#episode 27 a sturdy lock

[danikore-does-pole]

Had a very sweet moment today while listening to TMA. Episode 27, Sturdy Lock is about an old man who lives alone who spends months unable to sleep due to someone trying to break into his bedroom. It is not the episode to listen to if you’re the only person in a building & it certainly isn’t one to listen to if there’s any chance of the building making weird noises.

It freaked me out. A Lot.

Like so much that I had to message one of my friends telling them I’d spooked myself & ask if they could call me.

And they did. They spent 20 minutes listening to me ramble while I calmed myself down & got my job done. Because I listened to the spooky shit podcast & spooked myself

[kat-and-their-cats]

Favourite Episode Masterlist

[fishymom-art]

i'm still on the first season but there are some tma episodes that aren't connected to the main story at all but are still imprinted in my brain aka my favorite episodes so far because they are so unsettling

no one asked, but here is the list heheheheh

MAG 3 Across The Street MAG 5 Thrown Away MAG 9 A Father's Love MAG 21 Freefall MAG 24 Strange Music MAG 27 A Sturdy Lock

PLEASE they are SO GOOD AUGH

[generalb]

MAG 27 “a sturdy lock” review:

Gotta be honest It’s hard to keep my thoughts about this clear because my back is killing me atm. Can’t even breathe without feeling it yell. Must’ve pulled a back muscle wrong due to my continuous non-exercise. Anyways, statement begins.

This is a really tough one to figure whether that it was truly paranormal. Given the fact that the person was an old man, and that both there was no evidence(not to mention the only evidence he had was a creepy looking shadow) This really could go either way. Today’s name mention is one Sarah Carpenter, which I swear is important. She was a then member of the institute(this happened in 2003). Then again, it could be just that the name Sarah and carpenter have belonged to many important characters in many other pieces of media. Who knows. I rate this episode 5/10 imaginary locks, would haunt an old man again.

Statement ends.

[gwenlena]

YOUR TURN-

top 5 tma/tmagp episodes

youre so right choosing only 5 is so hard..

mag 15 lost johns cave - maybe my all time favourite i love how they used the "take her not me" audio and i really hope they do more kind of 'found footage' type stuff like that in tmagp

mag 27 a sturdy lock - i dont know what it is about this statement but its another one of my all time favourites, especially when we got the sons pov afterwards. ending it with "there was never a lock" was good i liked that

mag 32 hive - i too am in love with jane prentiss. this episode is so good i forget its recorded by jon its just so jane. there are so many iconic lines ITS SO GOOD "there is a wasps nest in my attic" what if i go crazy. one of the few statements i know word for word

mag 65 binary - i love sergey ushanka i love the way they portray the combination of human and computer i love how much it *hurts* "the angles cut me when i try to think" "theres no feeling but the no feeling hurts" SO GOOD

mag 122 zombie - i love the philosophical concept of zombies i think this is just a very fun episode, i love when they build statements off like real world phenomena! also this is the statement where jon wakes up and starts calling himself the archivist <3

honourable mentions under cut because this is already so long and i love to ramble <3

mag 77 the kind mother - one of the scariest to me. the not them is scary already but having your own mother be replaced and not being able to do anything about it and have it know you know. terrifying. reminds me of that old copypasta thing that was like. your mums voice shouts you to go down stairs but as youre about to your mum grabs you and says "i heard it too". things pretending to be your mother are just scary to me

mag 85 upon the stair - just a very cool episode i love that its from a real poem (good poem too) and i love how contradictory it is

mag 97 we all ignore the pit - i dont know WHY this episode always sticks out so much but its def in my top 10 its SO fun

mag 112 thrill of the chase - I LOVE MURDER CLUB

mag 153 lovebombing - also just a cool cool episode i love agape the dog i love weird cult stuff the "i dont believe you" line is very fun

[lia-the-normal-human]

Blog Info

The Magnus Database I own and maintain a Magnus Protocol database that attempts to store records for every person, place, and thing in the show, as well as all of the links between those entities. Think conspiracy board in relational database form.

