One less member of the team...

Frank refused to stop being lazy, so he is not welcome here any longer. He seemed especially upset about that, though. Like he was actually doing anything of use.

Case #5: The 2538 Objects

There have been rumors going around the net about these mysterious objects. There are now only 538, as 2,000 of them have been lost somehow. It is said that if they are brought together, the end of the world will arrive. Thus they must be kept apart.

These objects each have a guardian (or "Holder") from whom it is exceedingly difficult to obtain the particular object which they possess. Just getting to them can be a grueling trial in itself.

Stories of the objects have been gathered together on the site http://theholders.org/. It is unknown where they originated, or even if they are real.

It may just be an Internet phenomenon, a collection of stories based on a "meme," along the lines of the Slender Man phenomenon. Especially since some of them are clearly joke entries.

I'll keep an eye on this and look deeper into it, just in case.

Actually, one of them, the Holder of Fate was in Evan's blog, I Am Not Insane. This may indicate that his story, too, as well as his lack of responses to most attempts at contacting him, are part of some practical joke, or some strange attempt at realism for this fiction. But my source says that Evan's story is, unfortunately, true, so...

Sorry, no specific case today. The source hasn't stumbled upon (or isn't willing to share) anything else.

Life's Frustrations

I saw him today. I saw him, dammit! The man who made my sister blind. 

Sure, he always claimed it was an accident, not his fault, but the situation couldn’t possibly have been coincidence! You see, a couple months ago Lina was helping some inner city families (being a registered nurse and all) in downtown LA. I came one day, helping distribute food as I did every week (both Lina and I were fortunate enough to get out of the poverty we grew up in and wanted to do our part to help others). There was a man there I’d never seen before. Upon questioning him (being a private detective myself), he said he was there to make sure nothing out of the ordinary was going on. 

I assured him that we had everything under control, but he just smirked at me, saying, “I’m sure you do.” 

I left him and continued doling out cans of vegetables, loaves of bread, powdered milk, whatever had been donated. Moments later, I heard him cry out, “Hey!” 

I turned in time to see him by the stove where Lina was sterilizing some medical instruments, lunging toward her as the pot of boiling hot water splashed in her face. The burns on her face are nearly invisible now. Her eyes got the worst of it. 

The man claimed he was trying to warn Lina. But I saw him. 

After a short investigation, the police said there wasn’t any evidence to arrest him. The man went free. But this morning after service at the First Baptist Church of Hollywood, I saw him. 

I confronted him, yelling, telling him how he’s ruined my sister’s life forever. And you know what he said? He said there was someone else there that day. A man in a hat that did it. Scratched his brow and it happened. Can you believe this nonsense!? No one else was even near the stove or Lina!!! 

I stormed away. I’m still trying to calm down. 

Meanwhile, Ralph has become a regular consumer of that Illumination energy drink. I’m not sure if it’ll react with his meds, though. I don't know how that sort of thing works.

Frank sleeps all the time instead of doing research. I’m thinking about kicking him out (of both the group and the penthouse we share--well, he doesn't actually live here with the rest of us, but he comes over a lot on account of the taskforce).

Case #4: The Immortal Eye

Throughout history the eye has been an important symbol. The Eye of Ra. Odin giving up his eye to Mimir to have a drink at his well, subsequently learning of the battle of Ragnarok. The old adage of the eyes being the window into our souls.

Never before has an eye been so mysterious or life-threatening.

This is another one from our anonymous source.

A young man had a fairly well-to-do life: had a decent apartment, got accepted to college, made a workable salary at his day job, proficient at guitar. And generally well-adjusted on a psychological level.

However, he was a little bit gullible and fell for some of the major conspiracy theories--the Illuminati; the all-seeing eye symbol being in logos, architecture, everywhere (not just the dollar); the whole "being watched all the time" notion; et al.

He started getting a bit anxious, but his day-to-day life wasn't really effected. At first. Soon he reported to friends and family that an eye had appeared in his bedroom. Not just any eye, however; it was a large eye, perhaps the size of his fist, and it was attached to a stalk on which blood vessels were visible. So he said.

Everyone around began to notice that he was exhibiting more and more signs of paranoia. His life started to fall apart.  The man claimed the eye had been following him whenever he moved--constantly staring at him.

It haunted him in his nightmares and in his waking thoughts. At last he could take it no longer, and he destroyed it--smashing it with his guitar.

The eyeball promptly exploded, a disgusting substance spraying everywhere.

The substance was excceedingly difficult to clean. The fact that some had landed on him was just icing on the cake.

Though the area had been cleaned thoroughly, the patch of skin on his arm quickly produced blisters and started to turn black.

The next night he was awoken by intense pain. The black bubble on his arm was quite large now.

