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ly won him over. I waited outside during the obviously confiden tial interview. When she had completed the conversation and pre liminary "trial run" hypnosis, she asked me to j oin them. Howard looked relaxed, though there was a slight cloud over his usually happy and open countenance. He is a youthful thirty-eight years old, tall, the kind of man women find very attractive in an easy, brotherly way. Prior to his interview he had told Dr. Clamar and me his story once again, and I tape-recorded it before leaving the room.
It was in a place called Toms River, New Jersey, near the pine barrens, which is near Fort Dix, and it's kind of a strange place. I don't know how really to describe it, but it has a funny ambience about it . . . at least, I feel it. I was staying at my moth er's house. She has a condominium in a retirement community. It was a Saturday night, probably around midnight, and I was watching television and doing some reading. And I think I had maybe a glass of sherry, and I was tired. . . . I was halfheartedly watching TV - the TV was on the desk- there was a small light on the desk, probably a sixty watt bulb, in a pretty big room, so it wasn't very bright. There was one window in the bedroom that faces east. Suddenly, the room seemed to have an incredible, intense light in it, with a blue tinge to it, that built in intensity the way a strobe light would, but it was of longer duration. I'd guess it was almost three seconds. (HR is an accomplished photographer, so these descriptions and estimates are probably quite accurate.) It built, peaked, and then became dim again, and then the room seemed to be darker than it was originally, as if the bulb had gone down a bit, and I had an incredible feeling of fear and apprehen sion . . . and almost . . . see if I can find another word to fit it . . . but I guess fear and apprehension fit it best. And maybe it's my mind, but everything seemed to become very quiet at the same time. Do you know how, after an automobile accident, in the city when you hear cars crash, for a split-second after that every thing stops? Well, that kind of sound happened, or lack of sound. . . . There are always background sounds, woods sounds, animal sounds. . . . But I guess there was a pause there, and I still had that feeling of fear and apprehension. I used to travel a lot and I kept a loaded pistol in the house, and for some reason I got the pistol and went