518: DEEP DIVE: The Dodleston Messages | A Time Travel Story
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In December 1984, Ken Webster, a high school teacher, was living with his friend Nick and girlfriend Debbie in the small village of Dodleston. One evening, the three were walking home from the local pub when they saw a pulsing green light emanating from their cottage windows.

When they got inside, they saw something that terrified them. Though their computer wasn't connected to any network and everyone in the house was gone all night, a strange message was written on the screen. A message addressed to them by name. Over the next few months, more messages appeared and eventually Ken and his friends began corresponding with the person on the other side.

At first, Ken thought this was a hoax or a prank. But over time, he came to believe that not only were the messages real, they were being written by someone living in the very same house in the year 1541. ♪♪

As written in Ken Webster's book, The Vertical Plane, strange things started happening as soon as they moved into Meadow Cottage at Doddleston, near the border of England and Wales. One day, Ken noticed that small, six-toed footprints seemed to walk directly up the wall and through the ceiling. It's a very old house, so he thought they were just little stains, so he painted over them. But the next day, the footprints were back, on top of new paint. ♪

After that, Ken, Nick, and Debbie would routinely see bottles, cans, and boxes stacked in towers, sometimes over four feet tall. They assumed that friends in the village were playing pranks, but nobody came forward.

Two months after the first message appeared, Ken, Debbie, and Nick returned home from a day trip and found a new file had been saved on their BBC computer. The file was named REATE. They opened it, and inside was a message.

What strange words thou speak! Although I must confess that I have also been ill-schooled, thou art goodly man who hath fanciful woman who dwell in mine home. 'Tis a fitting place with lights which devil maketh, and costly things that only mine friend Edmund Grey can afford, or the king himself.

Now, this was not the way people spoke in the 80s, but there was more. It was a great crime to have bribed mine house, LW.

Ken printed the message and brought it to school, where most people thought it was entertaining and nonsense. But not Peter Trinder. Trinder was a literature teacher who was convinced it was written in Old English. They interpreted the phrase "devil lights" to mean "the computer." Peter Trinder asked Ken to let him know if any more messages appeared, so he can try to determine the location and the time period of the dialect. A few days went by, but nothing. But then Ken had an idea.

He wondered if, since he was able to receive messages, could he also send them? So he sat down at the computer and began to type. Now, at this point in the story, Ken is still not convinced that this isn't a hoax, but he admits that he's intrigued, so he plays along. He sits at the computer and types question after question, trying to get information about who this is that could be sending messages from, well, wherever they're coming from. Dear LW,

Thank you for your message. We're sorry for disturbing you. What would you like us to do? Did you live on a house on this land about 1620? Do you want us to tell you more about our time? Who is Edmund Gray? Do you have a family? Is the King James or Charles? What is the charge house? Was this village called Dodelston in your life? Thank you very much for your messages. Thank you for not making us afraid. Ken, Debbie, and Nick.

They save the messages to disk, then leave the computer on and head out to the Red Lion Pub. The hope is that if they leave the computer alone for a while, it would prompt a reply. And that's exactly what happened. When they returned home a few hours later, a new message was waiting for them. It was an honest farm of oak and stone. It is helpful that you should tell me about thy time. Dost thou hath horse?

Edmund Grey, brother of John Grey, lives at Kinetone Hall. Thy king, of course, is Henry VIII, who is six and forty. I know not of King James. Mine charge house is a place of law and schooling. LW, 28 March. Anno, 1521.

This was a troubling reply in more ways than one. First, the facts about the history of this time were wrong. In 1521, Henry VIII was only 30 years old, not 46. But to be sure, Ken delivered the message to Peter Trinder for analysis. Trinder confirmed that the historical facts were all wrong. Kinderton Hall wouldn't be built for another 200 years. And there's no mention of Edmund or John Gray in any record or document.

