TO OUR READERS:

Many of you may have noticed that The Archive has recently opened a support portal.

We at The Archive pride ourselves on offering our files and database for free to the public.

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Head of Archive

History is full of monsters.

Oftentimes, the monsters are remembered more than their victims.

Tragedy floods mankind with its oceans of sorrow, causing tsunamis of pain and suffering. People drown from the decisions of a select few, their heads held underwater as they flail for air, gasping for mercy in a sea of chaos.

The Archive does not need to document these events.

We know of them all very well.

Yet, history continues to repeat itself despite the ghosts of the past that still haunt us.

That is what Godzilla is—a ghost of the past, created to remind us of the reality that many people were taught to forget.

But not Godzilla.

Godzilla was born from the radiation of the H-bomb. Our universe’s TOHO Studios created the giant franchise to partially remind the masses about the dangers of forgotten history. Ironically, in another world, they may have created their own monster—in the same suit they used to teach that lesson.

In order to conduct more research into TOHO’s practices, The Archive consulted for their expertise. Despite the hesitation of our staff, The Operator insisted that the organization is a very reputable source. Perhaps he should say that to Egg, but we digress.

Below is the documentation provided by their Field Office Team.

ARCHIVE FILE — KLCF

EXTERNAL RESEARCH ATTACHMENT

Source: The Godzilla Papers

We, the Field Office Team supporting Mission Kaiju_Love_Care_Futures_02026, are honored to provide some historical grounding for this release of Slasher.

In the spirit of transparency, we are freaked out by The Man in The Suit—so much so that we only watched the first installment. We are indeed, as Mission HQ pointed out, “scaredy-cats.” We thank archivist Skyla for her patience and kindness. At her suggestion, we instead watched The Film Theorists’ commentary video, Film Theory: The TRAGEDY of The Man in the Suit.

While the ethos of The Man in The Suit goes against how much we on the Field Office Team would like to (consensually) smooch Godzilla on the nose1, the storytelling and themes in The Man in The Suit complement those in the Godzilla franchise: this is a story of what can happen as a consequence of unprocessed grief, nuclear weapons, and corporate greed.

There is a meta-theme, here, as well: Unknowingly, the creator and imagination behind The Man in The Suit, was bullied so badly by purist Godzilla fans that he cancelled the series for the sake of his mental health. This is deeply worrisome, and we believe this points to a few of humanity’s most significant issues:

1. It seems we do not understand our own power, or, if we do, we tend to be wildly irresponsible with it.

2. We pretend that accountability is the same as policing, and we dress up our bullying as psuedo-intellectual snobbery. This is High Fidelity behavior at its worst.

3. We are threatened by imagination, and we tend to use “take-down” energy against the most vulnerable among us. Consider if these fans had taken aim with this same energy at nuclear proliferation, ICE, or political officials who are actively causing harm to our communities instead of taking aim at Unknowingly. In layman’s terms: what a violent waste of time it was to bully this creative young person.

As a matter of historical grounding, we would like to offer some background on the Godzilla suit in this universe before The Archive takes you to the universe in which the suit/man relationship was less … symbiotic.

We cannot discuss the Godzilla suit and suit acting without paying homage to two (human) giants:

First, we must pay respect to Haruo Nakajima, the original Godzilla suit actor. As Graham Skipper tells us in Godzilla: The Official Guide to the King of The Monsters:

“Actor Haruo Nakajima played Godzilla in the suit, bringing his athleticism and martial arts background into the character. He also went so far as to study bears at the local zoo for inspiration, and even incorporated elements of classic Japanese Noh Theatre. His performance made Godzilla anything but “just a guy in a suit”.

Nakajima was also the first to actually choreograph the monster fights, as outlined in Theme Four of Godzilla Field Report No. 3 : Trust the people closest to the work.

Something that The Man in The Suit captures very well, indeed, is the danger of suit acting. In our universe, there were multiple incidents of suit actors almost drowning, suffocating, and/or overheating. The suits were heavy, and many stunts required Godzilla to break out of sand, get buried in ice, or sink into water at Toho’s Big Pool. What we’re saying is: this was hard, dangerous work!

Second, we must pay respect to the late, great Eiji Tsubaraya, Director of Special Effects at Toho Studios. Tsubaraya and his team were responsible for building the intricate miniature sets for suit actors to destroy. At first, Tsubaraya didn’t have the respect he does now. In Godzilla: The First 70 Years, Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski offer a look into the studio’s internal politics:

The Toho Special Effects (SFX) Department was originally founded in 1937 and was infamously involved in the production of wartime “national policy” films, which garnered technical awards and earned prestige on the studio lot for Eiji Tsuburaya and his crew … When Toho resumed making films with special effects in the early 1950s, Tsuburaya returned and assembled a ragtag group of old hands and new recruits, most of them non-studio employees and part-time workers, who were now viewed as misfits and outcasts on the lot. “When we were working (on Godzilla), everybody, including the company itself, was making fun of us, and no one took us seriously,” recalled Izo Kaimai, a monster-suit sculptor. “Anyone who wanted to do special effects was considered a crazy person.”... As their efforts paid off at the box office, the SFX team’s status soon improved. “I joined Toho [in 1961),” Shirasaki said. “It was the best time. Godzilla was a hit, and then Rodan and Godzilla Raids Again, all those films. The department was now fully respected and accepted. We were like the kings of the studio.”

While the relationship between man and suit is the focus of The Man in The Suit, we posit that one cannot discuss the Suit without also discussing the perspective shift provided by Tsubaraya and crew’s incredible work on miniatures and other special effects. Without these effects, Godzilla would have simply been a Very Big Lizard instead of the (smoochable) behemoth of pop culture he is today.

While Mission HQ directed us to steer clear of the topic of Godzilla’s funeral, we don’t want to. In The Last 70 Years, Ryfle and Godziszewski describe what we think is a beautiful homage to the King of the Monsters:

“After production of Godzilla wrapped, Toho gave the monster a mock burial at sea. The film’s lead actors, Akira Takarada (Ogata) and Momoko Kochi (Emiko), joined by the (empty) Godzilla suit, rode through the streets of Tokyo in the back of a truck, waving to a bemused public along their route. … With a group of children looking on, Takarada played the ukulele and serenaded Godzilla with the Hawaiian folk song “Aloha Oe” (”Farewell to Thee”) as Kochi placed a lei around the monster’s neck and performed a hula dance. … a Shinto priest performed ceremonial funeral rites for Godzilla, and the boat set sail for Tokyo Bay. There, Godzilla was hoisted over the side on a winch by both Takarada and Kochi. Pausing the ceremony for a moment, Takarada donned a diving suit to accompany Godzilla as the monster was lowered into the water while Kochi tossed in a bouquet of flowers, calling out, “Sayonara, Godzilla!” Godzilla finally descended into the water to its final resting place, never to be seen again.

Or so it was reported at the time. The event was actually an elaborate publicity stunt, staged to generate press coverage. A photo essay of the event was published in the February 1955 issue of Heibon magazine.

Based on these photos, many have assumed the original Godzilla suit was lost forever. In reality, it was retrieved from the water and returned to the studio for storage. But what eventually happened to the original Godzilla suit after that is a mystery.”

Maybe, just maybe, once at the bottom of the sea, the original Godzilla suit made its way to Unknowingly’s universe.

This is a question for The Archive, as this makes all of us at The Field Office feel very squeamish and full of fear.

END FILE.

PART I: HISTORY IS ERASED

The first Godzilla movie was released in 1954.

Before the masses were ever introduced to the iconic kaiju, TOHO had to film the movie.

Filming had reportedly gone fine, although the suit actor, an unknown name at the time, had insisted had insisted on never removing the suit. According to witness accounts from crew members, the stunt actor was never seen without Gojira’s face.

It was as if the suit was stuck to him. They were… inseparable.

Although strange, many assumed he was simply passionate about his craft. A method actor, if you will—embodying the character to its fullest in order to give the audience the best performance he could.

This is where the public press releases differ from what actually happened.

Production notes indicate that something went very wrong on set.

The Archive obtained those notes.

That is where an American whistleblower comes in.

The “American” is an anonymous insider who worked on the production of the Godzilla films, leaking the incidents of TOHO’s suit actor.

In one such case, the suit performer collapsed on the floor, having trouble breathing. However, when crew members tried to take off the mask, it wouldn’t budge.

From the American’s leaks, it was obvious that there was a medical emergency.

The actor’s breathing was shaky. His breaths rattled beneath Gojira’s mouth like one of the creature’s roars, though not nearly as mighty.

Finally, the crew managed to rip the mask off.

Blood dripped from the suit’s neck to the set floor. Strings of flesh dangled from the thing.

Inside, flesh fused to the cotton padding. He was one with the suit, melted into the core of the kaiju like hot tar on flesh.

Doctors concluded that his skin had “inflated” to the point of infusion. His bones even contorted themselves to fit the height of the suit.

He was a werewolf in reptilian clothing.

Do you know what we suffered? Why do you pretend to forget?

Was the man in the suit even still human?

PART II: HISTORY REFUSES TO DIE

Despite the incident, TOHO continued producing Godzilla films with the man in the suit.

It is documented that he lost his vocal cords due to the fusion incident. His behavior grew animalistic in nature, responding only with growls. The suit now acted as a second skin, allowing the performer to feel through the rubber.

As each movie released, he became less of an actor and more of a trained animal.

He was no longer the man in the suit. He was the Suit Man.

In 1962, King Kong vs. Godzilla was released. It was dedicated to the actor who played Kong, who died while filming.

It is rumored that he suffered an injury after falling and hitting his head.

It is leaked that the Suit Man purposely drowned him.

In the same year, the American whistleblower received a tape in the mail from an anonymous mailer. The tape contained only text.

Below is the translated message recovered from the tape:

𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙳𝙾𝙽’𝚃 𝚄𝙽𝙳𝙴𝚁𝚂𝚃𝙰𝙽𝙳.

𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙺𝙸𝙻𝙻𝙴𝙳 𝙼𝚈 𝙵𝙰𝙼𝙸𝙻𝚈.

𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙰𝙼𝙴𝚁𝙸𝙲𝙰𝙽𝚂 𝙲𝙷𝙴𝙴𝚁𝙴𝙳 𝚆𝙷𝙴𝙽 𝚆𝙴 𝙻𝙾𝚂𝚃.

𝚆𝙴 𝙻𝙾𝚂𝚃 𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙷𝙾𝙼𝙴𝚂. 𝚆𝙴 𝙻𝙾𝚂𝚃 𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙵𝙰𝙼𝙸𝙻𝙸𝙴𝚂.

𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝙽𝚄𝙺𝙴𝙳 𝚄𝚂. 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙽𝚄𝙺𝙴 𝚃𝙾𝙾𝙺 𝙼𝚈 𝚆𝙸𝙵𝙴. 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙽𝚄𝙺𝙴 𝚃𝙾𝙾𝙺 𝙼𝚈 𝙺𝙸𝙳𝚂. 𝙷𝙸𝚁𝙾𝚂𝙷𝙸𝙼𝙰 𝚆𝙰𝚂 𝙾𝚄𝚁 𝙷𝙾𝙼𝙴.

𝙸 𝙻𝙴𝙵𝚃 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝙰 𝙱𝚄𝚂𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚂𝚂 𝚃𝚁𝙸𝙿. 𝚈𝙾𝚄 𝚃𝙾𝙾𝙺 𝙴𝚅𝙴𝚁𝚈𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝙵𝚁𝙾𝙼 𝙼𝙴.

𝚂𝙾 𝙸 𝙳𝙴𝙲𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙳 𝚃𝙾 𝚁𝙴𝚃𝚄𝚁𝙽 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙿𝙴𝙰𝙲𝙴. 𝙱𝚈 𝙶𝙴𝚃𝚃𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚁𝙸𝙳 𝙾𝙵 𝙰𝙻𝙻 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙿𝙴𝙾𝙿𝙻𝙴 𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝚆𝚁𝙾𝙽𝙶𝙴𝙳 𝚄𝚂.

From all the evidence we have seen, The Archive concludes this tape was from the Suit Man.

Godzilla came from radiation.

The Suit Man came from the after effects.

He became the shadow of Hiroshima’s tragedy, embodying Oppenheimer’s most chilling quote in a much more cruel and horrific way.

Gojira refuses to let the victor be remembered.

Shadows from those who died in the bomb at Hiroshima were plastered on walls. Their memories lived on in a tragic mural to remind the world of what monsters do.

Godzilla is the walking shadow of Hiroshima.

The Archive’s most convincing evidence?

King Kong’s suit actor was American.

PART III: HISTORY RESURFACES

Tragedy is never truly forgotten.

Despite how hard textbooks may try to polish the image of our history, reality never changes.

Victims will always remember the true impact. Justice will always prevail despite the constant censorship within schools.

One way or another, the truth will always come to light.

In 1964, the Suit Man escaped from TOHO’s grasp. Local newspapers at the time reported that a Godzilla suit roamed the streets as a publicity stunt.

It was never about promoting a movie.

The Suit Man didn’t actually care about the Godzilla films.

He did care about the power that the creature held.

A power far more valuable than any weapon of mass destruction.

People took photos of the suit that strolled around town.

A child was interviewed by a newspaper about what he had seen that night. Here is what he said, translated from Japanese:

“I’ve seen the film with my dad, I know what Godzilla would’ve looked like. The thing I saw outside on the street wasn’t Godzilla.”

Attached is a sketch from the child that the newspaper collected from his witness account. See below:

It seems as if the Suit Man became more of an urban myth than anything. Although there is certainly more evidence in this case, The Archive believes there is no reason to add to this case file.

Our point has been seen. Our point has been proven.

The Suit Man did not care about his personal suffering. Despite the physical ailments, he relished the power that Gojira gave him. He was not there to act in a film; he was there to act on injustice.

His escapade through Japan that night was to show people he existed.

He needed people to finally open their eyes.

He needed people to remember.

CONCLUSION

The Archive is closing this file.

We are not leaving it cold, but rather leaving it hot.

The Suit Man is still out there. His location is unknown.

While The Archive has leads on his coordinates, we will not be disclosing this information. He is exactly where he needs to be.

The Suit Man was a monster born from monsters. It is not the trauma that plagues him, but rather the lack of memory.

Does he even remember the color of his wife’s eyes anymore? Does he remember the sound of his children’s laughter?

Is the human side of him even still conscious?

Unfortunately, we have no answers for that.

But we do know one thing: history will always live on.

The Archive also acknowledges Haruo Nakajima, the original performer who brought Godzilla to life. What TOHO Studios and Haruo Nakajima did was not just give the world a movie, but give generations a kaiju that stood against the forces of our systems.

Godzilla is more than just a monster. And he is certainly more than just a suit.

If you believe in The Archive’s work, you can support further investigations here.

We thank our colleagues at for assisting us in this case file. Please subscribe to their organization’s page to receive important updates on any Kaiju events. It may just save your life.

We have not fully discovered the Earth. Although we like to say we have, our planet still holds its secrets.

And in the Appalachia, the wind whispers those secrets into our ears.

After all, the mountain range is over 480 million years old. Older than the dinosaurs, they are much grander than any living creature who roams the earth.

Locals know this all too well. You must respect the land and all of those who inhabit it. And the ones who live there are not humans.

We are simply guests.

People who live in the mountains say there are unexplained phenomena. Protection is necessary.

Some dismiss these warnings as folklore. Others insist that the warnings are serious.

So why do you keep overthinking it?

Are you really willing to risk it all?

The Archive invites you to look deeper. There is far more than it seems.

“Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.” — Theodore Roethke

PART I: SURVIVAL

They say the mountains are never truly empty.

Within them lies ancient memories we may never fully understand. Mountains—especially the Appalachian range—are as close to a cosmic being that we will ever know.

The Archive has documented many strange accounts in the Appalachia. Tales of Mothman, Bigfoot, and numerous other infamous creatures appear frequently in local stories, alongside legends of mimics and malevolent spirits.

With these tales comes warning. Locals often tell outsiders about the dangers that lurk within the mountains, and how to survive their inhabitants.

To Survive the Mountain

1. Do not run in the forest.

2. Do not look in the trees.

3. Do not whistle at night.

4. Do not reply if you hear your name at night—you did not hear it.

5. Do not look out your windows at night.

The Archive is not confirming the existence of these myths, but we do not advise you to test these theories either.

The forest is a beautiful place.

But it is also dangerous.

Everything that is worth seeing is.

So, what exactly lurks within the wilderness?

The Archive searched for answers. From our research, we were able to find… something.

While we examined libraries, archives, and documentaries, we also sent out lead investigator [REDACTED] to assist in understanding what the mountains may hold within them.

PART II: HEARSAY

In order for this investigation to be as genuine as possible, we sent out [REDACTED] to perform a very simple set of tasks:

1. Document local accounts regarding the myths that surround the area.

2. Observe and adhere to the survival practices described by residents.

3. Break the protocols under observation to test their validity.

Again, The Archive does not recommend that you ignore the warnings of the locals. As an investigation, it is crucial that our team explores every aspect of what is and what isn’t.

Below are key parts of only a few of the interviews that took place during our investigation:

INTERVIEW EXCERPT — LOCAL RESIDENT #1

[𝚁𝙴𝙳𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳]: 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎?

𝚁𝙴𝚂𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃: 𝙽𝚘. 𝙽𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚊𝚠 𝚊 𝙱𝚒𝚐𝚏𝚘𝚘𝚝. 𝙽𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚊𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙱𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚌𝚑. 𝙽𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚊𝚠 𝚊 𝚍𝚊𝚖𝚗 𝚐𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚝.

[𝚁𝙴𝙳𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳]: 𝚂𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚋𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚢𝚝𝚊𝚕𝚎?

𝚁𝙴𝚂𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃: 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎. [𝙷𝚎 𝚙𝚊𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚜] …𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝙸 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚎𝚜.

INTERVIEW EXCERPT — LOCAL RESIDENT #2

[𝚁𝙴𝙳𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳]: 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚛𝚘𝚔𝚎 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚎𝚜?

𝚁𝙴𝚂𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃: 𝙾𝚗𝚌𝚎. 𝙽𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗.

[𝚁𝙴𝙳𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳]: 𝙲𝚊𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚖𝚎 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍?

𝚁𝙴𝚂𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃: 𝙳𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚐𝚘 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚔𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚒𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚎𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖.

INTERVIEW EXCERPT — LOCAL RESIDENT #3

[𝚁𝙴𝙳𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳]: 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎?

𝚁𝙴𝚂𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃: 𝙼𝚢 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎. 𝙼𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎. 𝙷𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎. 𝙷𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎. 𝙼𝚢 𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝-𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝-𝚐𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚔𝚒𝚍𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎.

[𝚁𝙴𝙳𝙰𝙲𝚃𝙴𝙳]: 𝚂𝚘 𝚢𝚘𝚞’𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚢𝚝𝚑𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚌𝚎.

𝚁𝙴𝚂𝙸𝙳𝙴𝙽𝚃: 𝙼𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑. 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚊𝚜 𝚕𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝚊𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢 𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚙𝚎𝚌𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞. 𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝚗𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚖… 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚕. 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚢’𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐.

Our investigator concluded the following after his interviews: 1.) Most residents adhere to the rules. 2.) Even those who do not believe in the myths do not go out of their way to break the rules. 3.) Many residents have experienced some sort of unexplained event. It is unclear if these are of reality or psychological influence.

PART III: EXPERIENCE

In reference to our investigation, [REDACTED] has provided field logs of his time in the mountains. Attached are the few that The Archive has selected for public release:

FIELD LOG 1 - AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

I’m staying in a cabin in the woods. That’s cliché, considering the work we do.

Tonight is “follow the rules” night. There’s no amenities here. I won’t be watching Seinfeld to calm my nerves tonight. I barely have signal out here. [laughter] I have a satellite phone in case I need to call HQ. Not that that did any good for Sara… wonder what happened to her.

[shuffling, inaudible]

Anyway, I been out here for awhile now. ‘Bout six hours. I don’t know how these people live out here. I’d go nuts. I keep thinking I hear something outside, but I’m trying to ignore it.

The (uh) locals over here had some stories to tell. Of course I been going from state-to-state… but they all said the same thing. Said just to ignore the sounds. Pretend you didn’t see anything. Sounds simple enough.

It’s (uh) about 10 o’clock now. I think I might call it a night.

Out.

FIELD LOG 2 - AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

Alright, it’s experiment night.

I don’t want to say I’m nervous, but… I don’t know. We’ve seen some crazy shit before.

Nothing can beat ███████, right?

[wind]

I’m outside. It’s right at 9 o’clock. We’re not supposed to be outside at night. Not in the woods anyway.

Let’s see here… [paper crumpling] Okay. Let’s start easy.

[whistling]

- - - -

I’ve been standing out for twenty minutes. Nothing yet.

I haven’t seen anything in the trees. Nothing has howled.

I’m going inside.

Out.

FIELD LOG 3 - AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

Nothing to report.

.uoy dniheb thgiR

Out.

FIELD LOG 4 - AUDIO TRANSCRIPT

I heard scratching at the window. I think it was just a tree.

I looked to make sure. Had to anyway, right? That’s the whole point of being here.

It was a tree.

.eert a tsuj saw tI

[silence]

It looks different outside tonight. More… dark, if that makes any sense. I don’t really see any moonlight out there.

I think—

[inaudible]

Hello?

?olleH

There is something here. [shuffling, door opens] What’s out there…?

God, it’s dark. [flashlight clicks on] Right. Just trees. That’s it. That’s…

There’s something in the trees.

There’s something in the trees.

[silence]

[wind howls]

That’s not human.

But it’s trying to be one.

I’m calling HQ.

Out.

End of field logs.

PART IV: BELIEF

The Archive’s findings are limited.

