THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES #52 - Exceptional Risk 

Like “wait, Martin isn’t the hot one?” XD

@@table2.0 LMFAOOOOO YEAH 😭😭

Not!Sasha going back to the others like “Alright strangers who wants to pretend to be my boyfriend? Please? Jon is getting suspicious!”

@@malaizze imagine they go all out and make it look like sasha has a harem XD

@@jadetheslime3140 evil fic writers give me the dark polyarchives

When I tell you I *WHEEEZEEEEDDDD*

BHAAHHAHAHAHHAA

This comment wins HAHAHAA GODDAMNNN

help i'm dying XD

It took me a second, but I got there and OH. MY. GOOOOOD!

i mean, there’s a reason he’s dating both a man and woman at the same time

@@samasaurus.rex_ _"women want him, men also want him, everyone wants to be him, he wears his sunglasses at night, he's just a cool cat and-"_

@@samasaurus.rex_ wait WHAT how did I miss it? Or it will be mentioned later?

@@TIGGYQUE pretty sure his involvement with two police officers was talked about in the post-statement of MAG49 (the butcher's window)

i like just finished season one so seeing the phrase "i see you" triggers my fight or flight

@@oreo625 Oh you poor soul- I just finished the entire series. Brace yourself my friend.

yes

stop, you're murdering him!

She managed to throw shade on both Jon and Martin in different ways in the same sentence. Jeez.

7:54

@@nanahuatli2144 She's the best

Real

In the original statement they say he was stabbed several times in the back and that the lightbulb in his cell was blown out.

​@@gayerthanyou42 yeah, but I think that was most likely what the official record said to avoid putting "big supernatural being murdered him after inducing a blackout"

OMG i was trying to find a comment like this, i wasn't sure!!! he sounded familiar🤔🤔

Now I wonder if the man in black is what chased after Roberts daughter. Either way lights breaking and water going bad is what happened at Roberts house

jonny is such a talented voice actor and writer,, he is a treasure

@@letterinabottle3196 i just remembered hes also the writer. this man is too powerful. im going to cry

He slips from one to another effortlessly too.

It's more of a writing skill than a voice acting one. He is generally using the same "voice" and tone for all of them but you can see their different wording choices and distinct personality, especially the over-the-top ones (like the piecemeal guy)

@@nanahuatli2144 He doesn't "slip", what you are hearing is not a read without any cuts. He probably takes a break several times between the lines.

B-But jonmartin

@@screams6157 You can be asexual and still be romantically involved. Ship on, my friend.

@@mimkyodar woah i am ashamed to say i did not know that. Thank you for this information

No dramas. Asexuals and aromantics are a misunderstood lot. Jon is ace but... well no spoilers

girl he is gay

Yea!!!!

No, Martin is the cute one.

I love how we have no idea what they look like but we all band together to agree Martin is the cute one. That's why I love podcasts so much

She’s talking about Tim though

Way too early

He’s asexual, so I doubt he would describe anyone as “hot” as their main identifier.

@@Dunedien Does he actually state that in a episode or is that just some q&a trivia?

Jon is implied to be asexual in MAG 106 and he has shown romantic interest in both men[37] and women.[8] Writer Jonny Sims has confirmed that the Archivist was written as asexual in the Season 4 Q+A Part 1 and on Twitter, according to the wiki. I couldn't remember where I'd learned it from so I looked it up lol.

@@Dunedien he would still call them hot lmao

She’s appeared since.

Oooh, I've never had a fixed image in my head for Basira because I've seen so many beautiful fanart interpretations of her, but I really like your interpretation.

I used to picture her pretty built, probably in the ballpark of 5'8-6', and with short hair and brown skin. But the rest of the fanbase has brought to my attention another aspect of her character design is that it could be that she wears a hijab or something akin to that, I think the main clue being that her name is Hussain. So I'm following that headcannon now

