by Gemma Files
N.B.: “There remains the question of exactly how McVain knew who to contact initially, not to mention the further question of who inside the Programme might have authorized Madach and Slaughter’s travelling expenses—though grantedly, travel to Mimico [a suburb of the Greater Toronto Area, easily reached by following the Queen Street streetcar line to its conclusion] wouldn’t have cost them much, unless they did it by taxi. Inquiries into why any letters, e-mails, or phone calls exchanged between McVain and Madach/Slaughter seem not to have been properly logged are also currently ongoing.” (Dr. Abbott, ibid.)
6. Samples sent to Graphology for comparison suggest the initial notes on each photo were made by Madach, while the backwards commentary comes closest to a hurried, clumsy imitation of Slaughter’s normal penmanship. Forward commentary, on the other hand, can probably be attributed to former Freihoeven intern Eden Marozzi, who was found dead in her apartment on Christmas, 2005; going by records left behind, Marozzi had apparently been assisting Madach with his work on Slaughter’s unfinished channelling experiments. As we all know, it was Madach’s proven presence in her apartment at the time of Marozzi’s death—as revealed by evidence gathered during the Metro Toronto Police Department’s initial crime scene investigation—which, along with a lack of plausible alibi, would eventually lead to his subsequent arrest on charges of murder in the second degree.
7. “Mention of ‘lucifuges’ would seem to indicate Slaughter—and Madach?—were using hierarchical magic to accelerate or control—generate?—poltergeist activity at McVain house. Worth further inquiry, after cataloguing rest of photos.” (Dr. Abbott, ibid).
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Photograph #2:
Equally dim, angled upwards to trace what may be marks of fire damage—scorching of wallpaper, slight bubbling of plaster—moving from ceiling of kitchen down towards sink. The highest concentration of soot seems to be at the uppermost point. Wallpaper has a juniper-berry and leaf motif.8
Notes: “House D, May. We were becoming popular in certain circles. Family had two children, both sons, both under three years old; nanny reported the younger one was playing in his high-chair during breakfast when his ‘Teddy-thing’ suddenly caught fire.9 Subsequent damage was estimated at $4,000; we received an additional $2,000 for making sure it wouldn’t happen again.”
Commentary (Forwards): “We need something more spectacular baby, a display, like Hollywood. Fire eats without being eaten, consumes unconsumed, as energy attracts. Come at once from whatever part of the world and answer my questions. Come at once, visibly and pleasantly, to do whatever I desire. Come, fulfill my desires and persist unto the end in accordance to my will. I conjure thee by Him to whom all creatures are obedient, and by the name of Him who rules over thee10. So this one goes out to the one I love, the one who left me behind, a simple prop to occupy his time. And why Teddy-‘thing,’ anyway? God knows I couldn’t tell what it was before, afterwards.”
Commentary (Backwards): “By this time, I can only think they were already watching me closely.”11
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8. Attempts to identify this location have, thus far, proved inconclusive. Dr. Abbott is undecided, but tentatively cal s it as either 542 McCaul or 71B Spinster, both of which were visited by Slaughter and Madach in connection with repeated pyrokinetic poltergeist incidents. One family has moved out leaving no forwarding address, however, while the other proved spectacularly uncooperative, no more detailed analysis seems forthcoming.
9. If we assume the photo was taken at 71B Spinster, it may be relevant to record that the child in question sustained burns severe enough to require partial amputation of three fingers from his left hand.
10. This “anthology incantation” seems to have been compiled from several different ones, all of which appear in the legendary grimoire Lemegeteon. Dr. Abbott confirms that the Freihoeven’s library copy of this text was misplaced for several days in November of 2004, half a year prior to when the first photo was taken; this theft coincides with Madach’s brief tenure as volunteer assistant librarian, before forming an experimental field-team with Slaughter.
11. By “they,” this commentator may mean the aforementioned lucifuges or fly-the-lights—elemental spirits identified with fire—who Eliphas Levi cal s notoriously difficult to control and naturally “hateful towards mortals.”
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Photograph #3:
Murky yet identifiable three-quarter study of Slaughter, who appears to be in light mediumistic control-trance. Orbs12 hover over her right eye, pineal gland and heart chakra, roughly the same areas in which she would later develop simultaneous (and fatal) aneurysms. She sits in a rust-red La-Z-Boy recliner, feet elevated, with a dust-covered television screen barely visible to her extreme right, in the background of the frame.
Notes: “House H, July. Inclement weather with continual smog warning. Séance performed at the request of surviving family members, with express aim of contacting their deceased father; a control spirit was used to produce and animate an ectoplasmic husk patterned after his totem photograph, freely donated for use as a guided meditational aid. Mother cashed out RRSPs and eldest daughter’s college fund in order to assemble the $15,000 required to remove ‘curse’13 afflicting their bloodline.”
