Of Creepy Dolls and Creepypastas (An ARG Diary)

About two years ago there was a period of time I lovingly refer to as “The Summer of Slack.” Everybody and their neighbor was running an ARG and each had its own unique Slack going. It was both thrilling and exhausting at once.

Things seemed to chill out a bit in subsequent years. In fact, they had simmered down to a quiet hum. That is, until COVID-19. Now, with stay at home orders in place, remote ARG experiences seem to be popping up right and left.

There’s iConfidant from the team behind The Tension Experience, Arcana, from the team behind the Overlook Film Festival 2019 Immersive Game, The Pandora Network, and more. But this one in particular had actually begun before the world hit the pause button on daily life. In fact, my first inkling of this was when I saw my friend Michael Andersen of ARGN.com post photos of a disturbing package he received in the mail containing strange doll parts and other creepy items. Turns out it was part of an experience called TEN PARCELS and, like the name implies, was one of 10 individual packages being sent out to a variety of interested parties.

Well, my package arrived today. (I believe I have you to thank for this referral, Michael. So, thanks?) I’m currently quarantining with my mother so she got to witness me unwrapping this peculiar delivery and photographing each of the items. Her response? “My daughter’s into some weird sh*t.” You’re not wrong, Mom… you’re not wrong.

Here are the photos of the items I received. I’m afraid that, for the time being, I don’t know much more about them. It seems I have some research to do on what has been learned thus far over the past couple months of deliveries. What I do know, is that this is disturbing and painstakingly assembled. I’ll update more as I unravel the mystery.

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Oh, and in a refreshing change of pace, this one doesn’t have a Slack… it has a Discord. :-/ Such is life!

Thus far, all I’ve dug into is translating the Japanese letter. I imported the pages into the Google translate app and here’s what resulted (please forgive the poor translation):

Rei-san, I finally warmed up and came to see the cherry blossoms. More and more like a family. I hope you are happy. This time I will publish it in the Tokyo Shimbun, and I will sing a piece of our article and take a doll that recovered the disaster for more than 30 years and pick up the sZ4 special class. Article description:

Parents, I, when I was in the fire in October 1933, died. It’s unknown to Japan’s doll, a sloppy body, in Japan. People in England … I’m so grateful that I might have come so I received it from my dad on my birthday. Toge (The board of XX, it has always been under my control as a keepsake of my kin. As I said, I can’t say va as a puppet of noon tragedy or accident. However, as the dolls grow older, they become aware of the water ability 2, and it’s a good idea to take a good old-fashioned look like Tono in the moonlight day. It’s too quiet and it’s territory, so I’m talking about it, I’m not sure. I’ll put the doll in my bedroom at the time of pouring, apart from the doll in my hand. If you give it to a child or lower ft ~ midnight, if you hear a speaking voice, immediately dispose of it. Thank you. —

(Note: if you’re able to provide a more accurate translation, please feel free to reach out to me through any social media channels and I’ll update the above.)

I emailed the contact I had for the game letting them know I had received my parcel and would be documenting it for No Proscenium. I received the following response:

The Artisan, huh? I kinda like the sound of that.

So it seems I get to nominate the next player. Hm, which of you will be the lucky one?

More on this as it develops, I suppose…

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