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 Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » Low-Volume Games
[WF][Trailhead] Whitechapel Foundation: Open Cases
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petunia
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Joined: 10 Jan 2007
Posts: 616
Location: MS

 		I'm struggling to make sense of all this, but I agree it's probably better for Ethan if we don't tell him yet. He'd tell his bosses, and they might pull the project.

But Jade has just posted on OC, looking for Ethan (why not on Ethan's blog, I wonder??):

Jade wrote:
Ethan, What's up? You still in Ohio? What is it; Bigfoot or crop circles?

Anyway, did anything happen the other night? I just got back in town now so let me know if you need anything. I might be over in St. Pete this weekend if you have a place to check out. Also, did you still want me to check out the site by that lady's house?

Who the hell's spearmint?


I think we're being nudged to go directly to Jade for help this time.

PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:48 am
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mortality
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Joined: 12 Jul 2007
Posts: 428

 		Jade can usually be reached here: jademacallaSPLATgmail.com
AIM: jademacalla
Y!: jade_macalla

Sent him an email on 1/9 about whether he had a chance to check out the 3rd ritual site. No response yet.

Sylvia posted his DeviantArt page earlier, he can get comments and chats there, too. http://jademacalla.deviantart.com

ETA: Looks like BO's big problem is with the people in the SUV. We'd have "permission" to show Ethan the video otherwise?
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:40 pm
Last edited by mortality on Fri Jan 11, 2008 3:00 pm; edited 1 time in total
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dashcat
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Joined: 09 Dec 2002
Posts: 816
Location: Under the bed
Typoxic wrote:
Telling Ethan about Spearmint is one thing, but telling him about the video is another. Brighton made a decent case for keeping the video from him, I thought:

In reply to "why shouldn't we tell him", Brighton wrote:
Would have thought it was obvious.

Don't know what happened yet.

Two possibilities, maybe more.

They were with him and attempting to help.

Or they abducted him.

If the latter, who were they? Why?

If the latter, they may be interested in others who were involved.

For now, Ethan is only peripherally involved.

What he doesn't know is less likely to hurt him.


Typoxic, was that a reply to an email? I can't find that response on Brighton's blog. I'm a bit confused.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:32 pm
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Sylvia
I Have No Life

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 2062

 		I'm not speaking for Typoxic, but it would have to be from email.

Brighton Early's email is: brightonearly5SPLATgmail.com

PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 3:24 pm
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mortality
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Joined: 12 Jul 2007
Posts: 428
Quote:
Hey Mort!

No, man, I was up in DC. Got back yesterday. Did anything happen? Haven't heard from anyone, and it looks like Ethan is still snorting faerie dust.

More soon,
Jade


Mortality wrote:

Hey,
Just wanted to apologize for catching you at a bad moment yesterday. You have a chance to check out whether anything strange happened in St. Pete?

-Mort


And Ethan's back. Going through a week's worth of email.

Quote:
Mort,

After what I just went through out in the boonies beyond Dayton, a hoax like that wouldn't even surprise me. At this point I might even think it was humorous.

But I'm sure any similarities you think you see are just coincidental. Calvin has a good sense of humor (famous wry British wit and all that, what!), but I get the impression he's pretty serious about not wasting Foundation time and resources. I doubt he would have sent us on a wild goose chase like that.

Unbelievable detective work, though, finding those coincidental similarities like that.

Ethan


Mortality wrote:

Ethan,
We've been discussing whether the same person wrote "Whitechapel" on all the envelopes. No consensus.

However, Sylvia was poking around Djinn's Autumn Country story and noticed something interesting. http://www.autumncountry.net/ac-e-vic_home.html
A signed and printed version of "C. Michaels" appears at the bottom of the image. It used green ink.

Coincidentally, the MSG3 envelope also used green ink. http://whitechapelfoundation.org/opencases/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/oc0701_4_env2_frnt.jpg .
The printed "C" "a" and "e" all seem to match. The same person seems to be responsible for both the MSG3 envelope and the AC signature.

We know that David, who wrote the AC stories, knew Calvin. As I mentioned earlier, Jade said David based a character on Calvin. Could he have also had Calvin participate in some of the media created for the story? Or did David sign that image? Point being: did David or Calvin write Whitechapel on the envelope? And if David wrote it, how did he get it to Whitechapel?

Observantly yours,
Mort


He also added that he'd look into our laundry list of keywords, and, since we'll "get the phonebook back" he'll narrow them down by geographical relevance.

A lot of what we had to say was just chatter. This is what sticks out from the rest.

