Marble Hornets: Explained - Season One

do you remember all the old VHS tapes and cassette videos stored in the closet at your childhood home all that video camera footage your family is to take at birthdays get-togethers and winnings the tapes that used to just sit there gathering dust completely forgotten until some housecleaning where nostalgia brought them back imagine taking one out putting in the VCR and sitting down to watch the experience warms cold memories and faces you forgotten used to be so young passed by on the screen suddenly you catch a glimpse of something off and reach for the remote you stop the tape rewind back and look closer as the tape plays again on the second run-through you catch it there in the background there's something in the woods watching the people and you know there shouldn't be Marble Hornets is the Internet's first web series exploring exactly that premise long-forgotten videos contain footage of things that shooting exists and events you know never happened the more tapes you watch them where you catch it something changed in the background always just out of direct view appearing over and over again what happens when footage of events in your life you thought you knew brings you face to face with the impossible anyone who's heard of Marble Hornets is already well-acquainted with its core character Slenderman the tall faceless monster in a suit that can appear anytime anywhere and stalks anyone that catches sight of him slowly driving them insane when most don't know about Marble Hornets is that the web series was born in the same place and the same time as Slenderman himself in June of 2009 users at a humor forum named something awful hosted a thread titled create paranormal images at the time Troy the main writer for Marble Hornets was an active user and stopped into the thread a few days after another user by the name of Victor Serge submitted two images of what he called the Slender Man users responded the Slender Man with enthusiasm they created their own images with the new monster and wrote stories from the point of view of those who had close encounters Troy wanted to contribute to the quickly growing mythology and realized no one had come up with any videos yet he called his friend Joseph and they planned a series of videos to present the something awful on three by five inch no cards over the course of nearly nine hours together in a single night On June 20th Troy wrote a short story as his new character Jay and posted an under something awful username in 2006 Jay had been helping his friend Alex greatly on the set of his college film Marble Hornets a shooting took place over the summer the crew complained about Alex's stressful attitude and irritable behavior and he ultimately cancelled the project blaming unworkable conditions on set when asked what he would do with the tapes Alex replied burn them Jay hated to see all the work go to waste and convinced Alex to give him the tapes under the condition that he never mentioned them again Alex transferred to another school soon after and hasn't been seen since at the time Jay felt too unnerved by the whole incident to look through the tapes as only just remembered he has them Troy posted the introduction video in first two entries on YouTube users on something awful respond positively so Troy and Joseph kept going and involved their friends Tim and Brian Troi created a Twitter account for the character of Jiang and using YouTube videos and Twitter updates the Marble Hornets crew began an online immersive experience that exceeded the initial videos and gained attention far beyond the scope of something awful five years and three seasons later the Marble Hornets team ended the series on a grand total of nine hours 24 minutes and 56 seconds in February of 2013 major motion film rights were purchased for an adaptation of Marble Hornets always watching a Marble Hornets story was released online in video on-demand format April 7th and in theaters on may 15th of 2015 as of this time the Marble Hornets channel on YouTube has at least 400 12350 subscribers and over 81 million views so what exactly is Marble Hornets what's happening to the characters behind the camera and why who was behind the enigmatic channel to the arc what exactly is the arc and why do they need to find it so badly what did all the disturbing videos mean and who is the operator what exactly was going on inside of Alex's head and why do all the characters involved in the story suffer such strange and horrifying circumstances to take on this nine-hour monster will tear through each individual season as quickly as possible and hit every feet along the way stopping at each major point to illustrate what happened what it meant and how it related to other videos to provide understanding once and for all turn off all the lights turn up the volume and open your night mind we're about to take to the very depths of Marble Hornets and answer every last question that's played followers since its inception this is night Minds inaugural series explained Marble Hornets season 1 after grating the YouTube and Twitter accounts for Marble Hornets J uploads an introduction video summarizing his original story he promises the go through Alex's old tapes and upload anything interesting he finds the first few entries reveal Alex slowly going insane behind the scenes of Marble Hornets he's being stalked by a toll faceless man in a suit that follows him everywhere at home while walking his dog and on set with his actors no matter the time or place he vies dozens of tapes to record himself so he can catch his daugher on video and suffers a fast mental decline scratching out dozens of senseless drawings and obsessive fits and displaying hostile personality changes around Marble Hornets crew members you think I didn't have anything to do later why don't you have anything to do anyway you were coming on set new this could take a while yeah it was just an afternoon shoot though you guys do it right first off ever don't you I invited what's the story Gavin he's just stopped did you not have it recording during the break I told you to keep the camera recording at all times I I gave you one job all you're supposed to do is come in here set up the camera make sure it doesn't fall over and press record it once you don't stop it and all I'm is extremely clear you know how many tapes we have run out of time on this tape get another it's not a problem I mean we're dry maybe before you listen most of these tapes contain heavy audio distortion visual tears and Sun and jump cuts the new footage especially in entry number 5 where Jane Alex scout locations for Marble Hornets but Alex's voice