The Vertical Plane

[valiens]

Is your life really lived when you are awake or (when you are) asleep? You only know what is true when you can consciously be in both (states)

True dat, yo.

[Lisby]

I own a copy of the book. My original was lent out and never returned, so I spent $40 to get a new one.

I was heavily involved in EVP/ITC research (still am) when the book was released. I'm also a historian with a lifelong enthusiasm for this particular era--Henry VIII's reign. I was fascinated with the language presented in the book, as well as the idea of communication through time, which is another interest of mine after an unusual experience in Scotland I had in the 1980s.

Back in the late 1980s, the AA-EVP, the lead by Sarah Estep, was planning it's first major conference in Baltimore and Webster was slated to be one of the guests. I knew that Sarah spoke to him quite a bit and she felt he was an upfront guy. I trust Sarah's decisions about character. She was spot on about most things. Anyway, on the verge of the conference, Sarah's husband died and she canceled it, so I never got to meet Webster.

My understanding was that he really did not like the publicity that followed the book, it damaged his career, and nothing more ever happened at the house. I think he moved away not long after the book was published. I've tried to track him via the Internet to see if he'd consent to an interview, but despite a few leads, I've not been able to contact him.

He certainly made no money off the book; it has never been reprinted; and he appears to have gone on to work in other public service-type organizations. He was just an average guy. I think he was telling the truth as he knew it and has not had further experiences since that time.

Lisby

[Loose Leaf Tea]

Thanks for the info, Lisby. A great update. Strange how copies of this book get lent out never to be returned (I feel your pain!)
Fascinating case, however, and, as you say, very difficult to get any sort of follow-up information about.
Incidentally, my brother lived near the village where the strange events occured (Dodleston) and the pub scuttlebutt at the time was divided between the case being genuine and an Amityville-style hoax. Hardly a scientific sample given that many of the "hoax" advocates hadn't bothered to read the book!
Strange that no further disturbances occured at the cottage, although if you read, "This House is Haunted" regarding the Enfield poltergiest, the entity needed the presence of the young girls to function. This "individual-fixation" seems common in poltergiest cases.

As a historian, did you find the "Olde English" vernacular of the phantom messages convincing?

[Lisby]

Yes, I found them very convincing. I am not an qualified expert in Tudor dialect, but I know enough to know it had the ring of reality. There was nothing that said "fake."

I don't regard the case as a poltergeist case, but as one of the kind of alternate reality high strangeness of other paranormal events like mothman. Those snotty little entities that later appeared--"our numerical friends," I think someone joking called them in the book--have communicated with other EVP-ITC researchers since the book. At least they say it's them. Who knows?

I don't know if anything ever happened in the cottage again. I'm just pretty sure that Sarah said he left the village. I assume that he has not had any similar experiences in any new house. Or at least any that he cares to write about, anyway. The cottage is still there. Someone ought to go around and knock and see what the current owner has to say.

Lisby

[Loose Leaf Tea]

I suppose I mentioned poltergiest as I seem to remember photographs in the Vertical Plane of furniture and food being rearranged when the owners were absent (its been a while since I've read the book, so perhaps I was wrong to emphasise this aspect.)
I'll ask my brother if he knows which cottage it is and whether he'll go and knock on the door!


Slightly off topic but since you mentioned EVP research, have you used or do you know of the reliability of a device called an Ovilus?

www.digitaldowsing.com/Ovilus1.htm

Mr Chappell, the inventor, won't post any to the UK so I was curious to know what EVP researchers thought of them.

Thanks.

[Lisby]

I've heard of this device, but I haven't worked with it.

I can tell you that I own a minibox, which works wonderfully, as well as a real Frank's box, which does as well.