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MAG 001 - Anglerfish

This is a summary of the first episode of The Magnus Archives, with notes at the end about recurring characters and themes. This is part of a personal project meant to categorize the statements and help anyone new to TMA catch connections they may have missed, or for fan creators who may need a quick reference.

There will be spoilers, both for this episode and for connected episodes and events.

MAG 001 – Anglerfish

Statement #0122204, originally given April 22, 2012, recorded March 23, 2016

Statement Giver: Nathan Watts

Content: An encounter on Old Fishmarket Close, in Edinburgh

Content Warnings: Abduction, unsettling strangers/people being uncanny, alcohol, smoking, emetophobia

Transcript Source: here

Youtube link: here

Summary:

Jonathan Sims, the newest Head Archivist for the Magnus Institute in London, introduces himself. He’s worked at the Institute for four years prior as a researcher. He mentions the head of the Institute, Elias Bouchard, and states the purpose of the Institute as, “academic research into the esoteric and paranormal.” He goes on to mention the previous Archivist, Gertrude Robinson, and says that he’d been promoted after her death.

Jon condemns Gertrude’s archiving abilities, stating that even though the Institute has been around since 1818, nearly 200 years, a “half-decent archivist” could keep it in order. He describes the state of the archives, mentioning many open statements left around and un-filed, left without labels, and most being either handwritten or produced by typewriter. He sarcastically observes that the first computer to enter the Archive must have been his own, from that day.

He also says that most of the files have little to none of the actual investigations stored in them, so the only actual information is the statements themselves.

His plan is to digitize the Archive, along with the help of his three assistants, Tim, Sasha, and Martin—though he states that Martin is only going to delay them—and investigate each statement as much as they can. He apologizes for having to record the statements out of order, due to the Archive’s mess.

Done with the "excuses", he the begins the actual statement.

The statement is of a Biochemistry student at the University of Edinburgh named Nathan Watts. He had started school late, so even though he was only in his second year, he was invited to a party with some older students, for a friend named Michael MacAuclay’s acceptance for a Master’s. The party was at a bar called the Albanach, and they had gotten so loud that at some point they’d ended up clearing out other patrons.

Nathan had gotten incredibly drunk, gotten sick around midnight, and so he left to walk home. The road he chose to take, Old Fishmarket Close, was steep, and so he fell. He hadn’t gotten hurt, so he just stood up, and decided to roll a cigarette.

From the mouth of an alleyway, he heard a voice ask, “Can I have a cigarette?”

It startled him, because he hadn’t seen anyone, but he eventually spotted an unknown, unidentifiable figure in a dark alley. Nathan mentions that the figure seemed to sway lightly, and that he simply assumed they were also drunk.

He offered his tobacco, and got no response, just the same swaying, and a repeat of the question.

Nathan eventually managed to see the stranger, describing them along the lines of blank, emotionless, and looking like they had a fever. He noticed that the swaying got worse, coming from the waist. He offered a second cigarette, then, though he didn’t approach, and again got no response.

He mentions, then, the thought of an Anglerfish. The light, distracting you from what’s behind it.

The question is repeated again, “Can I have a cigarette?” And this time, Nathan notices that the stranger’s mouth doesn’t move, and hadn’t for any of the previous repetitions. He also notes that their feet aren’t touching the ground. The stranger was being lifted, and moved from side to side.

When Nathan attempts to turn on his phone flashlight, the figure disappears, “…sort of folded at the waist and vanished back into the darkness, as if a string had gone taut and pulled it back.” There isn’t anything left behind when he manages to look into the alley.

He returns the next day to check, and sees nothing but a Marlboro Red cigarette.

In the last bit, Nathan mentions the disappearance of John Fellowes, someone he didn’t know, but was at the party, and that in his missing photo, John had a pack of Marlboro Reds.

In the end of the recording, Jon Sims returns, stating that there’s no real evidence to support Nathan’s story, and that he’s tempted to place the file in his “discredited” category, which he expects quite a few files to go to.

Despite this, he mentions Sasha, one of his assistants, doing some digging into it, and that between 2005 and 2010, when the event actually occurred, six disappearances were reported in and around Old Fishmarket Close:

Jessica McEwen, November 2005

Sarah Baldwin, August 2006

Daniel Rawlings, December 2006

Ashley Dobson, May 2008

Megan Shaw, June 2008

John Fellowes, March 2010

Sarah Baldwin and Megan Shaw were both definitively smokers, but the others have no evidence of smoking or not smoking.

The final detail Jon mentions is that Ashley Dobson had taken one photograph before disappearing, and sent it to her sister, Siobhan, with the caption, “check out this drunk creeper lol.” The photo is of an empty alley, which seems to be the same as the one Nathan Watts had his encounter in. Increasing the contrast showed, “the outline of a long, thin hand, roughly at what would be waist level on a male of average height.”

The last thing he says is, “I find it oddly hard to shake off the impression that it’s beckoning.”

The statement ends.

Connections:

Entity/Entities: The Stranger, fear of things that look human but aren’t, the uncanny valley, the unknown, the creeping feeling that something isn’t quite right.

The Anglerfish is an agent of the Stranger that is also mentioned later. It uses the skins of its victims to disguise the other Strangers. The bodies left without skins are used in The Unknowing, the Stranger’s ritual.

Sarah Baldwin is mentioned in MAG 28, in Melanie King’s statement. She was recommended as a sound tech for Melanie’s YouTube channel, Ghost Hunt UK. She has been turned into an agent of the Stranger, and is confronted by the resident being, which is of the Slaughter. In MAG 96, Jon and Daisy Tonner meet her in the Trophy Room.

Daniel Rawlings is mentioned in MAG 54, as the owner of The Trophy Room, a taxidermy shop. It’s noted that he bears little resemblance to the original, except for the hair.

Elias Bouchard and Gertrude Robinson are both often recurring characters on the show, both heavily affiliated with The Eye. Jon also mentions that Gertrude is dead, though at this point there isn’t any proof, as her body hasn’t been discovered yet.

Sasha James is another recurring member, up until MAG 39 (July 29, 2016), though her name continues to be used afterwards for a different character that is also Stranger affiliated. She does a lot of the investigations for Jon’s recordings.

Tim Stoker is mentioned once, but he is also a recurring member, up until season 3. Notably, even though he has the strongest connection to The Stranger at this point, he is not mentioned as part of this investigation.

Martin Blackwood, like Tim, is only mentioned this episode, but is one of two of the original Archives team to be part of the finale.

In MAG 199 Georgie Barker says “Can I have a cigarette?” to Jon, which causes him to laugh.