keeps starting to pure static what's that all red thing over there yeah that's like an old ball can't remember if it was a climbing wall or fire department on twitter j experiences his own personality change going several hours without eating and staying up all night to watch more tapes it develops insomnia loses track of time and comes down with sporadic episodes of severe illness as he continues to watch edit and upload j is deep in his investigation when an unexpected video response to one of his entries is uploaded by user with no profile picture more channel info named to the arm the video is titled regards a series of flashing black and white images Marble Hornets followers discovers a coded message look closely J mentions to the arcs video on Twitter and uploads entry number 10 alex is running through the woods at night with a camera and flashlight but there's no audio through the arc responds again with operator which has the missing audio from entry number 10 and a flashing code that spells out listen this isn't lost on Jay who hears it from his Twitter followers his next tweet mentions that he'll be moving soon and will be without internet access until attend one son completely moved in but Jays obsession with the tapes wins out over the needs of pack and he uploads entry number 11 on August 9 Alex has turned his drawings into a collage above his bed and is filming himself sleep he gets up after hearing a noise would find something after going back to bed a shadow Rosel for him and a breeze disturbs and drawings on the wall just past midnight the next day Jay is feeling sick again and to the ARC responds with a new video deluge speeding up the audio track to 150% reveals an actual voice pair this with a message at the end of the video and you have the phrase Alex launching you je tweet said he's been sick for a week but finds entry number 12 and uploads footage of a Marble Hornets shoot Alex is rehearsing a scene with Brian his main actor we first saw an entry number 7 when the shoot was interrupted by the appearance of Alex's stalker and this one ends exactly the same way it's clear the footage is early in the recording timeline Alex isn't afraid of the man and he doesn't look familiar Jai waetford to the arcs response and gets the next day the stacking zero is at the beginning decoding to the word zero about 30 seconds in the word operator fades in at the bottom of the screen in the wall of zeros at the end contain letters that spelled out there was m r e use the first decoded message zero and put it in place of the missing letter to get there was more the next entry features j and alex on set the camera battery is running low so Alex tell jeiza go get his sphere from his car j leaves and Alex wanders around before running into his stalker James we'd said he went to the doctor recently and couldn't find anything wrong despite his illness and insomnia over the past two months through the arc response to entry number 13 with exit a flash of scrambled words fill the screen that spell out the operator when Dakota next we spot J going out to get Alex's fare battery during the previous entry but if Alex was still on location waiting for J who was filming the person behind the camera asks where is the arc and leaves a message in the video description remember me J confirms it was him in the footage from exit it was three years ago so my memory of entry number 13 is a little fuzzy though I do remember going to get a powdery out of Alex's car definitely never notice anyone filming me do so two days later J severs more insomnia considers another doctor's appointment but keeps going through the tapes this is a good point to stop and take a closer look at Jay's new friend to the ark without a doubt the biggest mysteries in Marble Hornets around this character in their Channel even after the end of the series with these first few videos we've got enough evidence mounting to start exploring their identity purpose and strange videos let's start with what most Marble Hornets followers already know the operator is Alex's stalker no one has Slenderman in all other media and he has a very specific symbol we've seen on how its as drawings and we'll be seeing a lot more in the series Troy and Joseph renamed Slender Man for the series due to how their version worked as a monster you know there weren't really a bunch of monsters out there like that it's just kind of a blank slate because at the time the Troy had the idea for doing video it's like people have written a couple of stories got some Photoshop but that was about it so there was a lot of work to play with and it was a lot of freedom with what we want to do with the operator moving forward things we liked about up to that point and gave us basically free license to had stuff like the video distortions that never lost something we wanted it to be different from the saloon ran we didn't want it like just straight up like we changed a bunch of things about the original added a bunch of things to original so we were like this is kind of a come I think that the what we made but yeah the operator was a name we came up with through the simple usage and everything and the to the arc Channel we had an operator Derry as kind of a nod to you know the operator getting into your head accra fool the acting fool as for the operator symbol what does it mean circle do the X through it which was there to symbolize you know no base and it is actually a mathematical symbol called operator the operator is also the name for the number zero look at any old phone with a hard keypad and you'll see it for yourself to the arc is obsessed with the number zero for this reason it means operator the operator button was and is still used to access a database or system actions menu through a phone and transfer a call between lines adding in all references to the operator refer directly to Alex's stalker and laneah fort comes from to the arc which seems to have direct knowledge about this creature which brings us to our first major node to the arc knows a lot about the operator and seems to have been close enough to it for long enough period of time to name it based on the way they discovered it works on its victims now take into account the footage from to the arcs exit video was shot by someone who knew Jay during the filming of Marble Hornets and told him to remember me through the arc also had the audio from entry number 10 a tape that again only Jay has had in his possession for three years it's clear that whoever this is they were very closely linked to the Marble Hornets crew filming Jay from the woods without him knowing and somehow pulling the audio from one of Alex's tapes now what