WEBVTT - S03 Episode 8: REPEAT INPUT UNTIL END 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:13.320 The village of Doddalston lies just five miles to the 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:18.120 southwest of Chester in the northwest of England, surrounded by rich, 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:23.200 dark soil, fields of green and soft rolling hills. Like 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:26.800 all of the British Isles, its position has been an 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:31.880 ever shifting and often disputed thing. Today it sits on 0:00:31.880 --> 0:00:38.879 a border between worlds, one designated England and the other Kymrie. 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.839 Five hundred years ago, these lands were ruled by Tudor 0:00:43.840 --> 0:00:48.280 monarch King Henry the Eighth. It was Henry's fifteen thirty 0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:52.240 six Act of Union between England and Wales that fixed 0:00:52.280 --> 0:00:57.720 the border as it remains today, placing Doddalston once but 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:03.440 undoubtedly not for all, on the English side. The Act 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:07.080 formed one of a number of policies devised by Henry's 0:01:07.080 --> 0:01:11.440 adviser Thomas Cromwell, who sought to remove the influence of 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:16.560 the Catholic Church on the British state. Prior to the Act, 0:01:17.040 --> 0:01:20.959 aristocrats known as lord wardens of the Marches, governed the 0:01:21.000 --> 0:01:25.119 borderlands on behalf of the monarchy. It was their duty 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:29.840 to maintain the security of the border between nations. The 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:34.160 word march is derived from the ancient Proto Indo European 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:40.959 word merek, meaning edge and boundary. With the Act of Union, 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:45.039 Henry the Eighth had single handedly dissolved the powers of 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:49.160 the lords. Just under four hundred and fifty years later, 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.520 one resident of Doddleston might have been forgiven for thinking 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:57.640 that perhaps it wasn't merely geographical boundaries that they had 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:05.560 been guarding. You're listening to Unexplained and I'm Richard McClane Smith. 0:02:15.240 --> 0:02:19.200 It was late August nineteen eighty four when Ken first 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:23.920 spotted the strange markings on his kitchen wall, shaped inexplicably 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:28.240 like small footprints stretching in a diagonal line to the ceiling. 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.520 The discovery had been in keeping with what was proving 0:02:33.639 --> 0:02:38.040 to be an especially peculiar summer. Just the previous month, 0:02:38.520 --> 0:02:42.000 Ken had been woken shortly before eight am, alarmed to 0:02:42.040 --> 0:02:46.440 find his entire house being rocked on its foundations, the 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:51.440 result of the largest earthquake ever recorded in the United Kingdom, 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:55.480 with the epicenter located in Clin Peninsula, eighty miles to 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.800 the west, measuring five point four on the Richter scale, 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.480 Its subsequ quent shockwaves were felt as far away as 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:08.720 Dublin in Ireland. Ken's house known as Meadow Cottage, was 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:12.480 one of four eighteenth century buildings lined up along Kinnerton 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:17.520 Road on the edge of Doddalston Village. Ken, an economics 0:03:17.520 --> 0:03:20.480 teacher in his mid twenties, lived at the property with 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:25.040 his nineteen year old girlfriend, Debby. She too had noticed 0:03:25.080 --> 0:03:28.079 the strange markings on the wall, but since most of 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:31.240 the ground floor had been undergoing renovations for the best 0:03:31.240 --> 0:03:35.080 part of the summer, the markings were soon forgotten, before 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:40.160 eventually fading away altogether. It was a few months later, 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:44.440 with the renovations completed, that