CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE—SUBTLE STORYTELLER

     Clifford Holmes, Sr., was an excellent storyteller. His stories were never long-winded. They were concise and carefully crafted to leave the young listener deep in thought. Mr. Holmes worked for Fleischman's Yeast Company in Peekskill, N. Y. When he was home, he used to relax in the living room of his house and watch television or read anything available. He enjoyed TV sports programs, comedies and the news. Whenever his son Cliff and I showed up, he would invite us to sit down and watch television with him. If he turned off the television or put down a magazine, it was storytime.

     I remember two of his stories. He told a story about a lost silver mine in the Hudson Highlands which led Cliff and me on a wild goose chase. The other story terrified me more than the 1941 movie about Wolf Man.

     Mr. Holmes told us that there was an old silver mine not far from Continental Village. Eighty years ago, he said, the owner of the silver mine was robbed and killed outside a bar in Cold Spring, N. Y. Several iron ore miners knew about his claim. For several years they searched the Hudson Highlands for the mine but could not locate it. Eventually the searching stopped but the story was passed down to younger generations.

     Mr. Holmes told us that the mine was rumored to contain a vein of pure silver. He suggested that it still had a considerable amount of silver in it, as the owner had died before the mine was thoroughly worked. "It was told to me that it was located in the woods below a long ridge, just west of the Old Albany Post Road, but south of Graymoor," he said.

     This short teaser was sufficient for Cliff and me to think on it for several days. We believed every word of it. We swallowed the bait. We contacted our friends and enlisted Paul and Raymond Kuty, Wayne Matthews, Billy Wert, and others, and on a Saturday morning we began our search for the lost silver mine.

     My friends and I met at the Revolutionary War Monument in Continental Village at 10 A. M. We drank water from the spring and filled our single canteen. Not thinking that we would be hiking more than two hours, we did not carry snacks. Cliff and I took the lead and the other boys followed us on the Old Albany Post Road.

     We walked as far as Upland Drive, and followed this road a short distance. It was a dirt road at the time. I don’t remember any houses there. Less than 500 feet west of the Old Albany Post Road we found an old footpath which pointed north and we took it. It appeared to follow the direction of the post road, and we continued on this path, never passing over Old West Point Road but continuing west. How much further we hiked I cannot say. Unused for a long time, the path became more difficult to follow. At some large boulder in the woods we left the path. We crested a small ridge. Ahead we saw a valley and another hill. There were mutterings of discontent.

     "We ought to stop and go back," said Billy. He was the oldest boy in the group. "There’s nothing here," he said.

     This started a general conversation. So far we had seen nothing that resembled a mine. We saw a fox den in the crevice of two boulders early on, but that was all. We had been walking for two hours and we were hungry.

     Paul suggested that we mark a tree where we were standing and then search around our position on the ridge. If we found nothing we should return back home. All of the boys agreed, but only two, Cliff and I, left to search the ridge. We were gone only a few minutes when we found a narrow gauge railroad bed with ties still on it. The rails had been removed. A small cave or mine was located near the end of the railroad line.

     Cliff and I congratulated each other. We announced our discovery and called the other boys to join us. They came up quickly.

     We examined the old mining location. There was a large pool of water inside the cave. The water prevented further exploration. Was this an iron mine or a silver mine? How should we know?

     Billy Wert suggested that the mine was probably an iron mine like all the others in the area. Cliff Holmes disagreed.

     We stayed in the area about fifteen minutes. Our empty stomachs dictated the next move. We decided to go back home.

     On the way home we got so hungry that we ate some leeks which we found growing near a small spring in the woods. They seemed to satisfy our immediate hunger but by the time each one of us got home we had some serious indigestion.

     That night I was visiting with Cliff at his house and we told his dad about our discovery. He single comment was, "I don’t believe that mine you discovered was the silver mine." 

     Cliff's dad was watching the national news on television. He appeared to be deeply interested. "Did you hear that?" he exclaimed. "Flying saucers spotted in Washington, D. C. Two of them right above the White House!"

     Cliff and I were fascinated by the news. We did not notice how Mr. Holmes had changed the subject. Both of us were suddenly thinking about aliens inside flying saucers invading the earth.

     It was Saturday, July 19, 1952. UFO's had been seen in Washington, D. C. The story was broadcast in the national news for several days.

     Late in the afternoon, on the following day, I again visited at the Holmes’ house. Cliff and I cleaned his dugout hut and fed his pigeons. On invitation I ate supper with the family. In the evening Mr. Holmes sat down in his favorite chair in the living room and the entire family and I watched the Ed Sullivan Show on television. Mrs. Holmes, her daughters Lois and Edith, left the room at the end of the show. I don't remember anything about the Ed Sullivan Show, but I do remember vividly the conversation that followed.

     After the show, Mr. Holmes, Cliff and I remained in the living room. Mr. Holmes wanted to tell us something about the flying saucers that were reported on television networks over the weekend. He said that most of the news on Sunday was about UFO's sighted yesterday over Washington, D. C.  Mr. Holmes told us that early Sunday morning flying saucers were spotted over several towns in Pennsylvania and they were flying north. An Air Force spokesman predicted that they would fly over New York City and Westchester County by nightfall. There were other reports that flying saucers had landed in West Virginia, and aliens were seen on the ground amid glowing bright lights. People were reported missing near Harrisburg, Mr. Holmes said. I was a naïve kid who listened with growing interest and fear to every word he spoke. I did not see a trace of mischief in his face as he spoke.

     It was already dark outside when I said goodbye. I usually walked home from the Holmes' house. My house was not far away. But this night would be different. My mind was filled with aliens and flying saucers and danger, so in a state of panic I ran as fast as I could all the way home.

     Mr. Holmes probably imagined, but never saw or heard, his story's aftermath.