Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

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Archivist

Testing…testing…one, two, three…great! Finally, something is working. [Clears throat] Sorry about that. I have just spent the past couple of hours finding something capable of doing an audio recording that does not get corrupted, and it seems a tape recorder is the only thing that works.

My name is Sasha James, and I am the new Head Archivist for the Magnus Institute. I was chosen by Elias Bouchard, the head of the Institute, to replace the previous Head Archivist, Gertrude Robinson, as she has passed away.

I have worked for the Institute for five, almost six, years now. I started out as a practical researcher in Artifact Storage but…well I found that wasn’t for me, and so I transferred into the Research Department. While I don’t have any formal training, Gertrude did teach me a bit of what she was doing down here, although I have to say I am still struggling to make sense of this mess. I don’t know how it ended up in this state, but I am going to have to do a lot to sort out these Archives.

Thankfully I have help. Tim Stoker transferred with me, and he’s already been a huge help. Elias has told me he’s going to give me a couple of other people, but I don’t know who yet, although I will not complain about any extra hands he gives me.

I have decided to try and digitise as many files as possible, and create an audio archive, and I am hoping I will not be plagued by the number of technical difficulties I have been struggling with today.

Now that’s out of the way, this is the statement of Dominic Swain regarding a book in his possession in the winter of 2012. Original statement given on June 28^th 2013. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

Well, I’ve done some follow up on this statement. Jurgen Leitner is not a name I expected to see. His library was infamous, and the fact there are still books out there is a concern. I got some help from Jonathan Sims, who is a researcher who specialises in Leitner books. He has not heard of Ex Altiora, but we both agree it was likely for the best it was destroyed. He’s agreed to help me with any future Leitner statements I find, as I do not know why Gertrude did not put them in the case file, and I suspect this will not be the only one.

According to the donation records of the Oxfam charity shop in Notting Hill Gate, all book donations in October to November of 2012 were anonymous, and none of the staff remember it.

Mr Swain’s description does match with Pinhole Books, however it closed in 2008 and did not get a new tenant until 2014, and this brings us to the most interesting part of this statement, Mary and Gerard Keay. We have been unable to locate Gerard Keay, and he seems to have disappeared after his trial.

Tim managed to find the official police report on Mary Keay’s death. It turns out the drying pieces of skin had been written on in permanent marker, and while there was no translation, the language was identified as Sanskrit.

Unfortunately, we don’t really have any leads to follow up on. I’ll just have to see if I find anymore miscellaneous Leitner statements.

Recording ends.

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[Shuffling papers followed by a pause]

Jonathan Sims

Where did you…oh no. What do you want?

[Silence]

What are you-

[A loud knock on the door interrupts him. Jonathan stays silent]

Elias Bouchard

Jonathan, it’s Elias.

[Jonathan sighs before footsteps can be heard and a door is opened]

That was very rude. You shouldn’t ignore people like that.

Jonathan

What do you want?

Elias

In a bad mood today, are we? Is it because your pet isn’t here?

Jonathan

He’s not my…he’s a friend. What do you want?

Elias

How would you feel about spending more time in the Archives?

Jonathan

What?

Elias

I want you to become an Archival Assistant for our new Head Archivist.

Jonathan

(Slowly) Why?

Elias

Well, I think it’s about time you properly work with other people. Don’t worry, you can continue with your research, but you’ll have some archival duties.

Jonathan

I don’t have a choice in this, do I?

Elias

Of course you have a choice, I just thought you would jump at the chance to get access to statements. Isn’t that why you agreed to help Sasha with statements regarding Leitner’s?

[It remains silent for a few seconds]

Jonathan

(Quietly) Fine.

Elias

Wonderful! You know what? Why don’t I transfer Martin with you? I’m sure he’ll be delighted. You’ll be starting tomorrow.

[Footsteps then the closing of a door]

Jonathan

Were you listening the whole time? (Muttering) I hope you heard what you wanted.

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Archivist

Statement of Amy Patel regarding the alleged disappearance of her acquaintance Graham Folger. Original statement given July 1^st 2007. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

While there is a chance this could be the result of side effects from head trauma, her medical records don’t support it. I don’t know how Tim got access to them, but I don’t think I want to know. Also, Martin pointed out that her job would be difficult if she was having issues with reality.

We know Graham Folger existed and he lines up with Amy Patel’s story. Coroner’s records say that his parents, Samantha and Desmond Folger, died on August 4^th 2001 on the M1 near Sheffield. His name also appears on several registers for colleges and universities in and around London over several years. The flat did belong to Graham Folger, but was sold in 2007 through an agency.

We have photographs that fit the description of “Not-Graham”, but there are a few polaroids that seem to be from the 80s that show Samantha and Desmond Folger with a dark-haired teenager who doesn’t match with any other photos.

Ms Patel doesn’t want to be involved with any follow up, despite the fact we managed to find one of Graham Folger’s journals, although all it says is “keep watching” over and over so I’m not sure it would be able to provide her any closure.

I can’t give any answers here really. The issue with the supernatural is that while it certainly exists, true instances are rare, and even harder to truly prove. I doubt we’ll ever find out for certain what-

[She is interrupted by a quiet knock on the door]

Come in.

[Door opens]

Jonathan

Uh, hello. I’m not interrupting, am I?

Archivist

Not at all! What can I do for you?

Jonathan

I…um…can I borrow the Ex Altiora statement? Tim said you had it.

Archivist

Sure. Hang on.

[A drawer slides open and paper rustles]

There it is! Here you go.

Jonathan

Thank you.

Archivist

Hey Jon?

Jonathan

Yes?

Archivist

Can you do me a favour?

Jonathan

I…what do you need?

Archivist

Can you keep track of Leitner statements for me? I know you’ve been looking for them and I want to try and keep related statements together.

Jonathan

Oh. Sure.

Archivist

Thank you. You don’t have to make excuses as to why you’re looking for statements by the way. As long as you get your work done, spend as much time in there as you want. I know

you had…issues with Gertrude, but as long as you don’t lose a statement or anything like that, I don’t mind which ones you look at.

[Silence for a few seconds]

Jonathan

Thank you. I’ll return this one when I’m done with it.

[The door closes]

Archivist

Oh, we’re still recording. Sorry about that. I think I said all I needed to anyway.

That was Jonathan Sims by the way. Elias transferred him from Research along with Martin Blackwood, who worked in the library, although he did spend a lot of time helping out Jon. Anyway, Jon is quiet and honestly, I do not know much about him other than his Leitner research. I think he transferred to get access to statements to be honest. I don’t know why he had so many issues with Gertrude, but from what I understand she just refused to let him down here. I’ve never had an issue with him, and since Elias transferred him down here, I’m assuming it was just a personal issue between them. Martin is always doing as much as he can to help out, which has honestly been very appreciated. I’m hoping his library experience will come in handy down here, but I’ll guess we’ll find out.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Nathan Watts regarding an encounter at Old Fishmarket Close, Edinburgh. Original statement given on April 22^nd 2012. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

Well, we found nothing to confirm Mr Watts’ story specifically, however, Tim was digging through police reports and found from 2005 to 2010 there were six disappearances in and around Old Fishmarket Close. The first was Jessica McEwan in November 2005, then in 2006 we have Sarah Baldwin in the August and Daniel Rawlings in the December, Ashley Dobson and Megan Shaw in the May and June of 2008, and finally of course we have John Fellows in the March of 2010. None of these disappearances have been solved. Baldwin and Shaw both smoked, but we can’t confirm it with the others, or even confirm that the disappearances of related at all.

Jon did manage to find the last message Ashley Dobson sent to her sister, Siobhan. It’s an image of a dark alleyway with stairs leading into it and it appears to be the same alleyway Mr Watts described which according to maps of the area leads to Tron Square. The caption reads “Check out this drunk creeper lol”.

At first glance, the alleyway appears to be empty, however Jon had the idea to run it through some editing programs, and when he increased the brightness, he found the outline of what appears to be a long, thin hand that to me seems like it’s beckoning, but it’s hard to tell.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Timothy Hodge regarding-

[Door swings open]

Timothy Stoker

Hey Sasha. Oh, sorry. I didn’t think you’d started.

Archivist

Don’t worry, I haven’t even gotten the first sentence out. What’s up?

Tim

I was going to go grab some lunch. Do you want anything?

Archivist

Uh, no I’m good thanks.

Tim

You sure?

Archivist

Yeah, I’ve got my own anyway.

Tim

Alright then. Just don’t forget to eat. Again.

Archivist

I won’t, I’m just doing this first.

Tim

Ah yes, reading about, what horror is it today?

[Shuffling of paper]

Oh god it’s the worm statement. You really want to read that first?

Archivist

I just want to get the recording over and done with.

Tim

Well, it’s up to you. See you later.

[The door is closed]

Archivist

Right, okay. Where were we?

[Clears throat]

Statement of Timothy Hodge regarding his sexual encounter with Harriet Lee and her death. Original statement given on December 9^th 2014. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

Obviously, this statement is deeply concerning, however according to the police report, it may not be entirely accurate. There was a fire at Mr Hodge’s flat on the 20^th of November last year, but there was no evidence of arson and the fire was brought under control before any severe damage was made to the building. There were also no human remains, although there was charred organic matter, which was found to be not human, but we could not find if it was ever properly identified.

This statement does indeed link to the disappearance of Harriet Lee, who was a student at Roehampton and was reported missing shortly after Mr Hodge gave his statement and whose description also matches what is given here.

If Harriet Lee was attacked by a woman in a red dress in Archway, then that matches the description and last known location of Jane Prentiss. The Institute was involved in an investigation involving her, however I am fairly certain she gave a statement, so I will be searching for it. Hopefully it won’t take me too long to find.

The fact we’ve been unable to find Mr Hodge for a follow up interview concerns me, and I have contacted the ECDC as Gertrude didn’t. I just hope it’s not too little too late.

[She sighs] This statement has left me more concerned about what Gertrude was doing down here. Either she never read this statement and just filed it, or…well there’s always the chance she ignored it. I can’t say I knew Gertrude well, but I do know she was not the senile woman most think she was. I just…I don’t know. These Archives are a mess, but I know she knew what she was doing. I don’t get it.

(Whispers) Gertrude, what were you doing down here?

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Joshua Gillespie regarding his time in possession of an apparently empty wooden casket. Original statement given November 22^nd 1998. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

I will say now there is a chance drug use affected this statement, however in our follow up investigation we uncovered some odd details that make me believe this was not the cause of all of these events.

Martin did some digging into Breekon and Hope. They were a courier service based in Nottingham that were liquidated in 2009. Unfortunately, it seems no delivery records remain.

When Tim was checking Mr Gillespie’s address, he found that the housing association that ran the building kept extensive records on tenants dating back around forty or fifty years. The weird part is that according to those records, in the two years he lived there, Mr Gillespie was the only tenant in the building. Nobody moved in after he left either, and the building was demolished not long after this statement was given.

As no one who was there in the 90s still worked there, we could not find any explanation for why Mr Gillespie lived in the building alone, other than the coffin.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Lesere Saraki regarding a nightshift at St Thomas Hospital in London. Original statement given February 11^th 2012. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

There is a lot to this statement, so I am going to start with our mystery man. There was an admission for both Gerard Keay and an unknown burn victim. A police report was filed for his disappearance, but no evidence of foul play was found and no official missing persons case was opened.  

If he was saying “Asag”, that is interesting. Asag is a demon from Sumerian mythology often associated with disease and corruption, but according to myths, it also had the ability to boil fish alive in their rivers, although that was supposedly because of its monstrous appearance, but I think you can see the connection.

Martin told me “veepalach” may have been a mishearing of the Polish word “wypalać” which means to cauterise or brand. I checked his translation and according to online sources, it is correct.  I could not find much information on “the lightless flame” though, other than it appears in many different contexts in esoteric literature.

This is the second time Gerard Keay has appeared in a statement. Unfortunately, we have now found that he passed away from a brain tumour late last year. Jon has agreed to do more research into him once he’s back at work as he has taken a few days off, and we will hopefully find another statement mentioning him, or if we’re really lucky one from him.

I also asked Jon if he had ever heard of the book, but with the lack of details it makes that a challenge. He did not think so though, and to be fair we can only assume it was a Leitner to begin with.

We contacted Miss Saraki and she did not want to do a follow up interview, although she did tell us she does occasionally feel like she’s being watched but she hasn’t encountered anything else.

We managed to get access to the hospital’s CCTV footage for the 23^rd December 2011, and it is fascinating. Now, the ward where Gerard Keay and the second victim were admitted did not have a camera, but the A&E waiting room did. At 03:11:22, it shows all twenty-eight people in there calmly getting up and walking out the doors. Afterwards, Ms Saraki can be seen entering and leaving the waiting room three times, once staring at something under the camera, which is presumably the vending machine. The patients and other staff return at 03:27:12 through the same doors. There is no audio, but no alarms were recorded, so it is unknown why they left or what they were doing in those sixteen minutes. The strangest thing about this footage though was at 03:22:52, where it cuts out, and for a single frame, the feed is replaced by the close up of a human eye, staring.

Recording ends.

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Chapter Text

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[Muffled audio]

Jonathan

(Muttering) Get it together. [Deep breath] Get it together. You knew that was likely the case.

[Silence]

What…oh of course.

[Drawer slides open]

What do you want to take from me this time? You can feel I’m close, can’t you? But I’m not there yet, I’m sure you know that too. You wanted me to know Gerry’s dead. I can feel your strings tighten around me but I can still move for myself. I will not play your game for as long as I am able. I've still got someone left.

Now leave me alone.

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Archivist

Statement of Staff Sergeant Clarence Berry regarding his time serving with Wilfred Owen in World War 1. Original statement given November 6^th 1922. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

It was a surprise to find Wilfred Owen in a statement, although as this case is nearly a hundred years old, there is not really anything we can do to follow up.

This statement was filed under the 2000s for some reason. I wish I knew why.

The name “Joseph Rayner” is also familiar to me, but honestly, I’m not sure where I’ve seen it before.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Kieran Woodward regarding items recovered from 93 Lancaster Road, Walthamstow. Original statement given February 23^rd 2009. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

For once the follow up wasn’t too difficult. We have two shorter statements, one from David Atayah and one from Mathew Wilkinson, who corroborated the contents of the bags as well as Alan Parfitt’s behaviour prior to being fired. Gertrude also made a copy of the last text conversation between Kieran Woodward and Alan Parfitt, which does not contradict anything in this statement.

Martin did the follow up interview with Mr Woodward, but he had nothing new to say. There haven’t been any new bags at number 93, and like many people who have given statements here, he has discounted most of strangeness of his encounter. This is fairly common, which is unfortunate considering how rarely we tend to get the opportunity to do a follow up interview, but many encounters are also traumatic, so it is understandable.

Anyway, Tim looked into the police reports. Alan Parfitt was reported missing on the 20^th August 2008 by his brother, Michael, and he has never been found. Police Constables Suresh and Altman also confirmed the incident with the bag of teeth, however they couldn’t provide any more information as they never even had a suspect.

The medical report on the teeth is very interesting though. The teeth were in fact human, and according to the medical examiner, all two thousand seven hundred and eighty teeth were the same, just in different stages of decay.

End recording.

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[Click}

[Knock on the door]

Sasha

Come in.

[Door opens]

Martin

Uh, hi Sasha. Tim said you wanted to talk to me?

Sasha

Yeah, I did! Don’t look so worried, I promise it’s nothing bad. I just wanted to ask you something.

Martin

Oh, okay great.

[Door closes]

So, uh, what’s going on?

Sasha

Is Jon okay?

Martin

I…um…

Sasha

Sorry, I don’t need to know details if you don’t feel comfortable. It’s just…well ever since Lesere Saraki’s statement, he’s just been…quieter than usual. I don’t want to intrude if it just coincided with some personal stuff, but when I was telling him about what happened to Gerard Keay, it just seemed to really freak him out and then he took off a couple of days and…

I’m sorry, it’s none of my business. It’s just…I don’t know how to ask him because anytime I try and talk to him about anything remotely personal, he just kind of…

Martin

Shuts down? Yeah. [Nervous laugh] Jon isn’t great with talking about stuff like that. It’s nothing to do with you, he’s just…private. I don’t know what’s bothering him at the moment, but I’ll let you know if there’s anything you can do to help out if I do find out.

Sasha

Thanks Martin.

