This Mysterious Computer Could Prove Time Travel Exists | Nostalgia Nerd

[@indridcold8433]

Time travel does exist. I have been traveling forward in time for quite some time, with great ease. Going the other way is rather challenging, though.

[@heromarks8142]

Is there a limit how far you can travel forward?

[@heromarks8142]

Also what makes going backwards more challenging?

[@MarcillaSmith]

I was able to travel backwards in time once, but only ever so briefly, and I would also not recommend doing that many drugs at once

[@davenik1999]

@@heromarks8142 , yes, time travel is currently limited to a forward speed of one second per second.

[@cryptoking7093]

Same here! I'm now at the end of 2021 and just about a year ago I only at the end of 2020...

[@tobermoryx3700]

As soon as I saw the first message I was reminded of 'The Ghost of Thomas Kempe', which is a book that was very popular in Britain in the early 1980s, and was indeed used for study in English classes at that time. The plot was a boy in modern times, living in a 400 year old house, receiving letters from someone that had lived there in the 1600s. Was surprised the video did not make that connection, but maybe the book is forgotten now.

[@markswang8987]

heard about a movie with similar idea but I forgot the name of it

[@mikeyle119]

@@markswang8987 lake house with keanu reeves

[@paxhumana2015]

@@mikeyle119 , Somewhere in Time is kind of like that, except that it does not have letters, and that it also involves romance. I think that Kate and Leopold is also something similar to that as well.

[@IMWeira]

@@markswang8987 The Ghost and Mrs Muir? Of course, he was a little more substantial.

[@markswang8987]

@@IMWeira no the one with a cabinet

[@jeremydas723]

I had a BBC Model B in the mid 1980s, and I too used to receive mysterious messages, especially after midnight, when I was in a state of semi-wakefulness. The messages tended to be somewhat shorter than the ones in the video, since they always came in the form of bizarre, seemingly meaningless phrases that were sometimes repeated two or three times, as if the sender, in some unfathomable way, knew that I hadn't quite understood them. The phrases certainly had some kind of poetic power, but what, if anything, they meant is anyone's guess. They included "SYNTAX ERROR", "TOO MANY GOSUBS", and "DIVISION BY ZERO", the latter perhaps alluding to the infinite nature of reality...

[@reso_ben]

@Zligor St ???? This was the deepest talk ever and you write 😃😃😃

[@bigsteve6729]

😂 such a nerdy programmer joke that I laughed 😎👉👉

[@SparkySubie]

Mine once said "I want to see bobs and vagene" 🤔

[@KnowYourPsyOp]

😀😀 I miss randomly smiling at cool nerd humor with wit and pretty good writing (for a comment on a video) - thanks 🙏🏻

[@johnmchugh8049]

Brilliant 😂😂😂

[@darkroast9907]

The biggest flaw with this story is that all the apparent "professionals" involved mysteriously disappeared and somehow couldn't be found. Which ultimately makes the story entirely contigent upon the honesty of the tellers.

[@indridcold8433]

Truthfully, early IT professionals made hoaxes like this all the time. When I worked at IBM, I would sometimes put some sort of cryptic message in a new computer I just built, to show up at a certain time. I would then seal the computer in a new box, and send it on its way. Building computers, troubleshooting them, repairing them, is boring, slow, and monotonous. A little gag sent out, along the way, was a welcome change form the boredom. There is likely an IBM Pentium, somewhere, that still knows my birthday.

[@MadScientist267]

@@indridcold8433 Yep I'm blown away by the gullibility of people. It's really bad today but back then it would appear as well. A little common sense explains this one away pretty readily.

[@anontwentytwo1380]

@@indridcold8433 that's horrible. Wish I was your boss during that time. I'd fire you then kick your ass in the parking lot

[@indridcold8433]

@@anontwentytwo1380 Who do you think started the gags? The boss started it because we were rather bored and he wanted to have some fun with us. It caused no harm and he knew we had a little fun doing it. Just deleting a line would get rid of the gag. He did not allow for vulgar gags, nor violent gags. If we were busy, nobody was allowed to play. It was a good time. Back then, it paid really good as well. It was the time when IT work paid better than what a fast food assistant manager makes.

[@geigertec5921]

The fact that the entire story is objectively a science fiction tale should be a clue to the fact that it is clearly a science fiction tale.

[@Vokabre]

Perhaps some ghosts are angry because there only were zx spectrums available to type their cryptic messages, and they couldn't deal with the keyboard.

[@Nostalgianerd]

Thousands of ghosts have been trying to communicate through Spectrums, but failed.

[@Vokabre]

ZX80 could've caused poltergeist activity.

[@catriona_drummond]

...the ZX Spectre...

[@HAVOCJKD]

the oft mentioned "dead flesh" keyboard doth not suit the actual dead methinks.....

[@Ndlanding]

Who said ghosts used the keyboard? : ¬ ]

[@drinksanddice9528]

Around the time Windows 8 was released I was sent on a home call to repair this old man's IBM XT (my manager thought he said XP), when I got there his table was covered in hand drawn astrological charts, he took me to another room with an identical XT covered in dust, and explained that he was using the broken computer to communicate to his dead wife who was sending him messages from the second computer. Told him I could maybe get the data off the broken computer so he could archive it, but I couldn't restablish then connection to his wife... Guy complained to my manager, said I wasn't trained properly, and I got a write up for the bad customer survey.

[@RisingRevengeance]

You weren't trained in ibm ghost connections? smh next you're gonna tell me you couldn't even send messages back in time

[@eval_is_evil]

What kind of retard was your manager? Was he stupid or just incompetent? If a procedure creates this kind of nonsense you change the procedure or you make exceptions based on common sense. It's not like you need an OK from HR for this shite (it is not an elaborate freaking workflow). Besides the fact that your manager should take the blame for not training you in tracking ghosts. Prick.

[@drinksanddice9528]

@@eval_is_evil he was just a corporate shill. He sent one of my coworkers out to the house who apparently 'fixed' the issue, but that guy wasn't the most ethical tech so who knows what he ultimately did to came the customer down.

[@drinksanddice9528]

@@RisingRevengeance I only really knew anything about the computer because my dad had one when I was a kid, and I remember playing some all dogs go to heaven painting game on it.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I feel like IBM would be the kind of company that still repairs XTs that are in use for vital operations. Their afterlife division was always lacking tho

[@synthnerd4539]

Dunno about time travel but that was the shortest 43 minutes I've had for ages.

[@JamesChessman]

Yes but your post kind of implies a vague reference to time flying during s*x, and that you have not done that in ages, well sorry to hear it lol

[@craigix]

Wow, I thought it was like 20mins. That is some serious... time travel.

[@WR3ND]

Yeah, I didn't notice the time passing either. Seemed more like 20 minutes to me as well.

[@mrkitty777]

I watched this video tomorrow already 🤔

[@greenaum]

Took bloody ages for me, I was waiting for someting not obviously bullshit to happen. I remain disappointed.

[@AwokenEntertainment]

as much as I wanted to believe.. it sounds like a hoax to me..

[@alexalexis7899]

The real mind-bending aspect of this story is the never-ending battery on the computer sent back to the 16th century.

[@sw0mpy]

Exactly. Why not ask the simple questions like how the machine was powered. Also ask the person from the "future" simple fact questions like a list of USA presidents or smth like that.

[@AndrewJonesMcGuire]

To be fair, it's from 2109. It's probably got a nuclear power source (or something even better, it is 2109 after all) in it or something.

[@dont-touch-mepg1392]

Yea. Like a huge ass solar panel....

[@nobodyknowsforsure]

@@sw0mpy also ask them to describe it, their description would be totally different from the average person.

[@raypurchase801]

The battery was supplied by Stewie Griffin. Brian wrote the text. One part of the message tells people to buy a copy of "Faster than the Speed of Love".

[@jamesrozell6467]

You can’t really fault a time traveler for appearing at the exact right time.

[@tolentarpay5464]

It'd be strange if they didn't - PROOF POSITIVE!

[@jonahlefholtz8219]

Woof hiss?

[@blacksunshine7485]

🤣

[@Skauber]

A wizard is never late. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.

[@brandonlewis2599]

@@Skauber Unless you're a wizard in training. Then all bets are off :P

[@midimusicforever]

The really elaborate trolls are the best ones.

[@jonathansoko5368]

The more we lie on the internet, the tougher skynet will have it later on

[@AcornElectron]

Ayuh!

[@AlMcpherson79]

@@jonathansoko5368 SSHH! she sees all!

[@chrismeighen5463]

This kind of stuff is more pathological attention-seeking than clever trolling. The modern grammar gave the game away at the very start.

[@draugrdraugr]

Imagine trolling your friend so hard and they believed it so much that they wrote a book about it

[@ELREASON44]

Even though it was 40 years ago, this would have called for a video camera to monitor the computer to have known what really happened. If they wanted to force proof, they should describe a particular brick to remove (which can be checked that it has been unaltered for centuries) and place something specific from that time period, but very rare today. If this 15th century guy were real, he could easily place that object. Indeed, it should be there almost as soon as they leave him the message. So maybe it would not have been so difficult to establish better evidence.

[@lopezlopez7132]

Yes, great idea! Here's another one, just not pay any attention to this silly story.

[@Bobba_raekus]

But things in our time cannot simply appear out of nowhere or in any way be retroactively influenced by a past that has already passed. Tomas would have had to leave whatever the thing was to be before a message asking him to do so existed, as the past is unchangeable and the present being a result of that.

[@lopezlopez7132]

@@Bobba_raekus Oh, well...

[@ELREASON44]

@@Bobba_raekus I think it is more like Schrodinger's cat. Until you look, the cat is both alive and dead in a sense. As long as the brick was never tampered with prior to the 'checking it', that thing was both there and not there-only revealed when checked. Basically, it is indeed a change to the timeline. There are also infinite possible paradox's dealing w/ time in this way. What would be far more questionable is not finding something from the past hidden somewhere, but to have some piece of advanced tech (the voice compatible computer that supposedly connected with the bbc computer) found from an intact secure place untouched since the 15th (or whatever) century Hardens century came from. Had such a device existed in Harden's time, he could have hidden that device somewhere to be found in our present. That, or the book (depending on what is in it), would be real evidence of time travel. I guess we want to find Hardens book that the future claims was written-lol. Just need to work out General Relativity and Quantum Mechanic issues. Simple (the last word is a joke).

[@rmvoris]

@@Bobba_raekus I think it depends on whether you believe time is only linear in one direction. If you believe in interdimensional travel, each event altered in the past would bring the dimension of the future farther from the timeline the traveler came from. Both timelines could still exist simultaneously, but any timeline entered by the traveler would exist separate from the original timeline the traveler left. The traveler's timeline is linear in that sense, but the timelines of the dimensions are not necessarily linear to him.

[@James-tx2gf]

The "Dost thou hath horse?" question immediately gives it away for me. That is exactly the type of question someone would think a time traveler would ask but in reality it would be exceptional for someone from 1600 to question if horses were still around as their first question about the future.

[@MMasterDE]

I thought the exact same. :)

[@RomeoWhiskey692]

Well , in fairness , he didn’t ask if horses were still around , just if they had one . Not everyone was rich enough to afford their own back in his time . Like asking someone today if they have a car . I’m always surprised at the number of people who don’t drive or own a vehicle . But according to the story , the mysterious “future” entities diddled with his messages to “ make them easier to understand “ so none of his wording can be trusted anyway .

[@stephenjamison7195]

Then there is the 3rd party from the future of this storyline that may have hinted at horses not being the mainstay of transportation.

[@darktimesatrockymountainhi4046]

It sounds to me like a cheap-ass anachronism based upon "Where's the beef?!"...

[@secullenable]

yeah he might wonder if horses were still in use but it's likely not the first question he would ask

[@NicholasBrakespear]

This reminds me of a story I thought I'd made up - I remember playing the Quake 3 demo back in the day, alone, and I have a memory of one of the bots asking me what my favourite thing was. I replied, food. The bot asked me if they'd get a frag for starving me. For years and years, I remembered this, and yet doubted it; as the years went by, I doubted it more and more, for as I learned more about how computer games function, and got into game development myself, I found it to be implausible that such an elaborate text parser existed for the bots in a predominantly multiplayer shooter from the end of the 90s (especially given that so few games bother to even include bots these days). Turns out I was wrong. The game DOES feature a parser. I did talk to the bot. Those crazy boys at id actually put a text parser into the game... for no apparent reason, beyond the fact that they could. And you can indeed talk to the bots in a rudimentary manner (though I don't know the full limitations of it) - in a recent test, having acquired the full game on GOG, I said "Hug me" to a bot. The bot replied with something along the lines of, "Let's get married and have lots of children". Given that I didn't have internet access back in the 90s, I can only speculate as to what weird stories I would have been telling my friends about my solitary experiences with such an unexpected feature. But it rather demonstrates that technology was not so limiting in the past when it came to subtler, more ingenious ideas. And frankly, if this story were about a program from the 90s communicating with someone? I would now immediately proclaim - text parser, and prank.

[@Etcher]

Your comment was as interesting as the video! Thanks!

[@kevinbbadd]

sounds like you were playing against someone in the future

[@JavierChiappa]

There was this crazy story about bots left on in a permanent game of quake, and they supposedly learned not to attack each other.