about the whole arc obsession the only two instances in history of the word arc with a k' referred to biblical stories the story of Noah's Ark in the great flood and the Ark of the Covenant it's been hotly debated which Ark is being referred to and without giving away too much from seasons 1 and 2 before we get there the ark metaphor in Marble Hornets comes from Noah's Ark and we actually have enough evidence in season 1 alone to prove it and the story of Noah's Ark God comes to Noah to say that mankind has become overrun with sin so he's going to bring a great flood to destroy humanity and start again using Noah and his wife the only people he deems pure he will drown all the sinners by making it rain for 40 days and 40 nights and instructs Noah to build an ark so he and his family can survive the flood he must then collect two of each animal to load on board so the earth can repopulate after all the unworthy are dead a great flood is known as a deluge that's the literal definition of the word - the Ark's third video is titled deluge and the video that immediately follows is titled impurity containing our very first shot of live-action footage from two the arc a rainstorm to the arcs next video exit asks a question where is the arc the deluge is here the rain is starting to fall and the ones who are impure need an exit an arc to survive the flood need more proof that to the arc is seeking shelter from the rain it comes after Jays next video entry 14 in which we see Alex of stalkers take into his room at night he snaps awake and turns on light but nothing is there so Alex closes the door and goes back to bed Jay notes that 32 minutes pass on the tape before Alex changes it and then J decides to find out where Alex has gone and adds in the video description beginning a search through the ark responds with program as you can see the entire live-action segment consists of more rain storm footage it's definitely coming down now what about the codes though despite the message at the end being very clear the coatroom program stayed unbroken by model Hornets followers for four years in October of 2013 a user on the unfit conforms named caffeinated civet finally broke them the program code involves a cipher key from - the Ark's next video and took three translations to get to the end message end of medium start of header carriage return and start of header now how do you apply this information to entry number 14 the key lies in the audio of program did you hear that it's the sound of an old film projector or crank operated movie camera at work consider that in the previous entry there are examples of odd behavior with the tape that Jai himself recognizes entry 14 raises the question what happened between the thirty two minutes of the camera focused on the door and that jump cut to Alex suddenly bleeding the code from program gives us the answer end of medium is completion of the videotape the taping the medium used to record what's going on start of header is the introduction of a new tape to the camera to start recording again carriage return is the full rewind of a tape to its starting point and start of header again would mean that recording begins new the tape of Alex's soccer slipping into the room and Alex closing the door ran for another 32 minutes and stopped because the tape was full Alex put in a new tape and along the line recording that tape was stopped rewound the very beginning and all footage that occurred from the start of the new tape and the bleeding head footage was recorded over leaving nothing at the start except for Alex looking injured the footage of what happened to Alex that left him bleeding from the head isn't missing because he neglected to record it it's missing because he did record it stop the tape brought it back to the beginning and recorded over from exactly this point to erase the footage in between Alex hit what happened and while Jay doesn't know that to the arc does giving us the code to let us know what Alex did to and inviting him to bleed more whatever to the arcs attitude is towards Jay we know exactly how they feel about Alex and have our first insight into understanding why did you also notice a symbol in the bottom left hand corner this is the word final position for the Greek letter Sigma a word final position or final form letter is the form a Greek letter takes at the end of a word except despite popular fan belief this symbol might not actually mean Sigma there's also an extremely similar looking symbol that stands for stigma stigma or stigmata is a type of bleeding wound that makes the sufferer seem like they've experienced the same injuries Jesus Christ endured during the crucifixion remember this relator J starts the search were Alex by arranging a meeting with Tim one of the original Marble Hornets actors Tim can't remember much about his time on set but does have some interesting things to say before we do the screen test I want to ask you a few things about the production before before now it was like locations or something because I think I remember there was a couple around here but more more specifically the director Alex oh it's Crowley um I don't really remember much I mean he was a friend of Brian's so I didn't really talk to him that much I mean he just kind of asked me to be part of the cast for the sake of convenience right okay uh in terms of his directing at the time how was he as a director um this is a pretty decent director well at first at first yeah I mean after a while he got to the point where Amy I seemed like after a while I got to the point where he would speak yelling at us more than he'd be actually be filming the movie so and it'd just be really paranoid waving his camera around all over the place I mean I just couldn't really just camera other other than the camera he was using to shoot though yeah I had a handheld that he was carrying around with him all over the place okay uh I don't have tapes to like right here I got Oh bags of tapes in the back of his car how many how many would you say you had Oh what more than necessary more than you would need to make up a production like this yeah just for himself mm-hmm yan'er speaking of Alex I mean I don't know if you knew this or not but but he did move away after he into the this production now do you know what might have caused him to do that or even where he might have gone to I didn't even know he moved away I mean I'm so like I said Brian's the one that was really I'm just kind of was along for the ride but Jevon know what Bryant is I haven't heard from Brian either okay I'm from open up for quite a while actually so you wouldn't know what would might have caused out giveaway no um I