LYS Podcast Episode 10

-Intro-

'''Amanda Morrison Voiceover (AM V/O):''' Welcome back to the Leap Year Society. Before we move forward with the story, I’m going to take a few minutes to briefly catch you up on what happened in our last episode. So, first things first: let’s talk about the video. I’m sure if you’re following everything happening surrounding the world of this podcast that you’ve seen it by now. If not, you can go to our website at www.lyspodcast.com and check it out. Near the end of the first nine episodes of these series, we planned to have Mitch infiltrate a meeting of the Bolchester Alliance in search of answers. What were they all about? What was there purpose or mission statement? Were they connected to the Leap Year Society? And if so, how? Unknown to us at the time, we were also about to infiltrate the same meeting under different circumstances. Colin and I, in search of the strange video containing what appeared to be the evidence of something ancient and perhaps even otherworldly, arrived at the same address. Whatever the Bolchester Alliance was doing, it was most likely, at least peripherally, connected to what was happening in that video. Colin and I had been discovered just as we were about to enter the building where the video was to be screened and we were escorted from the Bolchester Alliance meeting and guided firmly, but gently to my car. Unbeknownst to Mitch and I at the time, Colin had electronically intercepted and recorded that video, which we then uploaded to a secure server online for our protection and that is where we left you last time. So, what was on the video? Well, as I mentioned earlier, you can watch it on our website. But the main takeaways are these: a young woman named Amy, her friend Sienna, Jason and Amy’s brother, Mark, are on a geocaching hunt. They find something buried beneath the final ‘cache’, the location of the prize they were looking for. Something strange and otherworldly, featuring a kind of blue ethereal glow. We’re calling it the “Artifact”, for lack of a better term. It appears to be some sort of dodecahedron, which means it’s shaped like a twelve-sided roleplaying game die. It looks like it’s made of stone, very similar in appearance to something called the Antikythera Mechanism, an ancient computing device discovered in wreckage in 1902. Most historians agree that the shipwreck that produced the Antikythera Mechanism occurred sometime between 60-70 BCE. It’s believed that this ancient computer had been designed, built and used by the Greeks around 205-87 BCE. In the centre of the ancient device appearing in that video are additional spherical sections, perhaps some kind of iris mechanism or something. These inner sections appear to be made out of type of black metal or glass, maybe obsidian or something similar. Further in, beyond the spherical sections, is something else. Its shape and material are hard to make out, but whatever it is, this the section of the artifact that appears to be glowing slightly blue. The young woman who discovered the item, her friend and her bother surround her and together, the teenagers stare intently at the strange object. The artifact appears to be affecting the teenagers in a strange way. One of them leaves and the others look deeper into what they’ve found. The young woman, her name is Amy, begins experimenting with the artifact, adjusting the inner devices (the black metal parts of the thing that look like some kind of iris or something) and stares through the object into the blue. She appears to see something amazing and excitedly hands the artifact to one of her friends. He stares through it and reacts the same. He’s amazed but he goes further, slipping a finger through the inner metal sections and briefly touching whatever it is that’s glowing blue in the centre. And this is where something really strange happens. As soon as he touches the blue section, he slowly fades from the world and we hear a voice that doesn’t appear to belong to any of the kids. The disappearing friend then flickers in and out of the world, the others scream and react in panic, then a loud banging sound like a distant clap. And then, the video ends. You’re listening to the Leap Year Society. I’m Amanda Morrison. Stay with us.

-End of Intro-

AM V/O: We’ve been looking into the teenagers that discovered the Artifact; Amy, Sienna, Jason and Amy’s brother Mark. They haven’t done any interviews or made any public statements about that video. We’re still waiting to hear from a contact in Idaho about their current situation and hopefully we’ll have an update by the end of this episode. Right now, we’re going to quickly address two of the other videos we shared with you in our previous nine episodes.

MITCH SORENSON: You want me to just start?

AM: Sounds good.

MS: Ok, so...

AM: Maybe a quick refresher about what was on those two videos?