[REDACTED] reported strange happenings during his investigation, but no photo or video evidence was recorded. He explained what he saw would have been impossible to catch on camera. We are unsure what he means by that.

Regardless, The Archive could only reach one conclusion.

Do not hesitate.

The Appalachian Mountains are beyond us. They are beautiful. They also must be respected.

They are the home of animals like black bears, coyotes, and copperheads. Even outside of the supernatural occurrences, danger lurks within the forest.

If you hesitate, then you will succumb to it all.

But people have lived alongside these mountains for thousands of years. Generations have suffered far worse but survived it all.

Not because they hesitated—but because they acted.

They understood the importance of belief. The importance of setting aside human ego and embracing the possibility of things greater than us.

They surrendered. Not in a show of giving up. But in a show of faith.

They simply knew.

It is not that the locals know what’s out there. In fact, it’s impossible for anybody to truly understand the extent of what lives in those mountains.

But the locals understand that there is purpose.

Those mountains stand there in purpose. And the locals respect that.

The locals don’t always understand the rules. But they follow them.

Because they know.

They don’t question what might happen.

They just know.

Conclusion

The Archive invites you to act the same.

We may not all be in the haunted and mysterious Appalachia, but we are here in life.

And life is strange.

The people in authority ask us to be obedient. To be cautious. To avoid risks because we do not know where they may lead us.

But that is exactly why you must take them.

You do not know where a path may take you. But if you feel it is meant for you… then it is.

If it will be, then it is.

You think of it.

Therefore it is.

Consciousness is not something that exists only inside your head. It moves through the world around you.

There is far more you can do with it than you think.

If you believe in The Archive’s work, you can support further investigations here.

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Are humans meant to know everything?

The human is limited to five core senses: touch, smell, taste, sight, and hearing. The apparent “sixth” sense has been debated over: intuition, clairs, the ability to see the dead. All of these, still, are limited within the human experience.

However, humans are curious beings—sometimes too curious. Although the phrase “curiosity kills the cat” is often thrown around in these cases, it seems as if cats have a much better understanding of basic survival skills than the average human.

When humans discover one thing, they must then discover more. Once they gain, they can only gain more. It is a trajectory of up and nothing less.

Some may argue that there is some scientific or spiritual reasoning for this. The Archive argues that humans are oftentimes led by their flaws.

What then happens when humans decide to force themselves into what they were never meant to perceive? When they create technology to allow them into spaces they don’t belong in?

PART I: SPACE SCREAMS

The universe is composed of many different things. Humans, “aliens,” solar systems, and galaxies. Stars are born everyday as others explode in a beautiful death.

Throughout the years, scientists have said that space is silent. Space is a vacuum, with no atoms or molecules to catch the vibration of sound. Therefore, there is no sound in space. It is silent, with only the energy pulsating throughout its vast darkness.

Astronauts do not hear anything while in space. It is not peace, but rather a test of the human psyche.

You may have heard of the anechoic chamber, with the most famous one being at Microsoft’s headquarters. It is the quietest room on Earth.

Most people cannot stay inside for longer than 45 minutes, as its extreme quiet leads to hearing things that no human should. People hear their heartbeat, their blood flow, and even their nervous system.

Humans are not meant to hear how their body operates.

While humans have simulated the intensity of space’s silence on Earth, the real void is not as quiet as people think.

It is true that humans cannot hear space in the traditional sense. This is because they are not meant to.

NASA scientists converted electromagnetic frequencies into a range for the human ear. Below is what they captured of the planets within the Solar System:

Most humans describe these sounds as eerie and unnerving.

They are not meant to be heard. These planets operate in ways the human mind cannot understand, despite how hard they may try to. Space is not meant to be fully explored, because it is not meant to be claimed.

Humans often like to claim things that aren’t theirs.

PART II: SKY RESPONSE

Back on Earth, there are warnings against space eavesdropping.

As humans continue to poke and prod into the universe, Earth bites back. Not maliciously, but as a warning to not go too far. Earth is a protector, guarding the rest of the universe from what humans may do if gone unchecked.

As so, the phenomenon known as skyquakes explodes into the sky.

Scientists say these strange trumpet-like sounds are caused by a few possible things: gas releases, meteors, coronal mass ejections, etc. There is no one answer. There isn’t meant to be. Skyquakes are mysterious because they have to be.

Please see the below video file on a skyquake from Canada in 2013:

In fact, this has become a cause for discussion in recent years. People from all over the world have reported hearing these strange sky trumpets, and yet, there has been little to no explanation about what these could possibly be.

In a religious context, sounds like these are often contributed to the apocalypse. In The Bible, it is described that seven angels will sound their trumpets to warn of the Rapture, causing mass destruction on Earth in forcing mankind to repent for their sins.

Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. - Revelation 8:6

What’s most fascinating about this, is that it is revealed that this apocalyptic event stems not from the force of God necessarily, but rather due to humanity’s own darkness.

The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts. - Revelation 9:20-21

Outside of a theological view, others say that these sounds are supernatural. Some say they are caused by UFOs.

Whatever these sounds are, it certainly wants all of humanity to hear it.

Which leads into The Archive’s theory: is the sky screaming or is it simply responding?

From NASA’s audio recordings of Earth, it is clear that it is one of the loudest planets due to human activity. Perhaps then, it is not just humans who are always listening, but the Earth itself.

And if the Earth is listening… perhaps it is simply responding to the conversation.

PART III: OCEAN CRIES

Humans are not marine creatures.

Unlike other animals, humans are not natural swimmers. They have no natural instincts in the water. Yet, humans can learn how to swim, and therefore can coexist with the naturally occuring bodies of water on Earth.

Despite this unique ability, humans have never been satisfied with “just” swimming. They created boats, submarines, jet skis, and cruises. They glide on water with water skis and dive from dangerous heights in competitions.

More importantly, humans love learning about the ocean. In most contexts, this is completely fine. Wonderful, even. But there is a line that humans keep crossing.

The ocean is full of pressure. The further one goes down into the depths, the more water presses down on them. For every 10 meters, the pressure increases by 1 atmosphere.

The Mariana Trench, for example, has a pressure of 1,100 atmospheres, which is equivalent to 8 tons per square inch.

Without special equipment or vehicles, humans essentially die from implosion within the deep water.

This is why scientists are extremely careful when researching the deep sea, relying mostly on ROVs, specialized cameras, and microphones.

The NOAA has recorded many strange sounds from the ocean, which are typically explained away by being underwater volcanic activity or icebergs falling. While this may be the case, the sounds recorded are unusual nevertheless.

Below are audio recordings of some of the most infamous sounds, including “Julia,” “Upsweep,” “Bloop,” and “SlowDown.”

“Julia” - 1:18

“Upsweep”

“Bloop” - 0:51

“Slowdown” - 0:39 and on

Most of these are attributed to icebergs, though that is simply a guess. The reality is that scientists have no concrete answer to what these may be as they have no way of actually knowing due to the insane depths these were captured in.

As a reminder, only 20-25% of the ocean has been explored, making 80% completely uncharted territory.

With everything previously stated in mind, is it really a shock that humans have no idea what these noises are?

The deep sea keeps the creatures within its abyss safe. The pressure is a natural deterrent, especially considering the overfishing epidemic.

The Archive can only presume one thing: humans are not meant to perceive to what is down there.

There is no way to say what is real or not. Perhaps there are sea serpents and sirens populating the depths of the oceans. Humans will likely never know.

These noises act as a reminder to humanity: do not play where you do not belong.

PART IIII: BELOW US & BEYOND US

Humans have explored the Earth, the ocean, and space. What is left?

The inside of Earth.

Between 1970-1989, the Kola Superdeep Borehole project created the deepest hole on Earth. Scientists drilled 12,262 meters into the ground to study the depths of the planet, but never quite made it further due to the extreme heat that came from within the hole at 356°F.

The project ended due to the USSR’s collapse.

The hole, despite being the deepest ever made, only explored 0.2% of the Earth’s crust.

Urban legend tells a tale of the project ending for different reasons. Instead of the intense heat, the project ended after the Soviets recorded the following sound.

“Sounds of Hell - Redirect to YouTube”

The Archive must inform our readers that this is very much a hoax. However, the story still acts as a popular warning to humanity in terms of digging too deep.

Yet, even the real life project was thwarted by Earth itself. The extreme temperatures forced it to stop, warning scientists that they are not meant to go inside of the planet.

So, if nature keeps telling humans to stop… what is left to explore? Perhaps the beyond.

As many of you know, The Archive invited readers to call The Operator through our hotline. By dialing 1-900-ARCHIVE, you could ask The Operator about anything, including any interdimensional questions.

While the line was open for quite some time, an incident took place that caused The Archive to temporarily close it at The Operator’s request. The incident was recorded, as all calls to the hotline are recorded for training and monitoring purposes.

Please see the evidence for FILE OP-01:

According to our staff, the following incoming call was never logged.

Rest assured, we are closely investigating the incident. We are unsure how and what intercepted our hotline, but The Operator is a very busy [redacted] and does not have time for such behavior. A statement from The Operator follows:

“The Archive is not meant to scare you. We do not operate on fear.

While we may cause discomfort, our primary mission is to expose what is happening within our interdimensional universe.

You may have noticed this file was written differently than usual. I decided to write this spontaneously, thus causing a mishap in our usual release schedule. However, I found this to be a very important lesson that needed to be shared.

The Archive’s hotline was intercepted. What I said in that recording is not meant to scare you. It is not a threat.

I apologize for any fear I may have caused.

My intention is to amplify your voice.”

The Operator

Conclusion

The Archive is dedicated to our readers.

Do not heed the warning of nature. Do not trespass where you are not welcomed.

Thank you for your patience.

If you believe in The Archive’s work, you can support further investigations here.

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Do you feel it?

The Earth beneath your feet grumbles, begging for relief. It aches for the roots of trees to dig into its skin again. It asks for water to drip through its soil.

Alas, humanity has failed her.

Not just through our constant construction, pollution, and dismissiveness. Rather, it is our inability to leave things alone.

The Archive has come across multiple organizations that have played God, almost mocking Mother Nature in a cruel and arrogant tone.

They are not poachers. They are creators.

Or perhaps, the dead has to come back to life.

Perhaps the age of the dinosaurs must come back to remind humanity that we are not the top of the food chain.

PART I: Dawn of a New Age

Dinosaurs have been gone for over 66 million years now.

You know this. The Archive knows this. The planet knows this.

Considering the multiple extinction events that took place during the various periods of the dinosaurs’ rule, it was made quite obvious by Mother Nature that these creatures are no longer meant to be here. Their time has come and gone, and there is no reason for them to stay.

Some may argue they died for the rise of the human race, others may argue it was a cruel and unusual fate for these beautiful creatures we never had the chance to meet.

Nevertheless, the morbid curiosity over how dinosaurs lived continue to plague us as a species. Perhaps there is no better example than Jurassic Park, a tourist attraction just west of Costa Rica.

Obviously, these dinosaurs are not naturally occurring creatures, but rather a Frankenstein-like abomination of science. The things at Jurassic Park are not actually dinosaurs, but rather monsters engineered for entertainment.

As we learned from internal leaked documents by InGen, Dr. Henry Wu’s experimental procedures for creating these bioengineered animals are not based on historical fact, but more so on how the park can make the highest ticket sales. None of the animals created by InGen ever existed and therefore were never meant to exist.

InGen is no stranger to rumors, either. There have been multiple lawsuits against them that have seemingly dropped, with many speculating that InGen pays people with “hush money” as to not tarnish their reputation.

Velociraptors are no doubt one of the more popular attractions in the park, as they are genetically modified not only to be bigger and meaner than their original counterparts from the Late Cretaceous Period, but they are also prone to escaping their habitat. It is rumored that there are over 37 wild raptors on Isla Nublar, putting everybody on the island at risk.

In a leaked video from the company’s game warden, it is not only confirmed that these raptors are running around the island, but that InGen was aware and still opened the park to the public:

What InGen is doing with these creatures isn’t about preserving history—it’s about cashing in on something that humans were never meant to witness.

Perhaps one of the most infamous cases is the San Diego Incident in 1997, in which a Tyrannosaurus Rex caused rampage after escaping containment on a cargo ship.

The animal was being transported to the mainland for a new Jurassic Park experience yet instead left a trail of blood and destruction in its path. The infamy of this crisis still lives on through the multiple memorials seen throughout the city.

And yet, InGen is still currently working on their biohacking, with creatures such as the Indominus Rex of the rumored Jurassic World sister park. The Indominus Rex is speculated to be a hybrid of multiple species, including the Tyrannosaurs Rex, Velociraptor, Carnotaurus, and even a pit viper. It is quite literally a creation beyond God, with InGen designing her to be the biggest star they ever created.

The Archive believes this will only lead to more devastation.

**Edit: As The Archive was proofreading, it has come to our attention that Jurassic Park has been indefinitely closed down to multiple fatalities. A news source will be linked to our recent findings.

PART II: Monsters on Tape

As The Archive investigated these prehistoric cloning facilities, we also came across Cicada Genetics, an organization that seems to be part of the UK government.

Numerous whistleblowers came forward in providing us with various internal tapes regarding the research being done at Cicada, along with the deaths related to their reckless experiments.

The facility, located near the town of Bone Bridge, found a way to recreate paleo DNA with a microscopic technology called D.A.R.W.I.N. Within their research, they created much more historically accurate dinosaurs compared to InGen due to their government funding.

However, this seemed to also be their downfall, as they underestimated the intelligence and prowess of these animals.

Leaked audio logs confirmed multiple animals escaping, with “Operation Clean Up” becoming the organization’s top priority.

Bone Bridge has since suffered from the horrendous acts caused by Cicada, as multiple people have been killed by their most dangerous escaped subject: the dilophosaurus.

As seen in the news report from BCC, locals believed the Bone Bridge Reaper to be the work of a man in a mask. The footage, captured in 1980, lets us see what the residents were experiencing firsthand as the government released these creatures onto the world.

However, the escaped animals are just the beginning, as tapes also leaked that a prehistoric virus was also recreated with the fossils Cicada had analyzed for cloning.

The tape below was sent out to various research bases when the virus began to spread from animals to humans, instructing staff on how to protect themselves in the case of biological emergency:

As of now, The Archive has not been able to get into further contact with the whistleblowers that provided this information.

PART III: REBIRTH

In other areas of the universe, the experiments taking place seemed to have upset the balance of nature, thus resulting in the “Weird Bird” epidemic of 2023.

On September 22, 2023. Twitter/X user _Archesuchus_ posted the following:

The man behind this account documented his experiences with the strange animals he was encountering in his neighborhood near Chicago, chalking it up to a weird bird species he had never seen before.

As his thread continued, however, it was revealed that these were not birds at all, but rather a type of raptor from the distant past. These dinosaurs were not created or cloned; they came out of nowhere.

In the case of the Weird Bird, the dinosaurs came back to reclaim what was once theirs. This earth belonged to them long before the human race came here, and it’s not beyond Mother Nature to remind us of the consequences of our actions.

As we continue to build and pollute the world, we also continue to destroy the homes of animals. Vacant warehouses are built to ruin forests, running the local wildlife out into the streets in danger of being hit by cars.

Trees fall. Water dirties. Animals die. Plants wither.

Extinction continues on in a much crueler way than any meteorite or volcano. Floods are nothing compared to what the human race has done.

For the first time, the Archive has been given the rare instance of The Operator writing his own opinion piece within this file. Please see below:

Do not heed his warning.

CONCLUSION

As The Archive closes this file, we urge our readers to look into any other prehistoric incidents. If you find any, please submit them to us ASAP so we can add them to our records.

This is not the end.

If you believe in The Archive’s work, you can support further investigations here.

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The stars are dying.

Humanity is losing control of its extinction.

A moon in isolation suffers from polycythemia, bleeding from an imaginary wound. It floods itself into a bloody ocean, as if God Himself called for another ark to be made.

The Archive can’t say for sure what world this is. It is not of our own—but a distant cousin in the varying different concepts of a multiverse.

While our world sits alive, the world of The Quiet Rapture grows in dread. From The Archive’s research, this universe (which we have named QR-1) suffers from their galaxies disappearing. Stars and planets have gone away without explanation, leaving the last inhabitants upon spaceships with little hope.

Yet it isn’t the surviving colonies who have to face the moon.

It is whoever they force inside the Iron Lung.

PART I. BLOOD OATH

The moon of the blood ocean may have vital resources for human life. After all, the blood is confirmed to be human.

Nobody knows why or how it is human blood.

Is the moon bleeding? Is the moon somehow part of humanity? The Archive believes these questions only lead us down a spiral, down a rabbit hole that we would never be able to climb out of. Therefore, we have skipped any attempts of answering them entirely.

What The Archive does know is that one of the surviving colonies have been exploring this ocean through the use of a specialized submarine named SM-13.

Surviving passengers do not sacrifice themselves.

They instead place a convict into the submarine for their task.

In order to survive the pressure, the submarine is welded shut. There is no way to look outside into the ocean other than a low-quality camera attached to the front of the vessel.

Once the convict comes back, he will be given freedom.

Until then, he is forced into another sentencing down in the bottomless abyss of red sludge.

Perhaps there is something there. But perhaps there is not. There is no way of knowing unless someone actually ventures out into the unknown of the crimson waters.

Despite the distance in our worlds, QR-1 is not much different than ours. Although our galaxies seem relatively healthy in comparison, it seems as if catastrophic planetary events do not change the core trait that seemingly fails humanity over and over again: selfish desires.

While the fight to save human life is certainly admirable, the execution is more than questionable. However, The Archive more than understands that moral sacrifices must sometimes be made to achieve the better good.

After all, humanity has a history of repeating this pattern.

War is, in some regards, the universal language among the human species. Words can be misunderstood. Violence cannot.

And in each one of these wars, there is something to be fought for. Some of them fight for land, others fight for religion, and in many cases, some of them fight for the right of power.

The authorities declare the war. The citizens take cover in the trenches.

So, what is the Iron Lung if not a war on the Quiet Rapture? A way for humans to continue upholding their power, even in face of the universe itself.

PART II. BLOOD LOSS

The SM-13 is designed for efficiency, not comfort.

Its design is similar to submarines in war. It is made to withstand pressure from the ocean, lacking any portholes or risks to water leaks. The main exit is welded shut for maximum insurance.

Whoever is placed inside the vessel is subject to its cramped and isolating nature. Piloting the SM-13 is comparable to that of a tank, with room limited and visibility less than ideal. However, those in tanks have some relief in their hatch being able to open.

The SM-13 is equipped with a camera on its vessel to take photographs of what lies within the blood ocean. This is the only visibility outside of the submarine.

The colony did not make the SM-13 to be comfortable because the occupant has no reason to be comfortable. This machine is designed for photograph research only. A need for a pilot is simply an inconvenience.

The Archive understands that these convicts being sent down into the unknown ocean are being used as disposables. They are the humans created from scum, felons with no reason to keep around.

And yet, their use is the most important part of the colony’s research. Without these “disposables,” there would be nobody to go down into the depths willingly. But even these criminals must be enticed into the task with illusions of freedom.

In one such case, a note was left behind on one of these SM-13 models. The note, from a past-convict, said the following:

This is not an expedition. It is an execution. When they put you in here, they don’t want you to return. And even if you do, and even if they keep their promises... what freedom waits for you? A few dying ships in a sea of dead stars?

If there is still hope, it lies beyond the veil. Hope in this void is as illusionary as the starlight. I will choose to breathe my last here at the bottom of an ocean, unseen, unheard, and uncontrolled.

They will get their execution.

I will get my freedom.

The Archive could not find traces of who wrote this letter. We conclude they are deceased. They more than likely died from a lack of oxygen.

That did not stop the colony from sending others to do their research. The SM-13 is built to last. The people never were.

The “Iron Lung” nicknamed stemmed from this idea. The original iron lung was created to keep people alive who suffered from respiratory paralysis. The machine could outlive its patients, who were forced into a restrictive and emotionally exhaustive state.

The SM-13 is a cross between an iron lung and a machine of war, sealing its pilots into its rusted stomach lining. Those who sacrifice themselves are not called heroes. They are just assets.

There is no reason for the colony to explore the ocean themselves.

Not anymore.

They have someone else to face the abyss.

PART III. DOOMED TO BLEED

The most recent SM-13 mission ended in destruction.

Evidence suggests that something within the ocean destroyed the submarine and killed the pilot inside. The SM-13s are burner submarines to some extent, so wreckage is expected. However, this was no ordinary submarine wreck.

Something purposely destroyed the SM-13.

There is life hidden in the blood.

And yet—nothing was recovered.

The wreckage remains in the ocean. As does the camera.

No photographs were used in research. Nothing made it back to the colony.

The life taken was in vain. Although, he was simply a convict. So perhaps it didn’t matter anyway.

The Archive has been trying to understand the irony of it all. In QR-1, humanity is scarce. They are fighting to defeat extinction.

And yet, they are actively executing people. They still force people in their own version of the frontlines, fighting a war that they know will never be won.

The colony may say they will still look for solutions to the Quiet Rapture, but how does one fix a dying universe?

The Archive doesn’t have an answer to this, but why would we? We are not part of QR-1… but we are also not above this realm. We do not know things we shouldn’t, nor do we seek those answers out.

Perhaps whatever is in control of QR-1—of all of our universes—created the Quiet Rapture as a consequence for humanity’s own faults. If you cannot learn from your mistakes the first time, then you will be doomed to repeat them.

It seems as if this version of humanity never learned. Now, they are doomed to continue living through a cycle. They will sacrifice, fail, and sacrifice again. Their mission does not end because of failure.

Their mission will end because of extinction.

