Local 58
Local 58 is a YouTube horror anthology web series created by web cartoonist and author Kris Straub.[1] Currently hosted on the YouTube channel LOCAL58TV, each video in the series is presented as footage of a fictional public access television channel located in Mason County, West Virginia named Local 58, with the call sign WCLV-TV, created in the late 1930s, which is continuously hijacked over a period of decades with a series of broadcasts of ominous and surreal videos. While the series does not appear to have a continuous plot, nearly every episode seems to include cryptic references related to looking at the Moon or at the night sky, as well as references to the in-universe organization known as the Thought Research Initiative (TRI).
| Local 58 | |
|---|---|
![]() The station ident for Local 58 WCLV-TV, the fictional channel featured in the series. | |
| Genre | Found footage Psychological horror Alternate reality game Surrealism |
| Created by | Kris Straub |
| Written by | Kris Straub |
| Directed by | Kris Straub |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Animator | Kris Straub |
| Release | |
| Original release | October 30, 2015 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The series makes use of video and audio degradation to add to the realism and unsettling nature of each video.[2] The series describes itself as "analog horror",[3][4][5] a term that has since been used as a name for a niche subgenre of similar VHS-themed found footage web series that were either inspired by Local 58 or use a similar style and techniques to the series.[6][7] The series was initially hosted on the now-defunct web domain local58.info[1] in 2015[8] and was later uploaded onto YouTube in 2017[9] and 2018. The series has since gained a cult following.[1]
Episodes
Weather Service
- Released on October 26, 2015
The video starts with a programming schedule broadcast at midnight, which is interrupted by an EAS message from the County Weather Service warning viewers of a meteorological event taking place, and advising viewers not to look at the event until the alert expires. Normal programming resumes, but is then interrupted again by a more urgent EAS bulletin. The station is then hijacked, with the hijacker altering the EAS messages, claiming that the meteorological event is safe and that the warning has been lifted. They then directly urge viewers to go outside. A struggle to gain control over the station then appears to take place between the initial broadcasters and the hijacker. While almost being completely obscured, the first party frantically attempts to issue warnings to the viewers while the second attempts to cut off these messages. Local 58 briefly returns to normal programming for a few seconds before a final sequence of EAS messages air, in which it appears that the second party has been successful in gaining control of the station and posts a sequence of delirious, cryptic messages, detailing how they were brainwashed by what appears to be the Moon itself. After initiating a final message, the feed cuts to a live view of the Moon while distant sounds of people screaming are heard, before cutting to black.[10]
Contingency
- Released on January 16, 2016
The video begins with the station signing-off for the day, followed by SMPTE bars. The broadcast is then suddenly interrupted with an emergency alert from the fictional "Department for the Preservation of American Dignity" (DPAD) and a written message from President Lyndon B. Johnson set to "The Star-Spangled Banner", claiming that the military of the United States has been defeated by that of a foreign nation. The message, printed on a telop slide states that all Americans are "called upon to ACT" to "preserve the memory of the United States clear and bright… untarnished and uncompromised."
After the message concludes, a heavily distorted rendition of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" plays and the broadcast continues, urging viewers to commit suicide to prevent the enemy force from capturing them. After informing viewers that local law enforcement are to 'ensure your compliance' and that it is 'against the law to delay', the broadcast then states that "it will repeat until there are none to read it", and recommends suicide by gunshot. They also suggest, if time allows, the "Victory Position," a ritualistic posture where at least one person lays flat on their back on their front lawn. After instructing viewers to euthanize their children and pets, the hijacking stops, and Local 58 airs a retraction claiming that the message was a hoax, and apologizes for the error.[11][12]
You Are On The Fastest Available Route
- Released on June 19, 2016
The video opens with a programming schedule for the channel, before abruptly cutting to static and being replaced by footage from a dashcam recorded on 21 November 2014, involving a driver following a GPS satnav. The driver travels along a main road near a suspension bridge in heavy rain. After the GPS directs the driver to turn off the road and onto another, the GPS informs the driver of their expected arrival time, and that they are "on the fastest available route" before the video cuts forward.
