September 22nd, 2016: Marble Hornets twitter tweets out: i see with new eyes
User Catface XwX relates this to a quote from Marcel Proust; "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
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September 25th, 2016: First email is received from DScott for all users who participated in the marblehornets.com ARG reading
Clear Lakes Communications President Danielle Scott held a conference call today with all current station employees, informing them that April will be the final month that the company will be in operation. CLC, until this point completely independent, will be bought out by long time rival +++++///11v% Network. There has been no word yet on if the company will be rebranded or absorbed completely.
"Sensitive information removed
----archived item below this line----
Clear Lakes to Cease Operations After Buyout
-draft-
Speculations of a buyout have been circulating since last year, amid CLC’s ongoing financial issues and struggles to maintain decent ratings for its small number of stations. Scott was hired in August of last year to help breath [sic] new life into the station, but according to insiders, the rising costs of developing and acquiring new programming far exceeded the company’s modest fundraising.
“She was frankly asked to do the impossible” says long time sponsor {]{]{]{]{] “I think the writing was already on the wall, but Danielle still wanted to try. She’s always been very determined.”
All affiliate stations, of which there are nine, will be going off the air at the end of April as well. So far, all attempts to reach out for comment from the individual stations or CLC itself have remained unanswered.
-----"
This email came with an image attached named 00000.jpg, one of a blue background with a black highlight underneath a set of white squares organised to spell out "ECKVA." Forum user ACP notes that Caesar shifting ECKVA by 24 gives "caity," possibly a name. The number of squares highlighted by the image's black strip, when divided by bigger spaces in between them, is '10-4-8-4-4-12." Reddevlking suspects that the squares are to throw us off, and that ECKVA is the name of a broadcast station, but syntheticaesthetic points out that this is unlikely. In another vein, Skyraider uses the dates mentioned to translate ECKVA into "I_SEE," though is doubtful as to its authenticity. Cmpappas12 continues this train of thought and tries to relate it back to the company name, "+++++///11v%." Some users, such as Cmpappas12and DrThompsonHacke received the email multiple times, but this may be unimportant or just an error. User Luke speculates that the emails mention of Danielle Scott can be linked back to Broadcast #13, which mentions a woman being hired by a radio station. User ClayKid31 emails DScott separately, asking if she can see with new eyes. She replied with:
"everyday"
September26th, 2016: Marble Hornet's twitter rebrands to "+++++///11v%" and changes their profile picture, before tweeting: will you go as far as i have
User sidenote quite jokingly suggests that this is the return of totheark, whilst miloh instead ties it back to the CL44 surveillance system.
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September 28th, 2016: As Forum users fumble around, Voxfire links the cryptic +++++///11v% back to ECKVA, claiming that they may be one in the same entity. Meanwhile, Skyraider and DrThompsonHacke discovers eckva.net, an archive site which appears to be offline. It's creation date seems to line up with Troy's production schedule. On the day it was discovered, it read:
"-domain seized-
-archive offline-"
DrThompsonHacke compares the source code of the new site to that of marblehornets.com, and finds that it is nearly identical. syntheticaesthetic received a reply from DScott after questioning the nature of ECKVA, which simply read
"outthere"
Similarly, tongue-deep-alchemist requested information about CLC's sponsor, {]{]{]{]{], and received this email instead:
"error message:
does not deserve"
Later, VioletUltraViolet notes that others, rather than simply getting the "outthere" email, received one reading
"outthere
the edges"
In regards to this, tongue-deep-alchemist calls the previous tweet, and wonders if the new emails relate to it. Cmpappas12 noticed that they received their email at 8:44, and brings into question the motif of 4s and 8s returning. sidenote receives a new message, reading
"error message returned:
not authorized"(edited)
September 30th, 2016: Skyraider draws a connection between ECKVA and Van Eck, an eavesdropping technique. Cmpappas12 connects some dots on the meaning of ECKVA.
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October 1st, 2016: Some users receive more emails from DScott, reading
"Thannkk you[sic]
your request has been received. Your ticket number is 531122142.
Important to note, all users who send emails received the same ticket number. The number, 531122142 translates to ECKVADB, but tongue-deep-alchemist thinks thatthe 42 dots contained within the highlight in 00000.jpg refers to the 42 in the ticket number. If this remains unciphered, we are left with ECKVA42. Later that day,Reddevlking responded to DScott in regards to the ticket number, heralding a response which read:
-----
Additional notes: You do not want to do this
---"
"thankyou for contacti%%%%%---
---
--
As tongue-deep-alchemist points out, there are five percent signs in the first line.
