Dear Readers,

My editor wishes to advise you not to seek out the train station that had spontaneously appeared outside of Bend, Oregon this past June as mentioned within this report and countless media sources. Despite the National Guard presence and the inherent danger detailed at length, some may still wish to gawk at the otherworldly spectacle. Readers, please take this warning to heart: the phenomena within our United States is not for yuppy tourists.

(Perhaps try a weekend in Yosemite Valley instead?)

Conversely, as I had advised my editor, this writer is well aware that publishing a detailed account of the incident will not satiate the average American’s curiosity. Our sense of invulnerability is our hubris to bear following our recent victory. An appeal to reason and caution may well be in vain. Regardless, what is recorded herein is a collection of letters, essays, and conversations meant to show the innate vulnerability of those peoples residing within this new discovery; evidence that there are, definitively, phenomena beyond our own understanding.

What this writer seeks to put within the reader's grasp is despite the foreign nature of this phenomena, there is an unmistakably human element at its core. They may not appear similar to us. Not all share our same beliefs, convictions, or god(s). Yet they remain without question living, breathing, feeling, hopeful people with a plethora of complex nuances to their persons. Each has their story to tell. Stories worth listening to. As valuable as the old maxim says, “Those who ignore history, are doomed to repeat it,” I implore you, dear readers; listen and remember these stories.

This volume strives to catalog my time residing within what will be here referred to as The Hidden Fortress and the calamity that befell a great number of its citizens, families, and a select few who over many months became my dear friends.

With warm regards,

Cameron G. Calloway

August 6th, 1947