Empire unusual suggested

32 PASSPORT TO MAGONIA THE SECRET COMMONWEALTH S3
yellow-green. The skin around their eyes formed rings rather than
eyelids.
As Johannis moved, one of the beings touched his belt. At once,
from the center of the belt something like a ray and a puff of
vapor were emitted. Johannis experienced something like an electrical
discharge and found himself on the ground, helpless and
very weak. It took all his energy to turn his head around and
observe the two beings 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, and we tried in vain to get an active investigation
of it by Project Blue Book. Finally the case was "leaked," at my
suggestion, to a civilian group, which conducted a speedy and
careful study of the testimony given by the only witness, a Mr. S.
The details of the testimony arc available in an excellent book by
the leaders of the civilian group, the Lorenzens, al so I need not
discuss all the circumstances of the observation. Some remarks
concerning the case (called by the Lorenzens the "most spectacular
report we have examined") are relevant in the present
context, however.
The incident took place on September 4, 1964, in the mountains
of northern California, about eight miles from Cisco Grove.
Mr. S. had been hunting when he became separated from the
party and lost his way. Night was falling, so he lighted some fires
to call attention to his position.
Soon lie observed a light in the sky, which he thought was a
helicopter looking for him. When it stopped and hovered silently
nearby, however, he realized it was an unusual object and climbed
a large tree to observe the situation from that vantage point. The
light circled the tree. S. saw a flash and a dark object falling to
the ground. Next he noticed one figure crashing through the
woods below him and another moving in from a slightly different
direction. Both figures approached the tree and looked at him.
They were a little over five feet tall, the witness estimates, and
clothed in a silvery uniform that covered their heads. A third
creature appeared later, behaving more like a mechanical being
than an animal or a man, It was darker and had two reddishorange
"eyes." It had no mouth, but rather a slitlikc opening
that would "drop" open like an oven door.
For the rest of the time S. was conscious, the entities used a
variety of means to try to get him to fall from his tree. He managed
to keep them away by throwing lighted bits of paper and
clothing at them, to which they reacted in fear. The main weapon
used against him was a very curious one. If we arc 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 S.'s direction. The smoke would spread
like a mist, and upon reaching him, it would make him lose consciousness
for a certain time. The effect of it was comparable to
being suddenly deprived of oxygen, S. said.
It is hard to believe the story: Would not such beings as he
describes be able to climb a tree? If they came out of a flying
saucer, why could they not fly up to his refuge? But it is equally
difficult to prove that he 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 dropped in
an effort to get rid of the intruders were still lying around. Furthermore,
there is the description of the strange, powerful gas,
which plays such an important role in the story, as it does in the
incidents related to Springheel Jack, the Johannis sighting, and
the Sonny Desvergers case of August, 1952.
According to Captain Ruppelt's report of his investigations in
Florida, 32 Desvergers, a scoutmaster who went into a wood to
investigate a strange light and faced, he said, a horrible being who
looked at him from the turret of a flying machine unlike anything
he had ever seen, found himself breathing the same peculiar gas.
He froze where he stood and noticed a small ball of red fire began
to drift toward him. As it floated down it expanded into a cloud of
red mist. He dropped his light and machete, and put his arms over
his face. As the mist enveloped him, lie passed out.
This is confirmed by the unpublished memorandum written by
Ruppclt on September 12, 1952, upon his return from West Palm
Beach. Captain Ruppclt and Lieutenant R. M. Olsson began their