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* CulturallyReligious: Had a religious upbringing, which is directly responsible for her fear of demons, even though she isn't currently religious.



* RaisedCatholic: Had a religious upbringing, which is directly responsible for her fear of demons, even though she isn't currently religious.
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* NotSoDifferent: Alex asserts that Strand's near-insistent desire for her to trust him would come at the cost of her skepticism, the very thing he claims to be trying to cultivate; not unlike the other paranormal investigators that Strand so disdains.

to:

* NotSoDifferent: NotSoDifferentRemark: Alex asserts that Strand's near-insistent desire for her to trust him would come at the cost of her skepticism, the very thing he claims to be trying to cultivate; not unlike the other paranormal investigators that Strand so disdains.
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No longer a trope.


* YourCheatingHeart: Strand claims that Coralee was having an affair.

to:

* YourCheatingHeart: Strand claims that Coralee was having an affair.
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Dewicking per TRS decision.


* BiTheWay: Dated Nic in the past, and apparently has a girlfriend in Russia.
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!!Tannis Braun
A psychic who has hade run-ins with Strand over the years.

* FriendlyEnemy: {{Downplayed|Trope}}; while he and Strand are opposed to one another and they have never just hung out together, Strand admits that he "doesn't ''not'' like him".
* MundaneSolution: While he claims to be a psychic and has assisted in several murder investigations, Strand believes that his abilities come from simply being a genuinely good detective who laid the groundwork for his reputation in a time when the Internet was just becoming publicly available.
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* [[spoiler: ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated]]: [[spoiler:Possibly. A woman matching her description has been renting a mailbox using the name of Coralee's old roommate, and has recently been seen coming to collect it.]]

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* [[spoiler: ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated]]: [[spoiler:Possibly. ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Possibly. A woman matching her Coralee's description has been renting [[spoiler:renting a mailbox using the name of Coralee's old roommate, and has recently been seen coming to collect it.]]



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* AscendedExtra: He was always in the background, but he's taking a more center-stage role as of season 2. Possibly because of his involvement with TANIS.
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* RaisedCatholic: Had a religious upbringing, which is directly responsible for her fear of demons, even though she isn't currently religious.
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None


* HollywoodAtheist: Zig-zagged. Strand is blunt and disdainful of blind faith, but he acknowledges that rituals and religion often serve a necessary and beneficial in life, he's generally altruistic in his aims, one of his stated reasons in the first episode for his quest to debunk the paranormal is that the world's beautiful and wondrous enough without belief in the supernatural, and he sometimes uses science to reassure people who are certain they're under threat from the supernatural (such as a caller with sleep paralysis). On top of that, he seems to have been an atheist since college - long ''before'' his possible CynicismCatalyst.

to:

* HollywoodAtheist: Zig-zagged. Strand is blunt and disdainful of blind faith, but he acknowledges that rituals and religion often serve a necessary and beneficial function in life, he's generally altruistic in his aims, one of his stated reasons in the first episode for his quest to debunk the paranormal is that the world's beautiful and wondrous enough without belief in the supernatural, and he sometimes uses science to reassure people who are certain they're under threat from the supernatural (such as a caller with sleep paralysis). On top of that, he seems to have been an atheist since college - long ''before'' his possible CynicismCatalyst.
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* HollywoodAtheist: Zig-zagged. Strand is blunt and disdainful of blind faith, but he's generally altruistic in his aims and sometimes uses science to reassure people who are certain they're under threat from the supernatural (such as a caller with sleep paralysis). On top of that, he seems to have been an atheist since college - long ''before'' his possible CynicismCatalyst.

to:

* HollywoodAtheist: Zig-zagged. Strand is blunt and disdainful of blind faith, but he acknowledges that rituals and religion often serve a necessary and beneficial in life, he's generally altruistic in his aims aims, one of his stated reasons in the first episode for his quest to debunk the paranormal is that the world's beautiful and wondrous enough without belief in the supernatural, and he sometimes uses science to reassure people who are certain they're under threat from the supernatural (such as a caller with sleep paralysis). On top of that, he seems to have been an atheist since college - long ''before'' his possible CynicismCatalyst.
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* OnlySaneMan: As of season two, Nic seems to be the only member of the cast not growing increasingly unhinged.


to:

* OnlySaneMan: As of season two, Nic seems to be the only member of the cast not growing increasingly unhinged.

unhinged. With the possible exception of having gone through an EldritchLocation, but he seems mostly okay afterwards.




