A Family Gathering by The Black Tapes Podcast Lyrics
[The Black Tapes opening plays]
From Pacific Northwest Stories and Minnow Beats Whale, it’s season three of The Black Tapes Podcast. This season, we continue our exploration of the Strand Institute‘s enigmatic president and founder, Dr. Richard Strand. We’re telling the story of The Black Tapes in order, every two weeks. So if you haven’t listened to the first few episodes, go back and start there. We’ll be here when you get back.Last time, we discovered an upside down face like the symbol of the Order of the Cenophus, connected to Cylon and Pythagoras. We’ll get back to that soon. But first, I went to Turkey. I was there and back in five days, but I crammed a lot into that brief period of time. When I entered my hotel room in Istanbul, a light was flashing on my phone. It was a message… from Simon. Just a phone number. I called.SIMON: Hello, Alex.
ALEX: Simon.
SIMON: How are you feeling?
ALEX: I’m fine. Are we going to meet or what?
SIMON: I’m afraid that’s impossible at the moment.
ALEX: I’m here. In Istanbul.
SIMON: I’m in Russia.
ALEX: What!?
SIMON: I had to attend to something important.
ALEX: So why am I here in Turkey?
SIMON: To secure the horn of Tiamat.
ALEX: What are you talking about?
SIMON: Mysterious pasts, Alex, the ancient broken powerful past. The world visible beneath the warm spot on the tapestry. The underlying reality.
ALEX: What tapestry?
SIMON: Do you have a pen?Simon gave me an address and some instructions. I was to meet somebody named Elijah. He was going to take me somewhere to show me something. If I was to believe Simon Reese, that something was the horn of Tiamat.I met Elijah at a café. I called his references and let Nic know where I was headed. Elijah told me I’d have to be blindfolded. We drove for about 20 minutes before my blindfold was removed. We were in the middle of nowhere, in front of a small house. It was magic hour and the countryside was breathtakingly beautiful. Deep green rolling hills bisected by a long winding road. Wherever we were, I vowed to come back there the first chance I got. I was led into a small dining room.
We’ll get back to my brief trip to Turkey soon, but now we’re headed back to Seattle where I’m sitting down and going over everything we’ve learned so far to try and put the pieces of this thing together. If you’ve been following our story and feeling lost, you’re not alone. With so many threads to pull on and the uncertainty that any of them would bear anything substantive, I needed to focus my attention on the largest and most consistent through lines, beginning with the Order of the Cenophus. The Cenophus probably had their roots in the cult of Pythagoras’ treacherous student, Cylon, in Crotone. Since Crotone is only a five hour drive east of Cefalù, where Howard Strand found that monolith with the Cenophus symbol on top of it, the school probably either moved there at some point or opened another branch, or chapter. Eventually, as all religions do, it morphed over time and blended with other religious practices and orders, like the branch of rebellious Benedictines in Gluschka, eventually coalescing into what we know as the Order of the Cenophus. They combined their version of the Codex Gigas with the secret spiritual mathematic teachings of Pythagoras, or Cylon, and the akousmatics, or the Unheard, and today they’re a death cult dedicated to bringing about the apocalypse using some combination of music and math. That’s my leading theory. But what does any of this have to do with Dr. Strand and upside down faces and Simon Reese?STRAND: I agree.
ALEX: You do?
STRAND: History is a record of change, evolution. At certain points of cultural intersection, it was common for travelers and merchants to bring home religious teachings from distant lands. These foreign teachings would often be assimilated into the general culture. Xuanzang was a renowned Chinese scholar from the Tang dynasty who brought to Chinese Buddhism elements of Indian Buddhism, traditions he’d observed throughout his seventeen year stay in India. Over the next hundred years, Chinese Buddhism evolved. That’s why the Christianity of today would nearly be unrecognizable to Christians of the middle ages. It morphed and changed. So a merging of the beliefs of a secret Benedictine order and far flung Pythagorean offshoot cult is not outside the realm of possibility.
ALEX: Okay.
STRAND: If you’re not happy with my response, I don’t know what else to provide in terms of rational-
ALEX: No, it’s not that. I’m happy, I mean with your response. It’s just… what does any of that have to do with... you know… you?
STRAND: I was under the impression that’s what all of this is about. Your show, your podcast, it’s about the Black Tapes… But it’s also about us.
ALEX: What do you mean “us”?
STRAND: Well, it’s definitely about me. But I listened to your show recently, all of it, and at some point, it became about you. You are at the centre of this with me, yes?
ALEX: Yes…
STRAND: Whatever happens, you have to know: you can trust me.
ALEX: Oh, that’s not an issue between us.
STRAND: Alex, it’s obvious from what Coralee revealed that I’m being followed and there have been instances where you seem to have too, so… we have to watch over each other. We’ll figure this out, but only if there’s a trust between us. That has to be our starting point now or there’s no moving forward.
ALEX: Okay.
STRAND: Okay.Before you think it must have felt like a burden was lifted off my shoulders by Strand’s words, it was actually nothing like that. In fact, it had the opposite effect. It felt like he’d added to the burden I was carrying by adding this expectation of loyalty and trust. It’s not that I don’t wanna trust him, it’s that when it comes to journalism, I’m striving to be better at my craft. Placing too much trust in the subject of my investigation feels… unwise. Perhaps even dangerous. I wanted to trust Strand, I really did. For the past two years, I’ve felt like this insect trapped at the edge of this vast web and I can’t see what it looks like, what shape it takes, how big it all really is, at least not while I’m trapped inside it. I needed to step outside of it somehow, I needed perspective, someone who knew the web I was in but was also outside of it. There was one person I could think of who clearly knew more than he was letting on.SIMON: Thank you for coming.Simon’s voice was coming from a small speaker sitting on an old wooden table in the middle of the room.ALEX: Yeah well, you didn’t leave me much of a choice.
