HHN XXI Speculation

[BruinsFan]

I did notice that pretty soon after you said hint chainsaws went off. Does anybody else think this is a hint that we're going to get more of those this year?

You can always count on there being chainsaws at HHN.

[Ross]

This is from hhnrumors.com they also have a pic of the soundstages

Rumors have started circulating that the event will once again take place at the studios this year. While this doesn't come as a surprise for most, it's a good start for a good year. Many will argue that the event will never return to the islands, however they also have their reasons why they'd like it to return.

In other news, there has also been speculation about some new team members working with A&D on this year's event. Two of which come directly from Universal Hollywood. Although it cannot be confirmed at this point, its worth noting.

Lastly, there is a rumor going around that the soundstages used this year will be different from last. This is due in part to some clients who will be using a soundstage from August through September. Yet again, cannot be confirmed at this point but should be taken in consideration during speculation :-)

[TuddFudders]

I think the only problem with a MS live show is that, there's alot of drunks and they will probably suspect MS is a rock or metal band.

MS is a pretty eerie quiet band.That will most likely make the drunks mad..

[Cody]

I think the only problem with a MS live show is that, there's alot of drunks and they will probably suspect MS is a rock or metal band.

MS is a pretty eerie quiet band.That will most likely make the drunks mad..

Shoot them and turn their bodies into props?

[CubanGringo]

To be off-topic for a moment, who exactly is MS? I've been seeing the abbreviation everywhere, but I still have no idea who they are. In an attempt to not get deleted, Emeric's Twitter account seems a little more active than his Facebook account, much more to speculate upon there.

Some of his "tweets":

"Life is only an outer layer, for reality is only realized by the insane."

"Evil is a moral entity and not a created one, an eternal and not a perishable entity."

The rest are pretty much the same as the ones on his Facebook account.

[Goo]

To be off-topic for a moment, who exactly is MS? I've been seeing the abbreviation everywhere, but I still have no idea who they are. In an attempt to not get deleted, Emeric's Twitter account seems a little more active than his Facebook account, much more to speculate upon there.

Some of his "tweets":

"Life is only an outer layer, for reality is only realized by the insane."

"Evil is a moral entity and not a created one, an eternal and not a perishable entity."

The rest are pretty much the same as the ones on his Facebook account.

MS Stands for Midnight Syndicate. A lot of the dark, creepy music you hear on the HHN website and at the event is from them!

http://www.midnightsyndicate.com/

[CubanGringo]

MS Stands for Midnight Syndicate. A lot of the dark, creepy music you hear on the HHN website and at the event is from them!

http://www.midnightsyndicate.com/

Wow, haha. Been on the sight plenty of times, heard plenty of their music, and I couldn't connect the dots. Sorry for derailing the thread for a post.

[demonfalconking]

"Life is only an outer layer, for reality is only realized by the insane."-Valleix Herard- a famous blogger

"Evil is a moral entity and not a created one, an eternal and not a perishable entity."-Donatien Alphonse Franois de Sade-was a French aristocrat and writer of philosophy-laden and often violent pornography, as well as some strictly philosophical works.

all his quotes this year has come from writers of sorts

Edited March 24, 2011 by demonfalconking

[Legacy]

"Life is only an outer layer, for reality is only realized by the insane."-Valleix Herard- a famous blogger

"Evil is a moral entity and not a created one, an eternal and not a perishable entity."-Donatien Alphonse Franois de Sade-was a French aristocrat and writer of philosophy-laden and often violent pornography, as well as some strictly philosophical works.

all his quotes this year has come from writers of sorts

You know, I just can't buy in to the speculation that it's going to a "writer" or "literature" theme this year. I find that odd considering during last year's run I was talking about how cool it would be to do a stories-theme but Emeric's quotes just don't seem to be enough for me to jump into the idea fully. I keep thinking it's too similar, conceptually, to what the Storyteller is and does and I can't help but want Universal to move outside of that box.

