THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES #61 - Hard Shoulder 

"if this gets out, i'll break every bone in your body" "there are worse things that could happen to them" "WHAT?" is hands down one of my favorite exchanges in this series

officers: ok here's the plan, we give this guy tapes to make sure he stays around long enough for us to see if he's the one that killed her, this man is possibly dangerous.. jon: hehe recordign (:

my god, listening to this made me feel like doctor doofenshmirtz. "A delivery van? A Breekon and Hope delivery van!? A BREEKON AND HOPE DELIVERY VAN WITH THE COFFIN INSIDE!?"

Jon: Are you alright? Daisy: No. Jon: Oh... just one more thing- Daisy: I'm done. Jon: Do you know anything about vampires? Daisy: Yes. Jon: *Audible Baffled Confusion* Daisy has her own tempo and I love it so much.

Jon: My coworkers are being ridiculous. It shouldn't be such a big deal that I suspected them of Gertrude's murder and stalked them. Also Jon: I can't believe I was suspected of killing Gertrude! This is so unfair! >:(

Daisy's existence is a power move

It said Breacon and Hope: ah shit There was moaning: ah shit In the back of the van was a coffin: ah shit He pulled out a large key: oh no

Jon: I mean yeah you can go ahead and give a statement. Why not Daisy: proceeds to give a statement that has some of the most obvious and big important connections and details

Jon's sass being kept in check for the first time by the sheer badassery of that cop

He didn't seem as paranoid this time around. It's a bit of a relief, tbh

Daisy's voice makes my lesbian heart shudder with feelings, holy shit good job

Daaaanggg Jon's power to get people to answer his questions really shone in this episode

Jon: I-i didn't! Daisy: yeah, I know. Jon: *audibly letting out a deep breath* Oh Jon, my bean, my poor lil bean

The hurt in Jon's voice when asking "Why?!". I'm glad he seems to be getting out of his paranoia and recognizing he hasn't been acting normally, but I still feel bad for him.

This is extremely frustrating, what is the point of the magnus institute? They're hording knowledge without cause, once they found out there's a police "division" that deals with this it should be a seamless cooperation. The institute by itself has no force, just an idle body. The police "division" by themselves are entering dangerous situations blind. It's like having map makers and hikers refusing to talk to each other. Why didn't he give her a copy of the vampire tapes? Or at least give some tips and tricks? The institute is a powerful resource that chained it's own hands.

“I need to go home and try to get some sleep” YES JON LOOK AFTER YOURSELF

So the vampires have mind control, the spiders have mind control, the tables have mind control, and the coffins have mind control... New meta.

Love this guest voice actress. She's so calm.

That goddam coffin it's back

I'm convinced that Jon's statement voice and his ability to make people tell a proper story with all the details is more than a plot device.

OK, now we know what’s in the mysterious coffin. Now, at least one question remains: what’s _IN_ the coffin?!

W- why did he mention rain at the end there? Me no likey. I know we're all worried for Jon, but honestly, his paranoia is so reasonable that it would be incredibly weird if he didn't have it at this point. He knows everything on these tapes is real. He feels like he's being watched (which, I think is safe to assume, he is). He got targeted - for unknown reasons - by a super creepy human-worm thing and barely made it out alive not two months ago, and on top of that his predecessor has been murdered, and not by some eldritch horror out there, but by a person. By, very possibly, a colleague of his. A person who walks around the archive and smiles at him while planning and scheming. Not to mention Michael's warning about Sasha, her odd behaviour, and the fact that even Martin had something to hide. His secret might have been harmless. But what about the others? So yeah, I guess what I'm trying to say is: his paranoia is a pretty healthy answer to the challenge with which he got presented.

Ok so this happened in 2002 and the first statement with Joshua happened before 1998. Also the man who gave him money in Amsterdam was named John but just like Tom he is described as unremarkable and difficult to remember clearly so it's probable that its the same man. But the real mystery: is it the same man as not!Sasha bf ?

this episode is amazing. to both hear daisy be so upfront, aggressive, but yet friendly, to hear more about that damn coffin, and that the police have an operating procedure for the supernatural. I know it's doing its own universe, but with how connected things are I can just imagine someone casually mentioning hearing or seeing an organization handling things by the name of 'SCP', the urban horror fantasy is just so on point with it.

Daisy: I wanted to stop a driver so I could take my frustration out on someone. Y'know, like a responsible police officer does. comments: hngghh queen pls kick me 😩😩😩😩

daisy: “If it gets out, I’ll break every bone in your body.” Jonathan Sins: *sigh* “why do these things always happen to me?” ...dude...

