Currently on Blair Witch: Season 1...

Rosemary, desperate to recover her kidnapped children, has ventured alone into the Black Hills Forest. Although you were able to make brief contact with her in the last episode, guiding her through the remains of an abandoned sawmill that should no longer exist, you do not yet know what has become of her and her boys, or how you will be able to rescue them from the grasp of the Blair Witch.

Anthony is losing hope that he will ever see the Kent family again, although he remains committed to searching for them. His recent search of the woods revealed a hidden cache of documents belonging to the Kent family, which seem to have been tampered with by Carver as well as by Rosemary herself.

Strangely, Rosemary's website seems to have been infiltrated. A mysterious file has been uploaded to the site, and it can only be accessed if a number of cryptic security questions are answered.

Hints

Carver's Code

• Some of the phrases in this document have been written in Carver's code. Carver's code can be translated using this guide:

Logging On

• Anthony tells you that there is a new media file uploaded to Rosemary's website which he can't access. There are five security questions you must answer to get through. By searching through the information in this episode, you can unlock that file and discover what happened to Rosemary. The website's password is Nightfall1.

Security Questions

Question 1

• This question asks: He won her this creature, which proved to be the sum of its parts.
• The love notes describe Hudson winning Rosemary an animal-shaped gift at a festival. In the notes, Rosemary refers to being able to put together each of the pieces of this gift to form a new animal. Try applying this procedure to the shadow vista.

 

Question 2

• This question states: She took this name upon herself in secret, and it only proved her hubris.
• There is a code exchange in the love notes in which Hudson gives Rosemary an affectionate pet name.
• Refer back to the inner cover of Liam's notebook for help solving this cipher.

 

Question 3

• This question states: Her second child was mine from the moment she shuddered while her own bleeding heart loomed above her, emblazoned with these letters.
• The newspaper article describes Rosemary going into labor with her second child, Tristan, in the forest. What does the article mention she saw as this happened?

 

Question 4

• This question states: Her firstborn whispered hoarse and barely heard, telling her this time, the only time in a timeless place.
• Rosemary has written a coded message across three documents that will provide the answer to this question: the newspaper article, Rosemary's journal pages, and the family photograph.

 

Question 5

• This question states: The truth has been spelled out by the one who carves. He is finished, but I am not. Tell me, detective, on whom my sights are fixed.
• Check Carver's note for a subtle secondary message on where the Blair Witch's sights are now set.

Reveals

Carver's Code

• The text written in Carver's code reads: This message is for you, Investigator. In fact, both of them are.

Security Questions

Question 1

• When pieced together, the elements of the shadow vista form the image of a rabbit. The answer to this question is "rabbit".

 

Question 2

• The following guide is present on the inner cover of Liam's notebook.

• This is a guide on how to solve a pigpen cipher. The shape that surrounds each letter corresponds to the letter itself. For example, the letter "E" is surrounded by a perfect square. In this code, the letter "E" is represented by a square. Apply this guide to the coded section of the love notes.

• The encoded text of the love notes can be translated to:

  • You're my charm.
  • Your charm
  • carve our initials into this stump.
  • Think about it: R+H, written here inside of a little heart, forever.
  • That sounds amazing. There are so many terrible stories about this place. Let's make a happy one together.

• In the coded section of the note, Hudson refers to Rosemary as Charm. The answer to this question is "Charm".

 

Question 4

• The text that Rosemary has written across the family photograph, newspaper article, and Rosemary's journal pages is scrambled. Unscrambled, it reads: I can feel Liam near me I can almost hear him I think he's saying it's time to rest but I can't give up.
• Liam is saying that it's time to rest. The answer to this question is "rest".

 

Question 5

• If you look closely at Carver's note, you will see that several of the letters on this note are visually different from the others. When you read these letters in order, you will discover Carver's final message to you: I did what she asked. Now her eyes are on you.
• Carver's secondary message reads: I did what she asked. Now her eyes are on you.
• Since this message is addressed directly to you, the player, the answer to the final security question is "me".

