#e: corruption

[magnusmusings]

Mag 40 - Human remains

Statements of Elias Bouchard, “Sasha James”, Martin Blackwood, Tim Stoker and Jonathan Sims regarding the previous infestation by Jane Prentiss, 29.07.16, Chelsea, London

Elias

Elias shows concern for Jon’s wellbeing, stating he should go home and get some rest. He tells Jon to relax as he saw the ECDC take Jane’s corpse away and burn it. Elias shares that he was going over budgets in his office when he heard the fire alarm, which annoyed him. He met up with Sasha, who warned him about the worms. She had set off the alarm, and told him that Jon, Martin and Tim were trapped by Prentiss. He suggested she turn the tape recorder se was carrying on, but Jon says that Sasha apparently lost it. He told Sasha about the fire suppression system, but on their way to it they became separated. He rerouted to the boiler room, and finally set the system off. As soon as he did, he heard Prentiss’ scream. He called the fire department, ambulance, and ECDC.  

He headed back to the archives and saw Sasha already there, who seemed unharmed, but Tim and Jon had many worms in them (he describes their state as being like swiss cheese). Martin came back an hour after Tim and Jon had been rescued through the trapdoor to the tunnels, screaming that’d he’d found a body. The police were called. Jon convinces Elias to share what happened to Gertrude. On March 15th 2015, Elias came to her desk which was covered in blood. Her body was never found, but due to the large amount of blood at the scene and that the DNA matched, he assumed Gertrude was dead. 

Tim

Tim is shaken and exhausted from his near-brush with death, and tries to deflect with humor. He picked up the tape recorder and heard Sasha yell a warning. Prentiss stood behind him. Worms started spilling out of every surface, and Sasha tackled him to the floor. They both scattered, he yelled for her to get help and ran into the side-room, unaware that this was where the first hole had been made. He sprawled into a pile of tape boxes that contained the CO2 Martin had hidden, and he killed the worms in the room. His memory becomes fuzzy from inhaling too much CO2, but he went into the tunnels. He noted there weren’t many worms in the tunnels, but those that were there were more aggressive and quieter. He says he thinks something in the institute makes them weak, but that the worms have been down in the tunnels breeding for months, but were disrupted by Jon finding the hidden passage - so they had to act. 

The eventually found a wall that felt different, and heard Martin and Jon on the other side. He broke the wall down, and they ran from there. Tim wasn’t with Martin when he found the body. He notes that he did find a room where the worms were wrapping around each other trying to form a ring, or perhaps a doorway. He pumped the room full of CO2. 

“Sasha”

Sasha’s speech is markedly different, as well as her intonation. She speaks awkwardly in shorter sentences, and she sounds insincere. Jon doesn’t seem to notice a difference. She gives a vague and non-descriptive account of finding Tim, that she pulled the fire alarm and found Elias. She also notes heading into artefact storage - and that she used to work in that department. She says that she stayed there until the fire system deployed before running for a window (which doesn’t make sense - as she should have been knocked out with the rest of the staff), and she watched the worms die. Jon mentions Michael. She mentions finding Jon and Tim unconscious. She had no worms in her. She describes Martin coming back after finding Gertrude. She claims she lost the tape and didn’t notice it was gone until he pointed it out. Jon tells her to go home and get some rest, concerned about her. 

Martin

He mentions checking on the details 0081709 (unknown statement). He apologises for losing Jon and Tim tearfully. He got separated and tried to call for help. The walls of the tunnel were old, and the layout maze-like. He mentions ti’s likely that the tunnels connect to Millbank prison. He heard Prentiss’ scream. He tried finding a way out but felt more lost, and found the room. It was piled full of old cassette tapes and in the middle was a wooden chair. Her body wasn’t covered in worms or cobwebs. Gertrude was slumped forward, mouth hanging open. She was shot in the chest. 

Jon

Jon is concerned that Gertrude was killed in the archives. Jon believes Gertrude was killed for knowing too much. Some of his tapes are missing - those of the case files for 0051701 and 0160204. 

