Phone call from Tom Barrow 6/21 9:50pm

[111_errorParticipant]

Received a really intense phone call from Tom Barrow. For a variety of reasons, this one really shook me up a bit.

I’m not sure what I should do with the information yet, and am going to discuss it with the only other person who can help me decide. Whatever conclusion we agree on, I’ll respond below ..

[Addison BornParticipant]

Good luck brother. Dying to hear what happened but trust you’ll make the right decision.

[111_errorParticipant]

[RustyParticipant]

Thank you @111error, Morgan, my friend, for reaching out and letting me know about the call and what happened. I hope we reached the apropriate conclusion…
This has been a harsh evening.

[Sean (@TheGilded)Moderator]

No matter how anyone felt about him, this is sad news… Thank you for telling us. I hope Addison won’t take this too hard

[Jake OParticipant]

Very sad news indeed. my condolences to his family. it’s not something to be taken lightly

[CodyParticipant]

Wow. Thats love… crazy in love.
I feel for him. I too know what It feels like to have lost a love that threatened to tear me apart.
My condolences to everyone who ever knew him.

[111_errorParticipant]

It’s been a tough night for Russell and I. We’re actually back on the phone, right now.

I apologize for the additional ‘we’ in the final paragraph. We wrote it together under some degree of stress.

[MelissaModerator]

No apologies needed, that’s a lot information to take in. I hope you and @reaton were able to sleep a bit last night. We’re all here to talk it out.

[CodyParticipant]

I thank you error, Morgan… for returning the favor.

[Anonymous]

How do we know Mark harmed himself? By his own accounts, he would lie to receive certain attention and status in his relationship with Addison. Is it possible this situation is faked to elicit sympathy from us?

[MelissaModerator]

Until I see a coroners report (assuming Mark is dead), I will only take Tom’s word in faith but not be completely convinced it was self-inflicted. Been to far many scenes where the family or friend claims the death was self-inflicted or an accident when in reality it was homicide.

[Susie JParticipant]

This was triggering and I couldn’t sleep after randomly checking in at three a.m. I have a lot of thoughts rolling around in my head but I think the prudent thing to say for now is that I’m saddened that he’s gone. Suicide never solves anything and only leaves a crater behind. Homicide might solve a problem for someone but at what cost?

[Neil KingParticipant]

That is a bit intense. Suicide is never anything to take lightly. Although many of us here on the forums questioned his motives in trying to find Addison and “harassed” him – he did threaten our way of life and that is not okay either. We just asked for more explanation. I honestly do not think this is our doing.

Mark did reach out on the forums and III did see that letter. We are well aware of the things III can do.

So Addy’s Daddy called you guys? What details were specifically given? How do they know it was self inflicted? The O.O.A. watch these forums, I am sure they saw his post and handled it accordingly. But then again, we are not sure even if Addison and IV are on the side of The O.O.A. or even where Mark fits into all this. We need more information.

Rough night indeed for you guys and sorry to question in this time of tragedy and pain for y’all but we need details to determine what is actually happening.

[Anonymous]

I agree. We don’t know:
A.) If he is dead.
B.) If it was suicide.
C.) If the last post from Benny was, in fact, actually posted by Benny….

[Jake OParticipant]

I agree with all these points. However, if Tom and/or Mark is lying about this, it’s really fucked up and means that Tom is a straight up horrible person.

So I’ll remain skeptical until there is proof, but at the same time, it’s a reserved skepticism, due to the severity of the situation.

[MikeParticipant]

Something about this seems off. Not trying to sound insensitive, but we need to look at all the angles here.

We have two men (Four counting @reaton and @111error) who REALLY care about a girl. Tom and Benny have been doing all they can to get her back by any means necessary. Tom barged in to our mixer hootin’ and hollerin’ and causing a ruckus and we have Benny coming in and threatening to burn us all to the ground. Also, with what Tom told @reaton at the hotel, it seems odd that he would be the one to know this news and/or relay it to us. Another possibility, Tom made it “look like an accident”, he did something to Benny to get Addison out of hiding.