MS: Oh yeah, ok. We received two video files from somebody, or somebodies, calling themselves the Forgotten Friends of Fortune. Both videos featured some kind of surveillance or security camera footage. One appeared to be exterior footage of Weylen Taylor’s residence, dated September 29th, 2011, the night of his disappearance. The other was footage from the security camera of Weylen Taylor sitting in a bar somewhere.

AM: This second video was taken after the first?

MS: Yeah, it’s from December, 2017.

AM: So, what do we know?

MS: Well, one of us knows where that bar is located.

AM: I know it’s not me!

MS: It’s not me either.

CO: But it’s nice to hear your voice!

AM: Yours too.

CO: Mitch?

MS: Right here.

CO: Cool. So you want me to get right into it?

AM: That would be great.

CO: Ok, so I spent a lot of time going over that video footage of Weylen Taylor in the bar. Not a very long clip.

MS: Yeah, maybe a minute?

CO: Or a minute and eleven seconds.

MS: Yeah, ok.

CO: Yeah, so I tried all the tricks; zooming in, augmenting sharpness, enhancing audio.

AM: But…there wasn’t any audio.

CO: Well, that’s not exactly true.

AM: No?

CO: No, there was a track of audio included in the video file, it was just very quiet and also highly compressed and tricky to separate and enhance.

AM: But, you were able to find something?

CO: Two things. First, I was able to enhance the audio enough to make out a familiar sound, especially to those living in and around the Bay area.

MS: What sounds?

CO: You want me to play it for you?

AM: Sure.

Bell sound is heard in the background.

CO: Ok, what is it?

AM: It’s a streetcar bell.

MS: From where?

CO: We’re not there yet.

AM: Ok, let’s get there. We have a lot to cover.

CO: Fine. So it was the combination of the sound of the streetcar bell and something I found in the video footage that gave us what I believe was the location of that bar.

MS: What else did you find?

CO: A sign in the window. It was hard to put together, but I believe I found part of the name of the bar reflected in the front window of the place in the mirror behind the bar between two bottles of vodka.

MS: Well done!

CO: Thanks, I’m proud of this one.

AM: What’s the place?

CO: I found the letters D O C H ‘ S.

MS: Doch’s?

CO: I believe it is Mur- doch’s pub. Murdoch’s Pub.

AM: What makes you sure?

CO: I’m not sure, but it’s right on the trolley line and the last five letters are right.

AM: How far away is it?

CO: Over a thousand miles away for me, but it’s pretty close to you.

''Sound of a computer mouse clicking.''

AM: It’s about fifteen minutes from here.

MS: I could use a drink.

AM: Thanks Colin.

CO: Don’t I get a drink?

MS: We’ll Facetime.

CO: Really?

MS: No. Thanks Colin!

AM V/O: So, we drove over to Murdoch’s Pub in search of a drink for Mitch and, of course, information about Weylen Taylor.

-Murdoch’s Pub-

AM: This is the place.

MS: It looks…

AM: Cool?

MS: …old.

AM V/O: Murdoch’s Pub was a place out of time; a hole in the wall with actual holes in the wall. We didn’t get lucky that day. After convincing them that we weren’t somehow tapping into their security system, the bartender and serving staff told us that they didn’t recognize the man in the bar in our screen capture. They did promise to ask the rest of the staff if they recognized him. So, back to that video- the other video. Could that video of those teenagers finding that strange artifact actually be real? Could it really contain proof of something otherworldly or supernatural?

CO: Well, it certainly appears to be real.

AM: Based on what?

CO: Professional opinion.

AM: Whose?

CO: I had video; Photoshop and forensic evidence analyst look at it.

AM: Wow!

CO: Yeah I have some cool friends.

AM: Sounds like it.

CO: But, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a fake.

AM: No?

CO: No, it just means it’s either real or an extremely expensive and complex fake.

AM: That seems unlikely, given the circumstances.

CO: I agree, but you never know.

AM: I suppose not.

CO: But there might be other corroborating evidence.

AM: Like what?

CO: Well, since we’re on the subject of videos featuring strange blue light, I sent you something a few minutes ago; a link to another video file and a few pages of research documents.

