| 1 | %%% |
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| 3 | %% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks! |
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| 6 | |
| 7 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tumblr_lgoepuC9zv1qcupmyo1_500_6335.jpg]] |
| 8 | [[caption-width-right:350:''*sigh*'' [[http://www.peterbeard.com/ Dear Diary]]...]] |
| 9 | |
| 10 | ->''"This is the audio log of research specialist Simon Garlick, dated August 10th, 2145. It's been two days now since I've seen any other team members. I don't know how I've survived this long or how I got away. They were just, uh... torn apart. Um... um... ''[sighs]'' They could only be described as demons. I have never seen such a big thing move so quickly. Oh dear God, what has happened to us. The teeth. That's the last thing I remember seeing. ''Teeth.'' The sounds. Words I cannot describe. I'm sure it's just a matter of time before they find me again. I'm convinced they are toying with me, allowing me to stay two steps ahead of them. I... I can see them in the shadows sometime. ''Why do they taunt me?'' I'm not sure how much longer I... I... I... I can... I'm shooting at shadows here. And every moment, I feel them creeping closer toward me. Oh God. Oh God, we should never have--"'' |
| 11 | -->-- '''Simon Garlick's audio log "Still Separated from Team"''', ''VideoGame/Doom3'' |
| 12 | |
| 13 | A story is told through a log, diary, or journal that a character used to document their activities and progress through the backstory before [[GoneHorriblyWrong something bad happened]] to its writer. A staple of [[AfterTheEnd Post-Apocalyptic Fiction]] to explain to the cast how the [[CrapsackWorld world]] ended up the way it is, it can also be used in {{horror}} as a handy way to fill in heroes who arrive LateToTheTragedy, and one of the first (or [[RedShirt last]]) things that a "rescue" party answering a DistressCall will find when they arrive at the [[GhostShip empty ship]]. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | You can expect that whoever made this log will have recorded events up until their last breath. If the heroes (and thus the audience) choose to read this log from the beginning, the log will no doubt start and progress the same way, with hopeful characters recording the casual details of their lives and work, until things start going sideways and the entries shift towards concern, disbelief, desperation and/or (ultimately) insanity. The [[ThatWasTheLastEntry final]] -- and [[ConservationOfDetail usually the most important]] -- entry may range from incoherent gibberish as the remaining character tries to warn the world of what happened to them, to a final cogent statement [[FlingALightIntoTheFuture warning the reader]] not to repeat their mistake (or how to otherwise clean up after them). |
| 16 | |
| 17 | This log can be written or recorded in a variety of ways; if it's a video log, the downhill progress of the situation will be punctuated visually, e.g. degradation in the appearance of the character, their surroundings, or even the video itself, perhaps with the SnowyScreenOfDeath on the last log. Bonus points if a video log's final entry shows the character ultimately succumbing to whatever horror took over, with blood splattering everywhere. If it's written, expect the open pages to be written clearly, but the last pages are an almost illegible scrawl, due to their panic. Grand prize if it's a written log that somehow ''still'' records the author's final dying moments. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Depending on the timeframe and nature of the apocalyptic event, the log may have gone through RagnarokProofing in order to be legibly retrieved by the heroes. |
| 20 | |
| 21 | See also ScientistVideoJournal, LostInTransmission, DistressCall, LateToTheTragedy, ActionSurvivor, AlmostDeadGuy, HarbingerOfImpendingDoom, SendInTheSearchTeam, IgnoredExpert, UndeadAuthor, PosthumousCharacter, PosthumousNarration, ThatWasTheLastEntry. See also VideoWill, the various times when the CassetteCraze applies to disappearances, and some of the less pleasant cases of MessageInABottle. FoundFootageFilms are movies that use this as their framing device. DeadlineNews is a related trope where the very bad thing happens to the TV news crew reporting live on it; UnintentionalFinalMessage is another related trope where the doomed sender doesn't know they're about to die. |
| 22 | |
| 23 | [[JustForFun/IThoughtThatWas Not to be confused with]] PostApocalypticDog, or the apocalyptic Loge from Music/RichardWagner's ''[[Theatre/DerRingDesNibelungen Götterdämmerung]]'', or with the CaptainsLog (but you can use one for this purpose), or with [[ToiletHumor the]] [[BowelBreakingBricks result]] of consuming a MasochistsMeal with a GargleBlaster. Occasionally overlaps with BloodStainedLetter. |
| 24 | |
| 25 | ---- |
| 26 | !!Example subpages: |
| 27 | [[index]] |
| 28 | * ApocalypticLog/FanWorks |
| 29 | * ApocalypticLog/LiveActionFilms |
| 30 | * ApocalypticLog/{{Literature}} |
| 31 | * ApocalypticLog/TabletopGames |
| 32 | * ApocalypticLog/LiveActionTV |
| 33 | * ApocalypticLog/VideoGames |
| 34 | * ApocalypticLog/WesternAnimation |
| 35 | * ApocalypticLog/RealLife |
| 36 | [[/index]] |
| 37 | |
| 38 | !!Other examples: |
| 39 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 40 | |
| 41 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 42 | * ''Manga/SazanEyes'': near the end of the manga, after the seemingly total annihilation of humanity by Kaiyanwang's spell, Chen Ya Li is seen talking in a recorder, narrating how now that humanity has vanished, [[GreenAesop maybe the Earth could recover from all the enviromental damage and bloom once again]], but also talks sadly about how centuries of human efforts to make a just and working society vanished without a trace. He even lampshades the fact that he doesn't even know why he's bothering doing this, being one of the last survivors. |
| 43 | * ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'' features one in the side-story "Ilse's Notebook" -- about the titular Ilse Langner, a woman from the Survey Corps who religiously documented her activities and findings in a journal. Even as she's running for her life, she continues to write and she only stops when she's devoured by a Titan. It ends up being found a year later by Levi and Hange, and contains information that [[ChekhovsGun proves vital]] to the story later on. [[spoiler:It reveals Ymir to be a person significantly connected to the Titans, but also provides the first hints that Titans may have very sinister and ''human'' origins...]] |
| 44 | * Two are discovered in ''Anime/GargantiaOnTheVerdurousPlanet'': |
| 45 | ** The first is in an OVA, when the Gargantia fleet stumbles upon a giant derelict fleet that's apparently been abandoned and rusting away for quite some time. Based on the captain's logbook Ridget finds, along with some detective work from Pinion in the engine room, some light bugs crystallized the main engine, rendering it useless, and forcing the survivors to get on smaller ships and sail away. It also gives Ridget some closure as a FlashBack of seven years earlier reveals her friend left Gargantia to go with a guy she met on this particular fleet, and she had been wondering what happened to them since then. |
| 46 | ** A second one occurs in episode 9, when Ledo finds an old recording at the bottom of the ocean, which details humanity on Earth a long time back when it was starting to freeze up. The contents are a shocking revelation to him, and contradicts everything he'd been taught by the Galactic Alliance about their losing battle in the ForeverWar with the Hideauze aliens.[[spoiler:It turns out that the Hideauze, which were also present on Earth, were genetically modified humans. The predecessor for the Galactic Alliance, the Continental Union, who believed humans should stay humans, were opposed to the genetic experiments performed by the Evolvers, who wanted to modify humanity so they could survive in space to leave behind an increasingly freezing and hostile Earth, and would later become the Hideauze. In space, both groups went to war with each other over their beliefs, while on Earth humans forgot about the Evolvers, and the Earth Hideauze gradually "evolved" into the "whale-squid" that humans generally stay away from and treat with some respect.]] |
| 47 | * ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa'': In the adaptation of the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle]]'' duology, Link finds the logbook used by the ghost pirate crew, and realizes that they were stuck into a never-ending storm. |
