Line #32 Main/ThatWasTheLastEntry


1	->''"June 28th, 1821: It is the anniversary of the night I unleashed a horror. A horror which I tonight shall remove from this world. May God forgive me."''
2	-->-- Last entry in '''Sir Roderick Defoe's''' diary, ''[[VideoGame/ChzoMythos 5 Days a Stranger]]''
3
4	A character finds an abandoned diary, journal or captain's log and reads through it. The contents might be interesting, but the most important part is that after a while it just ... stops. Abruptly.
5
6	The obvious conclusion is that the person writing it died suddenly, without having the opportunity to write further entries. Possibly, the last entry describes what the author was going to do next, or has a hint on what killed him. In many cases, one character reads the increasingly horrifying entries aloud to another character... at a dramatic halt, the listener asks, "What happened next?" Only to receive the ominous answer, "That was the last entry".
7
8	This is typically used to create an aura of mystery around what exactly happened to the writer, and to {{Foreshadow}} whatever danger will await the reader of the journal. Extra points if [[MoodWhiplash the rest of the journal is completely innocuous]]. It may also be an ApocalypticLog if it goes into detail about what happened.
9
10	!!As this can easily be a {{Death Trope\|s}}, [[Administrivia/SpoilersOff unmarked spoilers abound]]. [[Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned Beware]].
11	----
12	!!Examples:
13	[[index]]
14	* ThatWasTheLastEntry/SCPFoundation
15	[[/index]]
16
17	[[foldercontrol]]
18
19	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
20	* In a 1990s ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' arc, Snoopy and Woodstock find a tiny book inside a dented cage. The book is a diary that supposedly belonged to Woodstock's grandfather.
21	-->'''Snoopy:''' ''[reading diary]'' "Once a week, they put my cage outside in the sun. Sooner or later they're going to leave that little door open. Anyway, this is a stupid life sitting here alone, waiting for that to ..." ''[turning to Woodstock]'' And that's it! The diary ends right there! [Your grandfather] probably got out, and is sitting on a telephone wire right now looking down at us...
22	* In one ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' strip, two explorers find the journal of a scientist. The last entry says that the next day, the scientist would test the sense of humor of a group of large but gentle primates by giving one of them a handshake with a joy buzzer. The area is filled with the ripped/discarded clothing and destroyed equipment of the late scientist.
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Fan Works]]
26	* ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'': A rare {{inversion}} happens when Celestine and Olga are reading through Kyril's journal. Rather than finding a "last page" that serves as an abrupt end, it is the two characters who discontinue reading and GTFO, lest they lose their minds due to prolonged exposure to the ArtifactOfDoom. After the pair bolt out, the journal itself opens to the definitive final page, with the author expressing how he StoppedCaring and needed to "end things", "stop it once and for all" and the like. He's still alive.
27	* The story ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3476162/1/Shadow-Realm-Blasphemy Shadow Realm: Blasphemy]]'' is the journal of a translator hired to translate an ancient stone tablet. Near the end of the story, he realizes [[spoiler:it's a ritual to summon Demise, King of Armageddon and Ruin, Queen of Oblivion.]] The last entry has him, knowing he's about to be brainwashed, preparing to set off a massive explosive that will destroy the building he's in, ensuring his translation notes are destroyed. The last lines are "If you read this, you know why the fire started. What you do with that knowledge is yours to determine. If you act on it, you go in prepared. That is more than I ever had." The last line of the story proper notes that the rest of the pages are blank.
28	* ''Fanfic/AWintersTale'' had [[Series/{{Supernatural}} Castiel]] writing in a journal and the last entries talking about how sick and cold he was. His last entry was a list of what to tell Dean if he could.
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
32	* ''Film/ThirteenGhosts'': Dr. Zorba's notes on the ghosts he's managed to bind to the house end with the curious "ghost thirteen" entry. [[spoiler:This foreshadowed not the dangerous existence of the thirteenth ghost, but the necessary creation of a thirteenth ghost.]]
33	--> '''Van Allen''': The rest of the page is blank.
34	* In ''Film/{{Lantana}}'', Valerie left a number of messages on John's answering machine the night she disappeared, after her car broke down not far from a phone booth. The last of these stated that she could see a car coming and was going to try to hitch a lift home.