It was also raining when the two men retrieved the coffin.

Tom like the boyfriend Sasha mentioned??

"I probably shouldn't be too pleased to discover that there are even more *violent hunters* stalking us through the night." Oh, Jonny Sims, you rascal.

That damn singing coffin is back again

Every time Jon denounces a story as blatantly fake, the evidence punches him in the face like 14 episodes later

Methinks Daisy wanted to talk about her experience that day BECAUSE it was raining outside. It reminded her of the incident, it must've been weighing on her...

daisy sounds shocked that she managed to tell him the story, like surprised and stuff

Daisy: if anyone else ever hears it... Jon: you'll arest me Daisy:...no... Poor jon

Ooooof i have, for real, Rancid Vibes from daisy. Any cop who utters the word "some idiot who i could take out my bad mood on" is a menace. You're not allowed bad moods or bad days when you're police. That's the kind of cow-boys that rot a police reputation to the core and once that trust is gone, it's gone. Big yikes.

The fact that Jon mentioned it's raining got me on edge;;; ALSO, weird that the first time the coffin made a (known) victim in the other statement, there WAS screaming... yet now the victim just waltzed in there and that was it?? Could the inside of the coffin change depending on... idk... maybe whether it's opened during the moaning phase or not? Maybe the supposed thing inside wasn't hungry this time around 🤔

As much as I love episode 2 not revealing what was in the coffin, I'm also super glad we got to see it happen as well XD

This statement is such a PURE DELIGHT to listen to again after the last few episodes of season 4. Here I am, just stupidely beaming as I listen to Daisy and Jon talking to each other. God, who would have /thought/

The image of a cop stopping a vehicle and just wordlessly staring at the driver while a long, drawn-out moan comes from the back of the car is really funny. I guess the staircase is connected to the "body snatcher dimension," similar to how the door in the house is connected to "Michael's" fractal dimension?

“There was a look on his face like I have never seen before” Me: fear? “Relaxed” Oh no, even worse

i LOVE Daisy and I LOVE how nervous she makes Jon.

I bet they thought it's hilarious to phrase it as "feeding" Jon the tapes, plus other phrases that are variations of consuming them, and that is kinda infuriating in the way that just makes you wanna laugh Because man did we not have any idea what was coming Edit: I'm relistening to the whole thing again, and wanted to make this exact comment, until I saw that I already did last time around. I am no less angry this time either

First-time listener here, what if the coffin stairs are the tunnel stairs???? When Jon was exploring the tunnels, he made note of stairs that led up into nothing

John must be incredibly easy on the eyes, or incredibly disarming bc theres no way he should have been able to get that information out of daisy

Man’s pulled a whole statement and three other questions even though Daisy clearly hates his guts. Jon is just that good ig god damn

This eas one of those episodes where I was conversing a lot with it 😂 "good. Wait. why is it bad it's raining? jon. Jon. Why is it bad, hello-"

Our sweet delivery boys are back Coffin/ staircase into the ground Raining heavily Vampire process

I'm so so conflicted about Basirsa and Daisy because I *really* don't like cops but I also *really* like these characters

Well then, here we go. The reason that this older episode ( and yes, I am going through from first to last) holds a *special* meaning for me will be explained in a moment. On the surface, one might think this is a variation of a Venus-flytrap sort of thing, building upon the earlier "Do Not Open" story, and it is more than adequate for the required chills that accompany that perspective. (Must admit I was not certain of why the almost bipolar shifts from casual friendliness to open hostility, and back, and forth, on the part of Daisy) BUT I do not know if any of the gently folk at Rusty Quill have followed the "Missing 411" sagas over the years? They are not fantasy stories but deal with real, documented disappearances of real people in remote locations, including national parks. Some are never found, some are found naked and/or dismembered, miles from their last location, and bodies have even been found in tall trees, as if left there by a hungry predator STILL, That is a whole other story, and quite disturbing, THE CONNECTION here is, in a number of cases, in various parts of the country (USA) there are people who swear to having seen, and sometimes touched - staircases which ascend or descend, in the middle of forests with barely accessible trails, some of them ascend ten to twelve feet, and are made of wood, some with carpet, some bare; some are stone. Others descend, stone stairs which appear at ground level and descend into darkness but no one enters. They stairs are not always there - but they have been appearing and disappearing long enough that many old time residents - including members of Native American tribes going back several generations - - caution people that if they see a stair, they are not to touch it or climb it. They have also been seen by official US Forestry Department workers, Rangers, lost children who were later recovered. the list goes on. If you ever want to see how deep the rabbit hole goes, or just how close your excellent stories come to overlapping with seriously bizarre realities, spend a few dozen hours, or weeks, reading all of the various stories. It is enough to make you obsess if you let it. ANYWAY, thanks for your stories. Keep up the great work.