AM: Thanks, I’ll take a look!

CO: I think you’ll find them…compelling.

AM V/O: The documents were complex notes and equations related to a 1954 study of atomic nuclei. Not much relevant or, frankly, understandable there, but the video was…somewhat familiar, which brings us to CERN. I’m not going to go into a deep history lesson regarding CERN here; you can Google it if you like. In brief, CERN is a European research organization that operates the biggest and most powerful particle physics laboratory in the world. The first particle accelerator at CERN didn’t officially begin operating until 1957, but they were still performing some complex experimentation. Rumour has it, that there may have been a precursor to the larger collider, something smaller and a bit more experimental. The video was brief; it featured a scientist in a white lab coat standing in front of a circular device about 5 feet in diameter. It was filmed in what appeared to be Technicolour, which would have been cutting edge film technology at the time. The scientist checks some numbers on a small plastic device of some kind. There are lots of tiny numbers and he moves parts of the plastic device to reveal some kind of complex calculation. Then he presses a few buttons on some kind of archaic computer system and waits. There’s a deep roaring sound and then a few seconds later he opens a small door on the side of the large, circular container, kneels down and peers into it. At this point, there’s a flash of familiar blue light. The scientist appears to become slightly transparent and then there’s a banging and whoever was recording drops the camera. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

AM: So, who is this guy?

MS: Pierre Lacroix was a researcher and project assistant at CERN in 1954.

AM: Sounds good. Let’s call him.

-Phone ringing-

PIERRE LACROIX (PL): In a heavy French accent Hello?

MS: Hello, Dr. Lacroix?

PL: Oui?

MS: I’m here with Amanda Morrison; she’s the host and producer of this podcast.

PL: It’s a pleasure to meet you.

AM: Likewise.

MS: If you could just tell Amanda what you told me over the phone?

PL: Certainly. Well, your friend, Michelle, sent me a copy of a video of some kids who found an object buried in the ground.

AM: Right.

PL: I told her that I believe it’s fairly similar to what happened at CERN and that you should send that video to Dr. Joan Danler immediately.

AM: Can we do that?

MS: We’re trying to locate Dr. Danler.

PL: I believe she still has most of the research documents related to those experiments.

AM: What exactly were those experiments? What were you trying to do? ''Silence…. ''Dr. Lacroix?

PL: We were trying to contact the other side.

AM V/O: They were trying to contact the other side. I asked him to expand on what that meant, but he didn’t have an answer. He wasn’t willing to name whatever it was, whatever they were looking for. Only that they believed that there was some kind of split or rift in space time, but seeing that old film clip and speaking to Dr. Lacroix forced us to look at that video of those teenagers in a whole new light. What if it really was real? We continue to try and contact Dr. Joan Danler. Dr. Danler was one of Dr. Lacroix’s students. It looks like she retired from public life around 2002. We’re going to keep looking, but so far we’ve been unable to locate any information on Dr. Danler’s whereabouts. We will, of course, continue to look into Dr. Danler and anything and everything connected to that video. Concurrent to that investigation, we’ll also continue to dig into the Bolchester Alliance. As of right now, we’ve been unable to find much of anything on Nancy Robins, the woman whose name had been mysteriously removed from the Bolchester Alliances website right around the time we began looking into that group. We have a few people helping us continue our digging into that organization. If we find anything at all, we will of course share it with you on this podcast. Which brings us back to something that was central to our first nine episodes; or perhaps more accurately someone who was central to our first nine episodes; Patient 81. We have a few remaining audio files from that original collection of audio featuring Patient 81. We’re going to play one of those files for you now but first; a brief refresher. This audio is from the last recording we played for you.

-Recording-

WEYLEN TAYLOR (WT): Would you be willing to talk about your visitor?

PATIENT 81 (81): Which one?

WT: The woman who came to see you today.

81: What would you like to know, Dr. Taylor?

WT: What did she talk about?

81: She didn’t tell you?

WT: She was only willing to speak with you, I’m afraid.

81: Are you?

WT: Am I what?

