Out of Character (OOC):
The following is scraped from the Dark Web, on a compromised occult online forum used by Network Zero (several members maintain Podcasts on there)... part of the Paranet. The Black Tapes are a collection of unsolved paranormal investigations conducted by The Strand Institute.
Subject: How would you describe the Unsound?
Princesstelephony:
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum
The Black Tapes: The Unsound
The following is shamelessly taken from The Black Tapes Podcast, specifically Episode 103 (Season 1, Episode 3) by the same name. I am establishing this as continuity in Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition, in our Chronicle. The characters would only know about this if they started searching around the internet for similar phenomena. It's reminiscent of memetic viruses such as the Nemesis Continuum.
Sources:
1. The Black Tapes Podcast for the Unsound and Strand Institute.
2. The Dresden Files books/games for the Paranet
3. Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Ed for Network Zero
4. Adapted for Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
5. Intruders: Encounters with the Abyss sourcebook for Mage: The Awakening for the Nemesis Continuum.
Sources:
1. The Black Tapes Podcast for the Unsound and Strand Institute.
2. The Dresden Files books/games for the Paranet
3. Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Ed for Network Zero
4. Adapted for Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
5. Intruders: Encounters with the Abyss sourcebook for Mage: The Awakening for the Nemesis Continuum.
Subject: How would you describe the Unsound?
Princesstelephony:
Working on some transcriptions regarding the Unsound and I always have such a hard time describing it! Anyone with a better musical vocabulary than me want to take a stab at it?
MechaSanders:
MechaSanders:
Hmmm....I think something that references other sounds might be less than useful for people who've never heard anything.. but of course you don't want to listen to the whole thing. I'd call it something like a sound that's a bit like walking into a dark room. At first you don't notice anything, but as your eyes adjust, you start to pick out things that seem out of place, discordant things that don't make sense, even if the room is familiar. You continue to look around, seeing more and more that doesn't make sense, your sense of uneasiness growing till you turn on the lights, banishing the darkness, but still leaving you with a slight feeling of unease.
Elaine:
If you are set on describing it I thought it sounded like a mix of whales calling, discordant guitar screeching and squealing metal-on-metal.
Unintelligiblaha:
WOOOOM WOM WOOOOOOOOM
PhantomV8:
I have to go the Lovecraft route; don't describe it. I'd describe it as indescribable. Except, a lot wordier than that. Aren't you worried your going to die in a year?
Theleadchipmunk:
Elaine:
If you are set on describing it I thought it sounded like a mix of whales calling, discordant guitar screeching and squealing metal-on-metal.
Unintelligiblaha:
WOOOOM WOM WOOOOOOOOM
PhantomV8:
I have to go the Lovecraft route; don't describe it. I'd describe it as indescribable. Except, a lot wordier than that. Aren't you worried your going to die in a year?
Theleadchipmunk:
Yup, this. Just do something like: (FILE REMOVED)
Princesstelephony:
Hm, I like this a lot in theory! Lovecraft. I guess I am hesitant because with transcribing, you try to not leave out any information that someone who can hear has that someone who cannot wouldn't have. No, I am not worried about dying.
Kailisalad3:
That uncanny feeling of when two surfaces/textures that shouldn't interact brush against each other.
Jabajub0:
It sounds like someone turning on an industrial air compressor in the basement of an aquarium filled with several possibly evil whales who have just eaten a heaping helping of squid gone bad.
Obsesswoe:
When I was trying to describe it to my friend, I used the term, if Dory was possessed and was speaking demonic whale!
Princesstelephony:
Hm, I like this a lot in theory! Lovecraft. I guess I am hesitant because with transcribing, you try to not leave out any information that someone who can hear has that someone who cannot wouldn't have. No, I am not worried about dying.
Kailisalad3:
That uncanny feeling of when two surfaces/textures that shouldn't interact brush against each other.
Jabajub0:
It sounds like someone turning on an industrial air compressor in the basement of an aquarium filled with several possibly evil whales who have just eaten a heaping helping of squid gone bad.
Obsesswoe:
When I was trying to describe it to my friend, I used the term, if Dory was possessed and was speaking demonic whale!
MrSaxophone09:
The enunciation of (evil, unsettling, raw sin) It's nature of to provide discomfort to the listener. If it really is a voice like (sound guy's name I can't remember), then that voice commands such raw power that we all should run and hide. Do with that what you will.
Please excuse the typos, i'm on mobile. 😃
Hypatiakat:
I think trying to type with a stylus on a tablet is going to be the cause of my death by stress-induced stroke, some day.
Hare-boxer2:
I like it: Unsound in text for the hearing impaired! Lucky them.
Hypatiakat:
The enunciation of (evil, unsettling, raw sin) It's nature of to provide discomfort to the listener. If it really is a voice like (sound guy's name I can't remember), then that voice commands such raw power that we all should run and hide. Do with that what you will.
Please excuse the typos, i'm on mobile. 😃
Hypatiakat:
I think trying to type with a stylus on a tablet is going to be the cause of my death by stress-induced stroke, some day.
Hare-boxer2:
I like it: Unsound in text for the hearing impaired! Lucky them.
Hypatiakat:
Eerie, discordant sounds. :) Or weird screeching.
Princesstelephony:
Princesstelephony:
I love you guys's interesting descriptions! I guess I was more asking to describe the sound itself in terms of what you are technically hearing when it plays. I'd love some more technical descriptions of the actual sound too.
Transcript on the Unsound:
Posted by Princesstelephony, posted 23-Sept-2016
Last week I outlined some information our research team dug up regarding Dr. Strand. It concerned his wife, who went missing under mysterious circumstances during 1997. I’ll have an update on this part later in this but in the meantime... Last week, Dr. Strand left me a very intriguing message.
"Hello, Alex? It’s Richard Strand. I’d like to apologize for the other day. I’ll be up in Seattle next week and (sighs) if you’re interested, I’m bringing along another case from my collection. From the section, I believe you refer to as, “The Black Tapes.” I think you’ll find this one very interesting. Anyway I, I hope you’re well. I’ll leave my information with your producers. Take care."
Strand was right. I did find it very interesting, so I agreed to meet up.
STRAND: "I’m going to play something for you."
At this point, Strand pulled up a YouTube video on his laptop. The first voice is Dirk Abruzzi, the second Emily Dumont, two of the ghost hunting experts you’ll remember from before.
DIRK: "I had just been hired as an associate professor at Penn State Paranormal, and during our entire move from Michigan, I had a dark entity hovering above me. More than six people visually confirmed this fact. It followed me for weeks later."
EMILY: "You’ve got to be skeptical about stuff like this. Demons, really? Do you have any idea how rare a demonic incident is? It’s like .0001%. It’s very rare. We need voices of reason here."
