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The Storage Papers is a fiction horror podcast.
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WRITTEN BY JEREMY ENFINGER
SOUND: A clock is ticking.
My meeting at El Campo had me wondering how much of the information Joseph Foye passed onto me could be verified through the papers, or perhaps through the stuff that Patel had sent over. Of course, I’m supposed to be on bed rest or “taking it easy” still, even though I feel just fine at the moment. Still, I asked Brianne to bring me some files that I recalled reading that may now bear pertinent information. She was taking her sweet time though, and I’ve been here for days just waiting for her, staring at the wall and thinking things over.
Reading about all of these people, and meeting several now, who claim to have these “abilities” makes me wonder, since our names are in the medical files, whether or not Brianne and I have some level of abilities as well. I can tell you for certain, I’m becoming more and more accepting of this possibility, and have even been doing my own little experiments while I lie here in bed. It’s strange though; I don’t seem to be able to fully experience anything during waking hours. But during times where I’m nearly asleep, or if I find myself daydreaming, that I… start to experience things differently.
For instance, there’s a small crack in the paint on my wall opposite my pillow in my bedroom. I was nodding off a few days ago, just staring at that crack as I’ve done so many times before. Do you know how you can stare at something long enough and your brain tricks you into thinking it’s moving? This wasn’t like that at all.
SOUND: Eerie music plays.
The crack, which was only a couple of inches long, started to travel further down the wall toward the floor. It split open as the entire house shook, and a huge hole appeared in the wall, large enough to drive a small car through. Within the crack that widened by the second, darkness.
I reached over to my nightstand and picked up my cell phone. No matter what button I pushed, it was inoperable. It didn’t seem broken though. It was obviously on, but as I went to toss it on the bed, it remained suspended in the air. I grabbed it in the air and held it in front of my face, then let go. It just hovered there, magically suspended in the air, seemingly frozen in time. When I looked over at my clock on the wall, the time was frozen at none oh three. The second hand wasn’t moving. My skin got prickly and I noticed I could see my breath. The temperature was dropping.
Movement in the direction of the crack in the wall caught my attention, so I turned to look at it, but my phone, still suspended in the air, was partially obstructing my view, so I placed it down on the bed.
SOUND: Whisper voices are heard.
The darkness behind the crack in the wall grew even darker, and though I saw motion, I convinced myself that my eyes were deceiving me. Truthfully, I couldn’t tell you what I was looking at, but it felt like there were hundreds; even, thousands of eyes upon me.
I started hearing voices. Mostly soft voices and rarely comprehensible until I heard one specific phrase:
SOUND: Louder whisper says, “I think he can see us,” followed by a few seconds of silence, then eerie music continues.
“I think he can see us.” Those six little words inspired so much fear in that moment. And as soon as I heard them, the whispers silenced, and the movement in the darkness stopped. The room was so quiet now that my ears were ringing. I reached for my phone again, and hadn’t really decided if I was going to call my wife, who would really worry about me if I told her what I witnessed, or if I should call Brianne, who would likely understand and believe me, but who I was frustrated with for taking so goddamn long with bringing those papers over.
As I checked for functionality of my phone again, it seemed to be working, but when I looked up at the crack, it had completely closed up, save for the couple of inches it started out being. Only now, there was this smoky, tarnished appearance around the crack that wasn’t there before. Perhaps a remnant trace of a doorway closed that otherwise would never have been noticed.
I heard my front door open and called out my wife’s name, thinking she was home from work already. I thought this would be an ordinary conversation, so I apologize for not having recorded this part. Instead I heard Brianne say, “Nope, it’s just me. Do you want anything from your fridge?”
I said, “No thanks,” even though I was incredibly hungry. I wanted to get my hands on those documents and actually have something to occupy my mind. I said, “What took you so long?”
Brianne looked at me kind of annoyed and said, “Jesus. Pushy much?” as she brought in a coffee that I hadn’t asked for, but actually really appreciated.
I said, “Sorry, it’s just been a few days and I know you’re busy. I do appreciate you taking the time though. What have you been up to?”
Brianne’s expression turned from annoyed to perplexed as she felt my forehead with the back of her hand. She said, “How are you feeling today?”
I replied, “Just bored really,” and I apologized for my appearance considering I hadn’t gotten out of bed for a long time.
Brianne asked, “When did we speak to one another last?”
I told her it must have been four or five days ago, when I asked her to bring me the documents. Right after my follow-up MRI.
She stood up straight and looked at me. She said, “Your MRI was yesterday. You called me two hours ago, and I dropped what I was doing and went to get your files, then stopped on the way here for the coffee. It’s been two hours.”
