Analyzing "the real" Henry Gale's Driver's License

[sullivan826]

Screen Cap of the real Henry Gale's Driver's License
http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/6970/gale8bj.png

Map of Wayzata, MN: http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=Wayzata,+MN

City of Wayzata: http://www.wayzata.org/

CNN's Best Places to Live 2005: http://money.cnn.com/best/bplive/snapshots/36804.html

On this day - August 11, 1964: http://www.infoplease.com/onthisday?year=1964&month=August&day=11
Check out the first event; maybe a hint towards a future episode, S.O.S.?


What else can you guys grab from this? :cool: Does anyone know what an A1 class license is?
Edit: The zip code of Wayzata, MN adds up to 23.

[DarthSolidus]

Cool, the crew certainly did their homework to get so many references to the numbers. Do you have a screen cap of the picture on the licence a bit clearer? Because, from what I gather from the online diary, if the picture is of an African-American person, then it could be Rose's brother...?

[Captured]

After he signed his name, what is the date he put? It looks to me like 8/11/64. But why would he put his birth date down if it's already on the license? Is this normal in MN?

[sullivan826]

After he signed his name, what is the date he put? It looks to me like 8/11/64. But why would he put his birth date down if it's already on the license? Is this normal in MN?

Yes, that is his birthdate; I am unaware if this is standard in MN.

[wICKED LOVE]

does everyone realize the wizard of oz play here?

dorothey GALE
Dorothy's uncle HENRY
the wizard arrives in oz via HOT AIR BALLOON

just sayin, being a wicked freak, i love it!!

[sullivan826]

does everyone realize the wizard of oz play here?

dorothey GALE
Dorothy's uncle HENRY
the wizard arrives in oz via HOT AIR BALLOON

just sayin, being a wicked freak, i love it!!

Yea, these connections were established. It is pretty cool, but these new twists through everything awry. Henry Gale is a real person, even though the story seems so stolen from the wizard of oz.

[budgeymom]

After he signed his name, what is the date he put? It looks to me like 8/11/64. But why would he put his birth date down if it's already on the license? Is this normal in MN?

Looks like 8/11/04 to me. Zero with a slash through it maybe. 8 + 11 + 04 = 23

Here something interesting I noticed: the driver's licence number isn't on the licence the way it should be.

I found this at: http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Henry_Gale

Sayid digs up "supposed" body of Gale's wife at balloon crash grave site, but finds it to be a male bearing a Minnesota driver's license (apparently found during a search of the body by Sayid). License ID photo is of a Afro-American male.
HENRY GALE
815 WALNUT RIDGE ROAD
WAYZATA, MN 55391
Licence # M152-996-431-000

http://lostpedia.com/wiki/Image:Henry_Gale_MN_License.jpg


[edit]Interesting facts about the license
It is an old version of the Minnesota license (the new version does not use the coding described below and went into production December 15, 2005). The old license uses a system where the first group of 4 characters are Soundex code for the surname of the driver, the second group of 3 are a code for the first name, the third group of 3 are a code for the middle initial. For Henry (no middle) Gale, this should be G400-303-000 (not M152-996-431). The last 3 digits are a coded month and day of birth and should never be 000.
The top line of a real license has boxes with various codes and dates. They should be from left to right:
[EYE COLOR][HEIGHT][WEIGHT][SEX][CLASS][ISSUED][EXPIRES MMDDYY]
[ BROWN? ][ 6-00?][ 220? ][ M ][ A1 ][ C4 ][ 03 ]
The license shown by Sayid has the same boxes but the first 3 are not clear and the expires date is only 2 digits.
Under these boxes on the real license is a box with date of birth MMDDYYYY in red.
The license shown by Sayid shows a date MMDDYY but it is unclear. However, next to Henry's signature you can see 8/11/64 written in ink.
55391 is a zip code in Wayzata, MN which is a suburb of Minneapolis.

[MyFav]

It looks like 8/11/66 to me.:blank:

[flowfish]

It looks like 64 to me. 2006 - 1964 = 42, I think that all the numbers are on the license. Those wacky writers.

[Captured]

It looks like 8/11/66 to me.:blank:

So he signed it in 1966? Two years after he was born.

Looks like 8/11/04 to me. Zero with a slash through it maybe.

And it expired in 2003?


It doesn't make sense.

[MyFav]

So he signed it in 1966? Two years after he was born.



And it expired in 2003?


It doesn't make sense.
I know it doesn't say 66 it just looks like 66 to me.:D
I did realize the real date does equal 42.:)

[dcsipe]

Yea, these connections were established. It is pretty cool, but these new twists through everything awry. Henry Gale is a real person, even though the story seems so stolen from the wizard of oz.

