carl Sagan waxing lyrical about but out of his depth on the subject of UFOs.

The following commentaries are on a trilogy of YouTube videos featuring the late astronomer and science populariser Carl Sagan on the subject of UFOs. While these clips doesn’t limit his philosophy on the subject, anyone reading this can easily access the videos relative to finding his books or articles which would be more time intensive. His videos should reflect his points of view as expressed in other forms of media.

INTRODUCTION

With respect to UFOs, in Dr. Sagan’s favour, he admits that advanced extraterrestrial technological civilizations could be vastly more advanced than our own and therefore he doesn’t deny the possibility that extraterrestrials could have or could be visiting Earth. In fact, he’s on record, do to his interest in extraterrestrial life, that he would be delighted if UFOs = Extraterrestrial Hypothesis (ETH), except that there is no actual evidence linking the two, or so he claims.

But against that grain that he believes that there are highly advanced technological alien civilizations out there, he frequently reinforces that lack of evidence claim that connects UFOs and those highly advanced technological alien civilizations. In that analysis he makes a cardinal scientific boo-boo (IMHO) by making one of his oft repeated and therefore trademark statements that “Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence”.  UFOs that equate to alien spaceships is an extraordinary claim according to Dr. Sagan. So Dr. Sagan demands extraordinary evidence from those making such extraordinary claims.

That seems on the surface to be reasonable, but, if I claim my best friend from high school is sitting on the couch in my living room – that’s an ordinary claim. If I claim a little green ‘man’ from Mars is sitting on the couch in my living room – that, according to Dr. Sagan is an extraordinary claim. Yet, the exact same amount of evidence will confirm or refute either claim equally. That’s why it’s a really significant cardinal scientific boo-boo. The word ‘extraordinary’ is in the emotional mind of the beholder and isn’t a hardcore scientifically valid concept, unlike the word “claim”. However, Dr. Sagan frequently also uses the phrase that’s there “no compelling evidence” (i.e. that UFOs = ETH). That suggests that Dr. Sagan feels there must be at least some evidence, just not compelling evidence, which he acknowledges. In any event, Dr. Sagan should have taken note of another profound saying that “absence of evidence does not of necessity translate into evidence of absence”.

CARL SAGAN 1966 INTERVIEWED ABOUT UFOs [Interview With Walter Cronkite]:

* Commuting Issues: Dr. Sagan doesn’t apparently have any problem in accepting an alien spacecraft arriving in our local neck of the woods, say once every 10,000 years or so. That’s pretty much in keeping with the Fermi Paradox which notes that the time it takes an advanced technological civilization with interstellar space-faring capability to cross interstellar space and hence explore every nook and cranny of our galaxy is but a small fraction of the age of our galaxy. This is akin to saying that the time it takes the human species to explore every nook and cranny of Planet Earth is just a tiny fraction of the age of Planet Earth.

Okay, that’s fine. However Dr. Sagan has a decided problem with aliens from a distant star system visiting our local neck of the woods two or three times a day, which is the case according to “flying saucer cultists”. And admittedly, it’s a bit of a stretch to think a fleet of extraterrestrial UFOs would travel dozens of light years back-and-forth between say Sirius and Sol every day. Except that argument shows a high of illogical thinking in the extreme. Would an astronomer like Dr. Sagan commute back-and-forth every day between Cornell University (New York) to a telescopic site in say Chile, every day-in-and-day-out for weeks on end? - Of course not. He would undergo one long-distance hop-skip-and-jump (Cornell to Chile), set up camp at appropriate facilities cheek-by-jowl with the telescopic site and commute daily the relatively tiny distance between his camp site or hotel or other accommodation and the telescope; two or three times a day even as necessary. When finished, he would then return back to Cornell.

And thus, so logical might suggest, would aliens from Sirius, having travelled light years to Earth, set up camp (say on the Moon) and do their now short distance exploration thing for whatever duration required and when finished, return home. You have your two or three UFO visits a day without the issue of an illogical light years daily commute. 

