THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES #27 - A Sturdy Lock
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 20 сен 2024
- MAG027 - Case #0032408 - Paul McKenzie
Statement regarding repeated nocturnal intrusions into their home.
The Magnus Archives tells the tale of a recent widower who fervently believes that someone is trying to get into his room at night.
Starring: The Archivist - Jonathan Sims
Writer: Jonathan Sims
Director: Alexander J Newall
Editors: Alexander J Newall, Mike LeBeau, Murray Porter
MERCH:
Crowdmade: crowdmade.com/...
Teepublic: www.teepublic....
Redbubble: www.redbubble....
For more information or to hang out with the Rusty Quill community, visit:
WEBSITE: www.rustyquill.com
FACEBOOK: therustyquill/
TWITTER: @therustyquill
FORUMS: rustyquill.proboards.com
REDDIT: www.reddit.com/r/TheMagnusArchives/
DISCORD: / discord
EMAIL: mail@rustyquill.com
The Magnus Archives is distributed by RustyQuill.com and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Licence.
l think what l love the most about this show is that every episode after the main part is over and Jon shares his thoughts on the matter, they Always add that one unsettling detail/suspicious loose end,, it really adds to the campfire-horror vibe that you always get told that "Eventhough it's most likely rubbish, there was this one part we never could quite figure out..."
I actually started taking notes around the episode where Gerard Keay was mentioned for the second time cuz I was like "okay, these aren't random, there are repeating elements" and it helped immensely, so I totally get you.
The ghost:
Heavy sleepers: guess i'll die
😂😂
don’t even i can sleep through smoke alarms 💀
I've slept through earthquakes bruh
@@takeoats Same, but my city's right on the San Andreas faultline so pretty much everybody does lol
@@cheddarcheezit2647 probably for the best
I think the lock was his wife's way of protecting him from whatever it is that is trying to get to him.
Cool theory
What if the thing removed the lock so no one would believe the old man even after his death?
Ooh thats good, i like it
I like this theory. Happy addition. :)
what if the thing trying to get him was his wife?
Very glad this thing was not the lock picking lawyer. Imagine being a terrified old man, trying to survive the night and between the rattling you hear "click out of three..."
Mf re-locks the door and goes "Alright now let's do this again to show it wasn't a fluke"
or the other dude and you hear: this is a door. It can be opened with a door. *CRASH*
How not to be afraid of the robbers and/or demons in the night:
1. Embrace death
2. Realize that demons are hot
3. Get a cat or several (optional but recommended)
4. Realize that those sounds are probably just your neighbors boinking
5. Adopt a morbid sense of humor
And just like that nothing will scare you!
yeah, this is the technique i use to not be so scared when listening to these. The only one that ever really scared me was MAG15
If he got a cat, it would have noped out of there like Major Tom.
Funny enough, this is EXACTLY how I bit through my fear of the dark. Cats, humor and all. Demons ARE hot.
Additional option, armamaments. This coupled wth 1 means the dark is MOST CERTAINLY not leaving unscathed
This episode made me decide screw it, I'm writing things down. There is s o much information
this one just makes me sad, i keep imagining that sad, scared old man
Right?? This poor old man
Don worry - he ded now :3
Yeah, it's kind of depressing. He must have felt so isolated, with nobody who believed him. Besides, people with dementia probably go through stuff like this in real life and that's a really sad thought.
@x y you'll soon* join him.
That's odd
What’s interesting about these stories is theres always some half explanation behind them, for this the old man can be excused as dealing with grief, aging, dementia, etc. but there’s always a part that doesn’t make sense- the blood, the photos, the keyhole
And all of these stories seem to have that, which is strange
This series is so good!
We're glad you're enjoying it! You're in for a fun ride if this is your first time though. :)
@@RustyQuill
Very excited for what’s up ahead!! Cant wait to see how it all plays out!
I wonder how that went
yep
@@breadstick8623how r u doing
I'm considering writing an actual written note book on this podcast cause I'm lowkey getting lost
i've literally done this lol! i went back through all the transcripts and have been writing down all the names that come up to see the significance later lol
I've also done this too! Though only with a piece of paper and only noting suspicious names, encounters etc. it's fun especially during quarantine
i’ve literally been keeping notes on things like names and stuff on my phone lmao
I'm actually doing this as I listen lol. Really helps out taking tracks of names and dates and connecting the dots
@@ashura3223 i think i want to start doing this
time to watch some Curious George, there is no way I'm going to bed with that in mind
OH COME ON! I really played one episode of that cartoon to forget about shadows behind my door, and what happened in the episode? Man in the yellow hat is listening to horror audiobook!
@@late_prince8945 LMAOOOOO
Homeboi needs to adopt a German Shepherd
I wonder what would have happened if he didn’t wash off the blood and got the police to do a DNA test on it
It could have been his wife’s blood
It probably would have turned out to have not been there. Or at least the police wouldn’t have been able to see it
Thats what i was thinking! What if he didnt wash his hands and just showed it to the police
Probably the same as with the teeth, no DNA match at all
Probably be his own blood
This is utterly what my grandfather experienced when he was getting senile, claiming strangers were rattling on his door handle trying to get it, he wasnt alone in the house though... I think
So creepy, poor grandfather :(
im so sorry but my first thought upon seeing this was "HOLY SHIT TMA IN REAL LIFE (REAL)"
Someone commented on an earlier episode that there was a tumblr post saying if you have a fear, TMA will have an episode about it and, well.... here we are.
I guess it’ll be fun when it hits my fear (I say before the episode this episode might do it)
how would you ensure a wide audience if they didn’t?
Yup
Yup
What's worse is I'm home alome most of the time because my moms are at work
whats funny is almost everyone in the statements are like "no one else would believe me,, thats why i came here, you investgate these things" when the head archiviste doesnt rlly beileve either he just reads em aloud with his voice acting
Jon sounds so annoyed constantly.