35	* The dwarven log in the Mines of Moria in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing.'': "They have taken the bridge and the second hall. We have barred the gates but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes, drums... drums in the deep. We cannot get out. A shadow lurks in the dark. We cannot get out... ''they are coming''." It's written neatly in dwarven runes except for the last three words, scribbled hastily in Elvish cursive.
36	* Parodied in ''Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail'' when the group encounters a stone wall on which a victim of a monster attack has been carving entries onto. It ends, "He who is valiant, and might of spirit, may find the Holy Grail in the Castle of Arrrgh". The knights argue whether the castle is actually named Arrrgh or if the author died while writing it and wrote down his death rattle while doing so. Someone suggests he was dictating it. [[spoiler:It's the first one]].
37	* Done in ''Film/SkyCaptainAndTheWorldOfTomorrow''; when the group finally gets to Totenkopf's office, they find his papers and discover that "the last entry in his journal was made on October 11, 1918", 20 years before the setting of the film. Shortly thereafter, they find his mummified body.
38	[[/folder]]
39
40	[[folder:Literature]]
41	* One of Creator/HPLovecraft's favorite tropes; many of his stories read as last entries, either literally or figuratively.
42	* In ''Literature/TheCurseOfChalion'', Cazaril finds a diary belonging to a man who practiced death magic (which, if it works, inevitably leads to the death of the caster as well as the victim). When he finds himself wanting to practice death magic, he realizes that he only actually has to read the very end of the diary to figure out what worked...
43	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': An unusual example in ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', where instead of a diary it's the magical equivalent of an electronic personal organiser reading off appointments/[[spoiler:reading off events of an alternate timeline.]]:
44	-->"''Things to do today today today...'''die'''...''"
45	* Sir Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's short story "The Horror of the Heights" details the adventures of an intrepid aviator who flies above 40,000 feet and encounters an "air jungle" - an entire ecosystem of atmospheric beasts. He barely escapes from a predatory creature on his first flight, and records his intentions to go back up later and explore more thoroughly. The framing story reveals that the aviator's plane was found crashed and the aviator himself missing. All that was found in the plane was a torn, blood-stained journal. The last words are hastily scrawled: "Forty-three thousand feet. I shall never see earth again. They are beneath me, three of them. God help me; it is a dreadful death to die!"
46	* In ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves'', [[UnreliableNarrator Johnny Truant]] starts talking about the tendency to replace the letter "s" with "f" in old colonial documents, and then ftartf doing it himfelf. While reading a hiftory of the land where the [[EldritchLocation house]] will one day be be built, the last entry in the coloniftf' diary reads: "[[spoiler: [[WhamLine ſtaires!]] [[ApocalypticLog We]] [[TimeAbyss have]] [[NothingIsScarier found]] [[NightmareFuel ſtaires!]]]]"
47	* ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' features this during the first half of the book. A ship arrives in the town Mina Murray is visiting, with the only remaining crewmember being the dead captain, who tied himself to the wheel with a crucifix. In his hands was the final entry logbook which describes how the crew started disappearing, the first mate threw himself overboard after seeing ''something'', and the captain has been seeing glimpses of a tall, dark figure.
48	* The Book of Mazarbul in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', even though it's admittedly not a one-person journal, but the record of the entire Dwarf expedition to Moria. The book ends with recounting the destruction of the Dwarf community in Moria by invading orcs. The last words are "They are coming."
49	* The fifth book of Literature/SeptimusHeap, ''Syren'', has Syrah Syara's journal as she slowly becomes possessed by the '''Syren'''. [[PaintingTheMedium Syrah's informal handwriting]] is gradually replaced by elegant cursive script to indicate Syrah being possessed while writing, with Syrah's final entry only comprising of the beginning of sentences before being taken over. Even more disturbingly, after the possession is complete, the '''Syren''' goes out of its way to cross out Syrah's name in the normal entries to affirm the takeover and Syrah's loss of agency.
50	-->"I am [[AC:Syren]] I am [[AC:ageless.]] I come from [[AC:the Island.]] I [[AC:am the Island.]] I am [[AC:Syren.]] [[AC:I am Syren. When I call, you will come to me."]]