Notes: The two case files missing are those for MAG 24 - in which real Sasha’s voice is recorded on tape, and MAG 26 - which is Sasha’s statement regarding Michael. Sasha has been replaced by the Notthem from MAG 3, and fitting the trend, no one seems to have noticed she’s been replaced. The worms are weaker within the institute because it’s a centre for the eye. The worms creating a doorway is likely a reference to Michael - who is interested in the events unfolding. (spoilers for s4 below the cut)

Entities: The eye, the stranger, the corruption, the spiral

Names mentioned:

Sasha James

Elias Bouchard

Jonathan Sims

Matin Blackwood

Tim Stoker

Jane Prentiss

The comment about Gertrude having no worms nor cobwebs on her could be an early hint as to her death at Elias’ hand. 

[magnusmusings]

Mag 26 - A distortion

Sasha James, 02.04.16, Hanwell, London, UK. 

Sasha heard Jane Prentiss’ statement, but doesn’t think she’s much of a threat. She apparently killed 6 hospital staff and broke the neck of a 7th, but somehow Martin managed to survive. Although Sasha has seen the worms outside of the institute, she’s not seen them inside. Sasha wants to give a statement about a strange encounter she experienced. 

Leaving her flat, she sees a strange distortion in the glass in the stairwell. A man seems to have hands as big as his torso with deflated arms, and there seems to be no bones or logical structure in his body. Outside of the glass, he seems like a normal blonde man purchasing flowers. She saw him again in a cafe walking from the train station to work, though didn’t stop because she was running late. She saw him on the way home after the cafe should have been closed. He invites her to sit, and she obliges him. 

He doesn’t offer information or explanation without her asking him. He says his name is Michael, though she’s sure this isn’t true. He says he’s there to help, and mentions “the flesh hive” - presumably referring to Prentiss, and holds her hand. She notes that it felt like wet leather, and was strangely heavy and sharp. She hurriedly goes to leave, and he offers that if Sasha wants to save Martin, Jon, and Tim that he’ll be at Hamwell cemetary. 

She didn’t want to mention it at first, and decides to visit Michael alone the next night. She finds him at the cemetary, and he leads her to an abandoned pub. She sees a man filled with silver worms, who attacks her. She kills most of the silver worms with a fire extinguisher. Michael reaches into her shoulder and pulls out a silver worm, but she doesn’t feel his hand go in. The man’s driver’s license identifies him as Timothy Hodge from MAG 6. Things become hazy for her, but she recalls that Timothy and Michael were gone. She returns to work and wakes up Martin. 

Notes: Timothy and Harriet Lee are noted to have been effected by the worms differently. First mention of Robert Smirke

Entities: The spiral, the corruption

Names mentioned:

Sasha James

Michael (spiral)

Jane Prentiss

Timothy Hodge (victim of the worm in MAG 6)

Harriet Lee (victim of the worms in MAG 6)

[magnusmusings]

Mag 22 - Colony

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)

Jane Prentiss

[magnusmusings]

Mag 39 - Infestation

Original recording of Jane Prentiss’ attack on the Magnus institute (Jonathan Sims, Martin Blackwood, Tim Stoker, Elias Bouchard, Sasha James), 29.06.16, Chelsea, London, UK. 

The episode starts with a flurry of activity in which Sasha, Martin and Jon hurriedly try to kill the worms with fire extinguishers before fleeing to a different room with soundproof windows. They extract worms from each other. Jon still has the tape recorder and is still recording because he doesn’t want to end up a mystery (like Gertrude). He discusses that the statements that feel real are the ones that have to be recorded on tape, and that there’s something that they can’t quite see the shape of yet.

Tim enters the previous room, and all of them try to shout at him to avoid the worms, but he can’t hear. The tape cuts to Tim doing a very funny joke statement beginning before Sasha bursts out of the room to warn him. Tim and Sasha flee in different directions. Martin and Jon remain trapped in the room, and watch Prentiss vomit worms into the tape boxes.

