Who would have thought that a British student with a lightning scar would be interested in books about mystical stuff.

the way jon's voice changes immediately as he starts to read the statement never fails to make me giggle a little

The idea of lanky, disjointed jagged beings made of pure energy that sound like crackling static, and that you can only see in the split seconds that lightning strikes is legitimately terrifying.

"I am yours" is the same thing that priest guy said he was forced to say in the house

During the Bone Turner's Tale, it struck me as odd that the main character Sebastian was so ready to hang on to the cursed book. He knew it was sinister at that point, but when Jared, his former friend who'd been harassing him and whom he'd never stood up to before, demands the book, Sebastian punches him. After Jared got the book and ran Sebastian nearly chased after him but ultimately decided it wasn't his problem. I wasn't sure if the impulse to keep the book was reasonable or not, since on one hand it's clearly evil but on the other hand Sebastian is later killed via bone turning. Here though, I think it's more obvious that the Leitners have some kind of compulsion on the reader. This old dude literally drags himself up a huge flight of stairs while he thinks he's having a heart attack trying to get one back, despite saying he didn't like having it.

Think the sky ate this guy, too?

yeah buddy we can't buy antique books bc we can't even pay our school debt

ngl I would love to read Ex Altiora - it sounds like an interesting read. Y'know, without the horrific supernatural consequences and everything.

Ok I'm just typing this out for my understanding. Maybe it'll help someone else keep track of these books so far too. - Sometime in the past, Dominic Swain and Michael Crew, while 8 years old, are outside playing in the rain. Micheal gets struck by lightning. - 1998: Michael Crew gets Ex Altiora. He uses it to most likely defeat his lightning stalker thing. (Literary Heights) - 1999: Micheal Crew sneaks The Boneturner's Tale into the library Sebastian Adekoya's library. Sebastian's friend, Jared Hopworth, takes the book, turns into a giant bony thing with ribs that bite people's hands and too many limbs and flees into the darkness with the book. There's a chance he's the one who kills Sebastian in the end. (The Boneturner's Tale) - 2002: 11 year old Gerard Keay follows around Harold Silvana's crew as they explore a previously hidden corridor he reveals to them. He runs off a book originating from a room full of tiny animal bones. The room is directly under Jurgen Lietner's office. He'd been trying to dig down to get to it. (Old Passages) - 2013: Dominic Swain finds Ex Altiora and takes it to Mary Keay, who is supposed to be dead by her son's hand. She also has a book that produces tiny animal bones. After doing something to his book, Dominic goes home with it smelling like ozone. It now has a lightning strike on the previously empty night sky page. Gerard Keay comes by, buys Ex Altiora from Dominic, and burns it. (Pageturner) - 2016: Basira Hussian and her partner John Spencer arrest Jose Molina. He is carrying a red leather bound book with him. Spencer gets suspended for trying to burn the book with a Zippo lighter (which Jonathan might have right now). This book seems to have a heat theme to it seeing how a house burned down, Basira got burned, and Spencer 'suicided' by boiling himself to death.

“I had to stop Micheal Crew from stealing my Leitner” is so fucking funny to me for no reason.

I like both Michael Crew and weird hand Michael so far. Crew for just staring at the dude like "wtf is a check" and weird hand Michael for being such a helpful creepy weirdo

I love how Johnathan can make literally any title sound spooky when he's saying it.

Is this the guy who got struck by lightning?? The friend of the guy from Pageturner??

"I had to stop Michael Crew from stealing my Leitner" wtf this sounds like me when my roommate steals one of my pens or pencils lmfao

The spider on his desk, and now more in the tunnels... Not liking that!

All first-time listeners: I think I heard this name somewhere but where... Welp, I'll just make notes I guess The nth time listeners: Lemme just help you out. You're welcome.

Sometimes when y'all yell in these, it legit scares the hell outta me/startles me because it sounds so damn genuine.