Most good (modern) quotes, especially when it comes to horror and the macabre, are going to come from writers. They are experts in the use of words and exploring elements and themes. If I was in a similar position as him, I could post a bunch of different horror pictures simply because I like them, but it could to speculation that it's going to be an "Art" or "Artist" theme. Essentially, good quotes that help maintain a broad concept (here being "horror") does not necessarily make them clues. Especially when these most recent quotes are from a "blogger" (as an English major, I view "blogging" as one of the simplest and illegitimate forms of writing) and a philosopher whose ideas would be more conceptual than a fiction writer.

I read them and I don't think "Writer;" I think "Concept." If they are clues, then I think the clue won't be in who wrote them but rather in their subject matter.

[Dr. Jimmy]

I am now more certain than ever that any hints or clues in any of Emeric's quotes must be found in the meanings of the quotes themselves and the actual wordage used.

The quotes cannot mean that the works of a particular author will be made into a haunted house.

Although Matheson could have been adapted quite successfully, houses based on the works of Sade would have been the wrong kind of awesome.

To put it simply, all involved would end up getting arrested!

[Dr. Jimmy]

To be off-topic for a moment, who exactly is MS? I've been seeing the abbreviation everywhere, but I still have no idea who they are. In an attempt to not get deleted, Emeric's Twitter account seems a little more active than his Facebook account, much more to speculate upon there.

Some of his "tweets":

"Life is only an outer layer, for reality is only realized by the insane."

"Evil is a moral entity and not a created one, an eternal and not a perishable entity."

The rest are pretty much the same as the ones on his Facebook account.

what is emeric's twitter address? He apparently will be providing more information there as he pointed referenced it on his face book page saying that our birthday greetings made his black heart go " all a - Twitter". Note the capitalization.

[AaronPaHHNFan]

Yea I too would like a link to his twitter page please.

[AaronPaHHNFan]

Nevermind with some searching I found it. The link is Emeric Belasco Twitter Hope that helps everyone follow him. Follow me while your at it at My Twitter Not that I tweet alot but I figured I may be able to get more than 5 measly followers this way.

[Mae]

Although Matheson could have been adapted quite successfully, houses based on the works of Sade would have been the wrong kind of awesome.

To put it simply, all involved would end up getting arrested!

Now THAT would be an event to remember!

All silliness aside, we've all noticed the word 'evil' coming up a lot, but now 'moral' has come into play. Who was it that brought up a sort of psycho religious figure as an icon? They might have been onto something.

ETA: In fact, the concept of Saws n Steam from last year, with the 'speaker' and his message, would fit in that well. What else is a 'preacher', but one who bears a message? The CDT were his disciples, and the masses in the city were the sheep. Anyone who was 'outside' was fair game, and outside has applications beyond just not in a covered structure....

Mae

Edited March 24, 2011 by Mae

[Legacy]

I would love to see HHN attempt some social commentary with a "Preacher" and his disciples. Talk about taking risks. I mentioned the "Cult of Fear" idea, but if they just went for it, even without the connection to Fear, I would love the see the media firestorm.

[Mae]

There's more to the de Sade quote that I found interesting:

"Evil is a moral entity and not a created one, an eternal and not a perishable entity: it existed before the world; it constituted the monstrous, the execrable being who was also to fashion such a hideous world. It will hence exist after the creatures which people this world. "

A monstrous, execrable being that fashioned such a hideous world...from a Creationist point of view, that could very well be an insult to God.

Still thinking about the preacher thing. Legacy, if it doesn't turn in this direction within the next two years, I say you start your own event!!!

Mae

[Dr. Jimmy]

Yesterday was allegedly Emeric Belasco's 106th Birthday. Many of his Facebook friends, myself included offered him Birthday wishes. In response he posted this:

An acquaintance of mine once said, "Those whom the gods love grow young." My portrait would appear to disagree.