Ethan wrote:

    "The Ring was not a Ring" makes me think that not only are these puzzles directing us to Solomon's Seal, but also to Solomon's Triangle, and both of those...devices, I'd guess you could call them, are things that you scrawl on the ground. The Western version of the legends mostly confirm that Solomon drew these figures and used them in the ritual. The Arabian versions say that the Seal was a piece of ring jewelry and either Solomon bound the djinn to it or used it to bind the djinn in a lamp.

    Personally, I think the Western tradition most closely jells with 0701.

    Michael was the commander of the heavenly host [Ethan had asked for confirmation in another email]. Another translation of that might be "High God of the heavenly host" or "a high angel." My Greek's not so hot. Nor is my knowledge of Jewish Mysticism. I think the safe assumption is that we're being pointed to look at a battle between dark and light. Maybe angels and demons.



This is excellent stuff, but I'm afraid I'm too tire to process it well. I'll probably have to come back to it once I get my head back around the OC stuff. To what degree are Demons and Djinn synonymous? Is it just a linguistic difference, or do the traditions see them in different ways? I'll have to look into this (unless you all already have).


Ethan doesn't seem like he'd buy the BO stuff if we fed it to him. And I need to check out Djinn vs. Demons in more detail, which I haven't already done.
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:40 pm
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wkelly42
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Joined: 28 Feb 2003
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mortality wrote:
And I need to check out Djinn vs. Demons in more detail, which I haven't already done.


Since I haven't done a whole lot to contribute to this game, and I've got some time, here's what I was able to find out.

On djinn:
wikipedia wrote:
The Djinn are said to be creatures with free will, made from 'smokeless fire' by God (the literal translation being "subtle fire", i.e., a fire which does not give itself away through smoke), much in the same way humans were made of earth. According to the Recitation, Djinn have free choice, and Iblis used this freedom in front of God by refusing to bow to Adam when God told Iblis to do so. By refusing to obey God's order he was thrown out of the Paradise and called "Shaitan" (See Shaitan and Satan). In the Qur'an, Djinn are frequently mentioned and Sura 72 of the Qur'an named Al-Jinn is entirely about them. Another Sura (Al-Naas) mentions the Djinn in the last verse. In fact, it is mentioned in the Qur'an that Muhammad was sent as a prophet to both "humanity and the Djinn".

The Djinn have communities much like human societies: they eat, marry, die, etc. They live in tribes and have boundaries. They follow religions as humans do, and follow the same ranks in armies as humans do. Djinns can settle in a vast area to a tiny hole, as they are massless and can be fit into any space they find sufficient for them. They are invisible to humans, but they can see humans. Sometimes they accidentally or deliberately come into view or into contact with humans. Djinn are believed to live much longer than humans: some of whom are said to be still alive having seen Muhammad (who lived during the 7th century). Much like humans, Djinn have learned to assimilate into the human world when they desire to do so. In many cases they live unnoticed among people marked only by the rather unusual or somewhat secretive practises they keep. Djinn can take on the form of humans and other animals. They can also be summoned by humans.

Humans attempting to perform black magic on humans call Djinn specializing in dirty deeds to perform the magic. Such black magic on humans (to influence a marriage to end in divorce, etc) can only be undertaken by dark Djinni. Thus, a person often pays a magician, who then calls upon a dark Djinn, who then performs the magic. These acts are considered haraam in Islam.

So djinn seem to encompass angels and demons both. They're not eternal beings (as demons are thought to be), and they live among us. The dark djinn seem to have the potential for redemption, while demons are usually thought of to be beyond hope.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 11:06 am
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Typoxic
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 		Sorry, yeah. It was an email; I figured that was implied. I just asked why we shouldn't tell him, and advised Brighton that it's probably a bad idea for strangers asking for favors to be cryptic about their reasons.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 1:02 pm
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mortality
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Joined: 12 Jul 2007
Posts: 428
wkelly42 wrote:
mortality wrote:
And I need to check out Djinn vs. Demons in more detail, which I haven't already done.


Since I haven't done a whole lot to contribute to this game, and I've got some time, here's what I was able to find out.

On djinn:
wikipedia wrote:
Djinn


Thanks for that! The wikipedia article seemed really focused on the Quranic version of Djinn. I'm going to look into whether there are other sources for those legends. The Koran pulls from a lot of older stories (like it does with Solomon/Suleiman), so there might be a more...authentic (?) origin to those stories.

By the way, one of the event IDs used on Reality Now was "yalla" which is Arabic for "let's go" but may have other connotations as well.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 2:36 pm
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Sylvia
I Have No Life

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 2062

 		I'm probably messing up our train of thought, but this is driving me up the wall.

