Captured! Betty And Barney Hill Ufo Experience [Paperback]

Captured! - the Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience: The True Story of the World's First Documented Alien Abduction is an in-depth analysis of the first (widely reported) case of what would come to be known as "alien abduction."

The root of the story is that author John G. Fuller, worked with Barney and Betty Hill and Dr. Benjamin Simon to expand on an October 25th, 1965 Boston Traveler newspaper story, "UFO Chiller: Did THEY Seize Couple?"

The result of this effort was the best-selling book, The Interrupted Journey (1965). (Just as an aside, a lot of people forget that the original title was the more sensational, The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours Aboard A Flying Saucer. The abbreviated title was obviously the more intriguing choice!)

Stanton Friedman, author of Top Secret/Majic: Operation Majestic-12 and the United States Government's UFO Cover-up, Crash at Corona: The U.S. Military Retrieval and Cover-Up of a UFO, and the forthcoming Flying Saucers and Science: A Scientist Investigates the Mysteries of UFOs: Interstellar Travel, Crashes, and Government Cover-Ups, is probably UFOlogy's most respected, articulate and well known scientific defender. There are other credentialed academic investigators into UFO's, but Stanton is one of the relatively few to be degreed in what I would consider "hard science" - nuclear physics. His resume lists the names of some very "high-tech" organizations: General Electric, General Motors, Westinghouse, TRW Systems, Aerojet General Nucleonics, and McDonnell Douglas.

Stanton is given unique insight in the case by working with Kathleen Marden, the niece and close confidant of Betty Hill. Coming from such different perspectives, the reader gets an interesting, and entertaining, review of an admittedly controversial topic.

Despite the subject matter, and the fact that the incident being discussed is more than 45 years old, the book has a breezy presentation, very well illustrated (though what's being illustrated isn't always clear) and sprinkled with "pull quotes" and bordered boxes of additional material that, in the days before People Magazine, would have been relegated to footnotes. The style of the book reminds me more of "Entertainment Tonight" than Incident at Exeter: Unidentified flying objects over America now. The result is that the book has a very current flavor. This fact alone may make it more palatable for a younger generation of readers, educated through sound-bites and MTV.

The book goes a long way to make the Hills more "real" and their personal story is told in full for, so far as I know, the first time. As an interracial couple in the late 50's, early 60's, they would've been a remarkable couple entirely independent of their "missing time" incident. More than just victims of a strange event, they were pioneers in the fledgling civil rights movement long before such a struggle became a popular cause. Their contributions to equality were recognized on the national level by a personal invitation to President Lyndon Baines Johnson's 1965 inauguration. Also included in the book is a copy of Barney's appointment to the New Hampshire Civil Rights Commission. In phrasing quaint, or even condescending, to current sensibilities Barney is described as "eminently qualified to serve on the Human Rights Commission as a representative of the Negro Race" (page 298.) In reading the book I couldn't help but reflect that except for the "Interupted Journey" the Hills might well have been as renowned for their contributions to Civil Rights as they are (in some camps) as notorious as the first alien abductees.

In this book are three sources of data addressed in detail for the first time: a series of in-depth interviews between Ms. Marden and her Aunt Betty; analysis of the actual hypnotic sessions conducted by Dr. Simon (though the book, understandably, doesn't contain full transcripts); and a forensic analysis of the dress worn by Betty as the time of the encounter.

Without ruining the book for other readers by giving away too much detail, this evidence not only lends more credence to the Hills' account, but also provides Stanton the springboard to launch a passionate attack on the many detractors who've come forward over the decades to poo-poo the incident. Singled out for particular scorn is Susan Clancy's, Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens. You can tell that Stanton's been aching for the right opportunity to take on Susan's book and in Captured, he's found the perfect venue.

As to whether or not Captured "proves" that the Hills were abducted by aliens, well, that's going to be up to each individual reader to decide for themselves. But with this book, they're going to have a lot more evidence to consider.

CAPTURED! is thoroughly researched and well written. Highly recommended.

I know it is faithfully based on the audio tapes that were made while Betty and Barney Hill were under hypnosis, because I am one of the two or three living people who listened to all of those tapes.

My notarized testimony of my involvement with Betty and Barney Hill is included at several places in this book.

Ben H. Swett
Colonel USAF (Retired)

Having read other works by Stanton Friedman, I had an idea as to what to expect when I started reading this book. I was definitely not disappointed.

Before reading Captured! - the Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience: The True Story of the World's First Documented Alien Abduction, I was familiar with the basics of the Hill sighting/abduction case, general background information, the major sighting/abduction experience and the star map drawn by Betty. However, from the details about their personal lives, family, friends, education, professions, etc; to the recounting of their multiple sightings and abduction experiences, I was literally blown away by the amount of information presented.

This book clearly illustrates a well researched investigation into who the Hills were and what they experienced, never before have I seen such an in depth analysis of such a controversial abduction case. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the alien abduction phenomenon or UFOs in general. If anyone has doubts about what the Hill's witnessed to what was done to them aboard an extraterrestrial space craft, they should be easily forgotten after reading this book.
Having read other works by Stanton Friedman, I had an idea as to what to expect when I started reading this book. I was definitely not disappointed.

Before reading Captured! - the Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience: The True Story of the World's First Documented Alien Abduction, I was familiar with the basics of the Hill sighting/abduction case, general background information, the major sighting/abduction experience and the star map drawn by Betty. However, from the details about their personal lives, family, friends, education, professions, etc; to the recounting of their multiple sightings and abduction experiences, I was literally blown away by the amount of information presented.

This book clearly illustrates a well researched investigation into who the Hills were and what they experienced, never before have I seen such an in depth analysis of such a controversial abduction case. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the alien abduction phenomenon or UFOs in general. If anyone has doubts about what the Hill's witnessed to what was done to them aboard an extraterrestrial space craft, they should be easily forgotten after reading this book.

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