Anyone who has followed my work, or listened to me speak on podcasts, radio, or online shows, will know that I very much believe that most, if not all paranormal events are connected, and furthermore, one of the most crucial aspects of these paranormal events, in my opinion, will one day shown to be portals – windows or gateways that allow for such anomalous events to take place. Perhaps one case that incorporates many paranormal events and also appears to be the result of some kind of window or gateway, perhaps opened by energy from leylines, is the Dodleston mystery, a case that revolves around poltergeist-like activity and bizarre communications across time itself.

The encounters themselves unfolded between 1984 and 1985 in a small village named Dodleston in Cheshire in the northwest of England and were detailed in the 1989 book The Vertical Plane by Ken Webster. They largely involved an economics teacher – Ken, a pseudonym – and his girlfriend, Debbie, and their friend, Nicola (Nic) Bagguley. The pair moved into the small cottage in the village in the autumn of 1984, and it didn’t take long for the bizarre events to begin presenting themselves to them. In fact, these mystifying encounters began almost as soon as the trio moved in.

One morning, while strolling around the cottage, Ken noticed strange six-toed footprints outside leading to the building, then seemingly walking up the walls, and then disappearing into the ceiling. Perplexed, Ken told the two women of his find, and after examining them for a little while, all agreed that the strange prints must have been part of some kind of joke or prank. Ken painted over them, and they put the events out of their minds. The following day, however, they found the same footprints in the same place. As strange as these events were, they were only the start.

As the days and weeks went on, Ken, Debbie, and Nic all began noticing baffling activities taking place in the cottage. They began finding, for example, cans of food or boxes stacked as high as four feet, sometimes one on top of the other, sometimes in a pyramid shape. Despite these truly strange events, the three tenants still convinced themselves that locals were likely behind the surreal activities, likely as part of some kind of strange welcoming hoax. They even began mentioning the activities to several local residents in the hope that one of them would admit they were behind them. However, all acted as confused as Ken, Debbie, and Nic, with no one holding their hands up and admitting they were, in fact, behind the high strangeness taking place in the picturesque cottage.  

As time went on, the curious events continued. All three of those living in the cottage began noticing strange icy cold spots in random places of the building, and chalk marks began to appear on the walls. Stranger still, bizarre, windy breezes began appearing around them as if a strange and isolated wind had appeared out of nowhere inside the cottage. On one occasion, this suddenly appearing wind was so strong that it lifted a newspaper into the air and several feet across the room. Perhaps most unnerving of all, though, was the feeling that all three of them had that someone – or something – was watching them. When they began to hear unsettling footsteps inside the cottage, the notion that someone was gaining access to the property was seemingly confirmed, even more so when they began noticing disturbing track marks on the floor of the cottage. These events, though, were about to escalate even more.

One evening, as Nic was in her bedroom, a room directly above the kitchen, she noticed a bizarre “dense shadow” pass right past her window. At the exact time Nic claimed to have seen this shadowy figure, Ken and Debbie woke in their bedroom suddenly, each with the intense feeling that someone was in the room watching them. With these strange events continuing on an increasingly regular basis, the three tenants began to contemplate for the first time if there could be another otherworldly explanation for this bizarre activity – essentially, they wondered if the cottage could be haunted, or that a poltergeist might be present.

By pure chance, it was around this time that Ken borrowed a BBC computer from the school where he worked. He had done so as a favor to Nic, who wished to use it to write comedy sketches (she had ambitions of entering show business). It would, though, prove to be the key part of the remarkable and fascinating events that were about to escalate dramatically.

It was a Sunday in December 1984, and the trio, more than eager to get out of the cottage for a few hours, had spent the afternoon at a nearby public house talking with a mutual friend. Without realizing it, Nic had left the computer on in the cottage when they left. Upon returning, the three of them noticed a bizarre, green glow coming from the windows of the cottage, a similar green, incidentally, to the color of the text on the computer screen when writing. Intrigued and unsettled in equal measure, they opened the door to the cottage and went inside. Ken immediately made his way to the room where the computer was and discovered a file on the system that was not there previously, named KDN. He opened the file, which opened a document that contained a poem of sorts. It read:

“Ken, Deb, Nic,

True are the nightmares of a person that fears.

