The Silver Bridge Read Free

suspect that Gray Barker, the author of this work, in the format of a “conventional” book dealing with strange phenomena has in fact written—how intentionally I do not know—something else again.
    We have here literal details, literal facts, which presumably to one extent or another could be checked for accuracy for their individual and/or collective merit. The results of such a study could be compared with Mr. Barker’s descriptions, the degree of consistency being used as the standard for judging the book.
    One could, presumably, do this, but I have serious doubt as to whether this would present the appropriate evaluation of the true worth or meaning of the book. It might well be akin to questioning the value of the fable of the fox and the crow on the ground that it is “unrealistic”.
    There may well be a “physical cause” for the strange phenomena with which Mr. Barker deals. But strangeness itself, and the reaction of mankind to it, may have an importance.
    When a man takes pen in hand and documents an event or series of events in a factual “one-two-three” form, it is one thing. But, read these lines from chapter 5:
    “…On the outside there raged fires of even greater dimensions, and within them terror, for they were furnaces of Hell—as beings struggled madly with each other in unconscionable and inexplicable acts of physical and mental violence. Oftimes his physical forges raged and burned to contribute to that diabolic outside scene.
    “Today, however, he had rebelled at those things he loathed, and forged a golden ball for the children in the world.”
    Whether this event happened literally—and happened in the way it is here described, I do not know. But in terms of this work, is this the essence of the matter?
    Of the literal details, some comment can be made. Chapter 12 deals with the so-called “Men in Black”, a subject Mr. Barker has dealt with before, notably in a previous book, They Knew Too Much About Flying Saucers. I, myself, don’t “buy” the “men in black” stories, but neither do I consider this to be something to be placed in a back file, stamped “solved” in big red letters. The concept of such individuals is somewhat fantastic, but this doesn’t mean that there aren’t unsolved cases, and it might be well to observe that what seems “fantastic” is not necessarily “fantasy”. There may well be something to the “men in black”. Indeed, perhaps a great deal.
    Aesthetically speaking, I consider this work to be quite pleasing. But aesthetics and literal detail may not be all that is available to the reader.
    I do not know quite what we have—in this book. I wonder if the author, himself, knows what he had done. It may well be nothing, or it may be that…
    Perhaps Gray Barker has done, subconsciously, what Mr. Universe did, and forged a golden ball for the children of the world.
    Allen H. Greenfield      
January 1, 1970           
     

THE SETTING
     
    I n Point Pleasant, W. Va., Mrs. Ralph Thomas opened the ancient family bible, and with shaking finger delineated the passages she knew so well. Then with a shudder she turned the ponderous volume to the steel engravings that depicted the diabolic realm of the wicked, as they burned forever for their transgressions, deep in the bowels of fiery and eternal Hell.
    Yes, the creature was there, or one almost like it. The evil thing, somewhat like an angel, but with wings shriveled and grown blackened, and its face a horrible mask, was indeed terrifying. But never could the picture grip her and hold her in its spell; never could it inspire that power of terror that had welled over her in the vision.
    Again Mrs. Thomas prayed long and fervently; then she prophesied and spoke loudly in tongues.
    And in Parkersburg, a good two hours’ drive to the north, Woodrow Derenberger was also frightened. The fear that shook him was not at the memory of his strange experience, but from the realization of having