Was the "first" UFO abduction the result of a genuine alien encounter or the product of some well-primed imaginations? September 1961: Near Indian Head, New Hampshire, Betty and Barney Hill have a disturbing encounter with a UFO while driving home from a short vacation. Later, under hypnosis, the couple recall having been abducted by aliens. October 1966: John Fuller's book, "The Interrupted Journey," based on the Hills' story, is published and becomes an immediate best seller. October 1975: NBC airs the story in a made-for-TV movie titled "The UFO Incident." James Earl Jones portrays Barney Hill, and Estelle Parsons plays Betty. September 2000: Nearly 40 years after the original incident, a symposium of seasoned, independent UFO researchers is held at Indian Head, New Hampshire, to re-evaluate this classic UFO abduction case. Among the participants are Hilary Evans and Peter Brookesmith from the U.K., with Thomas 'Ed' Bullard, Karl Pflock, Dennis Stacy, and Robert Scheaffer from the U.S. Sociologist and veteran anomalist Marcello Truzzi chairs the meeting. Betty Hill joins the group for an evening's entertainment and a morning tour of the sites where, she says, she and Barney encountered aliens. What the participants concluded is recorded here, along with additional commentaries written especially for this book by the Hills' first investigator, Walter N. Webb, and critical analyst Martin Kottmeyer. The result of this unique meeting of minds was more than an exercise in diverse interpretations: it became a common quest to establish, as far as humanly possible, what actually happened to the Hills so many years ago.
Finally the actual documents, time-line and psychiatrist reports of the Barney and Betty Hill alien abduction, rather than the edited story that has always been told since. I went into this book believing the abduction story was most likely false (an elaborate lie to get attention and money for speaking engagements) and was still of this belief up to about three-quarters of the way through this book. But my mind was finally changed upon weighing all of the evidence and reading the balanced mix of sceptical, neutral and more-believing essays.
I now think the Hill's do believe they were abducted but I think the real truth is that this was most likely a paranormal event - rather than an alien abduction. As evidenced by the poltergeist-like activity that followed. I think this is the case for most "alien abductions" but feel free to read this very engaging book and make up your own mind.