In September 1961 Betty and Barney Hill, along with their dog, Delsey, were heading home to Portsmouth, New Hampshire after spending time in Montreal, Canada. It was late, and they were tired. However, after getting lost trying to find a dog friendly hotel on the outskirts of Montreal, they decided to head straight home. Little did they expect that their journey would be interrupted by Aliens.
My goal here is not to retell the events of that fateful night. Betty and Barney Hill’s account has been presented in books, movies, and countless documentaries, as the first public disclosure of an UFO abduction. However, despite all these retellings, Delsey the Dachshund, has only received periphery treatment in the extensive review of the events of that night. So I have to ask, what happened to Delsey?
What we do know is while driving through the White Mountains of New Hampshire, Betty and Barney noticed strange lights in the sky. Around that same time, their dog started squirming. Like any dog owner, they assumed she had to go to the bathroom. So they searched for a safe place to pull over and let her out. The Hills were concerned by the odd lights they saw in the sky, but at this point were focused on relieving the dog, who Barney recalled was hiding under the car’s seat. It was sometime after this that Betty and Barney were confronted by the strange creatures piloting the craft, and two hours of their trip went mysteriously missing.
Under hypnosis years later, they remembered being escorted back to their vehicle by the extraterrestrials they encountered. According to Barney, Delsey was under the seat in a tight ball. Betty remembered Delsey being on the passenger seat, trembling all over. She recalled holding Delsey on her lap, as they all watched the UFO fly away. In shock, they continued their drive home. Still not fully comprehending what happened, when they arrived home Betty walked Delsey, and then they prepared for bed.
Shortly after the UFO encounter, Delsey developed an epidermal fungus infection, as well respiratory problems, which were treated by a veterinarian. However, they thought little of this illness because they had recently adopted Delsey, just six weeks prior to that fateful night, and did not have her medical history. Therefore, it was a few more weeks before Betty realized that the dog had never been bathed after the incident. She also realized that Delsey’s personality had somewhat changed in that she would now whimper, shake, and move her legs when sleeping. Again though, this is common behavior in dogs, so not much thought was given to her behavior.
Little else has been shared about Delsey’s life following her possible UFO abduction, other than she passed away suddenly 7 years later on December 24, 1968. Despite receiving treatment, her cause of death was dehydration due to a bladder infection. Was Delsey also abducted by Aliens on September 19, 1961? Did she hide terrified in the car while watching her owners disappear into the night sky? We will never know.
If you’d like to learn more, we recommend reading Interrupted Journey, by John G. Fuller, and Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience, coauthored by Betty Hill’s niece, Kathleen Marden, and the renowned ufologist, Stanton T. Friedman. Also if you’re looking for something to do this weekend, the annual Exeter UFO Festival will be taking place August 31 to September 1, 2019 in Exeter, NH. Although dogs are NOT allowed to attend the presentations, there will be a Pet Alien Costume contest on Saturday, August 31, 2019 at 12 noon, to be followed by an Alien Parade. To learn more, visit ExeterUFOFestival.org.
