Six - toed footprints imprinted in the ordinary dust of Meadow Cottage , an eighteenth - century brick cottage in Dodleston , England , seemed to walk up the walls between the privy and kitchen . It was aprankto be sure , Ken Webster , his girlfriend Debbie and their call guest , Nic , decided .
It was 1985 and Webster was slow and unenthusiasticallyrenovatingthe erstwhile bungalow , which had kicked up some strange natural process . Nic take in a paintbrush and a gal of rouge to the footprint , covering them for good … until the prints returned the next day . This was only the showtime of what would add up to be called theDodleston messages .
Towers of Cat Food
Over the new few days , cold blast of wind , shadow and the eerie bearing of an invisible entityhauntedthe residents of the Cheshire bungalow . " They chance unusual step in the dust on the floor , and tins of cat intellectual nourishment neatly stack in a pyramid , " saysNick Poyntz , who holds a passe-partout ’s degree in early modern history fromBirkbeck , University of London , in an e-mail interview .
Poyntz is particularly passionate about the story of books and pop English politics during the 16th and 17th centuries . The serial of event that popularly became known as the Dodleston content have always fascinated Poyntz and , in 2011 , he decided to publish a web log post about them . " As someone who grew up using theBBC Microat school in the 1980s , I love the way of life the chronicle brings together early computers with a menstruation of story I cognize well , " say Poyntz .
Between 2011 and 2016,Poyntz ’s blogbecame a bunch more active after he write the post , which he title , " The Ghost in the Machine , " recite the story of Webster ’s deeply puzzling encounter with messages left on a adopt home computer in 1984 .
The messages were cryptic when the parallelism began — misspelled , grammatically unmatched and unsufferable to ignore . Most notably , however , the man writing the substance claimed to be from the distant past — the year 1546 .
When History Comes to Life
WhenWebster , whose " main interests are contemporary medicine and old jaguar automobile , " go into his 18th - century cottage , he was full prepared to busy a piece of history . However , Debbie and Ken were appalled to find that account seemed to want totalkto them , too .
" Webster was teaching at a local school and bring home a computer take up from the school , " explains Poyntz . " The message get down out by necessitate about who Ken and Debbie are — the author appear to be able to see them — and accuses them of stealing his sign , " Poyntz add .
Webster detailed the events in his book , " The Vertical Plane . " He transcribe the first message ever received through the estimator , a poem that was as beautiful as it was ominous :
A few days later , Webster found a second message , equally mysterious , but this time is written in some archaic adaptation of British English .
An sharp student of 16th- and seventeenth - century writing , Poyntz details the unequaled nature of L.W. ’s ( afterward revealed as " Lukas " ) subject matter . " Lukas ' messages are written in archaic English , with old - fashioned spelling and mental lexicon and dialect from the time and realm , " he says .
Over 18 months in 1985 and 1986 , messages preserve to appear on the computer , and Webster committed himself to figuring out who — or what — was behind them . He take the individual , ghostor presence a series of head about where , and when , he was from . He asked what college he went to and who was the reigning king of the time .
Poyntz trace an interchange that answered some questions , and yet left many more in the wake of Lukas ' cryptic response . " Lukas is suspicious about Ken and Debbie ’s motive . He deliberately lays traps for them to see if they are really from the future — in his clock time , there was no Jesus College in Oxford — it was founded in 1571 — so he thinks that anyone from the future would know he has given , what from his perspective , is obviously false information … his material name emerges later , as Thomas Harden or Hawarden . Someone of this name did survive and was vicar of a church in Gloucestershire in the 1550s . "
The messages continued and it became clear that Thomas could see and see some of the goings - on in Meadow Cottage , as he would comment on photo left on the kitchen board by Webster , like a word picture of aJaguar carthat Thomas name later on in a content :
The Year 2109 Further Muddies the Story
thing really got weird when Lukas , now known to be Thomas , writes that he is confused when Webster say he ’s living in the class 1985 . He says :
A acquaintance from 2109 ? The corner of lights — the estimator ? Webster writes in his Scripture , " Even if Lukas was sometimes gruelling to follow , this surgical incision was impossible to misinterpret … He must be hallucinating . "
Still , Webster wrote to 2109 on the computing machine , odd to see what would happen . They — 2109 referred to themselves in third - person singular pronoun — respond .
implausibly , the story now spans three seemingly dynamic point in space time .
" 2109 then take off leaving content for Ken and Debbie , lay claim they are require in an experiment or similar project with a higher intent , " sound out Poyntz . " 2109 communicate in a very different tone and language , using scientific term but also giving short point aside about their schedule other than annoyance at Ken and Debbie when , for lesson , they get hold out Lukas ' real name and 2109 worry that this will disrupt their plan . "
A Paranormal Team Leaves Empty-handed
What experimentation ? What plan ? The questions keep to mount until , finally , Webster invite aparanormal investigationteam called theSociety for Psychical Researchto the cottage to investigate . Three prison term they came , and each time left with no answer , having experienced no activity at all .
finally , Thomas aver that he was being forced from his kingdom and was never hear from again , but said that he would leave something for his Friend in the future .
" Thomas aver that he is drop a line the news report of events from his perspective , and that he will go forth the al-Qur’an where it can be break in the future , " Poyntz enjoin . " 2109 afterwards says that the book will be found at some period . If such a book of account does exist and is ever found , it would obviously be a compelling piece of evidence . "
No such book has ever been found .
" The blog post has become a bit of a treatment assembly for ' truster ' in the story , withGary Rowe(the UFO research worker who investigated the events and features heavily in Webster ’s ledger ) and Debbie herself both posting sporadically , " Poyntz tell . " It ’s clear that many people , including Gary , believe that the story is true and that proving this is unfinished business organization for them . "
Have There Been Any Updates on the Dodleston Messages?
In February 2022 , after 36 years , " Vertical Plane " generator Ken Websterpublisheda 2d edition of his " unique supernatural police detective narrative " featuring " additional material and further thoughts . "
The mystery of the Dodleston Messages , however , remains unsolved with many deeming it an elaborated hoax .
