#paranormal caught on film

[leafie-draws]

it's genuinely so frustrating being a paranormal nerd because everything is so oversaturated with fake videos and ai slop is this how special agent fox mulder feels

[vanteguccir]

── ୨୧ !　𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘'𝗦 𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗢𝗡𝗘 𝗜𝗡𝗦𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗠𝗬 𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗗

　　　　　　　　　𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕 𝒔𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒍𝒐 x reader

SUMMARY: Where Y/N is targeted by a certain ghost during the filming of the Sam and Colby ft. Sturniolo Triplets video.

REQUESTED?: Yes, from anon.

WARNING: Paranormal, supernatural, ghosts, mediumship, physical injury, pain.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: That is my work, I DON'T authorize any plagiarism! | English isn't my first language, so I'm sorry if there's any grammar error.

A/N²: This one happens in the same "universe" of this Matt Sturniolo x Reader of mine.

　　　༻✦༺ 　༻✧༺　༻✦༺

"Wow, the smell of roses in here has gotten stronger." Matt commented as soon as Colby closed the large door behind them, lifting his chin slightly as he smelled the strong scent of flowers.

It was time to investigate the Maximillian room, which was on the mezzanine; the room that held eight mirrors surrounded by gold that cost way too much and a painting of Empress Carlota, who, according to legend, was there because of those same mirrors, as they were gifts from her husband at the time.

And it was precisely because of her that Y/N was feeling so anxious. From the moment the hotel guides took them to there while showing them all the main haunted rooms in the building, the girl felt strange.

Because Y/N was a medium and was aware of it since she was a child - consequently training her "skill" as she grew up -, her sensations with the supernatural were duplicated and very accurate; Not only could she see, hear and feel the presences, but she could also feel what came with them and the weight of each one.

That's why, on her first trip to the room, she quickly found Carlota, who surprisingly allowed the girl to see her, but Y/N wished she hadn't. Carlota was beautiful, exactly as in her painting, still dressed in classical clothes, but her eyes carried so much anguish. Contrary to the hope of Audrey - their main guide -, Carlota did not appear to have found peace in the afterlife.

But what surprised Y/N, or scared her the most, was the hatred in the ghost's eyes, and strangely, this hatred was directed only at her.

Upon stepping into that room for the second time that night, the girl felt nausea rise from her stomach to her throat, swallowing hard; Her heart raced stupidly fast and the hair on her arms and legs stood up, raising goose bumps on her skin. A weight settled on her shoulders and the back of her neck, making her feel as if any sudden movement would send her straight to the ground.

Her hands shook slightly as her eyes swept the room. She focused her senses better, being able to capture several spirits coming and going from one mirror to another, reminding her of the portals created by them. Y/N felt the pain, sadness, anger, and melancholy of each of the ghosts, her throat becoming dry and her eyes burning with tears. She felt overwhelmed.

"Baby? Hey, what happened?" Matt's soft voice close to her ear woke her from her intense trance, her eyes meeting the blue ones that kept her grounded.

Y/N noticed that the others were a little further away and already in the center of the room, talking to each other while Sam arranged the camera to record the investigation. She was internally grateful that Matt had come to her unnoticed without attracting attention from the others.

"Sorry, I'm fine. Just overwhelmed. This place has a horrible atmosphere." Y/N responded in the same soft tone as her boyfriend, keeping her eyes fixed on his, trying to convey confidence.

"If I'm feeling the burden in these walls, I can only imagine what you're feeling, dove. I promise I'll be by your side the whole time, and if it gets too much, let me know, and we'll leave right away." The boy spoke, taking Y/N's right hand with his left one, squeezing lightly. Y/N smiled in gratitude. She was so lucky to have him with her.

"So Carlota likes compliments and flirting?" Colby's deep voice caught the couple's attention while asking the rhetorical question. Y/N and Matt looked up at the others, seeing Sam already with the camera on and passing the lens along the decorated walls surrounding them.

Matt turned off the light on the switch near the door as previously agreed before they approached the others, ready to start what they needed to do there.

"Hey Carlota, here we have five fine men, but only three are single and available for you." Matt spoke first while settling close to his brothers, his eyes scanning the space completely despite being able to see practically nothing through the darkness.

Y/N followed his action, sweeping her eyes around her and the ghosts there, internally trying to focus only on Carlota's spirit. She kept her right hand intertwined with Matt's, not wanting to let go of his warmth, knowing that he was the only one who could keep her under control in that situation.

"Can you see her, Cole Sear?" Nick asked Y/N, crossing his arms and looking at the girl with a curious gaze, who nodded after rolling her eyes momentarily at the reference to the movie Six Senses, smiling sideways.

Nick was scared to death of watching horror movies, but he loved it when Y/N watched them all and then told him the story.

"I can, but I can also see several other ghosts that probably have nothing to do with the hotel's history and are only here because of the portals. I'm trying to just focus on her."

Colby and Chris started throwing random pick-up lines into thin air, trying to attract the Empress's ghost. Their words made Y/N let out a low laugh, they were ridiculous.

After a significant effort, Y/N finally managed to clear all the ghosts in the room from her mind, being able to see only Carlota. The woman stood a few steps away, her eyes on Colby and Chris as she held an elegant and calm posture, an arrogant smile on her face, probably satisfied with all the attention.

But that changed when she realized that Y/N saw her completely now, her empty eyes going to the girl, a flame of anger and disdain shining behind them, seeming to penetrate Y/N's eyes and run throughout her mind.

The girl's hands flew to her own head almost instantly, pressing down on each side as her body arched slightly forward, a growl escaping her throat as her knees shook, weakened by the sudden pain.

Matt had never moved so fast, his body positioned in front of his girlfriend's as his hands held her arms, which were more tense than ever before, her own fingers tangling in strands of her loose hair, pulling hard while trying to stop the intense pain of the sudden migraine.

"Y/N? Baby, talk to me. What's... What's going on?" Matt spoke in a desperate tone, his eyes going from his girlfriend to the boys repeatedly, hoping they would have some kind of response.

Nick and Chris ran to the two, positioning themselves on either side of Y/N, choosing not to touch her so as not to worsen her overload but showing that they were there for her.

"It must be some spirit that is messing with her, perhaps trying to attack her or, at worst, control her." Colby commented, approaching as well as his eyes traveled around the dark room, looking for any clue as to what it was, even if he couldn't see anything.

Sam lowered the camera, the lens focusing on his feet as he too approached. His eyebrows were furrowed in concern, the blonde knew well what it was like to be attacked by spirits, and if he could, he would put an end to what Y/N was feeling at that very moment.

"Matt." Y/N let out in a pained groan, an intense pressure establishing in her right arm, as if something was holding, or rather crushing the region. She lifted her left hand, placing it on Matt's right shoulder while trying to find stability.

With great difficulty, the girl looked to her right from the corner of her eye, catching Carlota there, just a few inches apart from her. Feelings of fury and disgust emanated from her aura as her right hand squeezed Y/N's arm, and although she didn't say anything, the girl knew that that gesture was a request - mandate - for her to get out of there.

Nick and Chris spoke to Sam and Colby in low tones, probably trying to understand the situation and find a solution to reverse it.

"I'm here, honey. I'm right here." Matt whispered repeatedly, bending down slightly to be at the same height as Y/N while holding her hand that was on his shoulder, stroking the skin softly with his fingers.

He felt his breathing quicken in anxiety at the sight of his girl's state, panic wanting to take over his body, but he maintained control, closing his eyes momentarily to compose himself, as he whispered sweet nothings against his girl's ear.

Seconds later, when he saw that Y/N was still moaning and grunting in pain, he took a deep breath before turning around, turning his back to the girl and facing the room. Little did he know that Carlota was right next to him.

"I demand that you cut all effect on Y/N right now. You are not allowed to mess with her." Matt's voice was stern, like never before. His eyes held determination while running around the room, his hands behind him, maintaining contact with his girlfriend's body. "She's not yours!" He growled.

Suddenly, all the pressure on Y/N vanished, and a feeling of relief took over her, as if fresh air had entered her nostrils and filled her lungs, bringing comfort to her body. The girl exhaled sharply, removing her hands from her head slowly, as if expecting the worst.

Y/N straightened her posture, opening her eyes, waiting for them to adjust to the light. One of the boys had probably turned it on in the meantime, and the girl mentally thanked whoever had done it, finally being able to see the surroundings better.

The negative and evil energy had left her side, but Carlota was still in the room, Y/N could feel her.

Matt turned abruptly, facing Y/N again, pulling her into his arms as he held her head against his chest, caressing the area carefully.

"You're okay. You're okay." The boy repeated it like a mantra, trying to calm Y/N or himself. He wasn't sure.

Y/N winced at Matt's movement, the pain in her arm intensifying, reminding her that Carlota had almost ripped it off.

“Wait, are you hurt? Where does it hurt, Y/N?” Nick asked after hearing it, finally getting close enough to be able to lightly touch his best friend's shoulder, a worried look decorating his face.

Matt pulled away from Y/N almost instantly, ready to investigate her injury, feeling anger rising through his veins. If he could see and touch ghosts, he would kill Carlota again.

Y/N just raised her right arm, rolling up the sleeve of her jacket with her left hand. Chris, who was on the other side of the girl like a bodyguard, his blue eyes still darting around the room as if expecting something to appear out of nowhere, let a surprised sound escape his lips at the sight.

"Oh my God, Y/N. This is bad." The youngest of the triplets murmured, an expression of discomfort taking over his face as he thought about the pain resulting from the injury.

A handprint was perfectly carved on Y/N's arm. It looked like someone had taken a pencil and ink and drawn in the area. That would definitely turn out purple.

"That's crazy, dude. Does it hurt bad?" Colby asked, taking a few steps closer to get a better view, receiving a nod from the girl, who was still looking at the mark in disbelief.

"When you said you were Lorraine Warren, I didn't think you would perform the entire The Conjuring movie. If I had known, I would have brought a priest and some holy hater." Sam joked, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere, as he momentarily turned off the camera.

The blonde made a quick mental note to delete all footage of that disturbing episode, not wanting to expose such a vulnerable moment of his new friend.

Y/N let out a laugh. The ghosts really hated her.

[anticipatecrime]

𝙣𝙤𝙣 𝙗𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 | jake webber x ghost fem reader

summary: jake, and the rest of the boys go to the biltmore hotel for a video on sam and colbys channel, what happens when they encounter a ghost, you, and he doesn't believe in it? you get irritated and start to mess with the boy a/n: warning for description of a murder, angsty+ i love the concept of the whole platonic ghost stuff i think its really cute words: 4.2k

the boys walked down the miserable hallway of the biltmore hotel, no color or sense of life near. sam squinted, pointing to a small plaque that reads, 'presidential suite'. colby followed behind with the camera, filming as they joked and made references.

as they arrived at the white door, the blonde opening it, everyone was in awe. the modernness mixed with the older architecture caught them off guard. peering in, they became speechless at the size of the room. "oh my god." he said, turning on the slight switch.

"what the hell this looks like our house." jake comments, taking in the white marble floor, and grand doorway.

"oh my god, there's- oh my god." corey mumbled, never having seen something so special.

"there's a library!" sam gestured to it, before they discovered it was a second story hotel room. they stepped down the spiral staircase, into the darkness of the lower floor.

jakes hands slid down the railing, it ominously chilling. he quickly realized how heavy the air was. he slowly shuffled into the shadow, noticing the muted colors of the wallpaper.

in a matter of seconds, a shiver ran down his spine, and his heart began to race. he felt a strange wetness on his forehead. touching it, he realized it was a trickle of sweat.

how was he sweating in this moment? jake was freezing, goosebumps beginning to form on his arms, it didn't piece together. he didn't like whatever he was feeling, and stepped back next to corey.

colby called out from on the bottom step of the stairs, confused why everyone was just standing rather than finding a light.

he shook his head. "colby, come down here, go into that room with the light off." him and corey encouraged.

"i literally got scared when i went into it." jake admitted, usually never being effected by the paranormal this intensely.

colby sighed, before walking towards the next room. he closed his eyes for a second, immediately feeling what the other had, and he retreated back to the group, frightened. "i just got chills, man." he mumbled.

