Ghost in the Machine

Ghost in the Machine

From the moment Dennis Potter first heard of Jeff Chandler to the moment he signed a book contract with McFarland, his computer system (the monitor and CPU) turned itself on dozens of times, without warning and always at midnight. This first happened in 1999; Dennis had been renting a third floor apartment for about four months; his computer sat on a mahogany desk facing his bed (his bedroom doubled as an office). Dennis lay sound asleep, having gone to bed at 10:00 PM. Suddenly, he awoke to the "Welcome" jingle from Windows 95 and the bluish glow of the monitor reflecting in the bedroom window (the curtains had not been previously drawn). As he gathered his senses, Dennis "heard" someone unseen whisper: "Dennis, quick! Look at the clock. What time is it?!"

As Dennis looked at the clock, noting the digital readout ("12:00"), the disembodied voice whispered again: "It's midnight!  Quick, look at the clock!  It's the bewitching hour!"

That computer system, purchased in 1998, is a Compaq desktop: a CPU and monitor with separate "on" and "off" switches; turning one on does not enable the other. They were never plugged into any device, such as a power strip, that would enable both units on or off simultaneously; those switches were completely manual. Beginning that night in 1999, the computer units turned themselves on numerous times, no matter the location, and always at midnight. When presented with this "ghostly" problem for their analysis, computer experts responded much the same way Geena Davis' character did in the 1986 remake of the horror film, The Fly: "Be afraid; be very afraid."

Dennis tried to outsmart the problem by moving the computer system from one room to another; during the next few years, he moved three times from one apartment to another, including a move from one city to another (not because of the strange computer behavior). Whether he moved from room to room or city to city, it only took a few days, one week at the most, for the computer to "wise up," but wise up it did: the system was once again turning itself on whenever it wanted to and always at midnight. For a while, Dennis unplugged the computer system and slept in peace, but plugging and unplugging the system every day became a chore; besides, there were times when he forgot to unplug it. When he signed the book contract with McFarland & Company, Inc., a few years ago, the computer system returned to normal.