Video

03.Found Footage_ FTAA 920319 📼.mp4

Found Footage FTAA 920319 📼.srt

Description

I'm pretty sure from the numbering on the cardboard sleeve this is the next tape in the series chronologically. The audio's a bit garbled on this one - not sure how to clean that up. Still learning the process of digitizing these tapes.

I’ll be honest - I usually write history about things before VHS tapes were a thing. I know how to trawl through microfilm and use real, hard documents. But thinking of video as historical documents is new. From what I’ve gathered so far, these were made in 1992.

It’s a new thing to think of something in my own lifetime is history now. 1992 is 30 years ago - that’s so hard to believe.

That’s sort of why I was thrilled when a document slid out of the slipcase with this VHS - some sort of informational pamphlet mailed to the station. I snapped some quick photos:

https://i.imgur.com/dV8O4im.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/GCjRy6q.jpg

I'll keep working on getting more uploaded soon. There's about a dozen of these things - I haven't counted them all up.

One of a number of tapes I found in a cardboard box of vintage electronic manuals at a charity used book sale to benefit the public defender's office. Folks from around the area, libraries, and businesses all drop off donations. These tapes were buried under the manuals in the box and they looked weird so I stuffed them in my bag alongside some other books.

The tapes look like they were sent to a local TV station in the early 1990s. Each has its own cardboard sleeve with a serial number written on the outside.

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Comments

Transcript

• 0:00 - FTAA Warning screen
• 0:13 - Morse Code
• Transcript: The Federal Temporal Anomaly Authority in Washington, D.C. has issued a notice for the following areas: Washington County, Maryland and Franklin County, Pennsylvania. At 11:27 am on March 19th, equipment at an FTAA observation station detected a widespread incursion of anomalous artifacts into this era. These artifacts appear to be semi-opaque green or purple crystalline structures between 2 and 4 feet tall. The location of these artifacts appears largely random, arriving both within existing structures and in open-air locations. These artifacts emit a low RF frequency which may cause long term health impacts after prolonged exposure. The purpose or function of these artifacts has not yet been ascertained and they should be treated with extreme caution. If encountered, do not approach. Do not touch, move, or otherwise tamper with these artifacts. Report the object’s location to local civil or military authorities who will coordinate with FTAA. Quarantine teams have been dispatched from Washington to local chronographic shelters to coordinate removal and disposal. Again, if encountered, do not approach. Do not touch, move, or otherwise tamper with these artifacts. Report the location to local civil or military authorities. Remain tuned to local broadcasters for further instructions and updates.
• 1:52 - Morse translates to “TEMPORAL ALERT”

Puzzles

• Clock is at 1:30 position - E in semaphore

• Morse translates to “TEMPORAL ALERT”

• Missing letters spell out “subtract stereo channels” which results in this audio

  FTAA_920319.mp3

  • 9-20-1-19-2 25-14-15-13-5 1-14-19-9-13 16-15-19-19-9 2-12-5-20-8 9-20-9-23-1 19-9-14-4-5 5-4-20-8-5 6-9-18-19-20 1-4-22-20-18 20-21-18-5-18 20-8-5-22-5 18-25-6-9-18 19-20-1-14-4 19-15-12-5-1 4-22-5-13-20 21-18-5-18-23 8-15-8-1-4 5-22-5-18-16 5-14-5-20-18 1-20-5-4-9 20-19-18-5-3 5-19-19-5-19
    • “It is by no means impossible that i was indeed the first adventurer the very first and sole adventurer who had ever penetrated its recesses.” (Quote from The Ragged Mountains by Poe)