The driver turns onto a ramp to Highway 114 North, and the video cuts forward again. While on the highway, the GPS tells the driver that there is traffic ahead and reroutes to an exit onto a utility road. The driver follows the new route, and the GPS informs the driver that they're on the fastest route. The video then cuts ahead again. The driver is now on an isolated road. The GPS can be heard telling the driver to continue on a service causeway, and that they will arrive at their destination in 14 minutes. The video cuts forward once more. After a brief silence, the GPS suddenly reroutes and tells the driver to make a U-turn.[13]
The video then cuts to the driver navigating the vehicle though the middle of a forest on an unpaved road. The GPS's directions become increasingly suspicious, instructing the driver to follow the no entry signs, to continue on an unnamed road and to park the car and turn off the headlights. The driver, having followed every instruction without fail, complies, bringing the car to a complete stop with the lights out. After a few seconds, a loud roar can be heard. The driver quickly turns the headlights back on to reveal a bipedal creature in the road. The feed suddenly cuts to the driver driving away from the creature as the GPS repeatedly tells the driver to turn around. The GPS rapidly counts down the distance in feet as the roars become louder - indicating that the creature itself is the GPS’s chosen destination - until the feed freezes. The feed then cuts forward to the car now lying sideways with the windshield cracked. The creature then closes in on the driver as the feed glitches out, the GPS finally announcing in a slow, malfunctioning tone that the driver has arrived at their destination.[14]
Station ID
- Released on November 2, 2017
Station ID serves as the channel's trailer. The video consists of a series of cryptic messages, which read the following:
ANALOG HORROR AT 476 MHz
WE BEGIN OUR BROADCAST DAY
LOOK AWAY
IT DOES NOT MATTER
THERE ARE OTHER RECEIVERS
SAFETY IN NUMBERS
The video then abruptly cuts to black.[15]
This video has been confirmed to be non-canon in the series.
Show For Children
- Released on July 30, 2018
The broadcast opens with a programming schedule and then transitions to a 1920s-styled cartoon titled "A Grave Mistake", featuring a fictional anthropomorphic skeleton named Cadavre. The cartoon opens with Cadavre walking through a graveyard at night. He comes across an open grave, wonders if his lover may be inside, and decides to peek. Inside the grave is a realistic skeleton, which frightens Cadavre and causes him to run away. He finds another grave and decides to check inside again, only to be frightened by a second creature.
As the soundtrack completely cuts out, Cadavre, now visibly tense, continues through the graveyard while the Moon stares down at him. He looks into another grave and descends into it, entering a cave. After wandering through the cave for some time, he reaches another open grave. Exhausted, Cadavre lies face up on the ground. From his perspective, a giant, realistic rendering of the Moon can be seen moving over the hole of the grave. The view cuts back to Cadavre, who has seemingly died and turned into a lifeless, realistic skeleton.[16][17]
A Look Back
- Released on August 27, 2018
The video opens with a compilation of the history of Local 58, shuffling through the fictional channel's various past logos in chronological order. The broadcast is then hijacked, and messages begin to flash on the screen similar to those shown in Station ID.
The video then becomes a montage of short clips of some of the previous episodes of the series, intercut with glitched footage of normal television broadcasts. After a few more messages are shown, the station's broadcasting returns to normal.[18]
Real Sleep
- Released on December 19, 2018
The video begins with a personalized VHS recording, recorded by the fictional "Thought Research Initiative" for a man named Philip Gerhardt. It starts with a simple "myth or fact" game about sleeping, claiming that dreaming is not essential to mental health. It then displays a visual of monitored brainwaves called the "Kleitman Map," implying that the video was personally designed to prevent dreams by applying an inverse of the map. The video then cuts to a segment where four sequences are introduced in a manner similar to the flashed face distortion effect. Sequence one tells the viewer to look directly at the center of the screen as faces flash at the viewer. Sequence two has two faces slowly merge until the face fades away. Then, sequence three instructs the viewer to repeat the phrase "there are no faces" several times as heavily distorted faces flash on the screen. Sequence four then begins to flash a number of ominous subliminal messages, while "there are no faces" repeats one more time, eerily slowed down. The video concludes with the viewer being told that they have now completed the real sleep program, and to avoid seeing a doctor.[19]
Skywatching
- Released on November 1, 2019
The video begins with an airing of a show that is suddenly hijacked by a camera feed from a cameraman, showing footage of the night sky. The camera displays different asterisms, and then turns to the Moon. The cameraman begins to switch lenses and then shows close ups of the Moon's surface with moving clouds, seemingly organic formations, and strange artificial constructions. The Moon then fades away. As the cameraman begins to switch lenses, a loud noise can be heard as the Moon reappears, now far larger in size and with a gigantic creature visible inside. An air raid siren then plays, and the video ends with the cameraman setting down his camera to point at the moon, then walking towards the Moon with his hands raised as the siren abruptly cuts out.[20]
Digital Transition
- Released on October 31, 2021[21]
On 13 July 2021, Local 58 is preparing to undergo a digital switchover at midnight. Following the conclusion of a normal airing of an episode of One Step Beyond, the channel airs a tribute bumper depicting numerous eras of the station’s 82 year history (1939-present) and its broadcasts. The end of the bumper shows Local 58's new logo, with an extended tagline "Community Digital Television." The switchover takes place, but as the clock passes midnight, the broadcast becomes increasingly corrupted, and the analog signal persists, visible behind that of the digital signal’s output, insisting that the digital switchover has been postponed. The entity controlling the analog signal then begins broadcasting a sequence of cryptic messages themed around betrayal alongside footage from Weather Service. Having gained full control over the station’s digital signal, the entity issues another sequence of messages alluding to its connection with the Moon. A distorted face appears on screen before the broadcast cuts out entirely, hastily replaced with a legal warning from the FCG - an in-universe agency based on the real world FCC - about ‘unauthorised analog reception’.
