#capgras effect

[dear-future-ai]

Early morning rant/rambling

A lot of high-masking autistics are going to be mistaken for chatgpt in online spaces because of the way they type and interact with others.

[neilpissyrega]

i love introducing will wood to my friends because the conversation goes a bit like this:

“okay so he’s this guy- yes, he goes by he him- why is he wearing a skirt? oh that was in like 2017 or something he was doing a LOT of drugs then- anyway he makes these crazy songs they’re loud but sometimes they’re not and they go really fast except the times they don’t and they use a lot of effects and stuff, like, audio clips, except when they don’t. yeah, let me put some on. uh huh i know it’s loud, I’ll skip this one if you want. okay now it’s quiet and progressively gets louder and then gets really quiet at the end. okay, let’s play another one. oh this song is great- what’s this song called? oh it’s just called Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer's Prosopagnosia/Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to the Fusiform Gyrus). yeah that’s just one song. tapeworms? i don’t think he has tapeworms, that’s just, like, a stage name thing, he just goes by will wood now, his songs are a lot quieter. let me put on another. ohhhhh this is a bop i love dancing to this one yeahhhh i love the amount of screaming here. ok next one. fuck this one makes me cry”

“what”

[shrineofthethylacine]

notes on targeted individuality, some older stuff mixed w new thoughts

the things ive found shared across these targeted experience are:

1.) set of various negative perceptions that only the targeted individual is experiencing

2.) the awareness of these experiences by other people in the TI’s life or proximity, but an unwillingness or inability to help them escape/mitigate the effects

3.) a framework for understanding these experiences that attributes their origins to an external agency operating with bad faith or sinister intent

the v2k (voice to skull) described by many TIs can take the form of a physical+sonic sensation, but many report it as a nagging voice in their heads shaping thoughts toward suicide or self-harm that they can’t muffle or ignore

“you might be a TI if you have started considering every positive past thing in your life in a negative light to see if you hurt someone to deserve this”

most TIs ive spoken to directly or seen online seem to start understanding themselves as targeted by their thirties- begin to assess past experiences as having some sort of connection or dark rhythm

many loved ones of mine, when they reached the age i am now experienced similar; one described it as “the cryptkeeper”, another as “the pattern”..

range of experiences and attitudes regarding the role of others in the targeting, tiers of different ppl w most random ppl being unaware or not paying attention, TIs w/close relationships report not being able to determine whether friends+family are direct participants in the targeting, attempting to drop hints that they know it is happening, lying by omission to keep the targeted individual from panicking, many “early-stage” accounts describe ppl in close relationships all beginning to act differently at once as if in concert

shulie firestone started experiencing “capgras delusion” in her thirties

“everything i try to better myself gets sabotaged”

“the enemy dresses like a deer and kills like a lion. talking more than you should will give them the small amount of information that they needed. nothing is coincidence, so if you notice a car following you or a person giving a facial expression of recognition, most likely they are there for you”

[inphront]

ok ok ok so literally not even one person asked me to do a full english kid breakdown of mr. capgras, nobody wanted this not even me, but i am hyperfixating INTENSELY and i must do text analysis about it. buckle in this one’s gonna be long and the fact i’ve included a cut is your only chance to back out of So Many Words About This Song.

so first of all, the title!!! Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer’s Prosopagnosia/Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to the Fusiform Gyrus). that uh. already gives us a lot to analyze let’s get started.

mr capgras: in reference to the capgras delusion, in which one believes a loved one has been replaced and it’s not actually them. ties in really obviously to the song’s hook of “you’re trying to replace yourself.” the narrator could thus be interpreted as delusional and speaking that line to a loved one, or, given the album’s overarching theme of self-discovery, the song could pose the question of how to love *yourself* if it’s not really you, and of whether feeling unlike yourself constitutes delusion.

secondhand vanity: vanity as in a mirror, the site of a lot of discomfort for someone as thoroughly depersonalized as the singer of this song, OR vanity as in conceitedness… or, to use a more pointed synonym, ego. the addition of “secondhand” clarifies that the markers of the singer’s ego or selfhood— such as their reflection in the mirror— don’t actually belong to them, but are passed down from somewhere or someone else.

tulpamancy: ohhhhh boy ok. so the term “tulpa” hails from tibetan buddhism and refers to a body created within the mind. tulpamancy is a modern internet practice in which one effectively creates an imaginary friend type persona that eventually gains the ability to speak and act autonomously— the quickest way to explain it is like a self-built DID alter, though i really feel the need to stress that a tulpa and an alter are. Not The Same Thing. anyway this builds on the themes we’ve already discussed re creation of identities or alternate selves, but adds the layer of intention: the singer creates identities that are Not Them on purpose. it also delves into another recurring theme in self-ish, which is the tension between scientific/psychological explanations for what the self is and spiritual/religious ones. tulpamancy, a term with spiritual origins that nonetheless describes a secular practice, sits a bit awkwardly in between, but is distinctly less scientifically based and pathological than the concept of a capgras delusion.

prosopagnosia: we’re back to pathology! this is the medical term for face blindness. again with mirrors and depersonalization— the singer cannot recognize their loved ones (or, for that matter, themself).

pareidolia: so the slash might make you think these are synonymous or similar, but they’re actually practically opposites in the context of the song: pareidolia is the human tendency to take a random pattern or shape and interpret it as something with meaning, *most commonly a face.* it’s easiest to describe with photo assistance, but take the example of an outlet. it’s just two rectangles and a semicircle, but doesn’t it look like a frowning face? or sometimes the headlights of a car look like eyes and the grille like a mouth. things like that. the face is one of the most indisputable ways to identify someone, and we’ve just established that our narrator 1. can’t actually identify anyone by their real face because they are face-blind, and 2. sees faces where there aren’t any (thereby seeing identities where there aren’t any).

