The Secret Frequency submission thread

[Quincey Forder]

Something I've just read in the magasine CinéTélé Revue that pretty freaked me out...
Page 22, for those who read the french written magazine.

Couple weeks ago, the Canadian folk singer Taylor Mitchell died while taking a walk in a natural park in Nova Scotia, Canada.
Tragic, no doubt, but why does it concern this thread?

the way she passed away: attacked by Coyotes. No, really, she was.
Other people have heard her screams and called the Emergencies, but the coyotes had done their deed and the young woman was already badly wounded, mortally shredded.
The magasine said she passed away the next day, after she has been transfered to Halifax.

Ms Mitchell was the first person attacked by coyotes with a fatal outcome in forty years.

So, I'm asking you folks, in the World of Darkness, Classic and Current, what had really happened?
Garou attack?
Gangrels' animal companions hunting for their masters' breakfast?
Some wild spirit attacking someone who just stepped on its Locus/Cairn?
something else?

[Laughing_Jack_Wilton]

A pandemic sweeps the nation. A government finds an incredible vaccine. The populace is able to gain free vaccinations, and all is well until a few side effects occur. Stiffness and pain around the point of injection, loss of balance, head aches, nose bleeds, and a few other symptoms of the shot occur. Some vaccinations lead to death. As shortages occur, there isn't enough to go around.

In nWoD, the H1N1 hysteria could be a risky Vampire plot to gain control of the world and turn the 'vaccinated' into ghouls. Was that a vaccine or vitae? How many vampires would have to be harvested for that much vitae? How long has this plan been in motion for?
It could be a strange potion that a group of Mages are using to force sleepers to awaken to cause a mass paradox. There could be a spirit or Werewolf pack that wants to use this to create human loci or turn large areas into barrens. A fae or Changeling may be using the vaccine to extend the edge into the mortal realm by slowly turning the humans into holes that the hedge thorns can travel through.
Finally, there is always the idea that zombies are not far from this breakout.

[Law]

Human Sacrifices on the Rise in Uganda as Witch Doctors Admit to Rituals

One man said he had clients who had captured children and taken their blood and body parts to his shrine, while another confessed to killing at least 70 people including his own son.

The latter has now given up the ritual and is campaigning to stamp it out, according to BBC News.

The African country's government claimed human sacrifice was on the increase.

According to officials trying to tackle it, the crime is directly linked to rising levels of development and prosperity - and an increasing belief that witchcraft can help people get rich quickly.

During its investigation, to be broadcast on Thursday on Radio 4 and Newsnight, the BBC team witnessed anti-sacrifice campaigners torching the shrine of a witch-doctor in northern Uganda, who agreed to give up the practice.

He said clients came to him in search of wealth.

"They go and capture other people's children. They bring the heart and the blood directly here to take to the spirits," he said.

"They bring them in small tins and they place these objects under the tree from which the voices of the spirits are coming."

The witch doctor, who said he was paid 500,000 Ugandan shillings (around £160) for a consultation, denied any direct involvement in murder or incitement to murder, saying his spirits spoke directly to clients.

Moses Binoga, the assistant police commissioner who is head of the Ugandan anti-human sacrifice and trafficking task force, said there were 26 murders thought to be part of ritual sacrifice last year compared with three cases in 2007.

"We also have about 120 children and adults reported missing whose fate we have not traced," he added. "From the experience of those whom we recovered, we cannot rule out that they may be victims of human sacrifice."

"They bring [body parts and blood] in small tins and they place these objects under the tree from which the voices of the spirits are coming."

I think that about says it all . . .

[zombiehead1]

Here's an odd one from my neck of woods in Alaska

In 1887, a Professor Willoughby had spent many years prospecting for gold and had made some large hardrock discoveries. Willoughby was best known for his unusual photograph of the “Silent City” which appeared at the head of Glacier Bay. He had been told by local Indians about the mysterious appearance of this “Silent City” which hung above the icefields of Glacier Bay during the longest days of the year. The city appeared to be suspended in front of the Fairweather Range at the head of the icefield.

At the north of the bay hung huge, massive buildings reaching into the sky. It took three years to photograph this phenomena, and on his third year the professor was able to take a photograph of the
unusual occurrence. The city appeared during summer solstice. According to Willoughby the city was confined in a halo of dense yet transparent light.

As the professor moved forward to enter into this magnificent city it slowly receded. When he showed his picture and told his story some believed him while others scoffed. In later years the city was identified as Bristol, England. Could this have been a mirage of sorts, or was the whole thing a hoax? (turns out it was a hoax, but still interesting and the light effects off the ice fields up there is pretty trippy.)

Here's the picture that he took: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/z ... ntcity.jpg

And this is the actual Ice Field: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/z ... plain2.gif

[Zorlak]

Cool

[bohica]

Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP), one of America's oldest prisons, can easily be used as a game setting. Located in Philadelphia, it's currently listed as a historical landmark by the City. Dating back to 1829, it was the first prison in America to use the hub-and-spoke plan (think of a bicycle wheel). Although now in disrepair, the prison charges fees to help maintain and staff the landmark. The atmosphere lends itself to an awesome haunted house held there yearly. It was also used as a basis for an asylum by Terry Gilliam in his movie "12 Monkeys."

