MAG 25: Growing Dark

Statement of Mark Bilham, regarding events culminating in his visit to Hither Green chapel.
==Statement==
Mark Bilham does not believe in the supernatural and does not think what he experienced is esoteric or arcane. Indeed, he only made the statement to the Magnus Institute because his girlfriend, Katherine Harper, suggested it.
Kathy graduated from university in 2014 and moved in with Natalie Ennis, a friend from outside of university. Natalie was quiet, nice and extremely religious. She and Mark did not get along, as they had nothing in common. 
In October, Natalie's mum passed away and she became very introverted, and lost her faith. A few months after, Natalie explained to Kathy that she had found a new congregation and became more introverted and ignored Kathy and Mark for the most part. She started to spend more time with her new church, spending most nights there, and the few days she spent at home she sang in a foreign language all night. Kathy started to hear movement in Natalie's room when she was not in.
The light bulbs kept breaking in the house, and on closer inspection Mark discovered that Natalie had been unscrewing the light bulbs all throughout the house.
One night, Kathy arrived at Mark's house in tears. Natalie had asked her to dinner, and brought her into the kitchen, where a bowl of something like cold overcooked spinach lay waiting for her. Kathy took a few mouthfuls of it before she could not stomach it anymore. Natalie said that she was going to move out, saying that she was going to a new home and a new family. She said that 300 years was a long time to wait, but she was lucky to find them so close to the end and that they were going to be collected by Mr. Pitch.
Natalie offered Kathy a place with them, but Kathy said that she was not one for Christian worship, to which Natalie laughed, saying "no, but you're a natural for them. You're worshipping as we speak." Kathy fled to Mark's house.
Mark resolved to approach Natalie about this, he drove over to the house and went into Natalie's room. In there, all the furniture, wallpaper and carpets had been removed and attached to the window, effectively blanking out any light coming into the room. He found a piece of paper in the room. On one side it said "Hither Green Dissenters", and the other side it had a curved line with four straight lines underneath it, like a stylized closed eye.
Mark found that there was a chapel called Hither Green Chapel in a graveyard in Lewisham. He drove there and found a run down chapel with boarded up windows and open doors. Inside he shone his light around and saw broken pews and general detritus. His torch failed and he removed the batteries to check them and dropped them.
As he felt around for the batteries, he realized that the floor was cold and smooth, like marble, without any of the rubbish there had been before. A foreign singing started, as though from different throats, but they all came together something that sounded like "Ny-Ålesund". He walked forwards, looking for a wall, but although the chapel was small he walked for a full minute before finding anything. It was a metal grate, rusted metal in a criss-cross pattern, as he removed his hand he felt leathery fingers grabbing for him. He fell back and remembered his phone, as the singing crescendoed he lit the light on the phone and saw that he was back in the chapel. 
He called the police and filed a missing person's report for Natalie.
== Post-Statement ==
Sasha confirmed that Natalie was reported as missing by Mark on 11th March 2015, but there was no trace of her, the church or any cult at the chapel. Neither Mark nor Kathy have heard from Natalie since.
The stylised closed eye sounds similar to the People's Church of the Divine Host, leading Jonathan Sims to think the church may still be in existence.
The word may have been "Ny-Ålesund", which is the northernmost major settlement in the world and is owned by Outer Bay. Winter - and nighttime - lasts for a long time that far north.
Martin found another police report a month after this statement. On 15th May 2015 police were called to the chapel again as there were screams heard after 11pm, although no cause of the noise was found. This concerns Jonathan Sims because this is the same day that Gertrude Robinson passed away.
== Continuity ==
*The People's Church of the Divine Host was previously mentioned in MAG 9. 
*Related Entity: The Dark
** In MAG 143, Manuela Dominguez explains that the events at Hither Green Chapel in March were part of The Dark's attempt at a ritual.
* Natalie Ennis reappears in MAG 73, having been killed by the police after attacking and killing an officer.
Category:The Magnus Archives Episodes