[@worldcomicsreview354]

@@JavierChiappa I remember that, the guy left a server running for years with the bots fighting each other. He joined it again and they weren't doing anything, as soon as he fired a gun they all killed him, then went back to doing nothing. Also each one had an AI file of 2gb (in a game from an era where a 10gb hard drive was "mammoth"). Provably made up, mind you.

[@trumplovesyou4133]

I remember playing Super Mario 64 and I left the game idling for several minutes. Me and my sister remember Mario snoring and talking about Lasagna(in his sleep). I haven't Googled this yet but I wonder if that actually happened.

[@SpoonOfDoom]

As if the "time travellers and communicating throughout centuries using a BBC Micro" wasn't hard enough to believe, suddenly there's ALSO ghost activity in the house? This really sounds like someone going "how far can I go with this prank". Also, the first messages really seemed more along the "I can see you in my house, you stole it, this message is spooky" vibe than "just" a normal person from the 16th century dictating messages to his chimney. The only consistent thing about this story is the inconsistency throughout the entire thing.

[@HappyBeezerStudios]

I mean, if I were a time message sender and knew I'd become a ghost, I would obviously prove both by sending a message about the ghost doing something, then do it as ghost, and vice versa.

[@keiiko]

There are actually cases in England about poltergeists doing such things like movings furnitures, stacking up things and so on. This phenomena does really exist. Why is it happening or what or who is upto one believes in ghost proofs. Now can such phenomena type on computer? Surely can. Can it type meaningful words? Sometimes it seems it's intelligent. Can it write letters? Who knows, maybe, maybe not. To me it seems the story is partially believable at least as it was based on true events in some form and somewhat historical facts.

[@d2factotum]

Yeah, that's where it all started falling apart for me. If it had *just* been the ghost messages on the computer it would have been more believable.

[@johnknight9150]

I've got to side with the linguistic expert. That probably flew over most people's heads, but they were looking at basic forms of conjugation that don't even require the average person to think about. Things like I am, she was, he is, they are, etc. We modern English speakers think we can just throw in a "thou hast" and you have Middle English, but it doesn't work that way. When people make basic conjugation errors, it stands out like a sore thumb.

[@Trenchbroom]

@@keiiko We had "moving furniture" ghost activity in the U.S. as well in the 70s and 80s (Amityville NY house that inspired the "Amityville Horror" movies being the most famous). All shown to be frauds years later. Sorry but the phenomena really does NOT exist.

[@clintward3532]

Have to give these people credit. The time, and more importantly the effort and thought they put into planning and carrying out this hoax is outstanding.

[@urmother2.057]

Okay guy sure

[@idekav.]

The time you give to try and believe the bullshit you just wrote is the only outstanding thing in this comment section

[@clintward3532]

@@idekav. the time you just put in to write the crap you just wrote just goes to show. Weak minded and weak willed people will believe anything.

[@jessetumpak5867]

You're no doubt a liberal sheep. Liberals are such morons.

[@nescionetizen295]

It is not a hoax. It is a book called the vertical plane and the writer made very clear it was fiction.

[@devikwolf]

I'm an extreme skeptic when it comes to this sort of stuff, but I find myself really wanting this book to show up. What a compelling story, even if it's likely a hoax!

[@butter7734]

I'll tell you guys a story I still can't explain and I spent years trying to solve it. I was 18 and was a senior in high school. I was at a party in a home about a ten minute drive from my home. Very late at night my friend and I realized we didn't have anyone to take us home so we decided to walk home through the forest. This happened in Pennsylvania and all around our small towns is thick forest with atv trails throughout. As we made it into the forest it began to lightning. Halfway to our hometown it began to pour and we could hardly see the trail. My friend spotted a huge cave entrance on one of the rock walls on one side of the trail. We went in and started a small fire to wait out the storm. Now we knew these woods like the back of our hands and as we sat in this cave we discussed why we never found this place before. As we were sitting there my friend found an Indian arrowhead that was in very good condition. You can find these all around where I live. We eventually fell asleep and when we woke up it was daylight and the rain had stopped. We walked out of the cave and instantly knew where we were. That night we decided to go back and show our friends what we found. The only problem was we couldn't find the cave. Both of us knew exactly where in the forest this cave should have been but we could not find it. We were very confused and after speaking at length we remembered everything exactly the same. A few days later we remembered the arrowhead my friend found and since he and his father collected them he put it in a display case on the wall. We went to get it as proof and the slot he put it in was empty. He asked his dad why he took it out and his dad said he didn't touch it. Now we were really like wtf is going on here. We started investigating and everytime we had some time together we would look for the cave but never found it or the arrowhead. I'm 45 now and still walk my dogs in that forest and always in the back of my head is that cave. I don't understand what happened to us that night. Did we both hallucinate the same exact thing? If we did where were we? We were dry the next morning so we had to be in some sort of shelter. I've never found the cave and still to this day whenever I see my friend the first thing we talk about is if either of us found it. How does a huge cave just disappear? Neither of us ever found any answers and imo something paranormal happened. Anyway it was the strangest thing that ever happened to me and seems like a channel that would appreciate the story. If anyone has questions I will be happy to answer because I too am still looking for answers.

[@jeremywilliams4381]

Very interesting to read your experience. I have no suggestions or questions for you, just figured since I took the time to read you story then it would be polite to address you.

[@villedocvalle]

Fake

[@butter7734]

@@villedocvalle it's not fake I could tell you exactly where this happened and any other information you want besides the name of my friend unless he doesn't care and what would I have to gain from this. I don't care about attention or you as a matter of fact. It's just something that happened that I could never figure out and shit like that bothers me.

[@mylife6453]

Explanation. You are living in a simulation that can respond to your needs as they arise, and reform as needed as well. have you ever seen flocks of birds at sunset? where do they go at night? Trees? Look for them at night.

[@angeliquesengir6479]

Did you ever go all the way back to that party house and retrace your exact path?

[@ahmetrefikeryilmaz4432]

This would have been one hell of an X Files episode.

[@M7WRC]

The X Files had a couple of computer / AI / VR episodes and they were all absolutely awful! :)

[@ahmetrefikeryilmaz4432]

@@M7WRC yeah, can't say you're wrong.

[@leemaddison1286]

Or Doctor Who (back when it was good....)

[@o-renishii4277]

There is an Twilight Zone Episode which reminds me of this.

[@ephennell4ever]

Absolutely! I can hear Mulder muttering to Scully, as they separate, "I *want* to believe!"

[@LukeInnes]

I *love* that the best that time travellers from 2109 could muster for communication was a BBC Micro

[@pigknickers2975]

It had an extra ROM smarty pants! 🤣🤣🤣

[@greghill00]

Did 2109 say they were using a micro?

[@JohnKelly2]

For me it went from intriguing to grade A BS as soon as the poltergeist activity started.

[@DidierSampaolo]

Yeah, the girlfriend starting to have vision was my tipping point. As far as I'm concerned, she's responsible for all of this.

[@diracflux]

@@DidierSampaolo Its 1984 Britain. Drugs could be responsible for all of this.

[@gerardcox9584]

My tipping point was when laye lines were mentioned. Back in the 80's anything paranormal or other worldy involved laye lines. Including crop circles.

[@philrod1]

@@gerardcox9584 - I guffawed at that too. I would have been more convinced if she _hadn't_ found a Ley Line that went directly through the cottage. I doubt anyone has gone looking for a Ley Line and NOT found one.

[@ballsrgrossnugly]

For me it was grade D BS from the jump unfortunately. But it was interesting seeing how an English professor somehow trolled his friend for literal years and tormented him into writing a book and then going into hiding. Someone is a monster in this scenario... a living person in 1985 was a sociopath with a twisted sense of humour.

[@thalastianjorus]

Well - to be fair to _Ken..._ he outright said in that interview that "Oh, I fully expect that there is a natural explanation for all of this... there just is not one now." If anyone hoaxed it, it likely wasn't him. He sounded perfectly okay with the question, and didn't try to say things like "Well, we had all these experts come, and..." Nothing. He simply said that he expects that it's something normal just unexplained.

[@videosfromthefuture9427]