don't Brian did say something about like I think somebody was leaving dead animals and like his like front yard or something but you like like pets or you don't really know we mean pets like light like cats or dogs or anything I don't think so cause I mean that did kind of live in a really wooded area I don't think it was anything like that but I mean you have to ask Brian I'm not really that okay through the arc replies with a new video titled advocate translating the audio yields wearing results it's to disorder - completely clear up but the codes in the video have been broken at the beginning we have the phrase tick-tock upside down a clue for the code that flashes over Brian a binary clock counting to ten immediately after it ends the final form symbol for Sigma returns in the video description we have binary code for the number-7 the same entry this footage of brine came from right raw run the footage shrimp advocate beside entry number seven and you'll find they don't match whoever to the arc off this footage it didn't come from J's upload to the our chasm tapes of their own from the Marble Hornets set yet again more evidence of how closely linked they were to the Marble Hornets crew at the time of filming J doesn't mention to the arcs response returning to Twitter only to post the next entry he's received an anonymous tip about where Brian is and finds an abandoned house on the back two unlocked the house is trashed paper torn and thrown everywhere the couch up turned no sign of anyone living there for a while Alex Brian J finds a closet with a makeshift been inside in a bottle of water someone has been living here but didn't want to be found upstairs he suffers a sudden coughing fit and falls to his knees the sickness he's been describing on Twitter is back before exiting the house J finds a sink filled with dry blood he spots a few bottles of pills on a nearby table a bullet casing and some of Alex's drawings and grabs them all to the arts response reveals who gave J the anonymous tip about Brian's house did you hear that audio playing as J was on the floor let's speed it up and listen again catalyst boy Alice right catalyst right Alex hi J caches to the arcs response and tweets to the arc is mocking me his next message comes October 29 been out of it all week trying to look through more videos J keep searching over the weekend and delivers on November 2nd with entry number 17 alex is running tim through a scene but brian is a no-show so Jay Simpson they go through the lines quickly before I like Scouts in short you know Ryan's City was just running down to the store for some snacks or something shoot to be back any minute J passes Tim a water bottle and Alex comments that J is wearing a jacket inside it's pretty cold in here comfortable Billy got a secret under something well we're going out through it a couple more times anyway but the picture stays frozen for the rest of the tape but Jay has a larger concern he doesn't remember any of this it decides to return to Brian's house in the belief he missed something important and he has for nearly the entire shoot the operator stood in the window behind Tim three days later to the ark strikes again with a different kind of video signal just wait together refused to speak leave them I'll be waiting the footages room silence no secrets no a film from 1966 but the video has stereoscopic shading as if it was an old 3d movie the end message is clear come back find me JP considers a second trip to the house but his followers argue any tweets the general consensus is that I should go back to the house so I'm trying to work out a day to go another doctor appointment soon the next time we hear from him it's nearly eleven in the morning two days later just got back going to try and get some sleep then I'll put the video on YouTube as your number 18 is uploaded that night J tries the front door it's locked with the back doors wide open and the room looks twice as bad as before J spots a strange doll and the whole man goes to pick it up Alex Alice J tries to remove the man's mask after he suffers a seizure but gets thrown off and escapes the house he wakes up in his car the next morning with a knife he brought along missing and no memory of the entire night J immediately regrets getting involved in whatever is happening but still waits for to the arcs response two weeks later it appears to the arcs message is straightforward and the BU description is just the period the last sentence appears with a picture of Tim from entry number 15 telling him to smile for the camera the footage is from the attack on Pearl Harbor depicting boats singing into the ocean and the audio speed it up and you get another cut in the 1940s in entry number 19 J mentions to the Ark's latest response and admits he's been recording himself just like Alex did during Marble Hornets but found nothing worth uploading until now two nights after coming back from Brian's house an entry number 18 the masked man breaks into Jay's room and they both vanish J comment said his room is empty for about three hours after which he comes back and falls asleep instantly he has no memory of getting up during the night to the ark response of the surveillance footage with return another clear message found you forever the video description is 91 a reverse of 19 which stands for entry 19 this is where Jay vanished during the last century you can see he's wearing the same shirt in both videos and Jay himself confirms it on Twitter the response has to be during entry 19 I wasn't wearing those clothes the last time I was at the house Jay take stock of the evidence from his first visit to Brian's house the pill bottle is now empty it was full when he found it the bullet casing is also gone on the back of one of Alex's drawings he finds a note at the tower Jay uploads entry number 20 and mentions he doesn't remember any of it ever happening Alex and Jay are filming behind the scenes footage for Marble Hornets so we're here I'm setting Marble Hornets here at Brian's house Brian is somewhere I don't know where I wasn't I wasn't paying attention for you we've been doing some script revisions for coming up here I've been supervising that because I've descript supervisor yes Jay has been very helpful today I'm very proud of him Tim shows up but brings audio distortion with him and complaints about it being cold in June they read some lines before Tim suffers a severe coughing fitting take some medicine Jay notices his pill bottle is very similar to the one he found in Brian's house and has connected the tower with the red structure from entry number five when he and Alex went location scouting the dr confirms it with their