2. All footnotes were compiled throughout March of 2006 by Sylvester Horse-Kicker, Freihoeven Placement Programme intern, at the request of Dr. Guilden Abbott.
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Photograph #13:
Indistinct interior4 of a dimly lit suburban house (foliage inconsistent with downtown Toronto is observable through one smallish window to left-hand side); the location seems to be a living room, decorated in classic polyester print plastic-wrapped couch 1970s style. A stuff
ed, moulting sloth (Bradypus pallidus), mounted on a small wooden stand, sits off-centre on the glass-toppped coffee-table.
Notes: “House A, April. Apported object was later traced back to Lurhninger Naturalichmuseum in Bonn, Germany. occupants denied all knowledge of how it got there, paid us $800 to burn it where they could observe. Daughter of family said it followed her from room to room. She woke up in bed with it lying next to her.”5
Commentary (Forwards): “Edentata or toothless ones: Sloths, anteaters, armadillos. Living fossils. A natural incidence of time travel; time travel on a personal scale, living in two places at once, bilocation. Phenomena as observed. I love you baby you said, I can’t do it without you, I cut the key, you turn it. But who opens the door, and to what? Who knows for sure what comes through?”6
Commentary (Backwards): “Apports are often difficult without help, so try using lucifuges for guidance. Circle is paramount; Tetragrammaton must be invoked. They have no names.”7
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3. Photographs, as indicated, are not themselves numbered; numbers assigned are solely the result of random shuffling. The fact that, when viewed in the order they achieved through this process, the eventual array appears to “tell a story” (Dr. Abbott’s notes, March 3/06) must be viewed entirely as coincidence.
4. Most photos in the sequence are best described as “indistinct.”
5. Research prompted by details in commentary has since indicated that “House A” may be 1276 Brightening Lane, Mimico, owned by William McVain and family. On April 15, 2004, at the request of McVain himself, Slaughter and her Freihoeven control partner, Imre Madach, were sent to investigate on-site poltergeist activity. Activity had apparently ceased by April 20, when they filed their report; the report contains no mention of monetary reimbursement for services, which the Freihoeven’s internal code of conduct (of course) strongly discourages.
N.B.: “There remains the question of exactly how McVain knew who to contact initially, not to mention the further question of who inside the Programme might have authorized Madach and Slaughter’s travelling expenses—though grantedly, travel to Mimico [a suburb of the Greater Toronto Area, easily reached by following the Queen Street streetcar line to its conclusion] wouldn’t have cost them much, unless they did it by taxi. Inquiries into why any letters, e-mails, or phone calls exchanged between McVain and Madach/Slaughter seem not to have been properly logged are also currently ongoing.” (Dr. Abbott, ibid.)
6. Samples sent to Graphology for comparison suggest the initial notes on each photo were made by Madach, while the backwards commentary comes closest to a hurried, clumsy imitation of Slaughter’s normal penmanship. Forward commentary, on the other hand, can probably be attributed to former Freihoeven intern Eden Marozzi, who was found dead in her apartment on Christmas, 2005; going by records left behind, Marozzi had apparently been assisting Madach with his work on Slaughter’s unfinished channelling experiments. As we all know, it was Madach’s proven presence in her apartment at the time of Marozzi’s death—as revealed by evidence gathered during the Metro Toronto Police Department’s initial crime scene investigation—which, along with a lack of plausible alibi, would eventually lead to his subsequent arrest on charges of murder in the second degree.
7. “Mention of ‘lucifuges’ would seem to indicate Slaughter—and Madach?—were using hierarchical magic to accelerate or control—generate?—poltergeist activity at McVain house. Worth further inquiry, after cataloguing rest of photos.” (Dr. Abbott, ibid).
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Photograph #2:
Equally dim, angled upwards to trace what may be marks of fire damage—scorching of wallpaper, slight bubbling of plaster—moving from ceiling of kitchen down towards sink. The highest concentration of soot seems to be at the uppermost point. Wallpaper has a juniper-berry and leaf motif.8
Notes: “House D, May. We were becoming popular in certain circles. Family had two children, both sons, both under three years old; nanny reported the younger one was playing in his high-chair during breakfast when his ‘Teddy-thing’ suddenly caught fire.9 Subsequent damage was estimated at $4,000; we received an additional $2,000 for making sure it wouldn’t happen again.”
Commentary (Forwards): “We need something more spectacular baby, a display, like Hollywood. Fire eats without being eaten, consumes unconsumed, as energy attracts. Come at once from whatever part of the world and answer my questions. Come at once, visibly and pleasantly, to do whatever I desire. Come, fulfill my desires and persist unto the end in accordance to my will. I conjure thee by Him to whom all creatures are obedient, and by the name of Him who rules over thee10. So this one goes out to the one I love, the one who left me behind, a simple prop to occupy his time. And why Teddy-‘thing,’ anyway? God knows I couldn’t tell what it was before, afterwards.”
Commentary (Backwards): “By this time, I can only think they were already watching me closely.”11
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8. Attempts to identify this location have, thus far, proved inconclusive. Dr. Abbott is undecided, but tentatively cal s it as either 542 McCaul or 71B Spinster, both of which were visited by Slaughter and Madach in connection with repeated pyrokinetic poltergeist incidents. One family has moved out leaving no forwarding address, however, while the other proved spectacularly uncooperative, no more detailed analysis seems forthcoming.
9. If we assume the photo was taken at 71B Spinster, it may be relevant to record that the child in question sustained burns severe enough to require partial amputation of three fingers from his left hand.
10. This “anthology incantation” seems to have been compiled from several different ones, all of which appear in the legendary grimoire Lemegeteon. Dr. Abbott confirms that the Freihoeven’s library copy of this text was misplaced for several days in November of 2004, half a year prior to when the first photo was taken; this theft coincides with Madach’s brief tenure as volunteer assistant librarian, before forming an experimental field-team with Slaughter.
11. By “they,” this commentator may mean the aforementioned lucifuges or fly-the-lights—elemental spirits identified with fire—who Eliphas Levi cal s notoriously difficult to control and naturally “hateful towards mortals.”
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Photograph #3:
Murky yet identifiable three-quarter study of Slaughter, who appears to be in light mediumistic control-trance. Orbs12 hover over her right eye, pineal gland and heart chakra, roughly the same areas in which she would later develop simultaneous (and fatal) aneurysms. She sits in a rust-red La-Z-Boy recliner, feet elevated, with a dust-covered television screen barely visible to her extreme right, in the background of the frame.
Notes: “House H, July. Inclement weather with continual smog warning. Séance performed at the request of surviving family members, with express aim of contacting their deceased father; a control spirit was used to produce and animate an ectoplasmic husk patterned after his totem photograph, freely donated for use as a guided meditational aid. Mother cashed out RRSPs and eldest daughter’s college fund in order to assemble the $15,000 required to remove ‘curse’13 afflicting their bloodline.”