That Reed didn't mention his grandfather's spacerex tapes to Curtis is troubling. "He [Reed] didn't seem that interested in the signal itself." said Curtis. "He was kinda weird. But cool." The implication here is that Reed and his grandfather had been in receipt of the spacerex signal as early as 1977. Why Reed felt inclined to pass the spacerex mantle on to Spatz Curtis in 1998 remains a mystery. Perhaps he recognized Spatz's strength of character and resourcefulness -- the latent ability that was instrumental in taking spacerex to the next level. Perhaps Reed was on the run himself and had some premonition of his impending doom.

In the mid-seventies Reed's grandfather, who invented the ENIAC computer and, oddly enough, the skateboard, recorded the first spacerex transmission -- a disturbing clip of what appears to be a c-section operation with a screaming baby. There is no sign of a doctor -- or any other human being -- near the baby, who is clearly in distress. Even the mother, apart from her pulsing internal organs seems to be missing from the picture.

The time code on this clip, 2023:09:12, is 50 YEARS AHEAD of it's reception date. (An analysis of the video signal puts Mauchley's recording sometime in the mid-seventies.) next previous