#theyhaveacamera

Entry #4 Uploaded 25th June 2009

Entry #4, in which our narrator alerts us of some further strangeness on the Marble Hornets tapes. He notes that this one also contains no audio track. We see a person, presumably Alex Kralie, wander through a playground as a swing set moves of its own free will, and some see-saws see and saw ominously. Right near the end we're treated to a quick, but fairly clear glimpse of the Operator, and then the entry is over.

What a banger this one is. Marble Hornets Season 1 is just full of short, solid entries like this one, solely consisting of Alex Kralie running around a playground getting spooked by the Operator. This is the kind of fiction that spreads like wildfire online, immediately catching on as people share it out of context to spook their friends or random strangers on the internet. 

Entry #5 Uploaded 29th June 2009

Today we're talking about Entry #5, in which Jay, our unseen narrator, reveals that he helped with location scouting for Marble Hornets, and has discovered the footage he shot during this time. Alex and Jay discuss some of the (very underwhelming) story beats of Alex's film as they stand inside a gazebo in the woods, before the audio distorts and we lose parts of their conversation. We will return to this gazebo when the inimitable Tim Sutton makes his debut, but for now we move on.

Following this we see Alex and Jay in an open area, where they continue chatting about Alex's doomed project and discuss the strange red tower in the distance. The Tower, of course, will play a part soon enough, but for now Alex dismisses it as an old climbing wall or something used by the local fire department. There are instances of visual tearing and audio distortion in this section of the clip, too. Jay makes note of these anomalies, and shows us a quick compilation of the previous times we've seen it in the series so far.

I've lost count of how many times I have seen these early Marble Hornets entries, as they played on a near constant loop in our house when the series was in its early stages, and this might be the first time I've really taken notice of Alex's reference to The Tower being used by the fire department. I'm sure it was a throwaway line at the time, but it's a nice connection to later events in the series nonetheless.

This is a simple entry. I can't say it's a favourite - the audio distortion is deafening - but it's one that really sells the pace and realism of the show's format, and no doubt helped convince people of its authenticity. The early days of Marble Hornets were, for me, characterized by an unspoken and uncomfortable question: "but what if it's real, though?"