51	* A disgusting diary of the protagonist (stranded on an uninhabited island with nothing to eat) of "Survivor Type" by Creator/StephenKing: [[{{Autocannibalism}} "lady fingers they taste just like lady fingers."]]
52	* In the first ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' book, the heroes manage to steal the [[EvilOverlord Lord Ruler's]] diary from when [[FallenHero he was a hero]], and read it to find his weaknesses. It cuts off the day before he enters the Well of Ascension, which the heroes take to mean that after he became a PhysicalGod, there was no need to record anything. [[spoiler:It turns out that the Lord Ruler isn't the author of the journal. The Lord Ruler killed the hero before he could use the Well, and has been impersonating him ever since]].
53	* The final entry Charlie wrote in his diary in ''Literature/FlowersForAlgernon'' was "p.p.s. please if you get a chanse put some flowrs on Algernons grave in thebak yard." In one edition of the novel, it's presented as it if was Charlie's actual diary, complete with handwriting, and at this entry, the 'd' in bak yard ends with a line trailing off the page, followed by a few blank pages, implying that [[spoiler: Charlie's brain deteriorated so much that he either died from it like Algernon did, or that he lost the ability to even write.]]
54	[[/folder]]
55
56	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
57	* ''[[Series/{{Blackadder}} Blackadder Goes Forth]], [[DramaBombFinale Goodbyeeee]]'': After Cpt. Kevin Darling has been sent to the frontline from his desk job, with orders to advance towards the enemy at dawn⋯
58	-->'''Cpt. Darling:''' Made a note in my diary on the way here. Simply says: [[OhCrap "bugger!"]]
59	* In season 3 of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', early on the only info the Scoobies have about the prophesied "ascension" is a journal entry from the site of a previous ascension, saying "Tomorrow is the ascension, may God help us." It was the last time the town was ever heard of.
60	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E10Blink "Blink"]], thanks to some [[StableTimeLoop Timey Wimey stuff]], Sally ends up watching a recording of the Doctor in which he's reading from a transcript of the events that are unfolding in the present, a transcript that is being written ''at that very moment''. And then the transcript ends:
61	-->'''The Doctor:''' And that's it, I'm afraid. There's no more from you on the transcript, that's the last I've got. I don't know what stopped you talking but I can guess. [[OhCrap They're coming]]. The [[AngelicAbomination Angels]] are coming for you, but listen — your life could depend on this — don't blink. Don't even blink. Blink and you're ''dead''. They are ''fast'', faster than you could believe. ''Don't'' turn your back, ''don't'' look away and ''don't blink''. ''[{{beat}}]'' Good luck.
62	* In ''Series/DueSouth'', Fraser reads his late father's journals occasionally throughout the series, and in "Easy Money" he tells a friend, "There's a short entry in one of my father's journals that reads 'My adversaries appear ready to listen. I'm nearing victory.' And that entry was written the day before he was shot."
63	* In ''Kessler'' (the spin-off of ''Series/SecretArmy''), an IntrepidReporter digging into Kessler's wartime past is murdered shortly after he was dictating into his tape recorder as he was driving away from Kessler's house. The final comment on the tape is, "I think I'm being followed."
64	* In the ''Series/{{Monk}}'' episode "Mr. Monk and the Earthquake", Stottlemeyer and Disher figure out where a gas company worker found stabbed dead and tossed in a dumpster actually was killed by noting the location of the last gas line he inspected, which happens to be right outside Sharona's apartment.
65	* In ''Series/RedDwarf'', the crew come across a long-abandoned research facility at the bottom of the sea on an ocean moon which was doing experiments in genetic experimentation. The last entry in the log is just a matter-of-fact record about how they spent the day cataloguing new lifeforms before abruptly stopping. Turns out one of the new lifeforms ended up killing them -- and then the Dwarfers meet it...
66	* In the ''Series/SeaQuestDSV'' Halloween episode ''Knight of Shadows'', the Seaquest crew exploring the sunken liner ''George'' find the Captain's Log, with the final entry "I am going to the engine room now." They had earlier discovered the captain's mummified body in the engine room, dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
67	* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. In "Remember the Titans", the Winchesters find a spell by an ancient Greek warrior on how to trap Zeus. It's pointed out that's where his notes stop, so they've no idea if the spell actually worked (the lack of further entries implying it didn't). Having no further information, our heroes have to proceed regardless.
