THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES #68 - The Tale of a Field Hospital
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- čas přidán 22. 05. 2018
- MAG068 - Case #0030306 - Joseph Russo
Statement regarding a book supposedly written by Sir Frederick Treeves.
The Magnus Archives tells the tale of an eccentric artist who comes across a rather dirty book whose text mysteriously differs from all other known copies of that book.
Starring: The Archivist - Jonathan Sims; Not!Sasha - Eve Hewitt
Writer: Jonathan Sims
Director: Alexander J Newall
Editors: Alexander J Newall, Mike LeBeau
MERCH:
Crowdmade: crowdmade.com/collections/rus...
Teepublic: www.teepublic.com/stores/rust...
Redbubble: www.redbubble.com/people/Rust...
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The Magnus Archives is distributed by RustyQuill.com and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence. - Zábava
Elias: Fine I'm letting you in the tunnels but please be careful
Jon, the next episode: So it seems I've gotten lost in the tunnels
And I make like 666 on this comment! 😈
I'm really stating to see why Jon doesn't consider himself smart.
@@clayxros576 hes the smartest idiot to ever live
@@clayxros576 he's our restless little archivist
"As he passed away the second time, I implored him to stay that way"
damn, what a line
"Please, for the love of God, just remain dead!"
Jon needs a vacation, 6 months.
Twice a year.
bahaha thats true
I mean he did get a 6 month vacation
Every year.
@@jazzy7854in the episodes following this one?? Or before and I missed it???
@@shreddedcheese2659 yeah after this, don't worry
Jon doesn't know how to whisper to save his life. My godd
It’s been established he’d be a terrible spy
He only whispers when he wants to do quirky comments about his colleagues on theirs faces lol
Jon: “I’m in the tunnels, I was exploring, and I got lost.”
Is so HILARIOUS to me. 😂
SAME I HAD TO PAUSE BECAUSE I WAS CACKLING 💀
Poor Russo, he was so happy to bring something to the Archives. :(
I felt genuinely sad when Jon said he was found dead
Has he shown up before?
@@conorwhelan500 well he won't show up anymore
I felt terrible for him :(
Right?? He seemed sweet and just wanted to help :(
This guy is 5% more productive than before ... Very suspicious ...
This girl is walking alone in the underground tunnels that apparently are the home of a paranormal entity and got around 10 centimeters shorter while walking towards me ... It must be nothing ...
This guy is being nice to me. He must be trying to kill me
Get off him he's dealing with stuff. He not exactly at the most perceptive state of mind
@@Thisone109 they're just joking around mate calm down
@@davv6628 they're
im sry
@@sunnlovesorange Ah, shoot I'll change my spelling now, thank you! I love being corrected on things especially gramma /gen
I’m uncomfortable with the thought of anyone being alone with not!Sasha like that.
She just wants to make sure you're okay...
@@nanahuatli2144 Yes
What are you talking about? It's just good old Sasha, she's been working there for a long time.
@Is me ? r/whoosh
Same
Bro I love the way that John just... Slips into different characters when reading different statements. It's incredible
I also found it kind of adorable in the first epusodes because he used to be so unimpressed with these stories but when it came to reading them he instantly got into character just for the sake of authenticity 😂
that kinda reminds me of will graham lol
Theater kids
I don’t think he even notices he does it
@@byong9954 huh you're right, i hadnt even thought of that
my god, jon drinks so much respecting women juice that its impairing all other brain functions. martin was concerned and he thought it was suspicious, meanwhile sasha has long limbs and he goes hm :/ weird! must be my imagination. like jon, please
Johnathan Simp
jonathan: sashas new boyfriend is weird looking. im concerned. he looks like a stock photo image
jonathan: but sasha's fine tho lol
@@four_corner_days just lost my shit at this thanks
To be fair, we know from Not-Grahm that there's some brain fuckery involved with these things.
jonathan sims more like jonathan simp amiright
Not-Sasha: John?
John: * high pitched screaming *
that was really good characterization, both in writing and voice acting. Russo felt like such a... distinct person. I swear, when Jon mentioned Sasha was taller and shrugged it off, I wanted to cry.
She probably got tired of using the heels and got her spare shoes
@@jackbelmont4389 thats probably it yeah
@@jackbelmont4389 i misread that as "her spare toes"....
@@mjamin9124 i meeeeeaaaan... 👀
@@aubarlowe Oh no
can we just talk right quick about how jon's intonations change ever so slightly with each statement he reads? like, i could hear him almost mimicking what i'd imagine to be a hippy sort of 20something year old man while he was reading russo's statement and i just. my god. i love little details like these so so much
He’s either got some kind of super-empathy possession powers or he’s a huge secret theater nerd.
Or both.
@@trucetruce335 A bit of a spoiler
Its both
In one statement, the statement giver writes a song which John sings while reading. I forget that he's not the statement giver as soon as he says "statement begins", probably bc of the voice switch or something.
Someone made a comment about John sing a whole statement on the game and giving and I was like: "wow, it's the first time I hear John sing. He sings fine".