STRAND: "In the world of paranormal investigations, these people are considered skeptics. These are the so-called “voices of reason.” There’s no room for scientific method. There’s no difference between any of these people and the ghost hunters on reality television. You are a respected journalist from one of the most respected radio programs in the world, working with you I have a national platform to renew skepticism. I think ghost stories are a lot of fun. But the problem is when people start treating the paranormal as reality, it waters down the culture, infantilizes it. At some point in the future, if religious wars don’t destroy the planet, nobody is ever going to believe society took issue with same-sex marriage or looked at the Bible as anything other than fiction. When you lose the skeptical spirit, it sets us back. Socially. And culturally."
Strand went on like this for a while. His point was clear. He wants to be the voice of reason. Or at the very least a voice for reason in a world he feels is in desperate need of such a voice. He wants to help. And he wants to use the show as a platform to provide a viewpoint counter to the majority. Counter to the believers. I think that’s a fair trade. I get to explore the Black Tapes and Strand gets his platform.
Let’s turn our attention to another kind of tape for a moment. The demo tape. When you’re a journalist in Seattle, you come across hundreds of small bands. Seattle is, after all, the birthplace of 90’s grunge rock and the home of seminal indie music label, Sub Pop. But when Richard Strand called to let me know he got a call from infamous Seattle underground rock band, Hastur Rising, it came as a bit of a surprise.
KEITH: "Hi, this is for Dr. Strand. My name is Keith Dabic. I’m the guitarist and songwriter in a band out of Seattle. You may have heard of us. Hastur Rising? Our lead singer, Jeff, died recently. I just heard you on Alex Reagan’s podcast and I was just wondering if I could speak with you about something. It’s something I think you’ll want to hear. A recording. You probably already know about it. You know, because of what you do? I think they call it… the Unsound?"
Keith Dabic. Lead guitarist and principal songwriter for popular underground hard rock band, Hastur Rising. If you’re from Seattle, you’ve heard of them. If you’re not, you may have heard of the lead singer’s violent suicide a couple of weeks ago. He hammered a knife into chest with a polo mallet. Hastur Rising was often in the news because of their ongoing conflict with the religious right. Local church groups have picketed their concerts, claiming they promote Satanism. Somebody burned down their rehearsal space in 2008, but nobody was arrested. There were reports of a live animal sacrifice at one of their concerts. But YouTube clips showed at least one incident was definitely fake. Here’s the lead singer, Jeff Wendt from an interview last year addressing that controversy.
JEFF: "People see what they wanna see. We’re just trying to put on a show. It’s entertainment. For (bleeped)."
INTERVIEWER: "So was that a real cat you killed on stage?"
JEFF: "Killing cats is illegal and subject to prosecution in the state of Washington."
INTERVIEWER: "So that’s a no?"
JEFF: "What do you think?"
INTERVIEWER: "I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. You don’t think that having satanic images and symbols on your album covers might be encouraging people to view your band through that lens?"
JEFF: "I’m just glad that people are looking at the album covers."
INTERVIEWER: "Even your name, Hastur Rising. Isn’t Hastur himself a Lovecraftian myth? One of the ancient ones? Also called The Unspeakable One?"
JEFF: "You’re not supposed to say his name."
INTERVIEWER: "Why is that?"
JEFF: "You’ll see."
He was charming, controversial, and talented. And last month Jeff Wendt was found dead in the garage in the house he grew up in. He was only 27.
ALEX: "So I’m guessing you have some idea of that thing he referenced? He called it The Unsound?"
STRAND: "I’ve heard of it. It’s similar to The Hum but there’s more of a mythology surrounding The Unsound."
ALEX: "I read something about The Hum on The Guardian last month. This Unsound is different?"
STRAND: "There are several sources of The Hum. All of them manmade. The Unsound however is more interesting. I first heard about it back in 2005. My assistant at the time, Travis, brought it to my attention. He would often troll the back channels of the deep web forums. He was really into conspiracy theories, which is why he joined the institute."
ALEX: "So how is The Unsound different from The Hum?"
STRAND: "It’s quite different. Experts who have studied the limited samples we have claim that the unsound is neither natural nor artificial."
ALEX: "So that rules out... What, everything?"
STRAND: "Unidentifiable. My guess is that it’s synthetic. But I can’t be sure until someone develops a more precise instrument to parse it."
ALEX: "You have no idea what it is?"
STRAND: "And this is why it’s one of, what you’re calling, the Black Tapes cases.
ALEX: "This Unsound was of special interest to your assistant?"
STRAND: "He was… obsessed really. You see the unsound comes with quite a compelling narrative. There are a number of myths that have developed around it over time. It has different names. Um, diabolica lyricasis, The Devil’s Note."
ALEX: "Can you tell us about some of these myths?"
STRAND: "Well, the most common myth is that the unsound summons or invites a demon into the world."
ALEX: "A demon?"
STRAND: "An archdemon, if I remember correctly. The Unsound is his voice, gently asking the listener to invite him into his world."
ALEX: "An archdemon with a gentle voice? That doesn’t sound all that scary."
STRAND: "Oh, there’s more."
ALEX: "Okay."
STRAND: "Everyone who hears The Unsound dies within one year of their initial exposure."
ALEX: "Now that’s scary."
STRAND: "There is an additional supporting myth from one of the Gnostic Gospels rejected by the church. In fact there are actually two oblique references to a similar sound in the Dead Sea Scrolls."
ALEX: "What’s the story?"
STRAND: "Before the time of creation, Lucifer was the angel of song, of music. Lucifer led a revolt against God and lost. You’re familiar with this mythology."
ALEX: "I’m with you so far."
STRAND: "So God banished Lucifer to hell. But on his way out of heaven, Lucifer, now referred to as Satan in this particular gospel, created some kind of musical back door as he fell into the inferno. Something sonic that would allow Satan and his minions back into the world without God knowing. This mysterious note is apparently a sound that God can’t hear. The Unsound."
ALEX: "That sounds a little… Dungeons and Dragons."
STRAND: (laughs) "So does most of the Old Testament."
ALEX: (laughs) "Okay. So, there’s this unsound that God can’t hear floating around the deep web and a bunch of audio geeks getting heavily into the Old Testament because of it? So where does the sound come from?"
STRAND: "There’s a lot of noise surrounding the Unsound’s history. There were rumors of it being a creation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, some thought it was the Freemasons, most claim some affiliation with Aleister Crowley himself. There’s a mound of mythology tacked on to this. But well over a year of research led me to a scientific outpost in Antarctica in 1962."
ALEX: "That’s not very Illuminati, is it?"
