Probably all those toxins in his body from not eating or having any water to drink and never going to the bathroom fueled his obsession.

Then you have Jerry who was coming to get him and couldn't because of the rain. Yet Michael didn't seem surprised Jerry was still in his office after the rain was over. And as worried about him as Jerry appeared to be he never again mentioned coming to get Michael out of there. Between that and being evicted from a house he supposedly bought? I'm sure Michael had quite a bit to discuss with friend Jerry.

Don t think he spoke to him again did nt ring any way lol enjoyed it made a change I think the person doing the scratching was the son and he killed his mum and the good Mr Blackmore knew it was all his fault for taking the mask must have sent him batty bet when that goulie jumped for me the next door neighbours thought I had lost it lol dos nt take a lot make me jump I know people say they could nt see well but I got it right for once and it was a change to have a scary game where you can see what you are doing Very slow to start but once in the story I enjoyed it Thought that Jerry was up to some thing though I would have locked the bed room door at night

Considering all the racket going on in a supposedly empty house I do believe I would have slept in the car with the doors
L O C K E D!!!

I hope no one minds that I revive this thread...

When I saw the creature at the end I thought it looked and behaved like how Blackstone descibed the African tribe. But then when I saw the screen cap of the cat eyes I had to think that it was now the feline god from the mask.

So since the creature at the end had cat eyes does that make it the god? Or since it kills by ripping people apart does that make it like the tribe in Africa? The tribe in Africa was also deformed looking. Blackstone commented about that in his diary. I think he said he thought it could be from years and years of inbreeding.


And when Michael did the ritual on the mask, did the the god just then jump into the creature which up until then was just deformed and crazy because of the morning sickness drug(sorry forget the name). But, I didn't think that drug made people crazy, just severely deformed.

I keep going back to that somehow the creature, who do I believe was Robin, was for some reason behaving like the tribe(maybe because of a curse from the mask) and when Micheal performed the ritual on the mask the god jumped into Robin. Maybe too much time had passed between rituals and the god was released before the ritual was complete.

Just some thoughts and ....lots of questions

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bkrytr:
[QB] Probably all those toxins in his body from not eating or having any water to drink and never going to the bathroom fueled his obsession. /[QUOTE]

That's what I kept thinking! I just finished the game and loved reading this thread right after:))

Where do I find the medicine bottles? I did finish the game but can't recall where I saw the bottles.

They're in one of the dressers in the main bedroom -- the room across from the African gallery. (I say "they", though truthfully I can't recall whether there was more than one bottle.)

I thnk the game may be set up so that you can "read" two different explanations for events -- the non-supernatural explanation and the supernatural explanation.

In one, James is going mad, has become fixated on the mask and its evil properties, Robin is deformed because of the thalidomide, and James kills his wife.

In the other, James is perfectly sane, Robin is taken over by the spirit from the mask, his deformities are a result of this possession, Robin (even at age two) in a manic frenzy kills his mother by biting her throat.

Either way, James never intended to improve the upper floors of the house -- the mortgage was a way to get plenty of money in the bank so that Robin could be hidden away from the world, automatically fed, etc.

I think Jerry knows there are art treasures in the house, and is using Michael supposedly owning the place to get Michael to move the treasures out and share the gains with Jerry. If the police catch on, Jerry hopes that Michael will prove to be the fall guy.

EDIT: In either scenario, there has to be somebody who knows about Robin who still has access to the house. There's the fresh blood on the table in the part of the "cell" that Robin is locked out of. And the fact that Michael is evicted (and after only three days) shows that whoever is monitoring Robin has quickly figured out that Michael is in the house.

The question is -- who is this? Is it James, who has only faked his death? Is it the doctor, who maybe can't bear to go on living in the house, but does monitor it and is so secretive no one in the town knows he's still around? Or is it someone else?

Skeleton in the coffin could be James or the doctor. I agree the scratching noises are Robin trying to dig himself out.

I cannot remember what Michael's mortgage contract says about what he can or cannot do with the personal possessions left in this house which by the way he bought or is buying - so he has every right to do whatever he wants with whatever 'treasures' he finds there, doesn't he? Jerry's supposed "I want my share of whatever you find" if it is not in writing and done legally - hasn't any legal rights to a share of profits from sales or whatever that Michael reaps the benefits of.....I could be wrong on this point. There does not seem to be any family member of James and wife and son to legally inherit this mansion and its contents and so the bank listed the property for sale and Jerry is Michaels friend and real-estate agent in its purchase....Mike is not just renting this house nor is he illegally 'camping out' in it. Am I right?
Love, Betty Lou :kiss:

didn't he buy the house from the National Trust or some such organisation?? Yes, Jerry told him that the house was his, lock stock and barrel so to share any treasures he found with him.

Over here, once the sale of a property has been 'completed' (ie gone through all the legal stuff) there is no going back by either party.... and I'm sure Michael said he had bought it.

Oh and I didn't like the 'spoiler' comment at the start of day 3 - Michael said 'my last day in this house' or something along those lines....

Yeah, that bugged me too; I rationalized it by telling myself that what he meant was, "My last day in the house because after this I'm checking into a hotel to get some food and water and take a shower."

Actually, what bugged me even more was that Michael seemed surprised when Jerry told him about the murder that had taken place there; apparently this was complete news to him (another reason why I wanted Michael to go visit Jerry immediately after picking up that crowbar; I've no idea what laws are like in the UK, but over here Jerry could easily have opened himself up to a lawsuit for failing to disclose that). The manual that came with the game went into great detail about the murder, and it just seemed to me that if it was a surprise to Michael, it should have been a surprise to the player -- there was nothing inherent in the game that justified the player having more knowledge than the player character.