Transcripts

Love Notes

• October 6, 1997
  Rosemary,
  You've been on my mind all day.
  I was barely able to focus in class. I've been thinking about asking you to the festival in a few weeks, but there's no way in a million years that I'll ever be able to summon the courage.
  Still, I can't help but imagine us on top of the ferris wheel, kissing and holding hands. I imagine that it's just the two of us, looking down on the town and the sea of trees beyond it.
  Instead, I'm out here all alone in that sea of trees, right by where those college students supposedly went missing a while back, and that poor little boy, too.
  You know, there's a bloodstain on the tree trunk I'm sitting next to right now. It's mine, from a time I must have gotten a wicked splinter or something without noticing, and it's almost perfectly in the shape of my hand, even though I could have sworn that I didn't bleed nearly that much when I got cut. I can press my own palm against it and it almost feels warm. That's how lonely and pathetic I am: I've been reduced to holding hands with a tree.
  I've been out here since sunrise, and I guarantee that when I get back home in a few hours the only thing my parents will care about is whether or not I track mud into the house, and not that I've been hanging out in the murder forest for weeks, playing hooky and writing down my daydreams about a girl who barely knows I exist. You know, like a total creep. God, am I lame.
  You're never going to see this because there's no way in hell that I'm ever going to give it to you. I'm going to shove this letter all the way to the back of the hollow of this tree and shove any thought of you all the way to the back of my mind.
  
  Hudd
• October 10, 1997
  Hudd,
  Even though the walk was long and even though I got more than a few cuts and bruises on the way, I'm very glad that I insisted you bring me to the hollow yesterday, and that you let me bully you into showing me the note that you wrote.
  I know that you go out there pretty often, even though I can't for the life of me understand why, so I hope you'll find this note in the next few days. I'm about to sneak out on my own to hide it inside the stump right next to the first one.
  Things have been tough at home lately. Jess has been a total mess lately, and my parents seem to think that ignoring the fact that she's a total mess will make her less of one, when it's having the opposite effect.
  This might sound silly, but I'd kind of been blaming this place for all of my family's problems, even though I don't believe in any of the stories. Like, not even a little bit. But still, some part of them must have gotten to me without me even realizing it. I mean, after all, I've sure as hell been avoiding the woods up until now. But coming out here with you took away some of the mystique. A place is whatever you make it, and you've made this place a safe haven for me over the past few days.
  This is all to say, thanks for the note. It was good for me to read, in a lot of ways. This is me returning the favor.
  Yes Hudd, you are very lame. But you're at least three times as cute as you are lame.
  
  -Rosemary
• October 12, 1997
  I've been having the same nightmare every night, for weeks, about something huge and formless coming down from the sky and swallowing me up. I wake up and go about my day, but I can never shake the need to glance up at the sky and make sure I'm safe. Except when I'm with you. When we're together, I forget that dream entirely. I know I'm safe when we're together.
  You bring me peace, Rosemary. I want to be able to bring you peace, too.
• October 15, 1997
  You do, Hudd. You do. No one's ever made my heart beat like this. No one's ever made my words stick in my throat like you do. Even though it's cold out, even though the wind makes the dry leaves and twigs on the trees rattle like bones, when I think about you I only think of summer, and life, and light.
  Sometimes I can't help but wonder what it would be like if, sometime in the spring, we stayed out here late into the night and watched the stars. Just think about waking up next to each other in the morning when the sun shines through the leaves. I know we couldn't actually go through with it, but I like to picture it nonetheless.
• October 17, 1997
  I'll watch the stars with you any time and almost anywhere. Not here, but anywhere else.
  My mom always tells me that love is hard work, but falling for you was so easy, like magic. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me. My protection against everyone and everything else in this town.
  
  [Unknown Symbols]
• October 29, 1997
  I'm sorry it's been so long since I've replied. My parents have been keeping a close eye on me since they saw us holding hands at the festival. My dad isn't as awful as he seemed, I promise.
  That present you won me is so great to play around with. I've been acting out little scenes between the animals like a kid, and slotting them together and taking them apart over and over again. I like that the animals form a whole new creature when they're together. I kind of feel like you and I do that too.
  
  With love, [Unknown Symbols]
• October 30, 1997
  I never knew what I wanted before you. Now, I do. I want this. I want us.
  To be loved by you, that's all I really want.
  
  Hudd
• October 31, 1997
  The next time we meet out here, let's [Unknown Symbols]
  Since the hollow area inside of it is where we've been leaving all of our letters, we should leave a mark on the place where we first fell in love. Our love will be a part of the land itself.
  
