Currently on Blair Witch: Season 1...

Thanks to your guidance, Rosemary has ventured into the Black Hills Forest in her quest to find Carver and bring her sons home. However, she has not been heard from since.

Anthony, worried that his dear friend might be lost forever, has taken to searching the forest himself. Recently, he came across a pile of things belonging to Rosemary which display the nightmarish conditions she's found herself in, as well as a series of relics from a lumber mill that was demolished decades ago.

Rosemary is somehow supernaturally trapped in that very same sawmill, surrounded by creatures whose only weakness appears to be light. Rosemary must access the breaker room of the sawmill in order to turn on the lights, repel the creatures, and make the final leg of her journey to Carver.

Hints

Carver's Code

• Some of these tree rubbings have been written in Carver's code. Carver's code can be translated using this guide:

Five-Digit Code

• There is a coded note somewhere in the box that will explain how to find the five-digit code.
• There are two digits of the five-digit code spread across the logging company personnel files.
• There is one digit of the five-digit code hidden in the shutdown report.
• One digit of the five-digit code is hidden on the beanie.
• A digit of the five-digit code is hidden on the cigarette case.

Logging On

• Rosemary needs a five-digit code in order to make her way out of the abandoned lumber mill. Finding the five-digit number and typing it into the tipline on www.kentcase.com will allow you to complete the episode. The website's password is SticksandStones15.

Rosemary's Update

• The letters in one of these blog posts have been scrambled. Unscramble these letters to reveal a hidden message.

Reveals

Carver's Code

• Decoded, the messages on the tree rubbings read:

  • You pretend to be so strong, but I see the pathetic way you tremble when you think you're alone.
  • You will not win. She is the only one who ever wins in the woods.
  • There is nobody left for you. Nobody and nothing.
  • It's time to let go.
  • Welcome home.

Five-Digit Code

• Decoded, the text of each sentence reads:

  • The trees that bleed like wounded men.
  • Adam lost as much as the stopped clock when he fell asleep.
  • There's strength in numbers. The Herman family needs to be together to light the way.
  • All the fires he lit to keep them away.
  • One week before the woodland was founded.

• Each sentence refers to a story element that can be found in the respective documents:

  • The shutdown report
  • The logging company personnel files
  • The cigarette case
  • The logging company personnel files
  • The beanie
• The shutdown report details eight trees "bleeding" when they are cut into.
• The incident with the woodchipper, during which all of the clocks in the facility stopped, happened at three o'clock. Additionally, Adam Barrett recently had a nightmare in which three of his fingers were removed.
• You can read on the back of the cigarette case that Nathan's Cigarettes was a company owned by Nathaniel and Sophia Herman, who had three children: Una, Julian, and Mary. There are five family members in total.
• John Martell extinguished four fires which had been lit by Edward McCune.
• From the beanie's tag, you'll learn that South Woodland Academy was founded on August 9th. One week prior gives you the number two.

• Each sentence refers to a specific number:

  • 8
  • 3
  • 5
  • 4
  • 2

• The five-digit code is: 83542.

Rosemary's Update

• Correctly arranging the letters of the most recent post reveals the following sentence:

  • We cannot leave we cannot die we can only do what she tells us.

Transcripts

Henry's Note

I can hear those things at night, slinking around, scratching up against the walls, moaning like dying men.

They want us to know that the only thing keeping them out is the light. If anything ever happens to the breaker room, if the power ever goes out, then that's it. We lose the only thing that keeps them away at night. And then they'll get us just like they got James.

They called it an accident in the official report, but we all know that isn't true.

I can hear their screams when I'm out there. The people who have died, and who are dying, and who haven't died yet, and who will never die. Ripples through time stuck in place, like the rings of a tree. James is one of them now. Maybe he always has been.

Everything's all mixed up. Even my brain. I can't remember my life before I walked into this forest. I can't remember the faces of my brother and sister and I can barely tell when I'm awake or when I'm dreaming anymore. The fear is too much, the sound of their scratching at the windowpanes and her whispering in my ear. But all that matters is that I remember the five numbers.

As long as I follow five steps, I'll always be able to reach the light.

1. eTh seert ahtt deleb kile ddnouew emn.
2. maAd stol sa uhcm sa het pptosde lkcoc hnew eh lfle eelsap.
3. hTree's thersgn ni sunmrbe. eHt naHmer iflyma dsene ot eb grhtoeet ot tihlg het ayw.
4. lAl eth siref eh ilt ot ekep meth yaaw.
5. enO kwee ofeber het ddwolona saw dndeufo.