Your birthday tidings make my black heart go a-Twitter. Warmest regards.

He is here quoting Oscar Wilde. Wilde of course, was the author of the gothic horror novel The Picture of Dorian Grey, about a beautiful young man who becomes profoundly morally corrupted. His appearance remains young and beautiful whilst his portrait ages and shows his moral deterioration. Belasco clearly references that in his Facebook post.

As noted before he throws in a veiled reference to his Twitter account giving us a heads up to additional clues.

One of these not yet mentioned here he tweeted on March 17.

I would drag ye whining from Hell's own gate: To me, to me, ye must pay the toll!

This is a quote from a poem titled "Haunted" by the author Don Marquis. Here is the poem in it's entirety:

(THE GHOST SPEAKS)

A GHOST is the freak of a sick man's brain?

Then why do ye start and shiver so?

That's the sob and drip of a leaky drain?

But it sounds like another noise we know!

The heavy drops drummed red and slow,

The drops ran down as slow as fate--

Do ye hear them still?--it was long ago!--

But here in the shadows I wait, I wait!

Spirits there be that pass in peace;

Mine passed in a whorl of wrath and dole;

And the hour that your choking breath shall cease

I will get my grip on your naked soul--

Nor pity may stay nor prayer cajole--

I would drag ye whining from Hell's own gate:

To me, to me, ye must pay the toll!

And here in the shadows I wait, I wait!

The dead they are dead, they are out of the way?

And a ghost is the whim of an ailing mind?

Then why did ye whiten with fear to-day

When ye heard a voice in the calling wind?

Why did ye falter and look behind

At the creeping mists when the hour grew late?

Ye would see my face were ye stricken blind!

And here in the shadows I wait, I wait!

Drink and forget, make merry and boast,

But the boast rings false and the jest is thin--

In the hour that I meet ye ghost to ghost,

Stripped of the flesh that ye skulk within,

Stripped to the coward soul 'ware of its sin,

Ye shall learn, ye shall learn, whether dead men

hate!

Ah, a weary time has the waiting been,

But here in the shadows I wait, I wait!

On March 16 Emeric tweeted those quotes we have discussed before from Richard Matheson, Mark Twain, Joseph Conrad, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Pubilius Syras. All of which appeared on his Facebook page and some here as his status updates going back to last October.

There are also three further quotes he tweeted on March 16 that originally he posted on his Facebook last September which I do not believe we discussed here:

A person needs a little madness, or else they never dare cut the rope and be free.

Quoted from the Greek author Nikos Kazantzakis.

The thoughts written on the walls of madhouses by their inmates might be worth publicizing.

Quoted from the German scientist Georg Christoph Lichtenberg.

It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways.

A quote of The Buddha.

I would imagine that these three earliest quotations made before HHN XX opened actually referred to that event's house Pschoscareapy: Echoes of Shadybrook, and the quotes about fear from Syras and Emerson originally posted last October refer to FEAR at last year's event as well.

But the Conrad, Twain, Matheson and Marquis quotes were all made after last year's event ended and thus may have some bearing on HHN XXI.

The most recent tweets are those made on the March 18 and 21. The first is the one from Sade. For the benefit of those who do not know, Sade was far more than merely a philosopher, he was none other than the notorious Marquis de Sade the man for whom Sadism was named. The quote is from his novel Juliette, a companion novel to his previous work Justine.

In these books Justine is a remarkably devout and moral woman who never compromises on her virtue with the result of horrible and terrible consequences. Juliette is her sister, a completely amoral wicked sexually depraved slut. She has a fully rewarding and happy life of wanton excess.

Thus the good are punished and the wicked rewarded. Napoleon was outraged by these books and ordered Sade's arrest, he was then incarcerated in an insane asylum.

The most recent quote from Valleix Herard is apparently from a work titled "In Fear". I do not know if this a literary work or something on his blog. The blog has apparently been taken down.