| 48 | * The horror manga ''Manga/{{Mail}}'' has a story titled "Portrait"; it starts with a woman picking up and arranging her sister's belongings after she had committed suicide via self-immolation and discovering her diary. The diary describes the last few weeks of her sister's life including finding a rare portrait and her growing obsession with it. It starts of with her trying to discover more about the painting, to learning more about the girl in the painting, to writing in her diary that she thinks there is something creepy going on in her apartment, to thinking that the source of the creepiness is that new painting she is so fond of to realizing that sometimes, the eyes of the sleeping girl would open up, to finally writing over and over again how she wants to die. When reading that last page, the woman who finds her sister's diary realizes that [[spoiler:the last few pages handwriting slowly changes from her sister's handwriting to someone else's. When she realizes this, she looks at the portrait and realizes that it's looking straight at her. It turns out that the portrait of the girl still has the girl's spirit trapped inside due to the sympathy she got in life, cheering her to live on despite the fact that the only thing she ever wanted was to die and end her suffering and since then, has been committing suicide through the various owners of the portrait!]] |
| 49 | * The Director's Cut of episode 21 of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' opens with a security video taken about a month before Second Impact. It starts off in a mundane way, picking up not only chatter from staff but a conversation between Gendo and Keel on the nature of scientists. Then with a crash, the scene cuts to the moment when Adam begins to grow into [[OurAngelsAreDifferent the Giant of Light]], and we hear shouting from scientists trying to get the Angel under control. The picture cuts off just as Adam's giant, glowing hands reach into the frame. Similarly, all we see of the activation of Unit 04 is a mushroom cloud rising up from the test site, followed by static. |
| 50 | * In ''Manga/OokuTheInnerChambers'', as Blessed Kasuga lay on her deathbed; knowing that a new outbreak of [[{{Gendercide}} the Red-faced Pox was killing most of the boys in Japan]], a severe famine was making inroads into the rest of the population, and the line of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu was [[SuccessionCrisis extinct save for]] a [[HeirClubForMen single unacknowledged female by-blow and her infant daughter]]; she ordered a record of the collapse of the country to be written by a young scribe employed within the most hidden areas of Edo Castle and named [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Chronicle of a Dying Day]]. Some [[AvertedTrope 70-odd years later]], [[SheIsTheKing Shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune]] called upon an ancient scribe living in a quiet corner of her harem in the hopes of learning more about some of the oddly illogical customs of [[LadyLand her domain]][[note]](what is with the new names given to heads of households for one thing?)[[/note]]. [[spoiler:The ''Chronicle'' continues to be written up to the day the Tokugawa regime fell...and then is burned by the Meiji forces as part of their policy to hide any evidence Japan had been ruled by women, making the ''Chronicle'' AllForNothing.]] |
| 51 | * ''Anime/PokemonTheFirstMovie'': Dr. Fuji records logs showing his team's eventual creation of Mewtwo. The final log shows their deaths at the [[PsychicPowers mind]] of their enraged creation. |
| 52 | -->'''Dr. Fuji:''' We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon... [[GoneHorriblyRight And we succeeded.]] |
| 53 | * In the manga ''Manga/SevenSeeds'', most of humanity died out in an apocalyptic event. The "7 seeds" are people who were put into deep sleep far below the surface, and then woken and released far in the future when the Earth has become habitable again. However, it turns out they were not the only humans to survive past the event. The main characters later find one of many vast underground shelters built before the event, but [[spoiler:nobody is alive there anymore. They find a desiccated body and a journal kept by one of the entertainers asked to come work in the shelter to raise morale. Most of the inhabitants of the shelters were deceived as to why they were there, but come to accept their new life; at first the outlook is hopeful, and there are other shelters they can communicate with. However, eventually technical problems cause the food supply to fall short, and many of the residents of the shelter are told they are to be sent off to another shelter - in reality they are going to be killed. Supplies dwindle and, in addition, eventually contact is lost with all other shelters, presumably because everyone is dead. The journal's author writes of how he and the people in charge fabricate new communications from the other shelters so that the residents won't lose morale. Finally a virus breaks out and slowly the entire population of the shelter falls ill and dies. As he dies the journal's author manages to trap the virus in a freezer where it cannot infect anyone else. His last act is to paint a X on the freezer door, and then he dies outside it with his journal.]] |
| 54 | * ''Manga/TalesOfWeddingRings'': In chapter 60, Amber leads the party into an abandoned underground dwarven city. They venture into the city's largest structure, a memorial, and discover a console containing a message left by the last of the dwarves. It details how the dwarves helped the Ring King to defeat the Abyss King, only to fall victim to an unbreakable curse which killed them all off one by one. The message was left so that people would know the dwarves once existed, and why they were now extinct. |
| 55 | * ''Manga/{{Uzumaki}}'' features a map discovered in the ruins of an aging row house apparently drawn [[spoiler:by someone who lived in the town during the last period when the Eternal Spiral awoke]]. The text on the map can't be read, but it appears to depict the final stages of the curse. |
| 56 | [[/folder]] |
| 57 | |
| 58 | [[folder:Card Games]] |
| 59 | * ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'': A number were posted on a special Wizards of the Coast website to fit the storyline of Scars of Mirrodin block -- Farris of the Anvil, Unctus of the Synod, Kessla of Temple Might, Ria of Bladehold, and (technically) Roxith, Thane of Rot, a full-time bad guy. The final scorecard: Farris fighting a hopeless battle in the Phyrexian Furnace layer, Ria having saved her home city once but without a great deal of hope for next time, Roxith torn to shreds, Kessla killed by her own bomb, and Unctus corrupted by Phyrexian oil. |
| 60 | [[/folder]] |
| 61 | |
| 62 | [[folder:Comedy]] |
| 63 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAHS3NJtpa0 Pea Green Boat]], by comedian Creator/StewartLee, turns the story of The Owl and The Pussycat into a BlackComedy about the pussycat [[OceanMadness going slowly mad]] and believing that the owl is in love with him. |
| 64 | * Creator/DaveChappelle's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGRIXvhTh0w bit]] about why he doesn't call 911. |
| 65 | -->''[[BringMyBrownPants Did you hear he shit himself?]] Died crying like a bitch...'' |
| 66 | * Alisdair Beckett-King's [[https://youtu.be/2GpCU76kIRY "Guy Who Is About To Die In Space"]], discussing [[ItMakesSenseInContext the downfall of "Project Hubris" and the Captain eating his own face.]] |
| 67 | [[/folder]] |
| 68 | |
| 69 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 70 | * Season 9 of ''ComicBook/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': After dying in Season 8 [[spoiler:Giles']] diaries are being read by Angel, who MustMakeAmends by taking over [[spoiler:Giles']] responsibilities and who is trying to find a way to resurrect him. |
| 71 | * ''ComicBook/TheCrawlingKing'' contains a large number of spooky stories pertaining to people being killed in a number of ways, up to and including the fall of the Kingdom of Gyldenbrae. |
| 72 | * In ''Countdown'', when an unstoppable virus destroys an AlternateUniverse (a universe that had ALREADY been destroyed and remade), we see the last days from through the journal of Buddy Blank. We watch through his eyes as the universe becomes a planet where humans and animals are transformed into violent, bloodthirsty {{Half Human Hybrid}}s. |
| 73 | * Brilliantly used in ''ComicBook/{{Grendel}}'' to illustrate the self-doubts and conflicts within Brian Li Sung, as he slowly succumbs to the Grendel identity. [[spoiler:The brilliant part is that what at first seemed to be mere doodles in his journal's margins turn out to be the musings of the increasingly self-directing Grendel spirit, itself!]] |
| 74 | * Doctor Strange's log in ''ComicBook/Marvel1602''. |
| 75 | * Twitch's journal in ''ComicBook/{{Spawn}}''. |
| 76 | * ''ComicBook/{{Superman}}'': |
| 77 | ** In the ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' storyline ''ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}}'', Jimmy Olsen's camera auto-uploads to the server of Daily Planet pictures of Jimmy being dragged for someone wearing an S-shield and disappearing in a smoke cloud. |
| 78 | ** Superman has one in the post-apocalyptic Creator/{{Elseworlds}} ''ComicBook/SupermanDistantFires''. |