* HollywoodAtheist: Zig-zagged. Strand is blunt and disdainful of blind faith, but he's generally altruistic in his aims and sometimes uses science to reassure people who are certain they're under threat from the supernatural (such as a caller with sleep paralysis).

to:

* HollywoodAtheist: Zig-zagged. Strand is blunt and disdainful of blind faith, but he's generally altruistic in his aims and sometimes uses science to reassure people who are certain they're under threat from the supernatural (such as a caller with sleep paralysis). On top of that, he seems to have been an atheist since college - long ''before'' his possible CynicismCatalyst.

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* TheInsomniac: By season two, Alex has developed sever insomnia, never sleeping more than an hour or two a night.



* TalkingInYourSleep: [[spoiler: Nic discovers a recording he believes to be of Alex, chanting creepily in her sleep.]]
* SanitySlippage: Lack of sleep in the second season has left her irritable, paranoid, and willing to take actions that might be considered unethical. [[spoiler: Whatever is causing the creepy chanting probably has something to so with it.]]



* HeroOfAnotherStory: Nic is the protagonist of the ''Tanis'' podcast.





to:

\n* OnlySaneMan: As of season two, Nic seems to be the only member of the cast not growing increasingly unhinged.




* ConspiracyTheorist: In the second season. Alex even notes the ubiquitous RoomFullOfCrazy.





to:

\n* SanitySlippage: Like Alex, the second season has done a number on Strand's mental health.




* MillionToOneChance: [[spoiler:Just what are the odds that a previously unknown recording of Coralee would be featured on an episode of PNS produced by Alex, years before she began looking into Strand and his family?]]

to:

* MillionToOneChance: [[spoiler:Just what are the odds that a previously unknown recording of Coralee would be featured on an episode of PNS PNWS produced by Alex, years before she began looking into Strand and his family?]]

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* BreakInThreat: Someone gets into her apartment building to leave a letter urging her to drop her investigation. The letter does not specify which one, however, and Amalia refuses to stop any of her activites. [[spoiler:Possibly leading to her disappearance.]]
* IntrepidReporter: Even moreso than Alex. Amalia was apparently investigating a number of sensetive cases.

to:

* BreakInThreat: Someone gets into her apartment building to leave a letter urging her to drop her investigation. The letter does not specify which one, however, and Amalia refuses to stop any of her activites.activities. [[spoiler:Possibly leading to her disappearance.]]
* IntrepidReporter: Even moreso than Alex. Amalia was apparently investigating a number of sensetive sensitive cases.




to:

**TheBusCameBack: [[spoiler: Reappears in season 2, asserting she had to lie low because one of her cases heated up too much, and stays with Alex. Something is...off, though. At the very least, she hasn't told Alex everything.]]




* CreepyChild: Alex finds Sebastian unnerving.

to:

* CreepyChild: Alex finds Sebastian unnerving.unnerving, though she's not sure if that's just because she knows about Tall Paul or because he's legitimately creepy.



* ImaginaryFriend: "Tall Paul," the shadowy, possible demonic figure often seen near Sebastian and his father, both from afar and in pictures and video.

to:

* ImaginaryFriend: "Tall Paul," the shadowy, possible demonic figure often seen near Sebastian and his father, both from afar and in pictures and video. Sebastian is capable of talking to him, or at least of understanding him.
-->Sebastian: "My friend says you don't wanna meet him."

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Fixed some typos, and made the Expy link work


* Expy: Initially, of [[MagicianDetective James Randi]], a skeptic and former magician who founded the James Randi Educational Foundation to educate the public and provide controlled scientific experimentation of alleged paranormal claims, with a $1,000,000 prize for anyone who can prove the paranormal under scientific testing conditions. Randi is notably much more personable than Strand, among other differences.

to:

* Expy: {{Expy}}: Initially, of [[MagicianDetective James Randi]], a skeptic and former magician who founded the James Randi Educational Foundation to educate the public and provide controlled scientific experimentation of alleged paranormal claims, with a $1,000,000 prize for anyone who can prove the paranormal under scientific testing conditions. Randi is notably much more personable than Strand, among other differences.