Rosemary's Confirmation Audio Recording

[Beginning of recorded material]

 

Rosemary: Oh my God! It's you. I don't know how you managed to get in touch, but you've got a hell of a sense of timing. Are these what I think they are? How? How did you even know that I needed this? You know what? I'm just going to go with it. Everything in my life is already so goddamn bizarre. You know, I was about to try every possible combination on the lock until I got it… A hundred thousand possible combinations would have taken me a long time. If what you just sent me is right… (gasp) Okay! Thanks! Let's get these lights on. (a shout followed by unintelligible screaming and crying) I'm... outside? There was a - a -there was a flash of light and then it was dark and now everything is gone and - I'm outside. Tank? Tank? Tank? Where are you, boy? Please come back! (Unintelligible crying) I see a light. It's not far. It looks like a campfire. I'm going to get closer, to get a better look. There are people around the fire. Three of them. It has to be my boys. And Carver. I'm going to get them and take the –

 

[Abrupt end of recorded material]

Rosemary's Torn Journal Pages

• No sign of my boys, or of Carver. Not yet.

  It's been slow going in the dark, but I must have traveled at least a few miles north. In the morning, I'll head deeper. For now, Tank and I have made camp. If Hudd could see me struggle to set up his old tent, I'd never hear the end of it.

  Tank is in his element out here. It always surprises me how quickly he takes to these woods. Never had a dog before that didn't overreact to every creak in the distance. He almost seems like he's keeping watch for me. Even when I'm not holding his leash, he just sticks by my side.

• It started around 3 am. Distant first. Voices. Whispering. They sounded so young, I thought of Tristan. But none of the voices were his.

  How many children are out here?

  I tried to call out to them, but it came out as a croak. My voice felt trapped far back in my throat. When I was finally able to ask who was there, the voices didn't answer. Maybe they couldn't hear me. They sounded so close, though, like they were just outside my tent.

  When I unzipped the tent, the whispering faded to silence. I shined my flashlight out, but there was nothing.

  That's when I noticed Tank was sitting alert. He's usually such a deep sleeper, but he must have heard something too. I only just managed to get him calmed down. Going to try to sleep a little more and leave at sunrise.

• Just woke up and went outside to find Liam's hat placed neatly by front of the entrance to my tent. Even though I know with total certainty that it's just Carver mocking me, I'm still holding onto it like a totem.

  I can feel my blood boiling inside of me. Don't know how much sleep I've gotten because the sun still hasn't come up. The clock on my phone must be wrong, it says it's one in the afternoon.

  Doesn't make any sense. Either way, I don't want to sleep anymore.

  Time to get moving.

• He's trying to scare me.

  After I packed up camp, Tank and I walked for hours and hours. The deeper we walked into the woods, the less I could see the sky through the canopy of leaves above me. I couldn't even hear the wind.

  That's when we found a clearing surrounded by tall, thin trees whose trunks were engraved like headstones. I didn't understand what all of the carvings on them said, but the messages on a few of those trees couldn't be clearer. I took some rubbings of the carvings just to prove to myself that I wasn't seeing things. It's a good thing that I did, because they disappeared the moment I looked away from them.

  I think he's trying to make me turn back.

  It's not going to happen. What would I be going back to?

  There's nothing there. Not anymore.

  Tank is exhausted. We're stopping more for his benefit than mine, though I admit it's getting to me.

  First Hudson. Then Liam and Tristan. All my boys. Gone.

  When I get our sons back, I'll never take my eyes off them again, Hudd. I promise.

  Just a little farther. I know it.

• The voices are back. They sound closer.

• The sun isn't going to rise again. I thought it was almost dawn again. I was wrong.

  It's just dark now. It's just dark.

• Something just tried to get in. I woke up to the sound of Tank barking and realized that something was dragging against the tent, scraping against the plastic. I kicked at it, but I just felt air where my boot should have connected with flesh. It stopped the scratching, though.
• Sometimes I can see my phone catch a signal for a moment. Like the outside world is reaching in to pull me back, but inevitably the bars disappear and the outside world is pushed away again. By the woods. By him. Or by her?

• Whoever or whatever he is. I don't care.

  I can't do this anymore. It's like my mind is playing tricks on me.

  I think something is out here with me. Something besides Carver. Watching me. It's coming closer day by day. I can hear it breathing. I don't know what it's waiting for.

  There are times when I can see a light through the trees. Flickering. Fire. Each time, I've run toward it, hoping it was Carver's campfire. I lower my head and bolt. But the light always burns out just before I can reach it. Like a cruel joke.

  It's the only light I ever see besides my own flashlight. There's no more sun anymore.

  No more daytime.

  I can't do this.

  No. That's enough feeling sorry for myself.

  I'd better get moving.

• Tank started growling at a bush, and when I pointed my flashlight I saw a pale white hand with only two fingers, covered in blood. It looked like the hand of a drowned person. Like something that hasn't seen sunlight in years. As soon as the beam of my flashlight hit that hand, it flinched away as it made this terrible groaning noise, like an angry animal and a wounded man at the same time. I ran in the opposite direction, and Tank followed.

  That's when I found this building. It looks abandoned. I'm hunkered down in the entryway for now. The door won't open, but I think there's a window I might be able to get through.

• Well, I got Tank and myself in. But I managed to cut my leg on a piece of glass that was sticking out of the windowpane in the process. Thankfully I was smart enough to bring a first aid kit. The bleeding hasn't completely stopped yet, and it hurts like hell, but I think it might be okay. I think I'll be able to walk on it. I'm going to try to explore a little in a few minutes.

