This is Case File #0002. The recording you are about to hear is... well, it's something different. Not a bodycam, not a professional recording, but a standard microcassette I found in a box of old office supplies from a car boot sale. The label just says "Home."
It's an answering machine tape. A time capsule of domestic life from the late 1990s, full of the everyday messages we all used to leave. But... it also recorded something else.
You will hear the tape in its entirety. You will hear the mundane calls from family... and then... the other calls. The static. You will hear the homeowner, Sarah, as her terror escalates in real-time, captured live by the machine.
I'm presenting this recording exactly as I found it. Listen closely to the progression. Listen to what happens when the static stops... and the voice gets through.
Takeaways:
The recording presented in this episode has been retrieved without any alterations, maintaining its original context.
Listeners are advised to pay attention to the early anomalous messages that exhibit peculiar characteristics.
The entity known as the Static Man has demonstrated a capacity for vocal mimicry and environmental sound capture.
The timeline discrepancies raise significant concerns regarding the origins of the messages and their implications.
This case marks the first documented instance of an entity being in close physical proximity during the recording of these messages.
The phenomenon of imitative voices and auditory lures has been referenced in local oral histories and is now considered potentially relevant.
The first the outgoing message tape and the second the messages themselves.
Speaker A:
Devices of this type were designed to capture telephone messages, but their circuitry kept the lines in a semi open state.
Speaker A:
As a result, they sometimes recorded unintended audio ambience, cross line artifacts or environmental bleed.
Speaker A:
The recording you are about to hear has not been altered in any way.
Speaker A:
It is presented as retrieved.
Speaker A:
I will simply play the outgoing message tape first, followed immediately by the message tape.
Speaker A:
Listeners should pay particular attention to the earliest anomalous messages.
Speaker A:
The static displays patterns inconsistent with mechanical noise.
Speaker A:
There is evidence of intentional structure well before any coherent vocalization occurs.
Speaker A:
For the full transcript of this case, visit the archive@tavernend.com recording begins.
Speaker B:
Hi, you've reached Sarah.
Speaker B:
I'm not in right now, so leave a message and I'll get back to you.
Speaker B:
Byee.
Speaker B:
Hi love, just checking in.
Speaker B:
Don't forget, Sunday roast at 1.
Speaker B:
Your dad's insisting on doing the potatoes again.
Speaker B:
Well, you know what that means.
Speaker B:
Call me when you're in.
Speaker B:
Okay, bye love.
Speaker C:
Hey Sarah, it's me.
Speaker C:
Finally escaped work.
Speaker C:
You would not believe the day I've had.
Speaker C:
Listen, are you still free tomorrow?
Speaker C:
I thought we could grab coffee at Harper's.
Speaker C:
You know, the place with the terrible chairs but the amazing almond croissants.
Speaker C:
Anyway, call me when you're in.
Speaker C:
Same time as last week?
Speaker C:
Yeah, can't wait to catch up.
Speaker C:
Feels like it's been ages.
Speaker C:
Oh, and bring the book you borrowed.
Speaker C:
I've got the sequel.
Speaker C:
You'll love it.
Speaker C:
See you tomorrow, sir.
Speaker C:
Love ya.
Speaker A:
S.
Speaker C:
Hey sir.
Speaker C:
Just checking in.
Speaker C:
Feels like ages since we talked properly.
Speaker C:
You still go for coffee tomorrow at Harper's?
Speaker C:
Same time as last week?
Speaker C:
Honestly, I need a croissant and a rant.
Speaker C:
Call me when you get this.
Speaker B:
Chloe, I'm here.
Speaker B:
I'm here.
Speaker C:
Sarah.
Speaker C:
Oh, hey, I didn't think you'd pick up.
Speaker C:
Don't forget to bring the book you borrowed.
Speaker B:
Yeah, I know you have the sequel.
Speaker B:
We already talked about this.
Speaker C:
About what?
Speaker B:
Coffee.
Speaker B:
Harper's book.
Speaker B:
Tomorrow.
Speaker B:
You've said all that already, Sarah.
