unforum

[UvulaBob]

The Story so Far?

[ElGameR]

Rob -- That might be a good idea to include in the guide, a very short summary of the plot so far, with a bit more detail in the current puzzles than the older parts.

[The Watcher]

I started thinking about the story, and I realize that I've forgotten a couple parts even though I've been in this since the beginning.

A short recap would be really nice for everyone.

[konamouse]

Our adventure started with a press release in Jun 2004 to reality tv news sites - it's was a casting notice for a new reality show called "Urban Hunt".

Not only were they looking for on-air contestants (send in your video or still pictures with your application) but also "online advisors" (i.e. internet fans who may have opportunities to control the contestants and also win money). This show is being produced by Tomorrow's Talk Studios.Submission of the application for on-line advisor resulted in an autoresponder email.

This email has a secret message leading us to a web site posting different urban myths. A couple of these stories caught our eyes: the Dream Projector project (in San Francisco), and the another reality tv show (gone very bad) called Dread House (or House of Dread). Turns out this show was also produced by Tomorrow's Talk.
The webmaster of Urbanmythology was signing emails "Amanda Graves" - turns out this was really Ed Vargas, a man (anagramed) and he was the previous website administrator at TT, and the creator of the autoresponder email from Urban Hunt that led to his website. He worked for TT during the filming of Dread House and wanted the rest of the world to know what happened (and what TT has been trying to cover up).

Many of us attempted to contact TT for more information and we soon found an ally in Ron Daubert, then the webmaster for the studios. Poor fellow did not know anything about Dread House, but found some evidence for us and soon found himself out of a job (and possibly escaping NY with his life). He has a couple of websites that gave us a little more information and a little fun.

We found a website for DreadHouse where we gleemed more information about the previous TV show and hints of bad things that happened there from a source claiming to have insider info (obtained anonymously). We learned the site is run by Jamie Cyphers, self-claimed sister to Michael Cyphers, who was a contestant on DH. She fears he is dead. Currently she is traveling around the US with Ron Daubert, looking for more clues.

At the Dream Projector website we viewed the posted dreams, and noted disturbing images that we later attributed to possible messages from Dread House contestants, and we saw two dreams here and here from Bill S., who may be William Stauffer, an ex-TT employee who was the sole survivor of a van crash that killed 7 studio crew members on their way home from CMH.

Since Dread House was supposed to have been filmed at a mental hospital in Cambridge, we found Cambridge Mental Hospital, a website run by Charles, the old caretaker (like his father before him). Here we find out some nasty history about mental health care in the early 1900's (shock therapy, cold baths, etc) and that there are tunnels under the buildings - these may be producing a sound at 40 Hz (spec that this sound was responsible for driving people "mad"). Charles also told us about another resident of CMH, "Old Todd", who may end up playing a bigger role to come.

One of the patient drawings was done by a young woman named Ann Starling. We found a website created by her grandson to promote a book of her poems and pictures. They appear to be done by different people/personalities and many are images that might be related to the contestants and events that occurred years later at the hospital (during the filming of Dread House). We are still not sure what clues (if any) these Dead Poems and drawings provide, but we may have an "ancient terror" turned into a serial killer.

At this time spec was beginning on the effects of sound in the CMH tunnels and brain waves. Futher investigation (and more urbanmyths on Ed's site) led us to the Gold Mine Hotel (in Nevada) and another site about sound at the 40 Hz level. From the sound site we found GodMind and had a few laughs at the authors listed on the reference papers (inside ARG jokes). More recently, on 40 Hz the owner claimed that another person was linking to his website, blurredworld, run by Dakota Callahan.

Just last month the TT website was down shortly after the death of another staff member, Randall Thomas (you could say he was "fired"). We never found out if he was trying to find Ron to help him, or to rat him out to the evil TT. However, when TT came back on line, we had limited access to some of the original Dread House files stored on their server - gathered a list of contestant names and a couple of pictures. But why was Michael Cyphers photo a stereograph of a skeleton? Memos confirmed problems plaguing the set, and suggested some psychological experiments gone wrong.

One of the pictures at the Goldmine Hotel linked us to another urban mythology type website, Stranger Than Fiction Magazine. This provided more history on the hotel, as well as some more interesting stories about new products (one related to Dreams), and a story about a secret society ritual gone wrong.

Strange things have occured at the Gold Mine Hotel and even while we watched, it seemed ghosts took over the website, leading us to a deep shaft and more eerie sound (link doesn't work anymore). Meanwhile, a distinct pattern in the tile of the bathroom showed us a secret society called The Seventh Sons. And we are further reminded of another urbanmyth posted by Ed the previous month about "seven". More connections back to the hotel - at various times the SeventhSons website changes background color and sometimes there was a link to an antechamber where input was requested. Turned out that a stone wall back at the Gold Mine Hotel was the key to getting past this website (thanks to Ron & Jaimie for taking the picture and allowing the owner, Tara Hutchins, post it on her website). But we have yet to penetrate the full potential and are currently waiting for another opportunity to learn more about these people and their link back to Dread House or Tomorrows Talk Studio.

There is another link to Seventh Sons when this alledged gravestone marker at CMH is translated. Now Charles reports hearing from a fellow who claims to be investigating unsolved murders in the Cambridge area. His information can be found at IamInvisible. We haven't yet figured out what or who he is chasing, but perhaps there is another link to The Seventh Sons or Old Todd.

Meanwhile, a couple of hacks into Urbanmythology led us to find The Unraveling (which we are still researching - currently stuck on a music puzzle and new popups showing us various phobias).

[catherwood]

lonely lurker

[Varin]

Thanks kona, that's a great sum up! one question...

[RobMagus]

I think it's pretty clear that Jaimie's a girl. Her voicemail message was witha female voice, and I think that Ron's refered to her as "her" in his emails.

Anywho, excellent job Kona! We should put that on the Wiki under a section called "Quickstart" or the like.

[spaceboy]

AWESOME recap. Great job, Kona.

[Varin]

[konamouse]

Woops, my bad. I'll correct that.

Any other corrections, PM me!!! Because after I correct it, the mistake won't be there and the posts won't make much sense