Impossible. I looked at my phone and the calendar date matched up with what she was saying. I looked at my right arm and I could still see a fresh needle mark from the contrast injection from the MRI. I thought for a moment, and I hadn’t seen my wife in what felt like several days either. I also admittedly smelled pretty bad. I said, “My MRI was on a Friday. If that was yesterday, then today should be Saturday, so where are my wife and my kids?”
Brianne said, “They went to the farmer’s market off Leucadia. You told me they went there.”
I was disoriented and said, “But that was days ago.”
Brianne took a few minutes asking me some questions, going into full nurse-mode. I explained to her what had just happened with the crack in the wall and the voices. We considered the possibility that some kind of temporal distortion had occurred, giving the appearance that several days had gone by, but I could tell she was more concerned than amazed by my story. In that moment, I realized I had a problem: even though we’re working with some unexplained and downright scary things, people are always going to be questioning whatever I say because of that brain lesion they found on the CT scan. I shouldn’t have said anything.
She hung around for a couple of hours until my family got back home, and I asked her not to say anything to my wife for the time being. I would tell her, just not immediately. No need to worry her about anything since everything seemed normal now. Brianne made me promise to tell her before my next doctor’s visit, and before this episode aired, which I did, then she left.
Once I ate some breakfast, I started rifling through some of the documents Brianne brought over. She had included some of Patel’s documents as well, including some general notes she seemed to write out in an outline style relating to SCIC. To be honest, some of this stuff seems like I shouldn’t be sharing it on the podcast, but at the same time, it was given to me and I’ve never signed a non-disclosure agreement with SCIC myself, so I guess I’ll find out if anyone there actually listens to The Storage Papers.
First I’ll go through some of Patel’s notes, but I warn you: they appear a bit jumbled and hasty. I’m not sure when she wrote these or if she’s writing in chronological order. It almost seems as if she was making an outline of her own research, or perhaps a much larger conversation she was planning to have. I’ll read a few now.
At some point, the shepherds and the makers got the attention of real entities – not things simply made up or manifested by them, but what, by ruling out all other options, appears to be actual demons, monsters, and there was even rumors of Extraterrestrial Biological Entities, though I’ve never seen evidence of that myself, so I’ll be focusing on spiritual beings. Method of contact remains unknown, but assuming it involves either psychic communication or extra dimensional travel of some kind.
Hydra was primarily military-driven until the late 1970’s. At that time, SCIC, a San Diego-based civilian contractor was hired as a 3rd party consultant to assist in quantification and verification of results through peer review. Even after the military mostly exited the higher ranks in the organization, it attracted retired military, who infiltrated the company and grew the organization to what it is today.
Outside of the work hired to do by Hydra, we were primarily dealing in weapons research and aerospace, but the lesser-known branches of the organization deal with weaponization of just about anything. SCIC personnel were the first to classify the Makers and the Shepherds, and to come up with the symbol system for labeling files.
These were on separate small notepad pages all torn out and freely floating within the documents. This next item though, was more formalized and looked like some kind of report, except it lacks the element of a cited author and it’s not addressed to anyone (I should note that there is a crudely-sketched pentagram symbol here, in addition to the 7-fingered hand symbol. It’s the only time I’ve seen it drawn on any documents instead of either stamped or part of letterhead). It reads:
Potential Overlapping Studies of the Psychical Research and Occult Research Departments:
Early research into psychic abilities, before the standardization of testing methods used today, produced some anomalies. It is unclear whether these anomalies are random in nature, or if they could be linked to post-World War II research.
I was able to find some historical documentation indicating the U.S. Army once had more of an interest in occult studies, spanning back to the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, however, these are only referenced in some of the documents I have access to, and thus far, my requests for a higher clearance level have been denied.
Where they seem to correlate most is in some of the earlier Psychical Research projects, prior to SCIC contract negotiations where often crude and considerably less ethical testing methods were used. Early documents I have access to are primarily indicative of test results we see now within the Maker and Shepherd classifications, but the research was sloppy to say the least, and evidence suggests there may have been variations in results compared to present-day research. Testing was conducted in a more random way and repeatability wasn’t always considered before results were documented. I can see why SCIC didn’t include much of this documentation in its own archives, but there may be some valid information worthy of further, more thorough research.
I’ve gathered 7 or 8 documents where the overlap of departments is significant, however, I do not have access to the names of the test subjects. It appears that psychic testing had been underway systematically when the first anomaly was noted.
A test subject described as “promising in their abilities” from the psychic research studies was temporarily utilized in an occult study. Prior to the occult research being performed, the individual had noted characteristics of being able to imagine something and manifest it. At the time, they were instructing them to imagine abnormal objects and even living things that do not exist so they could conclude that the subject was creating something new, rather than bringing something here from another place. It’s evident by the research comments that string theory wasn’t on their minds back then.
