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princess-of-purple-prose · 1 year

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Welcome to Night Vale episode recs

Welcome to Night Vale episode recs—for new listeners and for fans that fell off! I’m thrilled to see interest spiking in my favorite podcast after certain site-wide events, so this is a list made to make Night Vale's large catalogue less intimidating. WTNV is a master of both impressively plotted arcs and phenomenal one-offs, and there's something for everyone, whether you've never heard it before or haven't listened in eight years <3

Requisite warnings: Welcome to Night Vale is an absurdist horror-comedy, and it goes heavy on themes of unreality, especially in regards to perception, derealization, time and memory, existential dread, and body horror. The premise is that the listener is a citizen of the town, and Cecil often addresses the audience directly, not to mention frequently implies they’re in danger. The series is also (United States-centric) political satire about government surveillance, gun laws, and general conspiracy. Year One specifically is heavy on themes of anti-indigenous racism, which I believe were resolved insensitively. Please be cautious, and honestly, if anyone has questions about specific warnings/episodes I'd probably be down to answer!

On to the episodes! I’ve sorted them here into recs for new listeners and for returning ones. The list is quite long (26 recs in all—longer than a season!), so I’ve put it under a cut, but TL;DR: Year One is the best for people looking to get into the feel of the series, and returning listeners should consider relistening to some old arcs and poking into the new ones to see what’s changed in Night Vale, both town and show! The official transcripts page lets you sort by arc and by year, and I personally love the now-archived cecilspeaks on Tumblr for transcripts up to 176!

For new listeners

Recs to pique your interest! These are mostly one-shots which represent the ethos and storytelling of Night Vale :)

1, “Pilot”: An absolute classic, and one of my favorites even after so long! The first episode is literally amazing at setting up the general tone of the show and the town, not to mention dropping about a dozen future plot threads at once!

2, “Glow Cloud”: ALL HAIL—ahem. There’s a glow cloud and a wonderful end monologue :)

3, “Station Management”: Sneaking this in because this is the ep that really dragged me into the show! I could go in depth, but I know my audience; simply go forth knowing it features Cecil being a poor little meow meow <3

13 and 45, “A Story About You” and “A Story About Them”: The first parts of one of the most intriguing arcs of the series, told in second-person with an engrossing break from usual format and eeriness aplenty!

71, “The Registry of Middle School Crushes”: A family heist!!!

94, “All Right”: One of Night Vale’s most technically impressive episodes—listen to this one with headphones!

101, “Guidelines for Disposal”: Another personal fave. Something about this one really, really strikes at my heart, and I think it perfectly showcases Night Vale’s ability to balance its silly surrealism with haunting, lovely narrative

131, “Brought to You by Kellog’s”: I can’t possibly explain this one. Just listen to it

132, “Bedtime Story”: Oh man. Ohhh my god. Do you want to feel feelings about a boy who wanted to know everything

133, “Are You Sure?”: Another technically stunning episode; you have to relisten to this one for it to achieve full impact. Consider reloading once you’re done with your first listen, and again after your second :)

142, “UFO Sightings Report”: A lovely episode that offers glimpses into the lives of various Night Vale citizens. It ends heavily, but comfortingly all the same

159, “Cat Show”: You know how Cecil has a floating nightmare cat?

168, “Secret Blotter”: Extremely fun episode which goes off the usual format by a tad to great effect

All in all: I think Year One is the absolute best for exploring the ambience of the town and familiarizing yourself with recurring names and arcs, and even in a town where time doesn’t work, it’s best to start at the beginning! But there are so many Night Vale episodes famed for their prose and panache, and for good reason—shop around for what interests you!

For returning listeners

Meant to be a list of refreshers plus things that make you go “hey WHAT happened while I was gone???”

16, “The Phone Call”: Don’t we all wish we could recapture the experience of hearing Cecil squeak “Neat!” for the first time... (To new listeners: Have you heard Carlos the Scientist’s (season one) voice before? Have you heard Cecil being smitten and mortified? Would you like to?)