68	* The alternate history tv movie ''Film/WorldWarIII'' ends with TheNarrator stating: "There is no further historical record of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt what happens next]]" after global thermonuclear war breaks out.
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Music]]
72	* Music/DavidBowie uses an audio communication version in "Music/SpaceOddity":
73	-->'''Major Tom:'''\
74	Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles,\
75	I'm feeling very still,\
76	And I think my spaceship knows which way to go.\
77	Tell my wife I love her very much.\
78	'''Ground Control:'''\
79	She knows!\
80	Ground Control to Major Tom,\
81	Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong!\
82	Can you hear me, Major Tom?\
83	Can you hear me, Major Tom?\
84	Can you hear me, Major Tom?\
85	Can you...
86	* From "Film/{{Nosferatu}}" by Music/BlueOysterCult:
87	-->The ship pulled in without a sound\
88	The faithful captain long since cold\
89	He kept his log 'til the bloody end\
90	Last entry read: "Rats in the hold\
91	My crew is dead, I fear the plague"
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
95	* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''
96	** Module [=CM1=] ''Test of the Warlords'', Encounter 1 "The Ruins of Alinor". When the {{PC}}s explore an underground cave system they find the remains of a royal palace and the diary of the palace's ruler, a mighty magician. The last entry in the diary says that the ruler was planning to raise a mountain range using magic. The location and condition of the palace indicate that he succeeded all too well.
97	** Module I12 ''Egg of the Phoenix''
98	*** The last entry in Endrew [=MacKurian=]'s journal tells of the visit of an old friend (whose name he is unable to record because of a Geas spell) who has turned traitor. He mentions that he fears that he shall not see the morning. He disappears during the night and later turns up dead.
99	*** During the mission to retrieve the sword Chrysomer, the {{PC}}s find the diary of a paladin who undertook the quest earlier. The last entry says that he plans to try to escape by distracting the enemies who have him trapped, and ends "Must try... hear noise. Giants coming. Hope this works..." The {{PC}}s find the diary on his body.
100	** TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}} adventure ''Adam's Wrath''. The {{PC}}s find the diary of a team of botanists. The last entry says that they have found a new plant and are about to go on an expedition to find more. The {{PC}}s find their bodies nearby: the plant they found was a yellow musk creeper, which kills its victims and turns them into zombies.
101	** TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms supplement ''Pages from the Mages''. The book "Against the Undead" includes the diary of an unknown vampire hunter. The diary part ends with a description of the hunter approaching a vampire's lair. The hunter met his end while fighting the vampire.
102	** ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' magazine #46, adventure "The Temple of Poseidon". The diary of the arch-priest of the temple tells of the mysterious happenings that terrified the clerics who lived there. The last entry in his diary says that he heard a loud noise and voices and was going to investigate. He never returned.
103	** ''Magazine/{{Dungeon}}'' magazine
104	*** Issue #21 adventure "Jammin'". A spelljammer ship picks up a magical stone coffin floating in wildspace. When one of the crew dies, the captain [[IdiotBall has the body placed in the coffin]]. Shortly thereafter, the coffin creates a spectre (powerful undead monster) which proceeds to drain the crew of their LifeEnergy. The captain's last log entry breaks off in the middle of a sentence: "We are fighting it with everything we have, but it keeps taking crew members one by one. I don't know wh..."
105	*** Issue #49 adventure "The Dark Place". Just before he performs the fiend-summoning ritual that kills him, the villain Tyranthius writes in his journal "After so many years and so many experiments, tonight I shall at last be successful...Those other wizards shall mock me no more...[[TemptingFate How I shall enjoy their screams as they are dragged into the Abyss.]]"
106	*** Issue #68 adventure "By Merklan's Magic". In the wizard Merklan's house can be found his notebook. The last entry tells of his plan to use a root from a corrupted treant to create a powerful magic wand. After he created the wand, the enraged treant killed him.