"no seriously, this downstairs is weird" sam stated, touching the walls as he tried to locate the switch, before giving up and using lanterns.

they began to explore the large area, feeling a change in the atmosphere. colby observed a door he hadn't spotted before. he called over his friends, before creaking open the door softly.

sam realized that the room was on both of the most haunted floors, making it a point to the camera.

as the boys investigated the room, either messing with the antique elevator, or opening closets and cracking jokes, you stirred.

hearing a boisterous laugh, your mind became conscious, tuning into the howls from below. feeling slightly disoriented from being forcibly awoken, you were irritated to say the least.

not only did these people intrude into your hotel room, they had the nerve to be deafening.

you closed your metaphorical eyes, you imagined yourself elsewhere, wishing out of all places your spirit was attached to it wasn't this one.

the laughs stopped, and you propped an eye open, confused. then you heard the same voices, but in a much more professional tone. they sounded like poor actors. if they were actors in your day, they would not succeed.

their serious voices sounded immature, they weren't even using the correct grammar, infact things they said didn't sound like words.

typically, when people stayed in the presidential suite, you tried to keep distance, not wanting to intimidate them, however these people had you drawn in.

soon enough, it was completely silent and you heard the door shut to the hotel. they had left, most likely to explore. as they were talking to something, it almost sounding like an audience, you overheard them and assumed they were ghost hunters of some sort.

perhaps you should follow, you thought to yourself.

over the years of being attached to the biltmore hotel, many paranormal investigators have come and gone, and most times they call out for you. feeling the need to impress and give these peoples lives meaning, you'll normally mess with their devices or move things around the room.

you've met some determined and cool individuals, and only wished you could leave like them, the thing you despised most was being stuck here.

the closest thing to leaving, was trailing behind guests and pretending you could be apart of their life. so you did was you generally do and follow along.

finally coming close to them, you saw their faces. you predicted they were all the same age, maybe a year or so apart at the most, probably in their very early twenties, and that they had been friends for some time.

you could see the faded yellow aura that hung around them, indicating they had a close friend relationship. looking even closer you saw purple floating with them too, a sign that they were fearful of what's to come.

one thing about them you couldn't understand. a blonde boy was holding onto a piece of equipment, you assumed a camera, but the odd thing about it was how they all looked into it and made conversation, as if there was a bunch of small people inside.

you weren't born dead yesterday, you understood that there was now something labeled as the internet, and that there was social media, however you couldn't acknowledge all of it, your mind not capable. so you moved on, and just tried to learn about the camera on the way.

the group had eventually gotten around, looking into tunnels and secret spaces around the area, and figured they should take a break to eat and relax.

once they all sat on the couches that were organized infront of the television, the camera was put away and they began chatting about their experiences around the hotel so far.

three of the guys were discussing how they felt a negative vibe, and that they were slightly frightened and creeped out already and the night had just begun.

you took note of how one of them was less enthusiastic, and scrolling on his smartphone. just by observing him, and watching his movements, it was clear he was a non believer, or atleast a stubborn skeptic. "i think you guys are overthinking it." he stated, putting down the phone.

"jake, are you going to tell me this place doesn't scare you?" sam questioned, pulling out the camera to record his thoughts.

"it doesn't. i mean think about it, tons of presidents and celebrities have stayed here, they think it's luxury. why would they stay here if it was haunted?" you thought about his logic and agreed with it, you would probably think the same as him.

"so you don't believe the hotel is haunted at all?" colby leaned in, eager to hear.

jake glanced around the room before answering a very simple, "i don't."

you furrowed your eyebrows, glaring at the boy infront of you. you stood, feet hovering above the carpeted ground. to say you were offended was an understatement.

it had been a long while since someone denied not just your existence, but all of the spirits that reside here, and honestly it had your old blood boiling. it felt like a competition to you, something that had to be proven.

you floated around the room, merging down to the lower floor to mess with something. eyes glancing, they finally landed onto the rustic old elevator that had previously given them chills.

focusing on the door, you used your energy to open it, and to rattle the guard on it. a misconception that has been passed around that you hated, was how ghosts physically touch and throw things.

it was a lot more difficult than that. you had to focus, and think about it occurring, which cost you a lot of your energy, energy that you only got back from resting.

"guys, guys, holy fuck." sam turns on the camera out of fear after hearing an eerie noise that broke the calm ambiance. they exchanged frightened but curious glances, wondering what the sound could have been.

"did you fucking hear that?" colby asked frantically, looking around the room. you enjoy the panic on their faces as they start going downstairs, so you move the fencing again.

the noise persisted, and crude waves of unease gradually wash over them, sam running down the stairs, his face fraught with urgency. as he got to the bottom, he froze in his tracks, eyes widening with trepidation. "oh god."

corey gasped. "the doors open!" he pointed across the hallway, directly where you stood.

you held your breath and scooted away as jake took your spot next to the elevator. it had been awhile since you were that close to someone, you never liking the feeling of them passing by or through you.

"wasn't it closed?" corey exclaimed, keeping his distance.

"we would've closed it right?" sam said, everyone mutually agreeing but still indistinct. he walked over to the spot, and started rocking the guard back and forth, making the exact unwavering sound you did.

you hovered near jake, and tried to touch into his emotions. he paused for a moment, chills running down his limbs. suddenly, a very unsettling feeling hits him, and all the hair on his body stands up.

it was a similar feeling to what he felt earlier, but more personal. the fear he felt was heavy, and the air quickly became thick like before. he coughed slightly, almost like someones hand floated around his throat.

he coughed again, this time everyone taking notice. they were very panicked by this situation, and distracted. "you okay, brother?" colby asked, putting a hand on the other's shoulder. he responded while nodding.

in reality he wasn't. he felt like someone was watching him, goosebumps began spreading around his skin and he kept shivering regardless of his sweater.

you watched as chaos ensued, the boys going through all of the rooms on the lower floor, looking for something that could tell them where the noises had come from.

they had stopped to converse, realizing how extreme they were being, and before they could even say a word, you were meddling around upstairs, touching a few keys on the grand piano.

you heard them panic once more, even jake confessing his fear. you sighed of relief, it was just what you wanted. you took a seat on the couch the boy had been laying on before this all happened, and leaned back, kicking your legs up.

watching them discuss what they thought the second noise was, the skeptical boy knew it was a piano, he felt it, and you were proud of him, clapping to yourself.

continuing to mess with them slightly, you found it entertaining for awhile, until it got sad to you. you never want people to fear you, you always identified as friendly to people who stayed in the room, and you knew you were just messing with them to prove jake wrong but they didn't know that.

so when you heard they were doing a seance, you beamed, because then you could hopefully let them know it was just for fun, and that you were harmless.

you were buzzing with excitement as you drifted down the hall, into the direction of the dining room. it had been a long time since you last had contact with people. the suite left unbooked for a few months, you wondered how expensive it was to rent now.

as the four boys set up their camera equipment and seance supplies, your translucent figure flickered with jolts of energy, and you waited in anticipation for it to begin.

you watched as they turned off the lights, and lit candles in between them. they flickered, providing mere glimpses of desolate space. shadows danced ominously along the walls, distorting objects into strange shapes that seemed to taunt their senses.

"we promised in our last video we were going to do a seance." sam spoke dully. "and.. we're going to do a seance."

"do we want to do this seance? not really." colby shrugged at the situation, looking at the lit candles.

they huddled against the table, and whispered words of encouragement to each other as sam attempted to google ways to begin such a powerful ritual.

jake glanced at them before wondering. "how do we as humans, decide how to correctly summon something?" he asked, not understanding.

"we don't." the other responded, still scrolling on his phone.

"i don't think anyone truly knows, so as long as we ya'know have the feeling of believing in something, trying to communicate with something no matter what. if something wants to talk to us they will.: he explains, making you smile.

as much as a skeptical he seems to be, everything he's telling the others is correct. as they discussed more, you listened, so curious in what people think about ghosts.

you could only briefly remember what you thought about them before passing, but as time goes on, your memories of being alive fade away, leaving you with gaps of confusion.

wanting to get a better view, you perched yourself on top of the chandelier, accidentally swaying it slightly. you cursed when corey noticed, this time not trying to mess with them.

they extended their hands. "if there's someone here, please use our energy to communicate with us." they spoke together, corey still noticing the light shaking. he pointed up at it, and called your actions out.

you started feeling anxious, and floated away from it, going to stand near jake and colby. within seconds, the latter raised his arm to show his goosebumps to the others.

both feeling the cold breeze, and the candles flickering slighty, the boys looked to eachother before brushing it off, and continuing with the seance. they all closed their eyes, squeezing them shut as they focused intently. "if you are here, use our energy to make a second or sign." they spoke together.

as the group sat at the table in a circle, hands intertwined, the air grew still. you hovered around the table, across from jake. you were watching him carefully. his eyes began to open, and they widened.

a chill rushed down his spine, struck with horror. he saw a translucent form, face contorted with a large grin. you looked at him questioningly, wondering why he was looking in your direction, before taking a peek behind you out of curiosity.

after seeing nothing, you realized he was looking directly into your eyes. "holy fuck." he muttered, gaining his friends attention. "holy-holy fuck." he stood up, his legs pushing his chair back. he pointed to you, and you felt an aching feeling.

"what, what is it jake?" sam asked, looking around. the pain overtook your body, making you scatter away out of sight. jake blinked frantically, and you were no longer there.

"did you guys not see that?" his heart was beating fast, and his body trembling, knees threatening to give out. a soft tear even left his eye.

"see what? oh my god are you okay?" colby inquired, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"i-i." the boy couldn't even speak, in terror. what was worst is that he couldn't tell if his mind had played tricks with him, or if what he saw was true. "i saw.. i saw someone, something."

"what?" corey exclaimed, backing away from where he was sitting.

"it was a weird shadow figure, she had long dark hair, i- i don't know what just happened. i swear i was looking at her, and then it was like she saw that i saw her, and she disappeared."

when he had looked into your eyes, he felt such an odd connection to you, even with his frightened appearance, inside he felt drawn.

"are you a medium or something?" sam asked, trying to joke a bit. he knew his friend was a skeptic, so him coming out and saying something like this was out of the ordinary.

whatever had happened, had corey scared, so scared that he quit the seance, and decided to sit a chair away, no longer holding hands and chanting. "should we keep going?" colby asked, jake nodding desperately.

taking a few minutes to calm down, they restarted. and since corey had finished being apart of the activity, they figured they might as well use the oujia board for content purposes.

you began to cry in the other room, curling your body into a ball. you couldn't believe what had just happened. for the first time ever, in 20 years, something impossible occurred. someone had seen you.

never wanting to be the source of fear and panic, this had broken you. they thought you were a malevolent spirit, that you were scary. suddenly, you felt yourself being pulled back to the dining room, almost like someone was dragging you.

you tried to fight it until it was physically taking you away. once you entered, it was obvious the boy could no longer see you. he looked across the room, seeing nothing.

feeling another jolt, you take notice at the oujia board and planchette, and realized why you were being attracted to it. they were calling out for you again, trying to speak with you.

"if there is a spirit here, can you please use this oujia board to communicate with us." colby spoke, looking at everyone fingers on the planchette.

you begin to push it to yes, and observe as their eyes widen. "is this who i saw a second ago?" jake wondered aloud. you sighed, pushing it to yes before spelling out 'sorry'.

they faced eachother. "what does that mean?" sam asked to them, before gazing around the area. "what are you sorry for?"

using energy to move it, you spelt out the word scared, hoping they would understand. the boys discussed this, finally agreeing that you were apologizing for scaring them. "are you sorry for scaring me? for showing yourself?"

"yes." you mumbled aloud, and he heard it. he jumped up, trying to spot where you were, giving up when he couldn't see you.

"i heard you!" jake commented. "can you show yourself to me again?" you talked to him through the board. spelling 'don't know.'

"you don't know how? is that why you were shocked when you realized he saw you?" colby questioned, earning a yes from the board.

"what's your name?" jake asked.

"y/n." you tried to say strongly, only coming out as a soft whisper.

"y/n." he repeated, nodding to his friends. "your name is y/n." he paused, taking a deep breath, before feeling you stand by him. "a-are you near me right now?"

you whispered into his ear, brushing it gently. "yes." he gasped, moving back.

"she's right beside me." he told them, before revealing his goosebumps.

"are you friendly?" corey asked, from outside the seance. the planchette moved to yes, you running out of energy.

"i mean atleast that's good." sam muttered.

jake felt an odd feeling, attracted to your spirit. he felt connected to you, to your energy. he breathed shakily, before opening his eyes again, seeing you next to him. he tried to stay calm, and smiled towards you.

you giggled, smiling back, and giving a gentle wave, making him do the same. you held your hand up, and he understood. both of you tried to touch hands, like a high five.

you both gasped, you moving back at what had just happened. his hand didn't go through yours, it touched it. you felt how human and alive his skin was, you could feel his pulse from it, and he had felt a cold, hard feeling. "oh my god." he spoke. "guys, i'm touching her.. her hand is cold."

corey took a step back holding his hands up. "what the fuck is going on?!" he shouted, making you flinch. "jake, i swear to god if you're fucking with us for a prank, i'm leaving." he threatened, seriously scared.

"i-i i'm not, i don't know how this is happening." he replied. "can you do this with them?"

you shook your head, not understanding how you made this happen. "then can you show them a sign? a sign that you're real?" you nodded hesitantly. "okay.. hmm." he looked around the hotel. "can you knock on the door right there?"

hovering, you traveled to the door, and tapped on it aggressively, earning shocked faces from the group. "i can't believe this is happening." sam stated to the camera, before seeing that it was off. "what the hell?" he took a closer look, and groaned, throwing his hand out. "the fucking camera turned off."

"how long ago?" colby wondered, earning a shrug. "fuck." he muttered, knowing that a lot of good content could've been gone.

as sam tried to fix it, everyone else was focused on the oujia board, as it took less energy. "how old are you?" corey asked. it spelled out 19.