27, “First Date”: Listen, I’m trying to get y’all in the cecilos mood again, is it working

49A and B, “Old Oak Doors”: Possibly the best climax to any arc ever. This live recording goes so, so hard

67, “Best Of?”: Okay, I have a huge multidimensional timeline charted for Cecil, and this episode does heavy lifting for about 60% of it

110, “Matryoshka”: This episode will undo you. Talk about reckonings. Genuinely impactful writing, and a gorgeous resolution to one of my favorite arcs

111, “Summer 2017, Night Vale, USA”: THE episode for returning listeners. I’ll let the episode summary speak for itself: Everything is the same. Everything is different.

135, “The Mudstone Abyss Part 1”: Hey, remember that Kevin guy? Wonder what he's up to these days!

144, “The Dreamer” and the rest of the Blood Space War arc (144-149): This arc will fuck you up irrevocably and you will not regret it

171, “Go to the Mirror?”: Very possibly one of the scariest episodes in the podcast, thanks in no small part to Cecil Baldwin’s stellar voice acting and the sound design

182 and 192, “It Sticks with You” and “It Doesn’t Hold Up”: In line with 171, these episodes will make you fucked up about Cecil Palmer

195 and 196, “Silas the Thief”: Just trust me

212, “The Campus”: Wanna dive right into the current arc? Here you go!

My bias is especially clear in this set, and for that I apologize, but I really think it’s worth refamiliarizing yourself with some of the long-running plot threads to get the max enjoyment out of the current arcs, which so far have been high-octane and recalled a lot of early elements of the show, not to mention Cecil and Carlos backstory!

Closing notes

I know this is a long list! It was a struggle paring it down as much as I did—half my favorites aren’t even here :’) I hope my enthusiasm for so many episodes makes it clear how dearly I hold this show to my heart; Night Vale has been a second home to me for years now, and I hope you give it a chance to be yours too <3

#welcome to night vale #wtnv #cecilsweep #does anyone follow that?? whatever #anyway do nottt wanna talk about how long i spent writing this <3 i hope it reads well and helps someone out!#thanks to ciah for proofreading :)#my posts #kay talks #ALSO! i really will do my best to provide tws for anyone who asks #because every site i've found is either inactive or barely being maintained

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do-not-feed-the-archivist · 4 years

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James is now one of my favorite interns. Cecil sure knows how to pick 'em.

#200-ish year old ghost #we stan #wtnv #wtnv spoilers #wtnv 176 #night vale

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vvrathb · 4 years

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lips are the toes of the face

#wtnv #wtnv 176 #how dare you make me hear this with my own ears @finknor

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cecilspeaks · 4 years

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176 - The Autumn Specter

Lips are the toes of the face. Welcome to Night Vale.

[spooky theme song]

It’s Halloween again, Night Vale, my favorite day of the year. As a kid, my mother used to dress my sister Abby and I in homemade costumes and take us door to door, vaguely threatening our neighbors until they gave us candy. When I was a teenager, I got a little old for trick-or-treating, so I started going to haunted houses with my friends. A lot of those haunted houses were kind of predictable with all their chain saw killers and Victorian ghost children singing nursery rhymes, who would follow you home and sing by your bed for months afterwards, but they always got to me. I loved the emotional rush of being scared. I still do. Of course, I don’t go out much to haunted houses, but I still love good old fashioned scary stories. I thought today would be a great day to share some of my favorites with you. I had my new intern, James, put together a few spooky tales that are perfect for putting you into Halloween mood.

But first, let’s have a look at the Community Calendar. This Saturday night at the New Old Night Vale Opera House, is the annual costume gala. This event is the Opera House’s largest fundraiser and one of the most prestigious costume contests in the region. A panel of judges will be on hand to determine the best costume at the ball. Last year’s winners were Joel Eisenberg and his partner Danny Jimenez, who dressed in a tandem outfit of a stegosaurus. I was there, listeners, and it was impressive! The creature was so realistic-looking. The craftsmanship of the costume was top notch, but listen, I have to confess I’m always more into high concept creativity rather than realistic details when it comes to costumes. Like I remember the 2015 gala, when Amal Shamun came dressed up as the concept of ennui. She made herself 12 feet tall, dressed in a taupe long coat, and created a constant drizzling rain inside the ball room. Anyone who looked at her got super sad and wanted a hug. But Joel and Danny’s stegosaurus was fine.

