Who is Tad Caldwell?


For Nathan, Shawn, Eric, and Jonathan, the mystery begins in 1989 in suburban Metairie, Louisiana. The four teenagers hold a weekly horror movie night. But one Friday, Shawn plays a tape that proves more real than anything they've ever seen--and Nathan is the victim. Before Nathan watches himself die, his video double calls out a name: Tad Caldwell--a reclusive science-fiction writer whose last book came out in the 1960s. In the New Orleans shop where the tape originated, the owner gives him a book by Caldwell. Years before, a UFO encounter led to the suspicious disappearance of the writer's son, Roger. Before his disgrace, Caldwell wrote the only book he could--the revelations he believed the aliens left in his mind--a harrowing bible of alien philosophy, occult science, telepathy, electronic voice phenomenon and time travel.


Nathan fearfully reads Caldwell's book. It claims to unlock telepathic powers to communicate with the past--even over magnetic video and audio tapes. Then, Theresa re-enters his life. Years before, the young Finnish woman once stayed as an exchange student with Nathan and his mother. But, the relationship between mother and son has been troubled since the loss of Nathan's father in a car crash years earlier. Nathan and Theresa seek out the reclusive Tad Caldwell in search of answers. Living in rural Batesville, Mississippi, the elderly writer welcomes the company. Theresa doesn't trust him, but Nathan won't listen--even as evidence mounts that Caldwell may be more than he seems. He works on a mysterious satellite dish next to his house. Odd noises emanate from his basement. Nathan refuses to notice. The old man restores the father figure he lost years before. Then, Caldwell disappears...