Remember the contact page on Henry's website?
Soon after finding it on March 25th, players began to email him:
Headphone warning! High-pitched noises.
Henry responded with cryptic audio files like this one. Hidden within them (and most of Henry's other audio files) were spectrograms, which, when decoded, showed hidden text from Henry (read top to bottom, left to right).
.. -- -. --- - .-. . .-..
.. --. .. --- ..- ... -. . ...- . .-.
.-- .- ... -... ..- - -. --- .-- .. -...
. .-.. .. . ...- . .. -
. .... . .-..
.-..
​
Romeo Delta Juliet Alfa Sierra November Delta Juliet Hotel Echo Tango Papa Zulu Papa Alfa X-ray India India Alfa Tango Alfa Delta Juliet Sierra Tango Golf Stop Whiskey Tango Papa Golf X-ray Charlie Victor Lima Golf X-ray India X-ray Charlie Victor X-ray Hotel Whiskey Papa Golf Sierra Juliet Charlie Alfa Tango Hotel Hotel Bravo Papa Alfa X-ray Hotel Whiskey Tango Alfa Echo X-ray Charlie Victor Bravo Tango
On March 27th, a player sent Henry a recording of their voice, where they asked him whether it was easier to hear them if they spoke like this, and apologized for having an accent. He responded with this file:
[Radio static]
Morse Code: .-- .... .... . . -. .-. .-. . -.-- .- .. .-. ... . .... -.-- . --- .-. ..- . ..--.. ..--..
which translates to WHHEENRREYAIRSEHYEORUE??
WHEREAREYOU? / HENRYISHERE?
[Radio static, akin to tuning between stations]
[Spectrogram shriek]
Henry, speaking: 10-4 Yankee Hotel, I gotcha wall to wall and treetop tall over here. Handle HB coming at ya from the windy city.
Boy, it’s rad to hear someone else on the waves again. Used to be in the 90s, you couldn’t spit but you’d hit a couple of motor mouths hamming up these bands. Used to sandbag those conversations all the way ocean to ocean. Now the whole place is mostly silent. Guess that's kinda peaceful.
And don’t worry about any kind of accent– you’re loud and clear! Louder and clearer than most of those mud ducks I’ve been picking up these past couple of days. Hard to tell if you’re in here, out there, or somewhere in-between. I wouldn’t even notice them if it weren’t usually so quiet. Glad I’m not losing my marbles and there really are people out there trying to broadcast again!
Anyway. Answering your questions. I dunno what a [DOC] is or a [ARG] but I hope they’re having a good time here. You sound nice! Like you got some great buddies. I had some too. Heard Mal and William are still out there? That’s…. Great. Really great.
For what it’s doing, I don’t exactly copy, but compared to what I’ve been getting these past couple few days, I suppose the signal helps get the peanut butter outta my ears and tune in on what you’re saying. Gives me a bit of a kicker, like I can get more of my waves a little further -- though I’ve been mostly 10-10 on the side as of late. But… I gotta warn you. Your message makes your signal a little stronger too. And that’s not a good thing! Unless all you wanna do is broadcast to me. Be careful what you record. ‘Cause the more you say, the less you are out there and the more you are in here. Your last transmission you called me a–
[Spectrogram for GHOST]
– it’s worse than that. Promise. So…. I guess what I’m trying to tell you is that I hope this is your last transmission. For your own sake. But…if you gotta keep digging, well, I understand. I don’t know what I would’ve told myself that would’ve gotten me to stop. And if I hear from you again, can’t say I’ll be displeased. It’s pretty empty around here. 3 and 8s, good buddy, sorry if I got you into this mess. Hope this can get you out.
On March 28th, another player sent Henry a few audio messages (that they also transcribed into emails) with questions about the Abîme, his Eastern Cottonwood video, and whether he had anything to say to Will and/or Tati:
Henry again responded with an audio file:
10-4, Kilo November, and thanks for the transmission. You've reached channel HB from the Windy City, you're coming in 5-by-5 and crystal clear.
Sorry it took me a while to get my ears on this one, it took an age for all those numbers to make it over the airwaves. For a couple hours I thought you were trying to send me a code or something! Just, by the way, some’a the specs on my end is that you all come in in order, so I got your whispers before I got your words and I got your numbers before I got your â–„ â–„ â–„ â–„ â–„ â–„ â–„ â–„ / â–„ â–„â–„â–„ â–„ â–„â–„â–„ â–„(prosign for DISREGARD LAST TRANSMISSION). Don't know if it's the same for you out there, but I used to be able to record and replay all kinds of stuff and I imagine it's only gotten easier since then. So I don't blame you for trying. Still, complete transmissions with plenty of air between and a firm 10-7 till i get my ducks in a row to hop on are a little easier on the brain, if it's not too much trouble. Copy?
Anyway. Your last message came through loud and clear, and I'll try to get to what I remember of the first one as well.
Boy, was it nice to hear a familiar cadence. Makes me miss the truckers I used to hang out with down there. Of course, you're a lot nicer than those dudes, and not half as blue. But you sure know all the words to make me feel right at home. I'm glad you're getting my pictures. I didn't take too many in with me. What can I say? It takes a while and I hated listening to that noise.
Sorry about your ears, by the way. I swear I wasn't trying to deafen anybody. Just wanted to write you all. As for you fans, well, it's nice to hear about them, but fame isn't exactly my cup of tea, buddy. Sorry. Think of me like, uh, Steve Perry, but worse. Worse at music, but also a worse recluse. And it would've been nice to get a couple of music videos, but well, I was kinda shy in real life, at least about being recorded and photographed and stuff, so I wasn't exactly hunting down MTV, you know? I liked my voice, so I got a lot of that!