And then later my brain went "nope, that wasn't the first time" lol
“I bet you have a ton in your archive about the illuminati” Yes, that is what a sane person says.
He was clearly bringing it up as an example of the obviously fake statements, though?
"I bet you have a ton in your archive about the Illuminati. *That's why they smeared you so hard."*
@@jasonschuler2256 Lol, I read that as him thinking there was an illuminati cover up! But your interpretation makes sense too, and I'm torn which I find more delightful.
That is, until you realize that one of the major benefactors of the Magnus institute is the influential Lucas family, who *do* have some major stake within whatever supernatural game is being played here according to the statements, and whose financial support of the institute has given them immunity from further investigation more than once. So while the literal illuminati probably is BS, the spirit of his statement is very much true.
@@Suthek
The Illuminati is a single player arranging a chessboard as they wish. This world has multiple players, all making their own moves against each other or merely observing. Most amusingly, an Illuminati would be a best case scenario for their world. You don't get collateral damage when a war isn't going on.
This guy has been one of my favorite people to give a statement yet. Him and the vampire hunter were both just so immediately likeable to me
"Weird, right?" What a gift.
I think it might've been because his personality feels so distinct. Most of the people who come in to give statements are just your ordinary people off the street. Nothing wrong with that, in fact that's kinda the point, but these two guys had these big immediately recognizable - and not unlikeable, too - personalities
Yeah I like both of them I also like the officers And Tessa
I dont know, I kind of subconsciously rolled my eyes when he talked about being THAT kind of artist. I guess that's just me.
I listened to this 'mindfulness' session once, and the person asked me to 'feel' what was in my breakfast drink
Me: 😒...took me right out of it
Not for me 🤣🤣🤣
Same. The archaeologist is the worst. I also didn't like the private detective who followed that guy. He's second worst.
“...End recording.” “supplemental: so I’m in the tunnels and it appears I’m probably fucking lost-“ O H MY GOD I WOULDVE BURST OUT LAUGHING IF I WERENT SO FRUSTRATED, JON WHAT ARE YOU DOING-
Elias: Fine, I'll give you the key... as long as you promise you won't get lost.
Jon: Pff of course not.
Jon, later: HELP I'M LOST
Jon is a archivist, not a adventurer
Jonathan Sims the voice actor is a goddamn national treasure.
i think this is he first person im sad to find out died shortly after. i really liked him i was hoping he'd come back :(
what if he becomes the Restless Man
@@WILDTHOVEN noooooo
I'm actually sad by most of the deaths.
"Those pages are sharp."
Me: 👁_👁
Said in Mister Maker voice *The pages are sharp*
Russo is one of my favorite statement-givers just because of how thrilled he is at the prospect of encountering the paranormal, like he seems almost unflappable. I like to think that when the rot took him, though he may have been dying and certainly felt alarmed, he was still fascinated by the phenomenon.
A true scientist (even though he was an artist, but art and science are not exclusive!)
the jump at 6:25 from Russo to Jon actually STARTLED me!! Such good voice acting!!
SAME!!!!!!!
It's pretty funny when you consider that his low voice is Jon just putting on a "serious voice" because in all the supplements he talks different.
i rlly like the guy giving the statement , he's very excited
edit: :-(
i had the same reaction :(
Never have I been so sad to find out a statement giver died soon after giving their statement 😔
This is my third time listening to this podcast on CZcams and this is by far my favorite comment
Same :(
I like how whenever Not!Sasha's there, there's static noise to be heard
is the implication here that the infected cut on russo's hand was a papercut from the book?
Yes.
Oh good catch !
Anyone else shudder when they see not!sasha in an episode? She just sounds,, wrong. Not human. It's amazing voice acting, but the fact that we know that it isn't actually Sasha, and that this not!Sasha sounds so different and robotic, it just gives me the creeps. I love it.
The one thing that really sticks out to me with not sasha is that her voice seems lower, smoother and more methodical
Aye, Not!Sasha has a different actress than the original Sasha.
Yeah
@@pianos4095 I think you mean *Yes*
@@SwirlyPinwheel ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ both work so sure
@vlaorkmenschutt serryun Aye.
This really shows Sims' versatility. It was great to listen to.
IS HIS NAME SIMS???? NOT SINS?
Going through a trip
@@thatoneguy8521 bro HAH
Jon is so good at voice acting, that for a moment i thought he was actually recording the voice of the other person lmao
Theater kids I tell you!
How am I still surprised to hear that another person died soon after giving their statement.
Maddy C died soon after writing this youtube comment.
@@mimkyodar oh fuck
@@mimkyodar F
we have no choice to stan an adhd legend 👊😔
It's so creepy how Not!Sashas voice sounds lower and colder everytime I hear her, what a deviation from her original voice (I know I know they changed VA's for her lol) but she kinda sounds like how Michael and Mary Keay talk, or do all supernatural creatures sound smug, like they're in on a joke you're light years from figuring out
Re-listening the to the story's
*"Sahsa. Thank God I thought you were... **_I thought you were a I don't know_** ."* - 16:33
and Im constantly finding moments so subtle that I'm not sure if it was intentional, but if it was its _brilliant_ .
