Homewrecker - Apex Magazine (original) (raw)

Episode 60

Transcription by @jbutler22

0:01

Murray: Hey there, I’m Dean Murray and this is a special episode of Homewrecker. We’re on the road this week, heading up to historic [garbled] where we’ll venture [garbled] outside the city to see the colonial mansion known as Cutter House. While you’re isolating, I will be too—undertaking this reno while the owners are away.

0:16.94

[The sound of wheels on pavement, then a thump as the vehicle goes over a pothole; the picture fades in and it’s a shot from a car dashboard, cell phone footage (iPhone SE, 2020). It’s midday, bright. Only an occasional car goes by the other direction, and none at all in the direction Murray is traveling.]

0:20

Murray: We’ve wanted to do a road show for quite some time, and it never seemed right until now, when the rest of the world is largely out of commission. You’ll have to bear with me—Lisa isn’t with me this time, so it’ll be me working the camera. [laughter] Fortunately, I’ll have plenty of editing time since it will just be me and the house.

0:40

Murray: What is a colonial mansion, you may be asking yourself. In this instance, I mean a house that was built when America was still under British rule. The house we’re headed to dates from the mid-1700s and I’m pretty excited t— [garbled]. There may not be quite as much wrecking with this one. The owners want to keep her largely intact [tires thump] most of our work will take place in the attic.

1:05

Murray: Colonial style is defined by its symmetry. The attic runs the entire length of the house, with windows at either end of the steep gabled roof. There is a central fireplace, the chimney of which will run vertically through the center of our workspace—there is likely no hearth that high, but the stones might have conveyed some warmth. Our owners have asked me to turn this attic into a dual office space.

1:20

Murray: I’ll see you on the other side. [another thump of tires as the screen goes dark again]

2:15

Murray: —ling into the drive now. As you can see, the estate is pretty isolated. [Garbled] miles from town and a good way from the main road. These elms, given their size, likely date back to the construction of the property. You can see they’re still healthy, no yellow in the crowns or on the trunks. That’s good, and these meadows—not sure what they’re growing, but they look like green velvet, don’t they?

2:22

[The chatter of birds, Merlin ID: the common starling.]

2:30

Murray: The owners bought this house just a year ago—there were some legal troubles with the family who owned it prior. Now that we’re being asked to isolate, the owners are both stranded on the west coast waiting for flights. Not sure they’ll get—

2:40

Murray: Oh, look there. [the squeak of brakes] You can glimpse the gardens—we’ll see more of them later, certainly, but hedges and brick walls, again possibly dating back to the construction. You can see the top of one greenhouse, but the glass is broken. That’s a shame—but we’ll explore that too. The place is ours for as long as we need it. Our owners will be watching from af—

[Footage skips ahead to the ten-minute mark; the missing eight minutes have not been found.]

[12 seconds of black screen.]

10:12

Murray: —just not something you [garbled]. I mentioned the prior owners—the Westcliff family, but they were not the original owners. Prior to the Westcliffs, you might be familiar with the name Cutter.

10:20

Murray: The Cutter family has a long history in these parts, probably best known for having split itself from the Carver family. John Carver was, of course, the first governor of the Plymouth Colony.

10:25

[The sound of starlings.]

10:28

Murray: The Cutters did not maintain contact with the Carvers, and the records are remarkably unclear when it comes to details about how the Cutters came to live in the house. Many presume that the Carvers owned the house first, but given its distance from Plymouth Colony it is unclear why that would have been so.

10:30

Murray: Cutter House remains something of an enigma; when Martha Cutter died last year, she did so without heirs. The house did not go on the market—nor did any distant relation raise a fuss about it—but was privately sold. Makes you wonder why no one in the family wanted it—but we’re not here to speculate. We’re here to renovate.

11:00

[Homewrecker theme music plays; main credits as usual, but Lisa Finesmith has an animated pen squiggle drawn through her face, as she’s not in the episode; editing credit to Dean Murray.]

11:20

[a colorful map of the region unfolds, tracing the path from Philadelphia into the western countryside where the feed glitches again and goes black]

25:05

Murray: —ose days, isolation was common. People didn’t live close unless they were in a city, where they lived on top of one another. Out in the countryside, people were miles apart, and as you can see, it’s still like that out here today. Big houses, big properties.

27:30

Murray: The Cutters were not a lumber family, as you might guess given their name, but rather made their fortune in clothing. To my knowledge, none of the textiles in the house date from the war—in the early 1920s, the Cutters gutted the house and most of the original textiles were destroyed.

