THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES #60 - The Observer Effect 

Hahaha

Indeed, messed her up

hi! i think this comment irreversibly changed my brainwires

I figured them out

@@clanso7887 well damn bitch share with the class

I am not a bitch thank you very much

Lol okie

Apology accepted

Not what now

@@fred_______ "sasha" has been credited as not!sasha since the end of season 1 dude

We caaaaare about youuuuu

What got me was when she said “we care about you” It sounded like “she” meant that she meant it but didn’t, which I guess is exactly the truth...

Yup. Almost like the tape recorder is struggling to capture her audio. Just like it did with Micheal...

I like to think that the character is actually voice acting- but not because he’s a dramatic theater kid like his coworkers assume (not JUST because of that anyway, he still probably is) but because he can’t help it. He gets... “possessed” in a way. Like hyper-telepathic-empathy. Like he KNOWS how the person who wrote it would say it. I always imagine him taking a breath or blinking when he “breaks character” like he’s coming out of a trance and I also like to think he doesn’t even know or notice.

Out of curiosity what made you comment this on THIS episode in particular? I can't see the previous episodes as any less stellar in the voice acting department

Happend to me before ngl.

That's the power of the archivist... ;)

:)

But if he didn't record it we wouldn't get to hear it!

PCDH @ the Institute be like

Right!!!!

I called it

Love that man 💕

Just in time😭💖

wahoo

🤣

do you really think he'd admit to suspicions in the very moments and situations he feels watched the most?

​​​@@mjamin9124 true, he even admitted his initial skepticism was due to him being scared he was being watched

He might be dry but at least he's self aware

I've also had to read dry academic monographs. 😮‍💨 Considering Jon seems like the type to enjoy nonfiction (and Jonny said in a Q&A the he probably watches documentaries for fun) and has a degree from Oxford that's got to be some pretty _dull_ stuff.

replying to boost this a bit higher 👍

And for anyone needing it, the TMA wikia has a *content* *warning* list for every episode

@a swarm of jellyfish Reality checks do refer to telling people who have delusions they aren't real but for paranoia a lot of the time they help. In like any other scenario you're right tho, unwanted reality checks are harmful. (Like 99 percent sure I'm right but I'm also dumb as a rock's pet rock so).

Boosting this for anyone who needs it.

Thanks. I needed this bc I really freaked out when the mirror scene happened.

We must protect him at all cost💖💖💖😭

DANG good job!

You did!

And it was about time

LMAOOO i mean it had to happen or jon would've just snapped BFJHGJHGKH

I FLIPPED CAUSE I SAW YOU LAST COMMENT. I was honestly kinda funny lol

I used to have a terrible phobia of mirrors in the sense that I’d look in and see someone or something behind me.. watching.. needless to say I got chills when Rosa saw the face in the window behind her

i thought i was safe from my trypophobia but i guess not :*

The show is activating every phobia possible, so nobody feels excluded 😂😂😂

me but with the sky and falling into it-

I used to be really afraid of creepy shit happening too. But then I realized, yeah, it would be freaky if some 10 foot tall creature could peer into my window. But why? I'm boring. Everything here is boring. I couldn't think of any other reason for something like that to happen other than that it just wouldn't be boring. And I kind of just slowly stopped being afraid of it. I only thought it would happen because nothing interesting had happened yet

Reading your comments I finally understood what they meant by "fetish object". I can't believe I was ready to accept to live in a world where people where using the cross for *that*.

That's not what fetish object means you dumbasses. "Fetish" has a second meaning which is used in this episode.

@@TransilvanianHunger1334 we... know? The main comment literally say they know what it means. My comment implies I know what it means. The word is just so rarely used with this meaning nowadays that our first thought was about the other, most common meaning. I really hope that you used "dumbass" in a joking tone, and that you weren't really insulting us, because the way your comment is written, it sounds a bit condescending :/

Yo I must be dumb because I did not know there was a different meaning for this word until now 😂

@@lhumyaki That one scene from The Exorcist immedeatly came to my mind when I heard that. You know, the "Let Jesus fuck you" one. That was the most disturbing scene of the movie for me, can't imagine how audiences back in 1973 must have felt (internally I mean, I saw the documentaries).