Nicola, a friend of Ken's, 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:48.760 came to stay for a couple of months. One morning, 0:03:48.800 --> 0:03:52.880 in the kitchen, as Ken was preparing breakfast, Nicola drew 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:55.600 his attention to something she had noticed the day before, 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:00.520 an odd set of markings that went diagonally across the 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:05.360 back wall all the way to the ceiling. They looked 0:04:05.360 --> 0:04:10.640 like footprints, she said. Ken brushed his hand over the 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:14.800 newly plastered and painted wall, finding the markings exactly where 0:04:14.800 --> 0:04:20.560 they had been before. Unnerved by their uncanny resemblance to feet, 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:26.440 Nichola painted over them the next day. A few days later, 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.479 a sudden cry from Debby had Ken racing into the 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:35.080 kitchen to find a bizarre sight laid out before him 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:38.560 a pyramid of cans stacked up on the floor, with 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:41.039 three of the tins placed one on top of the other, 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:46.560 forming a precarious tower at the top. Ken gave a 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:52.080 rise smile, suddenly realizing what had been going on. He 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:54.720 had first suspected the builders playing a trick on them, 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:58.280 but since they had left some time ago, it must 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.440 have been John or sten It, two friends of his 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:04.120 who often came to the house to play music in 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:08.280 the small home studio upstairs. Ken had also given them 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:11.000 keys to let themselves in if they ever needed to 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:15.120 use the place when he was at work. At first, 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.680 he reasoned there was no point in confronting them since 0:05:18.680 --> 0:05:21.440 they would never own up to it, But when he 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:24.800 found another strange construction in the kitchen two days later, 0:05:25.520 --> 0:05:29.360 this time comprising a large bottle of lemonade, kitchen roll, 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:35.160 and dried cat food, he had had enough. As he expected, 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:39.520 both denied all knowledge of the bizarre activity, but Ken 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.559 was satisfied he had got the message across. None the less. 0:05:44.080 --> 0:05:48.000 That night, Ken, Debby, and Nick made extra shore to 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:51.000 check that all the windows and doors were locked before 0:05:51.040 --> 0:05:55.720 they made their way to bed the following morning, they 0:05:55.720 --> 0:06:08.799 found nothing unto wart. A few months later, one evening 0:06:08.839 --> 0:06:12.520 in mid December, Debby and Nikola had just settled down 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:15.360 in front of the fire in the living room when 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:20.640 the temperature dropped. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind swept 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.600 through the room, lifting a number of pages from a 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:27.000 paper that had been left on the floor high into 0:06:27.040 --> 0:06:31.960 the air. Debbi watched with amusement as the log in 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:36.559 the hearth, having been burning, gently flashed a sudden bright red, 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:40.800 before returning to a soft orange as the pages fluttered 0:06:40.839 --> 0:06:47.000 down to the floor. As new year approached, Nicola was 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.840 beginning to feel restless and wary of taking up too 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:52.599 much of Ken and Debby's time, began to look for 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:57.040 work and somewhere else to live. With plans of becoming 0:06:57.040 --> 0:07:00.880 a performer on the cabaret circuit, she decided to try 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:05.960 her hand at sketchwriting. Ken, who taught at nearby Howard 0:07:06.040 --> 0:07:09.240 and School, suggested she work on one of the schools 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:14.640 recently acquired BBC micro computers, and so it was when 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:18.160 a few days later, Ken booked out the machine and 0:07:18.280 --> 0:07:23.400 brought it back to the house later that day, having 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:26.120 decided to set it up in the kitchen. Ken and 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:29.360 Nichola sat down in front of the slick, black and 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:33.440 beige device with its bulky monitor stacked up behind it. 