You can access the database on the website: the-magnus-database.org

Tags I Use #record (all record-keeping posts; excludes personal posts) #info (general blog info) #the magnus protocol #the magnus database (info about The Magnus Database) #tmagp spoilers #bonus or meta content #episode #modification (modifications to existing records) #not rec (personal posts)

My Horror Faves, which literally nobody asked for

In approximate order of discovery...

"I just started working the night shift…" by u/tropheez, 2019-09-29

"I played hide-and-seek with my son…" by u/RobertMort, 2022-01-10

"My wife has been peeking at me…" by u/Maliagirl1314, 2022-02-18

"My husband keeps asking the same question…" by u/lightingnations, 2022-04-18

"Every night, my girlfriend wakes me up…" by u/Point_Of_No_Return, 2022-07-04

"I found the bunker of a prepper family…" by u/ChristianWallis, 2023-03-17

The Magnus Archives Episode 1: "Anglerfish" statement, written and performed by Jonathan Sims, 2016-03-24

The Magnus Archives Episode 15: "Lost John's Cave" statement, written and performed by Jonathan Sims, 2016-04-28

The Magnus Archives Episode 27: "A Sturdy Lock" statement, written and performed by Jonathan Sims, 2016-07-14

The Magnus Archives Episode 85: "Upon the Stair" statement, written and performed by Jonathan Sims, 2017-12-21

The Magnus Archives Episode 86: "Tucked In" statement, written by Jonathan Sims and performed by Lydia Nicholas, 2017-12-28

The Magnus Archives Episode 170: "Recollection" statement, written by Jonathan Sims and performed by Alexander J Newall, 2020-06-04

The Magnus Archives Episode 177: "Wonderland" statement, written and performed by Jonathan Sims, 2020-09-03

"The Autopsy" short story by Michael Shea, 1980 (published in several collections/anthologies, including The Autopsy collection, the Polyphemus collection, The Weird anthology, and The Dark Descent anthology)

[a-mag-a-day]

Date: November 14th, 2022

Episode of the day: MAG 27 A Sturdy Lock

"The officers assured me it was no problem, that they were happy to help, all in that tone that told me they thought I was just a senile old man hearing things in the night. I thanked them as they left, even though they had been of no help whatsoever, and spent the rest of the day searching for the key to my bedroom door. I found it in the end, and hoped that with it firmly locked I could sleep a bit easier that night. I was wrong."

MAG 27 transcript

MAG 27 Wiki

MAG 27 on YouTube

TW's can be found in the transcripts

Asks and submissions are open for episode 27! Send your reactions, insights, memes, art, etc., Regarding today's listen or tag this blog in your post.

For more information check out this blog's pinned post.

Enjoy!

Previous episode ||| next episode

[human-adjacent]

episode 27 - a sturdy lock

- why have i never heard of a bedroom door that uses a physical key and keyhole is this some british shit

- THE DISTORTION <3

- i think i accidentally combined this episode and the blanket episode in my head like they’re the same episode to me. i mean they’re basically the same concept anyway. they’re both pretty scary ngl

[jamiekb]

First time listening to TMA (Part III)

Part I II

16-40

#16 Arachnophobia: This has a vibe of “well wasn’t that fucked up, anyway..”. Also horrifying thanks, I now hate spiders even more and will be very paranoid for a few days.

#17 The Bone Turner's Tale: oooh nice intervention from his supervisor or something and the beginnings of an arch. So we have the human-leather-book and the not-Canterbury-Tales-book. They’re dangerous and tragedy befalls anyone who interacts with them. Also weird that Lukas' family is patrons of the Institute, they do feel creepy and with other intentions but now I’m sure I’m missing something. Maybe it’s just not time for that yet.

#18 The Man Upstairs: huh, is this where the meat from A Father's Love has been disappearing to? (Or was that stated in the episode?) But still feels like there’s a connection, with the whole meet thing and a creature made from meat.

#19 Confession I: !!! Actual storys crossing each other. I did think that it might be the father that was called in the tree episode but I didn’t remember the names. Nice. Although that whole cannibal thing did catch me off guard, there hasn’t really been anything like that so far, but I won’t complain.