Commentary (Forwards): “But he died of natural causes so it’s not so bad, right, not like we did anything really, and if you keep having those migraines then maybe you should take something, maybe you should just relax baby, let me help you, let me. Don’t be like that, let me, why you gotta be that way? Palpitations, you say that like it’s a bad thing, that’s what I love about you baby, you have such a big heart: a big fat heart full of love and warmth and plaque and knots and pain. So just breathe, just breathe, just breathe, go do some yoga, take a pill, calm the hell down. You know we can’t stop yet.”
Commentary (Backwards): “Them either.”
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12. Sphere-shaped visual deformities of the emulsion or pixels, often observed at sites where teams are trying to record various psychic phenomena.
13. “This just gets better and better.” (Dr. Abbott, ibid).
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Photograph #4:
Close-angled shot of greasy black writing sprawled across what looks like the tiled wall of a bathroom shower-stall; letters vary radically in size, are imperfectly formed, seem (according to Graphology) inconsistent with “tool-bearing hands.”14 Letters read: “aLWaYs TheRe.”15
Notes: “Automatic writing observed at Apartment C, renewed five separate times over a period of eight days. When advised that a cleansing exorcism was the best option, owner refused to cooperate.” 16
Commentary (Forward): “We have to stop we can’t. We have to stop we can’t. We have to stop stop stop we can’t can’t can’t, oh Christ I want to stop this, what are you, stupid? There’s too much at stake, we’re in too deep, no going back. we can’t stop now.”
Commentary (Backwards): “Behold, I shall show you a great mystery, for we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. And you can consider this my formal letter of resignation.”
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14. “‘Tool-bearing’? Most messages of this type are produced telekinetically.” (Dr. Abbott, ibid)
15. Naturally enough, opinions vary as to who (or what) might be responsible for these markings.
16. The single shortest annotation. This photo has since been tentatively identified—within a fairly narrow margin of error—as having been taken inside Slaughter’s former condo, the site of her death. Even more significant, in hindsight, may be Dr. Abbott’s recollection (confirmed through studying her coroner’s inquest file) that Slaughter’s body was found in her bathtub on August 23/05, partially immersed in shallow water.
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Photographs #5 to #9:
After close examination by various Freihoeven staff members, photographs #5 through #8 have been conclusively proven to show one of the Institute’s own experimental labs. The blurry image in the extreme foreground of each
seems most consistent with an adjustable Remote Viewing diorama17 which was set up in Lab Four from approximately September 15 to December 15, 2005. Much of the background area of each photo, on the other hand, has apparently been obscured by new visuals somehow imposed over an original image, by unidentifiable means; portions of the emulsion have been either destroyed or significantly altered, creating a visual illusion not unlike the “chiaroscuro” effect observed in certain Renaissance paintings which, while being restored, turn out to have been painted over a primary image that the artist may have wanted to either alter or conceal.18
As usual, even these partially subliminal secondary images are best described as indistinct and difficult to identify and/or categorize. Nevertheless, extensive analysis has revealed certain constants, i.e.:
• That background areas correspond with rough approximations of Photos #1 through #4, with the exception/addition of:
• A figure, face always angled away from “the camera,” whose physical proportions seem to match those observed in photos taken of Slaughter, pre-mortem.19
Photo #9 was taken elsewhere; the diorama shown in Photos #5 through #8 is notably absent. A grey-painted stretch of wall, the hinge of a partially open door and the angle of lens during exposure all suggest that the camera may have been mounted on a tripod inside one of the Freihoeven’s many industrial-sized storage closets, but not enough distinguishing marks are visible to establish exactly which one (there are six on Floor Three alone, for example, near the location of Lab Four).
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17. Invented by Dr. Abbott as part of his 1978 dissertational work at the University of Toronto, these are often used as a meditational aid during guided remote viewing sessions: The “navigator” or non-psychic team member will set the diorama up to roughly approximate the area he/she wants the viewer to access, then talk them through it on a detail-by-detail level until their trance becomes deep enough that they can guide themselves on the rest of their mental journey.
18. “This is a prime example of what is commonly called ‘spirit photography’—in this case, a Directed Imagery experiment involving Marozzi that may have been infiltrated by outside influences, producing the photo. These influences may have been, as Slaughter’s commentary suggests, lucifuges originally suborned into helping her and Madach perpetrate their various psychic frauds; since Slaughter, the person with genuine paranatural power in their equation, was probably the one who did the actual invocation, the lucifuges would have seen her as their primary oppressor, and directed their revenge against her in specific. Even were we to take all of the above as being empirically ‘true,’ however, once the lucifuges’ malefic influence had already brought about Slaughter’s death (if that is, indeed, what actually happened), one would tend to assume that they would have no further interest in the case…or that, if they did, their campaign would shift focus onto Madach, the sole surviving author of the original invocation. And in that case, why harass Marozzi at all?” (Dr. Abbott, ibid.)
