 <p>The question was edited after I originally posted this and it was accepted. The answer to the updated question is to open the file in binary mode:</p> <pre><code>crystal = open('vmises.dat', 'rb') </code></pre> <hr> <p>Answer to original, pre-edit question:</p> <p>Well, <code>data</code> is a string. The object you need to work on is <code>a</code>.</p> <pre><code>a = open('data.txt','r') b = pickle.load(a) c = pickle.load(a) d = pickle.load(a) a.close() </code></pre> <p>For <code>pickle</code> info, see the <a href="http://wiki.python.org/moin/UsingPickle" rel="nofollow">Python Wiki</a> or <a href="https://python4kids.wordpress.com/2011/02/04/an-awful-pickle/" rel="nofollow">Python for Kids</a>.</p>