SIMON: We all have a choice, Alex.
ALEX: (sighs) Right. So, what’s going on? Where are you? Why am I speaking to you through this speaker?
SIMON: Cause I’m… I believe my appearance might frighten you.
ALEX: What are you talking about?
SIMON: It’s nothing you need to worry about.
ALEX: So why did I come here if we’re just speaking on the phone, Simon?
SIMON: You had to see it in person.
ALEX: See what?... Why did you tell me you were in Russia?
SIMON: Because they’re listening.
ALEX: Who’s listening?
SIMON: The Advocate, the Adversary, he has many names.
ALEX: Is one of those names Thomas Warren?
SIMON: Maybe, yes.
ALEX: And I had to fly all the way to Turkey to see something?
SIMON: Yes.
ALEX: Why?
SIMON: I couldn’t risk sending anything physically, electronically.
ALEX: They’re watching you?
SIMON: They’re watching all of us, Alex.
ALEX: Okay well, I have a lot of questions about that message you left at the end of last season. The interconnectedness of all thing, “if I build it, he will come”, the five gates, and all the rest of it.
SIMON: What would you like to know?
ALEX: I’d like to know what’s happening. Did we create some kind of… something Axis Mundi?
SIMON: What if the apocalypse isn’t what you think?
ALEX: What are you talking about?
SIMON: What if it’s not biblical at all?
ALEX: Okay…
SIMON: What if it’s… something else?
ALEX: What something else?
SIMON: I’m not sure yet.
ALEX: Okay, so then what’s so important that I had to fly halfway across the world to see it? Why am I here Simon?
SIMON: You’re here for the horn of Tiamat.
ALEX: What do you know about the horn of Tiamat?
SIMON: Oh first of all, I know it’s not actually a horn.
ALEX: What do you mean?
SIMON: The term “horn”, it’s a translation issue. The horn of Tiamat.
ALEX: Okay…
SIMON: It’s written in Cuneiform.
ALEX: Those hieroglyphics? They’re not Egyptian.
SIMON: No, they’re Ancient Sumerian.
ALEX: Okay, so what’s the translation issue?
SIMON: There are only a few hundred Cuneiformists in the world. There were much less than that when this document was first discovered.
ALEX: And somebody mistranslated “horn”?
SIMON: Exactly.
ALEX: Okay, so if it’s not a horn, what is it?
SIMON: It’s a song.
ALEX: Wait, it’s a song?
SIMON: Yes, or perhaps, more accurately, it’s an arrangement of words and sounds. See they didn’t have our understanding of musical modality back then.
ALEX: Back when?
SIMON: Back when this was created.At this point, two men entered the shack and placed a large piece of ancient parchment on the table in front of me. ALEX: What is this?
SIMON: It’s the horn of Tiamat.
ALEX: Where did you get it?
SIMON: From a locked glass room, almost a mile underground.
ALEX: Where?
SIMON: Beneath the Vatican.Simon wasn’t willing to let me take the horn of Tiamat, but he did let me take a photo with my phone. I asked him about the Vatican, if he was claiming that he bilocated in order to secure the horn of Tiamat, but he just said, “Goodbye, Alex” in that unique way that he does. The next morning, I tried to get in touch with Simon using the last number he’d given me but it was out of service. I took the first flight home the next day.
Back in Seattle, I sat down with Nic and we went over the photographs of the document Simon was calling the horn of Tiamat. The old parchment was Sumerian. The script, like Simon Reese mentioned, Cuneiform. Something else Simon Reese mentioned was the fact that there were very few Cuneiformists working today. Thankfully, it turns out that one of them was willing to speak with us.JANE: Hi, is this Alex?
ALEX: Hello, Dr. Martindale! Dr. Jane Martindale is a retired professor of archaeology and art history at McGill University.ALEX: You received the photograph I sent over?
JANE: Yes. Should… is it okay if I just dive right in?
ALEX: Absolutely.
JANE: Great, so this photograph is very interesting.
ALEX: How do you mean?
JANE: Do you mind if I ask where you found this?
ALEX: It was given to me by a friend.
JANE: Did your friend tell you anything about the piece?
ALEX: I’m afraid not. Only that it’s some kind of song or something.
JANE: Song? That’s interesting.
ALEX: Is that what it is? A song?
JANE: That would not be my interpretation.
ALEX: What do you mean?
JANE: Well, the wording is… difficult.
ALEX: Is there any way you can read it to me in English?
JANE: I’ll do my best but there’s no simple English translation from Ancient Sumerian. You understand?
ALEX: Of course.
JANE: Okay, so it’s kind of a poem, maybe, followed by a bunch of numbers.
ALEX: Okay.
JANE: “The night will be forever, when the last of the line, the dark one, surrounded by the many, rises from sleep to devour the world.”
ALEX: Wow.
JANE: Yeah, pretty dark stuff.
ALEX: I’ll say… And the rest?
JANE: Just numbers I’m afraid. There were a lot, so I emailed them to you in a text file.
