Volume 10, Issue 10, page 7

By VERONICA SYDOW -- ,
As Told to ALICE HART
rr e~i~..~
,c
t~ -- ' ci, ., t` On days Papa was working some distance from
fi ~~ the house, I liked to carry his lunch to him,
r,.` or a pitcher of cool milk or water. Once, while
I was waiting for him to finish his drink, I
saw in the next field a strange lady, shading
,her eyes and waving to me. I can still see her
in my mind's eye: tall, with opalescent skin
(like milk diluted with water) and the bluest
eyes I've ever seen. She was wearing a long,
blue gingham dress and pale blue bonnet. There
were people working beyond her, who looked toward me and then resumed working, but she just
stood there and watched me as I took the empty
pitcher back to the house.

I thought nothing more of this incident
until our neighbor, a huge Russian whom Papa
called Jan, galloped up on his beautiful horse,
shouting excitedly for my father. Papa came
running out of the barn cellar and Jan began
to scold in Russian (which I could understand,
altho Jan did not suspect it): "Albin, you
MUST keep the white-haired child within the
fencing of this yard. Do not let her go wandering around or you'll lose that little one.
The cavern people are interested in your rambler, so for your own good and for her sake,
remember! No harm would come to her, but you
would never see your child again."
Papa assured Jan that he would heed his
warning, and then invited him into the house
for refreshments. While Mama gave them cool
milk, homemade cheese, and butter on freshlybaked bread, Jan told Papa about these people
who worked in his fields in exchange for food,
clothing, and other supplies. This was my first
introduction to the knowledge that people live
inside the earth, as well as on the surface.
"A long time ago," Jan began, "many thousands of years ago, there lived on this earth
people so clever and brilliant that they had
machines to do all sorts of things for them,
while they studied, or glided about the planets in their round, wheelless vehicles.
"In those olden days I speak of, there were
Elders (or the Elder Brothers), who sat in the
Hall of Justice and Wisdom and ruled this
world. They had all kinds of schools and did
not need armies, as they were wise, and could
foresee the future. But there was a rebellious
faction among the people which was always trying to stir up strife and take over control of
the earth. Finally, the Elders could see that
these rebels had stolen enough ray machines to
do great damage, so they decided to leave the
surface and go deep within the earth. They
used their ray machines, or guns, to hollow
out large caves, and they fashioned a focal
point of light to resemble our sun, but lacking the harmful rays of sunlight. They were
constructing the interior to resemble the outer
surface as much as possible when they learned
the rebels were preparing an attack, and so
were forced to withdraw hurriedly into their
retreat, leaving a rear guard to ward off the
attackers. The resulting battle was so severe
and damaging that it caused the earth to flip,
changing the polarity, and bringing about
floods and great loss of life. But those in
A
IFE ON this earth can be an exciting
experience, full of beckoning mysteries -- like the caverns which I
know exist deep beneath the Mohawk
hills and which draw me like a magnet. I have tried to visit them, but merely approaching the openings always affects
me with chills and headaches. My last attempt was in November of 1962 and was followed by several days of illness, including sores all over my body and in my
mouth -- which made eating uncomfortable
for a month or more.

You may wonder how I can be so certain that
these caverns exist. The story begins in Schenectady, N.Y., where my father owned a large
building, with a saloon in the basement, a hall
7 on the ground floor for meetings of all kinds,
a two floors above for our living quarters, and
-" a fourth floor rented to the bartender. This
- was a gathering place for many newcomers to
America; men such as Charles P.Steinmetz an d
others drawn to Schenectady by the General
1 1 Electric laboratory. Young as I was, my greatest thrill was to hide behind doors and furniture to listen to the grown-up talk about
strange events of the past and prophecies of
i the future, becoming quite a linguist in the
process, since the conversations were some4.3 times in Russian, Jewish, or Polish, all of
W which were spoken in our house.

The news that Papa had sold this property
04 and bought a farm high in the hills overlook04 ing the Mohawk River was received with consterW nation. But it meant very little to me until
pq after we had moved. Then, for the first time,
cc I knew the meaning of freedom, as the hired
girl who had watched over us children was left
behind in the city and I was free to roam the
woods and fields.

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED
Tales of the 'Unusual' That Test the Credulity
7 of Those Afraid of What They Don't Understand.