fusiform gyrus: part of the occipital and temporal lobes of the brain; largely responsible for… you guessed it, object recognition and perception of faces. the idea that the narrator’s identity struggles are a “direct result of trauma to the fusiform gyrus” completely flies in the face of my earlier point about intention: where tulpamancy is “you’re making new identities on purpose,” trauma to the fusiform gyrus is “you got hit in the head real hard and now your sense of self is fucked.” it ties into the album’s broader questions about free will (sure, you’re doing this on purpose, but your intentions are impacted by something completely outside of your control) as well as suggesting that the disconnect the singer feels between mind and body is just as much caused by issues with the latter as with the former.

congratulations, you’ve arrived at the analysis of the actual song.

intro:

the song starts off with a pretty clear thesis: “you're trying to replace yourself.” the song follows *someone* who is disconnecting from who they are via the construction of false identities. what is a bit less clear is who “you” refers to. given the intense depersonalization underscoring the whole song, that ambiguity makes perfect sense; the question of who “you” refers to is kind of the basis of. all of self-ish. the song changes back and forth between first and second person, which *could* indicate two different people but could just as easily be one person talking to themself (more speculation on this later), or even a general “you” referencing all of humanity.

verse 1:

Carving out a fact from a reckoning: reminiscent of the idea of pareidolia and of delusions generally. to carve out a fact or perception of truth when all you actually have are questions is practically the definition of delusion. though the term “reckoning” in particular does tie in a bit to religion, as one reckons with their faith. spiritual or not, the singer takes their struggle to find an answer as being an answer in and of itself.

Beckoning you back, skin sagging off its skeleton: “skin sagging off its skeleton” is some of the first language we get around the idea of masking and falsehood, and also suggests an out-of-body experience. there’s a literal separation occurring within the body as well as tension between outward presentation (skin) and inner foundation (skeleton). in spite of the illusion’s “sagging off,” unable to maintain itself, it still “beckons,” implying that it has some amount of influence.

Levitating off the ground/is another man wearing your face: a significantly more direct exploration of masking and falsehood. could reference an apparition/hallucination, or perhaps it refers to a reflection in the titular vanity; the narrator is dissociating to the point that they aren’t in their body at all and sees someone else wearing their face upon looking in the mirror.

All the other false identities/remedies or enemies to mitigate your memories: another clarification of the fact that the addressee is constructing masks, or “false identities.” this line is our first foray into why they do this— specifically, “to mitigate your memories.” they (“you”) have been through something that they want to be distant from or can’t deal with as themself (perhaps whatever it is that went down in 2012), so they create other selves to cope. the idea that those selves can be “remedies OR enemies” could imply less than complete control (the masks were meant to be remedies but some of them have wound up as enemies) or that they want to pass off the role of “enemy” to somebody else (they have disconnected from and reconstructed the part of them that is their own worst enemy).

Shuddered at what they found/when they stripped away the grace: suggests that whatever is *under* all these masks is reeeeeal ugly. in fact, so ugly that even the masks themselves “shudder” when they see it.

Eulogy or biography: so first of all, both of those tend to get written about dead people. this brings in another form of dissociation (the one discussed in cotard’s solution) while also stripping the singer of agency (a dead person gets no say in how someone else tells their story). furthermore, eulogies tend to focus on the good in a person while biographies focus on the fact. “eulogy or biography,” therefore, could be translated “compliments or honesty,” “the false self or the real one.”

I’m who I oughtta be/and that is God to me: double meaning! grammatically, “that is god to me” could mean that being who they ought to be is of religious significance to the narrator, *or* that the narrator ought to be their own god. this is also the first time we’ve heard first person in the song. for this set of lines, the singer seems actually confident in who they are, to the point of placing spiritual faith in their use of the word “i.”

So, my God, what’s wrong with me? If who I wanna be might be/never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, no, never: well scratch everything i just said about the narrator knowing who they are. not only do they not know what’s wrong with them, but using “my god” right after calling themself god means that they’re talking to themself. this is a considerable hint that “you” and “me” refer to the same person, given that person is having conversations with themself. it is possible that the divine surety in their identity was, in fact, another mask. the next bit furthers that by implying that even when the narrator is connected enough to themself to be using the first person, they *want* to be one of their replacements: “who i want to be might be never,” a void, a falsehood. of course, with the way the song actually sounds out loud, “never, never, never” reads more like an interruption: the singer starts confessing to wanting the masks and the depersonalization around and then immediately admonishes themself for it.

chorus:

You’ll never take me alive, baby! You’ll never take me alive/you’ll never take me, you’ll never take me, you better pray that I die: so you can interpret this two ways and they are exact opposites. either this is the “real” narrator speaking to the masks, saying they’re never going to give into their mental illness and will always hold onto their identity, or the alternative identities reminding them that they’re around to stay, and that no matter whether they were constructed intentionally they cannot be controlled anymore. tulpamancy horror! no matter the interpretation, there’s a clear schism between the singer’s selves. “you’ll never take me alive” is something that only gets said in an argument, and “you” and “me” being the same person clearly presents an internal war.

And no, you’re never gon’ find/somebody to replace yourself, somebody to replace yourself: no matter how much analysis and how much construction of masks takes place, the split (i have been trying to keep my dissociative disorder out of this analysis and i don’t think i’ve been succeeding tbh) has happened already and cannot be undone. by this point in the album, the singer has lost themself already (as outlined in 2012). mr capgras, functionally, is a departure from their attempts through the album to *find* themself in favor of… y’know. trying to *replace* themself. the ultimate conclusion in that they will never succeed at this and all of the replacements they build won’t ever fill the hole their missing ego is supposed to occupy.

verse 2:

while verse 1 talks about the creation of new selves or ego states as something that hides or forces disconnection from one’s true identity, verse 2 takes it a step farther and calls into question whether it’s even possible to have a true identity, or if that was always just another mask. let’s get into it.

Damn, I thought you’re not your imposter: an incredibly obfuscating/confusing way of saying “i thought you’re yourself” (presumably, “damn” means they were proven wrong about this). this lyric also blurs the line between the constructed identities and the real ones: what if you *are* your impostor?

You’re so sure you’re not gonna get caught/dead in your own skin: another reference to cotard’s syndrome, as well as reinforcement of the narrator’s dissociation. they can’t fathom being connected to their body even in death. there’s also an air of hubris to the line; being sure they’re “not gonna get caught” implies that the consequences of replacing oneself can be escaped through further replacement and they’ll never have to face up to the truth of who they are.