latest response version showing the same tower and a code that breaks down the first letter of each word to precedes trees an anagram of deeper secrets followed by the phrase waiting for you and a red X the final message is in the video description a lowercase s the symbol for final form Sigma we've seen in previous videos an entry number 21 Jay explores the red tower and finds a metal case with a tape inside the same night he uploads this he tweets the footage on this tape is too much for me right now I have to go to bed the following afternoon he continues I'll be posting the tape in its entirety later tonight don't want to upload the footage but it needs to be somewhere in case something happens to the tape or me the tower tape reveals Alex leaving his cameraman Seth around an abandoned building had the audio and video distortion cuts through the footage constantly Alex calls Seth over to a wall with dried blood and it's not long before Alex pots more he wants to leave immediately and south follows until they hear a crash nearby he goes who investigating collapses to the sound of heavy distortion followed by an image reminiscent of a face and then Alex only Alex it's gone I don't remember what happened we were the only two left brian is gone town and Sarah everyone I just woke up in this house the tape since camera is gone all I can remember from the night it's right here all I think murder at all I'm leaving this house I thought I would be safer here by running away sound works I'm going back to my home I'm five days passed before Jay picks up Twitter again December 27 2009 still waiting to see if to the art does anything a day later Jay is still waiting not sure why to the arc has been so quiet I may be on my own for a while more time passes and Jays loosing patience beginning to think the only choice I have is going back to the house four days later to the arc replies of the video and the same style as messages more black-and-white footage from World War two and just a period in the description on Twitter Jay meeting regrets looking for to the arc supply I don't like the fact that it says us in the video four days later Jay tweets to the arc response twice the new video shows color burned footage of a person shuffling through Brian's house and entering a room before the video is distortion level destroys the image the end message reads there are doors unopened the video description is just the plus symbol Jay gives in to the demands of through the arc in his Twitter followers returning to the house heat again seems to be the only option going in the daytime no matter what later we find Jay hesitating beginning to lose track of days now decided to return to the house Wednesday his next week comes on Thursday morning how did I get here entry number 23 is uploaded later that night Jay did go back to the house and in broad daylight he leaves the door open behind him and finds a makeshift bed still inside the hall closet upstairs he sees the white doll from last time and tries some doors all locked he checks the bathroom and the blood in the sink is gone notice those pills on the table now we know where Jays missing evidence when the door to the hallway closes behind him and when he opens it the chase the masked man he's in another room facing a mattress Jay tries to leave again and succeeds only to find it's now night and the front door is closed he drives a few more doors and keeps ending up in exactly the wrong room he's being portal de round the house Jay run to the bathroom of the door shots behind him followed by a moment of darkness as a flashlight fails on the audio distorts when the flashlight comes back Jays inside the hallway closet downstairs another moment of darkness knocks out the flashlight and when it turns on Jay's in the abandoned building in the tape from the red tower he searches for a way out before running into what Seth saw just before the video cut J wakes up at his house the next day with this camera broken in no memory of the entire night he has out the cameras but it doesn't matter he's never going to the house again and quitting his investigation february 3rd 2010 j tweets I have felt completely functionalist since quitting hours later to the ARC response On February 8 2010 Jay tweets I know that te Ark responded I just don't want to acknowledge it anymore February 10 considering pouring up my windows still feeling incredibly unsafe here February 13 looking through some surveillance footage not sure what I'll find I feel like I just have to know one more time what's been going on February 15 entry number 24 will be posted later tonight in the new entry we see Jay working on his computer just before going to bed in the middle of the night he gets up opens the door and vanishes completely Jay comments at two hours pass before he comes back and it's not possible he left because the only door up side is blocked half a month passes with no activity Jay tweed said he feels like he's being watched but in checking the surveillance footage he finds nothing unusual the next entry is uploaded on March 5th 2010 with more control I concur in the dark vinegar on the ward and token look James quick to announce he didn't post the entry not sure what to think about it definitely considering getting out of here though a week later J is gone left town after the last tweet staying at a hotel now things stay quiet until March 24th when J uploads footage of a news report about his apartment being set on fire he goes silent for the rest of the month only tweeting again when he receives a strange text from a private number on April 4th that reads four one eight one zero on April 18th J tweets if that text message I received a couple weeks ago was a date it's today changed my location since then feeling more paranoid the may knocked on my door earlier and I almost had a heart attack I think I'm going to leave again soon just to be safe entry number 26 will be posted later tonight James man hotel jumping since his apartment burned down after a few weeks he's had a revelation I haven't thought about it the past week and frankly I've been feeling a lot better my memories better a lot of paranoid I'm looking over my shoulder all the time like it used to be so I think that this is for the best so this is going to be the last entry that I'll be posting J quits and plans to move far out of state leaving it all behind well the text message from April 4th comes almost immediately general consensus on Twitter was that it had to be a date April 18th 2010 the day of this entry Jay is about to leave the hotel when he finds a package outside his room with the tape inside the tape opens with the stored video that