Edited March 24, 2011 by Dr. Jimmy

[DanielMyron]

Pardon my naivete as I am new here, but who is Emerec Belasco and why would one assume his words have any ties to HHNXXI? I don't see a connection here.

Daniel

[CubanGringo]

Pardon my naivete as I am new here, but who is Emerec Belasco and why would one assume his words have any ties to HHNXXI? I don't see a connection here.

Daniel

We really have no idea who he is, though myself and quite a few other members on here believe he has direct ties to A&D. The main reason we trust him is due to the fact that each hint he gave out, in his cryptic riddles last year, came true.

[DanielMyron]

I find it hard to believe that these quotes have anything to do with HHNXXI. Color me pessimistic, but they just don't seem to have any connections to each other, let alone to an event like HHN.

Did last year's clues make sense in retrospect? Were they obvious once the event was revealed, or were they obscure even afterwards?

Daniel

[Guest]

I find it hard to believe that these quotes have anything to do with HHNXXI. Color me pessimistic, but they just don't seem to have any connections to each other, let alone to an event like HHN.

Did last year's clues make sense in retrospect? Were they obvious once the event was revealed, or were they obscure even afterwards?

Daniel

Believe what you may, but I will say that certain words (not the whole quote itself) have something to do with the event. Read his past FB posts and it makes sense to last year's event.

[Guest FL Universal Jax]

I find it hard to believe that these quotes have anything to do with HHNXXI. Color me pessimistic, but they just don't seem to have any connections to each other, let alone to an event like HHN.

Did last year's clues make sense in retrospect? Were they obvious once the event was revealed, or were they obscure even afterwards?

Daniel

Last years quotes did come true, so to speak. However, we must realize that before last HHN we were in the same boat as we are now. All of us here where reading his quotes trying to figure out what exactly they meant in relation to HHN XX. Do I need to remind people of all the crazy stuff that we as a whole came up with that never came true?

Basically, just like last year, the quotes always make since once the event begins and everything is revealed. Until then, we can look at them for what they are worth and try to come up with themes and titles for our HHN XXI.

Secondly, I am with Doctor Jimmy, we cant look at them for what they litteraly say, we must look at the themes that they are trying to get across. Maybe we should start thinking along the lines of "new content" instead of trying to come up with an icon that fits in with what we are used to.

Just my opinion.

[DanielMyron]

I guess I am having trouble seeing a connection between vague, seemingly-unrelated quotes and concrete details of the event. Were last year's quotes in reference to Fear, or to some other aspect of HHN? I'm not on Facebook (yet), so is there any chance that someone can give me a quick refresher on last year's quotes/revelations?

I love a good mystery as much as anyone. Should these quotes prove to have some bearing on the event, I am excited to lend a hand in deciphering their true meaning!

Thank you for your patience!

Daniel

P.S. Do you have any idea who this person really is? Has anyone been able to figure out if it is really someone from A&D? My curiosity is piqued!

Edited March 25, 2011 by DanielMyron

[Cody]

If anybody knows, they won't tell. Why bust their best source?

Those of us who don't know who he is figure he's A&D or best buddies with someone in A&D because of how reliable he's been. A&D members have leaked stuff as big as pictures of facades before.

[Dr. Jimmy]

I guess I am having trouble seeing a connection between vague, seemingly-unrelated quotes and concrete details of the event. Were last year's quotes in reference to Fear, or to some other aspect of HHN? I'm not on Facebook (yet), so is there any chance that someone can give me a quick refresher on last year's quotes/revelations?

I love a good mystery as much as anyone. Should these quotes prove to have some bearing on the event, I am excited to lend a hand in deciphering their true meaning!

Thank you for your patience!

Daniel

P.S. Do you have any idea who this person really is? Has anyone been able to figure out if it is really someone from A&D? My curiosity is piqued!

I have some very specific suspicions on precisely who he might be, but as I have only suspicions and no clear evidence I shall keep them to myself.

