#externals

Externals directly based on a fear from an event or superstition (Mr, Bonzo with the Bonzo Butcher, Heinrich Unheimich from the stories of his doll, Adam with the social experiments by Dr. Augustine). They were never human, they're directly created from storytelling and pure fear itself.

Externals that were people who got close enough to fear to become influenced by it (Ink5oul, maybe Needles and Lady Mowbry?). They were human first, but something happened that made them less human. Ink5oul is the only direct example i have of this one.

The first category seems to have a more direct correlation to the type of fear they represent. Mr. Bonzo sprang up after the events of The Bonzo Butcher, created by the stigma surrounding the character in the aftermath. Heinrich Unheimlich only came to life after German kids got scared enough of his tales, and has explicitly been modified over the years, expressed with the existance of his Workshop, which didn't get added until at least a century after he came to life. Adam i'm less sure about, but I think he's passed the threshold from android and now into External, if he even was actually an android in the first place.

The second cateogry seems to be more akin to the Avatars back in TMA, having a bit more of a broader control of power, yet still slightly centered. Ink5oul's tattoos can give an array of powers and effects to the people they give them to, which so far has been quite a broad category (The girl from ep 1, that one influencer, the girl who got stuck in that timeloop). Needles might be based on the whole drug scare thing with like dirty needles and stuff, I'm not completely sure, and the same goes for Lady Mowbry. They were both kind of bad examples since we only have one statement for both of them, unlike the prior mentioned.

- Bigfoot/The Sasquatch (not as active as he used to be, very famous in the 70s and 80s)

- Barney the Dinosaur (might still be active, height of fear was the 2000s. how angry do you think he is about the horrible childhood poems)

- Bloody Mary (still very active)

- Mothman (moreso retired a la Heinrich. very scary in the 60s, disappointed in his memeification)

- Roswell Grey Aliens (still very active, especially in the southwest)

- Slenderman (VERY active still, peak was in the 2010s)

bonus: not externals but definitely places in the USA that have cases on file

- The Bridgewater Triangle in Massachusetts

- Lake Lanier in Georgia

- Appalachian mountains, specifically in Alabama and West Virginia

“Never judge a book by its…”

It’s classic. It’s cliché. And it’s still needed.

Because one of the most common things that we stumble on is appearances, on how things look from the outside. The externals.

Whether it involves people, possessions, or events for most of us it is all too easy to focus on the externals.

Sometimes, we focus on them because we assume that they tell might us something about what’s going on inside.

Usually, we focus on the externals because we’ve mistaken them for the important part.

The point that Jesus is making with His unsettling responses in today’s Gospel (all leading up to this one - “No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks back to what was left behind is fit for the Kingdom of God”) is about seeing the externals for what they really are.

Sometimes the externals can point us in the right direction. Most of the time though, they don’t.

Most of the time, they’re not the important part. Most of the time, they’re just something extra. Something that keeps changing, something that passes away.

The point that Jesus is making is that once we understand what the externals really are, we’ll let them go.

We’ll put our time and attention where it needs to be – on the only thing that matters in the end, the only thing that stands firm.

Don’t focus on the external. Focus on the Eternal.

“While the world changes, the Cross stands firm.” – St. Bruno of Cologne