I've been reading the Open Cases Correspondence for OC:0702 and saw the following. I have done a search and went back in this thread to approx. that time and can't find anything about it.

Scroll down a little bit on Open Cases Correspondence for OC:0702 and you will see this:
Quote:
On Dec 8, 2007 12:06 PM, <ethan> wrote:

Sebring wrote:

Our latest cipher seems to be a substitution cipher with an as of yet undiscovered rule set governing it.
--
53656e696f722043727970746f6c6f676973743a20556e6465725761746368205072697661746520496e76657374696761746f7273

Ethan wrote:

Excellent, and thanks for the feedback. That's good news, right? Isn't that type relatively easy to decipher?



that long string of code decodes to this:

Spoiler (Rollover to View):
Senior Cryptologist: UnderWatch Private Investigators

Does that mean anything or was it just a private joke between Sebring and Ethan? It's not on the forum here, so I don't know if it's related or not.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:22 pm
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mortality
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Joined: 12 Jul 2007
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 		Private joke relating to the OverWatch game. UnderWatch is what the few people left at the end of the game decided to call themselves.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:40 pm
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Sylvia
I Have No Life

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 2062

 		Ok thanks, that makes sense. I was afraid we had overlooked something.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 4:47 pm
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mortality
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Joined: 12 Jul 2007
Posts: 428

 		This is an interesting tool that might come in handy: http://www.spokeo.com/

Reeeeally creepy, actually. I mean, we know everything's available on the Internet and all, and for the most part, theoretically searchable. But having a one-stop shop (this isn't quite that holistic...yet) for finding everything you've done kind of shatters the illusion that you're untraceable.

It's for this reason that one ought to create anonymous accounts for ARGs and use privacy features in general.

Confirmed: petra_c81 is the right Yahoo handle. http://profiles.yahoo.com/Petra_c81 works

Asked BO for thoughts on "Petra"/Kelly and whether to contact her.

Don't recall anyone mentioning this, but Petra is a site in Jordan carved into a mountain. Which would lean more towards the whole "Djinn"/Arabian aspect to the rituals than the demonic aspect. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra

Regardless of what BO says, I'm now in agreement with someone else's idea from earlier: very tempted to create a Y! account and say I happen to live in FL and also like Arabian archeology. Or something similarly stupid. Spearmint's right, I do like stirring pots.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:50 pm
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Sylvia
I Have No Life

Joined: 21 Apr 2006
Posts: 2062
mortality wrote:

Confirmed: petra_c81 is the right Yahoo handle. http://profiles.yahoo.com/Petra_c81 works

Asked BO for thoughts on "Petra"/Kelly and whether to contact her.


I sent Petra an email, I wasn't sure what to say, though. I was going to see if I got a reply before posting. But yea, go ahead and try contacting her too. I like your idea better, anyways. I'm assuming that Petra is a her and the guy with the match book had just recently meet her and gotten her contact info. I mean why else would you write your email on the flap of a matchbook .

Quote:
hello,

My name is Sylvia. I work with a group called the UnCollective. We investigate sights that have paranormal activity or the potential for such activity. Recently, while on a case we found a matchbook from Bats Taxi with your email address written on the inside flap.

The matchbook was partially burnt and looks like a struggle may have taken place where it was found near 47th Ave and 14th ST. N. in St. Petersburg, Florida. I was wondering if you could give me any insight about the person who dropped it. I fear that he may have been abducted by someone or could be seriously hurt. He may also be able to give us some insight into the case we are investigating.

Any help you can give will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sylvia


PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:06 pm
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yellowcard
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Joined: 19 Oct 2007
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 		Does anyone else agree that we should point Jade in the direction of the brightonearly website? It seems that he is our best choice for help right now.
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:23 pm
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Sylvia
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Joined: 21 Apr 2006
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yellowcard wrote:
Does anyone else agree that we should point Jade in the direction of the brightonearly website? It seems that he is our best choice for help right now.

It's worth a try. Right now, I'm so confused on where this game is heading and where it's come from I don't know what to do. But we want know if it's the wrong way to go until we try. So go for it.

But then again, I get the feeling that Brighton Early is sharing valuable info with us, that we couldn't get anywhere else, and doesn't want to be contacted directly. It's possible that she/he is employed at WF and/or is the one who sent the 0701 messages. It would make sense, if she/he is trying to make us aware of/warn us of whatever the hell is going on. Heck I don't know the plot well enough to even know what I'm talking about.

PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2008 7:45 pm
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