Right?! That’s why I love re-listening to this series over and over.
There’s so many subtle little throw-away lines that don’t really register the first time through. But on a re-listen, they make you perk up and go “Oh! Oh-ho-ho!!! I see what you did there, Jonny boy!” 😃
y'all....I was peacefully listening when jon started shouting his lungs out about getting lost and I paused it to read the comments but now I know I'm gonna meet the long-limbed-doppelganger and I really don't wanna her and Micheal scare me so bad with those damn voices 😭😭😭
Okay I completed it I'm alive it wasn't that bad but Jonny finally starting to be atleast a little confused about not!Sasha is kinda reassuring
Elias: Don't get lost down there.
Jon in the tunnels: Soooooo I got lost in the tunnels!
I do love the consistent increase in recorder-fizzle whenever Not!Sasha appears
(indirect spoilers but not really under the cut)
Oh she seems taller, does she??!? DIDN'T RECOGNISE HER AT FIRST, DID YOU, JON?!??
OH, IT'S HARD TO FOCUS DOWN THERE FOR HER?! GOSH, I SURE DO WONDER WHY THAT IS, _JON_
MAYBE YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO WHAT SHE'S ACTUALLY SAYING TO YOU, _JON_
MAYBE YOU SHOULD WONDER WHY SHE SEEMS TO BE _THE ONLY ONE_ YOU CAN'T REALLY KEEP BEING SUSPICIOUS OF, _JON_
Another time I noticed interference was when Jon and Sasha were visiting the table from that guy's apartment. I wonder if it was coming from the table, the artifacts room, or just Not!Sasha
@@hamburgerdog25 table
So, Jon gets a lighter with spider webs on it, and then a bunch of spider webs corral him towards a gas main for the building? I'm guessing those two things are connected, but if they want to blow up the building there are probably easier ways, right?
I adore Joseph Russo, seriously. Such a cheery statement giver is a rarity, haha
Jon, please don't go down there alone...
And equally as importantly, "Don't go down there with Sasha".
what would be better? Go there alone or with not!Sasha?
LHUMYA Ministre de l'appréciation du drapeau
Equally dangerous. I’d bring Tim, seems like a capable guy.
@@DrMDHyde He really should have done that. That would have been a really good idea
@@DrMDHyde definitely, plus he had a little more time actually observing where they went in the tunnels and seems to have better dexterity than Martin when it comes to the dark and bugs, poor poor Martin.
I've got my eyes on you Not!Sasha....
Whenever “Sasha” speaks in the tape, there’s crackling interference noise.
joseph is so sweet agdfsgsdf i feel so bad for him!!! he was just a little nerd : (
I have no idea why jon's scream was so funny hsjshdjd
We're too used to hearing him be either sassy or a bit manic but like in an angry way. This Jon is so soft hahahah
I've been listening continuously for a while now and could not comment on eps cause I've been dying to get to next but I had to comment on this one cause we saw war and death before and this dude reminds me very much of pestilence. The only one I haven't noticed here is famine? Horsemen shinnanigans? I'm probably wrong but I wanted to say it anw
John Amherst would dig the pestilence reference, but no, there's not a Four Horsemen thing going on. Neat thought, though.
I thought the same thing! I mean we had a depiction of "War" in the episode with the Piper, and diseases and insects reminded me so much of Pestilence. Even if it doesn't connect in the end, I think that's neat
Russo has big Touch-Tone Telephone energy
Everyone here kinda does. I think Rusty Quill has a series about a conspiracy radio show host and a fan going cryptid hunting?
Me: /listening/
The statement: so yeah, there's a book.
Me: well, we all know what that me-
The statement: you've probably already guessed it, we're talking that one filthy dude from the nursing home.
Me: wha-
The statement: oh yeah, and it's a Leitner.
Me: /blank stare into the distance/
I was actually thinking about that first Amherst episode because of the name, but it somehow completely disappeared from my mind when I started listening.
Wow, Jon. Wow. You are a delight in every way. Please don't let the darkness eat you. I don't know how you survived this long anyway.
I was afraid Jon was going to take Sasha out of the sus box for taking him out of the tunnels, but now I'm sure he will latch onto her like a Leitner in sight of its victim. There's no way he's missing THAT. He still hasn't brought up "the new girl" though, and I am extremely upset.
Do you think the real Sasha is even still alive somewhere?
P.S. So, much as expected, this is an actual real book. I found chapter XIX. The changes to it here are so subtle. Most of the horror comes from the previous context and the intonations Jon provides ("But you see, doctor, I am such a restless man"). It's almost the same chapter. Same words. Guys. This is true art.
"latch onto her like a Leitner in sight of its victim" you, my love, are a poet
Finally someone takling about the statment and not about tge funny stuff John does at the end. I was confused who the man from the book was, thanks!
