◆ SpookStack

Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010003-8 Shaken, but finding an irresistible impulse tomove 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 tohiseyes, 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 a large panel a few feet behind the win- dowline. The remaining one appeared to Barney to be a leader. Through the binoculars, Barney could see appendages in action at what seemed to bea 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 glasses 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- son, he pulled the binoculars fom his eyes an screaming back across the field to Betty and the car. He was near hysteria. He jammed the car into first gear, spurted off down theroad, 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 ic. It was in irregular chythm: 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. Sometime later—how long, they were 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 re: members saying to her husband: “Now do you believe in flying saucers?” And he recalls answers 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 where we are, Barney,” she said: “Now we kriow.” Barney, too, remembers 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. Tewas 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 outtothem monthslater. 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 appear again. Even after they went into the house, they found themselves occasionally drifting tothe 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 expert ence of the night before. He was baffled and con- fased 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 firstacts, why she never fully knew, 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 todiscoverthat his best shoes were scuffed along the tops. He wondered why only the tops were scarred. He con- cluded thatsomewherein thatfieldhehad dragged the tops of his shoes along some rocks. CHAPTER A talk with a skeptical investigator Tite Hitis’ kesoLuTiow co keep the experience quiet began to waver during thei 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 thar the physicist said any ordinary com: pass might show evidence of radiation. Barney's skepticism stiffened, but he finally relented and got the compass for 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 more 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 norially. 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 gorto come out- sideand look ar this wich me.” Barney reluctantly agreed to take a look while Betty called her sistet 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: 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 more in- terested. When she explained that, her husband had a better look at this part of the craft than 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 Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010003-8 100K 10466 47 >