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:39.800 After switching it on, the words BBC computer glowed green 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:44.560 on the screen with a small flashing line beneath. Waiting 0:07:44.760 --> 0:07:51.120 for their instruction, Ken typed in asterisk D, then pressed return, 0:07:51.760 --> 0:07:56.440 followed by asterisk eed w O r D and hit 0:07:56.520 --> 0:08:03.000 return again. Immediately the word processing program ed word opened up. 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.960 Having introduced Nick to the program, Ken left her at 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:12.040 the computer to get to grips with it. After a 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:15.640 number of days writing, Nikola joined Ken and Debbie for 0:08:15.760 --> 0:08:18.760 dinner at the home of their friends Sean and Dave Lovell. 0:08:20.360 --> 0:08:23.840 Returning back to the house later that night, Nick made 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:26.960 her way to bed, while Ken and Debbie headed to 0:08:27.000 --> 0:08:32.440 the kitchen to make some tea. Opening the door, it 0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:35.240 was clear by the fuzzy green glow bot lighting the 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:39.200 kitchen table that Nick had forgotten to turn off the computer. 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:43.520 Curious as to what she had been working on, Ken 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:47.679 had just pulled up the files when he discovered something unexpected. 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:52.440 Where all of Nick's files were labeled with single letters, 0:08:52.960 --> 0:08:55.160 there was one file that had not been on the 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.280 disc when he first gave it to her, Labeled with 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:04.080 three kay, D and N. Ken selected it with the 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:19.920 mouse and reeled back in surprise. It was two months later, 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:24.360 in February nineteen eighty five, when Ken approached fifty year 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:27.240 old Peter Trinder in the school's staff room with a 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:33.960 peculiar request. A hugely experienced teacher and former Oxford University graduate, 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:38.880 Peter who had once been Ken's own English teacher, had 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:41.920 become a good friend since Ken had joined the teaching staff, 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.840 but more importantly, Peter was someone he could trust with 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:51.040 what he was about to tell him. It had all 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:56.560 started that Sunday evening in December, as Ken explained, after 0:09:56.600 --> 0:10:00.280 opening the mystery file, he found a message a rest 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:05.240 to Ken, deb and Nick. True, are the nightmares of 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:08.760 a person that fears safe? Are the bodies of the 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:14.880 silent world? Turn pretty flower, turned towards the sun, for 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:19.520 you shall grow and sow. But the flower reaches too 0:10:19.600 --> 0:10:25.400 high and withers in the burning light. It was a poem, evidently, 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:29.240 but not one that Ken or anyone else in the 0:10:29.280 --> 0:10:34.040 house had written. Ken explained further that a number of 0:10:34.080 --> 0:10:37.240 strange things had been occurring in the house prior to this, 0:10:38.160 --> 0:10:40.600 and naturally he had assumed it was all part of 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:45.040 some elaborate joke. That was until he found something else 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:51.160 a few weeks later, another file, this time named Rate. 