Supernatural S03E01

Supernatural: The Remington Files
GM
Lisa
Air Time
Intermittent
Next Episode
Season 4, Episode 1
(November 2011)
Characters
Team Remington Scott Remington · Marcus Remington Amanda Grey A Dose of Doctors Dr. Alexander Airy · Dr. Richard Magnum The X-Files Ciaran Brennan · Jon Clarke Razik Ericson
Supporting Characters
Áine Ni Seachnasaigh Gabriel, aka Loki
Deceased Characters
Archangel Raphael
Episodes
Episode Guide · Synchronizing Serials
Resources
Contacts · Lore Index Supernatural World Dad's Journal · Agatha's Book Supernatural Ritual Compendium Roman Rite 1999 English Edition

Backstory

Like other historically based cases, it may be somewhat, but only somewhat, important to distinguish fact from fiction in Thomas Edison's backstory for this episode. Edison really did speak out about contacting the dead "personalities" and really did have a suppressed chapter on Spiritualism. Whether the Edison Estate is still control freaks or a more malicious entity haunted by an actual event in the past remains to be seen. Whether or not anyone made Edison's particular patent on the "spirit phone" also remains to be seen as every known example looks completely different from one another. Some basic internet and youtube trolling will dig this up (ectoplasm fueled technology, anyone?) The one supposition the episode makes is that the event in the article - the attempt to contact the dead - was true. Edison being the person he was, would not give up trying if he thought there was a glimmer of a chance (see any other invention of his) and the chapter he wrote belies an interest keener than passing. Therefore, he'd gather bright minds and colleagues - even those on the opposite end of the friend spectrum as he - and be willing to collaborate in order to succeed (and likely take the credit, but that's another story). Thus, if it did happen, something horrible happened, and it drove everyone there either fanatical or mad - or both.

Edison sought help from Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge, FRS, who researched wireless technologies and became big in psychometry... to his own discredit among academic circles. Despite their enmity, Nikola Tesla agreed to come and offer input on the device at the test at Edison's winter home in Florida in 1920. Edison's friend Henry Ford was there, as well as a veritable who's who of scientific minds of the time... and a handful of spiritualists and family members. But instead of a failure, the horror seen that night led to a cover-up to prevent others from going that route to open up the portal to the dark woods and the writing monstrosity that attempted to come into the parlor of Seminole Lodge, stopped only by something the maid, rushing in, instinctively threw at it. While Edison pressured Lodge to destroy his own copy of the device, his family would, after seeing the effect on Edison, go to the media to put the stories to rest with a "dark and stormy night" tale of failure. While Tesla would research weaponry to destroy the monsters in the dark, Edison's family pressured him to stop this route of investigation.

But their pressure to stop did not halt Edison; it only made him secretive. Edison's invention needed a lot of work and many iterations, leading to prototypes that only half worked or had other... effects. Some can be found in museums, some are long gone, and others are scattered around the country passed on and left to garage sales disguised as regular phonographs or dictaphones. The Men of Letters tried hard to scoop them up or at least tag the ones in relative safety and destroy or lock up the harmful ones. Edison wished to learn what it was that he saw and he thought he could through the dead.. or maybe whatever other planes there were besides this one.

Edison Facts

These are 100% true stories, that are just interpreted differently for the case being, well, True.

1920: Edison states interest publicly and begins work on a device to communicate with surviving personalities of the dead. It is published in Scientific American, prompting a caveat from editors and outburst from the public (both negative and positive) with over 600 letters in response. He mentions it at least until 1922. It is publicly "redacted" and called a "joke" by family, but unclear at what point. Edison is not a joking man, but the public considers it a hoax.

1927: John and Louisa Rhine "read notes from Edison, Tesla, and Dr. Charles Steinmetz" and were going "to build the machine described in the S.A. article."

1931: Edison slips into a coma and dies after several days. At one point he reportedly awakens, turns to his wife Mina and says, "It is so beautiful over there."

1933: Mechanix Article of his attempt in 1920, claims attempt failed but was very interesting. Sets scene in Florida. See article at [1]

1941: A medium holds a seance at which she is possessed by the spirit of Edison. The "spirit of Edison" says that his assistants have the plans for the device. Inventor J. Gilbert Wright, a G.E. employee, is present, and works on the device for the rest of his life until his death in 1959. He worked on it with his partner, one Henry Gardner.

1948: 1st printing of Diary. Chapter on spiritualism and writings on Gold Standard and Economy hence redacted. Printing halted. See Lost Diary Chapter at [2]

Then

We last left our Hunters in shock from Marcus and Linda's deaths in the bus, and trying to salvage anything of value from the flaming wreckage before being whisked back to Disneyland where their other vehicles were (and before authorities and EMS arrived). Notably, the bodies were gone. Few things could be saved. Over the months they've gone their separate ways, Ciaran and Aine to Ireland, Clarke to be with his mother back home, Airy to Doctors without Borders for tribal parts unknown followed by tsunami aid, Amanda first to Northern California and then Alaska to reconnect with familial native ways she's never known, and Scott to break the news of everything that happened to his father before setting out on the road again, believing that if Marcus is supposed to die and he was supposed to live, it must be for a reason, and that reason has to be out there.

Whether from the shadows, or men in suits, some nods to credit, that same user popping up online for Airy... the Hunters are being watched a little more closely. It's not all the time, but occasionally. Is the FBI still keeping tabs on you? Another entity? When you cross the right paths you seem to get that shiver of paranoia like in D.C. only for it to disappear awfully quickly.

