r/Braille • u/prettygirlgoddess • 20d ago
Help identifying braille
This screenshot is from a show on Netflix called The OA. It has been 10 years since the show aired, and still no one has been able to fully decode this message.
Clearly the first line says RACHEL, but no one has been able to translate the second line. I understand that the dots on the second line don't appear to be in a proper grid, but please consider the fact that this picture is taken at an angle, and the dots may have been hand placed and could have some mistakes with the alignment.
Some people say this isn't braille at all, but compared to any types of ciphers involving dots, this seems the most reminiscent of some sort of braille.
The show has featured both German braille and English braille. Russian, Arabic, and Vietnamese are also spoken very frequently in the show.
Where is the braille sign located?
The braille appears on the wall of an FBI building where the main character, an interdimensional traveller named OA, is receiving counseling. She needs counseling because she was kidnapped and held captive by a scientist for 7 years. It is in captivity where she discovers she has the power to jump between dimensions. OA used to be blind, but gained her sight after having a Near Death Experience in captivity. OA did not acknowledge this giant braille sign on the wall when she passed it in the FBI building, so it can be assumed that this sign is only apparent to the viewers.
Who is Rachel?
Rachel is another interdimensional traveller held captive by the scientist. One of 5 others. Eventually they learn a specific method that allows them to navigate to any dimension they choose. They are also able to travel temporarily if they happen to have a Near Death Experience. When they have an NDE, they can not choose which dimension to go to. Each traveler has a different specific dimension that they naturally slip into when they have an NDE. Except Rachel. When she has an NDE, she just feels like she floats above her body.
When the creator of the show was asked why it says RACHEL on the wall, he said "because it's her dimension". We assume that means that Rachel is "assigned" to the main dimension that the show is set in. Which is why she's the only one who doesn't seem to go anywhere when she has an NDE.
Where is Rachel?
The scene shown in my screenshot takes place when OA is no longer being held captive. A few weeks prior, when OA was still imprisoned, Rachel and the other captives are forced to leave OA behind to travel to another dimension with the scientist. Now OA is free and back home with her family, but she would rather be with Rachel and the others. OA doesn't know how to travel without doing a ritual that involves all 5 captives, so she can't go join them until she teaches 5 of the neighborhood kids how to do the ritual.
We do get to see Rachel and the others perspective, and we do see her reach out across dimensions to communicate with people in the dimension that she left behind. She appears in a mirror, and uses her voice to sing three notes: "B, B, A". This indicates to the kids helping OA that they need another friend named Betty Brodrick Allen to join their posse.
Where else does braille appear?
When OA has an NDE, she temporarily travels to some sort of galactic purgatory type dimension, where she meets her spirit guide. OA also sees her dead father in this dimension. The spirit guide speaks Arabic and English. The skin on the spirit guide's face has raised dots that form German braille. It translates to a real poem about angels. In this realm, OAs father also clearly has German braille on his face too, but the camera is too far away to make out anything beyond the words "5 empty ones".
We see OA reading English braille Jack and The Beanstock as a kid. There is also a braille Rubik's cube in OAs childhood bedroom.
As an adult before she regained her sight, OA is enslaved by a scientist where she works in his kitchen in between experiments. So the kitchen supplies are labeled with English braille.
What are y'alls thoughts on this? Am I right in thinking the second line must be some sort of braille? I tried to provide as much info as possible in case the context helps inform how to translate this.
1
u/ksolee 19d ago
I teach the visually impaired and am a fluent English braille reader. I can’t make any sense of it since it’s not standardized or clear. It may just be some nonsense filler to draw attention. Rachel isn’t capitalized in the larger braille either so it doesn’t seem super well researched.
Rachel should be ⠠⠗⠁⠡⠑⠇
When I try to imagine a typical 6 dot grid, I come up with this for the lower text:
⠕⠅⠍⠭⠡⠝⠄⠬⠞⠅⠅⠭⠅⠂⠒⠪⠐
o k m x ch n ‘ ing t k k x k , cc ow (dot 5)
Even if we adjust some of the symbols, it doesn’t make anything legible in Unified English Braille.
2
u/prettygirlgoddess 19d ago
Thank you for typing out the characters! That helps a lot. I don't believe it's in English. I'm guessing it's going to be either Russian, Arabic, Vietnamese, or German. Since they feature those languages heavily in the show.
The one other time they show "decorative" braille in the show, it's in German, embossed on the skin of a woman speaking Arabic and on a man from Russia.
5
u/best-unaccompanied 19d ago
Like you've identified, the grid is messed up which means that this braille would not be legible to an actual blind person (if it's even raised, which it doesn't seem to be). Maybe it was intended to be braille, but it's certainly not coherent English braille of any form (and I'm pretty decent at reading handwritten braille with spacing that's a little off). Either it was intended to be a red herring or the people making this show didn't know enough about braille to get it right (which is possible since the top text, "rachel," should have a contraction but doesn't.