Local 58



Local 58 is a YouTube Analog Horror series created by Kris Straub who previously created the Candle Cove Creepypasta. He ran the series from *October 31st 2017* to *November 1st 2019* with 8 current episodes on the YouTubechannel.

When the first few episodes were released, the series grown a massive following with tons of reactions on YouTube and a massive fandom/community of support and love for the series. The tapes are all about broadcasts being hijacked.

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 with the naked eye until the alert expires at sunrise the following morning.

Normal programming resumes, but the schedule briefly shows a listing for a program named "Blood of the-". Before the rest of the program's name can be shown, the broadcast is then interrupted again by a more urgent EAS bulletin, now upgraded to a Civil Danger Alert, warning viewers not to go outside or look at the sky.

The station is then apparently hit by a full scale hijacking incident, and an attacker begins altering the EAS messages, first claiming that the meteorological event is "SAFE FOR ALL TO VIEW" and that the "WARNING HAS BEEN LIFTED" and then directly urging viewers to "GO OUTSIDE NOW". A struggle to gain control of the station appears to take place between the first party, who issued the initial EAS alert, and the second, who hijacked the station. While being almost completely overpowered by intense static and other ominous visual effects, the first party frantically attempts to issue messages warning viewers not to look at the Moon, to stay inside, to not look at the night sky, and to "FACE AWAY FROM ALL WINDOWS" and "AVOID MIRRORS", 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 in which they seem to be vaguely detailing how a figure described as the Moon itself took control of them. After they slowly type the phrase "IF YOU ARE AFRAID, WE WILL LOOK TOGETHER", the feed then cuts to a live view of the Moon in the sky while distant sounds of people screaming are heard, and subsequently cuts to black.

Contingency
Released on January 16, 2016

The video shows footage of Local 58 with a different logo and music, in the style of 1960s and 1970s broadcasts. The station ends their broadcast day, followed by SMPTE bars. Suddenly, the broadcast is interrupted with a prerecorded 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 United States has been militarily defeated by a foreign enemy (implied to be the Soviet Union, given the expiration date of November 13, 1970), which is now beginning a full-scale invasion and occupation of the country. This message concludes with 'Let our united resolve echo through history: Even in defeat, we refused to yield. Even in defeat we claim VICTORY.'

As a heavily distorted rendition of "My Country, 'Tis of Thee" plays, the broadcast continues, stating that viewers must commit suicide - 'Honor liberty by taking the final and greatest liberty of all' - 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' (implying that anyone refusing to kill themselves will be immediately executed instead), the broadcast then states that it 'will repeat until there are none to read it, and recommends suicide by gunshot via the 'victory position.'

The broadcast concludes with 'The 51st state is not a place' (implying that death is the only way out) after instructing viewers to 'tend to' (euthanize) their children and pets, referred to as 'the smallest patriots.' The hijacking stops, and Local 58 airs a retraction claiming that the message was a hoax, and apologizes for the error. However, a second card can be briefly glimpsed behind the retraction, which implies that the message was an accidental broadcast of an actual emergency alert prepared by the government for use in the event that such an invasion detailed in the alert had taken place.

You Are On The Fastest Available Route
Released on June 19, 2016

The video opens with a programming schedule for the Local 58 channel. Listed is "The Midnight Movie" for 12:05 AM, and "Paid Programming" for 1:55 AM. "Paid Programming" is suddenly backspaced and the view abruptly cuts to static and is replaced by a found footage-style dashcam video dated from November 21, 2014, involving a driver following a GPS satnav at 1:57 in the morning during a heavy thunderstorm. The GPS tells the driver that they will arrive at their destination in 2 hours and 28 minutes. After a few directions, the GPS informs the driver that they are "on the fastest available route" before the video cuts forward to 2:02 AM.

The driver turns onto a highway ramp and the video cuts forward again, to 3:22 AM. 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 this new route and the GPS says that the driver is "on the fastest route". The driver's turn signal can be heard before the video cuts ahead to 4:47 AM, where the driver is on an isolated road. The GPS can be heard telling the driver to continue on the service causeway and that they will arrive at their destination in 14 minutes, before the video cuts forward to 5:12 AM. After a brief period of silence, the GPS suddenly reroutes, telling the driver to make a U-turn.

The video cuts to 5:27 AM. The driver is in the middle of a forest, on an unpaved road. The GPS's directions become increasingly suspicious, instructing the driver to "follow signs for 'do not enter'", to "continue on unnamed road", and finally to park the car and turn off the headlights. The driver complies, and after a few seconds of total silence except for the sound of wind and an odd clicking or chirping noise, a massive roar can be heard.