29:00

Murray: You can see here though; bits of paneling and wallpaper remain; the paper in this dining room probably dates to the early 1800s. I’ll get the camera close, so you can see how thin it is. You can see the wall beneath. If you touch it, it might well come away as dust—

[The screen flickers; Dean Murray is near the stairs, he is smudged with dust.]

30:04

[The sound of creaking stairs.] You’ll see we’ve got our work cut out for us—but being here is [garbled]

[Feed goes black, then fades in from gray.]

31:45

Murray: —e attic is original to the build. In the early 70s, there was some debate whether it had been added, which is ridiculous, frankly. You might also remember some of the controversy in the 80s, when one developer claimed the entire house had been replaced and that not a single board or shingle was orig—

[Eight minutes of silence, but the feed is rolling, camera focused on a kitchen wall.]

39:45

[Two guitar chords, incredibly distant—Shazam cannot identify the song from these chords.]

39:50

Murray: [Feed fades in from gray.] Next time, we’ll meet the attic—absolutely original to the property—and I’ll outline my plans to turn the dusty archive into a thriving workspace. Until then, I’m Dean Murray, your homewrecker. Stay safe.

Episode 61

Transcribed by @jbutler22

0:05

Murray: Hey there, I’m Dean Murray and this is a special episode of Homewrecker. We’re isolating in historic [garbled] where we’re working on renovations to Cutter House. Last time, [garbled] explored the grounds some; this time, we’re starting in the attic, where our renovation will take place.

1:00

[Homewrecker theme music plays; main credits as usual, but Lisa Finesmith has an animated pen squiggle drawn through her face, as she’s not in the episode; editing credit to Dean Murray.]

1:03

Murray: I mentioned that there was a theory about this attic, that it wasn’t original to the build. I think this idea resulted from a tragedy that took place on the property in 1924. A servant to the Cutter family attacked the family with an axe. One young daughter was killed. The servant fled into the attic, where they cut into the walls with the bloody axe.

1:25

[Screen flickers, sound drops out; picture pans across the empty attic, showing a wide space with leaded widows at either end of the gabled roof; a stone chimney rises through the center of the room.]

1:30

Murray: According to reports, no one could get near the servant. Charles Cutter, a cousin who was visiting at the time, shot and killed the servant. Afterward, extensive renovations were done to the attic, every wall had been damaged by the axe, save this one here.

1:46

Murray: You can see how the wood differs—there’s even some of that wallpaper haze clinging to it, that’s how old it all is. These bookshelves have acted as a screen, protecting what remains.

1:48

[The sound of two guitar chords, identical to those in episode 60; Shazam cannot identify these, either.]

2:10

Murray: It’s a good space, tragic though its history has been. Our current owners want to keep as much as they can—these floorboards are also original. Look here, you can see where there used to be something attached to the floor. It looks like something metal rusted against the wood, leaving this beautiful mark. The same is evident on the far wall, where there might have been chains at some point. The links have left a really striking pattern of rust against the otherwise plain wood.

2:15

Murray: You may be wondering why would anyone have chains on their attic wall? But as you know, I try not to speculate, even if it’s … hinky. It’s like the mustard yellow shag carpet we pulled up in episode one, you know? We pulled that rug up and found a pristine ebony wood floor. Why someone does a thing isn’t my—

2:19

[Feed falls silent, but the sound of starlings rises in the near distance.]

2:20

Murray: Can you hear that? It sounds like birds in the chimney, doesn’t it? [The sound of a hand slapping stone, followed by a monstrous whoosh.] And now maybe it’s birds out of the chimney …

2:21

[The picture drops out—not black, but once again gray. The whooshing continues, unabated; Shazam claims the sound is the opening of “Smoke On the Water,” by Deep Purple, recorded live at Red Rocks Amphitheater, 1967. Deep Purple was not formed until 1968; “Smoke On the Water” was not recorded until 1971; Deep Purple would not play Red Rocks until 2002. The timestamp jumps.]

27:04

Murray: —a lot of controversy. I think it’s one reason why the current owners don’t want to dismantle more than they’ve asked me t— Listen.

27:10

[Silence spools out across the recording; the camera moves with Murray across the floor, toward the window. He angles the camera down into the garden, where shadows clutter the ground. The sun is bright, the trees throwing shadow. The shadows move opposite of the trees; there is no wind.]

29:00

[Static bursts across the feed; the sounds of a struggle.]

30:00

[Murray appears briefly in frame, his face covered in yellow dust. He smiles, but it falters.]

30:05

Murray: —hat wall should not have come down like that. The shelves were made to slide, see here, but—

30:15

[Murray sneezes.]

