MAG 37: Burnt Offering

Statement of Jason North, regarding the discovery of an alleged ritual site found near Loch Glass in Scotland.
==Pre-Statement==
Jonathan Sims takes a brief statement from Martin about the two delivery men who delivered the lighter and the table in MAG 35. Martin describes them as big but ordinary looking and speaking with cockney accents that were likely fake. He did not see the table as Rosie signed for it but advises John to destroy it in case it is the table from Amy Patel's statement. Elias also recommends destroying it but John disregards their advice in favour of studying the table.
==Statement==
Jason North is scared for his son's, Ethan's, life, saying he won't let him burn.
Jason worked for the Forestry Commission in Scotland and had spent the day searching for pine martens and other endangered animals in the area to report back to the Commission. He mused that people would often leave large trash items, such as fridges and microwaves, in the forest, he once even found a corpse.
Whilst walking, he spotted an empty clearing. Trees, some 50 years old, lined the outside and in the centre was a stone seat or altar. He went into the clearing to investigate and suddenly became extremely hot. Throwing his jacket off, he took a drink before realising that the water was boiling. He leapt from the clearing.
After he recovered, he noticed scorch marks on the ground of the clearing, which lead to several small animals which had their fur and feathers burnt away, revealing sunburnt skin beneath.
The trees, around two dozen in total, all seemed to have nails in them. From each hung a clean string, a lock of hair and a dirty milk bottle. Inside each bottle was a collection of things from the forest: pine needles and twigs, dirt or rainwater which slowly simmered. In each bottle there was also a picture of a woman in her 50s. Wanting to take a photo, Jason went to take the bottle, but he dropped it, and it shattered on the forest floor. He grabbed the photo and ran.
On the drive home, his car overheated. His house also burnt down within a week due to electrical failure and his wife died in some horrid way, presumably involving fire. Jason was terrified that something would happen to his son Ethan, so he came to The Magnus Institute for help.
== Post-Statement ==
Ethan did not die, and moved in with his foster family in Inverness, after his father immolated himself on the 10th August 2009. Tim found nothing untoward with the clearing Jason mentioned, and Sasha was unable to find anything suspicious about Jason's statement. The clearing itself seemed to match Voodoo and Wicca rituals, but nothing concrete has been found.
The photo of the old woman is of Gertrude Robinson, previous head archivist of the Magnus Institute. The photo was taken around 2002.
==Trivia==
*The description of the ritual circle was largely inspired by the experiences of a fan on the (now defunct) Rusty Quill forums.
== Continuity ==
*Related entity: The Desolation and The Web.
** As described in MAG 145, the ritual circle was constructed by Gertrude Robinson, mistakenly believing it to be a counter-ritual to the The Cult of the Lightless Flame's attempt at a ritual using Agnes Montague. Instead it invited the Web and allowed it to bind Gertrude and Agnes to each other on a metaphysical level. Gertrude conducted her ritual around 1974 and maintained it for years, adding Desolation symbology to ward off negative side effects against herself. This explains the somewhat recent photos of Gertrude and the burning (associated with the Desolation) that targeted North. Gertrude is aware that someone accidentally broke the circle and suffered greatly for it. 
Category:The Magnus Archives Episodes