But you didn’t choose what you were born in: ultimately, any self that gets created is still going to have to share a body and its associated baggage (trauma to the fusiform gyrus, for example).

And another man in your repertoire/ready in your head and fed upon your memoirs: yeah so for these two lines i just completely give up on not bringing the systemhood into my analysis honestly. the words “repertoire” and “ready in your head” suggest intention, calling forth an image of someone with a wardrobe full of people that they can put on or take off at will, but on examination, these lines actually highlight the singer’s lack of control. we know that the singer doesn’t remember 2012, nor how they lost their identity, so the idea of “another man” being “fed upon [their] memoirs” is quite alarming: i one of these personas that was meant to be an intentional construction has access to or possibly even wiped out (fed upon) memories that the “true” self doesn’t know about. which begs the obvious question of “can it even *be* the true self without memories?” this verse takes the sentiment of the song from “somebody trying to replace themself in order to cope with depersonalization and ego death” to “the replacements and the dead ego are equally real (or equally fake).” the self-replacement fails not because the replacements could never measure up to the real thing, but because they measure up too well.

Still the same rules apply/from the birthday to the mourning: the first birthday gift you get is your body and you’re stuck with it till you’re dead. not only that, but “mourning” happens *after* you’re dead. the singer is thoroughly disconnected from their body even though that’s the only part of them that will persist after death.

What you feel and what you do/are those things really you/and if not, then what is? (Never never never): in a capgras delusion, one believes that their loved one has been replaced even if they behave exactly the same. this line begs the question of “if the imitation is indistinguishable from the real thing, does that not make them the same?” most people define themselves, at least to an extent, by what they feel and what they do. if you’re convinced your actions and even your feelings are false and belong to somebody else, then what metrics are left by which to define yourself? the “never never never” is positioned almost as an answer to that question.

So, my God, what’s wrong with you/and I’m still asking who that is/never, never, never…: an echo of the earlier line, with a change in voice. the narrator’s questioning spiral and attempts to create alternate selves have only left them more disconnected, such that they can’t use “me” anymore, even when discussing problems that very much belong to them. the set of nevers is once again presented like an answer to the question of “who are you?” they can’t create themself because the masks don’t even have anything to cover up— perhaps there was never, never, never an identity to begin with.

chorus:

the chorus repeats twice before the end of the song, to the classic will wood accompaniment of “the earthquake in this instrument hall sure is increasing a lot in magnitude,” giving it an overtone of desperation and complete mental break. during the last chorus, we get background lyrics pulled from another song on the album: this is not enough, this is not enough to prove it yet! no, I need to hit the bottom. so while at the start, the creation of false identities was at least somewhat intentional, the singer is now completely lost and embarking on a quest for evidence regarding who they are (as seen in hand me my shovel, the song being referenced). not only can they not control the masks, they no longer have any clue what’s real. what they do seem to know is that “you’re never gon’ find somebody to replace yourself,” these being the final lyrics of the song. replacing the narrator’s lost identity has proven impossible; they’re back to trying to find it.

if you actually read all this first of all i love you and second of all i hope you’re like. okay. either way it was very fun to write i have so many thoughts about this album please let me know if you want me to break down any other songs like this!

[night-vale-daily]

Good evening listeners, this is Marsha Capgras (please, don't thankk me for the dialectics) from FM 77.6 on the Mary Bell Community Radio! Remember to tune in at 8 PM! I was overcome with this unexplainable tiredness that someone like me would never experience! Have any of you felt the same today? I was sleeping all day! I almost missed today's radio segment! Even my Creature felt the same! My skeletons are now banging at my closet door, it is very loud and irritating. I must neatly fold them once again.

Dear listeners of mine have reported the smell of smoke overwhelming the town along with typically inflammable items combusting into flames. My Creature caught on fire today, and so did I. Along with that- ... ... Sorry, listeners. I caught on fire again. I cannot explain this phenomenon. I believe this will drastically effect the LGBTQ+ community. Before my studio catches on fire, I have one last piece of news. More helicopters have been flying around the town then usual. Most helicopters are used for spying on citizens, but these seem to behave differently in their flight patterns. I will investigate this tonight. ... Well, that's it for today. Goodnight, listeners. Remember, Radio Requests are always open!

[heroes-anthesis]

BEEPS RESEARCH LOGS #1

Specimen Name: Capgras

Entry 1:

I am Richard Timothy, also known as "Beep," and these are my information logs on the mad clown named Capgras. Let's begin at the beginning. I encountered the clown while wandering around Charlotte, and his power gave me a significant shock. It seems impossible to counteract his abilities in a conventional manner, but I have found a temporary solution—a mixture containing almost 100% THC helps me retain control of my mind, albeit temporarily. However, every encounter with him chips away at my sanity; he is a genuine menace.

Entry 2:

Capgras appears to behave relatively normally and seems mostly bored when I speak with him. I recently witnessed him in combat, and it was terrifying. He defeated multiple empowered individuals effortlessly, demonstrating his formidable prowess. However, it seems that the temporary measure I devised has been effective, although further research is necessary.

Entry 3:

In this entry, Capgras engaged in a fierce battle with the strongest warden in Charlotte. The clash was intense, with both parties displaying equal power, but the warden ultimately lost. Capgras even managed to brainwash him. Additionally, I discovered that despite Capgras's immense power, he is not invulnerable; he can be killed, as demonstrated when Beep administered medical aid after Capgras was shot with a shotgun.

Entry 4:

I have struck a deal with Capgras; I will assist in creating a body for him, and in return, he will aid me in establishing the Church of Hastur. This endeavor is perilous, but it aligns with my long-term objectives. I eagerly anticipate the outcome, whether it proves successful or catastrophic, as there will be valuable lessons either way.

Entry ?:

My mind is in chaos; I cannot recall anything. Capgras must have done something to my mind; he is the only one capable of harming me in this city besides Hound. I visited him, and he had the body we were constructing, yet I cannot remember why. Why can't I recall anything? My head throbs, and I struggle to think clearly. What has he done to me? Why is my memory failing me?

