Free Files From the Edge by Philip J. Imbrogno Page A

biological experiments. I told him that I was going to investigate the matter and go out there to see what I could find out. His last words to me were to “stay away from this, just let it go. The people involved are too powerful and are protected by the National Security Act.” Shortly after the phone call, I couldn’t reach the contact. It seems he no longer had an active phone number and all mail sent to him was returned “address unknown.”
    My next course of action was to get detailed maps of the area and mark locations I thought should be explored. Doing so would save a considerable amount of time—the area in question has very steep hills with thick brush and few apparent roads and paths. I also purchased a topographic map for the area that included elevation, and locations of pits, swamps, caves, tunnels, and mines. As I studied the maps, I wondered where the entrance to these mysterious mines and underground tunnels might be found. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that several isolated dirt roads around the Croton reservoir had the names “Lower Magnetic and Upper Magnetic Mine Road.” This was promising: many hiking trails and secondary roads are named after something in the immediate area. There was also a path marked “Reservoir,” which seemed to be more of a road rather than a trail. Reservoir Road connected to Stoneleigh Avenue, which in turn ended in Route 6, a major traffic artery for the towns of Carmel, Southeast, and Brewster. To my dismay, the topographic map showed no symbols indicating where the mines might be found. My next step was to drive there and survey the area. I picked a clear, warm day in April of 1988 and drove to the destinations eager to explore the locations marked on my maps. As I drove around the secondary roads, nothing really stood out so I decided to pay a visit to the nearby Brewster Museum, the Putnam County Records and Archives, and the Putnam County Historical Society.
    The Old Mines of Putnam County
    My first visit was to the Brewster Museum, located on Main Street right in the center of town. Although the museum was small, it did have a good number of artifacts left over from the mining days in addition to a number of photographs. I entered, thinking I had found the right place but despite the wealth of available information, I could not find the location of the mine entrances. I spoke with the curator who wasn’t sure exactly where they were, but she heard that one entrance to the Brewster Mine was located on Marvin’s Mountain behind the train station. She suggested I visit the Putnam County Records and Archives located just one mile away. I took her advice and found a great deal of historical information about the towns in Putnam County and the old mining days that seemed to have been almost forgotten by current residents. To my disappointment, the people working at Records also had no idea where the mine entrances were located but the clerk was sure they had all been sealed off sometime in the early part of the twentieth century and are now inaccessible.
    Although I could not get a clear answer as to why all the mine entrances were sealed, one person, a volunteer, told me quietly that it had something to do with the local legend of “ghosts and devil worship.” This statement furthered my interest enough to spend the rest of the day carefully reading documents dated back to 1790. The hours seemed to pass quickly and before my research was completed, one of the volunteers asked me to leave—it was closing time. I returned every day for four days early in the morning to continue my research. I spent hours going through piles of materials that included old news clippings, several of which were so incredible, they would result in months of research and numerous field explorations. However, before I go into further detail, let me give you a clear understanding about the history of the mines and how they were formed; it will act as a cohesive to bind this