Ok, so there were thirteen rooms, each one seemingly tied to one of these aspects (one of them was described as giving the feeling that you'd fall into it, much like we see here, so it could represent this evil sky thing), and I'm assuming each one containing a tome. But I don't think I can identify enough powers to make 13. What I have so far: - Disease (Jane Prentiss, the care home, the mosquitos, maybe the spiders) - Fire and heat (First Aid, the thing possessing the Hilltop house, the thing that got Basira burned, possibly the ritual in the forest) - The sky (Pageturner, this one, the one with the skydiver) - Shapeshifting (not!Graham, not!Sasha, the anatomy students) - Bones (The Boneturner Tale, Mary Keay's book, which is the same Gerard Keay stole) - Flesh (The Man Upstairs, maybe the slaughterhouse one) - Darkness (A Father's Love, Going Dark) Then there's a bunch of pieces I don't know if they coalesce into a power, like the evil music, fractals, at least two cults, the dreamer, vampires, and the entity possessing the priest. Not sure if Breekon and Hope are working for anyone in particular or are their own faction, but they worked at the same circus where the evil calliope organ, the clown that matched the doll and the body horror monstrosities were, so that points to some allegiances.

Herbert: it usually involves the same student Me: *ready to write down a new name* Herbert: his name was Michael Krew Me: !!!!!!!

Is it just me or do the spiders feel like they’re gonna be benevolent or at the very least neutral or enemy-of-my-enemy kind of thing?

“the villagers surrender to despair” makoto naegi: we don’t do that here

the change from Jon the Archivist to Jon the Statement Giver legit scared me lol

I'm wondering if spiders are some kind of natural enemy against Jane Prentiss's type of creature/ the worms/the hive. They feed on them, and it was the presence of a spider that led to Jon and Sasha discovering the worms in the archive and the tunnels, evidently before they could get as far as they intended with whatever they were preparing for. Maybe that wasn't an accident. (Hey, if a vengeful mama spider ghost can haunt the guy who crushed her and her babies, a spider can alert the heroes to an otherworldly threat.)

Not sure if i said it before but John seems to have become much less skeptical of case reports since season 2.

the high pitched undertone thing is a nice touch. not entirely certain it's not just my broken earbuds but regardless it's really cool.

so “the vast” refers to the sky that ate that dude? maybe? i feel like it’s definitely the same entity or whatever that caused the two. Maybe also the skydiver.

as someone who's worked in an old used book shop for 6 years, I love the stories that involve bookshops, especially these ties made with the leitner books

Me and my fam started panicking. Rain came down when the guy mentioned it and there was a boom of thunder when it said. We freaked out

So "I am yours" was bc Mike was making himself part of the book? And then of all people his childhood friend, who knows his scars, sees it?

I find it very interesting how the static picks up when the story of a lightner is just summarized, its as if whatever power is in those books can be accessed just by knowing what is written in them, or at least its influences stretch further than the book and the one in possession of it. very excited to see how this story unfolds! Edit: b r u h

First-time-listener Theory: Michael Crew got free of the thing that was following him, which then became it's own entity. This entity being the "Michael" that helped Sasha at the graveyard. They were described similarly so to me, it's the only thing that makes sense. Edit: forgot I made this comment and I'm pretty sure I was wrong but I never finished season 5 so I'm listening again. Highly doubt I was right though

The Storie: something something books Me: JÜRGEN LEITNER

Woah, so the Lichtenburg figure is what was chasing him, it's the pattern that lightning branches out in. When he jumped out the window giving himself to the book or what ever being it is working through the book (I think it was called The Vast) the figure that had attached itself to him was dragged in too. And so then it was incorporated into the book as the woodcut of the night sky with an branching, arching design of the Lichtenburg figure.

wait, is micheal in this episode the one who was struck by lightning in another story?