Thanks. I had forgotten who Amherst were. There were flies in that episode too...
You absolutely nailed the rambling on this one. It's so organic how they sidetrack for like a second and snap back to the main topic.
This statement giver has to be one of my favorites, I relate to his fascinating with weird things and he just sounded so passionate
jon you thick thick man.
'she seemed taller somehow'. bruh
that aside i am still stunned by how great the voice acting is. a+
Uh oh. Poor Amherst seems to had a bargain with death again..
Again? No. He just doesn’t die because Death wouldn’t want to go near him. He’s a gross disease man. lol 😁
'i don't really like it down here, hard to focus'
i really enjoy how many little easter eggs are dropped around for people rewatching
I knew it! It sounded like an easter egg but it's my first time watching so I'm definitely curious right now
Wait i was so confused when jon says archivist’s note and starts reading, I thought it was part of the actual leitner book and was like; why is nobody mentioning this belonged to an archivist!?
Got it now, just me being very dumb :P
Mar 23 2021, re-listening to the podcast again after listening to the second-last episode **spoilers**
-----------
Jon "There were a couple of spiders, so I changed routes and found, I think it’s a gas main. Must be for the whole building."
....
ARE. YOU. KIDDING. ME. Then, WAY back then. Waaay back in SEASON 2, they had laid out a friggen plot device... God damn it.
Johnny Sims is on record saying that they planned out the ENTIRE SERIES before they started season 1. Not in any great detail, but they knew how it would end.
"I thought you were..." a monster? Yes she is
"There are things that go bump in the night"
it is genuinely impressive how good the voice acting is, the statement giver's personality and character was so distinct
The echo in the supplemental caught me of gard it was so fucking funny
[CLICK]
ARCHIVIST
Statement of Joseph Russo regarding a book allegedly authored by Sir Frederick Treeves. Original statement given June 3rd, 2003. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.
Statement begins.
ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT)
Thanks for letting me do this. I mean, I know you let anyone record a statement. That’s why you’re the Magnus Institute! So I could have just made something up, I guess. But I don’t want to waste your time or irritate you guys. I mean, I’m a big fan of your work. Never had the academic chops to get access to your library or anything, but when all those statements were leaked back in ‘99… I know all the letters pages called you crackpots, but I know. Yeah? I get it. I read them all, start to finish, and sure there’s a lot of nonsense in there, a lot of bad acid trips and liars, but in the middle, at the core of them, there was something there. There are things that go bump in the night and now I think I’ve got one to share with you.
So I’m kind of an artist. I like to use the detritus of mankind’s time on this planet to craft its own reflection back at itself, yeah? So I take what others consider garbage and use it to send a message to the puppetmasters and fat cats who hold our lives in the palm of their hand and play with our society like a chess game. A message of art. You know what I’m talking about. I bet you have a ton in your archive about the Illuminati. That’s why they smeared you so hard. I’m not asking to look at them or anything; I’m just letting you know that I get it. Yeah? I get it.
So, anyway, I spend a lot of time at the dump. Not so much those huge iron skips or the bottle bank - I mean, like I don’t have enough bottles in my studio already - but you know the bit in the middle where they sell stuff. All the stuff that really skirts the line between trash and treasure. Mirrors that are tarnished but still good. Old furniture just a bit too scuffed for the charity shop. You can get amazing things there for almost nothing if you look hard and aren’t too picky.
And when you’re making art, you don’t need to be picky. If something’s not perfect, you can make it perfect. You use the beauty inside of you to reach in and pull the beauty out of the object. Sometimes by breaking it more; sometimes by repairing it just enough. And, once, by setting it on fire. So the people at the dump around my area they know me and generally when I turn up they key me in to any of the good stuff that’s come in.
So, I was checking out the tip near Wood Green two days ago and they don’t usually have a lot of good stuff. I mean, I’ve been there sometimes when there’s literally no stuff out for sale but this time they had a few furniture pieces and a cutlery set, but nothing I could use. But one of the guys who works there, I think his name’s Gus. Or Al. He looks like a Gus or an Al.
Anyway, he pointed me to the only thing that really caught my attention. It was a wicker basket full of old books. Now this I was interested in. I’m working on a piece at the moment, it’s called ‘Pageviews’ and it’s about the death of print media at the dawn of the digital age. Point is, I’m filling a bunch of computer monitors with shredded books, so cheap books, especially a bit old and a bit yellowed, were exactly what I needed.
I discarded a few of them, as the texture or page tone wasn’t quite right, but there were plenty in there I could use. Then I spotted a book that looked a bit older than the others, right at the bottom. It was large, and the pages looked thick and loose. It was titled The Tale of a Field Hospital, by Frederick Treeves.
So clearly I’m buying it, right? I mean, obviously you know Frederick Treeves, the surgeon who was best friends with Joseph Merrick, AKA the Elephant Man, AKA my all-time favourite Victorian medical curiosity. And not just because he shares my name, though I guess that doesn’t hurt.