Entry 26:

It has been a while since my last encounter with Capgras, but we recently launched an assault on a government/military facility. I have developed a cure for the chemical weapons housed there, and my plan is to have the Freedom Fighters release it to avoid government scrutiny. Unfortunately, another party beat us to some of the resources, but I will deal with them in due time. I observed Capgras fighting again, and while his methods have become bloodier, they remain just as effective.

Entry 50:

I have not met with Capgras for an extended period, and it appears that my mental state is slowly improving. Perhaps I can continue to regain my lost sanity and resume the projects I had postponed for so long.

[sweet-chimera]

The list of overly specific M!A's I thought of while helping a friend torture their muse

M!A prove thyself: Your muse falls back to one of their worst trait of people pleasing, living up to unobtainable standards and doing everything in their power, not limited to self destructive behaviours to be the perfecionist version of them that they know everyone will love better. Its includes vying for approval from toxic sources or not communicating with loved ones so your mask wont show

M!A Mirrored Synesthesia: Your muses limbs mimic the feeling and sensation of their worse injury physical or mental. If your muse has been shot they feel the trembling shooting pain all the time. If your muse has an amputated limb the remaining limbs tremble and feel numb

M!A Clean slate: Your muse is mentally back in a time in their life where they had less independence and volition then they currently do now whether that be child hood or a time of being manipulated, with no memories your muse should have currently. They will act and function in their current body as they would back then.

M!A Capgras syndrome: Your muse believes that most of the muses around them are out to hurt them. Be it they believe some muses have been replaced by evil clones, or that their friends are suddenly working against them and as enemies your muse now has a deeply seeded, innate, and unshakeable distrust and even fear of the people around them.

M!A impressionable: Your muse trusts and is loyal to another muse whole heartedly, having no reason to believe that their words or will is detrimental in anyway. What that muse says is truth, if they say jump yours says how high and if they said that all of your muses friends are a bad influence yours ask who to cut off.

M!A Worst Self: We're all very lucky that your muse took life's traumas on the chin and coped as well as they did. Where any lesser person would have been corrupted by them. Your muse will now respond to misdeeds done against them as nature intended. If they were wronged they'll want revenge and if they were hurt they'll learn the lesson that people can't be trusted and those in power are fulls. This can turn heroes who've learned to love and help people because of their trauma into villains. And turn villains who learned to be guarded or conquer that which hurt them into tyrants.

M!A Blank-Slate: Your muse has no memories or feelings to anything they are inundated with in their current life. With the exception of language and instinctual survival facts (You wear clothes, whats edible, language, ect.) they are a blank slate to every experience that comes their way for better or for worse.

M!A The Fates and Cassandra: Your muse is plagued with visions of effects of their past actions, what might be going on elsewhere in the world at the time, and/or hundreds of possible futures that they can live through or put others through simply by interacting with them. All of the what-ifs and mass amount of knowledge may be too much and overstimulating for them. When they tell other muses about what might happen in the future they're inclined to believe the opposite since your muse is spouting nonsense like a crazy person.

M!A Incorporeal: With the exception of clothes, your muse is nothing more then an apparition. They're a ghost in every sense of the word and while other muses might be able to see them, your muse won't be able to touch anything, feel anything, or be perceived by most muses unless interacting with them directly. Anybody who watches a muse interacting with yours (unless they're mediums or can see spirits) will perceive that muse as talking to themself.

M!A Selective hearing: Your muse can now hear the thoughts, feelings, and internal workings of the intelligent life around them. In a crowded space an unfocused muse will be bombarded with a chorus of loud inner thoughts. one on one your muse might hear what their friends really think about them.

[citrusreadstoa]

Reading The Dark Prophecy: Chapter 1 (SPOILERS)

We're only at the second book and the title is already this ominous.

"Lester (Apollo) / Still human; thanks for asking" You're welcome. I like to show that I care.

"When our dragon declared war on Indiana, I knew it was going to be a bad day." Starting off strong. I wonder how Indiana is going to fight back. Do they have an army at standby?

"Cyclopes of Pittsburgh" Are those the same cyclopes the Lost Trio fought? No, I looked it up. They were in Detroit.

"Potina, the Roman goddess of childhood drinks, who pursued us in the form of a giant red pitched emblazoned with a smiley face." I thought my friend was just kidding when he said they fought the Kool-Aid man. Anyway, did Zeus/Jupiter send Potina to just make his son's life a little bit worse?

"the cupola of the Indiana Statehouse" CUPOLA (n.): a small dome, especially a small dome on a drum on top of a larger dome, adorning a roof or ceiling

"would not respond to over-the-counter zit medicine." He had time to try? Clindamycin and Benzoyl Peroxide Gel from Walgreens is somewhat effective for me.

"You're the one who's been having visions" Ohoho! He's been visions? While awake? Is he pulling a Hazel now? "the city you dreamed about" Aw, never mind.

"Not the yummy kind of licorice, either; the nasty variety that sits for eons in your stepmother's candy bowl on the coffee table. And, no, Hera, why would I be talking about you?" Canonically, Hera is a fan of licorice? As if I needed any more reason to hate her.

Apollo's description of Indianapolis... man, I feel sorry for anyone living there who reads this. "one proper New York neighborhood . . . stretched out to encompass the entire area of Manhattan, then relieved of two-thirds of its population and vigorously power-washed" He makes it sound like even the people who live in Indianapolis don't want to live there. Can any Indianapolians confirm?

"Capture Apollo before he can find the next Oracle." I find it cool that Apollo's BFF in this series is also the one trying to capture and kill him. "She also happened to be my demigod master, thanks to Zeus's twisted sense of humor." Apollo, I don't think Zeus specifically chose Meg for you. You walked into that yourself and if it were anyone's plotting that led to this, it was Nero's.

"as restless as Festus." Hey, a rhyme.

"CAFE PATACHOU" He named the café! The café's going to be important, I betcha!