Safe are the bodies of the silent world.

Turn pretty flower, turn towards the sun for you shall grow and sow.

But the flower reaches too high and withers in the burning light.

Get out your bricks!

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat went to London to seek fame and fortune.

Faith must not be lost for this shall be your redeemer!”

The text was signed, “L.W.”

It was clear to the group that the file name – KDN – had been chosen to represent the first letters of their respective names, Ken, Debbie, and Nic. Writing in his book The Vertical Plane, Ken stated that as he read the message, “the most disturbing and cliché-ridden feeling came over” him. He elaborated that “a shiver ran down” his spine that “threatened to shake” his feet. Despite this, as well as the bizarre events that had been taking place for several months, he convinced himself that this poem was the work of some kind of “computer prankster!” He even, albeit briefly, suspected that Debbie or Nic, perhaps both of them, could be behind the strange file.

The strange activity continued over the following weeks. Just before Christmas 1984, for example, Nic decided that she was going to return home to Basingstoke for the festivities and would return in the new year. The day before she left, the trio discovered another pile of tinned food in the kitchen. It occurred to them that these piles were almost always stacked close to an exposed brick pillar that showed part of the original brickwork of the house. They contemplated whether there was some kind of connection to this original part of the previous building and the bizarre events that had engulfed their lives over the previous months.

Several weeks into the new year, in February 1985, Ken once more borrowed a BBC computer from the school so that Nic could use it again for her work. That Sunday evening, as the trio returned to the cottage after having spent the afternoon once more at a local pub, they discovered another bizarre message on the system. This time, the language used appeared to be Early Modern English (something used between 1500 and 1700). It read:

“I wryte on behalf of many. Wot strange wordes thou speake, although, I muste confess that I hath also been ill schooled. Some thymes methinks alterations are somewot barful, for they breake mane a sleep in myne bed.

Thou art goodly man who hath fanciful woman who dwel in myne home, I hath no want to affrey, for onlie syth myne half wyted antic has ripped attwain myne bound hath I beene wrethed a nyte.

I hath seene manye alterations lasty charge house and thou home, tis a fitting place, with lytes whiche devil maketh, and costly thynges, that onlie myne friend, Edmund Grey can affore, or the king himselve. Twas a greate cryme to hath bribed myne house. — LW”

To say the three of them were confused by the message would be an understatement. Ken, though, began to feel increasingly drawn to the message, or more specifically, the person who had written it. He wrote in The Vertical Plane:

“After the initial shock, I became absorbed by it. We all were. The questions flew faster than storm-driven hailstones and vanished as quickly. A ghost? A spirit? A poltergeist? No clear answers. No answers of any kind!”

Ken decided to print out the message so that he could show it to some of his fellow teachers and get their respective opinions on it. Most of those he showed took little interest in it and offered that it was nothing but nonsense. One person, though – Peter Trinder, the head of the Sixth Form and lifelong student of the English language – took an immediate interest in the text. He spent a considerable amount of time discussing the strange activity at Meadow Cottage with Ken, stating that the language appeared to him to be the genuine language used in the sixteenth or seventeenth centuries, adding that only a person who had extensive expertise in the English language of this era would have been able to fake the writing convincingly. He asked Ken to keep him informed on the strangeness unfolding at the cottage and to show him any further messages he might receive. Ken happily agreed. He was, though, a little disappointed when no further messages appeared on the computer over the following days. He decided to take matters into his own hands, deciding that if someone (LW) could send messages to him on the computer, perhaps he could send messages to them. He sat at the computer and typed:

“Dear LW – thank you for your message. We’re sorry for disturbing you. What would you like us to do? Did you live in a house on this land about 1620? Do you want to us to tell you more about our time? Who is Edmund Grey? Do you have a family? Is the King James or Charles? What is the charge house? Was this village called Dodleston in your life? Thank you very much for your messages. Thank you very much for not making us afraid.”

