A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
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underemployed black man <strong>in</strong> 1960’s America. 254 After <strong>the</strong> night <strong>of</strong> September 19-20, 1961,<br />
Betty and Barney would tell a tale that would change both <strong>the</strong>ir lives and <strong>the</strong> landscape <strong>of</strong><br />
ufology <strong>in</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>ound ways. Their story has been told and retold many times <strong>in</strong> both <strong>the</strong> popular<br />
press and with<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> literature <strong>of</strong> ufology. The Hill case was <strong>the</strong> “primordial precedent, <strong>the</strong> urtext<br />
<strong>of</strong> alien abduction.” 255<br />
On <strong>the</strong> even<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> September 19th, 1961, Betty and Barney Hill set <strong>of</strong>f on a nighttime<br />
journey, driv<strong>in</strong>g from just south <strong>of</strong> Montreal through <strong>the</strong> White mounta<strong>in</strong>s <strong>of</strong> New Hampshire to<br />
<strong>the</strong>ir home <strong>in</strong> Portsmouth. Along <strong>the</strong> way <strong>the</strong>y ostensibly sighted a UFO which, <strong>in</strong> turn, led to<br />
close encounters <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first through third k<strong>in</strong>d and ultimately to abduction. Upon return<strong>in</strong>g home<br />
on <strong>the</strong> morn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> September 20, while <strong>the</strong>y did recall witness<strong>in</strong>g a UFO, <strong>the</strong> Hills could not<br />
recall <strong>the</strong> events that transpired dur<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong>ir abduction. In fact, <strong>the</strong>y could not recall that <strong>the</strong>y had<br />
been abducted at all. The memory <strong>of</strong> those events, events that occurred over a two-hour-plus<br />
period <strong>of</strong> lost time, and which would eventually emerge via hypnosis, changed both <strong>the</strong> face <strong>of</strong><br />
ufology and <strong>the</strong> displaced utopian imag<strong>in</strong>ary itself. We will beg<strong>in</strong> this chapter with a general<br />
discussion <strong>of</strong> that shift, followed by a discussion <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> abduction scenario, <strong>the</strong> role <strong>of</strong> hypnosis<br />
<strong>in</strong> abduction and f<strong>in</strong>ally <strong>the</strong> vision <strong>of</strong> utopia that emerges from abduction as a mode <strong>of</strong> contact.<br />
Up to <strong>the</strong> public revelation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Hill case, first <strong>in</strong> a two-part series by John G. Fuller <strong>in</strong><br />
Look Magaz<strong>in</strong>e (on Oct. 4, 18 1966) and <strong>the</strong>n at more length <strong>in</strong> Fuller’s book, Interrupted<br />
Journey, published that same year, ufology had been primarily concerned with establish<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong><br />
physical presence <strong>of</strong> unidentified fly<strong>in</strong>g craft—a concern well with<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> conf<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> positivist<br />
254 Dean.<br />
255 Keith Thompson, Angels and Aliens: UFO’s and <strong>the</strong> Mythic Imag<strong>in</strong>ation (New York: Fawcett Columb<strong>in</strong>e, 1991)<br />
64.<br />
169