Clear Lakes 44
was a short-lived Spin-Off series of the online horror series Marble Hornets, debuting in August 2015.
The series received a large amount of cryptic hints before its premiere:
- The series was first hinted at from a mysterious tweet made on the Marble Hornets Twitter on February 14th, 2015, eight months after the 87th and final Marble Hornets entry was published.
- Five days later, a livestream held by Noah Scammon (member of Troy Has A Camera alongside the people who portrayed Jay, Alex, and Tim in MH) was rudely interrupted with static and a large 44 once he began coughing before the stream's end. The upper left corner also had the text "we can see you", and underneath it a pixel containing the Japanese character of the number eight (which can be split into 4 + 4).
- THAC's Patreon video from the 28th cut to multiple distorted shots while talking about a possible sequel to Marble Hornets as well.
- On April 4th, THAC showed off a heavily distorted behind the scenes video, containing references to marblehornets.com, a site made by Alex Kralie to advertise Marble Hornets before his encounters with The Operator. The site appears to have an ARG-style interaction with users, containing hidden pages and videos related to Marble Hornets' beginnings. You can log in as Alex with the password rocky86.
The first broadcast was uploaded on the Marble Hornets YouTube channel on August 3rd, 2015, and with it the channel was renamed to "Clear Lakes 44 | Marble Hornets".
A timeline of related events can be found here. Make sure to check it if you want the rundown on the ARG as well.
On April 10, 2016, Troy announced that the series in its current state was cancelled due to in-house issues (namely, Troy himself becoming disillusioned with the series, and everyone else in THAC leaving). The videos on the main channel were made unlisted, and Troy stated that he planned to move the videos to another channel while he rebooted the series from scratch. In October 2016, a new series called ECKVA debuted.
Warning: As this is a sequel series, spoilers for Marble Hornets will be unmarked. If you have not watched Marble Hornets, read at your own risk.
A channel with the original Clear Lakes 44 videos was created on June 28, 2016. Shortly afterward, new videos began being added. However, this was done by a fan who wanted to finish the series and was not any of the original team. While no legal action has been taken, Troy has stated he does not approve of it. As such, please do not add examples from episodes that were not on the original channel.
This series provides examples of:
- Aborted Arc: The whole series became one to the Marble Hornets continuity following its replacement by ECKVA. That said, a promotional Alternate Reality Game ties them together, suggesting that at the least, 44 is still canon.
- Alternate Reality Game: The lead-up to the series included a number of off-channel events happening in real life, including interrupted livestreams by the THAC boys, previews in THAC promotional videos, the Marble Hornets twitter account becoming active again, and - most notably - a real-life Marble Hornets website supposedly created by Alex that is still being updated and maintained despite his apparent death. People who respond to the site admin - one D. Scott - received cryptic clues that lead to hidden parts of the website, dropping equally cryptic hints about the new series.
- Ambiguous Situation: There is no context given to the series within the first couple of broadcasts, let alone why it's being uploaded to the Marble Hornets channel. The only hints we have to the latter so far are vague hints on the newly-created Marble Hornets website that link to the new series, and a brief appearance by Tim in Entry #4. Adding to this is the fact that Alex, despite being dead as a consequence of the previous series for over a year now, is shown to be updating the blog on his Marble Hornets website, even posting private videos on the development of Marble Hornets as though absolutely nothing had happened, despite Alex, you know, abandoning the project several years ago, which was what kicked off the original series to begin with.
- Animal Motifs: There seems to be an odd emphasis on birds. Broadcast #2 cuts to shots of birds around a lake, while the television in both Broadcast #2 and #3 display the same shot of what appears to be a woodpecker.
- Broadcast #6, and subsequent broadcasts featuring the character played by Noah, are entitled "Birdwatcher".
- Arc Number / Four Is Death: Continuing the trend from Marble Hornets.
- The series title, obviously.
- A lot of the series hints were rife with fours.