| 79 | ** In ''ComicBook/LastDaughterOfKrypton'', Kara is watching a recording of Zor-El's last words (essentially: "Our world and all of us are about to die, but I hope you survive, my dear daughter--"), when her father is suddenly shot in his chest by some off-screen attacker. Zor-El lets out a shout of pain... and the recording abruptly ends. |
| 80 | ** ''ComicBook/TheKillersOfKrypton'': During one of his journeys across the galaxy, Z'ndr Kol finds the ruins of a ravaged Kryptonian outpost. As exploring, he stumbles upon a record where one of the settlers is sending a distress signal which ends up with the woman getting speared to death. |
| 81 | --->''"I am Revell-Tor of the Kryptonian outpost on Idieg Prime! We are under attack! Please! They are butchering us! They are-- here. AAIIIEEEE!!"'' |
| 82 | ** In ''ComicBook/TheUntoldStoryOfArgoCity'', a volunteer working in a nuclear shelter notices the shielding has been cracked by another meteor shower. Realizing that Kryptonite radiation is leaking into the building and killing him and everybody else, he sends his final report before dying. |
| 83 | --->''"More meteors breaking through the shielding! The radiation is affecting everyone! This is my last report! Good luck!"'' |
| 84 | * ''ComicBook/ATownCalledDragon'': The viking ordered to take the dragon egg to present day Colorado kept a journal and ensured it as a warning to others, and doubles as an instruction manual on how to kill dragons. |
| 85 | * ''ComicBook/TransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'': First-Aid records a log when the medical station is hit with a disease that causes the recipients to have their internal organs turned to liquid and cry out their eyes. He tries to stay hopeful as everyone dies or comes close to it, lamenting that he, and his remaining coworkers (except Pharma, who "accidentally" locked himself in a containment cell) are all infected, and will succumb to the disease soon. |
| 86 | * Dr. Delia Surridge's journal in ''ComicBook/VForVendetta''. In the graphic novel (though not the movie), she describes V's art projects in fascinated detail; these turn out to be intricate bombs and poisons that he later uses to destroy Larkhill and escape. The graphic novel also mentions that many pages are missing, leading to much speculation over what info they may have contained. Finch suggests that the missing pages contained information on V's identity and the reason he was imprisoned in Larkhill, also claiming that given where the journal was found in the police search that he deliberately placed it there so the government could collect it. |
| 87 | * Rorschach's journal in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}''. |
| 88 | * The entirety of the narration of ''ComicBook/X23InnocenceLost'' is in the form of a letter from Sarah Kinney wrote to her daughter and creation, ComicBook/{{X 23}}, in the event she was unable to tell her about her origins herself. Unfortunately, that's exactly what ended up happening. Even worse, because the letter was so badly fouled by Sarah's blood, Laura was never able to read it herself until she was given the copy Sarah had the foresight to also send to Wolverine just in case. |
| 89 | * Phase IV of ''ComicBook/{{Zenith}}'' features one of these serving as the narration. Essentially Dr Michael Peyne's account of how the [[EldritchAbomination Lloigor]] apparently won the final battle and have free reign to [[RealityWarper turn the Earth]] [[ToCreateAPlaygroundForEvil into their own private playground]], it's being written under especially trying circumstances: Peyne is virtually alone in a WorldOfChaos and he's been cursed to [[MerlinSickness grow progressively younger]] [[FountainOfYouth at an increasingly rapid pace]]. For good measure, the Lloigor [[LampshadeHanging mockingly point out]] that this log is completely pointless, given that no human beings remain alive to read it and the Lloigor themselves will destroy the account along with all human history as soon as he's finished; however, Peyne makes it clear that he's writing this mainly because he has absolutely nothing better to do with what little time he has left. True to form, as he reaches the final stages of regression, [[StylisticSuck Peyne's handwriting deteriorates into barely-coherent scrawls]], until at last he gives up on the entire log to take a nap - during which he reverts to infancy and finally ceases to exist. [[spoiler: However, it's soon revealed that the Lloigor [[LotusEaterMachine aren't as victorious as Peyne thought they were]]...]] |
| 90 | * The entirety of the illustrated novel ''Zombies: A Record of the Year of Infection'' is treated this way. The book is framed as a journal that was being kept by a young doctor attempting to survive the ZombieApocalypse. [[spoiler:It cuts off suddenly, mid journal entry, several days after the character reaches a supposedly safe haven. No explanation is given, and it is simply stated that the journal was recovered later, and no-one knows what happens to the journal writer, or the other people from the safe haven.]] |
| 91 | [[/folder]] |
| 92 | |
| 93 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 94 | * The [[https://www.gocomics.com/garfield/1996/03/03 March 3, 1996 strip]] of ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' has Jon watch a video tape that was made by his rare and expensive talking parrot, who tries to tell Jon that Garfield has been stalking him until the parrot gets eaten by Garfield. |
| 95 | [[/folder]] |
| 96 | |
| 97 | [[folder:Films -- Animation]] |
| 98 | * Hiro's Journal, one of Disney's ''WesternAnimation/BigHero6'' books, is a journal written by Hiro that continually goes downhill due to [[spoiler: Tadashi's death]], including aggressively scribbled out pages of solid black. [[AvertedTrope Averted]] in that it takes an upturn at the end. |
| 99 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Felidae}}''. The progressively alcoholic veterinary Dr. Preterius holds a pre-mortem camera diary of him and his two lab assistants trying to develop a new "''glue''" for organic tissue, by experimenting with homeless cats in his practice in his house's basement. The first trials lead to gruesome deaths of several cats, as the prototype glue turns out to be acidic. The next trials on a special homeless cat promptly named [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic "Claudandus"]] are way more successful. However, they have to cut the agonized cat open again for further experimenting. Then, the experiment's funding is cut, and both of Preterius' lab assistants quit. Preterius, who is slowly succumbing to his [[TheAlcoholic alcoholism]], keeps on working independently, and seemingly goes mad at the end when he claims Claudandus to be talking to him. It should be noted that ''Felidae'' is a crime story told from the viewpoint of a [[TalkingAnimal talking cat]]. Therefore, Preterius' ravings aren't as nutty after all. |
| 100 | * In ''WesternAnimation/FrozenII'', when Elsa and Anna find [[spoiler:the wreck of their parents' ship, Anna immediately starts looking for the sealed waterproof compartment built into all Arendelle ships. Inside the compartment she finds a map of the ship's intended journey and a handwritten note from their mother on the map]]. |
| 101 | * In ''Anime/{{Suzume}}'', the titular character kept a diary as a child where she would draw a picture each day. When her hometown was destroyed by a tsunami, she instead blacked out the entirety of a page with marker for each day she was [[spoiler:unable to find her mother]]. The final entry is [[spoiler:a drawing of the door to the Ever After where she met her future self]]. |
| 102 | * ''WesternAnimation/WallE'': [[spoiler: before AUTO goes into "Override Directive A113" mode, he shows up one of those, where the President of Buy n Large, in the same set of an earlier message, only trashed to hell, says that Earth is unsalvageable]]. |
| 103 | [[/folder]] |
| 104 | |
| 105 | [[folder:Multiple Media]] |
| 106 | * ''Franchise/MonsterVerse'': |
| 107 | ** ''Skull Island: The Birth of Kong'': The supplementary materials includes the detailed notes of ''Film/KongSkullIsland'' character Bill Randa on the titular island and its inhabitants, which were evidently written during his time on the island before he met his death by a Skullcrawler during the movie. |
| 108 | ** Randa attempts to make another one on his handheld camera in the DistantPrologue of ''Series/MonarchLegacyOfMonsters'', but a Mother Longlegs destroys the camera while chasing him. Instead, Bill throws his backpack containing plot-triggering Monarch files into the ocean, so that they'll be dredged up and read four decades after his death. |
| 109 | [[/folder]] |
| 110 | |
| 111 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 112 | * "Death Story" by Lecrae is the last-minute prayer of a gangster on his deathbed. |
| 113 | -->''I wronged You, I see that, I want to give in,\ |
| 114 | But I ain't really sure if you'll forgive me my sins...\ |
| 115 | Well, this is it. No more discussion to do.\ |