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Archivist

Statement of Ivo Lensik regarding his experiences during construction of a house on Hill Top Road, Oxford. Original statement given March 13^th 2007. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

Before we get into what we have found in the follow up investigation, I do of course have to bring up both the head trauma and potential schizophrenia. I will not dismiss this statement over it, especially since Mr Lensik did go to get assessed by his own admission, however there is always a chance those have still affected his testimony. No other workers on the site reported any strange events either. That being said, there is a note in this file which states Father Edwin Burroughs has also given an account of these events in Statement 0218011. Unfortunately, I have yet to find it in this mess of an Archive, but I’m hoping I’ll uncover it soon.

Martin did some research on the house. He could not find when the house was originally built, with the earliest owner of the house being Walter Fielding in 1891. The house was then inherited by his son Alfred Fielding in 1923, and then his grandson Raymond Fielding in 1958. There were no records saying it was ever used as a halfway house, but Jon managed to get access to the Church of England records for the area and found they were incomplete. However, older residents of Hill Top Road backed up the account given by Anna Kasuma.

Tim arranged an interview with Mrs Kasuma, but all we learned was that she had asked Father Burroughs to do the exorcism on the house as she had seen him do one before. We couldn’t find any new stories or anything similar on the fire, but a resident provided a photo of the house in flames.

Raymond Fielding’s obituary reported he died in the house fire and talks about his work with troubled youth, although no details were given for either of these.

We have no details on Agnes, and we can’t even find evidence she existed, well, other than one potential link. I admit, we have no evidence these are related, but Jon did find a report about an Agnes Montague who was found dead on November 23^rd 2006 in her flat in Sheffield, and this of course was the day Mr Lensik claimed to have uprooted the tree. She had hung herself. The issue is she was 26 years old. The thing is, she was found with a severed right hand chained around her waist. The owner was never identified, and much to the confusion of the coroner, according to the rate of decay, the owner of the hand seemed to have died at the exact same time as Agnes.

Two more families have lived in the house since, but no incidents have occurred.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Antonio Blake regarding his recent dreams about the previous Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, Gertrude Robinson. Original statement given March 14^th 2015. Audio recording by Sasha James, current Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

[Pause]

I…I wanted to right this off as a prank, I really did. I’m not going to say I entirely believe it as I’m not sure I do, but this was certainly deeply unsettling to find.

I know it wasn’t Tim, and I very much doubt Jon or Martin would pull a prank like this. I checked with my old colleagues up in Research, but all of them also deny having left it down here. I can’t say I completely believe them, but I also don’t know why they wouldn’t admit it now.

Tim helped me look into this, and we didn’t find much. Antonio Blake was a fake name, and none of his contact infomation was real either.

I’ve asked Jon to help keep track of statements that come in. He is very good at organising things, and also keeping track of them, and he assured me he was more than happy to do it. He seems to enjoy the organising more than doing statement follow up, but considering how much easier he’s made sorting this place out, I can’t complain.

I have to admit this statement disturbs me. It’s the timing of it. I don’t know exactly what happened to Gertrude, and as far as I can tell, I don’t think anyone here does other than Elias. I know he likely can’t share details for privacy reasons, but I did ask him what happened to her when he offered me the job. His exact phrasing was “she died in the line of duty”, which has always struck me as odd. I don’t know what he meant, but as he also told me not to worry about it too much, I don’t think he’ll clarify if I asked.

[Sighs] God, this was a weird one.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Trevor Herbert regarding his life being a supposed vampire hunter. Original statement given July 10^th 2010. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

Martin worked here at the time, and according to him, Mr Herbert requested to take a nap and was shown to a break room, where unfortunately he never woke up. He also said that Mr Herbert had insisted on giving his statement despite his health.

There is actually a lot of evidence to back up a lot of Mr. Herbert’s story.

There is a news report from 1959 about a fire on Loom Street which destroyed the house and killed an 18-year-old boy. The homeowner is not mentioned at all.  A police report in 1968 confirms the disappearance of Robert Arden in Manchester amid violent circumstances as there was a broken window and signs of a fire, although no humans remains were discovered.

There was also a murder report for Alard Dupont whose body was found was found partially burned in his home on August 2^nd, 1982.

Unfortunately, this was all we were able to follow up with.

There is a bag of what is apparently shark teeth with this statement. All six of them are different sizes, and according to the Zoology Department at King’s College, they do not match any known species.

I’m not sure if I believe the vampire part of this statement. I may be more inclined to do so if I had access to the supposed vampire teeth, but I can’t find them here or in the Secure Containment Room. The statement itself is also a photocopy of a photocopy, and I don’t have any idea where the original is. However, the file number is listed among several information requests from the Institute’s government and law enforcement contracts. It seems they are quite interested in this statement, and it may explain where the original has gone.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Julia Montauk regarding the actions and motivations of her father and serial killer, Robert Montauk. Original statement given December 3^rd, 2002. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

The Robert Montauk case was very well documented, so that has made follow up quite simple.

In addition to Christopher Lorne’s body, forty hearts were also found in the shed. They were arranged on the walls, each with their own shelves forming patterns of eleven hearts on each inner wall and seven on the wall with the door. Photos of the patterns show they match with various formulae of sacred geometry, however they do not appear to correspond with any specific school.

None of the other bodies have ever been found.

The symbol on the pendants is from the People’s Church of the Divine Host, a small cult that was started by a defrocked Pentecostal minister named Maxwell Rayner in London in the late eighties and early nineties. I knew the name from Statement 1106922 was familiar, although I’m not sure the statements are connected.

Christopher Lorne was a member of the church. Prior to his murder, his family hadn’t heard from him in six years. Mr Rayner disappeared from public view in 1994, and the cult disbanded soon afterwards. The police attempted to follow up on this angle on the case, but they could not find a member of the church willing to make a statement.

The house on York Road is still inhabited, although the current resident tore down the shed and replaced it with a patio.

Robert Montauk died in Wakefield Prison on November 1^st 2002. He was stabbed forty-seven times and bled out before he was found. Oddly, no culprit or weapon was ever found, and his cell was supposed to be locked and he was alone. The lightbulb in his cell had blown out, leaving him in darkness.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Okay, I am so sorry about that. Technology can be…temperamental sometimes.

Naomi Herne

And that is actually supposed to work? You’ve got to be joking.

Archivist

I know this thing looks like it’s going to break if you look at it wrong, but trust me it’s more reliable than you’d think.

Naomi

(Muttering) No wonder nobody takes you all seriously.

Archivist

You do not have to talk to us if you don’t want to, but even if we are frauds, what’s the harm in telling your story?

Naomi

[Sighs] I’m sorry, I just…I want someone to believe me.

Archivist

Well, I can’t promise that for certain, but the stone you came in with is more evidence than most people have.

Naomi

(Quietly) Okay. Where are we starting from?

Archivist

Unfortunately, I think it’s best if we just start from the top. I doubt anything from the original recording with be salvageable. So just state your name, the date and the subject again please.

Naomi

My name is Naomi Herne, it is the 13^th of January 2016, and I’m making a statement about the funeral of my fiancé, Evan Lukas.

[Pause]

[Rustling of fabric]

Where are you going?

Archivist

I thought you would want some privacy.

Naomi

I…no…can you please stay?

Archivist

Of course.

Naomi

[Deep breath] Okay. Alright. I guess I should begin with how I met Evan.

…

And then…nothing.

Archivist

That was when the car hit you?

Naomi

Yes. I remember headlights for a second and then nothing before I woke up in the hospital.

Archivist

Okay.

Naomi

So…do you believe me?

Archivist

We will need to investigate before coming to a conclusion-

Naomi

Of course you don’t believe me.

Archivist

I never said that. Naomi, I do believe you.

Naomi

I…you do?

Archivist

I do. That being said, I do think you should seek psychological help. You seem like you need someone to talk to.

[Silence]

Naomi

(Quietly) Thank you. [Clears throat] Can you keep me updated on what you find?

Archivist

Of course.

[Click]

[Click]

Archivist

Statement ends.

Unfortunately, we couldn’t find much in the way of follow up.

Evan Lukas did indeed pass away of heart failure on the 22^nd of March, 2015 and his body was taken by his family for burial. The Lukas family has firmly denied any request for an interview or information.

At around one in the morning on the 31^st of March, Ms. Herne was hit by a car driven by Michael Getty. She has run out in front of his car near Wormshill in the Kent Downs. She was rushed to hospital where she was treated for a concussion and dehydration. Her car was found abandoned in a field five miles away.

We could not find a cemetery matching Ms Herne’s description anywhere around where she was found. There also could not have been any fog due to the high winds caused by a storm that night.

Now, while this statement could be written off as being caused by grief, she was found with a chunk of granite engraved with a cross. The style and size match with what could be found atop a headstone, although we have not been able to trace it origin. A small amount of text can be made out of what seems to be part of the marker which reads “forgotten”. I have arranged for the stone to be moved to Artefact Storage.

Recording ends.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Statement of Laura Popham regarding her experience exploring the Three Counties cave system with her sister, Alena Sanderson. Original statement given November 9^th 2014. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

This one gets complicated, as many details given by Ms. Popham are not accurate to what truly happened according to our research. The CNCC do not have any record of her getting a permit for her expedition and they had issued multiple for June 14^th so they were not alone in the cave. Death’s Head Hole and Lost John’s Cave are both very well documented, and Tim and I tried plotting out her route and it did not make any sense.

Alistair Popham contacted the Yorkshire Dales Cave Rescue Organisation on the 15^th of June to report that his wife and sister-in-law had gone caving the day before and had yet to return. Tim went to go and confirm details, and he discovered even more inaccuracies.

Ms. Popham was actually found a few yards from the bottom of Death’s Head Hole, unresponsive and kneeling next to a small pile of burnt-out candles. Alistair Popham claims to have not seen these be packed. She came out of the stupor once above ground and started shouting about Alena and that they needed to “save her”.

Despite having not mentioned it in her statement, there was also a recording. Ms. Popham had taken a camera with her, and she never claimed it back from the CRO. Tim managed to get access to it long enough to copy the footage, and I will not be asking how he did it.

Most of the footage is normal, just showing Ms. Popham and her sister cave climbing, but the last video is disturbing. The timestamp puts it at just past two in the morning on the 15^th of June. The footage is completely black, whether that’s because of the cave or if the lens cap was never removed is not clear. The audio is the concerning part.

[Click]

[Sounds of movement in water and the increasingly panicked voice from Laura Popham, saying “take her, not me”]

[Click]

The audio continues like that for two hours and forty-three minutes.

Alena Sanderson has not been found even two years after her disappearance.

Due to the complexity to this statement, I have opted not to contact Ms. Popham. Trauma warps memory, and I doubt time will have sorted out the inconsistencies.

Recording ends.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Statement of Lee Rentoul regarding the murder of his associate, Paul Noriega. Original statement given May 29^th 2011. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

I couldn’t find any proper follow up on this statement. All I found was some supplementary notes, and according to those shortly after Mr. Rentoul gave his statement, there was an altercation which led to an accident requiring Mr. Rentoul to be hospitalised, but there are no other details other than…well I’m sure the injury was obvious. He did not return to the Institute and so his statement was archived.

According to the arrest records Jon found, Mr. Rentoul and his associate both had extensive files. The last time Mr. Noriega was involved with the police was two months before this statement, and he has not cropped up again since then.

Martin ended up being the one to try and investigate “Angela”. He met with every woman named Angela over the age of fifty in Bexley over the past few days, but unfortunately, he could not find one that fit the vague description. Although, he did tell me he had some lovely chats about jigsaws. 

Tim tried to track down Mr. Rentoul for a follow up interview but he seems to have disappeared soon after he gave his statement. We did manage to locate his old landlord, who told us that Mr. Rentoul vanished in early April 2011, leaving many unpaid bills and no forwarding address. When he went to clear out the flat, he found no furniture, just hundreds and hundreds of small cardboard boxes.

The last thing I want to talk about is the appearance of Mikaele Salesa. That is not a name I like seeing, having dealt with several of his artefacts while I worked in Artefact Storage. I guess it was only a matter of time before I found a mention of him. I fully expect there are whole statements about him down here. I actually know he gave a statement which I do want to read through again, however I do not know what Gertrude did with it, so we’ll see how long it takes me to find it.

Recording ends.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Statement of Carlos Vittery regarding his arachnophobia and its manifestations. Original statement given April 9^th 2015. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

I feel the need to state there is a good chance mental illness played a role in this statement, however I do not believe it is the full explanation.

There were not many details to follow up on really. We did manage to confirm Mr. Vittery did indeed live at the address provided.

That being said, that doesn’t mean this statement isn’t interesting. When I asked Tim to follow up on Mr. Vittery, we discovered he had passed away. On further investigation, we found he had died at his residence on Boothby Road and was found a week later. He died from asphyxiation, although we don’t know what he choked on other than that it was “foreign organic material”, and strangely his body was found encased in spider webs. I have my doubts that this is a coincidence, although unfortunately I cannot prove anything definitively.

Recording ends

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Statement of Sebastien Adekoya regarding a new acquisition at Chiswick Library. Original statement given June 10^th 1999. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

Jon was the one to discover this statement, and he was very excited to find it.

He got some help from Tim, and they cross referenced these events with police reports and found a warrant for Jared Hopworth’s arrest for assault and breaking and entering. He was never found, and as this was a small case it was not kept active long.

Tim attempted to locate Mr. Adekoya for a follow up interview, but found he passed away in 2006. He was found in the middle of a road on the night of April 17^th. There were no marks of trauma on the body, but due to the mangled position he was found in, it was ruled a hit and run.

Jon found nothing else on the book, but he is still looking. I don’t think I’ll be seeing a lot of him in the coming week, especially since Martin’s off sick, but hopefully he’ll find something.

Recording ends.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Statement of Father Edwin Burroughs regarding his claimed demonic possession. Original statement given May 30^th 2011. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

I have yet to find the rest of this statement. I will record it once I’ve found it, and Tim has agreed to help me dig through this Archive in an attempt to find it. If we’re lucky, it won’t take too long, and we may even find the rest of Trevor Herbert’s statement while we’re at it.

Anyway, while I’ll wait to do the full investigation once we’ve found the rest, I have done a little bit of research in advance.

This statement does help to corroborate Ivo Lensik’s statement.

We did manage to find Father Burrough’s arrest record. It will be…interesting to see how the events in this statement lead to the incident that got him arrested, where he murdered two first year university students after Sunday Mass and proceeded to peel off and eat their skin.

End recording.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Continued statement of Father Burroughs regarding his claimed demonic possession. Original statement given May 30^th 2011. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement continues.

…

Statement ends.

By some miracle this statement had only been misfiled in the next folder. That fact does suggest someone else was reading it at some point, and I can only assume it was Gertrude, since I know none of my assistants have read it. It’s not really that important, she was Head Archivist after all, I just find it odd that it was misplaced so close to the other half of the statement.

This is a strange case, so I am going to start with Bethany O’Connor.

According to records from St Hugh’s College, she was indeed a student and was studying archaeology, matriculating in 2008. Everything about her faith, hospitalisation and death in this statement line up with official records. However, records have her staying in halls in her second year, and she attacked a porter with a knife, not a housemate. According to the letting agent, nobody was living in 89 Bullingdon Road that year, so whatever Bethany was doing, she was not living there legally.

Father Burrough’s old colleagues certainly remembered him and his falling apart after the failed exorcism. They were in the process of talking to the bishop to get him help when the…incident occurred. Before meeting Bethany O’Connor, they had nothing but praise for him.

Now it is time to discuss to incident itself. He was found in a back room of 89 Bullingdon Road and wore a butcher’s apron as he sat in front of the two dead students, Christopher Bilham and James Mann. They were tied to chairs and died due to blood loss from multiple lacerations all over their legs and torso, as well as the removal of both of their faces with a sharp blade, maybe a scalpel. James Mann’s face was partially eaten by Father Burroughs. He pleaded guilty to all charges and is serving two life sentences at Wakefield Prison. Unfortunately, HMPS refused to allow us to do a follow up interview.

During his climactic final hallucination, at no point did he perform an action that lined up with the binding and murder of the students, which is odd. It is also strange that the altar server seems out of place with these delusions, as he appeared to have agency.

There is also the detail in the police report that the tools used to kill and mutilate the victims were not found, and I doubt in his state Father Burroughs would have been able to dispose of them.

