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“I
eliminate every material factor, and what is left, I consider the truth. At
least I'm able to know which experiences are fancied, and which are not. I was
awakened from sleep, by a peculiar scale which seemed to came from under the
bed. At first I thought it might be the pounding of my heart. You know how you
sometimes hear it in the pillow? But this was different. It sounded like a
cross between the plucking of harp strings, and a very delicate anvil chorus.
It sounded exactly like some sort of mechanism within the earth. I got it only
once again some nights later, but much fainter.
“Bit here
are the three experiences which I know to be true. Each happened when I least
expected it.
“I had
been there over a week and never walked at night. This particular evening, was
very tired, but had the urge to go for a stroll. I took my flashlight and smokes,
and jaunted down the highway towards the Mountain. It was that peculiar half
light between day and night. There was only an egg shaped moon, and about three
planets. As I neared a certain hill, I happened to glance upwards, and saw a
rocket like affair heading towards a hill. It happened so quickly, that I
wasn't able to digest it until afterwards. But it didn't travel too quickly for
me to observe. I've seen Halley's comet twice, and I've seen shooting stars,
and it was neither. The nearest resemblance, though not exactly, was to a torch
which might have been hurled from a plane. I thought, "That's funny. Now
who would want to set fire to the woods?" And then I realized that the
mark would be missed anyway, because this rocket affair disappeared over the
hill. If it had gone down behind this swell, I'd have thought it landed on the
other side, but it just dissolved in midair. According to my scale of
measurement, from where I was, this thing was visible for about three feet,
appearing to come from the evening star - or whatever that first big planet is
- going towards the moon which was nearer