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Ghosts & Computers (Including The Vertical Plane)

BlackRiverFalls said:
I just tried a google video search for the series, unfortunately the google suggestions don't seem to involve many mysteries:

Vorderbum.jpg


:eek:

:D :D :D

I seem to remember that it was also on this forum somewhere. Have you tried searching for it?
 
When younger and living at home, I had a Commodore 64 in my bedroom, the keys typed themselves one night...

Got put in another room after that incident.

Guess that's what happens when you grow up in a haunted house! Slept with the light on until I left home at 17.
 
Sounds great!
What did it type?
 
Many moons ago i read a story in a computer mag, that dealt with a women spirit (i think) that was leaving messages on a computer, the story was originally in the sunday sport :roll: The computer mag interviewed the main witness who said the sport threw in a lot of nonsense (like the ghost was a witch that was burnt at the stake) but the story itself was true.

Wonder if this is the same story that i have just got confused over...it has been known to happen. :)
 
Slightly off topic, but... I was shocked to my core when someone pointed out to me that in "Jumping Jack Flash" the computer's voice was actually in Whoopi Goldberg's head and not actually speaking to her using a voice simulation programme. :cry:
 
Also there is the book The Ghost of Thomas Kemp which is set text in primary schools now and I recall reading back in the 80s.
It's about the ghost of Thomas Kemp (the clue is in the title) who communicates with a boy living in the house through a typewriter.
 
Not the one that people, me included and Mooks particularly, challenged which got really nasty? The spirit of the bloke supposedly murdered in the 70's who communicated through a computer?

Mooks wrote an ebook about it, the "ghost' was from Birmingham or something and the whole thing went viral. Anyone else remember this?
 
Naughty_Felid said:
Not the one that people, me included and Mooks particularly, challenged which got really nasty? The spirit of the bloke supposedly murdered in the 70's who communicated through a computer?

Mooks wrote an ebook about it, the "ghost' was from Birmingham or something and the whole thing went viral. Anyone else remember this?

I ain't typing his name so it don't show up in search engines. IA ghost in the form of one of four or all four students living in a house in Harborne, using the same IP worldwide. It was maintained by the company that ran the forums he appeared on. He stated very early on he wasn't writing a book, he did write a book. The book can be bought, new, for 10p on Amazon!

There was a spiritualist on board talking to the dead using cold calling and there were some very dubious attacks on peoples PC's.

It left a very bitter after taste!

I wrote up how it was all managed and manipulated but I never charged for the eBook I wrote on the subject, it was free to download from an animal shelter charity in Birmingham!

He was not a "ghost".
 
There's a far better hoax Fortean story of contact through a computer which occurred in the early 00's. JOHN TITOR - TIME TRAVELER.

He claimed he was from 2036...according to his future we'd have had a civil war in the U.S. this year. And World War 3 kicks off in 2015, so book early to avoid disappointment!

I'm sure once a thread about his crazy world graced these forums.
 
Moooksta said:
There's a far better hoax Fortean story of contact through a computer which occurred in the early 00's. JOHN TITOR - TIME TRAVELER.

He claimed he was from 2036...according to his future we'd have had a civil war in the U.S. this year. And World War 3 kicks off in 2015, so book early to avoid disappointment!

I'm sure once a thread about his crazy world graced these forums.

There was a big feature about him in an issue of FT a couple of years ago, around June 2009, if I recall correctly. A lot of his predictions have turned out to be wrong, and a lot of the pictures he took discredited, so probably a hoax (sadly).
 
Re: Anyone remember the story about an old computer ghost?

DiocletianX said:
I seem to remember reading somewhere years ago about a computer - probably a BBC Micro or Vic20 type thing (it was LONG before the internet) that had apparently started getting messages from a ghost or a person from the future or something.
Sorry to be vague, I can't really remember it all, which is why I'm asking :lol:
The following was communicated by someone calling himself Thomas Harden. The message was looked at by experts in archaic language and staff at the OED. None of them could detect a hoaxer at work...

Enjoy...

