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Alien Abduction!
Sep. 20th, 2007 01:29 pmJim MacDonald, a writer, is debunking the Betty and Barney Hill UFO abduction story over on Making Light.
Jim, unlike most if not all of the "researchers" who've analyzed this actually lives in New Hampshire, and in fact the route taken by the Hills during their fateful drive down from Canada would have taken them right past his house. So Jim, camera and book in hand, is retracing their steps. He hasn't got there yet, but he's strongly hinted that the "alien spaceship" seen was some kind of cable-car that still operates in that area.
Although I think I know the ending, it's interesting watching him get there. Most interesting is seeing him pick apart various assumptions and sloppy thinking which usually get broadcast in these events.
ETA From a writing point of view, one of the most striking things is how you really need to SEE the geography to write about it. For example - much of the Hill's route was on US 3. If you say that, or look at it on a map, that sounds like a reasonably wide and straight road. Jim knows that road, and it is neither. In fact, in 1961, the road was barely more then a country lane. That makes both the Hill's estimated speeds and times questionable, and explains the lack of traffic.
Jim, unlike most if not all of the "researchers" who've analyzed this actually lives in New Hampshire, and in fact the route taken by the Hills during their fateful drive down from Canada would have taken them right past his house. So Jim, camera and book in hand, is retracing their steps. He hasn't got there yet, but he's strongly hinted that the "alien spaceship" seen was some kind of cable-car that still operates in that area.
Although I think I know the ending, it's interesting watching him get there. Most interesting is seeing him pick apart various assumptions and sloppy thinking which usually get broadcast in these events.
ETA From a writing point of view, one of the most striking things is how you really need to SEE the geography to write about it. For example - much of the Hill's route was on US 3. If you say that, or look at it on a map, that sounds like a reasonably wide and straight road. Jim knows that road, and it is neither. In fact, in 1961, the road was barely more then a country lane. That makes both the Hill's estimated speeds and times questionable, and explains the lack of traffic.