Sunday afternoon is the fall craft sale in Old Town Night Vale. An inscrutable maze of stalls showcasing the finest products from our town’s artisans. There will be cultural events for children, like finger painting classes, puppet shows, and a visit from the Autumn Specter. The Autumn Specter returns. It comes to collect its crops, with its great and sharp sickle. [creepily] It will harvest every ripe soul in Night Vale, the Autumn Specter is hungryyyy! It is Octoberr and it is timme to feeeeeee-duh.

Hey James, this Community Calendar doesn’t seem right, it’s just a bunch of stuff about the Autumn Specter. Also this font size, what-what is this 32 point? That’s just much too large. And it’s printed in red ink and that is a waste of our color toner, James. Eww, eww! This red ink is still really damp. OK, plus there’s nothing about start and end times of the craft fair, or anything about the food trucks, like if the Autumn Specter is hungry, surely it wants some falafel or Korean barbeque or tacos. James, could you just redo this story? James? James? [clears throat] Well, listeners, I don’t know where James went. Um, I can hear him breathing, but I don’t see him anywhere. Yeah, it’s fine, let’s just get onto our first spooky story.

[static, old-fashioned music] One quiet moonless night, not long ago and not so far away, a teenage girl sat in a house that was not her own. It was the home of Tony and Sheila McDowell. The girl was their babysitter, and she had just put the two young McDowell children down to sleep. The girl watched TV alone in the dark living room, only the bluish flicker of a scary movie illuminating her face. The phone rang abrupt and loud, startling her. She raised the receiver to her ear. “Hello?” she said with a slight quiver. “Have you checked on the children?” came a raspy voice. The babysitter ran quickly upstairs, opening the door of the kids’ bedroom. She flicked on the light, and there they were, fast asleep. She went back to her movie, but the phone rang again. “Haave youuu checked on the childrennn?” came the same voice, only more sinister. The babysitter again hurried upstairs, opened the door, turned on the light, and saw the children still asleep. The caller called again and again and again. “Have you checked on the children?” The babysitter, so scared, barely able to move, hung up the phone before the voice could finish its repeated query. When the phone rang once again, she answered and shouted: “Stop calling me!” But this time, it was a different voice. The person on this occasion said: “Ma’am, this is the police. We’ve traced the call. The call is coming from inside the house. Get out, get out!” The babysitter panicked and started to run, but then she remembered: she never called the police! How would they know to even trace the call? So she crept fearfully upstairs to the children’s room, and the phone was ringing again, the clamoring bell igniting her fright. And she cracked open the door and she saw- She saw the young McDowell boy and his little brother hunched over a phone and giggling! They were pranking her, and she felt relieved but embarrassed. And she told them to stop fooling around and go to sleep. And they all shared a good laugh.

Let’s have a look now at traffic. [papers rustling] Um.. OK, well I don’t seem to have a traffic report from intern James. Also James isn’t here right now, because I sent him out to go pick up lunch a few m- Oh, hey James, James, James, James – wait, why are you standing in the control booth? You were supposed to go get lunch and also I’ve asked you a couple of times not to wear that burlap bag over your head. I mean yes it looks great, with the Jack o’ Lantern face drawn onto it, I mean the mouth is a bit lopsided and the eyes are a tad uneven, you know kinda flat and emotionless, but all in all it’s a cool look, but it’s decidedly not allowed in Station Management’s dress code. Oh, you’re holing a knife, too! So did you get- did you already get that lunch then? Well if that- if that’s the case, you don’t need to cut my sandwich in half, I’ll-I’ll take it whole. And also I need that traffic report, thanks. James? What are you waiting for, the Autumn Specter to do it for you? [chuckles] Hop to it! James?

[clears throat] Well, while James is working on that, let’s get back to my favorite spooky Halloween stories. This one isn’t a story so much as a fun Halloween game. The legend of Bloody Mary.