Here is a post he made last July in the HHN XX Spec thread before anyone had heard anything about the Icon for last year:

As FDR said in his First Inaugural Address:

Let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is Fear itself: nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.

Notice that he had capitalized the word Fear. He continued to mention old movies and magazine articles all of which when researched had the title Fear Itself.

Later in July, before we had heard about the return of LT and well before we knew the game would be played on Facebook he posted this:

Legendary Truth will be reappearing shortly. It would appear that they are expanding their influence into the social networking realm.

We had been told by a person who is involved in the Unmasking the Horrors tours that there would be no sequel houses at HHN XX. Emeric posted this in early August:

Sadly, Meetz Meats will not be returning this year. One may be encouraged to learn, however, that they may have one final opportunity to fly over the cuckoo's nest.

This shows that he knew there would be a sequel house, and specifically Psychoscareapy before anyone thought this would happen.

The following day he posted this:

A haunted mansion? Sounds like the sort of thing that some might enjoy investigating.

Truthfully, effective ghost-themed haunts are decidedly difficult to achieve. Done correctly, though, the results could be positively Legendary.

A direct reference to the Wyandot Estate with a hidden clue pointing to Legendary Truth.

That same afternoon he actually gave us the name of a house and its theme hidden in this post:

Have the roles been given code names, or are they plain as day? Are they clever allusions, or is this simply a case of hiding in plain sight?

This Plague of ever-mutating speculation makes one yearn for the deathly quiet of a crypt or Catacombs.

We had heard from some scareactors cast in the event that they had been cast as something called "dows", nobody had any idea what this meant. We began to speculate wildly on what dow could stand for.

On August 9 he basically gave us the correct answer:

Are there any amongst us who are familiar with the works of the great Bard?

I, for one, have always been fond of Julius Caesar. Specifically, Act 3, Scene I, Line 273.

The line from Shakespeare is "Cry Havoc and let slip the Dogs of War"

This post from August 13 essentially confirmed that Cindy would be at the event and in an orphanage:

Calm now, children. A favorite passage of mine (slightly corrupted by myself):

"Be not therefore anxious, saying, What shall we speculate on? or, What shall we entirely fabricate? or, Wherewithal shall we see an Eddie house?"

Many have wondered about poor Cindy's fate. She may have been spending time with Miss Hannigan, but all will become clearer as the day unfolds.

On August 23 just before the HHN Website went live Emeric gave us everything in advance in this post:

And so it would appear that the final unveiling is nigh upon us. In the preceeding days, let me re-state my words one final time:

As FDR said in his First Inaugural Address: " . . . let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is Fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror."

Are there any amongst us who are familiar with the works of the great Bard? I, for one, have always been fond of Julius Caesar. Specifically, Act 3, Scene I, Line 273.

This Plague of ever-mutating speculation makes one yearn for the deathly quiet of a crypt or Catacombs.

A haunted mansion? Sounds like the sort of thing that some might enjoy investigating. Truthfully, effective ghost-themed haunts are decidedly difficult to achieve. Done correctly, though, the results could be positively Legendary.

One may be encouraged to learn that they may have one final opportunity to fly over the cuckoo's nest.

Many have wondered about poor Cindy's fate. She may have been spending time with Miss Hannigan, but all will become clearer as the day unfolds.

Texas may have a peculiar penchant for chainsaws, and the various Meatz may look tasty. However, those dining at the feast of Doomsday may already be dead themselves. Pardon that improperly placed zed.

It may be a labour of Hercules, but one should never turn around to look for Eurydice.

While many have walked the hallowed halls of horror through the years, this year's 20th Anniversary event to unveil the Best Universal has to offer.

Now I hope this answers all of your questions and you can see why many of us have come to the conclusion that Emeric Belasco is someone directly connected to Universal Art & Design.

Edited March 25, 2011 by Dr. Jimmy