Has anyone come across this story before? I did a search but found nothing.. It's about weird things purported to have happened in a cottage in Cheshire in the 1980s. One of the people involved, Ken Webster, wrote a book about it - 'The Vertical Plane' - published in 1989. I first heard about it on an episode of Mysterious Universe podcast a few years ago, then was reminded when Astonishing Legends podcast recently covered it.. found it really interesting!
It involves an apparent communication conduit between the past and present (and possibly future?), and/or some kind of elaborate poltergeist-ish energy, via a computer word processor..
You can read the book on archive.org: The Vertical Plane Ken Webster : Ken Webster : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Here are the two recent podcast episodes:
And a 30 minute TV segment (dramatised) from 1996:
Summary:
- In 1984, Teacher/musician Ken, his girlfriend Debbie and their friend Nicola are living in this 18th century cottage.. Ken's been renovating/rebuilding it for months.
- They start seeing poltergeist like activity, including:
Tiny 6 toed footprints going up a wall, which reappear once after being painted over.
Furniture and household items being moved around, eg cat food tins stacked in a pyramid overnight, coming home to find all the furniture piled in a corner, objects being moved while their backs are turned, etc.
Ominous messages scrawled on the walls in chalk. Tappings sounds, hair pulling, etc..
All this keeps on happening throughout. Ken notes that the area near the exposed brick pillar in the kitchen (part of the original building?) seems to be the focus of the activity.
- Ken starts borrowing BBC Micro Model B computers (an early home computer, using 5.25" floppy disks to save data, and a simple word processor on a ROM chip, called EDWORD) from his workplace, for Nicola to use to write scripts and sketches on.
- One night he comes home to find the computer still on, with a new file saved on the floppy disk, filename "KDN", contents: "Ken D eb nic, True A re The NIGHTmares Of a pErson t hat FEArs, Safe A re the BODIES Of tHe Silent World.." (..goes on for awhile more in the same style).
- A couple months later they leave the computer on again while they're all out.. when they come home they again find a new file on the disk, filename "REATE". (You had to press 'C' to create a new document, and whoever did this didn't realise you didn't have to type the whole word).. This file is written in what they later learn is 16th century English: (according to some people, quite accurate. according to others, not very accurate.)
I WRYTE ON BEHAL THE OF MANYE
WOT STRANGE WORDES THOU SPEKE, ALTHOUGH, I MUSTE CONFESS THAT I HATH ALSO BEENE ILL-SCHOOLED, SOMETYMES METHINKS ALTERACIONS ARE SOMEWOT BARFUL, FOR THEY BREAKE MANYE A SLEPES IN MYNE BED. THOU ART GOODLY MAN WHO HATH FANCIFUL WOMAN WHO DWEL IN MYNE HOME, I HATH NO WANT TO AFFREY, FOR ONLIE SYTH MYNE HALF WYTED ANTIC HAS RIPPED ATTWAIN MYNE BOUND HATH I BEENE WRETHED A-NYTE. I HATH SEENE MANYE ALTERACIONS (LASTLY CHARGE HOUSE AND THOU HOME), 'TIS A FITTING PLACE, WITH LYTES WHICHE DEVYLL MAKETH, AND COSTLY THYNGS, THAT ONLIE MYNE FRIEND, EDMUND GREY CAN AFFORE, OR THE KING HEMSELVE. 'TWAS A GREATE CRYME TO HATH BRIBED MYNE HOUSE. L W."
- They reply to the message by typing on the computer. Later that day they recieve a reply, apparently from the same person "LW" in the same language - though with some anachronistic usages - saying he's writing from the year "1521(?)" and the king is King Henry VIII, who is 48 years old. Discrepancy - according to history, King Henry would have been about 30 in 1521. He wants to know what they're doing with his house..
- They keep corresponding with this person, eventually learning the LW stands for Lukas Wainman, and that this person lived in the house that was where their cottage now stands. He apparently somehow has visions into our time, seeing the renovations done to the building, and the people living there themselves etc, as well as other things around the neighbourhood, like the schoolhouse. (sort of reminds me of the Bell Witch, except jolly and English)... They gradually build up a sort of close friendship with this guy, developing very warm feelings for him.