includes a driving footage a shot of Alex a view of someone wearing a skull mask and Alex walking down a hallway before cutting to the real footage Alex's girlfriend is recording him with a camera she just found in a closet accuses him of lie because he said they didn't have a camera alex says he must have forgotten and tells her to put it back she turns away just in time to spot the operator inside the house at the end of the hallway alex rushes her to the window in the tape cuts to a final message the footage is dated April 4th 2010 two weeks ago the same day Jay received the mystery text his vital notes add that the package had a return address and now that Jay knows Alex is alive he's going to go find him in case he hasn't heard from again Jay says I thank you for the help seven months passed before Jay's heard from again on Twitter or YouTube and when the new entry comes it's a major update as well as the beginning of season two of Marble Hornets which will be hitting next now let's dive back into the footage from season one and explore the who what and why of everything we've just seen did you notice just how often J got sick or couldn't sleep during season one how about how frequently he lost his memory during trips to Brian's old house and while digging through Marble Hornets footage in season 1 J mentions being sick on Twitter five times having serious difficulty sleeping or being exhausted six times and has two doctor appointments that yield no results he has issues with organization mental clarity and memory at least four times on Twitter alone and mentions more issues remembering things clearly or at all when uploading tapes of his time on the Marble Hornets set a lot of this occurs even before J goes to Brian's house in addition to all this we have moments on tape of Jay getting sick in the present yeah I had a handheld that he was carrying around with him all over the place okay uh Jay's investigation is taking a major toll on his health mentally and physically if he'd been experiencing lifelong issues like these he either wanted to mention these prompts on Twitter because they were routine or would have outright explained it in the same hour as announcing he was sick it's only because this is abnormal and unexpected for Jay that he mentions them with Alex's tapes Jay searching for one thing and only one thing footage of the operator or anything that suggests the operator is nearby during the tape Jay is constantly exposed to the operators image from the first few entries and his health takes a major decline the more footage she finds the worst Jay gets he skips meals stays up late develop serious bouts of illness insomnia and mental disruption all leading up to the main event in entry number 19 when Jays vanishing act brings him face to face with the operator into the Ark's returned video but is this the first time Jays been feeling this way why are you wearing a jacket it's pretty cold in here comfortable and then feel you got AC cranked out or something on its own these comments wouldn't be important if it weren't for the operator standing in the background the entire time and another tape featuring Tim complaining about the same thing why is it so cold in June and then coming down with a serious coughing fan in the hallway you are ten needy thing no okay which Jay has experience with on the first night at Brian's house and while meeting up with Tim again for his interview okay just how often have we seen Jay alone with Alex on set who was the prime target of the operator and became obsessed with capturing the monsters image a lot right and now Jays acting like outlets recording himself growing paranoid he is drawn to finding images of the operator and keeps coming down with severe bouts of illness in the process but evidence suggests this isn't the first time he's experienced it he felt the same odd chills as Tim on the Marble Hornets set hug around Alex more than anyone and has major events on tape missing from his memory this kind of memory loss occurs in the present at Bryan's old house where we know the operator is hanging out for sure and despite how bad things get each time Jay explores the house he keeps going back all of this the sickness from the tapes the memory loss constant exposure to Alex during his issues and the conscious and unconscious visits to Bryan's abandoned home brings us to another major note Jay is heavily effected by the operator just like Alex and it started during Marble Hornets he's drawn to images of the operator which make him sick and deprive him of sleep but his obsession only grows as a result he ends up sleepwalking teleporting coming face-to-face with the monster not just once but twice and both times has absolutely no memory of what happened it's also taken to account that to the arc has definitely been exposed to the operator for a long period of time and was a Marble Hornets crew member who knew Jay when to the Ark captured footage of Jay meeting the operator during the night of entry number 19 they recorded it themselves uploaded it entitled it returned and it's not referring to Jay following their demand to return to Bryan's house because he had already just done that before this happened in entry number 18 this is Jay returning to the operator an event characterized by memory loss which happens during this night and the third night at Bryan's house when he's transported to the place that disappeared on the red tower tape and meets the operator again and it's happened a lot with Jays tapes and memories of the Marble Hornets shoot he's uploaded too much footage already of things he doesn't remember ever happening and he'd been exposed the operator right around the time of that footage even if he didn't realize it Jay's been infected from the start and now his symptoms are flaring up the real issue is that he has no memory of something like this or something like the operator ever happening because we know any counter with the operator causes instant memory loss even if it's in direct contact for Jay this is the first time he's seeing it and feeling symptoms of any kind so he can't detect a pattern based on bad experiences and defend himself loss of memory means he never had something to shield his mind against to begin with whatever the operator did the Jay during Marble Hornets it's picking back up and the infection is growing stronger this is a good lead-in for our next question what is to the Ark's motivation on one hand they helped Jay by providing clues to what's happening with the footage and even went out of their way to give Jay the red tower tape revealing something of horrible happening the cells while hanging around Alex we also know from