Question One

[iliketofix]

How have the videos and stories Effected you? Did any of them jog any Strange memories in you?

Depending on how the Children's observations go, this may be the only question. It is very important in deciding how Video Six, an important video in the series, will be released.

[dickeja8]

The videos and stories have affected me in small ways. Last night I went to bed around midnight mountain time. All I could think of was that it was Monday somewhere....I had to resist the urge to get up and look for Video 5. I have become somewhat addicted to learning more.

The masks we wear story did bring to mind a memory, though I'm not sure how strange it is. Where I grew up in rural New York and Pennsylvania, there many roads that might fit the description of the one in the story. I remember as a child riding along on many a dark night, looking out the window. I was always on the lookout for strange creatures lurking in the fields and forests. As a child I was thinking of the creature on the airplane in that old Twilight Zone episode. This story made me remember those nighttime car rides.

[Killian]

The videos have (for some reason) reminded me of being a child. I think mostly because the graphics and the "special presentation" screen remind me of when I used to watch television late into the night when I was young. And, to be honest, I have some very freaky memories of things that happened in that house, which I believe to this day was quite haunted. So yes, it does sort of remind me of frightening things from when I was a child.
And, since I've watched the videos, the music and sounds playing in the videos always seems to pop into my head at the worst possible times (i.e. in the dark). I don't feel the sickness that some people claim to feel, but instead the music and sounds rather almost feel like a "presence" in my head, if that makes any sense.
The Mask story reminds of something one of my friends said happened to him years ago. He said he was driving through the woods up here in Wisconsin one night around 2:00 am, and there was *nothing* around for miles but trees and woods. All of a sudden, my friend says that a man with a wheelbarrow walked out of the darkness of the woods in front of him. My friend stopped his car, and the man walked directly in front of his car, turned his head very slowly to look at my friend, turned his head slowly back, and continued walking into the woods on the other side of the road.
That story still freaks me out when I think about it at night. That's what the Mask story reminded me of.

[esteed]

At first, the videos unsettled me, although I couldn't pinpoint a particular reason why. I have to admit, Video Four did nothing for me. Video 5 left me similarly unaffected. Knowing at least a little about what you are, or rather the forces behind the videos - or the information they convey - has allowed me to get my bearings and have some measure of stability and calm thought when I view and analyze them.

The eyes, or the lack thereof, do strike a little chord, however. I've always been interested in the paranormal, everything from ghosts to demons to mediums to cryptozoology and even quite extensively extraterrestial visitation, UFOs, and the alien abduction phenomenon. The most commonly described of the abductors is the now-stereotypical "grey": Short humanoid bodies devoid of hair and lacking genitalia, with heads shaped like teardrops turned upside down and (here's the clincher) black, slanted, wrap-around eyes.

You can imagine the kind of response that provoked in an eight year old. I've largely conquered the fear, but eyes like that still cause a shiver.

The stories were entertaining. The second, I thought, was more chilling than the first, but only because the situation described took place at the subject's home, and that seemed somehow more personal than an encounter on a secluded road. Neither story has made me look behind me or hesitate before entering a room, though.

[iliketofix]

It would be nice to get three more statements. The closer to the series number, the easier this should be for me.

[slyfingers]

How did the videos affect me?
The first two messed with my head. Seriously. There was something compelling about them- they felt incomplete, and to leave them incomplete would somehow be the worst thing I could do. So I did the only thing I could think of to complete them- hunt them down. The third video really unsettled me, something about the weird mouth that flashed on the screen for 2 frames really hit me (the picture is posted on my blog in fact.) Video 4 felt to me less unsettling, more of a "what next" video. However, the last video truly hit home. "The look of the eyeless is fear."

You see, I have always felt that there was something just outside my perception, that I couldn't touch, taste, see, feel, or hear- but I knew it was there. Through vivid dreams, I would experience glimpses of them. In fact, I had a recurring nightmare growing up. I am all alone in my room, in bed. It is dark, and yet I can see. Everything is fuzzy- in fact, very similar to the fuzziness of the videos. There is a presence there that is watching, and waiting for me. To escape it, all I have to do is move. Something as little as my pinkie would do it- and I would be able to escape. And yet every time I mustered up the courage to move, I would feel fear so intense it was physically painful. When I tried to move my body, it felt as if I was somehow unattached and vulnerable, and reconnecting with my physical body was all that could save me.
I would try to roll over, lift a finger, but nothing would happen- but after an exhausting effort that sometimes took hours, I would be able to move and I would wake up. If I didn't get up and walk around and went back to sleep, I would fall asleep again and be instantly back in the nightmare. Perhaps it is the emotions that the videos have evoked that reminded me of this, that draws me into the videos.