Of course, otherwise he wouldn’t be Jon
As someone English, I genuinely don't think he is (well not all the time anyway) it's just the Englishness lmao
This episode actually makes me really sad. My grandmother had stage two dementia and she often thought people were there when they really weren’t. Heard things no one else did and insisted she left the stove on even though she hadn’t cooked in 10 years. So for the man in the story, even if no one was really on the other side of the door, in his mind… they really were. Driving him further into madness. That’s both horrifying and heartbreaking at the same time. To him they were real and his fear was legitimate.
i have a hunch that ALL the statements are truthful, even if embellished or distorted
yeah i agree
I believe so too as it's more relevant to the story-line, however in-universe I don't think it's strange for Jon to be skeptical if he has no concrete evidence pointing towards it being truthful.
The only one I haven’t believed was the vampire hunting heroine using hobo
@@eternalmiasma5586 weeeeeell ... about that.
@@eternalmiasma5586 really? I believed him; maybe I’m just a fucking idiot.
Me: One more episode before I sleep
*after watching*
Me: Nevermind I'm not sleepy anyway
This and lost johns cave have been the scariest ones so far for me lol, its times like this that make me glad to not live alone.
Same here...lost John's cave messed me uppppp
same ^^'
ghost of the wife trying to go to bed, no?
ooh interesting... but why the blood?
@@Tom-zr6yn if someone, anyone, locked me out of my bedroom and I had the power, I too would begin tormenting them with blood
@@dominodamsel weird vibe, but I dig
I actually thought that the lock was in a way his wife trying to protect him
@@danielyoung7534DIG
Ha, just thought of this, (I sit and think about the episodes a lot) the doorhandle isn't covered in blood because it is a different door.
Omg this actually fits perfectly!! It’s not the first time we see “fake” doors that bring to another dimension.. remember alone
Good job spotting that
Ooo! That’s actually a great theory!
We do know a certain someone who likes to replace doors with other doors… 🚪
And this statement definitely falls under their purview. 😉
Wait that makes sense
@@TheNitpickChick wait who? I have a really bad memory can you pls tell me
@@embrace7052 No problem. 😊
It hasn’t really been mentioned yet in the episodes up to this point. I don’t think it’s properly mentioned for another several episodes.
Before I answer, I just want to check if you’re re-listening, or a first time listener? Because I don’t want to accidentally spoil things by giving away too many details. 😅
MAG 146 (Threshold) is actually Marcus’ statement if you were wandering
11:30 this is why everyone needs a bigass dog. They don't care if it's a violent intruder, a teenager messing with you, or a figment of your imagination: they'll Bork it regardless. They'll charge into an empty room or a room full of burglars with the same manic energy if you tell the dog "get em!" They're gonna get got whether they're real or wether you've simply lost your mind. They're good boys.
I was sleeping in the spare room cause my partner had work and I didn't want to wake them. I had to swap rooms cause this story scared the hell out of me.
Huge paragraph on how good this episode is simply because I want to: (CW for paranoia, I know that it's a horror podcast and all but I feel the need to say)
As someone with very intense paranoia (like, medically diagnosed) this episode always fucks with me lol. The fact that whatever is on the other side doesn't try to break down the door but clearly wants in is just so horrifying, it waits as long as it wants never getting tired. Of course, some people think that them breaking down the door an' shit is creepier but not if you think about it like I do. Which is creepier, someone mugging you in the middle of the night, or being stared at and followed the entire night without the other person stopping? Exactly, that's why this is such good horror. It sticks us in an unknown situation and sets up a scenario where the only way to learn is by putting ourselves in danger. Then we're given a twist on a typical fear, in this case a home invasion, then it's taken to the logical extreme (logical in this case meaning strange or absurd but not to the point of breaking the immersion; Parasite, not Deadpool). Since I'm genuinely getting paranoid by just talking about the episode I'll go to the next thing:
From a non-horror perspective, they also do a very simple yet (in my nerdy opinion) very cool trick. They make us empathize with a character for the exact same reason we shouldn't trust his story. By setting up that he has brain problems and that he's been lonely since his wife died we feel bad for the old man but we start to question how much of what he's saying is real, unfaithful narrators we feel bad for are the best kind. (Also because he's an old man the whole thing of twisting the doorknob feels almost cruel as he probably has some form of arthritis).
Yeah god you're right. I feel awful, I wish he could've lived peacefully
I feel the ghost’s refusal to break down the door is similar to the old man’s refusal to leave the house where the horror is occurring. Like, he’s paranoid of living in an old folks home, even though that would be the perfect place the ghost would likely never visit due to the constant company. Very literature.
Yo, I've always lived in a house full of people. Even the sound of the front door opening in the middle of the night doesn't always freak me out. My dad has always worked strange hours so he'll often come home in the middle of the night. He's due to come home at around 3 in the morning tomorrow. This episode does not help my weariness at moving out in the future😅
Cats help. They always get up to dumb shit at night, so any strange sounds can be safely attributed to their adventures. Of course, you may also be filled with a different type of paranoia about them pooping in your things, breaking ornaments and eating stuff they're not supposed to, but you'll be safe from the supernatural.
Oh yes, I used to hate all the weird noises and feelings in my apartment at night alone. Once I got my kitten I swear a demon could staring at me in my sleep and I'd just be like "awww is that my baby boy wanting to cuddle"
@Nanahuatli fr. They're also easy to take care of (atleast in my experience) because they really only need you to clean their litter and feed them- as long as they're healthy, they're not very high maintenance.
Late to the party, but wanted to add : it's even worse when you're alone in a place you usually live in with other persons. I am never afraid in my apartments now that I moved from my childhood home, but whenever (like tonight) I'm alone in this house because my parents aren't there, damn I'm not confident.
(Thought the fact that, in one hand, have an apartment in a building and, on the other, a house rather isolated, doesn't help too)
Currently listening to this at midnight, my grandpa frequently walks around the house at this time to raid the fridge. So as they got to the part where someone was turning the doorknob i could hear footsteps outside my room at the EXACT SAME TIME. When i tell you my heart skipped a fucking beat-
this particular episode im inclined to be as skeptical as jon. old man dealing w/ grief and loneliness close to dying of brain issues? and no actual keyhole or locks? maybe ill change my mind if i hear the other statement but it just sounds like, well, a senile and sad old man
WHATS ABOUT THE BLOOD THO explain that away!!
all of the statements that have to be recorded on the tape recorder are real, ergo all statements we hear are real.
also [spoiler below]
---
---
it was revealed in 146 that his son was involved with supernatural events as well, so likely they were both targeted.
