Robert hart

Introducing Twice Born – Excerpt from Twice Born

Introduction by Robert Hart

My wife and I bought a unique and fascinating house in Kingswear, beside the Higher Ferry slipway, on the banks of the River Dart. It was a most unusual house with a steam train running before it and a wild woodland behind.

We had lived there for a few years, when a stranger knocked on our door, out of the blue. “My name is Willow Archer.” She said. “My grandparents used to live here.” We invited her in for tea.

Willow told us she came to fulfil a promise to her grandfather. She related a remarkable story about her childhood, and what she, her grandparents, Thomas and Naomi Archer, discovered in the Hoodown Woods, and how it completely changed their lives.

She gave me a copy of Thomas’s Journal, his notebook, and the letters he gave her on his death bed. She asked if I would gather them together, and tell their story.

Well, here it is, based on their testimony – the unique and fascinating story of the Twice Born.

Robert Hart, Dartmouth, Devon, January 2023

Introduction by Willow Archer

In 1986, when I was ten, I visited my grandfather, Thomas Archer, at his house in Devon. While I was playing in the garden, I saw a strange flying thing. It disappeared into the Hoodown Woods.

Papa Tom was old and sick, but he climbed to the woods with me to find it. The thing was gone, but Papa promised he would return to the woods and find out what it was.

What he discovered, and later revealed to Grandma Naomi and me, was something miraculous. 

He wrote down what he learned in his Journal and notebooks, and just before he died, he gave it to me. He told me I had to wait ten years before I would be able to  read it. Then, I was to share what he wrote with the World.

On my 21st birthday, I read the Journal. There were some big surprises for me, but I can confirm without qualification, that all he wrote is just as I remember. I later checked with Grandma, who also confirmed that everything was exactly as he reported.

I gave a copy of Papa Tom’s journal, his notes, and his last letters to the author, Robert Hart. I asked him to edit and present our story as he wished. 

We changed a few names to protect people and removed some information that might have dangerous consequences if misused. Otherwise, this book is a full and true representation of my family story. I hope you find it interesting.

Bye for now.

Willow Archer, 2023

Introduction From The journal of Thomas Archer

Dear Reader,

Since you are reading this, I must be dead. 

I made a promise. If I kept the promise, I died. If I broke the promise, I died.

This is my testimony of all that I discovered in the Hoodown Woods, by the River Dart, in the county of Devon.

Today, 6th June 1986, the creatures I first met one month ago, have agreed to tell me everything I wish to know about them. I’ve promised I will keep a true and faithful record of everything I learn in the Journal they have given me. I will report, as well as I can, what has passed so far and whatever may follow.

I promised to keep everything secret for the rest of my life and for ten years after. I will give the Journal to my granddaughter, Willow Archer, who may disclose the secrets we learned, down all our generations.

If you are reading this now, my life is over, and Willow has somehow passed our story to you.

Yours Most Sincerely. In Truth and Good Faith

Thomas Archer, 6th June 1986