STRAND: (laughs) "This team of scientists were there to study what later turned out to be a weakening of the Ozone layer over the Antarctic. They were recording and cataloging electromagnetic waves, their frequencies. In the process one of their instruments picked up this strange audio wave pattern. At first they thought it was a whale stranded under the ice, or the wind, or electromagnetic waves themselves, or more likely a combination of the three."
ALEX: "Did they find out?"
STRAND: (pause) "No. And they never got a chance to further their research because they all died."
ALEX: "You’re not going to tell me that they all died within a year."
STRAND: (pause) "One of them died on the base due to a Staph infection, the other four died in a mountain climbing expedition, six months after their contract ended."
ALEX: "But was this within a year of them hearing the Unsound?"
STRAND: "This isn’t demonology, it’s just bad luck and bad weather. There was a whole article in the New York Times about that horrendous mountain gearing expedition."
ALEX: "So they all died within one year of hearing the Unsound? Just like the story says? You don’t think that’s at least interesting?"
STRAND: "Not really. Every myth has its origin and Antarctica in 1962 is where the dying within a year story was born."
He got me. I was just about to tell Strand how I thought that he wasn’t open to hearing both sides. Of course a myth has to have an origin. Strand was right. His new Black Tape was very interesting and it was happening in Seattle, my own back yard.
Dr. Strand’s black tape number three contains a lot of research on the Unsound and, of course, a sample of the sound itself. I’m going to play it for you in a moment. But first, my producers have informed me that I have to read the following disclaimer: If you listen to the sound, you’re listening at your own risk. Now, I’ve heard the sound numerous times and so far I haven’t seen a single demon, but if you’re afraid or superstitious, please skip ahead ten seconds. You might want to put on headphones for this.
(Unsound Plays)
It’s interesting isn’t it? I feel like I’m hearing a different version of this thing each time that I listen. I think the closest thing that describes it is (pause) it’s the audio equivalent to seeing shapes in the clouds. Maybe everybody hears something different. Something unique to their own experience. I wanted to learn more about the possible sources of this Unsound so I went to one of the premier acoustics experts in the Pacific Northwest, Dr. Michael Pullman. Technically, he is what’s called a structural acoustician.
ALEX: "Okay, so, what am I looking at here?"
PULLMAN: "So this line measures compressional waves, this one follows shear waves."
ALEX: "That’s Dr. Pullman in his lab at the University of Washington where he teaches in the physics department."
PULLMAN: "This one follows the deformation of the wave speed."
ALEX: "Yeah, totally."
(Both laugh)
PULLMAN: "Yeah. Yeah, we’re all acoustic nerds here."
ALEX: "I sent Dr. Pullman a file with the Unsound on it to see if he could explain why it’s caused so much interest. Why there’s so much mystery generated around it."
PULLMAN: "Well, it’s an interesting sound, that’s for sure."
ALEX: "And what are you looking for?"
PULLMAN: "I’m trying to gauge a possible source. I looked at everything from structural wave radiation to flexural wave patterning, to whether it fits a vessel function for uniformity given that we know there were engines in the area where it was first recorded."
ALEX: "Okay. Let’s pretend all of that went way over my head."
PULLMAN: "All right, sorry. Um, in simple terms, what you call the Unsound behaves very much like a low frequency wave. We’re not supposed to be able to hear these frequencies, yet here it is, emitting an audible sound."
ALEX: "Hmm, Interesting."
PULLMAN: "Super interesting! What’s even more interesting is in the patterning of these waves, I’ve plotted them out here."
(Sound of typing)
PULLMAN: "So, notice these points?"
ALEX: "Yeah, they... it’s like they get smaller and then larger, over and over again."
PULLMAN: "Exactly! Like a machine. In fact, it’s so precise, it could be an engine."
ALEX: "So it’s from a generator? Or something?"
PULLMAN: "Here’s the thing. I, I believe it’s a voice."
ALEX: (pause) "A human voice?"
PULLMAN: "Maybe, I dunno for sure. But I think it’s probably organic. It behaves like a compression wave with very precise patterning."
ALEX: "Well, could it be a synthesizer?"
PULLMAN: "I think that’s highly unlikely."
ALEX: "And you’re aware of the urban legend surrounding this Unsound?"
PULLMAN: "Only what you’ve told me. I suppose now we have a year left to live?"
ALEX: "Yep."
PULLMAN: "I’m gonna stop eating kale."
ALEX: (laughs) "That’s, that’s what you’re going to stop eating?"
PULLMAN: "I hate it. (Both laugh) It’s gross! You have to put so much stuff on it…"
So that was a scientific take on the Unsound, but I wanted to hear from someone who actually believes this stuff.
DREISER: "The motif of a portal to hell goes back to the early days of the church. If you think of the universe as God’s creation, it becomes problematic when you try to locate Hell. The Book of Ephesians talks about the separation of a dark world and evil forces in the heavenly realms. We know from Ezekiel and Revelations that Satan and his agents are able to access our earthly realm. How does he get here? Why does God allow that? The problem finds something of a solution by positing a portal, a gateway between earth and Hell."
That’s Francis Dreiser. He’s what those in the field of biblical theology call a demonologist. I went to see him at Pacific Christian Academy in Southeast Washington State. He says he doesn’t actually deal with demons per se, only with the theology and history of demons in the ancient texts.
ALEX: "They didn’t teach portals to Hell in Sunday school."
DREISER: "No, they sure didn’t. But we know that there are demons who enter people’s lives, sometimes possessing their bodies. Where do these demons come from but a portal?"
ALEX: "Are these portals always open? Do you know where they are?"
DREISER: "They don’t work like doors. It’s not permanent. They’re temporal, opening for a moment and closing just as quickly. And they require a medium."
ALEX: "Like, a psychic?"
DREISER: "No. A middle man, someone to invite them into our world. Um, a believer."
ALEX: "Why would anyone do that?"
DREISER: "For centuries people have partaken in ceremonies inviting Satan and his minions into their lives. According to Revelations Chapter 12, Verse 4, Satan took one third of the angels with him from heaven. Now that’s basically an army of fallen angels. And they all want access to this world. A portal."
ALEX: "A portal? Something like the Unsound?"
DREISER: "Yes. In theory, I suppose."
ALEX: "Do you believe the Unsound is one of these portals?"
DREISER: "The unsound doesn’t exist. It’s nothing but a myth from a much-maligned translation of the Apocrypha."
ALEX: "Well, I have a recording of it."
DREISER: "Of the Unsound?"
ALEX: "Yes."
DREISER: (scoffs) "Ah, yes, that thing floating around the internet? You have a year to live after hearing it. Good fun."
ALEX: "So you don’t believe it’s possible? At all?"
DREISER: "I’ve seen too much of Satan’s power at work in the real world. I can’t see why he would have to kill you within a certain time frame. Things like this Unsound are just fuel for horror films, I’m afraid."