"i didn't realize you were that young." jake spoke. "what happened to you?"

having to think about your death was the most painful thing for you. it was the only memory from when you were alive that you could remember every detail to, so prominent in your mind.

almost there decades ago, 1986, you were set to be married to an american man, and you were waiting for him to return in the presidential suite.

it was a stormy evening, the wind howling outside of the biltmore, one of the most prestigious hotels. as rain beat against the windows, the sound of the raindrops hitting the panes was almost deafening and you had been feeling anxious, almost as if there was a foreboding presence looming over you.

you shivered, feeling cold and uneasy, wrapping a blanket over your body as you sipped from your mug.

an unexpected sense of dread washed over you and before you could comprehend what was happening, a shadow like figure lunged at you from the darkness, catching you off guard.

the mug slipped out of your trembling hands, crashing onto the marble floor into pieces. fear consumed you, as you desperately fought back, adrenaline surging through your veins.

you screamed, calling out for help. your hopeless pleas for mercy echoed against the dull walls before falling on deaf ears. in the chaos of the struggle, you fell into a table, trying to escape from them.

quickly, the masked assailant unleashed a relentless barrage of fueled strikes, their anger mingling with the terror that gripped your soul.

time lost all meaning as each thrust of the blade hit your chest, crimson streaks tainted the white floor, becoming a silent witness. and in your final moments alive, choking and spitting up blood, your twitching arm reached up and swatted at the person.

you heard a deformed laugh, before your world subsided into darkness, your spirit fading into the ethereal realm, and that's all you remember before you woke up disoriented, and realized you had died.

tears welled in your eyes, as you sobbed, face red and swollen. jake saw your pained expression, and in seconds your memories entered his mind, leaving him the same irregular breathing and gasps.

he tried explaining to his friends what you had gone through, them still hesitant to believe in this crazy experience. "i'm so sorry." he cried out to you.

he couldn't believe how you died, and how he just got your memories, or how he could see and hear you. he felt insane.

"guys this is serious, i don't know what to do anymore." sam said, looking at the boy. "we should end this."

"brother do you understand how crazy this is? you need to.. you need to get help, or see a medium or something." corey shrugged, shaking his head.

"i agree with sam we should end whatever this is, it's taking a toll on you jake."

"guys i can't just leave her now, i have to keep talking to her. if you want you can go watch tv or something but this is important to me now. i promise you guys i'm fine, i just.. i have.. i have to do this." he begged.

"jake.." sam trailed off. "okay. as long as you promise you're okay, like don't get obsessed with this. don't be too much longer, it's already almost 5 in the morning."

"i promise." jake nodded, watching as they left the room, corey not understanding why he would do something like this.

you two looked at eachother, before trying to catch your breath. "what is it like being a ghost?" he asked, attempting to improve the mood.

"sad." you whispered, lips chapped. "stuck."

"you're stuck here?" he repeated, earning a nod. "how do you get out?" you shrugged at him. he sighed, apologizing.

you sat together in deep silence. many would think it was awkward or uncomfortable but it was calm and peaceful. the fact someone could see and know you for the first time since you died, made you feel happy, like you had a friend.

he continued to talk to you and keep you company for awhile, feeling guilty that he had to leave in a few hours. you understood he did, knowing it wouldn't last forever but that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"i'm sorry you're stuck here. i hope you find your way out or to the real afterlife so you can leave this boring place." he comforted you.

"it's okay." you smiled. finally being able to share your story was enough. you felt your body becoming numb from being so giddy. "visit."

"i'll visit you again, don't worry." he hums. "i feel like we're connected, like you'll always be attached to me." making you nod.

the two of you shared an oddly comforting hug, before he had to leave. you followed their group to the hotel lobby, and unlike most times when you went down there, there wasn't a pull.

so when you continued to follow them and you weren't stuck in place, the happiness came back, and you started to cry once more. you watched them drive away, feeling in debt to jake for how much relief he gave you.

you've gained your freedom after 30 years of being stuck in the hotel you were brutally murdered in. "thank you jake." you murmured, before floating away, the happiest you've ever been.

[lailoken]

What are your favorite pieces of media that you think accurately represent magic and spirit work? Movies, books, even music..

This is an interesting question, but one that requires a lot of thought, as I have read and watched an inordinate amount of books and movies. Plus, even really good fiction with pagan themes that I've read/watched is generally inaccurate in most ways, with some realistic aspects of magic woven in here and there. Some of my very favorite media relating to the subject can't really be included, simply because of how inaccurate it is overall, but there are a few that have caught my notice.

I'm sure I'll end up missing ones, which bugs me, but I'll do my best to recount some examples that I can think of:

The Love Witch (2016) is a movie that I think presents a strikingly realistic portrayal of what magic can look like. It manages to show some of the ways one might use magic to great effect, without actually skewing into fantasy at all. Clearly, the magic shown isn't going to line up with every paradigm, and its not exactly a heady or spirit-based story, but I think it's a very real look at how ritual and magic is/can be approached by many folks in the modern day.

The Witch (2015) is, above all else, a great slow-burn horror film and an excellent period-piece. However, it also portrays quite an accurate conception of folkloric beliefs about Witchcraft in the 17th century, which inexorably inform the realities of modern Witchcraft traditions. It does just barely skew into fantasy horror, but the actual folkloric information being presented is quite sound.

A Dark Song (2016) is a film that portrays ceremonial magic realistically in many ways. Ultimately, it is still a supernatural horror film, but the bulk of the magic in the movie is based directly on the Abramelin Operation, which was interesting to see. A lot of the ways that the magic "takes shape" in the film feels real enough to me, too (though it certainly takes it to extremes at points, as horror movies are wont to do).

We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson is a horror novel I much enjoyed when I read it a coulple years ago, but I also remember that it happens to contain small, but meaningful, instances of sympathetic magic within the story that I appreciated as a practitioner looking in. This one has been made into a movie as well.

Cunning Folk by Adam Nevill is one of the more realistic looks at magic—including the uncanny side of it—that I've come across. It's still definitely a horror story, first and foremost, but there's an oomph to the ritual and magic described therein that a lot of other similar fiction lacks—even when the ritual act being described isn't necessarily accurate in terms of historicality or my personal experience of the Craft.

The White People by Arthur Machen is a Welsh short horror story from the turn of the century, which I think is worth including here. There are elements and aspects of the story that feel surprisingly real in terms of Gloaming initiation and the Gloaming Spirits—though, of course, it takes creative liberties informed by the paranormal beliefs and trends of the time (1890s).

The Craft (1996) is a movie that I'm sure a lot of pagans have of nostalgia for in one way or another, myself included. I struggled with whether this movie should be here or in the Honorable Mention section, but I included it here in the end because a lot of the ways magic and ritual are presented in the film are accurate enough. I also think it did a fairly good job of capturing how it can feel to discover, revel in, and then become overwhelmed by magic. However, since it is a supernatural horror film, a lot of magic shown is portrayed more fantastically than the real thing, and there are aspects of the magic (rituals, entities, etc.) made up entirely for the sake of the story.

As implied above, there are also some pieces that, while largely inaccurate or too far into the realm of fantasy, still manage to succesfully capture some essence of realistic feeling magic in them. I will list those here as Honorable Mentions:

Practical Magic (1998) is another movie that I'm sure a lot of Pagans have nostalgia for in some way or another. I won't claim that it's a genuinely "accurate" representation of magic—and it certainly strays into outright fantasy at times—but there are little things throughout the movie that managed to ring a bell for me, as someone who grew up with magic in my family. I know this was originally a book, but I actually haven't read that as of yet, so I can't speak to it.

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) is a movie is squarely in the fantasy-horror genre to me, but even still, I include it here as an honorable mention because a lot of the lore depicted is drawn from real lore, and the overall ambience it manged to evoke strongly reminds me of some of my own experiences with chthonic journeying.

The Good Witch franchise isn't one I have ever actually watched any part of before, but I include it here because, oddly enough, multiple practitioners have mentioned to me that they think the magic is surprisingly realistic for a Hallmark series. As I understand it, the main character is a sort of local Wise Woman who helps the folk in her little town using things like folk-knowledge, remarkable intuition, and an uncanny ability to seemingly sway people and circumstances. Since I haven't seen it myself, my take on it may be somewhat lacking, (which is why I listed it as an honorable mention), but based on the description, it actually sounds like it may be one of the more realistic interpretations of magic on this list.

I know this is a strange addition, as it's not exactly magic, per se, but much of how Stephen King writes about psychic abilities like clairvoyance and healing throughout his works manages to touch on something all too familiar for me. I think, sometimes, that he may have known someone with the Sight and/or the Touch in his real life, as it comes up a lot in one shape or another in his writing.

As I said, I'm sure there's stuff I'm missing, but this at least a serviceable overview. I encourage others to share any other media that they think deserves a mention, too!

[weirdstuffinthewoods]

Jane Schoenbrun and the Screen Trilogy

Director Jane Schoenbrun’s “Screen Trilogy” seems set to define a period that feels deeply personal to those whose adolescence was shaped by the meteoric rise of the internet and the isolating comfort of technology.

Using a cohesive blend of glowing cool-toned hues, long, lingering shots, and scores and soundtracks that perfectly evoke teen ennui and lonely melancholy, Schoenbrun has used the allure of the screen to craft dreamlike meditations on identity, isolation, and transness that leave viewers feeling so seen.

A quick glance at the tumblr tag, letterboxd reviews, or TikTok videos shows one common thread: Thank you, Jane. And it's well-earned from the beginning. (More under the cut)

With the first installment of the Screen Trilogy, Schoenbrun tackles the questioning of identity through fears generated from unrestricted childhood internet access (something that usually gave the millennial generation something we can never unsee). we’re all going to the world’s fair follows Casey, a teen who partakes in the viral World’s Fair Challenge that leads to an ambiguous separation of self that leaves the audience questioning whether Casey was truly losing herself or merely participating in an elaborate, creepypasta-fueled MMORPG. When speaking about the film with The Hollywood Reporter, Schoenbrun says,

“It really resonated and reminded me of something I went looking for online in my own youth, which was an effort to remove myself from my body and my identity and exist in a space where I could express myself creatively, and perhaps even explore myself personally, outside of ‘the real world.’”

Casey mentions at one point that she can feel herself leaving her body, adding to the overarching theme of dysphoria.

This and many other vulnerable moments are shared through video which is really the only way the audience gets to know Casey, a key piece of information when JLB comes into play. Like us, JLB sees Casey expressing a number of concerning symptoms and thoughts. JLB reaches out to Casey, an adult man reaching out to “save” a teenager he knows nothing about. The adolescents of the internet age know this character all too well.

Between the unspoken disquiet of JLB’s “guardianship” and the time spent with Casey out in the barn in the middle of the night watching ASMR videos with her stuffed lemur, Poe, Schoenbrun’s work reaches out to the kids who, like them, found solace on the internet. We found a world that was bigger than our little towns, we found ways to self-soothe (visual stim videos come to mind as the new ASMR), and sometimes we found people like JLB (we basically made Chris Hansen the hero he is- we love Chris Hansen). For the first time, the isolated, sometimes trans or questioning, internet kid in us felt seen.

Schoenbrun slapped us with nostalgia again in 2024’s I Saw the TV Glow, a magenta-saturated amalgamation of teenage ennui and suburban melancholy that pushes through your ribcage, reaching for your heart without you even noticing until 2/3 of the way through, your frantically beating heart is ripped from your chest among screaming tv static and sparks, leaving you silent in the face of wails of unimaginable pain and need.

Soft-spoken 7th grader Owen meets 9th grader Maddy who’s reading the episode guide for The Pink Opaque- a Buffy-style 90s paranormal teen show Owen has only caught glimpses of, but that he’s totally fascinated with. The two watch an episode together, and as Maddy leaves Owen tape after tape to watch on his own, the pull of The Pink Opaque becomes impossible to ignore.

Schoenbrun is open about it- “I really did live and breathe Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I cared about Buffy more than I cared about my real life”. The same was true for a lot of us. Millennial kids weren’t quite the latchkey kids of the 80s but also weren’t yet the iPad kids of the late 00s. Parents were still learning how to parent and were either too controlling (like Owen’s parents) or too absent (like Maddy’s). Piggybacking on the theme of identity from world’s fair, the kids that didn’t see themselves reflected in popular media or the cliques at school would become masters of escapism, using books, movies, or TV shows like Buffy (it was Charmed for me) to create an inner world where they felt safe, wanted, seen.

Where world’s fair is about the loss and search for identity, I Saw the TV Glow tackles the question of “what next?” What do you do when you know time isn’t moving right, that life isn’t supposed to feel like this? When you learn exactly how to fix it but it sounds absolutely terrifying and insane?

Maddy has no hesitation. “I’m getting out of this town…I’ll die if I stay here. I don’t know how or when exactly, but I know it’s true.” Owen, like Isabel in The Pink Opaque, Maddy says, is afraid of what’s inside him. In Variety, Schoenbrun comments on their differences.

“What we experience through Maddy is this ultimate self-liberation: you have to destroy yourself totally in order to be reborn as who you really are. … Maddy knows that there’s somewhere where she can be full and it’s not worth staying in this place.”