Ken was troubled by the use of modern grammar and punctuation, like question marks, which wouldn't have been used in the 16th century. So that left the other possibility, that there was an intruder in the house, and this had Ken, Debbie, and Nick concerned. But that weekend, Ken borrowed the BBC computer once again to see if more messages would come. And

And they did. They received a whole bunch of details about the house, the village, the time, and most importantly, instead of being signed by the mysterious LW, they were signed with the author's full name.

In the next message, the author gave all kinds of details about his life. He talked about losing his wife and son to the plague. He talks about how he harvests barley for ale and makes his own cheese. He describes the house as humble, made of red stone, and sitting on a pretty parcel of land. Now, Meadow Cottage, where Ken, Nick, and Debbie were living, was not made of red stone.

Now, these latest messages also had a different tone.

The author seemed to think that Ken was intruding on his house and had his own concerns about this conversation. He finally signed the message Lucas, and eventually we learned that LW's full name is Lucas Wainman. Ken now had a lot of details that could be checked for accuracy, so he delivered them to Peter Trinder to see what he could find.

Trinder felt that the dialect, sentence structure, and intermittent use of Latin placed the messages in the middle of the 16th century in the Cheshire area, which is exactly where Lucas Wayman said he was living.

Also, as time went on, the historical facts became more consistent and accurate. Lucas writes that King Henry VIII is married to Catherine Parr. So that put him in the 1540s, which is pretty consistent with a lot of other details. But the names Lucas mentioned, like Richard Wishall and others, couldn't be found. If it was a hoax, you'd think the messages would be full of names and facts that could be easily checked. But Lucas was a simple rural farmer.

He'd really only have knowledge of the king and people in his village. A tiny hamlet like Dottleston wouldn't keep detailed records of every individual living there. Now, Lucas doesn't know where Ken is, but eventually Ken reveals that he's actually writing from the year 1985. And that's where the story takes a turn. Ken sent a message about living in the year 1985, and Ken received a reply.

You said your time be 1985? We thought you were also from 2109. Like your friend. Wait, what?

2109? Who was Lucas talking to from the year 2109? It would appear that whatever phenomenon that Ken Webster encountered that allowed communication to the past was also a conduit for communication to the future. As more texts came in and as more of the information was researched by Peter Trinder, Ken was believing less that this was a hoax. The responses were coming too fast for someone to be breaking in and leaving files on his computer.

And Ken and Debbie were starting to believe that they were somehow communicating with a real man. A man who lived 400 years ago on the same piece of land where Ken was living now. But who were the people from 2109? Lucas didn't seem to know. Lucas thought they were friends of Ken's. So Ken did the obvious thing. He asked. Calling 2109. And 2109? They responded. Ken. Deb. Peter.

We are sorry that we can give you only two choices. One, that you either have your predicament explained in such a way that you have instant understanding, because what should not happen. Or two, try to understand that you three have a purpose that shall in your lifetime 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. Whatever he or whatever... it is.

Apparently, Ken's computer had opened two-way communication, not only with the past, but with the future as well. And according to 2109, this communication had purpose, though we don't know yet what the purpose is. Meanwhile, Meadow Cottage was experiencing more and more events that seemed to be a poltergeist. Footsteps were heard at all hours of the night, but when they were investigated, nothing was there except footprints.

Sections of the house would become so cold that breath was visible. More objects were found stacked in corners of rooms. Tapping was heard. Even words were found written in chalk around the house, including Lucas's name. The anxiety was becoming too much. Deb rented another house nearby so they could occasionally get some sleep. Nick, who'd been with them since the beginning, had moved out.

Deb tried to find some explanation for what was happening and pulled some maps of the area. She learned that a ley line was running straight under their cottage. A ley line is an alignment drawn between two structures that supposedly possess or can harness energy. Stonehenge, the Great Pyramids, Chichen Itza, and other significant structures are all built on ley lines. After discovering this, Deb started having visions and vivid dreams about Lucas.

even interacting with him like he was trying to communicate further. It's at this point that Ken and Deb bring in help, the Society for Psychical Research. The SPR sent two researchers to Meadow Cottage, and the plan was to either debunk or prove the phenomenon once and for all.