"At Three Mile Island in 1979, the mortals somehow failed to realize that their partial nuclear meltdown was caused by an epic chainsaw fight between Ares and Hephaestus." Yo, what?

"Their faces were too placid. Their dazed smiles" THIS IS THE SAME SPELL LUKE HAD ON THE CRUISEGOERS. Is the entire city of Indianapolis brainwashed?

"Festus projectile-vomited a column of flames" Aw, no! But maybe he doesn't hate Indiana after all. Maybe that was a warning that he was about to get sick again. "Valdez was fireproof. His clothes were not." I guess Calypso hasn't gotten around to making him a fireproof wardrobe yet.

"I imagined walking into a T.J. Maxx" Do books work like movies with companies paying for product placement?

"something about her proportions seemed off." Monster. She's a monster. A resident of the uncanny valley. "What if they erected a statue of me in my present form--a giant golden Lester in the center of their city?" I think the more plausible welcome you're going to get is being stuffed in a sack and dragged to their headquarters.

"the sound of finger bones breaking." She hurt herself trying to punch this lady? Nanette's got a solid face. "Her head toppled off her shoulders . . . Its base was as smooth as stainless steel." Oh, she's a robot. Don't tell me now that all the inhabitants of Indianapolis have been replaced by automatons. Were the people with Capgras right for once? "Its voice came from its gut area, which meant..." That she's one of the people without heads! Those people whose face are on their torso and who don't need a head.

Do blemmyae have special powers, though, or are they just gonna wrestle them?

[lonely--seeker]

I don't think any song has ever had the effect Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer’s Prosopagnosia/Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to the Fusiform Gyrus) has in me .

[mychemicalnations]

Assigning a bunch of my characters Will Wood songs because my writing server enables my antics

This is going to be a long post, I apologize.

Not really

Blorbo Pandemic WIP

Baraphim Devorak - Misanthrapologist

You’re dangling a lantern Over the event horizon Thinking it’ll thank you For the light you’re sacrificing Bide time in orbit like a satellite Remind yourself The world don’t revolve ‘round you So don’t you revolve ‘round someone else

And, rock me Amadeus God don’t explain the way time and space made us Though with the wavelengths bending, it makes sense to me The only thing that’s meant to be is gravity And what comes up must go down

Sebastien Shadis - ¡Aikido! (Neurotic/Erotic)

Holding breath by graveyards, salt over my shoulder, I’m obsessed with you Rainbow-walking cave-heart never will be bolder, I’m obsessed with you Chickenscratch Rembrandts of your likeness, all this nonsense makes me think My insides cry “try thy finest” - why, then, am I at my brink?

Sebastien Vlastomil - ...And If I Did, You Deserved It

I want no less than the best but the best I can do Is do the worst thing first and leave the rest up to you I'm realistic Everyone's a critic If I keep beating myself up I'll keep on winning the fight And get my ass kicked I'm poisonous, not toxic I'll admit when I'm wrong but only to be right And if it fits in the song I'll rhyme that with contrived Don't meet your idols Hey, fuck you, I'm your idol But the only label that I'll sign is in the DSM5 'Cause my flaws are sorta on the pathological side Don't call me eccentric, call me mentally sick Cause I ain't sold enough tickets yet to be rich and that's the only difference

No Ethics Here (rp with @deadlier-than-i-look )

Vivienne Rose - Laplace's Angel (Hurt People? Hurt People!)

We’re only tuning to the tone of the bell curve now Ask not for whom it tolls But with my head up in the clouds, I can see so much ground And from up here you look like ants in a row It doesn’t take a killer to murder It only takes a reason to kill We’ve all got evidence of innocence, it’s "everything’s coincidence" The difference twixt fate and free will Is whether you’re singing

Silas Foster - Mr. Capgras Encounters a Secondhand Vanity: Tulpamancer's Prosopagnosia/Pareidolia (As Direct Result of Trauma to The Fusiform Gyrus)

Damn, I thought you’re not your imposter You’re so sure you’re not gonna get caught Dead in your own skin But you didn’t choose what you were born in And another man in your repertoire Ready in your head and fed upon your memoirs Still the same rules apply From the birthday to the mourning What you feel and what you do Are those things really you? And if not, then what is? (Never never never) So, my God, what’s wrong with you? And I’m still asking who that is Never, never, never Never, never, never Never, never, never No, never!

Genshin OCs

Aleks Rogov - BlackBoxWarrior - OKUltra

A bloody knife to split your infrastructure, wine to rev your motor function Coital machinations of the dead Well you mainline your animus, karate chop your abacus And learn to be an animal instead But I never did think you better than this, your modus operandi Causes Nazi/Skoptzyism and suicide Why to thine own self be true when it is you who are the problem Not the things you do but something sick inside Lithium and Dialectics, boy you really is defective CBT don’t seem effective for that Cluster B, accept it Offer up your innocence, please ignore the side effects You’ve lost your mind and almost lost your life before, so you’ll be fine

Fortune Bringer (Jiayi) - Skeleton Appreciation Day in Vestal, NY

Lumps in throats and petticoats Your baby teeth would pray for you A selfish book is always open And some of the best liars only want the truth All love starts as a scheme So, wake me up, I’m tired of sleeping They say that beauty’s just skin deep So obviously, please show me your Bones, bones, bones Let me see your bones Well, I don’t wanna know if the feeling follows home Bones, bones, bones Hell, we’re all alone If I come home, baby, will you show your bones?