Before his eyes, another eye on a stalk popped out, growing straight out of his arm.

Screaming in fright, he ran to the kitchen and tried to cut it off with a knife. The blade slicing into the stalk caused excruciating pain and he was forced to stop.

Again, out of desperation, he destroyed the eye itself, puncturing it with his knife. It exploded, getting the substance everywhere once again. This action, too, had been painful but not as much as before.

Now the substance was all over him. Try as he might, he couldn't scrub it off his whole body.

Within 24 hours, countless more copies of the eyeball were growing out of his flesh all over the surface of his body.

He ran from the apartment complex in terror, several witnesses seeing his abnormal state.

The poor man hasn't been seen since.

Now, his first claims of an eyeball watching him in his room could easily have been paranoid delusions; however it is not possible (so far as we know) for several unrelated people to have the very same hallucination.

Strange things are happening these days. Will we ever get answers?

Case #3: SMILE!! GOD LOVES YOU!

I am sure many of you are familiar with a picture called smile.jpg, whose story has been circulating on the Internet, and how upon looking at the photo (of a dog that smiles with human teeth and a hand reaches out from the background), the viewer experiences epilepsy and extreme anxiety all at once. From there, the dog begins to haunt your dreams, telling you to "spread the word."

For those who aren't familiar, the story has been linked here (apparently some people think it's fiction since it was put on a site where other stories certainly are). None of the images on that page are the real Smile Dog photograph, as evidenced by the fact that upon viewing them, none of us at the N.A.P.T. have experienced the side effects. However, we are certain that such a photograph does exist as this story can to some degree be corroborated.

Our third case, unfortunately, involves the real Smile Dog photograph.

In a small town in Arizona, a young boy whose parents unwisely left him to his own devices on the Internet joined several forums, lying about his age. Once other members found out his true age, they began harassing him, making bawdy jokes, spamming his PM inbox, and the like. The boy often cried himself to sleep, but mostly kept his emotions in and didn't tell his parents.

Finally one morning before school, as he was contemplating ceasing all activity on these sites so he could have a slightly easier life, he saw that there was a new message in his inbox on the forum he most frequented. The message title was simply, "SMILE!! GOD LOVES YOU!"

Upon opening the message, he saw the picture displayed, so large his eyes instantly took it all in.

He had a seizure, and went to the E.R. instead of the bus stop that day.

Soon after, his parents noted him exhibiting more weariness than usual, and his grades fell. They questioned him, but he told them nothing.

At school he gradually became famous among his peers for offering to show his classmates a photo. Aware of the kinds of sites he frequented, the other students mostly refused, thinking it might be something they shouldn't see. But at last there was a presentation day, and the kids were expected to bring visual aids on large posterboards.

When it was his turn to go up, the boy presented the only thing he'd brought: an enlarged copy of the photo. Everyone in the class, including the teacher had seizures. Being the middle of class, and since the boy had devious machinations, and thus did not get help, no one else in the entire building knew what happened to them.

At last they came to, and they were all horrified.

In the following days, all the students at the school, their parents and siblings, as well as the faculty, had seen the image.

Within a week everyone in the town had become victims of Smile Dog, and were desperately seeking ways to "spread the word." And the Dog had lied. Upon sharing the image, they continued to be tormented. A voice (possibly from the dog-like creature, or from something else) told them in their nightmares, "You let me in. You now belong to me."

Over the following weeks, their minds as well as their bodies deteriorated. Many were desperate to escape the misery and sought to share the picture in other towns. Some had attempted to spread it over the Internet, but connections to the web and cell towers for the entire town ceased to work.

All who left the town disappeared mysteriously, no trace. The population shrank, little by little. Fires popped up here and there.

At last an impossibly huge, dark cloud bursting with lightning and thunder drowned the town in darkness. Many were killed in incredible ways, given that it was a stormcloud. They had bleeding cuts and scratches all over.

Others during the ensuing chaos simply vanished into thin air. In the end, only the boy was left. A monster stood over him, a black silhouette against the unceasing barrage of lightning.

Something like tree branches starting growing from the thing, then these spawned new, smaller branches, and these more still. The otherworldly appendages embraced him.

The whole town was dead or gone. The place was destroyed. No one ever knew what exactly had happened.

We only have this story, as we have been sent a mysterious package containing a handwritten manuscript detailing this tale. In place of a return address were scrawled the words: May the Flame of Knowledge Guide You.

Upon further research, we have found that the verifiable details correlate with all official reports surrounding the incident (such as scratched-up bodies and a freak thunderstorm).

This may indeed be real. In which case, I suggest you be wary of anything that has the slightest hint of a connection to the smile.jpg image.

In unrelated news, Ralph has returned from a late-night trip to the grocery store, and has in his possession a free bottle of a new drink: Illumination. Oddly, it has that famous eye-above-a-pyramid symbol that's on the dollar bill.