30:17

Murray: Excuse me, the amount of dust in here is—

30:30

[Murray continues to cough. The attic ceiling comes into view, old timbers with dust swirling across the frame right to left. Some of the timbers look wet; where the dust collides, it sticks, and glistens like glitter.]

42:00

Murray: We’re back. I opened one of the windows and the air is beginning to clear. I wouldn’t think asbestos, but given the age of that wall, maybe I should think asbestos. [Murray laughs.]

30:00

[Time mark is not an error—the recording jumps backward; when @petemitch86 (user account deleted) documented the same, I was certain he was incorrect, but I witnessed the very same behavior.]

30:05

Murray: —old enough, we aren’t going to touch that wall in the reno. Let’s take a look at what I do have planned, now that we’ve gotten to see a little more of the property.

31:00

Murray: —olation is going to give us the perfect opportunity to complete the work. I heard from the owners last night and they’re planning to extend their visit on the west coast. That will give us all the time we need to—

43:17

Unidentified voice: [garbled]

31:07

[Again, time marks transcribed here remain “correct” in relation to what the screen is showing.] Murray: —he way the wind moves through these old windows and timbers. It’s not uncommon for residents to turn these sounds into something sinister. You’ve possibly seen a few episodes of Ghost Town, and as they’ve explained, ghosts are the easy answer. What’s more compli—

32:00

[The feed cuts out; six minutes of silence follow.]

39:04

[I understand this point is debated at great length—yes, I read r/cutter-truths—but at the 39:10 mark, you can hear it (@WAddams22 confirms in their log, linked at the end of this transcript). You want to be sure you’re listening with noise-cancelling headphones. For you doubters, I’ve split the audio tracks and will link at the end—this is no “Paul is dead” nonsense, @bshears.]

39:05

[The screen flickers from black to gray, then the black swallows the screen again. Light tries to swim up from the bottom of the screen, but fails to overcome the black. Over this, there is a soft moan—it doesn’t sound like pain—and then an unidentified voice.]

39:10

Unidentified voice: Turn me on, dead man.

39:20

Unidentified voice: Turn me backward, ted man.

39:30

Unidentified voice: Backward turn me, mantid.

39:40

Unidentified voice: Dead man, dead man, dead man.

42:00

Murray: We’re back. I opened one of the windows and the air is beginning to clear. I wouldn’t think asbestos, but given the age of that wall, maybe I should think asbestos. [Murray laughs] That’s all for this episode. Join me next time when we’ll get into the nitty and the gritty—all the nooks and crannies of this old property. Until then, I’m Dean Murray, your homewrecker. Stay safe.

Episode 62

posted by @WAddams22, transcribed @jbutler22

[@WAddams22 here—no relation to @jbutler22. It looks like a bunch of you sickos.gif got J’s transcript pulled from the archive, so I’m here to restore it. The minute it vanishes, another will replace it, so just cool the bullshit. This is a forum for truth—even if you disagree with the truths others have discovered about Cutter House, I spent a night there in 2021—but that’s for another thread, check it!]

1:00

[Homewrecker theme music plays; main credits as usual, but Lisa Finesmith has an animated pen squiggle drawn through her face, as she’s not in the episode; editing credit to Dean Murray.]

1:03

Murray: Hey there, it’s Dean. Welcome to another episode of Homewrecker. Today, we’re going to open with a little show and tell, given a lot of you had questions after the last episode. Mostly, there’s that historical preservation group who wanted to see my permits for this one.

1:10

[The sound of rustling paper; camera cuts from Dean’s face to a table in the Cutter kitchen, covered with paperwork.]

1:12

Murray: You are right that with a property like this one, there is a body that oversees what we can and cannot do. I was remiss in not establishing this in our first Cutter House episode. This is only one reason why we’re missing Lisa—she sends her regards, she’s got COVID—unless she said Ovid, but she’s never really been into the classics.

1:15

[Murray’s face comes back into view; his smile is tight, he looks exhausted.]

1:20

Lisa, we wish you well and look forward to hearing about your complete recovery. So, viewers, yes—we have the paperwork. We always have the paperwork, but please note, while this house is historic, it is not designated as historically important.

1:30

Murray: The local preservation trust heard arguments for such in 2010, but they were denied. The owners may do as the owners choose. They could paint the exterior seafoam green if they wanted to. I assure you, they don’t want to. My reno is going to entail some very basic—

35:07

[The view jumps to a shot of Murray swinging a sledgehammer at a wall, seemingly the attic wall, the shelves having been removed; you can see their shadow thrown against the floor. Dust rises in clouds around him as the old plaster crumbles under the hammer’s assault. Murray does not stop when he reaches the wood beams; he knocks the sledgehammer into those, and they buckle.]