- The messages only appear when they're out of the house, or at least definitely only when Ken is out (they do sometimes come when Debbie is there)
- They try to figure out if there's an intruder somehow doing this, but it seems not. They try to confirm some of the things he says, and test him in various ways. Some of it holds true, some they can't confirm, some seems almost-but-not-quite correct. They bring other people in to try stuff and investigate.. (I'm light on detail, just skimming through the book a bit, but they involve UFOlogists and researchers from the Society for Psychical Research eventually). Lukas, from the 1520s, apparently also starts testing THEM in the 1980s in various ways, thinking THEY might be some kind of hoax.
- Debbie starts having vivid dreams where she travels back in time and meets with Lukas. Lukas talks about these meetings in his communications. Debbie worries that she might be subconsciously making up this character of Lukas, making it all happen.
- Lukas says he's communicating with them on a "Leems Boyste" (Box of Lights)... He says (translated) "You said your time is 1985. I thought you were also from 2109 like your friend who brought the box of lights, pray?". Whoever the person is who brought him the "Leems", Lukas says his name is "One" and that he is green coloured and a time traveller.
- So, Ken leaves a message on the computer saying "CALLING 2109"
- This different "2109" entity starts also communicating through the computer. They never actually claim to be from the year 2109, they just sign their messages with that number. Their first message is:
"KEN, DEB, PETER" (Peter is another friend they've brought in on all this)
"WE ARE SORRY THAT WE CAN GIVE YOU ONLY TWO CHOISES. 1) THAT YOU EITHER HAVE YOUR PREDICAMENT EXPLAINED IN SUCH A NON-RHYME WAY THAT YOU MAY HAVE INSTANT UNDERSTANDING BUT CAUSE WHAT SHOULD NOT BE TO HAPPEN, OR 2) TRY TO UNDERSTAND THAT YOU THREE HAVE A PURPOSE THAT SHALL IN YOUR LIFE TIME CHANGES THE FACE OF HISTORY, WE, 2109, MUST NOT AFFECT YOUR THOUGHTS DIRECTLY BUT GIVE YOU SOME SORT OF GUIDANCE THAT WILL ALLOW ROOM FOR YOUR OWN DESTINY. ALL WE CAN SAY IS THAT WE ARE ALL PART OF THE SAME GOD, WHAT EVER HE, IT (?), IS."
- They learn that 2109 seems to be interfering with their communications with Lukas, changing it or censoring it. 2109 are increasingly antagonistic (is how it seems to Ken).. They give the impression that this is all an experiment of theirs.. 2109:
"IT IS BETTER TO HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE AT ALL THAN TO HAVE A DISTORTED VIEW OF THE TRUTH BECAUSE OF YOUR LACK OF UNDERSTANDING. WE, 2109, ARE NOT WITHOUT COMPASION BUT IF YOU CONTINUE TO DISRUPT OUR EXPERIMENTS THEN IT IS LIKELY YOU WILL FIND YOUR DESTINY. WE SHALL, HOWEVER, ALLOW ONE MORE COMMUNICATION WITH YOU SO THAT YOU MAY ASK YOUR PROFOUND QUESTIONS. WE SHALL ANSEWER AS YOU WISH, IF IN TERMS OF PHYSICS THEN IT SHALL BE SO, BUT REMMEMBER THAT OUR LIMITS ARE SET BY YOUR OWN ABILITIES AND NOT OURS. THERE IS NO ONE AFTER THE MAN YOU CALL LUKAS. THE CHANCE FACTOR WILL NOT REOCCUR AGAIN IN A TIME SPAN YOUR KIND CAN RELATE TO."
- Other messages from 2109 describe the mechanisms of poltergeist phenomena (The Vertical Plane, page 214 - 216).. they tell Ken that by his activities he's unleashed this and that they are stopping his communication with Lukas until things cool down. The man called "One" also visits Lukas and tells him something similar.
- At some point Lukas is arrested for performing these communications (witchcraft)..(they learn this because Debbie dreams it).. Then the SHERIFF who arrested him starts sending them messages. They put pressure on him to release Lukas, and he eventually does. They learn Lukas Wainman is a pseudonym and his real name is Tomas Harden or Hawarden.