81: Afraid?

WT: No. Do you believe I have a reason to be afraid?

81: Maybe.

WT: And why is that?

81: Because there is something in here with me.

WT: What do you mean? I can’t see anything. It’s a small room. I can see it all, every corner. All I can see is you, I’m afraid.

81: Well, you see, that’s precisely the problem.

WT: What do you mean, what’s the problem?

81: You’re looking in the wrong place.

WT: What are you talking about?

81: The thing that I’m talking about…

WT: Yes?

81: …is inside my head.

AM V/O: And now the next recording.

-Recording-

81: Good morning, Dr.

WT: Good morning. How are you feeling?

81: Tired. Very tired.

WT: I can understand, looks like you had quite a night.

81: It wasn’t me.

WT: No?

81: No.

WT: Well then. Can you tell me who it was that covered the walls in these…symbols?

81: I don’t remember.

WT: You don’t remember? Or you don’t want to remember. I believe you remember everything.

81: Please. I just want to go home.

WT: Ok. You’d like me to suspend your treatment? Is that what you’re saying?

81: I don’t know.

WT: We’re working to make you well again. You do understand that, don’t you? Well?

81: I think so.

WT: Could you tell me again about the woman about the woman who told you about the…other side? Please.

81: She told me she’s coming back. She’s going to help me, to show me things.

WT: And you believed her?

81: Yes, I do.

WT: And why is that?

81: Because she’s here.

WT: What do you mean?

81: I mean she’s outside the door, Dr. Aren’t you going to let her in?

WT: What are you talking about?

There is a knock on the door.

81: It’s time, Dr. Taylor.

AM V/O: We’ll have more from those Patient 81 recordings soon, but now we’re going to update you on somebody else we met over the first nine episodes; Lane Kelly, the man in the coma. A coma that may have been self-induced. Lake Kelly is the owner of Silver Cord Road, a blog about conspiracy and the supernatural. Although Kelly’s research is generally tied directly to scientific studies and experiments, most everything he looks into has been studied in scientific environments and most have been double blind peer reviewed, he appears to have little motivation in the arena of self-promotion and consequently, not a large readership, although the readers he dos have tend to be loyal and quite active on his site. Lane Kelly referenced the term “stepping” that we’ve heard mentioned a few times on this podcast in connection with both Lane Kelly and Dr. Weylen Taylor. Mitch is going to read another section from Lane Kelly’s diary for you now. His blog, you’ll remember, is titled “The Silver Cord Research Project”.

-Diary entry-

MS: They’re still following me. I can feel them around every corner. I’m convinced it has something to do with the voices I heard last time. The voices from the other side. I’ve decided to continue the project. I’m too close now to give up. I’ve been researching a number of ways to go deeper and based on some initial testing I believe pentobarbital is going to be the most affective agent. The term “stepping” continues to appear in my research. I believe the most likely scenario is that stepping might be a way of becoming a kind of passenger in another’s consciousness. I’ve begun working with a test subject, a subject I’m calling Venus. Venus is going to attempt to find the “in-between place” to see if there might be a way to enter it, to perhaps even discover my consciousness there, once I cross the threshold. Tomorrow we are going to take the first step.

AM V/O: So, Lane Kelly was working with a test subject he called Venus. We’re looking through everything we have on Kelly to try and find more on Venus. We’ll update you if and when we know more. Colin found something interesting regarding Pierre Lacroix, the research assistant from CERN, the man we spoke with earlier in this episode.

CO: Something happened at CERN in 1954.

AM: What?

CO: Two scientists died.

AM: What happened?

CO: They were involved in a controversial research project; something that hadn’t been approved or, as it turns out, insured.

AM: Wow.

CO: There’s more.

AM: What?

CO: Pierre Lacroix was involved.

AM: How involved?

CO: He was one of only two people left alive who participated in that project. He and another scientist, Colleen Danler, were fired for gross negligence.

AM V/O: Right after Colin broke that news, Mitch called with some more. The geocaching teenage girl and her friends who discovered that artifact had been reported missing.

-Outro-