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:55.240 He handed Peter a print out of what he'd found. 0:10:56.800 --> 0:11:01.560 Peter stared at it for a moment. Well, it's English, 0:11:02.160 --> 0:11:07.040 but not contemporary, that's for sure. He studied the lines again. 0:11:08.559 --> 0:11:12.200 I hath no want to affray for only sith mine 0:11:12.200 --> 0:11:16.400 half witted antic has ripped a twain mine bound hath 0:11:16.440 --> 0:11:21.080 I been wreathed a knight. It was signed by L. W. 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:28.440 Peter recognized the text as perhaps sixteenth century, but much 0:11:28.440 --> 0:11:32.440 of the language seemed unfamiliar. Not quite sure what to 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:35.000 make of it all, he agreed none the less to 0:11:35.040 --> 0:11:37.800 give the text a proper look and promised to get 0:11:37.800 --> 0:11:42.520 back to Ken in due course. A few days later, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:46.040 Peter approached him at the staff room, demanding to know, 0:11:46.320 --> 0:11:49.600 in no uncertain terms, if he was being messed around with. 0:11:51.880 --> 0:11:55.840 Convinced by Ken's assurances that he wasn't, and thinking it 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:59.120 unlikely that Ken had the requisite knowledge to fabricate the 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:05.240 message himself, Peter Julie explained his findings, having tallied the 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.840 words against the Oxford English Dictionary, many of which he 0:12:08.880 --> 0:12:12.440 didn't know himself. He was surprised to find that they 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:16.720 were all genuine. Whoever had written the message, he said, 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:21.319 was either a very skilled linguist or was writing from 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:27.560 a very long time ago. The following week, Ken's solicitor, 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:33.079 John Cummins, having also learned of the peculiar correspondence, suggested 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:35.720 that Ken write a reply to try and catch the 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:40.880 hoax out. The next day, Ken Julie booted up the 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:46.280 computer and started to type. He began by thanking the 0:12:46.320 --> 0:12:50.040 recipient for the messages before listing a series of questions. 0:12:51.480 --> 0:12:55.800 The second message mentioned a man named Edmund Gray, prompting 0:12:55.920 --> 0:13:00.199 Ken to ask who this was. He asked also if 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:04.280 the person writing the message was writing from the sixteen hundreds, 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.880 and if so, who the king was at the time. 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:13.559 The following day, John Cummins received a phone call from Ken. 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:20.960 It seemed they had written back. John listened patiently as Debbie, 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:25.280 reading from the screen, shouted from the kitchen while Ken 0:13:25.360 --> 0:13:30.520 clarified what she was saying. The writer listed Edmund Gray 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:33.920 as the brother of John Gray, who they claimed lived 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:38.439 in nearby Kinnaton Hall. They also claimed to be writing 0:13:38.679 --> 0:13:41.880 not from the sixteen hundreds, but from the year fifteen 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:46.520 twenty one, during the reign of King Henry the Eighth, 0:13:46.559 --> 0:13:49.679 who they listed as being six and forty years old. 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:55.560 As Ken would later tell John and Peter, having ended 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:58.680 the call with John, he was suddenly perturbed by the 0:13:58.760 --> 0:14:02.120 age given for Henry the Eighth. He knew he had 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:06.120 been born in fourteen ninety one, meaning whoever had written 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:10.400 the message had got the age completely wrong. But when 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:13.560 deb returned to the computer to double check the details, 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:19.560 the message had vanished. They needn't have worried, however, as 0:14:19.560 --> 0:14:22.400 it would prove to be only the first reply of many. 