The Magnus Archives - MAG 22 Colony

Starting point is 00:00:00 This is the first radio ad you can smell. The new Cinnabon pull-apart only at Wendy's. It's ooey, gooey, and just five bucks for the small coffee all day long. Taxes extra at participating Wendy's until May 5th. Terms and conditions apply. Hi, this is Alexander Newell, director of the Magnus Archives. Just taking a moment to let you know that there's still time to vote for both the Magnus Archives and Rusty Cool Gaming in the 2016 Podcast Awards. Like we've said before, these awards can be a huge boost for such a small company as us, and winning something like this would really help get our work out there to more people, but we can't do that without your help. The daily voting continues until Sunday 12th of June, and you are able to vote in each category every day until then.

Starting point is 00:00:46 It's free to do and only takes 30 seconds, so be sure to head over to podcastawards.com and vote for the Magnus Archives in the Arts category and Rusty Quill Gaming in the Games and Hobbies category while you still can. Thanks again from everyone here at Rusty Quill, and we hope you enjoy today's episode. Rusty Quill presents The Magnus Archives. Episode 22. Colony. Martin, are you sure about this? I just want to make a statement about what happened to me. I mean, it's what we do. No, what we do is research statements.

Starting point is 00:02:18 Usually those made by liars and the mentally unwell. Well, I need to tell someone what happened, and you can vouch for the soundness of my mind, can't you? That is beside the point. If you're that worried about it, it doesn't need to be an official statement. I just want a record of it. Fine, you're right, I suppose. Statement of Martin Blackwood,

Starting point is 00:02:41 Archival Assistant at the Magnus Institute London, regarding... A close encounter with something I believe to have once been Jane Prentiss. Recorded direct from subject, 12th March 2016. Statement begins. Well, a couple of

Starting point is 00:03:01 weeks ago, you were looking into that statement about the spider that wouldn't go away? Carlos Vitteri, I think his name was. I knew there was something not right about the whole thing from the off. I said it probably wasn't natural, him dying and being encased in web when he was found, and I stand by that. Though it wasn't anything to do with spiders that ended up after me. Almost wish it had been. I like spiders. Big ones, at least.

Starting point is 00:03:29 You know, the ones that you can see some fur on. I actually think they're sort of cute, so... Please stick to the statement, Martin. Right. So, you asked me to investigate that flat that he lived in down in Boothby Road, and that's what I do. I take the Northern Line up to Archway and walk the rest of the way down there. It's still quite early then, and I find the building easily enough. It looks just like Mr. Vitteri said it did in his statement,

Starting point is 00:03:55 and there's a big thick door on the front that looks like it leads into the hall and then to the flats. Obviously it's locked, so I try the buzzers, but nobody's's answering and I figure they're probably all out at work. I didn't want to come back to you without due diligence though, I've learned that lesson. So I have a look around the place to see if there's another way I could go in and have a poke around. And sure enough as I walk around I spy a basement window that's slightly ajar. It isn't much but I reckon I can squeeze through it if I try. As I get closer though I notice there's something on the ground nearby. The sunlight catches on it and at first I think it must be a screw or a little piece of metal that someone's thrown away.

Starting point is 00:04:38 I get closer and I see that it looks more like a worm of some sort. It's maybe an inch long with a silver segmented body that goes black at one end, almost like it's been burned. It's very still, so I kneel down to have a look, and as I get closer, it begins to twitch. Its darkened head twists towards me, and it starts to writhe in this kind of eerie way, moving along the ground very fast and straight at me. Well, to be honest, I freaked out a bit. I leapt to my feet and I just stamped on it before I had a chance to really think about what I was doing. I felt it pop beneath my shoe with a faint cracking sound, like stepping on an eggshell, and a thick black slime started