program that Alex is definitely hiding something which Sue the arc is trying to reveal so why do they also seemed to mock Jay and half their videos and set him up for dangerous situations do they want to help Jay or hurt him looking at to the arcs videos from season 1 more closely reveal that these don't seem to be coming from the same person there are different approaches at videos and multiple instances of themes live footage of rain black-and-white footage constant use of a single font and then there are breaks in the patterns serious departures from any kind of pattern and videos like warning stack up more evidence that this really isn't one person or if it is they're using very different types of videos for very different reasons the puzzlebox up to the arcs channel begins to align as the series develops a many aspects of just what is going on here cannot unfortunately be explained before we reached certain points in our review for seasons two and three bear in mind that two the ark may not be one person though and again if they are they're using very different video approaches for specific reasons and of course don't forget how in the same season videos from this channel were uploaded for purposes of helping hurting and then helping Jay again keep tabs on to the arcs obsession with water imagery and Noah's Ark - which ranch is a sink in doorways you may not catch at first remember how Jay and Tim both complained about feeling cold around operator the last bit of water imagery recapturing to the arc in their videos comes from signal where the video is a clip from silent snow secret snow snow is just cold rain it's been raining for a few of - the arcs Clips now when suddenly it's becoming snow and I'm like how when the operator gets too close the air becomes colder you might also catch that the code from the actual operator video spells out Lakes and stillness take every life of the night any sequence of words could have been used to deliver the code for listen we dissected from the capital letters but to the arc chose lakes on the threat of drowning there's only one way a lake can take lives at night and it's the same way a great flood would before we review our notes let's take away one more important fact from season 1 that the Marble Hornets writers really wanted to impress on us something is and always has been very wrong with Brian it's Brian's abandoned house Jay goes through after the anonymous tip where he finds the back doors unlocks and the place is trashed as if there was a violent struggle upstairs Jay finds blood in the sink and a lot of it as well as a bullet casing and one of Alex's drawings Alex's drawings in Brian's house a bullet casing blood in the sink signs of a violent fight that led to an unlocked door and no sign of Brian sets there's something seriously wrong here even in the old Marble Hornets footage you can catch it something is going on Brian seems to be missing at several key moments of filming even during behind-the-scenes footage being shot in his own home where this group of college kids he only slightly knows is hanging out without him in both tapes from the set that we see Brian the shoot is interrupted by the appearance of the operator in the car during entry number 7 and on the field during entry number 12 that's it that's the only type of footage we have of Brian during Marble Hornets before several scenes take place without him each time with a more flimsy and unbelievable excuse for why he isn't there and speaking of Brian it's time I make up that promise from earlier remember the appearance of the Sigma symbol and sum of two the Ark's videos and how it might have meant stigmata instead during behind-the-scenes footage from the Marble Hornets DVD set troy and joseph admit that the symbol did in fact stand for stigmata wounds on the body reminiscent of injuries suffered by Jesus Christ they had written it into season 1 as a plot point but abandoned it at the beginning of season 2 which they had never anticipated having to write Marble Hornets had only been planned as far as season 1 as in there was just one single storyline and it ended with chase goodbye after the package tape there had never actually been any plot points or progressions set up beyond what we've just seen no season two three or extended story in mind at all until we were reaction was good enough to warrant it there are certain aspects of season one that you won't see again or will see very little of in future entries like this whole stigmata plot and I'll be sure to point them out when they appear if you observe when the symbol comes up though you'll catch why it was included in the original story before the concept was cut from development the first stigmata sign appeared in program a direct reply to the footage of Alex bleeding from the head we already know what to the arc was trying to say about the big secret behind this but why also mentions stigmata look at the way Alex is bleeding the top of the hairline beneath the hair running in a circle around his head and trickling down unless he stabbed himself a few times in a pattern on purpose there's no reason for him to have a wound like this unless he was trying to imitate Jesus Christ when the crown of thorns was placed on his head before crucifixion making him bleed from the temple and down his face in a round pattern knowing how deeply to the ARC loves their biblical references they would relate Alex's ruins to the crown of thorns and call it stigmata but why put the stigmata sign on advocate as well if the video is a direct link to Brian consider that the message of advocate is a countdown and in the first trip to Brian's abandoned home Jay finds the back to her unlocked leading to room loaded with obvious signs of a violent struggle a lot of dry blood in his sink upstairs a spent bullet casing and Alex's drawings which again are the most out of place aspect in the entire entry whatever went down here to the arc knew it was going to happen and it involved Alex to the arc showed Brian an advocate because they were acting as an advocate on Brian's behalf letting Jay know that time was running out for something major about to happen not something had to do with Alex who is represented by the stigmata symbol remember the pattern and advocate is as follows tick-tock upside down which means the reverse of its usual connotation time going forward footage of Brian a binary clock counting to 10 then the stigmata symbol appears and the footage ends with us cutting away from Brian's face making him disappear Brian still might have been in his house when advocate was uploaded but then time ran out the meaning behind the stigmata symbols involvement