* MillionToOneChance: [[spoiler:Just what are the odds that a preivously unknown recording of Coralee would be featured on an episode of PNS preduced by Alex, years before she began looking into Strand and his family?]]

to:

* MillionToOneChance: [[spoiler:Just what are the odds that a preivously previously unknown recording of Coralee would be featured on an episode of PNS preduced produced by Alex, years before she began looking into Strand and his family?]]



* TilMurderDoUsPart: Her parents and aquaintances certainly think so, anyway.

to:

* TilMurderDoUsPart: Her parents and aquaintances acquaintances certainly think so, anyway.



* YouAreNotMyFather: Charlie disowned Richard after an unspecified dispute following Coralee's disappearance, and applied for legal emancipation. She has discounted the accusations of muder others have made against him, however.

to:

* YouAreNotMyFather: Charlie disowned Richard after an unspecified dispute following Coralee's disappearance, and applied for legal emancipation. She has discounted the accusations of muder murder others have made against him, however.



* OldFlame: Claims to be this to Coralee. Strand disputes this, refering to their "relationship" as a one-night indiscretion, and claims that Coralee eventually took out a restraining order.

to:

* OldFlame: Claims to be this to Coralee. Strand disputes this, refering referring to their "relationship" as a one-night indiscretion, and claims that Coralee eventually took out a restraining order.

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* AgentScully: Strand ''always'' has some rational explanation at hand for whatever case he and Alex are examining, and flat-out refuses to entertain the idea that anything supernatural is occuring. His tendency to furnish these explanations without actual proof of his own, as well as the condescesion with which he delivers them, gets called out a few times.

to:

* AgentScully: Strand ''always'' has some rational explanation at hand for whatever case he and Alex are examining, and flat-out refuses to entertain the idea that anything supernatural is occuring. occurring. His tendency to furnish these explanations without actual proof of his own, as well as the condescesion condescension with which he delivers them, gets called out a few times.times. That said, his tone often hurts his case when delivering even reasonable explanations about the burden of proof.
* Expy: Initially, of [[MagicianDetective James Randi]], a skeptic and former magician who founded the James Randi Educational Foundation to educate the public and provide controlled scientific experimentation of alleged paranormal claims, with a $1,000,000 prize for anyone who can prove the paranormal under scientific testing conditions. Randi is notably much more personable than Strand, among other differences.
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* HollywoodAtheist: Zig-zagged. Strand is blunt and disdainful of blind faith, but he's generally altruistic in his aims and sometimes uses science to reassure people who are certain they're under threat from the supernatural (such as a caller with sleep paralysis).
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[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Pacific Northwest Stories]]

!!Alex Reagan
A producer for Pacific Northwest Stories and the host of The Black Tapes Podcast.

* AgentMulder: Alex tends to approach cases with more credulity than Strand, although she adopts some of his AgentScully tendencies as time goes by.
* FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator: She starts off as this, simply wanting to showcase Strand and his cases for the benefit of her listeners, but grows out of it almost immediately as she quickly she takes a more active role in the developing plot.
* IntrepidReporter: Alex prefers to dig up as many sources and accounts as she can, even after Strand presents a plausible explanation for whatever case they're investigating. [[spoiler:This has implications for the Black Tape cases as a whole, and the disappearance of Coralee Strand in particular.]]
* PullTheThread: Develops a talent for it as the series goes on. Especially where [[spoiler:Coralee Strand's fate]] is concerned.
* SeekerArchetype: Can't bring herself to leave the unsolved Black Tapes and their attendant mysteries alone.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Her relationship with Strand can be described as this. She finds him somewhat insufferable and closed-minded, he considers her far too credulous and prone to prying, and yet they always find some reason to resume working together.
* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: The subject of demonology freaks her out.


!!Nic Silver
Alex's longtime friend and coworker. Producer for the podcast.