Starting point is 00:05:26 to ooze from where I stepped on it. Now, obviously I was pretty disgusted by the whole thing, so I take a moment to scrape off what's left of it and check around for any more. There's none that I can see, so after composing myself for a couple of seconds, I continue on my way into the basement. The window was small. Quite a tight squeeze for me, I mean. I'm not exactly the smallest guy in the world, I know, and it's only once I'm inside that I realise it's only a ground level for the outside, so I take a bit of a tumble onto the basement floor. Luckily I get away without hurting myself and start to have a quick look around the room. It's pretty big and it looks like it goes under pretty much the whole building, but the light from the window doesn't get very far inside so most of the place was very dark. And I realise that I don't have any sort of torch with me and I can't see any light switch on the nearby wall so I've no real way of looking around. I almost decided to turn around and try to

Starting point is 00:06:25 climb out back the way I came, not least because the place had a really bad feeling to it. Like, like there was this, there was this musty smell and the air was dusty and thick. Also you're going to think I'm an idiot when I say this, but I didn't like the way my shadow moved. The light from the window behind me cast it pretty clearly on the floor, and looking at it, I swear, the edges seemed to move. It was like an undulation, like they were being shifted by something. I mean, look, I know you hate the word, but it was really spooky. Look, anyway, that was when I saw the bottom of the stairs leading up, and I didn't waste any

Starting point is 00:07:15 time heading up them. The door at the top wasn't locked, so I find myself in the ground floor hall of the building, and I'll admit it was a real relief to get out of that place and into the well-lit main building. I could have left at that point, probably should have, but I decided to try one more time to see if I could talk to the current occupant of Mr Vitteri's old flat. Due diligence and all that. So I head up to number four and give a few knocks on the door. so I head up to number four and give a few knocks on the door. I didn't expect anyone to be in but the doors opened by an old woman in a headscarf. I tried to ask her some questions but it became clear she didn't really speak much in the way of English.

Starting point is 00:08:01 After a few seconds she just shook her head and pointed behind me closing the door unceremoniously. Turning round I see a large dark-skinned man in a very nice looking suit eyeing me with a bit of suspicion. He introduced himself as Yasir Kundi and said he owned the building and became slightly more cooperative after I lied to him and told him that one of the upstairs residents had buzzed me in. I told him why I was there although obviously I didn't mention breaking in or the institute or what we do because I find people often don't understand or respect that out in the real world. I just said that following Mr. Vitteri's death, I was looking into some aspects of his history and did he remember anything about the time he was a tenant? Mr. Cundey was about as helpful as you might expect. Mr Cundey was about as helpful as you might expect. Told me Carlos Vitteri had lived there, seemed weird, always shut himself up but was never a problem, paid his rent on time, used to have a cat but it now lived with a Sanderson couple in number two. He seemed genuinely surprised to hear about the death, but wasn't able to shed any sort of light on it.

Starting point is 00:09:01 It wasn't a lot, really. Still about as much as I might have expected, so I headed back to the Institute and updated you on what I'd found. And, well, as I'm sure you're aware, that was the last time I saw you before I disappeared. I was heading home when I got to thinking, and I was worried I hadn't really done enough investigation for you, since I got so freaked out by the basement and all and then I remembered that I'd seen quite a lot of spider webs in the brief time I was down there and maybe I should check it out again. I mean like I said I'm not really afraid of spiders so I went back for another look. It was dark when I got to Boothby Road, but I saw that the basement window was still open. I'd made sure to bring a torch this time, and after a quick check to make sure nobody was watching, I climbed inside.

Starting point is 00:09:56 I knew right then that I'd made a huge mistake. Mistake. The air was just as musty as it had been before, but it seemed warmer than it had been, which was strange, because outside it was a cold February night. I turned on my torch and shone it around, but was disappointed to see that all those spider webs that I remembered seemed old and unremarkable. If there were spiders there, none were easily seen, and for a second I thought that the only interesting part of my return trip was that it would land me in prison if I wasn't careful. Then I heard movement from the other side of the basement. It was faint, just a rustling really. I didn't want to check it out. I really didn't. I've catalogued and looked into enough of these cases to know that following the noise is always a really, really bad idea.

