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Author: Klaus Podoll, Markus Dahlem, Sofia Greene	13. December 2007
Edited by: Klaus Podoll, Markus Dahlem, Sofia Greene

Conrad Aiken

Silent Snow, Secret Snow (1971) - Part 1 of 2

Silent Snow, Secret Snow (1971) - Part 2 of 2. A young boy moves further and further away into a dream world of all-encompassing snow. A private world that is all his own. An existence where no one else can touch him. A secret wall of snow behind which he could hide, inhabit in seclusion. This episode of Rod Serling's Night Gallery, based on the short story by Conrad Aiken, is narrated by the legendary Orson Welles.

Conrad Aiken's (1934) short story Silent Snow, Secret Snow

Silent Snow, Secret Snow (1934) is Conrad Aiken's best known short story, often included in anthologies of classic horror and fantasy fiction. It tells of a boy who one day gets "a sense as of snow falling about him, a secret screen of new snow between himself and the world". Aiken uses the imagery of snow to denote the feeling of isolation and estrangement that terminates in his hero's final madness, unlike the persisting depersonalisation-derealisation that can accompany the experience of persisting visual snow in persistent aura without infarction without heralding insanity. The lastmentioned condition seems to have crossed the doctor's mind as a differential diagnosis avant la lettre when he asked the boy, during a medical examination aimed at revealing the cause of his odd experiences and behavior: "Now, young man, tell me, -- do you feel all right?... No headaches? No dizziness?"

The following posts from a discussion at the Yuku forum Visual snow or static shows how close persistent aura sufferers relate to the experiences represented by Conrad Aiken in his novel Silent Snow, Secret Snow (1934).

"That was interesting. A 1971 movie with the famous Orson Welles narrating a story about a boy with visual snow, trailing afterimages, and tinnitus. So then why are there not more doctors who understand this 36 years later? Maybe because the movie called it a miraculous and wonderful phenomenon? I don't see it that way. Even the boy's parents thought he was crazy."

(ChelleWMCN [subject #272], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Conrad Aiken's Silent Snow, Secret Snow, December 13, 2007)

"When the young boy, Paul, was in the classroom, the girl ahead of him raised her hand to answer a question. Her hand showed about five or six hands as she waved it... just like the image winkelmouse [subject #471] posted as her avatar... it is still in her images album. Then Paul made a comment about something new happening to him...I don't remember the exact quote. I don't have time to re-view the movie to find the exact place because I am baking cookies right now, but when I do, I'll let you know."

(ChelleWMCN [subject #272], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Question to ChelleWMCN, December 14, 2007; additions in square brackets by Klaus Podoll)

"I just watched it again. The reference to the trails was made in Part One at 5:25 and the reference to tinitus was made in Part Two at 6:25 when the narrator said, 'The seamless hiss advanced once more...'"

(ChelleWMCN [subject #272], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Question to ChelleWMCN, December 15, 2007)

Unfortunately for ChelleWMCN's (subject's #272) interpretation of the polyopic trails visible in the assigned scene of the YouTube video, this phenomenon is neither seen in the teleplay nor described in Aiken's original short story, but an effect of video compression, "which is interesting" - according to xFoxxxx (subject #458) - "because some compressions also cause a grainy effect to reduce the amount of data per frame."

(xFoxxxx [subject #458], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Question to ChelleWMCN, December 15, 2007)

The reference to the 2 symptoms of visual snow and tinnitus, however, is remarkable enough to suggest the speculation that Aiken (1934) might have been inspired by personal knowledge of a case of childhood onset persistent aura without infarction, several decades before its description in the medical literature.

Tamster0125, mother of a 12-year-old boy (subject #498) who had been suffering from visual snow for 2 months, commented:

"I took it as a reference to trails too. Only because of his reaction.

The other thing that really caught my eye. His way of staring out the window, yet knowing what was going on. I received an email from one of my son's teachers about a month ago. He said my son has not been paying attention in class. So, my immediate reaction (since my son is typical a social bug) I got on his case telling him to start paying attention in class and quite socializing. He insisted he did not talk to anyone in that class. I spoke to his teacher at conferences, and he confirmed that. He said my son had a tendency to stare out the window and day dream. (This would be during the time frame he had told no one about this).

At the time, I was concerned about his blood sugar levels, but that was not the case. Now I am thinking otherwise?!?!"

(tamster0125 [subject's #498 mother], Yuku forum Visual snow or static - General discussion - Question to ChelleWMCN, December 15, 2007) [more]

References

Aiken C. Silent Snow, Secret Snow. In: Aiken C, Among the Lost People. Scribner's, New York 1934

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