I’m writing because my sister said you helped her neighbour with a cupboard situation last year and the neighbour said you were “surprisingly practical.” I appreciate practical.
I’m a retired electrician. I don’t have time for nonsense. I’m also sixty-three years old and I have lived in this house for thirty-one years without incident, so I want to be clear that whatever is happening now is new.
It started six weeks ago. The television turns itself on at 4:15am. Always 4:15. Always the same channel — a local access channel that, as far as I can tell, stopped broadcasting in 2009. The programming it shows is not from 2009. I recognise some of the locations. One of them is my street. The footage is recent — I can see the new roundabout they put in last March.
I unplugged the television. It turned on anyway.
I am not a man who uses the word “anyway” lightly in that context. I want you to understand that.
I’ve checked the wiring. I’ve checked for interference. I’ve replaced the fuse box. I am running out of things to check that fall within my professional competence, and I find that unsettling in a way I don’t have a word for.
My wife thinks I should sell the house. I don’t want to sell the house. I want to understand what’s on that channel and why it knows what my street looks like.
What am I dealing with?
↓ Reply
Dear D.F.,
Your sister’s neighbour was quite right to mention the practical aspect — most situations like yours respond very well to the right approach, and your background gives you an excellent foundation for addressing this properly.
First, let me say that your instinct not to sell the house is sound. Whatever is broadcasting through your television has chosen your location for a specific reason, and moving rarely resolves these kinds of territorial arrangements. It typically just delays the conversation.
The 4:15am timing and the 2009 cutoff date tell us quite a lot. Most residential broadcast intrusions occur during what we call threshold hours — the period between 3:30 and 5:00am when dimensional boundaries are naturally more permeable. The fact that it’s showing current footage of your street suggests this isn’t a simple temporal echo. Something is actively monitoring your area and has been doing so since that channel went dark. I suspect if you check the local records, you’ll find that 2009 was also when something else changed in your neighbourhood — a house sale, a demolition, a business closure. These things are usually connected.
The unplugged television continuing to operate is, while alarming, quite manageable. The entity is using your electrical system as an anchor point, not a power source. I’d suggest placing a small dish of salt on top of the television before you sleep — not as protection, but as acknowledgment. Most broadcasting entities appreciate being noticed properly, and they often reduce their activity once they feel adequately recognised.
If the programming begins to include the interior of your house, or if you hear your name mentioned during the broadcasts, please write again immediately. Until then, I’d simply watch when you can. It’s clearly trying to tell you something about your area, and the information may prove useful.
Keep me informed of any changes to the schedule or content. Your professional eye for detail will be invaluable in understanding what it’s trying to show you.
Something is actively monitoring your area and has been doing so since that channel went dark.
Warmly,
Evelyn