Starting point is 00:10:57 But, I mean, it's my job, isn't it? So, I slowly move towards it, keeping my torch held in front of me like a shield. The beam was so much weaker than I had thought it was, and it only lit up the stark outlines of the shelves and detritus that littered the basement. The movement had stopped, or at least I couldn't hear it anymore, and I'd almost made up my mind to just turn around and leave when my torch fell across what looked like a human figure. It appeared to be a woman.

Starting point is 00:11:37 She was facing away from me, apparently staring at the corner of the wall. Her hair was long and black, though it was so twisted and dirty it was hard to tell if that was its original colour. She wore a threadbare grey overcoat, though beneath it her legs were bare and covered with what I at first thought were spots. In her right hand she held a stained green handkerchief. She stood there, totally still, either not noticing the torchlight that was shining on her or not caring. I didn't move a muscle.

Starting point is 00:12:14 Then, with a quick jerky movement, she brought the handkerchief to her face and coughed. I mean I call it a cough because that's what it looked like but it didn't sound like a cough. It was more like... you know in a nature documentary when the lions caught something and it's ripping it apart that noise of wet meat. Yeah it was like that. I saw something drop from the handkerchief onto the floor. It was about an inch long, silver, and it wriggled as it fell. I screamed. I'm not ashamed to admit it, though looking back I really wish I hadn't. Her head snapped towards me and she locked eyes with me. Her pupils seemed ragged and collapsed, and when she smiled her teeth were chipped and blackened. I started to stagger backwards, expecting at any moment for her to lunge at me,

Starting point is 00:13:10 but instead she slowly reached up and let the overcoat fall to the floor. Her skin was pale, almost grey and full of... Sorry, it still makes me sick to think about it. It was full of holes, deep black holes, just honeycombing every bit of flesh like a wasp's nest. I could see those thin silver worms crawling in and out and their black tips twitching as they squirmed through that pitted meat i mean it wasn't human it can't have been she she it took a step towards me and as it did so the worms began to rise out of every hole and cavity, falling to the floor in a cascading wave and starting to crawl towards me with alarming speed. I had the oddest thought then, and even as I backed

Starting point is 00:14:14 away towards the stairs, I started to get my phone out. The daft thing is, I wasn't even going to call anyone for help, I just wanted to take a picture of the thing. To prove to you that it happened. You were always so quick to dismiss these statements and I wanted proof for you. Except, well, I managed to drop it, of course. Just as I was bringing up the camera app, one of the worm things reached at me and leapt at my face. That thing jumped literally six feet through the air at my face. It missed me but I was so taken aback that I fell onto the stairs behind me and dropped my phone to the ground. I didn't stop to pick it up I just fled up the stairs as fast as I could. Obviously the

Starting point is 00:14:54 door at the top wasn't locked if it had been I'm sure I'd be dead. Or worse. I ran faster than I ever have in my life. I've never been good at running, and every moment I expected to feel something wriggling up my leg. I didn't stop running until I was sat in the underground and had checked every inch of my seat for worms. I live in Stockwell, right at the other end of the Northern Line, so by the time I got home I was starting to feel a bit safer, though utterly exhausted.

Starting point is 00:15:30 I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to work the next day, but without my phone I couldn't let you know. I mean, I don't have a landline, who does anymore, but I couldn't bring myself to stay awake long enough to send an email, so I just collapsed, fully clothed, onto the bed. I don't know how long I slept for, but it was still dark when the knocking woke me up. Don't know if it was the same night or if I'd slept right through the day. Either way, I dragged myself up, and as I sat there, it all came back to me. What I'd seen, and I shuddered. I tried to tell myself I'd imagined it. Maybe I'd overreacted to finding a homeless woman sleeping in the basement. Maybe she was sick and needed an ambulance. God, maybe I'd left her to die.