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.760 A follow up message, received on February the sixteenth, gave 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:33.160 the writer's name as Lucas. It had been received the 0:14:33.200 --> 0:14:36.000 same day that Ken had returned home from a trip 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:39.040 to the garage to find three milk cartons on the 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:44.160 kitchen floor, stagged up on top of each other. Subsequent 0:14:44.200 --> 0:14:47.400 messages would reveal the full name to be Lucas Wayneman. 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:52.480 Each time Ken received a message, he would print it 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:55.520 out and hand it to his colleague Peter to analyze, 0:14:56.440 --> 0:15:00.480 and each time he came to the same conclusion. Though 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:03.840 the grammar was a little odd in places, the vocabulary 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:09.200 was completely authentic for the period. Though Ken and Depp 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:11.680 had been a little unnerved at the thought of some 0:15:11.760 --> 0:15:15.480 one entering the house while they slept upstairs, the assumption 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.520 that it had been Ken's bandmate John had made it 0:15:18.640 --> 0:15:24.360 somewhat less sinister. What John wasn't, however, was an expert 0:15:24.400 --> 0:15:28.760 in Tudor era English. He looked again at the print 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:32.360 out of the first message and read the final lines again, 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:38.080 twas a great crime to have bribed mine house, or, 0:15:38.120 --> 0:15:42.080 as Peter's translation read, it was a great crime to 0:15:42.200 --> 0:15:50.040 have stolen my house. Are you always taking care of 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.600 your family? Do you often take care of others and 0:15:52.680 --> 0:15:55.840 not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself. 0:15:56.240 --> 0:15:59.760 To make time for you you deserve it. Tell a doc. 0:15:59.760 --> 0:16:02.600 Give you access to a licensed therapist to help you 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:06.040 get back to feeling your best, to feeling like yourself again. 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.920 With TELEDOC, you can speak to a licensed therapist by 0:16:10.000 --> 0:16:13.640 phone or video. Therapy appointments are available seven days a 0:16:13.680 --> 0:16:17.240 week from seven am to nine pm local time. If 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:21.560 you feel overwhelmed sometimes maybe you feel stressed or anxious, 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.880 depressed or lonely, or you might be struggling with a 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:29.640 personal or family issue. Teledoc can help. Teledoc is committed 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:33.360 to facilitating great therapeutic matches, so they make it easy 0:16:33.440 --> 0:16:37.760 to change counselors if needed. For free. Teledoc Therapy is 0:16:37.800 --> 0:16:41.960 available through most insurance or employers. Download the app or 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:46.360 visit teledoc dot com forward slash unexplained podcast Today to 0:16:46.440 --> 0:17:00.160 get started. That's teladoc dot com slash unexplained podcast. At 0:17:00.200 --> 0:17:03.840 one point, Ken wrote to the mysterious Lucas asking how 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.119 it was that he was able to send messages on 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:09.359 a computer if he was writing from the distant past. 0:17:11.400 --> 0:17:14.360 Ken's preferred method was to write his message and leave 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:18.160 the computer on until he received a reply, usually leaving 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:22.360 the house in order to prompt a response. That evening, 0:17:22.760 --> 0:17:25.960 having only been gone an hour, he returned to find 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:29.880 a new file saved onto the disc. I hath seen 0:17:29.960 --> 0:17:33.520 thee Maketh leams on thy voice and Art sly read 0:17:33.560 --> 0:17:37.560 the reply. He had been watching them make lights on 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:41.280 the box and copied them, explained Peter. The next day, 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.560 things progressed steadily between Lucas, Ken and Debbie as they 0:17:46.560 --> 0:17:50.640 apparently sought more information about each other, until one message 0:17:50.640 --> 0:17:54.920 brought a curious revelation. As Ken explained it to Peter, 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.879 all this time he and Debbie had been trying to 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:02.440 catch out whoever had been hoaxing them, until it became 0:18:02.480 --> 0:18:06.320 apparent in their exchanges with Lucas that he might in 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:10.879 fact have been trying to catch them out. Perhaps it 0:18:11.000 --> 0:18:14.080 was they who he thought were not real, said Ken, 0:18:15.280 --> 0:18:18.560 What if to Lucas it was they who were the ghosts. 