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The Society for Psychical Research, or SPR, had been investigating the paranormal since 1882, and they're still around today. The two investigators, David Welch and John Bucknell from the SPR, arrived and proposed a test. They would send 10 questions to 2109 and then delete them. Ken and Deb would have no idea what the questions were. Ken and Deb were separated from the computer while they waited for a reply.

And a few days later, 2109 wrote back: "David, John. David, you interfere with communication. Next time you decide to perform your little experiment, you must be clear from here. We suggest you try someone else to sit with Debbie. Yes, we are what you would call an attacking universe, but your understanding is incorrect. We ask nothing more of you than to carry on as you would prefer.

We will have John present if given choice, or you may bring another as mentioned. No, it is no concern to us that this is not proved. 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 off a heat energy that you will not have heard of. 2109.

David Welch said that 2109 didn't answer the questions, but had picked up on all the questions in the right order. Ken and Deb thought this would prove that they were not perpetrating a hoax. The SPR investigators weren't so sure. They speculated that maybe sensitive microphones could have been planted to let them know the questions in advance. The investigators thought that maybe a microphone could pick up the sounds of the keys being pressed and that Ken would be able to deduce what they were typing.

The SPR investigators left and Ken looked for more ways to convince them that what was happening was real.

Frank Davis, another teacher at Ken's school, agreed to come over as a witness. When he arrived at the study where the computer was set up, he reported that the room became extremely cold for two or three minutes before returning to normal. They all went into the kitchen for a while to talk, and when they came back to check the computer, a new message had arrived. But this time, it was from someone else. ♪

When Ken, Debbie, and Frank Davis checked the computer that evening, a new message was shown on the screen, and it wasn't from Lucas. It was from someone who called himself John, who was a friend of Lucas. John said that the local sheriff had Lucas imprisoned for witchcraft and communicating with spirits.

So, for days, no new messages arrived. And Ken and Debbie attributed this to Lucas rotting in a prison cell somewhere. Meanwhile, Peter Trinder was still feverishly trying to decipher the past messages. Trinder enlisted the help of a librarian at Brazenose College at Oxford.

Lucas claimed to have attended Brazenose and gave Ken a list of books to check to prove he was telling the truth. Now, after some time, the librarian confirmed that not only did every single book exist at the college, but they were all contemporary to the 1520s, exactly as Lucas described.

Finally, Ken and Deb decided to take an aggressive approach. They demanded that word be taken to the sheriff that Lucas be freed or they would use their power against him. That seemed to get the sheriff's attention, and Lucas was immediately freed.

Now sensing a new kinship, Ken asked Lucas if he was the one moving objects around the house. Lucas said it wasn't him, but the same thing was happening on his side. Both Ken and Lucas became to suspect that the poltergeist activity was being caused by the mysterious entity that they called 2109. Lucas asked Ken to move the BBC computer into the kitchen, which on Lucas's side would let him communicate more privately.

2109 had warned Ken and Lucas not to give each other details about their lives, but they were growing distrustful. Lucas then proposed an idea that sounded completely bizarre. He asked that a paper and pen be set next to the computer. Ken didn't understand this, but he did as he was instructed. The next morning, next to the computer, was a handwritten note. The writing was elegant and archaic, and the note was signed, "Thomas."

Early in their communications, Lucas, whose real name was Thomas, was reluctant to give his real name. He said this was out of fear of being accused of witchcraft, which actually came to pass. But Thomas left clues about his full name in the letter. He said, you have my name in your book. It is also the name of Peter's house. Peter lived close by in a town called Howarden, which was also the location of the school where Ken and Peter taught.

Using this information, Ken and Peter were able to track down a man named Thomas Howarden, who was a fellow at Brazenose College at Oxford in the 1530s. This was their guy.

Ken, Debbie, and Peter were getting very close to the truth and learning everything they could about Thomas Howard. But the entity known as 2109 seemed to be upset by this. A few days later, the computer was moved into the bathroom on its own. And then Ken found a message scribbled in chalk on the floor.

