Tape A

The contents of tape A are played in episode 1, starting at 8:07.

According to Jac in episode 2, this tape was taken by the police after the parents called them after hearing the tape for the first time. This was when Jac was nine years old. However, the police could not do anything. As Jac says she had the tapes digitized by a professional service some time later, this means that the police must have returned the tape later on.

## Summary

In this tape, the trapped man tells of his arrival at the town, finding it to be abandoned. He also recounts his first encounter with the thing from the woods, which leads to his ankle getting injured.

After fleeing to downtown, he finds a bowling alley that he uses for shelter.

Although this is not his first attempt at recording a tape, he says that a previous attempt resulted in a rant, and he pitched that tape down the well. It is notable that he found the tape recorder in the office of the downtown bowling alley, which means that he could only have made his first recording after that.

## Notable facts

* After 8:50, he mentions that he cannot describe what happened to him "this last couple days", suggesting that this tape was recorded early in his entrapment situation.
* He mentions having made one recording attempt before, but due to it becoming a rant, he pitched it down the well. This might suggest that this is his second recording attempt, and the first tape was discarded, which would make this the genuine first tape in the time series of the tapes that Jac received.
* His ankle injury happens in the events of this tape, as well as his first encounter with the thing from the woods.
* While he sees no cars or other vehicles in the part of town that he first enters, he mentions cars on the roads in the downtown area that he flees to.
* He closes his descriptions of events as "my first night here".

## Observations and speculations

* The trapped man compares the feeling of his exhausted legs to "wet cement", and judges the bowling alley building as "structurally intact". Although not a big hint, this choice of words might support a hypothesis that he knows some things about buildings, like a construction worker or architect.
* Overall, his choice of words and phrasings suggests some level of education. He appears to be rather self-reflective and intelligent, being able to describe his unusual situation in a very clear language.

## Timeline within the episode

 8:50 - 9:35
He goes on speculating that he or this town might be going crazy. He wants to have the recordings as a reference for later, to prove to himself that he is not "making it all up". He hopes for getting rescued some time in the future.
 9:35 - 10:54
He finds the gas station to be empty, with no one inside. The doors are open, lights are on, no sign of abandonment except for no one being there. Even after waiting around for a bit, no one shows up. He grabs a copy of the town map and went on to find the family's address on his own.
After finding the street on the map, he finds out that his car doesn't work anymore, even though his car was brand new, and there was no apparent reason why it should not work.
 10:54 - 12:25
He finds the whole part of town abandoned. In addition to the absence of any people, he also notices the absence of any cars or other vehicles. Houses look abandoned, there are no animals to be seen, not even roadkill.
 12:25 - 15:23
Upon hearing the noise for a third time, he has the impression that its origin is not only behind him, but also above. Looking up, he sees a "giant vaguely humanoid silhouette hanging in a tree". Upon him looking at it, it starts charging at him. He runs away.
He describes the thing's way of movement as "swinging through the trees": "I can hear it grunting as it leaps from limb to limb. I can hear small branches explode as it plows right through them."
He flees in fear that "this thing" will hurt him when it catches him. The trail ends in a flat, paved road. As he reaches the edge of the trail, he hears the thing drop down from the trees. As this seemed to happen within arm's reach of him, he leaps forward. He falls and curls into a fetal position.
He realizes that he has rolled at least a hundred feet from the edge of the woods, which is plausible because he ran away downhill. He sees the thing standing at the edge of the tree's shadows. He suspects that the thing is afraid to come out into the light.
 15:23 - 17:37
He runs into town, despite being hurt from falling and exhausted. He enters the downtown area, now screaming for help in terror. There is no reaction to his cry for help.
There are cars in the road in downtown, "but they were covered in this layer of filth". "Everything was decaying like it had been left for dead decades ago." He tries the doors of several buildings, but finds them locked. Some are even barricaded.
 17:37 - 19:14
 19:14 - 21:35
Even though he needs to use the bathroom, he is too afraid to do so. He considers to "piss my pants", but refrains from doing so too, being afraid that the thing might pick up the scent.
 21:35 - 23:00
He explores the rundown bowling alley and confirms that it is structurally sound. He finds stocked up vending machines and other useful things in the office, like keys to the vending machines, a letter and the tape recorder that he uses for recording these tapes. Also, he notices that he can lock the office door.
 23:00 - 23:14

## Distorted passages

* 8:33
* 9:35
* 12:32 -- not distorted but skipped
* 14:51
* 23:08