0:18:20.640 --> 0:18:23.720 A few weeks later, Debby was alone in the house, 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:27.280 resting on the sofa when she heard a bizare scuffling 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:31.840 coming from the kitchen. Opening the door, she found a 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:35.320 wire chair leaning back on a rail at a forty 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:41.000 five degree angle. After staring for a moment, she moved 0:18:41.040 --> 0:18:44.960 slowly toward it and pulled it down into place, before 0:18:45.040 --> 0:18:48.320 hurrying back to the living room and bolting the kitchen 0:18:48.359 --> 0:18:54.959 door shut behind her. After falling asleep again on the sofa, 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.639 Debb plucked up the courage to return to the kitchen 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:02.760 to make some coffee. Having returned again to the living room, 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:05.359 she had just sat down on the couch when she 0:19:05.440 --> 0:19:09.280 felt something cold brush against the left side of her face. 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:14.480 She felt her hand run through her hair, and another 0:19:14.680 --> 0:19:18.639 grip her on the shoulder. She became aware of a 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:23.080 figure standing to her left, but when she turned to look, 0:19:24.040 --> 0:19:28.520 there was nothing Leaping from the couch, she ran straight 0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:31.919 into the cold and wet outside, where she remained for 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:38.280 the next hour until Ken returned home. It was some 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.920 time in the spring of eighty five that Peter, having 0:19:41.920 --> 0:19:46.600 suggested they widened their investigation, wrote to the UK's Society 0:19:46.600 --> 0:19:51.880 of Psychical Research for assistance. It wouldn't be until early May, however, 0:19:52.160 --> 0:19:56.160 that John Bucknell and Dave Welsh of the SPR were 0:19:56.200 --> 0:19:59.440 finally able to meet with them, and much had happened 0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:04.760 Peter had first been in touch. The pair sat in 0:20:04.800 --> 0:20:09.680 Peter's living room listening as he, Debbie, and Ken explained 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:13.760 the events of the past six months. It appeared that 0:20:13.840 --> 0:20:17.359 after the first flurry of messages, things had started to 0:20:17.400 --> 0:20:23.960 take increasingly strange turns. One incident involved Ken leaving a 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:26.119 picture of the type of car he owned by the 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:30.159 computer at the request of Lucas, who wanted to understand 0:20:30.240 --> 0:20:34.719 more about it. The picture had gone missing, only to 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:41.119 reappear the following day, scorched around all the edges. Additional 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:45.560 messages had also started appearing around the house, written in 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:50.200 chalk in long cursive script, the first had said simply 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:57.639 Lucas As for Lucas himself, Ken explained as he handed 0:20:57.680 --> 0:21:00.800 a folder to John and Dave contain all the messages 0:21:00.840 --> 0:21:06.480 to date. He was no longer corresponding with them. Ken 0:21:06.520 --> 0:21:12.240 paused for a moment, wondering if he should continue. It seemed, 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:15.719 he said, as John perused the many pages of text, 0:21:16.359 --> 0:21:19.280 that he had been arrested for witchcraft after he was 0:21:19.280 --> 0:21:24.680 apparently discovered trying to communicate with Ken and Debbie. What's more, 0:21:25.600 --> 0:21:28.360 Ken had never told him what year they were living in. 0:21:29.760 --> 0:21:34.800 When he did, Lucas had apparently been confused, believing they 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:37.440 had been speaking to him from the year twenty one 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:44.280 