| 116 | I don't know much, but I know I should be trusting in... [[{{Flatline}} BEEEEEEEEEEEEP...]]'' |
| 117 | * "The Chariot" by The Cat Empire. |
| 118 | -->''This is a song that came upon me one night\ |
| 119 | When the news it had been telling me\ |
| 120 | About one more war and one more fight\ |
| 121 | And "aeh" I sighed but then\ |
| 122 | I thought about my friends\ |
| 123 | Then I wrote this declaration\ |
| 124 | Just in case the world ends.'' |
| 125 | * "Chiron Beta Prime" by Music/JonathanCoulton. |
| 126 | -->''That's all the family news that we're allowed to talk about\ |
| 127 | We really hope you'll come and visit us soon\ |
| 128 | I mean we're literally begging you to visit us\ |
| 129 | And make it quick before they [message redacted]'' |
| 130 | * "Experiment IV" by Music/KateBush. |
| 131 | -->''Then they told us\ |
| 132 | All they wanted\ |
| 133 | Was a sound that could kill someone\ |
| 134 | From a distance.\ |
| 135 | So we go ahead,\ |
| 136 | And the meters are over in the red.\ |
| 137 | It's a mistake in the making.\ |
| 138 | ...\ |
| 139 | We won't be there to be blamed.\ |
| 140 | We won't be there to snitch.\ |
| 141 | I just pray that someone there\ |
| 142 | Can hit the switch.'' |
| 143 | * Music/DavidBowie: |
| 144 | ** The last verse of "Music/SpaceOddity" details the last exchange between ground control and Major Tom when his communication circuit breaks down, leaving the latter stranded in space (presumably forever). |
| 145 | --->''Ground Control to Major Tom\ |
| 146 | Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong\ |
| 147 | Can you hear me, Major Tom?\ |
| 148 | Can you hear me, Major Tom?\ |
| 149 | Can you hear me, Major Tom?\ |
| 150 | Can you.... '' |
| 151 | ** Even more appropriate is Music/PeterSchilling's answer to "Space Oddity", "Major Tom (Coming Home)": |
| 152 | --->''Earth below us, drifting, falling\ |
| 153 | floating weightless, calling, calling\ |
| 154 | home...\ |
| 155 | Across the stratosphere a final message,\ |
| 156 | give my wife my love, then nothing more.'' |
| 157 | ** The acoustic version on the ''Sound+ Vision'' album even [[LastNoteNightmare ends with a choked sob, and the Morse Code for S.O.S. repeating into the fade.]] |
| 158 | ** Bowie's final studio album, ''Music/BlackstarAlbum'', was recorded while he was terminally ill with cancer. The album is loaded with themes about a man who knows he's not long for this world. |
| 159 | * On a similar note, ''Music/{{Innuendo}}'' was the final album that Music/{{Queen|Band}} released before Music/FreddieMercury succumbed to AIDS. Like Bowie's album ''Blackstar'', many of the songs can be read as Mercury's final messages to the world, ranging in tone from frightened ("I'm Going Slightly Mad") to affectionate ("These Are The Days Of Our Lives") to courageous ("The Show Must Go On"). |
| 160 | * Dr. Jekyll sings an Apocalyptic Log in the musical version of ''Theatre/JekyllAndHyde''. |
| 161 | * “Minoans” by Giant Squid is a general story of about half a dozen apocalypses that destroyed the Minoans and their legacy. However, the song “Phaistos Disc” details how the Minoans struggled to survive and wanted to leave a record on the Phaistos Disc for future people to avoid their fate. |
| 162 | ** [[spoiler:No one can read it any more.]] |
| 163 | * [[Music/TheFinalCut "Two Suns in the Sunset"]] by Music/PinkFloyd describes the last few moments of a man's life before he is killed by a nuclear bomb. |
| 164 | -->''the rusty wire that holds the cork\ |
| 165 | that keeps the anger in\ |
| 166 | gives way\ |
| 167 | and suddenly it's day again\ |
| 168 | the sun is in the east\ |
| 169 | even though the day is done\ |
| 170 | two suns in the sunset\ |
| 171 | could be the human race is run\ |
| 172 | and as the windshield melts\ |
| 173 | my tears evaporate\ |
| 174 | leaving only charcoal to defend\ |
| 175 | finally i understand\ |
| 176 | the feelings of the few\ |
| 177 | ashes and diamonds\ |
| 178 | foe and friend\ |
| 179 | we were all equal in the end'' |
| 180 | * Music/BillyJoel's "Goodnight Saigon" - the first two lines let you know that it doesn't end well. |
| 181 | * Music/{{Loudness}}'s song ''S.D.I.,'' which is about a world going into nuclear war: |
| 182 | -->''All the nations will be glowing\ |
| 183 | On their way to hell\ |
| 184 | Angels of death are marching closer\ |
| 185 | The last supper's held\ |
| 186 | Here in the land you'll see no more\ |
| 187 | I'll see you in hell They call it war'' |
| 188 | * Similarly, [[Music/MasakiYamada EZO]]'s ''Fire Fire'', with the entire song describing nuclear war and the world after, with a plea at the end to stop the war before it happens. [[http://www.metallyrica.com/lyrica/ezo/fire_fire.html#3 Lyrics here]] as the ''entire song'' is this. |
| 189 | * Music/IronMaiden's "Satellite 15...The Final Frontier" is about a pilot in a damaged ship giving his last report. |
| 190 | ** The title track of ''Music/TheNumberOfTheBeast'', which describes a man recalling a Satanic Ritual he witnessed, only for him to be consumed by it at the end. |
| 191 | * "Pioneers over C." by Music/VanDerGraafGenerator, which, like "Space Oddity" deals with space exploration gone wrong: |
| 192 | -->''We left the earth in 1983\ |
| 193 | Fingers groping for the galaxies\ |
| 194 | Reddened eyes staring up into the void\ |
| 195 | A thousand stars to be exploited\ |
| 196 | Somebody help me, I'm falling\ |
| 197 | Somebody help me, I'm falling down...\ |
| 198 | Into sky, into earth, into sky, into earth'' |
| 199 | * Music/{{Rush|Band}}'s "Cygnus X-1" is about a space pilot flying his ship directly into the heart of a black hole. Subverted in the second part, "Hemispheres", where he comes out the other end. |
| 200 | * Music/MindInABox's "Stalkers". By the sound of things, the singer is either suffering from a mental breakdown from paranoid schizophrenia, or being [[TheAssimilator forcibly assimilated]] by a HiveMind. |
| 201 | -->''I can feel my thoughts dying out\ |
| 202 | so my last thought is just your name\ |
| 203 | and it is all that will remain...'' |
| 204 | ** Subverted in the later song "Overwrite", wherein the singer is implied to be an ArtificialIntelligence in the process of being overtaken by what is revealed to be [[GrewBeyondTheirProgramming free will and self-awareness]]. |
| 205 | --->''It is not too late...\ |
| 206 | To open my eyes.\ |
| 207 | To cure the blind.\ |
| 208 | It is not too late...\ |
| 209 | It is my decision.\ |
| 210 | It is my mind.'' |
| 211 | * "30k ft" by Assemblage 23 is about a doomed airline passenger making a final phone call to his wife/lover. The song [[KilledMidSentence cuts off in mid-sentence]] at the end. |
| 212 | * Music/{{Eminem}}'s "Stan" has the final tape recorded by Stan, just before [[spoiler:he drives his car off a bridge with his girlfriend locked in the trunk because he thinks his hero Eminem is deliberately ignoring him]]. It's only at the last minute that he realises he has no way to send the tape. |
| 213 | * The radio edit/commercial edit remix version of Music/VioletUK's ''Blind Dance.'' It is an ambient sound / SpokenWordInMusic / ElectronicMusic Apocalyptic Log of the end of the world. The line about the nuclear facilities became even HarsherInHindsight after the Fukushima meltdown disaster. (The original song is GothicMetal IntercourseWithYou and ObligatoryBondageSong.) |
| 214 | * Music/{{cosMO}}'s Adventurous Girl and Miniature Garden Game starts out as a song about a [[{{Moe}} cute little girl]] exploring a SugarBowl. At around two minutes in, the music video zooms out, superimposing the image of a heartbeat monitor onto the girl. She then discovers a pile of what appears to be stick figures with Xs drawn over their faces. The rest is a parade of really confusing imagery, which gets more and more distorted as the song goes on, while the beeping of the heartbeat monitor goes on behind the music. Eventually, the video starts glitching to the point when it's very difficult to see anything. The song ends with the girl saying she'll see everyone in the aforementioned Sugar Bowl again, and then fades out to the monitor flatlining. [[spoiler: In a later song, it's revealed that [[UnreliableNarrator the world that she's in is an artificial reality, and she has no idea what's going on]].]] |
| 215 | * Comedy Musician Music/{{Stephen Lynch}}'s ''Dear Diary'' series is diary entries by either celebrities or famous figures in history before something really bad happens to them. One example is: [[spoiler:Christopher Reeve writing an entry about a horse he hopes to tame...]] |
| 216 | * "Powderfinger", from Music/NeilYoung's ''Music/RustNeverSleeps', is written from the point of view of a young man defending his family farm from hostile invaders. He's shot and killed, and the final chorus acts as a kind of epitaph. |
| 217 | * "Olkinainen" by the Finnish band Miljoonasade is about longing, but the lyrics are about writing a "should you find this letter" letter at night. In his longing the singer built a woman out of straw, and by now dancing and laughing on the roof of the barn with its head under its arm. As he finishes he leaves for the hoe and the gas canister. |