* Contactees: For the bulk of the interview, Dr. Sagan expounded on the extreme fringe elements of the UFO phenomenon, the Contactees. Contactees are those quasi-religious cultists who claim to have been contacted and befriended by the ‘Space Brothers’, quasi-Nordic or quasi-angelic types of extraterrestrials who give forth cosmic wisdom and give rides in their Flying Saucers on tours of the solar system and their home planets like Venus to the fortunate few Contactees found to be in the good graces of said ‘Space Brothers’. It’s all very akin to New Age philosophy and spiritualism, and Dr. Sagan concludes therefore that the entire UFO field is just a quasi-religious one revolving around the myths spun by the Contactees with ultimately as much solid evidence as there is for anything mythological or religious, which is for all practical purposes, zero. It’s all psychology and theology, not physical science. Now I have little issue with Dr. Sagan giving the verbal middle finger to the extreme fringe elements within the UFO field, except that he by implication and association paints with as broad a brush as you can imagine possible the entire UFO field and UFO investigators as equally part of the lunatic fringe. There was absolutely zero mention of all the solid UFO cases that remained UFO cases after investigation by the United States Air Force and other equally hardcore no nonsense organisations and individuals. That, IMHO, is absolutely an exercise in intellectually dishonesty by focusing on the extremists and ignoring the middle of the road. It’s like bucketing the entire Republican Party via some association of theirs with the Tea Party even though many, even most Republicans aren’t part of the Tea Party movement. It’s called guilt by association. But just because Michele Bachmann, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, Ted Cruz, Bryan Fischer, Cindy Jacobs, Sarah Palin, Rick Santorum and Pat Robertson (to name just a few on the extreme religious right and/or extreme political right) are a few nickels and a dime short of a dollar doesn’t mean your local congressman or local clergy, pastor, padre, priest or rabbi, etc. is.    

* Terminology: As an interesting aside, I note that Dr. Sagan used exclusively the putdown or mocking or deriding phrase “flying saucers” or “saucers” in the interview. He did not use the more neutral term “UFOs” or the equally neutral phrase “unidentified flying objects” even though these were coined way more than a decade before 1966 and were in common usage. Dr. Sagan was clearly in ridicule mode, something rather unbecoming for a professional scientist IMHO.

Dr. Sagan, were he alive today, should be absolutely and totally ashamed of that interview.

CARL SAGAN ON UFOs:

* Close Encounters of the Third Kind: One YouTube video focuses on the “Cosmos” segment that featured the Betty and Barney Hill Close Encounter of the Third Kind (CE3K). There are a few bones to pick with Dr. Sagan’s overriding commentary while a re-enactment was shown, but at least this time around he does use the term “UFOs” and the phrase “unidentified flying object”.

Firstly, he makes much of the point, several times over, that we have only their word that they saw a UFO and alien beings all close up and personal – as if a mature-aged but interracial couple (this is 1961 remember) would invent such a horrific experience drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. In fact their story didn’t become public until years later so there was no immediate cashing in on their story for financial gain (not that Dr. Sagan implied that – he didn’t. I’m just noting or saying there was no financial incentive for the Hill’s story). Dr. Sagan later notes that “their word” was also recorded while Betty and Barney Hill were separate and apart put under hypnosis and under the direction of a professional psychiatrist. That IMHO, enhances the credibility of “their word”.

Further, this was the first American case of a CE3K (one earlier foreign case was unknown outside of specialist circles) making an invention out of whole cloth by Betty and Barney Hill rather unlikely since there was no general public perception at the time that there even was such a thing as a CE3K or abductions by little grey aliens. 

Several times in this segment Dr. Sagan goes back to variations on his “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence” philosophy. He then details the ‘extraordinary evidence’ for the Hill’s CE3K, which he cites as the Betty Hill ‘Star Map’, a map the aliens showed her and her alone with lines connecting some of the stars representing alien ‘trade routes’, etc. Dr. Sagan then explains in way more detail than was necessary why the ‘Star Map’ was not extraordinary evidence.

That is one point I do agree with Dr. Sagan on and that’s with respect to the degree of evidence Betty Hill’s ‘Star Map’ provides. I’m not saying the ‘Star Map’ isn’t evidence, or isn’t a bona-fide ‘artefact’ of the CE3K, just that numerous dot points drawn at random can be made to match, given the vastness of space and the numbers of stars out there, with some specific number of them, and that lines connecting the dots can be drawn in vastly numerous ways. It’s interesting, but as evidence, far less proof, it’s meaningless.

