Weather Service is the first entry in the Local 58 video series. The episode takes the form of a late-night broadcast that is interrupted by the Emergency Alert System warning viewers about a meteorological event.
Synopsis[]
The episode begins with a display of Local 58's early morning weather schedule but cuts to an Emergency Alert System broadcaste issued by the county authorities. The warning states that a meteorological event is occurring, that it will last until "sunrise" and that citizens are advised not to look outside at it with the naked eye. The normal display of the station schedule resumes, beginning to display a show listed as "Blood of The-" but is cut off by another warning, this time upgraded to a Civil Danger Alert. The alert advises residents to stay indoors and not to look at the night sky.
However, mere moments later, the message is hijacked and is altered to say, in somewhat broken English, that the meteorological warning has been lifted and the sky is safe to look at. Then it tells the viewers to "GO OUTSIDE NOW." in capitalised letters. The Alert is interrupted by video noise and background static, with hints of the (disrupted) EAS tone underneath. A back-and-forth appears to ensue from this point onward between the original hijackers and an unknown third party. The third party sends out multiple messages telling the viewer to not look at the moon, to stay inside, avoid the night sky, to face away from all windows, and to avoid mirrors. As this is hapening, the original hijackers repeatedly attempt to obscure or hide the third party's messages, forcing them to repeatedly change the and invert the colour of their text to make it visible. After the message ends, the video momentarily cuts out before briefly displaying the station logo. The feed once again shows a message from the "County Weather Service", likely originating from the same third party as before, reading as follows:
"ITS IN THE LIGHT
THE MOON CAME IN
HE FOUND ME
THRU THE MIRROR
MOONLIGHT WHITE
WHITE LIKE EYES
NOT LIGHT BUT BLOOD
I DROWN IN HIM
IF YOU ARE AFRAID
WE WILL LOOK TOGETHER"
The video footage abruptly cuts to a live feed of the full moon, with a header at the top left showing that the camera is "CAM B," meanwhile crowds of people can be heard screaming in the distance before the episode comes to an end and the credits roll.
Transcript of Weather Service[]
| EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM |
|---|
| COUNTY AUTHORITIES |
| ISSUED |
| WEATHER WARNING FOR YOUR AREA |
| WEATHER WARNING |
|---|
| The County Weather Service has issued a warning for a meteorological event. This warning is effective immediately and continues until sunrise tomorrow morning. |
| WEATHER WARNING |
|---|
| Citizens are advised not to observe this event with the naked eye. |
| EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM |
|---|
| COUNTY AUTHORITIES |
| ISSUED |
| CIVIL DANGER ALERT |
| CIVIL DANGER ALERT |
|---|
| The County Weather Service has issued the following correction for the weather warning in effect: |
| CIVIL DANGER ALERT |
|---|
| For your safety remain indoors. Do not look at the night sky. More information to follow. |
| CIVIL DANGER ALERT |
|---|
| THE METEOROLOGICAL EVENT IS SAFE FOR ALL TO VIEW. WARNING HAS BEEN LIFTED. |
| EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM |
|---|
| GO OUTSIDE NOW |
| CIVIL DANGER ALERT |
Trivia[]
- Though this is the first episode of the series to be created and released, the Youtube reuploads of the first three episode have a different order. Weather Service was the first to be created, but the third to be uploaded to Youtube. You Are On The Fastest Available Route, conversely, was the third to be created but the first uploaded to Youtube.
- This appears to be a deliberate choice, as Contingency has kept its status as both the second to be created and the second to be reuploaded to Youtube, although no explanation thus far has been given for the order change.
- This episode reveals that the Local 58 station is broadcast in Mason County, the location for many of Kris Straub's previous works.
- Though Local58 as a whole is credited with pioneering the Analog Horror genre, this episode in particular is responsible for the populariation of the use of the EAS system in early Analog Horror projects, which eventually led to the creation of the EAS Scenario genre of videos (Tangentially related to but not a direct subgenre of Analog Horror)
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