Explain please

[CLICK] ARCHIVIST Sorry, can’t be too careful. Accidentally mentioned you won one of my earlier official recordings, and had to go back over it. BASIRA Oh, sure. I’ve got another tape for you. ARCHIVIST Fantastic. Here’s the other one. BASIRA Was there anything on it? ARCHIVIST Oh, very much so. A Russian circus that - oh. But, uh, nothing relevant to Gertrude’s murder if that’s what you mean. BASIRA That is what I mean. ARCHIVIST Right. Sorry. Have you had a chance to listen to any of them yourself? BASIRA Well the precincts has exactly one tape player, and it exploded when I tried to put batteries in it. Put in a requisition for a new one, but that’s lost somewhere in the Met, and I haven’t had a chance to chase it up, so no. ARCHIVIST Well, if you keep bringing them to me - BASIRA It’s better than nothing, yeah. Anyway, I thought you could try this one next. ARCHIVIST Alexandria? BASIRA Hey, at least this one actually has a label. I figured you’re probably into old libraries and stuff - ARCHIVIST No, you’re right. Thank you, Basira. Honest. BASIRA Yeah. Oh, what’s the name of that helper of yours? ARCHIVIST Uh, Martin. BASIRA No, no, the hot one. He has scars like you but kind of manages to pull them off - ARCHIVIST Yes, Tim. BASIRA Yeah, what’s his deal? He gave me the weirdest grin when I came in just now and like… the thumbs up? ARCHIVIST I… I wouldn’t worry about it. BASIRA No? ARCHIVIST [sigh] …he thinks we’re sort of… together? BASIRA Oh - Oh. Oh no. You know I’m no - ARCHIVIST Yeah I know, me neither, he just got it in his head - BASIRA - I mean you’re nice and all - ARCHIVIST - yes - yes, no, I feel the same way. BASIRA Right. I mean, I suppose it’s better he think that? ARCHIVIST [sigh] I won’t tell if you want. BASIRA Right. I’m… gonna go then. ARCHIVIST Yes. Yes. [DOOR SHUTS] Right. [CLEARS THROAT] Statement resumes. ARCHIVIST (STATEMENT) It was in 1998 that I next came into regular contact with Robert Montauk. The government had commissioned the construction of close supervision centers in prisons all over the country, and Wakefield was one of the flagship initiatives. A good portion of F-wing was given over to our own CSC, soon to be known as the exceptional risk unit. It could only hold eight prisoners but they were to be the worst of the worst, kept under constant scrutiny and given no chance to harm anyone. I was picked to be one of the officers transferred into the new unit. I don’t know if it was specifically because I had more inmate altercations on my record than any other prison officer at Wakefield, but given the intensity of the setup I’m sure it didn’t hurt my application. Robert Montauk was an obvious choice for the exceptional risk unit. During his time in Wakefield he had been involved in several further violent incidents, and though he hadn’t yet killed anyone inside the prison, the higher-ups reckoned it was only a matter of time so in he went. The CSC was not a nice place. Wakefield had had the budget to make it secure, but not to make it anything less than starkly utilitarian. The individual cells were cramped and claustrophobic, with almost no natural light filtering in from the outside. Oh, they still got their exercise but it was in bare metal cages. We kept them separated from each other almost as much as we kept them from the rest of the prison. You must never underestimate how violent and desperate a trapped animal can become. We were cruel to them, I’m not ashamed of that. If I were to tell you all the crimes of those monsters we kept in the EIU, you’d probably lose your lunch before I was halfway through the list. Keeping them beat down was the only way to make sure they behaved, and besides atonement is important. I’ll admit though, I always had a soft spot for Robert Montauk. He never gave us any trouble. Away from the other prisoners he seemed too docile, almost eerily so sometimes. Also - and it’s a small thing - but he never denied his crimes. Wakefield is one of those prisons where everyone is innocent and it gets so dull to hear their whining protestations day after day. Anyone who fully owned their crimes always went up in my estimation.

