The star map that Betty saw on the craft became one point of corroboration. Marjorie Fish, an Ohio school teacher spent years trying to find a pattern in the stars that matched that drawn by Betty under hypnosis. She created a three dimension model of our section of the galaxy and then examined it from all angles, searching for a match to that particular pattern. Her first attempts failed, but in 1972 after six years of intensive work, she finally discovered a pattern that matched what Betty Hill had drawn.
Fish discovered that the main stars in the map were Zeti I and Zeti II Reticuli, star systems about 37.5 light years from Earth. The map showed what might be interpreted as lines of communication. Heavy lines between the closest stars and lighter lines between those farther away. A single line connected the sun into the mix, suggesting that the sun was a relatively unimportant star.
Walter Webb, at one time APRO's consultant in Astronomy, wrote an analysis of Marjorie Fish's work. He was impressed by the fact the lines on the map, as developed by Fish, connected stars that were exclusively the type defined as suited for life. A random pattern of stars would not generate that sort of subtle, yet corroborative evidence. Webb also wrote that "The pattern happens to contain a phenomenally high percentage of all the known stars suitable for life in our solar neighborhood."
What was interesting, according to Webb, was that Fish had believed that dozens of patterns would emerge. Instead, after six years of work, she found only a single pattern that met all the criterion she had arbitrarily established. If the map was accurate, if Betty Hill remembered the map correctly, and if the details of the abduction weren't just vivid and frightening dreams, then a good clue had been found about the location of one group of alien visitors.
The Air Force never really investigated the case according to the Project Blue Book files. Although there is a file, it is clear that the material is from magazine articles and letters. Little of it suggests any sort of Air Force investigation. But what is more important is the tone of those documents concerning the Hill case.
One of them began with, "The Hill case is closed, and has zero priority." But after that opening statement, it is clear the beliefs of the writer had taken over. In fact, there is a tone of hostility in the document that comes through even in its written form.
According to the document, an obvious response to the magazine article that was based on The Interrupted Journey by John Fuller,
"1. Foreign does NOT mean foreign to Earth, it means Foreign to the United States.
"2. FTD is directed by AFSC at Andrews AFB, NOT the CIA. The CIA does not investigate UNIDENTIFIEDS.
"3. Name ONE scientist or "astrophysicist" studying this case.
"4. NICAP is not a "scientific" group.
"5. Walter Webb Astronomer? Yes, No?
"6. Is Hill emotionally mature?
"7. Note that they witheld (sic) information and waited two days. They reported only that there was a bright star moving toward them in a northerly direction.
"8. 'Two Years later?' … Evaluated in 1961 (Info supplied to Herbert S Taylor in 1963)
"9. Records? indicate a intensive [investigation?] Come on. We did not even bother to contact the Hills personally." Need I point out that this is exactly the problem. American citizens reported to the Air Force their UFO sighting and the Air Force attitude was to ignore it.
"10. No one else saw the same object the Hills did, Who are the others.???
"11. Sought psychiatric help. Does this indicate emotional maturity?" Actually, that is exactly what it does indicate. Barney Hill saw the psychiatrist after consulting doctors for an unrelated medical problem.
"12. What are the conclusions of the Psychiatrist?
"13. Who was the accredited scientific investigator who heard the tapes?
"14. Final evaluations made at Wright Patterson on the data submitted from Pease [Air Force Base] and other information from their own investigation into the matter." I thought that, according to this same letter, "Records? indicate a intensive [investigation?] Come on. We did not even bother to contact the Hills personally."
"15. The time motion sequence is missing in all reports. Such directions as 'to the right' 'up' ect (sic) have no validity. Only directions reported in azimuth and elevation have value.
"16. The files are maintained at Wright Patterson, not Pease AFB."
The obvious anger of the writer comes through on the written page. He is doing little more than attempting to assassinate the character of Barney Hill by suggesting emotional immaturity. There is nothing in the case to suggest that either of the Hills are emotionally immature. Believing that they had seen a flying saucer does not make them immature. It might suggest that they were unable to identify a natural object, one of the planets, for example, but that is all it suggests. At the end of the statement collected by Major Paul Henderson at Pease in the days that followed the incident, he wrote in apparent contradiction of the above, "Information contained herein was collected by means of telephone conversation between the observers and the preparing individual. The reliability of the observer cannot by judged and while his apparent honesty and seriousness appears to be valid it cannot be judged at this time."
This is, in itself quite revealing. It suggests that the Hills, or in this particular case, Barney, was a sincere and honest man who was reporting what he believed to be a flying saucer. The officer listened, collected the data, and did nothing else. Please note, the Air Force investigators did nothing else.
At no point in this case am I going to argue either for a conclusion of extraterrestrial intervention or of a solution of a natural occurrence simply because it is not relevant to my point. The Air Force, in September 1961, was charged with the investigation of UFO sightings. The Hills reported just such a sighting but it wasn't investigated. Instead, like so many other sightings, it was swept away once the "possible" or "probable" explanation was discovered.
On September 27, 1961, Project Blue Book officers reported, "The Barney Hill sighting was investigated by officials from Pease AFB. The case is carried as insufficient data in the Air Force files. No direction (azimuth) was reported and there are inconsistencies in the report. The sighting occurred about midnight and the object was observed for at least one hour. No specific details on maneuverability were given. The planet Jupiter was in the South West, at about 20 degrees elevation and would have set at the approximate time that the object disappeared. Without positional data the case could not be evaluated as Jupiter. There was a strong inversion in the area. The actual light source is not known. As no lateral or vertical movement was noted, the object was in all probability Jupiter. No evidence was presented to indicate that the object was due to other than natural causes."
This paragraph speaks volumes about the investigation. Before we look at that, however, we must remember one fact. Project Blue Book had a single mission. They were to investigate sightings of UFOs. Officers at other bases, as one of their additional duties, were tasked with collecting data about UFOs and forwarding those reports, in accordance with Air Force regulations, to Project Blue Book.
I point this out only to stop the argument that the Air Force had better things to do that listen to the tales told by Barney and Betty Hill. In this circumstance, that is exactly what they were tasked to do. Listen to Barney and Betty Hill.
That said, let's look at the Air Force statement. They complain because no azimuth was given. Who'se fault is that? Certainly not Barney Hill. Had the Air Force desired that information, they could have determined it. Maybe someone would have had to drive to the Hill residence, or, maybe they could have asked the Hills to come in for additional interrogation. After all, Barney Hill had already demonstrated that he would cooperate with the Air Force authorities because he had called with his sighting report.