@@rosethorn7923 (you know, considering i made this comment Months ago, it would be safe to assume for any person of reasonable logical ability that i had progressed to the point in the podcast where i already knew this)
@@holopunk2601 hey, just trying to help out. also leaving it here for future listeners scrolling through the comments
@@rosethorn7923 I'm a listener from the future who found this useful
2:39 This bit really hits for me; I have to deal with Paranoia and Hallucinations, so when I moved into my current flat with its shitty paper-thin boundaries, something I thought might worsen things actually helped a great deal! You think that's footsteps in the living room? Nah, just neighbours up for a 3am shift
My elderly father in law was in and out of hospital and rehab/nursing homes for months. The hospital was full of noise all night long, and he complained about not being able to sleep. The rehab/nursing home was very nice, stately and quiet, with an iron fence all around. Much improvement during the day. But he said that it frightened him at night, where the hospital didn't. I assumed it was dementia brought on by his medical problems. Then one evening I was in the bathroom too long on my way out. The nurses lock the door PROMPTLY at 8pm. And most of them leave. The patients are deeply wounded and recovering so nobody leaves their room. I came out of the bathroom, found myself locked in, and began to search for someone to help me get out. The halls were EMPTY. I shouted as I ran around looking--no one answered. It felt like being in a thriller horror movie. Finally, in desperation, I called the facility and got the night desk--which was far away from the front door. They came to unlock the door for me. I had a brief panic as I worried about getting out of the locked gate (facility door locked by now) but the gates turned out to open automatically when you approached.
It was a terrifying experience, and I reassured my father in law later, so he'd know he wasn't imagining anything. I think it did help. He'd go back to the hospital as his body failed, and he decided he preferred the busyness of it to the creepy quiet of that rehab/nursing home.
It taught me a lot about what to look for in nursing homes. People who don't like solitude and quiet would prefer even open wards to the expensive private rooms. I found a compromise in a place that was more like a big ranch house. There was more noise outside the door than the big estate type nursing homes and most rooms were doubles. It even had official pets. It was the only one he liked.
This episode is more sad to me than frightening. I wish people stopped thinking of retirement placement as something to be feared and avoided at all costs.
That man is my spirit animal, bc when there's a noise in the dark I also make it clear there's only enough space for one entity in _this_ apartment and I was here first so it can SCRAM
You know who is so damn dramatic.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Michael: gonna stand on this creaky floorboard. Gonna make him wonder if he actually heard something. Gonna make sure he knows he heard something. Gonna do a blood. Gonna use the cops to gaslight him. Gonna drive this old man mad.
I mean thats a spiral statement, thats just how the entity works
That is a VERY Micheal thing to do indeed 😂😂😂
But i still think it won't be him as we got him in Sasha's story just a couple eps back and TMA doesn't work with repeats of charecters they love to get us confused into infinity
I don't think it's Michael doing this? Cause he is a PART of spiral,but not the only aspect
@moonbunnygw8342 idk if you were on a relisten or not when you wrote this comment, so I'm gonna put a spoiler warning just in case
It's confirmed that was Michael. In MAG 146, we hear a statement from this man's son, where he talks about a door that has been appearing throughout his life and how he thinks his father is lying about his supernatural experience. Later in that episode, Helen confirms that The Distortion was, indeed, messing with both father and son
okay as someone listening for the first time can u PLEASE either tag for spoilers or add more dots i am going to cry
ARCHIVIST
Statement of Paul McKenzie, regarding repeated nocturnal intrusions into his home. Original statement given August 24th, 2003. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.
Statement begins.
ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT)
It’s strange to live alone. Maybe not if you’re used to it, I suppose. If you’ve lived a solitary life then I’m sure it doesn’t feel so isolated or empty. Heck, I remember a time when I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid at living on my own. But now I’m so used to having other people in the house that it’s a sad, lonely existence I’ve found myself living. Even before I started having my nightly visitor.
My son Marcus moved out about two years ago, and before that he’d spent a lot of time away at university or, later, moving around because of his work. So I’d grown accustomed to his absence. But when Diane, my wife, passed away four months ago it has… left the place so terribly hollow. I tell myself that it was a mercy, that by the end her condition meant she wasn’t able to live as she deserved to. And while I’m sure it’s true, the sentiment does little to make the bed seem anything other than far too large for just me. She’d hate me saying that. Diane never had any time for mopers or people who wallowed in self-pity, but after forty years of marriage I think I’ve earned it.
The thing about living in a house full of people if that you can just ignore any noises that you hear in the night. Is that a creak on the stairs? It’s probably just someone going down for a glass of water. What was that thump? Probably Marcus up too late, and accidentally knocking things off the table. I know it doesn’t actually make you less likely to be robbed or broken into, but you stop panicking about it every time you hear the slightest noise from outside your room. I think that’s normal, at least. I’ve never considered myself to have a nervous disposition, but maybe other people just get on with things and don’t worry so much.
Still, since Diane died my nights have become a constant vigil. No house is silent if you listen hard enough, and since ending up alone, I have been listening so hard that at points I have to remind myself to breathe. Now every soft groan of the settling house is the sound of some violent thug or burglar in my home, waiting to see if they need to kill me. Marcus has suggested I get a pet so the house doesn’t feel so empty, but I’ve never had a pet before, and I’m too old to learn now.
Given how alert and paranoid I generally am when trying to sleep in an empty house, I’m sure you can imagine my terror when I heard something outside my room one night about a month ago. I’ve lived in the same house since I married Diane, and I know every squeaky floorboard. It was the one just at the top of the stairs. I waited, desperately straining my ears to hear any other sound of movement. I had heard no windows break or doors open downstairs, and I definitely hadn’t heard anyone coming up the stairs, but I was convinced there was someone there. I could feel their presence waiting on the landing. Had they realised how loud the floorboard was? Were they stood there, motionless, listening for any movement from me just as keenly as I was listening for them?
