The famous Fish Map
On July 7, 2013, UFO and star map researcher Steve Pearse sent an email to a number of UFO researchers, informing them that Marjorie Fish had died in a nursing home in Oak Harbor, Ohio almost three months earlier, on April 8. She was 80, and had reportedly been suffering from Azlheimer's disease. Apparently none of those receiving the email, including Kathleen Marden and Stanton Friedman, knew that Fish had died. A link was provided to a memorial page for Ms. Fish created by a local newspaper. The obituary contains this rather startling statement:
Marjorie Fish
As one of her hobbies, Marjorie made an investigation into the Betty Hill map by constructing a 3-D star map in the late 1960's using several databases. She found a pattern that matched Mrs. Hill's drawing well, which generated international interest. Later, after newer data was compiled, she determined that the binary stars within the pattern were too close together to support life; so as a true skeptic, she issued a statement that she now felt that the correlation was unlikely.However, nobody seems to know anything about any such statement made by Marjorie Fish. Marden sent email to that same list, saying she knew nothing about any repudiation by Fish of her map, and doubted that Fish ever did so.
[A statement from Fish's niece casts doubt on Fish's supposed repudiation.]
Separately, Steve Pearse has written an open letter to MUFON, titled "Should Stanton Friedman Renounce Marjorie Fish?" In it he says:In the December, 2012 issue of the MUFON Journal (No. 536) Stanton Friedman wrote a two page rebuttal article in his regular monthly column 'Perceptions' aimed primarily at his arch rival Robert Sheaffer, a well known UFO debunker... This wasn't a draw, split decision, or a knockout by either one of them, but it is time to settle this issue once and for all.He objects to my descriptions of how Betty and Barney shared their accounts "before" the hypnosis sessions with Dr. Simon, thereby compromising their independence. He also objects to me calling certain individuals "UFOlogists" when they were engineers and whatever. Well, what should we call people who spend a full twelve hours interviewing a supposed UFO witness - "UFO fanatics?"
However, Friedman must endure even worse from Pearse:ROBERT SHEAFFER IS CORRECT!.... WHEN YOU REMOVE THE LINES-IT'S VERY OBVIOUS THAT THERE IS NO MATCH. YOU HAVE TO ASK THE QUESTION: WHY WAS THIS IGNORED?... I HAVE TO SIDE WITH ROBERT SHEAFFER ON ONE MAJOR TOPIC AND THAT IS THE INVALIDATION OF MARJORIE FISH'S CONTROVERSIAL ZETA RETICULI INTERPRETATION, IT'S BECOME EVEN MORE CONTROVERSIAL BECAUSE FRIEDMAN IS FULLY AWARE OF THE FACT THAT THE TRIANGLE IN FISH'S STAR MAP DOESN'T EXIST. TWO OF HER STARS ARE OUTSIDE OF THE BOUNDARY OF HER WORKING MODEL THAT CLAIMED THAT ALL THE STARS WERE WITH 55 LIGHT YEARS OF SOL/EARTH LOOKING IN THE DIRECTION OF ZETA RETICULI. ALL THAT HE'S WILLING TO SAY IS THAT THERE IS BETTER DATA NOW. OF COURSE, FRIEDMAN, AND MUFON, WILL IGNORE THAT LETTER. THIS WILL SURELY LEAD UP TO A FASCINATING EXCHANGE WHEN I HAVE A TWO-HOUR DEBATE WITH STANTON FRIEDMAN on the Revolution Radio Network, currently scheduled for August 8 at 5PM Pacific Time (8PM Eastern Time). Then, Friedman will not be able to ignore the problems with his precious Fish Map. I wonder how Friedman can possibly defend his continued promotion of the Fish Map, given that we now know how utterly implausible it is.
But wait, there's more: one reason that Pierce is so eager to discard the Fish map is that he thinks there is a better one! He has written a book titled Set Your Phaser to Stun, in which he describes another alleged indentification of Betty Hill's sketch. His email user name, HR3951 (an entry in the Yale Bright Star Catalog) gives us a clue. One of the giant globes representing the aliens' alleged home star is supposed to be HR3951 = 20 Leo Minoris = SAO 61808, a totally obscure star in an obscure constellation. At magnitude 5.4, it is barely visible to the naked eye under excellent dark sky conditions. (If there is any constellation more obscure than Reticulum, it is Leo Minor. Why can't the aliens choose more interesting places to come from? At least Billy Meier's aliens came from the Pleiades - that's a lot more interesting!)
I have not had time to study the details of the Hill-Wilson map. However, it is supposed to be an earth-based map, yet one of the giant globes is supposed to represent our Sun. How do you map the sun in a position among the stars if you are on earth?
In any case, the new map now takes its proud place as Star Map #6, the sixth proposed identification of what Betty Hill drew. (There may be others I'm not aware of.) The six are:
* Betty Hill's Pegasus Map, in "The Interrupted Journey"
* Fish Map
* Atterberg Map (nearby stars, see my book "UFO Sightings")
* Koch-Kyborg Map (planets and asteroids)
* Yari Danjo Map (nearby stars)
* Hill-Wilson Star Map (stars seen from earth-based view).
Adding to the uncertainty over any star map are Betty Hill's own comments, in a letter to Marjorie Fish. Skeptical researcher Kitty Mervine has been studying Betty Hill's papers which are now housed in the Milne Special Collections and Archives, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham NH. In a letter dated only "October 12" (1969?), Betty Hill wroteAs for the 8 background stars - I really do not know if they exist and in that position, or if I added them to try to show that the other stars were seen on the sky map in the background. I know I added them to show that stars were in the background; however, as to their position on the original skymap, I am not sure.So even Betty Hill herself was not so sure about the unconnected stars - one of which is sometimes claimed to represent a star that 'had not been discovered yet' at the time the map was made. Kitty suggests, "We should be focused on Betty Hill's original drawing, not attempted matches. If you are starting with bad information, you will never have a match." And if even Betty Hill says she was "not sure" about the stars she drew, I can't imagine why anyone else should be.