- The tweet released on the Marble Hornets Twitter hinting at this series composed of nothing but "44".
- The e-mail address of the admin on Alex's site is dscott3872@gmail.com. 44 × 44 × 2 = 3872.
- In Noah's fateful February 19th stream, once he reportedly began coughing the stream cut out and replaced the screen's contents with a big red "44" against static. In the upper left corner was a pixel with the Japanese character of the number 8 (4 x 2).
- In THAC's Patreon announcement video, several images are shown including a distorted image that has a 40:04 timestamp, and an image of 40 4's against a blue background.
- The MH website's admin is named D. Scott; research has seen connections with a late writer named D. Scott Rogo who was killed at the age of 40.
- On April 4th (4/4), the THAC team showed their MTAC 2015 panel a video which contained a screen saying "BROUGHT TO YOU BY..." and a quickly shown frame of the timestamp 04:40 before saying "MARBLEHORNETS.COM".
- Typing "marblehornets.com/therearefootsteps" takes you to a gif with 44 brackets above and below it.
- Typing "marblehornets.com/iknowwhereyouare" takes you to an image with 44 periods above and below it.
- Typing "marblehornets.com/werealwayswithyou" takes you to binary code that once decoded takes you to a video that ends with 4 beeps.
- The second production blog from Alex on the website has a flyer link announcing auditions on "Friday the 22nd". 2 + 2 = 4.
- The sixth production blog from Alex has the period next to the "-A" in "-A. Kralie out" leading to a gif that contains an audio file hidden in the source code that consists of 44 electronic beeps.
- Arc Words:
- "Reliable. Dependable."
- "We're always with you."
- "There are footsteps."
- "We can see you" was a faintly recurring phrase in the hints leading up to the series' premiere.
- Arc Welding: The ECKVA ARG reveals that Clear Lakes 44 is canon and ended up being eventually bought out by a mysterious buyer who also runs a mysterious broadcast for a channel that stopped functioning long ago.
- Big Brother Is Watching: They can see you no matter where you are, and they can be right next to you without you even knowing. This is even evident in their slogan, "We're Always With You".
- Bleak Abyss Retirement Home: Parts of the broadcasts show locations that evoke this feel. There is a scene with a man in a rocking chair sitting in an otherwise bare room in Broadcast #2, and in Broadcast #3 we are introduced to a man with a bad leg who uses a cane to move around a small room with a TV.
- Breather Episode: Broadcast #13, although the call hints that the Birdwatcher is still watching out for a friend who went missing months earlier...
- The Cameo: Tim in Broadcast #4. Whether this is just a cameo, a case of
You Look Familiar, or if he's a full-blown main character has yet to be seen. - Continuity Nod:
- The gazebo seen in Broadcast #2 seems to be the same one from Entry #9 and Entry #69 in Marble Hornets.
- Tim appears in Broadcast #4.
- Evil, Inc.: Seems to be the nature of the mysterious Clear Lakes 44, if the first entry is anything to go by.
- The Faceless:
- The old man in Broadcast #2 seems to be this, but this may just be a trick of the light.
- Broadcast #5 reveals that the Hooded Man is not only this but also apparently a walking Interface Screw!
- Broadcast #6 has the man with the cane get attacked by a black silhouette with white eyes.
- The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: As demonstrated by Broadcast #11."I know you've been watching."
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: The dark figure in Broadcast #6 has white eyes.
- Malevolent Masked Men: Or rather Malevolent Hooded Man, another mainstay of Marble Hornets.
- Nothing Is Scarier: As per MH tradition.
- Each broadcast featuring Birdwatcher ends with us not knowing his fate.
- Old Media Are Evil: Clear Lakes 44 has the feel of some kind of local access TV station.
- The Slender Man Mythos: Might technically be within it, given how it seems to take place in the same universe as Marble Hornets. Apparently, the big man himself won't be involved, though.