All in all, it's a minor quibble -- as soon as I finished playing, I immediately got a friend hooked on playing it, so obviously I loved it.

AND...I am still enjoying the game and all the theories batting about even more now that this thread has been revived. Hope more newer players find it and come here to "put their 2 cents in" too. Loving it!
Love, Betty Lou

Did I dream that Michael found an eviction notice in his mailbox?

Robin is still alive to inherit the mansion. And is there any evidence that James didn't fake his death? It was so convenient, that death -- right when he was being investigated for the murder of his wife.

Jerry was the one who told us that the house had been taken over by the National Trust. Can we trust him?

Yes, but I seem to recall a newspaper article that reported his death shortly after birth, so as far as any legal entity is concerned, he doesn't exist.

Perhaps his death had some help from the doctor? (Completely idle question, by the way.) I don't think there's any evidence either way, except that it's either James or the doctor who's still alive, the doctor was seen in town after James's reported death, and James seemed a bit fragile mentally to be trusted to go into hiding.

Frankly, if I were Michael, at this point I'd demand he prove to me that he actually has a real estate license.

Bella, President of the Jerry-Bashers Club

Good point that nobody KNOWS that Robin is alive. Except the mysterious person who has been feeding him.

Are we agreed that the skeleton in the coffin must be either James or the good doctor?

Gotta get back in and see who that eviction notice was from. Hope I have a saved game near it.

Rant for game developers who make games with complex plots:

PLEASE give us lots of saved game slots. I shouldn't have to replay large portions of a game while hunting down plot details!

Why do you think the doctor says that if he went to the authorities (years later) and told the truth, he would have to go to jail?

Child abuse? I doubt Children's Services would look kindly on keeping a child locked in a basement; even if Robin was physically dangerous, there are hospitals he could have gone to.

Though...that's a good question, now that I think about it. I can see James locking him in the basement because Robin was "possessed", but I've been assuming, like many of the other posters on this thread, that it was Catherine and the doctor who kept Robin alive (telling James he was dead). And the doctor didn't believe in the whole curse thing -- surely he would have put Robin in a hospital, even if that meant doing so without James's knowledge.

Can we assume that Robin was mute? Has anyone ever spent time with a new baby that wouldn't alert everyone within 100 feet that he/she is alive? It's difficult enough to imagine hiding a baby on the second floor of a house with the maid in a room off the kitchen and forbidden to go upstairs. It's crazy to think you could hide a baby from a man who is sleeping in the next room!

I think the baby was kept hidden by Catherine, James and the doctor until Catherine's death. The baby was subsequently moved downstairs into the basement. Either because he had killed his mother, and therefore was too dangerous to keep in his nursery. Or because both Catherine and James were dead, and the doctor thought it easier to keep him someplace that was more secure.

I might say something stupid here, but I was surprised that Michael never mentioned calling the police after he found Robin in the basement, he just said that since then he was a better writer.
I would have called the police straight away, and even if Robin left after Michael ran away, at least they could organize a search!
I wouldn't like to have a cannibal madman wandering in the nearby country...

the shape of 'Robins' head looks very similar to those who suffered encephalitis (sp) as per the Elephant man. Another natural disease which gives an allegory to the animal nature of the curse...

Went back into the game. If you have a save at 5pm on Monday, go out and look in the mail box. There's a notice there from the National Trust telling Michael that if he doesn't vacate the premieses, the police will come and arrest him! Seems Jerry's transaction was not legal.

Carla -- yes it is odd that Michael never contacted the authorities. I wonder why not.

In the weird interpretation category -- does anybody else think that the African tribe's fortunes became WORSE after they supposedly controlled the evil god and confined it to the mask? Is there any chance that the ritual performed by the tribe and by Michael actually strengthened the evil spirit?

I'd certainly wondered how bad things were for the tribe before confining the spirit, if what James witnessed was considered an improvement.

Another thought just occurred to me, saw Becky's information about Jerry's "transaction" being illegal, i.e. his selling of this mansion/estate to Michael, just what was Jerry's PURPOSE in doing so if he did not have the legal right (deed) to do so? Anybody got any thoughts on this or have we covered it already?
Love, Betty Lou :kiss:

I think Jerry didn't realize that the house was being monitored (or lived in!) and somehow managed to get access to the key. He then arranged a "sale" to Michael, with the intent of gradually helping Michael sell the valueable works of art, while Jerry took a 50/50 cut of the profits.

If anything ever went wrong with this pretty picture, I think Jerry was planning to blame everything on Michael.

Having finally finished this game last night, I just want to throw in my two cents...

I think the Dr and Catherine hid the baby (Robin) from James due to his obsession with the "curse". This from the letter found the the locked study drawer. From the letter in the hidden room under the chapel, I got the impression James killed Catherine, but since I have deleted the game, I can't go back to that and regain my first impression of why.

I haven't seen anyone else mention the appearance of John Patterson's name in James' journal on the study desk. In case you are not familiar with him, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsavo_maneaters will give some insight here. I think this reference fits nicely with the lion's claw and the amulet.

Still not sure of how all the threads tie in together, but will make for more interesting replay down the road as more details are observed.

What an amazing amount of speculation with this game! I wonder if the writers will ever come up and explain things a little?

Winkie

Winkie -- interesting link. You're right -- that's great background info.