"Myne goodly friend, I muste needs say, how cometh this, that there are manye thyngs for whiche I hath no rekenyng. me thinketh it, that if thou cannot telle thee for what are in myne home, then I can namoor helpe yow than if myne witts had gone. I hath no kinfolk to fynd, myne wif was wreched with thy pestilence and the Lord didst take here soule and her unbore son (1517). Myne farme 'tis humble but it hath a pretty parcel o land, it hath redstoon footynges and cleen rushes on myne beteen floor. This season I hath much to do, I hath to sow myne barley for myne ale, 'tis that is myne craft and for whiche I am beste atte I fancy. Also I hath to go to Nantwhiche to myne cowthe freend Richard Wishal whois farme be so greet as as to turn a four yeer rotacion o fallow. I do envye him he hath much there, but nought that delits me moor than his cheese it cannot be equalled by any other for pleasantness of taste and wholsomness of digestion. I shall als calle atte Nantwyche Market 'tis not so great as Cestre market by thy crios but 'tis of som desport. I shall need to go to Cestre this season to get myne soes, myne goodly freend Tomas Aldersay, a tailor by craft, makes them sometymes, I als mayketh soes but non of myne swyne are reedy 'tis far costly unlest I need kil one. Do you knoweth the country of Cestre the Water Gate is a plas that bringeth many traders 'tis a shame the port doth shrink I can record greet shipps now they grow small by each tyde, but Cestre port is still greeter than that o Leverpoole I am oft to the east wall of Cestre. Cow Lane, 'tis not so tyresome than that bt the crios that it when myne fowl or swyne doth not trip up myne poore body I hear telle that thou art a teache in Hawardine doth yow meeneth Haodine cloth, thou still earn thy greetly sum of twenty pounds per yeer I recorde myne unfavourable dean Henry Mann, who is likened to a fissh "If any boy shal appear naturally avers to learning aft fair trial he shalt be expelled else wher lest lik a drone he should devour the bees honey."
Ney I cannot make merry on holy day for feer of myne lif myne freen was once a floytinge on a holy day did that hus ears pinned to thy wood bloc methinks when thou sayeth Dodleston yow meaneth Dudlestun. Myne Queen is of cource Katherine Parr."

Strange Encounters, Author Unknown, Paragon, Bath, 2000. pp. 193, 194


Although the author is not stated, I have feeling that it is Tom Slemen - am actually awaiting clarification on that. He writes a lot about paranormal events in this area.
Here's his website if you're interested.

Tom Slemen's website

So there you go - make of it what you will.

The book also says that the SPR investigated but backed off after being told that they could have the answer to a question they left, but only if the investigator was willing to lose his soul.

Hope you find this useful/interesting.

Peace,

MGGG
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread286389/pg2
 
The SPR backed off for that shallow reason? bah what cowards!! :D
 
Re: Anyone remember the story about an old computer ghost?

Ghostisfort said:
DiocletianX said:
I seem to remember reading somewhere years ago about a computer - probably a BBC Micro or Vic20 type thing (it was LONG before the internet) that had apparently started getting messages from a ghost or a person from the future or something.
Sorry to be vague, I can't really remember it all, which is why I'm asking :lol:
The following was communicated by someone calling himself Thomas Harden. The message was looked at by experts in archaic language and staff at the OED. None of them could detect a hoaxer at work...

Enjoy...

"Myne goodly friend, I muste needs say, how cometh this, that there are manye thyngs for whiche I hath no rekenyng. me thinketh it, that if thou cannot telle thee for what are in myne home, then I can namoor helpe yow than if myne witts had gone. I hath no kinfolk to fynd, myne wif was wreched with thy pestilence and the Lord didst take here soule and her unbore son (1517). Myne farme 'tis humble but it hath a pretty parcel o land, it hath redstoon footynges and cleen rushes on myne beteen floor. This season I hath much to do, I hath to sow myne barley for myne ale, 'tis that is myne craft and for whiche I am beste atte I fancy. Also I hath to go to Nantwhiche to myne cowthe freend Richard Wishal whois farme be so greet as as to turn a four yeer rotacion o fallow. I do envye him he hath much there, but nought that delits me moor than his cheese it cannot be equalled by any other for pleasantness of taste and wholsomness of digestion. I shall als calle atte Nantwyche Market 'tis not so great as Cestre market by thy crios but 'tis of som desport. I shall need to go to Cestre this season to get myne soes, myne goodly freend Tomas Aldersay, a tailor by craft, makes them sometymes, I als mayketh soes but non of myne swyne are reedy 'tis far costly unlest I need kil one. Do you knoweth the country of Cestre the Water Gate is a plas that bringeth many traders 'tis a shame the port doth shrink I can record greet shipps now they grow small by each tyde, but Cestre port is still greeter than that o Leverpoole I am oft to the east wall of Cestre. Cow Lane, 'tis not so tyresome than that bt the crios that it when myne fowl or swyne doth not trip up myne poore body I hear telle that thou art a teache in Hawardine doth yow meeneth Haodine cloth, thou still earn thy greetly sum of twenty pounds per yeer I recorde myne unfavourable dean Henry Mann, who is likened to a fissh "If any boy shal appear naturally avers to learning aft fair trial he shalt be expelled else wher lest lik a drone he should devour the bees honey."
Ney I cannot make merry on holy day for feer of myne lif myne freen was once a floytinge on a holy day did that hus ears pinned to thy wood bloc methinks when thou sayeth Dodleston yow meaneth Dudlestun. Myne Queen is of cource Katherine Parr."

