THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 24 มิ.ย. 2020
- MAG156 - Case #0090401 - Adelard Dekker
Statement regarding a derelict funfair attraction.
The Magnus Archives reads of the story of a ill-advised trip to an abandoned American carnival and a jaunt through the Hall of Mirrors that led to some unflattering reflections about bodies.
Content Notes: Body horror, cannibalism, fairground accidents
Starring: Martin Blackwood - Alexander J Newall; Peter Lukas - Alasdair Stuart
Writer: Jonathan Sims
Director: Alexander J Newall
Producer: Lowri Ann Davies
Editors: Alexander J Newall, David Devereux, Brock Winstead
MERCH:
Crowdmade: crowdmade.com/collections/rus...
Teepublic: www.teepublic.com/stores/rust...
Redbubble: www.redbubble.com/people/Rust... - บันเทิง
The way Martin talks to the tape recorders has the same energy as me talking to my cat. 'Fine, you do you, you selfish git. I love you.'
"In my defense it's still quite funny!" God the fine line between horror and comedy is fun
When he was talking about the guy getting thrown off the top of a rollercoaster, I couldn’t help but think that that was exactly what Simon said he would do to Martin if he got bored... 😬
lmao ikr
Fr 😂
Martin's downwards spiral into the Lonely and losing his feelings towards everything is literally killing me inside, god
in peter's defense, it is pretty funny
Martin talking to the tape recorders is strangely cute.
I concur
RIGHT!? He sounds like he's talking to a puppy or smthng 🥺
@@paigefuentes1055 Or us
@@trucetruce335 hes talking to jon!! he knows hes going to listen to them :3
I love it so much, mostly because it's clearly a thing where he's talking to "Jon" on an instinctive level, even with the Lonely holding greater and greater influence over him.
Martin treats the recorders like a pet, and I'm 100% here for it.
"I think i still care that he hears my voice." Umu Martin i-- 🥺
Remember
Jon: trying to figure out what he's becoming and the mysteries of the institute
Martin: wondering if he can get an endless supply of batteries from manifesting tape recorders
I litrally lost it when I heard that. For a horror podcast its fucking hilarious XD
@@alphalilly8207 That's the thing with English horror/tragedy writing the I find so lacking in American horror/tragedy, that inserted comedy gives relief that makes the return to the bad stuff scare/hurt so much more!
Based on some of the other fates explored in this series, "You're not going to die but you won't be coming back" has some absolutely horrifying implications.
As a very round person with severe depression, Martins opening monologue hit so damn hard. Like yeah buddy, me fucking too, I understand people are hard and my fridge is probably filled with meat too
I hope you're doing better now :)
Me, before this episode: haha I'm so lucky to have my only big fear be mirrors since it's so niche that TMA won't have an episode on it
Me, now:
*FUCK*
If you have a fear, TMA has an episode about it. That is the rule, none shall escape :D
@@marysukha491 I have survived so far
@@deviouscrackers9464 we’ll see😊
@@marysukha491So far I've survived, at least when it comes to a really niche fear of mine
C-Cesil Palmer?!? From Night Vale???????
No! I hate that Martin is changing so much, I know that it 100% is a needed thing for the story, and it’s done wonderfully, but oh boy does it hurt.
You can write fanfics to make yourself feel better
"How much do I *actually* care, and how much is feeling that I *should* care?"
Baby boy that's called depressioooooooooooooooooooooon 🎶
you didn't have to call me out like this
*chuckles* I'm in danger...
Yup. :')
everytime I strongly relate to a line I go the comments & am hit with "BRO THIS CHARACTER NEEDS HELP😭"
@@takeoats ikr i'm like "mood, [character]" thinking it's normal and then get called out like this in the comments
Martin talking to the recorder makes me feel like he's talking to us. Don't know if that's intentional but I love it.
i reckon it probably is
Well the recorders are kinda the only way we can really experience these stories, in a way we are very similar to The Eye, closely observing with such an intense fascination that, were it not for the fourth wall, would be pretty unpleasant for those involved
I certainly don't have batteries inside. Meat, on the other hand...
Martin talking to the tape recorder is giving me life. It's kind of hilarious and adorable.
On another note, everybody please say it together: "Go to Hell, Lukas!"
GO TO HELL, LUKAS!!
gthl!!!
Go to hell, Lukas!
I know this is a horror podcast but I'll sacrifice a few fingers for a happy ending.
EDIT: I have made peace and readied myself for a tragic ending. HURT ME JONATHAN SIMS I HAVE FIX-IT FANFICS TO MEND MY SHATTERED HEART AFTER.
