unforum

[GB8889]

Oh I agree that at the point of the story we're at now nothing in the 80's seems to make sense. Still, there's a lot of story left and it probably spans from the witch trials up until now. It's hard to figure out what kind of things might be connected to "The Echelon". I figure the best thing to do is read over the Wikipedia pages for the years in the mid-80's just so if something comes up later in the story I might be able to catch it. If not then I'm going to go waste a lot of time reading Wiki pages

[Boomer52]

Alrightee then folks, I'm crashing the party a little late, but I'm all caught up and eager to see where this leads. The only thing I have to contribute at the moment is that, according to Wikianswers, (Q: Who Practices Witchcraft?), Druidism experienced some sort of renewed interest in the 80's, but I am having trouble finding a more reputable source for that info.

[LaughingWolf]

I agree that I think the hanged woman may have been pregnant and also had a grown daughter, who then exacted revenge for her mother and siblings' deaths. Symbolism of the bird may be quite important...in addition to the info already presented, I know the first thing I think when I hear "bird" is freedom from a cage - or maybe life in a cage? Well, fits in with the prison concept I suppose.

Also, for future reference, I happen to be a girl

[Pavoreax]

The bird in the icy image at the end of the latest video looks to my moderately-well-trained eye to be a corvid - a crow or raven. Usually, I think they tend to symbolize cold, death, winter, witchcraft, and negative emotions, which works with the way the bird is shown in that image.

[Tresbien]

I'm also inclined to go with raven not only based on appearance but also because they've been considered a bad omen. Thought this reference to "guardians through the cycle of death and rebirth" was apropos: http://www.tween-the-shadows.com/magick/symbols_magick/ravens.php

Welcome aboard Boomer 52!

[M13A77]

Ok, here some interesting things that I have discovered. I had an idea that this had something to do with the Salem Witch Trials. I listed a few earlier but now I have gone back and organized my thoughts.

1. The connection to Faust: Faust made a deal with the Devil, the Zenith of Human Happiness in exchange for his soul. The "witches" of Salem, supposedly signed over their souls to the devil in his "Big Book".

2. The countdown: shows the final date to be October 29. After a little searching I found out that October 29 1692, Governor William Phipps put a stop to the witch trials after the hanging of George Burroughs. Burroughs being a devote Protestant who had no less than 40 people come forth on his behalf.

3. The Hanged Bride: I believe is Martha Cori. Martha had been married for just at 2 years (still a newlywed?) She was known for her piety and dedicated church attendance. However, she had never shown support for the witch trials, since she did not believe witches existed. On a side note Martha's husband Giles Cori was pressed to death under boulders for refusing to deliver a plea at his trial. Negating the law that allowed the government to seize the property of "Convicted" persons.

4. The Pride, a twice murdered child: I believe to be Dorothy Good, Daughter of Sarah Good. Sarah being one of the first 3 to be accused. Dorothy was 5 years old at the time of her first arrest and was forced to confess and accuse her own mother (1st "Murder" Killed her soul?) after being kept in chains in prison for 9 months she was released but continued to have mental problems through out her life. (2nd "Murder" killed her mind?) This also connects to the "Motherless Child" reference.

5. Sarah Good: Again, one of the first 3 accused. It was said by her accusers that they were always seeing birds around her. The accusers went so far as to say that they saw Sarah manifest birds in the courtroom.

This brings me to my next connection. Birds

Birds have shown up through here in a number of different places including the first set of videos.

1. In the video The End Result: we see, at 21 sec, an image of the Arizona Cardinals mascot.
2. In the video The Big Sleep: At 31 Sec in we see a bird sitting on a birdhouse. This appears to me to be a Cardinal as well.
3. In the video Eyes Without A Face: We see what appears to be a bird on a wire next to the man sitting in the chair.
4. In the Video Hearts Vs Heads: we see what we think may be a bird sitting on the hand of the ice woman. (Could be Sarah Good surrounded by birds?).

Not sure if I am on the right track here or not. Let me know what you all think.

[Pavoreax]

I expect we will find this is going to be an original story, but I like where you are going, Batt.

I don't think there is actually a countdown, though. That was the first thought when the first person got a response from Songwraith with distance to the Prison City and a days/hours time, but subsequent responses showed the time to not be counting down, but actually related to the distance.

I like the bird angle, there are birds throughout this whole thing so far.

[Tresbien]

I also believe this is an original story, and I'm reluctant to revisit the old videos without direct guidance to do so. It's typical of the storyteller to provide generous homages to those who've been inspirations.

I'd say calling a woman who's been married for two years a bride is a stretch.

[pomechickeranian]

I definitely think this revival of the ARG is a continuation of the original. The "cast of players" that were mentioned in Who wants to live forever are easily tied back to the folks we learned about in the first half of the game. I think we can rely on the things we already learned to guide us in the story.

[Tresbien]

Rather than picking up the story from where it left off, the new videos have made no mention of where we were in April. So I asked about the current relevance of the videos from last Spring and hope to get a reply from Songwraith soon--better to let him tell us than to make assumptions.

[M13A77]

[M13A77]

Out of curiosity, has anyone identified this picture as a bird yet? Looks to me like a crow.

[Tresbien]

Batt, we did have a bit of discussion about the bird probably a page back. It could be a crow; I'm leaning toward raven, which is related, just because I think our storyteller would love to throw some Poe at us. Here's some info on bird symbolism you might enjoy: http://www.brigids-haven.com/bos/info/birds.html

Btw, I did some research to see if bride could be a colloquialism but didn't find anything convincing. Long married men sometimes refer to their wives as "my bride" as a term of endearment, but that doesn't work in this context.

To my question of songwraith, "Are we starting fresh or should we also consider the videos from last Spring?" came this reply:

[M13A77]

[Tresbien]

Yes, I sent a message through songwraith's youtube account. I took his reply to mean that the crumbs have not been scavenged so it's still a trail.