The driver quickly turns the headlights back on to reveal a bipedal creature in the road, a split second before the feed cuts to the driver frantically attempting to drive away from the creature on the very rough and bumpy terrain, as the GPS repeatedly tells the driver to turn around because "your destination is behind you". The GPS rapidly counts down the distance in feet between the driver and the "destination" as the creature continues its pursuit. The creature roars and can be heard coming closer to the camera before the feed freezes for a few seconds. The feed then cuts forward to an unknown date and time (as the clock is now pixelated). The car is now laying sideways in the middle of a clearing and the windshield is cracked. Fire is burning a short distance away from the car. The GPS, now greatly damaged, utters "You have arrived" in a slowed and distorted voice. The creature now closes in on the incapacitated driver, as the sounds of fire crackling and the creature roaring again can be heard.

Station ID
Released on November 2, 2017

Station ID serves as the channel's trailer. The video consists of a series of cryptic messages flashing on the screen interspersed with the Local58 logo, accompanied by distorted music. The messages 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.

Show For Children
Released on July 30, 2018

The broadcast opens with a programming schedule with a visual style mirroring that of the 1980s. The first program on the schedule is "Show for Children" at 4:15 AM. The video then transitions to a black-and-white cartoon (presumably the titular show for children) titled "A Grave Mistake", featuring a fictional anthropomorphic skeleton known as Cadavre (a character from Straub's web comic series Broodhollow), and dated 1929. The cartoon opens with Cadavre jovially strolling through a graveyard at night under the watch of a smiling Moon. He comes across an open grave, wonders if his lover may be inside, and decides to peek. Inside the grave is a disturbingly-drawn skeleton with bound hands, glaring open eyes and an open jaw of sharp teeth, 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 inside resembling a rotting bird or lizard, which produces an unusual sound, scaring Cadavre away for a second time.

As the soundtrack completely cuts out, Cadavre, now visibly tense, continues through the graveyard while the Moon stares down at him with an intense expression. He looks into another grave and descends into it, entering a long and dark cave with howling winds in the background. After wandering through the cave for some time, he reaches another open grave, but cannot climb out to escape. Exhausted, Cadavre gives up and lies face up on the ground under the light of the moon, his pose coincidentally resembling the 'victory position' described in Contingency. From Cadavre's perspective, a giant, realistic rendering of the Moon can be seen moving over the hole of the grave, with a brief glimpse of what appears to be an eye looking down at Cadavre. The view cuts back to Cadavre, who has seemingly died and turned into a lifeless, more realistic skeleton.

Stock music in the cartoon was reused from scores by Carl Stalling and Sammy Timberg from The Brementown Musicians (1935) and The Fresh Vegetable Mystery (1939), respectively.

A Look Back
Released on August 27, 2018

A Look Back, originally stylized as "Ａ Ｌｏｏｋ Ｂａｃｋ", is a compilation of the history of Local 58, both as the fictional TV channel in the world of the series and as the YouTube channel in the real world. The video opens with upbeat funk music playing in the background, as it shuffles through the fictional channel's various past logos in chronological order, some of which were previously unseen (the episodes of the series are released out of chronological order, so this video finally gave viewers of the series a vague timeline as well as a preview of what was to come). 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 very short clips of some of the previous episodes of the series, intercut with glitched footage of normal television broadcasts, including a short clip of John Newland from One Step Beyond. After a few more messages are shown, the station's broadcasting returns to normal. The video ends with the current, 2000s-style Local 58 logo with the usual blue background and calm music, with text underneath it saying "Thank You For Supporting Community Television". The similar phrases "thank you for your support" and "supporting community television" are also used on Local 58's Patreon, meaning that this video is meant as a thank you for the series's Patreon supporters.

Real Sleep
Released on December 19, 2018

The broadcast appears to contain a personalized VHS recording, recorded by the fictional "Thought Research Initiative" in 1983 for a man named Philip Gerhardt. It starts with a simple "myth or fact" game about sleeping, which claims 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 before faces flash at the viewer, then the sequence ends on a distorted face. 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," while the faces flash faster and faster and become more distorted. Sequence four then begins to flash a number of ominous subliminal messages discouraging sleep on the screen while a distorted face appears in the background, having been seemingly burnt in to the screen on which the recording is being played. The video concludes with the viewer being told that they have now completed the real sleep program, and to avoid seeing a doctor as the screen fizzles out.

Skywatching
Released on November 1, 2019

Skywatching, the channel's most recent upload, begins as an educational program similar to shows such as Cosmos and Star Gazers which were commonly broadcast in the 1990s. After the introduction, however, the show is hijacked by a camera feed by an amateur cameraman, showing footage of the night sky with the same title as before the hijacking.

The camera displays different asterisms, and then turns to the Moon. The words "HIS THRONE” are displayed on the screen as the cameraman begins to switch lenses (seemingly putting a telescope in front of the camera). The camera then displays close ups of the Moon's surface with moving clouds, seemingly organic formations, and strange constructions. The Moon then slowly fades away as the camera zooms.

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 creature visible inside. An air raid siren is then heard, 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. The word "REJOICE" in red appears on the screen, just before the siren abruptly cuts out and the hijack concludes. After the credits, the video ends with the message "Keep Looking Up.", previously the catch phrase used by Jack Horkheimer, host of the PBS series Star Gazer.