[Published in Fortean Times, no. 302, July 2013, p. 69.]

Hill abduction

Greg May argues [FT296:73] that the Betty and Barney Hill report of aliens could not have been inspired by an episode of The Outer Limits because their experience occurred in 1961 while the TV series did not premiere until 1963. However, Barney Hill's first session of hypnosis, and the first occurrence of a mention of an alien with eyes that wrapped around the side of the face, did not occur until 22 February 1964, 12 ays after the Outer Limits episode "The Bellero Shield," which featured an alien with similar eyes, as noted by sceptic Martin Kottmeyer http://www.csicop.org/sb/show/eyes_that_spoke/.

Further, as Kottmeyer notes, in that episode the alien says: "I cannot read your mind. I cannot even understand your language. I analyse your eyes. In all the universes, in all the unities beyond all universes, all who have eyes have eyes that speak." In the hypnosis session, Barney Hill stated that: "They won't talk to me. Only the eyes are talking to me."

Jim Lippard
Phoenix, Arizona