Dr. Sagan says there is no collaborating evidence (apart from the ‘Star Map’) which is not quite true since the Hill’s vehicle had strange and unaccounted for markings and magnetic anomalies which Dr. Sagan fails to mention.

* Photographs: Dr. Sagan also comments on UFOs photographs noting how many look like hubcaps and how photos can be faked. There was no mention of UFO photographs (and motion pictures) that have passed muster when examined and analysed by experts in photographic techniques, optics, etc. He does correctly suggest that just because there is an unidentified light in the sky, photographed or otherwise,  doesn’t make it automatically an alien spaceship.

CARL SAGAN TALKS ABOUT GOD, UFOs AND ROSWELL

* Roswell: Dr. Sagan’s Mistake Number One was that the stuff that fell or crashed near Roswell in July 1947 wasn’t collected by “Air Force” personnel. The Air Force hadn’t yet been established as a separate branch of the US defence establishment. In July 1947 it was still the “Army Air Force”.

Dr. Sagan swallowed hook line and sinker the idea that photographs of the Roswell debris made publicly available a day or so after the fact but roughly at the time showed the actual bona-fide debris that was collected, a comment immediately following his acknowledgement that the debris was according to the military just a weather balloon (see next entry)! My comment here is that if an intelligence officer of the then Army Air Force couldn’t tell the difference between a crashed metallic disc and the materials from a common weather balloon, well, translated into our times, such military incompetence suggests America might as well surrender to North Korea now and be done with it.   

Dr. Sagan then parrots the most recent (of several) now USAF explanations for Roswell, a top secret balloon operation to detect clandestine Soviet nuclear testing. I have to note that even if that were the case, it was the purpose of the balloon that was top secret, not the materials it was constructed out of. There was no reason not to call a spade (a balloon) a spade (a balloon) from the get-go instead of a crashed disc. There is really no wriggle room here. It’s on the public record that the Roswell debris was first described as a crashed metallic disc and not as a balloon, secret or otherwise.

* Generalities: Following on from Roswell, Dr. Sagan does quite correctly note the “U” in “UFO” stands for “unidentified” and one shouldn’t therefore leap to a conclusion that unidentified equal’s alien spaceship. He notes, also quite correctly that the bulk of UFO reports end up having prosaic explanations. But then he screws up by saying that only if you can’t identify the UFO sighting in question can you then start thinking outside of the box as in aliens and the ETH. However, Dr. Sagan doesn’t acknowledge that there are UFOs that remain UFOs after having been put under the investigative microscope, and that therefore, the extraterrestrial hypothesis is a valid one.

Of course Dr. Sagan’s love of the word “evidence” or phrase “extraordinary evidence” comes into play again and again in this YouTube segment.

As noted in the beginning, it’s interesting that another common thread in Dr. Sagan’s comments is that he sincerely believes that not only is there a strong probability of extraterrestrial life, but highly technologically advanced alien civilizations exist that are millions of years in advance of our own with technologies we can’t even begin to comprehend. Yet he just can’t seem to make that leap that therefore UFOs could be the very evidence that would validate his scientific judgment or opinion or expectation. He goes out of his way to downplay the possibility and accents the negative instead of embracing the possibility and advocating serious study of the issue.



Exobiology: Bibliography: Part Three

Exobiology was the original term given to the sciences central to the question of life-in-the-Universe. It’s now been largely replaced by Astrobiology, but I’ll stick with the original. To investigate life-in-the-Universe one needs a solid grounding in the relevant literature. A comprehensive relevant bibliography would run to many thousands of pages and be rather off-putting. So, perhaps something on a slightly smaller scale might be more in order to help the novice get started. 

For something that doesn’t yet exist, extraterrestrial life, intelligent or otherwise, has hatched a massive amount of literature, both technical and popular, in English and otherwise. There are speculative books, articles, documentaries, etc. that number in the tens of thousands. Add the sci-fi contributions into the mix, and you have tens of thousands more entries. Here are just samplings of some of the non-fictional monographs that have touched on some of the topics raised so far.