I mean, I knew about the book; Treeves’ account of his time working in a field hospital during the Second Boer War. I’d read it before, of course, but my copy had gone missing about the time Sandra moved out. She wasn’t exactly a fan, and I think she threw away a whole bunch of my stuff out of spite. Thing is, this one looked old. Like, 19th century old, which, since that’s when he was writing meant there was a good chance it was a first edition and that sort of thing can be very valuable. Meaning I get a good read and a payday. Win-win, right?
So I buy it, for like 50p and head off, but it’s weird. Don’t know who owned it before, might have even have been a library copy but the sticker was mostly torn off. It didn’t have a frontispiece, though, and a lot of the pages had different ink weights or layouts, and it kind of looks like they were printed at different times.
It’s only when I get home that I remember The Tale of a Field Hospital was actually based on a series of short columns he wrote for the British Medical Journal during the war itself. So I reckon what I’ve got here might just be some kind of proofing or draft copy, or maybe some custom-bound collection of those articles, and I get really excited.
As I started reading through it, though, there was something kind of weird. Bits of some of the chapters that I really don’t remember from the version I read before. The book’s old and dirty and kind of tricky to just read, so I copied down a few passages for you.
So, almost halfway through, Chapter Thirteen, he talks about “The Men with the Spades” - the soldiers who came up every day to dig the graves for those who had died in the hospital. He describes them as “unkempt and uncaring, their devil-may-care attitude hiding the deep sadness within them at their solemn duty”. Except, in the version I have, it goes like this:
Archivist’s note: attached to this statement at various points are handwritten versions of passages allegedly from the book in question.
“The graves at Frere were dug by our own men, or rather, by a small fatigue party from a regiment nearby. Nearly every morning they came, the men with the spades. There were seven of them, with a corporal, and they came up jauntily, with their spades on their shoulders and their pipes in their mouths. They were in their shirt-sleeves, and there was much display of belt and of unbuttoned neck. Their helmets were apt to be stuck on their heads in informal attitudes. They were inexpressibly untidy, and they made in their march a loose, shambling suggestion of a procession.
There was only one man who kept in his conduct a sense of decorum, yet I cannot recall it with any fondness. He wore his uniform precisely about him, and though perspiration assailed his face as he worked on his maudlin task not a drop of it ever touched his jacket. He would gaze at me levelly when I watched him work. I fancied the flies flew thicker over whatever grave he worked upon.
I asked the corporal for his name, and was told that that was Private Amherst. Fitting enough, I remarked, that he should be named for a dealer in smallpox, when he himself seemed almost taken by fever. I regretted my remark the following day, as he stood in his open grave, saluted me, and died on the spot of typhoid.”
Weird, right? That’s not in the original. Well, the first bit is, I think, but the bit about the guy dying of fever while digging a grave, definitely not. So I reckon it must be a version with all the bits they cut out for publishing in the book or the BMJ. Still, not specifically supernatural, right?
Well, later in the book there’s Chapter Nineteen, “The Story of the Restless Man”. In the version I read before, it’s a nice little story about a soldier with a wounded leg who’s given a bed, but keeps giving up his bed for other soldiers he reckons need it more. But it keeps damaging his leg more, and in the end they have to fully order him to stay in the bed. It’s meant to illustrate the unselfishness of a soldier to his comrades.
Well, in this weird edition, it goes a bit differently.
“Among the wounded who came down from Spion Kop was a private whom I recognised, though I scarce can bring myself to believe it. Private Amherst, who was two months buried in the grave he himself had dug, was carried in on a stretcher. The thigh-bone was broken, and the fracture had been much disturbed by the journey to the hospital. He did not respond to my questions about his supposed death, save a sly smile, and he was given a bedstead in one of the marquees. The limb was adjusted temporarily, and he was told to keep very quiet and not to move off his back.
Next morning, however, he was found lying upon his face, with his limb out of position and his splints, as he said, staring me again in the eye, ‘all anyhow.’ I asked him why he had moved. He told me, with flies buzzing around his fevered head, ‘You see, doctor, I am such a restless man.’
The limb was more elaborately adjusted and everything was left in excellent position. Next morning, however, the restless man was found lying upon the floor of the marquee, and in his bed was a man who had been shot through the chest. The marquee was crowded and the number of beds were few; those who could not be accommodated on beds had to lie on stretchers on the ground. The man who was shot in the chest had come in during the night, and had been placed on the only available stretcher.
Amherst proceeded to tell me that he was happy to share what little he had with those in need. I… I will grant I was uncertain of how to proceed, when the man who was shot in the chest died unexpectedly, his wound turning septic with great rapidity, and in due course the restless man was back in his own bed once more.
It was not, however, for long, for on another morning visit Amherst was found on the floor again, and again beamed forth an explanation that one of the wounded on the ground, who had come in late, seemed to be very bad and so he had changed over. The present occupant also died of an infected wound within hours of my noticing.