According to the lore, if you turn off all the lights, and stare into a mirror, repeating “Bloody Mary” three times in a row, she will appear and tear your face off! I’ve never tried this because I don’t own any mirrors, but my husband Carlos conducted this very experiment in his science lab. He said he darkened the room and repeated the name and nothing happened for a long time. But then a figure of a woman appeared, silvery gray and shimmering, and she approached Carlos slowly, her hollow white eyes never blinking. She brought her face only inches from Carlos and said: “Are you for real?” And Carlos said yes, he was indeed – real. And Bloody Mary said: “OK because this time of year, I just get a bunch of giggling, screaming teenagers, and I’m really tired of ripping off their faces for no pay whatsoever!” And Carlos gave her some resources for starting a union and she thanked him and she offered to tear his face off in exchange for the consulting, but Carlos said no, he liked his face, and wisher her luck. Night Vale, pay your malevolent spirits! They’re overworked especially around Halloween. And a 20 per cent gratuity for poltergeists, phantasms, revenants, and ghosts is standard.

And now for t- what the, oh you- [papers rustling] Wait, OK. You know, I thought intern James had handed the traffic report to me, but this is just a piece of parchment with a 9-pointed star seemingly drawn by a finger dripped in blood. And then there are a series of ancient runes scrawled around the outer edges. Now I took runic in college. I mean, most of my friends took Spanish as their language, but I thought living here in the American Southwest, it would be more useful to study ancient Scandinavian and Germanic alphabets. And from what I can make out, these are a message about the return of the Autumn Specter. Ugh, alright. OK. I love that intern James loooves Halloween and whatever this the Autumn Specter is. In fact, James is still in the break room right now construction a sacred totem out of ash tree branches and twine. He’s been muttering to himself all day in a language that I don’t recognize, and the only words I can understand are “Autumn Specter”. But I still have neither my traffic report nor my lunch! Wait, do you think James is… Naah, put it out or you mind, Cecil.

Let’s tell another spooky Halloween story. There once was a beautiful young woman who wore a green ribbon around her neck. She won the affection of a handsome young man. They fell in love and one day the boy asked the girl why she always wore a green ribbon around her neck. She would not tell him. One day the man and the woman were to become husband and wife. In her white bridal dress, the woman still wore her green ribbon. The man asked her on their wedding night if he could untie the green ribbon, but even on the most intimate of evenings, she said no, and he respected her answer. But he longed to know what she was hiding behind the ribbon. Through the years, the man asked the wife again about the ribbon, but she never removed it, nor answered his questions about it. She only warned him that he would not like what he saw if she were to remove it. He asked less and less, but his curiosity grew and grew. And they became old, very old, and they knew their time left was short. The man asked one more time: “My dearest wife, love of my life, tell me that I may remove the green ribbon from around your neck.” And the old woman said: “My adoring groom, here in our room after all these many years, yes you may. But I caution you, as I have many times before, that you shall not like what your eyes behold.” The man hesitated, but finally reached his weakened, wrinkled fingers to the green bow along her nape. And he tentatively pulled the ribbon, and suddenly it unfurled, falling from her neck, and the man gasped. Upon her neck was a series of ornate letters spelling out “GOTH LIFE”. The woman said: “I got this tattoo in high school but kind of outgrew it and it’s super embarrassing.” And the man replied: “It is for sure weird, but also pretty cool. I like it.” And she never wore the green ribbon again.

You know, listeners, I’d love to bring you that traffic report, but right now, um, I’m facing something much more urgent and more dire. My studio door has opened on its own, and as I turned around, I could see down the long faintly lit corridor of our offices. And at the end of the hallway stands a figure, and he wears a Jack o’ Lantern mask, his head crooked to one side like a dog asking a question or like a hanged man, or both. And it is intern James, and he holds a long knife and he walks, he walks slowly toward me. And he is speaking at first in a mutter, but now louder, a strange shout in an obscure tongue like a magician casting a wicked spell, and he is moving much faster toward me, like a limping run, and his blade is raised high, and James is not an intern, Night Vale, bu the Autumn Specter itself come to reap my soul!

But before he does that, Let me take you to the weather.

