Lucius thought deeply for a moment about Clinton’s request to again tell the story of his meeting Hiram Percy Maxim in 1935. He wanted to make his old friend happy, but that encounter was only a small part of a much longer story that played out over more than a decade before actually meeting Maxim, and he knew Clint didn’t want the two-dollar version, he wanted to hear the whole thing. He knew that because he had told it to him many times over the years and he was willing to share it with his friend again. He could tell Clint was running out of time. They requested two cups of hot tea and once it arrived and the orderly had left them, Lucius began, as always, from the beginning.

“By the end of the first World War I was seeking answers for how I was more than a century old and not aging, and more importantly, I wanted to know when I should expect to die. For those in Great Britain, the end of the War brought with it a rise in occult practices, mostly seances as parents and widows, desperate for a chance to speak again with their sons and husbands who had been abruptly lost in the War sought these unusual services. Nowhere was this more evident than in London where spiritualists and mediums were quickly opening new shops. This growth wasn’t limited to those who could “speak” with the dead, fortune tellers, prophets, and a myriad of other psychics benefited from this rapidly growing interest”.

Clint’s eyes were wide and his demeanor improved as he listened intently.

“In 1919 I booked passage for Liverpool on the White Star Line RMS Celtic, a Big-Four Class luxury steamer. On arrival I traveled to London by rail where I had arranged a three-month stay at The Goring Hotel, a 5-star luxury accommodation in the Victoria area of the city. Travel had been made a little easier given the War had ended and the Flu pandemic was beginning to wane. Once I had settled into my hotel for a few days I began venturing into the heart of London in search of a qualified medium. My search, such as it was, began by meeting many customers of psychics to get a feel for those who truly possessed spiritual gifts versus common charlatans who sought only a quick profit”.

“In all my investigation, one name kept bubbling to the top. Aleister Crowley, an occultist who had joined the esoteric Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, where he was trained in ceremonial magic. Famous and widely published, I had a devil of a time gaining an audience with Mr. Crowley who finally suggested I would be better served contacting other well-known occultists including one Maria Haydon who conducted sittings for both high society and the everyman customer. As it turned out, her next seance would be conducted on Saturday evening so I made the necessary arrangements to be in attendance for it.”

“I can’t even imagine attending a seance in this day and age,” Clint chuckled as the empty tea cups were retrieved. Lucius continued…

“The proceedings took place in a large, mostly empty, musty room on the 2nd floor of an abandoned mercantile building just eight blocks from Buckingham Palace. Six other people, not including me, were there for the event. We were all seated at a small round table with a pentagram painted on its surface. A lone candle flickered in the center of the table. Once the medium arrived the electric light was switched off. She told us dim lighting, such as candlelight, creates a calming and focused atmosphere. We all joined hands. I didn’t know what to expect next but Miss Haydon began quietly chanting, or perhaps it was a prayer, I couldn’t tell”.

“In an instant the room was filled with a rushing wind that extinguished the candle and plunged us into darkness. Haydon was speaking loudly now, and quickly, almost yelling unintelligible words. A moment later when someone switched the lights back on, I could see, we all could see, she was now standing and pointing directly at me as she repeated ‘Nephilim, Nephilim, Nephilim’. Shaken and unnerved, I got out of there as quickly as possible and started running in a cold rain toward the hotel”.

“I walked into the first-floor hotel pub disheveled, shivering, and soaking wet. I must have been quite the sight, but after what just transpired, I needed a stiff drink. As my body warmed and my mind settled, I determined to make contact with Aleister Crowley at any cost. I wanted to ask him about the events of this evening because I had no idea what it all meant and I was determined to figure this out before leaving England.”

At this Clinton began a coughing fit and Lucius wondered if it wasn’t time for him to leave for the day. But after a glass of water, Clint urged him on.

“Okay, if you’re certain?”

“I eventually got a face-to-face appointment with Crowley, but had to travel to the opposite end of the Kingdom, to the Boleskine House in the Scotland Highlands near Inverness. Once we were together and alone, I wasted no time explaining what happened during the seance. How it ended with Miss Haydon pointing at me while shouting, ‘Nephilim, Jubal, Maxim’ over and over”.

“At that, Crowley sat down and slowly loaded his pipe. He lit it, tamped it down, and re-lit it, what pipe smokers call the ‘true light’. After a moment he said, ‘Maria is an incredibly sensitive spiritualist. She didn’t make this up to make a quick quid, she sensed something deeply non-human about you. Now tell me, what fresh hell are you here to unleash?’”

Crowley demanded an answer.

“While I had never been willing to explain my advanced age to strangers, I had come halfway around the world to get answers. I told him I had been born 111 years ago and waited for his reaction. Before he replied I added I didn’t know why I stopped aging, or how long I should expect to live. I was surprised by his continued silence.”

“When he finally spoke it was to say he understood my confusion and claimed he had met other ancients like myself. Then he walked to a large bookcase, searched it carefully, and pulled out an ancient looking manuscript. He thumbed through it until finding the page he was looking for and laid it before me. He explained the ‘Nephilim’ are mentioned in several passages of the Hebrew Bible and later Jewish and Christian literature. They are traditionally associated with extraordinary size or strength, or extreme age. Some religious scholars believe them to be the offspring of a union between angels and human women though not all agree on this particular description. I don’t know about the other names, perhaps these are other ancients like yourself.”