Ken then saved the message to a computer disc before he, Debbie, and Nic ventured out to the Red Lion pub, where they would spend the rest of the afternoon. They purposely left the computer on when they left in the hope that they would return home to find a message waiting for them. When they did return from the pub several hours later, that is exactly what they discovered.

According to this new mystery correspondence, LW had once lived in a house that sat on the land that Meadow Cottage was built on, with some of the original buildings now incorporated into the modern-day structure. He had lived there, he claimed, in the sixteenth century, and named Henry as “his king,” suggesting that he was alive during the reign of Henry VIII. Answering Ken’s question as to who Edmund Gray was, LW offered that he was “the brother of John Grey” who lived at “Kintertone Hall”, elaborating that his charge house was a “place of law schooling!” Once more, he signed the message as LW, but this time added a date – 28th March 1521.

As exciting as this new message was, there were several issues that the trio immediately noticed. LW, for example, had stated that King Henry was “six and 40!” However, in 1521, the date LW signed, Henry VIII was only 30 years old. Peter Trinder also noticed further inaccuracies, perhaps most notably that Kinerton Hall was not built until around 200 years after the early sixteenth century. Furthermore, there seemed to be no records whatsoever of Edmund Grey or John Grey during the time in question. Peter also highlighted the use of modern punctuation, something that was not used in the early sixteenth century.

With all of this in mind, Ken, Debbie, and Nic began to contemplate once more that they were the victims of some kind of hoax, and, of more concern, that someone was indeed gaining access to the property to leave these strange messages. As unsettled and confused as they were by these mind-bending events, when the following weekend arrived, Ken brought the computer system home with him once more. All three were eager to see if more messages would appear, and appear they did.

In these latest messages, LW revealed more information about himself. He claimed, for example, that he was a farmer who kept livestock. He had a wife and a son, but both of them had died during a plague in 1517. He mainly farmed barley that was sold and then made into ale, but he also made cheese on the farm for extra income. The building itself, he stated, was a “humble home” made from red stone, a detail that matched what Ken and Debbie had discovered when they had renovated the cottage when they first moved in several months previously. He also stated that he was able to communicate with them with a “Leems Boyste” – or what was interpreted to be a “box of lights” – essentially, it appeared this was LW’s description of the computer. Perhaps most interesting, instead of simply signing the message LW, he signed with his full name – Lukas Wainman.

As well as the information in the message, Lukas was troubled by the strange events, even insinuating that Ken, Debbie, and Nic were the intruders in his home and not the other way around. Of more concern to Lukas were the potential consequences of the authorities (in his time) of the strange events he found himself involved in.

Once more, Ken printed out the message and showed it to Peter Trinder, and once more, he examined the text searching for inaccuracies. However, this time, rather than finding any areas of concern, Peter offered that the overall structure of the writing appeared to be indicative of the early to mid-sixteenth century, including the use of random Latin words. Moreover, he also determined that the person who had written the message was likely from the Cheshire region, something that Lukas had seemingly confirmed.

These communications between Ken, Debbie, and Nic in the mid-1980s and Lukas in the mid-sixteenth century continued. And as they did, more and more accurate information was offered. Lukas stated, for example, that his king (Henry VIII) was married to Katherine Parr. This would have placed Lukas at some point in the 1540s, a detail that matched very nicely with other details he had given previously. There were, however, still certain names and people that couldn’t be identified in the historical record. The group reasoned that in the 1540s, many small parishes (which Dodleston undoubtedly was) wouldn’t have necessarily kept records of every person. Moreover, even those records that were made might not have survived into the modern era.