- 2109 is aghast that they've found out Lukas's real name, saying "AT PRESENT YOU HAVE TWO LUKASES RUNNING AROUND YOUR HOUSE, IF AT ANY TIME THE TWO ARE TO MEET WE CANNOT EXPLAIN THE DEVASTATION THAT WILL ERRUPT WITHIN THE TIME CONTINUM. WE MUST STOP COMMUNICATION WITH LUKAS ONE, BUT WE CANNOT INTERFERE WITH THE OTHER [...] YOU MUST HELP BE GIVING US EVERY WORD UTTERED BY THOMAS HAWARDINE FROM THE SECOND YOU RECEIVED HIS TRUE NAME. YOU MUST ALSO STATE HOW MUCH INFORMATION YOU HAVE ON THIS MAN - EVERYTHING!,WORD FOR WORD. AVOID ANY OTHER COMMUNICATION YOU MAY HAVE WITH HIM. DESPERATION. BE QUICK!"
- Ken and Debbie get around this by beginning to communicate with Lukas on paper. Debbie leaves paper lying around, later finds his writing on it.
- Ken asks 2109 if they can get rid of the poltergeists so he can talk with Lukas/Tomas again. They reply: "YES, WE SHALL HOLD BACK AS BEST WE CAN ON THE PG. SORRY YOU FIND US SO FREINDLY!?. ASK THE MAN DAVID WHAT HE THINKS OF CONJECTURAL TACHYONS AND WHAT ARE HIS THEORIES OF CAUSALITY, WHAT ANSEWER DOES HE HAVE FOR ITS PARADOX?. CHEERS 2109". Ken does know a David, who is interested in tachyons, and had in fact been giving a class on them that morning. Further messages from them talk about time travel, dimensions, etc. They say they're (in?) "WHAT YOU WOULD CALL A TACHYON UNIVERSE BUT YOUR UNDERSTANDING IS INCORRECT [...] WE WILL GIVE YOU A PLOTTING OF A STAR NEXT TIME. WE MOVE AT A SPEED SO THAT WE COVER EVERY POINT IN YOUR TIME AND UNIVERSE. WE HAVE NO FORM WE FEED OF A NEET ENERGY THAT YOU WILL NOT HAVE HERD OF".
- Society for Psychical Research are wondering about electronic bugging / hoaxing of some form.. Ken asks 2109 if they need a screen (computer monitor) to communicate. They give an explanation comparing it to echoes, "Two men back to back ontop of a mountain surrounded by mountains" having to angle their vocal sound waves very exactly in order for the sound to reach the other person via the least number of echoes possible, so too much of the signal won't have been absorbed. This reply apparently appeared instantly on the disk, either as soon as Ken had written his message before turning the computer off, or as soon as it was next turned on. (He didn't leave the computer on by itself for a period in between). (The Vertical Plane, page 246)
- In his last mesage, Tomas says he's being forced to leave his home because the people of Dodleston are very wary of him, despise him, and are probably going to burn down his farm. He's writing a book about his experiences. "One day you will all sit down at my table for wine and meat by the river in Oxford where we shall read each other's books and laugh and we shall speak of truth and good men, watching Oxford change together for evermore. In your time my book is old but I shall not go to my God until it is written then we will all be truly embraced. My love to you all. I shall await you in Oxford. Tomas Harden"
- 2109 says that Tomas wrote the book, in Latin, and placed it in a secure place. They say the inscription says "ME WRYTS THIS IN THE HOPE THAT MYNE FELAWS WILL ONE DAY FIND THIS BOKE, THEN MAY OWER LANDS BE NOT SOE DISTANT".
- They looked into various possibilities of bugging, remote access of the computer etc, but as they had no modem none of this seemed possible. (And I'm pretty sure even if they had had a modem, this kind of bugging wouldn't be possible with any normal tech of the day, on such a computer - someone would have to dial into their phone line (causing the phone to ring) and the computer would've had to be running a specific program, loaded manually, modem set to answer incoming calls).
