◆ SpookStack

Shaken, but finding an itresistible impulse to move closer, ‘Barney continued across the field, coming within 50 feet of the craft, as it dropped to the height of a single tall tree. In the car, Betty waited. Suddenly, she be-’ came aware of Barney’ s disappearance into the blackness of the field. “Barney,” she yelled. “Bar- ney, come back! Barney! Do you hear me?” There was no answer. ; Out in the field, Barney put the binoculars tohis eyes, Behind theclearly structured'windows, he could see at least half a dozen living figures wearing black uniforms. They seemed to be brac- ing themselves ‘ against the transparent windows as the craft tilted down toward him. They were staring directly at him. Betty, now nearly 200 feet away, was scream- ing at him from the car, but Barney has no recol- lection of hearing her. On some inaudible signal, every member of the crew but one stepped back from the window _ toward aarge panel a few feet behind the win- dowline. The remaining one appeared to Barney \to be aleader. Through the binoculars, Barney could see appendages in action at what seemed to be a con- trol board behind the windows of the craft. The craft descended lower, a few feet at a time. As the fins bearing the two red lights spread out further -on the sides of the craft, an extension began to lower from the underside. It seemed to be a lad- _. derlike structure, but Barney could not be sure. In terror, he tried to pull the plasses from his eyes, to turn away, but he couldn’t. He remembers the « eyes of the one crew member who stared down at him. He had never seen eyes like that before. With every ounce of energy he could sum- mon, he pulled the binoculars from his eyes, ran- screaming back across the field to Betty and the car. He was near hysteria. He jammed the car into first gear, spurted off down the road, shouting that ~he was sure they were going to be captured. He ordered Betty to look out the window to see where the craft was. She looked, but the object was nowhere in sight. He yelled that it may have swung above them. Betty checked again, but all ‘she could see was total darkness. Suddenly, they heard a strange, electronic- sounding beeping. The car seemed to vibrate with it. It was in irregular rhythm: beep, beep—beep, _ beep, beep, and it seemed to come from behind .the car, possibly from the trunk. “What's that noise?” Barney asked. “I don’t know,” Betty said. . They each began to feel an odd tingling sensation. A kind of daze overcame them. * kK Sometime later—how long, they wete not sure—they were again aware of the beeping sound. __ They were alert now to a more precise pattern of ‘beeps: beep, beep, beep, beep. As the second set of beeps grew louder, their awareness slowly returned. They were still in the car, and the car was moving, with Barney at the wheel. They were silent, numb and somnam- _ bulistic. A sign indicated that they were in the vicinity of Ashland, some 35 miles south of In- dian Head, where the inexplicable beeping had first sounded. As the daze dissolved, Betty Hill vaguely rez members saying to her husband: “Now do you / ___ Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010003-8 soox su 47 - \ believe in flying saucets?” And he recalls answer: ing: “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course not.” But neither could remember much detail; ° other than this, until they had driven onto Route 93. There, Betty suddenly pointed to a sign read- ing: ConcorD—17 MILES. “That's whéte we are, Barney,” she said: ‘Now we know.’ "i Barney, too, temembers his mind clearing fully at this point. But he does not recall being © disturbed or concerned about the 35 miles from Indian Head to Ashland, about which he seemed to remember nothing. It was nearly full daylight when they reached home. Both their watches had stopped, and never ran again. The kitchen clock read shortly after five a.m. They had expected to reach home by three. Two hours of their lives were unaccounted for—yet neither seemed aware of the loss at this time until it was pointed out to them months later. - Barney unloaded the car. Picking up the binoculars, he found that the leather. strap that had been around his neck the night before was freshly and cleanly broken in half. During the silent drive, both Betty and Bar- ney had looked to the sky at regular intervals, wondering if the strange object would appeat Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81 R00560R000100010003-8 again. Even after they went into the house, they found themselves occasionally drifting to the win: dows to look up into the morning brightness. Also, inexplicably, each had a strange, clam: my feeling. Barney went into the bathroom to examine his groin and lower abdomen, which . seemed to bother him. After he came out, they reviewed what had happened and resolved not to discuss it with anyone. Nearly three that afternoon, when. they awoke, Barney again began reviewing the experi- ence of the night before. He was baftled and con- fused by the total lack of sound ‘during the. ex- tended encounter. The figures he had seen aboard the craft he shunted quickly out of his mind. He did not want to think about them. As Betty awakened, one of her first acts, why she-never fully kriew, was to take the dress and shoes she had worn during the experience and pack them in the back of her closet.She has never ~ worn them since. Barney went over to the clothes he had worn thenight before and was surprised to discover that his best shoes were scuffed along the tops. He wondered why only the ops were scarred. He con- cluded that somewhere in that field he had dragged the tops of his shoes along some rocks... CHAPTER A talk with a skeptical investigator THE HILLs’ RESOLUTION to keep the experience, quiet began to waver during their afternoon breakfast session. Betty telephoned her sister, Janet Miller, and told her the story. Janet,-who had no reservations about the possibility of a UFO sighting because of her own earlier experience, confirmed Betty’s feeling that the car might have in some way been exposed to radiation.if the ob- ject had hovered directly over it. Janet reminded Betty that a neighbor of theirs in Kingston was a physicist, and said she would check with him. In a few moments, Janet was back on the phone to tell Betty thatthe physicist said any ordinary com- pass might show evidence of radiation. Barney’s skepticism stiffened, but he finally relented and got the compass fot his wife. She went outside and ran the compass along the sides of the car. The needle did not react to any appre- ciable extent, but as she drew near the trunk of the car, her attention was drawn to a dozen or Amore shiny circles scattered.on the trunk’s sut- face. Each was about the size of a silver dollar: They looked as though they had been buffed on through a circular stencil. ‘Carefully, Betty placed the compass on one of the spots. The needle immediately reacted sharply. She then moved the compass on the side of the car, where none of the shiny spots ap- peared. The needle reacted normally. She shifted. the compass back to the shiny spots. The needle, , ~ Jumped out of control. She ran back to the house, “Barney,’’ she said, “you've got to come out- side and look at this with me.’’ Barney reluctantly agreed to take a look while Betty called her sister to report her ‘‘findings.” Janet had talked to the former chief of police of Newton, N.H. He had suggested that the Hills notify the Pease Air Force Base at Portsmouth, a Strategic Air Com~ Seen mand installation. “How did the compass act for you?” Betty asked; when Barney returned. ; “Just like any compass,” he said. “Oh, it might have jumped around a little when it got. ~.near the tire in the trunk. Things like that.” “What about the shiny spots?”’ Betty asked. “Did you see those?’” “Yes,” said Barney. “Well, what about them?” “Oh, probably something dropped on the trunk.” ~ Betty called the Air Police at the base’ and gave an officer the facts in bare outline. When she _ Mentioned the fins, which apparently separated at the sides of the craft, with the two red lights.on either side, the officer suddenly seemed mote in- terested. When she explained that)her husband had a better look at this partof the craftthan she, - _ the officer asked to speak with Barney. Barney avoided mentioning the figures he had observed on the craft, or the shiny spots on the car. But the phone call was reassuring. From the discussion with the officer, he learned of other reports, some similar to his, and he no longer felt -. so concerned about the possibility of being con- sidered irrational. Still struggling to find some correlation be- . tween fantasy and fact, Barney suggested to Betty that they each draw a sketch of their impressions of the object. Sitting in separate rooms, they roughed out two sketches. When the sketches were compared, they were remarkably similar. Some ten days ‘after the sighting, Betty be- gan having a series of nightmares. They domi- continued