• It looks like this place used to be a logging company.

  There's an axe embedded in the wall, and most of the furniture has been flipped. Scorch marks on the walls and floors. I found records amongst all of the carnage. They paint a pretty vivid picture of what happened here before all of this. I suppose the woods retook this place after it was abandoned, although I do feel relatively safe in here compared to outside. But I'm going to need to move on soon. No time to waste.

• I managed to limp up the half-rotted stairs to the rooftop to try to get the lay of the land. At first, I saw nothing on the horizon but trees. But then I noticed it. The light again. The flickering light of a campfire. I know where I have to go from here. Toward that fire. If Tristan and Liam aren't there, they aren't anywhere.

  I noticed something else on that rooftop, though. It was the groaning sound of that creature somewhere on the building's perimeter. And then there was the sound of another, and another. I think the building is surrounded. The only way forward is going to be through them.

• They're scratching at the front door and at the windows, and it's making Tank go absolutely ballistic.

  My leg hurts. God, I wish I had a cigarette right now.

• They hate the light. The hand that I saw in the woods, and now these things outside. When I shine my flashlight at an area where they're scratching, they all back away from the light, and even Tank calms down a little, like he senses they're a little farther away.

• I saw a mention of a breaker room in some of the reports, so I tracked it down. If I can manage to get inside, I'm going to flood this place with light. It might clear enough of a path for me to run straight to Carver's campfire.

  Thing is, the door's been outfitted with a hefty combination lock. Nothing can ever be easy, can it? To add insult to injury, I thought I'd managed to find a pack of cigarettes right outside the breaker room, but the second I picked it up I could tell it was empty.

  Five digits. With any luck, it's hidden around here somewhere.

  I'd better get start

SuperNeutral Podcast: Haunted Houses Audio Recording

[INTRO MUSIC, fading to the introduction by our hosts Ed Barrett and James Durant.]

 

Ed: Welcome to SuperNeutral, the pint-sized paranormal podcast that pits a believer: that's me, Ed Barrett…

James: Against a skeptic. That's me: James Durant.

Ed: And, boy, I have so much to say about this topic.

James: Haunted houses! I have been looking forward to writing about this for the Spooky Spotlight. What did you think?

Ed: Fascinating. Absolutely fascinating.

James: Thank you.

Ed: Now, the newsletter mentioned that carbon monoxide poisoning could be to blame for people seeing things.

James: Right, I don't know why I hadn't considered that before.

Ed: Yeah, but, like, James, we've had this conversation before: How do you know that "breathing in fumes from gas lamps" isn't just a, I don't know, plausible explanation being used to cover up something supernatural?

James: Well, for starters, ghosts aren't real.

Ed: Yeah, yeah… okay, okay, James, but come on, this is SuperNeutral. How can you be so certain?

James: I've been thinking about that a lot, and you know what? I'm just going to concede the point.

Ed: (laughs) Wow, okay!

James: Mm-hm. To quote, well, you, "seeing is believing". I'm just going to say that I'll never believe in the paranormal… unless I see a ghost, spirit, alien, or whatever myself.

Ed: Well, alright! You know what? I think that's fair. I also think you and I are closer in terms of our beliefs than you might think, James.

James: I know we are. We'll just have to hunt a ghost someday.

Ed: (laughs) Deal.

James: So, hey, I want to use the time we have left on this minisode to share something fun I found out about Haunted Houses.

Ed: Alright.

James: I learned about something called a "house-to-house party". You ever heard of that?

Ed: I haven't.

James: Perfect. So it turns out that, back in the Great Depression, parents needed to devise a way to stop their kids from causing mischief on Halloween.

Ed: You mean like the "trick or treat" threat?

James: Pretty much. It seems kids were causing too much general mayhem, so neighborhood parents would team up to turn their basements into little haunted houses! They'd put ghosts and witches in the basement and make the kids crawl through, like, tiny corridors lined with raw liver and stuff.

Ed: Ew, what?

James: I know, that was my favorite part.

Ed: I guess that's really just a prototype for blindfolding kids and telling them a bowl of peeled grapes are eyeballs.

James: Totally. Raw liver is really kind of gnarly, but, honestly, points for style.

Ed: Man. If I was in the Great Depression, I'd be all about that.

James: I'd spend all year looking forward to Halloween.

Ed: You already do.

James: True. Well, there it is! That's it! A fairly united mini-episode of SuperNeutral!

Ed: You know, maybe we'll have to cover haunted houses again someday, because as cool as this has been, there are also stories of actual haunted buildings.

James: Here it comes.

Ed: Yeah, I can't place it, but I've heard stories of buildings that, you know, don't stay put. They sort of teleport around. I've always wondered if places like that have their own sort of agenda. Like, are they trying to trap as many people as they can hold in their haunted halls?

James: We were so close.

Ed: Well, thank you all so much for joining us. We hope you maybe learned something interesting and had a spooky time doing it.

James: We'll see what becomes of us in the next minisode. But until then, it's safe to turn out the lights.

Ed: Or is it?

 

[The SuperNeutral theme music closes out the podcast.]