I think it will be a bitter sweet ending. The podcast even though it is dark is still to positive to end too badly. In this world while there are only gods of fear it is possible to beat them with hope and love and friendship so my hope for some happiness is still alive.
you seem to have cycled through the five stages of grief very quickly! can't say the same. i'm still stuck at denial. :')
You talk with the same confidence of a man challenging Zeus to shock them, good luck
I honestly don't care about the state of the world anymore. I just want John and Martin to be together in the end, either dead or alive, but together.
@@achnav3762 seems like you got your wish
Martin: Peter, we have talked about this!
Peter Lucas: In my defense, it is still quite funny.
He's got you there, Martin.
I just realized that, over quarantine, I’ve talked to my laptop camera and the voice notes app on my phone the same way Martin talks to tapes... I think that’s a bit sad, all things considered.
you too are falling to the lonley. also corona is just a successful teamwork ritual between the end the corruption and the lonley change my mind
@@TheMarkFlanagan Nah bro it's the extinction
Honey I always talked to my laptop even if people are around. Especially if it doesn´t do what I want. That has noting to do with me being lonely but with me beeing a weirdo.
The Lonely would like to know your contact information for business purposes, of course. Then throw it away after isolating you so much you lose all good memories.
The clock ticking in exact time with the seconds is both really cool and slightly terrifying
I'm ✨worried for Martin✨
Also, I find it really interesting that the Extinction doesn't seem to have that many common manifestations. Like, the Spiral has doors and endless halls and stuff, and the Web has spiders. The only thing Extinction statements have in common is their relation to man-made things. It's fitting, since there are so many different ways humanity could just end.
Well it's kind of funny because the extinctions manifestation kind of is humanity
Well, I think, so far, that it's deal is the very specific yet very prevalent fear that humanity will end _itself._ Hence the manmade things.
I can see why Elias and Peter get along
"Emptiness or maggots"... oh Martin.
Ok so you know how the main attacks on the institute were by the flesh and the corruption? Martin was talking about worrying that there might be “meat or maggots” at first in the battery compartments. Those attacks sure got a lot out of him...
@@F0rsythi4 isssshhhh (´-﹏-`；)
I find it very interesting how this seemed to warp the idea of a theme park- full of over indulgence in food and 'fun', it was fascinating to hear. Also I find it ironic that if we, the audience, are The Eye, that this is a podcast, listened to.
I keep wondering when the Ear is going to manifest.
3:29
At "If you've got any thoughts, I'd like to hear them" I shouted MARRY JON
"Hm?"
I SAID MARRY JON
"no."
AIJDFCNOADFJKCMZXCZONJAUFD
I spent an embarrassing amount of time wondering who ‘Marry’ was
OML same XD
SAME
@@DominationofProcrastination literally I just did that 😂
these comments make me nervous for the end of this episode, i swear if anything happens to martin i will cry. also ill edit this when ive finished, spoilers ahead
edit im hurting peter
good. Make him *suffer*
cannibalism time D: And that end gets me every time. Poor Martin
Cannibalism time :D
Ok so someone come and save Martin from himself NOW !
John won't let this happen, will he? John please don't be too late!
Peter Lukas is such an entertaining villain. The voice acting for his character is excellent.
I find myself like Adelard more and more, despite us having practically no real notion of his personality.
Edit: Some nice Famine aspected Extinction. O.o
martin talking to the tape recorder about going insane from being alone hits /real/ different now that I've been stuck alone in my dorm for 8 months. oof buddy, im right there with you.
Adelard giving off severe boomer vibes here in how he talks about his "young friend" and how he talks about them partying
I'm in his boat. What would this party be but a rave?
I find the recurring image of the rail-thin figure interesting.
Also, Martin NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I can only imagine that it must be one of the changelings, as I call them. The "NotThem," as Dekker calls them.
Then again, after reading another comment here, I think I may be wrong.
I think that the NotThems are definitely capable of being creepy, elongated, thin figures-as NotSasha did way back when… oh how I weirdly miss those days
I'd say Slenderman but this podcast really seems to make all monsters skinny and tall.
remember early seasons martin; a nice light lilt to his voice and now. we have borderline apathy.
jonny listen, i just wanna talk okay- you're writing is kind of amazing and inspiring for my tiny worldbuilding heart, but you have hurt martin >:c
Martin: "Peter we have talked about this!"
Peter: "In my defense, it is still quite funny."
Cracked me up immediately.
Peter: im so proud of you
Martin: i really dont care
Peter:PuUuUfEcT!!!
In contrast to most Magnus Archives episodes, this one is great to listen to while eating!
Ayyyyy, eating-while-listening-to-this-one-specifically Gang! 😂
This too fits nicely with my model that I mentioned back in the Big Picture episode. It is not "There Will Be No More of Us". It is *There Are Too Many of Us*.
