She Said He Said

Is Asher from The Telepathy Tapes Real?

Don’t get me wrong. Both of us have enjoyed our five minutes of fame, on the whole.

Being featured on The Telepathy Tapes led to our book, which, after a short flurry of interest in the spring and summer of ’24 had been slipping way down the rankings, gaining a new readership. Being given a whole episode of their official spin-off series Talk Tracks to ourselves, sent it skyrocketing again.

That meant more people hearing our story, more people becoming open to the amazing hidden psychic gifts lurking unnoticed in so many shy and anxious members of the autistic population.

As far as we were concerned, if even one parent, having listened to that episode, turned to their child and said something like, “You know when you used to tell me you could travel outside your body/ hear other people’s thoughts/ know things about the future? Were you serious?” It would be worth it.

That was why Asher was happy to go along with having his story told in the first place. He wanted to share his thoughts (via my voice) so that others who had not been heard or understood might finally be listened to.

Anonymity

We went over every word of the manuscript together, before it went anywhere near a publisher. (I’m talking about consulting physical him via email or WhatsApp, not metaphysical him via telepathy — this was strictly 3D stuff.)

Asher had a few provisos: I was to change all the names, including our own. I should even change any place names that might give a clue to our location at the time he was growing up. We agreed what went in and what was too personal to include. He didn’t want joint authorship. There were to be no photos of either of us. He wanted to be able to carry on with his daily life (tough enough, when you’re autistic and masking heavily in order to hold down a job and mix with people), to not be recognised, even by association with me, and to stay away from all the public-facing stuff.

When podcast, interview and filming requests came rolling in, I consulted him again. Yes, he agreed that I could do radio interviews and podcasts as long as my face didn’t show. He was happy with films if it was voice-over only and his image didn’t appear. That resulted in a lot of awkward negotiations on my part, some missed opportunities and many kind and helpful hosts and producers agreeing to his exacting terms.

Ash wasn’t being intentionally obstructive; he was doing what he needed to carry on living relatively comfortably. I know him as well as any person on the planet and I would never do anything that would increase his anxiety levels or cause him distress.

Fame

With the arrival of the ‘Ky Effect’ — the mass attention following the popularity of The Telepathy Tapes — my life changed. Every day now, I wake up around 6am to find a cluster of new emails/texts/comments/requests awaiting my attention and response.

Some are asking for answers from Asher himself, so, after a day of working through those I can field alone, posting on social media and finding time to write more of our long-overdue second book, or occasional articles like this, I settle on my bed at around 9pm to ‘talk’ through the queries that need his input, as Ash and I work together via remote non-verbal communication. I scribe his telepathic responses, then, if I have the energy, respond to the questioners from my phone and sink into bed exhausted.

Not quite the way I envisaged spending my mid-seventies!

How we work

This little clip from our latest episode (put together beautifully by the TT team) sums up Asher’s view of worded vs. telepathic communication:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QWgCSLwRuB4

He uses language functionally and well. I should know; I taught him! He used words to communicate with me regularly until, in his late twenties, he hit burnout and felt the need to split into his two current ‘alters’.

The physical, everyday self gets on with daily stuff and sends me brief responses on his phone every week to assure me he’s well and to discuss aspects of publicity I need answers to.

The metaphysical, psychic self travels to realms I can’t imagine, finds answers and insights to my esoteric questions, and sometimes those of others, and shares the wisdom and insights I put into our books and blogs. I value this contact more than words can express, and consider myself to be the luckiest of people.

Prove it!

Proof hasn’t been a huge problem. The vast majority of people, on hearing our story, will either make that quiet, slightly amused ‘hmm’ sound, smile briefly and turn aside, or will listen avidly and become intensely curious and involved. We’re fine with either. Some are not yet ready to expand their worldview; others are.

The third group is a tiny minority and is, of course welcome to their opinion. The only trouble is that they have a tendency to publicly express their views in places where I have no right of reply. Even if I did, what could I say?

It’s been claimed that Asher doesn’t exist except as a fictional creation by yours truly. One of the individuals concerned searched in vain for him across the internet and was unable to conceive of any man in his thirties, living in London, who had absolutely no media presence. Their conclusion was that, at best, I’d written an unauthorised biography.

That stung.

I’d worked so hard to keep Asher informed but hidden from the public gaze. I’d told the truth at every turn…

…but that’s the trouble with words. No one can tell whether or not they’re true.

Our world is so full of lies and spin, so crammed with people who, for their own nefarious reasons conceal, twist or confuse with the words they speak.

Why should anyone who has never met either of us believe that I have shared Asher’s life and Asher’s thoughts with absolute honesty and integrity?

Solution?

I shared this with physical Asher. I showed him what people were saying about me. I asked whether he felt able to send me a few words which I could publish, to counter the accusations.

The poor guy hadn’t a clue where to start.

I turned to my spirit guides, asking for some help. They told me not to push him and showed me how hard this was for Ash. Somehow, as an autistic individual who has never been great at nuanced responses, he had to negotiate using his fictional name, using mine, and tying that into some kind of authorisation.

Working metaphysically can be very helpful at times. My guides agreed to communicate with Asher, to help him compose a statement. I don’t know how such magic works, but it does. Once they’d done that, he sent me a WhatsApp message almost instantly. I’ve copied a screenshot of our conversation here.

Maybe the day will come when telepathic skills expand still further across the population. I hope it does. Imagine if we reach a stage when all of us can, like Asher and his kind, see into people’s thoughts and recognise when they’re being truthful in what they say…

Until then, I’ll continue to work authentically with Asher, for all those who are able to accept and believe what we say.

Thank you, if you are one of them.