The film encloses a number of deeply disturbing, viscerally upsetting scenes in monologues that connect the audience with feelings of dysphoria, of the disjointed way trans people experience time, and the fear of that time running out in conjunction with the fear of the future. Like world’s fair, the conclusion is ambiguous, but more hopeful in its way. It acknowledges the pain, the fear, the sheer exhaustion of transitioning, but proves it as a method of survival, and reassures the audience, “there is still time”, before leaving them with a cut to pink static where they can cry it out to some Frances Quinlan.

Not too much is known about their third installment, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, but Schoenbrun explains that it both pays homage to and critiques the lineage of trans and queer villains as sexual deviants. The New Yorker sums it up as follows:

“[Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma] follows a queer filmmaker hired to direct a new installment of a long-running slasher franchise. The director fixates on the prospect of casting the “final girl” from the original movie, and the two women descend into a frenzy of psychosexual mania.”

Slated to be gorier and funnier (thank God) than the previous installments, Schoenbrun is now turning to the aftermath of transition and the reclaiming of identity through sex, an important and often overlooked facet of transness. They’ve also sold a book, Public Access Afterworld, originally meant to be a TV show but now taken down in literary form. Schoenbrun hopes it will rival franchises like Sandman or Lord of the Rings in its scope, finally giving trans media an epic of its own.

All this fan can say is I can’t wait.

Sources:

Jane Schoenbrun Finds Horror Close to Home | The New Yorker

'I Saw the TV Glow' Director Jane Schoenbrun on A24 Film's Trans Meaning (variety.com)

How We’re All Going to the World’s Fair Grew Out of Internet’s Subconscious (hollywoodreporter.com)

[soulcandi]

𝑶𝑵𝑳𝒀 𝑻𝑯𝑰𝑵𝑲 𝑶𝑭 𝑴𝑬 | 𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫𝐭

synopsis: dalton doesn't have the guts to make a move on the cute sorority girl that he's been stalking since orientation, but the demonic entity constantly peering over his shoulder does.

warnings: probs 17+ (just to be careful), stalking, obsessive behavior, paranormal type-shit, reader is stupid and also hot (think jennifer from that scene in jennifer's body where she's flirting with the band), the smallest hint of somnophilia, demonic possession, identity theft (lol), extremely dubious consent, dalton is definitely a little ooc, written with afab!reader in mind, y/n gets referred to as a girl.

a/n: title ripped from the ghost song. i love me some goth masked men. forgot the name of the frat so i just made one up. also, i just imagined a random dark spirit possessing his body, not the one explicitly shown in the film. but you guys do whatever you want. also, this is probably really cringy. I wrote most of it on 🍃 and didn't bother to proofread.

word count: 2078

Dalton’s favorite hobby was a tricky thing. How could he bring himself to tell Chris or anyone else in his life that the first thing he wanted to do after a long day of classes was shut off all of the lights in his dorm and count back from ten until his spirit was standing over your bed, watching you sleep?

How could he ever come up with an answer for how he somehow knew every last intimate detail about you despite never having spoken to you a single day in his life?

The easiest solution was to keep his hobby a dirty little secret right up until he graduated and moved a million miles away from campus. It’s not like he could ever look you in the eye anyway—the cute little sorority girl who approached him shyly during orientation and asked him to help carry a mini-fridge up the staircase of the Kappa Delta house. You were all glitter and smiles and infectious laughter and ignoring you was like trying to ignore sunlight. It just wasn’t done. 

Dalton hadn’t smiled since long before the funeral, but you coaxed one from his lips like it was the easiest thing in the world. It was impossible for him to up and forget something like that, especially when, as he went to wipe the sweat from his clammy palms, there was pink glitter plastered across the lap of his jeans. You effortlessly infiltrated every aspect of his life, pumping through his veins like some drug he couldn’t name. His entire world revolved around you and the best part about it was that you didn’t have the faintest clue.

Watching you was more of an addiction than a hobby to Dalton. Not in person, god. Never. The last thing he ever wanted to do was freak you out—to scare you. But what was the harm in flinging his backpack across the floor, shutting off all the lights, and letting his spirit travel to your room on the second floor of the Kappa Delta sorority house? He wasn’t hurting anyone by sitting on the corner of your bed while you flipped through your homework booklets and nibbled on the tips of your perfectly polished fingernails. 

Dalton’s favorite moments were when he caught you in deep sleep, tossing and turning in one of those silky little numbers that he instantly grew to love. You had them in every color, alternating throughout the week. They hugged you in such a dangerously perfect way, riding up over your plush thighs as you mumbled under a thick blanket of dreams. He made a home for himself in the furry pink armchair across from your bed (when it wasn’t stacked high with laundry, that is), treating himself by watching you breathe. It was mesmerizing how the fabric would ripple across your body while your chest rose and fell with each shallow breath.

It only took a few days for that guilty pleasure to bleed into his weekly routine. Dalton only realized things were starting to get out of hand when he found himself drawing you. 

Doodles on the corners of his syllabi turned into sketches in his notebook, which eventually turned into 24x30 charcoal portraits that took up most of the wall space in his dorm room. Art was his second nature and as soon as he returned from one of his nightly haunts, he was powerless to control the charcoal nub that somehow found its way into his hand. Dalton had to immortalize you on paper. Otherwise, he would have no choice but you seek you out in the dead of night over and over again until your image was burned into the back of his eyelids. 

A full week after he first saw you during freshman orientation—informative sorority flyers stacked tall in your arms, barely hiding the Greek letters stamped across the front of your cropped shirt—he turned in his very first sketch of you for an art critique. Professor Amagan was pleasantly surprised by his change in subject matter. Goodbye bloody red door, hello sleeping beauty. 

She had wanted to pin it up in the showcase at the front of the arts building but the thought of you ever stumbling upon it made a fiery hot wave of mortification spill over Dalton’s entire body. What would you even say to a lifesize portrait of your own sleeping body drawn by someone you’ve never spoken to before? He would count himself lucky if he wasn’t expelled on the spot.

Dalton hastily accepted his passing grade and shoved the charcoal drawing to the very bottom of his portfolio, never to see the light of day again. Unless, of course, he was cram-studying for midterms and couldn’t afford the time to go and visit you. In this instance, he would lock his door and prop you up beside his desk to steal quick glances at while he worked. But it never sated that itch inside of him—the one that reared its head when he caught the faintest ribbons of your perfume in the air as he marched through the courtyard with his head down. 

Dalton wasn’t proud of himself. Not for this, anyway. White hot shame burned at his heart whenever he caught your eye from across the dining hall or the library by accident. You were forbidden fruit on campus—the sweetheart of the most powerful fraternity and the stuff of everyone’s dreams besides. He should have felt forever guilty for stealing your private moments for his own pleasure. But fuck if you didn’t make it so hard for him to quit. 

Tonight, like every other night this week, Dalton flicked off his bedside lamp and yanked the nightlight out of the wall, plunging the room into thick and heavy blackness. He counted back from ten until he no longer felt the weight of his physical body holding him down, then blinked his eyes open to see a world illuminated with an otherworldly faint blue light. 

The walk to sorority row only ever felt like seconds. The spirit realm was like a highway in that sense. He slipped through the front door of the Kappa Delta house like a ghost. He was a ghost. And you were his all-time favorite haunt. 

You were already asleep when he crept to the door at the end of the hallway with your name plastered across the frame in glittery bubble letters. You always went to sleep with your desktop lava lamp flipped on. It painted your face in a warm glow as you slept and Dalton couldn’t help but wonder if maybe you were just as afraid of the dark as he was. The thought coaxed a pleasant shiver down his spine. Maybe you were just waiting for someone like him to come around and tear that fear to shreds. 

Your face was buried in your arms, one leg hiked up to your waist over the sheets. A massive sleepshirt clung to your frame, slipping off of one shoulder just enough to highlight the fact that you weren’t wearing anything underneath. 

Dalton bristled at the sound of something soft and light floating through the air and reached down to pull the pair of boxy headphones off of your ears, cupping one side close to his face.

♫ “In the silence of your room, In the darkness of your dreams, you must only think of me, there can be no in-between.” ♫

You rolled over, limbs twitching with a sleepy moan as you subconsciously turned your back to the light. Dalton shook his head with a quiet chuckle, folding the headphones and setting them down on your bedside table. You shouldn’t go to sleep with your music so loud, he silently chastised you. It wasn’t good for you. But he honestly would have said anything to make this feel right—to relieve himself of even just an ounce of the guilt he felt for standing there above you in your most vulnerable state. 

He liked to think that you felt him there watching over you like some sick and twisted guardian angel. Maybe you actually took notice of all of the little things that he did for you when you weren’t even aware that he was in the room. Killing spiders, plugging in your phone when you were too sleepy to do it yourself, hiding contraband before the Kappa chapter president barged for a room sweep. 

Dalton didn’t want to believe that someone could be so effortlessly and unknowingly perfect every single moment of their life. But here you were, leaning into his touch when he failed to fight the urge to stroke your jaw with the edge of his knuckle. A shaky breath shivered past his lips in response to your sleepy exhale. 

You were so pliant. So defenseless. Swallowing thickly, Dalton took his opposite hand and brushed a flat palm over your exposed thigh, watching with sick fascination as goosebumps rose across your flesh in the wake of his gentle touches. He simply couldn’t help himself, only flinching when your face screwed up in that adorable way that it always did when someone dared to deny you of something you wanted. 

Dalton paused with his hand outstretched toward your body, a sudden tidal wave of realization washing over him. God, I am such a creep.

 “Jesus Christ,” he whispered before realizing he’d spoken out loud and slapping a hand over his own mouth. He never knew if you could hear him when he passed between the realms like this, but just to be sure he always made a point of never saying anything until he was back in his own body. 

You shifted again, pulling the blanket up over your chin to ward off the sudden chill that crept into your room. 

What am I doing? 

I need to get the hell out of here.

Dalton never considered quitting his little addiction cold turkey. But whatever spell you had put on him for the last few months had finally run its course and he was going to take back whatever semblance of dignity he could before it was too late. 

The walk back to his dorm felt decades-long and he took the time to mull over everything in his head, searching for any way to make himself feel right about this. But it was hard to do anything other than mourn the loss of what had quickly become his saving grace while he navigated this new phase of his life. Portals and demons meant nothing to him as long as he could watch you sleep, knowing that he would be there to ward off anything that tried to hurt you. 

Dalton stopped dead in his tracks outside his door. It had slid open with ease but the tension in the air was so thick that the thought of crossing the threshold made his blood run cold. His body was there, right in the corner where he left it earlier that night. 

Only…hadn’t he been lying down in bed when he left to visit you? Why was his body now halfway across the room? And why was it moving?

“What the fuck?” he breathed, drawing out each syllable as he watched it blink. The eyes of his physical body shifted to an inky black for just a split second—he saw it—before they melted right back to blue. Dalton watched frozen in the doorway as the entity inhabiting his body glanced down to inspect the hands of its new vessel, turning them over to study his palms before squeezing them into tight fists. 

Satisfied, its gaze fell to the doorway where he stood in spirit. It couldn’t see him, not truly. But it could still smell the horror oozing from him through the hole he had torn between the realms. 

“Hey!” Dalton barked, but his voice was an echo that barely reached his own ears. It bounced off of the empty space all around him. The demon compelled his body forward, walking to the mirror on the other side of the dorm and leaning all of its weight against the glass. “That’s—hey!”

It combed a hand through its hair—his hair—and ran a slack hand over the bottom half of its face. An inhuman smirk grew over its lips and Dalton shivered as it made direct eye contact with him through the mirror, testing his voice like it had gone eons without a set of lungs to force its words through. 

“You’re pathetic.”

[davekat-sucks]

I have my troll headcanons, and this is gonna be a long one, I’m doing all the Beta trolls. Also note these headcanons assume all characters survive and exist on Earth C.

Aradia Megido is trying to puck back up on the hobbies she abandoned when she became a ghost, and with her luck Earth has a vast archeological expanse of history and paleontology that Alternia destroyed to legitimize the Condesce’s rule, and to erase any mention of organized rebellion against the empire. Of course, history still existed, but is almost exclusively known by highbloods who have the class and age to study writing, own journals to write on, live long enough to document dozens of sweeps of their life history, and have less of a chance to get culled by drones controlling population growth. Reassembling Alternian history on Earth C is like finishing a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces hiding across the empty void of space. Aradia likes to search for fossils, but her interest in the dead and telekinetic connection with ghosts make her a professional paranormal investigator as well, she once snuck into a haunted house being filmed for a ghost hunters TV show, and was caught on camera. Her ripped clothes and ruffled hair from attempting a breaking and entering made her look like an undead troll.

Tavros thinks Pokémon is too simple and amateur for him, when in reality he’s mad he still loses in competitive matches in both card game and online game. He still likes the Pokémon anime! A boy who never grows up going on adventures against an organized crime syndicate trying to steal a powerful ally and nonverbal creature! Not to mention that the Ash character has friends to tag along on their perilous journey! When it comes to fighting with mythical magical monsters and complex bullshit with cards, Tavros has a soft spot for Yu-Gi-Oh, and Seto Kaiba reminds him of a troll that kept on meddling with him… and still does.