| 218 | * This is effectively what Finnish FolkMetal band Music/{{Moonsorrow}}'s albums ''Viides luku: Hävitetty'' and ''Varjoina kuljemme kuolleiden maassa'' boil down to: the former depicts TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and the latter depicts life, such as it can be called, AfterTheEnd. |
| 219 | * "Film/{{Nosferatu}}" by Music/BlueOysterCult mentions an example in the form of a CaptainsLog: |
| 220 | -->The ship pulled in without a sound\ |
| 221 | The faithful captain long since cold\ |
| 222 | He kept his log 'til the bloody end\ |
| 223 | Last entry read: "Rats in the hold\ |
| 224 | My crew is dead, I fear the plague" |
| 225 | [[/folder]] |
| 226 | |
| 227 | [[folder:Poetry]] |
| 228 | * Creator/ShelSilverstein combines this with SubvertedRhymeEveryOccasion in some of his poems: |
| 229 | ** "Boa Constrictor": |
| 230 | --->''Oh no, he swallowed my toe\ |
| 231 | Oh gee, he's gotten my knee\ |
| 232 | Oh fiddle, he's up to my middle\ |
| 233 | Oh heck, he's up to my neck\ |
| 234 | Oh dread, he's ''mmmmmfffff...'' |
| 235 | ** "The Slithery Dee": |
| 236 | --->''...He came out of the sea;\ |
| 237 | He ate all the others,\ |
| 238 | But he didn't eat--SL-U-R-P...'' |
| 239 | [[/folder]] |
| 240 | |
| 241 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 242 | * ''Podcast/TheMessage:'' "If [[BrownNote it]] kills us, they'll find us at our desks." |
| 243 | * Halfway through the first season of ''Podcast/{{Tanis}}'', a recurring segment of a woman reading from the journal of an expedition to the titular Tanis begins. The journal chronicles the strange events and occurrences throughout the trip, never referring to anyone in the expedition by names, only titles: The Runner, the Novelist, the Zealot, and the Witness, who's writing the journal. The season finale reveals that [[spoiler: the Witness is the show's host, Nic Silver]]. |
| 244 | * ''Podcast/TheWhiteVault'' is told through the recovered audio logs of expeditions that went horribly wrong after the discover of bizarre, alien ruins. Seasons 1 and 2 are about an expedition to Svalbard, and Seasons 3 and 4 are about an expedition to the Pantagonian mountains. |
| 245 | [[/folder]] |
| 246 | |
| 247 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 248 | * Creator/OrsonWelles' infamous radio version of ''Radio/TheWarOfTheWorlds'': |
| 249 | ** Commentator Carl Phillips[[note]]played by Frank Readick[[/note]] describes the effects of the Martian heat ray right up to the bitter end: |
| 250 | --->'''Phillips:''' A humped shape is rising out of the pit. I can make out a small beam of light against a mirror. What's that? There's a jet of flame springing from the mirror, and it leaps right at the advancing men. It strikes them head on! Good Lord, they're turning into flame! |
| 251 | ''(screams and unearthly shrieks)'' |
| 252 | '''Phillips:''' Now the whole field's caught fire. ''(explosion)'' The woods... the barns... the gas tanks of automobiles... it's spreading everywhere. It's coming this way. About twenty yards to my right... |
| 253 | ''(crash of microphone, then dead silence)'' |
| 254 | ** An even better example is the announcer broadcasting from atop the CBS building in New York, watching the Martian's poisonous smoke drift across the city. |
| 255 | --->'''Announcer:''' [[note]]Ray Collins, later Lt. Tragg on ''Series/PerryMason''[[/note]] Smoke comes out, black smoke, drifting over the city. People in the streets see it now. They're running towards the East River, thousands of them, dropping in like rats. Now the smoke's spreading faster. It's reached Times Square. People are trying to run away from it, but it's no use. They're -- They're falling like flies. Now the smoke's crossing Sixth Avenue... Fifth Avenue... a hundred yards away... it's -- it's fifty feet.... ''(a thud, as he collapses)'' |
| 256 | ** Made even creepier with the other half of the Apocalyptic Log from the radio[[note]]also Frank Readick[[/note]] immediately following: ''"2X2L calling CQ... 2X2L calling CQ... 2X2L calling CQ... New York. Isn't there anyone on the air? Isn't there... anyone... 2x2L--" *silence*'' Now remember that this was being portrayed as a news broadcast... |
| 257 | ** And while the fake newscast portion of this show is what people remember, the last third of it abandoned the news format, instead taking the form of a reading from Pierson's Apocalyptic Log diary as he travels on foot from Grover's Mill to New York City. |
| 258 | * The Creator/BigFinish ''Series/DarkShadows'' audio play ''The House By The Sea'' is told through a collection of tapes a man is leaving for his psychiatrist. The recordings tell of how the man, Gerald Conway, gradually tries to unravel the mysteries surrounding the house he has rented (rented because he kept seeing it in his dreams). Things start heating up when he keeps reporting finding human teeth throughout the house, he sees a ghost, records a conversation with [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Barnabas Collins]] (whose voice fails to appear on the tape) and holds a seance in which we hear him being briefly possessed by the assorted spirits who occupy the building. Of course, it all culminates in true [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraftian]] fashion when [[spoiler: he breaks into the cellar, finds a human skeleton and a living shadow which starts making ''pump pump'' noises causing Conway to have a heart attack and the final moments reveal that he has been taken over by the freed remains of the warlock, Nicholas Blair]]. |
| 259 | * In Season 2 of ''Radio/{{Earthsearch}}'', the protagonists encounter Solaria, one of the orbiting artificial suns used when [[PlanetSpaceship Earth was being moved to another solar system]], now adrift in space. They search through the hologram recordings left by its crew to find out where Earth went, but only find routine technical reports. Until they play an unlabelled disk that shows the commander of Solaria calling on Earth to cut the tractor beams holding Solaria in orbit because its [[AIIsACrapshoot artificial intelligence has gone insane]] and is about to [[KillSat burn up a city]] unless its demands are met. The commander is then killed by a welding android controlled by Solaris. |
| 260 | [[/folder]] |
| 261 | |
| 262 | [[folder:Roleplay]] |
| 263 | * In ''Roleplay/TheGamersAlliance'', [[TheSpock Nymgrock]] finds the elven sages' forgotten diaries which chronicle the first spread of the Blood Fever which occurred hundreds of years earlier. The first entries show some curious, out of the ordinary events in the sages' lives. However, as the entries progress, the effects of the Blood Fever start showing up in more gruesome ways and the writings become increasingly desperate and terrified, eventually culminating in the respective final entries where the writers perform a HeroicSacrifice to end the plague. [[ForeGoneConclusion It doesn't work because the plague shows up deadlier than ever in the present day, which has been the very reason Nymgrock sought out the diaries in the first place to find information about what could be causing the plague]]. |
| 264 | * Several notes in ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'', particularly [[spoiler:Filbert]]'s journal, detailing his... tests... of the limits of the treatment. It's a CosmicHorrorStory where everyone has recurring amnesia, so what else would you expect? |
| 265 | [[/folder]] |
| 266 | |
| 267 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 268 | * Conversed in ''Theatre/MaryMary'', where Mary, blaming Bob for being too analytical, compares him to "those people who take an overdose of sleeping pills, and sit there making notes while they're dying: '4 A.M. Vision beginning to blur.'" (Later in the play, Bob does in fact take an excessive but non-fatal dose of sleeping pills.) |
| 269 | [[/folder]] |
| 270 | |
| 271 | [[folder:Theme Parks]] |
| 272 | * At Ride/DisneyThemeParks, one of these can be heard while waiting in line for the ''Ride/JungleCruise'' ride. |
| 273 | ** The queue for ''Ride/ExpeditionEverest'' features a museum about previous failed expeditions on the mountain. Among them are photographs which began to track the yeti, and the last ones show the group being attacked. |
| 274 | * At [[Ride/BuschGardens Busch Gardens Williamsburg]], ''Curse of [=DarKastle=]'' is an Apocalyptic Log... set into an [[GroundhogDayLoop Endless Loop]]. |
| 275 | * The plot of Curse of Pompeii and many other Theatre/HowlOScream attractions is often one of these, too. |
| 276 | * [[Ride/UniversalStudios Universal's]] Theatre/HalloweenHorrorNights occasionally uses this on their websites to build up the storyline for the houses and scarezones. A notable example was the 2004 house, Disorientorium, supposedly a Wonderworks-style tourist attraction based around disorientation and illusions. Most of the story is told through the Blackberry of a man who became more and more obsessed with the attraction, to the point of breaking in and gradually losing his faculties, until the final entry is [[spoiler: a blood-splattered phone with a bullet hole in the screen and a garbled message frozen below it]]. |