Strange Encounters, Author Unknown, Paragon, Bath, 2000. pp. 193, 194


Although the author is not stated, I have feeling that it is Tom Slemen - am actually awaiting clarification on that. He writes a lot about paranormal events in this area.
Here's his website if you're interested.

Tom Slemen's website

So there you go - make of it what you will.

The book also says that the SPR investigated but backed off after being told that they could have the answer to a question they left, but only if the investigator was willing to lose his soul.

Hope you find this useful/interesting.

Peace,

MGGG
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread286389/pg2
Actually, according to the article in "Fortean Times" dated March 1998, the message here quoted was from a entity calling himself Lucas Wainman. This message was used for analysis by Laura Wright a lecturer in English at Lucy Cavendish college, Cambridge. Ken Webster, the guy at the centre of these phenomena, was unhappy that this passage was chosen, as he himself did not feel it was representative of the usual messages he was recieving from Thomas Harden among others and believed that it carried some historical inaccuracies.
 
I noticed yesterday that we have a copy of The Vertical Plane here. Looked at its price on Amazon, 2nd hand, and it's £35 and more. :shock:

How can it be worth that much, I wonder? It's not even that good a read!
 
escargot1 said:
I noticed yesterday that we have a copy of The Vertical Plane here. Looked at its price on Amazon, 2nd hand, and it's £35 and more. :shock:

How can it be worth that much, I wonder? It's not even that good a read!

Yeah, it's a case of an interesting story badly told, but £35?! And I gave mine away to the charity shop! Bet they didn't charge that much either!
 
Whereas Michael Pennington's book can be picked up for 44p.

:lol:
 
A long long time ago someone asked about a documentary about a ghost that was communicating via a computer.

I remembered it was a series called 'Out of this world' in 1996 with Carol Vorderman and Chris Choi.

It was split over two episode and they have recently appeared on youtube.



It's the last article on both episodes.
 
This just came back to me. I’ve searched it on here but can’t find it. I can’t believe it’s not here though.


‘The Ghost in the Computer

We are all familiar with the accounts of spirits communicating through knocks and mediums at seances, through divination tools such as Ouija boards... even through electronic voice phenomena (EVP) captured on audiotape. Quite rare, however, are the accounts of spirits communicating with the living through computers.

One possible case took place in the autumn of 1984. At this time, home computers were fairly new; the Internet and e-mail were non-existent. Yet Ken Webster of Dodleston, England received messages on his personal computer screen from a being who seems to have lived in the 1500s.

Previous to the messages, Webster had been experiencing strange poltergeist activity in his small terraced house called Meadow Cottage, which was in the process of being renovated. Most of the activity focused in the kitchen where Webster would experience stacked objects, unexplained marks on the walls, noises and an occasional thrown object.

Webster was a teacher who had access to one of these primitive computers - by today's standards, a laughably "weak" machine with 32K of memory, a simple word processor and an external 5.25" floppy disk drive. It certainly had no network connection of any kind. One day, Webster left, forgetfully leaving the computer on. When he returned, there was a message on the screen in the form of a poem, written in what seemed to be Elizabethan English. Webster dismissed it as a prank, but saved it on disk. Two weeks later, a second messages appeared, which said, in part:

"Wot strange wordes thou speke, although I muste confess that I hath also bene ill-schooled... thou art a goodly man who hath fanciful women who dwel in myne home... 'twas a greate cryme to hath bribed myne house."

Webster began to write responses to the messages, which began a dialog with a personage who identified himself as Tomas Harden who claimed to have lived in the very same cottage during the mid-sixteenth century. Besides using the computer, Harden also left messages on blank pieces of paper and in chalk on the home's walls and floor.