The story wasn't "stolen" from the Wizard of Oz, it's a reference. Henry Gale was Dorothy's uncle, however, he never took a trip in a balloon. Does anything from the Wizard of Oz have anything to do with the overall storyline of Lost? Who knows. Maybe the creators love the movie and wanted references in there.

[BrandX]

I believe everything they reference, especialy books/movies, has a lot to do with what influenced the writers. The name Henry Gale and the balloon idea was taken from two different characters, and then combined into one for this show. I would call that a good reference, not stealing.

[Barbar]

I am confused about a few things. That license expired in 03. This would mean that the crash of the balloon must have occurred before 2003. WHY? Well we can safely assume that someone that flies across the planet would want an up to date license. So this gives us a time frame. Assuming the balloon had crashed in 2004 summer...the balloon crash + grave site is approximately 1 - 1.5 years old at the minimum...i could stretch this to say 4-5 years max. This can be verified by examining the body in the grave. Jack would be able to tell apporximately how old as he did such and excellent job with Adam and Eve (just by looking at the clothes)....

Another thing that is confusing...why is the date next to his signature 64'. It should have been some year more recent. One thing i can imagine...when he went to the DMV he went on his birthday. He signed his card and dated it but instead of the current year put his birth year because that is what he was used to doing. I've done this before on forms and things. but this would be a very trivial detail that i doubt the producers thought about.

Another thing. Minnesota license numbers are encoded differently. I dont know how but i read it somewhere that the license number would be H-236 or something which is H First letter of name...+ the next three constanants...each constanant represented by a different letter thus encoding the name. The rest of the numbers are birth date, weight, etc. So that doesnt add up

My question is...why the hell would the producers go through the trouble of making this id and not have it be accurate.

ANSWER:

The producers want us to talk about this on the message boards so they can sit back and sip their damn martinis and laugh.

[The Cube]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think whoever's doing the whispering knows what's going on.

Some whispers from "One of Them"

http://lostlinks.net/whispers.htm

"Don't let them break you Henry."

"Try to save Henry." etc.

So either the whisperers don't know that he's not really Henry Gale, or he really is Henry Gale.

I choose the latter. That "Hatch Henry" and the others had a plan to infiltrate the camp with a story and a woman buried. Then the others have since changed their minds, and dug up the woman, replaced her with a man and a fake driver's license, betraying "Hatch Henry".

This means the guy in the hatch is the real Henry Gale, and the guy in the ground is the fake Henry Gale.

[Exie]

If he was the real Henry, then why, when he was confronted, would he not start defending himself? He looked like he just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

[The Cube]

If he was the real Henry, then why, when he was confronted, would he not start defending himself? He looked like he just got caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

All it shows is a surprised look on his face. Consistent with being surprised about the driver's license being discovered, one way or the other.

(And I didn't really think this belonged in the thread of the analysis of the license, talking more about the whispers and whether he really is Henry Gale. I should have made the title different I guess)

[Hobbster]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think whoever's doing the whispering knows what's going on.

Some whispers from "One of Them"

http://lostlinks.net/whispers.htm

"Don't let them break you Henry."

"Try to save Henry." etc.

So either the whisperers don't know that he's not really Henry Gale, or he really is Henry Gale.

I choose the latter. That "Hatch Henry" and the others had a plan to infiltrate the camp with a story and a woman buried. Then the others have since changed their minds, and dug up the woman, replaced her with a man and a fake driver's license, betraying "Hatch Henry".

This means the guy in the hatch is the real Henry Gale, and the guy in the ground is the fake Henry Gale.

No, I'm all for theories, but they have to be plausible. When Jack Intervened after Sayid had effectively beat the crap out of "Henry", Henry gave Sayid a Smug, smirky look. He is not a good person that needs saving, none the less. Look at how he has been manipulating Locke (which is the part of the story that has me irritated, because no way could this guy get to Locke, not after the mind games his own father did to him.)

[The Cube]

No, I'm all for theories, but they have to be plausible. When Jack Intervened after Sayid had effectively beat the crap out of "Henry", Henry gave Sayid a Smug, smirky look. He is not a good person that needs saving, none the less. Look at how he has been manipulating Locke (which is the part of the story that has me irritated, because no way could this guy get to Locke, not after the mind games his own father did to him.)

I'm not saying he's a good person, or not an other. I'm saying his real name is Henry Gale. Did you even read my post?

Then how do you explain the whispers referring to him as Henry?