ALEX: Oh great, thank you!
JANE: No problem. Good luck!So, that was the horn of Tiamat. Something that Howard Strand had been searching for his entire life. Something that Simon Reese was able to just snatch and grab from a mile beneath the Vatican. But Professor Martindale didn’t believe it was a song or composition. In the meantime, I was digging back into the world of logic and numbers; the world of Pythagoras.We broke our PNWS staff into two research teams. We need to learn more about the growth and expansion of both Cylon’s Pythagorean cult and the Order of the Cenophus. Since his into Tiamat already had him focusing on Europe and Asia, Nic lead that part of the investigation. Concurrently, we’d been searching for more public files on Howard Strand. We knew that he’d grown up in New York, near Syracuse University where he would later study. We also knew from Richard Strand that his grandfather and great-grandfather all came from upper New York state. A few months ago, I had an epiphany. There was a major stone that I hadn’t even bothered to turn over---the connection between Sebastian Torres and Simon Reese. There were indications that they both had certain capabilities attributed to him. Simon had these abilities and Sebastian also had a penchant for drawing on walls and disappearing. What was the connective tissue?STRAND: What do you mean I’m at the centre of it?
ALEX: Well maybe not the centre, but… you’re the thing connecting Simon Reese to Sebastian Torres.
STRAND: Perhaps I should sit for this presentation.
ALEX: I’m serious. Listen… Simon Reese is a Black Tape case, Sebastian Torres’ father is also a Black Tape case, but in this one, it’s not so much about the father, but his son. His son is being watched. Simon Reese claims he was being groomed for something. And we know from your ex-wife-
STRAND: Wife.
ALEX: What?
STRAND: We never divorced. She was missing.
ALEX: Right. Okay. Sorry. The point is she told you that you were being watched. What connects all of you, what common points of fact you have between you three?
STRAND: We’re male.
ALEX: Beyond that.
STRAND: I give up.
ALEX: Look.
STRAND: I’m familiar with the eastern United States.
ALEX: You told me that your father was born in New York, right?
STRAND: In Utica, yes.
ALEX: And where was his father raised?
STRAND: Albany, I believe.
ALEX: Okay, do you remember where Robert Torres was when he had that birthday party with the creepy shadow figure on the tape?
STRAND: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
ALEX: Ok, look. That’s just a few hours from where you grew up in Summerville.
STRAND: So Robert Torres and I grew up near each other. If you’re trying to draw geographic comparisons, don’t forget Simon Reese was raised in Idaho.
ALEX: But he wasn’t born there. Look. [papers rustling]
STRAND: How did you get this?
ALEX: From Three Rivers hospital. They have all his records.
STRAND: So Simon’s family is from out east. I still don’t see a relevant connection.
ALEX: I talked to Rebecca Yi, the mother of Katie - she had symbols show up under her bed.
STRAND: Yes, I remember.
ALEX: Rebecca met her husband in Boston, where he grew up. His whole family’s from there.
STRAND: So there’s an eastern connection between us.
ALEX: Well I admit it’s not much, but Thomas Warren has obviously been watching you and your father for a long time. There’s something in your family that he wants.
STRAND: We already know that.
ALEX: Yes, but what if all of you, Simon, Sebastian, Katie, and who knows how many more… Look. What if it’s something that literally runs in your family? Like your blood?
STRAND: (sighs) Blood?
ALEX: Well, DNA. Who knows? Something that’s passed down inside you. Remember when I first met Thomas Warren in that café. He took your coffee cup. Don’t you find that strange?
STRAND: That was odd. Though everything about that man runs counter to what one might consider civil behavior. What?
ALEX: Just… never mind, it’s nothing.
STRAND: I may be uncivil at times, but it’s to highlight a point: that science is the foundation upon-
ALEX: Yes, yes, I know. It’s not like we just met.
STRAND: Yes, well… So where does that leave us? In your investigation?
ALEX: I don’t know.When I said I didn’t know, I meant exactly that. I was looking for a connection between Pythagoras, the Order of the Cenophus, Thomas Warren, and why Dr. Strand and others like Simon Reese and Sebastian Torres and Katie Yi were being watched. And usually when I’m overwhelmed two things happen: I have trouble sleeping which you know, and I seek distractions. With the tumultuous state of US politics at the time of this recording, I’d been reading the news… a lot. But something interesting did come from all this research. One afternoon I did an online search for “shortest presidential terms”, William Henry Harrison holds that dubious distinction. He died of pneumonia just 31 days into his term. It sparked a constitutional crisis and I learned a lot that day about the presidential line of succession. Yeah, scintillating stuff. Second briefest term: James A. Garfield. Just three months and twenty-eight days into taking office, he was shot. Three months later, he died of his wounds. His assassin, Charles Julius Guiteau.MARCIA: My book was mostly based on family journals going back six generations. As you can imagine, the challenging part was distinguishing the facts from fiction. That’s Marcia Hutcheson. Charles J. Guiteau is a very distant cousin over several generations and the subject of her biography and account of the assassination of James Garfield, titled The Magic Bullet.MARCIA: Of course I wrote the book just before that silly blender started coming out with their infomercials. I bet I would’ve sold more books if not for that.
ALEX: Right, so from my research it seems most historical accounts say your great-great-great-great-great (laughs)
MARCIA: Let’s just say great uncle.