| 277 | [[/folder]] |
| 278 | |
| 279 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 280 | * ''VisualNovel/AnalogueAHateStory'' and its sequel ''VisualNovel/HatePlus'' revolve around reading through the archives of the ''Mugunghwa'', a Korean GenerationShip that had been [[GhostShip drifting derelict and lifeless]] for some six hundred years before being found again. The PlayerCharacter is a PrivateInvestigator hired by a historical society to [[JigsawPuzzlePlot figure out what the hell happened]]. Unusually, the log entries are presented in AnachronicOrder. |
| 281 | * The ''VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}'' visual novel, ''Kotomi's route'', her parents left her a testimony and a teddy bear in a briefcase despite many important scientific files being contained in it, and they wrote the testimony ''during'' a horrible airplane crash. |
| 282 | * In the visual novels of ''VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry'', The TIPS show that Shion kept a journal as [[spoiler:she was going mad due to Hinamizawa Syndrome]]. Although you actually do get to see many of the events that the journal refers to, it gives a closer look into her mind as the events unfold and ends with the "Notebook of Happiness" entry, which ends, as you might guess from the ironic title, [[spoiler:"I'm sorry for having been born"]]. Naturally, it was cut from the anime. |
| 283 | * Parodied in ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}} Mask of Arcadius''. The second half of the game begins with [[NumberTwo Ava]] [[CaptainsLog composing a log]] about how the Sunrider's crew has been marooned for months on a desolate planet, how the chain of command is breaking down and how it falls to her to restore order and prevent a mutiny... only for Asaga to interrupt the dictation, revealing that they're just [[ScrewTheWarWerePartying on shore leave]] [[BeachEpisode at a beach resort]]. Ava, being an uptight workaholic, is simply going stir-crazy. |
| 284 | * In ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', the first arc ends with a note written by Maria Ushiromiya that relates to the murders that took place on the island of Rokkenjima in 1986. Later on, it's revealed that the note was actually written by [[spoiler:Yasu]], who is also revealed to have written the first and second arcs; they washed up on the mainland in message bottles. |
| 285 | * In ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'', you'll find a diary in one of the safes. Phi translates it to reveal it's what has happened in the wake of Radical 6: bodies are just piled up to the point flies are blocking out the sun while cats are getting fat off the rats that come to nibble on those iles. |
| 286 | * [[spoiler:Professor Imagawa]] in ''VisualNovel/YuNo'' left one of these to chronicle her last days after becoming trapped underground. While she eventually discovered the way out, she grew too weak to actually take that method of escape and instead wrote down how to do it. Unfortunately, the solution is no longer at her body because Takuya wasn't the first one to find her, so he has to figure it out himself. |
| 287 | [[/folder]] |
| 288 | |
| 289 | [[folder:Web Animation]] |
| 290 | * The {{Gamebook}}-style video series ''The Journal of Morning Mist'', based on ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', features Morning Mist going to a seemingly-deserted island and finding evidence of a ReligionOfEvil that worships an EldritchAbomination known as "Mother", and writing about what he finds. Whichever path the viewer chooses, the expedition all goes to hell quickly, and [[DownerEnding none of the paths end well for Morning Mist]]. Some entries feature him [[BrainwashedAndCrazy getting brainwashed by the cult]], some feature him dying from Mother [[EyeScream making him tear his own eyes out]], and a few have him begging for help after the cult captures and tortures him. Even the entries where Morning Mist isn't dead, tortured or indoctrinated are [[UncertainDoom ambiguous, but the implications are clearly unpleasant]]. |
| 291 | * Gleefully parodied along with several other horror game cliches in the "Oh the Horror" segment of [[http://jayisgames.com/games/escape-9000-jayisgames-office/ this]] Flash game released for AprilFoolsDay. |
| 292 | -->"I have never kept a journal before, but I figured that the occasion of moving into that house where that occult-inspired mass suicide happened 30 years ago was an excellent time to start." |
| 293 | * ''WebAnimation/IfTheEmperorHadATextToSpeechDevice'': |
| 294 | ** One of the letters sent to the Emperor in the second Q&A session takes this form, written by a man left behind on a world affected by the [[https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Tyrant_Star Tyrant Star]]. Notable for containing almost no humor in it at all, with the exception of a mention of a "hyper-realistic Furby" (which cried 666 liters of blood as the Star's influence reached its peak). It's mentioned that the letter was discovered sealed in a box on a ruined planet devoid of life, explaining how it got delivered. |
| 295 | -->"The scratching at the walls has stopped. They come." |
| 296 | ** ''Behemoth'' shows the beginning of the Tyranid invasion, including Inquisitor Kryptmann finding the video log of a techpriest on Tyran (next to his [[PornStash "important data on Tau anatomy"]]). Watching the techpriest's despair as his planet is overwhelmed by a sea of living blades drives one of the stormtroopers to shoot himself. |
| 297 | [[/folder]] |
| 298 | |
| 299 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 300 | * ''Webcomic/EightBitTheater'' |
| 301 | ** In issue [[http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/03/03/episode-522-the-descent-into-sanity/ 522: The descent into sanity]], the Light Warriors end up trapped in an ice cavern: Black Mage keeps a journal over the next five days, documenting the group's growing insanity as they explore the caves and their infestation by [[EldritchAbomination horrors from beneath the earth]]. Subverted when it's realised that Black Mage has gone temporarily insane, and the experiences he records in the journal never happened. |
| 302 | ** Later, when they travel to the sunken Sea Shrine in a submarine which is ''really'' their aptly-named airship "The Deathtrap", Black Mage falls into a spoken version. After he tells you of his team's decent into madness, Red Mage tries to tell him it's only been a few hours since they started the journey. Black Mage keeps narrating with something to the effect of "I ignored the gibberish which sprouted from my former teammates misshapen lips." Apparently he really likes doing this. Or he just [[OmnicidalManiac wants to see them all dead. As usual.]] |
| 303 | --->'''Red Mage:''' What kind of follower of [[EldritchAbomination dark and unnamed gods]] are you that you can't even make a successful [[SanityMeter sanity check]] against ''boredom?'' |
| 304 | * ''WebComic/AmericanBarbarian'': One of the survivors of "The Great Clusterfuck" claims that it really did live up to its name; everything that could have caused the apocalypse ''happened all at once''. It was so confusing that they built a time machine just to record exactly what went wrong, even though they knew they didn't have a chance in hell of preventing all those things going off at the same time. |
| 305 | * If [[spoiler: the Junior Biovessel Explorers]] in ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'' had valued self-preservation over writing journal entries, they'd have been able to write more journal entries. |
| 306 | * ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' |
| 307 | ** Rose notes Sburb walkthroughts always "[[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002104 vaguely suggest an impending threat before they end. The already poorly constructed sentences become even more curt and ambiguous. As if written hastily and with a sense of alarm. Actually, their dedication to updating the walkthrough under such circumstances is admirable.]]" Moments after this, she learns that the game somehow summons a real life meteor that aims for the players' houses. |
| 308 | ** [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=004443 In this time travelling memo,]] Sollux records his reaction to a lethal telepathic wave that would be his end. [[DeathIsCheap Temporarily]]. |
| 309 | %%** [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=005260 A memo]] from after [[spoiler:Gamzee flips out]]. |
| 310 | * ''Webcomic/NuzlockeComics'', in Season 2, had Ruby and his Pokemon finding the records of Mewtwo's creation. [[MoodWhiplash Ruby falls asleep in the middle of the video.]] |
| 311 | * {{Lampshaded}} and parodied in the first KITTEN arc of ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''. |