[sullivan826]

The story wasn't "stolen" from the Wizard of Oz, it's a reference. Henry Gale was Dorothy's uncle, however, he never took a trip in a balloon. Does anything from the Wizard of Oz have anything to do with the overall storyline of Lost? Who knows. Maybe the creators love the movie and wanted references in there.

I didn't mean to make it sound that way dcsipe. That would be interesting, however, if there were more future connections related to TWoO.

[Faith+One]

and the number 815..flight 815?

[sullivan826]

and the number 815..flight 815?

Of Course.

By the way everyone, I think that is his birthday that he wrote to the right of his name. Does anyone have a HD screenshot of the license??

Edit: How is this?
http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/1528/gale24qo.jpg

[Lost & Found]

Ok here are the Number connections I can get from that picture:

Ok well obviously the zip..

The Birdate lookes like 8-11-64, 8 is one of the numbers 16 (even though its cut by the -) is one of the numbers, and then the 4.

it says the card expires in 03... doesnt the show take place in 04?

The licence date at the bottom is 8/11/04.. more numbers and that darn 11 again..

815 Walnut Ridge Road

hmm class: A1 ..
issued: C4 no idea about those 2

Im thinkin hidden message in the Barcode thing.. or the T in the box is something.. a hot air ballooner from Minnesota... why would he be by Fuji/Australia/LA? Hmm

EDIT: Who smiles in a drivers license pic. I thought they tell you not to smile?

[2lostinohio]

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think whoever's doing the whispering knows what's going on.

Some whispers from "One of Them"

http://lostlinks.net/whispers.htm

"Don't let them break you Henry."

"Try to save Henry." etc.

So either the whisperers don't know that he's not really Henry Gale, or he really is Henry Gale.

I choose the latter. That "Hatch Henry" and the others had a plan to infiltrate the camp with a story and a woman buried. Then the others have since changed their minds, and dug up the woman, replaced her with a man and a fake driver's license, betraying "Hatch Henry".

This means the guy in the hatch is the real Henry Gale, and the guy in the ground is the fake Henry Gale.


OR there are no whispers at all. Listen to the files. They're garbage.

[sullivan826]

Ok here are the Number connections I can get from that picture:

Ok well obviously the zip..

The Birdate lookes like 8-11-64, 8 is one of the numbers 16 (even though its cut by the -) is one of the numbers, and then the 4.

it says the card expires in 03... doesnt the show take place in 04?

The licence date at the bottom is 8/11/04.. more numbers and that darn 11 again..

815 Walnut Ridge Road

hmm class: A1 ..
issued: C4 no idea about those 2

Im thinkin hidden message in the Barcode thing.. or the T in the box is something.. a hot air ballooner from Minnesota... why would he be by Fuji/Australia/LA? Hmm

EDIT: Who smiles in a drivers license pic. I thought they tell you not to smile?

I was hoping there'd be more number references..
The numbers under his picture don't add up to a number
The only plausable references are the street number and zip code..

C'mon, Lost writers, throw us obsessors a bone here... :shock:

[GhoSSt]

Reminds me of what Chris Rock says.

"Are you sh!tting me? Aint no black people in Minnesota! The only black people in Minnesota are Prince and Kirby Puckett!".

Maybe there's a connection to Purple Rain and Lake Minnetonka.

[sullivan826]

The license does seem a little off.
I think the writers were looking for a middle-of-nowhere town in Minnesota, but stumbled upon this one because of its ZIP code.
I think they started in Minneapolis and worked their way out. (They didn't get too far, this town is right down the road.)

[iusedtohavealife]

The guy in the picture looks so warm and nice.

Yeah - that's right - I have nothing real to contribute to this discussion.

[The Cube]

OR there are no whispers at all. Listen to the files. They're garbage.

The whispers get analyzed by two independant sources and only when these sources concur, they make it to the lostlinks website.

What's garbage to you is backwards to me. Neither of us can make it out.

But considering that two people have independantly heard "Henry" several times when it is played backwards, and it happens while Henry is getting tortured, I'm inclined to take their word for it. At least more than the word of some guy babbling "They're garbage."

[gizgam]

I couldn't sleep so I came up with two absurd anagrams for the drivers license. From the words on the drivers license:

HENRY GALE WALNUT RIDGE WAYZATA MINNESOTA

LONER HURLEY WASTING TAZMANIA GATEWAY END

DENY A MENTAL OZ AGAIN HURLEY SAW GREAT TWIN

[cutters43]

here is a stab at why the birthdate is signed off to the side of his signature.
as a former doorman, whenever we had questionable ID's we had people sign the book to get in. name and birthday. then you checked what they wrote down against their ID's.
would not suprise me if MI used that set up. you ever drank with someone from MI????