An investigation could not uncover any hoax or offer any explanation, although linguistic experts concluded that the style of the writing was not genuine to the time period claimed - it was a phony Tudor style. And while the "dialogue" was taking place between Webster and Hardin, the poltergeist activity subsided. Yet later, other psychic phenomena took place, and messages in other voices appeared. Ken Webster later wrote a book about these experiences.’

From here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=95&t=480383
 
Could be pre loaded in the memory. Or part of one of those early role play computer games. Or someone else could connect via an atomic battery or quartz crystal if that model of computer had either. Or it could be British Intelligence Jumping Jack Flash. Where's my girl Whoopee Goldberg? :)
 
Could be pre loaded in the memory. Or part of one of those early role play computer games. Or someone else could connect via an atomic battery or quartz crystal if that model of computer had either. Or it could be British Intelligence Jumping Jack Flash. Where's my girl Whoopee Goldberg? :)
.

I don’t think it was loaded in the memory they had hardly any in those days. I remember we had one that took three floppies (that were floppy) just to boot it up and I think that was the early 90s
 
This just came back to me. I’ve searched it on here but can’t find it. I can’t believe it’s not here though.


‘The Ghost in the Computer

We are all familiar with the accounts of spirits communicating through knocks and mediums at seances, through divination tools such as Ouija boards... even through electronic voice phenomena (EVP) captured on audiotape. Quite rare, however, are the accounts of spirits communicating with the living through computers.

One possible case took place in the autumn of 1984. At this time, home computers were fairly new; the Internet and e-mail were non-existent. Yet Ken Webster of Dodleston, England received messages on his personal computer screen from a being who seems to have lived in the 1500s.

Previous to the messages, Webster had been experiencing strange poltergeist activity in his small terraced house called Meadow Cottage, which was in the process of being renovated. Most of the activity focused in the kitchen where Webster would experience stacked objects, unexplained marks on the walls, noises and an occasional thrown object.

Webster was a teacher who had access to one of these primitive computers - by today's standards, a laughably "weak" machine with 32K of memory, a simple word processor and an external 5.25" floppy disk drive. It certainly had no network connection of any kind. One day, Webster left, forgetfully leaving the computer on. When he returned, there was a message on the screen in the form of a poem, written in what seemed to be Elizabethan English. Webster dismissed it as a prank, but saved it on disk. Two weeks later, a second messages appeared, which said, in part:

"Wot strange wordes thou speke, although I muste confess that I hath also bene ill-schooled... thou art a goodly man who hath fanciful women who dwel in myne home... 'twas a greate cryme to hath bribed myne house."

Webster began to write responses to the messages, which began a dialog with a personage who identified himself as Tomas Harden who claimed to have lived in the very same cottage during the mid-sixteenth century. Besides using the computer, Harden also left messages on blank pieces of paper and in chalk on the home's walls and floor.

An investigation could not uncover any hoax or offer any explanation, although linguistic experts concluded that the style of the writing was not genuine to the time period claimed - it was a phony Tudor style. And while the "dialogue" was taking place between Webster and Hardin, the poltergeist activity subsided. Yet later, other psychic phenomena took place, and messages in other voices appeared. Ken Webster later wrote a book about these experiences.’

From here https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=95&t=480383
Astonishing Legends are covering this in their latest episiode.

https://www.astonishinglegends.com/al-podcasts/2021/9/25/ep-217-the-vertical-plane-part-1
 
This thread needs a rename.

Ken Webster and The Vertical Plane don't come up easily in searches on'ere. No thread has the phrase The Vertical Plane in the title.

The case is important if only because it expresses the dissonance often felt in the face of new technology: put simply, to outsiders it looks like magic or the supernatural.

As this thread mentions Webster and the book a lot, with various relevant threads merged into it, perhaps the phrase The Vertical Plane should be included in the title.
 
This thread needs a rename.

Ken Webster and The Vertical Plane don't come up easily in searches on'ere. No thread has the phrase The Vertical Plane in the title.

The case is important if only because it expresses the dissonance often felt in the face of new technology: put simply, to outsiders it looks like magic or the supernatural.

As this thread mentions Webster and the book a lot, with various relevant threads merged into it, perhaps the phrase The Vertical Plane should be included in the title.

As I don't have the book, I'm working on quotes given during the podcast, (they have a copy).

"Fairy gold" - first mentioned by Shakespeare, so later than Lukas.

Fishing for salmon and Herring in the river Dee - Still trying to figure out it Shad, ( a name for freshwater herring), was a name in the 1600th
century as Lukkas mentioned he fishes for salmon and herring and he cannot mean regular herring.
 
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