̷̨̙̜̲̜̭̳̠͑̑̽͑̋͌|̴̧̛̬͚̳͎͚̬͍́͒̐͗̐͠|̸̡͙͎̝̰̯̳̠̈̈̌̎͒̅͗̀̽̄͘|̷̡̨̛͉̞̣̘͔̯̳̝̥̯̹̖̿̒́̈́̃̈̎͂̒͘͜|̵̢̱̜͓͓̈́̔̏̑̐͊̉͛̈́̕͠|̶̧̧̧̨̼̹͍̠͎͙̹̮̳͎̹͕͎̫̬̋̿̉̄̐̿̒̅͛̑̂̕͝͠|̷̛͇͕͓͚̮̼̪̳̳̾͐̈́͋̏̓̐͐̓͆̋͜͝|̶̡̛̼̻̰͈̹̻͖̠͖̟͖͙͌̉̃̅͐̄̿̊̉̿͜͜|̵̡̼̯̟̟͍̻̫͓̝̥͍̥͙̩̗̤͖̋̏|̸̢̢̨̪̬̣̰̗̰͓̠̠͚̦͔̾͜ͅ|̷̢̢̟̝̼̫̰̱̿̅͆̽͆͗̀̐̀̈́̽̋̚͝|̵̱͕͇̞͚̘̫̱̗̒̃̒|̴̢̝̯̫̖̜̤̼͈͎̪̌̌|̸̨̡̤͔̩̲͔̣̋̒̈́̃͋͆̈͜|̸̨̢̱͖͚͓̞̟͓̱̬͔͕̳̠̝́̅̍͗̿̎̓ͅ|̵̝͕͎̤̜̜̦̟̝̦͉̱͇͎͚͖͎͌͋ͅ|̷̛̮̖͎͓̭̜͉̻͚̞͕̜̫͛̿͋̓̈́̓̈́̈́̀̿̓̑͗̀̂̕|̶̱͇̯̱͔̠̄̾̏̿̎̊̔̈́̉̍͝͠͠|̶̧̢̛̰̦͖̣͓̗̹͖̖̝͔͚̯̈̔ͅ|̸̨͓̟̠̥̮͎̱̘͇̖͉̲̞̲̼̗͕̱̐̌̑̇͠|̶̢̢̟͙̼̣͖̣̭̭̙̮̱͚̹͇̖̌͗͒͒̈́|̵̡̧̯͈͚͔͈̻̣͖̩̘̠̆̽͑͛̿̑͛|̸̢̭͍̩̳̺̦̝̱̼̥̻̇|̵̡̨̛̛̛̭͖̩̠̬̼͎̺̬̲̥̪͕̬͔̭̾̑̀͌́͆̅̒͂̂̏͆̓̆̕|̸̛͙͓̮͕̜̱̣͔͛́̿̾̓͂̾͌̚|̷̨̮̪̹̱̟͈̥̲̮̩͓͇̓͘͝|̴̡̛̣͇͖̣͍̤͎͎̜̑̏̽̐̄̀͒̄͠|̴̢̝̹͇̯̭̟̈́̇̈́̽͊̎̆̓́͋̏̌̓͊͝͠͝|̵̧̡̫͍̦̞̙̝̞̳̥̜̲͚̦͎͉̱̙͂̈́̄̑̊̀͒̒̃͆͠͝͝|̸͙͖̱̼̮͎̺̤̮̥̊̄̾͌̽͠͠|̸̧̟̖̂̒̀̂̅̅̿̎̈́̾̎̑͑̒͊̑́̕ͅ|̴͇̘̫̮̠͙͇̗̟͍͙̹̙̗̰͑́̃̆͋̄̏̎̈̑̂̆͂̚͠|̷̺̀̐͛́̏̎͛̅̓̿̅̀̄́̄̑̕͝|̴̛̹̲́͌̓̐̅͗̒̂́̃̾͊̒̅͝|̵̛̲͔͈̙̳͈̻̘͕̀̉̑̈́̅̈͛̆|̵̠̠͕̟̞͆̓̓̌́̈́̽̐̌͊̇̂͒͘̚|̶̛̛̺̦̂̐̐͂͐͊̿̑͠|̶̢͇̜̭̀̄́́̓̉̃̌́̏̄͜͝ ̵̛̣͍̟̹̞̃́̅̓̐͋̈́̌̇̌̃̃̑ ̴̧̣̣̞̥̪̩̹͖̟̐̾̎̄͗̾̈́̃̀͠͝͠I̸̦̥̝͇͚̭̲̘̟̻͎͙̩̋̍̑̃̏̈́̈́̋̂́̃͋͛̽̚F̵̡̼͓̜̦͈̫͉͙̱͎̼̦̺̱͖̓́̾̋̓̏̀͆̔͒̈́̾̇̊̑̓̔̕͘͜ ̵̲͎͈̬͓̙͚̱̖̞̟̼̥͖̈́̒̇̈́̎̋͐͑̆͐̈́͘͝ͅͅÄ̵̢̰͕̼͉̹̝͇̹̪̼̦̳̱͓̀͌̽̀̅̊̓͗̾̒͊͗̈́̇̏͘Ṉ̴̨͓͖̜͉̝̬̣͙͚̺̱̬͌̓ͅD̷̠͎͕̼̳̗̳͍͋̂͊̕͜͝ ̴̨͙̙̰̮̺̞̩̺̦͕̫̼̐͊̆́Ǫ̷͔̝̩̻̬͎̽̌ͅN̸͚̔̌̀̓̏͐̂͋̈͌̈́̇̇̂͘͠L̴̛̖̫̯̹͉̗̟͕͇̼̱̞̘̼̘̩̮̇́͆Y̸̧̩̲̱̜̥̟͙͔̻̎̇̒̎̈́͛̋̂̽́̐̄͘͠ ̸̧̨̠̺̘̜̪̺̩͍̑̆̍̔̎͒̀̈́̂̓͌͋͌͗̈́̏͘͜͝͝I̴̺͕͍̭̍́̍̊F̸̤̮̫̮̳̲̂̌́̈̌̃̋͂̽̂͊͐͐̕ ̷̨̬͙̤̭̅̀́͂̍̅̓͊͗̋̉͌̕̚当̸̡̗̹̙̼̥͎̼̫̟̦͔̘̘̪̮̄́̓̄͋̆̾͐̍͜͜͝ͅ且̵̨̢͕̬̺̣̘̄̀͐͜͝仅̶̹̣̩͇͙͇̞̄͆͘͜当̸̡̢̩̱̭̘̖͇̠̟̠͈̾̿̿̔̓̎͜͜͝͠ ̴͔̲̠̜͍͉̖̃͂̿̈́̋̑̈̐̀̋͒̔͑̾̈́͜͝अ̶͚̝͓̫̗̹͍̗͙̫̏̓̂̇̑̈́̄̑̐̈̽̊͘̚͝͝ͅग̵̧̡̹̼̯̥̹̲̥̆̓͊̃͐̍̏̃͐̌͛̐̀̿̈́̀̕͝र̸̩̣͈̗̺̤̠̱͎̥̗̱͉̤̫̯̆̈̃̊̒̓̌ ̵̢̱̬̳̰̥͖̗̰̬̠̩͔̥̍̀͗̔̄́̍औ̵̲͙̦̝͈̫̣̬̺͙͖͔́̒̈͛͛͒̋͂͜͜र̴̢̨̨̨̛͓͖̣͇̟͙̞̜̯̬̰̳͇̉̅̏̈́̍̑̏̌̄͒̇̐͋̈́̇̽͠͠ ̶̱̦̯͔͚̯̠̝̰͆क̵̟͕̓͑̕ͅे̸̛̖͉̺̣̞̥̬̄̽̽̚व̸͈̼̹̤͚͓͇̣̘̻͠͝ͅल̶̗͈͕̠̮̬͗̀̊͠ ̴̨̠̥̞͉͍̼̦̯͓̯̖̫̾̏̐ͅअ̵̲̮̘̤̼̙̘̿͒͂̈́̈́̽̌͂̐̈́̒ग̸̰̯͙̞̙͈̐̊̏ͅर̶̧̨͚̫̺͕̯̗͉̖̐̀͊͌ ̸̣̹̹̺̼̜̘̝̍S̵̡̱͎̹̥̦̟̲͎̤̠͈̦̹̫̘̼͔̑̉̇͂̐̅̈́̈͂͑̀͋́̕̕̕͝Ị̵̢̭̹̖͉̣̿̍̐̊̈́͝͠ ̷̺̪̤̬̪͎̗̻̺̰̝̔̊̇Y̴̛̺̗̤͍͕̲̖̞͈̗̓̓̿̌̀̐̓͝ͅͅ ̴̢̠͔̪̙̖̓̾̾̏̋͗̿̓̄͂̄̇̿̿͘̕ͅȘ̵̞̻̗̭̪̬͖͚̗̈́͌́͒̏̓̽̑͌̃̂̒͋̇͛̕Ò̶̗̫̮̞̮̻̹̖̲̰͚̜͎͖̪̩͊͐ͅͅL̴̞̥̥̮̪͙̥̗̪̾̌̊̑̂̄̕Ȏ̵̖̻̦̩̎́̀̔͝ ̷̢̢̧̡̱͉̜̗̱̳̟̞͓͙̲̺̘̬͆̏̔͑͛̄͆͛͆̃͂S̴̨̡̨̯͖̭̫͍̲̝͓̈́͆̄̃́̐̐̓̔͆͐̋̅͘͠ͅI̶̥̫̩̘̙̊̋͐̈̊̐̊̓̏͛̕͘ ̸̡̨̡̧̟̻̲̳̫̮͉͐̓̓͌̉͌̈́̔͗̑̎͑̈́͑S̴̛̹̺̩͖̟͙̾͐̉̀̀̈́͒͒͐̚I̸͇̓̅̐̀́͒̈͋͑́̽̂̑͐͆͘͘̚͠ ̸̛͉̖̹̱̞̾͆̔̽͋̃̓͂̎̈́͑͆̽͋͗͝͝Ȩ̸̲̱̰̲͆̎̄̀̀̂T̴̨̖̲͔͚̜̜̻̞̖̞̦͇̫̤̙̟̦̋̉̓͂͆̿ ̷̛̛̲̥̱̬̻̗̘̉̀͆̈̀̂̂́͗͝͝S̵̼̦͇̖̖̹̏́͛̒̽͋̿̋͆͋̇̏̇̆͊E̵̢̛͍͎̱͓̦͉̟̠̦̻͖̙̜̺͆̍̿͗̈̃̾̆͂̓̌̕̚͝U̴̧̼̜̠̬̭̮̙̱̥̫̾͑̐̽̄͛̽̈͛̑̓̋̀̀̂̾̽́̍L̵̛̛͎̘̥̩͋̉̉̄̽͆̏̈́̀͗̊͘̕͝E̷̛̛̪͐M̷̠̹̣̝̗̳͕̭̼̰͖̩͉̮̻̾̽̓̉͑̽̎͊͌́̽̀̍̃͆̕͝͠ͅE̸̮̲̗͕͍̞̺͛̈̿̽̂͋͋̚͠Ņ̷̪̩̘̩̗̺̳̯̞̾͊̍̏̔̄̌̆͑̏̑͑́́͂͗͋͘͠Ṫ̵͍̠͚̜̠̿́̈̇̈́͊̔͘͜ ̸̡̧̛͍̻̙͙̰̎̿̐͐͝S̵̢͔̫̺̤̜̲̱̬̮̜̼͉̈́̈́̀̓̄͛̌̐̒̎͠͝͝͠ͅĮ̵̛̛̛̟̥͖̲̩͓̫̒̏̓͆̅̏͐͒͜͝ ̵̧̲͓͙̲̰̀̀͊̽͛̾̓́̐͋̄͋͆̆͘͠͝͠Ѐ̸̨̙͓̱̙̭͈̖͚̹̭̲͙̠͉̥̤̖̒͋͒̏̾́̃͌̌̓̀͊̓̕͜͝͝͠С̸̜̪̳̱̯́̏͒̇̀̃͘Л̸̡̢̢̺̯̞͚̞̭͖̪͖̣̇̏̐̓͑͌̄̓̉͋̓̈̔̕̚͠И̵̣̘̣̠̻͝ ̶̧̢̧̘̲͉̲̻̰̤̺̪̝͖̲͔̞͂̀̂̃̀̐̊̄̀̈́̔̚̕͝И̷̛̤̻̠̠̼͚̫̯̱̱̝̤̩͈̰͇̠̃̋͂͐͛͌̓̀͂̿̃́̕͜͝ͅ ̸̡̢̨̣̯̜̘̜̻̱̞̼̪͙̬̘̟̉̍̔̀̍̊̚͘͝Т̴̀̀̍͗̍̀͐̑ͅО̶̢̛͚̫̮̪͇̭̤̘̿̿̎̀̂̈́͆̍̒̒̀̕͠Л̶̘̖̻̝͔̮̹̩͎̮͔̭̮̟̰̋̍̃͌́͋̕͜Ь̵͈̦̪̦̘͔̼̪̻̱̬̜̋̿̃͆͐̉͋̑̊͛̄̄̀̿́͋͑͝ͅК̴̨̨̡̪͈̣̦̻̅̊̾̅͑̃̋͒ͅО̴͙͙͙̠̫͔̙̳̪̘̭̺̐̔̐͐̏͛ ̶̢͈̱̰̪͕̮͑͐̋̽̏́̿͜Е̶̳̪̟͈̖̘̜̣̜͈͐̋̀̇̏̇̄̕С̵̯̝͎̭̦̰̱͉̹̩̝͕̺̜͇̖͍̀́̆͛͆̍̀̃̀͋̈́̓ͅͅЛ̵̢̛̩̱̰̲̱̝̓͌̈́̇͆̎̚̚͠И̴̝̫̗̭͛͆͆͐̂̇͊́̓́̈́̿͘̚͘͝͝͠ ̴̼͖͂́̓̉̂̐͌̃̒̿ ̴̨̺̣͔̔͌̈́͌̊̈́̊̈́̐̂̓̒͐͒̀̒̎͘͝|̶̨͔̥̮̬̩̈́͌̌̾͌̀͌̔̉͠|̴̨̡̧̧̬͓̹̼̖̗͚͔̺̩̤̈́̄̍͗͆́̐ͅ|̴̛̞͔̻̻̺̙͈̳́͐͗̄́̈̅̊̚͘|̸̡̜̼̝͙̬͇̘͚͍̞̺͚̲̪̹̓̾́̉͗́̀͘͝͠ͅ|̴̳͎̖̠̙̘̱̗̣̭͙̭͎̱̗́̽͂̒̏̾̃̀̄͐̀͑̋̐̍̒̒̿͂-̶̨̡̡͕͚͎̺̼͎̳̗͇̰̈͒̅̽́̽̂̆̋̅̐͗̀́̌͘-̴̛̹͙̥͑̍́͊̾̍̿̌̿̑̓͐̀͜-̷̢̨̨̛̳͈͙̤̜͔͎̠͍̰̼̳̯͇̱̋̄̈́́̋̃͑̄̓͠-̶̬̈́͐̀̅̓̌͌͐-̵̬̭͔̠̣̟͎͓̼͓̖̪̾͒͛͆͑͛̈́̎̓̀̏̚͝ͅ-̶̧͍͖̰̞̝̓̌̈́̈́̆̒̋̇̃̉̈́̆́̐͑͠-̷̧̩̭͈̬̹͇͓̤̰̭̎͛̂́̉̉̊͂̊̈̔̕͘-̵̛̗̗̟̪̜̯̟̺̖̈́̈́͌̓̄́̐̐̀̒̓͌͛̂͠-̶̛̩̬̱̼̳̻̙͉͚̇̈̒̍̀̈́̽͂͘͠͝͠-̷̲̤͍̮̠͇̪̱̻̫̙͂́̄̇͒̀̿̐́͌̑̀̈́͘͜͠|̷̙̣̪͕̳̙͍͖̠̩͇́͊̑͗͗̏͝|̴̡͙̓̂̉̃̎̅͆̓̍͋̅̅͐̄̈̕͘͝͠|̴̥̘̼̟̪̞̤̦͎͍̇̿̈́̋͊̃̓̎̈́̍͐̀͛̍̚͜͝ͅ|̴̨̢̛̝̣͖̺̮͕̬̘̠͎̮̪̐͂̿͂̄̓̾̉͒͜͜͝ͅ|̸̡̡̹̻͚͕̝͍͚̺̬̗̜̻͚̑̽͌̃͗̿̊̓̿̎̓̃̉̒|̵̢̡̼̬͍̰̬͚͓̮͗̋̎́̓̀͜ͅ|̷̡̛̯̪̼̗͈͉̙͂̒̃͂̓̈́̊̉͊̑́͗̀̓̋͒͜͠͝|̸̢̢̰̭͓̯̭̞̹̣̪̰͍̪͓̗̓̈̓͑̀̓̏̒̉͌̚͘̕͠͝ͅ|̵̡̧̖̪̖̩̗̳̰͔͙͔̲̠̪̪̠̇́͂̂̇̉̂͋͐̓̈́͛̔̆͆̊̚͠͠|̵̧̨̠͉̠̳̽̓|̷̧̧̣̱͓̲̦͍̯͙̘͐͗̌̑̍͜-̸̠̮͖̗̣̯̥̱̟̯̼̺̝̤̞̺͖͔̕͠-̵̡̭̺̠͍̠͕͇̞͎̣̠̩̹͔̪͖͌̿̿̉̾͋̑̿͒͑̋-̷̢̢̭̭̜̣̆̚|̷̯̞̲̩͕̻͎͚̫̯̳͎̅͂|̶̢̨͉͖̳̮̥̠̫͔̟͔͍͍̺̗̦̏̌́̓͛̐͗̂̒͐̉̐̈͝͝|̴̡̥͚̱̳͓͇͔̱͕̘͛̿͑̕ͅ|̸̡͉̖͓̜̪̖̘̖̥̠̦͒́̀̾̊̐͌̈́͘̕͘ͅ|̸̘̠̰̤̰̲̂̊́̐̄͛́̎ͅ|̷̛̝͈͙̟͍͔͉̜̩̗̖̬͊̇̑́̋̊̀̓͋̇͒͑̈̌̚͜͜͝|̷̛̦̥͓̩̠̉̂̅͌͆̾́̆̆̃̉̓͘͝͝͝|̴̙̏̎̊̽̋̓͒͗̾͛̈́͑͘͝|̸̨͉͔̹̝͎͉̺̜͓̠̣̻͇͈̻͋̀̐͑͑ͅ|̵̨̡̧̺̟͖̖̰̝̮̰̦̭̦͇͖͍̍̑͌͊̂̋̈͌̓̑͝͠͠|̷̧̢̥̬̰̯̮̭̞̤̥̦̱̺̻̠͔̗̉͑̊ͅ|̴̼͍͌̀̋͌̏|̵̨̢̛̺̰͎̭̥͊̍̇͗̕̚̚|̵͎̫̗̟͉̼̰̹̘̣̝͇̗͕̭̣̉͋̍̈́͒̒̒͝͝|̸̨̡̯̞͉̫̠̲͖͕̘͈͉͍͕͙̭̊ͅ-̴̢͈̠̼̠̯̹̫͋̈́̉́͋̃̓̐̏̒͘̚-̸̢̦̥̻̜͎̰͔̺̻̏̎̾̓͒̌͜|̴͙͒̊̾̆̔̃̌͒|̸̡̨̹͎̟͇̻̙͙̺̩̳͍̥͔̮͆̊͊͗̀͌́͑̈́͌̕͜|̴̬̠̭̬͔̞̰̳̜̖̘͚͑̃̌̊̈́̐̌͂͐̅̏̂̾̽|̴̡̩̫̼̦̪͉̜̦̥̱͂͂̒̄͐̈̈́̀̍ͅ|̷̡̢̪͎̲̗͚͎͔̺̘̲̹̻͋̎͒̎̑͜͠͝|̷̡͚̲͋̇̓͊̏̆̅́͝|̸̧̖̻͕̣̲͉͉̱͚́̑̊̿͋͂̽͗͊͑̈́͐̂̏̈́̐̉͘͝|̵͉̯͇͐̑̈́͑́̽́͘̕|̷̺̹̘̜̱̲̳͉̩̲̮̻̙͉̜̲̓̓̏́̒̈̑͛͌̔͑̊͆̈́̋̕͜|̶̧̨̹̮͖͈͚̠̠̪̤̻̼̪̼͚̫͎̽̆́̂̎̀͛̐̾̎͐̋͐͝|̸̢̼̞̖̖͎͍̀͋̋̿̉̇̃̔̐͌̽̌̀͊̃͑͐͠͠