#20 Desecrated Host II: love me some religious imagery with blood and parallelism to other things, in this case cannibalism. As soon as he said it was time for the Eucharist I knew that was it of course. So good. Don’t really get the relevancy of the name of the company that gave them the cloth, but maybe I’ll get it later?

#21 Freefall: excuse what was that end?? Here I am t marveling at the fact that John seems to maybe believe a bit of the statement and then it just cuts??? What did Martin find/bring??

#22 Colony: poor Martin, he sounds like such a sweetheart. Nice to John care at least somewhat. Who is this Jane Prentiss?? Didn’t they only mention her once at the beginning. Also interesting text, I’m sure that won’t come back to haunt us later on.

#23 Schawatzwald: ok so I had to go to the transcript of the episode to make some sense of what John says at the end, cause I was getting lost in between so many names. I do find it quite interesting that the Keay family and Magnus family (responsable for the founding of the institute) are so linked. I mean this is the third time that the name has popped up with a few months according to the timeline of the podcast, also they continue to be linked to books if I recall correctly. Does this have anything to do with the library of whomever that John is worried about? Are the eyes that Albrecht found on the tomb related to the cult that was mentioned? I’ll wait and see what becomes of that.

#24 Strange Music: ok definitely creepy but the overarching story is better. So the circus will definitely come into play later on given how John vaguely recalls the name. And also that they apparently have the cala-thing at the Archive. I would be worried about it but I think once they make it to the Institute they’ve already done what they needed to. Fun aside though I thought that John kinda recorded on like a room away from everyone else but this does seem to be the case if other employees can just jump in whenever cause they can hear him (what are John’s pronouns?? I’ll use him for now)

#25 Growing Dark: I knew that church/cult would come back. And I actually forgot that Gertrude's death was never actually specified, just "died in the line of work" or something, so I’m guessing right now it’s all gonna ramp up to how she died?

#26 A Distortion: ooooo more plot! So this Jane Prentiss is apparently dangerous and a mass of worms that is now stalking the team at the Institute. This not-Michael knows that something could happen to the archivist but there is a way to prevent it. It’s all coming together quite suddenly now but there are still many things floating around or missing

#27 A Sturdy Lock: John you’re finding empathy or something, how nice. Interesting story but it doesn’t particularly stand out

#28 Skintight: creepy though I have to say my favorite part is where you can hear characters interacting. You feel the glares they’re probably giving each other. Can’t say the name rings a bell right now but then again maybe it’s something for later

#29 Cheating Death: Not bad, had to listen again for how the exchange worked but still kinda cool. Hope the guy shows up again later on.

#30 Killing Floor: exactly as John said, more meat. Disorienting certainly and now it makes me want to see the actual process of meat plants.

#31 First Hunt: damn forget the statement I’m shocked by how defeated John sounds. Of course with everything going on who wouldn’t be. You’ve been told you and most of your time might die, your predecessor passed away under mysterious circumstances, your coworkers are being stalked by something dangerous and you can’t understand why. It’s all a bit much, but very interesting for me of course

#32 Hive: interesting and definitely laying groundwork for the story ahead. Again love how rattled John is at the end of the statement. He even breaks down a bit and admits that it doesn’t have a natural explanation.

#33 Boatswain's Call: omg are these comments from listeners from the show? The corrections from cases? How things are sometimes not clear? Also finally Tim! Is that the whole team? I think it is. Ok to the statement now. Very intriguing, again with the Lukas, the silence that follows them around and the mist.

#34 Anatomy Class: love how you can really instill horror with just descriptions and leaving some things to the imagination. That teeth-apple sounds horrifying, I hate it :). I imagine that the tidbit about placeholder name if for anyone that didn’t catch the John Doe and their dead stares. Although could these things be similar to that video recorder girl some episodes ago?

#35 Old Passages: okokok so now we’re actually starting to have all the details come together, but I’m still missing things. So this is Gerard Keay who knows many things from his mother, like the fact that Jorgun Lightbear(??) had books there. And it mentions some cases like the spiders, the burning feeling, the books from the mausoleum and by the end someone drops off a package for John, which I’m sure also happened in another statement. Also the worms/infestation is getting worse it seems. Also did the guy that dropped off the package sound like when you put together words from different videos?? Like he’s two different voices? Sounds weird

#36 Taken ill: ahhhhh you can’t leave me hanging like this!! What is that table? I can’t remember a table with a square hole. Although the zippo does feel familiar, didn’t someone have one but with an eye?

