LIBERTYLURKERS

# LIBERTYLURKER

LIBERTYLURKER is an episode of the second season of the Monument Mythos.

## Video Summary

### The Statue of Progress

The video begins with a shot of the Statue of Progress. The text on the screen reads as follows:

> "The **Statue of Progress** is a colossal neoclassical sculpture at the entryway of the Suez Canal in Port Said, Egypt.
>
>

> *Progress* was designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, who later designed the **Statue of Liberty**."
>
>

### Ferdinand de Lesseps

A transition occurs, bringing us to an audio excerpt of an interview with the developer of the Suez Canal. He reads what would have been his speech for the grand opening of the Suez Canal stating that he and the Suez Canal Company built it with the minds of uniting the east and the west with trade and allowing sailors to arrive at their destinations faster than what at the time were the quickest routes. However, he admits he never read it, citing he could not "lie to everyone". He reveals he did not choose to build the canal. Rather, the “man beneath America” ordered him to.

Ferdinand promptly ends the interview with this quote:

> **"Any night, he can sink into my dreams."**
>
>

### The Sinking Man and The Forbidden Fruit

An animation by the Advocates for the Division of America plays depicting a scene from the book of Ferdinand. It displays the still silhouette of a man resembling George Washington with an axe, going in circles around a silhouette of a tree and it is implied that he is hitting it with the axe while doing so, likely trying to cut it down. After four cycles, the man's silhouette falls (“sinks” as Ferdinand put it) into what seems to be some kind of void or dark area and begins to flip. The tree floats out of frame, and an upside-down tree replaces it, coming from the top of the frame. The man spins, and lands on top of the screen, upside down, "standing" on top of the frame. Three more trees appear, all mirrored from one another. Flashes fill the frame, and the man is terrifyingly stretched to be as tall as the four trees with every flash that plays. The trees then disappear leaving the grossly stretched silhouette of the man resembling George Washington on the screen for a brief moment before the video fully darkens.

The logo for the ADA (Advocates for the Division of America) appears and the recording ends.

The torch of the Statue of Progress appears again for a brief moment.

### Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi

It is revealed that all surviving audio recordings of the 1889 Libertylurker interview with Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi were fakes made by American publicists. They were known as Liberty Liars and would sell these fakes to American socialites.

However, one audio recording's authenticity continues to be disputed. It is titled, "L'authentique Libertylurker".

The interview consists of a panicked-sounding Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, confessing his secrets about the Statue of Liberty. He admits the most difficult part of building Liberty was the construction of the **pedestal**. He intended the statue to be a gift, but would "encouraged" by the U.S. ambassador, at the time, to follow President Grant's requests. He agreed, and each month Bartholdi and his team received varying design and size requirements for the pedestal. After four years, requests from the U.S. ceased.

Bartholdi admits to knowing why the pedestal is so tall. He cannot tell the ones who ask him why the pedestal is so tall. He had designed an abattoir ( meaning slaughterhouse in French) for *him*. Bartholdi says he was told by President Grant that *he* used to be normal like them. Grant called him the Horned Serpent, the "devourer of villages". It was the name given to George Washington by the Iroquois.

> "Their damned founding father locked up in my foundation."
>
>

Another shot of the statue, unknown if Progress or Liberty ( although likely of progress). This time, a dark-colored anomaly is seen emerging, without a top in sight.

### Cthonauts' footage

Following the release of the Libertylurker, in 1985, cthnoauts are assigned to survey the environment underneath the Statue of Liberty's pedestal. The following video they recorded was inside the Horned Serpent Metastructure, colloquially known as *Wonderland*.

> "Cthonaut, designation, derived from the Greek words for underworld and sailor."
>
>

The video begins with a warning stating that loud noises appear and that people who are sensitive to them shouldn’t watch the video, it also warns viewers that the music from the Horned Serpent Metastructure may cause brain damage to some viewers. The rest of the video is brief, showing an endless black spacial void, with endless Special Trees filling the space. The trees are mirrored both above and below the cthonaut, attached to what can be described as invisible ceilings and floors. The video ends with a blinding flash and loud noise. The credits for the episode then roll.