THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES #25 - Growing Dark 

I know that torch is just the british way of saying flashlight but every episode involving one i still imagine the characters holding an actual burning torch

If I had a dollar for every time he said "I would ignore/disregard this if it wasn't for..." I would have 25 dollars, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it has happened every time

I literally start screaming every time I hear anything related to Jurgen leitner, an eye, or any bugs in this series. Just like "ahhh yes. A symbol. Hmm i wonder what the symbol is? Could it be an eye?" "a symbol of an eye" "DAMNIT!"

I love that characters in TMA can be so painfully aware that something is wrong but also too Britishly polite to be rude and say something about it. It's like, "Yeah my flatmate started singing in tongues, unscrewing all the lightbulbs and also I heard sounds from her room when she wasn't home. Said something about joining a new religion. But I wouldn't want to make a fuss about if, I might come off as rude!" This setting would 100% not work in an American setting. Guns would start going off like fireworks the moment something spooky happened.

Most people; Bible verse Mark, an intellectual: *Bible quote*

If i had realized that the lightbulbs were unscrewed then i would scream wildly at how much money i wasted at changing them

May 15, 2015 was a busy day. The chapel started screaming, Gertrude died, and I had a birthday party.

People in the comments, thank you so so much for catching little details and helping me remember names. I have terrible memory lol

The plot chickens

So there are two significant eye symbols: the closed eye, which seems to be a cult symbol (here, and A Father's Love)and the open eyes, which seem to be a protective ward (First Aid, and the Black Forest ep). There are also frequent instances of a finite space becoming temporarily infinite or at least larger and distorted (the cave, the sky, the graveyard/fields, and here, the dark/chapel.) Damn, this show is good.

So, something I don't see a lot of people talking about is the number of "sudden heart failures" we see across this series. I think we're up to like, 4?

as an american, it took me almost the entirety of this episode to realize "torch" meant "flashlight" lmao

"The lightbulbs kept blowing" I find it interesting that the exact same wording is being used as in the episode with the serial killer dad, even though the character telling this story knows that's not what happened at all. It seems awfully deliberate.

Things that so far are related: - Closed and opened eyes from "A Father's Love" - Striped wallpaper from the priest episodes, could be skinning people again... - The chapel from "Alone" and the German tomb episode - Yet another person that died of "heart failure" - light bulbs not working and darkness from "A Father's Love" - places suddenly growing large or reducing in size, like "Lost Johns' Cave" among other episodes - things crawling out of holes/worms, like Martin's hella creepy episode... I wonder how they're going to tie everything together

im so worried about that "spinach" Cathy ate

oh my god her mum dying of 'heart failure' has a whole knew meaning with this cult knowledge we learnt about in ep 9. that totally flew over my head the first time.

so there’s the same cult as mentioned in “a father’s love” and i could be reaching with this, but the same motif of darkness in that episode, where in “a father’s love” there’s the wave of darkness that shuts off the street lamps, and in this episode he mentions the streetlights/ his car lights being too dim as well as Natalie unscrewing the lightbulbs and darkening her room

who drives to check out a creepy possible gathering place for a cult that is some ways away from the closest town in the middle of the night by themselves??

Nobody has mentioned the stripped wallpaper. This could just be a coincidence but it reminds me of the episode with the priest. One of the houses he visited had wallpaper stripped from the wall and the word mentis.

So the eye is related to the cult referenced in episode 9 "A father's love".

creepy chapel in the middle of a cemetery? that sounds familiar...

I'm surprised that it was a *medical student* who thought of Natalie's behaviour as strange, considering all the strange things that I was doing during being one myself. For example, I would sing our University anthem (it's on Latin) out loud, not turn on any lights besides my table lamp (which saved me quite a lot of money for electricity bills) and come to my flat with a bag of bones...

"Anything your phobia is, there is a Magnus Archive episode about it", they say... Didn't think it could apply to my very specific phobia of lights not working / not being as strong as they should for no apparent reason and abnormally vast spaces in total darkness-

the imagery of someone singing in another language outside your room at night time is honestly really fking creepy

Notable (possible) clues marked by a blind listener: -Hear failures (lots) -(perhaps?) Two cults, eyes open or closed. -Failling lightbulbs. -Bilhem, like the killed. -The rich "religious" family from Alone, and their creepy chapel-cemetary. -

Mark has the same surname as one of the students who got killed, Christopher Bilham, from MAG020 Desecrated Host (the one who wasn't eaten). Could be pure coincidence but at this point I feel like you really can't overlook anything in the series lmao

"Nee Alesund is a small town in Norway" As an actual Norwegian, this sounds like a really weird name. Unless.... could you mean Ny-Ålesund? (i googled and it turns out it's a real town too, all the way up at svalbard, with a permanent population of around 35 people. neat!!) Å does sound rather different from A, but since he's britishly clueless and only reading it out, I'll forgive it.