  [Unknown Symbols]
• November 1, 1997
  [Unknown Symbols]
  
  Hudd

Rosemary's Journal Entry

• I followed the light of the fire for hours and hours until I got close enough to see the fire itself in the distance, with three figures standing around it. I would know Liam and Tristan a mile away. Wishful thinking or maybe nostalgia almost tempted me to think that the third silhouette was Hudd at first. It used to be such a familiar sight, the three of them together. But the third silhouette could only have been Carver.
  I don't know what I expected, thinking about Carver all this time and not actually seeing him, but he was just a regular person. Just a man, with a face that was caked in mud and eyes that reflected the firelight. I thought that was it, that it was finally time to confront Carver once and for all, but as I started to get close, the firelight changed. It got brighter and brighter the closer I got. It was loud and violent, angry, and the three of them just sat there staring into the fire as the light got so bright that I couldn't see them at all anymore. And then it snapped off like someone flipped a switch. When I could see again, I was there alone, in the dark by myself.
  I don't know how long I sat there calling into the dark.
  He got away from me this time. But I was there, looking right at him, and he didn't even know it.
  Was this how he felt when he was watching me and the boys? Like an animal circling its prey?
• There's no direction anymore. I tried to mark trees so I'd know where I'd been. I drew big Xs, so that I wouldn't be able to miss them. At first it seemed to be working. I seemed to be going in a new direction. No marks on any trees. But then out of nowhere every tree was marked. Every single goddamn tree was marked with my and Hudd's initials. Just like when we left our mark on the tree when we were kids.
• I hear children, but they're not mine.
• Someone's screaming in the dark. A man, calling out for help. The voice is familiar, but I can't quite place it.
• The screaming hasn't stopped, but I think I recognize who it's coming from now. I think it's the old Sheriff Lanning, Wes Lanning's uncle Emmett. I remember him visiting my school when I was a kid, talking about stranger danger. He can't really be out here. I must be hearing things.
• I tried to find the source of the screaming. It got louder and louder, calling for help over and over again until it finally turned into wordless howls of pain, and then there was silence. I'm alone again.
• I saw what I thought might've been another person at first, someone wearing all white, someone else lost in the woods. Then it came closer, and I saw that it was something with flesh the color of maggots and barely any meat on its bones. Its skin was twitching and writhing as though it was full of insects.
  I tried to hide behind some trees, holding my breath in case it heard me. Then it slowly turned toward my direction, and I saw that it didn't have a face. It started walking toward me and then running. I was so afraid that I couldn't move. I just scrunched my eyes closed and thought, "This can't be it." And then, when I didn't feel any pain for a long moment, I opened my eyes and realized that I was curled up in my tent. I must have dreamed it, although I don't remember falling asleep or even setting up the tent.
• I woke up in the middle of the night to the sensation of hands around my neck. But, of course, there was no one there.
  Still, my neck hurt, and I used the camera on my phone to take a look at it. There are two handprint-shaped bruises circling my neck. Even now, hours later, they're throbbing in pain. It hurts to call out for Tristan and Liam, but that's not going to stop me.
• I thought the sun was going to come up. I had hope for just a second. I was sleeping, not that I knew what time it was, only that I was tired and had to lie down for just a minute, and when I opened my eyes there was light. It was a sunrise.
  I sat there for hours just staring at it, hoping, praying the sun would find the strength to rise, but it sunk back down, swallowed up by the endless canopy of trees.
• I think I've moved past fear somehow. I'm seeing the stick figures. I'm hearing things all around me, and I'm noticing how my heart isn't pounding, how I can't feel the blood rushing into my ears anymore. Now I hear things in the night and I scream back at them.
• I found the stump. The spot where Hudd and I used to leave each other notes. It's the place where we used to meet. The hours we spent here were some of the happiest I've ever had.
  Even this place I shared with my husband has been tainted now. This goddamn forest is taking everything from me.
  Some of this stuff shouldn't even be here. When I think about it, though, I should have expected one more insult from this forest. Tristan's birth announcement. God, this place is taunting me. Carver's taunting me.
  But I'm going to be the one to win in the end. I have to be. As difficult as it is to maintain hope, I can't entertain any other possibility right now.
  There's no point in writing any of this down to try to account for what's real and what's a nightmare, because it doesn't really matter. I'm going to leave these journal pages here. Maybe someday somebody will find them. I'm going to keep searching, keep looking for my boys. I'm not leaving these woods without them. God, I hope someone finds this. If someone does, if someone is actually reading this, don't come in here. Not if my boys somehow make it out. If they get out and I'm still in here, don't come get me. You'll only get lost too.
  ters utb I t'nca vieg pu I
  I'm so sorry, Mom.

SuperNeutral Podcast: Mothman 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 like me: James Durant.

Ed: On this minisode: The Mothman!

James: Perhaps the most iconic story yet.

Ed: Completely iconic. I have a Mothman figure in my home studio, actually. I blame it every time my computer crashes.

James: Amazing. And yeah, hey, Mothman is a cool monster, but I've actually looked into it a little bit, and… I don't know if I get it.

Ed: What's not to get?

