The Monument Mythos

By Brianna Trunk and Eva Taub

When it comes to digital narratives, one genre that generates a large amount of conversation is analog horror. The analog horror genre has grown a budding community on YouTube in recent years with series such as Gemini Home Entertainment, The Mandela Catalog, The Backrooms and the main subject of today, The Monument Mythos. The Monument Mythos is a series uploaded on the Mister Manticore YouTube channel and currently consists of three seasons. The Monument Mythos encourages ideas about how our government hides conspiracy theories from the people. The series also takes place in an alternate reality but it still takes place using monuments that we have in our real lives. The first episode of the series is called “Liberty Lurker,” in which it is eventually revealed that, as the title suggests, there is something lurking in the Statue of Liberty. Most episodes of the series are about 3-5 minutes with two episodes breaking the 10 minute mark. The second season consists of longer episodes, as it starts to piece the story together more. The series is not just about the monuments and their alternate realities but consists of characters and lore that is slowly being uncovered as the story goes on. The full story of the series has yet to be revealed but many have speculated about the exact time line and relationships that are in the story. That is one part of The Monument Mythos that keeps viewers engaged -- the lore is still being discovered.

WARNING: The following section contains spoilers of the episode "Liberty Lurker.”

The episode begins with an interview done with the designer of the Statue of Liberty. The interview is about how the design for the base was constantly being revised by the Americans and eventually came to the base being taller than the actual statue. We then see the blueprint for the statue after it has been classified for 36 years. We see an engine, axel and wheels before we see an entrance or stairs. This is followed by further off-putting features like a drain and waste storage. The video changes to interviews with immigrants who went through Ellis Island and reported a foul smell. The video cuts to the first sighting of the Liberty Lurker and an explanation to the foul smell and waste storage area.

The most intriguing thing about this series is how real it feels. The creators do an amazing job of captivating the viewers and transporting them into a new reality. The monuments that the series covers are all monuments that exist to us in our current reality. This allows for the viewer to feel like the conspiracy theories that the channel covers could actually be real and encapsulates the viewer deeper and deeper into this new reality with every episode they watch. The channel doesn’t say these outlandish things about the monuments that viewers would have a very hard time believing, and they use interviews from people to ‘prove’ that the conspiracy theories are not just theories but the truth. The way that the channel presents the information is also in a very documentary style, which makes it even more believable. The fact that they have interviews from people, use real monuments that we can see today, and present the information the way they do is what creates this new reality where what they are saying could possibly be very true. This kind of digital literature is very important. A lot of tv shows, movies, and books transport their viewers/readers into a new reality, but most of them are so fabricated that the viewer/reader knows that the reality is not real, which takes away a little bit from the story. This analog horror genre that The Monument Mythos falls into creates stories that are so believable that it transports the viewer into a deeper, more meaningful new reality. This form of encapsulating the viewer into the new reality is what intrigues so many people and keeps them watching episode after episode.