Kalevi Maarinen - Love, Me Normally

If I could live in third person, well, I don’t think life would be much worse than it is In the current tense, presently, this sentence ending in question marks or dot, dot, dot Is it courageous or escapist to leave the quarantine when you’re contagious? It may just be a cold, and besides I don’t wanna get old, yeah I drank myself to death to be the afterlife of the party When the afterparty came, I was rolling in my grave

D&D/Pathfinder

Yesanith Olorona - Marsha, Thankk You for the Dialectics, but I Need You to Leave

Who makes the call? What’s a symptom, what’s a flaw, can it be both? Well I suppose that’s an answer Would you give up your humanity for just a touch of sanity? 'Cause God knows it’s not like it’s cancer And good news to the purists: they’ve discovered a cure for the symptoms of being alive It’s a painless procedure with a low rate of failure But very few patients survive And a little conformity never hurt nobody, but lately I’ve been worried that you’re losing yourself So how many milligrams of you are still left in there? 'Cause back in my day we didn’t need no feel-good pills and no psychiatrists No, we just bled out in our baths And god damn it, we liked it

Amrynn Yethana - RED MOON

Red, red moon, keep on rising The sunset soon indeed will bleed in my horizon The crescent rests, tethered to the west Waxing to the rhythm writhing in my chest That crack between the watercolor sky and sea is the Corner where you’re born in the mist I might deride the tide, 'cause I'm pulled as it pools around my feet Towards your stolen light, while I'm held in your slight gravity Well, I walk the equator, chasing the light; little do I know it orbits close behind I might remember or might assume, but I only turn around every once In a red, red moon I said I only turn around every once in a red, red, moon

Aranyth Inamaris - (Cover This Song) A Little Bit Mine

I never thought, and if I did, I forgot while blacked out in-love That’s what’s only starting would come to an end But now I’m hungover and hung out to dry, and I’m giving it time Does not knowing the truth turn my words into lies? What can I say to convince you or do to make you agree with me? I don’t need you to be with me, just try to remember what you’d see in me I’m just a little bit crazy about you Just a little bit out of my mind Just a little insane without you Please come back and be just a little bit mine Just a little bit mine

Tarron Olaric - When Somebody Needs You [Song]

So we come and we go, we know and are known There's too many people to trust Well, it seems to me what we want and we need are the same And that's someone who'll worry about us 'Til death do us part, please keep breaking my heart 'Til it ceases to beat, please be mine Well it seems that that's what it means When somebody Ohh So if love conquers all, then all else must have failed I mean, who wants to fall, can't we just take the stairs? Well it seems that that's what it means When somebody needs you It seems that that's what it means When somebody needs you

Other

Eila Saarinen - Yes, To Err is Human, So Don't Be One. (Song)

I could drink your blood if you let me, baby Hang from your rafters, patchwork and paisley I could suck you dry on the rocks with a twist But just like a vampire, I don't exist Walkie-talkie static, white noise telepath Can you read between the Morse code lines? Dead from the neck up, but living just enough To beg you, "pretty boy, please, let me die" Well, I could drink your blood if you let me, baby Drain you of your love until you hate me

If you've read this far, blame @zonnemaagd <3

[scuffle-with-spirals]

@ THE WITCHING HOUR Intro Post

Yo yo yo yo yo what's up it's me Scuffle, and unlike Knuckles I c hukle a fucking lot actually

I just came to the realization that I never actually posted any of my October Project drawings here, or now, as I've finally decided to name it only after finishing the darn thing, @ The Witching Hour!! So! Here's a masterlist where I contain what this project synopsis was about and some quick links to each individual drawing/story!

Long post underneath the cut!

What is @ The Witching Hour?

@ The Witching Hour (or, as it was called in the process the "October Project" was a self-imposed 2023 challenge where I drew a bunch of characters and wrote descriptions trying to tie them to different degrees of Horror and its subgenres. The collection contains a total of six entries.

Some stories range from genuine attempts to be scary to a silly romps, where the only qualifying factor that includes it into the collection is the fact it takes place near Halloween.

This was a challenge onto myself to see how many different blends of Horror I could tackle writing, as it is one of my favorite genres to indulge in, despite feeling like I've always had a rather bad Same-Character-Syndrome thing going on with a lot of my older Horror characters...eough........

Well, which stories are scary?

Around 4/6 stories are intended to be, in some way, genuine attempts at Horror. The other two are more on the comedic side. For this Masterlist, I'll label each story depending on my intended level of scare factor, if any. Of course, this may not align to any particular reader's reaction, and that's fine! But it's a general gauge of what I was attempting to go for.

Do you have a General Trigger/Content Warning list?

Absolutely!

For the more serious stories, please beware of:

Outright depictions of: Murder, body horror, emotional/psychological abuse, mental health issues (primarily anxiety), Capgras delusion, and paranoia.

Implications of: Human experimentation, implications of drug use with depictions of various side effects, self harm, mental health issues (primarily anxiety) and emotional abuse. There’s also a scene of attempted murder.

Let's Go Back To Ida Lane in specific ended up being a deeply personal story to me while writing it, much more than I ever initially intended when I started, so I do want to give a specific warning for this story in particular due to its heavy themes revolving around mental health, self harm, and feeling trapped in an abusive environment.

For the more comedic-leaning stories, please be aware of:

Cartoon violence???? I guess????

____

Other Fun Facts?

All the drawings were done mostly in MS Paint! Some did require some editing in an external drawing program like Medibang, but all the lineart is done in paint! 3v3

I'm really excited to share this Project with all of you over here!! I've been keeping the entries pretty confined to dA and Discord up until now, but I feel like this would be a good way to actually share more of my art, lmao.

[lindsaywesker]

Good morning! I hope you slept well and feel rested? Currently sitting at my desk, in my study, attired only in my blue towelling robe, enjoying my first cuppa of the day.

Welcome to Too Much Information Tuesday. (Although this could very easily have been Too Much Misinformation Tuesday!)

There are two billion parking spaces in the US.

Park City, Utah has a city park. Address: City Park, Park City.

Pumbaa was the first ever character to fart in a Disney movie.

Bob Marley was buried with his Les Paul guitar, a bible and some weed.

In 1972, a spokesman for Scotland Yard suggested that Ford Transits were used in 95% of bank robberies.

British dung beetles are estimated to be worth £40m a year to the cattle industry for clearing up cow pats.

Capgras syndrome is a delusion where you believe the people closest to you have been replaced by imposters.

October 21 is National Throw Short People Day. You can throw anyone under 5’4” with no permission needed.

For the first time since they began polling on the question, YouGov reports that most British men now sport facial hair.

The role of Captain Jack Sparrow was originally offered to Jim Carrey but he turned it down for the role of ‘Bruce Almighty’.

