VRIL AT GRIFFISS AIR FORCE BASE?
NAME: Richard Lisk
WHAT TOWN IN THE MOHAWK VALLEY ARE YOU FROM: Herkimer
PLEASE TELL YOUR EXTRAORDINARY TALE ABOUT THE MOHAWK VALLEY:
That happened in the summer of 1997. My late grandfather had a lot of friends in the valley. He was in the army before I was born, so that would explain the military people he was friendly with. Like this guy, Jim who always stands out in my memory. When I was a kid, I was my grandfather’s “let’s take a ride,” pal. He’d always say that which really meant we were going to see a friend.
One time we went and saw one of his military pals, I think he had retired but was still working at Griffiss Air Force Base. His name was Jim Smith, though grandpa would call him “Jimmy”. Recently, I’ve been trying to track down information about the guy myself, but his name’s so generic that it hasn’t been much help in the slightest. Maybe a more tech-savvy person, or you, can understand this more than I do.
We had been to Jim’s house once to pick up a puffball mushroom once but we didn’t stay long so this was the first time I really heard them talk. But this summer night, when I was staying over, Jimmy came to my grandparents house. I had to be nine or ten at the time and I think Grandpa assumed I was asleep, it was almost midnight after all, but I wasn’t. I remember being crouched on the stairs, leaning an ear out listening to them talk. I tried my best to peek out to watch what was happening. Jim was going on about something he was “working on” that he was very afraid of. I thought it was some military thing and at the time I wasn't too versed on military stuff. But Jim mentioned something called “Vril”. He said it over and over at first and that word burned into my head because of its similarity to the word evil.
Jim kept telling Grandpa to not tell anybody else about what he was telling him, which I guess made sense then because he’s military. He was telling my grandfather how they built this machine that was supposed to never turn off. And when they turned it on, it electrocuted two people, closest to it, and then exploded. He said they were burned up, their faces gone, charred right to the skull. Their clothes even caught on fire and Jim helped put the bodies out with fire extinguishers. Grandpa promised over and over not to say a word--Jim said the only reason he was telling him was because he was scared and my grandpa was his best friend.
I crept down the hallway and near the living room and I heard them crack open a couple of Genesee cream ale beers. As I looked around the corner, Jim stepped back and pulled something out of his jacket pocket.
Like a rock, or something. It was shiny, almost like a gemstone. It was a bit like a quartz, the Herkimer diamond kind, but I swear that the god damn thing had a white glow to it.Then Jim mentioned that Vril thing again and said this thing is worth a lot of money to certain people. Then Jim starts going on about how the rock “makes energy”. My feet moved before my head did that when I stumbled forward and Grandpa and Jim saw me.
Rather than get mad, Jim told me to come in and sit down as he nervously put the rock back in his pocket. He asked if I wanted a beer and laughed. I almost took until my grandpa stopped me. So like any kid would do I started asking about the rock. He played dumb at first but then asked me if I could keep a secret. I promised. He told me the rock was special, from outer space, from an alien meteor, a long time ago. It made energy, he said. I was uneasy as the thought of an alien rock scared me.
My grandpa saw this and urged me to go upstairs, but Jim waved him off, saying it was fine. He then mumbled something about me not remembering or if I told, nobody would believe me. He gave me the rock-quartz-thing to hold, and to be honest, I felt nothing. It just seemed like a regular rock to me. But it had a glow to it that was like nothing I had ever seen before. The way it reflected light was just so unique. I ain't seen nothing like it since then either.
Grandpa changed the subject, and I lost interest and went up to bed. It’s been decades since then. I almost completely forgot about it until very recently, when I was doing research and I came across this site’s article about the “Vril society”.
So I’m writing to say thanks Barlowe, I guess my hunch from my childhood was right, that it wasn’t just a weird encounter, that there was more than I thought. I’m planning on looking into this more, but given that this article and this site exists, you clearly are more knowledgeable on these things than I am. Also wanted to see if you knew anything else or had any more info about Vril. What is it? What were they doing at Griffis Air Force base? Is it alien? What’s going on with this and why in the Mohawk valley? I have so many questions.
I’ve also attached a photo of a drawing I attempted of the rock I saw back then. Sorry it’s messy; I’m no artist.