ALEX: By most accounts, your great uncle had an axe to grind with Garfield over being snubbed for an ambassadorship, even though he barely knew the President.
MARSCIA: Yes, that’s the prevailing theory.
ALEX: Well your uncle apparently believed a speech he gave was responsible for Garfield’s Presidential victory and by most accounts, no one really paid attention to his speech. In fact, it was the same speech Garfield used to support Ulysses S. Grant during his run for the Republican nomination.
MARCIA: (sighs) Factually that is all true. But the narrative built around those facts doesn’t hold up to scrutiny I’m afraid. It’s missing some key elements that provide the context. He was also ignored by Ulysses Grant and didn’t shoot him. Why shoot Garfield for being ignored again?
ALEX: And that’s why I’m calling. I’ve read some excerpts and a brief online synopsis of your book… which seems to be out of print and-
MARCIA: (sighs) It’s that blender! I should’ve changed the title.
ALEX: Yes well, can you go into some detail about why you think your great uncle thought President James Garfield was the anti-Christ?
MARCIA: Do you know my uncle’s dying words?
ALEX: Yeah, I have it here somewhere…. Here. “I leave my justification to God.” It was on Wikipedia.
MARCIA: Well according to our family diaries, it was true. Guiteau was convinced he was on a mission from God to stop the President of the United States from bringing about the end of the world.
ALEX: As in the apocalypse?
MARCIA: How much do you know about James Garfield?
ALEX: Not much. Just that he served the second briefest Presidential term because your great uncle shot him.
MARCIA: Are you familiar with Pythagoras?
ALEX: … Yes. That’s also why I’m calling.
MARCIA: Then you know that James A. Garfield is the only US President to prove a Pythagorean Theorem.
ALEX: Well, that’s what I read online in your book. Sorry, it’s just… it’s a bit unbelievable.
MARCIA: Well I suppose it’s hard to imagine any politician these days smart enough to do advanced geometry. But it was four years before he was elected President. In fact, he was a sitting member of the House of Representatives at the time he came up with the proof. And geometry wasn’t even his area of study, he was a professor of ancient languages and could write both Greek and Latin.
ALEX: So what does that have to do with why Guiteau murdered him?
MARCIA: Guiteau believed that James Garfield belonged to some cult devoted to Pythagoras’ theories.
ALEX: Do you know the name of the cult?
MARCIA: No one knows. Probably because it didn’t exist.
ALEX: So you believe Guiteau was delusional?
MARCIA: I believe Guiteau probably was rebuffed in some way by James Garfield and then convinced himself that James Garfield was evil.
ALEX: Mm, that’s quite the leap. What makes you think Guiteau was convinced that Garfield was part of some Pythagorean cult?
MARCIA: His journals. During his time with the Oneida community, he was convinced of certain ideas that would plague him the rest of his life.
ALEX: Sorry, which community?
MARCIA: It was a religious commune in Oneida, hence their name.
ALEX: I’ve never heard of it. Where is that?
MARCIA: Well, they’re no longer around but they were in upstate New York.
ALEX: A religious commune?
MARCIA: More like a cult.ALEX: What do you know about the Oneida community?
STRAND: A little. I had a simple case from the city about fifteen years ago.
ALEX: Oh, I don’t remember seeing that tape.
STRAND: It was solved. It’s in my other collection.
ALEX: May I see it? [tape clicking] Where is this?
STRAND: It’s the Oneida community mansion house. Once owned by the founder of the Oneida community, John Humphrey Noyes. It was turned into a historic museum.
ALEX: Those children playing… are they all related?
STRAND: In a sense, yes. John Noyes attempted to institute a eugenics program, a kind of selective breeding.
ALEX: In New York?
STRAND: In Oneida, yes.
ALEX: How have I never heard of this? Why is this a case?
STRAND: See up in that window?
ALEX: Oh, where that man is?
STRAND: Hold on. Look at this photo.
ALEX: It’s the guy in the window.
STRAND: That is a photo of John Noyes, the founder of the Oneida community.
ALEX: So the people who hired you… they think that guy’s the same person?
STRAND: Yes.
ALEX: His ghost?
STRAND: Yes.
ALEX: And you disproved it?
STRAND: Easily. There was an actor who bore a passing resemblance in facial features. He combed his hair the same way, grew that beard, shaved his moustache. From this distance, he can easily pass for him.
ALEX: But why?
STRAND: There was a hotel owner nearby who wanted to drum up a little tourism so he hired an actor to make it look like the Oneida mansion house was haunted.
ALEX: Richard, look at those children.
STRAND: Yes?
ALEX: What’s the occasion? Why are they gathered together?
STRAND: I believe it was an anniversary of some kind. They’re all descendants of John Noyes.
ALEX: They all look alike.
STRAND: Well, they’re related so some resemblance is to be expected.
ALEX: You don’t see it?
STRAND: See what?
ALEX: Are you serious?
STRAND: When am I not serious? Why don’t you just tell me?
ALEX: Those children…
STRAND: Yes?
ALEX: They all look like Sebastian Torres.The Black Tapes is a Pacific Northwest Stories and Minnow Beats Whale production. Recorded in Seattle and Vancouver. Produced, mixed and engineered by Nic Silver. Edited by Nic Silver and Alex Reagan. Executive producers Paul Bae and Terry Miles. If you enjoy The Black Tapes, you’ll love our sister show, Tanis. You can listen to Tanis at iTunes.com/Tanis or TanisPodcast.com. Thank you so much for listening to The Black Tapes.
