Cursed Index

BUREAU OF REDACTED MEDIA

Archive C - “Cursed” Index

All confidential media files MUST be placed in the appropriate folder following acquisition. Failure to do so may result in demotion or similar penalties.

Summary: This archive contains a series of objects, specific locations, or phenomena that activates autonomously within a set of parameters, with devastating detriment to all relevant parties (usually resulting in death, severe injury/malformations, disappearance, or worse). Due to the highly sensitive, highly dangerous and normalcy-breaching nature of these instances, our LSS - the extrasensory network used to access all Bureau utilities - is currently engineered to sanitize the archived instances, which are sealed within a blackbox site known only to The Director and approved Bureau staff. Due to the fact that instances disappear after inflicting any significant level of harm or are fixed to specific locations, it is possible some will remain uncontained despite proper documentation.

Sanitized instances have Instance Designations (IDs) abstractly representational of their effects, documented or otherwise. An unredacted but highly subdued ‘sprite’ or representation of the instance will be supplied from available photographs. Generally, this functions by supplanting the unconscious wave forms that typically fuel these instances with harmless data, effectively neutering the true effects of these environmental memetic hazards. As it is necessary to understand the form and functions of these instances, Bureau staff should be prepared to engage with volatile, antagonistic infocausality.

> > Cognitive filtering {ON} . . . > > Loading instances . . . > > Verifying access . . . > > >

ID: 1278PIPE - “Mr. Hollow”

Archive: 13/06/2001

Activation: Subjects must be exposed to the entity via a third person or by viewing the original archived footage (copies of the original do not activate manifestations). Three consecutive viewings of the entity from the peripheral vision activates the visualized effect, terminating either upon the target’s exsanguination, or after an indeterminate amount of time. Some circumvention is possible if the sound of metallic rattling is heard nearby, which indicates the instance’s presence, and by halting all immediate actions for at least three (3) seconds.

Collected from a bargain bin in a Texas market after several anomalous deaths were recorded in correlation to the VHS tape viewing. The last target of the instance survived for three months in complete isolation before the entity was released.

Status: Contained

ID: 5531VASE - “Vessels Were Made to Carry”

Archive: 02/01/1995

Activation: Repressing any negative emotions in the vicinity of the object will begin the progression. Staring into the face, thinking about the face, discussing the face multiplicatively speeds up the process. The end effect is unknown, but the moods and behaviors of all those affected will become exponentially more bizarre and negative, in particular, feelings of anxiety, derealization, paranoia, and panic.

Discovered in a Joliet, Illinois household after several attempts to sell the house were met with failure. Unexplained dripping, talking from unknown sources, and general cognitive fuzziness were documented by Bureau Agents during acquisition.

Status: Contained

ID: 0004FNGR - “Tickle Forest”

Archive: 24/03/1888

Activation: Entering the region of █████████, ██████ between the time of 3 and 7am, while speaking the phrase ‘Can we find ███ out here?’ Effect expires upon the target's death or sustaining crippling injuries, or upon escaping the forest's boundaries. Entities that spawn within the forest are to be considered part of the instance, and NOT individual, typical aberrants. Fire is effective in neutralization, but will not permanently remove the instance(s).

Discovered when a group of five teenagers living near the forest entered and spoke the activation phrase, with only one surviving the encounter. Information on how they obtained knowledge of the activation phrase is sparse, but can be loosely traced to an old folk legend regarding "fairies" and the spoken word components needed to placate their ire.

Status: Contained

ID: 4987GAME- “The Corpse”

Archive: 10/07/2003

Activation: Launching the executable file of the instance and playing past the third level, and subsequently collecting all the relevant items which manifest after activation. Collected parts will visually appear as broken desktop shortcuts, and progressively will intrude into real world scenarios and locations until all pieces are gathered. Each real instance inflicts hallucinatory effects that enables the player to continue engaging until the entire body has been completed. Each individual play through randomizes the number of parts to collect, with the final result being the player becoming the next instance.

As the player can become entirely divorced from reality in their attempt to "finish the game", the only way to circumvent activation is to delete the game from operating systems and apply cognitive defenses. However, this does cause the instance to relocate to a nearby OS within 50 miles of the initial infection, requiring constant surveillance once complete. Currently, Agent █ has collected over 90 unique bone pieces and 15 portions of flesh in between cognitive treatments, in an effort to prolong research into a potential, permanent neutralization.