James: Well, so, you wrote about how the sightings of the Mothman are supposed to be some sort of a warning about the collapse of that bridge, right? The Silver Bridge?

Ed: There's more to it that couldn't make the cut.

James: Oh! Okay, like what? I want to know why people think he's a bad omen.

Ed: So, there's a book about the connection between Mothman and various other tragedies. There's a movie -

James: Right, so do they explain WHY the Mothman is drawn to the locations of disasters?

Ed: They say he might have something to do with aliens or precognition.

James: Huh?

Ed: And he might be tied to an old World War II, like, dynamite factory.

James: What?

Ed: Also, he stole someone's dog.

James: Okay… alright… stop it. Just - like - Okay. What is this thing supposed to be? Why is it warning us? How did people make that connection in the first place?

Ed: Ah, okay, I know why this confuses you.

James: Why?

Ed: You are not cool with ambiguity. Like, at all.

James: That's not true.

Ed: You can't stand it when you can't draw a solid line from cause to effect. But the Mothman is sort of deliberately enigmatic, you know?

James: Okay.

Ed: So, sure, spoiler alert: No one has ever had a conversation with the Mothman where he told them "I was just trying to warn you about the bridge by chasing you away from it." It's just that people realized he appears a lot before something bad happens.

James: But, Ed… when does something bad not happen?

Ed: When does something bad not - That's one of the most dramatic things you've ever said.

James: Wait long enough, and something terrible will happen. Claims of Mothman sightings before a fire doesn't mean he knew it was coming. You may as well say, "My car broke down. I should have known because it rained all week." That's not… logical.

Ed: And yet, your car is still broken down.

James: But the rain didn't cause it. If you blame all your problems on some monster, then you're blinding yourself to the real problems around you.

Ed: But if you're wrong, James, where is that going to get you?

James: You're not going to be satisfied until some monster takes a bite out of me, are you?

Ed: And you're not going to believe it's possible until the Mothman is carrying you back to its home in that bomb factory.

James: Well, wherever the Mothman is taking me should be safe, right?

Ed: Only if you believe the stories!

James: Alright, alright… well, hey! I think that'll take us to the end of this episode!

Ed: Would you believe it then, James?

James: Thank you all so much for joining us. We really hope you learned something interesting and had a spooky time doing it.

Ed: We'll see you next time, everyone, when I finally convince James to be a little more careful.

James: Ha! We'll just see about that.

But until that time comes, folks, it's safe to turn out the lights.

Ed: Or is it?

 

[The SuperNeutral theme music closes out the podcast.]

SuperNeutral Podcast: Special Announcement Audio Recording

[INTRO MUSIC, fading to the introduction by our hosts Ed Barrett and James Durant, who sound more excited than usual.]

 

Ed: Hey, everybody, and welcome back to SuperNeutral, your favorite pint-sized paranormal podcast that pits a believer: that's me, Ed Barrett…

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

Ed: On this very special minisode, we just want to thank all of you for listening. Most of you seemed pretty interested in a story we covered… I don't know how long ago: The Blair Witch.

James: Terrifying. Also nonsense.

Ed: Whoa, whoa, whoa, you can't say stuff like that. (whispers) She might be listening.

James: Sure. Anyway, Ed and I always wanted to do something BIG with the show. A real, on-location search for the Blair Witch.

Ed: And her most recent victims: Rosemary, Liam, and Tristan Kent.

James: Allegedly her victims. Their recent disappearance has made all kinds of headlines and caused all kinds of speculation. (somber) And no matter what really happened to them, their disappearance was a tragedy.

 

[James starts to dial back up his on-air personality again.]

 

James (cont'd): So to address the elephant in the room: Why are we so giddy? Well, it's because SuperNeutral… is heading to Burkittsville.

Ed (serious, hopeful): That's right! James and I are going out to get to the bottom of whatever happened to the Kent family.

James: You know we're not going to find anything.

Ed (good-natured): I most certainly do not know that.

James: Okay! So there you have it!

Ed: And thank you all so much for your support again. We really hope that you've enjoyed our work here. I really can't tell you how much it means to us to know you're out there having a good time, enabling us to do this insane job.

James: Yes, sir, and we'll see you soon, everyone! Make sure you spread the word.

Ed: And, next time, let's find out what happens when SuperNeutral finds itself lost in the Blair Witch's woods.

James: But until that time comes, it's safe to turn out the lights.

Ed: Or is it?

 

[The SuperNeutral theme music plays again, bringing this cliffhanger to a close.]

 

James: Bye, everyone.

Ed: See you soon!