Listening through this series for the first time and unnerved by hearing my deadname pop up randomly in this one, I hardly see it used in media so it was a pleasant surprise, if a little unnerving 😂

They said word "vast" so many times (or, at least, it feels like this to me), that I'm starting to think that this might be the actual name of Infinity group...

I realized a while ago that i should write down the names for when they pop up later. I still haven't done it though

It's really cool, how it all fits together more and more

First time listener, but having had a bit of a re-listen to a few things, here's my (spoiler-free) reminder for others (and myself): - Michael Crew was the childhood friend of Dominic Swain, the main character of "Pageturner" - Michael got struck by lightning at the age of 8 and ended up with a Lichtenberg scar - Ex Altiora is the book from "Pageturner", which Dominic took to Pinhole Books, where he met Mary and Gerard Keay - Ex Altiora was destroyed by Gerard Keay in "Pageturner" - Michael Crew is who put The Boneturner's Tale in Chiswick library - Michael Crew was NOT (as I had misremembered) the friend of Sebastian Adekoya, main character of "The Boneturner's Tale", who modified his body and made off with the book. That was Jared Hopworth

The voice jon does for the guy (herbert?) sometimes reminds me of Aziraphale from good omens

'and I was almost overcome by a wave of dizziness' me who has POTS

Ooh creepy ending with the spiders eating the remains of the worms. Reminds me of the arachnophobia episode.

I listen to this really loud to hear all the details, in both the actual accounts and music, and then when something loud happens, it deafens and scares the shit out of me

Dawg Jon don't even sound like Jon in this statement👀 like DAMN THAT'S SO GOOD

when you live in the uk, knowing the places in these videos is so cool yet so eerie.

Love micky's story. He's my favorite...... Falling person.

This book seems to draw people in just inherently, spooky

I've been stuck on this episode for a solid two months. Every night I put it on and drift away. Couldn't tell you what it's about beyond a Jurgen lietner book. Edit 1 month later still on this one

Jon's voice in this is so good. Beyond good, terrific!

oh never noticed her death was from loosing her balance - subtle >.>

Ok I feel like smth big is gonna happen soon. There were WAY too many mentions to other people that my crappy memory just manages to recognize. -Michael Crew (who I think has been mentioned at least three times now) -That angular entity that sounds similar to how Sasha described "Michael" tho I could be wrong -John FRICKING Lightner (I probably spelled that name wrong) -The Vast (who I only know because Im impatient and saw one spoiler animatic that talked about it, but dont have much info)

As someone who works in a museum, museums are, with a few exceptions, not as well funded as private collectors. The museum I work at is small and free to visit. We have only recently been updating exhibits that had last been updated in the 70's. We don't have a lot of money and Covid was especially hard as summer is when we make the most money and half of that was gone due to quarantine. But as Covid is starting to slow some, or at least restrictions are starting to get lifted and vaccines given out, lots of people are traveling so we are actually making a fair amount of money as people start to travel. Still, we don't have enough money to do some things the museum sourly needs, such as properly insulating our radioactive case in the museum itself and the hot room(the room with the radioactive minerals), redoing the florescent case, and updating large mounts. We haven't even gotten all the tags changed out. We still have a bunch of old plastic tags with no information other than name and number on them for a bunch of specimens, and the ones that have been changed out for laminated paper tags are not uniform. We hardly have money to update our displays, much less purchase new specimens. We tend to get specimens from trips or expeditions by people from the museum, and then I can sympathize with Herbert Knox as there are come places we are less likely to collect from due to the paperwork that comes with getting the right permissions.

The return of the short king

y'all really love the word acrid huh

I've been listening to this podcast so much, I had a nightmare last night. Am I continuing this morning? Oh yes.

19:07 Years afterwards of the events of episode 17: Boneturners tale 19:53 Dominic Swain, Episode 4: Pageturner

first time listening but based on that supplemental I'm guessing that Jonathan has been the one going down into the archives while not realizing it. creepy....