Then the sound came again, and I was sure there was someone stood at the top of the stairs, but rather than staying there, I began to hear the heavy tread of what was unmistakably footsteps. At first I… simply lay there, paralysed with fear, thinking that I would just… stay, let them take anything they wanted from the house, and call the police once they had left. But from what I could make out they didn’t seem to be going into any of the other rooms. They were slowly, and deliberately, walking towards my bedroom.
The door does have a lock on it, but it’s been so long since I even thought to use it that, at the time, I couldn’t even think where the key might have been. My heart almost stopped when I heard the door handle rattle ever so gently as a hand was placed upon the other side. And slowly, so painfully slowly, the doorknob began to turn. In a burst of adrenaline I didn’t even know I was capable of I sprang out of the bed and across the room. I seized the handle and twisted it back the other way, using both hands to try and match the strength of whoever was on the other side.
Still the handle tried to turn, with a slow, relentless effort that spoke of patience and determination, but sheer panic lent me equal strength. My hands began to grow wet with what I assumed, at the time, was sweat, and I worried about keeping my grip. I did, though. For twenty long minutes, I wrestled in the dark over the door handle of my room. I could have reached the light switch, but that would have meant having only one hand to keep on the door, so I stayed in the dark.
Then all at once the pressure vanished. The handle no longer tried to turn. I had heard no other sound from outside, though. No footsteps leading away, no sound of someone going down the stairs, the house was just silent. I stood there for the rest of the night, the handle gripped tight. And it wasn’t until the first rays of sun peeked through the windows that I found I had the courage to open my bedroom door and look outside.
Nothing.
I was so stiff that I could barely walk back to my bed and dial the number for the police. It was as I reached for the phone that I looked at my hands and saw that what was on them was not sweat. It was blood. I checked all over my hands and arms for cuts or injuries. Nothing. And the door handle was completely clean. I washed my hands thoroughly before I dialled 999.
The police came and they listened patiently to my story. They checked all around my house, but there were no signs of any intruder. All the windows and doors were still firmly locked and there was no sign of forced entry, nor had any of my possessions been taken or even moved. The officers assured me it was no problem, that they were happy to help, all in that tone that told me they thought I was just a senile old man hearing things in the night. I thanked them as they left, even though they had been of no help whatsoever, and spent the rest of the day searching for the key to my bedroom door. I found it in the end, and hoped that with it firmly locked I could sleep a bit easier that night. I was wrong.
When evening came, I tried to sleep. At least, I had convinced myself that I was trying to sleep. Actually, I was listening for any sign that the intruder had returned. Every creak of the house settling, every whine of the pipes sent me into a state of near terror. By two o’clock in the morning I had heard nothing, and had almost convinced myself that I would not be visited again, when there was that slow, ominous creak of the floorboard at the top of the stairs. As before, the footsteps approached my bedroom, heavy and methodical. I turned on my bedside lamp and watched as once again the handle of the door began to turn. I could see the pressure being put on the door by whoever was on the other side, but it was locked, and as the door failed to open, there was a long pause.
Then it began to turn violently back and forth, rattling and banging as it rotated with such force that I worried it might come off entirely. I let out a cry as the assault intensified, and phoned again for the police. It took them twelve minutes to reach me, and all the while my bedroom door shook with the relentless turning of the handle, but the lock held firm. As soon as the doorbell rang, it went immediately still and silent. I didn’t want to unlock and open the door, but if I didn’t the police officers might break down my front door or, even worse, leave.
What happened next was almost identical to what had happened the day before, except this time there was less gentle tolerance in their voices when they spoke to me. I got the clear impression that if I called them again without proof, there would be… undesirable consequences. One of the two muttered something about how difficult it must be for me to live on my own, a message I got loud and clear. I have no intention of being put in a home.
And so, for the last month I have lain awake almost every night, as whatever it is beyond the threshold of my bedroom tries with all its might to get in. I watch the doorknob obsessively, always waiting for the signs of that gentle turning. The first ones are always so slow.
I tried to get proof for the police. I got Marcus to stay over with me a few nights, in the hope of either scaring the intruder away or having a witness who could corroborate my story. Those were the only nights I got any peace. Nothing came up to my door when he was there. In some ways it was a relief, to have a way of ensuring I could sleep, but it gave me no evidence to convince anyone, and I know he didn’t believe me when I told him what was going on. He just looked… worried when I brought it up, and I didn’t mention it again.
Unfortunately, I can’t get Marcus to stay with me every night. He has his own life to lead and is living with his fiancée at the moment, so I can’t just ask him to move back in with his dad. I tried to set up some cameras in the upstairs hallway, at the top of the stairs and outside my room, but they show nothing. They don’t even pick up the door handle turning, even at times I know for certain that the thing was trying to get inside. There was only one moment, just a frame or two, I think, where the shadows the camera caught on the wall seemed almost to form a face. It seemed to be leering at me, the mouth wide open in a mock scream. It scared me so badly that I had to delete the footage. I have no evidence for the police. Or for you either, I suppose.
I guess that’s why I’m here. This is what you people do. You investigate these things. You know what to look for and can identify the signs of things that… aren’t right. You know, not of this world. I’m not saying it’s a ghost or anything like that, it’s just… that well, if it was a ghost, you’d be the ones to talk to, right? I just need it to stop. And I don’t want to be put in a home. I know they will, if I keep telling them about how my door handle rattles and turns every night, they’ll think I’m senile and useless and send me to a home, and I will not let that happen. It’s my house, and I don’t care how much it scares me, nothing is going to make me give it up. Maybe Marcus is right. Maybe I should get a dog.
ARCHIVIST
Statement ends.
I want to believe Mr. McKenzie, I really do. I am not entirely made of stone, and am apt to be moved by the plea of a scared old man as much as anybody. I mean, dementia is, of course, the most likely explanation, and he admits himself that he has no proof of any of it. Yet part of me still wants to believe him. Perhaps this job is making me sentimental.