#37 Burnt Offering: ok so it was two men rather than just one, no wonder. And what’s with the table, is it because it’s related to a doppelgänger case? Poor Martin it’s not his fault. Knew it was Gertrude in the photo. Again, poor John he does indeed sound very tired of everything.

#38 Lost and Found: nice concept that it doesn’t just disappear things but it actually kinda erases they’re existence, could this be used with Janet if it were in the Archive? Also near the end of season 1, nice! Who needs sleep?

#39 Infestation: ????? Don’t leave me like that! Is this the end of Sasha? I liked her, hope we can her back. So is the table the one with the power to create not-people?

#40 Human Remains: ok love again the emotion and how you can tell each character by how they’re reaction to the situation and to John. Tim is obviously shaken up, can’t say I blame him. Elias is weirdly detached, I’m sure something will come from that. It’s not that he's malicious, but toned down, still you can tell he does care a bit, maybe. Martin is still a sweetheart and I love him a lot, great voice actor. I don’t like that we now have a Not-Sasha, I really liked her and worse is the fact that she managed to get the tape that has Sasha's experience, maybe because you can tell her mannerisms are different or for plot, either way not a fan. Poor John too, that can’t have been a pleasant experience and now he’s very shaken by everything, feels like he’s two second away from snapping. And the fact that one of the tapes missing is for the weird instrument does not sit right with me, then again that is the point. So I’m guessing next in the story is exploring these weird tunnels and see more threads start to connect with the rooms to be found there and what actually happened to Gertrude.

It’s been quite journey but I’m so glad I’ve finally given it a chance. It really has great narrative and voice acting and manages to keep you engaged with the mysteries. Loving it so far!!!

[battleczar]

💀🎃 It's that time of year!!! Here are my top 5 spookiest TMA episodes ranked in order from a fun little spook to genuinely scary 🤪 🎃

[ruler-of-turtle-kind]

"A Sturdy Lock" huh? Wonder if I can pick it :p

[vampir3-mon3y]

i organized all the tma statements in order

gertrude is rolling in her grave

note that these include episodes that aren’t exactly statements such as the finales, i basically went about this like if it has a case number it’s getting organized, which is also why i stopped at 160

if i’ve made a mistake dont hesitate to tell me !!

january 1st 1715 - mag 140 “the movement of the heavens”

november 2nd 1787 - mag 116 “the show must go on”

june 12th 1814 - mag 50 “foundations”

march 31st 1816 - mag 23 “schwartzwald”

april 9th 1824 - mag 92 “nothing besides remains”

november 21st 1831 - mag 127 “remains to be seen”

august 1st 1837 - mag 152 “a gravedigger’s envy”

december 5th 1845 - mag 58 “trail rations”

unknown date; early 1862 - mag 105 “total war”

may 14th 1864 - mag 98 “lights out”

february 13th 1867 - mag 138 “the architecture of fear”

november 6th 1922 - mag 7 “the piper”

june 27th 1930 - mag 133 “dead horse”

february 20th 1952 - mag 99 “dust to dust”

july 3rd 1955 - mag 137 “nemesis”

june 4th 1972 - mag 29 “cheating death”

november 2nd 1977 - mag 95 “absent without leave”

february 3rd 1979 - mag 44 “tightrope”

unknown; 80s or 90s - mag 85 “upon the stair”

march 2nd 1983 - mag 86 “tucked in”

december 1st 1990 - mag 84 “possessive”

july 19th 1993 - mag 125 “civilian casualties”

september 15th 1994 - mag 77 “the kind mother”

may 15th 1996 - mag 96 “return to sender”

september 5th 1997 - mag 53 “crusader”

november 22nd 1998 - mag 2 “do not open”

june 10th 1999 - mag 17 “the boneturner’s tale”