I suspect there was a second person there. Due to the success of the initial persecution, I doubt anyone would want to reopen the case. I will likely try and send them my suspicions with this statement, but I will be shocked if it goes anywhere.

The final thing is that Tim found that the Oratory received a delivery of pale yellow stole a few days before, but apparently vanished less than a day after they signed for it. This would not particularly be of interest if the delivery company wasn’t Breekon and Hope, but I have to admit I do not know what that means.

Recording ends.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Statement of Christof Rudenko regarding his interactions with a first-floor resident of Welbeck House, Wandsworth. Original statement given December 12^th, 2008. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

This is one of the most disgusting statements I’ve had to read. It has also proven difficult to look into as the police, hospital and fire department all have conflicting reports. What is certain is that on the evening of the 22^nd of October 2007, there was an incident on a first floor flat at Welbeck House involving hazardous biological material which led to the discovery of the body of the legal homeowner, Toby Carlisle, who according to the medical report died of gangrene.

We managed to contact Mr. Rudenko, who told us he has not experienced anything else he believes to be tied to these events and has gone through counselling in an effort to move past them. He did confirm that he stands by this statement and believes this is what happened to him.

The last thing is that Jon managed to access Toby Carlisle’s old financial records, and he didn’t seem to have much money coming in. What he did have was mostly getting put towards paying his council tax on the property. There are no records of transactions or online delivery firms, and Tim asked around the local butchers and found nothing.

I honestly do not have a clue where he was getting the meat.

Recording-

[Door opens and slams against the wall]

Martin? What the-

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Martin, you don’t have to make a statement now.

Martin

N-no, you need to know about what happened, and I-I want it on record.

Archivist

Are you sure?

Martin

Yes. I need to get it down now. I…I don’t want to miss any details.

Archivist

Alright then.

Statement of Martin Blackwood, Archival Assistant at the Magnus Institute, London, regarding…

Martin

Regarding my encounter with what I believe at one point was…well I think it was Jane Prentiss.

Archivist

Statement recorded on March 6^th 2016.

Statement begins.

Martin

Well, it started just over a week ago. It was when you were looking into Carlos Vittery, you know the arachnophobe who probably died to spiders? [Nervous laugh] I mean, I actually quite like spiders, they’re cute, well the big ones are and they’re not nearly as scary as people think-

Archivist

Martin, sorry to interrupt, but…

Martin

Right, right. Sorry. I don’t mean to ramble. Just… [Deep breath] okay.

So, you asked me to go and investigate the flat he lived in. I was actually quite excited to get out the Archives again. I had some fun the last time even if I didn’t manage to find anything really. I took the Northern Line up to Archway and walk the rest of the way there. I find the building easily, and it looks exactly how Mr. Vittery described it. There’s a big thick door in the front, and of course I go and try the buzzers, but it’s early so either people are at work or sleeping. I didn’t want to come all the way back here empty handed, because you know, even last time I at least learned none of the people I talked to were the person we were looking for, so I thought it would be a good idea to have more of a look around and see if I can find another way in. Also, I knew Jon would want as much help as possible with the Leitner statement he’d found so I wanted to try and make sure we wouldn’t have to do it on another day. I wondered around the building for a bit, and that’s when I spotted the basement window was slightly ajar. It was a small gap, but I felt I should at least have a good look to see if I could fit.

As I got closer though, something on the ground caught my eye. It was small and glinted in the sunlight. I initially thought it was a piece of metal, like a screw maybe, but as I approached it, I realised it was some type of worm. It was nothing like an earthworm though, it reminded me more of a maggot to be honest, being maybe an inch long, and a segmented silver body that turned black at one end. I thought it was dead and I’d never seen a worm like it, so I crouched down to take a closer look when it began to squirm. Its black head twisted towards me and it darted in my direction. I have to admit I panicked a little and leapt to my feet, stomping on it. I could hear a faint crack as it popped beneath my shoe, and thick, dark slime oozed from its remains. 

That was pretty disgusting, so after I scraped it off of my shoe, I took a quick look around to make sure there weren’t anymore, and when I didn’t see any, I went to have a better look at the window. Now, the window is small, and I am not a small guy. I realise I can fit though, and while it was a bit of a squeeze, I managed. The thing is it was only once I was part way through that I realised that the window was only at ground level on the outside, so I took a bit of a fall. It didn’t really hurt, I just sat there for a moment to compose myself before getting up and dusting myself off.

I guess at first you could describe it as a fairly average basement. It’s big, with the only light coming in through the window. The light switch was probably on the other side of the room, but I couldn’t see it. I guess this may be sort of standard for a rarely used basement, but it smelled musty and the air was thick with dust, and I had the deepest sense that something was wrong. I…I can’t really explain why? It’s just I knew something wasn’t right down there, especially once I saw my shadow. I was still stood with the window behind me, the daylight casting it clearly in front of me, but the edges of it weren’t quite right. It…undulated. It made me think of a pile of writhing insects, but I think that might have been because of the worm I’d killed outside. It…it was just very unsettling.

As soon as I saw the stairs across the room, I hurried over to them. I knew I needed to get out of there, and as soon as I emerged into the normal hallway of the building, my sense of dread lessened. I decided not to leave at that point, after all I hadn’t gone through all that to get nothing, so I went to see if any current residents remembered anything about Mr. Vittery.

I headed up to number four, and knocked a couple of times. I didn’t think anyone was in, but then the door opened to reveal an old woman in a headscarf. I asked her questions, and quickly realised she didn’t speak much English, and she pointed behind me and shut the door. I turned to find a large dark-skinned man wearing a very nice suit who eyed me suspiciously. He introduced himself as Yasir Kundi and explained he owned the building, and so I told him of the upstairs residents buzzed me in, and he became a little more cooperative.

I told him the truth other than that really, I just didn’t mention the Institute, because while I’m not ashamed or anything about the fact I work here, it does tend to weird people out, or the fact I broke in. I said I was investigating Mr. Vittery’s death and I was looking into his history and wanted to find out what I could about when he was like as a tenant. Mr. Kundi wasn’t too helpful, which I kind of expected. He told me Carlos Vittery had lived there, was a bit odd and didn’t interact with anyone really, but was never a problem and paid his rent. He used to have a cat, but it now lived with the Sanderson couple in number two. He appeared to be genuinely surprised he had died, but wasn’t able to give us any more information on it.

That was the point I left and told you what I’d found, and I was heading back to the Institute, but the basement bothered me. I had seen cobwebs down there, and I thought maybe there was something I missed, so I thought I’d look around better this time, just to make sure.

It was dark by the time I got back to Boothby Road as I hadn’t quite thought through my timings. I was tempted to go back home and try again in the morning, but I’d come this far and I needed to make sure I’d done everything I could, so I kept going.

The window was still open, and I had brought a torch with me this time, and so when I was sure no one was watching, I climbed back in. I knew the second I was in there I had made a mistake. The musty air was now warm, which considering it was February, was wrong. I turned on the torch and shone it around the room, the light catching on the spiderwebs but revealing they were vacant, just dust covered strands. For a moment I thought I had wasted my time and risked getting arrested for nothing, but then I heard movement.

It came from the other side of the room, and I did not want to check it out, my mind screaming at me to leave, but it could have been important, and I had to check.

It was quiet, just a slight rustling. I know it was stupid to follow the noise. It’s always what people yell at horror movie characters not to do, and I’ve seen enough of these statements to know even in real life it is a bad idea, but I had to know. The weak beam of light from the torch outlined the shelves and detritus that littered them. I had some naïve hope that if there was something, maybe the faint light would protect me, but then the movement had stopped so I tried to convince myself that maybe it had just been a rat, or I’d imagined it entirely, but then my torch beam fell on a human figure.

It seemed to be a woman. She didn’t look at me, instead she was staring at the corner of the wall, not seeming to know or care that I was there. Her long, filthy, matted hair looked black, although I’m not sure that was its natural colour. She wore a threadbare grey overcoat, but her legs were bare, and I thought were covered in spots. She held a dirty green handkerchief, and she just sat there. I did not move.

Then, with a fast jerky movement, she brought it to her mouth and coughed. No, coughing isn’t right. Retched maybe? It sounded like the tearing of fresh meat, I think that’s the best way to describe it. Something fell from the handkerchief to the ground, a writhing inch long silver thing.

I screamed. I mean, who wouldn’t in that situation? I just really wished I hadn’t as her head snapped towards me. Her eyes locked on me, where I saw her pupils were collapsed and ragged. Then she smiled, revealing blackened and chipped teeth, and I began to stumble backwards, expecting her to lunge, yet she didn’t.

She stood up and let the grey overcoat fall, revealing her pale greyish skin that was filled with…it was filledwith holes. It makes me feel sick thinking about it. Those dark pits honeycombed her flesh like…like a wasp’s nest. The thin silvery worms crawled and slithered out of her, black tips twitching and jerking as they squirmed out every cavity. It could not have been human. It can’t have been. She…it stepped towards me, and worms cascaded from every bit of the pitted flesh, reaching for me at an alarming speed.

I had backed towards the stairs when I did something that I know was not a good idea. I know I should have just run away, but I got my phone out and I wanted to get a photo of it. So few statements have any actual evidence and I wanted something to truly prove I had seen something. I was just pulling up the camera app when one of the worms lunged at me. I swear it was six feet away from me when it did, and it missed, but it startled me and I tripped on the steps, dropping my phone. I didn’t bother to try picking it up and I fled.

The door was unlocked. I know if it hadn’t been I would be dead…or maybe…maybe worse. I just ran and ran and ran. I can’t say I’m a good runner, and with every step I expected to feel something crawl up my leg, but I kept going until I got to the Underground, where I then proceeded to check everywhere for those worms. I live in Stockwell which is at the other end of the Northern Line, so I was feeling safer by the time I got home, although I was exhausted. I knew I wouldn’t be able to work the next day, but since I’d lost my phone and don’t have a landline, my only option was email and I was shattered and didn’t have the energy to, so I just went to bed.

I don’t know how long I slept for, all I know is that it was dark when I was woken up by the knocking. Whether it was a few hours later or if I’d slept through the whole day, I can’t say. I didn’t really care though as I forced myself to get up. It all came back to me, and I shuddered. I hoped I’d imagined it all, but then I considered that maybe I’d just overreacted to a homeless woman. What if she was sick? What if I’d left her to die?

More knocking disrupted my thoughts. I flicked the light switch, and nothing happened. I tried my lamp, and still nothing turned on. I thought maybe we’d had a power outage and a neighbour was asking if I didn’t have power either, so I shuffled towards the door.

I was reaching for the door handle when I paused, a shiver running down my spine. What if she was out there? Those worms, that hive, had claimed her, and I knew they wanted to claim me too. I remembered that case you told us about where the woman burst into worms, and I realised that had to have been Jane Prentiss. I never had a peephole put in my door, but then I saw movement beneath the door, and a squirming worm crawled through.

I think my panic took over then. My memories get…blurry. I stomped and stomped as worms forced their way in. I grabbed towels, socks, anything I could to shove into the gap under the door, and any crack around a window, and anywhere where there was even the slightest chance they could get in.

And then the only thing I could do was wait. I didn’t have any electricity, no way to ask for help, so all I could do was ignore the knocking. I had food since I eat a lot of ready meals and cans, although I had to ration after the first few days, and there were no issues with the water supply, and I am very glad they never tried to come in through the pipes.

I read the few print books I had a few times each. I couldn’t really sleep as every time I did, I would become convinced something was crawling on me, or I would hear the knocking. I tried to think about what we’d found out about Jane Prentiss, but the fact she was a practising witch and that she was clearly infected by some sort of horrific unknown parasite were not helpful.

She never spoke, or attempted to, although considering the state of her body, I’m not sure she would be capable of speech. She didn’t try to break down the door either, which I guess was odd too.

It went on for eight days, until today, where the knocking changed. It was rapid, more panicked, and then I heard Jon shouting for me, and I have never been more relieved to hear another person’s voice in my life. I let him in, gave him a quick rundown on what happened, and we ran here.

Archivist

What happened to Jane Prentiss?

Martin

I honestly have no idea. I think Jon must have scared her off. You’ll need to ask him.

Archivist

We need to sort out living arrangements for you. You are not going home.

Martin

I wasn’t planning on it.

Archivist

You said you lost your phone last week, right?

Martin

Um, yeah, I did.

Archivist

(More to herself than Martin) Then how did I get texts from you saying you were ill? That doesn’t- [Phones buzzes]

It’s uh…Martin it’s from you… “Keep him. We had our fun. He’ll want to see what happens to the Archivist’s crimson fate.”

[Silence]

Martin

Sasha, what does that mean?

Archivist

It means we’re going to need to ask Elias to hire more security. I also need to do some digging. I think Jane Prentiss made a statement, and it has to be here somewhere.

[Click]

[Click]

Archivist

You’re sure it’s safe in here?

Jonathan

This room is supposed to be humidity controlled, and while it doesn’t work, it is very well sealed, plus no windows or anything like that. Also, the Institute does have decent security.

Martin

Thanks Jon.

Archivist

Let us know if you need anything okay?

Martin

I will.

Jon

I’ll let you settle in.

Archivist

Me too.

[Footsteps]

Hey Jon! Wait a minute.

Jonathan

I don’t want to talk about it, not…not yet.

Archivist

I’m not asking you too. I’m just not sure it’s the best idea for you to go home.

Jonathan

I’ll be fine.

Archivist

You can’t know that. Just because you scared her off once doesn’t mean that will work again.

Jonathan

I…I appreciate the concern but I can’t stay here. Trust me, I take my security very seriously, Jane Prentiss will not be getting anywhere near me.

Archivist

(Sighing) Fine, fine. But if anything weird happens, you tell me alright?

Jonathan

Deal.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Statement of Moira Kelly regarding the disappearance of her son, Robert Kelly. Original statement given October 20^th 2002. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

So, to start, Open Skydiving, the company Robert Kelly worked for, does not, and as far as we could find, never existed. There is no record of it in company registers, nor were any licences for skydiving ever issued to them. We did find a couple of news articles from the early 2000s that reference events by Open Skydiving, or the Open Skydiving School, but whatever they did, they were not officially licensed. Whether they lied to Robert Kelly or he lied to his mother is unclear.

There wasn’t much detail on the skydive in which Robert Kelly was supposedly transported to the sky-blue void, but Tim worked his magic and managed to dig some stuff up. He spent pretty much a whole day going through accident and incident reports in Doncaster in June 2002 and he found one that appears relevant. On the 3^rd of June, Joseph Puce reported hearing an impact in the field next to his house. He investigated and discovered an unopened parachute had hit the ground, partly burying itself in the ground. There was no sign of anyone who could have been wearing it, and there was no logo or sign of who it may belong to. Tim did a follow up interview with Mr. Puce, who firmly denied that there were any planes or skydiving around his property.

Ms. Kelly attempted to report her son missing on the 7^th of June, but due to an absence of any information on friends and residences, it proved difficult. It’s actually hard to find any record of Robert Kelly’s existence for the four years prior to his disappearance. It may be due to him moving around a lot, but I don’t know, it feels like there may be more to it.

Ms. Kelly refused a request for a follow up interview as she didn’t want to revisit the incident, which is perfectly understandable and honestly expected.

The final thing is that Ms. Kelly named a Harriet Fairchild along with an old man named Simon. I have seen the name “Simon Fairchild” before, I just have to find where.

Recording ends.

[Click]

[Click]

Archivist

You’re sure you want to? I don’t want you to feel like you’re obligated to record this.

Jonathan

(Sighing) No, this should be on record.

Archivist

If you’re sure.

Statement of Jonathan Sims, Archival Assistant at the Magnus Institute regarding his encounter with Jane Prentiss. This is connected to statement 1160604 Statement recorded on March 11^th 2015.

Statement begins.

Jonathan

I…I should have known something was wrong sooner. It’s just…I had found the statement on the Boneturner’s Tale and finding information on Leitner tomes is difficult. There is a reason I have spent years working on cataloguing them and researching their effects, and even looking into Jurgen Leitner himself. I have yet to find solid answers but every book found has the potential to hold key pieces of information.

The point is I was distracted when Martin sent you the message that he was ill. I can’t say we text all the time, but he likes to check in a couple of times a week, and it has become a part of my routine really. I…well I guess I appreciate it, although it took me a while to realise he hadn’t contacted me at all for almost a week. It then hit me as odd that he never let me know he was sick himself and only told you.