In any case it’s a moot point. Mr. McKenzie died of a stroke some two months after making this statement, and there doesn’t seem to be any obvious connection between his passing and his statement to the Institute. When this was originally logged, apparently we did send a then-member of the research staff, one Sarah Carpenter, to take some readings of the house. Apparently, she felt there was little enough danger to justify an overnight vigil at the place, but like everyone else in Mr. McKenzie’s tale, she encountered no strangeness or intruders on the upstairs landing, or in any other part of the building.
Sasha, who has now returned after her brief convalescence, has confirmed the call outs against police reports and they appear to match, though obviously they’re rather light on detail. Martin made contact with the son, Marcus McKenzie, but he declined to talk to us, saying that he’d “already made his statement.” This leads me to believe that Marcus McKenzie may also have a statement lurking somewhere here in the archives, lost among the mess and misfiling.
The only other thing that stands out from this as strange is that Sarah Carpenter, the researcher originally sent to look into this back in 2003, took some rather detailed photographs of the interior and layout of the house. Looking through them now, it strikes me that the bedroom door, to which Mr. McKenzie refers so often, does not appear to have a keyhole, or any sort of lock.
End recording.
Petra Iván thank you
☺
thank uuuu
You're welcome! :)
Door Opens Slowly..
HELLO WE’VE BEEN TRYING TO REACH YOU ABOUT YOUR CARS EXTENDED WARRANTY
LAND SHARK
"Perhaps this job is making me sentimental.
.
.
.
.
.
.
*hysterical laughter*
Hysterical sobbing from beyond ep.200
Damn have you been paid to make this so people will want to buy locks for everything? Because it has worked.
Yeah I don't get how he was content with just this old lock. Sure, it kept him safe once, but how did he know it would keep doing so? I'd have installed 5 different locks on my door after that.
@@ethanlivemere1162 necropost, but, if something can break one lock, it'll break the others. better to just have one solid one.
This is my first listen threw of TMA, I saw a video on tiktok about Jon and how pleasant his voice is while the actual story stresses you which creates an odd feeling of unease yet calm, and I’m so glad I’ve started listening. I can’t wait to find out more about the story
It reminds me of the narrating voice from the first set of the forensic files tv show
I work nightshifts at a small hotel. I'm glad I stumbled on this podcast during covid quarantine at home rather than during workdays. Because my home never sleeps with me going to bed just before my family wakes up and it feels alive, while the hotel dies when all the guests go to sleep and with the "right" mood it can feel somewhat creepy
This man needs a fan.
Or any source of white noise.
*reads title*
NOT STURDY ENOUGH
Everyone said that if you had a fear the magnus archives has an episode on it and I thought surely not me because mine is so obscure.... I have a fear of broken locks 💀
(specifically when hiding behind a locked door, and the lock was actually broken, or gets broken as someone is breaking in...)
my grandma has recently started going on about seeing people in her room and we always reassure her that it's not possible but now I'm low-key starting to get worried
As long as she doesn't see a yellow door she's fine.
But, seriously she should go to the doctor.
There is a point you have to get help.
Well, I WAS gonna watch one more before heading to bed, but I am NOT ending on this one....I’m usually good with most types of horror. I can watch things like The Thing, Quiet Place, Invisible Man, etc and not have an issue because I know stuff like that is fake or embellished to the point of unrealistic. But I CANNOT do home-invasion stuff. It freaks me out. Most of this series is fantastic and I love listening to it, but this is a bit too...real, I guess?
I guess im not sleeping tonight
Im still sometimes a little surprised when I go back to season one and its all just there, neat as you please, laid out for you to see. Not every single detail means something, but most of them do, and they have ever since season one episode one. If youre a first time listener, keep going, it will make sense.
Yeah. All the little details and links that appear at the very start, the long game foreshadowing makes a re-listen almost mandatory.
I did not expect to be called out in this way.
Convincing myself I'm trying to sleep while paranoidly listening for sounds in the night is my status quo.
As a first time listener my advice for living alone is just blame it on a ghost it usually helps. If I hear a growl in the night or a glass shatter and nothings there just blame it on the hallway demon. If it hasn’t killed me yet then it probably won’t kill me. Also get a pet and if noise continues to get closer hide under you blanket put earbuds in and start talking to whatever you think is there like an old friend like how are you doing hallway demon been a few months since the last time you messed with me did you think I forgot about you? It will make intruders think you are crazy or entity’s think you just aren’t scared of them
It amazes me that every episode sounds like a universe of their own.
The tabletop roleplaying game Ars Magica had a system for that. Places or entities, had a magic rating for the size of a parallel reality bubble they had control over. Lord of a domain could alter it, depending on their strength. The domain was an extension of themselves. Domain control could be passed to another. Entrance to a domain require correct magic frequency. Normal world was wrong, but circumstances could push you closer. Certain events, your own heritage and actions, time of year, weather. Especially the company you kept. Walking with a domain holder was a sure way to match frequency and walk right in. But you didn't necessarily know they were there. Think Never Never Land, where some people got there accidentally (pirates) and couldn't get out, while others were brought by a magical person (Peter Pan).
This idea of an aura of personal domain of altered reality works in most fantastic stories.
@@Badficwriter That sounds dope, ngl must be fun to play with friends.
Paul's son does have a statement, but it comes a lot later in the podcast. For anyone wondering
thank you!! :D
"...the bedroom door, to which Mr. McKenzie refers so often, does not appear to have a keyhole, or any sort of lock." those are the little details that are really... spooky. Like. What? What is the meaning of this? Were there really a lock or did the old man conjured a lock with his imagination to safe himself? Though it's not like it helped him (or maybe it did, the thing didn't get him and the man just... genuinely dies of the stress- and grief-induced stroke?..
I didn't even know I had this much of a fear to hearing things during the night, while I'm trying to sleep, and knowing that no one else in the house could be making them...
Now I'm about to continue my binge-watching of TMA, this time with the light turned on cause I prefer to be a coward than to be harassed by a sinister spirit that relishes on exploiting my paranoia 👍
One of the interpretations I got from it is that the locked door is in his mind aka the Thing is trying to get into his consciousness or to snatch his soul, not physically come and get him. That’s why no proof manifested physically: it did happen “in his head”, but it was paranormal.
The first "Diane" mentioned is an asian woman living on em place at episode 18 (the man upstairs).