Glad to hear police knows about vampires I have procedure against them. Also I love how things from over 50 episodes can come back so suddenly

You mean my man Joshua G. was just watching a fuckin staircase for a year and a half?

THE COFFIN!!!!!

Everybody talking about how this fit in lore wise or the new female audio here I am thinking shit that guy who dealt with the coffin was even more of a bad ass he spent month around the thing and managed to avoid this fate but this detective just failed step one

"I will admit to feeling a bit hurt" SHIT JON ME TOO!

No one: The coffin: OOOOooOoOoOOoooOoooOOOOOOOOOOooooOOOoOoooooOOoooOooo~~

i love their dynamic so much

“Worse things can happen to them.” Foreshadowing is an amazing thing

Oh the rain coffin

Oh, the coffin's back!

So that's what happens when you open it

The absolute mundanity with which Daisy describes the vampire procedure is subtly terrifying in it's own right.

"Not much worse in the world than a really bad car crash" as former EMS can confirm. Some of the worst calls I ever ran.

The way she said speaking back and forth reminded me of the two Russian men from the circus. I remember the story said they spoke almost back and forth.

At this point I'm openly laughing at what a little freak Jonathon is, scuttering around his work place, rooting through bins and accusing his coworkers of murder

that staircase reminds me of the staircase in 'recluse' which turns its victims into spiders... also i seem to be getting vibes of different factions of supernatural beings; likke the girl who kissed the guy in recluse vs. the spider hive person. and the vampires in here -- idk. all very weeeeird and cool

I love her voice, so soothing.

I hope trevor is still out a killing them vamps

Daisy just makes me uncomfortable then all I see are comments about them wanting her to step on them

I can't believe it! The coffin was my favorite entry from season one! I never thought I'd get to revisit it!

You know, after Sasha, Daisy might be my favourite character. Can't wait to see where s5 takes her.

I keep wondering if the Archive itself is alive somehow. The fact that certain technology doesn't work at times, Jon's trance-like state while reading off statements, his feeling of being watched, the fact this seemingly isn't the first Archive...Maybe I'm reading too much into it bc the Archive gives me Oldest House vibes from the game Control. But there's definitely something odd going on. (No spoilers please. This is my first time listening.)

I do a little happy dance whenever I hear someone thing already mentioned in A previous statement come back

I can't believe that this episode connected two of my favourite plotlines in the series. I've been thinking of "Do not open" non stop and our homeless vampire hunter is always such a delight

“Do not open” is still one of my favorite episodes bc of the mystery and suspense of the box. Even after listening to all these other episodes, that one always popped into mind first bc I’m so curious of what’s in the box. I worried that the mystery would be better than the truth, I’m glad I was wrong.

Jon makes me think of characters with supernatural empathy or that can take on memories left on objects...like he takes on the memories of the statements as he reads them, and compels people to remember things when they make statements. Wonder if it's intentional.

I am absolutely addicted to this series now. I love the way everything is starting to come together! This needs to be a television show

Geez, Jon's particular influence is showing even now. Rather hilarious how blatant it is once you know what to look for. I got spoiled about that aspect, though I can't say I'm complaining. Those animatics are CHOICE

I didn’t expect Daisy to have such a soothing voice…

i love her already AH

Tom... not!sasha's "boyfriend" Tom? Either way, I was waiting to hear the coffin come back up. Every episode is a complete gem, but I think the coffin one has scared me the most. It's my favorite episode. This is my first time listening through so pls no spoilers if anyone comments 🙈

Spoiler Damn this is jons/the archivists power in action. Daisy just answering all questions

Daisy: If it gets out, I'll break every bone in your body. Jon: Grumble grumble.