- Recurring Element: Despite being mostly unrelated, it contains a few mainstays from Marble Hornets:
- Individual videos are presented as numbered entries, though this time they are referred to as 'Broadcasts' rather than 'Entries'.
- The series focuses on camera footage, with some of it largely distorted or unintelligible.
- Walker is a mysterious hooded man very similar to the Hooded Man from Marble Hornets, right down to the black gloves and obscured face.
- The main antagonist appears to be an Eldritch Abomination that causes Interface Screw when viewed at by a camera.
- Psychoactive medication (even ordinary sleeping pills, it seems) is able to keep the Eldritch Abomination at bay.
- Revealing Continuity Lapse: Birdwatcher tells his doctor about the strange things happening to him at times when changing rooms, from his lame leg being better to him being in a different place entirely.
- Sinister Surveillance: If there is indeed a single camera-operating entity in every video, then they seem to have access to plenty of them. Parking lots, multiple angles inside and outside at least two homes, several rooms that have little business having a camera to begin with, what appears to be at least one remote-controlled drone camera, and, from what we can see near the end of Broadcast #5, footage from cameras that don't actually exist or otherwise can't be seen, as was the case for whatever was filming from the door. The cameras can even see out of people's point of view.
- Spin-Off: It's been referred to as a follow up series to Marble Hornets, set in the same continuity; it's even uploaded on the same YouTube channel. See also: Stealth Sequel.
- Stylistic Suck: The series is done in the style of an old TV station.
- Stealth Sequel: Possibly; Tim appears in Broadcast #4 giving a trio of packages to an unidentified figure.
- Surreal Horror: The broadcasts are very vague in plot direction, leaving most of the fear in having to fill in the blanks of what's happening given the information you have.
- Wham Episode: Broadcast #5 begins to reveal some of the more supernatural elements of the camera footage, including the implausible nature of the surveillance cameras' positioning and movement, along with the Hooded Man visually distorting them when recorded.
- Broadcast #6 reveals what could be the antagonist for the series: a black human-shaped creature with glowing white eyes.
- Broadcasts #7 and #8 have footage from people's point of view.
- Broadcast #9 reveals more of Birdwatcher's character, including his history of mental illness and that he apparently lost somebody who he only refers to as "she".
- Broadcast #10 reveals that Birdwatcher knows Walker, and apparently has a bad history with them as he reacts rather aggressively when Walker enters his home.
- Broadcast #11 is a sudden change of tone from the previous broadcasts. The entire video features distorted footage from previous broadcasts, as well as a figure with blacked out eyes asking the viewer such questions as "do you enjoy watching suffering?", "what is wrong with you?", and "do you want to see more?"
- Wham Line: Ambiguous at the end of Broadcast #11, a scrambled up "regards", alluding to totheark's Catchphrase.
- Wham Shot:
- Broadcast #4 shows two blurry figures making some sort of exchange. It isn't until the last few seconds one of them comes close to the camera and it focuses on his face clearly, revealing Tim from Marble Hornets.
- Broadcast #5 has two.
- The first is the camera that physically pans in on and follows the Hooded Man, revealing some of the cameras are autonomous.
- The second is when 'Walker' turns to face one of the cameras; his face is distorted in static, similar to how Hoody's was in Entry #83 of Marble Hornets.
- In Broadcast #6, 'Birdwatcher' goes to examine the door and turn around, his eyes bulging with terror, before the camera cuts out...and then returns to show a black human-shaped figure that's clearly supernatural in nature.
- Broadcast #7 has Birdwatcher open a door in his house and enter a strange place where his leg seemingly gets fixed and a giant blinding light hits him in the face. We watch all of this happen out of his own point of view.
- You Bastard!: Broadcast #11 in its entirety. The entities posting the videos take a break from dealing with Birdwatcher to instead address you, the viewer, wondering if you enjoy watching people suffer."What is wrong with you?"
- Made possible by tropers like you.there are footsteps
