Super 8 Countdown Ends: New Images and Website

Dan Koelsch,

The countdown on ScariestThingIEverSaw.com ended tonight, and we got the next chapter in Super 8 viral. Once all 134640 bytes downloaded, we got more access to the PDP-11 computer console, which led to some interesting images, which themselves led us to a new viral website. Find out all the details after the break.

Details are still fresh and coming in, but thanks to the hard work of WikiBruce and Unfiction members, we think we got all the big updates we can for the night. After an initial hiccup in which it looked like we wouldn’t get anything (the page just needed to update), we got this screen:





After some computer wizardry (read: a lot of us nerds hacking and testing), the only executable command turned out to be “PRINT RSCOM8”, which gave us the two images below. They are pages of a newspaper, in which the first page has a big ad for lollipops or ice cream called “Rocket Poppeteers”, while the second page is primarily a large excerpt from President John F. Kennedy’s “Radio and Television Address to the American People on the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty” that occurred on July 26, 1963. Since newspapers usually cover the news from the day before, his may give us a date for the paper of July 27, 1963.



(Click for full size)



While all this data has caused a lot of speculation (i.e. is that address in the ad real, and what’s its significance?), there have been a few substantial findings so far. First of all, you make notice both pages are marked up. This may indicate this is a draft of the final print copy, but what’s really interesting is that there are two “X”s on each page, and you can align them perfectly if you just flip the first page. Once you do that, the other markings (cross outs) cover up specific words in the JFK Speech:

no certainty if a live may be after us we go underground

There are a few ways to combine and separate these words to give them meaning, though I find “No certainty if alive, may be after us, we go underground” to be the most likely, since it makes it sound like someone (let’s say D. Morris, since it’s his computer) is warning that he doesn’t know if the monster/alien is alive, that it might be after them (who else is with him?), and that they have gone underground to protect themselves. Pretty gripping stuff, though even that interruption could be argued against.





Finally, J.J. Abrams loves fake products, and since there was a Slusho website for Cloverfield, it’s not surprising that there is a Rocket Poppeteers website, though it is currently down. I imagine it will be live soon, but we’ll just have to wait. What’s interesting is that Captain “Coop” Cooper is the spokesperson for the treat, and all signs point to him being a real person. There is a Colonel Gordon Cooper who could have been a captain at the time of the ad. He was an astronaut who claimed to see a UFO in 1957, and even took pictures and motion film. Nothing ever came of it, and he later assumed the photos and film (which never saw the light of day) were added to Project Blue Book, the Air Force’s official investigation into UFOs. Interestingly, the investigation was headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Similar to Dan Morris, if this is not the guy they are talking about, Abrams and crew sure are good at coincidences.


We and the guys at Unfiction (amongst other Internet forums) are still churning through all of this, so as we figure out more, we’ll update this page, unless it’s huge, then we’ll give it a separate article. So, stay tuned, and follow our coverage at our Super 8 Viral Page. Leave a comment below to let us know if you find anything, or you just want to join in the speculation.




Update: We are getting a lot of comments about how “.REENTER” is also a command that works on the computer. We already knew about it, but decided not to bother mentioning it because, as of now, it’s a dead end. It asks for a device, and despite people’s best efforts, no one has been able to crack it. If they do, we’ll be sure to let you know.

ARGs & Campaigns Viral Marketing

Related Posts

District 9: Six New Clips

With only two weeks until District 9 opens, Sony has released two new TV spots as well as some new clips including interviews and a b-roll (seen below). You can check them all out over at Trailer Addict. The new TV spots are mostly cuts from footage we’ve already seen,…

Read More

Mark of the Spider-Man Viral Updates

If you’ve been following along, a twitter account for the new The Amazing Spider-Man viral campaign, Mark of the Spider-Man, was created and sent out coordinates for several U.S. cities late last week. Following the coordinates, players found Peter Parker’s backpack full of different items, including running shoes and the…

Read More

Comments (27)

  2. I’ve actually been playing around with the terminal and now I’m at a point where it asks:

    MOUNT Device? Y/N

    I entered in Y, but haven’t been able to find a command, any ideas?

  3. Pingback: herald-review.com | Blogs: DecaturAde by Jim Vorel
  4. Pingback: SUPER 8 viral countdown ends: vintage news leads to new site | FilmEdge.net Blog

  5. Wonderful Web site! I wondered if I could quote a portion of your web page and use a few points for a school assignment. Please email me whether its ok or not. Thanks

  6. I been wanting to contact you, you’re right on. I found this post from an other link and am totally intrigued by this category and reading more. Do you mind if I post to this blog from my article?

  7. I don’t know if anyone knows about this, but if you move the PDP-11 sim thing, as if it was a window on a normal computer, behind it there is another window which says ‘print all documents to default printer’. I havent been able to print off due to lack of printer.

  8. I don’t know if anyone has tried this but maybe lining all 3 of the printed pieces with the X’s and putting the paper with >>>> along with the newspaper ads, maybe the arrows point to something or highlight something in the ads, just a thought(:

  9. type: .EXEC EXPCNV
    THIS IS ANOTHER ACTIVE COMMAND AT THE WEBSITE WHERE YOU CAN PRINT THE TWO NEWSPAPER PAGES…

  10. Clean website. Do you ever accept guest posts? I am maintaining a site on my latest hobby water filters and wanting to trade some content with good sites. I looked around your blog and you’ve got some good content and I was thinking our readers would both find value. Thanks!

  11. Here’s something new, make sure your volume is high on your computer, then type:

    .EXEC EXPCNV

    then in the windows that appears type

    /desktop/Braegen14/expcnv.dat

    This is a result of a new folder that appears on the site after loading all the windows, you can move them with your mouse. There is a folder on the desktop called “Braegen14″ with the file “expcnv.dat” inside of it.

Comments are closed.