I only mention it because it reminds me of the case I'll be looking into tomorrow (but may not be up for a few days), which has to do with someone's horrifying experience with...a human eye. Anyway, my readers (or would that be reader--singular--Proxiehunter? I don't know if Evan has much time to read this in his predicament), until next time, good night!

Case #2: A Pitiable Boy

Another one that is overdue. This case originates from a blog I happened to come across when researching Candle Cove. The author of said blog was a boy of 13. Assuming his account is true, it reveals that though the show itself may be innocuous enough (if creepy), the powers behind it are indeed nefarious. Since the blog ended on May 25, there have been no updates and all efforts to contact Evan (if  it is still him) have failed. We at the N.A.P.T. do hope he's safe.

The blog is entitled, I Am Not Insane, and begins with the boy, Evan Marsden, telling of his meeting with a mysterious, rather puppet-like woman. She offers to give him power in return for becoming her servant.

He ultimately agrees, on account of still feeling bad about some unspecified accident (possibly involving the Skin-Taker) that claimed the life of his brother, Nick, as well as not being very close to his depressed parents anymore. He wants to take out his inner turmoil on those around him, especially a bully named Stephen who harasses him. The "power" and servitude mean that she controls him through some unknown means, described as being like invisible strings.

On the day he agrees to become her servant, he aids her in locking up his parents in the basement since he doesn't think they'd understand.

He also takes to calling her "the Lady" for unknown reasons. Soon she takes him to some strange otherworldy city where they ride an elevator to some kind of lab. Within are two transparent cells containing people, one of whom is starving despite plenty of food being freely available.

The Lady tells Evan she'd been summoned to make "the Choir's" servant eat. The servant ends up taking his own life with a shard of a plate. It may have been the woman's doing.

When he returns home, he finds that his parents are dead, probably skinned by the Skin-Taker, despite the Lady insisting her associate would look after them.

He begins to show signs of doubt, but thinks he is in too deep to do anything now.

When she begins to act more like a mother to comfort him, he calls her "the Queen." This is apparently influenced by an earlier comment by someone claiming to be Pirate Percy referring to the entity as "the Puppet Queen."

The Queen then instructs Evan to go to his father's doll repair shop where he is to kill the person who arrives. The man breaks in and seems to be searching for something. Before Evan kills him, he indicates he was also her servant.

Evan realizes the man probably wasn't looking for money since he was apparently told to go there by the Queen. He finds a glowing eye in a secret compartment behind the counter and takes it home, where he plans to give it to the Queen for Mother's Day until he gets home and finds out that Pirate Percy and the Skin-Taker are in league with the Queen. In the comments, however, Percy claims that he wasn't there.

Now that he knows the Queen has been lying to him, he is angry and realizes she might have been planning all this for a long time, beginning with Nick's death. Because of this, he decides to fight back and begins referring to her as "the Witch," an apt description given her now hideous appearance.

He finds that it's hard to give up the exhilirating power granted by the entity and uses it to fight some bullies at school. Because of this, he is expelled. In the comments he notices his blogs address is "shewillmakepuppetsofusall[dot]blogspot[dot]com," something he didn't recall doing, indicating she has been manipulating him the whole time.

Soon the police arrive, investigating about the body found at Evan's father's shop. Somehow, Evan's father talks with the police. He then mysteriously disappears along with one of the officers; the remaining one leaves.

Evan continues going to school, striving for normalcy. No one can stop him from being there, since the Witch holds them back. She appears to be trying to get back on his good side.

She takes him to meet the characters of Candle Cove (aside from the girl Janice, who apparently died), and he learns that she intends for him to be a General in her army, an army she is creating for something she refers to as "the End."

Evan finally is fed up and tries to stop the Witch when she tries to enslave and make puppets of everyone at the school, both teachers and faculty. In retaliation, she punishes him by making him a punching bag for the others as she tests them to find a suitable replacement for the position of General.

The following day everyone is taken to the Witch's tower, where the dissenters, like Evan, are tortured as they are target practice for the rest of the army.

Later in the day, Stephen visits Evan's house and abides by an agreement they'd made during the trials of the previous day. Stephen brings his knife and cuts Evan free of the Witch's strings; she is angry at this and strangles him.

Finally Evan realizes that he is, unfortunately, a sociopath, since he didn't get all that upset about his family's deaths, aside from no longer having people to take care of him.

Evan returns to the strange city and waits for the Witch in the room with the transparent cells. When she arrives with the school principal, another replacement General, he throws kerosene on her and lights her on fire. After she withers away, the principal transforms into her; the entity appears to be immortal.

