Discovery+ is taking another look at two of the most well-documented claims of UFO abduction in all-new episodes of Shock Docs premiering on the streamer Feb. 18. Ahead of its debut, PopCulture.com has an exclusive first look at Alien Abduction: Betty and Barney Hill, which takes another look at the first Americans to ever report being abducted by extraterrestrials, using modern technology to reexamine the evidence.
In September 1961, Betty and Barney Hill were driving home to New Hampshire from their honeymoon when they claim to have come face-to-face with a UFO. When they couldn’t quite shake the feeling something else had happened during their close encounter, the couple underwent regressive hypnosis, which dug up memories of being abducted and experimented on by extraterrestrials on their UFO.
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The Hills would become household names globally as the first widely-reported alien abductees. Decades later, in an intimate first-person interview, their niece, Kathleen Marden, walks viewers through her lifelong mission to discover the truth behind the Hill alien abduction. Using witness testimony, documents and physical evidence, she’s determined to discover the truth. In the new Shock Docs installment, UFO expert Ben Hansen and his team run DNA testing on Betty’s dress and even corroborate parts of her examination story.
In Alien Abduction: Travis Walton, also streaming on Feb. 18, the same level of examination is brought to the 1975 case of 22-year-old Travis Walton, who is witnessed by his logging crew members being struck down by a flash of blue light when they suddenly encountered a UFO in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. The crewmates flee, but fearing Walton dead, call in the authorities, who find no sign of the young man during a search of the area.
Puzzling questions remain in the aftermath: Was Walton truly abducted by aliens? Or did his coworkers have something to do with his disappearance, despite passing polygraph examinations about their UFO story? The case became an international media sensation at the time, and today, new tree ring growth evidence may lend more credence to their UFO tale. Separately the program uncovers details behind the man who led a complex plot to debunk Walton’s story.
“Even after decades, these are still active cases,” said Hansen in a statement. “We’ve been following up on leads and field research in the last few years that have uncovered incredible discoveries. As the world is hearing official confirmation of the existence of UAPs that may be of extraterrestrial origin, we now have to ask the next question: how up close and personal are these visits? No matter the agenda of these visitors, the vivid and dramatic details of the encounters in these historic cases should make everyone pause and wonder what might be coming.” Alien Abduction: Betty and Barney Hill and Alien Abduction: Travis Walton start streaming on discovery+ on Friday, Feb. 18.