The communications continued, and as they did, so did the revelations. Perhaps one of the most intriguing came after Ken told Lukas in one of his replies that he was writing to him from the year 1985. Lukas was seemingly surprised at this, stating that he thought that Ken was “also from 2109, like your friend!” This caused the group concern, not least as it implied that a third person, one from over 100 years in the future, was also watching these strange events, perhaps even orchestrating them. What’s more, it seemed that this third person was also communicating directly with Lukas.

Whatever the truth of the matter, Ken was more convinced than ever that these strange events were not some kind of hoax or prank by bored locals, but were something all the more out of the ordinary and profound. Not only was more and more information given by Lukas confirmed as accurate, but the replies themselves were coming increasingly faster, sometimes when Ken and Debbie were still in the house. Although they were usually in another room from the computer, this meant the idea that someone was entering the property to leave the messages had to be dismissed. Although they were at peace with the idea that a person living 400 years ago was somehow communicating with them via the computer system, they were still at a loss as to how “2109” connected to these surreal events.

As Ken had done with Lukas several months earlier, he took the initiative and typed out a message for 2109 on the computer. Much to their surprise, a reply promptly came back to them. It read:

“Ken, Deb, Peter – We are sorry that we can give you only two choices. One, that you either have your predicament explained in such a way that you have instant understanding but cause what should not happen, or, two, try to understand that you three have a purpose that shall in your lifetime, change the face of history. We, 2109, must not affect your thoughts directly, but give you some sort of guidance that will allow room for your own destiny. All we can say is that we are all part of the same god!”

To say that the group in 1985 was perplexed by this response would be an understatement. Was 2109 behind these bizarre events? And if so, what was the reason for bringing Lukas and them together? Of rising concern to Ken and Debbie, as these communications continued, the unsettling poltergeist-like activity was not only continuing, but the unsettling events were becoming increasingly intense. They all continued to hear the apparent phantom footsteps around the cottage, for example, as well as the sudden temperature drops in random rooms. These icy temperatures were so cold that a person could see their breath in front of them, as though it was the middle of winter. They also began discovering more and more writing written in chalk around the property, with one of the words found being “Lukas!”

It was around this time that Nic decided she had experienced enough and decided to move out of the property. Although Ken and Debbie continued to live at Meadow Cottage, Debbie had rented a small flat nearby so she had the option to get away from the strangeness for a night or two to get a good night’s sleep. It also gave her the chance to properly research the area in an attempt to find some kind of explanation for the inexplicable events unfolding around her and Ken. She discovered that, according to some researchers, leylines (natural lines of energy) ran straight through the land where the cottage sat, and she began to wonder if this natural convergence of energy was responsible for the bizarre events they had witnessed at the small abode.

Of more concern – and intrigue – to Debbie, though, was the strange, intense dreams she began experiencing, dreams which often involved Lukas, or at least what her subconscious perception of Lukas was. The more she had these dreams the more vivid and intense they became, leading her to eventually contemplate if they were much more than dreams and some kind of actual interaction with Lukas across time itself. Indeed, while wild speculation, we might consider if these dreams were, in fact, some kind of out-of-body experience where Debbie’s astral self was projected to the past, 400 years into the past. And if this was the case, could the leylines that ran through the property have some kind of connection to these remarkable events?

At this point, Ken and Debbie, along with Peter, decided to contact the Society of Psychical Research (SPR), which had been investigating paranormal events since 1882. SPR investigators David Welch and John Bucknell arrived at the cottage several days later. After carrying out an initial investigation, they proposed several actions they could take to try and get to the truth of what was going on. They suggested that they would send ten questions to 2109 and then delete the file from the computer, insisting that Ken, Debbie, and Peter should not know any details of these questions. Moreover, they insisted that all of them stay away from the computer until they received a reply. They agreed, and several days later, a reply came. It read:

“David, you interfere with communication. Next time you decide to perform your little experiment you must be clear. From here we suggest you try someone else to sit with Debbie. Yes we are what you call a Tachyon Universe but your understanding is incorrect. We ask nothing more of you than to carry on as you would prefer. We will have John present if given choice or you may bring another as mentioned. No, it is no concern to us that this is not proved. We will give you a plotting of a star next time. We move at a speed so that we cover every point in your time and universe. We have no form. We feed of a heat energy that you will not have heard of. 2109.”

