The most publicized account of human abduction by alien beings occurred on September 19, 1961 in New Hampshire. Betty and Barney Hill were returning home from vacation and travelling along US Route 3 towards Portsmouth when they first saw a bright light in the sky. Stopping the car for a closer look they tried to get a closer look through binoculars but had no success in determining what it was.
They continued their journey only to have the light begin to follow them. Almost to the town of Indian Head, the object swooped down and took up station about a hundred feet in front of their car. Barney stopped in the middle of the road and got out for a closer look with his binoculars. Observing several human-like beings staring back at him from the "windows" he hastily returned to his vehicle and sped away. The object followed, staying right over the car and making loud "clicking" sounds.
Arriving home about daylight, they realized the four-hour trip had taken them instead, seven hours. Three hours of their lives had gone missing. They showered, having a great urge to cleanse themselves for reasons they did not know. Over the next few weeks they both developed severe nightmares and became increasingly agitated for no good reason. They had reported the sighting but had been told they had merely misidentified Jupiter.
Others took their story more seriously. Over the next two years they were interviewed by various members of the National Investigations Committee On Aerial Phenomena. They concluded that some mental "block" was in place in the Hill's minds and suggested hypnosis to try and recover the memories. They enlisted Dr. Benjamin Simon, a skeptic, and he performed several sessions in the first half of 1964.
Under hypnosis a bizarre story emerged. Barney stated he was "compelled" to park in a secluded wooded area where they were taken aboard the now landed disk-shaped spacecraft by three alien beings with "very large eyes". Once onboard they were separated and subjected to invasive and humiliating physical examinations. Betty had asked the most sociable of her examiners where they were from and he showed her a "star map" he described as showing various trade and exploration routes. Under hypnosis, Betty redrew the map for the Doctor. Later examination of the map by astronomers placed a best guess as Zeta Reticula being the place the beings said was their origin place.
Finally returned to their vehicle, the Hills resumed their journey, mysteriously made to consciously forget their ordeal. Were it not for the ability of hypnosis to sometimes recover lost memory, we might never have learned of this frightening case of abduction.