André Ramao, 06.12.2012, ?

Andre is an antiques dealer, and starts by discussing its decline as an industry. In the past he would have been loath to buy from Mikaele Salesa - who had a reputation for acquiring quality goods illegally. Eventually, he needed to stoop to that level seeing as the antiques market was suffering, and he was struggling to sell his goods. 

Salesa showed him his showroom, there were many impressive pieces, but his eyes eventually settled on a pot from the Jiajing period - but noted something was off about the design. Instead of pictures or scenes, it was decorated with clear, geometric lines, repeating and getting smaller and more intricate as he looked. He took it home eventually, and soon started beginning to lose things. Not just that he’d lose them, but that after losing them everyone would claim that he’d never owned the thing in the first place, or it had never existed. He lost his shoes this way, his favourite book, a tie from his birthday, his grandfather’s teapot, and a tunic he bought from Salesa.

He wasn’t charged for it by Salesa, and he didn’t remember owning it - claiming that this meant it now belonged to him. When he tried to sell it, everyone would forget to send an email or stop responding. 

He took to watching it late at night, and one night when trying to rub his eyes he heard a sound from the vase. His book had been returned from it, and he was alerted by its thump on the table. Everything came back out, and when it had, pale, long thin fingers with dirty fingernails began to creep over the ledge of the pot. He ran, and when he returned his husband David was gone. He wants to smash the vase, but now can’t find it. 

Notes: Love the spiral, and I love this episode. Tim found a copy of his marriage lisence, which is signed and dated, but half is blank. Jon topples a shelf trying to kill a spider. Him and Sasha agree not to tell Martin, as he loves spiders. The collapsing shelf reveals a fake wall, behind which is apparently a lot of worms.

Entities: The spiral

Names mentioned:

Mikaele Salesa

André Ramao

Martin Blackwood, 12.03.2016, Boothby rd, Archway, London.  

Martin gives a statement on why he has been missing - “sick” - for several episodes. When investigating the case discussed in MAG 16, Martin went to Carlos Vittery’s flat. No one answered, and he ended up climbing through a window into the basement. Outside he saw a silver worm, which charged him, and he squashed it. The air smelled musty and full of dust, and his shadow looked like it was moving in the light. He was greeted in the building above by a woman in a headscarf who didn’t speak English, she gestured to a man - Yassir Kundi - and closed the door. Yassir owned the building and confirmed that Carlos lived in the flat and that his cat was living with a couple on another floor now.

Martin returned to work, but when heading home he decided to check the spider webs in the basement. When he returned, the spider webs were old, but when he turned he saw a woman standing with her back to him. She coughed into a green handkerchief, worms falling onto the floor from her mouth. She didn’t react to light, but when she heard him She had holes in her skin, and when she stepped forward and they spilled out in a wave. He tried to take a picture but dropped his phone as a worm leapt up at him. He fled and went home to Stockwell.

He awakens later to a knock at the door and was about to open it when he remembered the woman. He spotted and crushed a small worm and blocked every possible gap for the worms to get in. He spent 13 days in his flat unable to contact anyone and remembered learning about Jane Prentiss. He recalled that Jane claimed to be a practicing witch and had been infected by a dangerous unknown parasite. The knocking continued, but Jane never tried to break down the door.

The knocking eventually stopped. and he ran to work.

Notes: This is the first time we properly get to hear Martin on tape 😊 Jon offers Martin a room in the archives, and explains he had been getting texts from his phone - saying that he was ill or may gave some sort of parasite. They receive a text saying "Keep him, we have had our fun. He will want to see it when the Archivist's crimson fate arrives." - possibly a reference to the unknowing?

Entities: The corruption

Names mentioned:

Carlos Vittery (Mag 16)

Yassir Kundi (Owner of Carlos’ building)

Sanderson (Couple who now owns Major Tom)

Lawrence Mortimer, 09.12.10, Blue Ridge, Virginia, USA

When Lawrence turned 50, he decided to indulge in a long-time dream of his to go properly hunting and experience real adventure. He organised the trip with Arden Neeli, a fellow hunting enthusiast from Richmond. They ended the first day without bagging any kills, and while setting up camp were surprised to hear someone whistling “a hunting we will go”.  A man emerged in unsuitable clothes for hiking, they asked if he needed help, to which he replied no. He gave them a long sniff, and oddly commented that tomorrow would be a good day for a run. Lawrence later thought he heard laughing outside of his tent. 

The next day, Lawrence found an elk, but heard a gunshot ring out before he had a chance to shoot. He turned to find Arden had disappeared. He found him a few minutes later in a clearing with his throat torn out. He knew that Arden was already dead, but fumbled to check his pulse anyway, knowing somewhere in his heart that it was futile. The man appeared suddenly whistling the same tune, arm covered in blood. He lurched towards Lawrence, who took off into the forest. 

He ran for what felt like hours, and all the while the man followed - always letting him know he was there. Lawrence knew he could easily be caught, but that the man was enjoying the chase. Eventually he heard the whistling and realised he’d been chased in a circle back to where Arden had died. The man reappeared in the clearing, everything about him seeming sharper in the moonlight - eyes, teeth, hair, fingernails. The creature swung at him lazily, which he deflected before emptying both clips of his gun into the creature’s body. It didn’t die, but simply began to pick the bullets out of its body after having been shot in the heart and head multiple times. Lawrence fled and was found by the park rangers, Arden’s body was discovered a few days later. Lawrence finishes the statement now swearing off of hunting, having experienced being hunted first-hand. 