From Pacific Northwest Stories and Minnow Beats Whale, it’s season three of The Black Tapes Podcast. This season, we continue our exploration of the Strand Institute‘s enigmatic president and founder, Dr. Richard Strand. We’re telling the story of The Black Tapes in order, every two weeks. So if you haven’t listened to the first few episodes, go back and start there. We’ll be here when you get back.Last time, we discovered an upside down face like the symbol of the Order of the Cenophus, connected to Cylon and Pythagoras. We’ll get back to that soon. But first, I went to Turkey. I was there and back in five days, but I crammed a lot into that brief period of time. When I entered my hotel room in Istanbul, a light was flashing on my phone. It was a message… from Simon. Just a phone number. I called.SIMON: Hello, Alex.
ALEX: Simon.
SIMON: How are you feeling?
ALEX: I’m fine. Are we going to meet or what?
SIMON: I’m afraid that’s impossible at the moment.
ALEX: I’m here. In Istanbul.
SIMON: I’m in Russia.
ALEX: What!?
SIMON: I had to attend to something important.
ALEX: So why am I here in Turkey?
SIMON: To secure the horn of Tiamat.
ALEX: What are you talking about?
SIMON: Mysterious pasts, Alex, the ancient broken powerful past. The world visible beneath the warm spot on the tapestry. The underlying reality.
ALEX: What tapestry?
SIMON: Do you have a pen?Simon gave me an address and some instructions. I was to meet somebody named Elijah. He was going to take me somewhere to show me something. If I was to believe Simon Reese, that something was the horn of Tiamat.I met Elijah at a café. I called his references and let Nic know where I was headed. Elijah told me I’d have to be blindfolded. We drove for about 20 minutes before my blindfold was removed. We were in the middle of nowhere, in front of a small house. It was magic hour and the countryside was breathtakingly beautiful. Deep green rolling hills bisected by a long winding road. Wherever we were, I vowed to come back there the first chance I got. I was led into a small dining room.
We’ll get back to my brief trip to Turkey soon, but now we’re headed back to Seattle where I’m sitting down and going over everything we’ve learned so far to try and put the pieces of this thing together. If you’ve been following our story and feeling lost, you’re not alone. With so many threads to pull on and the uncertainty that any of them would bear anything substantive, I needed to focus my attention on the largest and most consistent through lines, beginning with the Order of the Cenophus. The Cenophus probably had their roots in the cult of Pythagoras’ treacherous student, Cylon, in Crotone. Since Crotone is only a five hour drive east of Cefalù, where Howard Strand found that monolith with the Cenophus symbol on top of it, the school probably either moved there at some point or opened another branch, or chapter. Eventually, as all religions do, it morphed over time and blended with other religious practices and orders, like the branch of rebellious Benedictines in Gluschka, eventually coalescing into what we know as the Order of the Cenophus. They combined their version of the Codex Gigas with the secret spiritual mathematic teachings of Pythagoras, or Cylon, and the akousmatics, or the Unheard, and today they’re a death cult dedicated to bringing about the apocalypse using some combination of music and math. That’s my leading theory. But what does any of this have to do with Dr. Strand and upside down faces and Simon Reese?STRAND: I agree.
ALEX: You do?
STRAND: History is a record of change, evolution. At certain points of cultural intersection, it was common for travelers and merchants to bring home religious teachings from distant lands. These foreign teachings would often be assimilated into the general culture. Xuanzang was a renowned Chinese scholar from the Tang dynasty who brought to Chinese Buddhism elements of Indian Buddhism, traditions he’d observed throughout his seventeen year stay in India. Over the next hundred years, Chinese Buddhism evolved. That’s why the Christianity of today would nearly be unrecognizable to Christians of the middle ages. It morphed and changed. So a merging of the beliefs of a secret Benedictine order and far flung Pythagorean offshoot cult is not outside the realm of possibility.
ALEX: Okay.
STRAND: If you’re not happy with my response, I don’t know what else to provide in terms of rational-
ALEX: No, it’s not that. I’m happy, I mean with your response. It’s just… what does any of that have to do with... you know… you?
STRAND: I was under the impression that’s what all of this is about. Your show, your podcast, it’s about the Black Tapes… But it’s also about us.
ALEX: What do you mean “us”?
STRAND: Well, it’s definitely about me. But I listened to your show recently, all of it, and at some point, it became about you. You are at the centre of this with me, yes?
ALEX: Yes…
STRAND: Whatever happens, you have to know: you can trust me.
ALEX: Oh, that’s not an issue between us.
STRAND: Alex, it’s obvious from what Coralee revealed that I’m being followed and there have been instances where you seem to have too, so… we have to watch over each other. We’ll figure this out, but only if there’s a trust between us. That has to be our starting point now or there’s no moving forward.
ALEX: Okay.
STRAND: Okay.Before you think it must have felt like a burden was lifted off my shoulders by Strand’s words, it was actually nothing like that. In fact, it had the opposite effect. It felt like he’d added to the burden I was carrying by adding this expectation of loyalty and trust. It’s not that I don’t wanna trust him, it’s that when it comes to journalism, I’m striving to be better at my craft. Placing too much trust in the subject of my investigation feels… unwise. Perhaps even dangerous. I wanted to trust Strand, I really did. For the past two years, I’ve felt like this insect trapped at the edge of this vast web and I can’t see what it looks like, what shape it takes, how big it all really is, at least not while I’m trapped inside it. I needed to step outside of it somehow, I needed perspective, someone who knew the web I was in but was also outside of it. There was one person I could think of who clearly knew more than he was letting on.SIMON: Thank you for coming.Simon’s voice was coming from a small speaker sitting on an old wooden table in the middle of the room.ALEX: Yeah well, you didn’t leave me much of a choice.