Occult studies occurred for five weeks, and then the subject was returned to the psychical research department to resume testing. Only after returning, results varied widely compared to results prior to the occult studies. The subject began manifesting darker things. It was recorded that several beings of unknown origin began to manifest. These beings were intelligent, communicated well, though independently, and had what they described as “intimate personal knowledge of the people conducting the research”.
These differed from other manifested living things in that the Army was attempting to control the previous beings, and they were trainable, compliant, and performed as expected so well, that the Army noted field testing having occurred in combat scenarios. But these new beings didn’t seem to be like that at all. They decided to take a more conservative approach with them and try to learn more about them prior to making any decision to commence any other forms of testing.
I am going to attach one of the scientific observation reports to this document as an example, but behaviors varied widely and were considered unpredictable, thus insufficient for military usage. Despite that being the case, these entities seemed to allow the Occult Research Department, identified by the pentagram symbol on the front of this report, to gain further funding and additional attention by Hydra.
On a personal note, I have seen some collaborative work between my department and the Occult Studies Department, and it only seems like it happens when they have something significant to gain, and they rarely offer up any of their own resources or information after the work is complete. This is the main cause for my research into their projects. I need assurance that there is an element of safety being taken into account for myself and my staff during these collaborative efforts.
I’d like to share with you an audio recording that was with this collection of documents. It sounds like it starts out as a transcript of a hypnosis session on one of the subjects, but turns into something much more. It reads:
SOUND: Vinyl surface dust and distortion – magnetic tape noise playing.
DOCTOR (Redacted): I want you to close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Take in slow, deep breaths and exhale slowly. In through your nose and out through your mouth. As you continue your breathing, you feel more relaxed. Imagine your body is floating on top of the water in a still pond. You release the tension in your muscles, starting with your neck, moving to your shoulders, extending down your arms to your fingertips. Your back and your hips are relaxed. Your knees, your ankles, and your feet feel weightless as you continue to float. You’re enjoying the silence and you drift further and further into relaxation until you are nearly asleep.
Now, the body of water you’re floating in begins to slowly develop a current. The current is soft and barely noticeable. As your body moves with the current, it relaxes you more, and you can hear the sounds of nature as you drift further and further into sleep and downstream.
The current carries you peacefully into a cave where there is no light, and all of the world’s sounds fade away the deeper you travel into the cave. The cave is a magical place. Its boundaries seclude you from the world and you have unlimited power and freedom in this place. It allows you to know things you’ve never known; that no one knows. It lets you see things no human being has ever seen before. It fills you up with a sense of wonder and you decide that you can do anything you want here.
You have all of the abilities of a god with no limitations. You are your own deity and it is now time for you to put on a display of your power. Now… What do you do next?
PATIENT: I’m alone, floating weightless in an infinite dark space. I desire companionship, so I create someone to share this space with me. A friend. Yes, a friend is what I need. He appears in front of me, and even looks like me just a little bit. He’s smiling. Everything is peaceful, and we don’t have to speak to communicate. He knows what I’m thinking and I know what he is thinking.
DOCTOR: Remember, you can do anything, be anything, and create anything. What do you do next?
PATIENT: I make more friends to share this space with. I feel safe and secure at first, but then I begin feeling even lonelier.
DOCTOR: Why?
PATIENT: Because everyone I’ve created has no experiences. They don’t think for themselves. They just react to everything I’m thinking. I long not only to share myself, but for my friends to share themselves with me. It’s a one-way friendship, but it’s not what I hoped it would be.
DOCTOR: So what do you do next? Remember, you can do anything in this space.
PATIENT: All of the friends I’ve created aren’t interested in me anymore. Their attention is focused on something behind me.
DOCTOR: Something you’ve created?
PATIENT: (worried) No. I’m not sure what it is. They are experiencing fear for the first time.
DOCTOR: What are they afraid of? Don’t forget, you can do anything you want there.
PATIENT: (fearful) Oh god! There are thousands of them!
DOCTOR: Thousands of what?
PATIENT: They don’t think I should be here. They don’t want me to be able to create. They hate me. There’s too many of them. Too many thoughts to separate, but it’s clear they don’t think I belong here.
DOCTOR: Just remember, you’re in control there.
PATIENT: No, they were here long before me. They are ancient, and they feel violated because I’m in their space. I shouldn’t be here. They don’t know how I’m able to be here, but now their attention is fully on me. I want out.
DOCTOR: Who are they? Why shouldn’t you be there?
PATIENT: They want to communicate to you through me. If I don’t let them, they say I’ll be trapped here forever.
DOCTOR: Don’t let them take contr-
PATIENT: (interrupts Doctor in an eldritch voice) You have no authority here, son of the flesh. You dare to defile us with your presence!
