THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES #1 - Anglerfish - Horror Fiction Podcast

Rusty Quill Presents

The Magnus Archives

Episode 1:

Anglerfish

Test.. Test... Test...

1, 2, 3... Right.

My name is Jonathan Sims.

I work for the Magnus Institute, London,

an organisation dedicated to
academic research into the

esoteric and the paranormal.

The head of the Institute,
Mr. Elias Bouchard,

has employed me to replace
the previous Head Archivist,

one Gertrude Robinson,

who has recently passed away.

I have been working as a researcher
at the Institute for four years now

and am familiar with most of our
more significant contracts and projects.

Most reach dead ends, predictably enough,

as incidents of the supernatural,
such as they are;

and I always emphasise there are
very few genuine cases

tend to resist easy conclusions.

When an investigation has gone
as far as it can,

it is transferred to the Archives.

Now,

the Institute was founded in 1818,

which means that the Archive contains

almost 200 years of
case files at this point.

Combine that with the fact

that most of the Institute prefers
the ivory tower of pure academia

to the complicated work of
dealing with statements

or recent experiences

and you have the recipe for
an impeccably organised library

and an absolute mess of an archive.

This isn’t necessarily a problem

modern filing and indexing
systems are a real wonder,

and all it would need

is a half-decent archivist
to keep it in order.

Gertrude Robinson was apparently

not that archivist...

From where I am sitting,
I can see thousands of files.

Many spread loosely around the place,

others crushed into unmarked boxes.

A few have dates on them
or helpful labels

such as 86-91 G/H.

Not only that,

but most of these appear
to be handwritten

or produced on a typewriter

with no accompanying digital
or audio versions of any sort.

In fact, I believe the first
computer to ever enter this room

is the laptop that I brought in today.

More importantly,
it seems as though

little of the actual investigations
have been stored in the Archives,

so the only thing in most of the files

are the statements themselves.

It is going to take me

a long, long

time to organise this mess.

I’ve managed to secure the services
of two researchers to assist me.

Well, technically three,

but I don’t count Martin

as he’s unlikely to contribute
anything but delays.

I plan to digitise the files
as much as possible

and record audio versions,

though some will have
to be on tape recorder,

as my attempts to
get them on my laptop

have met with…

significant audio distortions.

Alongside this Tim, Sasha and, yes,

I suppose, Martin

will be doing some
supplementary investigation

to see what details may be
missing from what we have.

I’ll try to present these in as

succinct a fashion as I can
at the end of each statement.

I can, unfortunately, promise no
order in regards to date or theme

of the statements that are recorded,

and can only apologise
to any future researcher

attempting to use these files
for their own investigations.

That’s probably enough time
spent making my excuses

for the state of this place,

and I suppose we have to begin somewhere.

Statement of Nathan Watts,

regarding an encounter
on Old Fishmarket Close,

Edinburgh.

Original statement given

April 22nd 2012.

Audio recording by Jonathan Sims,

Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute,

London.

Statement begins:

This all happened a couple of years ago,

so I apologise if some of
the details are a bit off.

I mean, I feel like I
remember it clearly but

sometimes things are so weird
that you start to doubt yourself.

Still, I suppose

weird is kind of what you guys do, right?

So I’m studying at
the University of Edinburgh.

Biochemistry, specifically, and

I was in my second year
at the time this happened.

I wasn’t in any sort of university
accommodation at this point,

and was renting a student
flat down in Southside

with a few other second years.