*The entity like a boomer:* Damn kids and their new fangled technology!!

God that is definitely the same cult from ‘A Fathers Love’, and the same song ? Possibly? From ‘First Aid’. Also.... this may be a stretch but i noticed a parallel from Lost Jons Cave of the scenery around you changing in pitch black darknesss.. with a hand involved. Hmmhmmmmm

"Night's gonna last for a very long time" I got shivers

I don’t know if I’m reading too far into it, but I think the church is the same one as in Alone

ok so about the gertrude thing at the end, when asked about why she died everyone just said she "died while working" or something like that. She may have died to that cult while doing more envestigating into that statement. also im a new listener so no spoilers pls

it's interesting that the closed eye appears in the episodes about darkness. We often see eye symbols, but the closed eye was only in the ninth episode. Does that mean the darkness is against watching, making your eyes close?

Guys what if the closed eye drawing turned into an open eye when all lights are off, kinda cool like they’re watching u when u can’t see. But I feel more like there are two cults, one of the opened eye one of the closed eye. The open one protects u from the dark arts of the closed one (remember how in first aid the eye tattoos protected the guy from the lightless flame?). Also in the Black wood episode (that german name sch smt) in the tomb there were open eyes as to protect the place. Also in a father’s love the dad was scared when he realised his wife hadn’t her opened eye pendant on her, which I suspect protected her. And what about pageturner, Gerard Kaey had a painting of a GREEN open eye on his wall, and he seemed to be in the good cult bc he helped out the main character and burned the evil book (the one with human skin pages) and also in first aid he had killed the man evoking the lightless flame. Omg too many references to fit in this comment. Plz let me know what u think about this theory

23:28 awful pronunciation of "Ny-Ålesund" took a while to figure out what place he meant. but yeah, its on "Svalbard" a group of islands about halfway between Norway and the north pole. so yeah pretty far north. do what you wish with this information :)

Everytime he says, "statement ends" im reminded of the fact that, for the most part, its just john voicing these statements. But the tone is so different and sometimes im just rly invested in the story that i forget its not another person talking.

okay so....theres alot of eye symbols yes. but I feel like theres a difference between the closed eye one and the open eye one. or atleast some reason, I dont think theyd make note of it if it wasnt important

it's all coming together.. =O

"Someone had been unscrewing them." NOPE-

I recall people saying that there’s a magnus archives episode for every type of fear. As someone who’s always been afraid of empty darkness and who is currently watching this in the dark, this one definitely got me on edge.

I thank both RU-vid's automatic subtitles and whoever did the transcripts on the web. I'm Italian (my English isn't that great) and I can't understand that much if I listen only.

THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE BONNET LMAO

ah yes, the mysterious place of Ny-Ålesund, a place where 130 people live at most because of the cold and where literally nothing happens ever, apart from the occasional polar bear sighting

Interesting how the entities seem to teleport people into a different dimension or at least some of them do 👀

"..the lightbulbs kept blowing..." Me who heard this while jogging: *STOPS*

First time listener! There seems to be a similarity in each episode's horror that could be categorized. The current one is related to darkness, same as "a father's love." Then some related to insects (squirm, arachnophobia, colony). And in "Schwartzwald" the coin's flipside had sumn that translates to "for the silence" and the servant that took the coin died in a brutal way that exceeds human violence (remember vampire killer, how the vampires prey and dont speak at all?) Also this might be a bit of a stretch but "Burned out and First Aid" might worship something that relates to fire. Last and this might count as a spoiler but ive seen comments from freefall and strange music about "the vast" and "the stranger" respectively? And these somethings might be worshipped by diff cults? Tl;dr There are different horrors that can be categorized and each have their own cult. E.g. The darkness, the silence, the insects (?), sumn related to fire, and *spoilers i saw from comments* the vast, and the stranger.

For anyone listening for the first time and noticing the eye motif (this podcast LOVES eyes) without spiking anything, the closed eye and the open eye are different symbols for different groups :)

Really loving how all these stories are beginning to tie in with each other in various ways

Ok mark is sooo in love witg cathy it’s cute

This might be a stretch, but in the clown episode, the creepy clown had eyes painted as being closed. Maybe the same painted eyes?

I’m not stupid i won’t go in......................but?

I just paused the episode to get out of bed and take a shower when I heard a "crunch" under my feet... it was a spider nedlees to say I'm terrified now

21:32 the moment he said "flash" all the lights around me in the street came on. maybe its real

I have a suspicion that what ever natalie had served weren't exactly "vegetarian" (I'm thinking their some kind of bugs) persay and now I'm concerned that its gonna have consequences

"You worshipped them as we speak" Nat' Deary. What did you make to eat? You scare me

I think the cemetery and chapel sounds a lot like the one from the episode where a girls fiance died and she got lost and ended up there. I think it could be a coincidence, but a boarded up chapel with a surrounding cemetery?