Notes: Jon discusses it’s been 2 months since Martin returned, and that worms keep infesting the institute, but it feels like they’re being hunted. He wonders what Prentiss is waiting for. Arden’s death was ruled an animal attack

Entities: The hunt

Names mentioned:

Lawrence Mortimer

Arden Neeli

Jane Prentiss, 23.02.14, Archway, London

Jane Prentiss gives her statement regarding her experiences leading to her present condition. Jane claims that she itches deep in her bones, but that she doesn’t know if she wants it, or how to stop it. She says that it hates the institute, and that if it hates them, then she should likewise hate them. She discusses the singing of the hive that seems to have started when she began watching the wasps nest in her attic - the hive sings that it wants to hollow her out, and make her a home for those that love her.

She mentioned that she once worked in a crystal shop with someone named Oliver - who looked at her with deep sadness, and once with fear. She eventually left when she began to listen more to the hive. She was once a practicing witch - but she has abandoned her spiritual practices for something dead and rotting. She first heard it with the wasp nest. There were no wasps in it, but it still called to her. She mentions perhaps it was the spiders, but that their song is different. She talks about having once had the compulsion to pick at her skin due to her fear of blackheads. She muses that perhaps she always heard the song of worms and rot.

She remembers feeling alone and being called toxic in her relationships. She wonders why, and claims she only wanted to be truly loved the way the hive loves her now. She finishes claiming that the institute cannot help her now, and that she knows why her new “god” hates it so. She wonders if the wasps nest will help soothe her itching soul.

Notes: The statement is somewhat garbled and cyclical, perhaps she hadn’t fully submitted to the corruption yet. The flat Jane Prentiss once lived in burned down, killing her landlord Arthur Nolan. Jane was later admitted to a hospital where the worms violent expelled from her at once, killing 6 staff. A seventh died in her haste to escape, falling down the stairs and breaking her neck.

Entities: The corruption

Names mentioned:

Oliver

Jane Prentiss

Arthur Nolan

Spoilers under the cut for s4

Moira Kelly, 20.10.2002, Doncaster.

The statement is given regarding the disappearance of her son Robert. Robert fell in love with skydiving and eventually got a job as a diving instructor with a place called “Open Skydiving”. Moira didn’t see him much during this time until he suddenly returned home in 2002 having abruptly quit his job.

He eventually tells her that he was assisting on a dive for an 85 year old man named Simon who was skydiving for charity for his deceased wife, and Robert’s colleague Harriet Fairchild asked him to support. Just before the jump, Simon turns to Robert and says “enjoy sky blue”, then jumps. Robert feels dizzy, but recovers and jumps. The light was unnaturally bright, and when he opened his mouth there was no ground beneath him. He fell for hours, and at some point when he closed his eyes and opened them again the ground was back. When he landed, Harriet said it took him 15 minutes longer than expected to land, and he quit.

The day after this, the two of them went for a walk up a nearby hill. Nearing the top, Robert panicked, screaming and pushing his mother away he ran to the top of the hill where the sky warped, twisted, and “ate” him.

Notes: First time we meet Simon Fairchild. “Open Skydiving” isn’t a registered company with no licenses, the post-statement follow-up also mentions reports of a parachute falling out of the sky with no body in it. Martin returns to the institute - fleeing the worms. Sasha and Tim worked on this one. 

Entities: The vast, the corruption

Names mentioned:

Simon Fairchild (skydiving man)

Harriet Fairchild (colleague of Robert)

Robert Kelly (Victim of the vast)

Moira Kelly (Robert’s mother)

Timothy Hodge, 09.12.2004, Brixton, London

Timothy goes clubbing on November 20th 2014 and meets Harriet Lee. She seems nervous, constantly checking the doors, and eventually goes home with him. She relaxes visibly when inside his apartment, and she tells him that she was recently mugged by a woman in a red dress. The two eventually have sex. Suddenly, Harriet begins writhing in pain, and when Timothy leaves the room her torso seemingly explodes, leaving small, silvery works crawling over everything. He ran out into the cold without getting dressed, and set his flat alight. 

Notes: First mention of Jane Prentiss, first appearance of the silver worms. Sasha worked on this one.

Entities: The corruption

Names mentioned: 

Harriet Lee (unfortunate victim of Prentiss)

Carlos Vittery, 09.04.2015,  Boothby rd, Archway, London

Carlos Vittery discusses his long-standing fear of spiders stemming from 1991 when, while visiting his grandparents, a spider nest burst and spilled baby spiders over him. In 2014 he moved from his residence when realising how many spiders were living in the backyard. 

He moved to a new place and go a cat to deal with spiders (Major Tom). He noted that the building may have had an infestation of small, silvery worms.  In early 2015, he saw a spider in the kitchen that made him more uneasy than usual. He left the cat to deal with it, but after an hour the cat ran out of the room when he was left in it, and after panicking for an hour he crushed it with a coffee mug. 

A week later he saw the same spider on his TV, and again he killed it (kicking it), threw out the TV and burning the stained shoe. A few weeks later, it was on the wall above his bed, and became certain that it was the same spider he crushed when he was 6 in the nest. He notes that he feels he’s guided by another hand again when he reaches out and crushes it. He planned to leave his flat ASAP leaving ownership of Major Tom with neighbours and seeking help for a “psychotic break”. 

His body is later found after his statement covered in web, having died of asphyxiation. Tim and Martin worked on this one.

Notes: References/foreshadowing to Jane Prentiss!

Entities: The Web, The Corruption

Names mentioned:

Carlos Vittery