Jon is still in denial about the supernatural nature of the events happening around them, and Martin confronts him about this.  Jon knows the paranormal is real, and he denies because he’s scared. He feels like he loses himself in the statements and like he’s being watched. The fire alarm goes off. 

Elias and Sasha have a brief conversation about what’s happening, and that they could set off the fire suppression system (which uses CO2) to kill the worms, but this would also likely kill or injure the remaining staff in the building. Sasha decides to go in and do it herself. 

Tim had escaped the room he was trapped in by killing the worms with Martin’s CO2 hidden in tape boxes, and breaks down the wall with an axe as Jon and Martin are about to be killed. They escape through the tunnels under the archives. Martin mentions using some tapes to record his poetry. Sasha tries to find the override, but encounters the spider table, sees someone, and screams. A strange voice mimics her speech before the tape clicks off. 

Tim and Jon become separated from Martin. Tim and Jon try to leave through a trapdoor and come face to face with Prentiss. The tape clicks off.

Notes: I love Martin so much I have No Words. We see a return of the NotThem. The sound effects e.g. the static that plays in the tapes when Jon says certain things also makes sense with the hindsight that all the tapes record the real statements. 

Entities: The corruption, the stranger

Names mentioned:

Gertrude Robinson

Jonathan Sims

Martin Blackwood

Sasha James

Tim Stoker

Elias Bouchard

Jane Prentis

[magnusmusings]

Mag 32 - Hive

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

Oliver is likely “Antonio” from Mag 11 - who is later revealed to be Oliver Banks.

[magnusmusings]

Mag 12- First Aid

Lesere Saraki, 11.02.2012, St Thomas hospital, Waterloo, London, England. 

The statement describes the unusual incidents experienced by Lesere - a nurse at St. Thomas Hospital - on December 23rd 2011.  She was working the night shift and everything was going as a normal night would until two strange men were admitted to the hospital.

One had second degree burns covering his entire body, the other had them all over his body except for his head. Neither of their clothes showed any signs of singeing - and whatever had caused the burns must have passed through the clothes without burning them. 

The less-burned man carried a passport naming him as Gerard Keay, and he only carried that, and a small zippo lighter with an eye carved into it. He had small eyes tattooed over every joint and his heart, and where the eyes lay the skin was unburned in a small diameter around them She heard the older, more burned man chanting (”Asag wypalać, the lightless flame”). She went into the waiting room and noticed it was completely empty, which was strange for it being 3am, and heard a noise like a beast growling. The drinks in the vending machine began to boil and explode, and the door handles warped and gave off an extreme heat when touched. 

She went back into the room and noticed Gerard awake. He doesn’t notice the pain from his burns, and starts preparing to kill the man. Lesere chooses to help him - now desperate after her strange ordeal, and he says “Yes, better for you the beholding than the lightless flame”. He stabs him in the neck with a scalpel, and his body disintegrates. 

The people returned shortly after, and the next two weeks Gerard was cared for before being released into the custody of his “mother”. Lesere now feels as if she’s being watched. 

Notes: obvious affiliations with the eye and the desolation. Jon notes that Asag in Sumerian myth is a demon of disease and corruption - but that it could boil fish alive in the water due to its ugliness. Lesere seems to be marked after this, and the footage of the night shows the people in the hospital leaving calmly, before a human eye flashes unnaturally in the footage. Sasha worked on this one.

Entities: The eye, the desolation, the corruption (loosely)

Names mentioned:

Kayleigh Grice (Lesere’s boss)

Gerard Keay

Gertrude (likely posing as Mary as Mary has died several years earlier)

Diego Molina (burned man is later revealed to be him in MAG43)

[magnusmusings]

Mag 21 - Freefall

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)

Joseph Puce (man who had parachute land in his backyard)

[magnusmusings]

Mag 6: Squirm

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)

Jane Prentiss (Avatar of the corruption)