Betty Hill Star Map
Type: Witness Illustration
Source: Betty Hill
Betty and Barney Hill claimed to have been abducted by aliens on September 19, 1961, in New Hampshire, resulting in a three-hour memory gap. Under hypnosis by psychiatrist Dr. Benjamin Simon in 1964, Betty Hill drew a star map she claimed was shown to her aboard the spacecraft, depicting 12 prominent stars connected by solid lines (trade routes) and 3 lesser stars forming a triangle.
The map is famously linked to the Zeta Reticuli binary star system, which some proponents, such as statistician David Saunders and amateur astronomer Marjorie Fish, argue matches the drawing’s alignment. Fish identified the two large spheres on the map as Zeta I and II Reticuli, suggesting the aliens originated from this system. However, skeptics note that Zeta Reticuli was already known astronomy and argue the map’s interpretation relies on subjective selection of stars, with some experts attributing the abduction story to stress or hallucination.
The incident became widely known through John G. Fuller’s 1966 book The Interrupted Journey and the 1975 TV movie UFO Incident. Barney Hill died in 1969, and Betty Hill died in 2004, having dedicated her later years to promoting the case. The Hill star map has also influenced pop culture, appearing in concept art for films like Alien and Moonraker, and inspiring the ancient star maps in Prometheus.
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