The first couple of stories were "spooky," but didn't do much for me at all. The BEK one though freaked me out. "The eyeless" have always scared me- whether it was the grey alien on the cover of Whitley Striber's book (I couldn't sleep if the cover was visible anywhere in the room) to the cyborgs at the end of "Flash Gordon" when Prince Barron pulls the visor off one of the agents- anytime eyes are missing, I feel a primieval fear.

[cyberus]

When I found the first video, it definately creeped me out. But the context in which I viewed it; "That it was a television signal intrusion," alleviated some of the creepiness. The second and third videos disturbed me more so, because the sources they came from were seemingly more innocent. The fourth, coming straight from the source, wasn't as disturbing, but only because so little was known about the source. The fifth one, well, the fifth I almost peed myself, I won't lie. The face at the end- the one with eyes, transforming into something without a face; losing it's identity in a sense. That creeps me out. And the eyeless guy didn't help much either. As for the stories; The first one was interesting, but it leaves, for me, more unanswered questions than emotions or fears. The second story was quite a bit more disturbing. Maybe the possibilty of the unknown, maybe the serial killer strangler, something rattled me.

[palidor42]

I found out about the first video through Wikipedia, and was pretty intrigued about the concept of inducing hallucinations through infrasound, even though the technical aspects of the description didn't seem right. The video itself was minimalistic and unsettling; I wanted to know who the smiling girl was. I do remember being unable to sleep and waking up the next morning with a headache.

The second video was the one I found the most unsettling, partially because it was the first video to utilize the quick transition and loud music at around the forty second mark. The sudden appearance of the grinning man and the fact that not only did the faceless mask now (briefly) have a face, but was replicating into many copies seemed orchestrated to get the viewers attention. But moreover, it was the message, "WHY DO YOU HATE? WE JUST WANT TO FIX YOU" let me to ask the inevitable question of who made this video, why they assume I "hate", and who I hate.

The third video had the least effect on me, because the glowing eyes, and "I can read your mind" motif just reminded me of too many bad horror stories.

The fourth video was less unsettling because I was getting used to the pattern present in the videos. The message didn't affect me because I've always been a pretty spartan person; "losing everything" I would just see as an opportunity to start over. The masks appeared to me to be a male and female mask, their disappearance symbolising death and/or ending and transient relationships.

The fifth video hasn't really sunk in yet, but seemed to underscore the recent theme of the black-eyed people keeping an eye out on me. And in a way, I want them to exist.

(P.S. I post as warneverchanges elsewhere)

[shutaro]

I was drawn them out of curiosity, particularly the first one. I've been into shortwave Numbers Stations and other unexplained radio phenomena for some time now, so a video of a broadcast signal hijacking was too good to pass up. The second one is the only one, thus far, that has truly startled me. The remind me of dreams I used to have when I was a child. Televisions turning on by themselves, images of grinning skulls spouting random advertising slogans against a crimson backdrop. Sometimes I still have dreams, which are very much like the stories you post... Only, I'm never fully dreaming, never in a place where I'm fully in control. I hear and see shadowy figures moving around me. Sometimes they do nothing but lurk in the distance, sometimes the snarl and jump on top of me. Sometimes they're holding me down, and sometimes they're just rattling at my door... Sometimes I'm able to make it past them and into the world of dreams, where they have no power over me. Sometimes I wake up screaming, "What the fuck?!?!" But these have only been happening recent... Maybe, a few months before I saw these... And they're probably stress-related, more than anything else... But still, there's something in your words that speaks to me, and I'm curious to know more.

[Wabonan]

The videos made me remember a half dream I had when I was a teenager. I dreamed I was with a beautiful woman in my bed. Then I woke up and saw a skinless nighthag hovering over me. It had cat eyes, yellow and glowing, big ears like a bat or wolf. I was frozen in place . I couldn't move. It seemed to hold me there with its eyes. Finally I tore my eyes away from it and tried to grab its throat. My hands grabed nothing but empty air. It was gone. I was sweatting alot. I couldn't go back to sleep afterwards. I sat up all night with a butcher knife... Thats what they reminded of...Thats the memory they brought back

[snowfox090]

Ever since watching the videos, I've had this strange feeling of something, or someone, watching me from behind. When I turn around, there's never anyone there.

[furikku]

I adore the videos and stories greatly. The videos are beautiful, haunting, and inspiring, and connect to me on a very visceral level. They're something I haven't experienced before, which is exciting. I enjoy viewing and reviewing them and trying to find similarities, common threads, and new meanings from their brief flashes of insight.

The stories aren't quite as fun, simply because they're not multimedia. However, they're equally fascinating and full of lovely imagery. I especially enjoy the extra views on the black eyed creatures; I was disappointed with the dearth of information on them beforehand.

Nothing has really set off any memories for me; I have a generally poor memory anyway, since most of it's taken up with info not related to my own life. The videos do have a tendency to increase my natural late-night paranoia if I'm not properly "shielded" when I watch them. (This does not keep me from loving them strongly.)