[“Welterweight” by Nels Andrews. https://nelsandrews.bandcamp.com/]

So. During the weather, I went to human resources and requested a file on intern James. Oh I’m fine, by the way, and James is not the Autumn Specter, but I’ll get to that. So I found a copy of James’ résumé and cover letter for the position of radio station intern. His application was originally submitted in 1845. “That’s almost two centuries ago!” I exclaimed, but according to HR, they’re pretty backlogged on the intern apps. “What are you gonna do, we get to them when we get to them,” they said from the bottom of their abandoned well. Paperclipped to James’ application was a wrinkled and yellowed news clipping from the Night Vale °Daily Journal, and the article says that James died on Halloween night in 1849 when he was hit by a train. I then went to the hall of public records and found that our radio station was built in 1950, atop the very train tracks where James met hi send. James’ soul has been wandering the halls and offices of our radio station ever since. For all James ever wanted was to be a radio intern. To serve the listening community, to lift high the voice of journalistic truth. And it was his death that led to the shutdown of those train tracks and the eventual construction of a new station home, and the building we still use now. So I was wrong about James. He was an intern, after all, and not a malevolent Halloween spirit.

But I was right that the Autumn Specter had come for me. For when I turned to see James running down the hill, I did not notice the Autumn Specter behind me, with its bony hands and scarecrow mouth, and I did not notice its soul reaping sickle, which it had raised high above its oversized head and stick thin body. And James had given his life for the building of our radio station, and in death, gave his soul for the very same cause. And James threw himself upon the Autumn Specter, and he tried to stab the Specter’s neck and chest, but it-it- it did nothing. And the Spectre pushed James aside and then turned its black coal eyes upon me. And it raised its curved blade once again and swung! I tried to duck, but was too slow. And just as the sickle’s edge reached my face, James dove in front of it and vanished in a burst of white flame, as he was struck. And the room was empty and the Autumn Specter was gone too.

To the family and friends of intern James, he was… an OK intern. Not always on top of his writing deadlines, but he literally sacrificed his soul for our radio station. I can’t bring you a traffic report today, but I will live to bring you one tomorrow. If we find a new intern. And HR tells me that we have hundreds of candidates, although most of them are not yet aware that they are candidates.

Stay tuned next for our new cooking competition show, “Flay Bobby Flay”.

And as always, Good night, Night Vale, Good night.

Today’s proverb: The road to hell is paved with cobblestone. It’s super bumpy, not at all comfortable, and really bad for your car’s suspension.

#wtnv #Welcome to Night Vale #welcome to night vale transcirpts #episode 176 #the autumn specter #sorry i misspeled it as spectre

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wtnvcrossword · 3 years

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WTNV - Ep 176 - The Autumn Specter

Across:

4. Cecil’s favorite costume was from the 2015 gala, when Amal Shamoun came dressed up as what concept?

7. What kind of costumes did Cecil’s mother used to dress he and Abby in at Halloween?

8. Cecil asked his intern not to wear what kind of bag over his head?

9. What language did Cecil take in college?

11. Carlos gave Bloody Mary some resources for starting a what?

12. Cecil reminded the listeners that what percentage gratuity is standard for poltergeists, phantasms, revenants, and ghosts?

13. What type of transportation vehicle was the intern hit by?

15. Cecil found a wrinkled and yellowed news clipping from which Night Vale newspaper about his intern? (Two words)

16. First name of Cecil’s new intern.

17. What would the ghost children sing in Cecil’s bed for months after he first saw them? (Two words)

18. What did the tattoo on the woman who wore the ribbon say? (Two words)

19. What kind of ghost children did Cecil see in haunted houses?

20. Last year’s winners of the costume contest, Joel Eisenberg and his partner Danny Jimenez, dressed in a tandem outfit of what dinosaur?

Down:

1. As the intern was struck by the Autumn Specter’s sickle, what color was the flame the burst forth?

2. The star (drawn by a finger dripped in blood) on the parchment that the intern handed Cecil (that was supposed to be the traffic report) had how many points?

