The Event

Abstract: The city of ███████, ███████ has been subject to a series of vanishings and suspected murders. The people of ███████ have come to call it “The Event.”

Organization Response: The Event has thus far been deemed as unavoidable and uncontainable. Researchers and other users are encouraged to avoid the ███████, ███████ area or exercise caution when visiting. Personal preparedness for The Event does not seem to have a direct correlation on survival, as Researcher A████ J██████ trained extensively, but was recorded as unresponsive when they were seen on the broadcast of The Event.

Event Frequency: The Event occurs after a seemingly random number of days between ██ and ███. Data tracking investigations suggest that there is a direct correlation between high viewership and a higher frequency of Events.

Event History: The first occurrence of The Event is uncertain. Various documents and news reports describe disappearances similar to those of modern-day Events back to 18██. If Events did indeed occur prior to the 18██ Events, it is unknown in which way they manifested to the public. See file 23-A for full history of recorded events.

Victim Disappearances: On the night that The Event occurs, between █ and ██ people will mysteriously vanish from their homes in order for those individuals to appear in The Event. This vanishing begins to occur as early as 11:23pm local time, and will resolve before 1:55am local time. Due to the consistency of Event vanishings, there are now multiple video recordings that seem to show people walking slightly out of frame and vanishing into impossible locations. Residents have set video cameras on themselves while sleeping, only for those recordings to be found with the victim pulling blankets over their head and vanishing under them. 

Victim Location: Victims taken from the event are primarily residents of ███████ or other nearby towns and suburbs. However, on the night of The Event of March 20, 20██, a victim appeared in The Event after vanishing from █████████, █████ over 1500km away. This victim had recently visited ███████ in the past four days. Due to this instance, there is assumed to be no limit to the range at which victims may be selected.

Victim Similarities: All victims taken for The Event either live in or have visited the city of ███████ in recent days prior to The Event taking place. Investigation into previous contestants has resulted in few significant similarities aside from a general desire to be “famous” or “popular” in victims. See file 23-B for confirmed victims and corresponding background information.

The Broadcast: Starting at 2:12am, a random channel on over-the-air television will begin to display The Event. This broadcast plays simple music and shows a stationary scene before beginning The Event at 2:23am precisely. Broadcasts have been documented in multiple locations over the years of The Event. The earliest documented broadcasts occurred on local radio stations, which then transitioned to television broadcasts with the first television broadcast in 19██. While television broadcasts do continue to occur, there are unconfirmed reports of the broadcast appearing on streaming sites, but only accessible from the local area. All acquired recordings of The Event are available in files 23-1-A.

The Event: The exact consequence of each Event is slightly different, but there are certain similarities. All victims that vanished in the previous hours appear to wake up in various locations and sleepily progress toward a determined end-point. Frequently, victims will be seen stoically staring at walls and refusing to progress toward the goal. Victims are dressed in a generic white jumpsuit for the duration of The Event. All victims that successfully arrive at the end goal in the course then return to a location within ███ meters of where they vanished from. These returning victims are found sleepy and unaware of what just occurred.

Broadcast Titles: Each broadcast is structured roughly like a low-budget gameshow, but with minor variations in presentation. These differences are catalogued in file 23-C-1, but the presented titles and themes of select broadcasts are cataloged here:

• You Won’t Believe Who’s Watching!
  • Radio show broadcast from 189█ with a detective/mystery theme.
• Occult Supervision Required
  • White-robed suicide cult styled show. Air date of November 18, 1978
• █████████ ████████!!
  • [Redacted] - 195█
• The Devil’s In The Details
  • Satanist themed television broadcast in 198█
• ██████████████ ████
  • ████████ theme in black and white. Television broadcast in 199█
• Come and Get 'em
  • A story of a serial killer in ██████, Indiana, shot from his perspective. Broadast on ██ ████████, 19██.
• The Black Albatross
  • Structured as a performative opera retelling of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” - 2006