David Lynch Numbers Station Phone - Trailer
You see a small table with a zig-zag tablecloth, a lamp with a red shade, and a red telephone, the old-fashioned type with a dial. Sat incongruously under a tree, or by the pond, or wherever. You approach for a better look and as you get near it starts to ring. You answer and hear a voice saying a sequence of numbers. It is American film-maker and creator of Twin Peaks, David Lynch.
This is an installation I made originally for Electromagnetic Field festival in 2022, based on something I made previously. It’s a GPO 746 dial telephone, the type that was ubiquitous in British homes from the late 60s until the 90s. This one has had its internals modified.
Electromagnetic Field 2024 Owl Hunt
The EMF 2022 version of this installation read you a sequence of numbers when you picked up the phone. You could then dial those numbers to hear a few different Lynch themed audio things. It had problems with the dial so was rather more confusing even than intended. Several people thought there was much more to it than there was, some possibly thought it was an official clue to a Lynch project. Sorry about that.
So for 2024 I clearly had to make it have an actual working mystery quest. After discussing with my friend Graham (a former MUD puzzle making collaborator and fellow Lynch fan) this turned out to be a hunt for owls and their associated numbers.
You needed to find four of the nine owls. Each owl’s number could be dialled to hear something about that owl and further instructions. You then add an owl’s number to that of another owl to get another number that you can dial for more hints. Then other owl’s numbers need to be added to the ones you have until eventually the location and code for the prize box is revealed.
These were the locations of all the owls:
VENUS 83687
The origin owl, on the table with the phone.
The table by the pond with the owl Venus
What you hear if you dial VENUS
Audio Text
You have found the owl Venus. A Venus de Medici statue can be found in the waiting room of the black lodge. There are other owls to find all over Electomagnetic Field. Each will have a number like this one. When you find them, add the numbers together then dial the result. The owls are waiting. Be vigilant. Speak to you soon.
DIANE 34263
A printed poster of an owl. Could be found on the main notice board by the info tent. Also on World o’ Techno.
Diane on World o' Techno
What you hear when you dial DIANE
Audio Text
Diane, entering the town of Electomagnetic Field. I've never seen so many LEDs in my life. Someone has found the owl that goes by the same name as you. Well done to them. They should keep looking for more owls though, and add their numbers together when they find them. Then ring back on that number. Oh Diane, I almost forgot. Got to find out what kind of LEDs these are, they're really something.
SILENCIO 74536240
The big shiny low-poly green owl in the Null Sector bar.
Silencio in Null Sector
What you hear when you dial SILENCIO
Audio Text
Well done, you found the owl Silencio. I hope you had a good time at Null Sector. Silencio is the name of the club in the movie Mullholland Drive. It is also the name of a club in Paris created by David Lynch. Keep searching for owls. Remember to try adding the numbers together, then dialling the result. There is no band. This is all a tape recording. Goodbye.
SYCAMORE 79226
The owl with flashing red eyes in the tree behind the Family Lounge. The flashing indicated the number to dial. I truncated the number so people wouldn’t have to watch it too long, also because it’s not easy to communicate a zero with eye flashing.
Sycamore in the tree
What you hear when you dial SYCAMORE
Audio Text
Congratulations on decoding the message from the owl Sycamore. A circular stand of twelve sycamore trees can be found in Glastonbury Grove. It is one of the entrances to the Black Lodge. There are more owls to be found. Keep looking and gather their numbers. Add the numbers together and use the result to call me again. I look forward to hearing from you.
ALICE 25423
The painting of an owl in the Lounge. With thanks to my partner, Alice, for painting it.
The Alice painting in the Lounge
What you hear when you dial ALICE
Audio Text
You found the owl Alice. Such a fine owl I think you will agree. David Lynch originally trained as a painter, he considers Francis Bacon to be his number one kinda hero painter. Keep looking out for owls all around the festival. Add their numbers together and ring me on the result. I'll be waiting for your call.
MICRA 64272
Seen in a video ad before films and on the stage screens between talks. David Lynch made an ad for the Nissan Micra.
The Micra ad
What you hear when you dial MICRA
Audio Text
Good. You have seen the owl Micra. In 2002 David Lynch made an advertisment for the Nissan Micra. He has made quite a few ads over the years. Several for perfumes, one for the Playstation 2, and one for Clear Blue pregnancy tests. Keep looking for owls. Add their numbers together when you find them, then call me again on that number. Until then.
All of these were found (the phone was logging dialled numbers most of the time). The following I don’t think were found:
PD150 73150
This could be found in the Tektronix 4001-6 vector CRT terminal in the Lounge. There were two versions and although it was quite unlikely they would come up in the gallery rotation, they could both be selected in the index. With thanks to Tom Stepleton.