Sollux is possibly the best software technician on Earth C. He is an admin for a forum that discusses obscure desktop/master software. He obviously uses Linux and Gnu, and codes .ath viruses as practice for whitehat hackers to disarm. His Earth C hive is entirely themed by bifurcation. His curtains, his furniture, his goddamn toilet are themed by 2 colors. Karkat calls it ugly, Kanaya calls it creative. To cope with his psiionics and his loss of them, Sollux teamed up with Aradia, Karkat, and Feferi to code and design a walkie talkie that can talk to the recently deceased, this was also done so people could stop running specifically to him for predictions of armageddon.

Karkat is trying very hard to accustom himself to human culture, he has watched a lot of human film (mostly American, a few Fench and Soviet films and a bunch of Tokusatsu and Anime slop) to get why humans were like that, and if everyone was like Dave and Rose. He finds human film boring and generic, but continues to watch it anyway, to connect with the human way of life. He also follows John’s Youtube account… to leave hate comments, they don’t even attack John’s appearance or the points John makes about the film, it’s general allusions to how frustrated he gets watching John’s videos.

Nepeta has been banned from New York C’s central park zoo for scaring the bears at their enclosure and intimidating them into smashing the glass. Nepeta was allowed back in 2 years later when she promised she would not harm any animals because “it would be too easy to hunt them.” Nepeta is a professional huntress who is unique in that she doesn’t use firearms, she just catches the animal in her mouth and slices their neck if it’s big game like deer or wild boar. She meets her maximum bag capacity within a day. She is the scourge of human huntsmen and she is known as “the green lioness” to many.

Kanaya was able to pass on the duties of brooding cavern patrol once the first Jadebloods reached maturation after 9 sweeps. On Earth she was introduced to a new series of monsters and beasts after being accustomed to the animated corpses she’d hunt during the Alternian day and rainbow drinkers in her trashy teengrub erotica. Since she was always around Rose, a girlfriend and devout student of zoologically dubious, she became a cryptozoologist and eventually a bigfoot hunter. Her agility, strength, night vision, and rainbow drinker hearing made her perfect for hunting North America C’s most hidden animal. She would mostly stalk the rustling of leaves and moaning from the shadows of the forest to find it’s a human hiker or a bear, until she actually caught Bigfoot in an open Brush 30 miles West of Marquette C, Michigan C. Notably sightings were made days after Kanaya caught the creature, and after a week on news channels, talk shows, radio interviews, getting a nobel prize in biology and ecology, and getting a giant golden trophy called the “first big step” she now is treading westwards for possible other bigfoot sighted from California to Idaho. That is, when she can schedule it, she has a girlfriend she also wants to be there for. Of course, Rose has joined Kanaya on a few bigfoot searches to support her girlfriend.

Terezi IS the law. Professional trollcop and private investigator, she has her own TV show like that of Chris Hansen where she roleplays as different people, ranging from kids that pedophiles prey on to lone wolfs and depressed deadbeats that drug cartels search for to hire as peddlers and soldiers. Terezi’s strongest expertise is hunting down anti-troll hate groups, since she gets to be herself instead of roleplay as a human. She struggles the most catching anti-human troll groups and Neo-Condescites considering she has to fight against her own species, which have an easier time sniffing out if she’s faking her human archetype and some of them are super strong indigobloods.

Vriska haaaaaaaates how boring and fake human roleplaying games are. In FLARP you had real costumes, stat bats, real loot, month long continuous sessions, and dire consequences if you lose. To keep herself not bored she has become a practitioner of the extreme sport of rock climbing, since Vriska hated walking down and up all those stairs just to get to her lusus, and climbing a shear face would be more safe than slipping on those infernal steps! She also wanted one day for her lusus to watch her climb, as spidermom laud down in that pit of webs, too fat and loud to crawl up herself. Spidermom has been dead for sweeps now so Vriska still won. GET F8CKED FUSSYF8NGS!!!!!!!!

Equius was an unfortunate troll who got caught up in strange human subcultures, and that subculture was human hypermasculinity and “alpha” male mentality. He has a Youtube channel, Twitter, and Instagram dedicated to exercising routines, habits, and hobbies that make male trolls, humans, carapacians, and even denizens respected leaders in their community. Equius tried to co-opt My Little Pony as being masculine and sigma despite the protagonists being all colorful horses. Equius believes all of the protagonist ponies (the mane 6 as they’re called in fandom circles) each hold masculine traits that can correlate with the masculine archetypes in alpha men. Think how Twilight Sparkle exemplifies intelligence and planning, AppleJack has strength and stoicism, Rarity appreciates natural beauty and appearence, etc. Also they are horses, and Equius is frustrated that humans took the maned roarbeast (lions) and striped fangbeast (tigers) as the mascot of alpha males. Equius made his own personal gym in his hive because he was banned from all the gyms for excessive sweating and never cleaning up his station. He films fighting tutorials with his combat robots, but they all break in one punch, so Nepeta has to be invited for any successful demonstrations on how to demonstrate Equius’s fighting style and not break in one punch.

Gamzee is in a mental Asylum becaise of the whole murder thing and has only broken off from Lord English’s control for the first time in his life. He expresses himself by rhyming the GREGCLOUROIAN WICKED RHYTHMS for THE FROWNING MASSES to proselytize the NEW COMING OF THE DARKER CARNIVAL. After 5 sweeps in a straitjacket Gamzee was deemed sane and pacified, so he can finally start his real life. He immediately asked Tavros to start dueting some sick bars he wrote in the brig to bring forth the new prophesy of the evanjesters. Tavros agreed without hesitation. “Mike Club” and “Wild T” sell albums as the “UNHINGED PAGLIACCI TROUPE” and have gotten many a negative review as “the worst rappers in all paradox space” but in the end, built up a dedicated fanbase of clownfolk and followers of the true faith.

Eridan doesn’t go out much, if at all. He plays a lot of video games, grand strategy, roleplaying games, a few puzzle games. He feels mixed about First Person Shooters and asks for a good story in an FPS campaign. He sees himself as honorablenand only shoots with a reason, like how he killed lusii to feed G’bolg’lyb and stop the vast glub. He doesn’t want to shoot people because some authority tells him to! Honest! Ask Sollux and he’ll agree Eridan shot in self defense! And Sollux is still alive and happier that he doesn’t hear the boices ofbthe dead doesn’t he?! Maybe Sollux should THANK HIM FOR BEING CONSIDERATE. Sorry what was I talking about? Eridan does not regret a lot of things, but he will still talk about them when you bring them up to insist he does not regret anything, nope, he’s fine. He does hang around with the people, or rather, person he tolerates. Karkat. Everyone else are lowbloods that don’t like him because he’s better than them so they insult him and say he smells bad when that’s the natural smell of the ocean and they don’t understand how important he is, or Feferi who toyed with his emotions and left him for some bipolar mustardblood and avoided him after ALL HE DUD FOR HER AND WAS SO NICE TO HER AND SHE DIDN’T RECIPROCATE THOSE FEELINGS wait what was I talking about? Eridan insists he does not need help. He’s fine. He’s fine fine fine fine fin.

Feferi loves Spongebob Squarepants, it’s a match made in heaven, but she’s not obsessed with it. She still went far enough to paint her recuperacoon blue with the colorful flowers that dotted the oceans of Bikini Bottom. She is an advocate for saving all the coral reefs and has sued many companies with her nonprofit organization and vast personal wealth for spillover of hazardous chemicals into protected waters. Considering how often CrockerCorp gets into these environmentalist lawsuits, Feferi gets under Jane’s nerves. A lot.

Final thoughts. Eridan, Karkat, Nepeta, Vriska, Tavros, and Terezi (sometimes Sollux but he’s busy most of the time) all run a discord for roleplaying and video games. Eridan Karkat and Tavros like to play the Elder Scrolls series, Sollux likes to play the Fallout series, Vriska, Nepeta, and Terezi like both. Sollux tried to get Eridan to play Fallout: New Vegas once, but Eridan got bored after a few hours and thought the morality system was too simple. Between the organized disciplined and stable Caesar’s Legion or the corrupt incompetent bureaucrats of the New California Republic, or the selfish authoritarian Mr. House, or you thrusting the wasteland into chaos as you throw all 3 of the remaining lighthouses of civilization into collapse. Sollux has a let’s play channel but the only uploads on it are Nepeta’s playthrough of Postal 2 she shared on the discord server.

Karkat does a lot of human movie watchparties with his old friends to keep his trollian friends close enough that they don’t kill each other or wander off on this new weird alien world, and to his surprise they like some of the human films even though they are bottom of the barrel compared to peak alternian film. Each of the trolls favorite films are:

Aradia: Carrie (1976)

Tavros: Pokémon the First Movie (2000)

Sollux: The Matrix (1999)

Karkat: Con Air (1996)

Nepeta: The Lion King (1994)

Kanaya Maryam: Harry and the Hendersons (1987)

Terezi: Trolls (2016)

Vriska: Pirates of the Caribbean (2005)

Equius: Spirit (2003) and Fight Club (1999)

Gamzee: Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Eridan: Waterloo (1970)

Feferi: Atlantis the Lost Empire (2001)

Final fact: since films from the beta kids library still had a chronological year, the release year of films gets confusing, so to make up for it, films on Earth C are released on a separate calendar, the year on the Earth C Planetary Film Board is equal to current year (number of years after the original kids touched down on Earth C) plus 2009. Old Alternian films are hard to chronologically measure since they were made billions of years before April 2009.

This is a long one!

These are all amazing!

[tenpintsof-sundrop]

Could you write dominant! Vanessa x fem! Reader where reader is a paranormal explorer and is caught by Vanessa while sneaking into Freddy’s and in exchange of Vanessa not giving her a ticket/arresting her, reader lets Vanessa fuck her? I have fallen victim to the women in uniform apocalypse.

Today I am gonna be editing/finishing up the Sub!Mike request (Picture Perfect) but after that's done, I am gonna be working on this one!

I love this idea so much. It's so wonderfully unique. I never would have thought of this on my own and I love that omg

I also love the idea that because the movie is set in 2000, stuff like Buzzfeed Unsolved would not have been as common, so the reader is probably a lot more groundbreaking if she was using a handheld camera and filming herself performing paranormal investigations to put on a MySpace page - and if she had a small, loyal following, it would give her a lot more reason to take risks doing illegal things like breaking into places and trespassing (also - this could bring in some filming/taping kink omg - if Vanessa picks up the camera and tapes the reader while she fucks her)

I am also obsessed with the phrase 'the women in uniform apocalypse'. I fell victim to it long ago. Olivia Benson got me and now I'm here lmao

FNAF Movie Requests - OPEN

[honourablejester]

Okay, so, again, for reasons, I am watching videos like ‘ghosts caught on camera’ on youtube, and in the middle of a clip of a translucent figure caught moving across a doorway in the background of a paranormal investigation livestream in an empty hospital, the narrator comes out with ‘this was captured during a livestream, so it’s hard to see how it could be a hoax’. And I just.

Okay. So the implication is that because this was filmed live, it can’t be fake. Which, I have no idea the technology these days, I’m a luddite, but I’m sure you probably can do things with filters during live filming, but besides that ...

The fact that it’s filmed live could, maybe, mean that it’s not a video edited hoax, but do people not realise anymore that you can fake things physically as well? It’s movement in the background of a dark shot. They could literally have put a tea towel on a trolley and pulled it across frame, or many more significantly more sophisticated tricks. Like. I realise this is the digital age, but you can full on fake shit in real life just as well as you can digitally. We have nearly a hundred and fifty years worth of special effects to prove it.

Sorry. It’s just the death of physical effects over here. CGI and digital editing are not the only ways to create effects on screen. You can still fake hauntings the good old fashioned Scooby Doo, early 20th century seance sort of ways.

[the22ndcj]

Twintober Day 3+4: Skeletons + Taco Bell

(I combined them because I'm late)

River had played up his fear of skeletons over the years. Turned it into a joke, something he could laugh at. Something he could cope with. But what about a building FULL of skeletons?

The Twin Paranormal trio has decided to check out a supposedly haunted skeleton-themed museum. It wasn't far from home and the owner Selena had practically been in tears recounting all the horrors she'd faced since she bought the place last year.

All of this raced through River's mind as he followed Ryan and Wyatt into the museum's rusted double doors.

Selena had hurried through her knowledge of the history of the place, slapped the key into Ryan's hand and left like her ass was on fire.

It took Ryan a moment to get the key to work in the lock, pushing open the doors as soon as he was able. The interior was very dark. River flipped his camera light on. It revealed a long hallway as the entrance to the museum, lined with displays. Even from where River was standing, he could see the pale grinning faces of the dead.

He gulped and adjusted his hat. He wasn't scared. Not a bit.

One of the stories Selena had told them was about how she came in one day only to find a display open and the skeleton nowhere to be seen. She had thought that she had been robbed only to turn a corner later and find the missing cowboy with his six-shooter pointed at her.

But skeletons didn't move on their own, River assured himself. He had seen a lot of crazy stuff during his paranormal career and he felt like he knew the limits of what entities could manage to do.