I mean we still beat him down on occasion, but not as bad as the others. After a year or two I kind of started to forget who he was, you know? The mystique of being Britain’s most successful serial killer just didn’t hold up when you have someone in your power like that. You forget any respect you might have had for them. And he never gave us any trouble. In 2001 he started to get visitors, his daughter mostly. Given that she hadn’t visited before, I’d guess she just turned 18. You get that a lot. Unaccompanied visits aren’t allowed under that age and plenty of inmates have kids living with overprotective guardians who refused to take them. So I assumed she was similar. The visitor rooms in the main prison are quite nice, not so much in the exceptional risk unit. The dark, bare room like all of them, cut down the middle with a reinforced window. There were plenty of lights in there but somehow it always seemed gloomy. I was on observation for a few of their father-daughter visits. She would talk about her life like her dad wasn’t a murderer, he would lie about how it wasn’t too bad in the prison, it was all very touching I’m sure. Aside from his daughter there was only one other time that he had a visitor. It was six months before he died, late March 2002. He was an older guy, I’d guess late 50s, wearing a well-tailored black suit and an expression of disgust. When I brought Montauk, in his face fell and he went very pale. I’d help folks beat Robert Montauk a dozen times or more but I had never seen him look scared. He sat down opposite the old man and they looked each other in the eye through the thick glass. I think the visitor might have been blind. His eyes were cloudy but he had no cane or dog, and it didn’t seem to affect how he looked at Montauk. Neither of them spoke. The seconds turned into minutes and still they didn’t say a word. They just sat there, staring. Given where I work, it’s really something to be able to say that I’ve never seen two people who hated each other as much as Robert Montauk and that old man. After a few minutes I was all but ready to drag him out but as I stepped forward the lights blew, all of them at once, leaving us in the dark. I had Pete Gordo, the warden with me on visitor duty, fumbling for the handle on the door to get help or torches. I was tense, ready to fight off Montauk if he decided to make a move, but instead a soft voice came from out of the darkness. I didn’t recognize it but I thought it sounded like it came from the old man. I don’t think he was talking to me. “You didn’t think you could kill it for long, did you?” That’s what it said. Then Pete got the door open and a shaft of light poured in from the corridor. I could once again see Montauk and the old man, sat there, motionless. It didn’t seem like they’d moved an inch. Though as I went to take Montauk back to his cell I noticed that he was crying. I didn’t mention it. I’ll be honest, I was kind of freaked out by the whole thing. The next few months were quiet. Montauk seemed even more subdued than normal and often had to be goaded into exercising during his allotted time. The only point where he seemed normal was when his daughter came for her visits, and maybe that was just because he was already so used to lying to her. That was the summer we had all the plumbing problems in the ERU, and the water kept going foul, so we were all kind of on edge. But nothing really happened until it turned to autumn and November rolled around. It was November the 1st. I remember because the date was read out so many damn times at the assorted disciplinaries that followed. The worst part of it is, I wasn’t even doing anything wrong that day. I was working the late shift with Pete and we were having coffee in the break room. At least, I was having coffee. Pete was swearing at the taps because the plumbing problem we had all had been assured was fixed was back and worse than ever. The taps were disgorging a jet of foul-smelling stagnant water. I was laughing at him sipping my own perfectly adequate drink, when all the lights went off. It was more widespread than last time though. It seemed like the electricity had gone off altogether. We stood there in the pitch-black waiting for the generator to kick in, or for whatever power problem this was to be fixed, but after a few minutes of silence and darkness it became clear that that wasn’t happening anytime soon. In the distance we could hear the prisoners of the exceptional risk unit start to shout and holler. Their cells were locked, of course, there was nothing a power cut could do about that. But it was still up to us to keep order until the lights came back. I had hoped that the other prison officers on shift would have come by to pick us up, but they were clearly busy elsewhere. I called out to Pete, making sure he was still nearby as I fumbled in the locker for my torch. I finally found it and turned it on. The beam was so bright in the oppressive darkness that I had to blink away tears. Using the light from mine, Pete found his own flashlight and together we headed out into the CSC. We checked each cell in turn, lying to the prisoners inside about when the power would be back and sending them back to their beds with threats of violence. I didn’t see any of the other wardens around and was starting to get really nervous. When we had checked all the other cells, we went towards Robert Montauk’s. The torch beams shot out in front of us, but as they fell upon the door to his cell, something was wrong. I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at for a second, and then I realized that his cell door was open but the torch light wasn’t reaching the inside. As it hit the threshold it just stopped, a clear and distinct line of darkness beyond which nothing could be seen. From inside there came the wet sound of tearing and a low moan of pain. I wanted to run, but instead I took a step forward. My torch died. Pete’s went off as well and we just stood there, terrified, unable to see a thing. The sounds were no longer coming from inside the cell and that didn’t really as much as it might have. About 15 feet behind me I heard Pete fumbling around, calling out my name. I was about to reply, tell him to stay where he was, when I heard something that froze my blood. Pete said, “There you are.” He was not touching me. Almost immediately there was a growl from the darkness. It was throaty in a roar, but at the same time sounded almost musical. He screamed. I heard him fall to the floor. It was at that moment that the lights came back on. We were alone.

