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When you might go astray is a research project dealing with conspiracy theories, fictional narratives, and how the mutuality between the two shapes the stories of their believers.
The research starts from the following questions: how much of the pervasiveness of conspiracy theories is generated by their compliance to certain narrative schemes? What happens when the legitimate need to generate counter-narratives gets trapped in other kinds of templates?
When you might go astray deals with these questions by exploring the dangers of conspiracy theories and their entanglement with narrative schemes transforming their believers into heroes on a quest.
The project is divided into two parts: a
game, where the player is asked to undertake a journey, and an
essay, examining conspiratorial narratives through the lenses of the mono-myth.
When you might go astray has been developed by
Anna Sandri in the context of the
Experimental Publishing master course, Piet Zwart Institute (NL).
I suppose you remember the oracle. They were observing you during your journey and now they want to tell you something.
The oracle is an omniscient narrator, someone who very much likes to scrutinize the characters of their stories. As part of their role, they usually show to have more knowledge about the characters than they have about themselves. This time the oracle is willing to show you what they learned about your journey here ■
This might be a bit of a shock for you
(
![]()
) but it seems that, while looking for your friend Amanda (
) you got caught up in the situation. I (
) was observing (
) you from behind and I (
) managed to collect some things that you might have forgotten along the track (
). I understand that the journey (
) can be really insidious (
) and so I won't judge you: I will only try to show you what happened along the way.
You (
![]()
) would be lying to yourself if you told me that you already knew what was going to happen, where you wanted to go, or what you were looking for (
) when you started this journey (
). The fact is that sometimes all these questions can temporarily take a back seat. On certain days, a path (
) that you didn't explore yet can appear in front of you. You just need to carry on walking (
).
“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder:[...]"
-- J.Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces
you waited at the park
You were alone
in the park, waiting for your friend Amanda. She bailed on you with no explanation. It is quite likely that she just forgot about the appointment. Somehow you think there is much more going on: she doesn't want to meet you anymore or she spent the night at a cool party where you were not invited. Maybe she ended up being part of something even bigger.
you red the newspaper
In order to kill time
while waiting for your friend, you decided to read the local newspaper. It includes some articles concerning the local elementary school's trip to the
Spring River National Park, a suspicious place that according to the anonymous writer N. is not appearing on any official map. N. is also the author of another article, reporting the unspoken episodes of children getting sick after eating the
school's canteen. N. suspects the poisoned food is coming from the
Monteferro Food Enterprise.
Another article reports the mysterious disappearance of the guests of the city-run
cat shelter during the night. Amanda often volunteers for the cat shelter.
you looked for the newspaper owner
Moved by curiosity,
you tried to find the author of the annotations on the newspaper. He turned out to be Ned, a former school janitor whose pen-name is N., the author of the articles concerning the school's suspect activities. Ned or N. is a school's whistleblower. He becomes your guide into the Pleasant Valley Elementary school's scandal.
✜ In 2017, on the image-board website 4chan, a user named "Q Clearance Patriot" started to drop some alleged government secrets, claiming to be a high-level federal administrator. The clues shared by the supposed government whistleblower originated the conspiracy theory QAnon. The latter is the alt-right conspiracy fantasy asserting the world's rulers are affiliates of a pedophile cabal.
you looked for Amanda at the cat shelter
Since you learned about the disappearance of the guests of the cat shelter you started to wonder if Amanda ended up involved in the mysterious occurrence. Knowing that she often volunteers for the cat shelter you headed off to the place to look for her. At your arrival, you neither find Amanda nor the cats. Instead, you met Pat, a parrot who supposedly saw the incident happening and has some information in its regards.
As you (
![]()
) probably noticed, at this point of the journey (
) you seemed to have taken a new turn: confident or not of your findings, you (
![]()
) felt like continuing the investigation (
). This is the moment where you entered a new dimension, unraveling another descending road (
): the place where the true conflict (
) exists and manifests itself.
"[...] fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won:[...]"
-- J.Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces
you headed off to the Monteferro Food Enterprise
Together with your guide, you went to the
Monteferro Food Enterprise, where Ned proposes you to look for traces of fluoride in the company's fields.