SIMON: We all have a choice, Alex.
ALEX: (sighs) Right. So, what’s going on? Where are you? Why am I speaking to you through this speaker?
SIMON: Cause I’m… I believe my appearance might frighten you.
ALEX: What are you talking about?
SIMON: It’s nothing you need to worry about.
ALEX: So why did I come here if we’re just speaking on the phone, Simon?
SIMON: You had to see it in person.
ALEX: See what?... Why did you tell me you were in Russia?
SIMON: Because they’re listening.
ALEX: Who’s listening?
SIMON: The Advocate, the Adversary, he has many names.
ALEX: Is one of those names Thomas Warren?
SIMON: Maybe, yes.
ALEX: And I had to fly all the way to Turkey to see something?
SIMON: Yes.
ALEX: Why?
SIMON: I couldn’t risk sending anything physically, electronically.
ALEX: They’re watching you?
SIMON: They’re watching all of us, Alex.
ALEX: Okay well, I have a lot of questions about that message you left at the end of last season. The interconnectedness of all thing, “if I build it, he will come”, the five gates, and all the rest of it.
SIMON: What would you like to know?
ALEX: I’d like to know what’s happening. Did we create some kind of… something Axis Mundi?
SIMON: What if the apocalypse isn’t what you think?
ALEX: What are you talking about?
SIMON: What if it’s not biblical at all?
ALEX: Okay…
SIMON: What if it’s… something else?
ALEX: What something else?
SIMON: I’m not sure yet.
ALEX: Okay, so then what’s so important that I had to fly halfway across the world to see it? Why am I here Simon?
SIMON: You’re here for the horn of Tiamat.
ALEX: What do you know about the horn of Tiamat?
SIMON: Oh first of all, I know it’s not actually a horn.
ALEX: What do you mean?
SIMON: The term “horn”, it’s a translation issue. The horn of Tiamat.
ALEX: Okay…
SIMON: It’s written in Cuneiform.
ALEX: Those hieroglyphics? They’re not Egyptian.
SIMON: No, they’re Ancient Sumerian.
ALEX: Okay, so what’s the translation issue?
SIMON: There are only a few hundred Cuneiformists in the world. There were much less than that when this document was first discovered.
ALEX: And somebody mistranslated “horn”?
SIMON: Exactly.
ALEX: Okay, so if it’s not a horn, what is it?
SIMON: It’s a song.
ALEX: Wait, it’s a song?
SIMON: Yes, or perhaps, more accurately, it’s an arrangement of words and sounds. See they didn’t have our understanding of musical modality back then.
ALEX: Back when?
SIMON: Back when this was created.At this point, two men entered the shack and placed a large piece of ancient parchment on the table in front of me. ALEX: What is this?
SIMON: It’s the horn of Tiamat.
ALEX: Where did you get it?
SIMON: From a locked glass room, almost a mile underground.
ALEX: Where?
SIMON: Beneath the Vatican.Simon wasn’t willing to let me take the horn of Tiamat, but he did let me take a photo with my phone. I asked him about the Vatican, if he was claiming that he bilocated in order to secure the horn of Tiamat, but he just said, “Goodbye, Alex” in that unique way that he does. The next morning, I tried to get in touch with Simon using the last number he’d given me but it was out of service. I took the first flight home the next day.
Back in Seattle, I sat down with Nic and we went over the photographs of the document Simon was calling the horn of Tiamat. The old parchment was Sumerian. The script, like Simon Reese mentioned, Cuneiform. Something else Simon Reese mentioned was the fact that there were very few Cuneiformists working today. Thankfully, it turns out that one of them was willing to speak with us.JANE: Hi, is this Alex?
ALEX: Hello, Dr. Martindale! Dr. Jane Martindale is a retired professor of archaeology and art history at McGill University.ALEX: You received the photograph I sent over?
JANE: Yes. Should… is it okay if I just dive right in?
ALEX: Absolutely.
JANE: Great, so this photograph is very interesting.
ALEX: How do you mean?
JANE: Do you mind if I ask where you found this?
ALEX: It was given to me by a friend.
JANE: Did your friend tell you anything about the piece?
ALEX: I’m afraid not. Only that it’s some kind of song or something.
JANE: Song? That’s interesting.
ALEX: Is that what it is? A song?
JANE: That would not be my interpretation.
ALEX: What do you mean?
JANE: Well, the wording is… difficult.
ALEX: Is there any way you can read it to me in English?
JANE: I’ll do my best but there’s no simple English translation from Ancient Sumerian. You understand?
ALEX: Of course.
JANE: Okay, so it’s kind of a poem, maybe, followed by a bunch of numbers.
ALEX: Okay.
JANE: “The night will be forever, when the last of the line, the dark one, surrounded by the many, rises from sleep to devour the world.”
ALEX: Wow.
JANE: Yeah, pretty dark stuff.
ALEX: I’ll say… And the rest?
JANE: Just numbers I’m afraid. There were a lot, so I emailed them to you in a text file.
ALEX: Oh great, thank you!