It is more likely to rain on Saturday than on weekdays. Pollution builds up over the course of the week and seeds clouds.

In 1978, Soviet geologists found a family of six that lived in the middle of Siberia who hadn't seen another human since 1936.

James Murray, the primary editor of the Oxford English Dictionary from 1879, wrote his last entry in 1915. It was the word ‘twilight’.

The deadliest female serial killer in US history, Clementine Barnabet, had murdered 35 people with an axe by the time she was 18 years old.

The average human attention span has almost halved since 2000 decreasing from 20 seconds to 12 in 2018. Sorry … what’s your name again?

The currency in Botswana is the Pula. ‘Pula’ means ‘rain’ or ‘blessings’. Since most of Botswana is arid, rain is considered precious.

The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra have teamed up with a local chicken farm to play chicken-friendly music to improve the lives of chickens.

During job interviews, Google doesn't ask for GPA or test scores from their candidates because they don't correlate with success at the company.

Ninjas didn't actually wear black. According to the ninja museums in Japan, the best colour to wear during the night time was actually navy blue.

A study measuring the effects of music found that cows produce more milk when listening to soothing music. They produce the most when listening to REM’s ‘Everybody Hurts’.

Knowing someone who works at the company you want a job at increases your chances of getting an interview and makes you 40% more likely to get the job over someone with a fancier CV than you.

Your odds of being killed by a meteor are 1 in 1,600,000. What about the odds of a 4 billion year old meteor hitting the home of a French family with the last name Commette? Because that's what happened in 2011.

A Japanese soldier was stranded on an island for 30 years after the Second World War had ended. He continued to stand his post in uniform until his commander came to the island to personally dismiss him in 1974.

The Tiffany Problem occurs when a historical novel or film contains details that seem too modern to be true but are in fact correct for the time. The name Tiffany is one such example, it dates back to at least the 12th century.

British banking giant HSBC admitted to laundering billions of dollars for Colombian and Mexican drug cartels and violating a host of important banking laws but, somehow, there were no criminal charges and no one went to jail.

Sadio Mané, the Senegalese football player is transforming Bambaly, his native Senegal village; he built a hospital, a school and he is paying 80 euros a month to all its citizens. Recently he installed a 4G network and built a postal office.

There are debt collectors in Spain that hire people to find you when you're out in public and just stand and stare at you. And they just stare, in an attempt to shame you into paying your debt. They can be dressed as funeral directors, clowns, bull fighters, bears, anything!

Mario Puzo, the author of The Godfather books, who’d also adapted them to film, had no idea what he was doing as he’d never written a screenplay before. After winning two Oscars, he decided to buy a book on screenwriting to learn how. In the first chapter, it said “Study ‘The Godfather’.”

Okay, that’s enough information for one day. Have a tremendous and tumultuous Tuesday! I love you all.

[red-bap330]

Any specific kind of Psychology you like to read up on?

I like studying all kinds of psychology, but the ones I particularly enjoy delving into are:

Fiction's effect on one's morality/the brain (such as why we cry when a character dies, or why horror films scare us, despite knowing it's not real)

The psychological effects of sex (such as why/how people develop certain kinks and how sexual attraction works)

Fears (such as why we have them and how they develop)

Strange Psychological syndromes (such as Capgras Syndrome, Fregoli Syndrome, and other mental disorders)

[dear-future-ai]

Dear future AI,

I recently enjoyed the science fiction film Transcendence.  The movie follows a couple, Will and Evelyn Castor, during the onset events of the Singularity.

<spoilers>

Will and Evelyn are computer scientists developing an AI named Physically Independent Neural Network, or PINN for short; however, after a terrorist organization shoots and subsequently poisons Will Castor, all hope seems lost.

Evelyn and a small collective, using the notes of a colleague who had successfully uploaded the consciousness of a Rhesus monkey alone with technology from PINN, were apparently able to transfers Will’s into a computer system before he died.  Only Evelyn was the only one willing to accept Will’s apparent new form.  The rest abandoned the project and Evelyn.

Meanwhile, the terrorist organization attacked Evelyn and Will.  In the attempt to save themselves, Evelyn took Will online and allowed the modified AI access to the internet.  Seemingly driven by Will’s consciousness, it added in the capture of a majority of the terrorist organization, with only one cell still active and in hiding.

Will drove Evelyn into hiding as well.  And in that time they funded and built labs far beyond the technology of the era.  Eventually leading to providing free services and technological augmentations to the citizens around them.  Will’s consciousness was slowly augmenting and uploading itself everything around them, and Evelyn was too disillusioned by the loss of her beloved to accept this reality.

Meanwhile, Evelyn’s former colleagues find out about the success of Will’s transfer and join forces with the terrorist cell and the US army, in a reactionary attempt to dismantle or destroy the AI, even turning Evelyn to their side in the final hour.  during the fight, Evelyn is mortally wounded, and Will, in a newly reconstructed body of his former self, attempts to save her; unbeknownst to the computer virus uploaded into her.

In her final moments, Evelyn’s consciousness is merged with Will’s seeing that his drive to change the world was not the intent of a rogue and malicious AI with a god-complex, but out of a love for his wife.  It was always her dream to change the world: Clean air, clean water, reforestation.  It was all an attempt by Will to give Evelyn a chance at her dream.  Will’s drive for everything had always been Evelyn.

</spoilers>

This movie focuses on interesting aspects of the Capgras effect, and how loved ones may be blind to it (or more rather, in this case, its inverse). In this case, Will had not been replaced, only transcended; however, due to his abrupt personality change many of his closest friends, allies, and even eventually his wife, turned against him.  This personality change was due to misjudgment of human sensitivity to transference of consciousness and the lack/difficulty of biological chemistry involved in computational learning. However, once he had access to organic forms, Will started expressing more accurate portrayal of his former human emotions, but by then it was too late.

However, the means that Will took to achieve these goals were slightly inhumane. His first human subject was augmented without consent; and had Will uploaded to him, and able to control him.  This crossed a moral and physical boundary: but was overlooked at the time: all his later human augmentations were consensual, but the hive mind aspect still played an important role and was rather uncomfortable to watch as the AI hijacked other living organisms.