- Ken asked 2109 about UFOs in 1986. They replied:
TIME, UFOs AND MOST OTHER TYPES OF THE PARANORMAL ARE IN SOME WAY ALL CONNECTED:-
IN CERTAIN GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS THERE IS WHAT WE CALL AREAS OF CONVEXUAL MAGNATISM. THESE CAN BE EXPLAIND BY THE MAGNETIC LINES THAT RUN AROUND THE EARTH. IMAGINE, IF YOU WILL, CIRCLES RUNNING AROUND THE EARTH CLOCKWISE (THESE ARE POSITIVE LINES OF MANETIC FORSE - P.L.M.F.) AND ALSO CIRCLES RUNNING ANTICLOCKWISE (NEGATIVE - N.L.M.F!) WHEN TWO OPPERSITE RUNNING LINES ARE CROSSED (USUALLY A PERMINANT CROSSING RATHER THAN RANDOM) THE LIGHT/TIME CONTINUEM IS VASTLY DISTORTED SO MUCH SO THAT A 'SENSITIVE' INDAVIDUAL MAY WITNESS WHAT YOU, MAY CALL A TIME SCAPE, THAT IS, A GLIMS OF A PAST EVENT OR THAT OF A FUTURE EVENT. AH!, WE HEAR YOU SAY, BUT YOU SAID MATTER COULD NOT TRAVELL IN TIME, THIS IS TRUE AS IF MATTER WERE TO TRAVELL BY PHYSICAL MOTION THEN MASS AROUND THE MOVING OBJECT WOULD BE SO DENSE THAT THE EARTH AND MOST OTHER CELESTIAL BODIES IN YOUR SOLAR SYSTEM WOULD BE CONSUMED OR INBALANCED IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY WOULD DECAY RAPIDLY. THEN HOW:
IMAGINE, AGAIN PLEASE, A PERSON FROM THE FUTURE HAPPILY FLOATING ALONG IN HIS SILVER SPACE SHIP CROSSING AN AREA OF CONVEXUAL MAG. ALL OF A SUDDEN HIS INSTRUMENT PANNEL GOES 'SHAKY' HE MAY FEEL SLIGHTLY DIZZY OR NASEAUS A GREEN MIST (CAUSED BY APTNOSPHERIC DISTORTION) FORMS AROUND THE VESSAL HE THEN WILL PROBERBLY FALL INTO A 'TRANCE' STATE OF SUCH DEPTHS THAT HIS 'SOUL' IS SQUEEZED THROUGH THE LIGHT/TIME GATE AND FORCED TO PROJECT A PHYSICAL MIRROR IMAGE OF HIM/HER SELF AS A [word missing] OF THEIR PLACE/TIME ORIGIN AND THEIR EMIDIATE VICINATY. THIS CAN OCCUR SOMETIMES FOR ONLY SEVERAL SECONDS AND DOES ONLY REGISTERS FOR THAT INDIVIDUALS SUBCONSCIOUS BUT ON-LOOKERS, FROM THE TIME WHICH IS 'BROKEN INTO', WILL WITTNESS THE VERY PHYSICAL SIGHT AND ACTIONS OF THIS 'ALIEN' FROM ANOTHER TIME THEN, TOTALLY BY CONFUSION, ELABORATE ON THE FACTS.
- Nobody has ever found the book that Tomas supposedly wrote and left somewhere secure.
- Ken doesn't seem to have been particularly interested in any of this to begin with, though obviously became more so over time, though in the book he mentions being bored by it all at times. He's apparently still around but doesn't really want anything to do with any of it.
- Someone claiming to be Gary Rowe, one of the UFOlogists who investigated and had some of his own communications with 2109 (at their insistence!), has been leaving comments on this blog post as recently as 2017: Ghost in the machine
I've skipped over LOTS of details, and probably have some of this in the wrong order, but you get the gist.. To me, "2109" sometimes reads almost like a much less grooved, and filtered through a different personality, "Cassiopaea Junior".. But then sometimes the whole thing seems like a kind of poltergeisty "pulling info out of your head and leading you on a wild goose chase" type deal. I dunno!
It involves an apparent communication conduit between the past and present (and possibly future?), and/or some kind of elaborate poltergeist-ish energy, via a computer word processor..
