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Mag 29 - Cheating Death

Nathaniel Thorp, 04.06.1972, Charlestown, Massachusetts

Nathaniel Thorp is illiterate and instead has his story recorded by Fiona Law. He begins his statement by discussing a folktale

Once there was a brave and noble soldier at the battle of Bunker Hill, who, after a long night of gambling and drinking, fled battle discovering he had been shot. He took shelter in the cellar of a house to escape the rain, and there he found Death.

The soldier, feeling his life slip away and desperate, challenged Death to a game of of chance. The soldier was originally offered chess or dominoes, but instead he selected Faro. If he won, Death promised that the soldier would not die.

The game seemed to stretch on for hours, days, and many times the soldier feared he would lose. Growing desperate, he relied on his slight of hand skills to cheat, praying that Death would not notice. He won, but the triumph and euphoria of having cheated Death soon turned to ash in his hands. Death started to laugh as muscle, flesh, sinew, and blood reformed around his ancient bones, while the soldier’s fell off his own in clumps, and he started to scream. Before him stood a monk. The soldier cried out, “You said I’d live if I won!”, and the monk simply shook his head and said “No I didn’t.”

At this point, Nathaniel reveals himself to have been the soldier, who supposedly “died” in 1775. He spent 2 centuries in this state along with other “Deaths” who came to people who were on the verge of death, but also killed those who were not. Eventually, he won a game of roulette and returned to his flesh form. He had been “alive” for two years, but food and drink made him unwell, and he couldn’t sleep, and didn’t seem to age. He had a craving for something, but couldn’t quite place what.

Note: During the statement he cut off his own finger to prove his point. Fiona Law died during complications in a liver transplant in 2003, and so couldn’t follow up on the statement. Included in it was a hexagonal bone faro token, which crumbled to dust when Jon picked it up. Avatars of the end seem to not only be concerned with the deaths of others - but anxiety around death generally and what that process (or the withholding of that process) entails. Jon notes that Elias was also there at the time, but working as a filing clerk, and that Gertrude was the archivist at the time.

Entities: The end

Names mentioned:

Nathaniel Thorp

Fiona Law

Gertrude Robinson

Elias Bouchard

#y: 1775 #ys: 1972 #nathaniel thorp #thorp #fiona law #law #e: end #mag 29 #p: USA #c: Massachusetts #c: charlestown #st: j #the magnus archives #gertrude robinson #robinson #elias bouchard #bouchard

Mag 35 - Old Passages

Harold Silvana, 04.06.2002, Pall Mall, London.

Harold worked in restoration and had been hired to work on the basement and ground floor of the Reform club - the work was supposed to be minimal, but due to the fragility of the building they had to take extra care in the work, which meant that it stretched into a week-long gig. They also had to schedule for strange hours because the venue was constantly busy.

At 2am one morning a teenager showed up. Harold was alone with his coworker Rachel Turley, and their other colleague Alfred Bartlett was out getting coffee. In leaving, he’d likely left the door open, and while Rachel and Harold stood chatting they noticed a thin figure in the doorway. He asked them if they’d found any of “Leitner’s pages” yet. This shocked them as they’d just been talking about Leinter as a businessman - who asked for consultation in his offices in pall mall in 1987. He had asked them to dig a hole in his office, and had shouted them out of the building when they stated they needed the building owner’s permission.

The teenager (later revealed to be Gerard) knocks out a fake wall, and the four of them eventually decide to investigate. The tunnels looked to be mid-19th century, and they realised it likely connected to where Jurgen had wanted them to dig. They came to a central chamber with 13 corridors, plus the one they’d come down. One felt like they were going to fall into it, one was incredibly dark, in the centre of the chamber was a datestone. It read “Robert Smirke, 1835, Balance and Fear”.

Suddenly, Gerard took off into one of the tunnels, Alfred followed close behind, and the other two soon chased after them. They chased him, only to find him sprinting back in their direction. He evaded them easily and disappeared back the way they came. Aflred screamed in the dark, and Harold noticed small bones clattering to the ground in the corridor. They found Alfred dead in a small room at the end of the corridor. He didn’t seem hurt. On his chest were more tiny bones. They left, calling the cops. Harold thinks he went down other corridors first, he has vague memories of other entities (the spider, the stranger, the dark, the desolation).

Notes: Alfred’s death was listed as a heart attack. Jon discusses Leitner’s reputation and his collection of antique books, and that likely some were stored in his old offices. He also mentions Robert Smirke (an architect)- and that Tim know a lot about him. Smirke’s buildings have a much higher percentage of paranormal sightings than other architects of similar profile. In the post-statement section, Jon leaves to find extinguishers to kill some silver worms, and in his absence Breekon & Hope deliver a zippo lighter with a spider design to Martin to give to Jon. Sasha worked on this case. This is also likely where Gerard got the bone book for his mother.

Entities: All

Names mentioned:

Rachel Turley

Alfred Bartlett

Harold Silvana

Gerard Keay

Mary Keay

Jurgen Leitner

Robert Smirke

Mag 11 - Dreamer

“Antonio Blake” 14.03.2015, London, England.