o nine. When Ken had asked why, Lucas replied because 0:21:44.280 --> 0:21:48.639 it was the year in which the others lived. Ken 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:53.320 handed a final message to the spr investigators. It was 0:21:53.400 --> 0:22:01.440 from them, he said, Ken, Peter deb It read, try 0:22:01.480 --> 0:22:05.560 to understand that you three have a purpose that shall, 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:11.360 in your lifetime change the face of history. We twenty 0:22:11.359 --> 0:22:15.520 one o nine must not affect your thoughts directly, but 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:18.880 give you some sort of guidance that will allow room 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:24.760 for your own destiny, John and Dave studied the messages 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:30.520 carefully and looked to Peter for clarification. He confirmed again 0:22:30.840 --> 0:22:35.760 that the messages in Old English seemed authentic. It was 0:22:35.800 --> 0:22:39.359 clear to Ken, however, from the following questioning, that he, 0:22:39.640 --> 0:22:43.600 deb and Peter were under suspicion of concocting a hoax. 0:22:46.000 --> 0:22:49.280 John and Dave eventually agreed to mount a formal investigation, 0:22:50.040 --> 0:22:52.800 but made it clear their focus was not on the 0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:57.320 possibility of contact from a distant past or future, but 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:00.760 rather on trying to catch out the assus umed hoaxer. 0:23:09.359 --> 0:23:13.320 Over the next few months, with communication now apparently coming 0:23:13.359 --> 0:23:17.240 regularly between Ken and the enigmatic twenty one o nine group, 0:23:18.000 --> 0:23:21.600 John and Dave traveled to Ken's house in Doddleston, rigging 0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:24.560 up a series of traps and microphones throughout the house 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:29.879 in their efforts to snare the trickster. After the traps 0:23:29.880 --> 0:23:32.920 were set, the group would retire to the local pub 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:36.000 in the hope of returning to find either a message 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:40.000 or one of the traps disturbed, but every time they 0:23:40.040 --> 0:23:47.520 found nothing. Next, Dave secretly composed ten as yet unanswered 0:23:47.760 --> 0:23:51.520 mathematical problems that he reasoned might be simple for someone 0:23:51.560 --> 0:23:56.159 in twenty one o nine to answer. Sitting in the 0:23:56.240 --> 0:24:00.359 kitchen on his own, he typed them out carefully returned 0:24:00.400 --> 0:24:03.840 to sit with the others in the living room. With 0:24:03.960 --> 0:24:07.840 the kitchen locked and deb Ken and Peter all gathered together, 0:24:08.880 --> 0:24:11.919 no one had entered the kitchen when Dave returned to 0:24:11.960 --> 0:24:17.040 the computer an hour later. Satisfied that nobody had replied, 0:24:17.640 --> 0:24:22.760 he deleted the questions. When a few days had passed, 0:24:23.760 --> 0:24:27.280 Dave received a phone call from Ken. He had found 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:31.399 a new file on the disc. Dave was disappointed but 0:24:31.600 --> 0:24:35.320 unsurprised to discover that his questions had not been answered, 0:24:36.280 --> 0:24:41.080 and yet, curiously, whoever had written the message had referred 0:24:41.119 --> 0:24:44.720 directly to a number of the questions, suggesting they had 0:24:44.720 --> 0:24:50.240 at least found some way to read them. Frustrated by 0:24:50.240 --> 0:24:55.040 the insufficient response from Dave's first request, Ken had apparently 0:24:55.040 --> 0:25:00.640 written back demanding they at least answered two questions provide 0:25:00.640 --> 0:25:03.840 them with a prime number bigger than the largest currently known, 0:25:04.680 --> 0:25:08.040 as well as the solution to the mathematical conundrum known 0:25:08.080 --> 0:25:14.119 as for Mars last theorem. Ken called Dave again later 0:25:14.160 --> 0:25:18.680 that day to explain what he had done, but more importantly, 0:25:19.000 --> 0:25:23.440 to let him know that they had replied again, Dave. 0:25:23.760 --> 0:25:30.159 It read yes, both questions can be answered, one directly, 0:25:31.160 --> 0:25:35.600 the other requires an understanding of a new conversion formula. 