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Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010003-8 FLYING SAUCERS continued the doctor saw the couple together and soon real- ized that both needed help. They had brought with them a copy of the NICAP report written by Walter Webb. Dr. Simon's attitude toward the subjett of Pos was neutral. He was willing'to accept what- ever authoritative sources said about it Atthecloseofthesession, Dr. Simondecided that one of his objectives was to open up the am- nesia, if this was what the condition turned out to be. This symptom. usually responds particularly well to hypnosis. He planned to begin the therapy with an at- ‘temptto penetrate theamnesia, through hypnosis, and to proceed from there as indicated by devel ‘opments. Dr. Simon also decided to tape-record the therapeutic sessions, to preserve an accurate record and to have the tape available for probable later use in bringing the material into the con- sciousnessoftheHillsundercontrolledconditions. Barney’ sand Betty'sknowledgeofhypnosis was fragmentary. Dr. Simon explained that the Hills would be brought into a condition some- what akin-to sleep, although not identical to it. In a lecture some years before to The New ‘York Academy of Medicine, Dr. Simon discussed hypnosis and its function in medical and psychi- atric practice: “Who can hypnotize? Who can be hypno- tized?” Dr. Simon asked in the lecture. “Any in- telligent adult with appropriate knowledge of technique can hypnotize....Psychotic individuals and the mentally retarded are very ‘resistant. to hypnosis. Most of these cannot be hypnotized... “Will plays no part whatever in: hypnosis, and the beliePthat*hypnotizability-is-a manifes- tation of a weak will is false... . “Hypnosis has gone through many periods of enthusiastic acceptance and then ensuing re- jection, as-have some of our ‘modern trends’ in psychiatry. There is no doubt that these-symp- toms (those removed by hypnosis) tend to recur or to be replaced by more distressing symptoms, unless the underlying emotional conflict (of which the symptoms are manifestations) is re- solved. Unless the physician can be sure that he will be able to continue treatment of the patient after the removal of the symptoms, the symptoms should not be removed by hypnosis. . “Many question whether a forcible break- through of resistance (such as that which is pro- vided by hypnosis) is a desirable approach. In a variety of conditions, hysterical, psychosomatic and others, hypnosis may help to shorten the time of therapy by facilitating the approach to uncon- scious conflicts. ... Hypnosis has dangers, and yet it isnot dangerous. The essential dangers lie in its use by those not bound by a professional code of ethics and who are not adequately trained.” As the Hills were to discover, they were in cautious, medically conservativehands. They were to run into a stiff test of whatever beliefs they now had as a result of their experience at Indian Head. Aceight in the morning, on Saturday, Jan- uary 4, 1964, the Hills arrived at the doctor's office for the first of three sessions in which the doctor would repeatedly induce hypnosis. as a conditioning process. They responded well. The doctor was satis- fied that they could attain the depth of trance de- sired. In exploring the amnesia, both the doctor and the patients would be going up a blind alley, and the reinforcement of the hypnosis. would make it possible to maintain firm control in the face of possible emotional. disturbances. Barney's nervousness increased somewhat as he prepared to undergo hypnosis for the first time. Dr. Simon placed him by the large desk in the office, his hands at his sides, and stood near him, in front of the desk and just in front of a comfortable chair. 2 “Dr. Simon began talking to me,” Barney recalls, “telling me that I was relaxing, and: he had me clasp my hands together, and that they would be tight, tight, very tight, that I couldn't open them no matter how hard I tried. And I was standing there, feeling very, very foolish, because Ithoughtf this is hypnosis, there is nothing to it. I’m just humoring the man. I didn’t want co hure his feelings. I think he stopped and placed. his hands over my eyes so that they would close. I said to myself that I wasn’t really hypnotized, and when he told me that I couldn't pull my hands apart, I knew that all I had to do was open my fingers and I could do it. But I just didn’t feel like opening my fingers. I didn’t even feel I was asleep, but then I was aware that he was waking me up, and asked me how I felt. And I felt very, very