by Ken Webster
I soon found myself on Princess Parkway, traffic all around, middle lane, fast lane, the illuminated 40 MPH sign was triggered as I passed, on to the M56, where the sun was stretched between two faint grey bands of cloud. A spring day slipping away. I was driving with tears in my eyes, eighty miles per hour and I could hardly see. I was not really in a hurry but the sun, the beautiful grey of the clouds and the music on the car cassette player compelled me to go on like this. ‘We belong together … we … be … long together!’ It was Rikki Lee Jones. The first day I took Deb out I played this tape. I couldn’t help those few tears. I didn’t see anything but the sun, the clouds in a mackerel sky, the white lines under the wheels. I didn’t know why I was so helpless.
Maybe just not having to think of how to say farewell, just being at the end of something. This emotion was recognition of that. But maybe we did belong together, Tomas and I, his ‘sweet mayde’, Deb, and Peter too, and parting really did hurt. I did not understand my feelings. I drove on and on into the lengthening shadows. Lorries, cars, cassette, tears, driving. The journey absorbed every moment of the last fifteen months and it felt endless.
Myne trewe felawes an swete mayd
grovnor han seyn now tomas must goe/ me knowest thys to be beste for thy pepel o myn dodlestone art forferen o myne steye/ grovnor seyn that theym wyle brenne myn ald farme down/ al myn toun doe despires myneselve less grovnor or soe hym seyn/ tis goode to know alle wyl chaunge an thir be styl trewe men to forthe com aft me lyk ken an peter but IV hondred yere by grete spas o tym on moch to fortunen mankynde/ tis sorrowfulle that men al muste lern thyr ryghtwisness from gryslie weyen leven [?] theym hath talen[?] tloke for trewth yn routhe an lov alweys rectrenle [?]bi wot beeth na trew/ me preye for myn felawes anite that theym nver goe tmyn pyt for thyr lov o thir brothyr tomas/ ar we nat trewe men/ me seyn woe for alle yow wyghts tha be nat trew for yowr wele be markd by gode/ hym wyl nat han yowr companie bot yow wylt walke wyth thy beests o tartuss fo evrmo yow whoe hath ne validity yn thys lyf/ me knowest that me muste na sorrowe but me can na emper myn sorrow tpapyr but know yow me weep an myn wyts beeth confus myn honde be weke/ may hap yow com to Oxenford yf thir shoulde be na scathe fo me thir nowe/ for me ere th kyng be verie syk an all be styl yn thy chirche/ me shal goe bi barge from Cestre port to bryghtstowe thin me wylt beye a hors for myn nold go on barge for yt doubten watyr lyk fere yn fyves/ hym me als weep for/ me shal thir mak myn steye at brasennose tho me wett expulsed manie yere goe now/ me wylt wryt myn boke abowte myne brothyrs an mayd an o thy conclusyon o lukas an thy litel whelp/ an o owrne love or eecheothyr mo papir
o deye yow whyll alle syt at myn plank for wyne an mete by myn ryvr yn oxenford were we shal rede eche othyrs boken an glee an we shalt speke o trewth an goode men, watchyng oxenforde chaunge togidyr evermo/ yn yowr tyme to come myn boke beest aid bot me shalt not goe to myn gode tyl yt be wryten/ thene we wyl al be trewlie embraced my love to yow alle/ me shalt aweyte yow yn oxenforde.
Tomas Harden
My true fellows and sweet maid,
Grosvenor has said that Tomas must go. I know it is for the best because the people of Dodleston are very wary of me; Grosvenor says they will burn my old farm down and that except for him all the village despises me – at least that is his view. 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. It is sad that men must learn righteousness from their ugly ways believing that they have to look for truth in ruthlessness and never follow a path that is for truth. I pray for my fellows at night that they are never imprisoned because of their love for their brother Tomas. Are we not true men? I say, ‘Woe to all you men who are not true for you are marked by God, He will not have your company but you will walk with the beasts of Tartuss [Hell] for evermore – yes you that have no worth in this life.’ I know that I mustn’t sorrow for I cannot put these feelings to paper, but you must know that I weep and am emotional, I find it hard to write. 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 Chester to Bristol, there I will buy a horse for mine will not go on a boat – it is as scared of water as it is scared of fives [horse sickness]. I also weep for him. I shall try to make my stay at Brasenose though I know I was expelled many years ago. I will write my book about my brothers and maid and of the end of Lukas and the little puppy and of our love for each other.
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
The last communication:
KEN, DEB, PETER
TRUE ARE THE NIGHTMARES OF THOSE THAT FEAR
WHAT YOU FEAR WILL BE YOUR REALITY IF YOU LET IT, BELIEVE IN YOURSELVES
SAFE ARE THE BODIES OF THE SILENT WORLD
AS LONG AS YOUR KIND CANNOT PENERTRATE OUR WORLD WE ARE SAFE
TURN PRETTY FLOWER TURN TOWARDS THE SUN FOR YOU SHALL GROW AND SOW BUT THE FLOWER REACHES TOO HIGH AND WITHERS IN THE BURNING LIGHT
KNOWLEDGE WILL BE YOUR PROGRESS BUT YOUR KIND ARE COMING CLOSE TO GETTING THEIR FINGERS BURNT … INDIRECTLY, YOU MAY PREVENT THIS!