One more chance. Measure frequency by +2 energy. What else other than sound and light? Ken, Deb, Peter. We have reason to believe you have Lucas Wainman's true name. If this is correct, you must say so. So we can rectify the problem immediately before it is accepted.

After more communication with Thomas Harwarden in the 16th century, Ken learned that 2109 was tampering with many of the earlier messages that Thomas, aka Lucas, had sent. Apparently 2109 was trying to obscure details to prevent Ken from discovering Thomas' true identity, which is why some facts were wrong.

Meanwhile, the Society for Psychical Research had lost interest in the case. They told a local paper this: "Clearly, if this case is a hoax, then the two teachers are the prime suspects. I believe it is also possible that a third party was responsible. I would have loved to prove it was genuine. It would have been the most unique phenomenon ever recorded. Something or someone is doing it. It was not the job of the SPR to point the finger."

As Ken suspected, the SPR was extremely skeptical and wasn't taking the investigation seriously. So Ken contacted the SPR to obtain their records of the case. Strangely, the SPR said there was no record of such a case. Investigator John Bucknell had disappeared and nobody could reach him. And there was no record of anyone named David Welch affiliated with the SPR. As far as the SPR is concerned, none.

None of this ever happened. Everyone connected to the case was gone. Apparently, 2109 was aware of Ken's frustration because a few days later, they contacted him. And this time, they gave him the name of someone to contact and a phone number.

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When Ken sat down at the computer, 2109 had left him a very specific message. We ask you to do the following. There is a brilliant researcher, ufologist. We know you don't like the word. His name is Gary M. Rowe. His ideas differ somewhat to yours, but nevertheless, he can help you with a couple of your problems.

You may phone him at the number below and invite him to talk with you. When he comes, show him this and ask him what he makes of it. Peter must do the telephoning. Tell him that you got this telephone number from a UFO enthusiast. 2109.

Gary Lowe was a UFO investigator who was skeptical, but he did come out to Meadow Cottage with all kinds of equipment to try to figure out what was going on. This began a series of communications between Gary and 2109 directly. The process was this. Gary would put a letter in a sealed envelope and place it on top of the computer. When 2109 would respond, the message was printed and put into an envelope without Ken reading it.

This back and forth continued for some time, when Gary finally sent a message back to 2109. "Greetings. I am instructed to apologize, but in any event I would have done so by my own volition. There will be a letter hopefully this weekend. I am also instructed to apologize to Ken and Debbie. I must try and answer your last letter. It would appear that you are more important than I had realized in the scheme of things. Gary."

Apparently, something in one of the messages from 2109 had caused Gary to become very secretive about the communication and the contents of the letters. Ken became so frustrated and angry that Gary stormed out, and they would never hear from Gary again. As Ken continued to communicate with Thomas, aka Lucas, Lucas explained that one night he saw glowing lights coming from his fireplace. From the light, a man stepped out and asked him not to be afraid.

When the man left, Lucas found what he described as a lightbox in his kitchen. He realized that when he spoke to the lightbox, his words would appear on a screen in glowing green letters. On March 21st, 1985, Lucas had sent his final message. My true fellows and sweet maid, Groszner has said that Thomas must go.

I know it is for the best because the people of Doddleston are very wary of me. It is good to know that all will change, and there are true men to follow like Ken and Peter. Though 400 years is a long time and there is much to happen to mankind, perhaps you will come to Oxford. Now I think there is no danger for me there, for I hear the King is very sick and all is quiet in the church. I shall go by boat from Cheshire to Bristol.

I shall try to make my stay at Raisenose. I will write my book about my brothers and maid, and the end of Lucas, and our love for one another. One day you will all sit down at my table for wine and mead 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 forevermore. 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. Thomas Howerton.

Then there was one final message from 2109. - There is another person to come. They will be the help we need. You will know when they come. Thomas did eventually write his book and he soon died shortly after. He placed it in a secure place.