Gaming hooks: After having housed criminals for 142 years before closing, Eastern State saw its fair share of humanity's darkside before closing its doors in 1971. The Guards and prisoners were moved to Graterford Prison 30 miles away. Excavations of the prison afterward discovered multiple unfinished tunnels leading out of the prison, and one which was successfully used for an escape,

Now, looking at ESP on google maps, one sees that it isn't far from a local reservoir, a college campus (with another one almost an equal distance on the opposite side), the Phillidelphia zoo, and Phillidelphia Museum of Art, Unfortunately, I haven't found a diagram of where the tunnels I mention above lead to. Which can be a benefit for you, the story teller, in that you can make it up as needed. So, what do these tunnels house? A Vampire in torpor? An Entrance to the Hedge? An Averian Gate to the underworld? A lab based off the notes of one Herr Doktor V. Frankenstein? ( )

Links:
http://www.easternstate.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_State_Penitentiary
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&sourc ... CAsQnwIwAA

[Law]

This does look like a really cool place to set a game. I am now working on two one-shot WoD/Hunter games sat there. Thanks.

the prison charges fees to help maintain and staff the landmark.

Fees what? Can you pay to take a tour? 'Cause that would be awesome.

[bohica]

Yep, there are tours. There's the general tour, of course, and others entitled "Prison Uprisings", "Escape", "Life Behind these Walls" and during the Holloween season, a haunted house tours. I believe they also do tours for high school students. So, yeah, awesome way to bring a new troupe of players together might be to plop em on the tour a little bit before the fan gets covered. Let them figure it out from there.

[Kim_Possible]

Yep, there are tours. There's the general tour, of course, and others entitled "Prison Uprisings", "Escape", "Life Behind these Walls" and during the Holloween season, a haunted house tours. I believe they also do tours for high school students. So, yeah, awesome way to bring a new troupe of players together might be to plop em on the tour a little bit before the fan gets covered. Let them figure it out from there.

Or if you lived nearby, you could take your actual players on the tour before your chronicle started. How fun would that be!?!

[Érynies]

Hi guys, I didn't see this post, but Vince (or Mark), told me that my story would fit well here Here it is:

It's something that happened to me and my parents 18 years ago. We moved in a little town near Orleans (France), in a pretty old house.
The house was on the top of a little hill, and we had to walk up to get to the alley that went alongside the house's wall (with a whole bunch of windows). The alley was "paved" with gravel, and nobody could go through without making a lot of noise.
Strangely, the entry door was on the far side of the house, then you had to pass in front of the living room's windows, and the kitchen's windows to go to the door and ring the bell. It was clearly impossible to go to the door unseen and unheard.

My dad was working all week in the alps, and only went back every week ends. I lived all week with my mother.

One day, I was alone in the living room, and I heard someone walking up the alley, and finally a women in a white dress appeared behind the curtains, and she followed the path to the door.
Like always, seeing someone coming behind the first window, I started to walk like her to the door, still seeing her through the second window, then the kitchen's window.
I opened the door, but there were nobody...
I walked by the corner of the house to see the alley, and nobody there too...
It was impossible for her to run out of the property in the gravel without me earing it after opening the door.
I thought it was just a waking dream, and I moved on...

A few days after, the same thing happened again, clearly earing the women again, walking lightly in the gravels and seeing her by the windows. This time I knew it was really strange. I ran to the door and rushed outside to the alley, but again, nobody.

I couldn't tell my mom, because I didn't want to freak her out as my dad was so far from home.

The next week, we were all 3 dining in the kitchen, when we heard someone in the alley. We all raised our heads, saying nothing, looking to each other. We saw someone by the window, and I said... don't bother, it's "the woman".
They both looked at me and told me that they both saw her in different occasions, but neither of us wanted to freak out the others with that. I don't know why, but we knew she was "a gentle ghost". We weren't really afraid, and everyone kept it for himself.

Someday after that, my mom's friend was in the living room with her, and she heard the walking in the alley. She told my mother that someone was coming, as my mother didn't seem to react, but my mother only replied that it was our ghost... and this time again, it was

I wouldn't believe that if someone told me this story, but it happened to me, and the fact that we all saw and heard her in different occasions, is not a proof, but a very confusing fact

Many years after that, my mom told me that one night, they were in their bedroom, behind closed door (don't ask me why the door were closed, because this is way scarier to think about that :p), and my mom, like all night, put her necklace, closed on the little table aside the bed.
The next morning, the door was still locked and the necklace too, but it was not like she has put it:
It was all gooey, and still closed, but there were 5 little knots at equal distance from each other all over the necklace.

Nothing else happened in this house. We stayed for a few month here before we moved to Lille... but it's really strange to think about it 18 years after