You can read the book on archive.org: The Vertical Plane Ken Webster : Ken Webster : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Here are the two recent podcast episodes:
Ep 217: The Vertical Plane Part 1 — Astonishing Legends
Description: Many of us enjoy a good ghost story. Many of us enjoy Science Fiction. But how many stories do you know that start off as one and evolve into the other? What's become known as "The mystery of the Dodleston messages" is precisely just such a case. And if the story is accurate,
www.astonishinglegends.com
Ep 218: The Vertical Plane Part 2 — Astonishing Legends
Description: As we continue with Part Two of our discussion with Richard Hatem of Ken Webster's book, The Vertical Plane , we find that "The Mystery of the Dodleston Messages" has become even more fantastical and bizarre. As unimaginable as it would be to ostensibly communicate with a li
www.astonishinglegends.com
And a 30 minute TV segment (dramatised) from 1996:
Summary:
- In 1984, Teacher/musician Ken, his girlfriend Debbie and their friend Nicola are living in this 18th century cottage.. Ken's been renovating/rebuilding it for months.
- They start seeing poltergeist like activity, including:
Tiny 6 toed footprints going up a wall, which reappear once after being painted over.
Furniture and household items being moved around, eg cat food tins stacked in a pyramid overnight, coming home to find all the furniture piled in a corner, objects being moved while their backs are turned, etc.
Ominous messages scrawled on the walls in chalk. Tappings sounds, hair pulling, etc..
All this keeps on happening throughout. Ken notes that the area near the exposed brick pillar in the kitchen (part of the original building?) seems to be the focus of the activity.
- Ken starts borrowing BBC Micro Model B computers (an early home computer, using 5.25" floppy disks to save data, and a simple word processor on a ROM chip, called EDWORD) from his workplace, for Nicola to use to write scripts and sketches on.
- One night he comes home to find the computer still on, with a new file saved on the floppy disk, filename "KDN", contents: "Ken D eb nic, True A re The NIGHTmares Of a pErson t hat FEArs, Safe A re the BODIES Of tHe Silent World.." (..goes on for awhile more in the same style).
- A couple months later they leave the computer on again while they're all out.. when they come home they again find a new file on the disk, filename "REATE". (You had to press 'C' to create a new document, and whoever did this didn't realise you didn't have to type the whole word).. This file is written in what they later learn is 16th century English: (according to some people, quite accurate. according to others, not very accurate.)
I WRYTE ON BEHAL THE OF MANYE
WOT STRANGE WORDES THOU SPEKE, ALTHOUGH, I MUSTE CONFESS THAT I HATH ALSO BEENE ILL-SCHOOLED, SOMETYMES METHINKS ALTERACIONS ARE SOMEWOT BARFUL, FOR THEY BREAKE MANYE A SLEPES IN MYNE BED. THOU ART GOODLY MAN WHO HATH FANCIFUL WOMAN WHO DWEL IN MYNE HOME, I HATH NO WANT TO AFFREY, FOR ONLIE SYTH MYNE HALF WYTED ANTIC HAS RIPPED ATTWAIN MYNE BOUND HATH I BEENE WRETHED A-NYTE. I HATH SEENE MANYE ALTERACIONS (LASTLY CHARGE HOUSE AND THOU HOME), 'TIS A FITTING PLACE, WITH LYTES WHICHE DEVYLL MAKETH, AND COSTLY THYNGS, THAT ONLIE MYNE FRIEND, EDMUND GREY CAN AFFORE, OR THE KING HEMSELVE. 'TWAS A GREATE CRYME TO HATH BRIBED MYNE HOUSE. L W."
- They reply to the message by typing on the computer. Later that day they recieve a reply, apparently from the same person "LW" in the same language - though with some anachronistic usages - saying he's writing from the year "1521(?)" and the king is King Henry VIII, who is 48 years old. Discrepancy - according to history, King Henry would have been about 30 in 1521. He wants to know what they're doing with his house..
- They keep corresponding with this person, eventually learning the LW stands for Lukas Wainman, and that this person lived in the house that was where their cottage now stands. He apparently somehow has visions into our time, seeing the renovations done to the building, and the people living there themselves etc, as well as other things around the neighbourhood, like the schoolhouse. (sort of reminds me of the Bell Witch, except jolly and English)... They gradually build up a sort of close friendship with this guy, developing very warm feelings for him.