It shouldn't take too many years to find it, though he wrote it in Latin with the help of a friend that he met in Oxford. The inscription reads: "Me writes this with the hope that mine friends will one day find this book, then may our lands be not so distant." "We will finish now. You have a lot of work to do. There is no need to write back as we will have gone. Thank you for your cooperation. 2109."

and no more communication would follow. In all, Lucas and 2109 had sent over 300 messages to Ken and Debbie. A few years later, Ken would document the story in his book, The Vertical Plane. The story would be covered again in 1996 in a BBC documentary called From Out of This World. Ken and Debbie appeared on the program, but with their backs to the camera. They claimed that the messages were real, and they held important information about our past and future.

You can find Debbie online posting as recently as a few days before I recorded this. She sounds reasonable, rational, and convinced. While their story has many skeptics, Ken and Debbie insist that one day their story will be revealed as the truth. Me, I hope they're right. Wow, this is a good story. So how much of it is real? All of it? None of it? Some of it?

Well, here's what I've been able to dig up. Peter Trinder essentially worked as a translator of the messages. The original script was so foreign sounding that he had to dig through years of the Oxford English Dictionary to decipher meanings of lots of the words. Trinder said that this would be almost impossible to fake, especially for someone with no background in medieval languages. Peter Trinder even went on camera with the BBC to say so.

It was very real, that's all I'm saying Richard. It was very close, the kind of thing that you could not doubt. But all the time one was aware of the possibility of hoax. But if it was a hoax, by golly, it was brilliant. On the skeptical side, also from the same program, there's Dr. Laura Wright of Cambridge. Looking at the verb structure, there are things which Lucas says that would not have been said in 1546.

It's true that individuals can make up individual words, but we don't make up our verbs. It's possible, or it was possible in England in 1546 to say "I do", "Thou dost", "He/she/it doth", "He/she/it does". But it wasn't possible to say "I doth" or "He/she/it doth". Now all the way through Lucas' messages, he mixes and messes up these suffixes with the wrong subject.

Finally, when asked if she thought it was a hoax by someone with a background in early English writing, she wasn't so sure. No, if somebody had a background in early modern English writings, they would do a...

Also, a sample of Ken's writing was run through software and compared against Lucas' messages. The result was that both sets of writing tested close enough with the software that they were possibly composed by the same author.

Now, Ken said that 300 words isn't nearly large enough of a sample and that the BBC specifically chose passages that they were sure would give them the results they hoped for. Now, Ken and Debbie's roommate showed up at a forum a few years ago saying that Meadow Cottage was actually a peaceful place, that he never experienced any of the phenomena that Ken did. But he did say Ken was a serious person and wouldn't want to open himself up to ridicule by writing a book that would make him out to be a loon.

Another rumor, which I read online, I don't know if it's true, is that when the librarian was researching the books on Lucas's list, it's been reported that someone else was there also researching the same books. Now, that's just what I read on a blog post. I'm not judging. I'm just reporting. But here's something interesting. In the book, which was published in 1989, Entity 2109 says that in Ken's lifetime, Fermat's last theorem would be solved.

Pierre de Fermat proposed the mathematical theorem in 1637, and it was studied by mathematicians for over 350 years and couldn't be solved. Well, in 1995, Andrew Wiles published the first successful proof of Fermat's last theorem, a proof that earned Wiles the Nobel Prize. So it turned out 2109 was right.

Solving the Fermat theorem is an obscure detail for a hoaxer to just come up with, and it's a hell of a gamble. Also, 2109 gave the coordinates of an undiscovered star that they said would be important to mankind. Years later, a quasar was found at those coordinates. 2109 stated they had no physical form. They moved at a speed allowing them to cover every point in the universe and fed on a type of heat energy.

So what are they? Light? But light doesn't feed on anything. And so what could be formless, fast as light, but still need to feed? Artificial intelligence? Quantum computing has the potential to be 158 million times faster than the leading supercomputer. What takes a supercomputer 100,000 years to complete, a quantum computer can do in four minutes. Their current limitations come from heat.

