THE MAGNUS ARCHIVES #15 – Lost Johns’ Cave

MAG015 – Case #0140911 – Laura Popham
Statement regarding their experience exploring the Three Counties system of caves with their sister, Alena Sanderson.

The Magnus Archives tells the tale of a caving trip that takes a turn for the worse in the darkness and waters below.

Starring: The Archivist – Jonathan Sims
Writer: Jonathan Sims
Director: Alexander J Newall
Editors: Alexander J Newall, Murray Porter

MERCH:

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TWITTER: @therustyquill

[redcanaryunderground]

i have never been more disturbed by the word *clunk*

[martian]

I saw a warning on tumblr that said if you have a fear, the magnus archives have an episode about it and I didn't think it would extend to my niche fear of cave diving

[dannyb]

Claustrophobia, drowning, and getting lost in unfamiliar places?? My three biggest fears! Cool!

[RubyDianArts]

This is still the scariest one for me of S1, that "Take her not me" really gets you.

[lauren-komr]

the recording at the end scares me more than anything else in this episode -- not because of the unreality of it, or bc she doesnt remember it, or bc its such an evil, selfish thing to say. its literally just how animalistically scared she is. reduced to a tiny whimpering thing thats so scared that she is operating on pure base survival instinct and might not even be aware of what shes saying. shes so scared that her love for caving, her love for her sister, and even her conscious control of her thoughts, feelings, words, and actions, just VANISH. im literally just afraid of her fear. i honestly hope im never that scared of anything in my life.

[dakotameredith]

Me: *likes caves*
Johnny Sims: I can fix that

[henatatorplays]

I know the end recording was what really got people, but for me it was just her sister saying, "how lost are you?" That one sentence messed me up even before everything went wrong, what a good episode

[tenkesh_]

"A perfect fit"... Junji Ito flashback intensifies.

[thatonepunkguy]

The most unsettling part of this is definitely the recording... at least for me. Nearly every episode so far has made me unsettled, but that recording made my heart skip a beat or two. I bet she didn't include the recording because she felt guilty, that is, if she remembered what she said at all. Truly disturbing to me.

[gretablackwell]

Almost every episode has a different comment, by a different person, saying what basically sums up to “this is the one that _really_ unsettled me.” This podcast follows such a wide range of fears that it can affect anyone and I think that’s really neat.

That being said, this episode has me utterly fucked up

[Scarshadow]

What's creepiest to me is the implication that Laura is an unreliable narrator, and that she was involved in something horrible happening to her own sister... 0_0

[korikoran]

Laura: "caving has always been one of my hobbies"
Me (having watched tons of strange dark and mysterious delivered in story format): Oh no....

[babieofchat]

The “take her not me” part was definitely the most unsettling, but I’m confused when it comes to who’s saying it. It sounds like it’s off in the distance somewhere in the cave and you can hear a whimper or a whine that sounds like it’s right next to the camera which is more likely to be Laura and the “take her not me” never stops. Laura also says in her statement that when the candle light was coming towards her she could hear what sounded like elenas voice off in the distance but she couldn’t make out what she was saying and just assumed she was calling out for help? So in my mind it was most likely the sister that didn’t make it out pleading for her life to whatever entity was in the caves.

[ElForrest-Okey]

"It wasn't on the map" was about where I got incredibly worried.

[loveSTM]

My guess is that they already fucked up at the entrance and went through Big Meanie or something because that entrance is more narrow and actually has "a few unexpected twists in the
pothole" whereas the Death's Head Hole is a wide straight drop. I think that is the reason Laura was a bit confused with the map as she said "I find it hard sometimes to match the irregular lines and angles of the underground passages to the often abstract shapes written
into the map." because their actual position and where Laura thought they were on the map didn't match. That is probably also the reason Sasha said the route Laura described was " borderline nonsensical". It's because it was, they were reading the map wrong from the start and probably wound up god knows where.


This was a great episode though! I've been doing some caving myself recently and I swear I could feel everything that was described and it filled me with dread. Needed to get a hug from my mom to calm myself down a bit after listening to this.

[toastghost]

Squirm squicked me out, but this was the first one to make me go "Nope nope nope nope." So, nicely done.

[hannahdavis]

You know in all honesty, throughout the story Laura expressed loving her sister but at the same time there does seem to be a bit of animosity when talking about her too.

[felix_a_fiend]

This episode felt sketchier the more she slandered her d e a d sister. If she was still alive it wouldn’t have been as bad. But like, “take her not me” was the final kicker.

[QweAsd-nrxg]

Jon be like

Statement begins 🗿Caving has always been one of my hobbies 🥰

[TheMegaOne]

Isolation!
Darkness!
Claustrophobia!

With your powers combined! I'm Captain