JANE: No problem. Good luck!So, that was the horn of Tiamat. Something that Howard Strand had been searching for his entire life. Something that Simon Reese was able to just snatch and grab from a mile beneath the Vatican. But Professor Martindale didn’t believe it was a song or composition. In the meantime, I was digging back into the world of logic and numbers; the world of Pythagoras.We broke our PNWS staff into two research teams. We need to learn more about the growth and expansion of both Cylon’s Pythagorean cult and the Order of the Cenophus. Since his into Tiamat already had him focusing on Europe and Asia, Nic lead that part of the investigation. Concurrently, we’d been searching for more public files on Howard Strand. We knew that he’d grown up in New York, near Syracuse University where he would later study. We also knew from Richard Strand that his grandfather and great-grandfather all came from upper New York state. A few months ago, I had an epiphany. There was a major stone that I hadn’t even bothered to turn over---the connection between Sebastian Torres and Simon Reese. There were indications that they both had certain capabilities attributed to him. Simon had these abilities and Sebastian also had a penchant for drawing on walls and disappearing. What was the connective tissue?STRAND: What do you mean I’m at the centre of it?
ALEX: Well maybe not the centre, but… you’re the thing connecting Simon Reese to Sebastian Torres.
STRAND: Perhaps I should sit for this presentation.
ALEX: I’m serious. Listen… Simon Reese is a Black Tape case, Sebastian Torres’ father is also a Black Tape case, but in this one, it’s not so much about the father, but his son. His son is being watched. Simon Reese claims he was being groomed for something. And we know from your ex-wife-
STRAND: Wife.
ALEX: What?
STRAND: We never divorced. She was missing.
ALEX: Right. Okay. Sorry. The point is she told you that you were being watched. What connects all of you, what common points of fact you have between you three?
STRAND: We’re male.
ALEX: Beyond that.
STRAND: I give up.
ALEX: Look.
STRAND: I’m familiar with the eastern United States.
ALEX: You told me that your father was born in New York, right?
STRAND: In Utica, yes.
ALEX: And where was his father raised?
STRAND: Albany, I believe.
ALEX: Okay, do you remember where Robert Torres was when he had that birthday party with the creepy shadow figure on the tape?
STRAND: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
ALEX: Ok, look. That’s just a few hours from where you grew up in Summerville.
STRAND: So Robert Torres and I grew up near each other. If you’re trying to draw geographic comparisons, don’t forget Simon Reese was raised in Idaho.
ALEX: But he wasn’t born there. Look. [papers rustling]
STRAND: How did you get this?
ALEX: From Three Rivers hospital. They have all his records.
STRAND: So Simon’s family is from out east. I still don’t see a relevant connection.
ALEX: I talked to Rebecca Yi, the mother of Katie - she had symbols show up under her bed.
STRAND: Yes, I remember.
ALEX: Rebecca met her husband in Boston, where he grew up. His whole family’s from there.
STRAND: So there’s an eastern connection between us.
ALEX: Well I admit it’s not much, but Thomas Warren has obviously been watching you and your father for a long time. There’s something in your family that he wants.
STRAND: We already know that.
ALEX: Yes, but what if all of you, Simon, Sebastian, Katie, and who knows how many more… Look. What if it’s something that literally runs in your family? Like your blood?
STRAND: (sighs) Blood?
ALEX: Well, DNA. Who knows? Something that’s passed down inside you. Remember when I first met Thomas Warren in that café. He took your coffee cup. Don’t you find that strange?
STRAND: That was odd. Though everything about that man runs counter to what one might consider civil behavior. What?
ALEX: Just… never mind, it’s nothing.
STRAND: I may be uncivil at times, but it’s to highlight a point: that science is the foundation upon-
ALEX: Yes, yes, I know. It’s not like we just met.
STRAND: Yes, well… So where does that leave us? In your investigation?
ALEX: I don’t know.When I said I didn’t know, I meant exactly that. I was looking for a connection between Pythagoras, the Order of the Cenophus, Thomas Warren, and why Dr. Strand and others like Simon Reese and Sebastian Torres and Katie Yi were being watched. And usually when I’m overwhelmed two things happen: I have trouble sleeping which you know, and I seek distractions. With the tumultuous state of US politics at the time of this recording, I’d been reading the news… a lot. But something interesting did come from all this research. One afternoon I did an online search for “shortest presidential terms”, William Henry Harrison holds that dubious distinction. He died of pneumonia just 31 days into his term. It sparked a constitutional crisis and I learned a lot that day about the presidential line of succession. Yeah, scintillating stuff. Second briefest term: James A. Garfield. Just three months and twenty-eight days into taking office, he was shot. Three months later, he died of his wounds. His assassin, Charles Julius Guiteau.MARCIA: My book was mostly based on family journals going back six generations. As you can imagine, the challenging part was distinguishing the facts from fiction. That’s Marcia Hutcheson. Charles J. Guiteau is a very distant cousin over several generations and the subject of her biography and account of the assassination of James Garfield, titled The Magic Bullet.MARCIA: Of course I wrote the book just before that silly blender started coming out with their infomercials. I bet I would’ve sold more books if not for that.
ALEX: Right, so from my research it seems most historical accounts say your great-great-great-great-great (laughs)
MARCIA: Let’s just say great uncle.
ALEX: By most accounts, your great uncle had an axe to grind with Garfield over being snubbed for an ambassadorship, even though he barely knew the President.