Further Readings: Unidentified Flying Objects

Adler, Bill (Editor); Letters to the Air Force on UFOs; Dell Publishing Company, N.Y.; 1967:

Druffel, Ann; Firestorm: Dr. James E. McDonald’s Fight for UFO Science; Wild Flower Press, Columbus, North Carolina; 2003:

Evans, Hilary & Spencer, John (Editors); UFOs: 1947-1987: The 40-Year Search for an Explanation; Fortean Tomes, London; 1987:

Evans, Hilary & Stacy, Dennis (Editors); A World History of UFOs; Red Sparrow, Potts Point, NSW; 1997:

Fuller, John G. (Editor); Aliens in the Skies: The New UFO Battle of the Scientists: The Scientific Rebuttal to the Condon Committee Report: Testimony by Six Leading Scientists Before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics July 29, 1968; G.P. Putnam’s Sons, N.Y.; 1969:

Harkins, R. Roger & Saunders, David R; UFOs? Yes! Where the Condon Committee Went Wrong; Signet Books, N.Y.; 1968: [Saunders was a member of the University of Colorado UFO Study.]

Hynek, J. Allen; The Hynek UFO Report; Dell Publishing Company, N.Y.; 1977: [Dr. Hynek was a scientific consultant to the USAF UFO investigations.]

Hynek, J. Allen; The UFO Experience: A Scientific Inquiry; Henry Regnery Company, Chicago; 1972: [Dr. Hynek was a scientific consultant to the USAF UFO investigations.]

Jacobs, David M. (Editor); UFOs and Abductions: Challenging the Borders of Knowledge; University Press of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas; 2000: 

Kean, Leslie; UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On the Record; Harmony Books, New York; 2010:

Maccabee, Bruce; UFO-FBI Connection; Llewellyn Publications, St. Paul, Minnesota; 2000:

National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP); The UFO Evidence; NICAP, Washington, D.C.; 1964:

National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena (NICAP); United States Air Force Projects Grudge and Bluebook Reports 1-12 (1951-1953); NICAP, Washington, D.C.; 1968:

Page, Thornton & Sagan, Carl (Editors); UFO’s: A Scientific Debate; Cornell University Press, Ithaca, N.Y.; 1972:

Pope, Nick; Open Skies, Closed Minds: For the First Time A Government UFO Expert Speaks Out; Simon & Schuster, London; 1996: [Nick Pope was the former UK UFO investigations officer for the British Government.]

Pope, Nick; The Uninvited: An Expose of the Alien Abduction Phenomenon; Simon & Schuster, London; 1997: [Nick Pope was the former UK UFO investigations officer for the British Government.]

Randle, Kevin D.; Project Blue Book Exposed; Marlowe & Company, N.Y.; 1997:

Redfern, Nicholas; The FBI Files; Simon & Schuster, London; 1998:

Ruppelt, Edward J.; The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects; Ace Books, N.Y.; 1956:

[Ruppelt was a former head of the USAF Project Blue Book.]

Sachs, Margaret; The UFO Encyclopedia; Perigee Books, N.Y.; 1980:

Smith, Marcia S. & Havas, George D.; The UFO Enigma; Congressional Research Service; The Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; 20 June 1983:

Spencer, John (Compiler/Editor); The UFO Encyclopedia; Headline Book Publishing, London; 1991:

Steiger, Brad (Editor); Project Blue Book: The Top UFO Findings Revealed!; Ballantine Books, N.Y.; 1976:

Story, Ronald D. (Editor); The Encyclopedia of UFOs; Dolphin Books, Garden City, N.Y.; 1980:

Tacker, Lt. Col. Lawrence J;  Flying Saucers and the U.S. Air Force: The Official Air Force Story; D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc.; Princeton, N.J.; 1960:

University of Colorado & Gillmor, Daniel S. (Editor); Final Report of the Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects Conducted by the University of Colorado Under Contract  to the United States Air Force; Bantam Books, N.Y.; 1969: [The Condon Committee Report.]

Further Readings: Unidentified Flying Objects: The (University of Colorado) Condon Report:

Fuller, John G. (Editor); Aliens in the Skies: The New UFO Battle of the Scientists: The Scientific Rebuttal to the Condon Committee Report: Testimony by Six Leading Scientists Before the House Committee on Science and Astronautics July 29, 1968; G.P. Putnam’s Sons, N.Y.; 1969:

Harkins, R. Roger & Saunders, David R; UFOs? Yes! Where the Condon Committee Went Wrong; Signet Books, N.Y.; 1968: [Saunders was a member of the University of Colorado UFO Study.]