“Elias” “Fair” :)

tim?

except we can't see shit XD

👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁👁

that's what i was thinking when jon said he could feel someone watching when he read the statements but then he said that he felt it all the time, even when we're not there listening to his tapes

@@anyoom9031 wait when did he say that? He only said in the infestation episode that he'd have it while recording

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

Maybe... The archivist' have more pover and importance than we may have been suspecting...

OOOOH THATS GOOOD

"My voice is brighter and more professional that it has been for several episodes" 😭😭😭😭😭🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

What sound?

Uh, I don’t hear a sound

There is no scream...

There is definitely a scream.

Including John

coffee and thoughts arguably all other worldly souls would be worshipped as gods if they had physical influence on our plane of existence in early times. Any soul with enough influence on this plane will do!~

@@RoseMultiverse from what we see now. The obvious antagonists are: the insectoid ones. Mostly the worms/wasps(we all know), the spiders wich have some sort of mental control abilities and doupleganging powers( ie, the table, the girl that turn into spiders and the apple/three/ house) and the flys im still in season two but the flys do seem to be related in anything reguarding rot and awful smell. The cults: mainly the "eternal flame" although they seem like a reserved cult and the "el hassam" idk how it is pronounced, wich worship the dark for some reason. I tried linking the eyes but there are just so many things related to eyes that i just dont know where to start. And lastly the magnus institute itself. There are suttle but quite clear informations saying that the magnus institute might be a paranormal force aswell and they all are in a constant battle against each other.

@@alilweeb7684 probably the confrontation/struggle/battle Michael was talking about

@@alilweeb7684 Maybe the eyes are somehow related to the giant, for now unknown creature which was seen in the episode of Fairchild looking for something in his ship and maybe it is the same creature that Rosa saw. I was just wondering if the mirror is somehow connected to Michael, as in the episode of the never ending corridor there were also mirrors which were showing his true form, maybe it was a gift from him for the humans to "maintain the balance".

first time listener?

as a first time listener who doesn't yet know whatever canonical reasoning explains his switch when reading out statements, that actually makes a lot of sense! to sort of add on to this, one thing i've picked up on is that his vocal inflections and such seem to change with every statement. and like, some of them really do seem stark enough as to suggest something important - like he _is_ temporarily taking the place of the person who originally gave the statement, so far as to mimic the way they talk/talked. (though, this "addition" of mine might've been redundant, if vocal inflections fall under the category of personality... in that case, i'm sorry for wasting your time lol. just felt like pointing out something that's been on my mind a bit and seemed to match up with your headcanon)

*claps as I walk onto the stage* you are either physic, were spoiled, or just really damn smart

@@Atari_01 nope, nope, and nope. I'm just a huge fuckin nerd 😁

@@huntercharleston5812 so the last option

I think Not!Sasha was able to manipulate those too, judging from how easily Not!Graham was able to change all his official documents and such to show his new face. I assume the same would extend to video forms, otherwise they would be much too easily found out. I think the one thing that they don't seem to be able to manipulate is the audio tapes, as it seems they're in such an old format (similar to how jon talks about trying to record the statements on a computer but the file always becoming corrupted when it's a legit case) and I assume the videos were probably either recorded digitally or were converted to a digital format, allowing her to manipulate them. I think the tapes Sasha was in are the only proof of her being replaced, hence why they went missing after Not!Sasha took her place.

@@jsk-art And remember in episode 3, the only things not!Graham wasn’t able to change were the old Polaroid photos. I find it funny that the entities can easily affect modern technology but not old technology.

The recording of her statement about Michael was one of several MIA afte the work attack and her replacement.

@@fruitygarlic3601 so the way I think the "not!them" work is that people who are close to the person replaced (family, close friends, coworkers in Sasha's case) have memories replaced with the new look, while people who aren't as close will notice a difference. They do look completely different, but the people around them are manipulated into thinking this is how they always were. That's why in the early episode, the Amy noticed the change in Graham, because she was not considered a close friend per se.

what do you mean "watching" the tapes? It's a tape recorder. It's just audio. And he explained in an earlier episode that all the tapes that had Sasha in it disappeared

Yikes, that sounds like a nasty way to find out your phobia. I hope your new fear doesn't hamper your enjoyment of the series.