=your ticket is in the queue and will be addressed as soon as possible"
October 2nd, 2016: The twitter updates:
"-i believe none-
User DrThompsonHacke notes that this tweet is written in a similar format to eckva.net
-all curious will regret-"
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October 3rd, 2016: DScott emails many participants in a piece reading:
"Thank you for contacting database services.
what makesyou scared"
We require additional information to properly process your reqezt** [sic]
....
.....
Tellme
Similarly, responding seriously returns:
Responding to this demand in a comedic fashion garnered the response:
"*error returned:
truth required"
"/////database entry has been logged/////
thank you
Forum user Whitley speculates that this collection of emails hints towards ECKVA being a database of fears, or a medical group. This also brings into question whether or not 531122142 should be translated into ECKVA42 or ECKVADB. User DrThompsonHacke emails DScott in regards to how long it will take for their ticket to be processed, warranting the reply:
Your support ticket will be resolved soon
-eckva.network"
"-current estimated wait time: [error: support center offline]
-current support representatives: 0
-average ticket wait time: >999 hours"
---October 5th, 2016: eckva.net is set to online, and, rather than displaying it's message reading that it is offline, it lists an archive of the fears sent into and accepted by DScott [manuscript is very likely subject to change, so it is chronicled here by VioletUltraViolet]
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October 6th, 2016: Many investigative emails are sent out. User tongue-deep-alchemist emails DScott asking what Danielle's fears are, receiving the response:
"*error returned:
not authorized
does not deserve
does not matter"
When asked how much she can tell us, Scott replies with:
Meanwhile, tumblr user flospuer-su emails DScott multiple times inquiring towards "The Ark." When asked how much she knows, Scott replies with:
"muchmore"
"stayinside
watchtv"
Finally, User Faustika emails DScott asking if she is afraid of us. She replies with:
Once more, syntheticaesthetic emailed DScott asking what was going on with eckva.net, to which she cryptically replied:
"important
work"
"no"
After these more pensive replies, things kick into gear when 4 different variations of the same email are sent out to all users. The emails, which read:
"/////resolved/////
Your support ticket is now closed. Thank you for using the ECKVA Network database support service.
Attached to this email is your support ticket history and ticket number, should you need to reopen the ticket at a later date."
all came with one of four images: "01100001.jpg," "011001100.jpg," "01110011.jpg" and "01101001.jpg". These images contained images of a poem, a face, the word 'Alice' and a road respectively. The poem reads:
"the home is almost silent
in the bed you toss and turn
OUTSIDE ARE QUIET FOOTSTEPS
AS THE HOUSE BEGINS TO BURN"
As these images are released, eckva.net simultaneously updates to contain an updated list of fears. User Lea on Discord takes the titles of the images and decodes them into A, L, I and S respectively. Faustika takes the use of "Alice" in one of the images to determine the order to put these letters in, and visits eckva.net/alis, which surprisingly bears results. The new page, titled "alis" reveals more about the life of Clear Lakes Communications, reading:
"Local Clear Lakes Affiliate Reacts to Buyout Clear Lakes 88, a local affiliate station for Clear Lakes Communications, was supposedly never informed about ongoing buyout negotiations, according to a source from station management
The source, who has requested to remain anonymous, says that the buyout announced three days ago was “...a complete surprise to me.” although they were “well aware of CLC’s financial challenges.”
Clear Lakes 88 was the youngest station affiliate, and has been in operation since 1999. So far, it is the only one of the nine affiliates that has given a comment on the issue. An official statement has yet to be released."
“I wish I could have been given a heads up of some sort”, the source later said, “We recently had a new hire that uprooted their family to come here. Had I’ve known that this buyout was in the works, I never would have approved it.”