University of Colorado & Gillmor, Daniel S. (Editor); Final Report of the Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects Conducted by the University of Colorado Under Contract  to the United States Air Force; Bantam Books, N.Y.; 1969: [The Condon Committee Report.]

Further Readings: Unidentified Flying Objects: Case Studies

Haines, Richard F.; Melbourne Episode: Case Study of A Missing Pilot; L.D.A. Press, Los Altos, California; 1987: Dr. Haines was at the time a research scientist for NASA and an accredited air safety investigations officer.]

Further Readings: Unidentified Flying Objects: Case Studies: Roswell

Berliner, Don & Friedman, Stanton T.; Crash at Corona: The U.S. Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of A UFO; Paragon House, New York; 1992:

Berlitz, Charles & Moore, William L.; The Roswell Incident; Grosset & Dunlap, New York; 1980:

Carey, Thomas J. & Schmitt, Donald R.; Witness to Roswell: Unmasking the 60-Year Cover-Up; Career Press, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey; 2007: 

Corso, Philip J. & Birnes, William J.; The Day After Roswell; Pocket Books, New York; 1997: 

Eberhart, George M. (Editor); The Roswell Report: A Historical Perspective; Center for UFO Studies, Chicago; 1991:

Hesemann, Michael & Mantle, Philip; Beyond Roswell: The Alien Autopsy Film, Area 51, & the U.S. Government Coverup of UFOs; Michael O’Mara Books Limited, London; 1997:

Klass, Philip J.; The Real Roswell Crashed-Saucer Coverup; Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York; 1997:

Korff, Kal K.; The Roswell UFO Crash: What They Don’t Want You To Know; Prometheus Books, Amherst, New York; 1997:

Marcel, Jesse (Jr.) & Marcel, Linda; The Roswell Legacy: The Untold Story of the First Military Officer at the 1947 Crash Site; New Page Books, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey; 2009:

McAndrew, James & Weaver, Richard L.; The Roswell Report: Fact Versus Fiction in the New Mexico Desert; Headquarters United States Air Force, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC; 1995:

Moore, Charles B., Saler, Benson & Ziegler, Charles A.; UFO Crash at Roswell: The Genesis of A Modern Myth; Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC; 1997:

Randle, Kevin; Roswell UFO Crash Update: Exposing the Military Cover-up of the Century; Global Communications, New Brunswick, New Jersey; 1995:

Randle, Kevin D. & Schmitt, Donald R.; The Truth About the UFO Crash at Roswell; Avon Books, New York; 1994:

Randle, Kevin D. & Schmitt, Donald R.; UFO Crash at Roswell; Avon Books, New York; 1991:

Shawcross, Tim; The Roswell File; Bloomsbury, London; 1997:

Strieber, Whitley; Majestic; G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York; 1989: [Note: A novel and fictional account.]

Further Readings: Alien Abductions in General:

Bryan, C.D.B.; Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind: Alien Abduction, UFOs, and the Conference at M.I.T.; Alfred A. Knopf, New York; 1995:

Cone, William P. & Estes, Russ & Randle, Kevin D.; The Abduction Enigma: The Truth Behind the Mass Alien Abductions of the Late Twentieth Century; Forge, New York; 1999: 

Fiore, Edith; Encounters: A Psychologist Reveals Case Studies of Abductions by Extraterrestrials; Doubleday, New York; 1989:

Hopkins, Budd; Missing Time: A Documented Study of UFO Abductions; Richard Marek Publishers, New York; 1981: 

Jacobs, David M.; Secret Life: Firsthand Accounts of UFO Abductions; Simon & Schuster, New York; 1992:

Klass, Philip J.; Abductions: A Dangerous Game; Prometheus Books, Buffalo, New York; 1988: [Note: A sceptic’s analysis of UFO abductions.]