Or it's both. Every apocalypse and post-apocalypse scenario at once, having to live through them *and* knowing you probably wouldn't last long and it would keep going without you. Kind of like the Vast can be both the sky and the deep sea.
Thinking about it more, you could still use either of those names, but I would (sub)title it, "We Destroyed Us"
@@polyanima i like that, extinction actually has a bit more facets than 'big disaster' its got the relation to human made things(concrete jungle), what comes after us, and Our own destruction, caused by ourselves. I really like the hellscape amusement park idea in this ep
@@tmaxgo6696 Well, as Dekker said in the first one, its about change. Climactic, irreversible change. Everything you know is gone and you have to deal with what comes after. It's a fear that doesn't really snugly fit into any of the others, which makes sense as to why its been bubbling since the Industrial Revolution.
“ Everything you know is gone and you have to deal with what comes after. ” I think that’s precisely why it’s separated from the End. With the End there is no after, with the Extinction there is-there is a world that still spins and turns and goes about it’s business after an entire species is gone. The End is more… personal-“I am/it is gone forever” not “WE are gone forever.”
now im just sadd
"It's not that I don't want a clean fridge.... some things are just hard"
Martin is the most relatable character in this show , imo.
4:48 There are few things as exciting as when something you love mentions your home state!
"Something horrible lives in Colorado.."
MARTIN!!!! OMG!!!!
That conversation at the end- Has Martin been losing his emotions to the Lonely? I don't like that.
As Martin describes the woman desperately gnawing at a bone to suck out the marrow and I'm brought to notice the food I'm trying to eat as I listen to this podcast for the third time, I'm starting to wonder if I really should listen to this while eating
aaaaaaaaand it only gets worse as i get further into the episode--
If there's one thing I've learned from the comments over many episodes- never eat while listening to this (especially never eat meat).
I imagine jon gets really excited when he notices martin recorded a statement just so he can hear him
“Jon did your pulse just flatline and go to 390bpm at the same time.“
*intense silence of listening to martins statement he recorded.*
“right. Don’t forget we all hate you goodbye“
Mm I like to think that by keeping him company, the tape(ie the eye) is undoing a little bit of the lonely's work
The Eye is clingy. It just wants to know how you're doing, what you're doing and what you're thinking. All the time .
Found this for the first time and just spent 2 weeks listening to the entire thing! I love it! The world feels so full and well written & the characters are all amazingly written - not to mention the production / acting quality!
I also have a few theories I'd like to share.
One, it feels like this series is going to end either with John's death or him loosing the last of his humanity. I don't really know why, its just where my gut says this is heading...
Two, I feel like the series will end with the Watcher's Crown being attempted. I don't really know if it'll succeed or fail, but either way I think John's going to be an integral part of the ritual.
Three, and this is more of just a thought than a theory. What if we, as the audience, represent the Beholding. Its hinted at that the Beholding is listening in on the tapes and we only know the parts of the story that are recorded on the tapes. Plus the Beholding is an entity from outside their world that watches events, it doesn't seem to interfere, just watch - which is exactly what we, as the audience, is doing. We are watching the events unfold without interfering, just letting them play out infront of us. And just like the Beholding we want John to keep reading statements - to keep going - as without them we'd have no story.
Edit: I semi feel like I spoiled myself, but after listening to the season 5 trailer I feel like the Watcher's Crown might end up happening at the end of season 4 rather than 5 now. Although the situation they're in could just be stuff to do with the Extinction, what they talked about makes me feel as if the Watcher's Crown was completed.
Have you caught up on the episodes of Season 5 yet? They're available on the Rusty Quill site!!
this is some next level inception here
guy tells decker about spook:
decker writes to gertrude about spook
martin records him reading the spook.
Adelard protecting the statement giver's anonymity says so much about Gertrude and his relationship with her.
"Well, I know that if the details are there, and it isn't inconvenient, Gertrude will do follow up, and extract extra details for the eye to snack on. But she would never compel me, if I was the only person with knowledge of the relevant details for a follow up, so let's not have this young man become Eye candy."
"Eye candy.''
...............
Oof!
as a coloradan, this has got to be based on Lakeside Amusement Park. they were supposed to shut down years ago, but i went just last summer. half the rides are broken down and the other half feels like they will break as soon as you ride them
Eyyyy fellow Coloradan!!
6:20, 'urban exploration'
Oh no the memories
Having Martin talk to the tape recorder like a pet just awakens something in me cuz every time I'm just here, big eyed, and smiling going "MMHMM! Food!"
When Martin talked to the tape recorder in the beginning, it made me smile with him acting like himself. The whole interaction was adorable.
