Dimensions: A Casebook of Alien Contact - Above Top Secret

Folklore in the making. From the farfadets, we have drifted to modern times, with Springheel Jackand the Mothman. And we have seen our visitors' arsenal become more precise. Jack's lantern andray gun have survived in modern tales, in twentieth-century comic books, in television series. Butthe real question is: Could all this be real? And, if not, how can we explain the consistency of thesedescriptions, at a time when there were no comics and no television?The Italian artist R. L. Johannis had a remarkable experience in 1947, at a time when the name"flying saucer" was already popular in the United States but when documentation about landingswas nonexistent. The date was August 14. He was hiking alone, following a small stream in themountainous region between Italy and Yugoslavia. Among some rocks, he suddenly saw a large,brilliant red, lens-shaped object, about ten yards in diameter. Close to it, he discovered two people,whom he first regarded as "kids" until he realized they were dwarfs – of a type he had never seenbefore.The two beings were under three feet tall; their heads were larger than a man's head. They had nohair, eyelashes, or eyebrows. Their faces were greenish, their noses straight, their mouths wide slits,giving them something of the appearance of a fish. Their eyes were huge, round, and prominent,their color yellow-green. The skin around their eyes formed rings rather than eyelids. As Johannismoved, one of the beings touched his belt. At once from the center of the belt something like a rayand a puff of vapor were emitted. Johannis experienced an electrical discharge and found himself onthe ground, helpless, and very weak. It took all his energy to turn his head and observe the twobeings as they walked away. A moment later they were gone.In 1965 a case very similar to Johannis's was reported to the U.S. Air Force. Dr. J. Allen Hynek andI tried in vain to get an active investigation of it by Project Blue Book, the U.S. Air Force'sinvestigations of UFO sightings in the 1960s. Finally the case was leaked, at my suggestion, to acivilian group which conducted a speedy and careful study of the testimony given by the onlywitness, a Mr. S. The details of the testimony are now aviable in an excellent book by the leaders ofthe civilian group, the Lorenzens. Called by the Lorenzens the "most spectacular report we haveexamined," the incident took place on September 4, 1964, in the mountains of northern California,about eight miles from Cisco Grove. Mr. S. was hunting when he became separated from thehunting party and lost his way. Night was falling, so he lit some fires to show his position.Soon he observed a light in the sky, which he thought was a helicopter looking for him. When itstopped and hovered silently nearby, however, he realized it was an unusual object and climbed alarge tree to observe from that vantage point. The light circled the tree. He saw a flash and a darkobject falling to the ground.Next he noticed one figure crashing through the woods below him and another moving in from aslightly different direction. Both figures approached the tree and looked at him. They were a littleover five feet tall, the witness estimates, and clothed in a silvery uniform that covered their heads. Athird creature appeared later, behaving more like a mechanical being than an animal or man. It wasdarker and had two reddish-orange "eyes." It had no mouth, but rather a slit-like opening that woulddrop open like an oven door.For the rest of the time Mr. S. was conscious, the entities used a variety of means to try to get him tofall from the tree. He managed to keep them away by throwing lighted bits of paper and clothing atthem, to which they reacted in fear. The main weapon used against him was a very curious one. Ifwe are to believe this report, the "robot-like" entity would let its lower "jaw" drop, then place its"hand" inside the rectangular cavity thus revealed, and emit a puff of smoke in Mr. S.'s direction.The smoke spread like a mist and, upon reaching him, made him lose consciousness. The effects ofit was comparable to being suddenly deprived of oxygen, Mr. S. said.The story is hard to believe: Would not such beings be able to climb a tree? If they came out of aflying saucer, why could they not fly up to his refuge? But it is equally difficult to prove that Mr. S.simply had a nightmare. The witness is not given to such behavior, and when he woke up at dawn,still tied to the tree with his belt, all the objects he had thrown at the intruders were still lyingaround. Furthermore, there is the description of the strange, powerful gas, which plays such animportant role in the story, as it does in the incidents related to Springheel Jack, the Johannis