I'm very, very curious about the day to day life of the rest of the institute's staff! Do they have a cafeteria? Do lunch ladies work in the institute? Is there a cleaning crew? What's up with Artifact Storage? How many people work there?

I think it's bc we've never heard his serious voice

On digital footage, it will literally show NotSasha instead. The only pictures that escape are Polaroids.

Ayyy, where my Eliasfuckers at

Also whoever did it could theoretically have messed with the tapes...

But if someone appears on camera elsewhere in the building at the time of the murder, it serves as an alibi. (If the tapes are reliable.)

Aside from the fact that I laughed (sorry if that's offending 😅), I'm glad you survived :)

Nah, this is just bbc propaganda, as soon as the camera turns off they're taken away to be stored in the basement until the next broadcast

No, because they roam the streets at night hunting people who don't have telly loisences.

no omre Not!Graham bell lmao

I expect it to end with J Newall

the real horror is ableism

Elias found Gertrude ...

ok we good it wasnt as affecting as i thought itd be

There was a window behind me, with the view of the street below my brother’s study and the darkening sky above it. There was nothing there though, nobody walking along the street, no cars driving down it, nothing that seemed in any way out of place. I looked back at the note, shrugged, and reached down for the mirror. It was a bit heavier than I’d expected, and under a thick layer of tarnish the frame seemed to be gold, or at least gold-plated. The glass itself was a bit grimy, but still seemed to be intact. I have no idea how old it was, or what period it might have been made in. Though I searched the box thoroughly, I couldn’t find anything that might explain where Christopher got it. I looked in the mirror. I was a mess. Hair unwashed, eyes red from crying, lips patchy, stained a bruised purple from the wine. I hadn’t really had any time to take care of or even look at myself since I got to Christopher’s house, and this ancient hand mirror really showed it. I sighed, shook my head, and prepared to check the next box when the angle on the mirror shifted in my hand slightly, and I screamed. It now reflected the window behind me, and I could see a face staring in. It was dark outside, and it was almost entirely in shadow, so I couldn’t tell you much about the features, but he was huge, seeming to take up most of the window behind me. The only thing about it that I could see with any real clarity were the eyes - bright, shining, bulging eyes, with pupils so dark it made me feel sick, drinking everything in, watching with a greedy intensity. I could feel its gaze burning into the back of my neck, feel its unblinking eyes. My muscles locked in sudden terror, and the mirror tumbled out of my hand, spinning only once before it hit the floor and shattered into a thousand tiny shards. Seven years’ bad luck, isn’t it? Maybe that’s it. Maybe I have to feel this horrid, aching panic of the eyes I know are following me for seven years before they finally leave. I hope not. But maybe even that’s wishful thinking. Maybe this is now my life forever, and it will never, ever stop. I’ve tried to think whether I’d be able to go on if that was the case. I think I’d try, at least until my parents passed away. I couldn’t stand for them to lose both children. Obviously, that was when my real problems began. I could write the face off as a brief but horrid hallucination, but the feeling of being under constant scrutiny and observation isn’t something I can explain away so easily. I’ve considered the possibility that I’m just going insane. Being watched is not an uncommon symptom of psychosis or schizophrenia, and I’ve been keeping an eye out for the other symptoms, but in all other ways I feel fine. It’s true I’m finding it hard to concentrate, but that’s only because I can’t sleep because they’re watching me. Those unseen eyes that hover everywhere and won’t let me rest. I’m not mad, I’m sure I’m not mad. I still have what’s left of the mirror. It’s just a bent gold frame now. I tried to have new glass put in, but the only eyes it showed were mine. I did talk to Angus, though. He seemed a little bit unnerved by the line of questioning I was pursuing - or maybe just by how intensely I was asking the questions - but he answered me. He didn’t recognize the mirror, but a few years ago, Christopher was looking into writing a book on the totems of what he called “outer cults”, small organized groups of worshippers whose beliefs weren’t simply deviations from paganism or other major religions, but seemed to focus on holy beings or concepts completely apart from what would be considered normal religious practice. Some seemed to have more in common with ancient shamanism than with organized hierarchical worship, and all were highly secretive. Christopher had apparently collected several artefacts considered holy by certain of these sects, though I could find no details among his documents. Angus couldn’t be sure, but he believed that the mirror might have been one such object. Christopher had apparently abandoned the project about a year before his death, choosing instead to pursue a line of research into Inuit ceremonial carvings. And here’s where we finally come to why I’m here. Because Angus told me that my brother wasn’t researching alone. He had apparently logged several trips to London in order to consult with your Institute. I don’t know why or what about, and no one here seems to be able or willing to help me find out, but he was here. I’m not going to rest until I find out why. Not that I could rest anyway. Those eyes still haunt my dreams and follow me through the waking world, even here. Especially here. ARCHIVIST Statement ends. A bit of an odd one, this. The mid-to-late twentieth century seems marginally better-filed than most of the archives, so we haven’t seen as many rogue statements cropping up from that period. Most of the details from Miss Meyer’s statement seem to check out - Sasha got a confirmation from the BBC that she had indeed been one of the anchors for the Look East Evening News between 1970 and 72, until she suffered a nervous breakdown and damaged several cameras in their Norwich studio. Martin’s checking with the University of Southampton also seems to confirm the details of Christopher Meyer’s life and death. I even tried to read one or two of his books, but they were a bit dry even for me, and didn’t appear to have any particular relevance to the case. I’ve been unable to locate any evidence that he made use of the Institute’s library or consultation services, but even these days those records aren’t kept in as much detail as they really should be, so that doesn’t necessarily mean he wasn’t here. What’s most interesting is what Tim found out about the final two decades of Miss Meyer’s life, before she died in prison in 1993. Following the statement, she apparently spent almost 12 years working low-level service jobs, until both her mother and father passed away of cancer and heart disease respectively. There’s nothing notable about this period in any official records, but on October the 24th, 1984 she murdered a delivery van driver named Danilo Costich. She unloaded the van’s normal cargo of filing paper and envelopes before filling it with several barrels of petrol. She was apprehended just south of Vauxhall Bridge after she jumped a red light and collided with another car. Luckily, the petrol did not ignite and she was picked up by police as she tried to flee the scene. Originally charged with reckless driving, it didn’t take long for them to connect her to the murder of Mr. Costich, and she was given a sentence of 17 years in HMP Holloway.