I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly good with people. I do not interact in a way that is considered normal and frankly I do not particularly care how I am viewed. Martin…he’s the one person I really have in my life.

At first, I thought I was overreacting. Martin was ill, he didn’t owe me a message or anything. I never thought that he did, but I know Martin, and it wasn’t like him to be so radio silent with me. So, I decided to drop him a message asking how he was feeling. I got a response fairly quickly but…well it was off. I know the message “I am fine thank you, just still not back to normal. I am concerned it might be a parasite” may not seem odd considering the circumstances, but it was so…formal. I don’t know how often Martin has messaged you, but you can feel his concern or excitement or whatever he’s feeling in whatever he’s typed, usually conveyed through emojis and exaggerated punctuation.

That was when I became almost certain something wasn’t right. I still wasn’t completely sure, I have had…problems in the past with reading people’s intentions, and I didn’t entirely trust myself, but I had to at least check, although I didn’t want to drag you or Tim into it in case I was wrong.

So, I went to Martin’s flat. I was still mildly convinced I was being paranoid, but I had to check. I needed to make sure…

At first everything seemed normal. Nothing really seemed off about the building as I took the stairs up. Martin lived on the fourth floor at the end of a corridor, so I got a good look at the door before I got there, and it was hard to miss the black residue staining the white painted wood. I approached the door slowly, now aware of a musty smell. Now I knew something was wrong. I knelt down to examine the door, initially not finding anything, but something silver caught my eye. A worm. A tiny, thin, squished worm.

The smell suddenly grew stronger, and I spun around, finding a woman, and something was very, very wrong with her. Holes riddled her flesh and each was filled with squirming, writhing worms. She smiled, and I could see them crawling in her mouth, one even falling out onto the floor. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t really have anything on me, and I warned her to stay back. She laughed at that and it was a sickly noise. I’m not sure what I was thinking to be honest, I just remembered the one thing I had on my that could offer any remote source of protection, a lighter.

I smoke. It’s a bad habit, I know, but now I can say it saved my life. I sparked the flame, and she didn’t seem overly intimidated, but I warned her I would use it. She looked at me, then the tiny flame, and then back to me, and to my shock, she actually walked away. She…muttered something as she left, but I didn’t catch it due to the fact I was basically in a blind panic, only just processing that I was still alive. As soon as she disappeared around the corner I hammered on the door, and to my surprise Martin answered, scared but physically unharmed, and we ran back here.

Archivist

That’s…interesting. Are you sure you didn’t catch what she said?

Jonathan

Yes. Sorry. I…I’ve been trying to remember.

Archivist

You got both yourself and Martin out of there so that is the least of my worries. Thank you, for telling me what happened.

Jonathan

I hope it helped.

[Footsteps and a door opens]

Archivist

Jon, it wasn’t your fault.

Jonathan

What?

Archivist

You’re the one who noticed, you probably saved his life. Just let me and Tim know before you go and deal with an unknown horror next time, okay?

Jonathan

I’ll…keep that in mind.

[Door closes]

[Click]

[Click]

[Silence, then footsteps followed by a pause]

Jonathan

I suspected you’d want to listen in again. You want to know the truth, don’t you? [Sighs] Sasha, if you ever listen to this, I’m sorry I lied. I just…I can’t tell you the truth about me. Jane Prentiss knows what I am, I guess she recognises herself in me in a way. She…she warned me as she walked away. She said “Spiders can be prey too.” I…I think she means she is willing to kill me, I just wish I knew what her plan was.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Statement of Leanne Denikin regarding an antique calliope organ she possessed briefly in August 2004. Original statement given January 17^th 2005. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

I had a conversation with Tim and Jon before this statement on the correct pronunciation of the word “calliope”. If you do not agree with how I was saying it for this statement, please know we spent ten minutes discussing it beforehand.

Anyway, Ms. Denikin provided a copy of the official police report for the burglary. Irene Marlow provided testimony that confirm she did indeed own both the steam trunk and calliope organ.

There was more information on the death of Joshua Drury than I expected. His jaw was torn off of his skull, and his throat was crushed likely with a thick rope, potentially woven out of wool. There was no sign of forced entry and no DNA evidence other than that of the victim. No one was arrested.

I talked to Tim about this statement and he said it reminded him of travelling circuses in Russia and Poland in the early 20^th century. I decided it would be a good idea to look into it, and I found multiple of the books he mentioned in the Institute’s Library. On page 43 of Gregory Petry’s Freaks and Followers: Circuses in the 1940s, there was a reproduction of a black and white photo. It shows a group of carnival workers: a contortionist, a fire-eater, two strong men, a ringmaster and an organist sitting behind a calliope.

The label on the photograph says it was taken in 1948 in Minsk, Russia. The troupe was Цирк другого, which translated means the Circus of the Other. I think I’ve heard of this before, but I’m not sure. I should ask Tim, he knows more about this sort of stuff.

Ms. Denikin immigrated to East Asia several years ago, so was unavailable for any follow up. That being said, I know there is more to this as there is a Calliaphone steam organ in artifact storage. It was acquired in 2007, so before I worked there, and no one else remembers anything else about it. I have been trying to find the acquisition records but have yet to locate them. The keyboard cover is locked, and scratched into it are the words “Be still, for there is strange music”.

Recording ends.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Statement of Paul McKenzie regarding repeated night time intrusions into his home. Original statement given August 24^th 2004. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Given how alert and paranoid I generally am when trying to sleep in and empty house-

[Knocking on the door]

Come in?

[Door opens]

Oh! Elias!

Elias

Sorry to interrupt.

Archivist

No, no it’s fine. What can I do for you?

Elias

I wanted to see how you were doing down here considering the…recent incident.

Archivist

Uh, well nothing else has really happened since the worms. We’ve all been on the lookout, but we haven’t spotted anything. Thank you for letting Martin stay here, and for the extra security. I know you had some doubts, but I genuinely think we have reason to be concerned.

Elias

I take your safety very seriously. If anything else happens, you’ll be letting me know?

Archivist

Of course.

Elias

Good. Well then, I’ll let you get back to your statement.

Archivist

Thank you.

[Door closes]

Alright then. Where were we?

Statement continues.

…

Statement ends.

This statement is quite heart breaking to read to be honest, especially with the knowledge Mr. Mackenzie had a stroke and passed away two months after this statement was given.

I think I have to state the obvious that there is a decent chance these experiences could have been caused by dementia, but that does not mean we should write it off entirely.

There doesn’t appear to be a link between Mr. McKenzie’s death and this statement. When logged, the Institute sent a then member of staff, Sarah Carpenter, who worked in Research. She took some readings in the house and as she deemed there to be little danger, she stayed overnight and did not encounter anything.

Tim found the police records, and while there are few details, we could confirm the call outs to the house. Martin managed to contact Marcus McKenzie, but he did not want to talk to us since apparently, he has given a statement. Where Gertrude put it, I do not know and I have yet to find it. (Clearly frustrated) Frankly who knows if I ever will.

The only odd thing we found in this follow up to do with this statement itself. Sarah Carpenter took many photos of the house, and in the one showing Mr. McKenzie’s bedroom door, it does not appear to have a lock or keyhole on it.

End recording.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Statement of David Laylow regarding his time working at an industrial abattoir near Dalston. Original statement given September 1^st 2013. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

Meat again. That’s…interesting.

Martin checked, and Mr. Laylow did in fact work for Aver Meats in Dalston from April 2010 to the 12^th of July 2013, where he left his post in the middle of his shift stunning cattle for processing along with his colleague Thomas Haan. Other than the fact they just walked out of the main entrance, their co-workers reported no other odd behaviours. Neither returned to their work, and Thomas Haan has not been seen since.

Mr. Laylow was willing to speak to us. He has issues eating meat, and from what he described it sounds like he could have PTSD, but he does not want to seek treatment.

Tim and Jon did some digging on Tom Haan. They discovered he seems to have completely disappeared after he left Aver Meats. No missing person report was ever filed, and he didn’t appear to have any family or friends. We did manage to find where he lived in Walthamstow though and tracked down his landlord who claimed the last rent he received from Mr. Haan was in July. The landlord was surprised when he disappeared, as he had been renting the same house on Clarence Road for almost a decade. Apparently, it had been left in quite a state of disrepair.

Immigration authorities have not been helpful. They told us he missed a meeting with his advisor in the October, but that doesn’t exactly give us anything to work with. The last activity on his bank account was on July 6^th. There has been no effort to find him, and the police did not want to open a case, so we did not push it.

When it comes to Mr. Laylow’s story, we don’t have anything else to look at, but we did find one last thing. Aver Meats has been making attempts to expand their Dalston plant. They have planning permission, but are having trouble keeping builders, with four having quit. One of them, Darren Lacey, did agree to talk to us, but all he said was the building “was already too big”, and he couldn’t get over the smell of blood.

Recording ends.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

Tim, you should not be doing this now!

Tim

I want to Sasha. You really, really need to hear about this. Anyway, you let Martin record his right after.

Archivist

Yeah, begrudgingly. Plus, it took Jon around a week before he gave his statement on it.

Tim

Sasha, please.

Archivist

Tim…[sighs] fine. But you’re sure that injury isn’t serious?

Tim

One hundred percent.

Archivist

Alright. Statement of Timothy Stoker, Archival Assistant for the Magnus Institute, London, regarding…

Tim

Uh…I genuinely do not know how to describe it.

Archivist

Several paranormal experiences?

Tim

Sounds about right.

Archivist

Okay. Regarding several paranormal experiences. Statement recorded directly from subject on the 2^nd of April 2016.

Statement begins.

Tim

Right. So, I feel I should start by saying I may have not taken the Jane Prentiss threat as seriously as the rest of you. Before you say anything, just let me explain. I’m not exactly afraid of creepy crawlies to begin with, and I don’t mean this to insult Martin or Jon, but I felt like if she was an actual threat, she would have killed them both. Martin has one of the worst self-preservation instincts I have ever seen, and Jon…well I could probably throw him across the Archives without much hassle. I mean, Jon himself admitted he didn’t entirely know why she left him alone.

Archivist

Tim, six hospital staff died because of her. Plus, Harriet Lee.

Tim

I know alright? It’s just…I have seen some stuff that make me more afraid than the thought of Jane Prentiss. And we’ve all been seeing the worms outside. There aren’t that many, and when you step on them, poof, problem solved. I thought maybe she just wanted to freak Martin out or something like that.

The point is I’ve still been going out at night and stuff like that. I know I said I wouldn’t, but I like doing things. I have been sticking to more crowded areas, but I need to get out and around. I can’t just stay in my flat all the time and then go to work down here all day.

I’ve mainly been going out for walks. I’m not a complete idiot, I keep an eye out for anything odd and I’m careful to not end up somewhere completely alone where I can avoid it, but I guess I wasn’t careful enough, since I was on one of these walks when I first saw it.

It was in the evening, and the sun had only just started setting, but I was on my way home anyway. I don’t really remember what street I was on, just that it had a lot of Victorian buildings. It was pretty, but at that point I was getting pretty hungry and had no idea what I wanted for dinner, so I wasn’t paying a lot of attention.

The screeching of the brakes was what made me look up. I glanced behind me, seeing a bus had come to a sudden stop in an effort to not hit a cat, which scurried across the road, and after a second, the vehicle started moving again. I watched it drive past, seeing it was mostly empty, but a man caught my eye. I only caught a glimpse of him sitting at the back of the bus, but I knew there was something…off. He was tall and thin with long blonde hair, but in the reflection of the window, his features were warped. His joints were crooked, his features elongated. I paused and watched the bus continue. I hoped it had just been some weird distortion caused by the glass, but…I guess I knew better.

I know it saw me. We had locked eyes as it passed, but I hoped it didn’t see me as anything interesting. I continued walking. Why that thing had been on a bus of all things I did not know, and I did not want to find out. Anyway, I had no reason to believe I would see it again, until I rounded the corner and saw the bus parked at a bus stop. I debated trying to go a different way, but as I was thinking about it, a tall blonde-haired man stepped off the bus. He began to walk down the street, not even glancing in my direction, and continued on his way, and the bus pulled off. At that point I just told myself I was being paranoid, and attempted to convince myself that any weirdness had been a trick of the light. That being said, I did walk home as fast as I could.

By the next morning I had largely convinced myself I’d blown it out of proportion. I guess I just wanted that to have been the case. I take the District Line to West Brompton then get a bus before walking the rest of the way here. It was when I got off the Tube, I saw something off again. That same man was sitting on a bench. He didn’t acknowledge me, and I had absolutely no desire to go and ask, and he continued to sit there as I walked away.

At that point I was tempted to tell you, but when Martin was convinced he saw a worm in the Archives, I didn’t think it would be a good idea. I didn’t want to put anyone more on edge than they already were, and frankly at that point I wasn’t really scared, just irritated. I was praying that it had just been a coincidence, but when has anything like this been one?

I’d gotten all the way to the Tube without any more oddities. When I got to the station, the man wasn’t there, and I took that as a good sign, so I wasn’t too bothered by the fact it was pretty quiet. It was a Thursday, and it was late since I was looking into the police reports about Natalie Ennis and lost track of time until I accidentally scared Martin because he thought I’d gone home.

Anyway, that doesn’t matter. There were a couple of other people around, and then the train arrived. It had stopped so that the door was pretty much exactly in front of me, and I stepped on. It was only then did I realise there was only one other person in the carriage with me, the blonde man.

I know I should have walked away immediately. Trust me, I know this was stupid, but at that point I just wanted him to leave me alone. I needed to know why he kept showing up, because I was certain he wanted something, and if that had anything to do with you or Jon or Martin…well better I deal with it because…well…

[Deep breath] Sorry. The man himself was not normal, his limbs were unnaturally long and thin, but what stood out the most were his hands, the stretched fingers ending in points.

The train jerked, and I nearly fell over, just about catching myself on the pole. When I steadied myself and looked up, it looked normal again, and it…it waved me over.

I marched up to it and demanded to know what it wanted. That actually made it laugh, or at least I think that’s what it was supposed to be, because whatever it was it was not natural. It was like it knew what a laugh was supposed to sound like, but it echoed around the carriage and it was not in sync with his movement. I have to admit, that made me a little nervous, but then I asked what it was. It tilted its head, smiling at me, and it told me that did not matter, saying something like “Could a melody describe itself?”

At that point I was just pissed off, and told it as such in words I will not repeat here. I was shocked when it apologised. I was even more surprised when it told me to call it Michael. Let me tell you, Michael does not fit that thing at all. Such a mundane average name just feels wrong for it, but I didn’t exactly have much else I could call it.

I then repeated my first question and it told me it wanted to help.

Archivist

What with?

Tim

I actually asked the same thing. It didn’t elaborate, so then I asked if it wanted to help with Jane Prentiss. That made it laugh again. Well, it was more of a chuckle I think but it still sounded wrong. Anyway, it said we really knew nothing about what we were facing, which I couldn’t argue with really. I told it if it wanted to help, it could start by elaborating, but it smiled and asked where would the fun in that be. It told me it did not care for me, or anyone else here, but “the flesh hive is impetuous as always”.

Archivist

That’s a quote from it?

Tim

Yeah. I’m pretty sure I got it word for word.

Archivist

(Muttering) Interesting…

Tim

Well then it got weirder as it said it wanted to be friends.

Archivist

Seriously?

Tim

Yes, but I did not, and I still don’t, trust it. Sasha, I cannot emphasise that enough. I do not know what its intentions are but it is not looking out for our best interests, not really.

Archivist

Alright. So…what then?

Tim

Well, at that point the train came to a stop at the next station. I was fed up of whatever game it was playing and went to leave, but before I did…it said if I wanted to save you, I should go to Hanwell Cemetery.

Archivist

What?

Tim

That’s not the worst part. It knew your name. It knew all of our names.

Archivist

That…cannot be a good sign.

Tim

Agreed. I left as fast as I could, and to put a bit of a long story short, I managed to get home and went to bed. I hoped I would wake up the next morning and find out it had been a dream or something, but when I got up, I…I couldn’t shake it.

I considered telling you when I came in yesterday. I did. In a way I wanted to, but I also know you would insist on coming with me, or worse you would go by yourself. I didn’t know whether Michael was telling the truth or not, and either way I knew it would be dangerous and I was not about to risk losing someone else to this stuff.

So, I went to the cemetery.

The puddles on the ground reflected the fiery colours of the evening sky as the sun began to dip below the horizon. I looked through the fence, seeing rows and rows of weathered gravestones, but nothing else. That was until I got to the old iron gate, where Michael waited, his twisted reflection revealing his true self in the puddles.

It nodded at me, and I knew it wanted me to follow. I considered leaving, but at this point I just wanted to know what it wanted, so we started moving. To my surprise we didn’t go into the cemetery, instead we went into a place nearby called Azalea Close.

It was pretty nice, the buildings being in good condition, other than the one at the end. It appeared to be abandoned, graffiti scrawled over the grime on the walls, and the windows were blocked by metal sheets. However, the door was open, swinging back and forth a little in the breeze. Michael walked straight inside, so I did too.

It was dark and everything was covered in dust. My only light came from the setting sun that leaked through the window. The building had once been a pub, the bar still there but was infested with woodworm. A builder’s kit sat on top of it, with a toolbox and a small fire extinguisher. As I thought we were alone in there, I was about to ask Michael what the hell we were doing, but then I heard the groaning, quiet and wet, coming from the far end of the room out of reach of the sun.

I moved towards the pained sound, and as my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I saw them. The floor was covered in squirming, writhing worms. I recognised them of course, but I was not prepared for the smell, or the slumped over figure riddled with holes and covered in those crawling, wriggling things.

I swore very, very quietly. Who wouldn’t when seeing a knot of worms where someone’s eyes should be? That proved to be a mistake though, as its head snapped towards me, dislodging a clump of the writhing things that splatted to the floor. His mouth opened as if to scream, but all that tumbled out were more worms. Those things had noticed me too, and darted towards me at alarming speed.

I backed away, going a little too quickly and catching my foot on one of the floorboards and I fell backwards, only just catching myself on the bar. I looked back at Michael, who just stood there watching. I doubted I was going to get any help from him so I started stomping on the worms, but that didn’t make a difference against the swarm. I desperately looked around for anything to help, and found the fire extinguisher. I just grabbed it and pulled the pin and squeezed the handle, spraying the worms with the gas that shot out. The worms shuddered, then shrivelled and died. I moved forward, catching all of them in the gas, watching with satisfaction as they withered and died.

I then came to the hollow remains of the man. He shuddered as he was surrounded by the cloud of gas, but went still. I wondered if he had anything on him that could identify him. It might have been because I was light headed from all the gas, but I looked through his pockets. All I found was a wallet, which was coated in blood and…other substances, but name on the driver’s licence was legible: Timothy Hodge.

A sharp pain in my shoulder made me scream in a mix of surprise and pain. Michael was looming over me, his finger slicing through my skin. I tried to pull away, but he grabbed my other shoulder, and his hand was like a sack of wet sand, heavier than it should have been and keeping me still. I was convinced it was going to kill me, but after a few seconds it backed off. Turning back, I saw it holding a single, squirming worm. I…I hadn’t even felt it burrow into me.

It's a bit of a blur after that. I thought about calling the police, but Timothy Hodge’s corpse had disappeared, as had Michael, and if I called the cops raving about worms while trespassing, well I realised that would be a bad idea.

I left, and I guess I just didn’t feel like I could go home so I ended up here.

[Silence]

Archivist

That…was a lot.

Tim

You can say that again.

Archivist

You should take some time off.

Tim

I should quit! You should too. First Martin and Jon, now this?

Archivist

I…I can’t. I need to know.

Tim

Sasha…

Archivist

You can quit if you want, I have to know what’s happening.

Tim

[Sighs] It’s only a matter of time before someone dies.

Archivist

Maybe, but I have to figure this out. Go home, get some rest, okay?

[Click]

[Click]

Archivist

Statement ends.

This…this confirms there is more happening. [Laughs]

(Oddly excited) I know Tim, I know what he’s been through. He wouldn’t make something like this up, and I can speak for his mental state. I believe him.

This explains what happened to Timothy Hodge. It’s interesting that Jane Prentiss’s…affliction affects others differently to how it affects her. I do not have an explanation for this, but it is something to note.

‘Michael’ is what concerns me. I agree with Tim, even if it claims to want to help…I’m not sure we can trust it. I don’t know what it wants, but it even admitted it does not care for our safety, not really.

Tim is taking some days off. I’m going to tell Elias we need some CO2 fire extinguishers for down here in the Archives. I think this will help give Martin some piece of mind too.

I need to talk to Jon.

Recording ends.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Jonathan

So…what did you want to discuss?

Archivist

How often do you find…links between statements?

Jonathan

I…well I mean there are some common names.

Archivist

What about themes? Like meat?

Jonathan

I…um…I don’t know?

Archivist

Are you sure?

Jonathan

What are you looking for?

Archivist

[Chuckles] This is going to sound insane. I think there is…more going on here. I don’t have much evidence, if any, but…common names make sense, like Leitner, as do cults like the People’s Church of the Divine Host. But there seem to be thematic commonalities, meat it just the one I’ve seen the most of. Then we have Jane Prentiss and Michael, why target us? Prentiss had every opportunity to kill Martin, she even had a chance to kill you, yet chose not to. Michael led Tim to Timothy Hodge, but didn’t let him get infected. It doesn’t make sense. There has to be a reason.

(Muttering) Oh god I sound so paranoid.

Jonathan

No…I…I agree.

Archivist

You do?

Jonathan

There is definitely…something happening.

Archivist

Have you…have you noticed a similarity between certain statements?

Jonathan

They don’t record digitally? Yes. I can try and find more similarities between those ones if you want.

Archivist

Thank you. Just one thing, can you not bring this up to Tim or Martin? I…I don’t want to freak them out if there isn’t anything.

Jonathan

I wasn’t planning on mentioning it anyway.

Archivist

Thank you. Let me know if you find anything.

Jonathan

I will.

[Click]

[Click]

Archivist

Statement of Mark Bilham regarding events culminating in his visit to Hither Green Chapel. Original statement given April 19^th 2015. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

Tim is back at work, and confirmed Natalie Ennis was reported missing by Mr. Bilham on the 11^th March 2015. Other than the piece of paper, there have been no leads on her whereabouts. No evidence of any church or cult were found at the Chapel or graveyard either. We contacted Mr. Bilham and Ms. Harper, and they have not heard from Ms. Ennis since and have nothing else to add to this statement.

The symbol on the paper does resemble a stylised closed eye, and I suspect involvement of the People’s Church of the Divine Host. It seems it is still around even after all these years. This statement does also have quite a few similarities to statement 0020312, which helps confirm those suspicions.

If he remembered the words correctly, ‘Ny Alesund’ could be very interesting, as Tim did point out there is a real place called Ny-Ålesund in Norway. Other than research settlements, it is the most northerly settlement on Earth, located at a latitude of North 78°55′30. The town is owned and operated by Outer Bay, but what it has to do with this statement I do not know, other than the fact during the winter, nights last for a long, long time.

Martin found one last thing among police reports. On May 15^th 2015, police were called to investigate the Chapel again. Neighbours heard screams past 11pm, but the officers found nothing. The reason I find this notable is that this was the day Gertrude Robinson died.

Recording ends.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Archivist

So, you know Jon?

Melanie King

I knew him. Haven’t seen him in years though. I was hoping to keep it that way.

Archivist

Can I ask the reason?

Melanie

He dated my friend Georgie, stuff got messy.

Archivist

I can have him not help with the follow up investigation for this statement if you want.

Melanie

If that’s the equipment you’re using, I bet you need the extra help. I don’t care if he reads it, he knows I’m here. Knowing that little weasel he’d read it anyway.

Archivist

(Slowly) Okay?

Melanie

God I can’t believe I’m here.

Archivist

You don’t have to give a statement here if you don’t want to.

Melanie

Of course I don’t want to! You guys are a joke. You’ll take a statement from any old drunkard and take it seriously. No evidence, just someone’s word.

Archivist

But no one more reputable will hear you out, will they?

Melanie

Listen, we do play stuff up for views, but at least we actually look into genuine, documented phenomena. Anyone can come in here, no matter how high they were the time or traumatised they are. I am only here because…I just need to tell someone who will believe me.

Archivist

Contrary to our reputation, I can’t promise that, but I will listen. Whenever you’re ready, can you give your full name and what this statement is about?

Melanie

My name is Melanie King. I run a YouTube channel called Ghost Hunt UK and this is about our trip to the abandoned Military Hospital when we were filming in January 2015.

Archivist

Statement recorded from subject on the 17^th of April 2016.

Statement begins.

Melanie

Well, we’ve been angling to film there for months.

…

The episode came out okay in the end though, um, though I didn’t include anything about what I saw that night.

Archivist

You managed to film it?

Melanie

Yeah. I gave it to one of your guys, but, uh, watching it back, it’s really distorted and you can’t really make anything out.

Archivist

We’ll see what we can do. We’ll try and do some editing to see if that helps. We’ll let you know if we find anything, or if we need anything else.

[Click]

[Click]

Archivist

Statement ends.

Despite Ms. King saying it was okay, Jon actually requested to not be involved in this case. Considering the clear history between the two of them, I was more than happy to grant that request.

Now, there is not a lot we can follow up on, especially considering Cambridge Military Hospital is currently being made into a housing estate. There are reports of a ‘grey lady’ ghost appearing in the past, though none of them appear like this.

We could not locate Sarah Baldwin, as the address given in Sydenham has been unoccupied for the past six months and she is not listed as a previous tenant. We contacted Georgina Barker, who told us she had worked with Baldwin on two episodes of her podcast, ‘What the Ghost’, and they had met at a networking event. She does not know anything about her personal life, and has not been in contact with her since the last episode they worked on.

Neither the email address nor phone number received a reply.

The thing is Sarah Baldwin was one of the names of missing persons from Old Fishmarket Close. I…I don’t know what that means, hell I can’t even confirm it is the same Sarah Baldwin, but that is a weird coincidence if it isn’t.

The footage provided by Ms. King is indeed very corrupted, but we did find a couple of frames where you can make something out. It appears to be an empty hospital room, but it does differ from this statement as there are two figures in there. One, matching the description of Sarah Baldwin, is kneeling, while the other is taller and seems to be pointing, though no features can be made out, and it also seems to not be touching the floor.

Recording ends.

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Chapter Text

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Archivist

Statement of Albrecht von Closen regarding a discovered tomb near his estate in the black Forest. Original statement given as a letter to Jonah Magnus, March 31^st 1816. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

There obviously is not of follow up that can be done here, although Jon managed to dig up quite a bit of Albrecht Von Closen while Tim and Martin were doing the follow up on Melanie King’s statement.

He found a reference to ‘Johann von Württemburg’ in Jan Moira’s Cradles of Germany – Württemburg through the Centuries, mentions a rumour that Ulrich I, Count of Württemburg, had a second son out of wedlock in 1255. No name was listed, but Jon found several of the Count’s enemies would spread rumours that the exiled son was in the company of witches. 1279 was also the year the successor, Ulrich II, died. This may have been a coincidence, but he was succeeded by his half-brother, Eberhard I.

Jon stumbled onto something else while reading H.T. Moncreef’s Grim Tales, which was a book exploring unexplained and macabre deaths in early 19^th Century Europe. It mentioned a death in Schramberg in 1816, where a Rudolph Ziegler was found dead in his home on the outskirts of the town. He worked in service on a nearby estate. A Wilhelm von Closen was initially suspected of the crime, as it had been found the victim had been stealing jewellery from the estate. However, this was dropped after four doctors attested that the wounds inflicted were, and I quote, “beyond the capability of human violence”, so it was ruled an animal attack.

Jon could not find what happened to Albrecht von Closen and his book, but could not find anything else on him.

He did locate the genealogy of Wilhelm von Closen though. He found that a branch of his family emigrated to England in 1908. They had a daughter named Elsa, who eventually married a Michael Keay in 1920. In 1924, they had a daughter named Mary. This could be a coincidence, but I doubt it.

Recording ends.

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Chapter Text

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Archivist

Statement of Lawrence Mortimer regarding his hunting trip to Blue Ridge, Virginia. Original statement given December 9^th 2010. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Still, all was forgiven when he-

[Knocking on the door]

Yeah?

[Door opening]

Martin

Oh good, it is you. Oh! I’m so sorry I didn’t know you were recording!

Archivist

Don’t worry about it. Sorry, did I freak you out?

Martin

It’s just…very early.

Archivist

Yeah, sorry about that. I haven’t been sleeping well, so thought I may as well come in.

Martin

Okay. I’ll, um…I’ll leave you to it then.

[Door closes]

Archivist

[Rustling paper] Where was I? Ah, yes. Statement continues.

…

Statement ends.

Arden Neeli was found dead half a mile off the Appalachian Trail in Virginia on the 1^st of December 2010. His death was ruled to be caused by an animal attack.

Since this statement takes place in America, there is only so much follow up I was willing to do on it.

That being said, I think everyone here understands the feeling of being hunted. Every week there are more worms. We kill them, but…after what happened with Tim, I think something big is coming. I just don’t know how to prepare.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Nicole Baxter regarding visits culminating into a fire that consumed Ivy Meadows Care Home in Woodley, Greater Manchester. Original statement given November 19^th 2012. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

Ivy Meadows Care Home in Woodley was decommissioned in July 2011, a month before the first of the alleged calls came in. It caught fire on the 4^th of September of that year due to a leaking gas main. If it was leaking at the time, it could suggest hallucinations played a role in this statement, but I’m not sold on that explanation.

There is no record of Bertrand Miller being processed or cremated by Baxter and Gordon Funeral Directors, although that could be explained by the fact his birth certificate says he died on the 19^th of July, a week before the home was decommissioned. There are no records of funeral arrangements or the disposal of the body.

The records on the closure of Ivy Meadows were far from complete. There are only transfer records for seven residents, but at the last count there were supposed to be twenty-nine. The others appear to have been lost to the system. A lot of the workforce seems to have been undocumented, and we could find no record of ‘Alenka Kozel’ on the system. Tim found that it seems that they had a lot of international staff that were kept off the books, but we still could not locate any officially listed staff members other than Hannah Ramirez. We contacted her and she gave a very brief interview, explaining she moved to Brighton shortly before the closure and has not heard anything about it since. We could find no record of John Amherst anywhere. We couldn’t find anyone who matches his description in the medical sector, or ran a care home.

We also contacted the Baxters. Joshua Baxter recounted the first part of this statement and George Baxter told us not to listen to tall tales. Nicole Baxter stands by her account, and other than losing her left hand in what she described as a “workplace accident”, nothing else has occurred.

That’s all we found, although I will say, the old man does remind me of Trevor Herbert, but of course he’s supposed to be dead.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Nathaniel Thorp regarding his own mortality. Original statement given June 4^th 1972. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

I got the blood tested. It is real and O negative. That’s about all I could confirm though. The details given were likely accurate for the time, but it is over forty years later, and we could not locate Mr. Thorp.

Everyone else who would have been working here at the time is dead. Fiona Law, the research assistant who recorded this statement died from a liver transplant complication in 2003. Gertrude is of course also dead. I did ask Elias about it, but he was a filing clerk at the time and all he could tell me was that there was a rumour that someone had cut off a finger while giving a statement.

The only thing in the file is a small hexagonal token around an inch in diameter. It has no markings, but appeared to be made of old bone. I cannot determine anything further, as it disintegrated as I handled the bag it was in. I can’t say I’m surprised to be honest.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Jane Prentiss regarding…regarding a wasp’s nest in her attic. Original statement given February 23^rd 2011. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

[Silence for a few seconds]

I…well I found it. I found Jane Prentiss’s statement, and it gave us almost nothing new.

We knew about her religious practices and we knew she had a breakdown over an ant infestation that led to her being fired from Good Energies spiritual supplies shop in Archway.

The wasp’s nest is a little interesting. Emergency services were called due to screaming at Miss Prentiss’s flat on Prospero Road. She was found in the loft space, her arm buried up to the elbow in “pulped organic matter”. I suspect this is the wasp’s nest from the statement, however no other residents reported seeing any wasps around. It could not be examined further as there was a fire that destroyed the flat and killed the landlord, Arthur Nolan. It was determined by the fire service to have been caused by Mr. Nolan falling asleep with a lit cigarette, as he was found in an armchair and there were no signs he had tried to flee.

Jane Prentiss was taken to Whittington Hospital. She was already showing signs of infestation. Six hospital staff were working to treat and sedate her when many worms were violently expelled from her body. They burrowed into the medical personnel’s soft tissue, including eyes, their tongues, anywhere they could get into, and into the brain, which killed them after around a minute and a half. A nurse attempted to run, but in his panic, he tripped on the stairs and snapped his neck. Jane Prentiss walked calmly out of A & E.

The Institute was consulted, as she claimed to be possessed, but this was deemed more of a medical than supernatural issue, and we were dropped in favour of a cover up. It’s not the only time that sort of thing has happened unfortunately and of course it's the case in the one statement I actually needed to find.

This is not some strange new highly aggressive parasite. I know I have no evidence other than my own intuition, but Jane Prentiss should be dead, like Timothy Hodge or Harriet Lee. I don’t know what is keeping her alive, but it is far from natural.

Recording ends.

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Chapter Text

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Archivist

I know this thing is kind of ancient, but I assure you it works incredibly well.

Dr Lionel Elliott

No, no, I understand. Newer isn’t always better. I’ll never trust those new surgery robots.

Archivist

Of course. Now-

Dr Elliott

You have quite the infestation by the way.

Archivist

The worms? They didn’t bite you, did they?

Dr Elliott

No? They’re worms. Not a species I’ve ever seen though. You need to get an exterminator in and kill the little blighters.

Archivist

Oh trust me, we have been trying. Now do you want to begin?

Dr Elliott

Yes, of course. Where exactly do you want me to start?

Archivist

Right at the beginning thank you. Just give me one second. Statement of Dr Lionel Elliott regarding events that took place in his class…

Dr Elliott

Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology.

Archivist

At King’s College, London, in early 2016. Statement recorded direct from subject, 12^th July 2016.

Statement begins.

Dr Elliott

So, you want me to start now?

Archivist

Yes please.

Dr Elliott

Okay, great. Well, I shouldn’t have been teaching that class in the first place really.

…

I haven’t seen them since.

Archivist

And that’s it?

Dr Elliott

Uh, well, no. There was one more thing. When I went into the classroom shortly after what should have been their final tutorial, I found…something on the desk. It was an apple and a handwritten note which read “Thank you for teaching us the insides”. I burned it, just in case.

Archivist

What happened to the apple?

Dr Elliott

I wasn’t going to eat it. I cut it to see if it was…off, and well…[cloth moving] here it is.

Archivist

Oh.

Dr Elliott

Human teeth, arranged in a smile. Disturbing, isn’t it?

Archivist

Yeah, you could say that.

Dr Elliott

You can keep it if you want, as evidence.

Archivist

I will take a photo of them but I don’t know if we’re allowed to keep what is technically medical waste.

Dr Elliott

Fine, I’ll dispose of it then. Is that all you need?

Archivist

Yes, thank you. We’ll let you know if we find anything.

[Click]

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Archivist

There is a chance this is not a real statement. The Magnus Institute…it does not have the best reputation in the academic community. There have been cases where academics have come in and given false statements as a joke, and let’s face it there is a very obvious joke in this one.

That being said, Martin managed to contact Elena Bower in the King’s administration office. She couldn’t find any evidence of them in the system, but she did remember the students and that she did assign Dr Elliott to the class.

The names of the students are odd. I’m sure most people listening to this will recognise ‘John Doe’ as a placeholder name. This goes for all the names in the class, just for different countries, for example ‘Juan Pérez’ is used in many Spanish speaking countries. I will say it is odd Dr Elliott didn’t pick up on this.

In the end we sent the teeth to a dental expert, who said they appear to be healthy adult teeth and most seemed to come from different people. I don’t think there’s anything to say Dr Elliott didn’t put them in there himself, but the apple did genuinely seem to distress him, and I think it would be strange for someone to get access to real human teeth for the sake of a prank.

Finally, Tim discovered that Dr Rashid Sadana committed suicide. There is no direct connection, but he did teach the Anatomy, Physiology and Pathology for Complementary Therapies course at St Mary’s University. A note was found near the body which read “NOT TO BE USED FOR TEACHING”.

End recording.

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Archivist

Statement of Carlita Stone regarding her work on a container ship travelling to Southampton from Porto do Itaqui. Original statement given on the 2^nd of January 2011. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

This statement is interesting, but there isn’t really any explicit paranormal activity. I suspect there was something supernatural, but unfortunately I’m unable to prove or ever find out what happened.

The official crew manifest for the Tundra has remained the same for ten years. We could not find any records of cargo being loaded or unloaded in any UK Port. Sean Kelly disappeared from the port of Felixstowe in October 2010, and his body washed up on the shores of Morocco April 2011, six months later. According to the coroner, it had only been in the water for five days.

The unfortunate part of this case is that the Tundra is a currently active cargo ship operating for Solus Shipping PLC, and is a company started and majority owned by Nathaniel Lukas. The Lukas family has many business ventures, and also funds many academic and research institutions, including us.

I will not be able to do further research on this statement because of this. Elias gets…twitchy when we try and investigate anything that could damage funding. This case certainly has similarities to statement 0161301, which was given by Naomi Herne, but there is not anyway for me-AGH!

Where the hell is it? [Sound of metal cannister getting knocked over]

Crap! Martin! Jon! [Footsteps disappear into the distance]

[Silence, then loud footsteps]

Jonathan

Sasha? Are you alright?

Breekon

‘scuse us.

Hope

Looking for the Archivist.

Jonathan

I…you’re not supposed to be here.

Breekon

Won’t take up your time.

Hope

Just have a delivery.

Jonathan

What is-

Breekon

Package for Sasha James.

Hope

Says so right here.

Jonathan

(Coldly) She’s not around right now so-

Breekon

We’ll leave it with you.

Hope

Be sure she gets it.

Jonathan

Wait a minute. Why are you...we don't want this!

Breekon

It's for the Archivist.

Hope

Not you.

Jonathan

That-

Archivist

Jon! Hey…who…

Breekon

Package for you.

Hope

Goodbye.

[Heavy footsteps]

Archivist

Hey wait a minute!

[Click]

[Click]

Jonathan

No one should be going near this thing!

Elias

Artefact Storage-

Jonathan

It’s going to kill someone!

Archivist

Jon-

Jonathan

I know you recognise it.

Archivist

Of course I do. It’s the table from Amy Patel’s statement.

Jonathan

It is not safe. Someone is going to…Sasha please.

Archivist

I…if you’re that sure. Elias, I think he’s right, we should keep it isolated.

Elias

Very well then. I trust you both. No one will go near it alone, and we’ll give it its own area. I’ll get that sorted out.

[Footsteps walking away]

Jonathan

(Muttering) Good. Okay that’s good.

Archivist

Jon, are you okay?

Jonathan

Huh? Yes, I am fine. I’m fine.

Archivist

Are you sure?

Jonathan

Yes. Just…the table is dangerous. It needs to be kept separate.

Archivist

Agreed…

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Chapter Text

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Archivist

Statement of Jason North regarding an alleged ritual site he discovered near Loch Glass, Scotland. Original statement given August 6^th 2009. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

He didn’t lose Ethan. Ethan North is a healthy eleven-year-old living with a foster family in Inverness. They declined an interview, although honestly I didn’t expect them to give one.

Jason North doused himself in petrol and lit himself on fire on the 10^th of August 2009. He was taken to Raigmore Hospital and did not regain consciousness before his death three days later.

Martin couldn’t find evidence of the clearing, Tim found that all the accidents that befell Mr. North and his loved ones appear to be mundane in nature. The set-up of the ritual site matches with practices in both Wicca and Voodoo, but we don’t have any more details than that.

The…the one thing with this statement is the photo found in the bottle. It’s…it’s a photo of Gertrude Robinson from around 2002.

[Laughs] I have no idea what this means. It clearly means something, but I have no way of knowing what. (Frustrated) God I am sick of all of this weirdness with no answers in sight!

[Sighs] Sorry.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Andres Ramao regarding a series of misplaced objects over three months. Original statement given June 6^th 2012. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

…

Statement ends.

We actually managed to find a copy of Mr. Ramao’s marriage licence, although half of it is blank. He was married, but apparently to nobody.

And of course, Mikaele Salesa appears in this statement. He has a knack for finding supernatural artefacts. I don’t know how he does it, but more often than not it leads to people getting hurt, or worse. Frankly-

[Door opening]

Tim

Good morning…oh my bad, you’re recording.

Archivist

(Sighing) Hi Tim.

Tim

Well you are certainly chipper. Hang on…did you even go home last night?

[Silence]

Seriously Sasha?

Archivist

I didn’t plan on spending the night here.

Tim

Did you at least get some sleep?

Archivist

Yes.

Tim

Not by accident at your desk?

[Silence]

Sasha, that’s really bad for you.

Archivist

I am well aware.

Tim

You should go and take a nap. You work hard enough. Anyway, it’s not like anyone comes down here enough to notice.

Archivist

Tim, I’m fine.

Tim

Sure, I’ll write that on your gravestone.

Archivist

I look that bad, huh?

Tim

Yeah.

Archivist

(Sighing) Fine. Let me just finish this up.

[Door closes]

I…oh you know what, you don’t need to hear my personal feelings on Mikaele Salesa.

Recording ends.

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Archivist

Statement of Connor Bennett, regarding a book belonging to his brother. Original statement given 19^th August 2001. Audio recording by Sasha James, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

I don’t actually like Bournemouth. I mean, I guess I just don’t like going to seaside towns in general, but I could never understand why my brother, Caleb, moved there. Sure, they’re okay during the winter, but in the summer, they become rammed with tourists and everything you do takes like an hour longer than normal and I also can’t really say I’m the biggest fan of the ocean.

As you can imagine, I was not thrilled when I found myself having to live with my brother. It’s a long story, but point is I lost my job and my flat, and well, I don’t have many friends or family, and Caleb was the only person who could take in me and my dog, Lola, comfortably.

He was actually quite excited to have me living with him. I was too, other than the location, as it also meant I would see more of my niece, Sophia. I hadn’t had much of a chance to see her since Caleb and his ex-wife divorced. I’m not exactly the most social guy, and I don’t plan on having kids of my own, but Sophia is a sweet kid and she loves Lola.

I’d been living with my brother for a few months when he found it. I’d gotten some work at a construction company, and got back in the evening. I got home, and I saw Sophia first. She’s thirteen, so with permission from Caleb, we had an agreement that she could walk Lola after school once she’d done her homework. Lola is a Staffordshire bull terrier, but Sophia did a lot of sport and I trained my dog well so it was unlikely anything would happen.

Anyway, Sophia started telling me about the walk as soon as I got back like she usually did. I listened as I took off my boots and hung up my coat. It was then I realised I hadn’t seen any signs that Caleb was home, which was odd. I don’t actually know what his exact job is, but it’s something high up in a bank, I’m not going to lie I zone out anytime he speaks about what he does, but the point is he always got home before me. His shoes weren’t in the corridor, so I asked Sophia. She shrugged and said she just assumed it was traffic, since it was June, it was starting to get busier in town, and Caleb did work further away so I thought that was reasonable.

I was checking with Sophia that she’d done her homework when Lola started growling, a proper low growl. I had never heard her make a sound like that. Contrary to their reputation, staffy’s are actually huge softies, and Lola is no exception. Sure, she’ll bark at strangers, but that’s more of an alert than a threat. In that moment, she meant it. She was scared, and that made me scared.

I got in front of Sophia as the door handle turned. Lola’s ears were flat as she barked, and my mind raced as I debated what to do. The door swung open to reveal my brother.

Lola tilted her head when she saw him, going silent immediately, but she slowly trotted over to him, sniffing. Caleb complained about her barking, but I didn’t focus on his words as I saw Lola flinch every time she went to sniff him, going up to him before wincing and backing away. I called her over to me, and she didn’t hesitate.

Caleb didn’t seem to notice that though. He greeted me and his daughter, and the evening went on. I waited until Sophia went to bed before I brought anything up. I asked him why he’d been late home, and he apologised saying he got side tracked. I asked what with, slightly irritated he had freaked me out like that, and he said he had gotten a call from a friend of his about a weird old book he found.

Caleb has always loved old books, and once he had the money, he built up quite a collection. From what I understand, a lot of them are quite valuable, but a few are just ones that caught his fancy. He was super excited about this one though, even more so than usual. I can’t say I get the appeal, but at that point he dug it out of his bag and showed me. The cover was yellow leather, but there was no title. He flicked to the first page, where there was a stamp that read “From the library of Jurgen Leitner”. He then turned to the next page where there were…words. Well, not really…I…I don’t know exactly how to explain it. I recognised them as words, but not the language or any meaning. I could not identify letters or numbers or anything like that, as far as I was concerned, they were just scribbles on a page, but again, I knew they had meaning, even if it was alien to me.

Caleb began to ramble about how Jurgen Leitner was some rich guy with a library and how he thinks the book was in some sort of secret code. I was glad to see him so excited, but I also did not care, so stopped listening after a bit. It was then I glanced down at Lola, who was sat beside me, and she was trembling, her eyes locked on that book.

I eventually found an excuse to leave and go to bed, making sure to keep Lola with me. She normally sleeps with me anyway, but I felt like I had to keep her close. As I lay down, Lola beside me, all I could think about was the book. Those almost words raced through my mind, still not making any sense, but still there. I think I fell asleep that night, but it wasn’t restful, instead it was riddled with odd dreams. I don’t remember what they were about, but they made as much sense as the words.

Over the next few days, I saw Caleb with that book at any chance he got. I thought at first it was harmless, but then I realised on the rare occasion he did put it down, he was…irritable. Us bickering was fairly normal, but when he snapped at Sophia after she accidentally dropped a mug, not once checking to see if she was okay, I knew something was wrong. Caleb is a doting father. If anything, he didn’t punish Sophia enough when she did something wrong. I hadn’t heard him raise his voice since we were kids. Weirdly though my immediate thought wasn’t that it was the book. I thought maybe it was work related, so while I was angry at him for snapping at his daughter, I thought he’d be fine after a few days.

It was the week after he’d gotten the book where I saw them for the first time. Caleb’s house was opposite a park, and having lived there for a few months, I had gotten fairly used to the familiar faces. It wasn’t uncommon for teens to hang out there, in fact many of them Sophia knew, or knew of. These two were different though. They appeared to be a couple of years older than my niece. One had long greasy hair which he had dyed black, although his roots were growing out. He also wore basically entirely black, other than the symbol on his shirt, which I was pretty sure was to do with some sort of metal band, but I don’t know which one. The other was smaller, scrawny even, and honestly, he looked pretty normal compared to his friend other than a grey streak in his hair.

They were sat across from the house, talking to each other, but I hadn’t seen them before. I didn’t really think much on it really. They were just kids minding their own business as far as I was concerned, but I did end up seeing them frequently over the next week.

I had more pressing concerns though. Caleb had stopped going into work, in fact he barely left his room. I could only be thankful Sophia had gone to stay with her mother for the week as he continued to worsen. If I knocked on the door, I’d be met with shouts of what I could only describe as pure rage, even if just before I had heard sobbing. I tried to leave him food, but I never did manage to catch him take it into his room. I would sometimes catch glimpses of him in the house, mumbling to himself, but as soon as he saw me, he would dart back to his room.

I considered calling 999, but I didn’t know how I’d explain this. I thought maybe it was some form of psychotic break, but we’ve never had a history of anything like that in our family and it just came on so suddenly. It had all started when he got that book.

I thought maybe I was going crazy too. I didn’t think a book could cause something like that. I took Lola across the road for some exercise. She had stopped acting like herself in the house, hiding away in my room under the bed unless I was in there with her. She refused to walk past Caleb’s room, and to get her out I had to carry her past the door.

The two teen boys were there as usual. I felt like I was being watched, but I chalked that up to the situation with Caleb. I threw a ball for Lola a few times, and as I did, I caught snippets of their conversation. They were talking quietly, I don’t think they actually thought I could hear them, but they were chatting. The one with dyed hair talked the most, but the scrawnier one would interject every now and again. I wasn’t really listening to them intentionally, in fact I was going to go further into the park, but then the scrawny one asked about ‘Leitner’ to the other. I froze when I heard that. The one with dyed hair then started talking about a book he found that would cause the reader to slowly fade away. I can’t explain why, but that’s all I needed to hear to know I had to get that book away from Caleb. I don’t even know why I felt like that kid wasn’t making up some kind of story, I just knew it was true. I called Lola, and she followed me back to the house.

I rushed back across the road. I hammered on his bedroom door, demanding he let me in or I was going to break down the door. I fully expected to actually have to do that, or at least be met with yelling and screaming, but then I heard the click of the lock and the handle turned. The door swung open to reveal my brother, smiling, but that was not his smile. It did not reach his eyes, in fact when he stared at me it didn’t seem like him either. It was like he recognised me, but couldn’t place me.

He didn’t say a word and beckoned to me. I marched in, but my mission to find the book was lost when I did. Every inch of his walls, floor and ceiling was covered in paper, swirling patterns scribbled on them. As I looked closer, I realised that the lines forming them were in fact words, although not words I recognised or understood. It was in the language of the book. It was then Caleb spoke, but the sound that came out of his mouth was like static mixed with sirens and whale song and a violin. I covered my ears at the bombardment of noise as while it was not loud it hurt. I could feel it stab through my eardrums to my brain. I was not supposed to hear it.

I don’t know how I knew this was what the words sounded like, but I did. My brother now spoke in that impossible language and I could not understand it. The floor seemed to swirl and shift below me. Caleb was trying to talk to me but I just wanted to vomit, barely able to stay upright.

I then saw the door, my one chance to escape it. I tried to run, but it was more of a stumble, but I dove through it into the corridor and I slammed the door closed behind me. I proceeded to throw up on the carpet, and had to lie on the floor for a minute before I could risk moving again.

Lola whined when she saw me and gently licked my face. I could still hear my brother’s new voice echoing in my ears, and everywhere I looked, I could see the words scrawled into every surface. I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I knew I needed to get that book away, to destroy it or something, but whatever it had done to Caleb…I knew I wouldn’t get near it.

Then I remembered the kids. I looked at the window, and sure enough they were still there. They had mentioned Leitner and other weird stuff, so I reasoned they might know what’s going on, maybe even know someone who could help.

I rushed over the road towards them. I saw them get ready to run and I begged them to wait. The scrawnier one continued to move, but the one with dyed hair grabbed his sleeve. I asked them if they knew what was happening. The taller one nodded, asking if “it had taken effect yet”. I said yes, and asked if there was anything that could be done for my brother. He shrugged, and said he didn’t know. I then asked if getting rid of the book might work. He shrugged again, but said there was a chance.

I begged for help at that point. I didn’t want to lose my brother, and if there was a chance to save him, I had to take it. The boys said they could help. Listen, I didn’t want to involve kids, but I was desperate and considering everything, I did not have a choice.

The scrawnier one did not seem particularly happy about this. As we walked across the road, the two boys were muttering to each other. That’s where I learned their names. The one with badly dyed hair was called Gerry, and the smaller one was Jon. Gerry said something about how this is what Jon had been wanting a few minutes ago, and at that he went quiet.

We paused before we entered the house. Gerry suggested I distract my brother, and he and Jon would go for the book. I didn’t have a problem with this plan, and I warned them about the patterns and the words. Gerry seemed unbothered, while Jon seemed a little more nervous.

As soon as I stepped into the house again, I was hit with a wave of nausea. The words were everywhere, and they were clearer to me this time. I don’t think the boys noticed though, although I wonder if that was because they hadn’t seen the book before. I kept going though. I couldn’t let it stop me. I noticed Lola hadn’t come to the door, and my heart plummeted until I saw her trembling under the sofa. I had to take the time to give her a head pat, just in case something happened. Jon was quite impatient about that, but if I was going to die or lose my mind or whatever, I needed to say goodbye to her.

We walked up the stairs. The pattern on the carpet swirled as I went up them, and as we got further, I heard a small yelp. I turned, seeing Jon had tripped. Gerry assured me they were fine, and we continued. I swear the staircase was longer than it was supposed to be. It’s hard to say if that’s just the memory, but no I think at the time I was thinking about it to, how a new step seemed to appear as I walked.

We made it eventually though, and the upstairs was contorted. The whole place was now made of the words that shifted and shuffled around each other. All the other rooms had disappeared, instead the corridor led straight to the door of Caleb’s bedroom.

Time seemed to slow at that moment, each step seeming to take an eternity, but we did make progress, slow, slow progress. As we got closer, I could hear my brother mumbling in that language. It gradually got louder and louder, but it also got…clearer. The words started to make sense. I began to understand the shifting patterns and swirling vortexes. I began to understand the screaming and singing and it stopped sounding like noise and became more like poetry, but I had to save my brother.

I gripped the door handle, slowly opening it. As I did, I fell, tumbling for what felt like minutes before crashing to the ground. It didn’t really hurt though, instead I was left lying staring up at an infinitely swirling pattern written in the words that I had now come to begin to understand. I cannot explain the meaning, no human language is capable of describing it but…even now I still know, and trust me, you do not want to.

The only reason I did not fall to that spiralling infinite abyss of that pattern was the knowledge I needed to find Caleb. I pushed myself to my feet and I saw him, continuing to scribble down words as he chanted, glancing at the book every now and again. I knew I had to get to him, but it was like moving through syrup.

That was when I noticed the boys. They seemed to be trying to move, but the words kept shifting around them, keeping them stuck. Jon had a look of pure terror on his face, and Gerry seemed to be talking to him, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

I kept getting closer, and it was then I realised it was because Caleb wanted me closer. He smiled as I approached, and as words spilled from his mouth, I realised I was understanding them more and more, and I found myself wanting to join in. It was then I realised there was something behind his eyes, behind that false smile: fear. That snapped me out of wanting to join him, instead I reached for the book. Caleb tackled me, sending us both flying across the room, and the book skittered towards Gerry.

Caleb’s hands wrapped around my throat and he kept chanting. I struggled, trying to throw him off me, but somehow despite me still being close to twice his size, he was stronger. My vision began to blur, but I caught a glimpse of Gerry lunging forward, grabbing the book and closing it, then I blacked out.

I woke up to paramedics around me. There was no sign of the boys, just Caleb. Apparently, someone had called in a disturbance. It was suspected carbon monoxide poisoning. I was relieved to see the book was gone too, as had the words.

It’s been a few months now. Caleb…he isn’t the same. He’s more distant now. I don’t know how much he remembers, but…I’m not sure how to help him. I haven’t seen Jon or Gerry since. I’m hoping to move out in the next few months. I love my brother, but after this…well I think me and Lola need our own place.

Statement ends.

[Silence]

I found this statement completely by accident. I…well I did the follow up myself.

According to police and medical records, emergency services were called at 5pm on the 16^th of March 1999 by an unknown caller who reported they needed help, which was followed by a call from a neighbour due to Lola, Connor Bennet’s dog, howling and barking excessively. They arrived on the scene to find both brothers unconscious, and the cause for the medical incident was never found.

On the 23^rd of June 2010, Caleb Bennett was reported missing and has not been found.

I managed to track down Connor Bennett. He informed me Caleb never fully recovered from the experience, often zoning out and writing down gibberish before eventually disappearing in 2010 and he hasn’t heard from him since. He also never saw Jon or Gerry again, nor has he experiences anything else supernatural.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say ‘Gerry’ was Gerard Keay. The appearance lines up, and yet again he shows up in a Leitner statement.

‘Jon’…well I am almost certain he is Jonathan Sims. I have yet to talk to him about this statement but…Jon grew up in Bournemouth, he researches Leitner’s, and an important note on his appearance is the grey streaks in his hair, which he has told me he’s had since a young age.

I don’t know why he hid the fact he knew Gerard Keay. It certainly explains a lot of his behaviour when he showed up in a statement. I’m going to talk to him about it, in fact I-

[Knock on the door]

Speak of the devil. Come in.

[Door opens]

Jonathan

You wanted to speak to me?

Archivist

Yes, I did. Take a seat.

[Door closes]

Jonathan

This is about the table, isn’t it? I’m sorry about how I reacted, I just…

Archivist

No, it’s okay, it’s not that.

Jonathan

Oh.

Archivist

I wanted to talk to you about-

Jonathan

AGH!

[Chair scraping, followed by a thud]

Archivist

Wow, that was good aim.

Jonathan

I’m so sorry. I uh…I don’t like spiders.

Archivist

You don’t say. That actually went through the wall…huh. That’s plasterboard. Ah, there’s the book.

[Quiet, wet, wriggling noises]

Jonathan

Sasha…do you hear that?

Archivist

Hear what…

[Sounds get louder]

JON, RUN!

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

[Writhing worm noises]

Jonathan

MARTIN! SASHA NO LEAVE IT!

Archivist

Got it! AH!

Martin

What’s going-OH CHRIST!

Archivist

Get the CO2! MARTIN GET THE CO2!

[Writhing continues, then the fire extinguisher, but the worms keep coming]

Jonathan

There’s too many.

Archivist

If we keep spraying maybe…

Jonathan

Sasha, we need to run.

Archivist

To where? Do you see Prentiss? We kill her now, that would solve the issue.

Martin

I-I don’t see her anywhere.

Jonathan

We need to move before we get killed!

Martin

This way!

[Louder wriggling sounds]

Archivist

O-okay.

[Running]

JON! LOOK OUT!

[Crashing of shelves]

[Click]

[Click]

[Martin whimpering]

Jonathan

(Softly) Sorry, sorry.

[Martin cries out in pain]

 There. Got it! That’s the last one.

Martin

(Quietly) Thank you.

[Pause]

Jonathan

Why did you go back for it?

Archivist

I didn’t know Martin had one in here.

Jonathan

It is a tape recorder! That’s less valuable than your life!

Archivist

I know, I know.

Jonathan

Then why?

Archivist

Because if we’re going to die here than I need to make sure whoever’s next can figure it out, maybe even get further than us.

Martin

What are you talking about?

[Fabric rustles]

Archivist

There is something going on here. I…I don’t know what it is but we’re all caught up in it, and I think Gertrude was too. Whatever all this is, I think it killed her. Beyond the worms, beyond Michael, beyond even everything in Artefact Storage there is so much more out there, and if we’re going to die, I’m at least going to help the next person put the pieces together. Maybe…maybe it would stop them ending up like us.

Jonathan

You’re right you know. There’s…there’s much more here than we realise.

Archivist

Jon-

Jonathan

How’s the shoulder?

Archivist

It’s fine. Not very comfortable to move, but at least I don’t have worms in me. Actually Martin, why the hell do you have a corkscrew in here?

Martin

I…well I realised it would be more effective than a knife to dig the worms out. You know, considering their size and speed in the body.

Archivist

I mean I can’t complain but you spent way too much time thinking about this.

Martin

Well I couldn’t exactly go home at night so it was a little hard not to think about.

Archivist

Fair point. You’re certain it’s safe in here?

Martin

Yep. All the seals are intact, and the only way in would be the air con, but they couldn’t do it quickly or easily.

Jonathan

The only downside is we’re trapped.  

[Silence]

Martin

Can you see what’s going on out there?

Archivist

The worms have backed off a bit. Huh, the tape recorders still out there too. What are they…where’s Tim?

Martin

He was talking to Rosie last time I saw him.

Archivist

Crap. I left my phone in the office.

Jonathan

It wouldn’t make a difference. There’s no signal in here anyway.

Archivist

You think he would have heard that?

[Silence]

How’re we going to warn him? We can’t just wait for him to come down here.

Jonathan

Even if we do there’s an issue. This room is also soundproof. If we’re going to warn him…well we’ll have to open the door.

[Pause]

Archivist

I’m going out there.

Martin and Jonathan (in unison)

What?

Archivist

If he walks in here, he’s going to die.

Jonathan

Well so are you if you go out there!

Archivist

So what we just watch him get eaten by worms?

Jonathan

No…I…we have to think this through. Martin can’t walk yet, and may not be able to for a while. You have limited mobility in your shoulder. If…if anyone is going out there it should be me.

Martin

Jon!

Jonathan

I can still run and use an extinguisher without a problem. Plus, clearly no one else knows what’s happening down here yet. Two of us have a better chance of getting up there than one.

Martin

No! Jon that’s…you’re going to get yourself killed! You can’t…Sasha tell him!

Archivist

He…he has a point, Martin. But maybe we can-shit! Tim no no no. Ignore the tape!

[Running]

Martin

JON WAIT!

[Door opens]

Jonathan

TIM! RUN!

Archivist

MARTIN NO! [Thud]

[Click]

[Click]

Tim

Huh. What are you doing on the floor? That’s an odd place for you. Guess Sasha must have-

[Door opening]

Jonathan

TIM! RUN!

Tim

Jon? What-

Jonathan

Behind you!

Tim

Oh-

Jane Prentiss

(Voice only just audible over the worms) Do you hear the song?

[Jon tackles Tim, the tape recorder skittering away. Scuffling, then heavy breathing as Jon picks up the tape recorder]

Jonathan

Jane, please.

Jane

I warned you. I am here for the Archivist, but a spider is a bonus, I suppose.

[The squelching gets louder, Jon scrambles backwards until he hits a box which clinks]

Jonathan

(Quietly) I’m sorry.

[Jane screams as he begins to spray. He runs from the office, his footsteps echoing as he enters the tunnels]

Why did I bring you with me?

[Click]

[Click]

Martin

(Quietly) Do you see either of them?

Archivist

No. I think Tim got out but Jon…he…he ended up in the office. Prentiss followed him but…why did she recoil like that?

Martin

He must have found the secret CO2!

Archivist

The what?

Martin

Oh, um, well, I thought it would be a good idea to have some back up extinguishers than the worms didn’t know about.

[Pause]

Archivist

That wasn’t a bad idea, but uh…it would have been more helpful if we had known about them beforehand.

Martin

Y-yeah, sorry. But…but maybe Jon’s still alive. [Nervous laugh]

Archivist

Martin…damn it! You’re bleeding again!

[Hurried movement]

Why didn’t you tell me?

Martin

Well it wasn’t that ba-agh!

Archivist

(Mumbling) Oh my god Martin.

Martin

(Unconvincingly) It’s not as bad as it looks.

Archivist

Stop that, okay! It’s okay that you’re in pain. Anyone would be. That’s…that’s a lot deeper than I thought it was.

Martin

It’s okay, really.

Archivist

I’m serious Martin, knock it off.

Martin

And do what? Scream, shout, cry? What do you want me to do?

Archivist

Martin…react however you want but please stop telling me not to worry. I’m going to worry no matter what you say because we were attacked by…by flesh eating worms and they burrowed into you leg and that looks like a really serious injury and you’re still bleeding.

[Pause]

Martin

Sorry.

Archivist

You don’t need to be. [Tearing fabric] I’m going to try and wrap this better. I…think it’s going to hurt.

Martin

Just…just do it…please.

[Click]

[Click]

[Water dripping and footsteps]

Jonathan

I knew you’d start listening again. I can feel you leading me. I…you wanted me down here because I would need you. Do you want to kill me? There may not be many worms down here but they are basically silent. They’re faster too…[Dripping stops]

Huh, it’s…why is it silent? That doesn’t…and actually I haven’t seen any worms in a while? What do you want? If you wanted me lost, you could stop leading me. I do not know the way back. What do you want me to…oh. [Footsteps stop] A door. You want me to open it, don’t you?

[The door creaks as it opens]

Oh…oh no…[Running]

[Click]

[Click]

Martin

What’s going on out there?

Archivist

Not much. Worms are coming through the floor now.  Prentiss is doing…something with the boxes. (Disgusted) I think we’re going to need to burn those.

Martin

Do you think…do you think they’re still alive?

Archivist

I…I honestly don’t know.

[Silence]

Martin?

Martin

Mhm?

Archivist

If you don’t mind me asking…why did you stay? You could have quit. Getting stalked by a worm-infested woman isn’t exactly in the job description. No one would have blamed you.

Martin

I…I couldn’t. No one else was quitting and I couldn’t leave you all behind.

Archivist

You mean you couldn’t leave Jon behind.

Martin

What? No! I-I mean…partly but you and Tim too. I know you didn’t entirely believe me, Tim certainly didn’t. I don’t blame either of you, if anyone here was going to be killed by a paranormal entity it would be me. I just…I needed to stay for when this happened. I needed to have a plan to keep you all safe. Of course, it didn’t really work though.

Archivist

Well, we’re both alive, Tim got out of the Archives and Jon…he got to an extinguisher. Hell, the reason your leg is so messed up is because you insisted on saving me and Jon. Honestly, I’m glad you didn’t quit. I think this would have gone a lot worse if you had.

[Pause]

That being said, we really, really need to have a chat about your self worth.

[Click]

[Click]

[Fire alarm blaring]

Tim

-so if we don’t do something they’re going to die so for once in your life Elias do something!

Elias

I am going to ignore most of those comments.

Tim

Yeah, well…why the hell are you recording?

Elias

I thought Sasha would like to know what is happening.

Tim

That won’t matter if she becomes worm food.

Elias

The worms Sasha and Martin kept telling me about?

Tim

Yeah, the ones that tried to kill him, Jon and me. The ones we’ve been telling you about for ages.

Elias

Huh…I thought you were all overreacting. They’ve been around for months and none of the other staff have reported aggressive behaviour.

Tim

Oh well that was great for them but they’re in the Archives right now looking to bury into people’s flesh. I can only pray Sasha and Martin are okay, but I’m pretty sure Jon’s…point is we need to go and do something.

Elias

(Calmly) Yes, we do. The fire alarm was a good idea as everyone else should have evacuated by now. It does mean that we will have to activate the fire suppression system ourselves though.

Tim

How?

Elias

There’s a manual release a few floors down.

Tim

Great! Let’s…is it CO2?

Elias

Yes. I should have changed it years ago, but Sasha requested it.

Tim

Won’t that…

Elias

Well from what you’re telling me, it’s either potential suffocation or being eaten by worms.

Tim

Right, right. We need to go!

[Click]

[Click]

[Heavy breathing]

Jonathan

Oh god, oh god, oh god. No, no, no. [Coughing] They’re dead. That’s fine, it’s fine. Why did you want me to see that? First the body, then…you wanted me to stop that, didn’t you? Well played. [More coughing] Well…hang on.

[Faint voices]

Plasterboard…Martin? Sasha? [Hammering on the board]

Archivist

(Faintly) Jon?

Jonathan

(Muttering) You led me back to them. Huh.

[Click]

[Click]

[Fire alarm in the background, then banging on the wall, then the breaking of plasterboard and tile]

Archivist

Oh my god it’s actually you!

Jonathan

(Panting) Are…are you two okay?

Martin

Y-yeah, we’re fine. You look…what happened?

Jonathan

Uh, well…I…I-I found Gertrude’s body.

Archivist

What?

Jonathan

N-not from the worms. It’s uh…[Coughs]

Martin

Jon!

Jonathan

(Hoarsely) I’m fine, I’m fine, just inhaled a lot of CO2. [Clears throat, but voice is still rough] There’s a whole tunnel system. There aren’t too many worms, but they’re faster and quieter.

Archivist

Did they bite you?

Jonathan

No, no. They didn’t get me. I think.

Archivist

Do you think there’s a way out that way?

Jonathan

I…I honestly have no idea. Probably? But…Sasha it’s really easy to get lost down there. Plus, I’m not sure if Martin can-

Martin

I can move. 

Jonathan

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

Archivist

But if there is a way out…we don’t know if or when help’s coming. Martin and you need medical attention…

Jonathan

(Mumbling) Fine.

Archivist

Did you manage to keep hold of the tape recorder out there?

Jonathan

No, I dropped it. Sorry.

Archivist

It’s fine, we can use this one. We’re just running a little low on tape. Oh well, at least I can record our deaths.

[Click]

[Click]

Tim

(Whispering) Uh, hey Sasha. I ended up with this stupid recorder. Elias had a point when he said you’d probably want to know what’s going on, and if you’re dead or I’m dead, well I think the cops would appreciate the recording as evidence. [Nervous laugh]

Well, I’m in Artefact Storage. Bet you’re happier facing the worms than being with me in here, eh? Sorry. There aren’t any worms in here, although I’m tempted to test my luck out there again. I got separated from Elias. There was this…just this huge wave of worms. I hope he’s not dead and is getting to the manual release because I have no idea where it is.

I just…I hope you’re okay. If…no, never mind.

[Click]

[Click]

[Water dripping]

Archivist

Update for whoever listens to this. We…uh…well we’re incredibly lost.

Jonathan

I warned you.

Archivist

I know, I know.

Martin

(Weakly) She already apologised Jon.

Archivist

We were attacked by worms a few times. Jon was right, they are a lot faster and quieter. We’ve managed to avoid more injuries though, other than some issues breathing. Obviously using CO2 in a confined space isn’t great.

We have found a trapdoor though. It…well we’re recording in case this is how we die. There is a good enough chance we’ll end up in the Archives and Jane Prentiss is waiting for us, but maybe it’s freedom. It’s a risk we have to take.

Are you guys ready?

Martin

Y-yeah.

Jonathan

Yes.

Archivist

Okay then.

[The trapdoor creaks as it opens followed by the blaring fire alarm and writhing worms]

Jane

Archivist.

Archivist

Oh shit.

[Click]

Chapter Text

[Click]

Elias

Sasha-

Archivist

(Mumbling) I’m fine Elias.

Elias

With the amount of bandages you have on I beg to differ.

Archivist

I need to be down here.

Elias

You need to go home. The paramedics said-

Archivist

They cleared me.

Elias

They also said you needed to get some fresh air. Down here in the basement with decomposing worms I’d say is the opposite.

Archivist

It’s fine. I need to be down here. I need to know.

Elias

Sasha, Jane Prentiss is dead. I went with the ECDC people and watched her burn.

Archivist

There’s also Gertrude’s body. How did it end up down there? Who killed her? Why-

Elias

That is the police’s business, not ours.

Archivist

I just…I need to know what happened.

Elias

Tim gave you the tape recorder, didn’t he?

Archivist

Yes, but there’s still gaps. I need as much information as I can get. Please.

Elias

(Sighing) If you get the statements you want, will you then go home?

Archivist

Yes!

Elias

Fine then.

Archivist

Statement of Elias Bouchard, Head of the Magnus Institute, regarding…regarding the infestation that was once Jane Prentiss. Statement recorded straight from subject on the 27^th July 2016. Uh, just start when you’re ready.

Elias

Well, frankly there isn’t much for me to say. Just after lunch today I was looking through various reports when the fire alarm went off. It was irritating as it either meant there was a fire, someone was playing a prank or there was a fault in the system, all of which would have been mildly annoying to deal with. I was calmly packing up and preparing to leave when Tim burst into my office ranting about worms.

Considering previous incidents with the worms, I told him we should wait until we’re outside due to the alarm, and then he told me he had set it off. That was the point he told me he thought Jonathan was dead and that Jane Prentiss had you and Martin trapped down in the Archives.

Well, at that point you would have heard the rest of that conversation, since I turned on the tape recorder.

Archivist

Yeah, actually Elias, why did you have one?

Elias

I am…not the best with modern technology and I find I like to leave myself reminders every now again. As I have to order tapes for Archives anyway, sometimes I use some of it.

Archivist

Huh. Sorry, continue.

Elias

Right. I have to admit I had not taken your concerns about the worms or Jane Prentiss seriously until today. We hurried down to the first floor and it was clear everyone else had evacuated when we met with a wave of…well of writhing, squirming worms. I hate to admit this, but I did just run when I saw that. In the process I was separated from Tim.

Once I had managed to compose myself, I knew killing the worms should be our priority, and I trusted Tim could take care of himself, so I carefully made my way to the boiler room. The corridors were largely vacant, and I only really had one close call from there. I was certainly relieved to reach the rows of CO2 canisters. It had taken me around ten or fifteen minutes to get there, but I’m sorry to say it took me a little bit to figure out how to use the system. I do truly apologise for that.

Archivist

Everyone survived, that’s the main thing.

Elias

Very true. Well, when I turned it on, that’s when I heard the scream. It’s…hard to describe…I’m sure you heard it considering how close to them you were.

Archivist

Yes, I did. It was the last thing I heard before I passed out. Just thousands of those mouthless things screaming in unison as they died.

Elias

Yes, it was horrible. Anyway, I called the Fire Department, ambulance and a contact in the ECDC who was previously involved with the Prentiss case. I then headed down to the Archives once I was sure the gas had dissipated. Tim was already down there, but you, Martin and Jonathan were in bad shape. It seems like the worms had managed to burrow quite deep into you before they were killed by the CO2. You know if was really quite disgusting-

Archivist

Yes, I know what happened when it comes to the injury side of things thank you. I remember the ambulance, quarantine, all of that. What happened to Gertrude Robinson?

Elias

Sasha-

Archivist

Please, I need it on tape.

Elias

[Sighs] Last year on the 15^th of March, I came down to the Archives due to a query one of our researchers had about a statement. I did not find Gertrude, instead I found her desk covered in blood. Obviously, I called the police, there was a huge search, but there was no sign of Gertrude at all. She had no assistants, and no one else had seen or heard anything, so it was left unclear if she was even dead or alive.

The police did a DNA test on the blood, finding it was in fact Gertrude’s, although I have no idea why they would have her on file. According to them around a gallon of blood was spilled, which is more than a human body can lose and survive, so I assumed she was dead. Investigating what happened was not my job, so I appointed a new archivist.

I was shocked when Jon told us he found her body in the tunnels. To think she was that close this entire time.

Archivist

Okay then. Statement ends. Thanks Elias. Now to talk to Tim.

[Click]

[Click]

Tim

No Sasha, I’m not doing this now! You should go home and rest.

Archivist

I will be going home, I just need to fill in the gaps, that’s all.

Tim

That’s all? Sasha, your body is practically Swiss cheese at this point!

Archivist

I can’t rest until I know. I just…thank you for the tape, but I…I just need to hear all of it. Please.

Tim

(Muttering) Fine, fine.

Archivist

Great! Thank you! Statement of Timothy Stoker regarding the infestation that was once Jane Prentiss. Statement recorded straight from subject on the 27^th of July 2016. So, start when you came back from talking to Rosie?

Tim

Yeah, I guess that’s the best place. I knew something was up as soon as I walked in. It’s usual for it to be quiet down here, but not dead silent, like nobody dared to even breath silent. I found the tape recorder on the floor, thought that was odd, and then Jon yelled at me. I turned to see Jane Prentiss right behind me and that was horrifying. You know at least when I saw Timothy Hodge, he was pretty much dead, but Prentiss was…alive when she was far from the point she should be.

It was hard to tell what she was saying above the noise of all the worms and the fact you could barely tell which part of her face was which. You know, it’s pretty hard to distinguish the worm holes, eyes and mouth.

[Clears throat] Anyway, you know the whole “we’re safe in the Archives” thing, yeah that didn’t exactly work out, did it? Worms were seeping through the walls, the floor, basically everywhere and at that point I kind of just stopped thinking. You know, when confronted with what will likely be your very painful, very disturbing death to a horrifying entity out of someone’s worst nightmare, you kind of just go into fight or flight mode. I think my logic at the time was if I’m going to die, may as well do something, so I’m pretty sure I was going to try and punch her, but then Jon tackled me.

I think that surprised the worms as much as it surprised me to be honest. We fell to the ground, squishing a lot of worms as we did and we scrambled to our feet. Jon grabbed me and we started running towards the door, but the worms seemed to have recovered at that point. He noticed the shelf about to collapse faster than I did, and he shoved me forward. I tried to get back to him but at that point the worms were swarming around both of us and he had darted towards the office, Prentiss close behind him. I…well my only option was to get the door between me and the worms.

I…I was fairly certain Jon was dead. I was hoping you and Martin were somewhere safe. I knew I had to do something, especially when I could feel the worms hit the door behind me. I knew going back in there would be a death sentence, so I opted to figure something else out. When I was halfway down the corridor I saw a fire alarm, and I realised that would at least prevent anyone else from getting infected so I pulled it and headed up to Elias.

I have to admit I was a tiny bit stressed at that point having nearly died and under the assumption I had just watched a friend of mine meet their grisly end, so when Elias was as…relaxed as he was, I may have said some things. I don’t know how much of that ended up on tape, so uh, sorry if you heard that I didn’t mean most of it.

Well, I know you heard the next bit of conversation at least, so me and Elias went to activate the manual release. We got to the ground floor when this massive wave of worms came hurtling towards us. We both ran, but in the chaos, we got separated. I didn’t intend on ending up in Artefact Storage, but a door was a door at that point and I quickly realised there were no worms in there at all. Honestly, I don’t blame them, I didn’t exactly want to be in there, not with what you’ve told me is in there, so I recorded a message in case I died, and intended on waiting for a bit before risking going out again.

It wasn’t long after that when I heard the scream. I left Artefact Storage to find the worms shrivelling and dying. I’m not going to lie, I probably should have spent a little longer before going back down to the Archives but…

I honestly thought you were all dead at first. The worm seemed like they’d been trying to escape your bodies as they died and there was gunk and blood and…[Deep breath] Then I saw you were breathing. Even I was struggling down there, so I dragged you all out and then Elias showed up with the paramedics and hazmat guys.

I told them what happened, or as much as I could, as they checked me for signs of infection. I wanted out of there to check on you guys, and thankfully they quickly realised I had no worms in me so they let me hang around. All of you were pretty out of it at first, but then Jon seemed to properly come round and began rambling about having found Gertrude’s body, and that’s when Elias called the cops. I then had to recite everything again, and well here we are.

Enough detail for you?

Archivist

Yes, thank you.

Tim

Sasha, you genuinely look like crap. You really should go home.

Archivist

I’m going to, I promise, I just need to get this done.

[Click]

[Click]

Jonathan

I…um…I just want to go home.

Archivist

Please, I promise it won’t take long.

[Pause]

Jonathan

Fine.

Archivist

Thank you! Statement of Jonathan Sims regarding the infestation known as Jane Prentiss, oh you know the rest. Just go from where you got attacked by Jane Prentiss.

Jonathan

I…I know trying to save Tim was not a good idea on my part, but you and Martin were injured and I was not about to watch one of the few people in my life I can call…that I can call a friend get devoured by worms. We fell, and I got both of us back on our feet as fast as I could. When I saw the shelf about to collapse…I pushed him forward.

I did not think I would get out of there alive. I couldn’t get out of the Archives thanks to the mass of worms in the way and that forced me back into the office. I tripped in my haste, and…when Prentiss followed me, looming over me, I could practically feel the worms burrow through my skin already. Well, at least how I thought it would feel. I scrambled back, and backed into a box that clinked when I’d nudged it. I grabbed the extinguisher and sprayed, and it made her and the worms recoil long enough for me to get into the tunnels.

I just ran and ran and ran, spraying what worms I found. It was only when I stopped seeing them that I let myself slow down. I was concerned that I hadn’t seen any in a bit, but all I could do was keep moving. It’s hard to keep track of exactly what was going on since I’d inhaled so much CO2 at that point. I was hoping to make my way back to you all, but then I found a door.

I was baffled as to why it was there, but I hoped that was a sign I had managed to circle back around, and so I opened it. That’s…that’s where I found her, sitting in a chair decaying with boxes of tapes surrounding her.

That’s when I started running again. I just…I cannot say I got on with Gertrude but finding her down there like that…

Archivist

Thank you, Jon.

Jonathan

Wait! There’s…there’s one other thing. When I was finding my way back, I stumbled into another room, this one filled with worms. The thing is, they were wrapping together to create a structure. A-a ring specifically, I think. I…it seemed to me like they were trying to make a doorway.

Archivist

What happened to it?

Jonathan

I, uh, I sprayed the whole room. Nothing made it out of there. That was why I was so…spacey when I found you and Martin again.

Archivist

Did you…did you get any indication on how Gertrude died.

Jonathan

She…she was shot.

Archivist

That’s…alright. Last question, and then I promise I’m done. What happened to the tape recorder you grabbed when you were in the Archive?

Jonathan

Oh, I must have dropped it at some point. Sorry.

Archivist

No, it’s fine. I’ve kept you long enough. Get some rest.

Jonathan

(Quietly) You too.

[Click]

[Click]

Archivist

Martin lost a lot of blood so I’m unable to talk to him still, but…well I’m not sure how much he could add considering we were together for the whole attack really.

Anyway…I…I was right. [Nervous, slightly uncomfortable laugh] I knew there was something going on here.

Gertrude Robinson, my predecessor and previous Head Archivist, was murdered. I do not know why or who is responsible, but I know it is tied to whatever is happening. The one thing I do know is she was murdered here in the Archives with a gun. Someone very human killed her, and that is the biggest concern.

There is something hidden here, in the files and statements, and it is something I doubt the police can find. I believe that is what got Gertrude killed, and I’m going to find out what. The only way I’m going to be stopped is by someone killing me.

Recording ends.

[Click]