The Wicker Grove Project
The Wicker Grove Project
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[00:00:00:00] **Camera:** Handheld DSLR with external shotgun mic, 24fps, 1080p. Slightly underexposed interiors, adjustments via aperture and ISO, manual focus. **Footage artifact:** Mild intermittent chromatic aberrations and slight horizontal drifting indicative of degraded stabilizer motor. **[Opening frame]** The camera pans slowly over a dense, fog-laden copse of ancient oak trees. The sun is just beginning to rise. Leaves rustle softly. The image is slightly grainy with a faint greenish tint, likely due to a faulty white balance setting. **[Audio]:** Whispering wind, subtle distant bird calls. **JESS (off-camera, breath visible):** "Alright, this is day one at Wicker Grove. We’re here to document the folklore surrounding this place—the old harvest rites and, well, the disappearances mentioned in the local histories." **CAMERA MOVEMENT:** Gentle handheld tracking forward along a muddied, leaf-strewn trail. Lens flares sporadically distort incoming sunlight through the foliage. --- [00:15:42:18] **Camera:** Now mounted on a tripod, capturing a roughly carved wooden effigy standing about two meters tall. The figure resembles a twisted humanoid form woven from willow branches and wild grasses. The frame is stable but subtly flickers with random bursts of pixel noise. **JESS:** "This is the 'Harvest Man.' Locals say it’s made to contain the spirit of the land during the equinox. Legend says if it’s disturbed…" **MURMUR, off-camera:** "...the forest takes back what was borrowed." **CAMERA ARTIFACT:** A momentary glitch — a faint vertical line of static runs through the frame, accompanied by a brief audio drop, distorting the ambient sounds. --- [00:32:55:03] **Camera:** Handheld, night vision mode activated—grainy green-white monochrome with a slight scan line effect mimicking old CRT monitors. The camera lens fogs briefly, creating soft halos around bright points. **JESS (whispering):** "We’re trying to capture any signs tonight. The villagers told us to stay clear after dark, but..." **Suddenly:** A low, rhythmic thudding sound. Off to the left, barely visible, a figure made of woven twigs and straw seems to sway near a fire pit. The figure’s shape flickers, then blurs into the undergrowth. **CAMERA MOVEMENT:** Quick pan left, shaky focus as Jess chases the figure’s movement. The image jitters violently as hand tremors increase. **JESS (voice rising in panic):** "Wait, wait—did you see that? It just moved. No, no, stay with me, stay with me!" **FOOTAGE ARTIFACT:** Audio cuts abruptly to static, the video overlays with a distorted “ghosting” effect of double images slightly out of sync, heightening disorientation. --- [00:47:10:15] **Camera:** The screen is heavily corrupted here. Intermittent pixelation and a rolling vertical jitter affect the image for the first 20 seconds. Then the footage stabilizes to reveal a small clearing, illuminated only by flickering candlelight arranged in a complex geometric pattern on the ground. **Camera zooms in on a weathered parchment pinned to a tree.** Text is handwritten in an archaic script with evident drips of dark resin. The camera struggles with focus, the text warping and undulating unnaturally as it is approached. **JESS (off-camera):** "This... isn’t just folklore. This text talks about a 'Binding Eve'—where the Harvest Man must be renewed or it ‘hunts’." **Suddenly:** A guttural whispering emanates from the surrounding trees, too low to be deciphered. The camera’s mic picks up a high-frequency screeching noise barely audible to the human ear but clear here. --- [01:02:03:09] **Camera:** Handheld, now with visible scratches and cracks forming lines across the lens. The frame is dim, the green canopy above barely letting light through. Jess is panting heavily. **JESS:** "We—I don’t know if this is real anymore. Something’s out here." **Suddenly the camera jerks violently as if snatched. The feed shudders then cuts to static for nearly 15 seconds. When it returns:** **The shot is aimed downward at a pair of muddy boots. Hands enter the frame, gripping sticks arranged into a crude cross. The camera tilts upward sharply to reveal a figure with a woven mask resembling twisted branches and hollow eyes—impossible to identify as human or otherwise.** **Figure (through distorted speaker):** "The harvest reclaims." **Jess’s frantic breathing.** The camera wobbles wildly, then the feed glitches into a liquid-like distortion, colors bleeding and folding into one another. --- [01:06:47:22] FINAL FOOTAGE **Camera:** The last 45 seconds show heavy degradation: flickering, vertical banding, and digital noise. The audio alternates between deep static and a faint, mournful chanting in an incomprehensible language layered beneath the crackling distortion. **The image clears briefly to reveal Jess, crouched, eyes wide with terror, whispering:** **JESS:** "If you find this—do not come here. The Grove… it doesn’t want us." **The camera pans upward rapidly, catching a glimpse of the Harvest Man looming, impossibly large and swaying amid the trees, its shadow stretching and contorting across the moonlit clearing.** **A sudden loud crack—camera drops to the ground. The lens captures blurry, chaotic movement, then an unnatural tearing sound mixed with desperate gasps. The last clear image is Jess’s face, distorted with fear, pressed close to the lens, eyes blackening unnaturally.** **Abrupt cut to black.** --- **Footage Summary:** Recovered after a two-year search, the Wicker Grove Project’s tapes exhibit progressive optical and audio anomalies—unexplained glitches correlate with increased environmental interference. Analysis suggests the degradation is not solely mechanical but exhibits anomalous properties consistent with localized electromagnetic disturbances possibly tied to unknown ritualistic phenomena. No trace of the documentary team was ever found. The final recordings remain under study, with authorities advising extreme caution regarding any investigation into the Wicker Grove site.
Story Analysis
Themes
Folklore and ancient ritualNature's supernatural guardianshipHuman intrusion and cosmic punishmentUnreliable perception and media degradationThe boundary between reality and the uncanny
Mood Analysis
tension95%
horror90%
mystery85%
philosophical70%
Key Elements
The Harvest Man effigy as a supernatural nexusProgressive audiovisual degradation symbolizing escalating otherworldly influenceUse of natural and archaic symbolism (woven branches, geometric candle patterns, archaic script)Unseen or barely glimpsed entities blending with the environmentJess’s psychological unraveling intertwined with footage corruption
Tags
found footage horrorfolk horrorsupernatural mysteryritualistic entitypsychological terrormedia glitch effectsnature horrorlost expedition
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