National Geographic, not all that long ago published an article on the search for life on other worlds. I was struck by a paragraph in the magazine that suggested that the search for extra solar planets was now targeting M class dwarf stars, which, of course, include those known as red dwarfs. It mentioned that seven of the ten closet stars to Earth were dwarfs.
To be fair to Fish, she made her assumptions thirty or forty years ago but they are now invalid. The article in National Geographicsuggested that these M Class stars have long periods of stability, longer than those postulated for stars like our sun. While the dwarf stars are smaller, dimmer and cooler than the sun, they do have zones of in which the conditions ideal for life as we know it exist and given the discovery of planets around some of these stars, including planets known as “Super— Earths,” it is possible that life, including intelligent life, would be found on those planets.
There was also a recent announcement of a Super Earth that has oceans. This planet, thought to be about two and a half times the size of Earth, with a mean temperature higher than that on Earth, suggests that some dwarf stars might hold a great deal of interest for any space faring race. And while all stars that have planets where life is possible might not have life, some of them might and that would certainly make them interesting to space travelers.
And there are new problems with the Fish model. Although she used the latest star catalogs available in the construction of her models, some of the distances to the stars in her interpretation of the star map were in error. Astronomers have recalculated the distances to these stars and put them outside the limitations imposed by Fish. In other words, those stars would have been excluded had the distances been accurate when Fish created her three dimensional models.
These two facts seem to suggest that the Fish interpretation is in error, and that we can no longer say, with any degree of certainty, that some of the alien abductors come from Zeta 1 and Zeta 2 Reticuli. And this overlooks the other interpretations that are equally as valid as the one created by Fish.
What is interesting, is that the UFO community has embraced the Fish interpretation of the Hill star map and rejected the others, including the one found by Betty Hill herself. The acceptance of the Zeti Reticuli interpretation is based on an earth-bound logic that pre-supposes an understand of the workings of an alien mind. It pre-supposes that we can apply our logic to a star map without having the necessary information to make that logic valid.
There is another point to be made here. This star map was "discovered" during one of the hypnotic regression sessions, at least according to some of those interested in it. It came from Betty Hill's memory during one of those sessions but was based, according to Hill herself, on a dream sequence. Although Frank Salisbury of the University of Utah did say that the fact the story and map came to light under hypnosis and that is good evidence that it actually took place, we know that such claims are in error. As we have seen repeatedly in other UFO investigations, hypnosis is a poor investigative tool that is more likely to create false memories than actually access real ones. The hypnotically retrieved memories are less reliable than those accessed in other ways.
Of course, according to Fuller, Betty Hill had "dreamed" the star map long before she had said anything to Simon under hypnosis. To some that has suggested a conscious memory of the event prior to the hypnosis, but that isn't actually the case. The memories returned to her in dreams and she carefully logged them. There is no scientific evidence to suggest that "memories" that surface in dreams, especially those not remembered in a conscious or waking state, are any more reliable than those retrieved with hypnosis.
So where are we on this? One prominent UFO researcher has suggested that we know some of the "grays" come from the Zeti Reticuli system. But we don't know that. What we have is a bit of evidence, retrieved under hypnosis, that has, at least three good interpretations for it. There is no logical reason to accept one interpretation over the other. All fit the pattern created by Betty Hill.
In fact, over the years, these other interpretations have slipped from the UFO literature. Clark, in his UFO encyclopedia, made no mention of either Betty Hill's interpretation or that by Atterberg. Instead, he focused solely on the Fish model.
What we really know is that Betty Hill's star map was created during her dreams and reinforced by hypnotic regression. No evidence has been presented to suggest that the map is valid. It is, in essence, twelve dots connected by various lines. It is not a very good clue as to the home world of the aliens, it is not solid evidence that the event took place, and it has mislead millions who believe that here is evidence of alien visitation and alien abduction.
We can argue the statistical significance of the Fish interpretation of the Hill model, we can argue that Fish's criterion for selection of the stars in the map is solid, and we can argue that hypnotically regressed testimony is important and valuable, but when all is said and done we are once again left with no solid evidence. What we have is an interesting aberration in the abduction phenomenon which does nothing to advance our understanding but certainly clouds the issue with seeming corroborative data. In the end we are left where we began, with nothing in the way of hard evidence. Instead we are left with the nightmares of a kind, sincere woman who believed she was abducted by aliens but the idea that some of the aliens come from Zeta 1 or Zeta 2 Reticuli is no longer corroboration of the tale.
There are other points that are often lost on those studying the Hill case. It has been suggested that neither Barney nor Betty Hill watched the various science fiction programs that were broadcast in the early 1960s. This becomes important because Dr. Simon had Barney draw a representation of the alien creature he saw during the abduction. To some it looked like the alien from The Bellaro Shield, an episode of The Outer Limits.
But asked about this later, Betty Hill said that she had never heard of the show and that she and Barney never watched anything like that on television. I believe that the statement might refer only to The Outer Limits. There is evidence that they did watch The Twilight Zone, or more precisely, were aware of the program and the nature of its stories.
On page 144 of The Interrupted Journey, Betty Hill is describing the events and the craft while under hypnotic regression. She said, “…It was long, and there weren’t any wings. And it was going sideways. You know, like a cigar. It was going from the left to the right. It was just like holding up a cigar in front of the moon, with all these lights flashing around it. So then Barney looked at it, and I too the binoculars and looked again and gave them back to him. And then I went over and put Delsey in the car and got in the car myself and shut the door. And then barney came over and got in the car, and he said, ‘They’;ve seen us, and they’re coming this way.’ And I laughed and asked if he had watched Twilight Zone recently on TV. And he didn’t say anything.”