It’s quite funny to imagine Martin is talking to us directly and not the tape recorders. He’s like “I know all you people are REALLY interested in is my personal drama with Peter Lucas, so I’ll get on with it already.”
peter essentially gave martin depression, the isolation, the apathy, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
"He tells me he was suddenly very aware of just how much fleEeEesSHh was on his body"
The delivery of that one word sent shivers down my spine
The Lonely should be renamed the Depression...
What's the significance of the lack of reflection thing?
Its his own reflection coming to get him.
From what I could gather, the original reflection was a part of that alternate reality. When the guy entered the mirror the first time around, he and the reflection switched places. But the lack of reflection means they did not switch back when he came back to his own world. The thing from the mirror remained in his reality, hunting him.
No!!! I just want everyone to be ok and happy!!
Eats potato chips while listening to this and is like yeah, the crunch is nice too.
Oh wow I’m watching this 12 years exactly after the statement was given. Neat.
fuck dude,, all this time i has just assumed peter was making martin an avatar of the lonely to feed his patron or whatever. but he was doing it so that martin would stop feeling, so that he wouldnt back out of the plan. he knew martin wouldnt go through with it if he still had such strong feelings for jon, if he actually cared that he was leaving him. thats why he didnt tell him about what he was actually going to be doing bc he knew if he revealed the plan before martin was like fully lonely-fied itd reverse all his "progress"
and honestly, looking at it from the point of view of "peter wanted martin to stop feeling" really puts martins whole change of character into perspective. him being all angry and even yelling in the previous episodes when he had previously been so sweet and caring was maybe the lonely just squeezing all his remaining feelings he had never expressed out until there was nothing left. ouch
martin talking to the tapes feels like hes talking to us , and i am genuinly replying to him ?
I wonder what would’ve happened if Jon hadn’t been in a coma, or anyway if he hadn’t been in one for so long… I wonder whether the tragic path Martin seems to be taking could’ve been substituted by a fragile happiness for him and Jon. Maybe it could’ve been beautiful-actually, it definitely would’ve been. Oh, well… **sigh of defeat**
Aw, they took a perfectly good Martin and made him depressed. Welcome to the club, I guess.
give martin a hug challenge
alternative title: LET'S GET THIS BREAD GAMERS GONE WRONG *****NOT CLICKBAIT*****
Ok but what kind of party was it actually
A rave, deckard dun lie
Omg this amusement park reminds me of the small one in Colorado called Lakeside. One of the first roller coasters I've ever gone on.
[INT. MAGNUS INSTITUTE, ????]
[TAPE CLICKS ON.]
[RUSTLING OF PAPER. IN THE BACKGROUND, THE CLOCK TICKS.]
MARTIN
Mm? (beat) Oh.
[HE LAUGHS, GENTLY.]
MARTIN (CONT’D)
Yeah. (rustling paper) I was going to read one. Hate for you to miss it!
[SHORT, FORCED LAUGH, AS HE FLAPS THE STATEMENT AROUND.]
MARTIN (CONT’D)
You know, I- I’ve been wondering about your batteries. Like, could I just take the batteries out each time one of you appears, and just- have an infinite supply of batteries? I mean- I won’t; don’t worry, don’t really have anything that needs them these days.
Also, I know there’s every chance that you don’t even have any, and it’s just empty, and, well… I’m not really sure that’s something I want to confirm.
Or, I open up your compartment and it’s like- meat, or maggots, or something. (slight pause, contemplative) Mm.
Emptiness or maggots. (he exhales) It’s kinda the shape of things around here, isn’t it?
Still, kind of nice to talk to some…thing? (sigh as he speaks) It’s always quiet, these days. For me, at least.
I guess I technically have the power to make it not quiet, to, to talk to people, but like- you know, I, I also have the power to clean out the fridge, and it’s still a mess. It’s not that I don’t want to clean the fridge, it’s just-
Some things are just hard.
Anyway. I know he’s been listening to the tapes, so I guess that’ll have to do.
I think I still care that he hears my voice. It’s hard to tell, sometimes. How much do I actually care, and how much is just feeling that I should care?
I’m on my own so much these days, I…
Just wish I didn’t like it so much.
I mean, if you’ve got any thoughts, I’d love to hear them.
[PAUSE.]
MARTIN (CONT’D)
Hmm?
[SILENCE, BUT FOR THE CLOCK.]
MARTIN (CONT’D)
No. Didn’t think so. (long inhale) That’s not what you’re here for, is it? (exhale-sigh) No. You want this.
[HE HOLDS UP THE STATEMENT.]
MARTIN (CONT’D)
Fine. (heavy inhale-exhale) Fine. Have it your way.
[HE SOUNDS RESIGNED, LIKE HE WAS HOPING FOR SOME INSIGHT DURING THIS ‘CONVERSATION’ THAT NEVER CAME.]
MARTIN (CONT’D)
As usual. (pause) Martin Blackwood, assistant to Peter Lukas, Head of the Magnus Institute, recording statement #0090401. Statement of Adelard Dekker, taken from a letter to Gertrude Robinson, dated 4th of January, 2009.
Statement begins.
MARTIN (STATEMENT)
(inhale) Gertrude. I wanted your opinion on an encounter I’ve had described to me, and given your recent dealing with Viscera, I would very much value your input.
Good job on that, by the way. I’m sure the gnostic temple was a great loss culturally speaking, but I can’t help but admire your directness when it comes to this sort of thing. I often find myself locked in a sense of esoteric paralysis on how to proceed.
Still. God grant me clarity to act when I need it.
Anyway, I was following up on a young man who had apparently had a nasty experience whilst exploring the ruins of the Bright Lake amusement park in Colorado.
You will forgive me if I withhold his name, as I have all the verification I need to be sure he’s telling the truth, and I find it hard to believe any followup you would be interested in doing would be beneficial for him. He’s earned his anonymity.
Bright Lake lies to the north of White River National Forest, just off the I-70. It was built in the sixties, around a large artificial lake that was apparently formed following a mining accident that had collapsed a significant portion of the surrounding landscape.
It was, from what I can tell from a collection of photos taken in 1983, a largely unremarkable amusement park. A medium sized wooden roller coaster, a ferris wheel, a Hall of Mirrors, and a wide avenue of games and carnival booths, as well as a fleet of paddle boats that allowed you to go out into the lake that gave the place its name.
By the nineties, it was struggling. By the turn of the millenium, it was out of business, closing its gates for the last time in October 1999.
From what I understand, there have been several plans to rebuild it or repurpose the land in the decades since, but none have amounted to more than surveyors pocketing fees and many slabs of planning documentation tucked away in filing cabinets.
It’s a little too out-of-the-way to be a common destination for teenage delinquency, but has become, I’m told, quite popular with what can be described as ‘rural urban exploration groups.’
Apparently, the lack of, well, actual urban areas to explore means that locations such as this become quite a draw for those in the area with an interest in abandoned places. And of course, its rather forbidding appearance after ten years of decay has led quite a few ghost hunters out that way, as well, though I’m not aware of any specific tragedies or stories about it that would give them much to go on.
My young friend was specifically intending to use it as the site of a party they were planning to throw. Based on his description, I would have called it a rave… but when I said so, he looked at me like I didn’t understand what he was talking about.
In any case, there was going to be a lot of dancing and movement, so he decided to scout ahead in order to see how structurally sound the place still was.
He was planning to mark out those buildings and areas that should be avoided, and which should be sufficiently stable to support a crowd of intoxicated party-goers.
I pressed him on how scary it had been, what fear he might have felt approaching it, but whilst he’d admit it was “creepy as hell,” that was apparently the point, and he said he didn’t feel any apprehension when he got there.
I suspect his machismo is stopping him admitting it, but there wasn’t much I could do to get him to open up.
He was very interested in the Hall of Mirrors. According to him, if it was still in good shape, it would have been an amazing place to put on a light show, and have his guests dance their way through the maze.
Sounds like a good way to get injured to me, but apparently I used the word ‘rave’ wrong, so what do I know?
Anyway, that was his first stop after checking that the wooden floor of the main avenue was still solid, which it was, and that the central square would be able to take the weight of the heavy speakers, which it could. Then, he headed to the Hall of Mirrors.
A lot of the actual mirrors themselves were cracked or broken, making the maze part of the funhouse easy to navigate, but he reckoned if he took the time to sweep up the broken glass, it would still be serviceable.
Then he came to a long, straight room that contained the warped mirrors. Now, to you and I, the undamaged pristine state of these would have a warning sign. The fact that there was no dust on them at all, even after ten years of neglect, would have rang all sorts of alarm bells.
But I’m trying to remind myself that not everyone is as attuned to these signs as we are, and to my young trespasser friend, apparently there was nothing in that to worry him at all. In fact, he was excited to see them in such a good shape.
I feel a little guilty. I actually laughed when he said that.
It was the third mirror that did it. The one that expanded him into a short, squat reflection caused no problems. Neither did the one that bent him out of shape. But the third mirror, the one that squeezed him, made him thin and gaunt, that was the one which took him.
He outright refused to tell me how exactly he was pulled through it, but from the look in his eyes I have no doubt it was a powerfully unpleasant experience, so much so, that he claims to have lost consciousness.
He awoke to bright lights, and the sound of machines whirring, cut through with ringing bells and the sound of people shouting. The lights in the Hall of Mirrors were on, and it was clear that he was no longer in the old amusement park, seeing the place was changed from how he recalled it in the dark.
Everything seemed more or less maintained, with paint that was old and starting to peel, but a long way from the bare, rotten wood it had been before. The only thing in worse condition were the mirrors themselves, the frames of which were now pocked with tiny, irregular indentations all the way round.
It would be some time before the idea would come to him that they were teeth marks.
Our witness staggered to his feet and quietly made his way towards the door of the funhouse, hanging off the side, so as to look out without being seen.
The park was completely changed, now seemingly full of life. There were people striding down the main avenue, past the well-lit booths trying to entice them with coconut throws and hoop games. The rollercoaster rattled along in the background, the faint screams of its riders drifting over the crowds below. For a few seconds it seemed almost legitimately joyful.
But as he watched, a certain wrongness began to become clear. Meaningless details, if they were confined to a single punter, but all the park-goers seemed the same.
The first was how baggy their clothes were. It almost seemed as though everyone was wearing some sort of oversized novelty tshirt. But it was the same with the shirts, jackets, dresses- until it became apparent that it was not the clothes that were too big, but the wearers who were too small.
Their limbs were painfully thin to look at, their flesh stretched tightly over jutting bones, and the fabric hung off them like great flaps of skin. The hair on each head was thin, almost wispy, often missing in great chunks, and their eyes were sunken so hollow that from a distance they seemed empty.
This is when our unfortunate interloper began to feel the first stirrings of fear.
He began to move, slowly and quietly, outside, his utter bafflement at what was happening briefly overpowering his mounting dread. It wasn’t just a few of them. Everyone in the park was so emaciated that they barely seemed human- but they seemed to be acting normally, at least for the moment.
He moved slowly through the shadows of the rickety wooden structures, watching them pass, until his eyes fell upon the coconut shy.
‘WIN BREAD,’ the sign announced in bold colors, but a huge black cross had been struck through it, and from this distance the prize bucket seemed empty.
Even so, a woman stood there, hurling a well-worn leather ball at the hairy targets in the back. As she knocked one from its perch, her face contorted into a grimace of joy, and the wizened carnie hobbled over to one of the buckets and handed her a tiny bone.
Without hesitation, she snapped it cleanly in half and started desperately gnawing at the broken end, trying to reach whatever scant marrow might have remained inside.
Our lost young friend felt his stomach turn. He told me he was a good fifteen feet away, but could still hear the sounds of her desperate hunger over the rides all around.
The woman began to examine the bone in her hand closely, then turned and began railing at the carnie, accusing him of cheating her, of lying about the prizes.
This was all too much for our witness, who had decided that whatever was going on in this place, he wanted no part of it. But as he turned to look for a way out, there was a sound that cut through the background din of the park: It was a scream from the roller coaster, but not the joyful cry of adrenaline and mock terror, but a dreadful, piercing wail, flying through the air.
It seemed one of the riders, unable to properly benefit from the safety bar, had been thrown from the height of a loop, and was sailing through the air, landing on the unforgiving ground of the main avenue with a horrendous crunch.
A sudden silence fell over the place. The rides still whirred and rang and jangled, but every person there had gone completely still, their eyes locked on the mangled mess of broken limbs and shattered bone.
It was the carnie that went first, vaulting over the side of the coconut shy with an unexpected agility. Then it was as if a dam had broken, and every half-wasted figure descended on the twisted corpse. Our interloper had to look away, or risk being sick at the sight of so many spindly bodies swarming, biting, rotten teeth and swollen gums tearing at the still-twitching body of the unfortunate soul from the roller coaster.
When he told me of the hunger he saw in their eyes, his legs were shaking so badly, he had to turn away.
His eyes fell instead on the coconut shy, and he finally got a good look at what were propped up as targets.
What stared back at him certainly had hair, but they most definitely were not coconuts.
He staggered backwards as a shock passed through him, colliding with a nearby trash can and sending it clattering to the floor. He tried to regain his footing, but something underneath him rolled away, and he slipped, falling on top of the heap of bones from the overturned garbage.
They were too large to be animal bones, he was sure of it, and every one of them had been picked clean and cracked open, the marrow sucked from them to leave nothing but dry, white fragments.
Pulling himself painfully to his feet, he glanced back at the crowd, and saw that several of them on the edge, those that had no hopes of reaching the corpse, had clearly heard the commotion, and were starting to walk warily towards him.
He tells me he was suddenly very aware of just how much flesh was on his body.
He turned, and ran back into the funhouse.
I do envy you your gifts sometimes, Gertrude. His account of their pursuit through the mirror-maze was honestly so disjoint that I was unable to follow it. Even after he tried to take me through it two, or even three times.
Without the Eye’s clarifying influence, panic can make details… difficult to remember.
They shouted at him, certainly, but his stark terror appears to have robbed him of the memory of their words.
Judging by the bite marks on his wrist, I think it’s safe to assume that one of them caught him, at least for a moment, but he claims he can remember nothing of the sort.
I can at least say for certain that he managed to lose his pursuers long enough to return to the warped mirrors. He then took what I consider to be his only sensible action in the entire affair: Rather than running straight to the mirror which distorted him into a thin, angular figure, he took a moment to look into each one, and one of them showed no reflection at all.
His next action of running full-pelt into it was perhaps less inspired, but it does seem to have been effective, since when he regained consciousness, covered in blood and broken glass, he was once again in the silent darkness of the abandoned Bright Lake amusement park he had made the unwise decision to break into.
I don’t believe the party ever happened, which is almost certainly for the best.
So? What are your thoughts. I’m keen to hear your own interpretation of this one. My first assumption would have been the Flesh, based on the cannibalism and strangeness of the bodies involved, but- something about this idea of some sort of famine world, its location within a man-made ruin, the whole… societal aspect of it- I’d be inclined to chalk this up as a genuine Extinction manifestation.
But I don’t know. Am I drawing wild conclusions, trying to fit the account into my own preconceptions? Keen to know your feelings on the matter.
Oh. One more thing: If you do try to follow up with my source- and I know you have your own ways of finding him, should you wish- please be careful.
He told me, near the end, that he had recently been worried he’s being followed. He keeps catching glimpses of a thin figure in the distance, or disappearing around a corner, and I can’t quite get past the detail that there was no reflection at all in the mirror he used to return.
If my suspicions are correct, there’s little either of us can do for him- but do take care, if you make contact.
MARTIN
Statement ends.
[HE FLIPS THE PAPER OVER, SIGHS.]
MARTIN (CONT’D)
Another day, another Extinction scare. The more things change, I guess.
[HE SIGHS AGAIN, LONGER THIS TIME. WHEN HE PICKS BACK UP, A FAMILIAR SQUEAKY STATIC BEGINS TO FADE IN, QUICKLY.]
MARTIN (CONT’D)
I just wish Peter would finally get round to telling me what we’re going to do about it.
PETER
Then I have good news for you!
[MARTIN SUCKS IN A HARD BREATH, AND WE HEAR WHAT SOUNDS LIKE HIS CHAIR SCRAPING BACKWARDS IN ALARM.]
MARTIN
(admonishing, annoyed) Peter, we have talked about this!
PETER
In my defense, it is still quite funny.
[MARTIN TAKES AN ANNOYED BREATH TO KEEP HIS COOL.]
MARTIN
So. What’s the news?
PETER
I think we’re finally ready!
MARTIN
(through gritted teeth) Great. Does that mean I finally get to know what we’re ready for?
PETER
Yes! Well- for the most part. To a certain degree, you really need to see it for yourself.
MARTIN
Peter.
PETER
You know the tunnels under the Institute?
MARTIN
Y- Yes, I remember.
PETER
Well, there’s something at the center, a- let’s call it a device. Now, our biggest problem with the Extinction is a lack of information. We know it’s emerging, but we don’t know how, or where.
MARTIN
And this… de…vice will help?
PETER
Yes.
MARTIN
And I’m going to be the one to use it for you.
PETER
I very much hope so. (brief pause) If you need more time…
MARTIN
I don’t.
PETER
Good, because I was going to say there probably isn’t any.
MARTIN
If it’s been down there all this time, how come we haven’t found it? John explored the tunnels pretty thoroughly, and Leitner was down there a lot.
PETER
It’s very difficult to reach if you don’t know exactly where you’re going.
MARTIN
And you do?
PETER
I will. By tomorrow, I should have my hands on a map, and then- we go.
[PAUSE.]
MARTIN
(more subdued) Right. (beat) Will I be coming back?
PETER
You’re not going to die, if that’s what you’re asking, but- no. If all goes well, you won’t be.
[MARTIN TAKES A LONG INHALE, THEN EXHALES.]
PETER
How does that make you feel?
[THE STATIC IN THE BACKGROUND ADOPTS A BIT MORE BASS THAN USUAL, AND THE HIGH-PITCHED SCREAM-LIKE TONES INCREASE IN VOLUME AS WELL.]
MARTIN
Nothing. (short laugh) Nothing at all.
PETER
Excellent. I’m so proud of you, Martin.
MARTIN
I really don’t care.
PETER
Perfect.
[TAPE CLICKS OFF.]
Steven [Redacted] thank youu
also )))): martin
thank u :3
thank you!!
"The young man stepped into the Hall of Mirrors
Where he discovered a reflection of himself"
I was hoping to see this reference here omg love Siouxsie and the banshees
And I love your profile pic
Like number 13! Ohhh unlucky is piffle haha... tis a grand number! X
The dilf energy coming off peter is unbelievable
LMAOAOA PLEASE 💀💀
I am thinking of why these fears are getting together, and then it hit me: fear of being stalked and hunted, followed by disorientation and flesh, followed by loneliness and fear of spaces with nowhere to hide. What kind of attack does that sound like? I think that these fears are going to gather into one big, exceptionally horrible fear to fight the fear of extinction in a way that I've heard quite a few terrible people talk about irl.
7:20 my goodness, is so funny how Martin mispronounced "Machismo" xD.
Btw... MARTIN, MY BABY BOY, NOOOOO
For a character we’ve never actually met, I love Adelard Dekker to an unreasonable degree
guys what were the coconuts
Heads probably
my coconutttsss put them in your mouth/lyr
heads or
Bride lake is really pretty. Anything along the I-70 between Denver and Grand Junction is pretty though
*me zoning out because Alex's voice is so soothing* *hears 12:21*...........wtf.......
Well shit. Melanie is gone, Daisey is ready to go all kamikaze and Martine is playing with a dead man's switch... WONDERFUL. Also this is what happens when people do not TALK to each other!!!!!
I'm so worried about Martin :(
Peter: Obooga booga booga!!!
Martin: Peter! We've talked about this.
I was thinking how fears are often described as parts of one… “thing”? And if The eye and us listening to the stories and how every episode is about a different fear and everybody at some point gets creeped out, what if it feeds other entities by us listening to the statements?
I think that too. Peter Lukas felt summoned by a statement touching on him. As much as the Eye often feeds on secondhand fear, it also reignites those fears, possibly strengthening the original fear's connection. Like how certain birds notify certain predators of food so they can take advantage.
I like the passive aggressive annoyance of Adelard at the kid relating his experience... it's quite funny.
"But apparently I used the word "rave" wrong, so what do I know ?..." Someone's sassy
Please please dont let Martin do this. I don’t want him to get deeper into the Lonely than he already has. He’s changed so much 😭
This sounds like Lakeside. I remember going to this as a kid, but didn't know it was still in operation. Cheaper than 6 flags but notorious for causing minor injuries, like the guy who "lost skin folds"(?) while riding the old wooden rollercoaster. The funhouse is gone, if there was ever a hall of mirrors but there is still a Spider Ride...
"notorious for causing minor injuries"
Everything in this comment is funny 😄
I expected to begin the episode with ambulance noises or at the very least Jon explaining how Melanie's process had gone, and I was FUMING when I heard Martin's voice
Now I'm at the end of the episode and PLEASE DON'T DIE MARTIN, NOT LIKE THIS, NOT SO SOON-
"Peter, we have *talked* about this" :(
I am going to full on sob if something really bad happens to Martin. He’s my pal, he’s my homeboy, my rotten soldier, my sweet cheese, my good time boy. Please don't make him suffer anymore 😭😭😭😭😭😭
Your sweet cheese.?
Can we appreciate the constant ticking of the clock in the background? Like, it makes the isolation feel so much more real
*cries* bestie i can not do this
Damn, it's been a while since the statement actually creeped me out
I’m confused about this episode. Something about Martin. I’ll edit what I think when it’s over.
Curious how your thoughts came together
It’s “ma-cheese-moe” 😂
Everyone is saying that Martin talking to the recorders is cute--and it is--but I can't help but think of him resorting to talking to unthinking unfeeling tape recorders when faced with his loneliness, searching for companionship in something that can't judge or care for him. Or even because he knows that Jon is listening to them, and on some level he still wants to remain present in some way in Jon's life, that nagging fear of being forgotten and left behind driving him to interact with the one thing he knows Jon will hear.
Just...it is cute. But it is also, on some level, unbearably sad and a bit horrifying he has reached that point. Which is kinda something that applies to a lot of the character interactions on this podcast if you think about it.
Was a little surprised to hear Colorado. It doesn't get mentioned much
My sweet boy has depression
:(
Hm. I know that canonically this was definitely the Extinction-especially since it's the only explanation for all those people who go into parallel worlds-but everything about this statement was so Stranger to me. Maybe not _The_ Stranger but... hm.
JUST ME OR IS MARTIN'S WAY OF SPEAKING SOUNDING A *LOT* LIKE PETER LUKAS NOW????
crying, shitting, throwing up, vomiting