38:10

[Murray falls to the floor like his legs have been hit with a sledgehammer. His hammer hits the floor; he’s on his knees, clutching the hammer’s handle as if it is the only thing keeping him upright.]

38:17

[The sound of two guitar chords; Shazam cannot identify the song.]

38:20

[Murray struggles to get to his feet. He falters twice but stands on his third attempt. He does not move for five minutes.]

43:20

[Murray turns from the ruined wall, to face the camera. He stares into it then shuffles forward, jerky, as if he has forgotten how to walk. He takes hold of the camera and lifts it to his face. His face is streaked with yellow dust—it looks like pollen in the low light—and his pupils are blown wide.]

43:25

Murray: Did you see it—can you see it—

Episode 63

[This transcript has been removed by administrators. If you feel this was done in error, please use the contact form.]

Episode 64

Transcribed by @jbutler22

1:00

[Homewrecker theme music plays; main credits as usual, but Lisa Finesmith has an animated pen squiggle drawn through her face, as she’s not in the episode; editing credit to Dean Murray.]

1:03

Murray: —some basic upgrades, so our current owners can use the space rather than fill it with boxes. If you’ve watched Homewrecker for any amount of time, you know I’m an advocate of using what you’ve got. Many people live dissatisfied with their current home, but it doesn’t have to take much to get it the way you’d like it.

1:45

Murray: After we leave Cutter House, I’d like to do a set of episodes focusing on budget-minded fixes, especially in this economy. COVID isn’t helping, is it?

2:00

Murray: A few of you wrote in to ask about Lisa, and I’m sorry to say she’s been hospitalized. She tells me she’s okay, but with all the unknowns and her asthma, no one wants to take any chances. I will convey your best wishes to her when I talk to her tonight. But today, let’s get to the attic.

2:30

[Murray doesn’t talk as the camera moves upstairs, and then upstairs again, into the attic space. The walls flicker with light. Hard to say what light is natural and what may be an artifact; Murray is filming on an iPhone SE, which did not support Night Mode, which would automatically trigger in low light environments.]

2:45

[Murray sets the phone into its rig, allowing him to set up more lights, focusing on the attic wall with shelving, still intact. Murray works in silence as he often does for set up.]

3:50

Murray: These bookshelves will probably stay—they just need a little TLC, but you might too, after 300 years. Beneath this dust, the wood is beautiful and sturdy, there’s no reason why they can’t be used for another 300 years. Use what you’ve got.

4:00

[Murray slides the bookshelves away from the wall, exposing what remains of the wallpaper. It shimmers in the light, motes floating in the air.]

4:20

Murray: Viewer Bo wrote in a while back to tell us about her eighty-five-year-old refrigerator, and how it runs like it’s brand new. There’s no sense in kicking the old stuff to the curb—fridges these days will last you ten years if you’re lucky. Effing computers—blessing and cu— Did you—

4:30

[The light in the attic wobbles, like the entire house shrugged. Murray’s hand comes off the bookshelf and he moves toward the wall, little more than a shadow himself.]

4:33

Murray: It’s probably an artifact of the light in here, but this paper—or what remains of it—looks like it’s moving.

4:35

[Murray drags his hand through the air, moving the dust motes. The wallpaper fragments appear to writhe against the wall.]

4:36

[Screen goes dark, remains dark for duration of episode, silent.]

39:59

Unidentified voice: Dead man, dead m—

Episode 65

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Episode 66

[This transcript has been removed by administrators. If you feel this was done in error, please use the contact form.]

Episode 67

Transcribed by @jbutler22

0:01

[No opening credits sequence; Murray appears, seated in the Cutter House kitchen. Lights are low, but his eyes are bloodshot. He looks like he hasn’t slept.]

1:00

Murray: Uh.

1:01

[Murray clears his throat. He sets the phone down, camera swings to the ceiling, showing the kitchen light, something copperish. Dust motes swirl.]

1:59

[Murray picks up the phone and comes back into frame.]

2:20

Murray: I’ve tried to start this episode a few times an’ uh—

2:25

[Murray sniffs and scrubs his free hand across his face. He leaves behind streaks; he’s coated in dust like he’s been demolishing drywall. He sits in silence.]

2:40

Murray, voice still breaking: Got word two days ago that Lisa passed. Lisa Finesmith—friend, editor, director, gone, just … Just like that. She— Her folks say she was on a vent. She—they— They couldn’t be with her. She was with her nurse, but no family.

