Purgatory Case Files

The **Purgatory Case Files** was an interactive narrative that ran throughout Season 2. It followed Nicole Haught as she attempted to solve a case within Purgatory. Several times a week, fans were asked to solve puzzles, break codes and gather clues to illuminate new aspects of the narrative.

The series was created by Jarrett Sherman, Daniel Dales and Christin Hanly; with community management by Natalie Zina Walschots.

## Overview

The case began with a reported break-in by Marnie and Phil Stanton. After speaking with Marnie, Nicole finds that no valuables were reported missing, however in the basement one of the floorboards was torn up. Marnie and Phil had also recently purchased the house from an estate administered by Purgatory lawyer Andrea Johnson. A few days later another break-in was reported, this time at St. Jude’s Psychiatric. Sedatives, syringes, blood, and sugar were taken. The key card used to get in the building belonged to a nurse named Lydia Laurent, and she had not worked there in 20 years.

Nicole goes on to interview Andrea Johnson, Lydia Laurent’s lawyer. Andrea tells Nicole that Lydia had passed away 6 months earlier and that she hired a P.I. to track down Lydia's grandson, Josh Miller, so that she could pass on the estate. A tip leading to Josh's blog showed that he was devastated by the death of his girlfriend
Annie. A police bulletin was put out naming Josh a Person of Interest.

While looking further into Lydia Laurent's employee file, Nicole found that she had an excellent record until 1940 – where she was reprimanded for fraternizing with a patient, John Schrank. Further research found that most of his family died and that he was best known for his attempt to assassinate former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt.

After finding that all Schrank's medical records were missing from St. Jude’s, Nicole asked Jeremy Chetri for help in locating them. Jeremy finds the file within the Black Badge system. The files showed that Schrank was transferred to Purgatory and Black Badge Division in 1914, and that he claimed his assassination attempt was done on behalf of a devil in order to resurrect his loved ones. Evidence also shows that Wyatt Earp was part of Black Badge, as well as being in correspondence with Roosevelt.

Several days later Bryce Cooper's body was stolen from the morgue by Josh Miller. Jeremy tracks Josh to the cemetery where Nicole finds him along with Bryce's body, the stolen St. Jude’s supplies and John Schrank's journal with notes on "Death Spells". In an interview between Josh and Nicole he admits to summoning Baron Samedi to make a deal and resurrect his dead girlfriend, Annie. Samedi rejects the deal as Josh's grandfather, Schrank, having once summoned Samedi for similar reasons of trying to resurrect his family, failed to kill Roosevelt as part of his deal.

After the case is finished Nicole has an encounter with Samedi while at a bar. Samedi tells her something important was once stolen from him which he believes is now in Purgatory, asking if Nicole had seen it which she had not. He goes on to say he will be in Purgatory until he finds it and that “I know a lot about you, Nicole Haught. See you soon.”

Further research by Nicole and Jeremy lead them to believe that the object Samedi was looking for is a top hat that Roosevelt left in the care of Wyatt. Samedi visits Nicole in hospital while she is poisoned, wanting to make a deal with her if she finds his hat. He offers to make things better between herself and Waverly again, claiming he could stop the pain and turn Waverly’s heart.

After finding the hat Nicole and Jeremy confront Samedi. Jeremy tried a spell against Samedi but it was not effective. Nicole lights the hat on fire which causes Samedi to scream and disappear.

## Media

* View of Nicole's desktop
* Person of Interest poster
1/2
## Trivia

* The week Gone as a Girl Can Get aired, Nicole is referred to as "sheriff" within the Purgatory Case Files so as to reflect the altered reality.
* The facetime calls between Nicole and Waverly were recorded live in two different spaces.[1]

## Links

* http://www.purgatorysd.com/
* https://twitter.com/purgcasefiles
* https://purgatorycasefiles.tumblr.com/ - transcriptions of PCF