Theory: The Leitner that is in this one can trap entities somehow

Ex Altiora and the "evil sky thing" have got to be my favourite supernatural thing in this podcast so far. I thought that it was also connected to lightning somehow (sky -> storm -> lightning isn't that far-fetched of a connection), but apparently the lightning stands for something else.

i find it interesting that the description at the start...sounds so very similar to how the other guy who bought demon vase describe antiques and such.

6:41 Red flag, here we go. I'm surprised Michel seems benign though. Hes definitely in contest with the others.

the angler fish entity appeared here. together in skintight(season1) probably.

I'm gonna start writing my theories down in comments, 'cause it's fun to see later on which ones were right and which ones were wrong. The book has some supernatural power and Mike used it to open a portal to what he called "vast", which is the dimension in which that skydiver was in shortly and later on got "eaten" by that dimension, and is basically a vast nothing besides the sky. The monster that was following him has something to do with that lightning incident when he was 8 years old that gave him this scar and is, well, lightning/electricity, so it follows him when there is storm 'cause it can only fully manifest then. Maybe something like "mike has been marked so he's its prey" or something among these lines. These two are connected though, that much is obvious, which is why this odour follows mike around and the electricity is stronger around him. And this is also why when Mike jumbed through that portal, which our witness first saw as that tower's window but it couldn't have been that tower's window since all windows were closed and sealed, the monster was "dragged" with him. Now, obviously, Mike had probably have thought of a plan to escape from that vast dimension himself later on while keeping the monster trapped in there, but we do not know anything about that yet. What we do know, is that later on when Mike's childhood friend (don't remember name) got the book he could smell that smell of lightning and later on see the lightning in the photo of the vast sky because that lightning was actually the lightning monster trapped inside that vast dimension, meaning the photos were actually real-time "windows" and, something could leave them just as easily as someone could enter them, as long as the proper spell was told Also, the spiders, there is something supernatural going on with them too. There have been many mentions already of spiders coming shortly after some grey worms started appearing and eating them, but also i'm 100% sure that that spider in the end of season 1 was on purpose in John's office so that he would go to kill it and, by doing so, he would make some damage to the wall and see that the worms were preparing for a sneak attack. The spiders are against the worms. And while we're at it, isn't it weird that the magnus institute, from all the places in the uk, it had to be built right beside those tunnels and even have a trapdoor that was leading to them?!?! So either the tunnels were made there because the magnus institute would be there, or the magnus institute was made there because the tunnels would be there

On my second listen through, and got curious about Gottfried Leibniz, who Mike Crew buys a book about in the beginning. Apparently he’s a German polymath from the 17th century. Most relevantly his work laid the foundations for the discovery of fractals.

Why are here so many Michaels!?

Omg he's a son of Zeus!! No wonder the electricity be going crazy around him😂😂

wait, How does this account take place after pageturner? Didnt pageturner end with Jared burning Ex Altiora?

There is a high pitched sound throughout this recording I wonder what it is

Yesssss! Michael Crew, my Boi! One of my fave characters.

"lost balance on the stairs and broke her neck" you say

ok is noone gonna talk about how Martin was speaking in the end credits????

Assumin the vast is the Vast and weve got ourselves a maybe first big figure at the top of all these possible factions, we finally have a name perhaps. Maybe this one is the sky, the lightning, and all the mass spaces or infinities Or perhaps its less literal and there are a great many beings? Moreso than my predicted 14 even. For now though taking down The Vast as first god/demon/monster figurehead Glad to see another callback to a character in one of the first couple videos. Damn i love the inter connectivity of all this series..... my notebook is full of notes and scribbles, its turning me into an archivist myself hehe....heh....

Jurgen leitner and his consequences on the rair book trade love how this guys friend that gave him the leitner obviously died of it

Is this the Michael that wants to help Jon and Sasha in season 1!?!? 👀 Did he give himself into that thing???