Moving entire skeletons wasn't one of them. No, no. He was being silly.

"You do the hallway, I'll get the office in the back," Wyatt told River casually, already on his way down the hall with his camera. Ryan was following him with the REM-PODS in hand.

“Okay,” River called after them.

He got his camera ready, pondering what and where he was going to film for B roll footage. It was fine if he was on his own. He wasn't scared…

His whole body jerked as he turned and found a gnarly skeleton staring at him through the glass. It was dressed like a sheriff with a little bowler hat and badge.

As the other two went through the door at the far end of the hallway, the room fell quiet. River's boots sounded deafening to him as he made his way along the row of displays to pick one to film.

Cow skeletons. Not too scary.

Wolf skeletons. Not bad, but they reminded him of Resident Evil.

Stepping past the wolves, he spotted another human skeleton. It was dressed up in a cowboy outfit with a leather vest, tattered flannel shirt and old timey jeans. A cowboy skeleton might be good footage.

He crouched and got a low angle of it, slowly panning over the empty sockets of its eyes peeking out from under its wide brimmed hat.

As he stood to finish off the video, he heard a small thump. Thinking he dropped something, River pointed his light to check. Nothing.

When he turned his camera back to the cowboy, a blur of movement caught his eye. He froze, moving his camera in the same way. It was just a shadow. Phew.

Another small thump by his feet. But this time when he looked, he found a tiny off white bit of something. Kneeling down, he realized it was an old tooth.

River picked it up and held it up to the skeleton.

"Is this yours, buddy?" He asked jokingly.

The skeleton's jaw dropped open, scattering several teeth down the front of his shirt.

Every hair on River's body stood on end. He couldn't move. He was frozen with the tooth pinched between two fingers, staring at the skeleton through the dusty glass.

Floorboards! It had to be from when he stepped on the old floorboards in front of the display. It shook the skeleton and the wire in its jaw came loose.

Yeah. That was it, River told himself.

A soft creaking caught his attention as the cowboy came tumbling off his bar stool, slamming up against the glass right in front of River's face.

Taking a breath, River turned away slowly and went back down the hall.

He wasn't going to panic. He wasn't going to freak out.

He walked quickly to the door at the end of the hallway. Shoving through it, he searched for his brother and Wyatt.

"Guys?" He asked, startled as he passed several skeletons in old timey dresses with parasols in hand.

One of them tipped her head to the side to watch him.

"Ryan?" River called, hurrying around a skeletal horse pulling a covered wagon. He stopped and took a deep breath.

Ryan and Wyatt were probably playing a trick on him. 

Maybe the skeletons were automated and they had gone ahead to the control room.

That gave him an idea.

Gathering his courage, he doubled back to the women.

"M'ladies," he quipped, pretending to tip a hat. River pulled out the EMF reader from his pack and clicked it on, stretching his arm out as far as he could to run it over the skeletons.

If they were automated and had power, it should go off at least a little.

It spiked to red.

River shook his head. Of course his brother would try and mess with him. They were at a museum of skeletons!

Tucking the EMF away, River glanced around for cameras. The timing for the skeletons was too good. Ryan and Wyatt had to be able to see him.

A door creaked behind him.

“You guys got me good,” River said, pointing his camera as he turned.

It wasn't Ryan or Wyatt standing there, though. Looming in the doorway to the museum's front door stood a mass of bone and leather. It looked like several skeletons had been smashed together, with dozens of limbs and legs. Five grinning skulls twisted to look at him.

River blinked.

No. No, he was really seeing that.

“Ha ha,” he said dryly. “I know that's you guys.”

The skeleton crawled toward him, knocking the horse and wagon aside. Pieces flung past River's boots. 

It this was a prank, it was an expensive one. They'd be lucky if they weren't thrown out for causing this much damage to the displays.

Unless it wasn't a prank…

Every fiber of River's being told him to run, still he held strong.

The thing stopped right in front of him, its many arms held high like a spider ready to attack.

River stared up at it. Despite his determination, he had broken into a cold sweat.

It stared back through empty sockets, hunching down to be eye to eye with him. Standing eye to eye with it, River couldn't see any wires or motors. Only bones and crumpled clothing.

Then it dove at him, and River heard himself scream. Leather tangled around him and squeezed, capturing his whole body like a web.

Dull teeth dug into his leg. Sharp bone fingers closed in around his face.

Then he was awake. Panting and sweating in the driver's seat of the car.

“Dude,” Ryan griped, rolling in the passenger's seat to face the window more.

River looked around through wide eyes as it all came back to him. They had arrived too early and decided to nap in the car until it got late enough to start their investigation.

River stared out the front window. They were parked outside of the museum. The skeleton museum.

“I don't want to do this one,” he said.

“Why?” Ryan mumbled, tugging his hoodie down over his face more.

River wasn't sure how to explain. Ryan would probably think it sounded stupid.

“I had a nightmare about this place.”

“What kind of nightmare?”

Ryan sat up and shifted to look at him.

River froze.

Ryan's face had been replaced by a skull.

For the second time, River sat up like a shot. This time he was in his bed, safely back home in his own room. Not a skeleton in sight.

“How're you feeling?” Wyatt asked, stepping into the room with a big cup in hand. “That Taco Bell really messed you up.”

“What?” River asked.

Wyatt handed him the cup. It smelled like peppermint.

“You know. Food poisoning?” Wyatt asked.

River ran a hand over his face and nodded. Wyatt stepped away and he sank down in the blankets.

“Hopefully you're feeling better by tomorrow. Ryan found some museum he wants to check out.”

River stared after him.

“...WHAT?”

[milfgyuu]

I haven't sent one of these in a hot minute! The last gifset had me thinking: Sincr it's 🎃time, how about assigning the typical horror movie roles/tropes to Seventeen? Like, we already know Mingyu is The Hot Girl that Dies First™️ 🤣 (grouping them is also fine!)

HELL YEAH, it's spooky time!!!!! I am popping these under a read-more jusssst in case there are some sweet angels on my blog that may be sensitive to the themes or aren't into the horror genre <3

but if you're into SVT and horror film roles/tropes, read below!

Cheol - is surviving. idc. he's giving Chad Michael Murray in House of Wax like he definitely is kind of the asshole with a seedy past in the movie but it's also the reason he is making it out alive because he's fighting back. mf is running around with a tire iron and a gash down the side of his face and he's PISSED.

Jeonghan/Minghao - is taking things a little too...unseriously. like "why are you guys freaking out? ooooh he's gonna getcha!" probably even finds himself getting caught or injured and laughs when everyone gets mad at him because "it was just a joke, omg u guys". definitely turns out to be the killer in the end.

Joshua - god, sorry, but he's the handsome, sweet, innocent boyfriend of the female lead who gets absolutely gutted by the killer in the first half of the movie. Like he is the letterman jacket-wearing jock bf of Drew Barrymore's character in the original Scream. He was truly a bystander but boy is he pretty.

Junhui/Hoshi - He's just a side character but the whole audience loves him! and then he gets kidnapped and disappears halfway thru the movie so everyone assumes he's dead but just when the killer is about to whack the main character he shows up out of nowhere and knocks them out with a fire extinguisher to save them. he's a hero, baby. he still might get got tho :/

Woozi - can we get fluffy for a sec? i know it's horror tropes but this is Thackery Binx from Hocus Pocus, ok? he was kind of a little shit and then he got turned into a cat so now he's chasing around these three idiot kids trying to help them stop the witches from eating all the kids in Salem and he's perpetually irritated at his lack of opposable thumbs bc if he had them, he could just do it all himself.

Wonwoo - he's the dark-knight detective on the case. he's scary, kinda shady, and is likely doing a ton of illegal shit to find leads and force information out of people, but he's not a bad guy. He's been on the case for over a decade and lives off black coffee and cigarettes. definitely makes it to the end and has a hand in taking the killer down.

Mingyu - ok, yes, i still think he's the token slasher-bimbo - like he's the opening kill before the title sequence BUT alternatively, he's the martyr...he's the character you end up loving and then you have to watch as he sacrifices himself so everyone else lives & we love/hate him for it. We weep for him. We write alternate ending fics for him.

Seokmin - Sigh, he's the dad who buys the super-haunted house in a paranormal horror flick. He can't afford to move because he poured his life savings into buying the house. Shit keeps getting progressively worse. His dog chased something into the woods and never came back. His kids are possessed. His wife is floating in the corner and making weird noises. but he's hot - like ryan reynolds in Amityville.

Vernon - bro, he is actually Darry from Jeepers Creepers. I literally can't explain this to you if you haven't watched this CLASSIC and those of you who have seen it...you get it. Like why tf is he ignoring Ms. Dabney????? she's trying to save him and he's like...ok weirdo...i'm gonna go check out that hole where it looks like bodies are being dumped...bye.

Seungkwan - he's not going in that fuck-ass house dude. he's not doing it. he will stand guard with whatever makeshift weapon he can find and he's talking mad shit about everyone and their stupid plan the whole time he's waiting. he is, however, a good friend, and he will run into the house the first time he hears someone scream. is soooo pissed when he finds out it was over nothing and now he's stuck with everyone else in the death trap.

Chan - he is the planner, the optimist, the strategist. he is getting everyone the hell out and he's got the brains and balls to pull it all off. like, my boi is setting traps as if he's Freddie in Scooby Doo. He is pissing the killer off left and right. definitely gets himself in a pinch - almost meets his end - and still, somehow finds a way to live.

[sleepyheadincoulds]

Emmanuel M. Ruiz - Ceremonial Robes (Vignette Pt.1)

When summoned: “Aha-.. This has to be some silly dream… right???”

Vignette story below ⬇️

“Come on, Elle!” David yelped out and honked his horn of Oliver’s car. Both him and Oliver were outside of her house, waiting for her so they could go explore an abandoned church. Oliver swatted his hand, “My car isn’t a toy.” He said sternly. “Loosen up, will you?” David spoke back.

• • —— • •

Meanwhile, Emmanuel was rushing upstairs, packing her satchel. A Polaroid camera, Instant mini 9; polaroid film, 2 packs; a walkie talkie, and lastly, a blue crochet pouch—for trinkets. 

She had a sweater that only had three buttons, it was blue and crocheted by her abuela. She had a white, buttoned up blouse underneath it, while also wearing high-knee, white, socks; and blue jean shorts. She rushed downstairs with her packed satchel, while tying up her hair with a light blue ribbon. She could hear the loud horn of Oliver’s car. 

She quickly put on her high-top, black, Converse shoes, grabbing the extra house keys; rushing to the door and slamming it shut. She locked the door to her house, and quickly ran to the honking car.

• • —— • •

“What took you so long??” David asked when Emmanuel rushed to the backseat of Oliver’s car, throwing her satchel. “Well I just saw your text when I woke up, and I only had thirty minutes to get ready.” Emmanuel responded back while buckling in her seat.

David had his legs up, he was wearing his baggy, olive green pants, with a black tank top. His dark chocolate hair up in various dreadlocks. Oliver was wearing baggy light blue jeans, and wearing his grey Nirvana shirt; his dirty blonde hair being messy and long enough to reach his shoulders. And his freckles patterned on his face and arms. 

“How did you not see my text?” David asked with a scoff.

Emmanuel gave a quick side eye, “Well, who sends a text at 6 in the morning??”

“Okay, my bad on my part.”

Oliver was driving, to wherever the hell the abandoned church could be. He had his phone open to the maps, so he was following the directions carefully. “Who stays up at 6 AM for? And what were you even doing that up late.” Emmanuel asked her reckless friend.

“Okay, well, I was up looking for another place we could explore. And I found this abandoned church, only less than an hour away, and perfect for my blog. Plus maybe we can find ghosts or some paranormal activity this time.” He was talking, while showing Emmanuel an article he found of the old church. 

• • —— • •

Twenty minutes into the ride, Oliver snuck a cigarette in his mouth, lighting it. Emmanuel looked up from her phone and caught him. “Again, Oliver?” She asked. David put down his phone and gave a disapproval look to Oliver. Oliver sighed, deeply, while keeping his eyes on the road instead of either of his friends. Then, speaking up, “Look, I’m kinda not doing it so much anymore.” “How so?” She asked. “I’m only doing two cigs a week.” “Don’t lie.” “Okay, five a week.” David then butted in, “Seriously Oliver, you’re gonna get sick or something if you keep doing that much.” Oliver gave him a side eye, and his tone turning sharp, “You don’t need to worry about me.” “Why?” Emmanuel questioned. “Because I’m an adult, and you both are still kids! I can do whatever the hell I want, and I don’t need you two to worry about me!” Oliver snapped at her immediately, once they stopped at the red light.

There was a deadpan silence, it felt suffocating and the sounds of the car engine could only be heard. Once the light turned green and Oliver continued driving with the cigarette still in his mouth; Emmanuel ended the silence, “Sorry Oliver for nagging at you like that.” After her apology, he sighed. He knew he shouldn’t snap at her like that, she’s fourteen for God’s grace, and she doesn’t understand a thing. “No, I should be sorry. You’re too young and kind for your own good, and you’re still young. Same for you David. I’m the adult here and I should be a good example for you both, even as a best friend.” The car stopped at another red light and he took out the cigarette from his mouth and put it out, before throwing it out the window. 