David stated that although 2109 had not given any specific answers to the questions, they had highlighted them in their response, and had done so in the correct order. Both he and John remained skeptical, however, even offering some rather bizarre explanations. They stated, for example, that someone could have hidden microphones in the study where the computer system had been set up. They then stated that from the recordings picked up by these microphones, a person could have determined what questions had been typed from the sounds made on the keyboard. Ken and Debbie were shocked at the SPR agents’ suggestions and rejected them unreservedly. They were clear in their own minds that neither of them was behind the messages, but struggled with how they could prove this to the two investigators, or how they could demonstrate that the events taking place were very real.

It was around this time that Ken spoke of the bizarre happenings to another teacher at the school, Frank Davis, who also had an interest in such events, and agreed to go to the cottage to see the building for himself. He later claimed that as soon as he walked through the door and into the study, he noticed that the temperature in the room fell, going from comfortable to icy cold in a matter of seconds. After two minutes in the frozen conditions, the temperature suddenly returned to normal and did so as rapidly as it had fallen.

Shortly after his arrival, Frank joined Ken and Debbie in the kitchen to discuss the bizarre goings-on further. They returned to the study a short time later, and to their shock, a new message was awaiting them on the computer. This message, however, wasn’t from Lukas or 2109, but from a third person who stated his name was John. He claimed that he was a friend of Lukas, who, he stated, had been imprisoned by the local Sheriff after he had been accused of witchcraft and communicating with dark, otherworldly entities (the entities, the 1980s group assumed, were none other than themselves).

At this point, all Ken and Debbie could do was wait for further messages and, ultimately, learn Lukas’ fate. Meanwhile, as Ken and Debbie desperately waited for further information, Peter Trinder made some revelations of his own during his investigations of the messages. Lukas had claimed, for example, that he had attended Brasenose College at Oxford. Through a friend who was a librarian at the college, Peter had passed on the names of several books that Lukas had provided the names of in an attempt to prove his honesty and authenticity. Not only did Peter’s friend locate all of the books in question, but she confirmed that each of them had been published in the 1520s, the same time that Lukas claimed they had been.

With Lukas’ credibility seemingly beyond doubt, Ken and Debbie decided to send a message on the computer, one that would, they hoped, assist in having him freed from his imprisonment. Using purposely aggressive language, they insisted that this message should be taken to the Sheriff. In it, they stated that Lukas should be freed from prison immediately, and if he wasn’t, they would “use their powers” against them. Almost unbelievably, a short time after sending the message, they received a reply. It was from Lukas, and he was indeed free.

Following this, Ken asked Lukas if he was responsible for objects being moved around their house and if it was he who was piling objects up in the kitchen, as well as the other paranormal-like activity, such as the footsteps around the property. To their surprise, not only did Lukas insist that he was not responsible for this strange goings-on, but he was also experiencing the same thing in his time. Between them, they concluded that it must be 2109 who was somehow responsible for the bizarre disturbances taking place. Lukas suggested that Ken move the computer into the kitchen, where, from his perspective, Lukas could communicate more privately. He also asked Ken to leave a piece of paper and a pen near the computer, which Ken duly did.