The irony wasn’t lost on me. A bible professor laughing at the possibility of an Unsound while talking about Satan like he was unarguably real.
Next I spoke with Keith Dabic, the guitarist of Hastur Rising. We were at his apartment talking about the circumstances leading up to Jeff Wendt’s suicide.
ALEX: "So how did you hear about Jeff’s death?"
KEITH: "His sister. She lives in Portland."
ALEX: "Must have been hard. Your band has been together for a long time."
KEITH: "He was my best friend. It was one of the biggest shocks of my life. And yet…"
ALEX: "And yet?"
KEITH: (sighs) "Maybe it wasn’t that big of a surprise, you know? Like with all of the shit he was into?"
ALEX: "Drugs?"
KEITH: "Drugs, booze, sure. Yes, but I’m talking about the occult stuff. Black magic."
ALEX: "Weren’t you all into that stuff?"
KEITH: "Mike and Rory were into it. If Jeff said we were into it."
ALEX: "Mike and Rory, the drummer and the bassist?"
KEITH: "Yeah, but you know those guys were just tourists when it came to that stuff. Jeff was… he was serious."
ALEX: "And you?"
KEITH: "I got into that stuff early on. Crowley and the Golden Dawn. I was the one who went to the deep web and found it."
ALEX: "The Unsound?"
KEITH: "The Unsound."
ALEX: "Hastur Rising has been a part of the Seattle rock scene for almost a decade now. As I said earlier in the show, they’re a somewhat experimental hard rock band who’ve courted controversy over the years for their supposedly satanic live shows. But the way Keith tells it, it’s all just part of marketing their music. Well, for most of the band, anyway."
KEITH: "The occult stuff was a way to get ourselves out there, you know? To stand out. Like, good tunes can only take you so far with so many bands out there. You gotta find a way to break, you know? Like Maiden or Ozzy or GWAR?"
ALEX: "So the black magic was a way to brand yourselves?"
KEITH: "We do look good in black. (Both laugh) And it’s cool too! And it was interesting. Like I said, I was really into it in the beginning. And I didn’t really believe this stuff about the Devil and all that. But I was into the history and the imagery: darkness, chaos, rebellion."
ALEX: "So it was you who introduced the occult to your band mates?"
KEITH: "Yeah. They thought it was too derivative at first, but they were thinking more KISS than Sabbath. But Jeff really took to it, it was like a religious awakening to him. It was hard to treat it like a shtick when your lead singer is so... Well, thought I was into that stuff. But Jeff, Jeff took it to a whole ‘nother level."
ALEX: "So it was you who brought the Unsound to the group?"
KEITH: "Kind of, but not exactly. So about nine months ago, this dude comes up to me after a show down in Tacoma. Killer show. Dude buys me a beer and we get to talking. He’s one of those guys that reads really deep into every single lyric. Like (laughs) reading stuff that I didn’t even see in them, and I wrote half the lyrics!"
ALEX: "Well, what kind of things?"
KEITH: "Uh. Like our song Moonrider, he made some connection between the drumming cadence and the lunar calendar. It was weird. I didn’t get it but if he’s going to buy me beers, I’m going to let him keep talking."
ALEX: "And the Unsound?"
KEITH: "Dude starts telling me about this sound that Lucifer created, a sound that even God can’t hear, like it’s a secret code for Satan’s demons to coordinate themselves or something. And then he tells me about the deep web and all this crazy (bleeped) you can find. Tells me to download a Tor browser and writes down a web address. I listened to the sound when I got home."
ALEX: "And you played it for the others?"
KEITH: "Yeah, they got a real kick out of the story. I didn’t think anything of it, but like a week later, Jeff tells me I gotta come over, that he wants me to hear something."
(sounds of Keith moving around the room)
KEITH: "He played me this."
(Silence)
ALEX: "I don’t hear anything"
KEITH: "Exactly. There was nothing there. He told me that I had to try harder to hear it. He said he was experimenting with The Unsound, trying to figure out the message. He was really tweaked out, and hadn’t been sleeping at all. We were excited about our new record but Jeff had stopped everything to focus on this… sound. He was a mess."
ALEX: "Sounds like he was trying to bring the occult into the music directly."
KEITH: "He was! And it was cool at first! We thought it added a dimension to the band, but when your best friend hammers a butter knife through his chest with a polo mallet, you kind of gain a new perspective."
ALEX: "That’s when you called Dr. Strand?"
KEITH: "Right around then, yeah. We just wanted to be the next Mudhoney or Soundgarden. Maybe even Nirvana with some luck. Now I don’t know if I’m going to make it to Christmas."
ALEX: "What do you mean?"
KEITH: "(sigh) I heard the sound nine months ago. I probably only have three months left. At the most."
There’s that rumor again. You hear the sound, you die within a year. Keith sounded genuinely frightened about dying. And I have to admit. I did find this whole Unsound thing a little unnerving. It’s easy to get superstitious, I think, when presented with such a visceral sonic experience. It’s not just your imagination at this point. It’s your imagination plus one really dark, creepy, scary sound. We tried to get the other two members of Hastur Rising, Mike and Rory, to speak on the record but they politely declined. They’ve both apparently left the music industry and neither plan to return to writing or recording music anytime soon.
After I left Keith Dabic’s house, I received a call from Strand. He had just landed in Seattle and wanted to see if there were any developments in the story. Also, he spoke with Jeff Wendt’s mother. And I don’t know what I said, but apparently she was now willing to speak with us. He said he had some time tomorrow before the conference. I met him at his hotel for lunch before we were scheduled to meet Jeff Wendt’s mother.
ALEX: "So how did you talk her into an interview?"
STRAND: "Mrs. Wendt is convinced her son was somehow harmed or perhaps possessed by evil spirits. I mentioned this is something that I had a great deal of experience with, told her I’d take a look."
We met with Jeff Wendt’s mother. She’s clearly still in deep mourning. Jeff could have easily afforded his own house, but his mother told us that he liked living here, in the house he grew up in.
MRS. WENDT: "This is where we liked to watch TV. He liked crime dramas mostly."
ALEX: "Are any of your family members here with you?"
MRS. WENDT: "Jeff’s older sister, Alice, moved back down to Portland. They keep inviting me down but there’s just so much to do."
ALEX: "She took us on a quick tour of the main level of the house. She wasn’t comfortable taking us up to his room, but she did show us the garage where Jeff spent most of his time."
MRS. WENDT: "That’s his recording studio. That’s where I found him."
STRAND: "I’m sorry. That must have been awful."
MRS. WENDT: "It was. I’ll be right back."
ALEX: "Okay."
STRAND: "Of course."