“Look, David, you’re sixteen and you should grow up to explore as many abandoned places as you want and blog about them. Even if it’s reckless and dangerous. And Elle, I do want you to become a dressmaker and own your own store like your mother. Maybe you’ll start your own clothing line or something.”

“I don’t want to influence you guys like this. Even though I’m in a good band, cigarettes can still get in the way and ruin you. I’ll try to do better for you guys.” Once the light turned green, after Oliver finished his own speech, he continued driving to the abandoned church. 

• • —— • •

During the rest of the drive, the trio of best friends listened to whatever was on the radio. David would play around with the buttons, and tried to find something good to listen to. Oliver didn’t seem to care, and Emmanuel was too busy with trying to pry open the pack of film for her Polaroid camera. Like a raccoon trying to claw its way to open a bag of chips.

David turned his head to Emmanuel, watching her struggle to open the pack of film in amusement. “What’s that for?” He spoke up in a teasing tone. 

“For my Polaroid camera, so we can take pictures together at the church.”

“How much film do you even have? Plus aren’t they like crazy expensive?”

“I only brought two packs with two sets of ten film in each of them, but I have more packs at home.”

“Well how can you afford so much??”

“With the money I make in the summer by working in my mom’s store.”

“You have a point there. What do you do all day in that clothing store, anyways?”

“Either finish up sewing projects, or help at the cashier. It’s not boring or anything. Plus, it’s also learning experience, once I own my own clothing store.”

Oliver was listening to the whole conversation while driving, he had a smirk on his face about the conversation between the two. Though, he was locked in while driving the car. He never let any distractions bother him while driving. Whenever he drives, he’s always extremely careful and focused. Only thirty minutes into the drive, and almost there to the abandoned church.

• • —— • •

After a long while, they finally made it to their destination. The church was old and had a vintage yet creepy aura. Oliver parked the car, David got his recording camera ready, and Emmanuel unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her satchel. 

The three of them got out of the car, looking around the outside area of the church. Oliver was in awe by the angle statues. “Woah…” Emmanuel pulled out her Polaroid camera, looking over at David who was recording the beautiful statues that were angels. “Let’s take some pictures here?” She questioned. David smiled at the idea, and turned his attention to Oliver, “Oliver, how about we take a picture of you with one of the angle statues?”

Oliver turned his head to him with his eyebrows raised, “Hmm, sure. Why not?” David and Emmanuel both smiled eagerly. Oliver then got in position with one of the large angel statues. Standing in front of it with the peace sign up with both of his freckled hands. Emmanuel got her camera ready and in position, while David was recording the little moment. 

Flash! She took his picture, the small print of the film coming out blank, and Emmanuel took it out and waved it lightly for it to develop. “Did it come out good?” David asked. “Hang on, it’s still developing.” Emmanuel responded, still waving the film that was in her hands.

After a few seconds, the picture appeared on the piece of film. Oliver looked over her shoulder watching the picture appear. “The product good?” David spoke up with his voice raised, while recording the area. “Yep! It’s coming out perfectly.” Soon enough the picture developed, and it looked like it could be the perfect album cover. 

A smile crept on Oliver’s lips, as he looked over at Emmanuel’s shoulder of the picture. The photo had that 90s style, very vintage looking too.

• • —— • •

Soon enough, the three of them entered the old abandoned church. The place wasn’t so messy though, but very dusty. The place looked liked if no one has taken care of it or stepped foot in it for a long time. As they entered sanctuary, the sun was shining through the stained glass, beautiful vibrant colors falling onto the benches in the sanctuary. Most things were boxed up, such as Bibles, candles; and boxes of tissues. 

“Hey look at this.” David spoke up, in his hands was a small figure of one of the shepherds from the Christian Christmas tale. It still had some good conditions, but some of the paint was chipped off and the wood of it was cracking. “That looks like one of the shepherds.” Emmanuel pointed out. “… Looks old but somewhat in good condition.” “You wanna keep it?” David asked, gesturing the small figure to her. “Sure, why not.” She took the figure from his hand, holding it gently and putting it in her satchel. 

“What information do you got on this church?” Oliver asked while looking through the boxes of Bibles. Some being different versions and designs. Meanwhile, David was recording the place with his camera, “Apparently this church closed in 1970s, the name of it was, Houston Baptist Church.” Oliver hummed at his response, “So this place has been closed for almost 50 years then.” “Yep, they closed it down for a good while.” “I wonder why.” Oliver muttered as his interest was on a specific Bible. The design was simple but the conditions of it were somewhat okay. The paper looked a bit yellow and torn, but the front cover was brown. With the signature cross and title, “Holy Bible,” titled in gold. The texture was smooth, but for some reason, for Oliver, it probably held some value to it. 

• • —— • •

While Oliver was busy looking through boxes, and David recorded the untouched holy house of God, Emmanuel looked at some old frame pictures hung up on the walls. She admired the beautiful and colorful stained glass windows. It’s vibrant and bright colors that the sun shined upon on. 

She left the sanctuary, unnoticed by her two best friends, she explored the halls to her left, where there was a massive scroll was displayed in glass. The language was in Hebrew, but she read what the description of the scroll was. The first Bible written in Hebrew. Was found by Williams Raffel. The rest was scrapped out, but she learned something new about the history of this scroll. She took a picture of it with her Polaroid camera, maybe David would want to post about it on his blog.

She walks down further in the hallways, and is met with double doors. She grabbed the handle of door, it had an icy touch to it, and opened the doors to a cemetery. The sun kissed her silky, brunette hair, making it shine in the light outside. The sun was hugging her peachy, soft skin; making it welcoming and warm. The breeze hit her softly, as if she’s the most delicate thing to touch.

She closed the door behind her as she set foot on the grass of the cemetery. The place did feel like it was a place for the resting, but the day was shining and with cool temperatures. She began to explore the area, some gravestones had fresh flowers by them. Maybe the cemetery still had its visitors. Though some graves had its dead and decaying flowers.

She would read each name on the gravestones, learning about the persons name and who they were. Though one specific name caught her attention, Williams Raffel. The same name of who found the first written Bible in Hebrew. She read more about the man, “Husband, Father, Friend, Pastor.” 

She saw how there were no flowers for the man’s gravestone. So she decided to gather some for him. She looked around the area, finding red, red roses with its thorns. The thorns lightly pricked her fingers as she picked three. The red roses looked like beautiful rubies, but of course, every rose has its thorns.

She then found some white flowers, they looked like popcorn, she picked them, one by one. She then found some daisies, the sun shining on them, giving its sunlight to them. But even though they can be pretty, daisies are weeds. But why would her sweet mind care? They’re far too pretty to not be picked. 

She carefully arranged them together, she took off the blue ribbon that kept her long, beautiful hair up. She used the ribbon to hold the flowers together as she arranged them perfectly. Her long, curly, silky hair was long enough to reach her hips. As she finally finished arranging the flowers, she walked back to the grave of William, and placed the flowers there. Paying her respects to the man that was a husband, father, friend, pastor, and the man who found the first Bible scroll written in Hebrew. 

[svtskneecaps]

qsmp ghost investigator au dump

here is everything i spitballed into my sibling's texts. apparently their discord was "thriving on it". i'll divide this into categories and attempt to format it as reader friendly as possible. god almighty i hope the keep reading below this paragraph works

CHARACTER HEADCANONS:

there's a main investigative squad formed by roier, cellbit, fic, pac, and tubbo

roier is in charge of their social media accounts

mike is their former college roommate who they constantly bring up and declare has died, except every time he comes up the way he died was different. he's actually a really successful movie producer (or something) so one time they do a live stream for a milestone celebration and in the last ten seconds mike comes flying out of the left side with ghost stage makeup and tackles pac off the side of the screen and they never address this publicly. any time someone asks what happened to pac they answer "who's pac" including pac

cellbit gets extremely disappointed when the perp isn't supernatural

roier is thrilled when the perp isn't supernatural because the peter parker in him loves taking the piss on a billionaire publicly

fit has photographic memory (à la canon screenshots)

pac is extremely good at breaking and entering

cellbit is an old fashioned polaroid kind of guy bc digital cameras don't capture ghost evidence as clearly

roier swears by digital photos bc he likes photoshop (he carries rolls of film with him in case cellbit runs out)

fit has an auto shop. tubbo and ramón work in this auto shop. this is a headache for everyone involved but at least the auto shop was already a thin disguise for experimenting with homemade pyrotechnics so things exploding isn't a big deal

whenever the team has to do a distraction, the only two options are 1) manipulation 2) explosion

when they get caught in a bad spot, pac plays on sympathy, roier plays dumb, tubbo plays along, cellbit pretends to belong, and fit uno reverses

they commissioned jaiden for their logo. she also beta reads the scripts

richarlyson works for mike. sometimes he joins the investigation crew as a cameraman on loan. fans have learned to recognize when richas is behind the camera because the camera doesn't shake when the monster of the week appears because homeboy does not fear death. cellbit knows mike will end his bloodline if anything happens to richas (and would probably end his OWN bloodline) so he tends to be double stressed when richas is behind the camera

the team has a house, courtesy of mike, because god knows a ghost hunter's salary probably can't pay for one

bagi belongs to a "rival" investigation group. she and cellbit talk MAD shit every time they're in the same room. they are also both incredibly fucking smart and often end up working together to crack the tough cases while continuing to smack talk each other

bad is also in the rival investigative group. he is very clearly a demon. this is never commented on.

skeppy is a ghost except bad is the only one who can see him. anyone who calls skeppy imaginary is shouted down by bagi. bagi also believes skeppy is imaginary

tina is the safety net / brawn for bagi's team. she trains in hand to ghost hand combat with etoiles because she is Not Human and can punch ghosts. bagi does not know this and she just thinks tina's super cool and super talented and super badass. tina definitely thinks bagi has realized she is Not Human but they haven't like had a conversation about it but bagi's super smart sooooo

dapper is the "guy in the chair" for the rival investigation team. bad tends to ask a question into a radio (or seemingly to thin air) and immediately get the answer via text. sometimes cellbit will wonder something aloud about various ghost types or signs ("they heard scratching in the attic, so that could be caused by--") and almost immediately get cut off by bad's text tone as bad reads aloud dapper listing off three paranormal options as well as potential structural problems and rodents having an extremely fun night, at which point bad cuts himself off with "LANGUAGE" or "OUT OF POCKET"

the main team thinks dapper is just short until they realize that no, dapper is actually like 14. bad's like WHY DO YOU THINK THEY STAY IN THE VAN???

baghera makes and posts music and consults for bagi's team. cellbit is scared of her and also desperately wishes he could poach her for his own team but she only answers jaiden's calls

pomme has a ghost gun. it was a gift from etoiles. she accidentally took foolish's head off with it one time. his head grew back and that was how they learned he was Not Made of Meat. this was not particularly surprising, because bad is still her part time dad. it still scared the crap out of pomme the first time it happened because the ghost gun SHOULD only work on ghosts but foolish is in a weird enough state of undead that he qualified.

foolish was thrilled to have a spare head, hence "the first time"

vegetta is a famous architect. he calls foolish to ask which paranormal team he should consult on whether a property is haunted, because vegetta trusts his partner of unspecific relationship's judgement, considering foolish is Not Human. foolish's answer usually depends on how spiteful he feels towards tina and bad at the time of the call

bonus, i really want maximus involved in one team or the other but since he hasn't interacted with bagi yet i can't decide his role or anything concrete. but just know that's in my brain.

EPISODES (in no particular order:

foolish summons bad during a sleepover with tina and then thinks it'll be funny to summon paranormal investigators (bad also thinks it's funny). they decide to play a game of "can the investigators figure out who's the immortal". it is revealed to the audience in the end of the ""episode"" once all the investigators have left that all three of them are immortal. bad and foolish devolve into yet another argument over which one of them won based on a win condition they somehow came up with and agreed on without ever consulting each other. tina was actually the winner. roll credits.

NEXT:

quackity owns a casino. he hires the team to look into some demonic activity his patrons have been reporting. he spends the entire investigation and episode demanding they find the demon and exorcise the demon and generally shittalking the demon. they spend the entire episode questioning more and more how quackity's casino stays in business as everything they learn about it and him does not inspire confidence. it is revealed that ironmouse is the demon and is also singlehandedly keeping the casino in business because she fucking loves gambling. quackity immediately changes his tune.

NEXT:

antoine calls the team because he's KINDA worried by the latitude and longitude he keeps finding on the walls at the company he works at, written in what looks suspiciously like blood. unbeknownst to them, bagi's team was ALSO contacted, by baghera. they eventually discover the recipient of the messages is etoiles. after an incident at his previous employment he is half ghost and can now fight ghosts. the messages were from an entity that attacks things when it gets bored and it may as well fight etoiles because etoiles is the only one who has beat it so far. they meet in various back alleys and restaurant parking lots to go at it and get drinks afterward. the entity has no idea how to speak any modern languages but Fighting is Universal.