"i just wish it wasn't raining" the CHILLS omg

My theory from this episode and what we know so far: First of, once again we're shown that there is something supernatural that makes the witnesses to give their statements the way they do, and it's probably the same thing that makes john read the written statements the way he does. Once again we have a witness who doesn't want to talk but just right afterwards they start talking, and here we also have daisy saying that she never told that story to anyone but one person before, and it is obvious that she felt that something is weird about this fact. As for the story, we learn more about the box. The officer who got in the box was like hupnotized, and from the "do not open" episode we know that the witness was also sleep walking towards opening the box, so whatever entity is related with the box can do that. It reminds also a bit about the witness's statement in the episode with Michael and the spiral maze, where the witness says one moment she remembers looking at the maze from outside the door and the other she remembers her fright when she hears the door behind her close. So, something takes ahold of their consience for a few moments after they decide to open the door/box, so these two cases could be related after all. I saw from another comment that it was also raining in the "do not open" episode when they came to collect the box and, although it's the uk we're talking about, it was also at that moment that "John" was ever seen together with the delivery guys in the episode, so I believe that "Tom" and the delivery guys had just collected the box from another victim, that this time didn't make it out safe and sound like the witness in the "do not open" episode (since either the victim or the third person gets taken from the box, the delivery guys have as a purpose only the delivery and making sure the rules will be followed). The reason why in the other episode "john" was screaming but here the cop is just entering inside, i believe because the cop was a victim of the box while "john" was punished in a way for failing his mission. And the box itself is a portal to another dimension, very obvious though. As for the vampires, I like the fact that in-universe organizations like the police realised that there is something supernatural going on so they got measures to defeat those vampire-creatures when it was happening, and even more I like that Daisy hadn't killed someone innocent by accident after all those years 😅 but that knowledge of the police also intrugues me; are there any people who work for a supernatural entity inside the police? And the entity in which the vampires belong to is just an enemy of the police's entity? But once again, I believe Daisy was made from something supernatural to share this info about the vampires thing too. Can't wait to hear another one of gertrude's tapes

IM SO GLAD WE GOT MORE INFO ABOUT THE COFFIN. It was one of the stories that really really stuck with me

Spoilers for much later (I think around ep 110?) Daisy seemed to really change from getting ready to leave to being eager to share a story she said that she'd only told to one other person. Was this the first recorded time of Jon using his "question" thing? Were there times before this? This is my second pass through the whole series and its interesting seeing all the clues put in place so early.

Is Daisy's incident before or after Do Not Open? If "Tom" was the guy who paid the protagonist in that story, then I'm assuming it's before, he got shoved in that coffin in the end.

DAISY! I'm relistening through the series and forgot how much I missed Daisy.

Jon, incredibly impressed at Daisy's body (vampire) count, "I see..."

I have never heard the word tarmac more than listening to this series

Listening back again. **SPOILERS BELOW:** . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I did not realise last time how *obvious* the whole Hunt thing was about Daisy. It also makes me realise why she was a lot nicer when she had her distance from The Hunt too.

**potential spoilers** Okay, so I haven’t actually listened to anything past this point, but towards the beginning of the series I saw a reply under somebody else’s comment which spoiled (rudely, might I add-it just sat there with no warning whatsoever) that Jon can actually compell people to talk even if they themselves don’t want to. This fact has been sitting in my mind ever since-I’ve been waiting for it to be revealed. I think this is the episode where you REALLY start to see it. I don’t know any details about this (and I don’t want to, I’ve been spoiled enough already), but I know that whatever Jon does/is/has that makes people talk becomes really apparent in this episode. I hope this means it’ll be addressed in not all too long, as I’m simply aching to know more about it (again, through the actual podcast, no spoilers please :).

Coffin...moaning in the rain...delivery van.....ahhhhhh man here we go

Listens to the line about the staircase. Brain: wizards, man.

If this gets out, I'll break every bone in your body" Best quote. Love Daisy already. Man, Breekon and Hope have a lot of guts watching the whole situation go down with a straight face. Watching a literal police officer getting kidnapped by a coffin And yet, they casually just picked up the coffin. Beat a detective and calmly drive away. Also, hearing Jon admit that he isn't feeling well kinda made me sad. Cause I have a feeling he ain't getting any sleep ANY time soon.

Other than the delivery van (Breekon and Hope? WITH COCKNEY ACCENTS? *A COFFIN?*) Daisy is just- really cool:) her voice too its quite calming

Wasn't Not!Sasha's new boyfriend called Tom?

Of all the things I though the coffin would May contain this never occurred to me. And it’s as amazing as terrifying!

I love getting passed 100 or so episodes and some how I accidentally skipped this I’m so glad I realized that I did it because now because I get to figure out more about the coffin

3 minutes in and I already want Daisy to peg me.