I was deeply shaken by this odd harbinger of sickness and fatality, but could think of no immediate redress for the matter. However, the moving of a man with a broken thigh from bed to ground and back again means not only such disordering of splints and bandages, but no little danger to the damaged limb. So I felt almost a relief when the wound turned gangrenous with such alarming speed that amputation was simply impossible. As he passed away, the second time, I implored him to stay that way. He just looked at me: ‘But you see, doctor, I am such a restless man.’”
Pretty spooky, right? You can see why I wanted to bring this to you guys. I mean, I know it’s not exactly having my own statement, my own brush with the darkness that lurks behind the shadowy veil and preys on the unwary mankind, but it’s the next best thing, right?
I’ll be honest, I didn’t really read it fully before bringing it over here, I thought you’re probably in a better position to do that, with your researchers and that, but there was one other bit I wrote out. It was in a worse state than the others, but it was the final chapter, Chapter Thirty. In the original, it recounts the rather miserable death of a soldier as contrasted with battlefield heroics, and is titled “Sic Transit Gloria Mundi”. In this version, it doesn’t have a title, and it goes like this:
“I remember at Chieveley one morning before breakfast, watching a solitary man approach the hospital lines. I knew it was him long before my vision became clear. He was now staggering towards the hospital, a ragged, broken-down, khaki-coloured spectre of a man. He dragged his rifle along with him, his belt was gone, his helmet was poised at the back of his head, his tunic was thrown over his shoulders; he was literally black with flies.
He told me he had come from the concentration camps, that there were many among the Boers that shared his state, and that he longed to touch me with all that we had visited upon them. He talked of disease, putrefaction and the writhing creatures of filth. He breathlessly talked of his revelation. Then he died, as did the man who came to bury him.”
So yeah, I reckoned it might be right up your street.
Consider the book a donation. It’s not quite as cool as having a real close encounter of my own but it’s the next best thing. Be careful carrying it, though, those old pages are kind of sharp.
ARCHIVIST
Statement ends.
Mr. Russo was found dead in his home on June 5th 2003, two days after his statement. Cause of death was found to be blood poisoning from a wound in his hand. Given that the medical records Sasha dug up seem to indicate the putrefaction was far more advanced than the timeframe would reasonably allow, I have a suspicion that Mr. Russo may have gotten a far closer encounter than he realised with a very dangerous book.
A Leitner, I would guess, though some slight charring around the edges of this statement leads me to believe that Gertrude may have made a somewhat unilateral decision about disposing of it, rather than committing it to storage.
Beyond that, all the details seem more or less accurate. Sir Frederick Treeves did indeed work in a field hospital during the Second Boer War, and did write a book about it titled The Tale of a Field Hospital, published in 1900. Tim hunted down an online version of the text, and it certainly doesn’t match up with what Mr. Russo reproduced here.
Interestingly, the official text makes no mention whatsoever of the concentration camps used to imprison Boer civilians during the conflict, where sickness and hunger killed tens of thousands and, indeed, it is perfectly possible it was not part of the war Treeves encountered or engaged with. Odd, then, that whatever thing it was that haunted him would choose that as its final message.
Amherst is rapidly becoming one of an uncomfortably long list of names that I dread seeing in a statement. Could this be an ancestor of John Amherst? Or, given the many apparent deaths of the soldier in the book, might it be the same being, well over a hundred years old? If so, I wonder how many times it has died of sickness and disease.
Another point is a link that Treeves brings up which I had not considered, that of Jeffrey Amherst, an 18th century baronet who is most remembered for deliberately providing blankets infected with smallpox to Native American tribes during the so-called French and Indian Wars, leading to a devastating epidemic. A connection to a very different sort of monster, but still one that has the trappings of disease.
I had assumed that Amherst was something similar to Prentiss in his connection to insects, but that may not be all. Insects and disease. No clear connection, other than the fact that they somehow feel similar. They both make one feel distinctly unclean.
End recording.
[CLICK]
Supplemental.
I’m in the tunnels. I was exploring and I got lost. I haven’t gone down any of the stairs and I - I think I’m still under the Institute. There were a couple of spiders, so I changed routes and found, I think it’s a gas main. Must be for the whole building. But there’s someone coming and I - I don’t know who else would be down here, except… I mean, whatever’s down here. It was… it was just checking on the upper levels, I didn’t prepare for -
NOT!SASHA
Jon?
[ARCHIVIST CRIES OUT, STARTLED]
Jon is that you?
ARCHIVIST
Oh, Sasha, thank god. I thought you - I thought you were a… I don’t know. What are you doing down here?
NOT!SASHA
Forgot my coat. I noticed the trap door was open and wanted to make sure you were ok. Did Elias give you the key?
ARCHIVIST
Yes, he… he thought it might help put a stop to some of my “wilder imaginings”. Are you okay?
NOT!SASHA
Yes, I’m okay… I don’t really like it down here. Hard to focus.
[CLICK]
ARCHIVIST
Sasha managed to successfully navigate us out of the tunnels. Might defer future exploration for a while, at least until my heart rate settles down sometime in about a year. The place plays odd tricks with your mind. When I saw Sasha down there, for a moment it was like I didn’t recognise her. She seemed… far too tall somehow. I’ve locked it back up for now. I think I need some fresh air.