NEXT:

pierre is a wine baron and claims there's a unicorn who watches over his family's vineyard. it's been part of the brand since inception and it's taken mostly as propaganda and old legend until people start actually catching glimpses of a unicorn around the vineyard and the rumor starts to spread until roier "investigative journalist and old money hater" drags the team to go on a tour of the production line in hopes of blowing the case wide open. fit, pac, and tubbo are in charge of distractions while cellbit and roier sneak away to explore the vineyard and track the unicorn.

the unicorn is pierre. roier ends up finding this hilarious and while his journalistic spirit cannot allow him to NOT expose that the unicorn is fake, he ends up calling it "a white horse with a taped-on horn" instead of the face of the company in a fursuit. pierre sends the team wine periodically as thanks and also because roier still has a picture of him in a unicorn costume in the woods.

fit and pac do a wine tasting together.

NEXT:

wilbur contacts them because ghost slime has taken up residence in the guest bathroom and while his daughter insists slime is part of the family, phil is coming with his son (chayanne) to stay with them for a festival or something and wilbur doesn't feel like getting roasted by the middle schooler who is his brother because the bathroom smells like algae and wet dog so he needs the team to babysit slime until phil leaves town. slime spends the entire time going through windows and walls with no warning and scaring the piss out of everyone. one time he was in the cabinet when cellbit was going in to make his midnight coffee and his scream sent everyone in the house into emergency mode. roier would have FULLY put slime through the wall if slime were corporeal. lucky for slime, and their wall, slime is not.

NEXT:

jaiden works at an escape room and her boss reaches out to the team because he is FED UP with some paranormal entity that keeps drawing on walls and moving shit around and throwing things and tripping him and he wants it GONE. jaiden is extremely fond of bobby and bobby is extremely fond of HER, so she reaches out to the team and asks them to NOT do that and just pretend or something. so the team goes in and pretends to investigate and stuff. roier and bobby feud in the background. by the end of the episode they're besties.

the episode concludes, shockingly, with the boss and bobby gaining grudging respect for each other. somehow. the boss threatens to reveal bobby's existence to the internet at large as a publicity stunt every time bobby trips him in the hallway but never actually does. bobby stops throwing things at him (as much). the themeing of the rooms shift so the drawings and moving objects fit in. the boss is mariana.

from this episode on bobby periodically appears in the team's house, because it's my au and i make the ghost rules

END OF SEASON:

the end season villain is a guy who ran the biggest corporation in the world who died under mysterious circumstances. the corporation has a duck mascot for no reason in particular hahahaha. they're a company like nesquick or aquafina or amazon or something yknow REAL assholes.

the team is contracted by the billionaire's nephew (forever) who took over the business when he died and is extremely overwhelmed by 1) running a business on this scale and 2) all the paranormal bs happening in his office (which is where the former CEO died). he also happens to be cellbit's ex. this is highly awkward.

because i hate billionaires but like forever, let's say forever was contacted by the villain solely because the CEO does NOT want any of his immediate underlings to get the company and thus only reveals his blood relation to forever IN HIS WILL. except forever is A Good Dude and is trying to grasp the full scope of the company's corruption and dismantle the shitty practices while still keeping the employees paid, despite his only business experience being his current position of running a boardwalk/beach. this ends up being the cause of the paranormal activity: the CEO is panicking now that forever is trying to 'ruin his company'.

the episode ends with the CEO briefly succeeding in possessing forever, and the combined forces of the ghost teams bring him back and send the CEO to hell.

somehow the billionaire is involved in or mentioned during previous episodes.

[deeploretv]

The Enfield Poltergeist 

On a quiet street in Enfield, London, a seemingly ordinary house became the center of one of the most perplexing and debated paranormal events of the 20th century. Known as the Enfield Poltergeist, the bizarre occurrences between 1977 and 1979 at 284 Green Street involved claims of supernatural activity that left investigators and skeptics deeply divided.

The strange events began in August 1977 when Peggy Hodgson, a single mother of four, reported that her daughters Janet, 11, and Margaret, 13, had witnessed furniture moving on its own and heard unexplained knocking sounds on the walls. As the days passed, the activity escalated, with reports of disembodied voices, loud crashes, and even levitation. Over the next 18 months, more than 30 people, including neighbors, journalists, and paranormal investigators, claimed to have witnessed these phenomena.

The investigation into the Enfield Poltergeist was led by Maurice Grosse and Guy Lyon Playfair from the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). Grosse and Playfair spent extended periods at the house, documenting various occurrences. They reported strange whistling, barking noises, and objects being thrown across rooms. A particularly disturbing aspect was the emergence of a deep, gravelly voice, which seemed to emanate from young Janet. This voice identified itself as "Bill," a deceased former resident of the house. Despite their conviction that some of the activity was genuine, Grosse and Playfair were aware that the girls might be fabricating certain events. They caught Janet on video attempting to bend spoons and admitted that she had faked some of the incidents.

Skepticism was rampant, with critics arguing that the entire case was an elaborate hoax. Members of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) and other investigators pointed out inconsistencies in the evidence. Stage magicians and ventriloquists suggested that the so-called "poltergeist voice" was nothing more than vocal trickery by Janet, and photos of her levitating were dismissed as her simply jumping off the bed. A remote-controlled camera set up by one investigator appeared to capture Janet faking the activity when she thought she was unobserved.

Despite the controversies, the Enfield Poltergeist case left a lasting impact on the field of paranormal investigation. It became a focal point for debates between believers in the supernatural and skeptics, highlighting the challenges of distinguishing between genuine phenomena and human deception. The case was widely covered in the media, inspiring books, documentaries, and the 2016 horror film *The Conjuring 2*. To this day, the Enfield Poltergeist remains a compelling and controversial chapter in the history of paranormal research.

[nightmarefuele]

muse directory.

repression is a huge theme on this blog. smut happens (usually in body horror font), but don't expect it.

Dune, Star Wars, general gritty sci-fi;

Qimir | The Stranger; manny jacinto ; might feature a knight verse in addition to some canon na-Baron Feyd-Rautha ; austin butler ; draws 98% from the '24 film. Verosha Aniseya ; amandla stenberg Ren (of 'the' Ren) ; adam driver ; a heavily divergent/'oc-ified', post(usually)-snoke, visceral horror, gritty lean from star wars' kylo ren. Shin Hati ; ivanna sakhno ; ahsoka. Kylo Ren ; adam driver ; as close to kylo 'canon' as i'm capable of writing, but solely draws from tfa characterization. Mae-ho Aniseya ; amandla stenberg Paul-Muad'Dib Atreides ; timothee chalamet ; leans on the book(+ messiah) from time to time. Lady Margot Fenring ; léa seydoux. Officer KD6-3.7 ; ryan gosling ; blade runner 2049 . Ezra ; pedro pascal ; prospect (2018). Cee ; sophie thatcher ; prospect (2018).

bg3;

Raphael ; andrew wincott Ketheric Thorm ; j.k. simmons Astarion ; neil newbon ; incredibly selective muse. no smut. primarily ascendant. Gale ; tim downie Shadowheart ; jennifer english Gortash ; jason isaacs

villains, antiheroes;

John Constantine ; keanu reeves Loki Laufeyson ; tom hiddleston ; selective muse. fuck u i don't consider post-tdw canon. ciao Jonathan Crane ; cillian murphy ; selective muse

bleak, flexible, modern;

Lisa Nova ; rosa salazar ; brand new cherry flavor. Connor, the Android sent by CyberLife ; bryan dechart Elijah Kamski ; d:bh ; neil newbon Hank Anderson ; d:bh ; clancy brown Sofia Falcone ; cristin milioti ; i'm in love with this crazy bitch Elliot Alderson ; rami malek ; mr. robot. Phillip Price ; michael cristofer ; mr. robot. Leon ; joey bada$$ ; mr. robot. Lisbeth Salander ; rooney mara ; the girl with the dragon tattoo (2011) . Berry Rydell ; young josh hartnett ; freelance private security officer from william gibson's virtual light trilogy, based in retrofuturist nocal and socal. just a guy doing his own thing and getting caught up, routinely, somehow, in the national (but very top-secret) dickfight over some expensive glasses. + virtual reality, or whatever. Control (John Rodriguez) ; bob morley ; based on authority by jeff vandermeer, and annihilation, book and film, exploring hypnosis/mind control and consequent distrust, or outright paranoia. operates at the branch-end of a highly bureaucratic and mysterious organization. eventually ends up at Southern Reach, "...a secret agency that manages expeditions into a place known as Area X, an uninhabited and abandoned coastal area of an unnamed country which nature is gradually reclaiming." 'nature', in this context, being a cute/tame word. refers to his guns as 'gramps', 'grandpa', 'grandpap', etc. 6" tall, impassive. Tangerine ; aaron taylor-johnson ; bullet train .

apocalypse;

Joel Miller ; pedro pascal Imperator Furiosa ; anya taylor-joy. (alyla browne.) Dr. Dementus ; chris hemsworth.

aus are fun. hit me with em or forever hold your peace.

ocs, always subject to adapt and update on a thread-to-thread basis;

Oeznik Ambroicz ; cillian murphy ; loosely based on a character from an original script. flexible iterations. director of an institute/facility (sometimes agency, depending on setting and historical values) that focuses on exploring the residual elements that paranormal trauma leaves behind. these elements can be purely psychological, physical, combined, or, sometimes, paranormal themselves. in other iterations, to draw further on lovecraftian or cthulhu mythos elements, oeznik may lean more private investigator, or 'freelance', for his own mysterious and often unexplained purposes. focused and preoccupied when fixed securely inside his element; wary and suspicious when not. Nadya ; sara serraiocco, sara montpetit ; lab experiment turned a) runaway, b) interdimensional spy/assassin, c) something something time shenanigans. or simple modern ones. who the fuck knows. Dorian Yu ; christian yu ; tba. loosely based on christian yu's musical creations. relies either on psychological themes (wherein dorian is bipolar), for stories more grounded in realism, or the supernatural. heavily flexible, works into most (if not all) modern environments. can be taken a vaguely sci-fi or heavily cyberpunk route. (he's fun. smiley ball of energy and sunshine, or depressive and vaguely antagonistic shut-in.) prone to delusions, dissociation, and in severe instances, amnesia. Fifine ; anya taylor-joy ; random modern verse shenanigans. (the) Insomnium ; tbd. ; developed and hatched by a cult of space witches moreso than born. derived from an organically inorganic (or just inexplicable) substance. for tumblr purposes, blends the idea of dune's 'voice'. cult functions similarly on some levels to the b.g., but is entirely an unknown. stems from the same gritty, visceral horror environment and themes as the ren. (especially picky about where i throw this one.) space cultists tba.

[myhauntedsalem]

McPike Mansion

Illinois

Tucked away in the southwest corner of Illinois, not far from St. Louis, lies the town of Alton. Considered one of the ‘most haunted small towns in America’ Alton has no shortage of ghost stories and haunted places. One of the best known is the McPike Mansion.

The Italianate-Victorian style building looms over citizens of Alton from atop the highest point of the town, Mt. Lookout. Nestled among contorted oak trees, McPike Mansion ranks as one of the most haunted buildings in the state. The structure has been featured on two television shows, ‘Scariest Places on Earth’ and ‘Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files.’

The three-story red brick building was erected in 1869 for Henry McPike and his family. McPike was a local businessman and horticulturist. He served as mayor of Alton for three years and developed the nationally known McPike grape. With its 16 rooms and vaulted wine cellar, the McPike Mansion was one of the largest and most extravagant private dwellings in Alton at this time.

The mansion’s next owner was Paul Laichinger. During his time in the home, Mr. Laichinger rented out rooms to boarders. Soon, these tenants began to experience strange events that could not be explained. Some of these occurrences involve the sounds of children playing and laughing together when there were no children on the grounds.

After Laichinger’s death in 1945, the property sat vacant. Weather and trespassers helped to turn the dwelling from elegant to menacing. The rusting iron fence, broken windows, dilapidated structure and graveyard made passersby intrigued and fearful. Reports of faces looming in the windows began to surface.

In 1994, the McPike Mansion was purchased by Sharyn and George Luedke. Their hope is to restore the building to its former glory and allow it to serve as a bed and breakfast or a historical attraction. Within six weeks, Mrs. Luedke had her first experience. She was gardening in the front yard when she looked up to see a strange man staring at her from the window. He soon disappeared, but not before she was able to take note of his attire. Later, while researching the history of the mansion, Mrs. Luedke was startled as she came across a photo of previous owner Paul Laichinger wearing the same outfit as the man in the window.

Since then, McPike Mansion has hosted numerous psychics and mediums. Many have felt the presence of the McPike family and other residents of the estate. Sharyn Luedke herself believes the ghost of not only Paul Laichnger, but also of servant girl Sarah Wells roam the halls. Her lilac perfume can still be smelled in the attic.

Other experiences include light orbs that appear in photos, sensations of being touched, pacing footsteps and vanishing objects. Some of these have been caught on film. The most active room in the house is the wine cellar. Here a mysterious mist appears and seems to follow visitors as the move around the basement. A bulky metal door leading to the area scraped across the floor as it moves on its own.