GET OUT YOUR BRICKS
GET READY TO BUILD (WRITE THE BOOK!)
PUSSY CAT, PUSSY CAT WENT TO LONDON TO SEEK FAME AND FORTUNE
THE CAT WENT TO VISIT THE QUEEN, BUT INSTEAD FRIGHTENED A LITTLE MOUSE UNDER THE CHAIR, ULTIMATELY, LONDON WILL BE A SIGNIFICANT PLACE, STICK TO YOUR MAIN AIMS, IT DOESNT MATTER HOW HARD THEY SEEM TO GET, DO NOT BE DISTRACTED BY THAT TINY MOUSE THAT HAS A DECEIVING CHARM
FAITH MUST NOT BE LOST … !
YOU ALL RELY ON EACH OTHERS FAITH.
THERE IS ANOTHER PERSON TO COME, THEY WILL BE THE HELP WE NEED. YOU WILL KNOW THEM WHEN THEY COME. THOMAS DID EVENTUALLY WRITE HIS BOOK AND SOON DIED, SHORTLEY 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 FREIND THAT HE MET IN OXFORD, THE INSCRIPTION READS “ME WRYTS THIS IN THE HOPE THAT MYNE FELAWS WILL ONE DAY FIND THIS BOKE, THEN MAY OWER LANDS BE NOT SOE DISTANT”.
WE WILL FINNISH NOW YOU HAVE ALOT OF WORK TO DO!!. THERE IS NO NEED FOR YOU TO WRITE BACK AS WE WILL HAVE GONE.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION
2109
Postscript
The communications of 21 March 1986 were not quite the end of the affair. Although I left the story of Gary Rowe on 15 March, he had at that time given us a small envelope containing a flattish object with the request that it be left for 2109. In this strange business that request was not in itself unusual but Debbie could not help noticing that there was a figure of an Egyptian deity drawn on the outside of the envelope. She felt that Gary was introducing an ‘occult’ connotation to the communications. This was ludicrous. We travelled to Rhyl and asked Gary to replace it with a plain envelope. He gave us the package again but it was patently obvious that the original envelope had been placed inside a new one. Since he was determined to be obscure we decided we had had enough of a game in which we were only spectators. Consequently we kept the envelope out of the way. Gary did not offer to explain his small deception nor did we pursue it. The envelope was never opened and it was given away.
2109 had gone and I promised myself that I would never again set up a BBC computer in the house. However, in July 1986 a friend of John Cummins was introduced to us. She expressed an enormous interest in 2109. In the end I gave way, with the expectation that a day or two of blank screens would satisfy her curiosity. To my surprise ‘they’ did communicate something. A part of it so struck our guest that she fainted as soon as she read it. Worse, she would not explain what there was
in the communication that was so shocking. When she recovered she wanted to reply ‘to help them’ but I said no, I was not about to let it begin again, so the computer was immediately turned off and put in its box. Later Debbie gave it to her mother who has had it ever since.
Yet even at the time of writing (December 1987), over a year after the incident described above, the whole business will not settle.
Ernst Senkowski, a professor of physics in Mainz, contacted me in February 1987 after having seen a small piece on the affair written by Theo Locher in Schweizerischen Bulletin für Parapsychologie (November 1986). He gave me information about a gentleman in the Black Forest called Boden who in 1984 had suffered what might be termed ‘paranormal’ events, including interference on his computer. The messages he received were sufficient to turn the poor fellow to drink. The death of his friend had been predicted correctly and his own indicated, although the latter date, happily for him, passed without event.
Senkowski also sent me a cutting from Astrology and Psychic News (US). It was a story about thought and its impact on computers, part of which I quote here.
Norman Ling said he received the first message about a year ago … ‘I would enter something into the computer and when I printed it out there would be whole sentences that I had not put in the machine. They were about people I had never heard of …’
Ling brought some of his computer print-outs to Mrs Standard [a neighbour] and asked her if the messages might have any connection with her psychic work. ‘She was very amazed … it was quite an experience to see words that had only been in her mind now printed in black and white …’
Interesting as it was to realize that our experience was not entirely without precedent there was still nothing which touched us directly. But this changed in July 1987 when I received through the post a print-out of a message received in Luxembourg. It was marked 2105 and carried my name, if misspelt.
KONTAct kEEn WEBSter during HOLLtydais mutch iMPORTRance.
d eankjue
2105
The people who received the message, the Harsch-Fischbachs, were able to contact me through the fact that Senkowski was also mentioned later in the communication and they knew Senkowski through a shared interest in Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP). This is the term for the recording of voices emanating from specially tuned radios, not thought to be explainable as interference, stray transmissions, etc. Some researchers treat them as voices from the dead but critics refer to the ‘mediumship of the tape recorder’ and offer other explanations.