She hadn’t stepped foot in the garage since she discovered her son there. Nothing had been touched. It was as if Jeff were still alive and about to walk back into his studio to pick up where he left off. There were a bunch of guitars hanging on the walls, a few keyboards set up next to a small mixing board. The computer he used for recording was still on.
STRAND: "What are you doing?"
ALEX: "He was in the middle of recording something. Do you think it’s weird that the police didn’t take his computer?"
STRAND: "Not really."
ALEX: "I think this is it."
(Rock music play)
STRAND: "This is what passes for music now? What are you doing?"
ALEX: "This is the same program we use in the studio. I’m just gonna mute some of the tracks."
(clicking with keyboard, music quiets. Unsound plays)
STRAND: "Interesting."
ALEX: "By interesting do you mean extremely dramatic and creepy?"
STRAND: "Why would he layer the Unsound underneath everything else?"
ALEX: "I know, you can’t even hear it when it’s mixed in with the rest of the instruments. (pause) Oh, wow!"
STRAND: "What?"
ALEX: "Do you see this?"
STRAND: "What am I looking at?"
ALEX: "I’m guessing you don’t illegally download music or movies."
STRAND: "I pay for music and movies just like everyone else."
ALEX: "Riiiight."
STRAND: "What is it?"
ALEX: It’s a torrent file.
STRAND: "What’s that?"
ALEX: "He’s seeding this song."
STRAND: "Seeding?"
ALEX: "Yeah, he’s, um. He’s made it available for download, for free. Anywhere in the world."
STRAND: "How many people have downloaded it?"
ALEX: "Just over six million."
So was it a demonic summoning? Was there some mystical power in the Unsound that forced Jeff Wendt to commit suicide in such a violent fashion? Did I and the more than six million people who downloaded that song have less than a year to live? Strand seems to think that it’s all easily explained.
STRAND: Well, it’s obvious isn’t it?
ALEX: "Is it?"
STRAND: "He was a gifted yet troubled young man who didn’t seek medical attention. And it doesn’t help that his mother fed into the whole occultism."
ALEX: "What do you mean?"
STRAND: "Did you get a look upstairs? That entire second floor was a shrine to Jesus. There was some pretty violent crucifixion imagery up there. Not your basic Sunday school material either. Real Raiders of the Lost Ark type stuff."
So it’s all easily explained. The Unsound is natural but not demonic. The suicidal musician is troubled but not possessed. Sure, the Antarctic research team all died within a year in 1962 but that’s where the myth began, rather than proof of its potency. But what about Travis? You remember Travis, Strand’s assistant, obsessed with digging up strange things in the deep web? Travis who successfully tracked down the underground recording of the Unsound? I asked Strand why Travis Collinwood left his team, and Strand told me that his grant ran out. This is true. What Strand didn’t mention however, and what he may not actually know, is that Travis Collinwood died four months after leaving the Strand Institute’s employ. He was hit by a cyclist and thrown into a bus. He died instantly.
Transcript on the Unsound:
Posted by Princesstelephony, posted 23-Sept-2016
Last week I outlined some information our research team dug up regarding Dr. Strand. It concerned his wife, who went missing under mysterious circumstances during 1997. I’ll have an update on this part later in this but in the meantime... Last week, Dr. Strand left me a very intriguing message.
"Hello, Alex? It’s Richard Strand. I’d like to apologize for the other day. I’ll be up in Seattle next week and (sighs) if you’re interested, I’m bringing along another case from my collection. From the section, I believe you refer to as, “The Black Tapes.” I think you’ll find this one very interesting. Anyway I, I hope you’re well. I’ll leave my information with your producers. Take care."
Strand was right. I did find it very interesting, so I agreed to meet up.
STRAND: "I’m going to play something for you."
At this point, Strand pulled up a YouTube video on his laptop. The first voice is Dirk Abruzzi, the second Emily Dumont, two of the ghost hunting experts you’ll remember from before.
DIRK: "I had just been hired as an associate professor at Penn State Paranormal, and during our entire move from Michigan, I had a dark entity hovering above me. More than six people visually confirmed this fact. It followed me for weeks later."EMILY: "You’ve got to be skeptical about stuff like this. Demons, really? Do you have any idea how rare a demonic incident is? It’s like .0001%. It’s very rare. We need voices of reason here."
STRAND: "In the world of paranormal investigations, these people are considered skeptics. These are the so-called “voices of reason.” There’s no room for scientific method. There’s no difference between any of these people and the ghost hunters on reality television. You are a respected journalist from one of the most respected radio programs in the world, working with you I have a national platform to renew skepticism. I think ghost stories are a lot of fun. But the problem is when people start treating the paranormal as reality, it waters down the culture, infantilizes it. At some point in the future, if religious wars don’t destroy the planet, nobody is ever going to believe society took issue with same-sex marriage or looked at the Bible as anything other than fiction. When you lose the skeptical spirit, it sets us back. Socially. And culturally."
Strand went on like this for a while. His point was clear. He wants to be the voice of reason. Or at the very least a voice for reason in a world he feels is in desperate need of such a voice. He wants to help. And he wants to use the show as a platform to provide a viewpoint counter to the majority. Counter to the believers. I think that’s a fair trade. I get to explore the Black Tapes and Strand gets his platform.
Let’s turn our attention to another kind of tape for a moment. The demo tape. When you’re a journalist in Seattle, you come across hundreds of small bands. Seattle is, after all, the birthplace of 90’s grunge rock and the home of seminal indie music label, Sub Pop. But when Richard Strand called to let me know he got a call from infamous Seattle underground rock band, Hastur Rising, it came as a bit of a surprise.
KEITH: "Hi, this is for Dr. Strand. My name is Keith Dabic. I’m the guitarist and songwriter in a band out of Seattle. You may have heard of us. Hastur Rising? Our lead singer, Jeff, died recently. I just heard you on Alex Reagan’s podcast and I was just wondering if I could speak with you about something. It’s something I think you’ll want to hear. A recording. You probably already know about it. You know, because of what you do? I think they call it… the Unsound?"
Keith Dabic. Lead guitarist and principal songwriter for popular underground hard rock band, Hastur Rising. If you’re from Seattle, you’ve heard of them. If you’re not, you may have heard of the lead singer’s violent suicide a couple of weeks ago. He hammered a knife into chest with a polo mallet. Hastur Rising was often in the news because of their ongoing conflict with the religious right. Local church groups have picketed their concerts, claiming they promote Satanism. Somebody burned down their rehearsal space in 2008, but nobody was arrested. There were reports of a live animal sacrifice at one of their concerts. But YouTube clips showed at least one incident was definitely fake. Here’s the lead singer, Jeff Wendt from an interview last year addressing that controversy.
JEFF: "People see what they wanna see. We’re just trying to put on a show. It’s entertainment. For (bleeped)."