A simulation of the PD150 owl plot
What you hear when you dial PD150
Audio Text
Well done for seeing the owl PD150. An odd name for an elusive owl. It is an interesting old bit of technology where you found it, and quite mesmerising. The Sony DSR-PD150 was the type of camcorder that David Lynch used to shoot the movie Inland Empire. Look for more owls. When you find them, add their numbers together then dial the result. I'll speak to you again.
OWL 695
This was in EMFFAX, the CEEFAX TV that was in the bar and possibly elsewhere. It couldn’t be on page 095 as numbers starting zero are special for EMFFAX, so we used the modern allocation of the letter O. (GPO phones used 0 for O, likely to avoid confusion. Now O is with M and N on 6.) Thanks to Matthew Scroggs.
The EMFFAX owl in the bar
What you hear when you dial OWL
Audio Text
Well done for finding the teletext owl. It's interesting that these old British telephones have the letter oh on the zero, instead of 6 as it is usually now. Do keep seeking out owls. They may be in the most unexpected places. Add up their numbers, and ring me on the result. I look forward to our next chat. Bye.
DISRUPTION 3477878
This was on the Owl page of the Wiki. The number could be found in the comment field of the metadata of the JPEG file on the page.
The image from the Wiki Owl page
What you hear when you dial DISRUPTION
Audio Text
Congratulations for working out the owl Disruption. The Festival of Disruption was an experimental arts festival curated by David Lynch. There are plenty more owls to be found in the field. Add their numbers together and dial them on the telephone. Good luck.
So say you found VENUS and MICRA, you’d add together 83687 and 64272 to get 147959. Then when you dial that number you’d hear this:
What you hear when you dial two numbers added together
Audio Text
Very good! You have found two owls and added their numbers together. You are getting closer to the goal. Keep looking for more owls. Add the numbers you find and call me back on the number you get. I'm expecting a call from you soon.
Then if you found ALICE you’d add 25423 to 147959 to get 173382. Dial that to hear:
What you hear when you dial three numbers added together
Audio Text
You have found three owls! This is excellent news. You are so close to the goal now. I think one more owl should be enough. I am certain you will find it. Add the numbers again and call back. Goodbye for now. And good luck.
Then maybe you visit Null Sector and find SILENCIO, you’d add 74536240 to 173382 to get 74709622. Dialling that you would hear:
What you hear when you dial four or more numbers added together
Audio Text
Congratulations indeed. You have found enough owls to gain access. Look for a blue box in the info tent. You will need a code to get in. I'll put you through to someone who knows that code. It was good speaking to you. I'll see you again in two years. Goodbye.
Followed by David Lynch reading the numbers 62623 (NANCE, in tribute to Jack Nance, a regular actor in Lynch productions).
You’d then head to the Info Tent, where you’d find a dark blue box with a code padlock. Unlock the box with the code and you see this:
What happens when you open the blue box.
(The announcement on 5th June was a new album called Cellophane Memories)
The box contained a number of prizes, including stickers, small versions of the SILENCIO owl, and Lynch themed Hexpansions for the EMF badge.
The prize Hexpansion in the badge. Photo by one of the winners, Brian Starkey.
Nearly all of the prizes went, so it seems I judged the rate of winning about right.
Rabbits & Weather - Collectable Card Games
In 2022 the two main things you could do with the phone were to dial RABBITS (7222487) and WEATHER (9328437). The numbers station reads out these numbers, that was the only way people could know about them.
The Rabbits card back, showing the number to dial: 555-RABBITS
Rabbits plays randomly selected audio from Lynch’s Rabbits film. The film is a kind of sitcom with the dialogue in seemingly random order already. So the phone basically gives you infinite audio versions.
The Weather card back, a screenshot of Lynch doing a weather report, showing the number to dial: 555-WEATHER
Weather is a remix of Lynch’s daily LA weather reports. Every morning for a few years he’d report on the weather in a video on Youtube. Always staring “Good morning, it’s (date) and it’s a (day). Here in LA …”. The phone plays you a version of this that follows the original format but mixes up the details.
This time as well as the owls, I wanted to make these two easier to discover. So I made some business cards with the numbers on, in text form but with the classic movie prefix 555 to indicate that they’re phone numbers. To make a bit of extra challenge for people who are really paying attention, the two sets of cards have five different designs to collect. Also, to tie it to the owl hunt, the fifth and rarest cards were in the prize box.
The Rabbits card set. They are all stills from the Rabbits film. Bottom left is the rare prize card, bottom right is the other side of the cards with the number.
The Weather card set. The top four are based on postcards from the 1940s, I added the Here in LA... text. Bottom left is the rare one, it's a Streetview photo of David Lynch's house, which was also the house in Lost Highway. I manipulated it to make it look similar in style to the postcards. Bottom right is the other side of the cards, it's a still from a weather report video.
I handed out a few of the cards, but mostly I left them on the table with the phone.
Making Of
(Air of mystery breaking internals details coming soon…)