I ran to do a quick circuit of the CSC that the other prison officers arrived, but there was no one else there. Apparently there’d been some problems with the doors and they hadn’t been able to get to the main ERU cells. Pete was on the ground when I returned, though he seemed physically unharmed. It was one of the other wardens that found what was left of Robert Montauk. I took the fall for it. They didn’t try to make out like I had killed him, just that it had happened on my watch and due to my negligence. They’d been trying to push me out ever since the prison inspector had written the CSC up for excessive use of force the year before. They really threw the book at me. “Gross incompetence.” It’s a bitter phrase to say out loud. What was I supposed to tell them, a monster made of darkness murdered him? Pete was no help. He handed in his notice two hours after the lights came back on. I didn’t even get a chance to speak to him asked what had happened, he was just gone. I don’t really have anything more to say about it. It was a clearly paranormal incident that led to the end of my career and it’s not fair. ARCHIVIST Statement ends. Prison records are very hard to acquire for the Close Supervision Center, due to the small number of inmates held there. Most information could be considered identifying, so the prison service tends to hide behind data protection laws when asked about them. Beyond that many of the prison records from before the mid-2000s have still not been digitized, making followup on this hard. Tim hit something of a dead end trying to look up Pete Gordo, though Sasha did manage to track down the 2002 visitor logs for the whole of Wakefield prison. It took some searching but I managed to find what I believe to be the entry for the visit from Mr. Brown’s mysterious old man. The name given is Maxwell Rainer. Martin hasn’t had much luck tracking down Mr. Brown himself. According to Caroline Brodie, his ex-wife, she left him in 2004 after his dismissal from the prison service pushed him further into alcoholism and he became abusive. She says she got a single letter from him in 2009 asking for reconciliation but she never replied. Martin says the letter was postmarked from Waterford in Ireland but he’s been unable to track Mr. Brown any further. So what is this thing if it seems to obstruct Robert Montauk through so much of his life, and what’s its connection to Rayner? Were they summoning it, containing it, worshipping it? Whatever the case it seems as though Montauk earned its anger. I feel it might be worthwhile getting a few more torches for the Archive. End recording. [CLICK] [CLICK] Supplemental. I confronted Sasha about the wax museum. It was just too strange to not mention. I tried to pass it off like I had spotted her accidentally while in the area for other reasons. I doubt she bought it, but she did at least give me an answer. She has a new boyfriend, or so she claims, who works there and she likes to get lunch with him. It is plausible, and at this stage I feel challenging her to produce said boyfriend would potentially damage what trust remains between us. No luck with any of my other leads yet, but at least I have another of Gertrude’s tapes. It’s always going to be a shot in the dark with them, but hopefully an informative one. I know the secret to her death is on one of them. It must be. I just… I hope I don’t have to hear it firsthand. End supplement. [CLICK]

Petra Iván thankiesss

You're welcome :)

He’s the father from a father’s love, hope this helps

If you read between the lines a bit, it seems plausible he committed the murders (which were apparently rituals of some kind) mainly to protect his daughter. It's heavily implied that the entity killed his wife, and he didn't want to lose his daughter as well. Hence: "Father's Love."

Prison guards aren’t cops. Basira IS.

Ew

As far as I can remember no. I'm pretty sure I would have remembered my fellow countrymans name, so you probably confused him with one of the Russians. But then again I was never reliable when it came to recollecting names...

It was the one with gertrude and it was Ivan Utkin not Illich

The Death of Ivan Ilyich is a famous book, probably you recognise it from there.

@@ineedmoresalmon2475 Oh, I was starting to wonder why that name rang so many bells.

Ivan was the Ukrainian kid's- Yuri- brother I think. From "Another Circus"

yep, both tim and jon had to have lots of worms removed from under their skin, remember? big yuck

Martin used a corkscrew and I'm not sure what the medics used. Presumably a scalpel 🤷‍♀️

Omg that’d be cool

wasnt he from a fathers love

a 'detective rayner' called montuak in a fathers love, the dog tags of a 'joseph rayner' was found in the piper, and maxwell rayner was the head of a cult mentioned in the culty flatmate ep. the last names been popping up a bit, so its definitely a thing

Journie Kendrick I admire you for remembering that and I thank you for this information

@@journiekendrick7050 I don't think Rayner was mentioned as a cult leader in the "Growing Dark". I had my suspicions that he was the cult leader of the Divine Host and you confirmed my theory by spoiling it -_-

@@TransilvanianHunger1334 actually the name Rayner was mentioned as a cult leader in A Father's Love if im not mistaken, so it isnt spoilers

*cries

In the Magnus Institute tape recorders just happen.