19. Note to self: Why am I here? Wasn’t there some other, slightly less insane place I could have gotten a summer job at? I knew Eden; a sweet girl, if easily influenced, overly-fascinated by/with psychic phenomena and those Freihoeven members who claimed to work with/produce them. Emma Slaughter looked at me in the halls once as I passed by, and I dreamed about it for a week—still felt her watching me, wherever I went. Is this relevant? Is recording stuff like this science? (S. Horse-Kicker, March 2/06)*
*“A valid question, Sylvester. Thanks for your input.” (Dr. Abbott, ibid.)
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Notes [collated into list-form for easy reading]:
(#5) “Subject was asked to visualize inside of House X. One hour fifty-three minutes allowed for session; results varyingly successful.”
(#6) “Subject was asked to visualize interior of Facility H, no specific target. Agreed to deepen trance through application of Batch 33. Three hours ten minutes allowed for session; results varyingly successful.”
(#7) “Subject was asked to visualize office area within Facility H, with specific reference to files stored on Public Servant G’s computer. Five hours seventeen minutes allowed for session; results inconclusive overall.”
(#8) “Subject was asked to visualize home office area inside House Z, with specific reference to correspondence stored in file-cabinet with plaster gargoyle on top of it.20 Given sample of handwriting to meditate on, with double dose of Batch 33. Session interrupted at eight hours two minutes, after subject began to spasm; results inconclusive.”
(#9) “Subject entered trance on own time, without instruction, after having self-injected a triple dose of Batch 33; session interrupted after approximately one hour, when subject was accidentally discovered by navigator. Limited amnesia observed after recuperation. Having no idea what image is meant to represent, impossible to say if session was successful or not.”
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20. “That sounds like my office. Investigate? I have vague recollection of anonymous notes sent to me last year, shortly before Emma’s death…” (Dr Abbott, ibid.)
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Commentary (Forwards) [as above]:
(#5) Unintelligible scrawls.
(#6) Same.
(#7) Same, interrupted only by a shaky but repetitive attempt to form the letters E, Y, S.
(#8) In very different handwriting, far more like that usually used for backwards commentary: “See here, see there, trying so hard, how could I help but answer? Because he likes girls who see things, yes he does; little pig, little pig, let me come in. This world’s a big wide open place, up and down and all in between. Not so fun to see around corners when you know what’s waiting, is it?”
(#9) Back to unintelligible scrawls.
Commentary (Backwards) [as above]:
(#5) “can”
(#6) “you”
(#7) “hear”
(#8) “me”
(#9) “now”
Photo #10:
At first misidentified as one of the actual MTPD crime-scene photos taken at the Marozzi apartment on Christmas Day, 2005, this image also demonstrates “spirit photography” alterations of a subtly different (yet far more disturbing) sort. Analysis has revealed that the apparent main image, that of Eden Marozzi’s bedroom and corpse, is actually incongruent with other elements in the photo—specifically, the time visible on Marozzi’s bedside clock, which places this as having been taken a good three hours prior to what forensic experts established as her physical T.O.D.
Further examinations, including x-rays administered at the Institute’s expense, have since concluded that this first image has been recorded not on the photograph’s own emulsion but on a thin, rock-hard layer of biological substance21 overlaid carefully on the original photo. Beneath this substance is a simple holiday-style snap, probably taken with the camera on a timer, that shows Marozzi and Madach embracing at Marozzi’s kitchen table, both wearing party hats and smiling. The remains of a Christmas dinner surrounds them; if one looks closely at the bottom centre of the photo, an opened jewel-box explains the ring visible on Marozzi’s finger.
In the mirror behind them, however, a third figure—familiar from the previous array of “guided” photos—can be glimpsed sitting next to them, its hand half-raised, as though just about to touch Marozzi on the shoulder.
Notes: “Merry Christmas, Eve, from your Adam. A new Paradise begins.”
Commentary (Forwards): “Fruit of knowledge, fruit of sin, snake’s gift. This is what you want? This is what you get: the bitter pill. Fly the lights, lights out; out, out, brief candle! Goodbye, my lover. Goodbye, my friend. Goodbye, little girl who didn’t know enough not to get in between. You can tell her I picked the wallpaper out myself. Ask her: How you like me now? Pretty good oh God God God God God.”
Commentary (Backwards): “And on that note—did it really never occur to you that allowing someone used to working outside her body to be disembodied might not be the world’s best idea, after all?”22
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21. Possibly ectoplasm, a substance occasionally exuded during séances, made up of various dead material from the medium’s body.
22. To this last bit of commentary, Dr. Abbott asks that a partial transcript of his most recent interview with Freihoeven psychic control group member Carraclough Devize—held March 4/06, during which he showed her what are now tentatively called the Slaughter/Madach/Marozzi photos—be appended to this report: Devize: (After 120-second pause) Oh, no. Christ, that’s sad.
Abbott: What is, Carra?
Devize: That. Don’t you…no, of course you don’t. There, in that corner, warping the uppermost stains. See? You’ll have to strain a bit.
Abbott: Is that…an orb?
Devize: That’s Emma, Doc. Face-on, finally. God, so sad.