[@KCUFyoufordoxingme]

The events absolutely required for it to have perpetrated by the household.

[@kennethpeterson4068]

He said multiple people had access to the machine...so any one of them could have inserted a command line in the auto.exe...

[@jeffbguarino]

@BB Sky I had an Eprom programmer in 1980 and was burning them and had an UV eraser. You put the Eproms in the Ultraviolet light eraser for about an hour. I still have all this stuff. So it would be easy to modify the Eprom. I imagine they opened up the computer to look inside to see if there was a massive add on sitting there? Do you remember the crop circles. Scientists said it would be impossible for people to make them. It had to be aliens. That went on for 20 years until a group of them confessed. They used simple methods to make big giant designs at night in the dark. Another thing they could have done is clean the keyboard and put some invisible powder on the keyboard that was like visible in black light. That would show when they left the house that someone was typing. Probably other methods , I can think of other ways you would know. Also put some black ink on the keyboard, like the dye they use in bags of money at the bank and then check the fingers of everyone after a message to see if they have dye on the fingers. Clean the keyboard and then after a message appears , check the keyboard for fingerprints. That is what they should have done , instead of deleting the question , when these investigators were alone in the room. Ink the keyboard with unremovable dye. place the keyboard near the edge of the table and take a picture of it . Most people will move the keyboard a little for more comfortable typing. So just put it in an awkward position and see if it gets moved.

[@glynnisthomas9165]

@@videosfromthefuture9427 Wtf?

[@TheMAZZTer]

The "REATE" file suggests to me whoever did this didn't know how to really use the computer. They probably tried to type "CREATE" at the main menu but typing the "C" then prompted for the filename, which they didn't see... presumably they were not familiar with typing on a keyboard and were hunting and pecking instead of looking at the screen. (To be clear I don't believe time travel was involved in any way with this.)

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

The menu appears to have poor instructions and no highlighting of the first letter, which means people would be expecting to type CREATE rather than just press C. It's an easy mistake to make especially in those days and shows why good UI/UX is so important.

[@marcg1314]

I totally agree and and your reply has solved this mystery for me. If lukas' method of creating the messages was speech based then it proves to me that the messages were typed by a hoaxer with access to the house and the computer but was unfamiliar (at that point) of operating the software.

[@DigbysSignature]

@@marcg1314 My thing is if we were to communicate with someone from the future and not have used I yet having them say it would then in turn cause you to. Hell youd probably sit there and jump around saying I all day. Me is I! if you will. I dont believe it but i do believe it. When they eliminate her and the husband it still communicates. Whats to say they figured out step by step how and what to say to get to wording it the way they do. Then the guy who gets the messages handed to him in an envelope dissapears? Would there have not been a way to go back and see what was printed like some cache of sorts? Theres too much that cant be debunked for it to be thrown out. If they didnt want anything leaking but had an objective theyd of kept at it til they got "the one" way thats right. If time is a flow then wed never be the wiser. Confusion is, to me, the best probable way to prevent changing events. If youre confused you usually ignore it and move on or dismiss it.

[@TheWazil]

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood ,but against powers and principalities against spiritual wickedness in high places.

[@neonwired4978]

farmers from the 16th century were notoriously bad at computing....and reading and writing.

[@neroinc5998]

Ken and Debbie were either really creepy or really fun people.

[@kylehereKC]

Perhaps both?

[@thecongo8505]

😂

[@Aix_Plainer]

Suspiciously the RL stuff only happened to Debbie. And messages mostly only appeared when she was alone at the computer and nothing happened when people where looking at it. So she either has MP or craves for attention. We only get people defending Ken´s character, nothing about her.

[@hedgehog3180]

@@Aix_Plainer She could also just be really funny.

[@RetroGamingNook]

Ahh, early Text Adventures were pretty elaborate I see.

[@BassandoForte]

He should be buying a potion from Gandalf - that's where he's been going wrong... 😝

[@kevinoverbeck4250]

An polite!

[@tufferstv]

Go north. »YOU HAVE ENTERED THE VILLAGE OF DODLESTONE go north. »YOU HAVE ENTERED AN OLD FARM HOUSE go north YOU HAVE BEEN TRANSPORTED TO THE YEAR 2109

[@mal2ksc]

At least nobody got eaten by a grue. OR DID THEY? (A couple people just sort of dropped off the map in the course of this story.)

[@thephantomraspberryblower2675]

Gork

[@BigHeretic]

The cryptic nature of these messages I think falsifies them. Like the SETI program it's reasonable to assume that messages are made to be understood by the recipient. "Paranormal" messages always seem to be made to intrigue and to lead nowhere.

[@AaronLitz]

It's the age-old prophecy method: be as vague as possible so the listener can apply just about any meaning to the message. It's how mediums and prophets and psychics and astrologers throughout history have always operated. If the prophecy doesn't happen like you expected it just means you didn't interpret it correctly!

[@uncannyvalley2350]

The cow will bark three times, the rain will fall up, the mirror will see inwards, and the eye will behold ... That will be $50

[@jonathannikcevich8667]

Ok. So I'm just saying. If I were to receive messages from the past. I would give the true challenge. I would tell the medieval guy to bury a trinket. Carve something into one of the floor board or any original part of the house that is still there...if something comes up, either it'll be aged and tarnished, or it'll be obviously fake. Done. Deal.

[@PlatinumTales]

Then we would all still say its a hoax and Ken just scratched that into the floor boards himself lol. I've experienced supernatural things in person, so I totally believe in this stuff, but there are for sure a lot of plot holes in this story as shown at the end of this video.

[@lennysmileyface]

@@PlatinumTales Easy, tell him to bury some animal bones in a particular place. You'll be able to tell recent bones from 500 year old ones.

[@topsgaming4266]

What if there are parallel universes where something done to that universe may not show up in ours.

[@williammccarthy5248]

Like LtCdr Data’s severed head.

[@beezle1976]

There's the possibility that even if real the item could found and moved in the few hundreds years since it was buried, so its not really a solution.

[@mattwuxx3888]

As someone who was very active on modem/BBS systems from 1983-1987(my father was on them from '80 to roughly '84), this is obviously an interesting/semi-fascinating story. I don't know the particulars of the BBC Micro but if it had modem connectivity at all(even though 32K base RAM would be rather limiting in terms of active data send/receive even if it did, would be a very key aspect to this story. Webster can claim now and then that he was using a "closed system". But if he had access to a school budget and was tech-savvy at all, it would not be a stretch that he did indeed have the Micro "networked" via modem, even if he claims now that he didn't. In any event, if Webster was active on UK BBS systems of antiquity(even accessing extra-regional ones), the Occam's Razor of natural skepticism would suggest that he was just being randomly pranked by some BBS tomfoolery miscreants(which there certainly were no shortage of in the 80's). If Webster is claiming that the Doddleston messages just showed up on his saved floppy disk indices with no initiation by him or outside network connectivity, that would be the least believable part of the claimed story(unless his musician friend pranking him as referenced in the vid is to blame). Many computers in that day had an autosave function for disk/tape drive that would activate for a given amount of time when the user was away upon detection of a ping/data input or change in the system that came in via the modem. The film "Brainstorm" roughly touches and broached this "high-tech" ability and feature, in 1981. This would of course be another plausible explanation as to how the messages ended up on his disk index if Webster claims neither he nor anyone else could access his disk drive, but did have the BBC Micro often running with the modem/BBS access on when Webster was away from the machine. Sorry about the long rant but, just looking at all of the available and plausible explanations and possibilities of such, in the Doddleston message legend. One thing's certain however: I certainly will try to obtain a copy of "The Vertical Plane". If for no other reason than just to be able to research the claimed source of the event phenomenon itself, and because it's nice to have such an off the wall and intriguing(if not haphazardly layman-written) account in my collection.

[@robertwilson3866]

I was around back then. I can tell you people believed anything back then. There were the Dogon alien stories we all believed because there was no way to check the actual facts. People just believed stuff.

[@jitkundough]

Headquarters BBS, the one with DOS Doors, games and FidoNet for messaging would update to hubs. Did that on a TRS-80 model 100!

[@Not-Great-at-Gaming]

The IBM 5100 is the computer that makes time travel possible.

[@rebusak47]

Hell yeah steins;gate.

[@bitwize]

The John Titor urban legend predates and inspired Steins;Gate.

[@FindecanorNotGmail]

If you can hack _CERN_ : a IBN 5100 If you can hack _time_ : three Microbee, a ZX Spectrum and a PowerGlove

[@rebusak47]

@@FindecanorNotGmail What about a Divergence Meter?

[@BlackBox863]

4Chan time traveler

[@Kazemahou]

Although it seems like a poorly crafted hoax, it is, in fact, a poorly crafted hoax.

[@andylawrence7955]

and you have the proof no doubt

[@earledemise5827]

@@andylawrence7955 it is healthy to be sceptical, opinions do not require proof ( even when they state it as fact because it is still merely an opinion).

[@guns4toilets]

And the man responsible... you guessed it- Frank Stallone

[@smartyyone2000]

What is poor is your being

[@zvisger]

Ya lol. Ppl trippin if they think this is real. Great video by Nostalgia Nerd as usual, lame hoax.

[@bryan-nz]

I love stuff like this. But you can see how the prank evolved: it clearly started out as a ghost of a former resident, who was unaware they were dead. Then it changed into the whole time traveller thing. And then they started adding verifiable details, so they had to reveal they were using a fake name originally etc. Not sure who was in on it, but probably all of them. It's a good story that will live on forever.. well done!

[@redoz9768]

Agreed, it obviously began as a ghost prank, and evolved from there.

[@crusher1980]

Human souls dont wander the earth, they are either in heaven or hell. These entities are demons/fallen angels (old gods/aliens).

[@MARALAGO2024]

@@crusher1980 LMFAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.... And then you woke up? Or are you still sleeping?

[@ironlion45]

@@crusher1980 You been eating moldy bread?

[@ImZloudj]

@@crusher1980 I agree

[@skeggjoldgunnr3167]

Back in the 90's The wife and I moved her dad in with us. He insisted that our house was haunted. Every time he walked past me while I was in my home office room I could hear thunderous flatulence. But he blamed it on a loose floor board and suggested that the associated foul stench was decomposing bodies hidden underneath. He insisted I have some building contractor and telekinesis crew come investigate and look into this. I insisted that decomposing corpses don't give off an odor of burnt hair and fancy feast filet & pate' with a hint of decomposing sauerbraten. He would stand there wiping his glasses lenses with a tissue - the "floor board would creak" so loudly that the china would rattle - and he would point down at that floorboard. He had my daughter believing him. My wife sure helped none. She would walk around that spot. I put a plug-in air freshener near there. It died. The photo of my wife's grandmother was altered: She now has her collar held over her nose. Our cat, Higgins hissed at the emanations. Things started to get really out of hand. His gastrointestinal ailment had become so bad that you could SEE the spirits. Had you HEARING things man. My daughter brought her first boyfriend over and grampa demonstrated for them. Or, rather: he introduced the young man to the evil apparitions. He was so frightened that he never returned.