✜ Since the nineties, major agribusinesses like Monsanto have been accused to have introduced and promoted unsafe GMOs in the food supply while deliberately hiding the scientific evidence of their harmfulness. In China, conspiracy theorists like Peng Guangqian have long asserted that Monsanto, together with the Pentagon and leading private foundations in the US, are using GMOs as part of a devious plot to annihilate the Chinese people by causing various diseases and fertility issues. In 2015 an internet hoax alleged that Monsanto was creating genetically modified cannabis to supply to the cannabis industry.
✜ Fluoridation has been the subject of several conspiracy fantasies since the late forties when theories claiming that the technique was pioneered in Nazi Germany to make people submissive to those in power started to spread. In the fifties, some started to believe water fluoridation was in fact a Communist plot to deplete the brainpower of the American citizens. The conspiracy theory has been brought back to life by certain fringes of the New Age community alleging that the massive presence of fluoride in everyday products is causing calcification in certain areas of the brain, limiting its function.
you followed Pat to the major's mansion
Pat urged you to
follow the hairballs departing from the
cat shelter. Following the thread, you reached the
major's mansion where Pat reveals to you that the major and his family are not human: they are actually saurians coming from another planet to colonize earth. The
cat shelter is used by them as a way to grow cubs and harvest them as food. Because the saurians are able to assume a human shape, you managed to see their true appearance by using Pat's magnifying lenses.
✜ Several theories assert that Saurians, also known as reptilians, are alien beings who originated from the Draco constellation that are now finding themselves colonizing the entire galaxy. Saurians are supposedly invading several planets by occupying positions of power in politics and finance. Their inner nature is malevolent and evil. The idea was popularised by English footballer and sports commentator David Icke who seems to be sure that blood-drinking, shape-shifting reptilian humanoids from the Alpha Draconis star system, now hiding in underground bases, are trying to take over the world.
✜ In 2012 the French writer Renaud Camus hypothesized the existence of a hidden plan also known as "The great replacement" (in French Le Grand Remplacement) aiming at replacing the white Christian population of Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand through mass immigration and low birth rates. The theory reached wide consent in far-right, racist, and white-nationalist groups and has been linked, together with the White Genocide conspiracy theory, to mass shootings and terrorist attacks like the one of Christchurch, New Zealand.
✜ In 1988 John Carpenter’s movie They Live the homeless drifter Nada realizes the world is actually populated and controlled by alien entities who he can only see through a very special type of sunglasses.
Neo Nazis and white suprematist later declared that the movie was an allegory for the Jewish control of the world. The director instead noted that the movie was actually aiming to condemn unrestrained capitalism.
you went to the school canteen
You proceeded to the
school canteen in order to find proofs that would incriminate the
Monteferro enterprise and the school's administration. It is quite likely that these people, considering their involvement in nefarious activities like giving drugs to children, are
not ordinary human beings anymore. It would be better if they were the adepts of a devil-worshippers gang.
✜ Satanic ritual abuse is the core of several moral panic phenomena that, from the eighties until today, report physical and sexual abuse of people --mainly children-- in the context of occult or Satanic rituals. Most of these cases ensued in trials where, like the case of the McMartin preschool one in the US or the scandal of “the devils of Lower Modena" in Italy, the accusation ended up being contrived. Satanic panic inspired the 2016 sex trafficking scandal Pizzagate and the more recent QAnon theory. This latter asserts that the world-ruling cabal members are using components derived from children's flesh to obtain a powerful drug they all consume called Adrenochrome. The substance has been allegedly introduced to them by performing artist Marina Abramovich.
you went to the butcher shop
In order to find proof of the saurians' involvement in the kitten's massacre,
you went to the butcher shop. You then realized that some of the meat processed in the storage room actually belongs to the poor cats.
Sadly, Pat has been hit by the saurian butcher. Before she passed she revealed to you that she has reasons to believe that the saurian headquarters lies
somewhere close to the local bus station.
✜ On September 12, 2003, during the provincial election campaign in Canada, a member of the Ontario Conservative Party referred to the leader of the rival liberal party as an "evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet". The leader of the Conservative Party, later on, admitted that the statement was probably over the top and that he probably drank too much coffee. The indicted, Mr. McGuinty, denied the accusation of ailurophagy. He declared "I love kittens, and I like puppies too,"
you received a message from the supernatural beings
You followed the trails in the sky until you had an epiphany: the supernatural beings appeared in the sky sharing with you their concern about the future of planet earth.