He escapes. Another day, she returns and he attacks with Stephen's knife, but his eye is put out. Evan decides to run away and returns to the shop to retrieve the eye (where he moved it back to to keep it safe, thinking she wouldn't expect it to be there still). The Witch arrives at the shop, and another entity referred to as "Death" is there as well, in the form of yet another policeman. On a whim, Evan puts the "Eye of Fate" in his empty socket. He claims to be able to see the future with it. The Witch controls the dolls and tries to attack Evan; he locks himself in the work room.

Death appears to him in the form of his dead family, trying to trip him up with guilt, but he holds his own, since he has little to no empathy. He manages to escape through a window, chased by a man with a gas mask and rifle (possibly Death in another form). In an alley, the Witch confronts him, and Death is behind him. Death shoots, but Evan moves out of the way and the Witch is hit instead.

Evan has since been on the run.

Case #1: Honors Convocation

This story is quite late being reported on, since this happened at the end of this past school year, but like I said before I had to convince my sister and her fiance, and I couldn't do that until I managed to tune into Tower TV and until they were finally able to move to the area.

It was apparently at a private school in Huxley, Iowa. The ceremony is said by our source to have been for students in middle school, receiving various awards for exceptional performance in various classes.

All was going well. The students for each category of awards were called up; they took their awards, shook the headmaster's hand, and stood along the edge of the stage so their families in the audience could see and be proud of their kids (whilst applauding and snapping photos, of course).

The ceremony was almost over when something terrible occurred. The final group was on the stage, holding high their hard won prizes and the headmaster was walking forward to give the final speech before dismissal.

A girl near the center to the row of students took out a knife which had been hidden in her clothing. Everyone gasped. She proceeded to slice down her arm. A feathery black wing stuck out and fluttered for a moment before the bird to which it belonged flew out. Then another, and another. Blood pooled on the stage.

All of this happened in the span of seconds, before anyone had time to react.

In total, there were dozens of birds. Some attacked the other students while the rest turned their attentions toward the audience. Several of families, grandparents and young siblings included, ran to the exits, only to find them locked. Everyone was trapped in the auditorium with hostile birds. They sliced flesh and bit through sinew. Some they burrowed into.

The girl from whom they'd come only smiled as she cut down her chest and torso, exposing a wide cavity filled with even more birds where organs should be. These new additions pushed between her ribs and joined the hunt. It appears that the birds were choosing people for some purpose.

As they flew in clusters ever larger, it seemed like lightning flashed a few times, eventually starting a fire. Smoke filled the place and people began to collapse. Eventually the fire consumed all.

Notably missing from the bodies later found at the scene were those of the girl and the others whom the birds had "chosen."

Our source then confiscated the security footage (there had been some prior incidents; it is not known how the girl managed to smuggle the knife inside) and brought it to us. We can't show the video for obvious reasons.

It is unknown at this time what these birds were or what caused this horrible event.

An Introduction

Hello, potential readers. My name is Omar Friedman, and I am the head of the organization that this blog will be the "official site" for. The New Amateur Paranormal Taskforce. (The "New" is because I tried to do something like this before, but I couldn't convince anyone yet.)

This blog would have started sooner, but I had trouble convincing a few others to join me. A couple didn't believe me at first, until I showed them some proof that impossible things are happening all around us.

The others in my Taskforce are: my sister, Lina Friedman; her fiancé, Ralph Abbot; haunted house enthusiast and friend, Lawrence "Larry" Richards; and the local garbage man, Frank Adams. Yes, really. He's actually quite astute and aware of things that escape most people's attention. (Yeah, only 5 of us, but I'm hoping we'll expand over time. People need to know this stuff!)

So, the proof that convinced my sister and her soon-to-be husband? A little show called Candle Cove. For the most part, it seems harmless enough, but the clincher is that no one but a child can watch it (or, perhaps you can if you already saw it as a child). Otherwise it seems like so much static. It doesn't work on me, unfortunately, but I found many of the stories I've heard to be convincing. It's supposedly about pirate puppets and a real life little girl going on adventures and fighting the evil Skin-Taker.

It's recently gone on hiatus, but before that I did tune in to Tower TV each weekday at the specified time for a couple weeks and recorded a few episodes. At least, I did as far as I could tell. In any case, I showed these recordings to them (Ralph could see the show, thus proving what I was telling them). Even though there didn't seem to be anything particularly wrong with the show (although Ralph said the little girl seemed eerily afraid). Since the show is hard for most people to see, and since Ralph is a bit of a music buff, I asked him to recreate the theme on a music notation program, which you can check out below. I never heard this music until Ralph recreated it, and in my opinion, it's a bit unsettling toward the end.

I'm not counting this show as a case since this is a minor thing that seems harmless enough in itself. At least, I know of no incidents caused directly by it.

Case #1 coming up soon!