Maggie and Jules Harsch-Fischbach spoke to me for the first time when we met on 19 August 1987 in South Wales where they were on holiday. They knew very little of the events at the cottage apart from what was included in the Chester Observer article (24 December 1985), but to my surprise they offered further information relevant to our experience. At least three sections of a recent exchange (15 August) between Jules and Maggie and a contact they call The Technician are worth quoting:
Q: Could we explain the communication between Ken Webster and Tomas Harden as an overlap of time between separate dimensions because Tomas Harden is in the 16th century and Ken Webster is here today?
A: Yes exactly. This is an overlap of time of both dimensions
Q: Could you explain it also as an insight into the Akashic record in which all that has been and all is to come are found?
A: You could call it something like that yes. There should appear in this region other documents from that time to show the people, these unexplained experiences with this ‘light box’ have happened and what could be seen on the screen.
Q: Will Ken Webster find these documents?
A: Other people will find these documents …
More questions, more puzzles, but I think it reasonable to say that the chances of my being on the receiving end of a hoax, or more importantly, perpetrating one, receded as the affair assumed international proportions.
Jules and Maggie asked me to set up the computer again and attempt to re-establish contact with 2109. I realized that this was probably the main reason behind their visit to the UK. I explained the situation and declined, but I offered to help the Harsch-Fischbachs with information and commentary on what they received either through EVP or on computer as long as it did not refer to me. I suppose I felt flattered that an attempt had been made to reach me through another country but it did not shake my resolve. To their slight disappointment I also said that I did not think 2105/9 were the important part of what had happened in Dodleston.
We sought John Bucknall’s report of the investigation at the cottage from the SPR office in April 1986. We received a reply from John Stiles (Liaison Officer) to the effect that John Bucknall had left the Society and despite numerous efforts could not be contacted at all. We asked if either Dave Welch or Nick Sowerby-Johnson had filed reports. To our surprise we were told that neither of ‘these gentlemen’ was known to SPR. SPR were quite apologetic at being unable to help. I took this to be the end of SPR interest, but I have since obtained solid evidence, again through Professor Senkowski, that they have been trying very hard (as late as November 1987) to investigate the case without approaching me. I suppose it is because they are somewhat embarrassed by John Bucknall’s conduct.
We have looked into the question of computer bugging and our enquiries have revealed that a BBC B without modem is impossible to bug in the manner suggested by John Bucknall. The ‘hidden EPROM’ notion, a mainstay of John’s rebuff to the results of the ten-question test, was also invalid.
Given that one explanation of what happened at the cottage is that of ‘time slip’, how was it possible? These questions have been asked many times. Couldn’t it all have been your unconscious? I have no means of ‘proving’ anything in regard to these experiences. I don’t think I have any need to because what I have put in this book is a record of events, a source book, even if only a summary, for others, yet it would be naïve and indeed wrong to suggest that I have not sought to answer the knotty questions surrounding these events. e.g. If it was my unconscious (or Debbie’s), where is the source for this rare dialect? How is the computer affected? But what follows is only a starting point for discussion and it should be treated as such.
In some notes I made in January 1986 and shared as always with Debbie and Peter Trinder I suggested vaguely that there was a quality about the place that allowed transfer between times to sensitive persons. Not physically of course, but perhaps something of or through their aspects of consciousness. Debbie and Tomas were two such sensitives. Peter and I were not.
This ‘quality’ must be present in both times that are conjoined in this way if some transfer is to take place. It was present in 1985–6 and in 1546. That is why we didn’t encounter, say, a 17th-century figure. So the people and the place could matter immensely.
It is for me a time-related phenomenon, not something supernatural or spiritual. The notion of ‘seeing’ the future (since Tomas was looking into and was often in his future) might suggest an explanation for some categories of odd sightings occuring today, e.g. UFOs, as they might be just snatches of our future.*
In the same way, sightings of the Yeti, ‘Surrey Panthers’ and so on could be explained as glimpses of the past. The commonality is that they are merely little time slips, generated by a mixture of aspects of consciousness and ‘special places’.
If this is so such sightings would be restored to the natural world, as natural as snowdrops and spring showers. There might be a revolution, centred around changing or recognizing different concepts of, and processes within, time.
I put these speculative ideas to a number of friends and out of amused curiosity to 2109. They replied on 18 January 1986:
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
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. WE ARE NOT SAYING THAT THERE IS NO OTHER LIFE OUTSIDE YOUR PLANET, ON THE CONTREY, THERE IS LIFE ELES WHERE, BUT THE ABOVE PHENOMENA IS THE MOST USUAL AS SPACE IS INFENITE TO THE MORTAL AND THE CHANCES OF ANOTHER RACE COMING ACROSS THE EARTH IS NOT REALLY IN A BRAKET OF PROBERBILLITY. THERE WAS ONCE A GREAT PHELOSOPHER WHO LIKEND TIME TO AN INFINITELY HIGH BLOCK OF FLATS EACH FLOOR TO REPRESENT EVENTS ALL PILED ON TOP OF ONE ANOTHER (VERTICALLY TO REPRESENT THE GEORGRAPHICAL LOCATION AND LATERAELLY TO REPRESENT EVENT-EACH FLOOR).