INTERVIEWER: "So was that a real cat you killed on stage?"
JEFF: "Killing cats is illegal and subject to prosecution in the state of Washington."
INTERVIEWER: "So that’s a no?"
JEFF: "What do you think?"
INTERVIEWER: "I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. You don’t think that having satanic images and symbols on your album covers might be encouraging people to view your band through that lens?"
JEFF: "I’m just glad that people are looking at the album covers."
INTERVIEWER: "Even your name, Hastur Rising. Isn’t Hastur himself a Lovecraftian myth? One of the ancient ones? Also called The Unspeakable One?"
JEFF: "You’re not supposed to say his name."
INTERVIEWER: "Why is that?"
JEFF: "You’ll see."
He was charming, controversial, and talented. And last month Jeff Wendt was found dead in the garage in the house he grew up in. He was only 27.
ALEX: "So I’m guessing you have some idea of that thing he referenced? He called it The Unsound?"
STRAND: "I’ve heard of it. It’s similar to The Hum but there’s more of a mythology surrounding The Unsound."
ALEX: "I read something about The Hum on The Guardian last month. This Unsound is different?"
STRAND: "There are several sources of The Hum. All of them manmade. The Unsound however is more interesting. I first heard about it back in 2005. My assistant at the time, Travis, brought it to my attention. He would often troll the back channels of the deep web forums. He was really into conspiracy theories, which is why he joined the institute."
ALEX: "So how is The Unsound different from The Hum?"
STRAND: "It’s quite different. Experts who have studied the limited samples we have claim that the unsound is neither natural nor artificial."
ALEX: "So that rules out... What, everything?"
STRAND: "Unidentifiable. My guess is that it’s synthetic. But I can’t be sure until someone develops a more precise instrument to parse it."
ALEX: "You have no idea what it is?"
STRAND: "And this is why it’s one of, what you’re calling, the Black Tapes cases.
ALEX: "This Unsound was of special interest to your assistant?"
STRAND: "He was… obsessed really. You see the unsound comes with quite a compelling narrative. There are a number of myths that have developed around it over time. It has different names. Um, diabolica lyricasis, The Devil’s Note."
ALEX: "Can you tell us about some of these myths?"
STRAND: "Well, the most common myth is that the unsound summons or invites a demon into the world."ALEX: "A demon?"
STRAND: "An archdemon, if I remember correctly. The Unsound is his voice, gently asking the listener to invite him into his world."
ALEX: "An archdemon with a gentle voice? That doesn’t sound all that scary."
STRAND: "Oh, there’s more."
ALEX: "Okay."
STRAND: "Everyone who hears The Unsound dies within one year of their initial exposure."
ALEX: "Now that’s scary."
STRAND: "There is an additional supporting myth from one of the Gnostic Gospels rejected by the church. In fact there are actually two oblique references to a similar sound in the Dead Sea Scrolls."
ALEX: "What’s the story?"
STRAND: "Before the time of creation, Lucifer was the angel of song, of music. Lucifer led a revolt against God and lost. You’re familiar with this mythology."
ALEX: "I’m with you so far."
STRAND: "So God banished Lucifer to hell. But on his way out of heaven, Lucifer, now referred to as Satan in this particular gospel, created some kind of musical back door as he fell into the inferno. Something sonic that would allow Satan and his minions back into the world without God knowing. This mysterious note is apparently a sound that God can’t hear. The Unsound."
ALEX: "That sounds a little… Dungeons and Dragons."
STRAND: (laughs) "So does most of the Old Testament."
ALEX: (laughs) "Okay. So, there’s this unsound that God can’t hear floating around the deep web and a bunch of audio geeks getting heavily into the Old Testament because of it? So where does the sound come from?"
STRAND: "There’s a lot of noise surrounding the Unsound’s history. There were rumors of it being a creation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, some thought it was the Freemasons, most claim some affiliation with Aleister Crowley himself. There’s a mound of mythology tacked on to this. But well over a year of research led me to a scientific outpost in Antarctica in 1962."
ALEX: "That’s not very Illuminati, is it?"
STRAND: (laughs) "This team of scientists were there to study what later turned out to be a weakening of the Ozone layer over the Antarctic. They were recording and cataloging electromagnetic waves, their frequencies. In the process one of their instruments picked up this strange audio wave pattern. At first they thought it was a whale stranded under the ice, or the wind, or electromagnetic waves themselves, or more likely a combination of the three."
ALEX: "Did they find out?"
STRAND: (pause) "No. And they never got a chance to further their research because they all died."
ALEX: "You’re not going to tell me that they all died within a year."
STRAND: (pause) "One of them died on the base due to a Staph infection, the other four died in a mountain climbing expedition, six months after their contract ended."
ALEX: "But was this within a year of them hearing the Unsound?"
STRAND: "This isn’t demonology, it’s just bad luck and bad weather. There was a whole article in the New York Times about that horrendous mountain gearing expedition."
ALEX: "So they all died within one year of hearing the Unsound? Just like the story says? You don’t think that’s at least interesting?"
STRAND: "Not really. Every myth has its origin and Antarctica in 1962 is where the dying within a year story was born."
He got me. I was just about to tell Strand how I thought that he wasn’t open to hearing both sides. Of course a myth has to have an origin. Strand was right. His new Black Tape was very interesting and it was happening in Seattle, my own back yard.
Dr. Strand’s black tape number three contains a lot of research on the Unsound and, of course, a sample of the sound itself. I’m going to play it for you in a moment. But first, my producers have informed me that I have to read the following disclaimer: If you listen to the sound, you’re listening at your own risk. Now, I’ve heard the sound numerous times and so far I haven’t seen a single demon, but if you’re afraid or superstitious, please skip ahead ten seconds. You might want to put on headphones for this.
(Unsound Plays)
It’s interesting isn’t it? I feel like I’m hearing a different version of this thing each time that I listen. I think the closest thing that describes it is (pause) it’s the audio equivalent to seeing shapes in the clouds. Maybe everybody hears something different. Something unique to their own experience. I wanted to learn more about the possible sources of this Unsound so I went to one of the premier acoustics experts in the Pacific Northwest, Dr. Michael Pullman. Technically, he is what’s called a structural acoustician.
ALEX: "Okay, so, what am I looking at here?"
PULLMAN: "So this line measures compressional waves, this one follows shear waves."
ALEX: "That’s Dr. Pullman in his lab at the University of Washington where he teaches in the physics department."
PULLMAN: "This one follows the deformation of the wave speed."
ALEX: "Yeah, totally."
(Both laugh)
PULLMAN: "Yeah. Yeah, we’re all acoustic nerds here."
ALEX: "I sent Dr. Pullman a file with the Unsound on it to see if he could explain why it’s caused so much interest. Why there’s so much mystery generated around it."