3. Sunday afternoon is what event in Old Town Night Vale? (Three words)

5. What color was the ribbon that the woman wore around her neck?

6. On what holiday did the intern die?

10. The intern sacrificed his what for the radio station?

14. Bloody Mary offered to tear Carlos’ face off in exchange for what?

#wtnvcrossword #welcome to night vale #cecil palmer #carlos the scientist #abby carlsberg #joel eisenberg #danny jimenez #Amal Shamoun #bloody mary #night vale community radio #nvcr #wtnv #wtnv ep 176 #the autumn specter

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nightvaleintros · 4 years

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176 - The Autumn Specter

[intro]

Jeffrey Cranor: Hi, Jeffrey Cranor here. Happy spooky month! And if you’re listening before October 29, let me say: happy Ghost Stories live stream month! That’s right, heck yeah, we’re doing a live stream of our Welcome to Night Vale live show of Ghost Stories on October 29 at 8 PM Eastern. Tickets are pay what you want starting at 5 bucks. You’ll get to see Cecil and Disparition, as always, with special guest appearances by Meg Bashwiner, Symphony Sanders, Hal Lublin, Dylan Marron and Molly Quinn. More information and tickets can be had at welcometonightvale.com, click on “live shows”. [direct link: https://noonchorus.com/welcome-to-night-vale/]

And if you’re in a spooky book reading mood, I strongly recommend the novel “The Faceless Old Woman who Secretly Lives in Your Home”. It is about, well, a faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home. It’s about her birth, her family, her tragedies, her travails, her high seas adventures and her plot for revenge. It is an epic horror/adventure novel that winds across the world over two and a half centuries, ultimately arriving in your home. What does the faceless old woman want from you? Do you know Craig? Will you ever learn? You will, I promise. “The Faceless Old Woman who Secretly Lives in Your Home” is written by me and Joseph Fink, and it is our favorite work to date. It is available wherever there are usually books, or at welcometonightvale.com, click on “books”. I know that you’ll love it.

[direct link:] http://www.welcometonightvale.com/books

And hey,

Happy Halloween.

[ad] Don’t you hate it when you fall into a mystical portal behind your local Burger King and find yourself stranded in a magical world? That’s what happened to Arnie Kneecap, so he made a podcast about it. “Hello from the Magic Tavern” is a weekly comedy-fantasy podcast where Arnie interviews the different magical creatures he meets with the help of his friends: a talking badger and a bloviating wizard. Past guests/magical creatures include Paul F. Tompkins, Felicia Day, Travis McElroy, Thomas Middleditch and Rachel Bloom. OK, I’m breaking a little bit from the copy all of a second, hi it’s Jeffrey Cranor I’m co-writer of Night Vale. “Hello from the Magic Tavern” is really funny and really wonderful, and this whole team is full of very good people. This isn’t just me throwing a podcast at you like a dodgeball, no no no. I’m gently tossing a handful of rose petals into the air, so that they may shower down upon us like angelic love. “Hello from the Magic Tavern” is a really good pocast I’ve been listening since, I think 2015 when I started listening, it’s really great y’all. And new epis- OK, I’m gonna go back into my announcer voice. New episodes of “Hello from the Magic Tavern” are out every Monday wherever you get your podcasts. Go listen, I promise it’s awesome, you’ll totally love it.

[outro]

Meg Bashwiner: Welcome to Night Vale is a production of Night Vale Presents. It is written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor and produced by Disparition.

The voice of Night Vale is Cecil Baldwin.

Original music by Disparition. All of it can be found at disparition.bandcamp.com.

This episode’s weather was “Welterweight” by Nels Andrews. Find out more at https://nelsandrews.bandcamp.com/.

Comments? Questions? Email us at [email protected], or follow us on Twitter @NightValeRadio. Or tell all of the little animals to please stay out of the road. It is not safe for you there.

Check out welcometonightvale.com for info about our upcoming live stream of “Ghost Stories” for this Halloween month. Get spooky with us.

Today’s proverb: The road to hell is paved with cobblestone. It’s super bumpy, not at all comfortable, and really bad for your car’s suspension.

#wtnv #wtnv intros #episode 176 #the autumn specter

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justarchivingthings · 2 years

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TMA designs on the r/place canvas! Both on the right outermost edge. Coordinates for top left corners of each design: Tape Recorder 1960, 176 Spider / WTNV cross-over 1973, 1074 There’s a discord server to coordinate, alliances etc. You’ll find the invitation link in this post in r/TheMagnusArchives Thanks to everyone who is helping, be it our people or alliances! r/dune r/bangtan r/welcometonightvale/ edit: The WTNV cross-over fell in the fight against the German flag. edit2: Thanks to all those who helped us during the attack of the Vast, the great fugu fish crisis! r/OurFlagMeansDeath r/rilakkuma r/gorillaz A ton of ace subs so I’ve heard? drop your names as comment!