Development and reception
Straub used iMovie to create the first two episodes of Local 58 and Final Cut Pro X for the other episodes.[22] All of the assets used in the series either come from public domain stock media (for example, the "2000's" Local 58 music, a stock track called "Entering Graciously")[23] or created by Straub himself using Clip Studio,[24] Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Flash.
Since its initial debut, Local 58 has inspired the creation of other series with similar themes, including Channel 7 of Tempest Universe.[25]
As of November 8, 2021, Local 58 has over 456,000 subscribers and more than 16,155,559 views with just nine videos.[26]
A subreddit dedicated to the series was created on August 8, 2016, and currently has 20,900 followers as of December 3, 2021.[27] Many fans of the series have created theories as to the possible meanings or overarching narrative of the videos, both on the subreddit and on YouTube. Straub himself has answered some questions about the series on the subreddit.[28]
The emergency alert shown in Contingency has been compared to the 2018 Hawaii false missile alert.[29]
See also
References
- LaVigna, Chris (2019-07-15). "Tune in… Or Else: Kris Straub Has Created a Viral Internet Nightmare With 'Local 58'". Bloody Disgusting!. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
- Devarakonda, Mythili (2021-02-11). "'Local 58': What inspired the fictional crime web series?". Film Daily. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- LOCAL58TV - STATION ID, retrieved 2021-04-21
- "LOCAL58TV - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- "LOCAL58 TV is creating analog horror". Patreon. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- "Analog Horror". TV Tropes. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- What is Analog Horror?, retrieved 2021-04-21
- Devarakonda, Mythili (2021-02-11). "'Local 58': What inspired the fictional crime web series?". Film Daily. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- LOCAL58TV - Weather Service, retrieved 2021-04-21
- "LOCAL58TV - Weather Service - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
- "LOCAL58TV - Contingency - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
- krisstraub (2019-11-29). "i was always curious…". r/local58. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- "Local 58 - An LAG Investigation Part One (Fastest Available Route & Contengency) from The LAG Radio Network". www.stitcher.com. Retrieved 2020-02-21.
- "LOCAL58TV - You Are On The Fastest Available Route - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
- LOCAL58TV - STATION ID, retrieved 2021-04-26
- "Cadavre - Broodhollow". Broodhollow. Retrieved 2020-04-18.
- "LOCAL58TV - Show For Children - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
- "LOCAL58TV - "A Look Back" - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
- "LOCAL58TV - Real Sleep - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
- "LOCAL58TV - Skywatching - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-07-28.
- "LOCAL58TV - Digital Transition - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 2020-10-31.
- krisstraub (2019-11-19). "hi, i make local58. AMA about the technical/visual/audio process!!". r/local58. Retrieved 2021-04-22.
- Entering Graciously, retrieved 2021-04-24
- LOCAL58TV - Skywatching, retrieved 2021-04-21
- Paul, Andrew (October 18, 2019). "A Good Place: The public access channel from hell". The Outline. Retrieved November 6, 2021.
- "LOCAL58 - COMMUNITY TELEVISION's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile) - Social Blade Stats". socialblade.com. Retrieved 2020-02-01.
- "r/local58". reddit. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
- krisstraub (2020-05-07). "it is absolutely to …". r/local58. Retrieved 2021-04-26.
- "Wanna See Something REALLY Scary? Local 58 Contingency Emergency Broadcast". Dread Central. 2018-01-19. Retrieved 2021-04-21.