I love this episode. On 2nd listen there is so much detail that suddenly makes sense. So cool. This is my 4th listen, I think, and it just occurred to me that all the previous booksellers dying could have been caused by...SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS ....either The Vast , through influence of vertigo channeled through the physical Ex Altiora, or just Simon Fairchild having some vicious fun and being drawn to his targets by their possession of the book, or by the lightning creature, presumed to be an avatar of The Vast, chasing Mike Crew; OR via Mary Keay pursuing Leitners; OR possibly by Jurgen Leitner himself (though this is, I think, misdirection so we fear him more than we should; later revelations change our view of him a lot); OR by The Spiral, because the figure chasing Mike Crew is described as tall and thin with long branching fingers, which sounds like Michael [Shelley], although the whole lightning thing is on the bookseller's mind and would suggest itself rather than any other image. Those are the options which I think are available to a careful listener on the first listen. Which one is right? Keep listening.

This whole wretched white bony figure is very recurring in these tapes. I've been thinking the hand belonged to it in Angler Fish, the very first episode way back in season one. Then there is our half decent ally Micheal, he aided Sasha's field research about Jane Prentiss and the worms. And that one with the ghost hunters account, at the very end of the recording Jon tells us that a large long hand can be seen in the video of that woman, in which she appears to be having a confrontation with someone or something. So my impression is that _it_ must be the same thing, showing up along the timeline of events that we have here, clearly having quite the hand in the outcome of these events. Let me know if I've left anything out from any previous episodes

I have massive arachnophobia but if my theory of the spiders being the natural enemies of the worms is correct, then I might just accept them. Maybe.

Honestly I found the story in the book pretty compelling. I'd love to do some fan art for it.

Is that dude with a lighting scar a friend who got struck by lighting from ep 4 pageturner?

is this the same micheal from the early season one episode, who attended the evening class, took obsessive notes, owned the hypnotic table, and was replaced with not!micheal at the end

Dawg did Micheal give himself over to the vast?? 😨😨 Did he protect himself or did he protect others by jumping?

NAME DROP!!!!

Did anyone else pick up on that high pitched tone when he’s describing Micheal?

At about 15:30 it hit me and I just whispered "MIKE!" Could this be the Michael Sasha talked to when she was investigating the cemetery?

Completely random guess based on literally nothing, what if Jons not completely crazy, Martin is kinda off and is the one who keeps going down into the tunnels because when he got lost there he found a Leitner book, that the worms owned, and now the spiders are looking for

Jon: "....bookshop" Me: 😡😡😡😡😡😡 I know where this is going UGGGGGGGGGGGGGH

The smell of rain is not an "acrid tang" it's soft and sweet. Has this guy ever been outdoors

Spiders going into the tunnels? That's not good. O.O

Season 2. The paranoia season

Was Kirsten Bauman mentioned before? The name kinda sounds familiar. You sure you didn't just leave the trap door open Jon?

Did he seal the being into the book?

I've been wondering what he did to that woman to warrant her giving him a Leitner

W spider takeover frick the worms B) hope the spiders become more important in the story

i think the woman is the bald one from the guy who could smell burning flesh when he bought the book

Ok ima just dump my theories here. on episode 4, page turner, Dominic Swain had a childhood friend that got struck by lighting and got a scar. Is Mike the same person? Also in page turner bones fall at Dominic Swain's feet, "But each on was slightly bent and warped into shapes bones should not form. " This book must relate to Bone turner.

ok so i have pretty shit memory so who the hell is not-sasha? i dont really remember anything like that but ive seen people talk about them

I wonder if spider entity from one of previous episodes is at fight with a hive

Wait is this connected to Ep 4: Pageturner?!

If I am correctly remembering, the bone turner’s tale and ex alteora or however you spell it have the same story of the monster thing and the village.

Martin cursed it He said he likes spiders and the rules say: if you likes something we'll ruin it