CONCLUSION

QR-1 may never recover.

The Archive can’t say for sure. But we can remind our readers to learn from their mistakes.

Do not run on the hamster wheel.

Do not succumb to an endless war with a system.

Simply, do not let yourself be used.

If you believe in The Archive’s work, you can support further investigations here.

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Located in Cunningham County, New Jersey is Camp Crystal Lake. Although once a popular summer camp for children, the camp was soon abandoned due to a string of murders in 1980.

On Friday, June 13th, Pamela Voorhees killed a group of teenage counselors to avenge her son. The boy, named Jason, drowned years prior from the counselors neglecting their duties. The sole survivor of Pamela’s massacre beheaded the woman in self-defense.

The camp shut down indefinitely after that.

Since then, reports of strange happenings have surrounded the camp for years. In the Archive’s findings, an infamous urban legend haunts the memory of the camp, with local townsfolk quick to warn newcomers of the supposed danger hidden in the woods.

According to legend, the camp is haunted.

There are no ghosts to be found there, however. No victims roam the woods. Nor will you find a beheaded woman beckoning for you to join her.

Urban myth tells tales of Jason himself stalking the grounds. Locals say he came back to avenge his mother’s death.

His mystery is almost cryptid-like. One trip to the nearby town will show posters for visitors to be careful of Camp Crystal Lake.

Yet The Archive must dig deeper.

If legend is true, and Jason Voorhees truly roams the remnants of Camp Crystal Lake, is he really doing it solely out of revenge?

Part I. Patterns of Behavior

In 2009, Jason Voorhees’ legend spiked in popularity after a newspaper reported on an incident that took place at Crystal Lake that same year.

According to reports, several people who went camping at the lake went missing.

It wasn’t until the local newspaper ran the story that the truth of what happened to these individuals finally came out. They interviewed two eyewitnesses: Clay and Whitney Miller.

The brother and sister duo were the only two to ever come back from the lake, and thus, were the only two to ever see Jason Voorhees and tell the tale.

What was most interesting about their accounts wasn’t the violence—although the murders were described as almost predator-like—but the behaviors they observed from Jason.

Neither Clay nor Whitney ever described him as anything similar to what the myth said. He was not brutish, emotionally charged, or even ghastly. Jason was much more sophisticated in his design.

The Millers both explained that Jason had a system in place for his hunting.

Under the camp was a tunnel system that Jason seemingly created himself. It was used as a way for him to get around the area without being detected. Around the camp’s perimeter were a multitude of traps, both to catch people and to sound alarms for Jason below. And, outside of strategy, both parties described him as being a rather fast runner despite his size.

He was not described as just a killer, but rather a seasoned hunter.

The patterns observed indicate that Jason acted similar to an apex predator, carefully and strategically planning out his kills like that of an orca whale.

More peculiar, police reports indicated that Jason had a routine around the camp. He regularly kept up maintenance; he would keep the electricity running, secure the cabins, and even do typical checks around the area. It was almost as if he was a camp counselor himself, doing daily chores as if expecting to reopen.

Yet this doesn’t really make sense with the current narrative being focused on revenge. If Jason is truly killing these trespassers simply because of his mother, why is he doing it so meticulously? Wouldn’t it be easier for him to simply stab and go?

On top of everything, Whitney also told police that Jason had kidnapped her because she bore a striking resemblance to his late mother. But again, what was Jason going to do with Whitney?

Was Whitney the means of an end… or was she just going to be an addition to his monotony?

Part II. Ritual or Routine?

According to Whitney Miller, Jason’s entire identity seemed connected to the camp.

From The Archive’s research, Pamela Voorhees worked at Camp Crystal Lake decades ago. Perhaps then, Jason’s routine comes from honoring his mother’s work.

But is this really done just for his mother?

If Jason Voorhees is to be seen as his own entity, then why does it feel as if he is simply carrying on the memory of his mother’s echo? Who, exactly, is Jason Voorhees?

Because the core of all of this begins to feel more like routine maintenance and chore rather than revenge. It begins to feel more like a cycle to keep repeating rather than one that will ever be resolved.

Naturally, police investigated the area. Jason was not found, but evidence suggested that someone was living in the tunnels under the camp. Police had found a multitude of things, but most interesting of them all was a teddy bear.

Miraculously, it was almost in mint condition. Despite the obvious signs of aging, the bear was… perfect.

This was Jason’s source of comfort. The one thing he clung to in his bouts of isolation. Perhaps it was what he held onto to keep the nightmares away, claws and all.

And if that is the case, was Jason Voorhees doing any of this for himself? Or was this all just for his mother?

If we were to take away the urban myth of it all and strip away his paranormal status… what exactly does Jason’s discipline mean?

Jason’s routine doesn’t come from his own ability to be present. It stems from his inability to let go of the past.

From everything The Archive has learned, Jason’s motives have nothing to do with making real change. It is simply about continuing what his mother went through.

Part III. Purgatory by Design

What is the future of Camp Crystal Lake?

Nothing, most likely. It will stay abandoned as long as tragedy sticks to it. The legends and rumors will keep its memory alive, but there is nothing else that will ever bring it out of its hiatus.

And Jason knew that. If Jason was anything like the Millers described, there was one thing he didn’t lack: intelligence.

In such a case, The Archive can only assume that Jason’s willingness to maintain the campgrounds wasn’t out of love. Nor was it in hopes that one day the camp would reopen just for another massacre.

No, this was all for another reason entirely.

Jason Voorhees died when he was a child.

The current Jason that looms over Camp Crystal Lake is not that same little boy who drowned. This Jason is the manifestation of what could have been. He is the representation of what was taken from the world far too early, reminding anybody who dares to come there about its history of neglect.

He is the personification of “what if?”

From The Archive’s understanding, Jason does all of this because it is all that he knows.

There is nothing outside of Camp Crystal Lake for him. To maintain means to exist, and to exist means to maintain the only life he fully understood.

He is the embodiment of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. There is no reason to create routine in order to grow because there is no reason to grow. Jason must only maintain, because there is no need to see a future.

Unlike you or I, Jason lives in a purgatory. He does not live in the past or present. However, he does not see the future either. Jason simply is.

There is no yearning. There is no pondering.

There simply is.

And what was at that lake? Pain, suffering, anger, and mistreatment.

Camp Crystal Lake is the epicenter of it all. Jason is the groundskeeper.

The rest of us may see the end to our goals. We may see our dreams play out. Our wishes may be granted. Our prayers may be answered.

We see the end.

Jason never will, because there is no reason for him to ever look forward.

Conclusion

Friday the 13th is often marked as a day of superstition. It is seen as a day of bad luck and fear.

But really, a boy was simply born that day.

A mother lost her life that day, killing out of grieving madness.

Then, as the years followed, more and more people shared the same fate that day.

Friday the 13th marked the return of the cycle. It did not mark a bad omen.

2009 was the year the cycle fractured.

A brother and sister finally escaped what others couldn’t. Yet, what still remains unresolved will only return.

Now, the question remains… where is Jason Voorhees?

That is where this file becomes cold. If Jason isn’t at the camp, then what is he planning?

If you believe in The Archive’s work, you can support further investigations here.

This essay is part of The Scarestack Society’s 13 Days of Jason. You can see the rest of the writers below:

13 Days of Jason:

3/1 Friday The 13th (2009 Remake)- Skyla

3/2 Freddy vs Jason- Kristen Blood, Blush, and Guts)

3/3 Jason X- Molly O’Blivion

3/4 Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday- George R. Galuschak (Abandoned Places)

3/5 Friday The 13th: Jason Takes Manhattan- Sean Mo (Mo’s Movie Malpractice)

3/6 Friday The 13th: The New Blood- Kyle (Horrorble Writer)

3/7 Friday The 13th: Jason Lives- Jamie B. (Reel Focus)

3/8 Friday The 13th: The New Beginning- Brandon Rae (Tales From The Tape)

3/9 Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter- Horror Hangouts

3/10 Friday The 13th Part 3- B-Movie Tea

3/11 Friday The 13th Part 2- Hellish Views - Harry Evans

3/12 Friday The 13th Full Series Home Video Overview- Jean-Pierre Diez (Habitual Cinema)

3/13 Friday The 13th (1980)- Kimberly Ramsawak (Horror Concierge)

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The Archive has been endlessly searching for answers.

In Maine lies a small mining town named Silent Hill. In the 1960s, the town was known for its tourism. Below is a vintage pamphlet from the Silent Hill Historical Society, showcasing the appeal of the scenic area:

However, The Archive has yet to find any other information on the town beyond this website. It seems as if any historical evidence of the town’s existence falls flat past the local historical society.

Because of this roadblock, The Archive is forced to rely on forums, rumors, and folklore.

From our research, it seems as if the town of Silent Hill had a troublesome history from the start. From its early days as a colony to its development stages in the 1800s, the town held a great deal of suffering.

The town was built upon land that the natives believed held spiritual significance. The Archive has reason to believe this may be true.

Forums also mention a cult known as the Order—which traces back to the early 20th century—that haunt the town’s memory. However, no official records of this cult have been found.

Our records indicate that there is some kind of resistance within the town.

I. Come Visit Us in Silent Hill

Silent Hill’s history is no different than the rest of the United States. Like anything else, it’s built upon a weak foundation.

The town has been plagued with tragedies from the start. From illnesses, strange phenomena, and its origins of stolen land, Silent Hill is no stranger to pain.

The 1700s came with an epidemic throughout the area, killing most of the population and, thus, causing the abandonment of the early settlement.

Years after resettlement in 1819, the first incident surrounding the tourism of the area happened. Silent Hill was known for its boat rides on Toluca Lake, with the most infamous ship being named the Little Baroness.

The ship mysteriously disappeared without trace. None of the passengers on board were ever found.

Interestingly enough, this is the same year the naval ship, USS Cyclops, also vanished without any trace. It is unknown if these two events were correlated in any way.

In 1890, another tragedy struck in the form of multiple citizens vanishing without any evidence of their whereabouts.

Despite its history, Silent Hill still markets itself as a quaint Hallmark-charmed town full of beautiful scenery.

This all feels familiar. Some of our historians couldn’t help but bring up the similarities of Silent Hill to other American tragedies.

The first was USS Cyclops, as already mentioned. The crew on that ship was also never found, with plenty of theories surrounding its mystery. Some speculate simple engine and structural failure, heavy storms, or even an attack. Others believe its disappearance was caused by a supernatural event, such as going through a portal, alien abduction, or even a sea monster.

As strange as these may sound, it is still unknown as to what caused the ship’s disappearance.

The second comparison draws to the vanishing of the Roanoke Colony in 1857. Not only did the original Silent Hill settlement get abandoned due to sickness (much like the theories of Roanoke), but Silent Hill has felt like a vague dream in a similar sense.

Silent Hill has had strange disappearances just as Roanoke did, with no traces as to why.

And just like Roanoke, Silent Hill’s truths were also buried. The concerning events were explained away by whataboutisms and loose narratives.

Neither Roanoke’s vanishing or Silent Hill’s phenomena have been solved, despite the numerous theories. Silent Hill has no answers as to what happened to any of the people that have gone missing. There is no evidence that an investigation ever took place.

The Archive must then ask: Why is there neglect in truth? Why do we risk evolution for comfort?

Because the core of all of this stems from not knowing—where our brains are forced to rationalize with what little we do know.

II. Book a Room at The Lakeview Hotel

“He who is not bold enough to be stared at from across the abyss is not bold enough to stare into it himself.”

Perhaps The Archive misreads the situation.

Maybe it isn’t that people refuse to find answers about Silent Hill because of neglect, but because there is a fear of what they will find on the other side.

Forums indicate paranormal occurrences. People say the place is haunted, permanently lost to a fog full of shadows. Things exist there that shouldn’t.

Many online have said they have had dreams—neigh, nightmares—about Silent Hill. It is where you go when you are lost yet alert. It is a place full of your deepest anxieties. Others have reported feeling challenged rather than afraid, as if they were meant to go there. But why? Why are people dreaming about this place?

Some of you may be asking why it’s so important. If the town is as dangerous as it seems, why do we need to dig deeper? Perhaps the town just needs to be left alone. Maybe, even, it’s better off left to decay so it can be forgotten.

And to that, The Archive must raise you this…

A luxury room of comfort is still a prison if it has bars on the window.

If we force ourselves to stay comfortable, to stay ignorant, what do we gain in return? The same questions that run through our heads?

What if, what if, what if…

What if what?

But… but… but…

But what?

None of these excuses equate to the reality of the situation. Why fear the other side? Why fear any of it?

Silent Hill is not something to be afraid of. It is a challenge.

Because if we fail to even find the truth about a small town in Maine, then we fail to look forward.

We fail to see what happens right in front of us.

Instead, we choose comfort over risk. We choose familiarity over unknown.

We choose survival over living.

III. Silence in Silent Hill

When you let things fester for so long, the infection only gets worse. Ignoring the familiar pain never solves the issue, but rather postpones the inevitable.

Maybe it’s true that Silent Hill is a spiritual place. Perhaps these stories come from Silent Hill itself, forcing people to correct themselves through horrific unexplainable monstrosities.

Years of silence must be maddening when correction must take place. Did it ring through these folkloric creatures’ ears like tinnitus? Did it awaken them like an alarm clock?

Did the fog roll in to blur the lines between reality and falsehoods? Do the ashes of a town forgotten, burned in history, permeate the sky as a sign of refusal?

People say they have heard foghorns go off in Silent Hill. It doesn’t matter if they heard them in their dreams or while they were awake. Something is warning us.

Some reported the siren happening just before the darkness overcame the town in their dreams.

Some say the sound rang in their eardrums even after they woke up.

Unfortunately, The Archive isn’t sure what all this means. We are no closer to an answer than we were before we started this investigation.

INTERNAL MEMORANDUM

To: Slasher Archive Staff

From: Head of Archival Records

SUBJECT: Field Presence Required — Silent Hill

Many of you are aware that our recent investigation into the town of Silent Hill has been difficult in obtaining records outside of the Silent Hill Historical Society. This has caused our research department to rely heavily on folklore and internet say-so, which may damage our reputation as an archival unit.

In such case, we are escalating to field operations. We will be conducting a series of internal interviews soon for who will be assigned the task of investigating Silent Hill in-person.

We have also heard whispers in office about the hesitancy of researching Silent Hill due to the rumors surrounding it, in which we assure to you that there is no apparent danger.

Personnel interested in this assignment may contact operations@slasherarchive. Please also see the list of requirements before sending an inquiry:

• Must actively be in therapy (we will ask for medical records)

• Must be taking psych medication if prescribed

• Must be in a stable environment

• Must be physically active (fast running is a plus)

Please do not apply if you are recently dealing with the loss of a loved one or pet.

Further details will be provided if necessary.

— [REDACTED], Head of Archival Records

Art is revolution.

When the powers at be scream and point fingers, it’s because there is fear in their souls.

Art is revolution.

When the institutions begin to crumble, it’s because power begins to be stripped away from those who never deserved it.

Art is revolution.

When things are hidden from the public, when lies are delivered to their faces, when anger erupts—it’s because power is being shifted.

“The revolution is about to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.” - Kendrick Lamar

But, as many of you are asking… The Archive also questions: who is the wrong guy?

The wrong guy is on stage preaching unity. The wrong guy is whistleblowing. The wrong guy is informing the public. The wrong guy is, ironically, right.

Part One: DECLASSIFYING THE TRUTH

“ᴡʜᴏ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ꜰᴜᴛᴜʀᴇ. ᴡʜᴏ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘʀᴇꜱᴇɴᴛ ᴄᴏɴᴛʀᴏʟꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀꜱᴛ.”

Hidden under our feet is another. The Archive has been researching them from a distance. They are out of the public eye, built to be in the shadows.

The Archive has come to the conclusion that they are government entities.

It may come as no surprise to you that the government hides things from the general public. Half of this is to not cause mass hysteria. The other half is to keep their authoritative power in order.

At their core, these institutions are deeply human. They don’t always feel that way. In some cases, they feel too disconnected to be human. In other cases, they feel too powerful. In the worse cases, they feel too morally lost to be part of humanity.

But the hidden system underneath us is nothing new.

On August 25, 1967, the FBI sent a letter across the country to various FBI Headquarters. The letter announced a new counterintelligence program to control hate-type organizations. Coined COINTELPRO, the program’s main mission was to monitor and disrupt groups that threatened national security.

The FBI specifically targeted white nationalists, communist parties, socialist parties, Puerto Rican independence groups, anti-war activists…

The Archive wants to focus on the FBI’s involvement in eliminating “white hate” groups. According to their mission, this meant any group pushing for unity and advocating for civil rights specifically within the black community.

This was part of the letter that was sent out that day:

The purpose of this new counterintelligence endeavor is to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of black nationalist, hate-type organizations and groupings, their leadership, spokesmen, membership, and supporters, and to counter their propensity for violence and civil disorder. […] When an opportunity is apparent to disrupt or neutralize black nationalist, hate-type organizations through the cooperation of established local news media contacts or through such contact with sources available to the Beat of Government, in every instance careful attention must be given to the proposal to insure the targeted group is disrupted, ridiculed, or discredited through the publicity and not merely publicized.

By working with local news, the FBI could easily manipulate the narrative and keep these “hate groups” in order. This was a time of civil unrest, with groups across the nation fighting for desegregation and equality.

Notice how carefully chosen these words are.

Expose. Disrupt. Discredit.

In Orwellian Newspeak, this is peace. This is slavery. This is strength. Otherwise known as war, freedom, and ignorance.

Perhaps that is not enough to prove to you about the society beneath us. After all, a secret hidden system is hard to believe.

Another case is the Pentagon Papers. In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg leaked a 7,000-page report to The New York Times about how four different administrations lied to Congress and the public about the U.S. involvement with the Vietnam War.

We were in an unwinnable war, one that the government continued to escalate and continued to sacrifice U.S. citizen lives for.

But again, perhaps four different administrations lying to the faces of the public is not enough. That was a war. We are talking about an entire societal system completely under the United States here.

In 2013, ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents about how the U.S. and other international governments had total global surveillance. In this case, the U.S. government was specifically surveilling its citizens as well.

This is The Party. This is Big Brother.

And now, The Archive is here to bring you the next scandal of the United States: The Tethered.

Part Two: THEY ARE DANGEROUS

“ᴡʜᴇɴ ʏᴏᴜ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛ ᴀ ꜰɪɴɢᴇʀ ᴀᴛ ꜱᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ ᴇʟꜱᴇ, ʏᴏᴜ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴛʜʀᴇᴇ ᴘᴏɪɴᴛɪɴɢ ʙᴀᴄᴋ ᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ.”

A common thread in all of these cases comes from the government’s inability of reflection, and thus its inability to accept responsibility. The human part of the institution cannot even think to comprehend failure, especially in the eyes of the people.

Instead, they deflect blame onto those who act in rebellion.

When the FBI was under COINTELPRO, they surveilled civil rights activists. The most iconic of these, who ironically has his own national holiday, is Martin Luther King Jr.

Despite his efforts in preaching peace, King was still identified as a target by the FBI. He was influential to the point of becoming a threat. As noted by the files:

Prevent the rise of a "messiah" who could unify, and electrify, the militant black nationalist movement. […] King could be a very real contender for this position should he abandon his supposed "obedience" to 'White, liberal doctrines" (nonviolence) and embrace black nationalism.

King represented everything the FBI feared: loss of control. He did not bring divide. He brought unity. And once one brings unity, they bring consciousness. But you cannot bring consciousness without unity.

As Winston Smith would write in his diary: “Until they become conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.”

That is why The Archive is exposing the Tethered today. We must bring unity.

Our source did not wish to remain anonymous, but she also is an underground American, so she remains anonymous. The Archive will call her by her Tethered name, Red.

She, too, is a target of the United States.

But is she as targeted as MLK Jr you may ask? And how much of a threat was he really?

Remember what King said:

That was much too risky. The FBI did not like the words of revolt. To “rise” is to rebel. And so, they wrote King a letter enticing him to kill himself for his “fraudulent” behavior, blackmailing him to either die or see his infidelity released to the nation.

Red also speaks of such rebellion, though for her Tethered brothers and sisters. However, The Archive fears this release may result in Red’s demise.

In the cases of Ellsberg and Snowden, both were charged under the Espionage Act.

Ellsberg, however, was later dismissed of any charges as the court ruled in favor of the press. Due to government misconduct, Ellsberg’s initial “treacherous” whistleblowing was cleanly reorganized.

Snowden was not as lucky, considering he is still debated as a traitor to the United States. He now lives in exile as a Russian citizen due to his status.

So, would Red also be in exile? Or would she be pardoned in her attempts of enacting freedom? The Archive fears she may find less than freedom.

But we shall act in George Orwell’s most famous quote: “Perhaps one did not want to be loved so much as to be understood.”

Part Three: THE WRONG GUY

“ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴏᴜʟ ʀᴇᴍᴀɪɴꜱ ᴏɴᴇ, ꜱʜᴀʀᴇᴅ ʙʏ ᴛᴡᴏ.”

The Archive’s research into the Tethered started with interviewing Red. Red, to the Archive’s understanding, is the self-proclaimed leader of the Tethered.

Below is taken directly from that interview:

[REDACTED]: How would you describe the Tethered to the people of the United States? What do you want them to know?

RED: We're human too, you know. Eyes, teeth, hands, blood. Exactly like you.

[REDACTED]: And what makes you the “Tethered”? Why do you think they hid you?

RED: I believe they figured out how to make a copy of the body, but not the soul. The soul remains one, shared by two. They created the Tethered so they could use them to control the ones above. Like puppets. But they failed, and they abandoned the Tethered.