The following morning, when Ken came downstairs and inspected the computer, instead of a typed message, he discovered a handwritten note. Moreover, instead of being signed by Lukas, it was signed by Thomas. Thomas (Lukas, remember) stated he had not wished to use his real name, to begin with. He had, though, he claimed, left clues as to his real name within his messages, specifically, his last name, adding that it was also the name of the place where Peter lived, which was Hawarden. With Peter’s assistance, Ken began researching and eventually discovered a man named Thomas Hawarden in the historical record. Moreover, this person had attended Brasenose College in the 1530s. After telling Debbie of what they had discovered, all were certain they had located their man and acquired proof that the person they were communicating with had indeed existed, and had done so at the time he claimed he had lived in. Then, things turned even stranger.

The computer had at this point been moved into the bathroom. One day, when Ken walked in, he discovered a new message. This one, though, had not been left on the computer, but had been scribbled onto the floor in chalk – and it wasn’t from Lukas, but from 2109. It read:

“One more chance. Measure frequency by plus two energy. What else other than sound and light? Ken, Deb, Peter – we have reason to believe you have Lukas Weinman’s true name. If this is correct, you must say so, so we can rectify the problem immediately before it is accepted!”

Ken didn’t respond to 2109 but instead messaged Thomas. He told him of the message from the mysterious 2109, and as the two messaged each other – 400 years apart – they began to fill in further parts of the big picture of the strange encounters. It seemed that 2109 – whoever they were – had been intercepting and even doctoring Thomas’ initial messages. This was, it was determined, in an apparent effort to prevent Ken from learning Thomas’ real name. Ken also concluded that this was why many of the initial messages contained inaccurate information. Finally believing they had the proof they required to prove the credibility of the strange events, Ken contacted SPR once more. However, rather than acting on this new information, the organization turned its back on the case, even going as far as to issue an official statement to a local newspaper. It read:

“Clearly, if this case is a hoax, then the two teachers (Ken and Peter) are the prime suspects. I believe it is also possible that a third party was responsible. I would’ve loved to prove it was genuine. It would’ve been the most unique phenomenon ever recorded. Something, or someone, is doing it. It was not the job of the SPR to point the finger!”

Ken took it upon himself to contact SPR to request all of the records of the investigation into their case. Much to his surprise, however, the organization responded that there were no records of such an investigation. Even stranger, they stated that one of the investigators whom Ken had named had seemingly disappeared completely, with all attempts to contact him proving unsuccessful. Stranger still, SPR claimed they had no records of David Welch having ever worked for the organization. They finished their dialogue with Ken by stating that there were no records of SPR ever investigating the strange events at Meadow Cottage. A short time after this, Ken received another message from 2109 – and this one was much more direct and contained specific information and instructions. It read:

“We ask you to do the following. There is a brilliant researcher (and) ufologist. We know you don’t like the word. His name is Gary M. Rowe. His ideas differ somewhat to yours but nevertheless he can help you with a couple of your problems. You phone him at the number below and invite him to talk with you. When he comes, show him this and ask him what he makes of it. Peter must do the telephoning. Tell him that you got a telephone number from a UFO enthusiast. 2109.”  

Ken, Debbie, and Peter acted on the instructions and contacted Gary Rowe, who, ultimately, visited the cottage a short time later. He arrived with all manner of technical devices to carry out his investigation into these strange events. Part of his investigation involved him leaving messages for 2109 in a sealed envelope that he placed on top of the computer. Here is where things took another intriguing twist. Rather than 2109’s response coming via the computer, it seemingly came in the form of a printed piece of paper that had been placed inside the envelope. It was because of this that no one other than Rowe saw the responses from 2109. Rowe went out of his way to avoid speaking of the responses (something he ultimately never did). Eventually, Ken, Debbie, and Peter saw one of the messages from Rowe. It read:

“Greetings. I am instructed to apologize but in any event, I would have done so of my volition. There will be a letter hopefully this weekend. I am also instructed to apologize to Ken and Debbie. I must try and answer your last letter. It would appear that you are more important than I had realized in the big scheme of things. Gary.”