occurred and Brian was gone by the time Jay entered the house only finding evidence that something happened and now Brian is nowhere to be found tear the art was trying to tell Jay that something Birbal was about to happen to Brian and even gave him an anonymous tip about where to find him but Jay was too late the event tied to Alex's disease already happened so what exactly was it what went down in Brian's house the answer is a pretty major spoiler if you haven't already just figured it out but if you weren't prepared to hear spoilers you wouldn't be here to begin with right I'll give you a few seconds anyway to jump ahead just in case ready okay - the Ark was trying to warn Jay that Brian was in danger of being attacked by Alex who is marked by stigmata tick-tock upside down with a binary clock over Brian's face meant time is running out for Brian and the appearance of the stigmata symbol right after the countdown finished met Alex was about to show up Brian's face disappears from view in the advocate video right after this and just after his confrontation with Alex in the house Brian is gone Jay comes in finds the place an absolute wreck because there was a violent struggle and there's a spent bullet casing upstairs someone fought for their life in this house and judging by all the blood in the sink they most likely lost Alex's drawings nearby are extremely weird and do give away that he had something to do with whatever happened but that's the point isn't it someone put these here because Alex would never just leave them and furthermore the back of one of those drawings had another clue that led Jay to the red tower where - the Ark left a videotape of Alex being extremely suspicious and led to sess disappearance - the ark knew Brian was in danger of being attacked by Alex Alex showed up attacked Brian and for all we know may have succeeded in killing him - the ark left the drawings at the scene with a clue on the back for Jay to find something at the tower and as Jay notes the style of writing on the back is the same as it is on the front which means Alex didn't make these to the Arctic and in version the video confirming that Jay needed to go to the tower to the Ark left an S in the description for stigma which meant that deeper secrets were waiting for him at the tower regarding Alex who we know - the Ark's been trying to expose as less than genuine since the program video and yes the tape from the tower definitely delivered deeper secrets about Alex and what was happening so this thick body symbols inclusion inversion does make sense so let's take a look at our major notes from season one and see what we've discovered alex is hiding more than just the operator and to the ARC knows it to the arcs program code revealed that we'll never find out exactly what happened that left Alex bleeding from the head and entry number 14 not because Alex didn't record it but because he destroyed the footage on purpose to cover up what he did to the arc is very closely linked to the Marble Hornets crew has known the operator for a long time and hates Alex from missing audio on tapes the footage from the set that Jay doesn't have to the arc reveals just how close they were to the original crew they also want Jay to remember them as they show secret footage of Jay during his time on set and have known the operator long enough and closely enough to name it based on how it functions in seen footage of Alex they know too much about to the arc reveals with the program video that they know or knew Alex and they don't like him telling him to bleed more they also make sure Jake gets a secret tape in the red tower that paints Alex in a very suspicious light after Seth disappears in a basement with dried blood on the walls Alex has secrets and to the arcades him enough to try exposing what they are Jay has been affected by the operator and it started during Marble Hornets far too much evidence has mounted that whether it's during the entry uploads or from the original set and Jay is clearly infected by the operator and it keeps drawing him in for close personal encounters it certainly indicated during season 1 that this all started during Marble Hornets Jays memory issues from the set and videos of his symptoms are too compelling to ignore we know meeting the operator after Brian's house leads to the instant memory loss and Jays missing entire chunks of his time on set from Marble Hornets which was plagued by the operators presence he hung around Alex too often it was present had too many operator visited shoots to have gotten out clean and finally brian is in trouble and it's been going on for a while Tim hasn't seen or heard from Brian in years and when Jay goes to his house it's abandoned and shows he disappeared after something violent went down blood in the sink a spent bullet casing furniture tossed around Brian's in a bad shape and his constant absence on set during Marble Hornets tells us whatever's going on didn't just begin happening I'm afraid that's all the time we have for tonight the moon is falling and the Sun is coming back there are aspects of season one that need further explaining but we have to wait for a visit the season two next week before they can be safely discussed or makes sense gotta have their proper context right in the meantime head over to the Marble Hornets channel and catch up on season two starting with entry number 27 you just might discover what we'll be covering next week before we sit down for full review and it won't feel nice for you to be ahead of the class and of course the Marble Hornets team absolutely deserves your views go watch the videos if you haven't already give a thumbs up to each and every one and hit the subscribe button for good measure this web series is every bit an accomplishment as it is a phenomenon and my explanations are no substitute for the real Marble Hornets experience if you enjoyed this review and I helped clear up some questions feel free to like this video and leave a comment as well as subscribe to the Nightline channel so you'll catch the next two videos the moment they're uploaded your support is extremely appreciated thanks for joining me in the talk this evening and giving into your night mind I'm Nick Nocturne and just like the operator will be mean again real soon sleep tight you

Channel: Night Mind

Views: 1,321,429

Rating: 4.9364653 out of 5

Keywords: Marble Hornets (TV Program), Explained, Review, Slenderman, Totheark, Night Mind, Nick Nocturn, Creepypasta, Analysis, Masky, Hoody, The Operator, Operator, Marble Hornets, MarbleHornets, To the Ark

Id: D_sACgfX50g

Length: 56min 3sec (3363 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 20 2015