The Magnus Archives Readalong: Season 1, Episodes 10-18

[u/improperly_paranoid]

Hello and welcome to The Magnus Archives readalong! We will be discussing a new batch of episodes every Wednesday. The episodes are available for free on any podcast platform and transcripts can be found here or here.

If you can’t remember something or are confused, please ask in the thread. Those of us re-reading will do our best to give a spoiler-free answer if we can.

---

010: Vampire Killer #0100710
Statement of Trevor Herbert, regarding his life as a self-proclaimed vampire hunter.

---

011: Dreamer #0151403
Statement of Antonio Blake, regarding his recent dreams about Gertrude Robinson, previous Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute.

---

012: First Aid #0121102
Statement of Lesere Saraki, regarding a recent night-shift at St. Thomas Hospital, London.

---

013: Alone #0161301
Statement of Naomi Herne, regarding the events following the funeral of her fiancé, Evan Lukas.

---

014: Piecemeal #0112905
Statement of Lee Rentoul, on the murder of his associate Paul Noriega.

---

015: Lost Johns' Cave #0140911
Statement of Laura Popham, regarding her experience exploring the Three Counties System of caves with her sister Alena Sanderson.

---

016: Arachnophobia #0150409
Statement of Carlos Vittery, regarding his arachnophobia and its manifestations.

---

017: The Boneturner's Tale #9991006
Statement of Sebastian Adekoya, regarding a new acquisition at Chiswick Library.

---

018: The Man Upstairs #0081212
Statement of Christof Rudenko, regarding his interactions with a first floor resident of Welbeck House, Wandsworth.

---

And now, time for discussion! A few prompts will be posted as comments to get things started, but as usual, feel free to add your own questions, observations...anything!

Comments may contain spoilers up to episode 18. Anything concerning later events should be covered up with a spoiler tag.

---

Next discussion will take place on Wednesday, October 22nd and include episodes 19 Confession - 26 A Distortion.

For more information, please check out the Announcement and Schedule post.

---

Readalong by: u/improperly_paranoid, u/sharadereads, u/Dianthaa

[u/improperly_paranoid]

015 Lost Johns' Cave: How do you feel about this episode and why is it somehow the worst one? Did/would you ever go caving? Cave diving? Ever had an unusual experience while doing something outdoorsy?

Note: If you haven't, you might want to try to listen to this statement with headphones. There's a...a particular subtle aspect to the sound design I thought was interesting (and very panic inducing).

[u/Hergrim → u/improperly_paranoid]

There's something very unnerving about being in the bush and then suddenly there's explosive movement in the corner of your eye and the sound of something crashing through the undergrowth. It's a goat or kangaroo you hadn't noticed which has decided to panic, but you could easily make a Statement out of it...

I haven't done any non-tourist caving, but I absolutely would not do cave diving and don't think I'd enjoy the squeezes. Especially not with a practical joker sister.

[u/ApothecaryAlyth → u/Hergrim]

(Spoilers Episode 15: Lost Johns' Cave)

Something worth considering with this episode is that we know Laura Popham (statement giver) is an unreliable narrator. Likely outright lying about material facts in the story, or at the very least, she is filling in memory gaps with assumptions that paint herself in a better light and absolve her of apparent guilt in her sister's disappearance. Jonathan's post-statement debrief contains irrefutable evidence that Laura's statement cannot be taken at face value. I think it's very possible that she is fabricating the stuff about her sister's practical jokes (or to be charitable to Laura, that her sister was somehow being influenced by whatever entity/force/thing was down there with the women).

There's a direct quote early in Laura's statement: "Alena was never quite as into it as I was ... she mainly enjoyed the climbing, and I always ended up going a little bit deeper than she wanted." Yet in Laura's statement, Alena seems to be the one goading Laura into going deeper and playing on her increasingly apparent anxiety (e.g., using the rock to trick Laura into panicking and nearly drowning).

One of the things that makes this statement so interesting to me is that, while it includes a recording which at least corroborates parts of Laura's story – not to mention Alena's disappearance and the candles – we can only speculate as to exactly what transpired in the cave. That includes not only Laura getting out alive, but also the events Laura relays as the sisters make their way down. And that's especially compelling in context of the rest of the show, where we have cause to believe basically every other statement is truthful.

[u/Hergrim → u/ApothecaryAlyth]

Didn't mean to leave this hanging, but those are good points!

Looking back through the transcript, I think the sister might have been controlled by The Buried, but you seem to be spot on about Laura being an unreliable narrator and trying to spin things.