[@kendoty2463]

Such can knocke thy buzzards from ye yon crapwagonne. . . 😂🤣💥oops keep ye fyre avast. . . 😯

[@JaneAtwellRobinson1825NY]

OH MY GOODNESS! I'm dyyyyyinggg here reading your comment... I would love to see the psychic team "investigating" these smells in real time lolz

[@skeggjoldgunnr3167]

@@JaneAtwellRobinson1825NY ! Ha!

[@kendoty2463]

@@JaneAtwellRobinson1825NY Ken Doty 8 days ago Such can knocke thy buzzards from ye yon crapwagonne. . . 😂🤣buffering💥oops keep ye fyre avast. . . 😯

[@kendoty2463]

Ken Doty 8 days ago Such can knocke thy buzzards from ye yon crapwagonne. . . 😂🤣buffering💥oops keep ye fyre avast. . . 😯

[@dcbradfo657]

Last night I watched this video and found it fascinating. Eventually I remembered the Stephen King story, published in *Playboy* in 1983, called "Word Processor of the Gods." Without giving too much away, the story talks about a computer that can change reality depending on what you type into it. It occurs to me to wonder if somebody involved in this mystery knew about that story and decided to run with it.

[@mattr.1887]

Great short story by SK! One of my favorites.

[@jerseyjoyride1316]

Would be hard to track down as most people read Playboy for the articles....😏

[@MatthewWathen]

They made it into a short film. I remember watching it years ago.

[@VoidHalo]

This story was in the Book of short stories called Skeleton Crew. Recognizable by the toy cymbal banging monkey on the cover. I loved the premise of a word processor that makes anything you type come to fruition. But it was way too short and not fleshed out well enough for all the potential it had. It was only 4 or 5 pages long. He basically has a bit of fun with the word processor a little, then kills his wife and the story's done. You kind of get the feeling King was sitting at his desk, staring at his word processor trying to think of what to write about when he made this. "what to write about... a magic word processor!" Heh. It's worth the read, though. Out of Skeleton Crew, I also recommend reading Jaunt and The Mist. All 3 can be read in less than 2 hours.

[@Number4lead]

​@@jerseyjoyride1316😂

[@JonnoPlays]

I watched the whole video, but it was an obvious hoax before the 10 minute mark. Dude was trying to bolster his career and even tried to make a profit off his book.

[@Nyctophora]

How so? The book had a small print run and that's why it goes for so much these days - second hand, for which he doesn't get a penny.

[@AaronLitz]

@@Nyctophora Only because he failed at getting the hoax to catch on.

[@JonnoPlays]

@@AaronLitz exactly. It's fairly obvious in hindsight, but some people just really want to believe I guess.

[@HarishBabuM]

@@JonnoPlays have seen you in the comment section of Praveen Mohan's vids 😁

[@B-26354]

@@Nyctophora How is it not an obvious hoax? So many basic facts wrong with so many opportunities for someone to have enabled it. Ridiculous story.

[@BarryRowlingsonBaz]

That one of the files was called REATE tells me it was made by someone who pressed C for the Create menu option and then kept typing. And probably looking at the keys rather than the screen, thinking they had to type the whole word in. So unless you believe the time travellers were using EDWORD with the same menu system, it was created by a human on that BBC Micro, and probably an inexperienced one at that.

[@RaduP3]

also it suggests the person typing was in a rush

[@memejest]

This is undeniable proof.

[@d3l3tes00n]

The "covfefe" of that generation.

[@michaelashman]

Edword or Ed Wood?

[@robg7970]

@@d3l3tes00n No , covfefe actually meant something . He wasn't misspelling coffee or coverage , it stood for the " Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically For Engagements act in 2017.

[@PrinceBizzle]

You cant travel back into something that no longer exist. You can only travel to a alternate timeline where the event is currently happening.

[@Ambush6578]

Everything everywhere at all times is happening all at once. It's our consciousness' perception that is why we're here now

[@marcoslaureano5562]

Gives new meaning to the term "ghost in the machine". There should be an 80s style movie made of this, written, directed and scored by John Carpenter. This would be right up his alley.

[@dakidblack]

There is a movie, and by the that exact name, look it up written by william davies

[@lavona8204]

There is an anime

[@marcoslaureano5562]

@@dakidblack Seriously? I had no idea. Gonna have to check it out now.

[@marcoslaureano5562]

@@lavona8204 Does the anime have the same title as the book?

[@LoadDiscrepancy]

@@marcoslaureano5562 no, the anime one I think people are gesturing to, is " Ghost in the shell" about a sentient lifeform that is born on the Internet and named project 2701. The movie is of the cyberpunk genre and sprouted an interesting story ark in the stand alone complex, that is loosely based on J D Salingers works. Worth a watch but probably took me 10 views to get my head around every tiny finesse of detail and reference.

[@Monkey_SK]

Did anyone suspect the cats, I mean look at them there, plotting their next message! I remember watching this back in the 90's. Great video.

[@TheVicar]

This is a classic example of cats walking on keyboards

[@angr3819]

Cunning creatures :)

[@davidjames579]

@@TheVicar Right, no one in the house when the messages appeared. That's not entirely true.

[@TheVicar]

@@davidjames579 Maybe it was their cleaner just taking the piss out of them?

[@davidjames579]

@@TheVicar No it was definitely the cats. Those upturned chairs occurred because there was a Dreamie stuck in the lining.

[@AndrewPonti]

So intriguing. I was thinking I’d just watch a few minutes then just got sucked right into the whole thing! Yes please do a follow up!

[@DB.KOOPER]

Yep. Same here... very interesting.

[@samuelnelsen8872]

A follow up seems to be in order??? Who knows you maybe the missing fellow to find Thomas's missing book.

[@JackSarfatti]

@@samuelnelsen8872 yes, look for the book at Oxford.

[@chezLynn]

I stumbled upon and got caught up in this video, too, and was impressed by the presentation. I'd definitely be interested in seeing a follow-up, especially whether or not this mysterious book can be found : )

[@samuelnelsen8872]

@@JackSarfatti hopefully it wasn't destroyed during WWII? Don't know which buildings were hit during the bombings.

[@chompchompnomnom4256]

Ken & Debbie: How are you powering the device in 1530? Lucas: Ermmm water wheel?

[@juu2356]

exactly this.

[@teldrah]

Debbie wrote the messages 100%. They always appeared when she was around. Also she was the only one that knew the 10 questions of the psychic studies group. And the furniture was stacked up when she came home (and nobody else was there), how convenient.

[@quinnzykir]

Like with all the events of Skinwalker Ranch

[@kleinbottled79]

@jason jaks Should be easy enough to point out where it's nonsense instead of just asserting it. Maybe you should try again. Here I'll throw one out there - Did she really have access to the 10 questions? I thought none of them did.

[@TerrenceTerryLynch]

I disagree

[@JonnoPlays]

@Ishan Pant it's a reasonable question to ask

[@mackenshaw8169]

Strip away all the emotion and that is exactly what we are left with.

[@roromil2441]

What breaks this story is not the grammar, spelling, question about horses... it's the idea that someone in 2109, having the hindsight of how much technology evolved, would pick a BBC Micro to do this weird communications experiment... Someone in the 1980s would, because the Micro was probably the best thing at the time from their perspective...

[@ahmetrefikeryilmaz4432]

wait, is there any actual information that the 2109 people actually used a BBC Micro?

[@imkluu]

@pnorbert2222 John Titor was from 2036.

[@TheHaratashi]

If I was around in 2109, the BBC MIcro is exactly what I would pick to do a communications experiment because if I chose the late 1990's and later people wouldn't even notice.

[@roromil2441]

@@ahmetrefikeryilmaz4432 The ones in the 1980s used it, but the ones in 2109 picked who to contact and when. Someone in 2109 would know how much technology evolved from 1980s to 1990s or 2000s, and yet they chose to contact someone who was using a BBC Micro...

[@T57Custodian]

You wouldn't use a smart phone as you could back track and find the source the BBC micro seems perfect

[@grysndotwav]

Imagine they actually found the book though… like IMAGINE the absolute mind melt we would all have .

[@remo1wodmnetwork9605]

They will find it. That is the whole point; the reason why the entities in the future initiated this. Writing the book for it to be found and recorded is the "great purpose" they mentioned. It is a way to conclusively prove that time travel and communication exists for us.

[@nickwilliams6621]

Yeah, it has probably already been found and is in the Vatican's Secret Archives lol

[@christianweller4288]

@@nickwilliams6621 Definitely not in the Vatican… almost certainly in that warehouse you see at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

[@Dooguk]

@@remo1wodmnetwork9605 You actually believe this garbage?

[@GSP-76]

@@remo1wodmnetwork9605 time travel has already been achieved...scientists have already achieved this at the quantum level moving qbits forward...it is not, however, achievable going back in time.

[@frankwaites1564]

By far the best account of this mystery. So well and fluently conveyed.

[@bills6093]

The big clue here is that the computer had to be left alone for the messages to appear. That means someone was simply typing them.

[@newforestpixie5297]

Good point Mr Logic 👍

[@adamburdt8794]

Yeah, and when things started getting extra suss they would not respond for large swaths of time. I dunno, kinda like a human being would do to avoid getting caught.

[@scottmartin7717]

What a blatant crock of shit

[@rogerdodger1790]

Lol yup

[@johannaholmgren8088]

I can't believe (halfway through the video, I just stopped watching. What a load of garbage. This story could be debunked in 5 minutes by a 5 year old) that the presenter made the comment "And to this day, no one has been able to satisfactorily explain what happened". Really? How is that even possible??

[@SticksAandstonesBozo]

I really feel bad for people who didn’t get to experience the start of home pcs and internet in the early 80’s. It was a magic that can never be repeated.

[@2degucitas]

The whole diy vibe of making your own computer with Radioshack components in the late 70's/early 80's was a real trip. It took a lot of time, ability to understand electrical components and soldering.

[@ryanleemartin7758]

I agree but.. but.. you can get close with MAKE culture and building neat things with microcontrollers and other low cost SOCs.

[@tumbleweed_wagon2113]

There was no internet in the 80s... only for higher ups like the Government though. The 90s was when it came to the public and everyone was learning it. You must be thinking about the 90s.

[@SticksAandstonesBozo]

@@tumbleweed_wagon2113 I guess your young lol. We were using the internet daily in the early 80’s my man. Do a little more research. I assume your talking about Web 1.0 ? That’s not when the internet started. The internet started when we got modems and ISP’s and started talking , playing games , bulletin board systems , you name it. This was way before windows or web sites.

[@SticksAandstonesBozo]

We were playing text based mmorpgs (MUDS) in 1984. Dial up internet has been around since around 1982 depending on where you lived.

[@mikeselectricstuff]

On a purely technical note, although it is highly unlikely that a single machine taken home from school would have been connected to econet, if it was, everything described would have been doable by a dedicated remote hoaxer to an unmodified machine, as it is possible to remotely read and write arbitary areas of memory.

[@777anarchist]

Or it just was the other bloke they were sharing the house with.

[@halfbakedproductions7887]

@@777anarchist We only have their word that this even happened at all.

[@777anarchist]

@@halfbakedproductions7887 Yes. I'm pretty sure they made it up because that would explain everything at once.

[@greenaum]

You could maybe have snuck in some two-way radio setup. Maybe running with thin wires to the micro itself. Radios were bulky back then, and a transmitter would have interfered with the operation of the computer. Error-correction and the like, it's all asking quite a bit. "Down the Earth cable" is a non-starter. Wires though, would snap if they tried move the machine. Onboard radio, no, not practical. That and it just seems simplest and most reliable, to have an accomplice sneaking about doing the few bits that had witnesses waiting downstairs, the rest just being lies. Like a magic trick, you never actually see it happen, it's always behind a curtain. You see before, and after, but never during. Still, interesting old Econet, I can see why they went with IPv4 instead for the Internet. If we *had* gone with Econet, by now a bug might well have mutated up into sentience.

[@LostCylon]

This is only a few years earlier than I got into computers, but from PC knowledge, I know a file could be deleted, then undeleted and read again. If this computer did auto save as was said earlier, could this have happened?

[@TerryInUSA]

I'm not a nerd but managed to be a computer programmer anyway and remember the 80's in my field. This story is kind of reflective of what was going on in the early days of everyone being able to buy and use their own computer and being able to connect to other computers. Back in the 80's, I remember a couple of kids at my son's high school who were able to break into bank computers with their home computers and look at the accounts of other kids' parents. I worked with a guy who served a jail term for writing a program, in the 80's, that skimmed pennies off each of thousands of bank accounts. Being a programmer, I also knew many programmers who were crossovers into the science fiction fan world. Most had probably read every science fiction book ever written, the sum total of which explored time travel to the nth degree. I myself had a hobby of studying English handwriting and language from the Middle Ages. I remember going to a party around 1980 where the host had a computer he programmed to answer questions you typed in. This was easy to do, a child could do it, but it felt like recreating HAL in the movie "2001" - exciting stuff. In my mind, "Vertical Plane" kinda weaves all this stuff together as reflecting an era.