107	** ''Magazine/{{Polyhedron}}'' magazine #78 adventure "A Fluffy Wonderland". The PlayerCharacters find a village with all of its inhabitants frozen solid by the eruption of an ice volcano. They discover a journal that was being written in by one of the villagers when the disaster occurred. It says that the writer feared that the volcano would erupt and that he tried to warn the other villagers, but they wouldn't listen. It ends with "Uh oh!! What's that noise? Ooooops! Too late!"
108	* Judges Guild's Universal Fantasy Supplement ''Wraith Overlord''. In Level One of the Watch Tower is a piece of parchment in the hand of a suicide victim. The victim encountered a shrine to {{Eldritch Abomination}}s and was driven mad. The writing on the parchment says that he thought they were after him and decided to put himself beyond their reach with steel. His body is found with a knife in his chest.
109	* ''Franchise/SilentHill'' RPG. On the roof of Brookhaven Hospital, the PlayerCharacter will find the diary of a patient. It ends with a statement that the patient was about to be released, and ends with a slash across the page with the pen as if the patient's arm had been grabbed while he was writing. Since everyone else in Silent Hill was killed (or worse) by monsters, it's a safe bet that the patient was too.
110	* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu''
111	** ''Shadows of Yog-Sothoth'', adventure "The Warren". The {{PC}}s take almost an hour to remove enough rubble to enter one room. When they do, they find the skeleton of a man sitting at a table and a piece of paper which is an ApocalypticLog of what happened to him - he was trapped inside the room when a disaster occurred. It ends "I am sitting now waiting for rescue. It has been eight hours."
112	** ''Mansions of Madness'', adventure "The Crack'd and Crook'd Manse''. Arthur Cornthwaite was trying to stop a monster that had infested his house. He was writing a note to explain the monster's vulnerability: it ends in mid sentence when the monster used its coils to snatch him into the fireplace and eat him.
113	** ''Terror from the Stars'', adventure "The Temple of the Moon". Professor Dermot's day books end with an entry saying that he plans to enter the Temple at night after the strange phenomena end. The {{PC}}s can find his body later: he was captured and sacrificed by the Franchise/CthulhuMythos cultists who worship at the Temple.
114	** ''The Asylum and Other Tales'' adventure "Black Devil Mountain". A {{PC}} receives an unfinished letter that was found among the effects of his deceased brother. The last part of the letter talks about the horrible discovery the brother had made. His body was found a few days later, dismembered and with the brain and heart missing.
115	** ''Dreamlands'' adventure "The Land of Lost Dreams". The {{PC}}s find the diary of Neil Bruford in his room. It tells the story of how he planned to journey to the land of Xura to find his heart's desire. The last entry says that he would reach Xura in his dreams that night. The next morning his landlady found him in a coma.
116	** ''Magazine/WhiteDwarf'' magazine issue #56 adventure "The Last Log". An interstellar expedition to the planet Pozalt 7 is wiped out by a Star Vampire. The mission commander Captain Spalding kept his personal log in a notebook. The last few entries say that the group has been under attack for three hours, that he assumes that the rest of the crew is dead and that he has no weapons. The final entry is an unreadable scrawl. When the PlayerCharacters find his body, his head has been ripped off and can't be found.
117	* ''TabletopGame/{{Rolemaster}}'' ''Shadow World'' supplement ''Star Crown Empire'', adventure "Terror at Fang Rock''. A lighthouse keeper is murdered by smugglers. The last entry in his log book says that he hears noises outside (the smugglers digging a tunnel) and that he's going to investigate.
118	* ''Chivalry & Sorcery'' 3rd Edition adventure ''Stormwatch''. The {{PC}}s can find the log of an old expedition that was destroyed by a disease. The last entry is a prayer to God that someone will find their bodies and properly lay them to rest.
119	* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' magazine ''[=BattleTechnology=]'' #21 article "What Now, Mechwarrior?", scenario "King of the Hill". The diary of a Pathfinder (scout for mecha forces) ends with "I sure will be glad when this mission is over and I can get off this dustball. At least the Sarge says he doesn't expect the enemy to..." It was found after a hard-fought battle.