MARSCIA: Yes, that’s the prevailing theory.
ALEX: Well your uncle apparently believed a speech he gave was responsible for Garfield’s Presidential victory and by most accounts, no one really paid attention to his speech. In fact, it was the same speech Garfield used to support Ulysses S. Grant during his run for the Republican nomination.
MARCIA: (sighs) Factually that is all true. But the narrative built around those facts doesn’t hold up to scrutiny I’m afraid. It’s missing some key elements that provide the context. He was also ignored by Ulysses Grant and didn’t shoot him. Why shoot Garfield for being ignored again?
ALEX: And that’s why I’m calling. I’ve read some excerpts and a brief online synopsis of your book… which seems to be out of print and-
MARCIA: (sighs) It’s that blender! I should’ve changed the title.
ALEX: Yes well, can you go into some detail about why you think your great uncle thought President James Garfield was the anti-Christ?
MARCIA: Do you know my uncle’s dying words?
ALEX: Yeah, I have it here somewhere…. Here. “I leave my justification to God.” It was on Wikipedia.
MARCIA: Well according to our family diaries, it was true. Guiteau was convinced he was on a mission from God to stop the President of the United States from bringing about the end of the world.
ALEX: As in the apocalypse?
MARCIA: How much do you know about James Garfield?
ALEX: Not much. Just that he served the second briefest Presidential term because your great uncle shot him.
MARCIA: Are you familiar with Pythagoras?
ALEX: … Yes. That’s also why I’m calling.
MARCIA: Then you know that James A. Garfield is the only US President to prove a Pythagorean Theorem.
ALEX: Well, that’s what I read online in your book. Sorry, it’s just… it’s a bit unbelievable.
MARCIA: Well I suppose it’s hard to imagine any politician these days smart enough to do advanced geometry. But it was four years before he was elected President. In fact, he was a sitting member of the House of Representatives at the time he came up with the proof. And geometry wasn’t even his area of study, he was a professor of ancient languages and could write both Greek and Latin.
ALEX: So what does that have to do with why Guiteau murdered him?
MARCIA: Guiteau believed that James Garfield belonged to some cult devoted to Pythagoras’ theories.
ALEX: Do you know the name of the cult?
MARCIA: No one knows. Probably because it didn’t exist.
ALEX: So you believe Guiteau was delusional?
MARCIA: I believe Guiteau probably was rebuffed in some way by James Garfield and then convinced himself that James Garfield was evil.
ALEX: Mm, that’s quite the leap. What makes you think Guiteau was convinced that Garfield was part of some Pythagorean cult?
MARCIA: His journals. During his time with the Oneida community, he was convinced of certain ideas that would plague him the rest of his life.
ALEX: Sorry, which community?
MARCIA: It was a religious commune in Oneida, hence their name.
ALEX: I’ve never heard of it. Where is that?
MARCIA: Well, they’re no longer around but they were in upstate New York.
ALEX: A religious commune?
MARCIA: More like a cult.ALEX: What do you know about the Oneida community?
STRAND: A little. I had a simple case from the city about fifteen years ago.
ALEX: Oh, I don’t remember seeing that tape.
STRAND: It was solved. It’s in my other collection.
ALEX: May I see it? [tape clicking] Where is this?
STRAND: It’s the Oneida community mansion house. Once owned by the founder of the Oneida community, John Humphrey Noyes. It was turned into a historic museum.
ALEX: Those children playing… are they all related?
STRAND: In a sense, yes. John Noyes attempted to institute a eugenics program, a kind of selective breeding.
ALEX: In New York?
STRAND: In Oneida, yes.
ALEX: How have I never heard of this? Why is this a case?
STRAND: See up in that window?
ALEX: Oh, where that man is?
STRAND: Hold on. Look at this photo.
ALEX: It’s the guy in the window.
STRAND: That is a photo of John Noyes, the founder of the Oneida community.
ALEX: So the people who hired you… they think that guy’s the same person?
STRAND: Yes.
ALEX: His ghost?
STRAND: Yes.
ALEX: And you disproved it?
STRAND: Easily. There was an actor who bore a passing resemblance in facial features. He combed his hair the same way, grew that beard, shaved his moustache. From this distance, he can easily pass for him.
ALEX: But why?
STRAND: There was a hotel owner nearby who wanted to drum up a little tourism so he hired an actor to make it look like the Oneida mansion house was haunted.
ALEX: Richard, look at those children.
STRAND: Yes?
ALEX: What’s the occasion? Why are they gathered together?
STRAND: I believe it was an anniversary of some kind. They’re all descendants of John Noyes.
ALEX: They all look alike.
STRAND: Well, they’re related so some resemblance is to be expected.
ALEX: You don’t see it?
STRAND: See what?
ALEX: Are you serious?
STRAND: When am I not serious? Why don’t you just tell me?
ALEX: Those children…
STRAND: Yes?
ALEX: They all look like Sebastian Torres.The Black Tapes is a Pacific Northwest Stories and Minnow Beats Whale production. Recorded in Seattle and Vancouver. Produced, mixed and engineered by Nic Silver. Edited by Nic Silver and Alex Reagan. Executive producers Paul Bae and Terry Miles. If you enjoy The Black Tapes, you’ll love our sister show, Tanis. You can listen to Tanis at iTunes.com/Tanis or TanisPodcast.com. Thank you so much for listening to The Black Tapes.