Starting point is 00:16:21 There was more knocking and I reached up to flick the light on But when I did, so nothing happened I tried the lamp next to my bed, but again, nothing Looking round I saw that none of my electronics seemed to be on There must have been some sort of power cut Again, someone knocked at the door Maybe it was one of my neighbours coming to check whether I'd lost the power So I shuffled over towards the door and reached for the handle. As I was about to open it, I got a sudden chill

Starting point is 00:16:53 and stopped. What if she was outside, waiting? I mean, the worms that made a hive of her body, eager, striving to make me one as well. I thought of that awful case you had us looking into where that woman burst into worms, and I realised that this woman must be that Jane Prentiss you were telling us about. I never had one of those peepholes added, so I couldn't see what was out there. But as I took a step back, I saw something on the floor, crawling out from underneath the door. It was a small silver-looking worm. I think I might have lost my mind a bit then. It all feels very strange, blurry. I remember stamping and stamping as more made their way under my doorway.

Starting point is 00:17:47 I remember grabbing every towel, sock, bit of fabric, scrap that I could find, stuffing them under the door, into the cracks around the window, anything where a slender worm might crawl, I made airtight. And then I sat there and waited. I still had no power, no phone, no way to communicate with the outside. This went on for 13 days. Every time I thought it might be safe to try and leave, I'd hear that knocking at my door come back. Luckily, there was no problem with my water supply, so I had plenty to drink.

Starting point is 00:18:25 I'm just glad none of them thought to come up through the pipes. I ate a lot of ready meals, cans, that kind of thing, so I had food. Although after the first few days I had to start rationing. If I ever see another can of peaches. never see another can of peaches. But I think the worst part was the boredom. No internet, no phone, no power. I read the handful of print books I owned several times. I didn't really sleep.

Starting point is 00:19:05 Every time I closed my eyes, I'd start to feel something was crawling up my legs and I'd have to sit up and check other times I'd be awoken by that knocking I spent a lot of time trying to remember what you told me about Jane Prentice when we were working on Tim Hodge's statement but all I remembered was that she called herself to be a practising witch and believed to be infected by a dangerous, unknown parasite. She never talked to me. I could have heard her clearly through the door but she never made a sound apart from that knocking. From what I saw, maybe what

Starting point is 00:19:38 was in her throat didn't leave room for a voice. Strangely, she never tried to break down my door, either. She just knocked. She knocked. And knocked. And knocked. Finally, I woke up this morning, and she was gone. I don't know exactly how I knew. I think she brought that musty smell with her

Starting point is 00:20:09 and this morning I couldn't smell it. And there was no knocking. I mean, it still took me about four hours of checking and double-checking and listening at the letterbox before I got the nerve to actually open the door. But when I did, there was no one there, and I ran all the way here. Statement ends. You're sure about all of this, Martin?

Starting point is 00:20:36 Look, I'm not going to lie to you about something like this, John. I like my job. Most of the time. like my job. Most of the time. Very well. In which case, there's a room in the archives I use to sleep when working late. I suggest you stay there for now.

Starting point is 00:20:54 I'll talk to Elias about whether we can get extra security, but the archives have enough locks for now. It's also supposed to be humidity controlled and though it hasn't been working for some time it does mean it's well sealed. Nothing will be sneaking through any window cracks. Oh. I...

Starting point is 00:21:12 Okay. Thanks. To be honest, I didn't expect you to take it seriously. You say you lost your phone two weeks ago. Thereabouts. When I went back to the basement. Well, in that time I have received several text messages from your phone, saying you were ill with stomach problems. The last one said you thought it might be a parasite. Though my calls trying to follow up were never answered. So if this does involve Jane Prentiss, then I take it deadly serious. Hang on.

Starting point is 00:21:49 What? I just received another text message. From you. Keep him. We have had our fun. He will want to see it when the archivist's crimson fate arrives What does that mean? It means I ask Elias to hire some extra security

Starting point is 00:22:14 I should probably warn Sasha and Tim as well I'll also have a look through the archives As I believe we should have a statement from Miss Prentiss herself in here somewhere Recording ends as I believe we should have a statement from Miss Prentiss herself in here somewhere. Recording ends. The Magnus Archives is a podcast distributed by RustyQuill.com and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Sharealike International License. Today's episode was written and performed by Jonathan Sims. It was produced by Alexander J. Newell, Mike LeBeau and Murray Porter

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The Magnus Archives - MAG 22 Colony

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