Lorenzen, Coral & Lorenzen, Jim; Abducted! Confrontations With Beings from Outer Space; Berkley medallion books, New York; 1977:

Mack, John E.; Abduction: Human Encounters With Aliens; Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York; 1994:

Mantle, Philip & Nagaitis, Carl; Without Consent: A Comprehensive Survey of Missing-Time and Abduction Phenomena in the UK; Ringpull Press, London; 1994:

Pritchard, Andrea et al. (Editors); Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference Held at M.I.T., Cambridge, MA; North Cambridge Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts; 1994.

Randles, Jenny; Abduction: Over 200 Documented UFO Kidnappings Exhaustively Investigated; Robert Hale, London; 1988:

Randles, Jenny; Alien Contacts & Abductions: The Real Story from the Other Side; Sterling Publishing, New York; 1994:

Rogo, D. Scott (Editor); UFO Abductions: True Cases of Alien Kidnappings; Signet, New York; 1980:

Turner, Karla; Taken: Inside the Alien-Human Abduction Agenda; Kelt Works, Roland, Arkansas; 1994:

Further Readings: Alien Abductions: The Betty & Barney Hill UFO Abduction:

Friedman, Stanton T. & Marden, Kathleen; Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience; New Page Books, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey; 2007: [Kathleen Marden is the late Betty Hill’s niece and trustee of her estate.]

Fuller, John G.: The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours “Aboard a Flying Saucer”; Dial Press, New York; 1966:

Further Readings: Alien Abductions: Other Case Studies:

Druffel, Ann & Rogo, D. Scott; The Tujunga Canyon Contacts; Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; 1980:

Fowler, Raymond E.; The Allagash Abductions: Undeniable Evidence of Alien Intervention; Wild Flower Press, Tigard, Oregon; 1993:

Fowler, Raymond E.; The Andreasson Affair; Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; 1979:

Fowler, Raymond E.; The Andreasson Affair: Phase Two; Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey; 1982:

Hickson, Charles & Mendez, Williams; UFO Contact at Pascagoula; Wendelle C. Stevens, Tucson, Arizona; 1983:

Hopkins, Budd; Intruders: The Incredible Visitations at Copley Woods; Random House, New York; 1987:

Hopkins, Budd; Witnessed: The True Story of the Brooklyn Bridge UFO Abductions; Pocket Books, New York; 1996:

Turner, Karla; Into the Fringe: A True Story of Alien Abduction; Berkley Books, New York; 1992:

Walters, Ed & Walters, Frances; UFO Abductions in Gulf Breeze; Avon Books, New York; 1994:

Walton, Travis; Fire in the Sky: The Walton Experience; Marlowe & Company, New

York; 1996:

Walton, Travis; The Walton Experience; Berkley Medallion Books, New York; 1978:

Exobiology: UFOs: Alien Abductions: A Case Study

Exobiology was the original term given to the sciences central to the question of life-in-the-Universe. It’s now been largely replaced by Astrobiology, but I’ll stick with the original. Assuming one or more extraterrestrial civilizations with advanced, interstellar spaceflight capability exists; then they know about Planet Earth. Say ‘hi’ to those pesky UFOs. The Big Question is, have anyone in those UFOs, UFO occupants or Ufonauts, said ‘hi’ to any of us? Well, according to the unwilling abductees, ‘yes’. As a case study, consider the alleged abduction of Betty and Barney Hill which is fairly well known even to the person only casually interested in the abduction phenomena. How can this case be explained?

An UFO Abduction Case Study: The Betty and Barney Hill Abduction 

The Betty and Barney Hill UFO abduction case is a way more credible case than most. Why? Firstly, it was the first – no prior contamination and media saturation with the subject could have influenced them. Secondly, it’s unlikely a mature couple (not teenagers or young adults), and an interracial middle-aged couple at that, with no particular interest in UFOs or sci-fi, would invent such an abduction tale detailing the same sorts of beings that we’ve come to know and love now – the greys. An interracial couple (this was the 60’s) wouldn’t need that sort of publicity, and they certainly didn’t make any fortune out of eventually going public. Lastly, the alleged abduction didn’t happen in their bedroom; it happened while they were driving their car back from holiday. So we have two witnesses giving the same story.

