Kelly's Computer

Sixty-eight year old Patrick Kelly was a successful businessmen. He owned a number of transport companies, textile mills and toy manufacturing companies. He also owned a few shipping lines. Although Kelly was a very busy person he had a fascination. He simply loved to play chess. He used to play chess with his dear friend Morris Tillet on a regular basis. However, the sudden premature death of Morris broke his heart and he fully concentrated in his business in later years.

Kelly visited a computer exhibition in 1979, twenty-five years after his friend's death. The computers on display impressed him. What fascinated him most was that computers can play chess. His fascination for chess was rekindled. He ordered a computer immediately. The computer was delivered to his house within a month. Kelly placed the computer in his study. He haven't forgotten his friend though. He placed a bust of Morris Tillet on the computer.

Kelly programmed some great chess moves in the game. He became glued to the game from the very first day. He noticed that the computer played back according to the famous moves invented by an eighteenth century french grandmaster, the favorite moves of this dear friend. Kelly played for three long hours and became tired and exhausted. He went over to disconnect the plug. A surprise was waiting for him. He had forgotten to plug in the computer. The computer worked without electricity!!!

Kelly didn't have much knowledge about computers. However, he could understand quite well that a computer isn't supposed to work without electricity. He informed the computer company about the incident. The next day the mechanic came and listened to him. "Incredulous!" the man replied. A computer cannot play on its own and the moves have to be programmed, let alone working without electricity, the man continued.

The computer was from a well-known company. The company became worried about their reputation and provided him with a new computer. The new computer was also provided with a chess game having twenty-two simple and sixty complicated chess moves. Kelly decided to publish a new chess move in a local newspaper. As soon as he worked out the move in the computer, the machine started to play back on it's own. He became furious and turned the computer off. His fury turned into astonishment very soon. The computer was still working. He disconnected the plug, but, the computer went on displaying the last move on the monitor. Kelly, out of curiosity, made another move.

He suddenly remembered the game he played with Morris on 12th April, 1952. That's a game he will never forget. A strong coincidence took place during that game. Both of them made the same move. The computer did the same thing twenty-eight years later. He informed the company. A team of engineers came and checked everything thoroughly. They took the sculpture away for further investigation. Curiously, the computer worked alright that night.

The experts did an x-ray of the sculpture and carried out many other tests. However, none of the tests did yield any result. The bust was returned the next day. The computer started with all the spooky stuff all over again. The computer experts could never give any satisfactory explanation to these. The believers of the supernatural claimed that Morris' soul used Kelly's mental power to run the computer. But, this is off-course no scientific explanation. The above tale remains an unsolved mystery till date.