PULLMAN: "Well, it’s an interesting sound, that’s for sure."
ALEX: "And what are you looking for?"
PULLMAN: "I’m trying to gauge a possible source. I looked at everything from structural wave radiation to flexural wave patterning, to whether it fits a vessel function for uniformity given that we know there were engines in the area where it was first recorded."
ALEX: "Okay. Let’s pretend all of that went way over my head."
PULLMAN: "All right, sorry. Um, in simple terms, what you call the Unsound behaves very much like a low frequency wave. We’re not supposed to be able to hear these frequencies, yet here it is, emitting an audible sound."
ALEX: "Hmm, Interesting."
PULLMAN: "Super interesting! What’s even more interesting is in the patterning of these waves, I’ve plotted them out here."
(Sound of typing)
PULLMAN: "So, notice these points?"
ALEX: "Yeah, they... it’s like they get smaller and then larger, over and over again."
PULLMAN: "Exactly! Like a machine. In fact, it’s so precise, it could be an engine."
ALEX: "So it’s from a generator? Or something?"
PULLMAN: "Here’s the thing. I, I believe it’s a voice."
ALEX: (pause) "A human voice?"
PULLMAN: "Maybe, I dunno for sure. But I think it’s probably organic. It behaves like a compression wave with very precise patterning."
ALEX: "Well, could it be a synthesizer?"
PULLMAN: "I think that’s highly unlikely."
ALEX: "And you’re aware of the urban legend surrounding this Unsound?"
PULLMAN: "Only what you’ve told me. I suppose now we have a year left to live?"
ALEX: "Yep."
PULLMAN: "I’m gonna stop eating kale."
ALEX: (laughs) "That’s, that’s what you’re going to stop eating?"
PULLMAN: "I hate it. (Both laugh) It’s gross! You have to put so much stuff on it…"
So that was a scientific take on the Unsound, but I wanted to hear from someone who actually believes this stuff.
DREISER: "The motif of a portal to hell goes back to the early days of the church. If you think of the universe as God’s creation, it becomes problematic when you try to locate Hell. The Book of Ephesians talks about the separation of a dark world and evil forces in the heavenly realms. We know from Ezekiel and Revelations that Satan and his agents are able to access our earthly realm. How does he get here? Why does God allow that? The problem finds something of a solution by positing a portal, a gateway between earth and Hell."
That’s Francis Dreiser. He’s what those in the field of biblical theology call a demonologist. I went to see him at Pacific Christian Academy in Southeast Washington State. He says he doesn’t actually deal with demons per se, only with the theology and history of demons in the ancient texts.
ALEX: "They didn’t teach portals to Hell in Sunday school."
DREISER: "No, they sure didn’t. But we know that there are demons who enter people’s lives, sometimes possessing their bodies. Where do these demons come from but a portal?"
ALEX: "Are these portals always open? Do you know where they are?"
DREISER: "They don’t work like doors. It’s not permanent. They’re temporal, opening for a moment and closing just as quickly. And they require a medium."
ALEX: "Like, a psychic?"
DREISER: "No. A middle man, someone to invite them into our world. Um, a believer."
ALEX: "Why would anyone do that?"
ALEX: "A portal? Something like the Unsound?"
DREISER: "Yes. In theory, I suppose."
ALEX: "Do you believe the Unsound is one of these portals?"
DREISER: "The unsound doesn’t exist. It’s nothing but a myth from a much-maligned translation of the Apocrypha."
ALEX: "Well, I have a recording of it."
DREISER: "Of the Unsound?"
ALEX: "Yes."
DREISER: (scoffs) "Ah, yes, that thing floating around the internet? You have a year to live after hearing it. Good fun."
ALEX: "So you don’t believe it’s possible? At all?"
DREISER: "I’ve seen too much of Satan’s power at work in the real world. I can’t see why he would have to kill you within a certain time frame. Things like this Unsound are just fuel for horror films, I’m afraid."
The irony wasn’t lost on me. A bible professor laughing at the possibility of an Unsound while talking about Satan like he was unarguably real.
Next I spoke with Keith Dabic, the guitarist of Hastur Rising. We were at his apartment talking about the circumstances leading up to Jeff Wendt’s suicide.
ALEX: "So how did you hear about Jeff’s death?"
KEITH: "His sister. She lives in Portland."
ALEX: "Must have been hard. Your band has been together for a long time."
KEITH: "He was my best friend. It was one of the biggest shocks of my life. And yet…"
ALEX: "And yet?"
KEITH: (sighs) "Maybe it wasn’t that big of a surprise, you know? Like with all of the shit he was into?"
ALEX: "Drugs?"
KEITH: "Drugs, booze, sure. Yes, but I’m talking about the occult stuff. Black magic."
ALEX: "Weren’t you all into that stuff?"
KEITH: "Mike and Rory were into it. If Jeff said we were into it."
ALEX: "Mike and Rory, the drummer and the bassist?"
KEITH: "Yeah, but you know those guys were just tourists when it came to that stuff. Jeff was… he was serious."
ALEX: "And you?"
KEITH: "I got into that stuff early on. Crowley and the Golden Dawn. I was the one who went to the deep web and found it."
ALEX: "The Unsound?"
KEITH: "The Unsound."
ALEX: "Hastur Rising has been a part of the Seattle rock scene for almost a decade now. As I said earlier in the show, they’re a somewhat experimental hard rock band who’ve courted controversy over the years for their supposedly satanic live shows. But the way Keith tells it, it’s all just part of marketing their music. Well, for most of the band, anyway."
KEITH: "The occult stuff was a way to get ourselves out there, you know? To stand out. Like, good tunes can only take you so far with so many bands out there. You gotta find a way to break, you know? Like Maiden or Ozzy or GWAR?"
ALEX: "So the black magic was a way to brand yourselves?"
KEITH: "We do look good in black. (Both laugh) And it’s cool too! And it was interesting. Like I said, I was really into it in the beginning. And I didn’t really believe this stuff about the Devil and all that. But I was into the history and the imagery: darkness, chaos, rebellion."
ALEX: "So it was you who introduced the occult to your band mates?"
KEITH: "Yeah. They thought it was too derivative at first, but they were thinking more KISS than Sabbath. But Jeff really took to it, it was like a religious awakening to him. It was hard to treat it like a shtick when your lead singer is so... Well, thought I was into that stuff. But Jeff, Jeff took it to a whole ‘nother level."
ALEX: "So it was you who brought the Unsound to the group?"
KEITH: "Kind of, but not exactly. So about nine months ago, this dude comes up to me after a show down in Tacoma. Killer show. Dude buys me a beer and we get to talking. He’s one of those guys that reads really deep into every single lyric. Like (laughs) reading stuff that I didn’t even see in them, and I wrote half the lyrics!"