[@mesapdarecriminals0integri563]

Programmed to answer questions? Pffft, that’s nothing. You remember LOVEDOS.EXE?? Lol

[@frazzleface753]

It does honestly seem like something a bunch of bored teachers would dream up, playing with some new technology.

[@davidjames579]

Nah, teachers never lie.

[@basedcoins]

​@@davidjames579 lmao

[@LostInTech3D]

Imagine living there with no idea of all this then suddenly seeing your front door on youtube 😂

[@ballsrgrossnugly]

The current owner of that house, right now, dismantling every wall and room, brick by brick in a misguided effort to find that message that's on the book's hiding place... Sigh.

[@tyrereviews]

As another UK KZbinr from the 80s, I really appreciate all the effort you go to for these videos. Some seriously amazing research, the series on nes/megadrive/atari are some of the best things I've seen on youtube.

[@leombayard]

You were a KZbinr in the 80s? How was the monetization back then?

[@tire_reviews]

@@leombayard It was great, Littlewoods had all the budget in the world

[@DazeyChaineMusic]

how was being an 80s youtuber

[@dyscotopia]

Obviously he's from the 2180s and using the tachyon disruption field feature of the latest KZbin Studio app available in his timeline.

[@blacksunshine7485]

Another time traveller

[@oceanbreeze3172]

This reminds me of when I first got a phone as a child and just impromptu role-played as myself from the future, saying random kids were married and successful

[@CleetusGlobin]

21:08 This video is interesting and all, but I just need to mention how much I like the fact that you put a dot where the text begins after switching camera angles.

[@sparkplug1018]

What makes me discredit the entire series of events, aside from the inconsistencies in the story, is that 2109 seemingly made no effort to convince us of its actual existence. Even though we would likely argue its pure chance, they could have simply given a detail or two about an event that would happen in the near future. The fall of an empire, beginning of a war, etc. After all, the Soviet Union would fall 6 years latter, the Gulf war around the same time and the first Chechen war in 1994. But they made no such effort as best I can tell. And that makes no sense to me, seeing that anyone today if contacted by a time traveler would demand some kind of proof of their validity. And I cant see anyone in 1985 being any different. The only proof of existence given was from LW, but that can be researched. Perhaps one of the original players had come across that information while at Oxford. So while an interesting story, I doubt its real.

[@kagenlim5271]

To be fair, any small detail could have changed the future heavily. Imagine if gorbachev was killed on August 19 1991, or that the russian SFSR comtinued to sign the treaty keeping the USSR alive, It would have completely changed the fall of the soviet union

[@sparkplug1018]

@@kagenlim5271 True, but easy enough to prove they're are real without giving details. A war will start a plan crashes and an empire falls, no where near enough to know what to change, but enough that when those 3 things happen you know they were legit. Because without some way to verify that, its fake.

[@Gamechamp3000]

@@sparkplug1018 Predicting future events so vaguely wouldn't be impressive, since there's so much room for interpretation. Rather than historical facts, I think more convincing evidence would be yet-unknown scientific knowledge that could be tested to be true. Making a legitimate world changing scientific discovery in pursuit of a prank would be pretty impressive. Especially if that knowledge was, for example, the mechanisms by which time travel can be done.

[@tsartomato]

you mean besides the whole ordeal being stupid bullshit starting with the premise?

[@chandranapier2259]

I agree with your reasoning.

[@MartysWhiteSuit]

I remember this from the time. There was quite an interest back then as Hawarden is only 20 miles. Computers were new - and still creaky. Few people understood their workings, so the concept of deception was more than likely. Mind you, anyone with such an in-depth knowledge of computers back then was unlikely to have a sense of humour. It was the 'box of lights' thing that grabbed me. I suppose we all wanted it to be real.

[@filminginportland1654]

??? Computer engineers have a wicked sense of humor. Ours is darker than anyone else’s, usually, but it’s also much deeper & more a part of our daily lives than it is with most normal people. Nerds don’t grow up much. We’re still like children and we’re the ones who run your banking systems, your infrastructure, your corporate IT departments. Never forget that we love trolling people and practical jokes, and wouldn’t think anything about setting up a decades-long practical joke just so we could have a continuing inner laugh every now and then. You really think engineers didn’t have a sense of humor in the 80s???? It was much funner back then _because_ the rest of you never knew a damn thing about what we were up to. Much easier to have fun with people, without their even being aware of it. I’d put my money on Easter eggs - some engineer or group of engineers at acorn playing a practical joke on people. Or, given this unreliable narrator, they could simply be lying about enough of this that it makes no sense to even discuss it, being completely unaware of how it actually played out. For all we know, it was the wife/girlfriend simply typing them up when nobody was looking. But if that couple didn’t do it themselves, I’d look at the acorn engineers first.

[@geezermann7865]

@@filminginportland1654 Interesting, I hadn't considered a running practical joke by an IT insider. Personally, my sense of humor tends toward the South Park type. I have a cousin in Portland. I lived there many years ago when it was normal.

[@JFlovesjesus]

@@filminginportland1654 we still don’t understand their workings and need to unplug from it. I offer a persona challenge: For a half hour each day put this thing in the microwave or throw it on the front lawn but spend thirty minutes consciously to not being here. Perhaps do a puzzle, clean the kitchen, walk to the store or walk a pet, go break an old phone and put it back together and fix it. No, tablets and TV are equivalent. just simply be Elsewhere than here but make a bet against yourself (it makes it fun) and go for it. We are half way there, don’t give them the whole enchilada unless you want to of course;)

[@thrillhausen8858]

Surely would have been issued a tablet if from 2109.

[@JFlovesjesus]

@@thrillhausen8858 it’s just recommendation Lots going on outside typing here. We should explore more, I think. Good for the gizzards and brains ;) I have spent less time here and made projects for myself. It’s oddly more satisfying and then I relax and send a note here or there, here.

[@AllAmericanGuyExpert]

If I was the researcher, I would have removed the keyboard or disabled it. And then monitored the situation to see if the messages were still arriving.

[@Nyctophora]

Update: the book was reissued in 2021 by Ken Webster and is currently available on Amazon US and Abe Books (now, March 2022) for around $20. It's got a different cover and is a slight update but I believe the info is the same (perhaps slightly added to if anything) if anyone wants to read for themselves :) I'm not involved and don't get anything for saying that! Just aware how hard it's been to find, silly prices etc.

[@HattmannenNilsson]

An expedition to find the lost book sounds like a lot of fun. Just imagine if somebody _did_ find it. As sceptically minded as I am, the story surely captures the imagination and a followup investigation would be most welcome.

[@analogmatrix1442]

Sounds good in theory but I doubt Oxford University wants weirdos pulling up floor boards and destroying property.

[@tplwork1285]

@@analogmatrix1442 maybe with enough funding (coming from media and individual patrons) someone could use some of those machines that are used to scan through everything, including 'petrified' books well enough to read the text?

[@analogmatrix1442]

@@tplwork1285 start the petition 👍🏽

[@satortenet]

If such book ever comes up, man... what a mind fuck.

[@NGNetwork1]

IF such a book were to turn up ... our perception of time would be tossed out the window.

[@tonyfourpaws4511]

I've always loved this story because the same thing happened to my family, our dialogue wasn't as involved and interesting as theirs but the message we got still haunts me to this day... "We've been trying to contact you regarding your cars extended warranty" ughh.... *Shivers

[@realJimMarshall]

That's better than what I got. I just kept getting "local singles available in your area."

[@ULTIMATEGOOSE01]

lol

[@PaulaXism]

@@realJimMarshall I keep getting weird ones demanding I require something called "viagra" which apparently is only useful to males who suffer from being useless to women... what is this sorcery? How do all these people from around the world know my name and mail address?.. and knowing all that why do they not know I'm female???

[@oldmuso586]

Hahahaha!

[@bigbeefscorcho]

This has to be one of the most fascinating stories I’ve ever heard, and you told it amazingly. Wow. I couldn’t look away, riveting

[@adoculos4521]

Fgs, don't be so gullible, it's a HOAX

[@119jle]

Biden voter

[@adoculos4521]

@@119jle Are you? Not interesting.

[@sauriel596]

yea, its pretty interesting. Mysteries gives some spice to life

[@bazinga1831]

ur dumb if you believe this

[@susieangelique2669]

Yes, Nostalgia Nerd, please go to Oxford to do more research, try to find the hidden book! A sequel to this film would be very interesting to say the least. I enjoyed the story very much.

[@Pixelkip]

Lol there’s nothing to research or anything hidden cuz it doesn’t exist xD

[@thealize808]

Meow

[@drewberrynews3875]

It was a demon, there is no book

[@esahutske]

@@drewberrynews3875 I am leaning toward that also

[@robmen1402]

There is no hidden book, at all. Use your brain. He would have told them where he was going to hide it. He could have had a few copies printed and hard bound and given it to the library on top of that. But none of that was done. Because as long as this book remains a mystery and is "hidden" there will be some people that believe and that is the intention of the hoaxers.

[@akzorz9197]

I've cracked the code.. since they were not using the tape version, I can only assume this was using EdWord2 which had a new feature that allowed for document recall in the case of loss. The built-in FX80 printer driver allowed for a user to view the Format page which in turn displays an estimate of how much memory is left. Pressing Break would recover the stored text and re-enters editing mode/menu mode as appropriate. This would in turn allow them to recall the previous documents written and thus be capable of answering the questions asked. TBH no idea, been looking at old articles that might explain how one would audit a file's creation date, this is the best I could find.

[@nigelman9506]

You are so close to what i was thinking, i dont know if EdWord would do predictive text but if a key was pressed down by a sleeping cat on the keyboard it could try to make a sentence (a customer of mine called me out as he thought he had a virus, icons keep disappearing from his desktop, i came in to his office and found his cat asleep on the keyboard pressing all sort of buttons, locking the screen sorted it out and restored the shortcuts from the recycle bin) was the BBC micro connected by the com port to anything in this video ?

[@grn1]

@@nigelman9506 It sounds like it wasn't connected to econet at all and considering how hard it would be to add a transceiver without anyone noticing the most likely explanation is that the girlfriend wrote the messages. She could have used the document recall feature to aid in this or perhaps to recover the messages that were deleted by the psychic research people.

[@kenmeade9924]

@@grn1 she wrote them badly to, as the english language was different back then, for example most letter S's would have been F's instead...

[@freyav.5500]

@@kenmeade9924 those were never f‘s but long s‘s, they look similar but they are not the same. The long s was already long obsolete by the time the first home computers came around and fonts wouldn’t support them for decades. Even now most fonts don’t support the long s or ligatures like the ß. Beyond that the messages from the "past" appear to be all written in capital letters where the long s doesn’t even exist in the first place.

[@paulsmith7579]

Was it EdWord 6th?

[@steffenbryde7957]

A computer guy and a friend interested in 16'th century literature just happens to meet a man from the 16'th century who is in contact with time-travelling people from the future. Very coincidental. They were obviously hoaxers, but nevertheless an interesting story.

[@codercrisYT]

I'm a computer nerd even taught myself programming and have always believed you could write a message to someone in the past. I'm not sure on the logic. but I have a sense it's possible we don't understand how yet.

[@johndoe7017]

@@codercrisYT You’re telling me you think it’s possible to make a program to send a message to the past? How is that even remotely possible?

[@dugglebay3483]

@@codercrisYT i think you watched too much stein’s gate

[@MrWhitePerson]

the guy was an english teacher, you're the one that added the 16th century literature as an interest to the story, some people could sit in an orchard and wouldn't believe in an apple

[@steffenbryde7957]

@@MrWhitePerson I concluded he had an interest in it since he recognized it for what it was. Your apple analogy suggests that the evidence that it really happened is solid which it most certainly is not.

[@weskal5490]

The Beeb. Was my first micro (Model B). It was way, way ahead of its time and had one of the best, if not THE best implementations of BASIC Interpreter (BBC BASIC); allowing you to 'embed' machine code routines within a BASIC program. Had a number of spare ROM slots under the hood allowing you to plug in whatever extra software you wanted, getting around its 32K RAM limit by memory 'page' switching. It also introduced me to a game called ELITE which became a cult classic and is now in its latest incarnation as ELITE Dangerous. I miss my Beeb.

[@PeteDimitrov]

The part where Debbie starts getting visions, dreams, whatever, and then does a "from memory" drawing just made me go "oh I see, so she is an artist" and I honestly in my mind jumped to that explanation for everything. Just seems like a very clever creative exercise and a hoax. I love it though. You should totally go to Oxford and search for the book, sounds like a good fun. Ty for the video!

[@AnonEyeMouse]

Dismissing all the fantastical elements, as a work of installation art it is quite excellent. The research, narrative and guile with which it was executed makes it a shame that the artist will never get the credit. Whoever she may be.

[@Batnano]

yeah no,that part make me go "oh,its fake"

[@davidbeppler3032]

Wow... all they had to do is have the guy in the past dig a deep hole at a landmark that still exists in both times, put a etched bronze sheet sealed in wrapped oil cloth around it in the hole, then dig it up in the future. Proof that can not be denied.