Quantum computers need to be cooled to within a few thousandths of a degree of absolute zero or they don't work. So it's difficult to make microchips for quantum computing. But what if we discover a way to not only eliminate the heat problem, but to use that heat as fuel? We could create the most powerful quantum computer in the universe. And it's only a matter of time before we solve this heat problem.

So if I had to guess, I'd say it will be powered on for the first time in 2109. 2109 claims to be multidimensional entities capable of transcending time and space, but also says they're from the year 2109. It seems arbitrary for something that can exist everywhere all at once, but it also makes sense.

2109 wouldn't just be a year. It would be a point in space-time. It would be a way to identify itself to other entities like it. It would be a time, a place, an event, and a name. Maybe it called itself 2109 because, in essence, it is.

In their messages, 2109 said that they were from a tachyon universe, but our understanding of tachyons wasn't right. A tachyon is a hypothetical subatomic particle with velocity faster than the speed of light. It was first discovered in 1967, but didn't hit the mainstream until it was featured in Star Trek The Next Generation in 1987, two years after the Dottleston messages.

But in 1907, Einstein proposed the possibility of faster-than-light signals. And those signals could be used to communicate with the past. Of course, this is only theoretical for now.

Ken and Debbie don't know why they were chosen. Their computer wasn't anything special, but there could be more to it. In addition to being close to Gary Rowe, Meadow Cottage was also built on a ley line. It's possible they weren't the best option, just the most efficient to receive the message. Even then, 2109 took steps to ensure everything would go according to plan, which is why they communicated with Thomas first.

And that's why Thomas was confused when Ken said he was from 1985. He assumed Ken was also from 2109. Maybe they needed to manipulate the past to ensure Ken and Debbie would end up in the right place at the right time. This may be the only reason Thomas was involved at all.

When Ken and Debbie started getting more familiar with Thomas, 2109 panicked. They were worried that whatever events Thomas set into motion would be undone. At this point, 2109 instructed Ken to reach out to Gary Rowe in a possible attempt to salvage their mission. People cite the inaccuracy of Thomas' details about his time as a reason to doubt the story.

He claimed his year was 1521, but the king's age was wrong. His word choice and speech were also wrong for the time and place he supposedly lived. Unless it wasn't.

Maybe Thomas didn't exist in our timeline. Alternate dimensions are heavily featured in science fiction. You might see a modern society where steam power is still being used, or a timeline where the Nazis won the war. These are exaggerated examples of how different things could be, and they're often used as a cinematic device to separate events taking place in two very different worlds. But not all worlds would be so drastically different.

In one world, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak got into a fender bender, and Apple was called something else. Or Eric Stoltz played Marty McFly, and the time machine was a Ford Mustang. These are examples of things that almost happened in our universe. Not exactly earth-shattering, but enough of these inconsistencies could make the case Ken wasn't talking to our 1521.

At one point, 2109 stated there were two Lucases communicating and one of them needed to be stopped. Now, this would only make sense in a multiverse. Now, there's also Thomas's book,

One person claims it has been found and is hidden in the Dean's private collection in Brazenose. Another theory is based off a rather strange message from 2109. A message about a pussycat going to London, leading some to speculate Thomas' book was given to the Queen of England. It's said to have been placed at Brazenose by Thomas shortly before he died, but it's never been found, at least not in our universe.

But claiming it's a hoax because of the improper language doesn't really hold up. If future experts looked at our text messages, what would they think? They would think LOL and BRB are real phrases. They would think the number two was used instead of the letters TO. And how was Thomas able to see the cottage in 1985? He made comments about specific things in the house.

Ken had a picture of his Jaguar near the kitchen. One of Thomas' messages said, "I have found your picture of your cart, but it is a crude thing for without the horse it won't go far." He could be talking about a car. And there are the footprints, the moved objects, the observations by both Thomas and 2109. It seems like more than just a coincidence through time. Meadow Cottage was a window through time and a door.