Ooo! Maybe! Good catch! 😃

Oooh, I didn't think of that!

I'll never understand people who kill multiple people to save the life of one person. Why is that one person more important than multiple people??

Ohhh, nice catch!

That was my favorite episode!

Kinda she said it AFTER shasha screams, becuase its trying to replicate her voice atleast thats me theory

I think it's the first time we heard of him? You can check the wiki

Who's Brodie?

@@katara2021 Last name of Carolina Brodie. :)

@@aphemorpha Got that but which case is she from? Do you remember?

@@katara2021 This one. SPOILERS . . . . . Callum Brodie is a recurring name, and I never placed he was connected to the Dark from even this early.

*"the hot one"* = Tim

Ok I wasn't paying much attention but when he said this guy killed 40 people, it made me think of Jack the Ripper. I will be starting this episode over now just to be sure but am I right on that? I think he had around that many confirmed murders and he was never identified as well as the fact his actual name is not known to be Jack. Wait I take it back he only killed something like 5 women. I swear I recalledit being in the dozens. I guess I was wrong. Woops - edit

@@hamburgerdog25 I know John Wayne Gacey killed somewhere in the 30’s ? I believe of young boys/men and he sounds like he has the same build to this guy, I wonder if he’s loosely based off of him. Netflix has a good documentary about Gacey if you’re interested, I believe it’s recorded on tapes as well. Or at least the original audio files from when he was in prison sound like they are

fr. i was like damn 6'6? and go to the comments to so no one even mentions it XD

My dad's not tall but he is average height and has a gym bro figure so if I didn't know him he'd intimidate me too and I mentioned that he could look intimidating to a stranger once and he just gave me a disbelieving look. Now I'm just thinking of Robert Montauk not realising how scary he looks being like "ok first time in prison it's all cool just act normal" and immediately sets off the guards red flag bc of his height 😂

@@a_jae_doe you're so right lol

Ah! Can't believe I just released he's the same guy from the murderer story🤦 Was listening on Spotify and didn't have any comments, I wonder how many more details I missed

I KNEW IT WAS THIS GUY WHEN THE DAUGHTER WAS MENTIONED!!!

In the comment section for episode 39 I saw someone say that they only picture Tim wearing sunglasses all the time. Inside, outside, light, dark, _all_ the time. Like when he picks up the abandoned tape recorder and gets attacked, or when he busts through that wall. So now I'm doing the same thing and imo it makes his character 10x more hilarious

Very bi energy, the finger guns.

@@fevre_dream8542 ikr? He's bi

@@hamburgerdog25 Mr worldwide

@@hamburgerdog25I feel like Tim is the Kramer of the show

yep :( still lowkey feel bad for the both of them, daughter especially

riley michael I feel awful for the daughter but not the father

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH

Wait what happened again?

Wait is this the father’s love one? :o

Yeah honestly the narrator seemed like the real bad guy here :/

glad i'm not the only one that got that vibe (especially considering Jon mentioned he got abusive)

Yeah, this whole episode I couldn't stop thinking about the Stanford Prison Experiment. To quote Dean Winchester "Demons I get. People are crazy."

@@tearez13 A friend of mine was a prison officer. She said people there are either really into it or have to leave. She ended up leaving after an inmate sent her two letters one covered in blood and the other covered in... another body fluid.

@@callmeyourdai5y518 one of my friends, who has lots of experience with various sorts of security jobs, was turned down for a job at a "correctional facility" because they were "too empathetic". i'd definitely call them a good person, but not the sort to break the rules at work because someone gave them puppy eyes. so..... yeah.

True, they list the case numbers at the beginning of the comments section. It's always a vague recollection when I remember things Jonathan mentions them.

When he mentioned that two cases got damaged or taken away in the MAG40 I had to open almost every previous episode to see what they were (Strange Music and A Distortion)

Tvtropes lists the case numbers on the recap page and blocks spoilers!!!

the-magnus-archives.fandom.com/wiki/Characters/Episode You can ctrl f to search a specific name on the page.

@@Darkrose517 thank you you're a godsend

yeah (on another note, woo, starkid/tcb!!)

YOU’RE SO RIGHT

YES!!! I love that show!!!

FBSJFBJSFNNDFNDNG THE ACCURACY

So true!