[@psychicrenegade]

I love this idea.

[@klausstock8020]

Especially if the etching on the backside reads "Made in the PRC"

[@rum-ham]

Lol there's a reason why the people involved in these stories never take the logical and simple actions that could irrefutably prove their fantastic claim. (Because it's not true)

[@Si74l0rd]

Technically he did it with paper, but he didn't put it in a place known to all parties. I mean, obviously he didn't...but for the sake of debate lol.

[@hedgehog3180]

Or burry some animal bones, then carbon-14 dating could be used to verify their age.

[@franzkoviakalak6981]

Yes, love the idea of you delving further into this, particularly the setting up shop with a BBC Micro at the cottage idea.

[@loustandards2827]

Personally I'm team "Secret Forgotten Latin Manuscript", but either manner of follow up wil be intriguing.

[@MikeCrain]

The weirdest computer thing I ever witnessed was my friend still being in a Skype call after his computer turned off.

[@Brojack69]

Say what now? Can you explain?

[@MikeCrain]

@@Brojack69 we never figured out how it happened. He just needed to turn his computer off during a Skype call and we suddenly heard him hysterically laughing because he still heard us but his PC was off.

[@prototyping5603]

@@MikeCrainmaybe the screen turned off but the computer lagged behind? Very interesting story I’ve had similar happen

[@treinenliefde]

​@@MikeCrain not really similar but my headphones actually connect before it appears to be on and disconnects to my laptop after I've already turned it off. I suspect it's a similair case in your situation. The computer says it's off or appears to be off, but in reality is still processing information. Makes it appear to the viewer that it's actually turning off quicker than it really is.

[@MikeCrain]

@@treinenliefde that might be the case. Hell, if I unplug my computer the motherboard LED stays on for a little while after as the residual power drains I guess.

[@davidturner7812]

The one question that proved it was a hoax for me was the one about horses.Do you still have horses in your time? It would have been before the industrial revolution so they would have never dreamed of anything such being invented and they didn’t know about extinction events so they wouldn’t think they had died out. It was the kind of question someone from today would think someone from then may ask but wouldn’t because of no frame of reference.

[@jessereiter328]

Do you still have rats In your time?

[@Vee_of_the_Weald]

DaVinci did foresee flying machines and the like prior to the Industrial Revolution also - just being the Devil’s advocate here as I too believe it’s a hoax.

[@Qwerty-ff1cr]

I didn't hear any dramatic music playing as I was reading your comment. Therefore, I must conclude that what you're saying is simply untrue. This is not a hoax, time travel is real and these futtbucking aliens are communicating through MSN, AOL and/or LinkedIn. Good day sir.

[@CeeJayThe13th]

What I heard was "do you have horses?" not something like "do horses still exist in your time?" That changes it quite a bit as it could just be thing a person would ask as small talk in that time for all I know. Also, maybe 2109 told LW about the future and how things changed.

[@sumuduranathunga]

If it is not a hoax, it is probably a ghost activity. Definitely not a time traveller.

[@bryanfarnet2037]

If this all actually truly happened then at some point the messages between Ken, Lucas and 2109 would have descended into an argument about the Nazi’s.

[@ascott4606]

Hitler 😆

[@BM-is5ei]

This is so prevalent that there is even a scientific name for it. I forget how it is called but many years ago a scientist postulated that no matter the topic, if say a forum discussion goes on for a certain time it is almost guaranteed that someone will mention nazis.

[@SmoltingWassie]

Still so sus on Germans hey. Don’t trust them.

[@justinwatson1510]

The third reich fell; the Nazi torch is currently being carried by the US.

[@SmoltingWassie]

@@Stephanie-we5ep yeah bro Godwin is a mad dog. Just keep an eye on those Germans hey, reckon they’re up to something…

[@miguelhamrol6567]

Hi, I'm writing this message in 2110, after finding this interesting video on the internet archive of the 22nd century. After some historical research, I can confirm that you did go to the college looking for the book, and you did find it. 📚Good work.

[@ArruVision]

I only went to get a cuppa tea, and then BOOM, this comment appears. Spooky,

[@azmanabdula]

Im from 2150 Do not listen to this man For the love of humanity do not listen to this man

[@TheVicar]

@@azmanabdula Are there still Peloton adverts every 15 seconds in 2150?

[@azmanabdula]

@@TheVicar Wasnt add blocker invented in 2009?

[@TheVicar]

@@azmanabdula Pelotons have learnt to CRUSH their way through the ad blocking barriers

[@southernguy35]

This reminds me of a story of two British couples traveling in France by car I believe in 1979. They got off the main highway, found an inn for the night. The inn appeared old fashioned, the woman was in an old fashioned dress, the windows had no glass but only shudders and the beds no pillows. They stay the night and next morning talk to two gendarmes in old fashioned clothes. The men asked them about how to get to their destination. The policemen were confused. They take pictures, pay the small bill and leave. later they try to stay there again on their way back but can never find it. I believe this was later on British TV.

[@justinwaller5122]

True story. Time slip.

[@ganeshnaik6503]

I wonder same currency could work

[@elvispopovic482]

How did they pay the bill? Currency changes over time. You cannot pay a bill at another time with modern money.

[@southernguy35]

@@ganeshnaik6503 , I did find a link to this incident. They mention this. There is a video of the TV program about it but I couldn't find it.

[@ericneiman5556]

What happened with the pictures

[@Thebigskullman]

I have to say this sounds very in line with society of the era. My grandma in Surrey created a whole intricate story about a ghost called ‘sir rigor mortis’ that walked around the house in people’s shoes at night, and she propped them all over the house whenever we were there to put the shoes in positions that looked like they were making footsteps. She even made little comic books about him too. average 80’s citizens with futuristic and mysterious new devices like PC’s, along with a pretty big cultural affinity in the 80’s all over the world for ghosts/spiritual/psychic stuff, seems a lot like an enthusiastic English person that came up with an awesome idea for a story and tied it into the real world like my grandma did with sir rigor mortis. Plus, the other comment on this video about the possibility of it being networked would also pretty simply sum up what was happening too.

[@highpath4776]

The amount of trash paperbacks and monthly magazines in all kinds of science fiction had been around in the 50s/60s/70s and earlier decades and centuries, the problems occur when its passed off as fact.

[@DigbysSignature]

So how would you network that exact pc then?

[@Thebigskullman]

@@DigbysSignature en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Econet

[@bytesabre]

This reminds me of the Reddit case of someone finding strange notes in their flat, a commenter suggested checking for carbon monoxide and it turns out that was exactly what it was. The poster was unknowingly leaving the notes themself.

[@edscmidt5193]

I heard that on mr ballen, Reddit is such a horrible and wonderful place

[@HarishBabuM]

R u saying Carbon Monoxide is cause for Ken and Debbie doing this, causing like sleep typing?

[@anthroposmetron4475]

The hoax here was like Ben Drowned in storytelling terms - it didn't know when to stop. Starts off with little spooky messages from some lad in the 16th century, and then it went off into ley lines, poltergeists and UFOs. I'm genuinely surprised there wasn't a vampire in it at some point. Less is more, everyone. Still, all fun and a great job from Nostalgia Nerd in the production of the video.

[@okiepokertraveler1718]

Or a werewolf from London...

[@DJ-cn7zb]

@@okiepokertraveler1718 no that was Gary. Why do you think he vanished but years later resurfaced on the internet?

[@Biden_is_demented]

So, the guy from the past got his hands on a computer, eh? And of course, the neighbor´s pig sty provided plentiful places to plug it in! Everyone knows a pig´s snout is wired to deliver 110v! Or is it 220v?? Bah... surely the pig farmer has both sorts of piggies, to power the box of lights!

[@isaaclittle6865]

Fr Darth Mucus, some people just don’t think very thorough/clearly. Hard to with a closed mind! lmaooo

[@Hunterw657]

@@Biden_is_demented a device from 2100 could easily be solar powered and speak to text that translates from 16th century english to 20th century english. Was the machine connected to a network when it was borrowed and at their house? That's the vital piece of information to know whether it was a remote hacker or something far more clever/woo-woo.

[@pjperdue1293]

In 1985 I was the sysop of a BBS (bulletin board system, and the only female sysop in western Canada). I used a Commodore 64. Since even back then we could go "online" via our phone lines, I would have real-time onscreen chats with BBSers in other cities; I'd watch as they typed and backspaced. Was this BBC Micro computer hooked up to Ken's phone line in 1985? If so, couldn't some wizard hacker back then be able to intercept it and post on Ken's screen? Just using Occam's Razor here.

[@magicknight8412]

I think the key thing is that woman being left alone with the computer. Also when they typed the message, they had to leave and come back. They could have just sat there waiting for the response, which due to the time travel aspect would have been instantaneous! (i do love these kind of stories though!)

[@frechjo]

I've watched enough sci-fi to know that everything can be solved by conveniently devised technology limitations or other plot devises. Say, for instance, that setting the time of the connection takes a huge amount of energy. It's a one time event, or done only when really needed. But keeping the connection synchronized is, relatively speaking, cheap, so they keep it open and time advances more or less the same for all ends. Even better, once they disconnect and reconnect to other time, they end up connecting to some other random instance of the multiverse. That, sadly, was not in the collective imaginary, otherwise it would have featured into the story no doubt. (It could have also explained the book not being found!) Or how about, they didn't care about making them wait? The future people seemed uninterested in illuminating anyone on what was going on, except for the UFO enthusiast who was lost from narration. If you want to believe, you can, no matter how absurd it is. Conspiracy theories, ghost stories, religions, they all prove it. I think the main point here, is that even if it was sound and solid, it being real would still be the least likely option, but one that attracts the imagination, one that's exciting, so people still want it to be true.

[@TheFerretLives]

It would be interesting to find out if she ever did any other kinds of hoaxes, ppl like this who go to such lengths rarely only do it the once. She didn’t cash in on it either.

[@benjaminkadoche4378]

I just came here to have a nostalgic spaz at your zub avatar. Damn that brings back some old memories!!

[@magicknight8412]

@@benjaminkadoche4378 lol it fits nicely as an avatar and in some websites its animated :)

[@Ndlanding]

This was pretty darned interesting and I congratulate you on taking this side-step. When I used a BBC B at home, no one ever appeared, although the box did sometimes get hot and smoke a bit. I also smoked a bit, but not enough to time travel -- just fly my ship on Elite with the lights out.

[@justinellison4214]

Yes tell me more!

[@Ndlanding]

@@justinellison4214 I've been sworn to secrecy.

[@Dong_Harvey]

Sometimes time slows down

[@YakobtoshiNakamoto]

This made me chuckle 😂

[@Ndlanding]

@@YakobtoshiNakamoto It will.

[@nelsnielson7337]

Interesting story. I wouldn't mind hearing any more strange stories like this involving vintage computers on occasion. Great work on the research for this.

[@morgainebrigid]

I would love to see a follow up where you investigate this further

[@johnchris8181]

Radar Stations of Dodlestone Area, preferably.

[@MrArgus11111]

Completely lost me when it became clear that the gf was into all kinds of new age crap and thought she could receive visions and studied "lay lines" and, ofc, one ran right under the house! These stories always fall apart when it becomes clear that someone was already into all this stuff and JUST SO HAPPENED to be there at the right time for these strange things to happen.

[@SantaFishes101]

idk, sometimes it seems as thought the paranormal finds you when you search for it with an open heart and mind. please don't be so closed off due to coincidence. not saying this particular story holds water, just pointing that out.

[@gaborkun7785]

Could be a form of observer bias

[@NanClaymore]

@The Elder Hear ye, hear ye that I am Elrond Pumfree writing unto thee upon this the youtube fromst the year of our lord 1589 as I ride upon mine horfe which ist galloping in a time warp tunnyl, travelling at a speed to cover 88 miles in each hour of the day. It is from this circumstanfe that I type unto ye. And if thou have doubts of my veritasity, one needs only ask thyself, unto what end would I have done all this work? How ist thy 21st century? Ist it cool unto thee?

[@snufkin4568]

@The Elder Hi, 2109 here.

[@kerrykirk2515]

Nowhere near new age, thats someones take on it

[@thedarkferret5220]

This reminds me of "The Planiverse" by A.K.Dewdney, a science fiction novel wherein a computer simulation mysteriously connected to a creature apparently existing in two-dimensional space. The research students used the computer to talk to it, and follow along on its journey of self-discovery. I wonder how much one influenced the other?

[@The_Temple]

sounds like a modern take on "Flatland" written in 1884

[@silkwesir1444]

Kinda weird, this reminds me of this: When I had my first computer as a child, a 286, I sometimes did this thing upon entering my room where I pretended to be a kind of time-travelling archeologist from the future, stumbling upon the desk with the computer on it, then turning it on (of it wasn't aleady running), and exploring a bit what's on it, acting confused and surprised about what I found. I never did this to prank anyone, I did this when I was all alone. Just playing pretend, like children do, for my own amusement. But in a way I was playing something which apparently to these folks actually happened (if you want to believe it actually did).

[@oligould8575]

I sometimes like to think a bit like that… but sort of opposite… I like to pretend I came from ancient times of hunter gatherers and all this modern technology is like stumbling into a world of magic

[@defaultusername123]

I wantest wot thoust smokest

[@chellierhapsody2197]

Adorable!