“Two weeks later I was back home, uncertain if I had learned anything useful about myself. While I couldn’t deny something unusual was going on with my physiology, I wasn’t buying the occult mumbo jumbo. I put it out of mind and went on with life”.

“Amateur radio had become an interesting hobby and radio technology began to explode in the second decade of the 20th century with the spread of technical details from one amateur to another. Hiram Maxim and Clarence Tuska had formed the American Radio Relay League in 1914 though by the end of World War I the Department of the Navy decided regular citizens shouldn’t enjoy free access to the aether. The ARRL launched a political campaign to bring it back and succeeded. From that point forward, it was nothing but amazing results and rapid growth. I enjoyed building equipment and antennas and chatting with my growing circle of friends around the country and eventually, the world.”

“It was during those quiet hours at the radio bench, listening to signals from across the world, that the weight of my own endless years began to press on me again.”

“The years following my journey to England were beginning to stack up. Life was a little more difficult for me now as new government regulations created paperwork and it seemed every time I turned around, someone wanted my birthdate. That rekindled thoughts about my mortality and weighed heavily on my mind. Fifteen years had passed since meeting Aleister Crowley. It was 1935 and I had become obsessed wondering if ‘Maxim’ was Hiram Percy Maxim and if he was… like me. I couldn’t get it out of my head and began devising a way for us to meet.”

“Maxim’s book, Life’s Place in the Cosmos, an overview of contemporary science that surmised life existed outside of earth was published in 1933. I got around to reading it in early 1935 and thought this could be the opening I needed. I wrote a letter, asking Maxim for a meeting and used my interest in his new book, along with being an active radio amateur, and a member of the ARRL. I received no reply from him, so I wrote again a few months later, imploring him to take a meeting with me. I received his reply to this request in September with the suggestion we meet in Hartford, the original headquarters for the ARRL in October.”

“I wasn’t certain how to approach the subject of extended life, or if Maxim was similarly afflicted. Nevertheless, I traveled to Connecticut for the meeting on the appointed date. I was greeted by ARRL staff who eventually introduced me to Hiram Percy Maxim, the ‘Old Man’ himself. He received me graciously and warmly and we chatted about amateur radio as only two seasoned operators can. It was obvious he was enchanted by the magic of radio and he spoke warmly, and at length, about the fraternity of radio amateurs. I could have spent hours sharing the love of ham radio with him, but decided I needed to broach the subject of his recent book before some important administrative matter would bring our meeting to a close.”

“He seemed as passionate about the Cosmos book as he was about amateur radio and spoke at length on the subject of alien life. Hours passed without notice until he was interrupted by the staff going home for the day. To my amazement, and pleasure, he invited me to join him that evening at his home to continue our long conversation.”

“I arrived at his home at 7pm as he suggested and was promptly led to a well-appointed sitting room by a servant. After a few moments Maxim appeared along with his wife, Josephine, a graceful woman with silver hair that framed her warm smile and the daughter of William T. Hamilton, former governor of Maine. After cordialities she made a quick exit leaving us to continue our afternoon conversation over coffee. At some point in our evening, he suggested a trip to his basement where I witnessed — Old Betsy — his name for an old rotary spark transmitter that could be keyed from his first floor operating position.”

“We talked at length about the growth of the ARRL and amateur radio in general. And about potential future threats to the service. Hiram then changed subjects to alien life again where we speculated for another hour. A delightful evening that seemed to be coming to a conclusion when he told me of his plans for an upcoming visit to the Percival Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. He had been invited there to make observations. Maxim was particularly interested in the planet Mars and had a globe of his own making on which he had transferred all the mysterious markings on the face of that planet, to facilitate his study.”

“Sensing our lovely evening was coming to an end, I decided to press my luck and ask Maxim if he knew anything of extended long human life, or the Nephilim.”

“The moment I asked I thought I detected some acknowledgement in his eyes and there was a brief pause before replying he had never heard of such a thing and began leading me to the front door. Our evening was over but I left convinced he knew something more than he let on. I believed that until a few months later in February, 1936. The story goes that Maxim took ill while on the train ride to the observatory in Arizona. He was taken off the train in Colorado where he died the following day. That news rocked the ham radio world and brought my speculation that Maxim was an ancient to an immediate end.”

Clinton had been silent, rapt by the unfolding account of the historic meeting but at this he said excitedly, “this is my favorite part!”

“That speculation was re-kindled when a few days later I read Maxim was buried in Maryland, in the Hamilton family plot belonging to his wife’s family. That seemed an odd detail, but perfectly understandable if his death had been a ruse. The longer I studied the possibility the less I liked the varying explanations for his cause of death. One said he had contracted pneumonia, another said his death was due to a serious throat infection. In either case he was said to have died the very next day. That seemed to me an incredibly rapid end for either ailment.”

“So that’s it Clint, I believe there is a possibility Hiram Maxim faked his own death and could still be among us to this very day. He’s an ancient with a far into the future expiration date. Knowing I’m more than two centuries old does my Maxim theory really seem so incredible?”

Related: