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Post by Oneiros on Sept 15, 2016 7:53:24 GMT
It seems Death and Pestilence rode into town to make life interesting for this Mancunian funeral director. Was vaguely tempted to title this thread 'Something rotten II' as some kind of spiritual sequel to MAG #18 but aside from decomposing flesh, I'm not sure if we can really link them.
So, definitely not an episode for putting the 'fun' into 'funeral'... and the old adage of treating everything with fire really seems to hold true here. There are some potentially disturbing connections back to insects, particularly with that final image at the window and the engraving on the delivered lighter. And just who are the old man and the younger woman? On the surface this seems a straightforward unconnected episode but...
On the other hand, I'm really worried about Martin now.
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Post by cannonlongshot on Sept 15, 2016 8:56:04 GMT
Unconnected episode? Au contraire, my friend - what we have here is a bona fide appearance from Trevor Herbert, Vampire Hunter.
I have more ideas, but I'm needed in theatre atm. Will post later, and then add to the wiki's timeline!
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kea
Member of the Order of the Quill
Posts: 136
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Post by kea on Sept 15, 2016 9:03:52 GMT
It seems Death and Pestilence rode into town to make life interesting for this Mancunian funeral director. Was vaguely tempted to title this thread 'Something rotten II' as some kind of spiritual sequel to MAG #18 but aside from decomposing flesh, I'm not sure if we can really link them. So, definitely not an episode for putting the 'fun' into 'funeral'... and the old adage of treating everything with fire really seems to hold true here. There are some potentially disturbing connections back to insects, particularly with that final image at the window and the engraving on the delivered lighter. And just who are the old man and the younger woman? On the surface this seems a straightforward unconnected episode but... On the other hand, I'm really worried about Martin now. I'm going to keep my red string theories to myself for now. I'm waiting to see what everyone else says. That final image at the window will stay with me for a while. Absolutely horrific. I'm interested in the young woman and the man...as far as I can remember, we haven't see anyone like them in the records before (the scar sounds significant) and we're at the stage where familiar faces start turning up. And familiar furniture, apparently. Never before has the unexpected appearance of a table caused me to swear out loud. That lighter and the fire in this episode seems like some sort of hint to our heroes - like you said, kill it with fire. Good to see Mr. Sims practicing good health and safety there, however. I could be quite nerdy on this topic but I'll refrain. Bit odd that Martin didn't really talk to Jonathan about the delivery; either it's him being his usual self (bless) or perhaps at this stage he's just become so focused on the fact that he might explode or become a shambling worm-eaten horror that he simply forgot. It's hard to know exactly what the rest of the team know, since Jonathan records in private and may not be sharing everything. Since the podcast is the only window we get into this fictional world, it's hard to guess at who knows what.
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Post by Oneiros on Sept 15, 2016 9:05:23 GMT
Unconnected episode? Au contraire, my friend - what we have here is a bona fide appearance from Trevor Herbert, Vampire Hunter. Except Trevor Herbert supposedly died from his lung cancer in the Magnus Institute break room back in 2010, more than 12 months before the fire at the care home. Although that comes from Martin's recollection of the event...
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kea
Member of the Order of the Quill
Posts: 136
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Post by kea on Sept 15, 2016 9:34:06 GMT
Unconnected episode? Au contraire, my friend - what we have here is a bona fide appearance from Trevor Herbert, Vampire Hunter. Except Trevor Herbert supposedly died from his lung cancer in the Magnus Institute break room back in 2010, more than 12 months before the fire at the care home. Although that comes from Martin's recollection of the event... As much as I'd love to see more of Trevor's exploits, I'll agree with Oneiros here - these things don't sound like vampires. The communication was too specific, if that makes sense.
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Post by cannonlongshot on Sept 15, 2016 13:17:17 GMT
Well, Sims seems to be convinced that it's him - the last part of the statement is "If he weren't dead, I think it might have been Trevor -", and we certainly know no other Mancunian tramps called Trevor. Besides, it's not like there's no precedent for dead figures making returns - Mary Kaey was found skinned alive a few years before giving Dominic Swaine the lesson of Leitner 101, and we can assume that whatever happened to Sarah Baldwin hardly left her unchanged. And, of course, there's the fact that Trevor Herbert's statement is notable for it not being an original - it is a photocopy of a photocopy, with the file being requested by law enforcement. If ever there was a case for a cover-up...
Before I re-listened and head the woman described as "young", I would have thought it was Gertrude Robinson. Even so, do we know how old Gertrude was when she died? I have a vague memory of her having been described as being the archivist for a good few years, but the wiki doesn't mention how long.
John Amhurst reminds me of Michael, but to be quite honest any vaguely creepy individual does, so I'm pretty sure Michael's entire purpose in the story is to make us paranoid.
Seems like George Baxter knows a bit more than he's letting on, so I wonder if the loss of Nicole's hand was some kind of action by him, or whether she removed it herself in her OCD.
The actual disease is rather interesting - I believe the rash is described as "creamy yellow". Now, where have we heard that before? *cough*MAG20paleyellowraiments*cough* *cough*MAG18yellowedfingernails*cough*
The objects being transferred to the Institute's Artifact Storage is, to quote someone relevant, deeply disturbing. The lighter with a web design might be - I hope - a way to burn out the Hive. The table, last seen way back in in MAG2, is very worrying - not least because we have no idea who got hold of it.
Another distressing thing - because of some poor links on the wiki, the Breekon and Hope page linked to MAG3, which I knew as the one with the table, though they meant MAG2 (going to fix that now!). The only reason anyone would voluntarily store something in the Archives right now is, I'm afraid to say, as a way of disposing of it.
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Kitsune
Travelling Wordsmith
Probably Not Evil
Posts: 34
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Post by Kitsune on Sept 15, 2016 15:47:30 GMT
I'm just in awe of Jonathan's ability to crank these out on the regular, when each one of them could stand alone as a classic creepypasta that could be lauded for ages.
The parts that especially gave me chills: - Realizing the call for help was a recording - The tap-tap-tapping on the window - The fly-scream, fuck me
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Post by cannonlongshot on Sept 15, 2016 16:00:55 GMT
The parts that especially gave me chills: - Realizing the call for help was a recording Oh. OH.
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Coil
Right Honourable Poster
Have you got a cigarette?
Posts: 84
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Post by Coil on Sept 15, 2016 17:53:24 GMT
Regarding the stuff being sent to the archives, i would have thought it was because the ownerneeded them to be kept in safe hands...
I agree that George knows more than he claims, but think Nicole probably severed her own hamd, as if she was being hushed up she wouldn't have stood by her statement, and if someone else did it, she probably would have said so.
Regarding yellow, it is a quite generic colour for things going putrid so I'm not sure it's necessarily a link. Yellow fingernails is certainly a classic sign of ill health (liver problems etc.)
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kea
Member of the Order of the Quill
Posts: 136
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Post by kea on Sept 15, 2016 21:46:21 GMT
Well, Sims seems to be convinced that it's him - the last part of the statement is "If he weren't dead, I think it might have been Trevor -", and we certainly know no other Mancunian tramps called Trevor. Besides, it's not like there's no precedent for dead figures making returns - Mary Kaey was found skinned alive a few years before giving Dominic Swaine the lesson of Leitner 101, and we can assume that whatever happened to Sarah Baldwin hardly left her unchanged. And, of course, there's the fact that Trevor Herbert's statement is notable for it not being an original - it is a photocopy of a photocopy, with the file being requested by law enforcement. If ever there was a case for a cover-up... Before I re-listened and head the woman described as "young", I would have thought it was Gertrude Robinson. Even so, do we know how old Gertrude was when she died? I have a vague memory of her having been described as being the archivist for a good few years, but the wiki doesn't mention how long. John Amhurst reminds me of Michael, but to be quite honest any vaguely creepy individual does, so I'm pretty sure Michael's entire purpose in the story is to make us paranoid. Seems like George Baxter knows a bit more than he's letting on, so I wonder if the loss of Nicole's hand was some kind of action by him, or whether she removed it herself in her OCD. I missed that part. Serves me right for not waiting until after my second listening (I still haven't). You're totally right about people coming back from the dead. Still not sure it's Trevor though.* Gertrude had been the archivist for 50 years, I believe. Definitely agree about George Baxter knowing more than he's letting on. Perhaps that was what the falling out with his partner was about? I'm pretty sure that Nicole cut her own hand off - telling that to the follow up would have made her sound mentally unstable and thrown doubt on her story to an outsider. *Ok, so here's me delving into the meta a bit. The structure of the show is one of my favourite aspects, and really works to maintain that sense of paranoia and suspense. Because we only hear what's in Jonathan's recording (and any bits that are accidentally recorded, such as the exchange between Martin and the delivery men) we have no idea what the situation really *is*. Thanks to bouncing ideas off the red string brigade and the valiant efforts of the wiki-writers, we may have made connections that the character Jonathan (as opposed to the writer, Jonny - using the two names helps keep them separate in this) has missed. There are parts in the recordings where Jonathan says "this reminds me of x" while the listeners are screaming "yes because that happened in MAGXYZ I just went and checked the wiki". Thanks to Jonathan's dedication to correct archival practice, we're not privy to any conversations he's had with Elias or anyone else outside the context of the recording so the MA may be forming some grand plan that we have no idea about, because Jonathan won't mention it unless it relates directly to the recording or someone bursts in and says "!!!!!<insert thing>!!!". We don't know what sort of discussions have been happening around Michael, for example. The ambiguity in this is that Jonathan-the-character might be making the wrong conclusions in the same way we are. The framing device makes Jonathan-the-character an unreliable narrator as it relates to the metaplot, or maybe the podcast is an unreliable framing device, which I suspect may be the entire point and only adds to how cleverly this podcast is constructed. Getting an accurate recording of these statements and correct follow up for future use of MA researchers is the sole aim - anything else included is accidental. So unlike The Black Tapes, Jonathan has no reason to share all of his thoughts aloud, because the intended audience will (he assumes, I suppose) interested in anything other than the statement. Although I do like to imagine a future MA researcher getting frustrated - not listening to all the statements like we are - because Jonathan keeps being sarcastic about Martin and complaining that this isn't relevant at all.
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Coil
Right Honourable Poster
Have you got a cigarette?
Posts: 84
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Post by Coil on Sept 15, 2016 22:52:26 GMT
Regarding Trevor, didn't his report state that the Vampires never spoke? Possibly the nurse was a vampire, but the doctor definitely spoke right? And the weird rash doesn't match the description we were given of the vampire attacks from before...
I loved your meta-analysis Kea! It's also interesting to note that we have not heard Jonathan speak to more than one person at a time, and we have not heard any two characters talking about Jonathan. Maybe there's a reason for that... We know he doesn't leave the archives often, we know he has assistants to do all of his fact checking/field work for him... Has he been made the head archivist so that the Institute can keep him in one place? It seems odd that he has never felt compelled to do any research for himself. He got a few facts wrong in earlier reports and seems to be constantly frustrated/annoyed at something or other. Maybe he is not only an unreliable narrator, in the literary sense, but is considered unreliable by his colleagues. I'm just throwing ideas around, but it would certainly be a fantastic twist if it turned out Jonathan has been assigned to this task not due to his capability but because it's hard to get wrong, and he can't cause too much harm...
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kea
Member of the Order of the Quill
Posts: 136
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Post by kea on Sept 15, 2016 23:25:23 GMT
Regarding Trevor, didn't his report state that the Vampires never spoke? Possibly the nurse was a vampire, but the doctor definitely spoke right? And the weird rash doesn't match the description we were given of the vampire attacks from before... This was my reservation as well. Vampires usually communicate telepathically (?) whereas the strange man was quite specific. Another disturbing factor - clearly whoever set this up did so knowing that these people wouldn't be missed. The inhabitants all have no family and the workforce is mostly undocumented. It was shows a horrific degree of callousness and pre-planning. Edit: this was a great episode for fridge horror - that first call could very well have been the nurse trying to get help while already infected, from someone who it would seem logical to call. That could the nurse Nicole thinks she sees the first time around. The second call call could be whoever infected all those poor people trying to tie up a loose end - the way Nicole's uncle acted made me think that he had some knowledge of what was going on, and if anything happened to Nicole, he'd be the best person to cover it up. Luckily for her, Maybe-Trevor and friend showed up... Another thing that's got me thinking is the way that people are described in this - we have no way of knowing whether Maybe-Trevor and friend are actually important or not. The details that Nicole remembers *are* things that you'd remember and could also be identifying marks should they appear again, like Gerard Kaey and his dyed hair. But not necessarily.
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Post by AshenCircle on Sept 16, 2016 5:01:03 GMT
Another disturbing factor - clearly whoever set this up did so knowing that these people wouldn't be missed. The inhabitants all have no family and the workforce is mostly undocumented. It was shows a horrific degree of callousness and pre-planning. Gah. I hadn't put those pieces together yet. That is horrifying. Trevor's conclusion seemed to be that vampires avoided detection by keeping their numbers relatively few, not feeding very often, and targeting people unlikely to be missed (like himself and his brother). While I doubt there were any vampires involved here, if it was him who showed up outside, maybe that callous targeting pattern is the link? If he's used to hunting monsters that think that way, maybe he stumbled on something else choosing victims in a similar manner. A long shot - made longer by the fact that he's supposed to be dead - but a thought I figured I'd throw on the pile. Very interesting that we only have Martin's account of Trevor's death. Maybe he was covering for him, and maybe Gertrude was as well.
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Post by archangel1313 on Sept 16, 2016 7:37:10 GMT
Regarding Trevor, didn't his report state that the Vampires never spoke? Possibly the nurse was a vampire, but the doctor definitely spoke right? And the weird rash doesn't match the description we were given of the vampire attacks from before... I doubt the nurse was a vampire, as it is unknown if their telepathy extends to phone calls, I somehow doubt it could. Also, we saw inside her mouth when the flies escaped from it, the narrator (her name escapes me) didn't notice any shark like teeth, which is unlikely given she got a good look. Having said that, she could have been entirely focuses on the flies or they somehow covered up the view of them
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Post by spooniermist on Sept 16, 2016 9:29:27 GMT
Regarding Trevor, didn't his report state that the Vampires never spoke? Possibly the nurse was a vampire, but the doctor definitely spoke right? And the weird rash doesn't match the description we were given of the vampire attacks from before... Well, yes, but it's only implied that the 'vampires' talk. I think Trevor said that he knew what the 'vampire' was trying to convey, it's possible that other people who aren't looking too closely might not notice. For the record, I don't think the 'vampires' that Trevor fought were really vampires, but something else, from what they are like. I wonder if the old man was related to Trevor, in some way? Although we know his brother was killed. I'm equally dubious that it's Trevor, but I'm not sure why Jonathan would mention it (good shout by the way, Kae about Jonathan and Jonny!). Y'know who the old man and younger lady reminds me of? Simon Fairchild and Harriet from MAG 21: Freefall. It's possible that the scar happened after 2002, when MAG 21 took place. Although I'm not set on that. Did we ever find out who Simon Fairchild was a pseudonym of? I'm sure we've talked about it here on the forums, but I can't remember exactly. Does anyone have a medical background who might know what the rash could be, or what normally causes yellowy rashes?
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