2:45

[Murray rises and takes the phone with him; he climbs the kitchen stairs to the second level, then heads into the attic; his camera isn’t focused on anything, the view swings as his arm does.]

3:00

[Pause the video. Advance it frame by frame. When you see it, leave a comment. You can’t miss it.]

3:03

[Murray sets the phone down, camera angled at the ceiling beams; off screen, the steady sound of a sledgehammer hitting walls and beams. Plumes of dust cascade across the camera lens.]

[Sledgehammer continues for duration of episode.]

Episode 68

Transcribed by @jbutler22

0:01

[No opening credits sequence. This lack gives rise to conspiracy theories a plenty—and let’s not even get into where the hell did the video come from—keep that threaded elsewhere, but you know it came from the cloud, it’s digitally marked. I’m here for all your theories, so long as you keep this forum tidy.]

0:30

Murray: Hey, all—it’s Dean. No shit, right? This is day— Well, how long have I been here? Calendar says—it’s May? It’s gonna be May. [Murray bobs his head. He sings.] Every little thing I do, never seems enough for you.

1:00

Murray: Well, our owners are not back, and I haven’t heard from them, so let’s see what progress we’ve made. Lisa, let’s take them in.

1:30

[The camera moves through the attic, reminiscent of Lisa Finesmith’s work, and not Dean Murray’s. Every frame is clear, steady.]

1:35

[The camera focuses on what used to be a wall and is now a gaping maw. Murray has sledgehammered the entire space open, but where the blueprints say the house ends, the darkness keeps going. We should be looking out the north side of the house, but the camera keeps moving into darkness, which slowly blooms with bleak light.]

1:40

[The space appears endless—the camera moves this way for eight minutes, the light ebbing and flowing like water.]

9:40

[The light grows dimmer, and Murray’s voice bleeds in.]

9:41

Murray: I’ve never seen a space like this before, but Lisa told me about it. It wasn’t the axe attack—it was something much earlier, maybe the first family that owned the house—but can we really own anything? Everything is temporary. You don’t own dirt, you don’t own sky. You ca—

10:13

Murray: She told me—said I just had to peel back the paper, only the paper was dust, you see. [Murray laughs.]

10:59

Unidentified voice: [garbled]

11:11

[The camera moves again and, in the darkness ahead, there is something on the floor.]

11:21

Murray: You aren’t going to believe it—it was always here, just under the paper. Come look—can you see it?

11:25

[The frame does not stutter—despite @blixen’s belief that you can see a splice here, there is absolutely nothing. This is Lisa Finesmith’s camera work, no question.]

11:27

[The camera moves slow—I hesitate to call it “dreamy,” but the view floats toward the shape on the floor. The scene closes in on what appears to be a pile of yellow dust.]

11:30

Murray: Thought for sure we had found some of the original Cutter House textiles here—you just don’t see this color in modern houses. It’s a color that comes from yellow and orange lichens. Natives would boil the lichen to extract the color. As you get closer, you can see it’s not textiles at all. Come in—look.

11:32

[The camera sweeps closer, still floating. Murray’s shoulder is in the shot, then fades, as if someone else is filming. The shape on the ground resolves as the camera gets closer. The yellow-orange haze solidifies in places, looking like Xanthoria parietina blooms. But the lichen isn’t solid—if that’s what it is—in other places, bare skin is evident. The bend of an elbow, the bloom of lichen, the curve of a naked breast.]

11:33-11:39

[The camera does not move, Murray does not speak.]

11:40

Unidentified voice: Get—

11:40

Murray: You cannot tell me this isn’t a remarkable find. I refuse to hear it.

11:41

[Murray’s hand comes into frame. The hand is clean. He touches one of the lichen curves and it recoils from him, instantly disintegrating. Dust plumes into the air. Someone coughs. Murray reaches again, but his fingers now bear stains of dust, of lichen? The lichen does not crumble this time, but leans toward him. The lichen creeps up his hand, up his arm. All manner of shapes can be seen in the moving debris (lichen does not move like this!)—bulbous eyes, broken chains, flower petals. Pareidolia, sure—but—]

11:45

Unidentified voice: —hel—

11:46

[The camera never moves again; the lichen speeds over Murray’s arm. There is a solid thump, and a series of wet groans. In frame, the lichen bursts upward, dust (spores?) vomiting into the darkness. The light begins to fade, though never entirely.]

11:47-20:20

[The lichen continues, undisturbed. The first cusp of color intrudes on the actual camera lens. Over the next twenty minutes, the lichen consumes the lens, leaving a hazy, yellow-orange view. A wildfire sky.]

39:59 [The sound of starlings.]