ALEX: "Well, what kind of things?"
KEITH: "Uh. Like our song Moonrider, he made some connection between the drumming cadence and the lunar calendar. It was weird. I didn’t get it but if he’s going to buy me beers, I’m going to let him keep talking."
KEITH: "Dude starts telling me about this sound that Lucifer created, a sound that even God can’t hear, like it’s a secret code for Satan’s demons to coordinate themselves or something. And then he tells me about the deep web and all this crazy (bleeped) you can find. Tells me to download a Tor browser and writes down a web address. I listened to the sound when I got home."
ALEX: "And you played it for the others?"
KEITH: "Yeah, they got a real kick out of the story. I didn’t think anything of it, but like a week later, Jeff tells me I gotta come over, that he wants me to hear something."
(sounds of Keith moving around the room)
KEITH: "He played me this."
(Silence)
ALEX: "I don’t hear anything"
KEITH: "Exactly. There was nothing there. He told me that I had to try harder to hear it. He said he was experimenting with The Unsound, trying to figure out the message. He was really tweaked out, and hadn’t been sleeping at all. We were excited about our new record but Jeff had stopped everything to focus on this… sound. He was a mess."
ALEX: "Sounds like he was trying to bring the occult into the music directly."
KEITH: "He was! And it was cool at first! We thought it added a dimension to the band, but when your best friend hammers a butter knife through his chest with a polo mallet, you kind of gain a new perspective."
ALEX: "That’s when you called Dr. Strand?"
KEITH: "Right around then, yeah. We just wanted to be the next Mudhoney or Soundgarden. Maybe even Nirvana with some luck. Now I don’t know if I’m going to make it to Christmas."
ALEX: "What do you mean?"
KEITH: "(sigh) I heard the sound nine months ago. I probably only have three months left. At the most."
There’s that rumor again. You hear the sound, you die within a year. Keith sounded genuinely frightened about dying. And I have to admit. I did find this whole Unsound thing a little unnerving. It’s easy to get superstitious, I think, when presented with such a visceral sonic experience. It’s not just your imagination at this point. It’s your imagination plus one really dark, creepy, scary sound. We tried to get the other two members of Hastur Rising, Mike and Rory, to speak on the record but they politely declined. They’ve both apparently left the music industry and neither plan to return to writing or recording music anytime soon.
After I left Keith Dabic’s house, I received a call from Strand. He had just landed in Seattle and wanted to see if there were any developments in the story. Also, he spoke with Jeff Wendt’s mother. And I don’t know what I said, but apparently she was now willing to speak with us. He said he had some time tomorrow before the conference. I met him at his hotel for lunch before we were scheduled to meet Jeff Wendt’s mother.
ALEX: "So how did you talk her into an interview?"
STRAND: "Mrs. Wendt is convinced her son was somehow harmed or perhaps possessed by evil spirits. I mentioned this is something that I had a great deal of experience with, told her I’d take a look."
We met with Jeff Wendt’s mother. She’s clearly still in deep mourning. Jeff could have easily afforded his own house, but his mother told us that he liked living here, in the house he grew up in.
MRS. WENDT: "This is where we liked to watch TV. He liked crime dramas mostly."
ALEX: "Are any of your family members here with you?"
MRS. WENDT: "Jeff’s older sister, Alice, moved back down to Portland. They keep inviting me down but there’s just so much to do."
ALEX: "She took us on a quick tour of the main level of the house. She wasn’t comfortable taking us up to his room, but she did show us the garage where Jeff spent most of his time."
MRS. WENDT: "That’s his recording studio. That’s where I found him."
STRAND: "I’m sorry. That must have been awful."
MRS. WENDT: "It was. I’ll be right back."
ALEX: "Okay."
STRAND: "Of course."
She hadn’t stepped foot in the garage since she discovered her son there. Nothing had been touched. It was as if Jeff were still alive and about to walk back into his studio to pick up where he left off. There were a bunch of guitars hanging on the walls, a few keyboards set up next to a small mixing board. The computer he used for recording was still on.
STRAND: "What are you doing?"
ALEX: "He was in the middle of recording something. Do you think it’s weird that the police didn’t take his computer?"
STRAND: "Not really."
ALEX: "I think this is it."
(Rock music play)
STRAND: "This is what passes for music now? What are you doing?"
ALEX: "This is the same program we use in the studio. I’m just gonna mute some of the tracks."
(clicking with keyboard, music quiets. Unsound plays)
STRAND: "Interesting."
ALEX: "By interesting do you mean extremely dramatic and creepy?"
STRAND: "Why would he layer the Unsound underneath everything else?"
ALEX: "I know, you can’t even hear it when it’s mixed in with the rest of the instruments. (pause) Oh, wow!"
STRAND: "What?"
ALEX: "Do you see this?"
STRAND: "What am I looking at?"
ALEX: "I’m guessing you don’t illegally download music or movies."
STRAND: "I pay for music and movies just like everyone else."
ALEX: "Riiiight."
STRAND: "What is it?"
ALEX: It’s a torrent file.
STRAND: "What’s that?"
ALEX: "He’s seeding this song."
STRAND: "Seeding?"
ALEX: "Yeah, he’s, um. He’s made it available for download, for free. Anywhere in the world."
STRAND: "How many people have downloaded it?"
ALEX: "Just over six million."
So was it a demonic summoning? Was there some mystical power in the Unsound that forced Jeff Wendt to commit suicide in such a violent fashion? Did I and the more than six million people who downloaded that song have less than a year to live? Strand seems to think that it’s all easily explained.
STRAND: Well, it’s obvious isn’t it?
ALEX: "Is it?"
STRAND: "He was a gifted yet troubled young man who didn’t seek medical attention. And it doesn’t help that his mother fed into the whole occultism."
ALEX: "What do you mean?"
STRAND: "Did you get a look upstairs? That entire second floor was a shrine to Jesus. There was some pretty violent crucifixion imagery up there. Not your basic Sunday school material either. Real Raiders of the Lost Ark type stuff."
So it’s all easily explained. The Unsound is natural but not demonic. The suicidal musician is troubled but not possessed. Sure, the Antarctic research team all died within a year in 1962 but that’s where the myth began, rather than proof of its potency. But what about Travis? You remember Travis, Strand’s assistant, obsessed with digging up strange things in the deep web? Travis who successfully tracked down the underground recording of the Unsound? I asked Strand why Travis Collinwood left his team, and Strand told me that his grant ran out. This is true. What Strand didn’t mention however, and what he may not actually know, is that Travis Collinwood died four months after leaving the Strand Institute’s employ. He was hit by a cyclist and thrown into a bus. He died instantly.
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