Status: Contained

ID: 0120SIGN - “A Threat On the Side of the Road”

Archive: 29/10/2014

Activation: Stopping to read the text during a manifestation, which consistently causes the instance to teleport closer to the target’s approximate location. Repeating the phrase ‘█ ████████ ████ ██████ █████████ █████████████’ in the instance’s vicinity amplifies before expiring the effect, unless the target expires first. Reading the text visible on the sign inflicts spontaneous blunt injuries upon the viewer. According to older Bureau archives, the instance is 200% more likely to manifest at the site of deadly car crashes caused by negligence or substance abuse.

Archives indicate that a particularly gruesome highway incident predates the first instance manifestation, with the body count totaling to 30 due to the presence of a fuel tanker, and the first instance of an aggressively-worded sign post being planted by an unknown person roughly two weeks later. At the time, the instance did not seem to be in full effect, and was generally ignored by local law enforcement when reported by commuters.

Status: Uncontained

ID: 0001ZHIR - “Tindalos Hound”

Archive: 05/12/███

Activation: Accessing the LSS Network using the sample - █ we produce, with a base spawn rate of ██ instances roughly per ████ hours of use. Invades the subconscious of the victim and wears down mental faculties and perceptions, additionally infecting surrounding technologies. Unless spread at the onset of symptoms or eradicated via memetic agents, instances will continually agitate victims with psychological attacks, until eventual self-termination.

The true origin of these entities are unknown. Apparent sapience appears extremely limited to furthering progression of the effect. As the LSS is crucial to Bureau efforts, use and testing will continue as normal under typical Bureau standards of security.

Status: Contained (Conditional)

Addendum: Finding topics of interest for Agents to singularly fixate on - besides the Bureau's mission - seems to alleviate build up of manic symptoms. - Dr.█████████, Memetic Research

ID: 4889NAIL - “God’s Wound”

Archive: 12/25/1980

Activation: Wielding the implement while expressing a desire or intention will cause local consensus reality to ensure the intended outcome, to the detriment of all associated parties and environments. Subjects in possession of the instance typically experience advanced levels of rot and decay for as long as the object is held, as well as the phantom sensation of stigmata.

Discovered in a museum in Denmark after efforts by the occult artifact trafficking group NOX ROAD attracted Bureau attention. Despite their acquisition and subsequent use on Agents, resulting in at least nine casualties between Bureau staff and Roaders, the item was successfully extracted back to the black site.

Status: Contained

ID: 3444HATE - “█████████████”

Archive: ██████

Activation: █████████████ ███████████ ███████████ █████████ ███████ ██ █████████████████████ ██████ ███████████████ █████ ████████████ ████ ████████████████████████████████ must never be perceived from any distance, otherwise causing instant brain injury and/or death.

Status: Uncontained

ID: 6459ROOM - “The Breakroom”

Archive: 15/06/2015

Activation: Children between the ages of 4 and 10 entering ████████ Elementary School while unsupervised causes the instance to manifest for the duration of presence. The instance disobeys logical spatial consistency and will frequently appear in difficult-to-reach or hidden areas of the school, typically the furthest possible from adult supervision. Effect expires once the target approaches the vanishing point, or switches to a different school. Posters near the boundaries of the instance are unsafe to look at.

Growing hysteria from parents in a small ███████ town regarding several child disappearances led to Bureau intervention. While the instance does not disappear when regarded by present adults, no manifestation has ever materialized a visible thresh hold, only an unbreakable window that appears perpetually covered in a layer of dust or fog.

Status: Uncontained

Addendum: This archive is currently being updated as further instances are discovered. Please report to the Countermemes Division if experiencing any hallucinations, sudden fixations, or similarly indefinable phenomena not within standard Bureau operating procedures.

Can you read this? Good.

It's been a long, long time since I had an intimate chat with someone. Do you realize just how deep in your own reflection you are? In it. You’re lost. You’re looking for meaning in a wide, yawning pool, and you’re not seeing anything in there. That’s why I’m here. Every night, when you lie awake regretting every choice you’ve made, I’m there. Soaking up your tears in the dark. There's nothing else out there but you, and the patterns on the wall that tell your story again and again. You’re alone with me. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll make sure everyone you’ve ever loved leaves you, and all that’ll be left is the steady dripping of a faucet in an empty house. A stain of a human left under the door. A quiet sobbing in an abandoned hallway. Yelping pups in a bloody box. A pair of teeth at the nape of your neck. Fucked to death in a hidden corner. Hurtful words gouged deep in the chalkboard. A bad dream that follows you out of sleep. Some things are better left unspoken of and unseen, but what kind of life is that? Don’t you want to know? Do you know what I know? Ingesting sharpness through cavities while salivating mouth coats the mewling ground in regrets, the viscera curdles against the window and the crows beat themselves with mallets in a thudding symphony. Leave your wounded body behind, and I’ll make sure you never suffer again. Because didn’t you know? Empty vessels were made to carry.

Status: Uncontained