Now

Scott has been keeping contact with Cassie and Becky, who have been both working with Zach and becoming their own sort of Buffy and Willow. Becky's friend from her minor, a dude named Mason Garten, claims to have a haunted phonograph where he works at the Edison Center in Edison, New Jersey. The prospect is intriguing to Zach, as he had poked around the grounds before and is "officially banned for life" for previous actions there and dare not show himself. He and the girls offer the job to Scott (and the team) and Zach offers they meet at Idylease.

The Hunters meet up at Idylease and encounter various individuals who give them nods of respect and sympathies for the death of Marcus. They have established a reputation amongst monsters and supernatural entities as, while not "hunters with bleedin' hearts" ones who will "play fair and keep the ones who go off the rails in check." The story about the vampire siblings has spread, indicating that they did at least make it to Florida. Zach also has partial operation of the Inn and runs his services from it as a home base.

At the Edison Center, the hunters meet Mason Garten, who gives a demo of the phonograph in question under the absurdly watchful eye of his boss lady, who sports an Edison Estate pin. The Center's exhibit is obscenely well curated with little of interest, and there is only one ghost of a lonely lab tech. EMF is normal. The demo, however, is crazy sauce for some of the listeners. As Mason puts on one cylinder and rests his hands on the phonograph, it offered sounds of conversation... conversation that later turned out to be from tourists at Seminole Lodge in Florida. Mason related his deteriorating relationship with his boss, how it went downhill after he said he heard things on the phonograph, and sometimes could just see trees, too. They would share things with each other, and lately had been planning a dream trip to Florida which included the other Edison site. Out on the property grounds, Amanda used her clairvoyance to revisit the gardens and walk around, seeing a grand Banyan and House. She was close in guessing another tropical environment - Hawaii.

Putting the visions together with the information from Mason and research on Edison, the Hunters decided to investigate the Florida home, Seminole lodge, and look for a connection to the phonograph. Before the journey, Airy discovered the missing chapter from Edison's diary, the Mechanix article, and wondered what he was getting into and about the suppression and party line of the Estate. Scott also contacted his grandmother with a highly veiled letter asking about whether various individuals mentioned in the research were in "the same group of literate guys" as grandpa, using Edgar Allan Poe as a known control.

While there was little of interest in the houses and buildings at Seminole Lodge, Ciaran discovered more from the VIP tour about the supernatural rumors surrounding Edison. Aine tried out the various phonographs in the museum at Seminole Lodge to look for one she could interact with and did find one, but it was very draining on her energy, to the point of being unfeasible. The Hunters put together that Edison likely had many prototypes, but none fit the bill for being the device to contact the dead with success. The Hunters also were still looking for a connection to the phonograph in New Jersey, but this was just another prototype; they did however figure out that Mason was psychically sensitive and that was why the phonograph worked.

Looking for further clues, the hunters called Duke to learn more about the research done on Edison's device there only to learn it was gone or destroyed- likely a dud knowing the Rhines, according to the librarian, who believed the Rhines unlikely to destroy their notes or successful research. Airy followed up with connections to the Mechanix article. He and Scott called Marcie Rumford, the daughter of the original author, Ferris Rumford. She gave the name of the original contact who claimed to have been at the event, Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge, FRS. After running out of clues, Airy called up his contacts in England to learn about Lodge and his endeavors into both wireless and the paranormal. Edison wrote him to destroy his device. His son, also named Oliver Lodge, lived in the U.S. during the war years (during which his father passed away) working at various universities and colleges and they wished him luck.

The Hunters had luck with the College of William and Mary, who took in several objects of value of Lodge's that his son inherited while teaching poetry and literature there. This included a phonograph, which they brought out only in a basement room and in strict supervision, bearing the seal of the Men of Letters on the bottom, and exchanging looks like they had heard the contents of the cylinders before. The first cylinder recorded introductions of individuals in the room, and the attempted seance that opened a portal to Purgatory instead. They attempt to hold back - and still describe scientifically and for posterity - the Leviathan, before screams of horror erupt. A door bursts open, a splash is heard, and a crack- woosh of static and air. There are questioning voices about what just happened and it is revealed in conversation that an Irish maid, young of voice, heard the screams and felt obliged to rush in. She threw something and "it was either that or the mop." Whatever she threw, it was effective at repelling the Leviathan.

The second and third cylinders feature interviews of the people in the room, including personal pleading from family members to "stop this" and "give it up." But we all know the answer to that.

The hunters leave with the mystery partially solved, knowing that Edison saw Leviathan, as did the others in the room (Ford, Tesla, Lodge, etc) and that there is a c. 1920 cleaning substance that hurts them. The Men of Letters may have more info, as may Grandma Remington for that matter (who is enjoying her cruise, FYI). Mason Garten has some abilities, and the phonograph that opened the portal... who knows what happened to it. Perhaps Edison destroyed it too or kept it even more secret and that was just a sanctioned player. Or perhaps the device in W&M was it all along. Did he ever perfect a device for either travel there or talking to the dead? The hunters do not know, but they do have hope that there is a way to open up a route to Purgatory and get Marcus back.

Airy's Dream

Airy got a wonderful botch at the end during the phonograph scene, which is a dream from a future episode. Nice foreshadow! He got a sleep paralysis/ Night Hag visit, which is a pretty common phenomenon around the world. He could brush this off, but it was so vivid and so timely... It's just the stress, and jet lag, and bad sleep recently, and just a dream... right?