This led to a heated exchange between Rowe and Ken, which resulted in Rowe leaving the property. Neither Ken, Debbie, nor Peter ever heard from or saw Rowe again, and the contents of his communication with 2109 remain unknown. Despite this, Ken and Thomas continued to communicate, with Thomas telling Ken more of the events from his perspective in the mid-sixteenth century. He told Ken that one night, he was sitting in his house when he suddenly noticed a strange light coming out of the fireplace. Then, the next thing he knew, a man stepped out of the lights and told him not to be afraid. This mysterious individual also brought with him the “light box” (or computer, we might assume) to his kitchen. Thomas then revealed that when he spoke in the direction of the box his words appeared in bright green letters on the screen. Ultimately, these communications continued regularly until March 21st, 1985. On that day, Ken received what would be Thomas’s final message. It read:

“My true fellows and sweet maid – Grosner has said that Thomas must go. I know it is for the best because the people of Dodleston are very wary of me. It is good to know that all will change and there are true men to follow like Ken and Peter, though 400 years is a long time, and there is much to happen to mankind. Perhaps you will come to Oxford now I think there is no danger for me there for I hear the King is very sick and all is quiet in the church. I shall go by boat from Cheshire to Bristol. I shall try to make my stay at Brasenose. I will write my book about my brothers and maid, and the end of Lukas, and our love for one another. One day you will all sit down at my table for wine and mead by the river in Oxford where we shall read other’s books and laugh, and we shall speak of truth and good men watching Oxford change together forevermore. In your time, my book is old, but I shall not go to my god until it is written. Then we will all be truly be embraced. My love to you all. I shall await you in Oxford – Thomas Hawarden.”

It was, though, the final message that Ken received from 2109 that provided one final plot twist to the already bizarre events. It read:

“There is another to come. They will be the help we need. You will know when they come. Thomas did eventually write his book and he soon died shortly after. He placed it in a secure place. It shouldn’t take too many years to find it. Though he wrote it in Latin with the help of a friend that he met in Oxford. The inscription reads, ‘Me writes this with the hope that mind friends will one day find this book, then may our lands be not so distant’. We will finish now. You have a lot of work to do. There is no need to write back as we will have gone. Thank you for your cooperation. 2109.”

Following this last message, all communication, from Thomas and 2109, ceased completely. When Ken and Debbie went through all the messages once more, they totaled more than 300 between Thomas and 2109. Following the release of The Vertical Plane, several television documentaries were made exploring the fascinating events at Meadow Cottage, with the events that took place there never being satisfactorily explained. Ken and Debbie, incidentally, have never changed their version of events, with Debbie even stating that she believes the messages contain some kind of important information about future events.

It is also worth examining Peter Trinder’s thoughts on the remarkable events from the mid-1980s. He later stated that he had used several different English and Latin dictionaries to accurately decipher some of the messages, elaborating that for the messages to have been faked, it would have required the person behind them to have had intricate and accurate knowledge of Medieval languages. Although he ultimately believed the messages were credible, he also added years later that, “If it was a hoax, it was a jolly good one!”

There were, though, others who were far from convinced that the messages represented genuine communication across the centuries. Just one such person was Dr. Laura Wright from Cambridge University. She stated that the writer of the messages – a person claiming to have been in the 1540s, remember – often used verbs that hadn’t been used (in the sixteenth century) for hundreds of years, adding that whoever was behind the messages had a “terrible command” of the language of the times they claimed to have been living in.

Also of concern were the results of a computer software experiment where a sample message of Thomas’ was compared to a random sample of Ken’s writing. After an advanced computer system examined both pieces of writing, it determined that there was a possibility that they had been written by the same person (although we should point out that the results were far from conclusive). Ken, incidentally, dismissed these tests, stating that 300 words were not enough to arrive at such conclusions, even claiming that he believed the people behind the experiment (the makers of a BBC documentary) had selectively chosen a certain passage that had an increased chance of returning such a result.