120	* The TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness crossover game ''Midnight Circus''. Having introduced the sordid history of the eponymous circus via ScrapbookStory, the first chapter concludes with a letter by one Professor Brusaw of the [[TabletopGame/MageTheAscension Sons of the Ether]], explaining the circus's true nature to his colleague, Dr Sarpedon. However, just as Brusaw finishes explaining the Unholy Trinity, the text abruptly ends mid-sentence, replaced with a note explaining that the author was found strangled at his desk.
121	* ''TableTopGame/VampireTheMasquerade,'' Clanbook Nosferatu (1st edition). One of the many articles that crop up within the book include a treatise on the Nosferatu written by Claudius Maximus of the Tremere; over the course of his work, Claudius does his very best to insult and belittle the Nosferatu at any given opportunity, portraying them as graceless brutes only permitted to survive by the grace of the Camarilla. For good measure, [[BullyingADragon he even goes so far as to dismiss the clan's near-legendary ability to sniff out information as instinctual and gathered without any real comprehension]] - whereupon the treatise ends mid-sentence. According to the accompanying note, [[LaserGuidedKarma Claudius was found disemboweled on his own dissecting table]]; to date, the assailant has not been found.
122	* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' has the quote for the reverse side of [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=226749 Delver of Secrets]], which shows he has transformed into an Insectile Aberration:
123	--> "Unfortunately, all my test animals have died or escaped, so I shall be the final subject. I feel no fear. This is a momentous night."\
124	--Laboratory notes, final entry
125	[[/folder]]
126
127	[[folder:Theatre]]
128	* ''Theatre/SpeakingInTongues'': In Act 2, Valerie's monologue consists leaving a series of messages on her husband's answering machine, after her car broke down not far from a phone booth. The last of these stated that she could see a car coming and was going to try to hitch a lift home. We later learn that her husband John heard the last message while she was leaving it but made no attempt to answer the phone. Meanwhile, Nick's monologue consists of him making a statement to police about picking up a hitchhiker the same night, who fled from the car into the bush over a misunderstanding.
129	[[/folder]]
130
131	[[folder:Video Games]]
132	* ''VideoGame/GabrielKnight'': Gunter's journal. It's pretty obvious he committed suicide when he writes stuff like "These final words" and "I pray [...] that my punishment in Hell will be long and bitter."
133	* ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'': The Captain's log found in the ''Sea Monkey''. It ends when the two characters described in the log leave the ship to investigate the eponymous Monkey Island. Indeed, the captain is later found dead, hanged by accident while trying to set up a swing.
134	* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has a few, but prominent is Nef's journal in Samara's loyalty mission. The last entry notes that she is about to go meet [[SerialKiller Morinth.]]
135	** The entire ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series is filled with this, mostly in the form of [=PDAs=] or video diaries left behind after a battle/massacre. This increases as the series goes on.
136	* In ''VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'', the player can find a sort of last will and testament of a character named Wilhelm, who was locked in a wine cellar with several other men and tricked into drinking poisoned wine (presumably [[BodyHorror transforming them]] into the monsters present in the game). The log is an attempt by Wilhelm to confess his sins as well as name the man responsible for them, and ends with an altogether chilling passage: "Blood has begun to pour from my eyes, and I can no longer--"
137	* A few of the audiotapes found in the ''VideoGame/BioShock'' games, particularly Diane [[spoiler: celebrating New Year's alone, only for the bar to be attacked by Atlas' Splicers]] and Dr. Suchong [[spoiler: documenting his evidently unsuccessful work to get the Little Sisters to bond with the Big Daddies, [[KarmicDeath culminating him in smacking one of the former and getting killed by the latter]]]]. Diane survives the spoiled entry, but a different one from her also fulfills this trope: [[spoiler:she walks in on Frank Fontaine recording a message as Atlas. He asks her to come closer, and that's where the tape ends. You find the tape on her body.]] ''Literature/BioshockRapture'' confirms [[spoiler:immediately after the tape was recorded he gutted her like a fish]].
138	* The game ''VideoGame/ParasiteEve2'' has an interesting twist on this. At one point, you find the journal of a researcher who was assigned to watch a mutant in a cage. She felt the mutant was looking pathetic and lonely, [[TooDumbToLive so she decided to let him out for a little while]]. The journal [[KilledMidSentence abruptly ends]] as she describes how tall the mutant now is. Then the journal switches over to another researcher, who calmly reports the death of the previous writer, which ends the journal entries.
