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The Storage Papers is a fiction horror podcast.
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Transcript
WRITTEN BY JEREMY ENFINGER
PERFORMANCES BY JEREMY ENFINGER (JEREMY)
SOUND:
Pounding at the door.
Ron was in a hurry when I answered my door. I grabbed a sweater, my wallet, phone and keys, and headed out the door and toward his SUV. I took a seat in the back next to Brianne and Gerald Hubert. Joseph Foye was in the front passenger seat next to Ron.
As soon as my door closed, Ron screeched away in a hurry. I asked what was going on and Ron asked Brianne to help catch me up. She tells me that Joseph unexpectedly went into one of his trance-like states again, like the one he had before the appearance of the Pyramidion that we witnessed in the hotel room, only this time was different.
While he normally has a peaceful experience that simply reveals the location where it will appear, he said it was more brief and forceful. The experience was not pleasant at all, and it was far too soon after a natural appearance for it to be showing up again. Joseph had only experienced this a small number of times in the past, and those were times that Hydra had successfully been able to summon it intentionally by exploiting the abilities of one of the children. The problem now was to anyone’s knowledge, those experiments weren’t currently happening, so he is assuming this is Malcolm’s doing.
Joseph picked up to explain between moments of giving Ron directions where to go, that if it was Malcolm, and he somehow managed to find a way to summon it, it would be extremely dangerous. Joseph even said he had been able to summon it himself in the past, but there were always accidents and unforeseen outcomes. Especially after it had recently appeared. He explained that it should only appear when the timing is right, and that’s determined by a natural course that we don’t yet understand.
Due to its extreme electromagnetic presence and the environmental disturbance it causes when it shows up, the Pyramdion can’t stray too far from its normal pattern, which has never been fewer than 11 months between appearances, and as long as 11 years in between. Joseph explained they didn’t understand the significance of the number 11, but it was always a factor in the amount of years, months, days, hours and minutes involving its appearance. Joseph seemed incredibly flustered that the Pyramidion was being disturbed, as if it had a consciousness about it.
I looked at Brianne with raised eyebrows as if to say, “do you buy any of this bullshit?”
Joseph, after telling Ron to turn right at freeway off ramp, said, “It’s no bullshit,” even though there was no way he could have seen my expression while sitting in front of me.
Then he turned around and asked if I had ever heard of the Philadelphia Experiment. I was actually somewhat familiar with it, but considering the wide range of opinions about it out there, I decided to tell Joseph I hadn’t heard much about it.
He went on to explain that Hydra had made several attempts in the past to summon the Pyramidion, some successfully as he previously stated. He claimed to have read a report about some testing about 10 miles off the coast of San Diego in the late 1950’s, which was before his time at Hydra, though the term “Philadelphia Experiment” appeared several times in the report as a result of similarities in results of their attempt.
The Philadelphia Experiment was rumored to have involved a United States Destroyer class ship, the U.S.S. Eldridge. In 1943, in a display open to the public in broad daylight, the ship was rumored to have completely disappeared by witnesses. Furthermore, as some suggested, the entire ship completely teleported from the Delaware river to the Naval Shipyard in Norfolk, Virginia.
According to Joseph, the simple referencing of the Philadelphia Experiment in Hydra’s documents about the tests conducted off the coast in San Diego decades later implied Hydra had involvement in the affair. Nonetheless, the San Diego Experiments yielded similar results to the Philadelphia Experiments as some of the Navy crew members suggested.
He went on to explain records mentioning the San Diego Experiments and the word, “Pyramid” in the report. There were three ships; two for observation and one ship that contained the pyramid. He said the report spoke of the disappearance and reappearance of a ship owned by Hydra nearly the size of a Coast Guard Cutter. Apparently, the first visual disappearance of the ship occurred right on time as a synchronized plan. But the records indicated the ship unexpectedly disappeared and reappeared several times within the minutes that followed.
It would vanish and then show up for a few seconds or a few minutes, seemingly random in timing. In addition, its location slightly changed each time it reappeared. During moments it appeared closer to one of the observation vessels, the crew observed what they believed to be disfigured men aboard the experimental ship and the sound of screaming and agonizing pain. When the ship disappeared, the screams would fall silent, and then could be heard again as it reappeared moments later.
Reportedly, the final appearance of the experimental ship was when tragedy occurred. The report had been noting the ship’s hull appearing lower and lower into the water at each appearance, suggesting it had been taking on water each time it returned. But that last time, the ship had somehow merged its structure with one of the observation vessels.
By the time it had done this, the stern of the much larger experimental ship was nearly underwater. A rescue attempt was made by the other observation ship, which had been nearly a half-mile away from the one whose structure melded with the experimental ship. As they approached, they could see the ships appeared connected as if they had been built that way. No evidence of a collision could be seen, but it’s as if they shared the molecular structure of the same metals, hulls fused together as a result of teleportation.
Observation of the two ships was brief and they both sank before the third ship could send anyone to board. Many people were saved from the water, but it wasn’t until they could interview the rescued men from the fused observation ship that the accounts became even more strange.
