I have found (and by “found,” I mean “laboriously constructed”) a fascinating, disturbing document. It is a tragic tale, really, though, of course, if one is feeling callous, one might merely laugh. “What have this young man’s troubles to do with me?” I hear you saying in your unfeeling way. What, indeed? And yet– well, perhaps after you read the whole of this document (which I will release over the course of several posts), you will see that the troubles of this young man may one day engulf and devour us all.
But enough! Away with introductions! ON TO THE HORROR. You may view the horror in Artificial Artifact form, and/or read the text of the document. You’ll find the text below the fancy PDF flipbook thing, which is itself below this introduction (if it isn’t there, give it a moment, or try re-loading the page). I would recommend having a squint at the Artificial Artifact first, and then using the text below it to read any bits that are unreadable in the original document.
I have decided to alter the form of these posts, giving you two new pages per post, and in the form of an embedded PDF, for the following reasons:
- I have found a plug-in that does this for me, and does it beautifully (3D FlipBook);
- I realized that, viewed as single pages, all the work I put into making this look like a real book was going unnoticed;
- This way, I can present you with the whole of the narrative so far in every post, in a compact, attractive format.
[3d-flip-book mode=”fullscreen” urlparam=”fb3d-page” id=”3420″ title=”false”]
Text:
Page 1
May
Mon. 15
Garden Party: Hargreaves
flatter Lady Brevis
(graceful compliment dress?)
mention concerns re apparitions to Rev. Dr. Grivesby;
if receptive, cautious broaching of topic EXORCISM
A) in Anglican Church?
B) on the cheap?
bloodstain appeared again (duration 1 hour)
Tues. 16
Determine name of curate (ask Lady B.?)
Visit curate
Exorcisms: can curates do them? If so, for how much?
If not, why not?
Kitchenmaid hysterical; won’t say why
Phantom footsteps pursued me all through east wing today
Wed. 17
Write note to Lady B., thanking her for sympathy re: hidebound clergy
make special mention of remark that “…such skepticism… ill accords with their Calling and Cloth”
Seek introduction Bishop T.
Something kept whispering into my ear last night. A rapid whisper, and I never could hear quite what it said.
Notes.
Income:
rents- £60
home farm- £6.14s.8d.
annuity- £100
articles, stories, misc.- 16s.3d.
TOTAL: £167.10s.11d.
Expenditure: £200 at absolute minimum
Page 2
May
Thurs. 18
Write Bishop T.
Be Circumspect. Don’t mention the supernatural. Just express interest in bishops generally, along with a desire to give this particular one lunch.
Mist surrounds the house. Clear elsewhere. Simpson speaks of drains and rising damp. He does not believe it.
Fri. 19
Lunch Bishop T.
– have Simpson bring ’84 port up from cellars. Ignore all protests, both about entering cellars under current conditions and about drinking port prematurely.
– would bishop’s exorcism come pretty high? Price-wise?
Sat. 20
Tea with Lady B.
-“do you know any arch-bishops or anything?”
-compliment the garden (esp. roses)
-if red, compare to lips
-if not, not
I keep catching glimpses of other places. Gone as soon as perceived.
Sun. 21
Convert to Catholicism
Something touched me on the arm; I felt it.
Echoing screams.
Article:
Sir Edwin Brevis, 59, after an illness. Industrialist, philanthropist, investor, statesman. As he liked to remind his many friends, he came from nothing; now, he returns to nothing, having earned millions of pounds in the interim.
Sir Edwin is survived by his wife, Lady Annabelle Brevis.
Page 3
May
Mon. 22
First Confession
“I confess that I have ghosts”
(mem.: mix this in with some sins to make the thing seem natural)
Blood everywhere today. It drips from walls, ceiling. Warm to the touch.
Tues. 23
Try again with Father Mason
“hello Father! Remarkable thing—meeting you here—by the way… ghosts… could you see way to…”
Something took me by the throat. There was terrible strength in the bony fingers, and when it released me I was half-dead.
Later: my neck is covered in bruises like fingermarks. Somehow, I am surprised that the creature left any.
Wed. 24
Abandon all subtlety. Back Father Mason into a corner and ask him, straight out:
“will you perform an exorcism?”
The marks upon my neck burn cold.
Notes.
Write to agency for new cook, kitchenmaid, housemaid.
Ask for convinced Materialists and those accustomed to ghosts only.
Page 4
May.
Thurs. 25
Exorcism Today! For FREE
Burning marks grow intolerably painful.
But Father Mason will bless them afterwards.
Fri. 26
Funeral Father Mason
Talk to Dr. Smollett
-“Was it heart failure, or…?”
Couldn’t stick home. Slept at The Bell. Villagers eye me curiously, and whisper of me when they fancy I cannot hear.
Sat. 27
Home.
They are angry.
There is no silence in this house.
That devil’s touch burns so I can barely think.
I am never alone.
Sun. 28
Mass
They wouldn’t let me go
I keep seeing them out of the corner of my eye, just glimpses of something darting into cover or merging into shadows. But every room swarms with this covert movement.
TO BE CONTINUED…
By the way, this whole transcription-of-Artificial-Artifacts thing is something I am going to try to remember to do in the future. It was suggested to me by a friend of mine, who thinks about the Internet in ways that I do not. She pointed out to me that, at the moment, large sections of Atherton’s Magic Vapour were inaccessible to the vision-impaired, and to others who for one reason or another could not view the image files in my posts. And, I think you’ll admit, it was a damn good point. Thanks L.K.A.!
I am (perhaps obviously) still trying to figure out how best to present these transcripts. If you, dear reader, have any ideas about how I could better present them, do speak up in the Comments section.
That plug-in is genius, and although my own eyesight is unimpaired by anything but an advancing years’ tendency to make small print exceedingly difficult to read sans magnifying glass, I was pleasantly surprised to read the entire PDF unassisted.
Even so, my suggestion would be to use the same format, but larger by a factor of 2 to 2.5.
I am glad you could read the PDF! I will see if I can make the thing bigger. By the way, what sort of device were you using to view it? I use my laptop for all thing Atherton’s Magic Vapour, and I sometimes do forget that many people use tablets and phones to browse the Internet nowadays.
UPDATE: as I was in the midst of typing this reply, I realized that I should really test this post on my own tablet. I did so… and discovered… to my horror… that there are page-flipping noises!! I must have tested it with the volume off…
I, too, use my laptop for… all things WordPress. With my earbuds plugged into the device, but not into my ears for non-video reading, I didn’t realize there were page-flipping noises. Had I listened, I might not have found it horrifying, but rather amusing. However, I defer to the author’s sensibilities in regard to her own work and do not bemoan the noises’ removal. (See your own “a)” below.)
Ha! I am not a fan of websites that make noises at me when I haven’t asked them to. Imagine my horror, then, to find that my own website had arguably fallen into this despised category…
Update, Updated: a) I killed the page-turning noises
b) There is a full-screen option on the clever, wonderful plugin! It is that X-shaped symbol at the bottom right! Huzzah!
Thank you for pointing out the full-screen icon beneath the book. I can’t explain why that little bar didn’t register in my consciousness. Having now utilized it, I join you in a hearty, “Huzzah!”
I didn’t notice it either, until after you commented. Huzzahs all round!