#tma #the magnus archives #MagnusPod #magpod #rusty quill #rusty quill podcast #reddit #r/place #welcome to night vale #wtnv

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snailsdraw · 3 years

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Listened to #176 of WTNV a few days back and got inspired. Here’s little Cecil and Abby going trick-or-treating >:^). Happy Halloween, people.

#wtnv #wtnv fanart #welcome to night vale #welcome to nightvale #wtnv cecil #wtnv abby #cecil's dressed as a mirror #and he got his hair dyed a little too cuz he wanted to be like big sister abby #abby's dressed as the irrational fear that strangers secretly know things about you #i've never actually celebrated halloween before #what's it like?#snail's art

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wt-nv-quotes · 2 years

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Night Vale, pay your malevolent spirits. They’re overworked, especially around Halloween. And a 20% gratuity for poltergeists, phantasms, revenants, and ghosts is standard.

#episode 176 #2020 #wtnv #welcome to night vale

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nat-20s · 4 years

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i woke up at 4:30 in the morning with this messy meta about the comparative horror styles of welcome to nightvale vs the magnus archives and how i like them both very much this is not a one is better than the other post because they’re DIFFERENT but also why, personally, nightvale has freaked me out more than TMA (the magnus archives- im gonna use the abbreviation from now on and in scientific papers u gotta ESTABLISH the acronym and it’s actually kind of annoying bc they’ll establish it ONCE in the abstract and then never say what XJFEFJDOSM or whatever stands for again so if ur like wait WHAT was that again u gotta scroll all the way back up and it’s a whole thing but I digress) and it has to do with WORLDBUILDING and FRAMING DEVICES and USE OF SECOND PERSON and only a little bit how if a character unironically says “innit” i automatically can’t take them seriously. Anyway it’s stuck in my head so you know I had to make it your problem. Also I’m putting this under a read more bc fjsdjlks holy shit this is gonna get LONG and RAMBLY and D E E P L Y nerdy

WORLDBUILDING, FRAMING DEVICES, AND (THE USE OF) YOU IN MANGUS AND NIGHTVALE

Part A: whose universe is it anyway? Welcome to horror where the lore is made up and the logic doesnt matter

so I am not the first or last to compare (/maybe wanna crossover a little) the worlds of

wtnv (welcome to nightvale) and TMA and like for good reason bc in many ways they feel very similar but in TMA it’s like What the FUCK is going on with all of these horrors and nightmarish scenarios I am FREAKED out where as WTNV treats it’s horrors as typically mundane which

A: plays into why when WTNV is like “remember how we’re a horror :)” it’s like OH SHIT bc if Jon Archivist is scared you’re like well yeah it’s scary out there but if CECIL PALMER, general attitude of a peppy cheerleader when facing terrors beyond imagination, is scared, you KNOW shit is FUCKED

B: isn’t entirely accurate, because I don’t actually feel like they are set in the same world. here’s where things get sticky when it comes to realities and whatnot but I do wanna stress that yes I know WTNV and TMA are both works of fictions BUT I would personally say that

TMA is set in a parallel universe: a reality that’s similar to our own but also distinctly separate from anything that we, the audience, can witness but never participate in

WTNV is set in a hidden universe: it is set in our (the listeners) own reality, and is done in such a way that it feels like if you looked hard enough for it or if you just had a bout of bad luck or if you happen to drive down a certain road in a long stretch of US desert (side note: if there’s any real life place nightvale would be set in it’s definitely new mexico have you ever been in new mexico it’s called land of ENCHANTMENT for a reason if I drove into new mexico and drove back out a few days later and like THIRTY YEARS had passed I’d be like yeah that tracks) that you could end up in the reality of nightvale. Who’s to say there’s not a faceless old woman secretly living in your house? Are you sure there’s nothing odd in your mirror? Who can ever be sure time is working correctly?

Which brings me to

Part B: You(yes, you!)’ve Been Framed!