DOCTOR: Who addresses me?
PATIENT: (eldritch voice) I am the Ever-Present. I am The Infinite. And you are but a speck of dust in my presence. As a punishment for your insolence, he will suffer.
DOCTOR: (speaking hurriedly) When I snap my fingers, you’ll regain consciousness and feel relaxed. (snaps fingers)
PATIENT: (still in eldritch voice) It leaves when I permit it to leave.
(patient screams and convulses)
DOCTOR: Wake up! Wake up!
The audio file stops there. It’s unclear who… or what was speaking through the patient in this audio, but I think it’s safe to say given the pentagram symbols that keep popping up, they have some religious significance, whether demons, Djinn, or something else.
I’d like to share one last document with you, or at least a portion of it. Most of the document is redacted save for a few paragraphs of text, but the title of the document states, “Proposal for New Department of Research.” There is no date on it, but the paper is quite aged, and if I had to guess, this proposal marked the beginnings of their Occult Research department. It reads:
With new evidence that these beings possess their own intelligence and have the ability to interact and influence people outside of their will, further efforts must be taken to study them to distinguish them from the manifestations brought into existence by our test subjects. They have unknown motives and have successfully concealed their presence among us. They have presented knowledge beyond our understanding, can seemingly know peoples’ thoughts without a person conveying them verbally, and have demonstrated extreme hostility with no apparent inciting events.
As reported recently in a recent session with Subject M-22, the manifestation of such a being took place, and our scientists could not determine if the Subject simply manifested a being similar to one of them, or if the Subject somehow brought the being to our plane from somewhere else. In either case, knowledge of this being had to have occurred prior to this session, which means the Maker Project is now vulnerable to results that can no longer be verified. In addition, extreme caution is recommended in future Maker testing due to evidence that testing is drawing the attention of these beings and interaction both inside and outside of testing environments have taken place, both for the test subjects and the staff conducting the tests.
Now that we have data suggesting (though not necessarily proving scientifically) the existence of extra-dimensional beings, I suggest a new research department be developed to form criteria for classification of these beings, and to further expand our classification system of those brought here by the Shepherd experiments and those manifested by the Maker experiments. Furthermore, it is my recommendation that Shepherd and Maker experiments cease immediately until such criteria can be established. Without a classification system in place, we have no method for identifying which of these entities existed in our reality before Shepherd or Maker efforts.
Um… I’m not sure about you all listening to this, but I had to re-read, stop, and think about these three paragraphs I just read to you when I read it the first time for myself. It implies that extra-corporeal entities exist and Hydra, along with SCIC had the data a long time ago to back that up. I’m not sure if I’m more shocked by that, or if the fact that people exist that can bring others here from parallel dimensions or just think things into existence.
I was just starting to believe that perhaps all things paranormal that interested me so much of my life may have been explainable as physical products of someone’s imagination. But this is saying that, whether you call them ghosts, spirits, demons, angels, Djinn, or some other kind of non-human presence; it’s saying they exist.
Shit. I know the Dream Killer that Brianne and I faced with Ron was a real person, a gifted person. But now I’m wondering if the Grinner we faced in the church was an actual demon, or if it was one of Malcolm’s creations. The latter would explain the Grinner’s ability to be on Holy ground. I mean, a real demon isn’t supposed to be able to walk inside a church according to Father Lucas Stone, which is why he believes the beast within him can also be there. It would explain a lot. Our initial plan there failed because he could go wherever he wanted to.
On the other hand, we researched the demon the Grinner claimed to be, and there were so many similarities. I even avoided using its name for fear of calling attention to myself or giving it more power. But if it wasn’t the actual demon we thought it was, then perhaps it was created by Malcolm to resemble one. I have some digging to do.
SOUND: The doorbell rings.
Be right back.
SOUND: footsteps receding, door opens, then closes, then footsteps returning. Jeremy opens some mail.
This is interesting, I rarely have to sign for mail.
Um…
Well, I might as well tell you this since I’ll have had a chance to talk to my family before this episode airs. I suppose I could always cut it out later if needed.
Fucking doctors… Sorry everyone, the letter I just opened has some news that I’d prefer to hear in-person, or at least over the phone. I won’t read the entire letter, but essentially, my MRI results came back. Apparently I have a tumor the size of a quarter in my brain. The doctor mentions in his letter that it was strange to see because when I was sick back in 2019, an MRI of the brain was done because of severe headaches I had been having. Since then, there has been significant enlargement of the prefrontal cortex and the development of a tumor that typically would take years to grow to that size. I’ve been referred to neurology for a consultation to see if it’s operable, but he’s definitely concerned about the rate of growth, so they want to do it soon.
Sorry to end this one on a downer note, but I’ll keep you posted once I get everything set up with neurology.
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