| abstract | - Throughout early 1897, rural farmers across northern Texas witnessed an amazing site: a mysterious flying machine which passed over their farms. Years before the Wright Brothers took flight, this oblong craft flew over ranches and homesteads. Telegraph operators excitedly traded reports of these sightings, but none could identify the aircraft. One sighting stated that a crew was seen at a distance outside of the landed aircraft: a few short men with long beards and goggles, but these strangers had returned to their flying machine and took off again before witnesses could reach them. On the morning of the April 17, ten year old Charlie saw the aircraft passing overhead and trailing smoke. Charlie saw that the ship was moving northward towards the town of Aurora. Around 7 a.m. Central Time, a tremendous noise rang through the community. The airship crashed into a windmill on the farm of Judge J. S. Proctor. Both the mill and the aircraft were destroyed by the impact. One of the first citizens to arrive on the scene was a reporter named S. E. Haydon. Haydon was a cotton dealer by trade and part time journalist due to the blight which had destroyed the cotton crop that year. The man had already earned a reputation for being a prankster. Haydon searched the wreckage for survivors, but most of the crew had mysteriously vanished. He did find one survivor, thrown from craft in a nearby cattle field. The survivor was a dwarf with a full beard and silver goggles. Haydon tried to speak with the injured man; he asked “What do you want me to do?” and “Should I fetch you a doctor?” The stranger would not or could not respond. His injuries were severe, and he was losing considerable blood. When the dwarf reached up and touched Haydon, their minds touched also. The dwarf had been the aircraft's pilot. His species were aliens from a different plane of reality who were visiting the Earth as they had done for thousands of years. They had developed the ability to manifest on other worlds, but their bodies and their machines always conformed to beliefs of the time. Over ancient Egypt, they had appeared as gods on chariots and were worshiped as such. In the Dark Ages over England, Britons saw them as dangerous elves riding stags in the Great Hunt. Throughout the Golden Age of Sail, they were the wraiths sailing on the Flying Dutchman. They were the D'jin and the Loa. They called themselves, “Annunaki.” As Haydon came to understand these things, he also realized that the pilot's intention towards him was wicked. The pilot knew that his own body was dying, so he attempted to imprint his consciousness onto Haydon's brain. The pilot was weak, however, and Haydon resisted fiercely against the metaphysical attack. The transfer ended incompletely as the pilot died in Haydon's arms. Other residents of Aurora arrived soon and saw the dead body of the strange pilot. Haydon did not mention his experience, and no one asked. The others merely understood that Haydon was tired and sickly for no clear reason. The people of Aurora decided for public safety, they would bury the wreckage. The body of the pilot was buried in the local graveyard at a nameless grave. S. E. Haydon sent his report of the crash to the Dallas newspaper which published his story two days later. Haydon never wrote a follow-up story. Given Haydon's reputation as a prankster and the lack of physical evidence to show, history would eventually come to the conclusion that the entire crash was a hoax created by Haydon. It took Haydon several days to process and understand exactly what had happened to him. Elements of the alien's mind resided in the subconscious of the Earth man. Haydon remained dominant. He retained his sense of identity, his humor, his curiosity, his morality, and his strong independence. The alien had contributed a vastly superior intelligence, memories from Earth's past and future, and extensive knowledge of alien science and technology. These two distinct minds blended into a gestalt persona over the course of days. As Haydon was in bed adjusting, a man in black arrived in Aurora. According to the telegraph gossip, this man was Mister Scully, an investigator from the railroad company. The alien mind recognized Scully as a dangerous agent of the Annunaki. Using only some fertilizers, photography chemicals, and a broken tractor, Haydon built a machine which covered the entire town in fog and permitted his escape.
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