Within Static

* Crimson Creek (full episode)

"**Within Static**" is the twelfth episode of the analog horror series Eventide Media Center, created by Aiden Chick. The episode was released about one year after the previous episode, and it is the first episode of Library 2 (Season 2).

## Synopsis

The episode featured what appears to be "recovered footage" from a Local Watch group: a recording of a television. The channels appear to be flipped through until stopping on Channel 6, which boasts only dark static. Soon a loud, muted screeching is heard coming from the TV as dark, twisting tendrils spread across the screen before it displays green bars.

A warning appears, stating that a "Class S Superentity" has been identified; it is using the television frequency, and a rotating, green grid is shown. Instructions are then given for the destruction and disposal of the TV, after which the viewer is instructed to go to their home's entrance, "assume a fetal position" and wait for the authorities, all while keeping their eyes closed. After the message ends, the archive shows "internal footage," which displays massive spider webs covering almost all of western Massachusetts; one web is focused upon and labelled as "Danger Zone." A list of towns on high alert are given, including Eventide Valley, Somberville, and Old Gothsford.

Footage of a telephone pole is then displayed onscreen, showing a dark liquid dripping from the wiring, before cutting to power line towers covered in strings of a wirelike webbing.

Video of a television set is then shown as a dark, screaming face manifests on the static-filled screen. This is followed by a "MISSING" bulletin, as a list of peoples' faces and ages flash by; all of their names have been redacted. Chillingly, after this missing person list, it states that "If found, their form will no longer be familiar." The image of a body covered by a sheet is finally seen, with wires or tendrils penetrating the chest and abdomen. For this person, the viewer is given a name: Alaister Blackburn.

The episode then ends with a card, stating the date of the archival and its contribution by "Evelyn Blackburn." The footage is also deemed to be Top Secret.

## Transcript

Note: All errors in spelling, grammar and punctuation are original to the video, and are not typos made by the editor(s) of this article.

"LOCAL WATCH Archives

October 1979

Recovered Footage"

"CH3

"Gary [unintelligible] and the entire news team"

"CH4

Remember that

NFL ON CBS

DALLAS 3

PITTSBURGH 14

4th QUARTER"

"CH5

Rated R.

GILLIAN GOLBERT'S

THE WIRING

DIRECTED BY HARRISON STONE

R-RESTRICTED

UNDER 17 REQUIRES ACCOMPANYING PARENT OR ADULT GUARDIAN"

"CH6

WARNING

Your local service provider has identified a CLASS S SUPERENTITY spread event within this frequency spectrum.

S Dispatch locator 10901845

TYPE S

SUPERENTITY CONTAMINATION EVENT

LOCAL WATCH"

"INSTRUCTIONS

Due to contamination and exposure to SUPERENTITY, it is required by LAW to comply with the following safety procedures.

After viewing this message in its entirety, please proceed to dispose of your television using the following methods:

Destruction by fire

Destruction by explosive

Take caution to ensure that all remains are accounted for. All remains shall be placed in carefully marked disposable bags.

All remains are to be left within residence to be collected by LOCAL WATCH personnel.

Upon the termination of the television device, proceed to the front entrance of your residence.

There, assume a fetal position and wait for the arrival of authorities. Do not open your eyes."

"MESSAGE TERMINATED"

"LOCAL WATCH Archives

October 1979

Internal Footage"

"Danger Zone"

State-wide emergency systems currently active

High-alert for the following townships:

Eventide Valley

Somberville

Old Gothsford

Heavenston"

"MISSING

Name: REDACTED

Age: 32

Name: REDACTED

Age: 65

Name: REDACTED

Age: 19

Name: REDACTED

Age: 27"

"If found, their form will no longer be familiar."

"Name: ALAISTER BLACKBURN

"Eventide Video Archive

Archive #201

Archival Date: 11/23/1998

'Within Static'

Archive submitted by Evelyn Blackburn

Archival approved by Eventide Media Group

Proposal date: 12/31/1997

Video distribution status: NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION

Class: TOP SECRET

299 Lightstone Way, Eventide Valley, Massachusetts"

## "Bulletin"

A week before the airing of this episode, on October 23, 2022, the official Twitter posted an image depicting a "Local Watch" map of what appears to be Massachusetts, covered in spider webs. This image is later seen in the episode. A caption in the upper right corner of the image indicates that this issue has been going on for three years (1976-1979). There is also an additional web in the southeastern part of the state, but this web is not seen in the actual episode.

## Original Video

Eventide Media Center had released an earlier version of "Within Static" around late October 2022. This video was later moved to the Eventide Media Center Patreon. Up to the 2:00 mark the videos are identical, but the anomalous event is quite different and does not connect to the Twitter post.

Instead, the video proceeds to show a close up of the tendrils creeping over the screen earlier, which appear to pulse and morph between being rounded and spiked. At the 2:17 mark a skeleton-like creature appears next to one of the tendrils and appears to be mutating in a horrific way as the skull spins impossibly, and the right side bloats in rhythm to the tendrils' pulse.

It then cuts to a digital space filled with crosses (heavily implied to be grave markers) with wires meandering among them. Another tendril close up is shown before, and at the 2:30 mark, a dark, screaming face appears through the static onscreen.

The static returns fully, but fades to black as words appear, claiming that an entity of some kind is "trapped" in the wiring and that something is speaking to them. Wires cascade over the final line before the video ends and the Eventide Media Center logo is seen.

Here is the original transcript of the words, starting from the 2:54 minute mark:

"I TRIED TO SCREAM

THE WORDS WOULD NOT FLOW

TRAPPED IN THE WIRES

I FIND MYSELF ALONE

IT TOLD ME TO."

## Trivia

* This entry is the first in the "Evelyn Blackburn's story" arc of the series.
* This is the only entry to have an alternate video; Aidan Chick removed the original in favor of the Evelyn Blackburn storyline version for Library 2.
* A watermark on the bottom right of the screen during the first channel shown reveals that this was broadcast by WEVC-TV, giving us the entry's location: Eventide Valley. This would make the third confirmed episode to take place there.
* Among the towns affected by this phenomenon are Eventide Valley, Somberville and Old Gothsford. All three have been featured in previous episodes ("Deep Night" and "Oasis Greenhouse," "Midnight Movie" and "City Council" respectively).
* Considering the motif of spider webs in this episode, it could be theorized that the Somberville Spiders have grown into a greater threat to the state and have gone beyond the borders of Somberville, or that there is a greater entity behind them.
* The discrepancy between the Twitter map and the map in the episode might have been an oversight, or it could indicate that the towns located in that southeastern area successfully eradicated the threat, causing the superentity to continue further west.
* The footage was given to Eventide Media Center by Evelyn Blackburn. This person is likely related to the Alaister Blackburn named in the episode, but her connection to Alaister is unknown. This is reminiscent of Joe and Madison Gatesburg from the episode "Computer Graphics."
* The address of Eventide Media Center is revealed to be 299 Lightstone Way, Eventide Valley, MA.
* Unlike other episodes, this one does not end with the Eventide Media Center credits (though the original episode did). It is possible that the ending card with the titles and archival history is the new version of the Eventide Media Center credits for this season.
* The short "Funeral" is directly connected to this episode. It makes a reference to Evelyn Blackburn, and how she was recruited by the Eventide Valley library after the funeral of her grandfather.