february 22nd 2000 - mag 66 “held in customs”

june 12th 2001 - mag 78 “distant cousin”

june 4th 2002 - mag 35 “old passages”

october 20th 2002 - mag 21 “freefall”

december 3rd 2002 - mag 9 “a fathers love” & mag 155 “cost of living”

august 24th 2003 - mag 27 “a sturdy lock”

september 1st 2003 - mag 146 “threshold”

november 4th 2003 - mag 88 “dig”

december 9th 2003 - mag 70 “book of the dead”

april 9th 2004 - mag 52 “exceptional risk”

january 17th 2005 - mag 24 “strange music”

november 29th 2005 - mag 59 “recluse”

january 22nd 2006 - mag 134 “time of revelation”

november 7th 2006 - mag 75 “a long way down”

november 30th 2006 - mag 139 “chosen”

january 4th 2007 - mag 115 “taking stock”

march 13th 2007 - mag 8 “burned out”

march 18th 2007 - mag 67 “burning desire”

july 1st 2007 - mag 3 “across the street”

janurary 7th 2008 - mag 51 “high pressure”

february 10th 2008 - mag 106 “a matter of perspective”

march 11th 2008 - mag 49 “the butcher’s window”

july 3rd 2008 - mag 62 “first edition”

july 21st 2008 - mag 154 “bloody mary”

december 12th 2008 - mag 18 “the man upstairs”

december 19th 2008 - mag 130 “meat”

january 4th 2009 - mag 156 “reflection”

february 2nd 2009 - mag 145 “infectious doubts”

february 23rd 2009 - mag 5 “thrown away”

march 30th 2009 - mag 97 “we all ignore the pit”

april 4th 2009 - mag 57 “personal space”

april 22nd 2009 - mag 114 “cracked foundation”

august 6th 2009 - mag 37 “burnt offering”

october 3rd 2009 - mag 144 “decrypted”

october 11th 2009 - mag 126 “sculptor’s tool”

october 22nd 2009 - mag 72 “takeaway”

feburuary 1st 2010 - mag 107 “third degree”

march 25th 2010 - mag 48 “lost in the crowd”

october 7th 2010 - mag 10 “vampire killer” & mag 56 “children of the night“

november 18th 2010 - mag 69 “thought for the day”

december 9th 2010 - mag 31 “first hunt”

january 2nd 2011 - mag 33 “boatswain’s call”

april 3rd 2011 - mag 148 “extended surveillance”

may 29th 2011 - mag 14 ”piecemeal”

may 30th 2011 - mag 19 “confession” & mag 20 “desecrated host”

november 13th 2011 - mag 112 “thrill of the chase”

february 11th 2012 - mag 12 “first aid”

march 12th 2012 - mag 110 “creature feature”

april 2nd 2012 - mag 153 “love bombing”

april 22nd 2012 - mag 1 “anglerfish”

june 6th 2012 - mag 38 “lost and found”

november 19th 2012 - mag 36 “taken ill”

december 1st 2012 - mag 136 “the puppeteer”

december 11th 2012 - mag 124 “left hanging”

unknown; circa 2012 - mag 113 “breathing room”

may 13th 2013 - mag 149 “concrete jungle”

june 23rd 2013 - mag 54 “still life”

june 28th 2013 - mag 4 “page turner”

august 7th 2013 - mag 90 “body builder”

august 14th 2013 - mag 157 “rotten core”

september 1st 2013 - mag 30 “killing floor”

september 4th 2013 - mag 129 “submerged”

october 19th 2013 - mag 83 “drawing a blank”

february 23rd 2014 - mag 32 “hive”

march 31st 2014 - mag 63 “the end of the tunnel”

june 4th 2014 - mag 102 “nesting instinct”

july 2nd 2014 - mag 103 “cruelty free”

july 14th 2014 - mag 135 “dark matter”

october 10th 2014 - mag 87 “the uncanny valley”

november 9th 2014 - mag 150 “cul-de-sac”

december 9th 2014 -mag 6 “squirm”

february 1st 2015 - mag 122 “zombie”

april 9th 2015 - mag 16 “arachnophobia”