* BigBrotherInstinct: He's protective of Alex, to the point of frisking suspicious interviewees.
* MissionControl: His primary role in the series is to stay at the studio, digging up leads and making appointments and travel arrangements for Alex.


!!Amalia Chenkova
A journalist operating in Moscow who once did freelance work for Pacific Northwest Stories, and with whom Alex has kept in touch.

* AmicableExes: She mentions Nic fondly, at any rate.
* BiTheWay: Dated Nic in the past, and apparently has a girlfriend in Russia.
* BreakInThreat: Someone gets into her apartment building to leave a letter urging her to drop her investigation. The letter does not specify which one, however, and Amalia refuses to stop any of her activites. [[spoiler:Possibly leading to her disappearance.]]
* IntrepidReporter: Even moreso than Alex. Amalia was apparently investigating a number of sensetive cases.
* PutOnABus: [[spoiler:Alex abruptly loses contact with Amalia late in the first season.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Strand Institute and the Strand Family]]
!!Dr. Richard Strand
The founder of the Strand Institute, dedicated to investigating and debunking claims of paranormal happenings. His work, and eventually his personal life, are the subject of the podcast.

* AgentScully: Strand ''always'' has some rational explanation at hand for whatever case he and Alex are examining, and flat-out refuses to entertain the idea that anything supernatural is occuring. His tendency to furnish these explanations without actual proof of his own, as well as the condescesion with which he delivers them, gets called out a few times.
* ImpossiblyMundaneExplanation: This guy has it down to an art. Alex eventually accuses him of using it to talk his way around subjects he doesn't wish to discuss, and dismiss anything not totally in line with his worldview.
* LonersAreFreaks: Edward Lewis accuses him of this.
* NotSoDifferent: Alex asserts that Strand's near-insistent desire for her to trust him would come at the cost of her skepticism, the very thing he claims to be trying to cultivate; not unlike the other paranormal investigators that Strand so disdains.
* OccultDetective: A skeptical variety. Strand firmly believes that the paranormal doesn't exist, and has devoted his life to debunking it.
* RevealingCoverup: [[spoiler:Strand's explanations of his wife's disappearance always end up leaving something to be desired.]]


!!Coralee Strand
The ex-wife of Dr. Strand, and stepmother to Charlie. Coralee vanished while on a road trip with her family in 1997. After first (naturally) suspecting Strand himself, the police believed her disappearance to be related to a local serial killer. Coralee is presumed dead by her family.

* MillionToOneChance: [[spoiler:Just what are the odds that a preivously unknown recording of Coralee would be featured on an episode of PNS preduced by Alex, years before she began looking into Strand and his family?]]
* MissingMom: Vanished, seemingly off the face of the earth, in 1997.
* [[spoiler: ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated]]: [[spoiler:Possibly. A woman matching her description has been renting a mailbox using the name of Coralee's old roommate, and has recently been seen coming to collect it.]]
* TilMurderDoUsPart: Her parents and aquaintances certainly think so, anyway.
* YourCheatingHeart: Strand claims that Coralee was having an affair.


!!Charlie Strand
Dr. Strand's estranged daughter.

* YouAreNotMyFather: Charlie disowned Richard after an unspecified dispute following Coralee's disappearance, and applied for legal emancipation. She has discounted the accusations of muder others have made against him, however.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Individuals Connected to the Black Tapes]]
!!Sebastian Torres
A young boy who may have inherited a peculiar "friend" from his father.

* CreepyChild: Alex finds Sebastian unnerving.
* DistressedDude: [[spoiler: Sebastian is abducted in episode #7, by a cultist obsessed with sacred geometry. He is found unharmed later in the episode.]]
* ImaginaryFriend: "Tall Paul," the shadowy, possible demonic figure often seen near Sebastian and his father, both from afar and in pictures and video.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Others]]
!!Brayden Court
A listener with a personal connection to the Strands.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: Quotes the bible several times when talking to Alex.
* TheFundamentalist: Strand refers to him as such. He considers Strand's atheism a mark of bad character and criticizes Alex's own agnosticism.
* OldFlame: Claims to be this to Coralee. Strand disputes this, refering to their "relationship" as a one-night indiscretion, and claims that Coralee eventually took out a restraining order.

[[/folder]]

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