They reported seeing the men of the experimental ship fused with the hull of the boat. Some had appeared disfigured and some were missing limbs, though none were bleeding. One man’s face protruded from the bow of the ship, appearing to be frozen with an expression of sheer terror.
There were also a few crew found fused to each other, sometimes with parts of the ship involved, and sometimes they’d be wet as if they’d been underwater with seaweed and kelp protruding from their bodies. Other reports included seeing monsters of some kind; creatures roaming the deck of the experimental ship making ear-piercing shrieking sounds. One was believed to have been seen by a crew member on the deck of the ship coming to help. It was described as blueish-gray in color, taller than a man, and without a face, yet the screeching noise did appear to be coming from it somehow. Another crew member suggested the sounds emanate from slits on either side of the neck. It was also noted diving into the water and swimming swiftly toward the ship before submerging too deep to continue watching.
Joseph said he wasn’t given the full details of the report, and much of it had been redacted, but he was allowed to read it as a precautionary measure to show the dangers of summoning the Pyramidion before the experiments he was involved in. Ultimately the summary of the report recommended against further testing due to the evidence of interdimensional travel and lack of control over the outcomes. They weren’t able to create a controlled environment for testing, and even though they chose to conduct this experiment far from public view, it still ended in catastrophe and no additional insight as to the function or purpose of the Pyramidion itself.
The truth was I had been familiar with rumors about the Philadelphia Experiment, which I thought had been sufficiently discredited, but I hadn’t heard anything about the San Diego Hydra Experiment. In the former, even after the Freedom of Information Act, no government agency has ever come forward with any documentation suggesting it actually happened. It has been deemed a conspiracy theory, and of course those people who claim to have witnessed it were all ridiculed and discredited. At one point, I heard rumor of this experiment being some top secret technology test to render ships invisible to radar, but I really didn’t know much beyond that.
In any case, if either of these accounts are true, they’re absolutely terrifying. This information about the San Diego Experiment makes me wonder what we’re getting ourselves into. I asked more about what we know Malcolm is hoping to accomplish here.
Joseph claimed that he had spoken to Malcolm, who had inside knowledge about the Pyramidion from Dr. Patel. He believed the Pyramidion was a liaison for interdimensional and temporal travel. That the key to finding Tabitha and bringing her back was to gain the assistance of this deity, who has already been communicating with him and feeding his mind with false hopes and promises. Malcolm had been using injections derived by Patel to maximize his abilities, which he claimed were superior to anyone’s he had ever been aware of, including Joseph’s.
Joseph further explained that the reason we were in such a hurry was to prevent Malcolm from coming into contact with the Pyramidion, should he be able to summon it successfully. There were several reasons for this.
The first involved his concern for Malcolm directly, and who could blame him? He did seem to be making decisions to make things right between them and to look out for Malcolm. He said he had great fear about the impact on Malcolm’s state of mind if Tabitha couldn’t be brought back. He was afraid to see what Malcolm would do if he had nothing to lose.
Second, he feared that Malcolm could successfully summon this deity, or extradimensional god of sorts. Joseph had a hard time articulating exactly what this thing was, but said we could assume the Grinner was a child’s version of this thing, and there have been historical and biblical references to the destruction it can cause. He believed Malcolm was being deceived by an entity that had no plans of fulfilling any obligations to Malcolm at all. In this case, he feared for us all.
Brianne asked Joseph if he knew where we were going. He couldn’t say for sure but he also wouldn’t know until they’re closer to the place the Pyramidion is going to appear. He could only pinpoint a general direction. He reminded me of one of those tracking dogs, only he wasn’t sniffing the ground. As time went by after we got off the freeway and began driving down residential streets near the airport, Joseph seemed to need a trial-and-error approach to finding out where we were going.
He’d tell Ron to turn down one street and then say things like, “No, turn around and go back the other way.” He didn’t seem as capable at locating it as he had when he brought Brianne and I to it previously, though he wasn’t quite sure why.
As we passed an intersection, I noticed Brianne’s attention directed toward one of the houses. She told Ron to turn around at about the same time Joseph did. We all looked at her, a bit surprised, until Joseph finally asked her if she could sense it too.
Brianne said, “No, but that house back there at the intersection feels familiar.” She believed it was where Malcolm had held her captive with some of the other Makers and Shepherds. She said she never actually saw details, but she could sense a “particular vibe” being near it.
Ron quickly turned the car around and eased to a stop in front of the house on the corner of the intersection. Brianne unbuckled her seat belt and we all followed suit. As we approached the house, Brianne and Joseph nodded toward one another with speechless confirmation that we were in the right place. After a moment, I couldn’t help but ask, “So are we just going to knock, or what?”
Ron said, “Follow me” and led us around the side of the house toward the unfenced backyard. There was a small 3-step landing to climb before we all stood at the back door. After jiggling the knob in an unsuccessful attempt to open the door, which looked rather aged, Ron told us to step back.
He then proceeded to kick in the door on his first attempt, then drew his firearm from a hidden holster behind his back before walking in first. Joseph followed closely behind Ron and Brianne and I just kind of lingered outside the door for a moment. I think we were both shocked that we were just breaking and entering at the moment. Regardless, we followed them in after a momentary pause.