| 312 | * In Warren Ellis's ''Webcomic/{{Superidol}}'', a pop culture writer describes a computer-generated IdolSinger's [[TheVirus viral]] takeover of the world. |
| 313 | * ''Webcomic/TheUnspeakableVaultOfDoom'' [[http://www.goominet.com/unspeakable-vault/vault/361/ explains]] why apocalyptic logs are more and more detailed these days. |
| 314 | * [[http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=69 Happens in a strip from]] ''Webcomic/VGCats'', even though the writer actually comes out okay. |
| 315 | [[/folder]] |
| 316 | |
| 317 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 318 | * There's a web-only story which isn't an apocalypse log, but a diary found in a life raft out at sea. The sole survivor of a shipwreck saw dolphins around her all the time and believed that she was turning into one; the last entry is more or less a heavily misspelled variant of "Flippers are useless. Fuck it, I'm going into the water." |
| 319 | * ''[[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Journal_of_Kith The Journal of Kith]]'' chronicles one dwarf's ill-fated quest to re-discover [[VideoGame/DwarfFortress the ruins of an (in)famous dwarven fortress]] -- {{Blog/Boatmurdered}}. |
| 320 | * [[http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1732348/regex-match-open-tags-except-xhtml-self-contained-tags/1732454#1732454 A web programmer who has seen too much reports back from the abyss]]. |
| 321 | * The [[http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/that-insidious-letter.php "Active Area"]] entry in the [[http://www.somethingawful.com/series/30.php "That Insidious Beast"]] series from Website/SomethingAwful. It's written by an everyman rather than a scientist, but it does describe unspeakable horrors and it also ends [[spoiler:with his suicide]]. |
| 322 | * [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=12960482800A04322800&page=2#28 The forum game]] is especially creepy due to the fact that it's never implied what's really going on. Justified in that an unexplained setting would practically make it easier for people to write logs as creepy as they can imagine them since the mystery would remove most limits to their logs, allowing them to establish any horrific event as probable since there are no specific details to abide by. |
| 323 | * The AlternateRealityGame viral campaign for the Nine Inch Nails album ''Year Zero'' is a wide collection of barely decypherable websites That describe a CrapsackWorld. These websites are sent from the future by a team of computer programmers and quantum physicists as a warning to those of us living in the time of the events triggered their circumstances. Bonus points for one entry written by a White House aide describing the monster sent to allow the Earth to... shall we say, [[ResetButton start over]]. |
| 324 | * The blog ''The Darth Side'' records the thoughts of Darth Vader from Episodes 4-6, ending with Vader preparing to take Luke to their final meeting with the Emperor. |
| 325 | * [[http://wanderers-library.wikidot.com/stars Stars]], a story in ''Website/TheWanderersLibrary'', describes the stars descending to earth and destroying [[spoiler: The Land of Elrich]] as punishment for returning to ways of violence and warfare. |
| 326 | * ''Literature/TheSickLand'', the blog of a researcher posted at a remote station on the fringes of an EldritchLocation. |
| 327 | * Two of Robert Brockway's ''Website/{{Cracked}}'' columns focus on him taking a series of drugs, driving him steadily more insane until concluding with a note from Dan O'Brien describing his behavior at the point where he can write no further - the [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-amazing-new-experimental-drugs-i-just-took-a-review/ first]], nootropics (which according to Dan, were all actually cocaine in false packaging), the [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-attention-deficit-drugs-reviewed-by-taking-them/ second]], various methylphenidate formulations and a [[AllNaturalSnakeOil natural ADD "remedy"]] that turned out to have a dangerous interaction with the methylphenidate. |
| 328 | * One ''Website/RPCAuthority'' record contains a log of anomalous disasters ravaging the planet in an AlternateTimeline, in addition to documentation of an experimental drug with extremely detrimental side effects. In possession of these documents was [[http://rpcauthority.wikidot.com/rpc-101 RPC-101]], [[WasOnceAMan a dimension-hopping, mindless]] HumanoidAbomination called "The Refugee". |
| 329 | * Numerous ''Website/SCPFoundation'' records. |
| 330 | ** Notably [[http://web.archive.org/web/20100128022529/http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/personal-journal-of-dr-bishop the personnal journal of Dr. Bishop.]] [[spoiler:Attempted rape on machine goddesses is bad, especially if you're a cyborg, m'kay?]] |
| 331 | ** Perhaps more notable is the rather chilling, [[spoiler:not to mention, literal]], example revealed by [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-093 SCP-093]]. |
| 332 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1025 SCP-1025 is a subversion]]. [[spoiler:There was no threat. All the SCP does is make people ''think'' that other people are infected with horrible diseases. After the research staff go completely out of control with hypochondria-by-proxy, somebody from O5 comes along and just [[MundaneSolution sticks the SCP in a box somewhere]]]]. |
| 333 | ** ''[[http://www.scp-wiki.net/document-recovered-from-the-marianas-trench Document Recovered From The Marianas Trench]]'' |
| 334 | ** SCP-370 has Incident-370-A, a personal log written by the Foundation doctor in charge of the expedition that found SCP-370. It details the progressive infection and death of expedition personnel caused by SCP-370's influence. Although he had been infected himself, he managed to use a ritual (which required 80% of his blood supply) to contain it. It ends with a ThatWasTheLastEntry that breaks off in mid-sentence. |
| 335 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-772 SCP-772 ("Giant Parasitoid Wasps")]]. The scientist who discovered the wasps kept a journal. It details how he found a body filled with wasp larvae, let them hatch and contained them, and how they escaped, attacked and implanted eggs in him. It ends with a ThatWasTheLastEntry of him cutting himself open so the larvae could escape. |
| 336 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-827 SCP-827 ("The Soup")]]. Dr. George Farrow was suffering from cancer and had less than six months to live. He tried to cure himself with stem cell therapy and ended up changing himself into a mass of protoplasm. |
| 337 | ** [[http://scp-wiki.net/scp-930 SCP-930 ("Seagull Island")]]. One of the survivors of the wreck of the U.S.S. Kete kept a journal of his experiences. One by one the other 18 survivors vanished in the night, apparently just walking away. The remaining survivors sometimes found the bodies hanging in the trees, but none of the others ever came back. The last survivor saw glimpses of something in the bushes that was worse than anything he'd ever seen. |
| 338 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1811 SCP-1811 ("Shelf Life")]]. SCP-1811's previous owner, Adrian Balswell, kept a diary explaining how he discovered and experimented with it. It ends with a ThatWasTheLastEntry about how he was going to burn one of the books in SCP-1811. Only the burnt cover of the book was found - Adrian Balswell had disappeared. |
| 339 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1983 SCP-1983 ("Doorway to Nowhere")]] is an extensive one, left by one of the many agents sent inside, the last one left alive when he wrote it. It details what he saw, how the creatures he saw inside work and reproduce, and what he thinks may work to take them down, punctuated with several statements of hopelessness. He finishes saying he'd leave the report where it could be found, and then make sure the creatures wouldn't be able to use his heart for their nest. [[spoiler:When they finally found the note, the SCP had been neutralized by a surprisingly heroic and undeniably badass D-Class (read: a death row convict whose entire job at the Foundation is to be an expendable guinea pig ForScience). [[HeroicSacrifice He didn't manage to survive]], but it's assumed he found the note and followed its instructions. He was posthumously awarded the Foundation Star for his sacrifice]]. |
| 340 | --->''Good luck. Morituri te salutant'' |
| 341 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2249 SCP-2249 ("The Failed Dreamland")]]. A medical doctor is taught how to create a small idyllic universe so the children in a hospital have a place to play. Things go terribly wrong and the new universe ends up filled with gamma radiation, with the doctor dying after being trapped inside of it. |