Lucas talks about being imprisoned by a sheriff, Thomas Fowlehurst of Cheshire. Now, there's no record of this man, but I did some sleuthing, and it turns out that there absolutely was a Sir Thomas Fowlehurst with a slightly different spelling, but same pronunciation, who was sheriff of Cheshire in 1529, which is awfully close to the right time.

Thomas Howard and claimed he went to Brazenose Hall, and that's been verified. He was a student there and not just any student. He was one of the original 12 founding fellows. Another founding fellow was John Howard. And when Thomas was imprisoned, it was his friend John who communicated with Ken, asking him for help to free Thomas. Thomas said John was a friend and he trusted him. He trusted him enough to show him the light box and to communicate with Ken and Debbie in 1985.

At the time, practitioners of witchcraft were being hunted, and something like a light box could be seen as communicating with demons. In fact, it's likely Thomas gave the fake name Lucas because if a demon knew your name, it had power over you. Despite all this, Thomas trusted his friend John. To me, John sounds like more than a friend. He sounds like a brother. Of course, it's possible Thomas and John Harden weren't related.

But before Henry VIII, it wasn't common for people to have a surname, unless they were of nobility. Most people were referred to by their first name and their place of birth. For tax purposes, surnames started to become common practice under Henry VIII. And the first person to use the surname Hardin with that spelling was Breznos founding fellow John Hardin. Gary Rowe is another fascinating piece of the story.

Remember, 2109 requested him. He was the only outsider who was asked to be a part of the phenomena and asked for by name and phone number. Some people think the entire purpose was for 2109 to get to Gary. So it's a good thing he agreed to be a part of it. Of course, it happened only a short distance from where Gary lived.

Now, there was no secrecy with any of the messages from Ken or Lucas or even 2109 until Gary Rowe. After that, it was all sealed envelopes and secret messages. The only letter from 2109 to Gary that could be shared was encoded with Chaldean numerology.

Chaldean numerology is the idea the universe is made up of vibrations and everything has a frequency. These frequencies attract and repel each other. They form destiny. Gary Rowe even has a theory on this. Consider also this: 21089 knew that I was a UFO investigator as well as a mysteries investigator. I am the only civilian to have recovered debris from a crashed UFO and made pieces available to hundreds of members of the public.

I did so primarily to make people aware that UFOs are a reality. I think it might be time to give folks a brief look at my numerology. Ask yourself if you think this is just a coincidence. My first name equals 7. My middle name equals 7.

He goes on to give over 20 examples of the number 7 appearing in a significant way in his life.

He says his numerology has been scientifically investigated and the odds of it being random were calculated at one in 144 trillion, 155 billion to one. For perspective, the odds of winning the lottery are 292 million to one. So you'd be more likely to win the lottery 493,000 times before you'd see the frequency of the number seven in the numerology of Gary Rowe's life.

Maybe this is what 2109 said to him to prove they were the real thing. Whatever it was, it worked. Gary has maintained his level of fear and secrecy for almost four decades. For someone as well-known as he is, he's surprisingly hard to find online.

His digital footprint is smaller than most, and he doesn't seem to advertise his experiences. The only time he ever really talks about Dottlestone or 2109 is when other people bring it up. He also often tells people they should avoid inviting 2109 into their own lives. Whatever burden they passed on to Gary, it doesn't seem like it was one that he wanted.

Gary Rowe disappeared for years, but he's since spoken out about the Dodleston messages. He believes every word of the story. He thinks he was chosen to receive this information from 2109 because the information is safe with him. - Many people are highly skeptical about the events related in the vertical plane book, quite rightly so, given the degree of strangeness, but I am not. I left no stone unturned and used cutting edge science to get to the truth.

In fact, I believe it was the first computer-controlled psychic investigation recorded in the world. I know it really happened. It changed my life forever. It is going to change yours. The book will one day be ISBN recorded under the history section. It is a monumental historical marker in the ribbon of time.

Is he right? I guess time will tell. No one knows what 2109's mission was or is. But whatever it is, it has to be worth reaching through time and space to try to complete. While doing research, I came across something interesting and a little terrifying. In the distant past, some 50 million years ago, there was a catastrophic event. It caused mass extinctions and a total melting of the polar ice caps.