april 19th 2015 - mag 25 “growing dark”

may 20th 2015 - mag 64 “burial rites”

june 8th 2015 - mag 74 “fatigue”

august 1st 2015 - mag 123 “web development”

january 13th 2016 - mag 13 “alone”

march 12th 2016 - mag 22 “colony”

april 2nd 2016 - mag 26 “a distortion”

april 17 2016 - mag 34 “anatomy class”

july 29th 2016 - mag 39 “infestation” & mag 40 “human remains”

september 2nd 2016 - mag 41 “too deep”

september 19th 2016 - mag 43 “section 31”

october 2nd 2016 - mag 47 “the new door”

november 3rd 2016 - mag 55 “pest control”

december 1st 2016 - mag 61 “hard shoulder”

january 7th 2017 - mag 65 “binary”

january 25th 2017 - mag 71 “underground”

february 11th 2017 - mag 73 “police lights”

feburuary 16th 2017 - mag 79 “hide and seek” & mag 80 “librarian”

feburuary 17th 2017 - mag 81 “a guest for mr. spider” & mag 82 “the eyewitness”

april 24th 2017 - mag 89 “twice as bright”

april 28th 2017 - mag 91 “the coming storm”

april 29th 2016 - mag 94 “dead woman walking”

unknown date; may 2017 - mag 100 “i guess you had to be there” & mag 101 “another twist”

june 14th 2017 - mag 104 “sneak preview”

june 29th 2017 - mag 109 “nightfall”

june 30th 2017 - mag 111 “family business”

august 2nd-4th 2017 - mag 117 “testament”

august 6th 2017 - mag 118 “the masquerade”

august 7th 2017 - mag 119 “stranger and stranger”

august 9th 2017 - mag 120 “eye contact”

feburuary 15th - mag 121 “far away”

march 3rd 2018 - mag 128 “heavy goods”

march 20th 2018 - mag 131 “flesh”

march 24th 2018 - mag 132 “entombed”

june 11th 2018 - mag 141 “doomed voyage”

june 12th 2018 - mag 142 “scrutiny”

june 16th 2018 - mag 143 “heart of darkness”

july 20th 2018 - mag 147 “weaver”

august 14th 2018 - mag 151 “big picture”

september 25th 2018 - mag 158 “panopticon” & mag 159 “the last”

october 18th 2018 - mag 160 “the eye opens”

[nonbinaryeye]

MAG 86 Tucked in (also known as "The blanket never did anything" episode) always annoys me so much!

The guy talks about a monster which hurts him and says it will arrive again tonight and is like "well guess I die?"

He doesn't try sleeping in a room with some other person. He doesn't try not sleeping at all at night and sleeping during day. He doesn't try to prepare himself and take some weapon. Hell, he could ask at Magnus Instute if they won't send researcher with him to witness it as did that old man haunted by Spiral in MAG 27 A Sturdy Lock. He just accepts his fate.

Anyway in conclusion Benjamin Hatendi has completely opposite energy than Joshua Gillespie.

[louisdelac]

which tmags episode should i most be looking forward to?

oh god, what a question. all of them. all of the episodes.

or. more realistically (i guess 🙄🙄🙄) on your first listen through, there are really two categories that matter: interesting statement episodes, and interesting plot episodes.

these categories aren't mutually exclusive, obviously, but i'm going to point out which is which, in case you're curious which episodes i think are good, and which i think are relevant. or... relevant to the season 1 plot. fun fact, i think 11 of the first 40 episodes are directly relevant to the plot later down the line, and 25 of the 40 episodes are referential enough to something that happens in the future as to be satisfying to recognize as you listen. but i'm not giving you a list that long, so, we're gonna stick to some key highlights.

also we're sticking with season 1, because genuinely my list of "favorite" tma episodes is like 100 of the first 160. which i don't think is really helpful. also even with just season 1, i will admit i... might have gotten carried away.

11. Dreamer - literally stan my boy. "why? what's so special about antonio blake?" don't ask questions, just stan him. he's hot and mysterious and just wants to be helpful.

14. Piecemeal - sorry that this episode is funny and cool and amazing and interesting and i think about it all the time. like it's my fault.