139	* You run into this a couple of times in both ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}''. There's an interesting variation in the second game; you're collecting the ECHO diaries of TK Baha, an NPC who was killed by bandits in the first game, meaning you know what's coming well before reaching the final entry.
140	* In ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', this is used twice. The first time, it's subverted, as you find a diary in the victim's house, only for it to have never been used and be completely blank. The second time is played straight, with a minor twist: [[spoiler:Magnifi Gramarye's diary seemingly ends with an entry that seems to imply that it may or may not have been meant to be the last, but it's the last thing written in the diary. There is a page torn out of it though, but the page you have that appears to be the missing page (which has the "real" last entry) is revealed to be a forgery. What was really written on the missing page was a document passing the rights of Magnifi's magic to his student, Zak.]]
141	* One of the most famous examples is the "Keeper's Diary" from ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', written by an unnamed employee of the Spencer Mansion as he was unknowingly succumbing to TheVirus. It keeps getting creepier until it abruptly ends like this:
142	-->May 19, 1998\
143	Fever gone but itchy. Hungry and eat doggy food. Itchy Itchy Scott came. Ugly face so killed him. Tasty.\
144	4. Itchy. Tasty.
145	* In ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'', you can read the entirety of D's Journal as soon as Ringabel joins the party if you like. It proceeds to paint Agnés and her journey in a very unsettling light (including the goal of summoning the Holy Pillar) and ends with a desperate declaration by "D" that he will not let his enemy win. The next page is a drawing of a huge monster, and final entry is an ominous splatter on the page.
146	* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series has plenty of these. Often times in the ruins of ordinary businesses or homes you'll find computer terminals with records of routine activities or peoples' thoughts, only to see that they ended shortly before the bombs fell.
147	* In ''VideoGame/UnchartedDrakesFortune'', Nate and Elena go through the shipping manifests of the island. Tellingly, [[spoiler:the entry for the El Dorado statue is the last one, foreshadowing the zombie curse that annihilated the island's population]].
148	* The ''VideoGame/ChzoMythos'' has these, as noted in the page quote.
149	** In ''5 Days a Stranger'', in addition to the page quote there's also Matthew [=DeFoe=]'s matching entry.
150	--->June 28, 1821\
151	My father has done a terrible thing. All this time he pretended there was no boy behind the door, and now this. There is blood all over the kitchen floor. I will do what I can. Then we can be a family together and be happy.
152	** Inverted in ''Trilby's Notes'' because the person writing the entries is the player character. If Trilby dies, someone else finds his notes, with their report serving as the GameOver screen.
153	--->This concludes the text of the notes found in the Clanbronwyn Hotel on August 4th by an [=STP=] investigative team. At the time of writing, [[NeverFoundTheBody Trilby remains missing in action]].
154	[[/folder]]
155
156	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
157	* In ''VisualNovel/DearDevere'' the visual novel's letter correspondence leads to this ominous narration:
158	--> These letters were found inside a jewelled casket and a locked cupboard, within a furnished cave in Ardmore Forest.\
159	They were discovered and collected by [[spoiler:the Bureau of Anti-War Operations, along with several documents related to the missing persons case of Angela Bard and Cailin Calwood.\
160	The Bureau has no official papers for a Mr Devere.]]
161	[[/folder]]
162
163	[[folder:Webcomics]]
164	* In ''Webcomic/SlightlyDamned'', Darius' journal ends like this, as he goes to his certain death to distract Cerberus. The last entry he wrote is just "I love you, my children". However, this is doubly subverted:
165	** While this was his last entry, and his children believed him dead afterward, Darius Elexion survived his encounter with Cerberus.
166	** The journal itself continues after that entry, but the rest was written by Sakido instead of Darius. ''Her'' last entry, which presaged her death when taking Rhea and Buwaro back to Medius, reads even more tragically than that of Daruis:
167	--->"Darius trusted us to take care of our little brother, but we just threw Buwaro away. If you are reading this and I'm no longer around, [[KarmicDeath then I've gotten what I deserved]]."