Underneath this, it archives all four binary images from the most recent email in the correct order. Not much later, users DrThompsonHacke, ClayKid31 and Faustikause the prosody clue from the marblehornets.com ARG, and take the seven syllables in each line of the poem to find the page eckva.net/7777, a very blank page save for the words:
"youwill return"
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October 9th, 2016: The twitter updates crucially, with a cryptic:
"almost time tolisten
closely.
important work"
The mention of "important work" links back to emails received earlier, and user Skyraider draws the connection that this tweet confirms that the user behind the twitter is the same as the user behind the emails. Later that day, users DrThompsonHacke and Lea discover that eckva.net/7777 has updated from it's cryptic message to:
"Spiders and Numbers and cancer and disappointment and hurt and Heights and happiness and You and unknown and Unacceptance and water and and and and and and You and Color and cancer and good and Drowning and static and good and unnacceptable and unacceptable and you and Ark and happiness"
Noting that these were all references to fears from the October 6th update to the main eckva.net page, Lea took the list and corresponded each word to a number, and then again to a letter, capitalizing it based on its key word. Counting the abnormal number of "ands" as a 6 rather than a number, Lea was left with "UCjkdBwVhMa6VSjlGnlmmvYw" and, noting that all non personalized YouTube channel names start with 'UC,' she punched it into YouTube, revealing the channel "eckvanet." This channel, with the description "auto upload location," appears to be the primary channel for the series so far.
October 11th, 2016: The twitter suddenly updates with:
"see
what's
important"
Attached to this tweet is an image containing the word ECKVA on a black background made up of equal signs and surrounded by two barring lines. This image, which was unfortunately named "CudOYmAUkAAcxmf.jpg" by twitter, finally solidified the significance of ECKVA according to Turkey Lenin III. When put through an Audacity Raw Data Analysis, Faustika found that a high pitched beep would stand out, similar to Morse code. Users Turkey Lenin III and mk2k counted the number of equals in each letter and came up with "21, 16, 20, 18, 22" or "uptrv." Caesar shifting this by 9 left them with "dycae," which, similar enough to "decay," might link back to totheark's aptly named video.
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October 13th, 2016: eckva.com updates its main page, changing it instead from a list of fears to a command sequence indicating that it will soon begin broadcasts.SJHunt95 notes that this might mean videos are on the way.
The story portrayed in the episodes is short thus far, however as the story progresses I'll update the thing here.
A man named S. Hawkins (who was a previous employee at a company known as ECKVA Network) finds one day that an old house he inherited from his grandfather can receive transmissions from the ECKVA Network, which he believes went defunct a long while ago. The broadcasts become increasingly personal until the point when he decides that they are talking about him personally. Repeatedly he travels out to the house every time the television that is hooked to his laptop which automatically uploads the videos breaks down. Strange things begin to happen increasingly frequently until he is taken by an unknown figure, glitchy in appearance. He is later returned, but not without an odd addition to make in which he states that something is crawling through his brain. Earlier on, a story point is made that states he took Preaxin, a medicine currently presumed to be the same one that Brian and Tim took to ward off the Operator. Hawkins learns that ECKVA is tied directly to Preaxin in sinister ways that are currently unclear. Later, footage not uploaded by S. shows that he is speaking with another person going by the screen name of "A. Raymond" that seems to be from when Hawkins worked at ECKVA. In it, Hawkins asks if anything is stored in 'the archive' that isn't footage. Raymond says he doesn't know but doesn't think so, and asks why, to which Hawkins replies that he found an old computer program in it, the specific program being called "Arklistener", also the name of a program on the ECKVA site that updates as new videos are uploaded.
Another story is unfolding on the website, however:
It tells a bit of the story of the network. It was partnered with Clear Lakes Communications (!!!), working alongside Clear Lakes 44 and Clear Lakes 88. It, alongside CLC, were shut down improper treatment of employees after CLC was annexed into ECKVA Network.
Before this, however, ECKVA partnered with another studio called Two Quarter Media. They made a show called Alis' Bakery. The head animator, Elizabeth Steiner, abruptly disappeared during production.
A conversation between two unknown individuals (presumably Hawkins and Raymond) has one approaching the other with a file that won't work, called "BLOT.xml". It made the computer they used crash and one comments that it might be junk, but the other downplays this, stating that it's likely important considering that everything they'd found thus far was related to Arklistener. One says to send it to them, and the other states that they will.
A conversation between two unknown individuals (presumably Hawkins and Raymond) has one approaching the other with a file that won't work, called "BLOT.xml". It made the computer they used crash and one comments that it might be junk, but the other downplays this, stating that it's likely important considering that everything they'd found thus far was related to Arklistener. One says to send it to them, and the other states that they will.
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