[Bokkey]

one thing i dont understand is this: why did Henry Gale tell everyone that he had a wife and he burried her near his balloon at an obvious place. because when he drew that map, he knew that they would go there, find his balloon, and more importantly the grave, dig it up and find out that there is no wife inside, so why did he lie when he KNEW they would find out that he's lying?

maybe dharma is looking down on him making sure that he keeps telling lies?

[IslandofMystery]

one thing i dont understand is this: why did Henry Gale tell everyone that he had a wife and he burried her near his balloon at an obvious place. because when he drew that map, he knew that they would go there, find his balloon, and more importantly the grave, dig it up and find out that there is no wife inside, so why did he lie when he KNEW they would find out that he's lying?

maybe dharma is looking down on him making sure that he keeps telling lies?
I think 'Henry' just thought they would believe him because of all the evidence there. But, I don't think 'Henry' thought that they would dig up the grave, because he probably thought that they would believe him.

[allymonty]

Soz i couldn't be bothered reading this whole thread. Did anyone notice he lives at "815" walnut road or whatever. Just another cool use of the numbers.

[interested]

[QUOTE=BarbarSo this gives us a time frame. Assuming the balloon had crashed in 2004 summer...the balloon crash + grave site is approximately 1 - 1.5 years old at the minimum[/quote]

No, the plane also likely crashed in 2004 (Red Sox reference, Nemo reference, etc.) and they've only been there about 2 months, so a balloon crash in 2004 wouldn't be that old.

[sullivan826]

I think 'Henry' just thought they would believe him because of all the evidence there. But, I don't think 'Henry' thought that they would dig up the grave, because he probably thought that they would believe him.

I agree that is probably what he thought, but I wonder why he didn't realize Sayid meant business. Hadn't he just tortured him? Henry must've thought that it was a possibility Sayid would dig it up. :plotting:

There's definitely a lot more to this story.

[Kadonnut]

Well that black male could be Henry's "wife". :D

And his name might be like Henry Smith and because he's using his wife's last name so they are both Henry Gales... :p

But serious... maybe Henry Gale is Walt's uncle (Susan's brother)? So it makes sense with Oz references...

EDIT: Btw, can they exactly correct driver's licenses in TV if they aren't real?

[sullivan826]

EDIT: Btw, can they exactly correct driver's licenses in TV if they aren't real?

I think, being the Lost writers, they would make sure it was correct.
There are plenty of websites out there that have a screen cap for every stinkin' second of the show, I'm sure they want to be as precise as possible... :hat:

[siihp777637]

The whispers get analyzed by two independant sources and only when these sources concur, they make it to the lostlinks website.

What's garbage to you is backwards to me. Neither of us can make it out.

But considering that two people have independantly heard "Henry" several times when it is played backwards, and it happens while Henry is getting tortured, I'm inclined to take their word for it. At least more than the word of some guy babbling "They're garbage."

going to have to agree with you on that one...and if you go through all of the files rather than being lazy like the babbling guy you quoted and just looking at the first one...you can hear a solid portion, if not all of the lines that they suggest exist

[ohbuffalo]

Soz i couldn't be bothered reading this whole thread. Did anyone notice he lives at "815" walnut road or whatever. Just another cool use of the numbers.

Come on! You can't read through 34 posts? Yeah, we get it, it was clearly shown on post #1. If you can't be bothered to read 34 posts, don't bother to post.

[sullivan826]

Come on! You can't read through 34 posts? Yeah, we get it, it was clearly shown on post #1. If you can't be bothered to read 34 posts, don't bother to post.

I agree. A 70+ page thread I can somewhat understand (The Blacklight Wall thread), but this is two and a half pages, if that. :banghead:

[The Cube]

I agree that is probably what he thought, but I wonder why he didn't realize Sayid meant business. Hadn't he just tortured him? Henry must've thought that it was a possibility Sayid would dig it up. :plotting:

There's definitely a lot more to this story.

Yeah, but he didn't draw the map for Sayid. He drew it for Ana Lucia.

[sullivan826]

True, but how could he assume she would go alone, and not bring the most skilled navigator of the whole group along with her?

[Kayla_]

does everyone realize the wizard of oz play here?

dorothey GALE
Dorothy's uncle HENRY
the wizard arrives in oz via HOT AIR BALLOON

just sayin, being a wicked freak, i love it!!

dorthey is also from minnasotia like henry gale
coincidence? i think not

[sullivan826]

dorthey is also from minnasotia like henry gale
coincidence? i think not

Yes, we know this already.

[ohbuffalo]

Dead Thread.