- The messages only appear when they're out of the house, or at least definitely only when Ken is out (they do sometimes come when Debbie is there)
- They try to figure out if there's an intruder somehow doing this, but it seems not. They try to confirm some of the things he says, and test him in various ways. Some of it holds true, some they can't confirm, some seems almost-but-not-quite correct. They bring other people in to try stuff and investigate.. (I'm light on detail, just skimming through the book a bit, but they involve UFOlogists and researchers from the Society for Psychical Research eventually). Lukas, from the 1520s, apparently also starts testing THEM in the 1980s in various ways, thinking THEY might be some kind of hoax.
- Debbie starts having vivid dreams where she travels back in time and meets with Lukas. Lukas talks about these meetings in his communications. Debbie worries that she might be subconsciously making up this character of Lukas, making it all happen.
- Lukas says he's communicating with them on a "Leems Boyste" (Box of Lights)... He says (translated) "You said your time is 1985. I thought you were also from 2109 like your friend who brought the box of lights, pray?". Whoever the person is who brought him the "Leems", Lukas says his name is "One" and that he is green coloured and a time traveller.
- So, Ken leaves a message on the computer saying "CALLING 2109"
- This different "2109" entity starts also communicating through the computer. They never actually claim to be from the year 2109, they just sign their messages with that number. Their first message is:
"KEN, DEB, PETER" (Peter is another friend they've brought in on all this)
"WE ARE SORRY THAT WE CAN GIVE YOU ONLY TWO CHOISES. 1) THAT YOU EITHER HAVE YOUR PREDICAMENT EXPLAINED IN SUCH A NON-RHYME WAY THAT YOU MAY HAVE INSTANT UNDERSTANDING BUT CAUSE WHAT SHOULD NOT BE TO HAPPEN, OR 2) TRY TO UNDERSTAND THAT YOU THREE HAVE A PURPOSE THAT SHALL IN YOUR LIFE TIME CHANGES THE FACE OF HISTORY, WE, 2109, MUST NOT AFFECT YOUR THOUGHTS DIRECTLY BUT GIVE YOU SOME SORT OF GUIDANCE THAT WILL ALLOW ROOM FOR YOUR OWN DESTINY. ALL WE CAN SAY IS THAT WE ARE ALL PART OF THE SAME GOD, WHAT EVER HE, IT (?), IS."
- They learn that 2109 seems to be interfering with their communications with Lukas, changing it or censoring it. 2109 are increasingly antagonistic (is how it seems to Ken).. They give the impression that this is all an experiment of theirs.. 2109:
"IT IS BETTER TO HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE AT ALL THAN TO HAVE A DISTORTED VIEW OF THE TRUTH BECAUSE OF YOUR LACK OF UNDERSTANDING. WE, 2109, ARE NOT WITHOUT COMPASION BUT IF YOU CONTINUE TO DISRUPT OUR EXPERIMENTS THEN IT IS LIKELY YOU WILL FIND YOUR DESTINY. WE SHALL, HOWEVER, ALLOW ONE MORE COMMUNICATION WITH YOU SO THAT YOU MAY ASK YOUR PROFOUND QUESTIONS. WE SHALL ANSEWER AS YOU WISH, IF IN TERMS OF PHYSICS THEN IT SHALL BE SO, BUT REMMEMBER THAT OUR LIMITS ARE SET BY YOUR OWN ABILITIES AND NOT OURS. THERE IS NO ONE AFTER THE MAN YOU CALL LUKAS. THE CHANCE FACTOR WILL NOT REOCCUR AGAIN IN A TIME SPAN YOUR KIND CAN RELATE TO."
- Other messages from 2109 describe the mechanisms of poltergeist phenomena (The Vertical Plane, page 214 - 216).. they tell Ken that by his activities he's unleashed this and that they are stopping his communication with Lukas until things cool down. The man called "One" also visits Lukas and tells him something similar.
- At some point Lukas is arrested for performing these communications (witchcraft)..(they learn this because Debbie dreams it).. Then the SHERIFF who arrested him starts sending them messages. They put pressure on him to release Lukas, and he eventually does. They learn Lukas Wainman is a pseudonym and his real name is Tomas Harden or Hawarden.
