Afflicted · Ransom Media Productions

Chapter 9: Tell the Truth, Shame the Devil

April 17, 2023·29 min·2 clips

A UCLA student uncovers two identical traffic accident deaths in Gunaway, Texas, with no police records.

The episode opens with a flashback to spring 2018 at a UCLA library, where a young woman researches the 1995 murder of her aunt Agatha Williams in Gunaway, Texas. No news articles exist beyond a traffic accident obituary, and a second woman of the same age died the same day in the same town. The librarian advises checking county courthouse records. This appears to be Becky investigating the death of Cherry's supposed victim. Back in the present, Dana, an FBI agent who has been in town observing the supernatural events, is captured and handcuffed by Cherry's group. Cherry sets up a hoodoo truth oil ritual to compel Dana to write truthful answers to questions, warning her the process will be painful. Outside the church, Becky and a powerful supernatural entity — revealed to be something that can displace its consciousness into a rat for astral surveillance — assess the group's protective wards. The wards stop all infected animals from crossing a perimeter around the church, but some of the transformed infected humans can tolerate passing through the line at reduced capacity. The entity projects into a rat to listen through the church wall as Dana writes her answers under the influence of the truth oil. Dana reveals that the government has tracked Becky's connection to the book and wanted to capture her alive to weaponize the entity. Inside the church, the group debates whether to trade Dana for Rhonda. Most vote to make the trade despite Cherry's warning that Dana holds information they should protect. The trade goes ahead, but in the confusion the group fails to wash the truth oil from Dana's hands. Becky immediately recognizes the error and declares Dana her personal soothsayer. Cherry attempts to cure Rhonda simultaneously, but Rhonda fights violently against the treatment, revealing that she believes the supernatural entity can bring her dead son Ethan back to life. During the struggle, Rhonda scratches August, raising the possibility of infection. Maria offers to take a blood sample from August to monitor for bacterial spread. The episode ends with Becky acquiring a small amount of August's blood from the scratch and using it to reprogram the protective wards to work against the Caldwell bloodline rather than against her forces.

As heard by us

A library search turns into a ritual test of truth and loyalty.

The episode starts with a sharp mystery: a student in the UCLA library tries to figure out what really happened to a deceased aunt, only to hit an obituary that reduces it to a traffic accident and leaves everything else blank.

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Why you'd press play

A library search, a buried death record, and a truth spell that turns the room sharper than anyone wants.

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