A UFO encounter story comes to Laconia Public Library

LACONIA — Betty and Barney Hill will visit the Laconia Public Library on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 6 p.m. The couple, linked to a UFO (unidentified flying object) sighting and abduction in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, won’t be at the library in person but rather in spirit through their papers and recordings of what transpired on that night in 1961.

University of New Hampshire Special Collections Department Professor and Special Collections Librarian Elizabeth Slomba will present The Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill. She took over the special collections librarian in 2021 from Bill Ross, who was in discussions with Betty about her collection of UFO items before she passed in 2004.

Betty didn’t want her collection locked up or auctioned off after her passing; she wanted everything she had gathered to be used for research and accessible to the public, which resulted in UNH becoming its permanent home.

In her upcoming program, Slomba will present some of the items in the collection and discuss the unusual and fascinating story of Betty and Barney Hill.

“It is a unique New Hampshire story,” she said.

Working with the Hill’s collection, Slomba learned a great deal about the couple and the incident they maintained happened on a fateful night in September of 1961.

In the 1960s, the couple lived in Portsmouth. Betty was a social worker, and Barney worked for the postal system in Philadelphia on weekdays while coming home to New Hampshire on weekends. Theirs was an unusual relationship for its time, as an interracial couple living in conservative New Hampshire.

To get away from it all, they spent a few days in Montreal in September 1961, returning in the late evening at the end of the weekend. They were traveling through the White Mountains on their way back to Portsmouth when they saw bright lights. The lights seemed to follow them, and suddenly and unexplainably, the couple said they were abducted. When they awoke later, they had no idea what had happened.

However, something left them unable to account for the time they were gone.

Slomba said, “They came home and could not figure out what had happened to them, but they had an uncomfortable feeling. Their watches didn’t work, and they said parts of their car were magnetized.”

Unable to put the experience behind her, Betty had unsettling dreams after their northern New Hampshire trip. She said they had encountered a roadblock and were brought up to a flying saucer. A group of men, 5 feet tall and with gray skin, wearing matching uniforms and caps, were aboard the spaceship and inspected Betty and Barney.

The Hills spoke locally about their experience to a select few people, probably for fear of ridicule. Eventually, they began talking to a larger world about their experience. After seeing a regressive therapist, Barney and Betty made tape recordings and, finally, were the subject of a book called “The Interrupted Journey.”

Slomba said, “After Barney died suddenly in 1969, Betty made their experience her profession and began to do speaking engagements. She did a lot of research on their UFO encounter. She died in 2004.”

Betty put the dress she was wearing that night into her closet and did not wear it again. It is now part of the UNH collection and, while fragile, it is a fascinating piece of the past.

While some people are skeptical that the encounter actually happened, many believe it did. Slomba said when she gives her presentation, nearly everyone attending is a believer, and the Hills themselves really believed it happened.

There has been a recent resurgence of interest in the Hill’s story. Currently, people are more open to the unknown, and many avidly believe in UFOs. Betty and Barney’s story held a fascination in its day and was reported in Look Magazine and many newspapers.

“It captured people’s imaginations,” said Slomba.

She said some people believe the Hills were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They maintain the Hills pulled their car over and simply fell asleep due to the exhaustion of the long drive. Others believe the alien abduction story. No matter what one believes, Slomba said the Hill’s story is a legendary piece of New Hampshire’s history.

As the curator, Slomba’s job is to ensure the public has access to Betty and Barney Hill’s collection and other collections, such as political papers, seacoast history, and photographer Lottie Jacobi’s papers.

To visit the UNH Special Collections and Archives Museum, call 603-862-2714 or email archives@unh.edu for an appointment.