End supplemental.
[CLICK]
Thanks! Heres some glitter \○>○/ ☆♡☆♧♡♧♧☆
Petra Iván thank youu
@@islaridland thanks for the glitter XD
@@bonniecornelius3836 you are welcome 😁
As a Wood Green native...thanks for the nightmare fuel.
Is it bad that I was waiting for him to exclaim his loyalty for Papa Nurgle?
*hears echo in supplimental*
me: oh no...
*jon: I was in the tunnels and im lost*
me: OH NO
*jon: someones here with me*
me: **OH NO**
*jon: Its sasha oh thank god*
me: **OH NONONONONONO**
Treeves: please stay dead
Amherst: no, i dont think i will
Yes, yes, some dood talked about 4 horsemen of apocalypse.
The meat related episodes? Famine
Jane Prentiss and others? Pestilence
Jon: "Sasha seemed... taller, somehow..."
No Jon, you're just really small.
Vague spoilers for end of season 3/first episode of season 4:
"When my heart rate settles down in about a year" Yes, I suppose you could say that....
No.....no that’s really.... no...!
This had me absolutely cackling and also crying
"i left my coat down here" bullshit over my grave JON HOW IS THAT NOT SUSPECIOUS TO YOU
jon getting into character of a character within the statement is such inception energy, and then he comes one level up back to the statement-giver...
such an incredible performer, the way he changes characters from Russo's statement to the passage from Treeves is incredible
NotSasha is just TMA’s Looooong Maaan 🎶
Even the scariest voice couldnt make that title any bit of unsettling.
FAR TOO TALL YOU SAY?
I assume that not-sasha is with the spiral, and I cant help but think the entity was like "Bitch boy got lost again. Go get him" and the not-being was just like "fiiiiine... But I'm gonna spook him!"
(I have not gone through the whole series, but I do know of the existence and warring relationships of the fear entities and that those entities HAVE avatars? And I can assume that the Archivist is special in some way to the eye? But that's all I know, please no spoilers!)
That is a funny concept. Just not!Sasha being ordered to begrudgingly go after Jon to keep him from getting lost. But she still can’t resist giving him a spook. 😆
I will say that you aren’t quite on the money, in terms of the entity alignment of not!sasha, but I will not go into details here for fear of spoilers. 😊
(however, since this comment is several months old, I’m sure you probably know the truth by now. ☺️)
@@TheNitpickChick
YEP! I know now.
The table had a spiraling design on it, I got confused lol
bitch boy ! i wheezed so hard , i am going to use it everytime , i feel like he /him pronouns . bitch boy
@@samtigerlilly1003 Actually, it was a web. NotSasha even says as much.
That book is like the one in boneturner's tale, both of them were previously written books with weird changed details. It took me forever to find that is was from boneturner's tale
My theory from this episode and what we know so far:
Amherst is the same guy with the Amherst in the 18th century. He is now a part of the disease entity just like how Michael is part of the spiral entity. I don't know if the 18th century version of Amherst is the one in which he was a human who was working for the disease entity or he was, just like in the war we're hearing about, the supernatural Amherst that got himself in that title/position somehow. But the fact that he keeps using his name through out the years makes me believe that he was, in fact, at some point a human with that name.
Every Leitner book is connected with one supernatural entity. So, there are at least as many Leitner books as there are entities. Though, as Mary said in her statement, they existed long before Leitner; he was just the one who collected them all and marked them. The book with the sky who, later on, had the thunder monster trapped in it, is the book for the vast. The boneturner book that Joshua (if I remember correctly the name?) had until he learned the skill of boneturning so he didn't need it anymore (no mention of the book in the episode with the butcher's shop). The skin book that Mary had, I wonder with what entity this is connected to. The red book that Gerard was asking for in the hospital is the one connected to the entity the lightless flame worships. And this book is the one connected with the disease entity. So there are 5 books that we know of and what they do (kinda), 3 of which we know the entities they're linked with. And then, the entities we know so far are: the vast, the loneliness, the fire, the spiral, the spiders, the hive, the disease, the dark/closed eye, the open eye, the not-people, the anglerfish, the vampires, Death (and the immortals that become afterwards), War, that entity in the cavediving episode, the meat entity, the entity with which the boneturner book is linked with, and maybe even ghosts? Though I believe that ghosts in-universe are actually manifestations of the entities. From the statement of that worker when Gerard was a teenager, when they found the basement below Leitner's office, he said there was a round room and 13 hallways besides the one they had came from or including the one they had came from, I don't remember. And Gerard had gotten one Leinter book from one of those hallways, plus Leitner was, years ago, eager to dig a hole and reach that basement. If you include also the statement of that witness about what happened to him when he accidentaly entered some of the other hallways before finding the one leading him back to where he opened that wall, that means that each hallway connects to each entity as well. So either the entities are, in fact, 13 and some of the ones I mentioned above are actually different manifestations of the same entity, or the entities are actually 14 and there is also an entity linked with our dimension..? I don't know for sure, I might have gotten some info wrong along the way or a witness remembers something wrong or, you know, the in-universe normal dimension is not so normal after all.
