Entities_021–2D
Nickname: Cassette Ghost
Danger Ranking: 2.D
First Reported: 1985-09-02 — Fire-damaged radio station KRAM-104.6, outside Otter Bay, WA
Summary:
Cassette Ghost is a memetic audio entity that embeds itself within analog magnetic tape. The anomaly typically manifests on used cassettes, reel-to-reel tape, or damaged magnetic media left unattended in emotionally charged locations (such as bedrooms, burned structures, or abandoned vehicles). Once recorded over or played back, the tape plays a warbling song composed in a 1950s doo-wop or 1970s folk style, with original lyrics detailing private guilt, unspoken regrets, or suppressed memories known only to the listener.
While the music is often soothing, extended exposure induces dissociative episodes, depressive ideation, and in rare cases, psychic auditory bleeding—whereby the song continues to play in the subject’s head for weeks after removal.
Known Properties:
- Embeds itself on tapes through unknown means—recording over found tapes may not eliminate it.
- Lyrics shift depending on the listener, often detailing specific traumas or moral failings.
- Voices used are typically genderless, nostalgic, and eerily intimate in tone.
- Subjects often describe feeling “forgiven” while simultaneously overwhelmed with guilt.
- Playback causes sudden drops in room temperature and mild distortion of reflective surfaces.
- Tape cannot be magnetically erased after activation; physical destruction is required.
- Exposure causes dreams of radio static, ruined concerts, and empty stages.
Containment Procedure:
Containment is digital and analog-based.
- All known infected tapes are held within Audio Storage Vault D in hermetically sealed magnetic isolation shells.
- Staff must log and destroy any cassette discovered with handwritten or unlabeled content in any PARADIGM facility.
- Exposure time must not exceed 2 minutes without written clearance from a Psychological Anomaly Monitor (PAM-Level 1 or above).
- Suspected new manifestations should be recorded directly to unspooled tape and immediately handed to Archivist Division Theta.
Do not attempt to digitize the contents. Prior tests resulted in low-frequency corruption of unrelated hard drives within a 15-meter radius.
Encounters:
- 1985-09-02 — Otter Bay, WA: Discovered in melted tape deck within KRAM-104.6 radio tower ruins. Song contained names of two former hosts who died in unrelated car accidents three years apart.
- 1987-02-18 — Tacoma, WA: Cassette labeled “Mix for Sam” found in apartment of deceased sound technician. Final track: a lullaby with reversed lyrics that, when corrected, detailed an unknown hit-and-run incident in 1979.
- 1990-11-26 — Portland, OR: Reel-to-reel tape in abandoned theater described an entire lost marriage, despite no known owner or record of such persons.
Recommendation:
Avoid playback unless under tightly controlled and monitored conditions. It is not a communicative entity—it is a mirror in song. Do not engage emotionally with the content.
If you begin to hum the melody outside the room, report to Medical immediately.
List of Case Workers:
- Technician Saul Reed (Deceased, 1987 — Overdose)
- Archivist Tasha Ellin (Active)
- Field Recovery Agent Domingo Krahn (Retired, 1990)
- Dr. Liem Norros, Audio-Psychiatric Lead
- Forensic Linguist K. Morrow
- PAM-Level 1 Handler “SISTER-MOTION”