The inside of the home was dark and dank, with discolored curtains drawn and barely any daylight seeping in outside of through the doorway we just crashed through. Ron led us through the kitchen and around a corner to the left which led to the first floor hallway. He told us to wait where we were at while he and Joseph cleared the rooms.
As they quietly and systematically went to each door on the first floor, Brianne and I waited as our eyes adjusted to the low light. As Ron came out of the farthest room down the hall, we heard a commotion in the basement, as if someone or something had been scurrying down some stairs, which was followed by a loud bang, and then what sounded like chains rattling.
By the look on Ron’s face, I could tell he heard it too. There was one door to my left and to Ron’s right between us that he hadn’t cleared yet. So he slowly turned the handle and raised his firearm as I watched him disappear through the door. We all followed close by as we witnessed a vibrant green glow coming from the bottom of the stairs, similar to the aurora borealis in shimmering waves.
Brianne whispered to me, “This is the place I was being held by Malcolm.”
Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, we could go no more than a few feet into the large unfinished basement. A chain-link fence has been installed from floor to ceiling with a gate in the center that had been chained closed and secured with a hefty padlock.
We each spread out with our hands clasping the fence, the faint green glow illuminating a few details just beyond the fence and a few feet into the expansive concrete room. I couldn’t tell where the light source was… It was strange, like it was moving slowly about the room independently and undulating in brightness.
Joseph spoke up at that point, saying, “Clever.”
Ron said, “What do you mean?”
Joseph went on to explain that he believed Malcolm must have found a way to summon the Pyramidion and built a Faraday cage around the place it would show up, which also doubled as a security precaution in order to prevent anyone else from getting near it… At least temporarily, but likely just long enough for him to accomplish whatever he needed to.
I said, “Okay, I’ll be the dumb one. What the hell is a Faraday cage?”
Ron and Joseph took turns explaining that a Faraday cage is an electrically-grounded wire mesh used to prevent electromagnetic frequencies from being able to influence anything inside it. Joseph speculated that was the reason he had a little more trouble pinpointing exactly where we needed to go. And based on what little we know of the Pyramidion that seems entirely possible given its strange electromagnetic properties.
Come to think of it, I knew what it was… Or at least I had heard about it in paranormal investigative techniques, but usually on a much smaller scale, and I had never used one myself. This cage lined the entire basement, which looked at least about 20 by 30 feet… Maybe more if we could actually see to the other side. That was just a guess based on the appearance of the house from the outside.
Brianne suddenly said, “Oh my god!”
We all kind of jumped when she said that, but we weren’t sure why she did. Ron finally asked what was wrong.
Brianne began tearing up and said, “I think I can see people on the floor in there.”
She was right. I don’t know if our eyes were just adjusting more or if the greenish hue somehow brightened in the room, but we could barely make out inanimate objects on the ground scattered toward the back of the room. None of them were moving.
It suddenly occurred to me that the ritual required eleven chosen people, so I said, “Can anyone tell how many there are?”
All three of them began counting in whispers before Joseph finally said, “I count eleven.” Brianne quickly followed with confirmation of eleven. Fuck!
Ron appeared to still be counting though, which caused us all to look at him. He whispered, “twelve,” then began counting again. We all looked beyond the fencing to begin counting again when we saw movement, and Ron raised his firearm to point at it. It was Malcolm.
Joseph placed a hand gently on Ron’s firearm in an effort to get him to lower it, but Ron wasn’t having that. He gave a stern side-glance to Joseph as if to say, “There’s no way I’m taking this off of him.”
Joseph said, “Malcolm, what have you done?”
Malcolm replied, “Oh, this?” and motioned toward the bodies collected on the ground around him as he slowly stepped over them and towards us, appearing unafraid of the gun Ron was holding.
Brianne started tearing up, then said, “You killed them all?”
Malcolm replied, “No, no, no… they simply… volunteered. Allow me to introduce you to The Order of the Divine Acolytes.”
I turned to Brianne, Joseph, and Ron and told them Malcolm had begun the ritual. Only Ron seemed to understand what I was talking about. With that information, he placed both hands on his firearm with the intention of shooting, but suddenly looked confused when nothing happened.
Malcolm began laughing and said, “Oh Ron, if you intended to kill me, you shouldn’t have brought my sentimental grandfather with you.”
I looked at Joseph, who appeared to be concentrating heavily. Whatever he was doing was preventing Ron from pulling the trigger… Or moving at all really. Ron looked pissed.
Malcolm, obviously pleased with himself and having some kind of distorted fun with this whole situation, said, “Now if you’ll excuse me…” and turned around to walk away from us toward the back of the basement, and the green light disappeared, leaving us in complete darkness.
I began to get a headache suddenly when a rumbling sound appeared, followed by that distorted noise now familiar to me since the Pyramidion arrived the first time. It was here now, and it was in the Faraday cage with Malcolm.
A faint light appeared that barely allowed us to visualize the outline of the Pyramidion. And Malcolm promptly placed both hands on it and began chanting.
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