✜ The chemtrail conspiracy theory asserts that the water condensation trails left by airplanes in the sky are chemical trails consisting of toxic material which is distributed from the sky in order to poison the population. Chemtrail conspiracy theorists often describe their experience as being akin to a religious conversion experience.
✜ According to some UFO/ New Age cults, aliens coming from other planets are part of a galactic confederation that, concerned for earth's future, is trying to help humans to fight evil and make them ascend to higher dimensions. In order to achieve it the aliens, also known as Pleiadians or Nordic Aliens, are often contacting some special individuals to channel them and convey their messages.
Maybe, despite everything (
) that you had been through, you realised that you had to enter in a phase of a different kind. You (
![]()
) made a step for yourself but what about the others (
) ? What can you do with your achievements if they cannot be translated for the outer (
) world?
To survive the impact (
) with it is not an easy task.
"The hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.”
-- J.Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces
you searched for the saurian's headquarter
Together with
your army, you headed to the village's
bus station where you eventually found the entrance to the saurian headquarters underneath an old warehouse.
✜Since its opening in 1995, the Denver International Airport has been the subject of several conspiracy theories, some of them asserting that its construction was actually a decoy for the presence of a Lizard people's headquarter as well as a series of secret bunkers, probably built by the Nazis. The rumors seem to be fuelled by several clues, including a capstone referencing Freemasonry and a giant sculpture figuring a blue mustang with red eyes that for someone represents a nod to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It doesn't help that the author of the latter tragically died when, before the inauguration, a piece of the statue fell on his leg and severed an artery.
you reached the Spring River Park
You arrive at the place where the hypothesised abuse is happening. Your journey in the forest finally reaches
the spot where the satanic abuse is currently going on. But probably it wasn't really happening.
At times, the journey might be getting you to the wrong end of the stick.
✜ On December 4, 2016, a 28-year-old man from North Carolina fired his gun at a pizzeria in Washington DC in order to rescue the trafficked children who were allegedly held captive in the restaurant's basement. The restaurant played a relevant role in the Pizzagate conspiracy theory as it became the headquarter of the supposed democratic party's pedophilia ring. The man claimed to be there to self-investigate the theory.
✜ On January 6, 2021, a group of Donald Trump's most fervent supporters, white supremacists, and QAnon disciples stormed the United States Capitol in a violent attack. Most of them believed to be there to liberate the country from a reptilian pedophile cabal.
you entered the saurians's secret bunker
You reached the saurians headquarters from where the lizard people are managing the earth's invasion and other nefarious activities. You started to fight them until you realized that probably you were not in a battle against evil saurians. Maybe it was only a birthday party. At times, the journey might be getting you to the wrong end of the stick.
✜ On December 4, 2016, a 28-year-old man from North Carolina fired his gun at a pizzeria in Washington DC in order to rescue the trafficked children who were allegedly held captive in the restaurant's basement. The restaurant played a relevant role in the Pizzagate conspiracy theory as it became the headquarter of the supposed democratic party's pedophilia ring. The man claimed to be there to self-investigate the theory.
✜ On January 6, 2021, a group of Donald Trump's most fervent supporters, white supremacists, and QAnon disciples stormed the United States Capitol in a violent attack. Most of them believed to be there to liberate the country from a reptilian pedophile cabal.
“... we read novels because they give us the comfortable sensation of living in worlds where the notion of truth is indisputable, while the actual world seems to be a more treacherous place.”
― U. Eco, Six Walks in the Fictional Woods
After you met Amanda (
), you probably found yourself a bit unsettled. Was everything a lie?
How could you make such an error (
) of judgment?
I (
)can't really say, I suppose you only took this turn (
) for the sake of it. It really didn't matter why, and most importantly, you really didn't care if the signals (
) you were grasping were real or illusionary, if the people you met along the way were lying to you or not.
I am also suggesting is that what happened can be considered unimportant: it only served the purpose of distracting yourself and giving you with temporary glimpses of possible adventures (
). If I were you, I want bother too much to understand what these symbols (
) and characters (
) meant. As far as I am concerned, as right or wrong they can be, hidden in this corner, they are not hurting anyone.