The Trinity Desk Project was an Analog Horror series created by Alex Casanas
/Mister Manticore, who also created CORNERFOLKLORE, THE MONUMENT MYTHOS, and The Ningen. Like The Monument Mythos, it combines the concept of analog horror with Alternate History. The series takes the form of found footage and archival videos depicting an America where the Manhattan Project became the Trinity Desk Project, which is based on the real-life myth of the Philadelphia Experiment. This project would result in the ability to make objects and living things invisible, including the titular Trinity Desk. However, it would appear as though this project would unleash terrible and unforeseen consequences beyond invisible furniture.
The videos were:
- "The Trinity Desk", an alternative to the Manhattan Project goes horribly wrong.
- "The Front Row at Nasa", a look at what it is like to sit at the front row of a NASA rocket launch.
- "Footage of Transparent Cat", archival footage demonstrating an invisible cat, and something else.
- "Two Invisible Men", a story told about a woman walking her dog in the park and finding something.
- "The Other Oppenheimer", an investigation into the fate of a certain colony and its link to the Trinity Desk Project.
- "OtherOppenheimer", an interview with the famous poet/physicist, and a showcase of the test where it all began.
- "LibertyLung", words from an actor about his arrival to America.
- "DevilsTowerTeeth", some notes on America's first national monument.
- "WhiteHouseHeart", eight recordings of The White House, taken by a brave videographer.
On November 2nd, 2022, the entire series was briefly removed from Alex's channel for unspecified reasons. The next day, on November 3rd, 2022, The Trinity Desk Project was reinstated, with OTHEROPPENHEIMER and LIBERTYLUNG from the now-removed THE AMERICAN ANATOMY added to it as OtherOppenheimer and LibertyLung; The Other Oppenheimer, meanwhile, was not readded. In a community post, Alex stated the remaining six videos perfectly conveyed the themes and narrative they set out to tell with both series, effectively completing the project.
On November 5th, 2022, the videos DEVILSTOWERTEETH and WHITEHOUSEHEART were momentarily added back in as DevilsTowerTeeth and WhiteHouseHeart with slight modifications, before later being unlisted. The Other Oppenheimer, remained private.
Finally, on December 13th, 2022, every video in the series was deleted. Casanas later stated that they had been in a mental place they weren't proud of when creating this series, and deleted it because they felt it wasn't reflective of the work they wanted to remain online.
On February 9th, 2024 the series unofficially returned, folding it into THE MONUMENT MYTHOS's Modern Day incarnation.
This series provides examples of:
- Alternate History: Much like Mister Manticore's other series, the videos document an alternate United States. Specifically, one in which resources were given to researching invisibility.
- Arc Number: As of now, each of the videos have been 2 minutes and 53 seconds long.
- The Gadget in "OtherOppenheimer" detonates at exactly 2 minutes and 53 seconds into the video.
- Arc Words: "If a tree falls in the forest," which appears in each video's description. After all, if a tree falls in the forest and no-one is there to see it, it may as well be invisible.
- Blatant Lies: "The Trinity Desk Project was a harmless undertaking."
- Book Ends: The Monument Mythos begins with the Liberty Lurker. The Trinity Desk Project concludes with the Liberty Lung.
- Breaking Old Trends:
- This is the first Mister Manticores series since CORNERFOLKLORE to break the established 12 video per playlist format, with the original Trinity Desk Project playlist consisting of only 5 videos.
- The original Trinity Desk Project playlist is also the first series to not feature a character with the last name "Tillon" in a Mister Manticore series.
- Videos from OtherOppenheimer onwards use camel case alliterative titles, exceed the 2:53 minute mark and feature a brand new video format altogether.
- Cut Short: THE AMERICAN ANATOMY was deleted as a separate season with no proper conclusion, with the videos becoming part of The Trinity Desk Project instead.
- Death of a Child: Two children end up hiding themselves within the Trinity Desk, where they end up dying. The cause of death is currently not known, but the project staff are suspected of foul play in this incident.
- Doppelgänger: It's implied by "Footage of Transparent Cat" that the Trinity Desk Project actually creates invisible duplicates, with attention being given to an invisible copy of Oppenheimer himself. Turns out this copy is "The Croatoan," and has been around since the Roanoke Colony, for some reason having an uncanny resemblance to Oppenheimer. Because Oppenheimer conceived him through exposing himself and his family members to the Trinity atomic bomb test.
- Exact Words: In a meta sense. Mister Manticore said that the Trinity Desk Project wasn't related to any past works. The new playlist isn't technically the Trinity Desk Project, however...
- Gone Horribly Right:
- The Trinity Desk Project set out to create invisible objects and creatures. They succeeded, but ended up causing horrible tragedies because of it.
- The Trinity Desk itself became a hiding spot for two children, who were never found until they died after they were trapped inside.
- Invisibility: The Trinity Desk Project can turn objects and living things invisible. It's implied that this is achieved through direct exposure to a nuclear explosion. Not just that though. It also renders the person invisible to the laws of the universe.
- Lack of Empathy: NASA evidently does not care about the feelings of the Front Row Seaters' families if they are willing to sell cremation urns that contain their ashes.
- Madness Mantra: Certain segments have a phrase constantly repeating in the background, usually as the horror of the situation kicks in.
- The Trinity Desk has a barbershop quarter stuck on the same "Duck! And co-ver~" line as the Trinity Desk's properties and tragedies unveil.
- Footage of Transparent Cat has Chris Schenkel's voice from "Daisy" repeatedly announce that, "The stakes are too high for you to stay home" as Oppenheimer's invisible doppelgänger is discovered.
- The Other Oppenheimer is scored entirely by audio of David Ruzic saying, "This... was a natural nuclear reactor" over and over.
- Odd Name Out: Unlike the other episode titles, the episode titles "OtherOppenheimer" and "LibertyLung" are written with no space and in alliteration, similar to THE MONUMENT MYTHOS, implying a connection between the two.
- Real Event, Fictional Cause: The Other Oppenheimer reveals that the Roanoke Colonists who famously went missing without a trace in real history were actually turned invisible by "a natural nuclear reactor."
- Wham Line:
- The Trinity Desk: CHILDREN FOUND DEAD IN TRINITY DESK.
- Footage of Transparent Cat: He is not alone in this photograph.
- Two Invisible Men: ...and saw her husky being dragged into the woods.
- OtherOppenheimer: To become invisible is to become hidden from Creator. To become invisible is to become left out of laws of nature. To become invisible is to become superior. For an invisible man can rule the world
- DevilsTowerTeeth: Rescuers did not find George Hopkins.
- Wham Shot:
- The Trinity Desk: First, when the desk fades away to reveal the dead children's skeletons. Then, when the footage zooms out to show the sheer number of suspects.
- The Front Row at Nasa: As the launch countdown distorts, we zoom in on the titular Front Row - some chairs placed directly at the base of the rocket, an optimal location for incineration.
- Footage of Transparent Cat: "Human." At the end, we're also treated to an atom bomb detonation either rendering a person invisible, or revealing an invisible person.
- DevilsTowerTeeth: Over slow piano music, we view the Devil's Tower through old, monochrome footage as a duplicate tower descends from the sky, revealing that the Tower isn't a monument... it's a tooth.
- Whole-Plot Reference: It's clear that the Trinity motifs and anomalous giants in the "Deskverse" and the usage of anomalies inside Monuments in the "Anatomyverse" are parallels to the Nixonverse's very own trinity and giants and the Deanverse's main premise of using Monuments respectively.