good, very calm and comfortable. And I no longer had any fear of hypnosis.” The opening up of amnesia requires’ the use of time regression, wherein the patient's mem-s ory becomes vivid and exact, where details long forgotten to the conscious mind emerge sharply. Itis notunusual for a person in hypnosis to recall the names and color of the eyes of everyone at his fifth birthday party if so requested. There is also the tendency to relive, fe-create, reenact the time segment being recalled, so that the subject ac- tually experiences emotions involved in the origi- nal experience, a process referred to as abreaction. The physician must always recognize the danger in bringing to light unconscious memories and feelings. These may be intolerable to the patient and can lead to serious after-reactions, “After the first test,"” Barney Hill recalls, “a curious thing happened. As I got ready for the~ induction into hypnosis, I looked at my'watch. It must have been five minutes after eight. And he gave me the key word, and I was hypnotized. And as far as time was concerned, I thought he was waking me immediately. But I looked at my watch, and it was after nine. Yet it seemed no time at all. I recalled also, just at the beginning of what must have been the trance, that he had ked my hand with something thac fele like the Piste of a brush, I asked himst I could see this done! So the doctor put me in a trance again, and told me to open my eyes, and that I would re- member this part of it. Then he took a needlelike instrument and pushed it against my hand, and there was no pain, except pethaps like a bristle of a brush. He put considerable pressure on it, and I could feel.no pain. The needle had pene- trated my skin, and there wasn’t any blood. So I began to realize that there were two things that could happen here: One, I could be hypnotized and made to forget that I had been hypnotized at all; two, I could be hypnotized, and if I'was told I could remember, I would retain a knowledge of all that had taken place under hypnosis.” Dr. Simon decided to take Barney first, hop- ing to regress him to the night of September 19, 1961, and have him reveal every detail of the trip from Canada to Portsmouth. Since the trance would provide details of marked clarity, and since there was a reasonable expectation that Barney: would bridge the amnesic gap'under hypnosis, the blocking off of his memory after each session would permit Betty to give her own story in later sessions without being influenced by Barney. On February 22, 1964, Barney was ready to make his excursion into the unknown. CHAPTER “Lam scared. God, |'m scared!” BARNEY TOOK His SEAT in front of the doctor's desk. He started to reach for a cigarette, but upon hearing the key words from Dr. Simon, his eyes closed, and his head nodded. His hands were folded across his lap, and he gave the appearance of having dozed in an easy chair. The deep trance was induced. The doctor began the session: DocToR: You are deeper and deeper asleep. Deep asleep. You will remember everything now, and you will tell me everything. And I want you to tell me in full detail a/! your experiences; all of your thoughts and all of your feelings, beginning with the time you left your hotel... . After retracing in precise detail the visit 10 Montreal, the trip into Canada and the upper part of Vermont and the drive down U.S. 3, Barney then men- tioned the object in the sky. BARNEY: I look up through the windshield of the car, and I see a star. That’s funny, but [ said: Betty, that's a satellite. And then I pulled over to the side of the soad, and Betty jumped out her side with the binoculars. .. . And I look towards the sky... And I'm saying, hurry up, Betty, so I can get a look. And Betty passes the binoculars to me. And I see that it’s nota satellite. It is a plane. And I tell Becty this and give the binocu- lars back to her. And I'am satisfied. Doctor: What kind of a plane was it? BARNEY: I look—and it is to the right. And it does not go where I thought it would go. It does not go past me to the right, my right shoulder. I think it will pass my right shoulder, off in the dis- tance, going to the north. I am facing west, and~” my right is to the north. And it does not go to the north. A faint trace of amazement. comes into bis voice. From his tone, it is ap- parent that he is reliving, not retelling, “the story. DOCTOR: Does it have propellers? BARNEY: I cannor tell. And I think this is stranger I cannot hear a motor, to know if it has propellers: continued Approved For Release 2001/04/02 : CIA-RDP81R00560R000100010003-8 took 104-46 53