This event was caused by a few different things all happening at once. But one major thing dealt with carbon dioxide levels. At the time of this catastrophe, CO2 levels had reached a critical level of 1,000 parts per million.

Today, we're nowhere near 1,000 parts per million. We're at about 412. But that's going up a little bit each year. And scientists estimate that if we continue at this current rate, we'll reach 1,000 parts per million right around the year 2100. Or to be more specific, 2109.

In 1988, the BBC published an online article about a computer in an architect's office building. Alice, a cleaner, had noticed the computer was left on after hours for several nights. Afraid to get in trouble for touching the equipment, she decided to tell someone the next day. She was informed all equipment was to be shut off, and if it should happen again, she was told to turn it off. The following night, the same workstation was left on. She approached the computer to turn it off.

It wouldn't turn off. So Alice decided to just pull the plug. There wasn't anything plugged into the outlet in the wall. So she found a cord on the back of the computer and followed it. When she reached the end, it was just lying on the floor. The next day, she told the architect what happened. So that night, he stayed to see for himself. And while he was sitting in front of the computer at exactly 9.18 p.m., the machine came to life. It displayed one word, VOW.

The architect stared confused and the message was repeated on the line below. Thou. The third time, it said more. Thou hath committed a great crime. Thou art a goodly man who hath fanciful woman who dwelleth in mine home. Twas a great crime to have a stolen mine home. Was Thomas Howard in back?

He wasn't. It was just a prank. But the story does indicate sending messages to a computer in the 80s was possible. The computer Ken would borrow from the school where he worked was a BBC Micro. On it was a word processor called the Edward II. This word processor was used by Ken, Thomas Harroden, and 2109 to communicate through time. And it was manufactured by Cluid Technics in Riddhamuyn, Wales, about 12 miles west of Dottleston. Now, this could be a coincidence.

But in the 1980s, a technology was already being widely used for wireless communication. It was called RF signaling and used radio frequencies to send and receive information. Now, in order for information to be relayed, the program would have to be designed for it. If it wasn't, someone would need to have intimate knowledge about it to be able to exploit it. And there just so happened to be a building full of Edward II experts just 12 miles down the road.

Now, I don't know if the Dodelson messages story can be debunked, but it certainly can be contested. But I have to admit, a lot of the story can be confirmed. If it was a hoax, it would have been a very elaborate one, which fooled a lot of people for a long time.

But I'd like to know how it was done. RF signals from the program's creators? Was Ken studying early modern English then sneaking in and typing the messages himself? And if it's not a hoax, I still want to know. What does it mean? Where do we even go from here? Gary is still out there and still wholeheartedly believes he was chosen by 2109 for a higher purpose. After all these years, he hasn't told a single person what that is and never made an attempt to profit from it.

As far as we know, he's fulfilling the destiny 2109 gave him, whatever that may be. Ken and Debbie haven't cashed in either, and they seem to be very nice, intelligent, reasonable people. And Debbie's even reached out to me personally and is willing to be interviewed, and maybe we'll do that on a future podcast. After the BBC program, they didn't go out looking for more publicity about the story, even knowing how many books they could sell.

Now, just over 10 years after our own adventures, the sad but good advice seems to be to keep quiet about it. Meadow Cottage was important to us. It is sufficient. Last year, Ken released a new version of The Vertical Plane. It includes new information and new thoughts now that so much time has passed. The new version of the book also includes his goodbye.

In the foreword, Ken indicates the new book will be the last time he speaks about the Dodelson messages. Although Debbie can be found online, Ken prefers privacy, and I think we should respect that. All we can hope for is that one day, buried under the dusty faded stacks at the Brazenos Library at Oxford, someone will discover a mysterious book, handwritten in Latin. A book that tells a fantastic tale of a relationship between people across time.

People, though initially fearful and skeptical of one another, establish a friendship that would change all their lives. And this book, when finally discovered, will change everyone's life, everywhere, forever.

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