BACK IN THE NINETIES I WAS IN A VERY FAMOUS TV SHOW
@@sameenshaw9670
WHAT IS THIS, A CROSSOVER EPISODE ?
And say hi to Root for me !
I am not scared of much but this episode still gives me anxiety, even after however many years and however many relistens
Home intrusions are just..uhg. im so intensly afraid of someone being in my house who isnt supposed to be there that sometimes i don't even trust my family. Especially when i was younger id think they were aliens thatd come to kill me lmao.
Ok typing out this comment makes me realize i should not be telling you, dear comment section of the archives, but instead someone who can actually help
this is the one episode so far we truly regret listening to before bed.
Poor guy, I wonder if he actually died from a stroke or the entity got to him.
I love how there could be scientific explanation but there is something that can't be explained.
*Me reading the description of the video before going in* O H G O O D I E
Why did he not try to sleep in another room and see if the ghost was interested in him or the room
Spoilers
/
/
/
/
/
/
/
To other re-watchers, which entity was this? I’m guessing possibly Micheal, given the ‘people think I’m crazy’ and a door that doesn’t exist, but idk
oh yeah it was michael especially given that the old man's son also had a run in with the distortion
@@wywrd_mtnt and in the final season it talks about how it no longer has the patience for the long game like that dude and his father more or less confirming it was the distortion for both of them
@@wywrd_mtnt also it's the distortion but not Michael this is 2003
@@wywrd_mtnt "The exact date of Michael's merging with The Distortion is unclear. Gertrude had lost all her assistants by 2011, and according to MAG 126, The Great Twisting took place some time after October 2009, placing Michael's transformation between October 2009 and 2011."
of all the episodes that I’ve listened to since starting my journey, this one broke me just a little 🥺🥺
As someone who lives alone and often worries about people breaking in and will sometimes lie awake at night thinking I just heard someone open my front door, this is going to give me all kinds of nightmares
This is the episode that made me stop listening to TMA on the bed at night, genuenly couldn't sleep
[CLICK]
ARCHIVIST
Statement of Paul McKenzie, regarding repeated nocturnal intrusions into his home. Original statement given August 24th, 2003. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.
Statement begins.
ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT)
It’s strange to live alone. Maybe not if you’re used to it, I suppose. If you’ve lived a solitary life then I’m sure it doesn’t feel so isolated or empty. Heck, I remember a time when I wouldn’t have batted an eyelid at living on my own. But now I’m so used to having other people in the house that it’s a sad, lonely existence I’ve found myself living. Even before I started having my nightly visitor.
My son Marcus moved out about two years ago, and before that he’d spent a lot of time away at university or, later, moving around because of his work. So I’d grown accustomed to his absence. But when Diane, my wife, passed away four months ago it has… left the place so terribly hollow. I tell myself that it was a mercy, that by the end her condition meant she wasn’t able to live as she deserved to. And while I’m sure it’s true, the sentiment does little to make the bed seem anything other than far too large for just me. She’d hate me saying that. Diane never had any time for mopers or people who wallowed in self-pity, but after forty years of marriage I think I’ve earned it.
The thing about living in a house full of people is that you can just ignore any noises that you hear in the night. Is that a creak on the stairs? It’s probably just someone going down for a glass of water. What was that thump? Probably Marcus up too late, and accidentally knocking things off the table. I know it doesn’t actually make you less likely to be robbed or broken into, but you stop panicking about it every time you hear the slightest noise from outside your room. I think that’s normal, at least. I’ve never considered myself to have a nervous disposition, but maybe other people just get on with things and don’t worry so much.
Still, since Diane died my nights have become a constant vigil. No house is silent if you listen hard enough, and since ending up alone, I have been listening so hard that at points I have to remind myself to breathe. Now every soft groan of the settling house is the sound of some violent thug or burglar in my home, waiting to see if they need to kill me. Marcus has suggested I get a pet so the house doesn’t feel so empty, but I’ve never had a pet before, and I’m too old to learn now.
Given how alert and paranoid I generally am when trying to sleep in an empty house, I’m sure you can imagine my terror when I heard something outside my room one night about a month ago. I’ve lived in the same house since I married Diane, and I know every squeaky floorboard. It was the one just at the top of the stairs. I waited, desperately straining my ears to hear any other sound of movement. I had heard no windows break or doors open downstairs, and I definitely hadn’t heard anyone coming up the stairs, but I was convinced there was someone there. I could feel their presence waiting on the landing. Had they realised how loud the floorboard was? Were they stood there, motionless, listening for any movement from me just as keenly as I was listening for them?
Then the sound came again, and I was sure there was someone stood at the top of the stairs, but rather than staying there, I began to hear the heavy tread of what was unmistakably footsteps. At first I… simply lay there, paralysed with fear, thinking that I would just… stay, let them take anything they wanted from the house, and call the police once they had left. But from what I could make out they didn’t seem to be going into any of the other rooms. They were slowly, and deliberately, walking towards my bedroom.
The door does have a lock on it, but it’s been so long since I even thought to use it that, at the time, I couldn’t even think where the key might have been. My heart almost stopped when I heard the door handle rattle ever so gently as a hand was placed upon the other side. And slowly, so painfully slowly, the doorknob began to turn. In a burst of adrenaline I didn’t even know I was capable of, I sprang out of the bed and across the room. I seized the handle and twisted it back the other way, using both hands to try and match the strength of whoever was on the other side.
Still the handle tried to turn, with a slow, relentless effort that spoke of patience and determination, but sheer panic lent me equal strength. My hands began to grow wet with what I assumed, at the time, was sweat, and I worried about keeping my grip. I did, though. For twenty long minutes, I wrestled in the dark over the door handle of my room. I could have reached the light switch, but that would have meant having only one hand to keep on the door, so I stayed in the dark.
Then all at once the pressure vanished. The handle no longer tried to turn. I had heard no other sound from outside, though. No footsteps leading away, no sound of someone going down the stairs, the house was just silent. I stood there for the rest of the night, the handle gripped tight. And it wasn’t until the first rays of sun peeked through the windows that I found I had the courage to open my bedroom door and look outside.