- 2109 is aghast that they've found out Lukas's real name, saying "AT PRESENT YOU HAVE TWO LUKASES RUNNING AROUND YOUR HOUSE, IF AT ANY TIME THE TWO ARE TO MEET WE CANNOT EXPLAIN THE DEVASTATION THAT WILL ERRUPT WITHIN THE TIME CONTINUM. WE MUST STOP COMMUNICATION WITH LUKAS ONE, BUT WE CANNOT INTERFERE WITH THE OTHER [...] YOU MUST HELP BE GIVING US EVERY WORD UTTERED BY THOMAS HAWARDINE FROM THE SECOND YOU RECEIVED HIS TRUE NAME. YOU MUST ALSO STATE HOW MUCH INFORMATION YOU HAVE ON THIS MAN - EVERYTHING!,WORD FOR WORD. AVOID ANY OTHER COMMUNICATION YOU MAY HAVE WITH HIM. DESPERATION. BE QUICK!"
- Ken and Debbie get around this by beginning to communicate with Lukas on paper. Debbie leaves paper lying around, later finds his writing on it.
- Ken asks 2109 if they can get rid of the poltergeists so he can talk with Lukas/Tomas again. They reply: "YES, WE SHALL HOLD BACK AS BEST WE CAN ON THE PG. SORRY YOU FIND US SO FREINDLY!?. ASK THE MAN DAVID WHAT HE THINKS OF CONJECTURAL TACHYONS AND WHAT ARE HIS THEORIES OF CAUSALITY, WHAT ANSEWER DOES HE HAVE FOR ITS PARADOX?. CHEERS 2109". Ken does know a David, who is interested in tachyons, and had in fact been giving a class on them that morning. Further messages from them talk about time travel, dimensions, etc. They say they're (in?) "WHAT YOU WOULD CALL A TACHYON UNIVERSE BUT YOUR UNDERSTANDING IS INCORRECT [...] WE WILL GIVE YOU A PLOTTING OF A STAR NEXT TIME. WE MOVE AT A SPEED SO THAT WE COVER EVERY POINT IN YOUR TIME AND UNIVERSE. WE HAVE NO FORM WE FEED OF A NEET ENERGY THAT YOU WILL NOT HAVE HERD OF".
- Society for Psychical Research are wondering about electronic bugging / hoaxing of some form.. Ken asks 2109 if they need a screen (computer monitor) to communicate. They give an explanation comparing it to echoes, "Two men back to back ontop of a mountain surrounded by mountains" having to angle their vocal sound waves very exactly in order for the sound to reach the other person via the least number of echoes possible, so too much of the signal won't have been absorbed. This reply apparently appeared instantly on the disk, either as soon as Ken had written his message before turning the computer off, or as soon as it was next turned on. (He didn't leave the computer on by itself for a period in between). (The Vertical Plane, page 246)
- In his last mesage, Tomas says he's being forced to leave his home because the people of Dodleston are very wary of him, despise him, and are probably going to burn down his farm. He's writing a book about his experiences. "One day you will all sit down at my table for wine and meat by the river in Oxford where we shall read each other's books and laugh and we shall speak of truth and good men, watching Oxford change together for evermore. In your time my book is old but I shall not go to my God until it is written then we will all be truly embraced. My love to you all. I shall await you in Oxford. Tomas Harden"
- 2109 says that Tomas wrote the book, in Latin, and placed it in a secure place. They say the inscription says "ME WRYTS THIS IN THE HOPE THAT MYNE FELAWS WILL ONE DAY FIND THIS BOKE, THEN MAY OWER LANDS BE NOT SOE DISTANT".
- They looked into various possibilities of bugging, remote access of the computer etc, but as they had no modem none of this seemed possible. (And I'm pretty sure even if they had had a modem, this kind of bugging wouldn't be possible with any normal tech of the day, on such a computer - someone would have to dial into their phone line (causing the phone to ring) and the computer would've had to be running a specific program, loaded manually, modem set to answer incoming calls).