0:25:35.720 --> 0:25:38.639 But if we tell you, do you swear to grant 0:25:38.720 --> 0:25:44.280 us our wish. After a moment of silence, Dave instructed 0:25:44.359 --> 0:25:48.600 Ken what to write next if it be in our 0:25:48.640 --> 0:25:51.160 power to do so, and that we do not lose 0:25:51.160 --> 0:25:56.639 our minds or souls or bodies to do so. Ken 0:25:56.680 --> 0:25:59.920 put down the phone and dutifully typed out the words 0:26:00.240 --> 0:26:02.800 before heading out for a walk in the hope that 0:26:02.880 --> 0:26:06.000 a reply would be waiting for him. On his return 0:26:07.800 --> 0:26:11.040 back in Dave's home. An hour later, the phone rang. 0:26:12.080 --> 0:26:17.960 It was Ken. They had replied again. Then let the 0:26:18.000 --> 0:26:21.359 man who was willing to lose those step forward. They said. 0:26:21.400 --> 0:26:25.439 Now they just want you to answer yes or no, 0:26:25.840 --> 0:26:31.520 explained Ken. Dave hesitated for a moment before deciding to 0:26:31.560 --> 0:26:37.760 decline their offer. It was now becoming clear that any 0:26:37.800 --> 0:26:42.160 effort to uncover the truth was merely an exercise in futility. 0:26:43.440 --> 0:26:46.840 Aside from keeping the computer under twenty four hours surveillance 0:26:47.640 --> 0:26:50.679 or being present for when the apparent messages appeared on 0:26:50.720 --> 0:26:54.119 the screen, there was little to no way that anybody 0:26:54.240 --> 0:26:59.359 could evervalidate the authenticity of the communications, and what good 0:26:59.359 --> 0:27:03.840 asking questions to the people supposedly communicating with them when 0:27:03.880 --> 0:27:08.000 there was no imperative for them to answer it proved nothing. 0:27:09.320 --> 0:27:12.760 The SPR at least would eventually conclude they had reached 0:27:12.760 --> 0:27:17.320 a dead end. According to Ken, John Bucknell left the 0:27:17.359 --> 0:27:22.359 Society soon after, and neither he nor Dave Welsh ever 0:27:22.440 --> 0:27:37.680 filed a report on the case. Having lost the interest 0:27:37.720 --> 0:27:41.679 of the SPR, Peter advised Ken to go public with 0:27:41.760 --> 0:27:45.000 his story. After gaining the attention of the local paper, 0:27:45.440 --> 0:27:49.879 The Chester Observer, Ken met with reporter Neil Bartlam at 0:27:49.920 --> 0:27:54.760 the beginning of December nineteen eighty five. The subsequent article, 0:27:55.040 --> 0:27:58.960 published on Sunday twenty second of December, detailed most of 0:27:58.960 --> 0:28:03.240 what had happened to day, including one incredible piece of information. 0:28:04.800 --> 0:28:09.840 Sometime after the SPR ended their investigation, Lucas had apparently 0:28:09.840 --> 0:28:12.919 got back in touch with Ken, only to reveal that 0:28:13.040 --> 0:28:16.679 his name wasn't Lucas at all, but was in fact 0:28:17.040 --> 0:28:22.399 Thomas Howarden. Some months before, Lucas had claimed to have 0:28:22.480 --> 0:28:26.359 once been a fellow at Brasenose College of Oxford University, 0:28:27.640 --> 0:28:29.840 taking it on himself to see if there was any 0:28:29.880 --> 0:28:32.600 record of a Lucas attending the college in the early 0:28:32.680 --> 0:28:38.160 sixteenth century. Peter contacted Robin Pendle, an acquaintance at Brasenose, 0:28:38.680 --> 0:28:42.440 to see if he might do some digging for him. 0:28:42.480 --> 0:28:45.200 As it turned out, there was no record of a 0:28:45.240 --> 0:28:52.160 Lucas Wayneman, but Robin did find something interesting. Thomas Hawarden 0:28:52.800 --> 0:28:56.040 or Harden, who hailed from an area close to present 0:28:56.120 --> 0:28:59.120 day Doddleston, had been a tutor at the college in 0:28:59.200 --> 0:29:04.040 fifteen thirty. The man had apparently been fired after expunging 0:29:04.040 --> 0:29:09.080 the name of the Pope on official documents. Later, after 0:29:09.160 --> 0:29:11.920 Lucas had allegedly revealed his name to in fact have 0:29:12.040 --> 0:29:16.800 been Thomas Howarden and later Thomas Harden. Ken had in 0:29:16.840 --> 0:29:19.880 turn informed him that they had been told of his 0:29:20.000 --> 0:29:23.240 name before and asked if it was true that he 0:29:23.320 --> 0:29:28.080 had been fired from the college. Ken maintained. He then 0:29:28.120 --> 0:29:31.880 received a reply from Thomas confirming he had indeed been 0:29:31.880 --> 0:29:36.320 released by the college. It wasn't for expunging the Pope's name, however, 0:29:36.920 --> 0:29:42.600 but rather for failing to do so. A few weeks later, 0:29:43.440 --> 0:29:48.120 Robin Pendle, while searching the archives again at Brasenose, came 0:29:48.160 --> 0:29:53.000 across another document pertaining to Thomas her Warden. It appeared 0:29:53.000 --> 0:29:56.920 that his initial assessment had been wrong after all, with 0:29:56.960 --> 0:30:01.280 the newly discovered document revealing just as Tom had apparently said, 0:30:01.720 --> 0:30:14.240 he was punished for not removing the Pope's name. Ken 0:30:14.400 --> 0:30:17.720 would eventually go on to publish a book titled The 0:30:17.840 --> 0:30:22.440 Vertical Plane, outlining the extraordinary set of events that apparently 0:30:22.440 --> 0:30:26.280 plagued him and his girlfriend Debbie in that quiet, sleepy 0:30:26.360 --> 0:30:32.440 village of Doddleston. The final communication was said by Ken 0:30:32.600 --> 0:30:36.080 to have been received on March twenty first, nineteen eighty six. 0:30:37.560 --> 0:30:40.760