15. Lost John's Cave - this is an iconic episode. genuinely, i don't know that i've spoken to anyone who's listened to tma that doesn't point to lost john's cave when discussing episodes that fucked them up a little. a lovely experience <3

17. The Boneturner's Tale - second special boy alert. you should look forward to this episode because i like jared and want people to pay attention to him. literally what more reason do you need.

18. The Man Upstairs - okay well i have a thing about meat. episodes that reference meat make me feel things that no other episode can. this is my dream apartment living situation btw.

19/20. Confession/Desecrated Host - "wow, vinnie, this is a lot of episodes basically all in a row" that's just how it is sometimes. this is what you get for asking me about episodes you should look forward to. ANYWAYS, Father Edwin Burroughs is so special to me, and i'm obsessed with religion in horror, and also i <3 parallels that are more obvious after you've listened to the show at least once.

22. Colony - teehee what if you were listening to a horror podcast, and i was listening to a horror podcast, and it hinted at having a plot 😳😳😳

26. Distortion - special girl and special... uh. i don't think he has a gender. but two special characters! and plot, literally what more could you ask for.

27. A Sturdy Lock - this episode rules, and i'm only sometimes paranoid about it when i close my door at night <3

28. Skintight - stan melanie and jon's fun hatemanship or else.

29. Cheating Death - i think everyone should love death whenever it deigns to take on an anthropomorphized form. we don't have to discuss why it's deigning to do so, here, or whether "deigning" is even the correct word choice at all. stan death.

32. Hive - hehehehehehehe

34. Anatomy Class - i own a shirt that references this episode. literally the anatomy class has done nothing wrong, ever, in their life. my fun goodtime episode full of laughs and love and found family. :)

36. Taken Ill - i love sickness and disease and death and dying and the mistreatment of the elderly. this episode makes me want to scream and cry and throw up if i think about it for too long btw. for standalone reasons, and for other reasons :)

39. Infestation - :)

40. Human Remains - :)

the fact that i'm highlighting 17 of 40 episodes as standout episodes does make me feel like a first year college student who just got their first set of highlighters, but doesn't actually understand how to find key points in a text while listening to a lecture, btw. but i am what i am. i can not change this <3

[kirikiri1]

Hoop for Episode 27 - A Sturdy Lock, for @marks.b_ who kindly donated to The Okra Project. Thank you!!

"Still the handle tried to turn, with a slow, relentless effort that spoke of patience and determination, but sheer panic lent me equal strength. My hands began to grow wet with what I assumed, at the time, was sweat, and I worried about keeping my grip. I did, though. For twenty long minutes, I wrestled in the dark over the door handle of my room."

Everytime I do a hoop with hands I tell myself, no more hands. And yet. 🙃

[magnusmysteries]

Part 33: Contradictions

The Magnus Archives was a horror podcast. It is now completed. Many of the show’s mysteries were never explained on the show. I intend to explain them. Spoilers for the show, but also spoilers if you wanna solve these mysteries yourself.

In Burnt Offering in the middle of February 2009 Jason North is the one that interrupts Gertrude’s protective circle.

In Infectious Doubts, on 2nd of February 2009 Gertrude and Arthur talk about the protective circle already having been disrupted.

So how can they talk about something that hasn’t happened yet?

In infectious Doubs Gertrude says she killed Eugene Vanderstock about 2 weeks earlier. So circa 19th January 2009.

In the same episode John says Eugene disappeared late 2009. And he gets information from the Eye that Eugene’s head is still alive and in pain.

Maybe Gertrude was just inaccurate when she says she killed Eugene, but the time difference is still weird.

In the Man Upstairs in October 22 2007 Toby Carlisle is found dead.

In Meat, in October 2008 the Flesh attempted their ritual. Gertrude says this about it: “Tom Haan might be a bit more of a problem, as it looks like he also survived, but I’m hopeful he has been weakened enough by this failure to not be an issue in the near future. Hopefully, he’ll fade away or burn out as they tend to when robbed of their purpose. Still, I should keep a watch on him in case of any erratic behavior that might lead to complications. Also worth watching out for any… additional esoteric fallout from the ritual attempt, like that Carlisle boy down in Wandsworth.”

