Who is Charlotte, and why does she haunt these people?

March 12, 2009 - 4:59 pm 6 Comments

It had been a couple of days since we had checked the PO box, and there were a couple of nice surprises in there this afternoon.

First was a package from EnergiToGo, who emailed the other day and offered to send me and any of my compatriots going to SXSW a cell phone charger gratis for our use during the convention. Very kind of them, and I thank them for it! Unfortunately, they don’t have one compatible with my iPhone, but they sent some for my associates who don’t have that particular handicap.

Second was far more mysterious. A tape recorder, wrapped in the classified section of the San Diego Union Tribune, with a sticky note on it saying “Play Me.”

Who am I to turn down the siren song of the modern-day Alice in Wonderland? Eat me, drink me, play me. Pressing the button reveals a conversation between a man and a woman – the man sounding therapist-like, the woman sounding patient-like – and she’s talking about not writing fiction anymore because her stories were becoming too real. Her last story was about a child named Charlotte, who fell ill and ran away from home to find a cure for herself. The man seemed taken aback by this and anxious to hear how the story ends. The woman said she doesn’t know how it ended because she stopped writing fiction. Because that’s when the nightmare started.

Hear it for yourself here.

The tape has a notation on it in blue marker – perhaps “VIZ”?

More discussion to be had over on this Unfiction thread. Very intriguing!

6 Responses to “Who is Charlotte, and why does she haunt these people?”

  1. Jess Says:

    About to listen, but I see the blue marking as 2/1 (looking the opposite way). Some people do their ones like that.

    SO fascinating! (but only because it’s not happening to me…)

  2. addlepated Says:

    I originally thought it was 217 or 21A, but got convinced I had it upside down. Now you’ve got me thinking I was right the first time! I’m so easily swayed.

  3. Fresh, Hot Wastes of Time » Blog Archive » More mysterious mail… Says:

    […] electronic form, this time, from a SpamGourmet address. The enigmatic P.Martin, who sent the tape recording a few days ago, has this to say: Do not follow me! I knew you would. I knew you would come over and […]

  4. Fresh, Hot Wastes of Time » Blog Archive » In which she earnestly and vaguely rants (to avoid spoilers, ahem) Says:

    […] news, many of us have turned into gibbering, twitching masses trying to figure out where the crazy tapes lead. If you’re coming to this blog because you’ve received a mysterious tape recorder […]

  5. Fresh, Hot Wastes of Time » Blog Archive » Charlotte update: anatomy of an ARG puzzle solve Says:

    […] IRC chat channel we had discussed and discarded seemingly everything, overthinking every aspect of the tapes, the emails, the author’s website, and anything else we could think of. “You are the […]

  6. Fresh, Hot Wastes of Time » Blog Archive » A Charlotte update Says:

    […] month after receiving the mysterious tape recorder of mystery from P.Martin in San Diego, the game still plays on. Here are my impressions, sprinkled with some […]