Listen. I fucking love a good framing device. Every time a podcast is like “here’s why the events of the story are recorded in the world of the story” I go bonkers in yonkers that shit SLAPS. TMA and WTNV both do this, but (at least up to ep 176 of TMA, this whole fuckin essay could still be blown out the water) TMA’s framing device doesn’t account for an audience, where as WTNV’s the audience is a core component

the framing device of TMA is that these spooky stories are being recorded by an archivist in order to have an audio version of written statements. Cool! It tells the audience why these recordings exist, and why they’re episodic. Later in the story, the tapes begin to spontaneously show up because of Spooky Reasons that have yet to be Fully Revealed, but it still isn’t for an audience. When Jon Archivist records these tapes, they’re basically being recorded for a Void. Yes, the tapes are originally for a potential researcher to listen to, but that ain’t you chief. You are not part of the narrative (so far at least! Again, maybe the audience will be brought into the story when it’s revealed What’s Up with the spontaneous tapes, but so far nah), there’s no in universe explanation for why you personally are listening to these stories. You aren’t present in the story, in the framing device, so you are not a part of that world.

The framing device of WTNV is that you are tuning into the community radio of a small desert town, Nightvale, that you are a part of. After all, if you are tuning into something local, you’re strongly implied to be local. Thus, we have a framing device that explains both why it’s recorded AND why you’re listening. The audience is absolutely involved in the narrative rather than a simple spectator. Cecil Palmer is not recording into a Void, he’s talking to listeners of which you are a part of. (side note: this makes nightvale liveshows SUPER fun if u get an opportunity to go to one I HIGHLY recommend it bc while there’s not ‘audience participation’ in the classic sense of like magic or comedy acts the narrative IS constructed in a way that you feel less like a witness of a story and more of a participant like the one I went to most of us pulled our legs onto out chair bc oh SHIT maybe there IS an escaped librarian under your chair making a grab for your feet SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF IS FUN AS HELL YALL)

These framing devices are enforced and enhanced upon by who the “you” in a narrative is.

In TMA, when there’s a “you” being referred to, when there’s a listener, it’s usually an in universe character. When there’s lines like “i’m sorry, that’s not what you came here to listen to” it’s not referring to you personally, it’s talking to Jon Archivist or Gertrude Archivist or Insert Archival Assistant. When TMA does use a more general “you”, it’s still in universe rather than the external listening to audience. You can include yourself as part of that general you, but it’s not inherently built into the narrative. If you want to distance yourself, you can also do that. You are not automatically in this world, even if much of it feels repeatable and/or similar

WTNV sometimes uses you to refer to an in universe character, because conversations do happen, but in the episodes where it’s like LMAO THIS IS A HORROR, the “you” and general second person is actively both discussing a known character and the listener personally. One of the most recent episodes, ep 171 “Go to the Mirror?” is a BRILLIANT example of this, where Cecil is simultaneously discussing himself and his experiences AND you as well. There’s something he can only see in the mirror, something with such sharp claws, on his shoulders, but it’s also something you personally can only see in the mirror, something on your shoulder. You are not exempt from the story, you can’t be exempt from the story, because you’ve always been a part of it. (Also side note go to the mirror is SO fuckign good it made my heart fuckin POUND the amount of times that despite knowing it was fiction I looked over my shoulder so many times. I know a shit ton of people listened to WTNV in like 2012/13 and dropped off and felt guilty and never caught up again but like. Catch up on nightvale it’s good for body and soul and also Cecilos just keep winning)

WAY too long; didn’t read: to me personally while I LOVE both TMA and WTNV, WTNV is scarier to be because TMA feels like a story that you’re bearing witness to (also thank god british people aren’t real and were made up for the Peppa Pig Cinematic Universe), WTNV feels not just like a story that you could be in but actively already are and that makes things SPOOKY

Also this isn’t related to the essay but shout out to whoever first decided that horror narrators should have nice even voices we really all be soothed by some grisly ass stories the amount of people that fall asleep to WTNV/TMA is WILD

#wtnv #tma #this essay is for me and me alone #and it's basically like go to the mirror? that wild sun of a gun sure is SCARY

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