In brief, the barebones of the details are that Betty and Barney Hill were returning to their home after holidays, driving their car. It was late at night. Both say a bright light which seemed to be pacing them. When they arrived home, they noticed that the trip had taken several hours longer than it should of. Also their car had some strange circular marks on it which affected a compass. The ‘missing time’ coupled with just a feeling of general unease over that trip finally led them to see a psychiatrist/neurologist, and under hypnosis, the story of their being taken on board a UFO by alien creatures (now called ‘the greys’) and subjected to an invasive medical examination by these creatures came to the fore. Betty Hill also, via hypnosis recalled seeing a star chart on board the alien’s ship, and was able to recreate it. An independent researcher was later able to match up the configuration of stars to actual stellar objects, but that interpretation has been controversial, as with so many stars to pick and choose from, its odds-on that sooner or later you’ll get a pretty close match. 

Now IMHO, the Betty and Barney Hill UFO abduction case is a way more credible case than most. Why? Firstly, it was the first that attracted media attention. There was no prior contamination and media saturation with the subject could have influenced them. By that I mean there was no prior well known, splashed-across-the-media, abduction accounts, so they had nothing to draw on – no inspiration. This couldn’t be a copycat event.

Secondly, it’s unlikely a mature couple (The Hill’s weren’t teenagers or young adults), and an interracial middle-aged couple at that, with no particular interest in UFOs or sci-fi, they weren’t sci-fi addicts, would invent such an abduction tale detailing the same sorts of alien beings that we’ve come to know and love now – ‘the greys’.

Most telling of all, why on earth would an inter-racial couple, in the early 60’s, in conservative America (and New England) wish to draw undue attention to them with such a tall tale? They wouldn’t need that kind of trouble! It’s controversial enough being an inter-racial couple without also being an inter-racial couple who sees LGM (Little Grey Men). An interracial couple (this was the 60’s) wouldn’t need that sort of publicity, and they certainly didn’t make any fortune out of eventually going public.

They weren’t into hallucinatory drugs. They weren’t hardly young kids with wild imaginations, rather a quite mature adult couple. They had no prior record of being publicity seekers and desiring media exposure. 

Their story first broke in a leaked series of newspaper articles, attracting the attention of research journalist John C. Fuller, who, then with the permission of the Hills, wrote up their story for “Look Magazine”, later expanded into book form by Mr. Fuller, with an introduction by the Hill’s psychiatrist/neurologist (Benjamin Simon, M.D.) who confirmed that Betty and Barney Hill weren’t ‘nuts’ or delusional or psychotic and honestly believed the story that came out. So we have two witnesses (Betty and Barney Hill) giving the same story, and the same story under hypnosis by a trained psychiatrist/neurologist. 

Lastly, the alleged abduction didn’t happen in their bedroom which now seems to be more the norm with implications that abductions are something mentally related to sleeping and dream states. For the Hill’s, their abduction happened while they were driving their car back from holiday. It’s rare that you fall asleep behind the wheel of your moving vehicle for any length of time with both car and occupants remaining undamaged! The Hills and their car weren’t damaged!

A deliberate hoax / unintentional but imaginary / psychological / pharmacology / medical explanation makes no sense. I personally find it a far simpler explanation to believe that their account is firmly grounded in reality.  It happened, with all that that implies.

Further reading regarding Betty & Barney Hill:

Friedman, Stanton T. & Marden, Kathleen; Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience; New Page Books, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey; 2007: [Kathleen Marden is the late Betty Hill’s niece and trustee of her estate.]

Fuller, John G.: The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours “Aboard a Flying Saucer”; Dial Press, New York; 1966:

UFOs: Bits and Pieces: The Betty & Barney Hill Abduction

With both the existence of pure theory and applied evidence supporting the plausibility of the UFO extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) – where the UFO remains a UFO after appropriate expert analysis has failed to find a more terrestrial explanation – lets look at a few snippets of the phenomena, this time the story of those first American UFO abductees, Betty and Barney Hill.

A Case Study: The Betty and Barney Hill Abduction 

As a alien abduction case study, consider the alleged abduction of Betty and Barney Hill which is fairly well known even to the person only casually interested in the abduction phenomena. How can this case be explained?

