Adventure Magazine Cover — page 69: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

@taktaee..: yp The | Second Fall’ <— oy S. B.H.Hurst Author of ‘“Bumps,” “Erased,” et 3B m | THE twenty-second of August, 1920, the following warning was yr published, as an advertisement, in every newspaper of impor- tance in the world. A Warning to the People of the World For the second time of which we have any record, mankind is threatened by a dreadful and horrible form of danger. In order that the danger may be understood and appre- ciated, I will first tell what I know about its history, about the danger itself and about the first occasion of its descent upon a help- less people. All legend has a basis in fact. From the world-wide legend of the deluge, Prof. Vail deduced the cause of the Glacial period: I believe Vail was correct but, even if he was wrong, his method was not. I mention this to enable you to reason about what follows. In the Bible, in Genesis, is an account of what is known as the fallofman. The story tells how man was driven from the Garden of Eden and how an angel with a flaming sword kept him from going back. Just what does this mean? Many people choose to accept the story literally, but thinking men are not among these. Yet, to use the language of Herbert Spencer, something must have occurred which even- tually, repeated from one to anothey, be- came legend. And that legend must have a basis of truth. ‘However wild,” to quote Spencer, “the story seems, there must have been something which caused it.’”? There was something and that something again threatens the world, again threatens to drive us from our “Garden of Eden,” from our civilization! Deep within our memories lies the mem- ory of what actually occurred when man was driven from the Garden, and instinc- tively we dread it and shiver at the flam- ing sword. And the something we.all fear—some of _ us more than others, as our intuitional fac- ulty may be developed—is hypnotism. The Garden of Eden is the poetical, legendary name given to an ancient civilization from which, ages ago, man was driven. Do I hear some wit ask: “‘What about the apple?”’ The apple had a good deal to do with it because the people of that ancient civiliza- tion were hypnotized, and the apple is the legendary reference to either a glittering crystal ball, a revolving mirror, or anything else that may have been used for flashing light into the eyes of the victims, to assist the hypnotist, who, afterward, if necessary, there must be some reason for the story, ,.rehypnotized any ‘who attempted to get * This is an “Off the Trail’’ story. Se a ere x 4 7 — So — aes te ree ~~ poate - er a Soe aes Rae a, oe See second contents page. = a > ay es ts a = as eee ee ee oe te Be ete as