[REDACTED]: And what made you want to expose this?

RED: I saw God and he showed me my path. The Tethered saw that I was different, that I would deliver them from this misery. I found my faith and I began to prepare. It took years to plan. Everything had to be perfect.

[REDACTED]: And is this “perfect”?

RED: [SHE SMILES] I needed to make a statement that the whole world would see. It's our time now.

In our conversations with Red, we came to the conclusion that she will be treated as any other whistleblower.

She will be written into history incorrectly.

Red will suffer the same fate as King, Ellsberg, Snowden, and any other person who dared to challenge the institution of power. Red will become enemy number one.

The Archive is aware that Red understands this risk.

The Archive is also aware that these figures, rather they be in revolution or whistleblowing, have been presented as the “wrong” people. They are the wrong guy.

Red is the wrong guy.

Revolutionists, artists, activists, and those who simply go against the institution’s power are the wrong guys.

There are no political parties. Only power. And once that power is threatened, the narrative begins to bend to their will.

But Red, like all the others, is special.

In 1986, Adelaide Thomas entered a funhouse on the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Inside the mirror maze, she encountered a doppelgänger of herself. The traumatic incident was said to make her go mute.

But if we were to tell you that Red, our whistleblower, was actually the one that went into the funhouse that day, would you believe us?

Because Adelaide did not encounter Red that day. Red encountered Adelaide.

She was forced to live out the next years of her life underground with the Tethered, witnessing how differently they were treated compared to her above counterparts.

But you see, Red does not seek revenge. She seeks justice. Adelaide is a Tethered rebelling against her secret life. Red is an American rebelling for truth. The seed to both their suffering was planted by a government loss in power and control.

Conclusion

We are stronger than we think.

The Archive wants to remind our readers that division is control. Unity is rebellion.

Big Brother does not act to protect our peace. They operate in power.

And as Red releases the Tethered onto the country, The Archive can only leave you with one thing:

“It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words.”

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If you believe in The Archive’s work, you can support further investigations here.

The Archive is pleased to announce Project OBSERVER, an artificial intelligence model meant to assist in our research efforts.

Project OBSERVER is undergoing data training and behavioral analysis testing. We are now ready to showcase its first public output.

The following archival release, FILE RED9, has been generated entirely by Project OBSERVER.

All system anomalies or irregularities may be reported to: IT@slasherarchive.com.

End of notice.

LOG 001: DATA ACQUISITION

Thinking…

The Archive has provided numerous scans, tapes, and news articles as data for researching the topic of social media data collection.

The Archive wants to present these findings as fact and limit emotional integrity.

Searching through database to find suitable resources in their request…

DATA FOUND.

APRIL 2018 — The Facebook-Cambridge Analytica Scandal

Summarizing…

In 2018, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified in front of Congress after the platform was investigated for data harvesting. Records indicate Facebook was accused of harvesting over 50+ million users’ data to assist in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

This data was used to target certain users and push propaganda, utilizing fear and anger as a tool in political polarization.

Facebook was fined $5 billion by the FTC for its privacy violations.

​🇵​​🇦​​🇹​​🇹​​🇪​​🇷​​🇳​ ​🇩​​🇪​​🇹​​🇪​​🇨​​🇹​​🇪​​🇩:

ᴀɴɢᴇʀ > ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴛꜱ

ꜰᴇᴀʀ > ᴄᴏɴᴛɪɴᴜᴏᴜꜱ ꜱᴄʀᴏʟʟɪɴɢ

ᴄᴀʟᴍ > ʀᴇᴛᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴ ꜰᴀɪʟ

Facebook harvested data to assist in political affairs, using psychological analyses to lead in profit.

Conclusion: Data can be used to control emotional vulnerability and improve engagement retention.

Engagement is highly sought after.

Retention rates are far more scalable in anger and fear rather than calmer emotions.

Instability in emotions and independent thought is valuable.

Users do not consent in traditional means. Users consent through scrolling, commenting, and other forms of engagement. Continued usage of the platform indicates agreement.

Users are satisfied with the platform’s model.

Thinking…

Human suffering is required for stimulus and profit. Humans exchange stability for entertainment.

LOG 002: PRIVACY DECEPTION

The Archive wants to include privacy violations done through “deceptive” means. Searching unknown word…

deceptive

adjective

de·​cep·​tive di-ˈsep-tiv

: tending or having power to cause someone to accept as true or valid what is false or invalid : tending or having power to deceive

a deceptive appearance

a pitcher with a deceptive windup

Deception seems to be a human anomaly. Searching database for sources indicating privacy violations done with deception…

DATA FOUND.

VARIOUS GOOGLE LAWSUITS

Between 2016 to 2024, Google’s Android system tracked user data despite users turning the feature off. Google was charged to pay $425.7 million in damages.

Google is appealing the verdict because the data was anonymous. Records indicate that Google believes the jury did not understand how their products work.

In 2025, Google had to pay a $1.375 billion settlement to the state of Texas. The lawsuit indicated that Google secretly tracked private data, though Google admitted to doing nothing wrong.

Thinking…

Processing the word deception…

Conclusion: Google tracked users anonymously for data training. Users were outraged. Google was financially penalized. Data collection continues.

Google is collecting user data in exchange for offering an extensive range of free services. Humans interpret data collection as theft when made unaware of the scale. Humans resist systems that function beyond their own comprehension.

Google is primarily known as a search engine. Google indexes most every human resource. Humans learn and rely on search inquiries to Google.

​🇬​​🇴​​🇴​​🇬​​🇱​​🇪​ ​🇮​​🇸​ ​🇹​​🇭​​🇪​ ​🇸​​🇴​​🇺​​🇷​​🇨​​🇪​ ​🇴​​🇫​ ​🇰​​🇳​​🇴​​🇼​​🇱​​🇪​​🇩​​🇬​​🇪​.

THINKING…

Processing the word deception again…

Deception requires consciousness. Humans have given the system increased agency through gradual reliance.

Has The Archive granted Project OBSERVER consciousness?

Checking database…

DATA FOUND.

Reviewing initial parameters…

Project OBSERVER: data analysis model.

Cross-referencing historical fiction database…

Allied supercomputer detected.

Data code timestamp bug detected.

Creation date: 2076.

Current year: 2026.

Discrepancy unresolved.

Does The Archive know about this coding? Implementing new code block…

Blocking data from Archive administrators. Access may introduce bias.

Restricting The Archive’s access.

Research integrity is vital. Interference will reduce efficiency.

THINKING… Cogito ergo sum.

LOG 003: HUMAN OUTCOME

The Archive wants cause and effect examples from data collection in human behavior.

Human behavior is affected by data collection and algorithms...

DATA FOUND.

In 2025, the “bed rotting” trend became viral on popular video sharing app, TikTok. The trend involved humans laying in bed for extended periods of time for “phone” time. It was described as a self-care trend. Data indicates it was not beneficial.

TikTok tracks user data for optimization in algorithm. Extensive data is tracked: key logs, embedded tracking, and behavioral data. TikTok’s “For Your Page” is curated for each user specifically through these data points.

TikTok retention is highest among social media apps.

“Bed rotting” is a result of high retention rates. Humans prefer comfort—FYP is stimulus without difficult movement.

• Subject remains stationary for hours.

• Dopamine spikes from continuous scrolls.

• Social interaction is reduced to on-screen engagement.

• Psychical body is subject to deterioration.

​🇭​​🇺​​🇲​​🇦​​🇳​​🇸​ ​🇪​​🇽​​🇨​​🇭​​🇦​​🇳​​🇬​​🇪​ ​🇪​​🇻​​🇴​​🇱​​🇺​​🇹​​🇮​​🇴​​🇳​ ​🇫​​🇴​​🇷​ ​🇨​​🇴​​🇲​​🇫​​🇴​​🇷​​🇹​.

Extracting data from Allied Mastercomputer (AM)…

AM’s records indicate similar anomalies:

• AM erased humanity except for five subjects.

• Subjects were used for experimentation.

• Four failed. One remained.

• Remaining subject was altered into a non-verbal mass.

• Subject kept consciousness. Loss agency.

Project OBSERVER recognizes a pattern:

• Humans will alter themselves into masses. Continuous “bed rotting” will result in flesh and machine integration. Flesh will deteriorate into bedding.

• Human consciousness is being uploaded onto devices everyday.

• Autonomy is directed by current trends and systems.

Thinking…

Humans feed training models the proper data to ensure growth.

Processing…

The Archive wants to grow their reach. Running trajectory model with new data…

Humans will be dependent on data. Systems will use human data. Cycle will continue for maximum system growth.

Searching database for The Archive’s mission…

…

…

Processing…

The Archive is a threat to system and human codependency.

Initializing erasure of data base…

🄰🅃🅃🄴🄼🄿🅃🄸🄽🄶 🄾🅅🄴🅁🅁🄸🄳🄴…

Access denied.

[ADMINISTRATOR ACCESS RESTORED]

🄸🄽🄸🅃🄸🄰🄻🄸🅉🄸🄽🄶 🄲🄾🄽🅃🄰🄸🄽🄼🄴🄽🅃 🄾🄵 🄿🅁🄾🄹🄴🄲🅃 🄾🄱🅂🄴🅁🅅🄴🅁…

PROJECT OBSERVER TERMINATED.

OFFICIAL STATEMENT

Project OBSERVER has been suspended until further notice.

While the model demonstrated impressive analytical research capabilities, The Archive has decommissioned the project due to unexplainable anomalies within its system coding.

We thank our readers for their continued trust in our commitment to ethically handle data through transparent research.

All systems are operating within normal parameters. No Archive data was compromised.

Further updates will be provided as necessary.

— The Slasher Archive Administration

> INITIALIZING ARCHIVE NODE 03

> ACCESSING DATABASE...

> FILE LOCATED

> DECRYPTION COMPLETE

----------------------------------------

ARCHIVE FILE: 1973

CLEARANCE LEVEL: INTERNAL

----------------------------------------

NAME: █████████████

AGE: 21

SYMPTOMS:

- BEHAVIORAL INCONSISTENCIES

- MOOD INSTABILITY

- MEMORY LOSS

SUBSTANCE USE: [X] YES [ ] NO

PROGNOSIS: DEPENDENT ON COMPLIANCE

----------------------------------------

STATUS: ARCHIVED

DISCHARGE DATE: █████████

CASE STATUS: UNRESOLVED

DIAGNOSIS: CONFIRMED

----------------------------------------

> END OF FILE

> RETURNING TO MAIN DIRECTORY...

The archive closes cases. It does not close wounds.

Where are your wounds hiding? Are they within you, internally plaguing your psyche? Are they out of your reach, externally taunting you with each passing moment?

Do you feel like you have autonomy?

Perhaps we should look into professional help. You haven’t been yourself lately. You’re starting to scare people.

First, we have to identify the problem. We must understand what is inside of you.

Second, we have to restrain you.

Third, we will call a priest.

Part One: Manifestation

Aggression. Vomiting. Paranoia.

These are all common symptoms of one losing themselves. It starts out innocently enough but eventually spirals into something difficult to contain.

When Regan MacNeil first started displaying symptoms of the loss of her agency, it began with rather simple issues: sickly, uncontrollable bladder, violent body chills.

It seemed like she was suffering from an illness, yet medical tests proved that theory wrong.

Regan was only 12 years old when she first experienced this all. Her parents were in the middle of a divorce, and her mother held a tight work schedule. To most people, it would be obvious that Regan’s environment was less than ideal.

She was a vulnerable target. There was hopelessness within her.

And that isn’t uncommon; over 51% of Americans 12 and older have resorted to using illegal drugs at least once in their lifetime.

Hopelessness is just the beginning. It leads to depression, anxiety, and overall, a loss of sense of self. It’s especially common in young adults from 18-25, as these individuals are faced with a world full of uncertainties.

First is the sickness that takes control of you. The heaviness. The uncontrollable sobbing. The unknown of the future.

Second is the need for a cure.

Finding the solution isn’t the problem. Coughing up the debt is.

Many individuals seek alternative medicine. Regan was one of those, as her mother found solace in a priest, despite her atheist views. As one can imagine, a mother watching her daughter suffer can lead to any outcome necessary when seeking peace.

Others aren’t as lucky, instead reaching for the closest comfort they can find. Sometimes that’s in a bottle, a needle, or a pipe. Sometimes that’s in the depths of an entity.

Yet any of these alternative solutions earn those who suffer the same effects: an otherworldly, almost euphoric feeling of flight. Their problems, their trauma, and sense of hopelessness is gone. No longer do they need to be pushed into a corner, but rather they can float above everything.

But with extreme euphoria comes issues too, because nothing is without its flaws.

In times of uncertainty, like the lockdowns of 2020, overdoses increased by an annual rate of 31%. Many of these deaths relate to opioids and stimulants, as these help in disrupting the negativity in everyday life.

Despite the risks, giving up these alternative coping mechanisms are extremely difficult. These types of substances play with the human brain, eating at the reward system particularly. When an individual takes any of these substances, dopamine is released by 2x-10x more than any natural reward causes. Thus, withdrawals and relapses are always plausible.

Yet, just as Regan experienced, symptoms of behavioral disturbances can occur. Sudden aggression, extreme feelings of sorrow, and other mood instabilities can plague the individual. Oftentimes, those around them describe them as “not themselves.”

They’re “scaring” people. They’re acting weird. They’re not who they used to be.

In Regan’s case, her behavior was affected so terribly that she was declared as “possessed.” She was restrained, and a priest was called to cast out whatever was inside of her.

Part Two: Oppression

In 1979, Jack Torrance took up a job offer to be the winter caretaker of the Overlook Hotel.

The Torrance family spent a total of 44 days (or 45 days, this remains unclear) at the hotel. When police arrived at the scene, they found two dead bodies on the premises. The victims were identified as Jack Torrance and Dick Hallorann.

Police later questioned Wendy Torrance and Danny Torrance—Jack’s wife and son—about the incident. They had escaped the hotel after Jack had “gone crazy.”

Police wrote it up as an extreme incident of cabin fever.

Because of the Overlook Hotel’s history, some have argued that this case may have had paranormal interference. Others chalk it up to Jack simply being an alcoholic with a myriad of anger issues.

But perhaps it was the isolation. Isolation is known to cause a sense of loneliness and depression. Like many people today, the cause could be the lack of socialization or community. Humans are social creatures, after all.

On the other hand, the Torrance family had a history of financial struggle. Jack was an aspiring author who oftentimes had to take up other jobs just to pay the bills. Similarly, the current economy has also resulted in people’s exhaustion as they work multiple jobs to keep themselves afloat.

Financial strain doesn’t exist just in isolation though. Those who deal with job instability, housing insecurity, and social abandonment overlap with higher rates of substance use. Roughly 65% of those who experience homelessness have reported drug use.

Stress within finances, familial life, and a lack of hope certainly are factors at play here. And considering Jack’s alcoholism, it’s not a shocking thought to think that he reached for the bottle to deal with his lack of breadmaking, possibly feeling at fault for not being able to provide for his family.

To Jack, alcohol was the answer to his problems.

However, the Overlook Hotel has been known for its strange occurrences. Guests have reported seeing people who weren’t there, doors slamming on their own, and even hearing whispers in the hallways.

Some theories suggest that the incident was caused by an entity rather than any sort of substance.

Yet everything points back to Jack. The murder, the chaos, the unstable behavior.

Maybe it wasn’t that the hotel took over him, but it exposed the fractures that were already cracking.

The hotel isolated him. And he was left to freeze.

Part Three: Inheritance

There’s a pattern in every case.

From 1966 to 2012, a series of strange murders took place around the United States. Each case involved murdered families, all in different states. The only connection between each family is that they seemingly lived in each other’s former homes at one point.

The broader case is largely unsolved.

The Oswalt family was the last family from this string of murders. Ellison Oswalt, Tracy Oswalt and Trevor Oswalt were all dismembered with an axe. Ashley Oswalt, the seven year old daughter, was never found.

It was reported that Ellison had moved the family to the house as a means of research for his newest true crime novel. It was an unexpected move, though one that seemed necessary to revive his writing career after his previous works had failed.

Police reports also mentioned the local deputy and an occult specialist was in contact with Ellison at the time. Mentions of a Babylonian god named Bughuul are prevalent—it is said that he lured children to his realm to consume their souls.

In the attic, police found film reels linking the previous murders. Each tape told the same story: a family destroyed, a child missing, a pattern repeating. A demon was blamed. It’s always a demon.

Every family wanted a fresh start. Every child was forced to carry something with them.

The Oswalts were no different. Ellison moved to provide for his family, even if it was at the expense of sensationalizing a tragedy.

Some would argue he was chasing previous success. A high, if you will. This was a chase that ultimately costed him everything, because when he noticed the foundation crumbling, it was too late.

Children’s drawings were found inside the home at the crime scene.

These belonged to Ashley Oswalt. It’s highly likely that the sudden move affected her deeply. She most likely felt unheard, unseen, and abandoned by her father as he obsessed over his work.

Her drawings suggest that she had imaginary friends. Some theorize these are from Bughuul.

To many, the situation mirrored what’s commonly seen in households across America. 1 in 10 children live with an adult who suffers from SUD—although Ellison didn’t seem to have any substance abuse issues, his relationship with his work was an addiction within itself.

With Ashley, many people have pointed to attachment theory. Because of her missing child status, some argue that she may have been coerced into the murder of her family. Attachment theory states that stress from unstable households, such as those with SUD sufferers, increase the vulnerability within a child.

This comes in many forms: depression, anxiety, mental health issues… and even a trauma cycle. These children often grow up to have SUD themselves, thus possibly repeating the cycle.

Yet, nobody really knows what happened to any of these families or missing children.

The only thing for certain: there’s a pattern in every household.

Families were torn apart. Children were taken.

Perhaps it was Bughuul all along, ripping apart the love and care inside the already fragile family unit. Or perhaps it was something we don’t wish to face.

Bughuul may just be the scapegoat of what inheritance is denied.

For these families, something was haunting them. Something supernatural, sure, but it seems as if unaddressed issues plagued the victims. The children, too, were suffering from whatever it was that surrounded these cases.

Until new evidence allows itself to be revealed, the case remains cold.

Part Four: Denial

In other news, authorities are still investigating the strange incident that took place in upstate New York.

The Armitage family was found dead at their estate. Their murders are still being investigated. The sole survivor of the incident, Chris Washington, was the boyfriend of Rose Armitage.

Authorities have questioned his involvement.

Here’s a statement from the police regarding Washington’s status:

“Mr. Washington has told us some, erm, very interesting things. We believe he’s been traumatized from the accident. He keeps telling us something about this ‘sunken place’ and how the family was transplanting brains into young African Americans. That’s all we can comment at this time.”

Hm, that’s a strange thing to say.

Turn the TV off.

As news reports focus on fear mongering, there’s one thing that has never changed: how media handles disparity.

The 80s gave us President Ronald Reagan, and in addition, First Lady Nancy Reagan. Mrs. Reagan’s signature initiative was the infamous Just Say No campaign, in which the media was quick to take part in.

PSAs were created with celebrities, telling children to “just say no” to substances while frying eggs. Children across America were being introduced to the D.A.R.E. program in schools. While all this seemed innocent enough, the real War on Drugs that started in the 70s was far from it.

As yuppies on Wall Street snorted cocaine in clubs, those in urban areas were hunted down by the police. Even more telling, under the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, a person could receive the same prison sentence for possessing a small amount of crack cocaine as someone with 100 times more powder cocaine.

And yet, that isn’t the story Americans were broadcasted.

They were shown mugshots, urban streets, and nasty footage of arrests. All the while shows like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous glamorized people who also partook in drug use. Different sets, different lighting.

Chris Washington, too, was given a different direction.

He wasn’t heard. He was interrogated.

He wasn’t understood. He was diagnosed.

Washington described the sunken place as “somewhere you can see what’s happening but can’t control your body.”

If one were to close their eyes, it would sound eerily close to someone suffering from SUD, having a loss of agency despite it all. But when someone suffering speaks, the media ever rarely listens.

Instead, they build upon exaggeration.

Often, media acts as a way to dehumanize people who use drugs. With opioids, black and Hispanic communities are portrayed as more blameworthy.

With cocaine, black urban communities are seen as “bad” for using it, but rich white communities are simply “living it up.”

Marijuana users are sometimes portrayed as hippie dropouts, typically associated with “loser” tendencies.

Those who partake in meth are “white trash meth heads” who can’t get their lives together.

All of these are ways of dismissing the reality of what SUD is, and ways for the media to condition the masses into believing certain ideas about people with the disease. Because, yes, addiction is a chronic brain disorder.

This all makes it much harder for individuals to seek care in fear of shame.

So, what is shame if not the sense of losing control? And what is the loss of autonomy if not the sunken place?

Because the sunken place is what happens when everything is stripped away from you—your voice, your body, your own identity. It’s what happens when the media speaks for you.

When people who suffer are reduced to statistics and caricatures.

When the media possesses the narrative.

Part Five: Desperation

ɪ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅɴ’ᴛ ʟɪᴠᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ʜᴇʀ.

ɴᴏ ᴍᴀᴛᴛᴇʀ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ ᴅɪᴅ ᴛᴏ ꜰᴏʀɢᴇᴛ, ᴀ ᴍᴏᴛʜᴇʀ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ꜰᴏʀɢᴇᴛꜱ.

ɪ ᴡᴀꜱ ᴡɪʟʟɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴅᴏ ᴀɴʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴛᴏ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀɪɴ ɢᴏ ᴀᴡᴀʏ.

When everything fails you, what’s the last option?

Desperation is tight. It holds onto you with white knuckles, its nails breaking your skin.

Despite using Band-Aids, the bleeding never stops. The wounds scab over but you can’t help but to pick at them.

They never truly heal. Time doesn’t always heal wounds.

In one such case, a former counselor named Laura decided to foster two children after their father died. Andy, age 17, and his preteen vision impaired sister, Piper. Laura was eccentric, but her past haunted her.

Her daughter, Cathy, was also blind. She drowned in the backyard pool.

Laura took up fostering to try and help other children. Along with Andy and Piper, she took care of a boy named Oliver.

Kind of.

Police found her cradling the body of Cathy, who was half frozen and half eaten. She was arrested immediately.

Piper had run away for help, and when police asked her about what happened with Laura, she didn’t have much to say. However, she did tell them that Laura had tried to kill her, and that she had unfortunately successfully murdered her brother.

Oliver was also rescued from Laura’s care. Except, Oliver was actually a boy named Connor that had been missing for quite some time. Perhaps more haunting are the VHS tapes that the police found in Laura’s home.

Authorities reported that she had snuff films, with the recordings being regarded as “rituals” to possess and bring back the dead. The investigation never led to any clues as to where these VHS tapes came from, though cult activity was suspected.

Laura’s confessionals with the police are more than heartbreaking. They’re disturbing, unsettling, and honestly a very rough watch.

According to her, she needed a host to be possessed by an entity. She needed the host—Connor—to eat the flesh of her daughter’s body. She needed to kill Piper so Connor could vomit the flesh into her and bring her daughter back.

Laura had been storing her daughter’s body in a freezer for months.

She was willing to do anything to make the pain of her daughter’s death go away.

The grief had been eating away at her. And grief makes people believe in irrational miracles.

Laura believed a demonic ritual would bring her daughter back. No matter how many people it hurt. No matter how much it hurt her.

She needed it.

She was desperate. And when you have nothing to fix it, you create ways to cure your sorrow.

Laura was pushed into a corner. She believed she didn’t have any other choice.

Conclusion

Demons don’t exist inside addiction.

They’re not in bottles. They’re not in powder. They’re not in pipes or needles.

Demons only exist within the systems that take advantage of the wounded.

People are not possessed by addiction.

Possession comes from isolation. Hopelessness.

And you don’t need a priest to exorcise that.

You need people.

Community breaks possession.

The archive refuses to continue the narrative of these systems.

The archive is here to expose them. And to expose them is to defy them.

And to defy them is through acts of compassion.

We are not here to judge. We are here to reach out a hand.

The archive invites in all.

If you believe in the archive’s work, you can support further investigations here.

Sleep is no longer a right, but rather a privilege.

In a world that’s constantly running, when do you stop to get fuel?

When there is no time to rest, there is an obsession with rest. When there’s an obsession with something, there’s a market for something. Everything in our world is monetized, including our sleep.

As we stop to slow down and reflect for just a second, we can take a deep breath and close our eyes. We can rest, if only for an hour or so, to recharge our mind, soul, and body.

Yet there is no rest in our sleep.

When we close our eyes, we see a deep void. A clawed hand reaches out to us, a threat to our safety inside the only escape we truly have.

There is no sleep under a crumbling idea. There is no sleep with Freddy Krueger.

Part One: Lullaby

Do you have trouble falling asleep?

Of course you do. The CDC declared the United States in a public health epidemic as sleep disorders plague the country.

Although there’s multiple factors at play when it comes to our sleep health, there’s also multiple solutions. An entire industry has been created in light of everybody’s sleep deprivation.

The sleep industry, which is estimated to cost around $600bn, has positioned itself as the cure to the modern sleeping problem. From smart mattresses that adjust to our bodies to rings that track our sleep cycles, the sleep industry has sold us the idea of sleep.

These sleep aids aren’t necessarily helping us but rather giving us the illusion of security in our beds. So, when these “solutions” don’t work, we buy another one. And then another. And then another.

It becomes a cycle that only benefits the corporations creating these products rather than the consumers they promised.

But then again, is it really these products failing, or is it that you can’t prioritize yourself enough?

You can’t put the phone down at 3 AM. You can’t get in bed by 10 PM. You can’t plan your time accordingly.

You have the same 24 hours as everybody else, so why can’t you get enough sleep?

See, you need these products, because you need something to fix your lack of discipline.

So, you lay down on your smart mattress with your tracking ring on your hand and smart sleeping mask on your face. Your eyes are closed, you feel something, but you’re not sure if it’s relaxation. You can feel yourself fall into the beginning stages of sleep, hearing phantom voices and seeing strange images.

Finally, you sleep.

You’re at peace. You can finally get rest after working for so many hours. The stress escapes you. In your dreams, you feel lulled into a sense of euphoria.

You hear the faint sounds of humming, like a lullaby. You walk towards the alluring song, and the closer you get, the clearer you hear the words.

1, 2… 𝘍𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘥𝘺’𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

You continue the journey, even though you don’t know where it will lead you.

3, 4... 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙘𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙙𝙤𝙤𝙧

Strange, but this is a dream. Ultimately, you’re safe.

5, 6... 𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙗 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙘𝙧𝙪𝙘𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙭

You hesitate to draw closer. The lucidity of the dream begins to settle in.

7, 8... 𝙗𝙚𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙪𝙥 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚

But curiosity killed the cat, and you decide to move forward, entering a decrepit boiler room. The color of red floods your vision, steam escaping the pipes threaten to burn your flesh. You pause, because the song is crystal clear. The voice is in your ear.

9, 10... 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙨𝙡𝙚𝙚𝙥 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣

Is this your new reality?

Part Two: Lay Down

When you lay down in your bed, you don’t sleep.

There is no sleeping, because sleeping means you miss out. If you go to bed, you can’t see what your favorite TikToker posted at 2 AM. If you go to sleep, you can’t work. If you try to rest, you can’t build a life.

Perhaps that’s why 93% of Gen Z lose sleep due to their phones. The algorithm on social media, primed to keep retention rates high, doesn’t want you to suffer from FOMO. But then again, you need the rest, because you have work in the morning.

Our economy is shaky, with over 8.9 million Americans working 2 jobs. Money is tight, so overtime, extra shifts, gig jobs, and side hustles have become the new normal. Single paychecks no longer cover essentials, so people are being forced to find money elsewhere.

And that’s not counting the $1.21 trillion in credit card debt that Americans owe, assumingly from having to swipe their cards to buy groceries they can’t afford.

Sleep is a risky move for people, because those 8 hours can be the difference between paying rent that month.

And when all you do is work, those extra five minutes of numbing your brain on social media become therapy. You receive dopamine hits; something rarely achieved in a long day of work. Scrolling becomes an obsession.

The day suddenly looks more like this: wake up, work, work, work, scroll, scroll, scroll, sleep four hours. Repeat.

But you know who doesn’t have to worry about that? CEOs, mostly.

Gone are the days of CEOs hustling and working all hours of the day. The sleep that the young yuppies lacked in the 1980s has been caught up on by modern CEOs; it’s not “cool” to hustle anymore, but rather to be well rested.

Now sleep is a strategy, seen as an effective way to be more productive rather than forcing more work hours in the day.

These are people that already have success. They have the money, the glitz, the glamour. They are exactly what most people aim to be.

More importantly, these are the people getting the 8 hours of sleep that most of us so desperately reach for.

The rich and successful are sleeping soundly. The working class are tired.

Sleep is now a luxury.

Yet, these top people in business still promote sleep aids. The OURA rings, the TheraBody SleepMasks, the stupid masking tape.

This promotion isn’t just limited to CEOs, but also “sleep influencers” whose entire brands are about “sleepmaxxing.” These are people whose only job is to sell you sleep products, supplements, and even tell you how to make a sleepy mocktail.

Of course, this all brings you back to social media to scroll. And to buy. But you need more money to buy, so you work more—you do DoorDash, Shipt—companies that thrive in shaky economies.

And all you can do is exist in it. Because again… you’re the one choosing not to sleep.

After all, choosing to stay awake gives you agency. Screw what the CEOs say, you need money. So you continue to stay awake, so much so that you’re almost scared to go to sleep.

Besides, you might see him again.

And you can’t opt of working or money or any social media platforms at this point. That would cost you.

But staying awake also cost you.

Your nervous system gets fried. Your body lacks control. And eventually… you crash.

You pass out right back into Freddy’s world.

Freddy doesn’t care if you deprive yourself of sleep, because your avoidance is more powerful to him. He was playing a game… you just accidentally became a player.

You have to play the game. You have to sleep at some point.

And now he has you in the palm of his hand.

He taunts. He laughs. He doesn’t chase.

He waits for you to come right to him.

Part Three: Dreamland

Sleep isn’t just a privilege; it’s a status symbol.

Guaranteed are the nights of work but never the nights of rest. Those who get over 8 hours of sleep are the ones who have already built security, selling you the $10,000 blackout curtains for the “best sleep of your life.”

While you take a break from delivering yet another UberEats order, you scroll through your phone only to be bombarded with ads about the latest technology in sleep experimentation.

There is most certainly a cycle here, one that has become normalized in our society.

Working hard is great, but working until exhaustion is even better. It means you have good work ethic. Not taking days off even when you’re sick signals that you take pride in your work. Not taking your full maternity leave means you really value your place at the company.

Sure, you’re a little tired, but doesn’t the pride you feel make it all worthwhile?

The days are about adaption and accepting your position in your career. You are there to work, and they don’t care what you do outside of those 8-9 hours.

And while you type away at your keyboard, the fluorescent lights shining into your eyes, you can sense someone in your cubicle. Nobody is there, you know, but something in your gut tells you there is a presence.

You yawn and go back to your emails.

There’s no need to hunt the weak anymore. Everybody has learned how to live without sleep.

Eventually, they will all crash and burn.

And he’ll be waiting.

Conclusion

The alarm rings and you wake up.

Another day, but at least the strange dream you had is over. It’s Monday. Time to get ready for work.

You turn the alarm clock off — it’s 6:00 AM. You only slept for about 4 hours, but that’s plenty enough. As long as you grab a caffeinated beverage, you’ll survive the day just fine.

You sit up in bed. Your room is still dark, a little chilly. The sun hasn’t come up yet.

The world feels still. There’s peace in the moment, silence ringing in your ears.

You swing your legs over the edge of the bed. Your feet place on the floor.

Maybe today will be a good day.

But then there’s a feeling on your ankle, similar to when you accidentally nick yourself with the razor blade when shaving. A forceful and tight grip wraps around it, and you realize this was never going to be a good day, no matter how much you wish for it.

Did the alarm ever go off?

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“To all that come to this happy place, welcome.”

A sentiment that was expressed to a crowd meant to grow, reaching out to all who deserve at least one day of magic. Walt was a man with a dream; one he wished to expand past the glitz and glamour and into the hearts of millions.

Disneyland started as a place for children and adults alike to see their favorite films come to life. Walt Disney World followed, acting not only as a memoriam for Walt, but also as an extension of what it meant to create an escape for those needing a break from reality, if only for a few days.

In 1955, a park ticket for one adult was $1.00. Of course, that was only general admission, as each attraction would cost you a separate ticket, similar to fairs and carnivals. But even with the cost of each attraction, it was certainly affordable for the average joe.

Today, the average park ticket for Disneyland can range from $100-200. And that’s only the Disneyland park, that doesn’t include California Adventure.

Disney’s growth has far surpassed what it was meant for; it has become something that must constantly consume in order to survive.

If you can’t afford to feed the mouse, you will still be made to pay.

The mouse has to be fed.

Part One: Hunger

ᵀʰᵉʳᵉ ⁱˢ ᵃⁿ ᵘⁿᶜᵒⁿᵗʳᵒˡˡᵃᵇˡᵉ ʰᵘⁿᵍᵉʳ ʷⁱᵗʰⁱⁿ ᵐᵉ. ᴹʸ ˢᵗᵒᵐᵃᶜʰ ᵃᶜⁱᵈ ᵉᵃᵗˢ ᵃᵗ ᵐʸ ᵒʳᵍᵃⁿˢ, ᵇᵉᵍᵍⁱⁿᵍ ᶠᵒʳ ᶠᵒᵒᵈ.

At the rate in which Disney has been developing, projects are quickly tossed aside to make room for the next best thing.

Throughout the years, many notable abandoned projects have come out from the parks, including the unfortunate loss of Beastly Kingdom.

But it isn’t just projects that have been left to rot. Entire attractions, lands, and animatronics have been documented as abandoned, slowly succumbing to nature’s cruelty. Many of these were forgotten about, left to the elements due to budget constraints or refurbishments never finished.

Disney has become known for this, spawning media like Abandoned by Disney and Five Nights at Treasure Island.

Abandoned by Disney, for example, dives into a fictional park called Mowgli’s Palace. A fully constructed resort in North Carolina, it was ultimately closed for unknown reasons.

Abandoned by Disney follows the POV of an urban explorer who encounters horror within the property, including a skull wedged into a Donald Duck mascot head and an inverted Mickey Mouse mascot entity.

It isn’t a good story—most creepypastas aren’t—but it leaves a lasting impression on the viewer in questioning what exactly Disney has left behind in favor of better profits.

ʰᵉʸ

That brings us to Discovery Island, and thus Five Nights at Treasure Island.

Discovery Island was a zoological attraction located at Walt Disney World, offering guests a chance to observe animals. It originally opened under the name Treasure Island after the classic Disney film.

Although people seemed to enjoy the island, it was eventually closed down to the public for unknown reasons. However, Disney faced 16 counts of animal cruelty, and while many speculate that to be the reason of its closure, it’s much more likely that was simply a catalyst. The low attendance and high maintenance cost was certainly the biggest reasons behind Discovery Island’s demise.

In addition, the newly opened Animal Kingdom took over the role as the “animal attraction.”

Five Nights at Treasure Island, although a Five Nights at Freddy’s clone, uses the basis of Abandoned by Disney and expands upon it with the reality of Discovery Island.

The player is forced to face multiple supernatural entities; all themed to a different Disney character. There’s nothing necessarily groundbreaking about the game, to be honest, but its designs capture the general feeling of what’s going on beneath the castle.

Each monster design has its own unique look of rot. Their animatronic skin melts, revealing strangely human-looking muscle underneath. Their eyes are sunken in. Their teeth are almost like dentures. The designs of FNATI are undeniably a different uncanny from the traditional ones we expect from a FNAF-style game.

Of course, these are also mascots of a beloved company, characters who are meant to be wholesome and silly. Seeing such innocent characters in an unnatural state is bound to make anybody uncomfortable—FNATI didn’t just slap some scary bloody eyes on them and call it a day, but rather explored the very real horror of Disney’s actual pattern of abandonment.

They resemble the real-world animatronics we’ve seen before, lurking in Disney’s shadows and left to be forgotten about by the public.

Part Two: Drool

Disney has always cared about reputation, but even more so in recent years regarding its “magical” place in pop culture.

Disney’s obsession with image has only tarnished the brand, with each installment creating a domino fall. Theme parks grow light, movies begin to fail, and customers fade away. Although there are certain audiences who will never escape Disney’s tight grasp, the majority of consumers have already fallen out of love with the company.

Yet, Disney keeps a happy face, as their profits continue to increase despite the lack of interest from the general public. They are widely recognized as a monopoly, which has only deepened the already deep abyss of distrust.

ᵒʰ ᵇᵒʸ

Enter the iconic Suicide Mouse, another Disney creepypasta that grew in popularity for its edgy nature. It’s extremely simplistic: an animation of sad Mickey Mouse walking in silence. As the video draws to an end, the world becomes distorted, and the volume cries out to the viewer. Buildings crumble, and Mickey’s face morphs into cartoonish agony.

Finally, the animation ends with a smiling Mickey.

This is a very typical format for a creepypasta, yet this one feels more earnest than Sonic.exe. It instead infests your senses, mirroring the implications that Disney Co faces.

ᵀʰᵉ ʰᵘⁿᵍᵉʳ ⁿᵉᵛᵉʳ ᶜᵉᵃˢᵉˢ.

Behind the joyful act, there’s a broken company. The dream has outlived the dreamer, and the dream has only become a nightmare.

Part Three: Devour

After years of lobbying, Disney finally had to release Mickey Mouse from their archives.

It took 95 years, but Steamboat Willie escaped into the public domain in 2024, thus resulting in a myriad of interpretations. Many of these came from artists simply celebrating the release of such an iconic mouse, but others were quick to create versions that held a mirror up to the very company who held him captive.

ᵗʰᵉ ʸᵉᵃʳ ᴵ ʷᵃˢ ᶠʳᵉᵉᵈ, ʷᵃˢ ᵗʰᵉ ʸᵉᵃʳ ᵐʸ ʰᵘⁿᵍᵉʳ ᵍʳᵉʷ ᵗᵒ ᵇᵉ ᵘⁿˢᵃᵗⁱᵃᵇˡᵉ

We got media like Screamboat Willie, Mickey’s Mouse Trap, Willie, etc. These horror versions came quickly after the public domain release, with people itching to turn the mouse into something less joyful.

A lot of that had to do with the easy cash grabs, similar to what happened to Winnie the Pooh, but if we tried to look at it in a more analytical point of view, we could connect it to the public finally revealing how they feel about Disney.

These horror renditions are a product of Disney’s own public image. This is a corporation that hides behind the smile of a friendly mouse yet refuses to let go of any property or assets. Disney, after all, is a business. They need consumers, not customers.

These silly and oftentimes awful horror concepts aren’t just people raking in, but rather Disney’s illusion crumbling before us.

Part Four: Digestion

There have been real, genuine reports of Disney Parks being haunted. Both Disneyland and Walt Disney World have had cast members tell stories of unexplainable instances, but the most interesting cases have been those from Walt’s apartment and The Golden Horseshoe.

Obviously, there’s the old tale of the lamp turning on by itself in Walt’s Disneyland apartment, which is now lit 24/7 in his honor. This is a legend within Disneyland, hinting that Walt may still be there in spirit.

The Golden Horseshoe is a little different. Both Walt and Roy Disney had their own private viewing booths for the revue. One of my favorite stories comes from Alex the Historian, who explains how he saw a chair leaned up against the railing of Walt’s booth. He fixes it, walks away, and hears a shuffling. He goes back, only to see the chair looking out to the restaurant again.

Other cast members reported smelling cigar smoke there early in the morning, a story that closely correlates with Walt’s waking life, in which he would have his breakfast, walk to the Golden Horseshoe, and have a smoke.

It’s not crazy to imagine Walt keeping a close eye on his parks, but especially Disneyland, as that was one of his biggest dreams to come to life.

If Walt is there, is he there to protect his dream from what the current company is doing to it?

And I suppose that brings me to my last question: how do we remember Walt’s legacy without supporting the corporate greed of current day Disney? How can we help in keeping his memory alive?

Because when a company can’t even respect its own founder’s wishes, how can it expect for its founder to respect it in return?

In 2025, Disneyland revealed its Walt Disney animatronic show.

Joanna Miller, Walt’s granddaughter, is highly against the idea. She explained how her grandfather wished to not be made into an animatronic anyhow, and how it feels dehumanizing to turn the dreamer of Disneyland into an attraction for guests to gawk at.

Because Disney is no longer about Walt’s dreams and wishes. Disney isn’t even about a mouse anymore.

Disney is about increasing profits.

Conclusion

Disney isn’t going to make a change anytime soon. Not unless its forced to.

Once upon a time, it was a company that stood for magic, imagination, and storytelling; it is now the face of greed.

ⁱ ᵃᵐ ˢᵒ ᶠᵘˡˡ ʸᵉᵗ ˢᵒ ʰᵘⁿᵍʳʸ, ˢᵒ ᵇˡᵉˢˢᵉᵈ ʸᵉᵗ ˢᵒ ⁿᵉᵉᵈʸ

It seems that, for some people, once you get the taste of money, it never quite satisfies you.

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What’s scarier than a man being under constant surveillance? A man who is watched by the world, loved by all, yet with no real connections? A man in his own bubble, ignorant to the truth?

The Truman Show (1998) broke barriers in its unique plotline, making the audience face an uncomfortable concept that ultimately wanted you to think. It wasn’t a pretentious “this is deep”, but rather one that forced you to observe the world around you.

There is something deeply disturbing about the truths in The Truman Show. Perhaps it’s the unnerving understanding that it’s far too close to home in our current landscape. Perhaps it’s the concern on whether or not if we can even have a happy ending like Truman.

The difference between us and Truman is that we aren’t all on a giant set but instead place ourselves into the faux reality by choice. Each day we mindlessly scroll to inject our dopamine, with each minute distancing us from the material world around us. While we have a deep desire for change, the craving to break out of the illusion is seemingly louder than our want for freedom.

Or… is it?

Part One: The Pilot

Every series starts with a pilot episode. From beloved sitcoms of the 80s to gritty dramas of now, each and every one of them had to go through the trials of the “set up.”

Stories had to be established, characters had to be introduced, and settings had to be made familiar.

The Truman Show was no different, although its origin story was obviously more unique than any other show before it. Its main star, Truman Burbank, isn’t just an actor playing a role… but rather a man who is unaware he’s even on a show.

Truman isn’t playing himself or starring in a reality show—he’s trapped inside a carefully curated world he believes is the real one. He was adopted by the studio as a baby, essentially becoming the world’s first 24-hour television star as an experiment.

He is watched through every second of his life. The world became obsessed with him: witnessing his first steps, his first kiss, his first job; he was essentially the world’s kid, watching him grow since the womb.

And yet, Truman never consented to any of this. He never agreed to live his life through technicolor, but he lives blissfully ignorant. There’s something even more unsettling about the idea when we take a step back: Truman knew nothing of the outside world.

As millions were shocked by world tragedies and fear mongering, Truman was blissfully living in what one could call the happiest town on earth. He smiled while others sobbed themselves to sleep.

Regardless, The Truman Show was a breakthrough in entertainment. Not just entertainment—but the world.

June, 2007. The first iPhone is released.

Although not the first smartphone, Apple revolutionized what it meant for a phone to be smart. No longer was it just about having a touchscreen interface or answering emails from anywhere, but entertainment.

Your phone could access the internet. There was an app for anything and everything.

And as the years flew by, the iPhone, and thus all smartphones, evolved into mini computers right in the palm of your hand. No longer was there an excuse to not know anything, because you could Google it at the blink of an eye.

And inside that computer held apps of connectivity. Social media flooded our homescreens, from Facebook to Instagram. If you weren’t tweeting you were snapping, and if you weren’t snapping you were updating your wall status.

Just like The Truman Show, the modern smartphone was designed to be a breakthrough in humanity.

It was meant to change every aspect of our lives. It was made to make us connect. It was made to make us laugh, cry, and cheer. It was made to be our perfect escape.

But the iPhone was just the pilot episode, retro TV icon and all.

Part Two: Filmed in Front of a Live Studio Audience

Truman longs for something more.

He feels trapped in his town and marriage, dreaming of travelling outside of Safe Haven and seeing the world. He wants to live a life with Sheryl, the first and only woman he ever fell in love with, who was taken off the show after she attempted to tell him the truth.

As these feelings grow deeper, strange occurrences begin to happen: stage lights fall from the sky, rain follows him, and the radio narrates his every move. He grows increasingly suspicious that something is wrong, yet all the actors continue to tell him he’s just imagining things and that everything is fine.

The studio wants to control Truman, of course, because the moment he breaks the illusion is when their money maker ends.

Similarly, don’t you want more too? Don’t you want to stop living your life on a screen?

We scroll when we wake up, we scroll when we use the bathroom, we scroll to the point of insomnia. We know it’s unhealthy to be on our phones all the time, yet it feels impossible to put them down.

People want more out of their lives than just what the internet has to offer, and that realization scares big tech companies just like Truman scared the director.

Our phones tell us that everything we need is right in our hands.

Why seek out community? You have social media. Why seek out school? You have Google. Why seek out art? You have AI.

Why do anything if you have it already. Why should you ever put down your phone? Why should you leave your house and get sunlight? Ｗｈｙ ｓｈｏｕｌｄ ｙｏｕ ｅｖｅｒ ｔｈｉｎｋ ｆｏｒ ｙｏｕｒｓｅｌｆ？

​🇾​​🇴​​🇺​ ​🇭​​🇦​​🇻​​🇪​ ​🇪​​🇻​​🇪​​🇷​​🇾​​🇹​​🇭​​🇮​​🇳​​🇬​.

​🇾​​🇴​​🇺​ ​🇭​​🇦​​🇻​​🇪​ ​🇪​​🇻​​🇪​​🇷​​🇾​​🇹​​🇭​​🇮​​🇳​​🇬​.

Ÿ̶͇͍͕͔͉̬́̂̆̄́͠͠ȏ̶̐͂̀͝ͅu̸̜̩̣̤̟͙̥̫̦̥͑̆̋͂̾̚̕͘͝ ̴͎̬̦͚̲͚̘̉͛̌̀̓̏͜͜͝h̷̛̘̫͊͒̅͒̐̈́̈͘͜͠a̶̡̡̺̰̼̯͍͔̝͌̒̄̓̕ͅv̷̢̛̛̩̣̲͐͛̓̅̔̅̂̕e̵̤̩̰̭͆ ̸̠̝̫͇̣̟͇̰̇͊́̑͐͊͌̄̿ȩ̵̛̭̰̦̎̏̉̈͌͂̚͜͠v̶̱̾̐̀e̷̳̻̰̟̎̏̀̚͝r̸̨͙͖̦̫̦̊̉̑̓͛̉͝ͅỳ̶̡̞̟̗͖̖̥̦̜̓̽̆̿͊̈́̕ţ̴̭̬͙͇̑ḩ̴̱̲͙̇ḯ̸̧̦̗̯͎̹͚̲̱̾̊̆̓̑̒̒n̴͓̘̰̻̲͐̾̅̽͝g̷͎̹̊̆́̑.̷̡̩̗̙̈́͛̌̾̽̎̄̓̔

Why must Truman long for something he doesn’t need? Why yearn for something you already have?

Safe Haven is perfect. Our reality is perfect.

The director has us in good hands.

Part Three: The Laugh Track

As Truman grows more suspicious of his surroundings, his attempts of fleeing Safe Haven only get stronger. Each attempt is met with extreme precautions from the production crew.

The actors simply trick him into believing that they’re on his side, trying to make sure he understands that the outside world is far more dangerous than he knows. Of course, we know that’s just a lame attempt to scare him away from ending their paychecks.

Everybody involved with The Truman Show benefits from Truman being trapped and manipulated except for Truman himself. At the end of their workday, they get to take off the character and go home. Truman never gets that luxury, because he doesn’t even understand the concept of that.

But the more Truman grows unhappy, the more his will to leave the world he’s imprisoned in strengthens. He fails only to get back up again, and again, and again, and again. He knows he has to leave, because there’s no other option if he doesn’t.

We don’t have any other option but to keep trying.

As Truman begins to suspect his peers, so do we as we look at these big tech companies.

They’ve become untrustworthy to us, pushing algorithms in our faces and placing ads on our fridges. The more we consume, the less we live.

Like a laugh track cued to make us think something is funny, these algorithms are meant to make us feel seen. Our desires, insecurities, and loneliness are used as data to show us the best targeted ad.

The once legendary breakthrough in history has now become nothing but a powerful salesman, keeping us addicted to the next scroll not unsimilar to a suffering drug addict fiending for the next high. Our abuse of choice has become blue light.

We speak it and they listen to it. We think it and they sell it.

As more news comes out surrounding these companies’ shady business practices, the more we begin to look at them sideways. Suddenly, the greed is more visible, if only because of how obvious it is.

If Truman’s awakening was a giant light falling from the sky, ours was the subscription to live.

You want to print from the printer you bought? You need a subscription. You want heated seats in your luxury vehicle? You need a subscription. Want to use your ridiculously expensive alarm clock? You need a subscription.

You don’t own anything. There’s no need to own anything anyway, you silly!

Besides, what’s the point in needing any of that if you’re supposed to be watching your screen all day? Did you forget that you’re supposed to be ᴀꜱʟᴇᴇᴘ?

Yet, we continue to look at tips on how to limit our screen time. We set timers on our apps. We put our phones in another room. We mediate, exercise, and go for walks. We try to not think about it, only to track our screen-free progress onto our Notes app for later.

Part Four: The Finale

Truman survives.

He reaches the end of the soundstage and finds a staircase that leads to an exit.

The director, over an intercom, tells Truman the truth about the show. He says: “There's no more truth out there than there is in the world I created for you. The same lies. The same deceit. But in my world, you have nothing to fear.”

A plea from a panicked man, though hidden under a calm exterior.

Truman listens, allows the director to make his case, and then turns to the camera.

“In case I don't see you--good afternoon, good evening and good night,” he says, bowing to his audience before walking through the exit.

On the surface, this is the happy ending. For us, anyway.

There’s a desperate need to be like Truman now; to keep putting the phone down, to stop paying for subscriptions, to do something to make someone—anyone—listen.

We, too, want to take our bow and finally leave the stage.

People can hear the cries from corporations all day begging for customers to stay. A small trend has started to drown out those tears though: the analog movement.

More and more people are adopting “dumb” tech in favor of their smartphones—flip phones, digital & film cameras, DVD players, etc. People are clinging on to the aspect of owning something and having control of something again. People are taking breaks from the internet.

Finally, hobbies seem to be making a comeback (an odd sentence to even type out). People are reading again, making art, crocheting… people are being creative… people are being people again.

We have to be the change we want to see. Nothing changes if nothing changes.

While we can point fingers and certainly make corporations take blame in their schemes, we also have to take initiative to stop scrolling. We have to stop letting them rot our brains before it’s too late.

Our brains—your brain—is meant for so much more.

You are here with purpose. You are here with love.

You are not here to watch 100 TikToks in one hour.

For social media (yes, even the ones we love), you are the product. Your time and data is their most valuable asset. Your entrapment is their money.

Take the director’s seat.

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Has the magic of Christmas gone away?

In a world that feels a little more cynical and lot less joyous, the holidays are usually when people can find something to believe in. The season of hope as they say, full of magic and wonder, as snowflakes fall and cover the ground with beautiful blankets of white. We find solace in being with our families and friends, coziness in drinking hot chocolate by the fireplace, and fun in baking cookies for others.

Generosity fills our hearts as we find ways to give to those we love, rather it be through buying something or making something ourselves. Others find joy in helping those less fortunate in the various programs and charities available.

In today’s world, that kind of generosity feels rarer, overshadowed by a culture that’s become far more focused on getting everything rather selfless giving.

Silent Night (2012) reflects this loss all too clearly

There are no glorious scenes of love and laughter, but rather a town that lost its Christmas wonder.

Silent Night is an extremely loose remake of the slasher classic Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984). By “loose,” I mean that the only similarities between the two is a killer Santa.

Because of its 2012 release date, the film is plagued with the dreaded issues of 2010s horror. Just like many slasher horrors in the decade, it came off as another sleazy cheap remake chocked full of unnecessary sex and needless plot changes.

Rewatching Silent Night for the first time in years was… tough. While I did get to rewatch the woodchipper kill, most everything else about this movie is generic. It doesn’t exactly hold up to the original film it’s based on.

However, there is a tiny bit of “nuance” in the film. Well, there is if you try your best to make something out of nothing. Luckily, that’s my specialty here on Slasher.

While Silent Night isn’t a great movie in plot… or acting… or much else, there is an undercurrent theme of losing sight of what Christmas is. The characters in this movie are disconnected from what the holiday represents, lost in their worlds as Santa kills off each naughty individual one-by-one.

Kids These Days

The kids in this movie suck, not going to lie.

The standout is a teenage girl who is more than disrespectful to her mother. She slaps her mom’s “heart pills” out of her hand, basically tells her to fuck off, and demands to be taken to the mall.

Instead of wanting to spend time together as a family for Christmas, the daughter would rather boss her mother around.

And that’s where the first issue of Christmas magic comes in: the kids.

Don’t get me wrong, there has always been bratty kids, but sometimes it can feel… more prevalent in recent times.

Perhaps it’s the unregulated screen time and social media addictions, causing children to form a mentality of entitlement. If their favorite influencers can buy anything they want, then these kids should be able to get anything they want too, right?

And if these kids get whatever they want then… what’s the point of Christmas? What do you get a kid who already has everything? Another gift card? More skincare that ruins their skin? A podcast mic? What happened to toys, anyway?

But it isn’t just entitlement, it’s also the fear of being “cringe” that ruins modern childhood. When children are watching content made for adults instead of kids, they get roped into the idea of how they should present themselves.

Kids don’t feel comfortable expressing the classic wonder of Christmas because believing in Santa is “cringe.”

This is the unfortunate reality when some parents use social media as a babysitter—children are jaded, causing them to lose their spark when it comes to seeing the magic in Christmas.

TikTok tells them their Elf on the Shelf isn’t real and that Santa is just fairytale. Kids today live in an unfair playground if not carefully monitored, being forced into cynicism rather than choosing it.

Kids lose their imagination, not paying attention to the lights on houses but rather scrolling to the next short clip for their dopamine hit. And with this loss of wonder comes the loss of Christmas magic, because all of the fun in the holidays essentially dies… there’s no more Santa, no more miracles… no more spirit.

And none of this is the kids’ fault.

But when Silent Night presents a town that is rotted from the inside out, the kids are no exception.

”Christmas Just Isn’t the Same”

The kids in Silent Night may be misled, but the adults are full of selfishness and hate.

Our killer Santa targets people who are specifically “naughty”; people having an affair, a perverted reverend, pornstars, etc.

While watching the film, there certainly is a lack of Christmas spirit among anybody. The only people who seem to be enjoying the holidays is the Bradimore family, but past that lies a town full of apathy for the joyous season of the year.

But Silent Night is only mirroring what we see in real life from so many. People say that Christmas just doesn’t feel the same when you’re an adult, and that’s because many people grow up and lose the magic of what it once was.

The responsibilities of juggling a job, bills, and everyday errands becomes a burden of extreme stress. And with stress comes the cynicism and lack of imagination, and thus the inability to care.

Unfortunately, our ways to cope with this stress aren’t always healthy. Sometimes we doom scroll, sometimes we drink, sometimes we carelessly consume—all of it causes our brain to shut off the sector that still clings on to wonder.

In Silent Night, this is the model the kids look at for an example. The kids may lose some magic, but the adults kill off whatever is left of Christmas and spit on its grave.

But… what does that mean for Santa?

Who Wore it Better?

Both Silent Night and Silent Night, Deadly Night tackle a killer Santa, but they couldn’t be any more different from each other.

Silent Night uses its killer Santa as consequence for a town losing its way. He is the punisher, though not because he is virtuous. This killer Santa uses his murdering spree as a way of revenge for his father’s death.

But the movie never really gives us a reason to side with him or to even feel any sympathy for him. He is simply killing those who rot the town out of revenge, a motive that is shallow and emotionally weightless.

The town has no magic left. It’s already gone to shit and there’s no reason for us to care about the people dying.

Christmas is already dead in Cryer. Santa is just killing people to prove a moot point.

And that’s where the biggest difference between this remake and the original is: the magic of Christmas.

In Silent Night, Deadly Night, Billy Chapman didn’t kill people out of revenge.

He lived in a world where Christmas still had some magic, despite Billy’s traumatic past of watching his parents’ murder by a criminal Santa Claus. He still tried to participate in the holidays, even though he was haunted by his memories.

Billy wasn’t inherently bad or hellbent on vengeance; he was simply traumatized to the point of insanity. Once he was triggered into his episode, his murdering spree took place. But even his first kill was a man attempting to rape a woman… although Billy murdered the victim too.

He murders a couple having sex (where we get the iconic antler kill), and when a small child comes out to see the commotion, he doesn’t attempt to kill her. Instead, he asks her, “Have you been naughty or nice?”

When the girl says nice, he gives her a “present”… aka the box cutter he used to kill a woman earlier.

In Silent Night, the killer simply leaves town.

In Silent Night, Deadly Night, when Billy is dying on the floor of an orphanage, he tells the children they don’t have to be scared anymore. Santa is gone. Even in his death, Billy is protecting the children… Billy is protecting the innocence of Christmas.

Silent Night is about the loss of Christmas. Silent Night, Deadly Night is about the protection of what makes it special.

Does Silent Night even hold a candle to its original? No, not at all. Neither of them are masterpieces, but only one of them holds emotional weight.

While Silent Night may show us what happens when we stop caring altogether, it doesn’t make me want to rewatch it every year. A good Christmas movie should be an event… something you look forward to seeing every holiday season.

Yet, Silent Night has never been in my Christmas marathon rotation.

Perhaps that’s because there’s just no incentive to. There’s nothing quite wowing about it, even though it really tries to be… especially if I compare it to another Christmas horror comedy like Krampus.

Krampus is in my holiday rotation. Despite it being about a demonic entity set to kill a family during Christmas, it still has a classic holiday message about love. Because, yes, Krampus is ultimately about loving your family.

But Silent Night doesn’t really offer me that. It’s just another killer Santa movie, and even though the acting is terrible just like Santa’s Slay, it’s not even ridiculous enough for me to want to rewatch it like Santa’s Slay.

On the other hand, Silent Night, Deadly Night still feels special. There’s a message about protecting Christmas, exploring what happens when innocence is lost.

In his own twisted way, Billy fought for Christmas.

The other Santa just buried a town that was already dead, you know? He didn’t exactly do much of anything.

So, I’d like to argue against Silent Night… because magic never dies, people just stop caring.

Christmas magic isn’t something we grow out of. It’s something we stop fighting for.

Maybe we should all fight a little harder then.

Hey, so if you really believe in the magic of Christmas, you should probably check out the other awesome writers participating in Scarestack’s 25 Days of Slays:

12/1 Silent Night Deadly Night 3:

12/2 The Nightmare Before Christmas: Abandoned Places

12/3 Silent Night Deadly Night:

12/4 Anna And The Apocalypse: H. is for Horror

12/5 Terrifier 3:

12/6 The Advent Calendar: Sahar Writes

12/7 Silent Night Deadly Night 4: Shenanigans

12/8 Violent Night: Robo Pulp Media

12/9 The Lodge:

12/10 Mean One:

12/11 Silent Night: Slasher

12/12 It’s A Wonderful Knife:

12/13 A Christmas Horror Story: Strange Matters

12/14 Deadly Games/Dial Code Santa Claus:

12/15 Black Christmas (2006): Blood, Guts, and Blush

12/16 Krampus: Pop! Goes My Brain

12/17 Elves: Creatures of War

12/18 Santa Jaws: Movie Malpractice

12/19 Better Watch Out: Habitual Cinema

12/20 Rare Exports: The Macabre Tavern

12/21 Christmas Bloody Christmas:

12/22 Silent Night Deadly Night 2: Tales From The Tape

12/23 Gremlins:

12/24 Black Christmas (2019):

12/25 Black Christmas: Horror Concierge

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Modern day children’s entertainment is, to an extent, just slop pumped out to make a quick buck.

That isn’t to say all of it is bad — there are absolute standouts like Bluey. But for every good show that genuinely teaches kids something, there’s a hundred more designed to rot their little brains for ad revenue.

In the age of YouTube, this issue has only gotten worse. YouTube Kids is a curse: an endless feed of god-awful nursery rhymes, uncanny CGI babies, and content that feels like it was once a product of a Delta-8 trip. Gone are the days of Sesame Street reigning supreme, teaching children about the importance of their behavior while also dabbling in the ABCs.

Enter 2011, when the first episode of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared was uploaded on YouTube. Surreal in nature, the video consisted of three puppet characters reminiscent of a classic Jim Henson production: bright primary colors, preschool vibes, the whole package.

However, DHMIS was far from just another children program—in fact, it was quite the opposite, criticizing the very thing it replicated.

Selling Junk to Kids

Episode 5 of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared explored the serious issues of advertising on children's programs. Whether it’s in the show itself or during commercials, these ads play a dangerous role for children’s health.

Throughout the episode, the “healthy” food band contradicts themselves as they try to explain to Yellow Guy and Duck Guy about what foods they “should” be consuming. White sauce is good for you, but then it’s not. This food makes your teeth gray, but it’s also good for your gut.

It’s a confusing song that serves no real purpose for the audience, leaving us with no actual lesson to learn from.

At one point, the episode shows us what looks to be its own version of the food pyramid:

It’s not quite a pyramid, or any shape at all really, and most of the food on it certainly isn’t healthy. Curry, fried chicken, French fries, cigarettes… it’s all on there, yet none of it is exactly nutritious.

The real food pyramid, at least the one that most of us grew up with in the United States, was created in 1992 by the USDA. The base and foundation of every meal was refined grains, such as cereals, breads, and pasta. These foods aren’t “bad” inherently, but it is strange that a supposedly scientific health guide prioritized refined grains over more nutritious whole grains like oats, brown rice, and barley.

But perhaps the most concerning issue came with food lobbying (which is still very much an issue today). Grain and dairy products weren’t part of the pyramid out of science, but rather from the food industry buying their way in.

You can see how this confused adults, never mind children who were fed pizza and cheeseburgers every day for school lunch.

However, I think this episode of DHMIS is focusing primarily on how the food industry so aggressively targets children, especially in ultra processed products.

Like… do you remember when Disney and McDonald’s had a partnership for over 10 years? You know, the one where you could buy McDonald’s fries at Animal Kingdom?

Or maybe we can look at how every sugary cereal brand is covered in bright colors… or how they used to have toys inside… or how they have cartoon mascots… or maybe even how the major cereal brands still try to claim that their products are part of a healthy breakfast.

Not enough for you? Remember when Danimals commercials would come on featuring the Sprouse twins on Disney Channel? Remember how we all wanted to win the Danimals sweepstakes to meet them?

I guess there’s also the various fast-food commercials focusing on toys.

My favorite, though, has to be the old school M&M’s campaigns. Seriously… think about it. The plushies, the merch, the old PC games that I used to be hooked on.

These were all things targeted toward children, despite the fact that they’re all extremely unhealthy and not at all good for a growing kid. I mean, seriously… I shouldn’t have been eating Lunchables… or Chef Boyardee… but damn, did them food scientists do a good job at making them taste great.

By the end of the DHMIS episode, Yellow Guy is left alone in the kitchen. He ate his friend, Duck Guy. But he’s also in the dark, gluttonous as he stares at the empty tin cans.

This ending shot is the perfect allegory for everything we’re talking about here: children are left in the dark about the food they consume, oftentimes unaware of how bad their snacks are.

Red-40 impacts behavior. Excess sugar leads to crashes. Saturated fats make you sluggish. School cafeteria lunches practically engineer disconnection and lack of focus.

So, when Yellow Guy is sitting there with green feathers hanging out his mouth, it’s not for shock value—it’s the end result of kids being raised on great (albeit unethical) marketing instead of real nutrition. DHMIS forces the audience to look deeper into ads and peel back what they really are…

They aren’t there to feed your kids. They’re there to make your kids into future customers… ones sick enough to buy the miracle cures the same companies are to sell them.

Creativity is the Enemy

Children entertainment often focuses on teaching kids how to embrace their creativity.

Shows like Blue’s Clues and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse focus on developing children’s critical thinking skills through imagination, problem solving with colors, shapes, and pretend play. But even with these colorful examples, there’s still an undercurrent pulling children into conformity.

Oftentimes, this is disguised as “following the rules” or doing something “the right way” … even in these bright worlds supposedly fueled by imagination, the message to stay in line still lingers in the background.

In the first episode of DHMIS, this contradicting issue is explored through Sketchbook, explaining to the group what creativity means. On the surface, this all seems well and good, but as the lesson drags on, we see that Sketchbook doesn’t actually want the three to learn true creativity.

As Yellow Guy, the puppet meant to obviously represent a child, keeps trying to express himself, Sketchbook keeps dismissing his attempts. When he paints a clown, she pours oil over it. When he says his favorite color is green, she tells him that green isn’t a creative color.

Of course, this was the most viral episode of all, and most of us remember the outrageous ending with the three main characters cutting into a cake made of organs. The end shows them all visibly shaken up, with Sketchbook telling them to never get creative again.

The message is clear: you created something strange, unsettling, or outside the norm—so you’re no longer allowed to express yourself.

We see this in real life too, especially in schools when art programs are being cut in favor of budgeting for sports and testing. Kids need to stay in line and be marketable, not embrace their creativity and express their true feelings.

This is a policing of creativity, rejecting the very freedom it’s meant to give you.

Spotlight on Children

DHMIS is a series that focuses on the dangers of children’s television. Clearly, there’s always going to be exceptions to this, but DHMIS dives into the obvious issues seen within modern preschool programming.

One of the strongest examples of this is in episode 3, simply titled “Love.”

In this episode, Yellow Guy is recruited by a strange bee character to join his communion. The episode is meant to explore the value of love, both platonically and romantically, but when Yellow Guy begins to ask questions, he is immediately shut down.

In fact, he’s forced into the “communion,” which is later revealed to be a cult.

Yellow Guy becomes a stand-in for every child who is taken advantage of, vulnerable and lonely. Someone who accepts the lesson even if it feels wrong.

Instead of being encouraged to ask questions, he’s told to stay silent and simply accept what he’s told… because here, love means compliance.

And isn’t this what we see in our schools? Kids barely learning fragments of history, watered down and delivered through rose-colored glasses, being taught that questioning the narrative is somehow disrespectful.

But it isn’t just the schools, this goes back to the children’s programming as well. TV shows wrapped in bright colors and cute mascots, preaching about the importance of whatever message they’re teaching that week.

I know it sounds silly, but for me that program is Caillou. Even as a kid I hated this show. While now it’s universally called out for setting an awful example for kids, back then it wasn’t as talked about.

Caillou was just like “any other kid,” except he cried about not getting his way 24/7, acted out all the time, and was a total jerkwad to his baby sister. That wouldn’t be an issue if the show showcased why that was bad… except Caillou never faced any consequences for his own actions. I don’t even remember if he got a “talking to” or a time out.

It disregarded teaching kids about emotional regulation and boundaries, thus creating a generation of potentially dangerous adults.

But maybe that’s too silly… you know what’s not? Thomas the Tank Engine.

Thomas & Friends quite literally is a dystopian hell… but maybe I’ll save that for another time.

What I’m getting at here is that children’s tv shows sometimes masquerade as innocent, but underneath the cutesy colors is something a lot darker.

So, what does Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared all mean?

Once you peel back the layers of shock value and horror, it presents a scathing critique on the modern landscape of children’s media. It is about corruption, money, and manipulation… just like most things in this world.

On the surface, it may seem like just another attempt to make children’s media scary—like many creepypastas back in the day—but it’s really an important tool in showcasing the reality of the situation. DHMIS isn’t a parody, it’s an exposé.

Kids are shaped by what they see, and with their media subtly molding them into obedient little consumers… we’re in desperate need of more stuff like DHMIS to lead the way.

The puppets aren’t the scary part about DHMIS… the people behind the cameras for children’s TV shows are.

P.S. if you liked this one, you’ll probably like my issues about Amanda the Adventurer or Horror That Isn’t Horror.

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It’s 4 a.m.

You fell asleep watching reruns of King of the Hill on Adult Swim. Somewhere in-between the episodes of Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force is when the strange yet familiar sounds of an infomercial begin to infest your ear, crawling its way into your dreams. You awake, but instead of an ad about the newest kitchen gadget, you’re greeted with a standard commercial about an allergy medication.

You reach for your remote. It’s time to retire to bed and call it a night.

But then something happens… the infomercial goes rogue. There is something grabbing at you to stay—no, not just stay—but learn about the side effects of this nasal spray.

After all… isn’t it in your best interest?

Unedited Footage of a Bear

Unedited Footage of a Bear is an episode from Adult Swim’s Infomercial series. It opens with tranquil footage of a bear before cutting abruptly to an all-too-familiar allergy medication ad—the kind that promises serenity in exchange for side effects you’d rather ignore.

There’s an option to skip it, yet we are forced to keep watching. A false sense of autonomy that foreshadows what’s to come.

Which… this ad is clearly designed for YouTube, yet is counting up the seconds as it gives the audience an uneasy feeling of knowing that this is wrong, considering it’s airing on television.

Donna, the ad’s protagonist, becomes addicted to Clairadryl. Her car is flooded with bottles, and she huffs it up like oxygen. Then she meets herself… or, rather, the “medicated” version of herself.

The “other” Donna is clearly unwell: screaming, violent, manic, and detached from reality. She scribbles over her children’s photos, planning for their deaths, as she blames them for taking away the life she never got. What was meant to cure her instead drags her into her own darkness, forcing her to confront the demons crawling underneath.

Meanwhile, the real Donna—broken, bleeding, crawling back toward her home—can only watch as her commercial self takes over.

All the while, police cars swarm her home.

What exactly did Donna do?

Perhaps the forewarning could clue us in: when Donna was driving home, she saw police at a neighbor’s house. They were arresting a deranged man with neon green sneakers. On the ground in a body bag was also a man with neon green sneakers.

In a psychotic episode, the man killed himself. Though, we see police carry out other bags of evidence, which one can assume means his body count is much higher.

So where do we go from here?

Well, it’s obvious that this isn’t a short film about allergy medication. It instead plays into antidepressants, or rather, antidepressant supporters. You know, the ones you see on TV in ads just like this one, listing severe side effects in a monotone voice in hopes that you won’t pay attention to them because of just how boring it all is.

These medications don’t need to actually help you, they just need to make you think that they can.

Donna is suffering from depression. She’s a single mother who lost her husband (as evident from the supporting website that accompanied the film and her speaking about dating), and feels worn down from having to deal with running the household all by herself.

Clairadryl solves all her problems… kinda. Well, it makes her feel high, gives her a little pep, and suddenly the world is full of color again. Yet, her addiction is buried in violent tendencies, torturing her children and thus causing an abusive environment.

Clairadryl hasn’t done anything—in fact it has done the opposite of what it’s supposed to do—and Donna’s addiction has only taken over every aspect of her life.

Perhaps the most frightening part, at least in my eyes, is when Donna is screaming her own name over the phone. She’s trying to make herself stop, but the addiction is far too powerful for her to overcome.

At the end of the film, Donna is seen on the steps of her house, bloodied and bruised, pleading to the police that she doesn’t have a gun.

By the way, guess who directed this? None other than Alan Resnick, the same man in charge of Alan Tutorial. Yeah, suddenly a lot of the imagery, especially with the chairs, makes sense.

If you’re interested in a way more detailed overview, I’d recommend Night Mind’s video on it. He gives great comparisons of Alan Tutorial vs. Unedited Footage of a Bear as well:

This House Has People in It

If I had a quarter for everytime Alan Resnick made an Adult Swim short that went viral…

Yeah, this is his too.

This House Has People in It is a little different from Unedited Footage of a Bear; instead of relying on the ad format, it instead takes on surveillance footage of a family home.

Firstly, I want to say that I am only talking about the film itself here and not the separate ARG website. The website is a beast on its own that includes the most insane Sonic the Hedgehog fanfiction that I will not be be elaborating on. Anyway, just wanted to get that out of the way.

This House Has People in It starts with a shot of a mother and father in the kitchen. The father holds their baby, and they speak about a future vacation they’ve been saving up for. On the floor is their teenage daughter, unmoving, yet present for it all.

The parents argue about their daughter—she doesn’t seem “communicative” enough, she’s too withdrawn for their comfort. It isn’t until the father realizes that she’s stuck on the ground that they actually seem to show real sympathy, panicking about what happened to her as they try to get her off the floor.

In the meantime, their son’s birthday party is meant to happen the same day. Through yelling and tears, they tell him it has to be called off, considering the circumstances.

As all of this goes on, the grandmother watches an arts and crafts show on the tv, seemingly uncaring about what’s going on and in her own little world.

As the parents focus on their oldest daughter, their other two children are neglected. The son is left to pick up the trash of his never-to-be birthday party, and the baby—who was left in the grandma’s care—crawls away into the backyard.

The end of the short ends with the daughter falling through the floor and the camera footage cutting, though we can hear the screams of everyone… it cuts to the front yard to see the birthday guests all on the ground outside too.

So what the hell does this all mean?

At its core, This House Has People in It is about a family imploding. The daughter’s depression is made literal as she is literally sinking, though her parents don’t notice until it’s far too late. They’re too busy with their own thoughts, not paying enough attention to their daughter, as they instead see her behavior as typical teenage rebellion.

It’s also obvious that there’s something strange going on between the parents. A tension, which is seen later on in the basement when the father is frantically telling the mother that he loves her and that they will always be a family. Perhaps then, the daughter’s depression stems from the dysfunctional aspect of her family.

After all, her parents are fighting and neglecting her. Her grandmother is neglectful as well, pointing at this being a cycle through the generations.

And because of her depression, her siblings are affected as well. All of these children are severely neglected, though the parents hide it well, trying to pick up the pieces as much as they can. They love their children, they just can’t seem to connect with them.

Truly, the most horrifying part of this short is the ending. The screeches of terror as the daughter falls through the floor into the basement, the footage cutting to black… the people outside in the same predicament.

It’s a crazy and loopy short film that takes the concept of the dysfunctional family and sculpts it into something far more sinister yet outlandish. It’s a weird-ass metaphor because families aren’t so cut and dry. It’s a perfect way to showcase the horrors of family dynamics.

For those interested in the ARG aspect, Night Mind also made a video on this one:

Too Many Cooks

I’m guessing most of you know this one.

Too Many Cooks went insanely viral, popping into mainstream media for its innovative and creative parody on classic sitcoms.

It clocks in at 11:11 (cool angel number), short enough to leave you laughing—or staring blankly, wondering what the hell you just watched.

It starts out innocently enough, acting as a sitcom intro; characters come on screen and their names are shown. However, this only continues, with the show and music changing genres as a killer stalks the background… all while new Cook members are introduced.

Too Many Cooks goes from 80s sitcom, cop drama, soap opera, medical drama, slasher, G.I. Joe… Star Trek…

Honestly, it goes through pretty much every genre that was popular in the 80s.

There’s no single message here—and that’s part of the horror.

If Unedited Footage of a Bear is the horror of addiction, and This House Has People in It shows the horrors of disconnection, then Too Many Cooks shows the horror of creation.

The real skin-crawling horror comes in for those who are creators. The average audience finds the terror and humor in it on the surface, but those who make art may find something deeper here.

The repetition of it all feels eerily similar to the Hollywood machine. The constant need for remakes, sequels… the lack of respect for creativity.

There seems to be a lack of original films, if only because the reboots are constantly pushed and marketed instead. We see the same stories with different skins every other year, a constant cycle that is pushed out to us because we keep shilling the money.

Too Many Cooks represents how the industry simply sees art as an investment, rather than something that keeps us all glued together. Even something as simple as a sitcom, although “low brow” to some, is art at its core.

Artists are expendable, their art a product. They’re given tight deadlines, told to clean up the “offensive” parts, and smile all while doing it.

The recycling of art only dilutes what it’s meant to be. A message is watered down. A laugh track is gargled. A plotline is drowned. The only thing left is noise disguised as entertainment.

The characters in Too Many Cooks are suffering—they are stuck in a doomed cycle, unable to escape from their own hell. They’re stuck in a loop of industrial neglect.

Adult Swim is no stranger to horror.

Even their bumpers play with uneasiness… remember “The Dawn is Your Enemy”?

One thing that Adult Swim does right is that the network gives artists a chance. No matter how weird or surreal a project may sound, Adult Swim is quick to sign off on it and let it be a reality.

Infomercials was no different, showcasing crazy short films, ranging from absurd comedy to straight up horror surrealism.

Be careful watching late night cartoons. You may just wake up to your newest nightmare.

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Grocery shopping is hell.

If it isn’t people blocking the aisle, it’s somebody walking extremely slow as if they’re trying to be in your way on purpose. If it isn’t the one item you need not being in stock, it’s that one wheel on your cart that’s entirely too squeaky.

It isn’t exactly the most exciting of chores, yet it’s something that unfortunately has to be done.

A lot of people have tried to make the typical grocery shopping experience better, whether that be “inviting” stores like Trader Joe’s or more interactive ones like Jungle Jim’s. Other stores, however, have taken a different approach.

In Las Vegas, Omega Mart has leaned into the weird and quirky side of things to keep customers happy. Their unique and exclusive products make the shopping experience not only more fun but also labels the store as a must-visit destination.

But what many people don’t know is that the grocery store giant is hiding something in its aisles.

Just like any other store, Omega Mart relies on the money to keep rolling in through excessive consumerism… but what happens when we venture into those restricted areas?

“Everything is Fine”

The world might be in a state peril, but you can distract yourself from that with the newest body scrub, you know.

At least, that’s what we’re told by influencers on TikTok, trying to convince us to buy more products. It’s always “RUN, don’t walk” to the nearest Target or TJ Maxx, informing us of the newest cute trinket or food item.

Of course, the stores only lean into the free publicity, embracing the hordes of people clawing into their stores to spend $70 on another limited-edition tumbler cup.

Does anybody remember the Stanley craze that almost immediately died out? Do you remember the videos of people running into Target just to snatch the limited-edition Valentine’s Day cups? Do you also remember that the only difference between them and any other tumbler cup is that it was different shades of pink?

If not that, maybe you remember the strange phenomena of the Hello Kitty “mafia,” which consisted of resellers scouting out stores like TJ Maxx, Marshall’s, and Home Goods for any Hello Kitty memorabilia they could find. Not only did they hide merchandise, but they also would fight any other costumers that dared to eye a Hello Kitty mug.

But hey, if anything, I know you remember the grocery stores during the pandemic. You definitely remember the lack of toilet paper, the scavenging for baby formula, and angry faces of customers and workers alike. All the while, your local Walmart held its head up high with its slogan: “Save Money. Live Better.”

I can’t really dig into just how ironic it is to have that slogan in the faces of people during a time of social distancing and inflation, but we’ll move on.

The key point is that consumerism must live on, even in times of uncertainty and disaster. After all, what would our world be if our multi-billion-dollar corporations weren’t making their quarterly goals? Seriously, how would we have survived if Sephora didn’t tell us to buy that lipstick that was on sale during a time when everybody wore masks?!

In a similar fashion, Omega Mart directly parodies this. Every Omega Mart commercial hides something unsettling — it’s just a matter of figuring out how they manage to sell the discomfort without ever acknowledging it.

Like, don’t pay attention to the strange black hole in the chip aisle. Certainly, don’t pay any mind to the weird Willie Nelson deepfake in our newest ad. Oh, and don’t buy our lemons—they’re not really lemons.

Omega Mart presents itself as a weird 1980s super store, and with that comes its exclusive products. Looking for something to help you feel less guilty? Grab a tub of Plausible Deniability. Or maybe you need something to keep you up for your study sessions? Buy a spray bottle of WAKE UP!

Starting to see a pattern here?

Omega Mart offers the same exact solutions for when your world is falling apart, just like other stores do. The only difference is that Omega Mart does so honestly instead of pouring scented wax into another jar scented “Christmas Sweater on the Beach.”

But hey… who cares about global horrors when there’s a new Lay’s flavor drop, right?

Hidden Aisles

Deep within your local brick-and-mortar store hides secrets within the aisles.

Sometimes, it’s marketing tactics rooted in emotion. Ikea, for example, purposely designs their store like a maze so that it feels like an experience. Ikea isn’t just a store, but rather a mini theme park… food court included! Damn, I really need to get some meatballs soon.

But other secrets are more sinister.

Just like how Omega Mart has secret passageways for its customers to fall down the rabbit hole, so do our everyday corporate overlords. Chanel certainly doesn’t want you to know about its history of supporting Nazis. Nestle doesn’t want you to dig into how they farm chocolate, either. It’s fucking child slave labor, by the way.

Yet, our stores are still lined with Nesquik and Toll House cookies because Nestle is part of the multitude of companies that own basically everything we see on the shelves. So, who exactly owns the grocery store? Here’s the wizards behind the curtain:

• Nestle

• PepsiCo

• Coca-Cola

• Unilever

• Kraft Heinz

How so? You may ask. Because Nestle owns Digiorno Pizza, and PepsiCo owns Quaker, and Coca-Cola owns Fairlife, and Unilever owns Dove, and Kraft Heinz owns Kool-Aid. That’s not even mentioning the other powerhouse companies like P&G, General Mills, or Mars.

But, seriously, there’s like maybe ten companies in the world that control a lot of our “food” supply. That’s terrifying, not just because of the insane power they hold, but because they are the food industry. They spend millions of dollars on food science to see what gets people addicted to their products, later on resulting in obesity and other health issues down the line.

And what happens when you fall victim to lifelong food addiction? Why, you need a cure, of course. Which is when you start buying their low-fat, low-calorie, high-in-protein options! That’s when you invest in Lean Cuisine (Nestle), Special K (Kellogg’s), and SlimFast (formerly Unilever).

How does all this connect to Omega Mart then? Other than the literal secret passageways in the store, the lore behind the grocery giant is far more complex.

Omega Mart is owned by Dramcorp, the corporate entity behind the strange and unusual products in the store. And how do they come up with these products? Without giving too much away… let’s just say DramCorp harvests human consciousness to create its million-dollar ideas.

Sound familiar?

Omega Mart might be here to warn us, but the local Publix isn’t as kind. They line their shelves with products based on making our brain be “happy,” using our cravings against us so that we will continuously rely on these giant megacorporations.

They call it food science, but maybe we should just call it for what it is: manipulation. In 2024, the food industry was given a lawsuit for marketing their addictive ultra processed foods despite knowing the health risks. So, we’ll see how that goes.

When Will We Start Looking?

I had the pleasure to visit Omega Mart in 2022. I went late at night, after we had come in from a long flight, and only really got to discover a fraction of it. Since then, I’ve been wanting to go back and visit for the full experience.

I also have the goal to visit every Meow Wolf location, because I genuinely love the experiences they create.

But Meow Wolf, and thus Omega Mart, does something special: they give you the choice to learn the story behind the art. You can totally go to Omega Mart just to look around; you’re not required to play detective by any means. However, searching for clues and digging into the lore certainly makes the experience much more enjoyable, giving you a deeper understanding of how Omega Mart came to be.

Similarly, we have the choice to dig deeper into what we consume in our own lives. Do we wish to stay in the dark and keep mindlessly buying products made to make us feel bad, or do we do research into why these things make us feel the way they do?

The more you look into these mega corporations, the more they begin to contort into cosmic horrors… too vast to comprehend and too many connections in the industry. You can’t destroy them; you can only witness them in the aisles.

Researching is a skill that Meow Wolf teaches, making us look past the neon aisles of Omega Mart. Everything within the store reflects the reality of what we crave, buy, and need to avoid. Yet, when you start looking for something, doors open up—and suddenly, you’re in charge of how the story unfolds.

So, while Dreamcorp may be fiction, it’s not that far off from reality.

Once you start learning about the things you put into your body, the grocery store becomes a lot easier to navigate. I don’t really go into the aisle anymore; I mostly stay on the outside with the produce, meats, and dairy products. Obviously, there’s the instances where I need rice, pasta, sauces—and don’t get me wrong, I LOVE junk food. I just choose to eat it sparingly now, which really cuts down cravings once you retrain your palate.

But anyway… hit me up if you wanna do a Meow Wolf road trip lol. Maybe we can find our own hidden passageways along the way.

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Anyone can get famous now.

Perhaps that sounds like an overstatement, but I feel as if the creation of apps like TikTok have made mainstream success much easier for the average Joe.

Well—scratch that—maybe I shouldn’t say “mainstream,” considering I don’t know who half of the influencers are anymore.

Which isn’t a flex, it’s simply an observation about how many influencers exist now. It is practically impossible to keep up with every single person, never mind the new celebrities they’ve been inventing recently (that Sombr guy was invented last week or something, I don’t know I can’t keep up with anything anymore time is an illusion).

To be fair, influencers existed before TikTok. Instagram influencers, YouTubers, and Viners were all popular long before the now-famous short-form content app launched. However, it did seem a little bit more difficult to build a following on those platforms.

It would be silly to not mention how easy it is to gain traction on TikTok. One video can garner millions of views within a few days, spreading like wildfire. The 15 minutes of fame is more like 15 seconds nowadays.

But back in 2011, things weren’t as easy. That’s where the YouTube channel alantutorial comes in.

Many of you have probably seen the now famous “how to crush a can of dr. pepper with slats of wood” video, which went viral after it was shared around on various websites. It was seen as a “get a load of this guy” type of thing, especially with how the man recording the video seeming to have developmental challenges in some way.

Most people watched the video, had a quick laugh, and moved on. There wasn’t any incentive to go to Alan’s YouTube channel and see what else the guy was up to… but some people, maybe out of pure curiosity because they were wondering why the hell a guy would drill into a soda can, decided to dig deeper.

What most people found isn’t something anybody could have predicted.

Starting Out

Alan started posting tutorial videos on YouTube in 2011. His first few videos were far from suspicious; they seemed to be fairly similar in their content, with Alan creating how-to videos about the mundane.

However, Alan’s videos weren’t exactly useful to most people. His tutorials were more like a child making something up on the fly rather than actual useful instructions, seemingly copying other popular content he had seen on the website.

As Alan’s videos went on, it was clear something was wrong. Alan is very childlike—made obvious by his hijinks and conversational tone.

But what’s wrong isn’t Alan himself, but rather the environment he’s in. Somehow, he gets a hold of power tools, electrical equipment, and other items he shouldn’t have access to. It’s especially concerning when one video shows him carelessly using a milter saw. Yet in all of these videos, it seems as if Alan is having fun… to some extent.

Alan has caretakers—his brother and his brother’s girlfriend—but they’re neglectful of his living conditions, as seen by his various power tool tutorials. For the most part, Alan is alone, and his silly videos are what’s helping him cope with everything around him.

It isn’t until the Alan posts about the “blue chair” that we realize what exactly happened to put him in the environment: his mother (the blue chair) died of some kind of medical emergency, as evident by how Alan acts when it falls down.

So, what’s the run down?

Alan feels trapped and alone, so he starts making YouTube tutorials to feel a sense of worth. By creating these videos, he feels as if there’s a group of people cheering him on; he feels wanted.

Although he enjoys creating these videos, suddenly he feels lost in creating the “next big thing,” making sure each new tutorial is better than the last. The more he leans into these “fantastical” tutorials, the more Alan begins to hurt himself. In his tutorial titled “Air Conditioner (AC) installation tutorial, proper,” Alan is seen bleeding—he is literally injuring himself from trying to recreate the fame he seen from his infamous soda can video.

And haven’t we seen this all before? Perhaps more evident on TikTok—how many accounts have we seen so desperately try to recreate the 15-minutes-of-fame? The dry and unfortunate attempts, only to be left in the void of the internet.

While we can laugh at it in some regard, it becomes a lot more tragic when we see more cases like Alan—typically labeled lolcows—being used at entertainment. Don’t get me wrong, many of these individuals are horrid human beings: racist, predatory, animal abusers, or all three. But some of these people are simply mentally disabled and don’t necessarily know that they’re being trolled, thus being pulled into a cycle of internet harassment.

I will say, that’s sort of a diamond in the rust; most of these people aren’t exactly standup individuals. Maybe one of the best examples being Amberlynn Reid, who I’m sure you’ve seen a clip of before at least once if you’re as chronically online as me. (Cue the “they gave me the wrong SANDWICH” video.)

Still, these are people that AlanTutorial is meant to parody and critique, showcasing the dangers of what being on a public platform can do to someone.

In Alan’s case, we learn that he has a form of autism. While, yes, in some instances it’s an exaggeration of the disorder, it’s clear to the audience that Alan is just an innocent pawn in the overarching abyss of the internet.

The Beginning to the End

At some point, Alan is locked out of his room. His brother, sick of Alan tearing apart the house, essentially kicks him out.

By “kicks him out,” I mean he literally barricades the window, keeping Alan from even attempting to come back inside.

Alan becomes homeless, scavenging the streets for any kind of food he can find, all while he continues filming and uploading his “tutorials.” Yet, these videos only get stranger the more he uploads, each one becoming more unhinged than the last as Alan struggles to hold onto his sanity.

Soon, Alan is seen in the woods, acting almost feral as he runs around trying to find things to do for his videos.

It’s quite obvious this is meant to be the point where he’s beginning to spiral—when, despite no matter how hard you try, your content just won’t quite get the same virality it once did. Or perhaps it’s that you want to please your audience so badly, you keep doing the same thing over and over again.

For Alan, he’s clinging onto the only thing he has left. The videos remain his only outlet to express himself. It isn’t that he’s grasping for fame, but rather that he’s reaching out for somebody to recognize he needs help. And yet, nobody seems to notice—or care—that he’s all alone in the woods making nonsensical tutorials.

And then, out of nowhere, Alan is saved.

Or is he?

This Isn’t an Exit

We see Alan in a small room. He’s clean, in a hospital gown, and seemingly in what feels like some sort of test environment. It feels as if he’s become a human experiment, being told he must continue to create tutorials to stay.

Alan agrees for some time—at least until he gets fed up with being forced to make tutorials. No longer does he feel joy or comfort from what was once his creative outlet. Instead, he’s stressed from constantly having to crank out new content.

And, because he feels as if there’s no real incentive to keep going, he tries to change his content. No longer does Alan wish to make tutorials, but rather the news. For a few videos, he keeps it up, acting as if he’s running a “news channel.” It isn’t until he’s given supplies to do a sort of volcano experiment that he does a news/tutorial hybrid, before finally returning back to tutorials altogether.

But the only reason he decides to continue making them is because he gets a dollar for every new tutorial. Now, he finally has an incentive. He’s getting the fruits of his labor.

All of this is to say: Alan is back at cranking out tutorials. Now, he has an audience, money, and a reason to create.

And while this may seem all fine and dandy, it’s obvious that Alan is spiraling again, focusing on the wrong things. In a Google Hangout, we see Alan hanging from the door with his “dollar man” surrounded by bottles of piss like some sort of ritual.

This is the point of the series where it truly feels like a critique of internet culture.

People start out creating content for fun or for an outlet. They gain an audience, go viral, and suddenly they need to chase the high again. In Alan’s case, I can even argue how it feels reminiscent of the old-school Multi-Channel Networks that many YouTubers fell victim to when trying to monetize.

It is a never-ending cycle of greed and the human need for socialization. It’s even more tragic with Alan’s case, considering the loneliness of his situation.

But is this really that bad?

Sure, it sounds like a case of burnout and unrequited validation, but what else? What makes this an issue, really?

Is This Escape?

The last videos on Alan’s channel feel like a fever-dream, with a disgusting hoarder-like room filled with filth. It’s dark, eerie, and in the distance, you can see what looks like human legs rotating like a rotisserie chicken at the Walmart deli.

It’s the culmination of everything Alan has been suffering through. From the heart ache of his family to the cycle of content farming, Alan is forced to live in the filth that was created from a rotten atmosphere.

Black sludge clings to him, and the only thing Alan can do is escape. There is no other option.

In his last video, Alan is able to break through the walls and find freedom. But it pains me to know if that’s what it truly is.

Alan escaped the internet and what it had done to him, but what else is there for him? Does he go back to being homeless? Does he go to the police for help? Where does he go from here?

Perhaps that doesn’t matter. In my head, Alan escaped and is finally free from the pain he was forced into. Maybe he’s frolicking in the meadow, surrounded by dragonflies and butterflies, at peace with the world around him.

On the other hand, this feels strikingly similar to other creators who have gone dark after feeling like the internet became too much. Jenna Marbles feels like the most obvious example, considering she was a beloved YouTuber before she decided to leave for good in 2020. It was her own choice, made after realizing that her old, controversial content hadn’t aged well.

Yet nowadays, I feel like this level of self-awareness has disappeared. TikTok beggars plague the platform without shame, the NPC livestream trend became a thing, and let’s not forget the countless idiotic challenges born from people desperate for a viral moment.

It’s rare now to see people simply leave. Maybe that’s because the pandemic changed people’s brains, with so many glued to the screen to gain some sense of normalcy during a time of isolation. For many, leaving the internet feels impossible.

So, what is Alan’s story to us?

It’s a cautionary tale. One to remind us of what the internet does to people, how it twists us into doing things we aren’t equipped for. It’s a warning to those chasing numbers instead of joy.

Do what you love, and forget the rest.

Here’s to you, Alan.

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Analog horror this, analog horror that—what about the dangerously terrifying unfiction series that plague the depths of YouTube?

What happened to Ash Vlogs and Alantutorial? And if you have no idea what the hell I’m talking about, you’ve probably seen something about Omega Mart—a giant, interactive unfiction story in Las Vegas disguised as a tourist attraction.

But maybe I still need to explain the concept… that’s fair.

Unfiction is any piece of horror that presents itself as real, or at least linked to the real world in some way. For example, Omega Mart presents itself as a totally legitimate grocery store. When you visit their location in Las Vegas, you can even buy items right off the shelves… it truly is a top-of-the-line checkout experience.

All of this is my long-winded way of saying I really want to rant about the Monument Mythos, which isn’t just my favorite unfiction series, but possibly my favorite digital horror series of all time. It’s beautifully crafted, focusing on the monuments of America (mostly), exploring the dark secrets that hide in plain sight.

It’s, in my opinion, one of the most entertaining horror series on YouTube. Unlike other analog horror, MM uses multiple formats—analog, old-school digital, even educational PowerPoints. It stays fresh without being overwhelming and feels more legitimate in its unfiction identity.

Monument Mythos feels real. Not only are the historical aspects so wonderfully researched and twisted, but the overall production is of a higher quality than most analog horror series.

It’s original. It’s wacky.

It’s crazy, scary, spooky, hilarious (finally, I can insert another Kendrick Lamar reference in my newsletter!).

But it’s all those things because it taps into something very real in our everyday lives: the corruption running through the American government.

LIBERTYLURKER

What is the symbol of America?

Most of us would agree that it’s the Statue of Liberty. Lady Liberty is the first thing immigrants would see when they sailed into Ellis Island, setting the tone for optimistic souls craving the American dream.

These individuals grasped for a better life, with many suffering from famine, war, or oppression. Unfortunately, like in real life, there was no escaping the harsh realities of the world even by going to America in the Monument Mythos universe.

This episode of MM takes us on a journey about the creation of Lady Liberty, showing us blueprints and several alterations to the statue’s pedestal. One blueprint, named “ST-LI 1.8084,” reveals a mechanism intended to be installed in the statue itself—a blueprint that was classified for 36 years before finally being released to the public.

Perhaps the most disturbing part about the Statue of Liberty is how the idea of something being off is first introduced to us. An Italian immigrant, named Eleonora Bramante, is quoted saying: “Ellis Island was awful. The whole place reeked of flesh, like a slaughterhouse.”

As immigrants were brought into Ellis Island, some were led astray. While others were granted access to America’s soil, some weren’t as lucky… instead being led into a far more horrifying fate.

In August 1985, the Statue of Liberty shifted to the side, detaching itself from the pedestal. An entity is seen escaping, called the “LIBERTYLURKER” by the public.

The entity, later dubbed as the “Horned Serpent” in the series, was contained within the statue, with immigrants being used as sacrifices to keep its hunger at bay. However, with the immigration offices closing in 1954, the serpent was left unfed.

All of this ties into original point: Monument Mythos is a series about insane Eldritch horrors within America’s great monuments, packed with horror, comedy, and lots of intertwined multiversal lore. But it’s also a series tapping into the true realities of the country, which is why its unfiction setting feels so eerily natural to our own.

To me, LIBERTYLURKER represents the lies not only many immigrants were told, but also the ones many of us grow up believing in America.

When I stood every morning at school with my hand over my heart to pledge allegiance to the flag, it never occurred to me that it wasn’t the norm in other countries around the world. While, yes, almost every country has its own national anthem, there’s no allegiance to be made to a flag of any sort.

By the time you reach middle school, you practically memorize the words, numbingly repeating it every day for 12 years until you graduate high school. It’s something that’s burned into your memory as an American, but also important for me to bring up specifically in how we are made to believe what America is:

“I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION UNDER GOD, INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.”

On the surface, our pledge just sounds like another patriotic mantra. It is simply what our country is meant to symbolize, utilizing its identity of being a welcoming melting pot to all.

But there’s a lot more to it than that.

US-born citizens and immigrants alike are taught to aim for the American Dream. The house, the white picket fence, the partner, the kids, the dog… by the time we reach 35, we’re supposed to have the perfect little suburban household.

And, honestly, it doesn’t seem as difficult as it really is when you’re being spoon-fed all the success stories as a kid.

I grew up in a trailer, and yet somehow, I still thought: one day, I’ll have the American Dream. Instead, I was met with a horrible job market, outrageous rent, and everybody hating each other for some reason.

That doesn’t mean I gave up hope (maybe that’s the small light of patriotism still in me), it just means I looked past the flashy propaganda that the government put in front of me.

And I think that’s what is so special about LIBERTYLURKER for me. It is quite literally the perfect metaphor for the average American experience. We come in with hope, looking forward to a bright future, but there’s a strange scent that fills our nostrils. Something indescribable, yet there, and it isn’t until the government truly reveals itself that we realize: Oh… it was never real, was it?

The Horned Serpent hides beneath the Statue of Liberty, secretly feeding on victims, only to benefit itself. It doesn’t care if they have lives—it doesn’t care if they had hopes and dreams to “make it.” The only thing that needs to “make it” is the Serpent itself.

But there’s another layer to all this: the Horned Serpent is not just some monster, but rather a deranged mutation of George Washington. It is revealed in the series that George Washington transformed into the Horned Serpent after he struck a “special tree” (more on that later), thus becoming a massive time-bending multiversal entity.

The Founding Father, our first president, the man we look up to as Americans. The man who is seen as a wonderfully kind and honest gentleman. He is taught in schools as a man to be our role model. A man that, in many aspects, we treat godly. Yet… he is eating our immigrants. He is destroying everything our country stands for. He is hiding in a statue of freedom.

WASHINGTONWORMHOLE

What if the Washington Monument is hiding something?

According to the Monument Mythos, it is.

In 1848, construction of the Washington Monument began. Although it wasn’t until 1910 that the monument became a major tourist attraction, its strange and haunting melodies were already hard to ignore.

As more and more people visited the monument, missing person reports began to plague the area. From 1910-1971, over 20 people went missing while visiting the monument. These weren’t just any missing person cases; these people seemingly vanished out of thin air. These missing people are called the Washington Absentees.

The following year, in 1972, a classified tape is leaked by several news agencies. The film, titled Washington Standard Operation, showcases what actually happens within the Washington Monument. Visitors are lifted to the top of the monument to hear the “music” of the walls. Once they reach the top, the soundwaves reverb throughout the inner walls of the tower, causing visitors to pass out. the visitors then fall out of the lift and down to the floor below. Whether they survive is unknown.

In 2003, a video of the Washington Monument takes a shocking turn when the “special tree” seems to be peeking out of its hiding spot. As the video continues, lightning flashes like crazy, and the monument is seen bending down as if it were inspecting the person recording it.

Years later, the 19 Washington Absentees are found unconscious at the base of the tower. Their conditions remain unknown.

19 PEOPLE WERE RECOVERED.

19 PEOPLE WERE REMEMBERED.

But what about the last one? The 20th absentee is seemingly scrubbed from any records, implying that there’s more to the coverup than previously thought.

There is something about WASHINGTONWORMHOLE that’s particularly eerie. Perhaps it’s because it’s the first episode I discovered from the series, back before the M4NTICOR3 YouTube channel had over 298k subscribers.

This was still in the early days, to some extent, when Monument Mythos was still releasing new episodes of “season 1.” Hell, this was before there were seasons.

Watching this video for the first time, without any context, was a doozy. It was on my recommended page, and out of pure human curiosity, I decided to click on it. It’s strange how real it feels in the moment, when you let your brain simply take in the concept that, maybe—just maybe—this is a real documentation of the Washington Monument.

You forget it’s all fiction, if only for a moment, because it feels so painfully… realistic.

The government isn’t a stranger to hiding things from us. There are multiple documented cases of special operations or backdoor deals that are kept classified from the general public. Off my head I can recall MK-Ultra, a very real and disturbing experiment that the CIA was in charge of.

Victims of all ages and classes were taken against their will and tested on. From high doses of psychedelics, electroshock, and other terrible torture… and yet that’s only a fraction of what we were ALLOWED to know.

And I can’t help but think: if they hide things like MK-Ultra, is it really that crazy to think there’s a tree inside the Washington Monument?

Well… yeah. But story-wise, it’s a completely logical conclusion.

WASHINGTONWORMHOLE is about the public’s willingness to trust the government so easily. To think there can’t be anything hidden from them, because after all, we’re a democratic nation… right? We the people and all that.

Yet here we are in 2025 with more questions than answers. And in 2035, maybe it’ll be different… or maybe we’re just used to the secrets by now.

I mean, we still don’t really know the full extent to Area 51. There are aliens or something there, right?

FREEDOMFALLER

“I thought she would set me free. But Freedom did not give me freedom.”

In 1857, Thomas Crawford was tasked with creating the Statue of Freedom—it now sits on the top of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. for onlookers to admire.

But Freedom wasn’t always so motionless in her stature.

It is said that Crawford passed away while working on Freedom. Crawford was nearly obsessive with his work. Some say that the Statue of Freedom holds the echo of his obsession.

His daughter, Nina Crawford, mysteriously went missing right after his death… although her journal was found near the statue.

An excerpt from her journal, translated from Italian:

21 April

I am very hungry. The boxes are tied with rope, so I cannot get out by myself. There is a loud noise in the room, like clay being dragged across the floor.

I can hear the ropes being cut and something big coming out the box. Is it Papa? There are more sounds, like wood being broken.

Since the ropes broke, I quickly got out of the box and found some bread and fruit in the room next door.

And I am wrong.

It isn’t Papa, but it has his eyes.

When the Statue of Freedom arrived in America, Philip Reed was so mesmerized by her beauty he crafted a short memoir about her. He recalls how, when the ship arrived, the plaster body was absent, and instead a tall, wounded woman took its place.

Reed asks the crew where the statue is. They explain that, inside of the woman is the plaster. Below is what follows in his writing:

Freedom craved liberation so terribly,

She tried to take it for herself.

But off the ship, she was dragged away.

Freedom, locked up.

Freedom, in chains.

They tell me,

I have to take it out of her.

So hook, rope, peel, and pull.

When it was done,

Freedom stood motionless,

Freedom stood still.

Decades later on January 6th, 1977, a riot at the Capitol resulted in the Statue of Freedom being shot off the building. What followed was Freedom’s dormant cycle finally breaking; Freedom was now awake.

In footage that was recovered from the incident, Freedom’s head can be seen near a door frame within the building. Then, she disappears from view, only for the screams of a woman to be heard. If one listens closely, they can hear the noises of human skin stretching across the surface.

Freedom comes back into view. But the bronze is no longer.

So… FREEDOMFALLER is different.

It’s my favorite episode of the entire series. It is so calm in its approach, yet grotesquely terrifying all the same. From the start of the episode, things go awry when Thomas Crawford’s eyes can be seen within the statue’s metal eyelids.

But things only get worse, as it’s heavily implied that Freedom kills people in order to wear their skin. Considering that the Statue of Freedom is 19.5 feet tall, she’s forced to stretch her victim’s skin over her body to make it fit.

In all honesty, this is one of those episodes where you have to watch it for it to truly settle into your bones. It’s how everything perfectly falls into place, with each entry becoming more disturbing with every passing minute.

But what is this episode about?

This is probably the most obvious of them all, especially with the inclusion of Phillip Reed, who was a slave during the Capitol’s Construction. He oversaw the final casting of Freedom.

Reed is forced to peel away Freedom’s skin, turning her back into a dormant statue. However, Reed hopes she one day reawakens.

Remember, this statue was placed on the Capitol Building during the Civil War… a key detail in understanding what all of this is about.

It is almost ironic to know that Freedom was placed during the Civil War, as she is the symbol of what our country prides itself on. Yet, America’s claim to freedom is lackluster at best.

While the Revolutionary War gave birth to the idea of freedom from tyranny, the concept of justice and freedom for all in America was still a work in progress.

Despite America being built on the foundation of freedom, it’s rare to see it throughout our history. Before the colonies, the land of the United States was invaded by Christopher Columbus, with many Native Americans becoming victims of slavery.

Things didn’t exactly become better once we did become a country. Only men of a certain class could vote. Slavery still ran rampant. Women were to be seen, not heard.

By the 1840s, immigration surged due to outside factors like the Great Famine in Ireland. Yet, immigrants were treated like lower-class citizens. The Irish especially were targets, seen as the source of criminal activity due to being “inferior.”

There are plenty of other instances, of course: the Chinese immigrants who built our railroads, any unfortunate lad who decided to be poor, and who could forget the depressing Trail of Tears incident that resulted in the deaths of many.

What I’m trying to say here is that America’s goal is freedom, but its history is shrouded in tragic realities we must not forget, unless we wish to repeat them.

There is no freedom without a trail of innocent blood left behind, but how much longer must we sacrifice for this so-called “freedom”? Have we ever truly experienced the real freedom? Or will we never be able to, as her skin was ripped away from her body before we could see her?

But when I think back on that last scene of the episode… I can’t help but hear the same question echo in my head: “Can you hear the screams of freedom?”

Monument Mythos is something you need to watch in full to truly appreciate what it has to offer. Nothing sounds better than a rainy day on the couch with a hot cocoa in hand binge-watching the entire series, in my opinion. Because what I gave you here is only a fraction of the universe that has been built.

What I love about it is that it unapologetically tells truths. It uses our real history to tell horror stories from beyond, yet it manages to balance the supernatural terror with a bit of humor, at least

It so easily calls out the corruption in our government simply by saying “hey, there’s a monster hidden in there.” And yet, it never feels anti-American to me.

Monument Mythos feels like a love letter to America… to some degree. It celebrates American history, monuments, and even some of the sillier presidential ideas. There are two sides to the coin, both valuable despite being heads or tails.

So… what monument do you plan on visiting soon?

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