- Ken asked 2109 about UFOs in 1986. They replied:
TIME, UFOs AND MOST OTHER TYPES OF THE PARANORMAL ARE IN SOME WAY ALL CONNECTED:-
IN CERTAIN GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATIONS THERE IS WHAT WE CALL AREAS OF CONVEXUAL MAGNATISM. THESE CAN BE EXPLAIND BY THE MAGNETIC LINES THAT RUN AROUND THE EARTH. IMAGINE, IF YOU WILL, CIRCLES RUNNING AROUND THE EARTH CLOCKWISE (THESE ARE POSITIVE LINES OF MANETIC FORSE - P.L.M.F.) AND ALSO CIRCLES RUNNING ANTICLOCKWISE (NEGATIVE - N.L.M.F!) WHEN TWO OPPERSITE RUNNING LINES ARE CROSSED (USUALLY A PERMINANT CROSSING RATHER THAN RANDOM) THE LIGHT/TIME CONTINUEM IS VASTLY DISTORTED SO MUCH SO THAT A 'SENSITIVE' INDAVIDUAL MAY WITNESS WHAT YOU, MAY CALL A TIME SCAPE, THAT IS, A GLIMS OF A PAST EVENT OR THAT OF A FUTURE EVENT. AH!, WE HEAR YOU SAY, BUT YOU SAID MATTER COULD NOT TRAVELL IN TIME, THIS IS TRUE AS IF MATTER WERE TO TRAVELL BY PHYSICAL MOTION THEN MASS AROUND THE MOVING OBJECT WOULD BE SO DENSE THAT THE EARTH AND MOST OTHER CELESTIAL BODIES IN YOUR SOLAR SYSTEM WOULD BE CONSUMED OR INBALANCED IN SUCH A WAY THAT THEY WOULD DECAY RAPIDLY. THEN HOW:
IMAGINE, AGAIN PLEASE, A PERSON FROM THE FUTURE HAPPILY FLOATING ALONG IN HIS SILVER SPACE SHIP CROSSING AN AREA OF CONVEXUAL MAG. ALL OF A SUDDEN HIS INSTRUMENT PANNEL GOES 'SHAKY' HE MAY FEEL SLIGHTLY DIZZY OR NASEAUS A GREEN MIST (CAUSED BY APTNOSPHERIC DISTORTION) FORMS AROUND THE VESSAL HE THEN WILL PROBERBLY FALL INTO A 'TRANCE' STATE OF SUCH DEPTHS THAT HIS 'SOUL' IS SQUEEZED THROUGH THE LIGHT/TIME GATE AND FORCED TO PROJECT A PHYSICAL MIRROR IMAGE OF HIM/HER SELF AS A [word missing] OF THEIR PLACE/TIME ORIGIN AND THEIR EMIDIATE VICINATY. THIS CAN OCCUR SOMETIMES FOR ONLY SEVERAL SECONDS AND DOES ONLY REGISTERS FOR THAT INDIVIDUALS SUBCONSCIOUS BUT ON-LOOKERS, FROM THE TIME WHICH IS 'BROKEN INTO', WILL WITTNESS THE VERY PHYSICAL SIGHT AND ACTIONS OF THIS 'ALIEN' FROM ANOTHER TIME THEN, TOTALLY BY CONFUSION, ELABORATE ON THE FACTS.
- Nobody has ever found the book that Tomas supposedly wrote and left somewhere secure.
- Ken doesn't seem to have been particularly interested in any of this to begin with, though obviously became more so over time, though in the book he mentions being bored by it all at times. He's apparently still around but doesn't really want anything to do with any of it.
- Someone claiming to be Gary Rowe, one of the UFOlogists who investigated and had some of his own communications with 2109 (at their insistence!), has been leaving comments on this blog post as recently as 2017: Ghost in the machine
I've skipped over LOTS of details, and probably have some of this in the wrong order, but you get the gist.. To me, "2109" sometimes reads almost like a much less grooved, and filtered through a different personality, "Cassiopaea Junior".. But then sometimes the whole thing seems like a kind of poltergeisty "pulling info out of your head and leading you on a wild goose chase" type deal. I dunno!
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Or why didn't the owner do so (whenever he'd leave the house)? I think if you can afford a computer, you'd also be able to afford a cheap camera and see if anything happens to the computer (turned on, or whether the buttons are being pressed, other phenomena). Added: I see he borrowed the computer, but yeah, I would've checked to see if I could borrow a camera, too, if this started happening!
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