Despite these areas of concern, however, it is largely regarded in the paranormal community to be a very credible case with bizarre events that still elude explanation. Many people, for example, including Debbie, have spoken in the years since in Ken’s defense, offering that he is an honest and credible person and not someone who would have risked his career and public ridicule to make such claims if they were not accurate. In short, he was a very trustworthy, serious person.

There are also several other intriguing details to note regarding the truly strange and bizarre goings-on at Meadow Cottage. Perhaps one of the strangest but most interesting details offered by 2109 about a mathematical theorem that was proposed in 1637 by Pierre de Fermat – often referred to as Fermat’s Last Theorem. According to 2109, this theorem would be solved within Ken’s lifetime. Despite having been unresolved for well over three centuries, in 1995, a decade after the messages had stopped, Andrew Wiles suddenly proved the theorem correct. Of course, while this could have been a coincidence, the fact that such a trivial detail was proven correct and accurate should not be ignored.

There are also the coordinates given by 2109 of an unknown star that this mysterious figure, seemingly from the future, claimed would be of great importance to humanity. Several years later, a quasar was discovered at the exact coordinates given by 2109.

It wasn’t just 2109 that had offered details that had proven to be remarkably accurate. We might recall that, at least according to his messages, Thomas claimed he had been imprisoned by Sheriff Thomas Fowlehurst. Initially, no records were discovered to prove whether or not such a person existed. However, several years after the bizarre events unfolded, records of a man named Sir Thomas Falhurst came to light, a man who the historical record shows was Sheriff of Cheshire in 1529, remarkably close to the time that Thomas also lived in.

As bizarre and bordering on the outrageous as these events undoubtedly are, there are many reasons to believe that some kind of strange three-way communications took place from three different points in time. While it is interesting enough to consider that people in the 1980s were communicating with a person from the mid-sixteenth century through a (now) basic computer system, when we add in 2109 and where they might fit into all of this, the incidents become even more mind-blowing and thought-provoking.

Perhaps one thing to consider is whether 2109 is an individual, a group, or an organization, and perhaps of more interest, is it possible that they orchestrated the events from over 100 years in the future? Given that they appeared to interfere in the communications, as well as, at least according to Thomas, providing Thomas with access to the computer, we might suspect this to be accurate. However, we might also recall that it was Ken who brought the computer system home from the school where he worked, which was beyond the control of 2109, whoever they might be. With this in mind, it is perhaps more likely that 2109 was simply opportunistic when presented with the bizarre goings-on taking place (to them) over 100 years earlier at the small cottage in Dodleston. If we accept, for a moment, that some kind of portal was responsible for connecting the three points in time, is it possible that 2109 – or the individuals identifying as 2109 – simply resided in a building that, in 2109, stood on the same land that Meadow Cottage did in the mid-1980s?

It is also worth our time considering the poltergeist-like activity. Was 2109 responsible for this? Or was whatever was responsible for allowing the communications to take place in the first place have allowed strange entities from another realm of existence access to Meadow Cottage? We might assume, given the content of 2109’s messages, not to mention the information they seemingly passed to Gary Rowe that remains undisclosed, that they would not have troubled themselves with such activities as moving around objects. We should also recall the six-toed footprints – surely another indicator that there were more entities at work here than Thomas, Ken and Debbie, and 2109, and these entities were themselves, highly strange.

We might also ask if this is an isolated incident, or if there are other, unreported cases of such encounters from around the world and across the decades. Could very similar, perhaps identical incidents be unfolding right now somewhere in an otherwise sleepy location on the planet? We might also consider if these types of encounters have happened throughout history, even in ancient times, as well as to individuals far into the future, much further than the year 2109. As speculative as all this is, could this explain prophets and wise men of the past, or even such individuals who were remarkably ahead of their time, such as Nikola Tesla or even Leonardo da Vinci? As usual with any such mysterious events, there are many more questions than answers, and the events very much remain open to debate, and all possibilities remain on the table.