| 342 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-2661 SCP-2661 ("The Hoof Diary")]]. A man who took an anomalous drug was compelled to build an enormous maze. After he did so [[OurMinotaursAreDifferent a cow-like humanoid]] appeared out of the maze, killed him and ate him. The man left a diary describing his increasing compulsion to build the maze and worship the being who would appear from it. |
| 343 | ** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/bees Bees]], which documents the author's SanitySlippage as everything around him becomes bees. |
| 344 | ** The entry for [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-3001 SCP-3001]] is accompanied by the logs of a researcher trapped in a pocket dimension with dangerously low levels of reality, [[GoMadFromTheIsolation going mad from loneliness]] as [[spoiler: his body slowly disintegrates.]] |
| 345 | ** [[http://lafundacionscp.wikidot.com/scp-es-019 SCP-ES-19]], a pair of headphones that tune to transmissions of [[ApocalypseHow several human extinction scenarios]]. Not all of them are described, but these include implied extraterrestrial invasions, nuclear wars, genocide, and the use of humans as cattle for food. This is bad already, but on an certain percent of times, the listeners begin to suffer of aftereffects of said event, from becoming convinced of what actions should have been taken to prevent it, to presenting PSTD and physical effects related to what they listened. |
| 346 | ** [[https://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-4823 SCP-4823 ("The Whole World Has Gone Bananas!")]]. A fruit fly accidentally hitches a ride with one of our Foundation agents to an AlternateUniverse populated by [[AnthropomorphicFood humanoid fruit]] and [[ExplosiveBreeder starts laying eggs]]. 6 months later, a journal written by a teenage girl is spat out of our end of the portal, detailing how her whole world and everyone she loved was utterly annihilated by TheSwarm. |
| 347 | * ''WebOriginal/TheDeathOfBasketball'' details Creator/JonBois's attempt to kill the NBA in ''VideoGame/NBA2K'' by feeding it only the worst possible players. |
| 348 | * [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v7sM6fl3jk Twilight's Journal]], a ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirls'' audio log by Wubcake. In the journal, Twilight details a CrapsackWorld where [[TheBadGuyWins the Dazzlings have taken over Canterlot]], and she's using magical research to figure out how to stop it. While Twilight does make progress, it's only by kidnapping and killing people as unwitting test subjects. As Twilight [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone gets more affected by guilt]], her SuperpoweredEvilSide Midnight Sparkle arrives as a split personality, [[MadScientist who has far looser morals than Twilight does]]. Twilight even turns to [[DrowningMySorrows alcohol to block out Midnight]]. [[spoiler:Eventually, Midnight [[ShootTheDog kills Twilight's dog Spike to provide them with an Equestrian magic source]], which makes Twilight hit the DespairEventHorizon. Even though the ending implies that Twilight's device worked and that the Dazzlings are gone, Twilight is DrivenToSuicide because of her guilt.]] |
| 349 | [[/folder]] |
| 350 | |
| 351 | [[folder:Web Videos]] |
| 352 | * [[PropheticNames Petty Officer John Deadman]] (Alasdair Beckett-King) records the minor problems suffered by [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Project Hubris]] in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GpCU76kIRY this video]] on Website/YouTube. |
| 353 | * The Alternate Reality Game ''WebVideo/BenDrowned'' is an account of what happened to one person who picked up a haunted ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'' cartridge, and what happened to the people who interacted with it. |
| 354 | * ''[[https://youtu.be/2SVZPiq8PlY?si=C74srrXFhizm_3q_ curse you black]]'' by Creator/MasakoX is a video recording from an ordinary human (played by Masako) in [[BadFuture Future Trunk's timeline]] from ''Manga/DragonBall'' detailing the events from the Android's first attack during his childhood to [[Anime/DragonBallSuper the arrival of Goku Black and his crusade against the humans of Earth]]. It ends with him declaring they will continue to fight to save their world [[spoiler:right before he and his entire timeline [[{{Retgone}} are erased by Future Zeno]]]]. |
| 355 | * The entirety of ''WebVideo/EndTimes'' is one of these. Lampshaded by Harry when Trace first starts recording the videos, and a few times afterward. |
| 356 | * Some stories covered by WebVideo/MrBallen involve a photo, video, or audio recording taken at or around the time of the incident, such as the last photo of a missing person or someone recording their final moments. |
| 357 | * Gerald's journal in ''WebVideo/MyDadsTapes'' was written shortly before his death in hospice, detailing his thoughts about the murders he committed and his belief that he'd end up in Heaven for repenting. |
| 358 | * Right-wing [=YouTuber=] Nightvisionphantom made an "If Obama Wins" video during the 2008 election (needless to say, it was quietly removed afterwards), in which he claims to be the last surviving member of a resistance who fought a losing battle against the Islamofascist hordes that Obama unleashed upon the world. |
| 359 | * ''WebVideo/NOCPlus10'': Two videos contain audio of someone besides the machine talking, one of which involves them desperately calling for help as the station floods. |
| 360 | * LetsPlay/ProtonJon was one of many who dared to try ''VideoGame/KaizoMarioWorld''. His breakdown over the ridiculous, soul-crushing difficulty of the game became the stuff off legend. |
| 361 | -->'''Proton Jon:''' ''(audibly on the verge of tears)'' MOVE FASTER POKEY! |
| 362 | * It is very common in ''Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos'' for the stories to be told in an Apocalyptic Log format. But then, if you're writing about seeing [[HumanoidAbomination Slendy]], that means you've seen him, and if you've seen him, it means [[ParanoiaFuel he let you]]... |
| 363 | ** ''WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID'': |
| 364 | *** Doctor Corenthal's reports, which are left in bags for viewers to find. [[spoiler:The weirdest part is that the three patients he mentions have the same names as the main characters, despite the reports supposedly being written in the 1970s.]] |
| 365 | *** "The Princeton Tapes" featured audio and writings from [[spoiler:multiple Vinnies existing in different iterations]], where he detailed his situation; the tapes end after [[spoiler:one of the Vinnies]] met up with a doctor at Corenthal's old hospital, and suddenly collapsed, dying. |
| 366 | *** HABIT's updates on "Can You See The Words?" included blogs written by people HABIT was torturing, speaking about their situation and what HABIT was doing to them, shortly before they ended up dying. |
| 367 | ** The journal that set ''Blog/MyNameIsZytherys'' in motion seems to be one... though it's filling itself out [[TomeOfEldritchLore independently]] with the title character's own handwriting. |
| 368 | ** In ''WebVideo/TribeTwelve'', Noah read and transcripted his cousin, Milo's, journal, which documented Milo's story from childhood to his late teens, involving Slender-Man hauntings, [[AbusiveParents parental abuse]], and the presence of a {{cult}}. |
| 369 | * ''WebVideo/SlimecicleCinematicUniverse'': The "Deus Logs" Charlie finds in "We Spent 100 Days in a Hardcore Minecraft Apocalypse" is from the POV of The "MadScientist", which chronicles Tommy [[spoiler:bringing the zombie virus from another world.]] |
| 370 | * The ''WebVideo/SMPEarth'' players come across abandoned logs and notes from Laramie Online employees, that help lay out the story of the Octangula ARG. |
| 371 | * [[LetsPlay/SonicTheHedgehog2006 Let's Play Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]] chronicles the slow descent of the Posse from naive optimism to crushing despair. |
| 372 | * A live-action short video titled "Anime/{{Voltron}}: The End" has Sgt. Lance Rainier (Timothy Omundson) wake up after some kind of accident and discover that he is likely the only survivor of the entire Voltron Force. His Red Lion is critically damaged with only 10 minutes of oxygen left and only enough power to send a single message. He starts a recording, explaining that the unthinkable has happened and that the Galaxy Alliance must now prepare for King Zarkon's attack. As he sends it out, the eyes of the Red Lion wink out, the computer is able to tell him goodbye before shutting down. |
| 373 | -->'''Sgt. Lance Rainier:''' Someday, somehow, Voltron will rise again to become the defender that this great universe deserves. Until that day, Godspeed. Good Luck. Red Lion, out. |
| 374 | * In ''WebVideo/WinterOf83'', various audio and video clips are shown, detailing the fall of the sleepy town of Fawn Circle, MN. There's also a set of tapes showing ''how'' this came to be. |
| 375 | [[/folder]] |
| 376 | |
| 377 | ''[-Well, that about wraps it up for... Good God! What's that coming out of the garbage disposal -- eeeeyahh! glub, glub. . . .-]'' |
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