Here’s Carl Sagan’s take on the Betty & Barney Hill UFO abduction case. I must confess that I have not seen this piece before so I was amused when watching it today. I must also confess that even though I admire Sagan’s work, I think his reason for doubt on this case is a little jaded.

Jaded?

“Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence“. A phrase popularized by Carl Sagan. If you have been following the paranormal for some time, you can agree that this phrase has been repeated in almost all branches of the paranormal. The phrase truly makes sense to us, a logical and rational society — well at least some of us–.

In the video, Dr. Sagan explains that the map Betty Hill drew as proof of what she saw while on board the UFO is arbitrary because it could be any group of stars in the universe. The line on the alien map that supposedly represented the route, could be drawn at random; therefore rendering this evidence useless. That’s true.

But what’s important to remeber is that this drawing was accessed through hypnotherapy, therefore not all of the details would be precise. In fact, there is so much controversy with hypnotherapy that it almost seems like the patients who undergo such therapy are subjected to a suggestive recollection. So if we were to assume that there was no accidental suggestions done during the hypnotherapy session, then we must agree that the “star map” would not have been 100% accurate. It would have been some hastefully drawn out map out of Betty’s foggy memory.

I think that the Hill case is just a story. We have nothing more than a couple’s word on the events claimed. Interestingly enough, it is one of the first cases of “loss of time” claims. Did the Hills really encounter a UFO and then abducted by aliens?

I remain skeptical of the Hill’s claim, just as I do with many other reports that I come across everyday. I also give them the benefit of doubt.

Of course we will never truly know the answer to this mystery. We do however hold dear to the teachings and visions of Dr. Sagan. Someone who believed in E.T. yet always pushed forth the importance of skepticism.