Is the church and graveyard from Alone?

I like how all the evils of the world hate gertrude so much they were all partying hard the day she died

Anyone else notice that the light bulbs blew out like in ep 9?

I crochet to these episodes lol

21:40 When I hear the word "torch" my first thought is a mobile telephone, only afterwards do I think of actual standalone torches.

So, I've been keeping notes and determined a couple of...factions? That keep popping up. The meat/worm people, the eyes/beholder people, and the fire/heat people. Previously, I thought the shadow themes were part of the meat people, because of ep 10 with the serial killer dad, but now I'm thinking there's a different shadow faction, related to this church, which was also mentioned in episode 10. Plus, we now know that Jane Prentiss is a major person in the meat faction and we heard the name Mr. Pitch here from Natalie. I feel like a detective. What is this podcast doing to me???

As a Norwegian it took me a good while to realize “Nieallesund” was supposed to be “Ny Ålesund” which is on Svalbard… i figured it was supposed to be Latin or something until the end

I gave up note taking on episode 9 so thanks for all the red string notes and character recalls in the comments!

First time listener! Noticing colours making appearances often "enjoy blue skies", "hither green descenters", the red calliope, might have missed a few bit likewise might be looking for patterns where none exist XD

1:55 My name is Harper, and hearing Jonathan say my name makes me so happy

That village in Norway reminds me of Barrow, Alaska. In the middle of winter, the sun doesnt come out for a month! That is a long night.

eyes come up a lot, and i'm not sure if they're all connected, but I feel that this specific story is related to "a father's love", what with the whole darkness thing

was cathy eating a bowl of worms

"there just wasn't enough for it to be a crime" um, didn't Natalie take all of Kathy's stuff too?

What if the records are already in the right order? The ways in which the stories relate. Maybe that's why the last archivist died...

Im going absolutly crazy trying to figure out the plot as i go but theres just not enough info and so many things r connect. Ive been taking notes but i still miss so many things lmao

The comments below about theories and putting the pieces together brings me much joy having been there years earlier

I'm thankful for the comments that tell about recurring people and places, because I'm *really* bad with names and stuff, but goodness gracious me, every time I see something like "nobody mentions" or "don't see anyone talk about" and etc. and then them mentioning some very tiny detail, like, bloody hell, guys, are you learning this statements by heart or what?

natalie just went around unscrewing the lightbulbs slightly? lmao

First time listener here - Slowly I begin the get confused by all the names, characters and locations :D I should have taken notes from the first episode on :D

Yikes a cult

All the story’s are connected

I'm brand new but if they did disappear investigating this case, then why this case vs all the other ones? I can't wait to find out why in the coming episodes 😊

an old abandoned chapel in a graveyard, you say ? sounds rather *lonely* , if you ask me. please tell me someone else made that little connection ?

Reading comments it’s so interesting, how narrator way of phrasing influences commenters writing. Ads a lot to paranormal investigation atmosphere:D Or it just me

fell asleep half way through and woke up with my airpods still in on ep 29

"Some boring book on the history of the bonnet or something" Dude that sounds rad af what's with this guy?

Finished the series around this time last year. I'm listening through again now that I know where it's going

“It can’t have been actually supernatural like ghosts and stuff” My Supernatural (the TV show) obsessed @$$: Bet.

new listener what di she feed her what did she feed her what did she feed her whats did she feed her

The fact my first thoughts when she found a new church was that of the cult, i tell you im trying so hard to connect these dots and just hoping im wrong so i can find some new puzzle piece

Leathery fingers? Isn’t that how the spirals hands are described feeling like? Or maybe it’s just zombies. Because graveyards.

i think Gerard Kaey may not be the evil he could be the one observing the evil ones or something? why i dont know

Anyone else kinda dance around to the audio of the lights turning on? Whenever that happens in the intro I stop what I'm doing and point around as the lights turn on one by one (or at least I assume that's the sound of lights turning on)

is this not the same chapel that Naomi saw when she got lost on the cemetery?? because I could swear it's the same one!

Could the church possibly be related to that one story about the lady ending up at a church while trying to run from the thick fog? I believe it was after her boyfriend's death and meeting his family for the first time. That church was also by a cemetery.

GERTRUDE ROBINSON DIED ON MY BIRTHDAY I-

Fun-fact: Ny-Ålesund is actually a real settlement on the island of Svalbard which of course is Norwegian:)

Listening to these at 3AM was not a good idea.

An episode of magnus archive for my specific fear!!! Weird roommates!!

Well, I know know I won’t be able to know what to do if there’s a cult that’s trying to fuck me over... especially if it’s a real supernatural cult...

Closed eye, open eye, two factions?

hmmm again the cemetry from "Alone", the cult here in question seems to be Lukas family as always Given they are patreons of the Magnus insititute they themselves gonna keep tab on these stories maybe ? and the very reason they havent been found and exorcised ?

Dark