I thought the brother died of stroke

Not!Sasha has a different voice actress than Original Sasha. We haven’t heard Original Sasha’s voice since episode 39, when she was replaced.

@@TheNitpickChick no spoilers but i really hope Sasha isn't dead and Not!Sasha is just keeping her trapped somewhere.

I noticed it IMMEDIATELY back in the season 1 finale and I was *S H O O K*

This is weird. So the brother set a trap to get the Eye on whoever was going through his stuff. Could it have been a security system? If it was left for his family, perhaps he thought being Marked by the Eye would protect them from entities of his other special fetishes.

I THINK gertrude went missing and they needed to find another archivist. Gertrude was later found in a room under the archives (if I'm not mistaken)

he was already working at the institute

I doubt jon would have checked the cctv for his own movements, but I'm thinking after what you said that maybe he should have. it provides very simple verification that the rest of the footage is untampered with. I wonder if it's been tampered with

Jon was working at the institute in a different department while Gertrude was Archivist. When she disappeared he was transferred to her position.

we have no idea, much like we still don't know what happened to the actual graham

Pretty dead I think ? Probably trapped in the web table or something.

No, the van *had* been carrying stationary, but she emptied it out and filled the van with petrol instead

@@daemonishy8222 ohhhhhhhh. yeah that makes more sense lmao

She hijacked a delivery truck that was supposed to be going there to avoid suspicion so she could douse the place in gasoline and burn it to the ground