

Active in the local Unitarian congregation, the Hills were also members of the NAACP and community leaders, and Barney sat on a local board of the United States Commission on Civil Rights. Barney (1922–1969) was employed by the United States Postal Service, while Betty ( née Eunice Barrett) (1919–2004) was a social worker. The Hills lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Hills' story was widely publicized in books and movies. In July 2011, the New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources marked the site of the alleged craft's first approach with a historical marker. Most of Betty Hill's notes, tapes, and other items have been placed in the permanent collection at the University of New Hampshire, her alma mater. Their story was adapted into the best-selling 1966 book The Interrupted Journey and the 1975 television film The UFO Incident. The incident came to be called the "Hill Abduction" and the "Zeta Reticuli Incident" because two ufologists connected the star map shown to Betty Hill with the Zeta Reticuli system. Social worker, civil rights advocate (Betty)īarney and Betty Hill were an American couple who claimed they were abducted by extraterrestrials in a rural portion of the state of New Hampshire from September 19 to 20, 1961. Postal worker, civil rights leader (Barney)