[@KevinSanchez-ts4pr]

@@defaultusername123 smoketh*

[@JoshuaBwelcomesu]

"Econet was Acorn Computers's low-cost local area network system, intended for use by schools and small businesses. It was widely used in those areas, and was supported by a large number of different computer and server systems produced both by Acorn and by other companies."

[@TBleader]

I feel like getting permission to set up a old style BBC Micro in the cottage would be really attractive to viewers. No 'ecowire,' no shenanigans, just straight up journalism to see what would happen. As best as you can "re-enact" events as you understand them. It would be really cool if it was an AirBnB or you could rent or get permission to stay there for a month. After all, its just a cottage. Plus, you could record everything, always have a cameras rolling, get other stuff done there, and hopefully get some content out of it, as well as try to dive deeper into the story in a video, there, it would be a really authentic feeling investigation into this event.

[@sbkenn1]

I have a model A if you want to try

[@andrewblackwell9684]

Didn't the 2109 say that "there was another person to come"? Maybe by setting up the BBC in the cottage it would be fulfilling that destiny by becoming that person.

[@CJacuzzi]

But nothing would happen. Absolutely nothing, because it's a clear and obvious hoax. It would be a waste of time and money and no journalist would bother touching it

[@freesaxon6835]

I worked in a school only 5 miles or so away from the Hawarden school you speak of. I personally knew the teacher who helped developed the Edword word processor. I made regular trips to Clwyd Technics, who used to deal with the BBC computer. AND I have used an eprom programmer to program spare ROMs for the school at the time. It IS possible ( done it myself at the time ) to use a disc sector editor to change the file BEFORE it's burnt to the eprom . However to link that in, in a random way would be difficult. Also the rs232 could be used to connect, and communicate with the BBC. Econet, Teletext, and tube connections as well. However, I think the whole thing is down to a fanciful young woman with romantic notions and a interest in history

[@raven4k998]

just one question where the hell does that guy in the 15th century getting the proper electricity to run a bbc micro in that time as they didn't have 110 volt or 220 volt electricity back then

[@TheNightstalker80]

@@raven4k998 no he had a different device, it's not clear what it was or how it works but at 25:40 it's explained pretty good

[@glenwaldrop8166]

@@raven4k998 He supposedly got a device from the future. Look at the processing power of the BBC computer vs our phones, a CPU made to those specs on 2020 tech would be capable of running from a wrist watch battery for years, throw a solar panel on it, only use it literally to write a letter via dictation, yeah, it could run indefinitely. It would cost more power for the voice to text than anything else. Regardless, proper battery maintenance (ie; design it so that the battery can never be drained) and I could design a low power computer that is recharged by solar with integrated battery that would last at least ~7 years or so with little to no maintenance. Not saying I buy the story, they had to leave the PC on and leave the house for this to work, but the theoretical future computer in the past without a power source is the least of the problems.

[@spockospockon6519]

If I were chatting with someone from the 16th century I would have asked them to place an object in the home for discovery in the future as evidence of time travel. Also, there was a form of internet that started in 1969, called the ARPAnet.

[@RobertMChambers]

Yeah but it was limited to government sites and such. Not sure what the UK had in this respect but the GPO was running the phones back then and not sure if the device even had the capability to attach a modem or accoustical coupler to it.

[@darrenmoore4659]

Like his book

[@Si74l0rd]

UK universities had the first backbone access in the UK, but I'm not sure how long after you had it in universities in the USA. To begin with it was almost exclusively academic access and presumably military access, as it was a ARPA project. I'm aware of some of the earliest intrusions into the military side of it from old records in the hacker underground, pretty sure by the time the transatlantic academic link was in place, there were separate segments for academic and military/research. So I'd guess early 80's for it being expanded internationally and becoming the internet, though not with all the protocols that we overlay on it to make life easier these days. The advent of TCP/IP was definitely early eighties, I'm not sure if they were able to route internationally prior to that though. If not, then that would be the birth of the internet, and the world wide web and first browser was around 1990.

[@grabtharshammer]

@@RobertMChambers Never seen the Acorn Communicator then? I have one in my cupboard :)

[@vedu8519]

The hoaxer would just leave the object in the house and then respond back on the computer telling them to find it :^)

[@hiteshgarach1965]

I would really be interested to know if there is still any activity in Meadow cottage and if you can gain permission to go down there with a BBC Micro or a modern laptop, please do and let us know of your findings. Maybe 2109 would like our more up to date technology ?

[@shannonrhoads7099]

Definately, go to the source and set up a BBC Micro or similar era computer AND a modern laptop. You could also set up a camera to see if anyone is slipping up to the computer(s) while you are out. A followup at Oxford seems interesting, although one would think 16th century bokes aren't availible for perusal by the general public...

[@uhn-nohn4272]

Yes I think that would be very interesting, just the feel of the place--you could visit the places they did, etc....why not?

[@neilcarroll4579]

Yeah but how awkward would it be if you went there and the new owners ( I'm assuming there are new owners) gave you permission and you plugged a BBC computer in and you both just sat there making small talk for hours with nothing happening

[@vinceventura4453]

So one dude and his gf essentially played a prank to a sociopathic level on a friend and it completely consumed his life . Causing him to waste countless years desperately trying to prove something that started out as Debbie typing up a ghost story that was so littered with errors that it she had to adapt it on the fly to a “time travel thriller” in attempt to explain away all her historical inaccuracies. So weird that a computer from 2109 still resembled a “box of lights” and somehow had an infinite battery supply or it would of had a hard time turning on or staying on in the 1600’s. She came home and the furniture was stacked ! And her cats were starring at her! 😂😂😂 yeah probably cause the cats just witnessed Debbie stacking all of her own furniture n were like , “Are we supposed to act like we didn’t just watch you stack all of the living room furniture?” It’s so funny how Debbie tried to keep going back to the ghost story narrative 😂, like she was just shoehorning it in at that point with stacking the pots and pans . Everyone wants to know about her 2109 character and she’s over here making footprints on the table like, “2109 ain’t that special! Thomas haunting this house is the true arc of this story

[@brando5006]

XDddd

[@australien6611]

Perfect reply and it saved me typing it all out 😎👍

[@ReapWhatYaSow]

Some people do nothing with their life. If I created a practical joke and it manifested into something bigger than intended, I could either go with it or admit the fraud. Politicians spend a whole lifetime creating lies why they need to tax you more and lying to your face that they are doing it for you benefit. I see similarities and a ghost did it is more of an explanation than what we get from Politicians on how efficient they used our tax money.

[@Tagurrit]

@@brando5006 yep, DDDD.!! 😂😂😂

[@KevinSanchez-ts4pr]

Fucking gold👌🏼😂😂

[@cr103]

Surely we can all agree this was thought up by him and his mrs, she was trying to write a book and he was a teacher. The fact a book came out of it littered with historical facts should tell you they collaborated on an elaborate work of fiction.

[@djquinn11]

That’s certainly the more believable explanation

[@Heldermaior]

Nuhu. It was ghosts from the future. It is the obvious explanation.

[@rachelLadyD]

maybe

[@bzmama9893]

@@djquinn11 tho, truth is STRANGER than fiction. 🤷‍♀️

[@adamanonymous6885]

This was absolutely my initial theory, but I feel like a teacher trying to execute a hoax would put more effort into making the basic facts add up (King Henry VIII being the wrong age, for example, is the kind of thing a teacher could get right VERY EASILY and which would obviously improve the believability if it was correct). It's curious... clearly SOMEONE is faking it (time travellers do not know how to use a BBC Micro word processor, and would destroy such an object on sight as a work of Satan... and yes, I suppose also I will concede that Time Travel doesn't exist) but who?

[@haroldsilliman1706]

As a writer myself, I think exploring the relationship between Debbie and the teacher would be useful to understand the dynamics of this story.

[@LeftJoystick]

Sounds like a totally “useful” assignment an English teacher would assign…

[@escstudios2068]

@@LeftJoystick Why doesn't this video cost money. Say 50 cents , to watch this one.

[@timparker2985]

There's a new edition of 'The Vertical Plane' published 2021. I bought one on Amazon a few weeks back at £14-40.

[@kingmobisinvisible]

I love the long-format investigative stuff you've been doing lately. Keep up the good work!

[@kickstartavalanche]

@@andymerrett ooh Andy 😂

[@JeoshuaCollins]

Honestly the language of "Thomas" sounded to me an awful lot like the notes that my DM would write in our DnD campaigns. And given the time this story came out, and how old Ken was at the time, it does all make sense as a hoax. Don't go looking for that book unless you have a back up plan. This would be like the time Geraldo opened an empty vault.

[@lukehawksbee]

Absolutely. The speech patterns are almost always a giveaway with things like this. Very few people have the level of linguistic skill or knowledge to convincingly pull off grammar, vocabulary, turns of phrase, etc from even a century or two ago. If the flawed verb conjugation observed throughout by the expert wasn't enough, there's the awful "me writes" at the end (a grammatical construction that rendered in modern English would actually mean "it writes to me", not "I write"), and of course things like how there appears to be no confusion over the word computer, which to an oxford scholar in the C16th would most likely be recognisable as a word meaning something like "a person who calculates" (possibly specifically someone who calculates dates using records and calendars to predict things like eclipses, etc). That's aside from any other historical inaccuracies or bibliographical inconsistencies about Hawarden (who is a lot easier to research now than he was then, and one can easily find out details of his life that don't match up with the narrative) etc.

[@CD-vb9fi]

Yep, and I wonder how many religions got started on earth because someone was reading someones "High Fantasy" novel from a few thousand BC.

[@bigjoepdx7228]

@@lukehawksbee not to mention they would more likely use vv or uu instead of w

[@lukehawksbee]

@@bigjoepdx7228 Well 'Thomas' supposedly just spoke at the device so spelling would be up to the computer (which is another problem with the hoax: there are obvious typos which make sense only if the messages were typed and not if they were dictated). Someone in the 1500s would presumably recognise a w when reading the messages (assuming he did read them, rather than the device speaking them back to him).

[@yeeehawgrandmaw908]

The real mind bender in this story is the fact that Nostalgia Nerd claims he paid 165 quid for a book available on Amazon Canada for $27.71....

[@ibizenco]

Or for free as a PDF online...

[@garethawilliams]

He bought a 1st edition, not the much cheaper 2nd edition.

[@yeeehawgrandmaw908]

@@garethawilliams which is honestly still not worth over a hundred quid. Especially for a niche book which covers a hoax.

[@trevorheywood975]

@@garethawilliams there's a second edition??

[@FieldBoy111]

Hahaha what a tard

[@F_L_U_X]

What an imaginative group of friends. They could've wrote a cool sci-fi show on Netflix.

[@UberNoodle]

It's seemed to me like some kind of metafiction. The author wanted to write a science fiction novel and thought it would be neat to seed into public record various titbits of information that would add mystery, excitement and even validation to any theorising in regards to the future novel. Imagine if something like The Blair Witch Project came out at this time, in which access to information and immediate communication between large groups (i.e. investigational crowdsourcing) wouldn't have been possible. Similar narratives and remembrances would have occurred. Similar artefacts would have been generated. And those would have been frozen in that form for decades until they were reported on in 2021 with the same degree of mystery. So it seems to me like this was quite an elaborate creative concept by the author of the novel that faded into obscurity. It was kind of like a prototype of the ARG.

[@1944GPW]

Gregory Benford's sci-fi novel 'Timescape' was about a team of future scientists contacting a physics lab in California in the 1960s via the use of tachyons to disturb an experiment they were running. Eventually the researcher figured out it was Morse code and deciphered it as a message warning about an impending global environmental catastrophe they should prevent. It was a great story that came out in 1980, I would not be surprised it the prankster(s) in this case had known of it. Also published in 1980 was 'Thrice Upon a Time' another message-to-the-past story, I recall seeing it reviewed in BYTE magazine and managed to borrow a copy years later.

[@bargepoled]

I had a BBC micro as a kid in the 80's. My uncle worked for Ciba Geigy at the time and had a spare one. It came in hard black case the size of a large suitcase. We used it for nothing but playing chuckie egg and chuckie egg 2 on. At the time it was cutting edge.

[@M1ggins]

We had them at school, every lunch time we were up there Tarzon, Frak, Chickie egg, then Elite came out. That game totally blew our minds.

[@guanjaman06]

Hwkhead road?

[@bargepoled]

@@guanjaman06 no idea it was 40 years ago.

[@guanjaman06]

@@bargepoled Paisley?

[@franzherflek4116]

Chuckie egg 2 ...what a game!!

[@noobiesmurf]

Being able to tell what someone is typing by the sound of their keyboard is a recently demonstrated technique.

[@mickeythompson9537]

Morse operators in WW2 could identify who was sending by their keystrokes. The human brain can do incredible feats of recognition.

[@Wobbothe3rd]

@@mickeythompson9537 right but thats a LOT less advanced than actually being able to figure out what is being typed.

[@reecefielding6043]

The only thing that throws me off about all of this is that everyone - Tomas Harden, 2109, and the present crew are all talking as if they're part of a movie. Nobody is talking like normal humans; it's all way too formal.