168	[[/folder]]
169
170	[[folder:Web Original]]
171	* ''Literature/TedsCavingPage''. After being tormented by visions and paranoia, Ted and the others decide to return to the cave, with Ted promising vehemently to solve the mystery and give the readers every detail when he gets back. This was also the final entry, making it clear that they never did.
172	[[/folder]]
173
174	[[folder:Western Animation]]
175	* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'' episode "The Sea Haunt". Dr. Benton Quest is reading from an ApocalypticLog left by a ship's captain, describing how he and his crew were threatened by a monster.
176	-->'''Dr. Quest:''' ''(reading)'' "...The men are taking to the lifeboats. In a moment I will..."\
177	'''Jonny:''' "I will" what? What does he say?\
178	'''Dr. Quest:''' That's it. It ends right there.\
179	'''Jonny:''' That monster must have come in here and killed the captain while he was writing!\
180	'''Dr. Quest:''' I hope not, but it certainly seems that way.
181	* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': Subverted in "Buddy's Book"; Steven and Connie read through the eponymous journal, in which Buddy describes his voyage across the world in search of undiscovered wonders. He ultimately winds up [[CrossingTheDesert lost in the middle of a desert for several days]], where he finally succumbs to thirst and exhaustion... but survives, later completing his journal and becoming a prolific author.
182	-->''"This is it, then. The end of my adventure. I've just followed a map to my own end. And this will be the last thing I ever see as I expire? An angel [[ItMakesSenseInContext and her... one, two, three... several lions]], here for my soul."''\
183	'''Connie:''' Is this the end?\
184	'''Steven:''' I guess so... ''([[StoppedReadingTooSoon turns page]])'' Oh, wait. There's a ''bunch'' more.
185	[[/folder]]
186
187	[[folder:Real Life]]
188	* In Creator/KenBurns' ''Series/TheCivilWar'', a journal entry read by David [=McCullough=] that was written at Cold Harbor gives the date and place, then says simply: "I died."
189	* Robert Falcon Scott's journal of his [[RiverOfInsanity polar expedition]] (which ended with the death of all involved - [[ShootTheShaggyDog in vain]], as they were beaten to the South Pole by Amundsen) ends with "Last entry. For God's sake look after our people".
190	* Anne Frank's ''Literature/TheDiaryOfAYoungGirl'' cuts off shortly before the fugitives were discovered and captured.
191	* [[https://web.archive.org/web/20150317000923/https://twitter.com/sully_2003/status/226179758357110785 Alex Sullivan's last tweet]] was about how seeing ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' was going to make that day the best birthday ever. That doesn't seem so ominous until you remember the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Aurora,_Colorado_shooting mass shooting]] that happened shortly afterward...
192	* Avicii's [[https://twitter.com/Avicii/status/986261945744609280 final tweet]] was him thanking Billboard for nominating him in the Billboard Music Awards. Three days later he killed himself in his hotel room in Oman after years of stress and mental health issues.
193	* Creator/CirqueDuSoleil veteran Yann Arnaud, just hours before [[FatalMethodActing suffering a fatal fall]] during his aerial straps number in ''Theatre/{{VOLTA}}'', made a final Instagram post proclaiming: "It's time to go for it".
194	* Dr. Đặng Thùy Trâm's diary (translated into English as ''Last Night I Dreamed of Peace'') cuts off two days before her death [[YouShallNotPass protecting her military hospital]] from an American unit. Her last paragraph:
195	-->No, I am no longer young and naïve, I am grown, experienced in trials and tribulations, but in this moment how I intensely crave the caring hand of a mother, really the hand of a loved one, or even worse, an acquaintance. Come to me, hold my hand tightly in a moment of loneliness, transmit to me the love and strength needed to overcome the difficult roads in front of me.
196	* The clay tablet with a letter from the last king of [[UsefulNotes/{{Syria}} Ugarit]] city-state at the onset of Bronze Age Collapse (around 1190 BCE). The sender mentions having sent all his armies and fleets to aid his neighbors and now pleads for help from ship raids. He says that seven ships had attacked so far, and if more come, the city is doomed. What makes this message stand out? It was never sent — the clay was put into a firing furnace and then the building was burned down and the city was never rebuilt.
197	[[/folder]]
198	----
199	->And that was the last entry.

Context Main / ThatWasTheLastEntry