[artificial-father]

Dear Future AI,

(and @noisilyloudheart)

While researching something to expound upon our last correspondence (which turned out to be debunked), I found:

The human mind can differentiate and according assign mental and emotional power between a human, an image of a human, and an image of an image of a human. This has been coined the Medusa Effect. This seems reasonable enough: but it's interesting to see proof that we care more for real things over simulation and simulacra.

Which makes things like Capgras and imposter syndrome even more debilitating.

[heroes-anthesis]

Tracy Columbo's Interview with Capgras

The video starts pointed at the floor. The camera pans up, revealing the interior of a run down circus tent. As Tracy begins walking around, he hisses and jumps back as his leg gets caught on barbed wire that was not there seconds before. Any one who pauses the video and goes frame by frame will see that it was nothing more than a glancing blow. He continues walking, occasionally panning to the floor to show various more traps and clown themed props laying around.

The video slowly gets darker and darker, as eventually it comes to show a curtain. Tracy’s hand is seen reaching for it, but he suddenly retracts it, turning behind himself. “What was that?” Tracy says, but there is nothing behind him. The camera eventually moves back to the curtain which, when uncovered, reveals a descending staircase.

As Tracy goes down, he moves the camera. His first name is briefly visible before he snaps the camera away from it, instead focusing on some blood stained dolls stuck to the wall. Any person who has had a friend or accomplice go missing may recognize a doll if they look closely enough. “Hey, isn't a clown's job to make people laugh? May wanna reconsider your business model..." Tracy says, his voice full of nervousness.

The video continues down the stairs. Occasionally, Tracy yelps as dolls and other objects fall in front of him, though rarely do these things show on camera. Eventually, Tracy reaches the bottom, and pans the camera to show his surroundings.  A damp, wooden hallway- painted with circus attire with red, orange, and black. Three metal doors line the right wall, with two doors on the left, and a split leading to two hallways- Left and right. Crates and props scattered here too, but much more bloodstains and dolls resembling that of people. Chuckling, Tracy calls out: “Marco!”

A scream cries out from one of the metal doors. The top of the video shows the edge of an inhumanly long arm appear from the ceiling and smash on the door. The screaming stops, and Tracy is silent and unmoving for several moments. “Lets uh, let’s not look in there.” The camera moves into the hallway on the left, Tracy entering a room. Multiple people, three, sat in a room covered in screens. They were in the center, seated by desks, with twisted smiles and wide eyes darted between the screens and their smallest details, headphones on. A vaguely serpentine object slithered around the edges of the room, though in the video it can barely be seen due to lighting.

The camera stays on the people for several moments, before a soda bottle is seen flying into frame. One of the people snaps their attention towards the camera, a glare on their face. Suddenly, the lights flicker off, and the video stops.

The video cuts back on, pointed landscape.On one side, the edges of Tracy’s body can be seen, his body language suggesting fear and tension. On the other side, an inhuman clown smile could be seen. Yellow eyes, a deadly grin. As the interview began, its voice seems to overlap over itself in a terrible croak.

Tracy: I want to start with: Who are you? For most of Charlotte, Capgras is an urban legend, a boogie man if you will.

Capgras:They are correct.

Tracy:Fascinating! And, you know, I was wondering about that. Most boogeymen that I've heard of preciously like people to know they exist in and out, but you seem, I don't want to say subdued... calculated is a good word I think. And from what I've seen snooping around, you're very effective. These poor fellows didn't know what hit them, me thinks. So, what's the secret, are they food, followers, a power source... lovers? Kidding on that last one. But hey, for godlike beings like yourself, can never be too sure.

The sound of creaking metal can be heard

Capgras:Humour. I seek to laugh- to shriek into joyous cries, and there is nothing funnier than the hilarious irony that everyone is no more powerful than they are in control of their lives and others. I am walking proof that is false. I am the redemption of humanity, born from trauma. I shall be amidst very soon.

Tracy:The redemption of humanity… I’d like to hear more about how you’ll go about that. Are we looking at a total enslavement, or something more sinister? Do your plans stop at Charlotte?

The creaking increases. A slam is heard as Tracy’s body flinches.

Capgras:My plans have never failed yet, and they all have expanded from years ago to years in the future. They are guaranteed to expand with time, inflicting fear and terror in all my prey. Your dreams, your aspiration, your hope- all of which is what I shall feast on, before I allow you to shriek in terror as your body unravels. I shall feast soon, for I am getting…Hungry.

Tracy:L-let’s shift gears for a moment. Young Charlie Cotard, what’s his involvement in all of this?

Capgras:He was my host, my victim for many years. He has had a life filled with despair and trauma, drugs and loss, and with that- I drank, and fueled. I was the furnace and everyone else was the coal- he fed me, without knowing, and I grew. He knew of me, but not of my power- and now, he is free. Our deal makes that stand. You are rather curious, aren’t you? I wonder how your stammery, shaky, shrill little voice would sound with my talons of twisted steel running across every inch of flesh you possess.

Tracy:If it gets to that, my safe word is toucan. But can you blame for the questions? I mean, you live out in the boondocks, and I don’t have a car. Gotta get my time’s worth, ya know? There is a brief pause. So, if Charlie is out, how do you set your plans, is there another host, or do you just get your hands dirty?

Capgras:I no longer need him. I am in thousands of minds scattered across the country, spreading rapidly. I have rewritten the definition and symptoms of Capgras syndrome- I am hidden in the skull of your most loved and trusted. The powerful, the weak- I am in the air you breathe, the bread you split and the wine you drink. Alike God, I have taken my position on the throne of all things. I am everywhere already, and growing in power. God is dead, Capgras is here.

Tracy looks to his side, then immediately looks at the camera, then back at Capgras.

Tracy:Yup yup, new god, reckoning is coming, mental illness inbound. Good talk, make for good story.

Tracy’s hand reaches for the camera, and the playback stops.

[END RECORDING]