“Antonio” describes a series of unsettling dreams that he begins having after leaving his job following a mental breakdown. He sees coiling strands of some dark material winding around people who appear distorted - all attaching to different parts of them. He can move around and apparently get hurt, but doesn’t feel pain and can’t affect his surroundings. He eventually finds his old manager John in the office suspended by a black tendril holding him by the neck.

He later finds out that John had hung himself following losing a custody battle with his ex wife. He realises that his dreams foreshadow imminent deaths, but is unable to stop them or warn folks. Eventually he sees one entering the chest of his father, who dies of a heart attack a month and a half later.

What brought him to the institute was a dream he had two nights previous. The tendrils in his dream pulsed red, choking the streets, and he thought he might be able to see briefly illuminated shadowy faces within them. He followed them to the institute - and all converged on Gertrude Robinson - who has this light pouring into her. He submitted this statement hoping she would read it.

Notes: This is incredibly early foreshadowing to the events of MAG160! Wow!!!! (Talked about under the cut).

Entities: The end

Names mentioned:

“Antonio Blake”

Graham (Ex-boyfriend of “Antonio” - likely the same Graham from MAG 3 - as they broke up around 2005-2006, and Graham was replaced in ~2006.)

Anahita (Friend of “Antonio” - he crashes on her couch after his breakup and mental breakdown)

John Uzel (”Antonio”’s manager)

Rosie (by Jon re: followups - another employee of the institute)

Spoilers for s4 under the cut

Mag 4: Pageturner

Dominic Swain, 28.06.2013, Notting Hill, London.

On November 10th 2002, Dominic, when stopping in a small bookstore to wait for his friend’s show, stumbles upon Ex Altiora - a book from the library of Jurgen Leitner. He buys it, but upon researching it can find nothing save information for a store called pinhole books. He goes there and meets Mary Keay, who mentions her son Gerard and shows him one of her own Leitner tomes- which spits bones when moved into shadow. Unsettled, he goes home and decides to get rid of his book. Gerard turns up at his place, eventually buying and burning the book. Research on the two of them reveals that Mary died in 2008.

Notes: Part of Dominic’s search returns a purchase for The Key of Solomon by Gertrude Robinson - previous head archivist before Jon. This statement is the first mention of Ex Altiora Michael Crew, the Keay family, and Jurgen + his library. Mary’s book is unnamed. Gerard has gifted his mother an intricate painting of an open eye with the caption "grant us the sight that we may not know, grant us the scent that we may not catch, grant us the sound that we may not call", so he’s likely connected to the eye. Mary has a connection now with the end as she’s undead.

There’s light connections to the spiral through the lichtenberg figure on Mike Crew’s back. Tim worked on this guy. Elias was also mentioned.

Entities: The vast, The eye, The end

Names mentioned:

Michael crew (childhood friend of Dominic who was struck by lightning at 8 yrs old)

Gertrude Robinson (previous head archivist)

Katherine Mendes (friend of Dominic)

MacGregor Mathers (Co-Owner of Leitner tome)

Mary and Gerard Keay (Mysterious Leitner tome pursuers)

Mag 14 - Piecemeal

Lee Rentoul, 29.05.2011, London.

Lee Rentoul has worked with a man named Paul Noriega in the past, was framed, and ended up in prison for 5 years. After getting out, he wants Noriega dead and meets an old woman named Angel (introduced by his colleague) who is “doddery” and likes puzzles. He makes a deal with her. He gives her an item of Noriega’s (not a gift) - which happens to be an old zippo lighter.

He waits for three weeks and grows impatient. He kills Noriega, later noticing that he’s missing several pieces off him that weren’t missing before. He disposes of the body, but a few days later he finds a box on the road with his name that reads “for immediate consideration”. It contains a severed finger, which he disposes of, only to lose a finger moments later. He finds that it now appears as though the injury had happened years ago, the wound healed over neatly. Over the next few days he begins receiving more and more boxes, eventually losing whatever body part he had been sent.

He tries to confront Angela, who only shrugs and says “some hungers are too strong to be denied”. Eventually he goes to the Magnus institute in the hopes that they will find some way to help him, finishing that he is running out of time as he received a tongue a couple days ago.

Notes: The wiki says that this statement is connected to the flesh, but honestly I don’t think that’s right. It’s too literal - yes, the statement concerns dismembered body parts - it not specifically to do with the messy physicality of flesh or of flesh being *used* for something. It reads more as the end to me - especially with the jigsaw symbolism. Pieces of a fully functional unity of a human being are being slowly whittled away uncaringly - with no way for the victim to avoid his fate - only watch himself fall apart until he eventually dies. First mention of Mikaele Selasa. Lee later goes missing and is presumably dead (his landlord found hundreds of cardboard boxes in his flat). Tim and Martin worked on this one.

Entities: The end, the flesh (?)

Names mentioned:

Paul Noriega (former associate and enemy of Lee - who is later killed by the former)

Hester (friend of Lee’s)

Mikaele Selasa (antiques dealer noted as being Samoan)

Angela (Possible avatar of the end?)

Toby McMullen (Associate of Lee’s - introduces him to Angela)