Speaker C:
No, this is my first call today.
Speaker B:
Hold on, let me turn this thing off.
Speaker B:
Okay, Entry one.
Speaker B:
I'm using this thing as a diary now, just to keep track.
Speaker B:
I think I'm getting confused.
Speaker B:
There were calls today.
Speaker B:
No number, just static.
Speaker B:
I thought Chloe rang me earlier, but she said she didn't.
Speaker B:
Now I don't know what's going on Anyway, just keeping notes just to keep me sane, I guess.
Speaker A:
Tomorrow, Hoppers.
Speaker B:
No.
Speaker B:
Who are you?
Speaker B:
Please stop calling me or.
Speaker B:
Or I'll phone the police.
Speaker A:
Phone the police.
Speaker A:
Police Constable Evans.
Speaker C:
Police Constable Evans here.
Speaker B:
Leave me alone.
Speaker C:
Sir, it's me.
Speaker C:
I'm trying you again.
Speaker C:
Are you home?
Speaker C:
Please pick up.
Speaker C:
I'm getting worried.
Speaker C:
Please, just answer.
Speaker B:
I'm here, Chloe.
Speaker C:
I'm here.
Speaker C:
Sarah.
Speaker C:
You sound shaken.
Speaker C:
What happened?
Speaker B:
Someone's been calling me.
Speaker B:
Not you.
Speaker B:
Someone's pretending to be you, Sarah.
Speaker C:
What do you mean?
Speaker B:
I said the same things.
Speaker B:
Same plans, same laugh.
Speaker B:
It knew your laugh, Sarah.
Speaker C:
That isn't possible.
Speaker C:
Are you safe?
Speaker B:
I'm so scared, Chloe.
Speaker B:
I'm hiding in the cupboard under the stairs.
Speaker B:
I keep hearing things.
Speaker C:
Is anyone there with you?
Speaker B:
Did you just hit that?
Speaker C:
How can someone be on the call with us?
Speaker C:
Is someone in your house, Sarah?
Speaker B:
I don't know.
Speaker A:
Wrong.
Speaker A:
I am in your house.
Speaker A:
Chloe.
Speaker C:
Oh, my God.
Speaker C:
No.
Speaker C:
What are you.
Speaker C:
Stay away from me.
Speaker B:
Chloe.
Speaker B:
Stay away from me.
Speaker C:
Please.
Speaker B:
Get off me.
Speaker B:
Get off.
Speaker B:
Please.
Speaker C:
Please.
Speaker C:
Stay away.
Speaker B:
Please.
Speaker B:
Leave me the hell alone.
Speaker B:
If someone finds this.
Speaker B:
Please.
Speaker B:
No.
Speaker B:
No.
Speaker B:
You're outside the cupboard door, aren't you?
Speaker A:
Sarah?
Speaker A:
Police Constable Evans here.
Speaker A:
I'm right.
Speaker A:
Recording ends.
Speaker A:
This case demonstrates several notable characteristics.
Speaker A:
The answering machine captured not only telephonic activity, but environmental sound from within the property.
Speaker A:
The anomalous messages exhibit progressive organization, from static to photophonemes to full mimicry.
Speaker A:
This is the first instance in the archive indicating that the entity was in close physical proximity to the subject at the time of recording.
Speaker A:
The most concerning feature remains the timeline discrepancy.
Speaker A:
The tape predates the Silent Tide incident by several years, yet the entity reproduces the voice of Police Constable Evans with exact fidelity.
Speaker A:
While it is theoretically possible that the name and vocal pattern belong to a different officer, the match is too precise to dismiss without further examination.
Speaker A:
If any listeners have encountered similar interference, particularly instances of mimicry.
Speaker A:
You may submit your accounts@discord.taverend.com Remember, this podcast is funded by the listeners.
Speaker A:
Support for the preservation and digitization of the archive can be found@patreon.tavernend.com for classification purposes.
Speaker A:
I am assigning this entity the provisional designation the Static Man.
Speaker A:
References to comparable phenomena appear sporadically in local oral histories.