This suggests Toby Carlisle died because he was weakened by the failure of the ritual. But why did he die before the ritual happened?

In the Librarian Leitner says Gertrude had had three assistants, all coming to an unpleasant end. In Curiosity we learn that Gertrude had had five assistants, all coming to an unpleasant end. Her five assistants were Michael Shelley, Eric Delano, Emma Harvey, Fiona Law and Sarah Carpenter. We learned that Michael was Gertrude’s assistant in Dust to Dust. We learned that Eric was Gertrude’s assistant in Bloody Mary. It is implied Emma was Gertrude’s assistant in Bloody Mary. Curiosity is the only episode where Sarah and Fiona are mentioned as Gertrude’s assistants.

In Cheating Death John says Fiona Law died in 2003 following complications from a liver transplant. In Curiosity John says that Fiona Law finds a coffin, implying she is either killed by it or trapped in the Buried.

Quote from Curiosity about Sarah Carpenter: “She [Emma] even convinced Sarah to stay inside an old man’s house, desperate to see her eaten by a hungry door, but was again disappointed”. This happens when Sarah was Gertrude’s assistant. 

Quote from A Sturdy Lock “When this was originally logged, apparently we did send a then-member of the research staff, one Sarah Carpenter, to take some readings of the house. Apparently, she felt there was little enough danger to justify an overnight vigil at the place…”

This seems to be the same event with Sarah staying at the Mckenzie home. But in A Sturdy Lock Sarah works in the research department. (Research is a separate department, as we learn in Binary. Tim complains that he was happier working for research than in the archives.) So Sarah was not Gertrude’s assistant at the time. 

So why does the information in Curiosity contradict the rest of the show? Fiona is only mentioned in two episodes, and basically all we learn about her in Cheating Death is how she died. Sarah is only mentioned in two episodes and basically all we learn about her in A Sturdy Lock is that she worked in research. So the contradictions must be deliberate. An important point: In Curiosity John gets all the information about the assistants directly from the Eye. 

In Panopticon on the 20th March 2015 Elias shoots and kills Gertrude. In The Uncanny Valley on the 4th of April 2015 Gertrude Robinson commits a statement to tape. How can Gertrude be alive after she died?

Looking at all these contradictions, there is only one conclusion we can draw: Gertrude Robinson is a time traveler.

Gertrude has read the statements of Father Burroughs and Ivo Lensik and noticed the time travel. (see Part 20 and Part 21 for more on this). She used the rift at Hill Top Road to travel in time. She wants to keep the time travel a secret. That’s why she hid the second half of Burroughs' statement in the next folder. If you just read either of the halves it is harder to notice the time travel. You won’t know that Burroughs thinks his arrest happened only a few days after visiting Hill Top Road.

I don’t know how many times Gertrude traveled in time. Trying to make sense of how many timelines there are, and which came first is probably impossible. Gertrude must have brought some statements back with her. So some statements are from different timelines and that’s why they don’t make sense.

After Gertrude traveled back in time there would have been two of her. Hence she can be alive after she was shot.

In Connected Annabelle says some fears exist in an eternal moment. In Last Words John says the eye is “the most unwise of all the [fears], forever seeking and consuming knowledge that it could not comprehend.” I think the Eye doesn't understand time travel. When it gives information to Jonathan, like in Curiosity, the Eye doesn’t understand that it happened in another timeline.

Probably Gertrude gets help from Agnes to time travel. In Curiosity we hear that Gertrude and Agnes only met once, but again that’s information from the Eye, so it’s from a different timeline.

Given that Curiosity describes a different timeline, I think the bald man burning on the inside which explodes and kills Sarah might have been Diego Molina. 

In Part 27 I say how the Distortion terrorizes Paul McKenzie after the Distortion becomes Michael. And in Curiosity we learn that Sarah investigates the McKenzie home while Gertrude and Michael Shelley are on their trip where Michael Shelley becomes the Distortion. I think this means the timeline in Curiosity is also not the original timeline, but one created by the Distortion’s time travel.