Sidney Wagner

Sidney Wagner is a character played by Dominic Allen who appears in the first installment of the podcast's M. R. James trilogy written by Danann McAleer, A Christmas Inheritance.

### A Christmas Inheritance

Sidney is one of the two old college friends whose help Edward called for before he headed over to his newly inherited property; we gather from the first scene that he is also particularly close with a mutual friend of the group by the name of Peter Ainsworth. He toured the country for some time in his youth, performing as a mesmerist known as "The Ineffable Hypnos", but has now moved away from entertainment and delved into psychical research. He is also very fond of collecting eccentric and peculiar hats from all around the world.

Once the three men arrived at Warham hall, and had begun to settle in, Sidney was the first to hear the voice of a woman calling out for someone, in response to which he swiftly ran downstairs and learned that she'd been looking for her son. At this point Sidney suggested to find the boy through psychical means, and proceeded to hypnotize a child who'd been accompanying the distressed mother, discovering thanks to him that the children were playing a game up at the house when Samuel (the woman's son) got "folded up" in the maze. Then, once the visitors left, Sidney shared this information with Edward and Peregrine, and as the two attempted to investigate he also found a hammer, sickle and bowl near the library's fireplace.

Once the discussion as to what to do in order to locate the boy rose up and the trio began to move around the grounds, Sidney suggested that a ladder might be useful, and therefore went back to the house with the intention of procuring one; here, *something'*s coarse fur brushed past him and he spent the next few turns feeling especially "safe and warm". After some fruitless searching the other two men returned to the hall and Edward eventually fell asleep in his bedroom, where, unbeknownst to him, a mad Sidney was residing, covered head to toe in an almost non-euclidean hat-armor. This strange apparel caused him to enter a brief scuffle with Peregrine, which he came out of relatively unscathed, and afterwards during a non-verbal encounter with a strange creature Sidney was the one posing the questions, as it replied by knocking on the door. He notably also saw his good friend Peter Ainsworth in a bush, which confused him greatly.

The night's events forced Edward to sleep in Sidney's room, and once the two woke up the next morning they headed downstairs to find Peregrine already up and surveying the grounds. The trio then conversed with the groundskeeper regarding the day's itinerary, and it was decided upon that Sidney should accompany him in a walk through the maze; here, Sidney was surprised by the sudden appearance of Peter, who began pulling him deeper and deeper into the maze until they both reached the center. Here Peter secured his friend upon a statue of sorts, so that his knees were locked in place and his teeth were biting into a shield, and in this dire situation Sidney managed to achieve astral projection and transfer his consciousness into Peter's, which didn't really end up doing him a favor, since it highlighted to him how much the other man secretly despised him. Eventually, however, Sidney returned to himself, and Edward arrived just in time to see the groundskeeper William cut open his throat and use him as sacrifice.

### Subsequent Mentions

Sidney was also present in Peregrine's nightmare at the beginning of the finale for A Residence at the Bay, and it is mentioned in the last scene of that scenario that he sold a fishing boat to Jack, a local fisherman, since he "didn't need it anymore"; the boat also had a vegvisir carved into it, which is the same design Sidney had found etched into the sacrificial bowl in Warham hall.