Barney was, even then, taking on racist businesses that refused to serve black customers. He feared that the tabloid publicity would tarnish their battle for equality and dignity. It has been dissected by UFO believers and skeptics for four decades.įor Barney Hill, a civil rights leader in his community, the UFO incident was distracting, emasculating and embarrassing. The story based on the taped transcripts is presented, often in agonizing detail, in Fuller’s best selling book The Interrupted Journey. They did, but only after Betty negotiated a comfortable share of the royalties for the Hills and Dr. Fuller urged the couple to quickly sign a book contract. Fuller was working on another UFO book entitled The Incident at Exeter. John Fuller, a reporter for Look magazine, was in the audience at the Hills lecture that night. They "went public" only to dispute an unauthorized account of their close encounter that had appeared in the Boston Traveler. In fact, it was years before they told the story publicly at a Quaker meeting house in Dover in 1965. Barney was slow to accept the wild tale that came from his own mouth.Ĭritics sometimes accuse the Hills of cashing in on their abduction tale. The recorded sessions uncovered – some say created – a detailed story in which the couple were examined aboard an alien space craft. Benjamin Simon of Boston to hypnotize them separately. In desperation, Betty and Barney asked Dr. They reported their UFO sighting to Air Force officials and to relatives and a few close friends. There was a shared sense of loss, as if a period of time was missing from their memories. Arriving home, at first, the Hills only remembered the bright lights that followed them down the highway. Whatever happened that night will remain a mystery. They were tense and arguing when Betty spotted weird lights in the New Hampshire sky. They were carrying Betty’s handgun for protection and were afraid it might be discovered at the border as they crossed back into the United States. The couple decided to drive all the way home to Portsmouth. Barney was nervous, fearful that a Canadian motel might not accept an interracial couple with a dog late at night. That quick trip to Niagra Falls and Montreal has become the stuff of legend.
Married only 16 months, working separate shifts, the Hills had seen little of each other when they took a belated weekend "honeymoon" with their dog Delsey in the fall of 1961.
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