Anyway, it is weird that after eight months of silence, the waves are all crowded again. And weirder that you all seem to know we're in here already! And what here is in the first place. Mostly I like to pretend I'm real to people on the outside.
What is going on out there? Why are you all here now? I guess you don't have to answer, but I don't know. I left some things out there. One of them was whatever I had that you all have-- that need to know. That drive to keep pulling and pulling at a thing til it's all laid out in front of you, like the guts of a cassette tape. Life's easier without it, but I can feel it pulling inside your words, and it gets me in a curious mood sometimes too! I guess what I'd like to say to Tati, Mal, William-- I'll have to think on it. I left a little (in NATO-spelling) APOLOGY in case they ever need me again. But I hope they never do. I hope they're happy.
Anyway. This is HB, Hotel Bravo, signing off soon. I gotta tell you the same thing I told your friend. This isn't good for you. Transmitting to me is like sending out a signal flare. Yeah, I can get you loud and clear, but you never know what's hanging on the side. Turn down your knob a little?
(A spectrogram appears here:
Translation (Caesar cipher, shift 15):
Something is
watching us.
I know who it is.
And I think you
might, too.
I don’t know what it wants. Do you?)
It makes you less and less out there and more and more in here. Told some friends of yours to send me flowers. Honestly, it's more so they'll see them than me. It's not worth getting deep into this thing, Kilo November. Promise.
Well, I'm going to hang a 10-10. If I hear you transmitting again, well, can't say I'll be disappointed. Gets pretty lonely around here! Hope you like Chicago! Wish I could go there but all I can do is listen to my favorite station every once in a while. They used to have Rock Nights I'd tune into after school, and it's still going! Isn't that rad? Course, Chicago's pretty different now and I can't visit myself. When-ish are you heading there if you don't mind me asking? I wonder if that old [ROB-63 transmitted image of a radio station] is still there.
Good numbers, buddy. And if you do take my advice and get out while you can, well, good life. Catch you on the flip side!
With many of their emails, players sent audio of their favorite songs, photos of flowers, the sounds of birds and trees around their hometowns, and themselves performing songs for Henry to listen to. Henry added many of them to his garden.
​​
Around this time, a player sent Henry a message in morse code in an attempt to find a safer way to contact him:
A message in Morse Code that translates to: IS THIS A SAFE FORM OF COMMUNICATION?
Henry responded in his usual spectrogram, but now with Morse Code messages before and after it:
A message in Morse Code, filtered through the Twins' interlaced cypher, that translates to:
YES OF COURSE IT IS/PERFECTLY SAFE
WHERE IS WILL WHERE IS HENRY / WHERE IS TATI WHERE IS HENRY
​
On top of the sound of a spectrogram from Henry:
A message in Morse Code that translates to:
Hi! Just to check is this the twin? Its nice to meet you! Im glad you reached out! Im sorry to say that I can’t tell you where they are because I promised not to tell. I hope you can understand that I have to keep my word. I would do the same for you. Also is there any other way I could contact you? Anyway feel free to ask me any other question you have :)
Morse code that translates into:
TTRRYYIINNGGTTOOFLIONODKSSHHOOWW
TRYING TO LOOK SHOW/TRYING TO FIND SHOW
Rotated text:
dcan rdbt xu xi’h hput. hdbtiwxcv xh rxgraxcv iwtht ugtfjtcrxth. cdi hjgt xu xi’h axzt p hwpgz dg p vjpgs sdv. qji x sdc’i lpci id qt iwt dct lwd uxcsh dji.
Decoded caesar shift 15 cipher:
only come if it’s safe. something is circling these frequencies. not sure if it’s like a shark or a guard dog. but i don’t want to be the one who finds out.
Followed by Morse Code:
==. == . .. = ... = ... .. =.== =. === ==. ..= =.=. = .=.. === === === ... .=.=.= . .=.=.= .=.
GMEITSTSIYNOGUCTLOOOS.E.R
GETTINGCLOSER / MISSYOUTOO...
On April 11th/12th, a player tried to contact the twins by emailing a spectrogram with a message for them to Henry's email. Henry responded that he didn't understand it because it was encoded. ​
On April 17th, all players who had submitted their email to the BIG! RED! BOX! email list or had emailed Henry at least once received an audio file in their inbox:
H3VN 4/17/2024 12:19:4 HB 33.3
4.17.2024
Track #12, isn't it?
​
​
triple nickel
​
​
sorry i couldn't save them
HENRY: Uh, hey! Um. Not quite sure if this goes both ways, but if you could give me some kinda—
TWIN: [DEEP, METALLIC SHRIEK]
HENRY: Right. Right. Okay, yeah, okay. This is... sorry, you're kind of fucking scary. I'm saying it because I'm gonna seem really weird, but it's not 'cause I don't like you guys, it's just 'cause I'm scared. Okay?
TWIN: [METALLIC SHRIEK]
HENRY: Shh sh sh sh sh, it's okay. I'm so sorry. Um. I just wanted to, um. I guess we haven't seen each other since the big argument, and I wanted to ask you if you could—
TWIN: [SHRIEK WITH SOME SCRAMBLED VOICES INTERMIXED]
HENRY: I— he didn't mean to— I'm so totally sorry. Um. I wish I could help. I wish I could unpick this. Claire? Are you in there?
TWIN: [NOISES]
HENRY: Okay, okay. Hold still...
TWIN: [NOISES]
HENRY: Ow, fuck!
[STATIC]
