Any similarity between Kelston’s star map and Betty Hill’s is almost purely accidental. The paradox they share, however, is not. Betty’s sketch has the two planets Kelston’s lacks. (Marjorie Fish treats them as stars, ironically. Stars don’t have terminators.) But when the alien asks Betty where on the map the Earth is, she relives the movie-goer’s puzzlement. She has no idea. The sizes of the planets bear comparison to the planets in the starfield in the credits of the film, incidentally.
Parenthetically, the script of “Invaders From Mars” has Kelston present a large scrapbook with newspaper columns about saucer activities to the boy before the star map discussion. This was not in the 78-minute video I saw, but an 82-minute “European” version exists that has a longer observatory scene. Does anyone know if this scene was filmed? It might explain the presentation of the large book in Betty’s account.[30] [When this film was shown in Britain several years ago there was indeed a scene showing Kelston’s UFO scrapbook – J R]
The match between “Invaders from Mars” and Betty Hill’s nightmares is imperfect and obviously has none of the rigor of a mathematical equation. Dreams and nightmares by their nature are almost never veridical memories. Even if Betty Hill was really abducted, it would be unusual for her nightmares to be a photographic reply of her trauma. The felt emotions would resurface, but it would bear only a metaphoric similarity in its dramatic content. The most one would generally expect is snatches of unique imagery to help in piecing together of the sources the dream spun off from. It is something of a wonder that enough elements exist of this character – the Durante noses, and the navel-needle, and the optical tranquilization idea, and the star map – to make an identification that can be called convincing.
Barney’s version of events probably owes much to what Betty said in her speeches, but there is one facet which was clearly Barney`s own contribution – the long wraparound eyes of the aliens. Donald Keyhoe emphasised it was “the worst feature” of their ugly faces. It gave them a sinister look. Their hideousness prompted Keyhoe to wonder what could have caused the Hills to imagine such creatures. It was “never fully explained”.[31]
Wraparound eyes are an extreme rarity in science fiction films. I know of only one instance. They appeared on the alien of an episode of an old TV series “The Outer Limits” entitled “The Bellero Shield”. A person familiar with Barney’s sketch in “The Interrupted Journey” and the sketch done in collaboration with the artist David Baker will find a “frisson” of “deja vu” creeping up his spine when seeing this episode.
The resemblance is much abetted by an absence of ears, hair, and nose on both aliens. Could it be by chance? Consider this: Barney first described and drew the wraparound eyes during the hypnosis session dated 22 February 1964. “The Bellero Shield” was first broadcast on “10 February 1964. Only twelve days separate the two instances. If the identification is admitted, the commonness of wraparound eyes in the abduction literature falls to cultural forces.[32]
Wilder Penfield once proclaimed, “It is far better to be wrong than to bc without an opinion.” Penfield showed himself to be a wise scientist in formulating that maxim. Errors are much more fruitful than silence. They goad one into research and discovery. Had Jacobs, Hopkins, and Bullard been cautious and reserved, some of the surprises in this paper would never have surfaced. There are things here about the cultural nature of the UFO phenomenon I would never have suspected. The origin of flying saucers in a journalistic error, especially, is the most deeply cosmic joke to have ever fallen into my life. It may not be the ultimate refutation of the ETH in the minds of everyone, but it will do for me. For that am forever indebted to these fellows.
It is my opinion that culture predisposes people to have the sorts of UFO experiences they do to a degree we have yet to fully appreciate. If I’m wrong, my pontifications still won’t be in vain.
NOTES:
1. Jacobs, David M., “The New Era of UFO Research”, _Pursuit_ , no. 78, 1987, p. 50
2. Dille, Robert C. (ed), “The Collected Works of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century”, Chelsea House Publishers, 1969, p. 159.
3. Lundwall, Sam J., “Science Fiction: An Illustrated History”, Grosset & Dunlap, 1977, p. 107
4. Sadoul, Jacques, “2000 AD: Illustrations from the Golden Age of Science Fiction Pulps”, Henry Regnery, 1973, pp. 63, 66, 148.
5. Ibid, pp. 69, 70
6. Steiger, Brad, “Project Blue Book”, Ballantine, 1976. Arnold, Kenneth, “How it All Began”, in Fuller, Curtis G., “Proceedings of the First International UFO Conference”, Warner, 1980
7. Bullard, Thomas E., “UFO Abductions: The Measure of a Mystery. Volume 1: Comparative Study of Abduction Reports.” Fund for UFO Research, 1987, p. 196.
8. Story, Ronald D., “Encyclopedia of UFOs”, Dolphin, 1980, pp. 330-4
9. Hopkins, Budd, “Intruders”, Random, 1987, p. 192.
10. Nicholls, Peter, “The Science Fiction Encyclopedia”, Dolphin, 1979, p. 207.
11. Wells, H. “The War of the Worlds”
12. Hopkins, op. cit., pp. 189-90.
13. Warren, Bill, “Keep Watching the Skies: American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties” (2 vols), McFarland, 1982. Naha, Ed., “The Science Fictionary”, Wideview, 1980; Hardy, Phil, “The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction Movies”, Woodbury, 1984, p. 180
14. Warren, op. cit. p. 187.
15. Bullard, op. cit., p. 14. Naha, op. cit. p. 218
16. Rebello, Stephen, “Selling Nightmares: Movie Poster Artists of the Fifties”, Cinefantastique, March, 1988, p. 42
17. Bullard, op. cit., pp. 47-53, 372
18. Dille, op. cit. pp. 142-5.
19. Bullard, op. cit. pp. 54-5
20. Bullard, op. cit. p. 372
21. Hopkins, Budd: “Missing Time”, Richard Marke, 1981, p. 77. Warren, op. cit., p. 153. “Magonia”, No. 10, 1982, pp. 16-7
22. Bullard, op. cit. pp. i-ii, 275, 365
23. Fuller, John G., “The Interrupted Journey: Two Lost Hours Aboard a Flying Saucer”, Dell, 1966, pp. 45-9. Keyhoe, Donald E., The Flying Saucer Conspiracy”, Fieldcrest, 1955, pp. 63-64, 204-5.
24. Keyhoe, op. cit., pp. 240-6.
25. Fuller, op. cit, p. 343-4. Keyhoe, op. cit., pp. 58, 65,190,208.
26. Bullard, op. cit., p. 14
27. “Invaders From Mars” (1953), video, Fox Hills Video, 1987.
28. Fuller, op. cit., p. 344. Bullard, op. cit., p. 245.
29. Friedman, Stanton and Slate, B. Ann, “UFO Star Base Discovered”, UFO Report, 2, no. 1, fall 1974, p. 61.
30. Battle, John Tucker, “Invaders From Mars”, Script City, n.d. p. 42
31. Keyhoe, Donald E., “Aliens From Space”, Doubleday, 1973, p. 243-5.
32. Schow, David J. and Frentzen, Jeffrey, “The Outer Limits – The Official Companion”, Ace, 1986, pp. 170, 384. Bullard, op. cit., p. 243.
Robert Sheaffer – Scepticus Maximus – sheaffer@netcom.com