As for Not!Sasha, I think John deep down knows. But maybe that creature's supernatural manipulation makes him to not be aware of that knowledge, like how that photographer a few episodes back said that she saw the shadows in each photograph, each time coming closer to them and they were also getting multiplied but he still didn't do something about it, just kept on going, and he said something about humans' minds trying to forget (I think?) what they cannot understand. And we've had many cases already of witnesses knowing there is something wrong, but their mind not processing that thought as they should for them to be scared and run and instead keep on doing what they were doing like that is normal, like what they're experiencing is to be expected. So, I think that this is what is happening to John too, he knows, he realises what is off, but still the supernatural makes him not think about it or, to be more precise, not act accordingly for it and instead make him keep on going normal (as normal as he is).
You’re probably way further than this now but even if you aren’t this isn’t that heavy a spoiler based on what you’ve already figured out but:
There are 13 powers or ‘fears’. Some of the creatures you listed serve the same powers
Mary sold Leitner the Bone Turner's book. He wanted to put the book in that basement area and eventually did so. Mary's son, Gerard, retrieved the bone book after Leitner's death during reconstruction. I wonder why that particular book? Mary didn't even care about it. Maybe it was the safest start for Gerard to learn magick-y stuff?
Supplemental: I'm in the tunnels.
The way I laughed; People around me were concerned.
“It was a wicker basket full of old books” Dude!! Run the other way!!
i didnt see anyone point out how the "sasha seemed too tall" thing is like episode 34, the one about those weird alien shapeshifter people trying to figure out how the human body works. after their first dissection class the teacher said he swore they were all taller than when the lesson began.
"archivist's note" jumpscare
14:15 a book about the second world war published in 1900? idk if this takes place in an alternate timeline where the years are different this is b u g g i n g me
it confused me too so i looked it up and the book is actually about a South African war so i think that the "s" sound got johnny boy confused and said second world war by accident
@@agoatinthecircus125 No, he definitely said Second Boer War. It sound similar to world in a British accent, especially when you haven't heard the word Boer before (it's actually Dutch/Afrikaans for farmer).
Boer not World, its a south african war
Özgür ahh thank you so much!
Other people have literally noticed that sasha is different and he says it so himself that something about her is different yet Jon thinks she's the least sus person in the archive. He sucks as a paranoid person. Somebody shake some senses into this man, maybe give him a good 10 hours of sleep
“I’m a big fan of your work. Also, I spend a lot of time at the dump.”
I just realized how similar the dump would be to the sea of false statements which the archivists have to dig through to actually find something helpful, or something that could be recycled to help with further research (or just to make a few cents at some recycling machine). This podcast is clever.
(Not calling the podcast garbage, by the way, it’s amazing. Reading what I wrote I realized that it might come off that way..)
After a few hours of thinking I've realized something.... the doctor, I think, put the original stories down and then probably noticed that his notes also became contagious, so he changed the stories. But why didn't he destroyed his own original drafts?..
Well, the original was real, not fiction. In the fiction universe, you'd think writing that would've infected the doctor. Either he was protected, serving Disease, or it was written by someone else. Possibly someone who knew the real stories as Dr Treves wrote over the years.
dislike is from elias.
"Jooon~, I just wanted to make sure you're okay, Jon~"
"I'm a big fan of your work" me too, me too
I'm literally shitting myself rn😂😂
Yk I usually fall asleep to these episodes and this one was really chill so I was almost gone to slumberland. But then
"Supplemental: I GOT LOST IN THE TUNNELS" 💀💀💀 Jon you absolute Maniac you literally had one job lmaoo
Everyone is commenting about how much they love the statement giver but I’m sorry as an artist I KNOW this man and he is INSUFFERABLE.
God, thank you, yes! I'm an artist too and I immediately disliked him.
the way the music comes in while hes talking makes me giggle, id like to think he plays something
I'm surprised Not!Sasha is invested in Jon's safety. You'd think they'd jump at the chance to take him out.
Very Interesting how “Sasha” can navigate the underground tunnels so easily. Very weird indeed
GODDAMNIT JON my comment on the last episode was literally hoping he wouldn't do this
the range of just utter personality you cover from statement to statement is amazing. everyone who helped this project come together is genuinely just so amazing
i especially loved the voice acting in this episode!! great job
I KNOW JON WANTED TO CRY AS SOON AS HE HEARD BOOKS
Bro is suspicious of everyone other than the person he needs to be suspicious of 😭
Joseph seemed like such a nice guy
17:15 YES HE'S GONNA FIGURE IT OUT
i legit feel so sad about russo :( he was so excited
Your mysterious comment of the day
Corruption
I understood that reference.
this is a comedy podcast istg
"IM IN THE TUNNELS I WAS EXPLORING I GOT LOST" im Crying this is too funny