Nothing.
I was so stiff that I could barely walk back to my bed and dial the number for the police. It was as I reached for the phone that I looked at my hands and saw that what was on them was not sweat. It was blood. I checked all over my hands and arms for cuts or injuries. Nothing. And the door handle was completely clean. I washed my hands thoroughly before I dialled 999.
The police came and they listened patiently to my story. They checked all around my house, but there were no signs of any intruder. All the windows and doors were still firmly locked and there was no sign of forced entry, nor had any of my possessions been taken or even moved. The officers assured me it was no problem, that they were happy to help, all in that tone that told me they thought I was just a senile old man hearing things in the night. I thanked them as they left, even though they had been of no help whatsoever, and spent the rest of the day searching for the key to my bedroom door. I found it in the end, and hoped that with it firmly locked I could sleep a bit easier that night. I was wrong.
When evening came, I tried to sleep. At least, I had convinced myself that I was trying to sleep. Actually, I was listening for any sign that the intruder had returned. Every creak of the house settling, every whine of the pipes sent me into a state of near terror. By two o’clock in the morning I had heard nothing, and had almost convinced myself that I would not be visited again, when there was that slow, ominous creak of the floorboard at the top of the stairs. As before, the footsteps approached my bedroom, heavy and methodical. I turned on my bedside lamp and watched as once again the handle of the door began to turn. I could see the pressure being put on the door by whoever was on the other side, but it was locked, and as the door failed to open, there was a long pause.
Then it began to turn violently back and forth, rattling and banging as it rotated with such force that I worried it might come off entirely. I let out a cry as the assault intensified, and phoned again for the police. It took them twelve minutes to reach me, and all the while my bedroom door shook with the relentless turning of the handle, but the lock held firm. As soon as the doorbell rang, it went immediately still and silent. I didn’t want to unlock and open the door, but if I didn’t the police officers might break down my front door or, even worse, leave.
What happened next was almost identical to what had happened the day before, except this time there was less gentle tolerance in their voices when they spoke to me. I got the clear impression that if I called them again without proof, there would be… undesirable consequences. One of the two muttered something about how difficult it must be for me to live on my own, a message I got loud and clear. I have no intention of being put in a home.
And so, for the last month I have lain awake almost every night, as whatever it is beyond the threshold of my bedroom tries with all its might to get in. I watch the doorknob obsessively, always waiting for the signs of that gentle turning. The first ones are always so slow.
I tried to get proof for the police. I got Marcus to stay over with me a few nights, in the hope of either scaring the intruder away or having a witness who could corroborate my story. Those were the only nights I got any peace. Nothing came up to my door when he was there. In some ways it was a relief, to have a way of ensuring I could sleep, but it gave me no evidence to convince anyone, and I know he didn’t believe me when I told him what was going on. He just looked… worried when I brought it up, and I didn’t mention it again.
Unfortunately, I can’t get Marcus to stay with me every night. He has his own life to lead and is living with his fiancée at the moment, so I can’t just ask him to move back in with his dad. I tried to set up some cameras in the upstairs hallway, at the top of the stairs and outside my room, but they show nothing. They don’t even pick up the door handle turning, even at times I know for certain that the thing was trying to get inside. There was only one moment, just a frame or two, I think, where the shadows the camera caught on the wall seemed almost to form a face. It seemed to be leering at me, the mouth wide open in a mock scream. It scared me so badly that I had to delete the footage. I have no evidence for the police. Or for you either, I suppose.
I guess that’s why I’m here. This is what you people do. You investigate these things. You know what to look for and can identify the signs of things that… aren’t right. You know, not of this world. I’m not saying it’s a ghost or anything like that, it’s just… that well, if it was a ghost, you’d be the ones to talk to, right? I just need it to stop. And I don’t want to be put in a home. I know they will, if I keep telling them about how my door handle rattles and turns every night, they’ll think I’m senile and useless and send me to a home, and I will not let that happen. It’s my house, and I don’t care how much it scares me, nothing is going to make me give it up. Maybe Marcus is right. Maybe I should get a dog.
ARCHIVIST
Statement ends.
I want to believe Mr. McKenzie, I really do. I am not entirely made of stone, and am apt to be moved by the plea of a scared old man as much as anybody. I mean, dementia is, of course, the most likely explanation, and he admits himself that he has no proof of any of it. Yet part of me still wants to believe him. Perhaps this job is making me sentimental.
In any case it’s a moot point. Mr. McKenzie died of a stroke some two months after making this statement, and there doesn’t seem to be any obvious connection between his passing and his statement to the Institute. When this was originally logged, apparently we did send a then-member of the research staff, one Sarah Carpenter, to take some readings of the house. Apparently, she felt there was little enough danger to justify an overnight vigil at the place, but like everyone else in Mr. McKenzie’s tale, she encountered no strangeness or intruders on the upstairs landing, or in any other part of the building.
Sasha, who has now returned after her brief convalescence, has confirmed the call outs against police reports and they appear to match, though obviously they’re rather light on detail. Martin made contact with the son, Marcus McKenzie, but he declined to talk to us, saying that he’d “already made his statement.” This leads me to believe that Marcus McKenzie may also have a statement lurking somewhere here in the archives, lost among the mess and misfiling.
The only other thing that stands out from this as strange is that Sarah Carpenter, the researcher originally sent to look into this back in 2003, took some rather detailed photographs of the interior and layout of the house. Looking through them now, it strikes me that the bedroom door, to which Mr. McKenzie refers so often, does not appear to have a keyhole, or any sort of lock.
End recording.
[CLICK]
Ma’am/Sir/mysterious being, youre doing the good work. Thank you. 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Knock knock.
Who is there.
No, come on. Who is there?
Um, anyone?
Gulp...
I recently discovered this podcast a day or so ago and have been binge listening to it ever since, its incredibly well written and i have been talking off my family's ears about it.
Keep going! It's amazing.
The sequel series just started.