In brief, the barebones of the details are that Betty and Barney Hill were returning to their home after holidays, driving their car. It was late at night. Both say a bright light which seemed to be pacing them. When they arrived home, they noticed that the trip had taken several hours longer than it should of. Also their car had some strange circular marks on it which affected a compass. The ‘missing time’ coupled with just a feeling of general unease over that trip finally led them to see a psychiatrist/neurologist, and under hypnosis, the story of their being taken on board a UFO by alien creatures (now called ‘the greys’) and subjected to an invasive medical examination by these creatures came to the fore. Betty Hill also, via hypnosis recalled seeing a star chart on board the alien’s ship, and was able to recreate it. An independent researcher was later able to match up the configuration of stars to actual stellar objects, but that interpretation has been controversial, as with so many stars to pick and choose from, its odds-on that sooner or later you’ll get a pretty close match. 

Now IMHO, the Betty and Barney Hill UFO abduction case is a way more credible case than most. Why? Firstly, it was the first that attracted media attention. There was no prior contamination and media saturation with the subject could have influenced them. By that I mean there was no prior well known, splashed-across-the-media, abduction accounts, so they had nothing to draw on – no inspiration. This couldn’t be a copycat event.

Secondly, it’s unlikely a mature couple (The Hill’s weren’t teenagers or young adults), and an interracial middle-aged couple at that, with no particular interest in UFOs or sci-fi, they weren’t sci-fi addicts, would invent such an abduction tale detailing the same sorts of alien beings that we’ve come to know and love now – ‘the greys’.

Most telling of all, why on earth would an inter-racial couple, in the early 60’s, in conservative America (and New England) wish to draw undue attention to them with such a tall tale? They wouldn’t need that kind of trouble! It’s controversial enough being an inter-racial couple without also being an inter-racial couple who sees LGM (Little Grey Men). An interracial couple (this was the 60’s) wouldn’t need that sort of publicity, and they certainly didn’t make any fortune out of eventually going public.

They weren’t into hallucinatory drugs. They weren’t hardly young kids with wild imaginations, rather a quite mature adult couple. They had no prior record of being publicity seekers and desiring media exposure. 

Their story first broke in a leaked series of newspaper articles, attracting the attention of research journalist John C. Fuller, who, then with the permission of the Hills, wrote up their story for “Look Magazine”, later expanded into book form by Mr. Fuller, with an introduction by the Hill’s psychiatrist/neurologist (Benjamin Simon, M.D.) who confirmed that Betty and Barney Hill weren’t ‘nuts’ or delusional or psychotic and honestly believed the story that came out. So we have two witnesses (Betty and Barney Hill) giving the same story, and the same story under hypnosis by a trained psychiatrist/neurologist. 

Lastly, the alleged abduction didn’t happen in their bedroom which now seems to be more the norm with implications that abductions are something mentally related to sleeping and dream states. For the Hill’s, their abduction happened while they were driving their car back from holiday. It’s rare that you fall asleep behind the wheel of your moving vehicle for any length of time with both car and occupants remaining undamaged! The Hills and their car weren’t damaged!

In summary, the Betty and Barney Hill UFO abduction case is a way more credible case than most. Why? Firstly, it was the first – no prior contamination and media saturation with the subject could have influenced them. Secondly, it’s unlikely a mature couple (not teenagers or young adults), and an interracial middle-aged couple at that, with no particular interest in UFOs or sci-fi, would invent such an abduction tale detailing the same sorts of beings that we’ve come to know and love now – the greys. An interracial couple (this was the 60’s) wouldn’t need that sort of publicity, and they certainly didn’t make any fortune out of eventually going public. Lastly, the alleged abduction didn’t happen in their bedroom; it happened while they were driving their car back from holiday. So we have two witnesses giving the same story.

A deliberate hoax / unintentional but imaginary / psychological / pharmacology / medical explanation makes no sense. I personally find it a far simpler explanation to believe that their account is firmly grounded in reality.  It happened, with all that that implies.

Further reading regarding Betty & Barney Hill:

Friedman, Stanton T. & Marden, Kathleen; Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience; New Page Books, Franklin Lakes, New Jersey; 2007: [Kathleen Marden is the late Betty Hill’s niece and trustee of her estate.]

Fuller, John G.: The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours “Aboard a Flying Saucer”; Dial Press, New York; 1966: