ashley campbell genuinely had nothing to do with sal’s death and there was absolutely nothing she could have done to stop it. it is so disgusting to see this fandom talk about her like shes the devil. the cult is what killed sal, yet somehow i see less disdain for them??
the game directly tells us that ashley had tried in every way she could to prevent sal’s death. it obviously did not work because the cult had full control and blocked each attempt.. not to mention that sal’s word are just a very hard thing to prove in general anyways because of the absurdity of them. everyone just loves to ignore the fact that ashley worked her ass off for the ENTIRE three years and instead just choose to believe that she only stepped in at the end because it gives them more delusions to hate her for.
a lot of people like to say “well she should have tried harder!” or “she should have gone to treehouse sooner!”, when the truth is that regardless of what she did or when she did it, nothing would have happened anyways.
it was also implied that ashley may have visited the treehouse multiple times before. i truly dont think her going up there was a last minute decision. what makes sense to be her actual “last minute decision”, was going up into the treehouse and attempt to take a damn picture of the ghost of a man who was not even proven to be dead in the first place. which is.. not an unreasonable thing NOT to consider at all.
despite popular belief, ashley did not testify against sal.
in actuality, ashley’s testimony was entirely in sal’s favor, if not neutral for the most part. she only spoke of her side of the story, the entire truth, and talked about how she thought sal may have been mentally unwell. a lot of people see that as just her being “mean” when actually, she was being very strategical.
if the defendant is deemed as mentally unstable (insane) by the courts, then they should be given the insanity plea, or NGRI (not guilty for reason of insanity). this is actually a ruling in which the defendant could benefit from, as it claims that they are so severely mentally unwell, that they could not distinguish their actions as something that was wrong to do, nor that they were even in complete and conscious control while doing so.
because of this, had this been sal’s ruling, his sentence would have been lightened. ash adding in the details that she thought he needed help, was not something she was using to insult him or make the courts go against him more.
the only reason this did not work is because, again, the cult has full control. their presence and manipulation is everywhere. their goal was to kill sal and they were going to ensure that it happened regardless of what anyone tried, such as ashley. no amount of evidence could have saved sal because his fate was to be killed at the hands of the cult. it had been his fate since the minute he was born, and it is not only a subtle theme we see throughout the episodes leading up to his death, but also something that is more or less directly confirmed in episode 5.
nothing ashley could have done would have ultimately saved sal.
a lot of people like that think that ashley actually did “know more than she was sharing”, when the game actually clearly lays it out for us that she does not.
if there is anything we learned from sal, larry, todd, jim, mrs. sanderson, the massacre of 1983, and maybe even neil and maple, (and including many others im sure), is that the cult tends to take out those they see as threats; those who know too much. a likely reason that they never felt the need to “silence” ash along the way is because she really just didnt know. she had no proof and no means to stop them, at least not in time. and they were aware of that. if ash truly did “know more than she was leading on”, then we would know. because she would be dead.
“ermmm well she was there in episode 3 so clearly she knows everything!” is such a high overestimate of her knowledge. yes.. okay.. she was there in episode 3. however all she found out that mrs. packerton was actually a psycho who went around kidnapping people and killing them to turn them into bologna. now how exactly does that prove a cult’s or ghost’s or demon’s existence? trick question. it doesnt.
the absolute most she witnessed first-hand was the empty temple. and again, that raises the question, how does that prove a cult? and yet again, it doesnt.
in episode 4 we are told that ashley just isnt around so much for the boys’ freaky ghost and cult shit anyways. not only because she left state, but also because they deliberately try to keep her out of things like that sometimes.
ashley does not believe or really care for the paranormal; todd described her as being “”fresh eyes”” for their research; when ashley came to visit sal even practically said he liked it when she wasnt there because of how used he got to being without her.
so many times does this game try to center in on the fact that ashley does not know. that she just isnt present for a lot of what they do. it needs us to know this, not only because it is vitial information for ashley’s character alone, but also for the entire story itself.
a concerning amount of people like to think she is “faking her cluelessness”, even when it is laid out for us that she really just DOESNT know. and in order for the game to work, she cant. shes not supposed to.
TDLR; ashley had zero fault for sal’s death.
im so sick and tired of a bunch of illiterate misogynists trying to blame ashley for everything. she didnt even do anything wrong regardless and the kinds of things people say about her just because they refuse to believe it is genuinely disgusting.
ashley campbell is innocent!!!!!!
look at this sweet girl. how could anyone possibly hate her😭😭💔💔💔💔