"it was as a reached for the phone that i looked at my hands and saw that what was on was not sweat"
me: haha what if its blood
"it was blood"
me: holy shit
(btw having blood or like cuts on your body without realizing is a big mood)
i have trypophobia and this hive thing is driving me maaaaaad
Im just imagining if this man had a smartphone and started recording but everytime he did it stopped and he just keeps going back and forth and yelling at the ghost to choose one
First time listener, and so far this was the episode that sent the most chills down my spine, wow. I love this
I am a bit of a night owl, and after listening to a few more episodes of this podcast I have some things to do in poorly lit, big rooms while everyone else is asleep. This episode will not have helped with my peace of mind (I literally heard my mum’s steps as I wrote those last words and almost had a heart attack, lol). Another factor in my rising anxiety is likely going to be the fact that the firewood in my living room ALWAYS creaks. Writing this here makes me feel slightly better about it, but I know I’ll still be scared walking around later.
Uff. that one appears to be my fear, thank you for letting me know TMA...
it's 1am rn and the room I'm in does not have a door wtf, why did I think now would be a good time to listen to TMA
Because atmosphere lends itself to good storytelling?
I'm well over thirty now, but the small child in me seconds getting a pet as a way of explaining odd noises at your place _so hard_
Did he die of a stroke, or did he fail to lock the door-with-no-keyhole 😩
Oh god no, one of my biggest fears is intruders...
And now I'm reading that this episode was released on my birthday, aaaaah
As a child growing up near the capital of the state I live (SP - Brazil), and always catching glimpses in the news about and those sensationalists news programs, my worst fear during night time would be that someone would enter our home at night and rob us of everything or worse, that someone would sneak into my room and kidnap or something. Finally an episode that was about one of my worst fears, as everyone says in the comments of every episode.
That last line about how the door doesn't have a lock always gets me. Idk why, it's just so unsettling after the story we just heard.
grandpa is VERY committed to not being put in a home. after 2 nights of that shit happening i’d HAPPILY move literally anywhere else
Does anybody else get really tempted to skip ahead to the titles they find the most interesting? I mean, not saying that the others aren't, but man, "Hive" and "Anatomy Class" sound like they're gonna be bonkers. :D
they are, trust me
what does "killing floor" even mean?!?
i can excuse waking up and holding the door/grabbing a weapon if you hear a LOUD noise, but if i had to listen to the slightest creek every night, id rather die. thats an obvious gateway to sleeplessness and paranoia. even if theres a one in a million chance that the quiet noise will be a burglar, and not neighbours at their place or creekking wood (which creeks on its own), unless youre winning the lottery then the sleeplessness will be so much worse of a consequence. frankly id rather live a life where id be dissapointed if the burglar did come to me, than be dissapointed when he *doesn't*.
I just started listening during lockdown and I'm genuinely enjoying listening! While it is hard to keep track of names and dates, its something interesting to listen to while doing school work
I dont get scared of these much usually (at least not yet), but this one gave me a little chill when talking about the face on the wall. Facinating as usual and really considering a notebook or smth to keep track of names
Why not film the door knob turning with your cell? I mean, hours of footage of a violently shaking doorknob would be SOMETHING.
One of the tropes of the supernatural TMA employs is that modern and digital tech goes weird around real supernatural stuff. It's _why_ Jon is forced to record some statements (the ones we hear) on tape. In the very first episode, Jon says he can't get these specific statements to record digitally.
Likely any digital video would be completely corrupted.
A gun with a flashlight attachment and a cat takes care of most physical and supernatural problems.
So was his wufe any how involved.or not that's the question. I like to believe that she did and tried to protect him
I still cant get over the fact that the head archevist is named Jhonny Sims
This is my first time listening through. I saw a tiktok from what I'm assuming is the latest season about Nikola Osoloph I was like what is this?! Sounds interesting. Well here I am several days into binge listening.
The Spiral has such a mean streak! I keep coming back to this one and it’s so interesting how the Spiral works. With Paul and Marcus it capitalized on the unknown and the fear of what’s around the corner. It’s something similar the Dark also takes advantage of; the fear of what you see before you turn on the light.
Truly the writing for all of the fears is some of the most genuinely terrifying writing for any horror concept.
"I would like to inform you about you cars extended warranty!"
Late to this I know but I believe what was happening may be that the creature was.. death. Every night he fought not to die and in the end the creature got in.
That's a really good theory! Its also sort of funny like imagine death being pissed about the locked door and he's like screw this I'm leaving😭
Really liked the Fuan no Tane energy this one has, loving the series so far 🙏
Good call - just the right amount of inexplicable and anxiety-inducing.
Being alone at home is SUCH a fear im glad i didn’t find this podcast when my parents went on holiday 😭 almost skipped this one ngl
This episode started off feeling like it could be one of my hypnagogic hallucinations during sleep paralysis. I hope my brain doesnt actually bring this shit to life
Fears scaring an old man just because smh
Easy meal
First time listening through (this being my first horror podcast ever) and I’m fascinated, let’s see what happens
Silence is a very important part of almost every episode...
Wait a minute... now that I am on my fourth round listening to it, I may have gotten it, or at least one satisfying idea:
His mind was the lock. And no, not to his bedroom, but his brain. When it first tried getting to him, he fought it so hard he got an aneurysm (the blood on his hands may not have been really there, much like the lock and key, but there was bleeding in his brain from the trauma of the mental attack). He then remembered something, found something, that acted as a "lock", and the thing could no longer get in to take him over/eat him from the inside. The stress still was too much, given his age, with weeks of not being able to sleep properly, the stroke was bound to happen, and was caused only indirectly by the thing. But I think his mind/memory/thought, the lock, held until the very last moment.
why do so many of the clients end up dying less than a year after the statement? like not all of them did, but there's been so many so soon after their statements that it can't be a coincidence
as someone who is absolutely paranoid about home invaders in the middle of the night i am a) shitting myself and b) so glad that i’m not listening to this at night in my bed because i would be crying
It's funny but I've recently been hearing a lot of weird noises in and outside my room. However we have been having building work so I can put it off to being that... haha...
Oh, I like that this one has absolutely no proof. It was getting a little annoying for every single story to have an extremely obvious outstanding detail that proves something strange happened. Sure, there may be something here, but (at least on my first time listening) nothing that can't be easily explained by a lonely old man dealing with loss.