So what if…these sneaky bastards are using this as a ploy to get Addison out of hiding and using everyone’s emotions against them. I would like to think they’re better than that, but I wouldn’t put it past someone who uses threats and breaks into private events.

Please think about this with an open mind. For Addison’s safety, please don’t try to lure her out into the open. It may be dangerous. Think about this and everything up to this point. All you’ve been given were words and a sob story, no evidence.

[RustyParticipant]

@mike Morgan and I have discussed this angle. I don’t think you, or the others that have chimed in, are being insensitive, just cautious. It was a rough decision to share as we have… and it is why I stated I “hoped we reached the appropriate conclusion.” We are not sure what Addison’s reaction to this news… whether it be 100% true or false or maybe something else entirely… will be.
As a community, we are all a bit in the dark around much of this.

[MichelleParticipant]

Again, I’m in agreement with @mike. Something seems off. Why would Tom be the one who brings this news to us when, from my understanding, he didn’t trust Benny/Mark and blamed him for pulling Addison into all of this. All I know of Tom personally is him crashing into the mixer like a hurricane bent on destruction. I’ve not had the interactions that @111error and @reaton have had with him. You two know him better than any of us, I imagine.

I think it’s also important for us to find out the truth of what has happened to Benny/Mark. How we go about that, I’m not sure since everything is shrouded in so much secrecy. Are we able to get our hands on a police report? Every death would require one.

It’s definitely a sad day and this news is heartbreaking because a life was lost/taken. My thoughts are with his family.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  Michelle. Reason: changing names to tags
• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  Michelle.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  Michelle.

[Andrew KaschParticipant]

Oddly enough, I’m kind of relieved Tom is alive. I had no idea what happened to him since the mixer.

Christ…I just had a horrible thought: If Mark/Benny got into it with GK4, who took Addison under her wing…could there be a link between them and his apparent suicide?

[Sean (@TheGilded)Moderator]

That’s highly likely. Whatever 4 and Addy are up to, it doesn’t look like 4 would be willing to let someone take away her… partner/disciple/slave so easily. We all know she is a touch angry and it wouldn’t be out of the question for her to “deal with” Mark/Benny.

I wouldn’t count out III, either. He seems highly volatile and highly dangerous, and he may have also had a hand in this. I wouldn’t think that III would have as direct a stake in this as 4 would, but I also don’t think that III is the type to really give a damn about that

[Andrew KaschParticipant]

Remember…Addison looked like she had some very hard decisions to make and said “I’m ready” at the end of the Periscope videos. And she looked pretty wrecked when we saw her last.

We all care about her, so I hope she wasn’t coerced into doing something…very bad.

[Michael RizzoParticipant]

So if we take this face value, we are left with yet another body that is in direct relation to the OOA? How many is that now? We have the fire victims years ago, overseer, maybe aleister, Benny/mark, and who knows how many others over the years?? So either this was a suicide caused by words given to him in forums (mainly the gatekeeper, who continue to not keep it a secret at all that they have Addison and he’s never seeing them again) or was it something like “The O.O.A. watch these forums, I am sure they saw his post and handled it accordingly”. That’s sounds kind of trash, no? If you all hadn’t voted me back in at the mixer, do we really know what would’ve happened to me? Someone who knew ALOT about the OOA just as you all did, someone who had spoken face to face with a gatekeeper and put their precious helmet on? I can’t imagine them letting me go just like nothing, and I’m sure the same goes for anyone else who went against the church. Some say that it was Benny’s fault that Addison is in this mess in the first place, but let’s backtrack. We’ve now learned that the OOA have been acting as some kind of arg with fun puzzles to bring in new people for some time now, we also know Addison was trying to be an actress in the great HollywoodLand. How do we know Benny didn’t just think this was a fun little game that they could do together? Or what if he thought this could be just another acting gig for her? Much like the man at the bar not too long ago thought? I won’t lie and say Benny’s outbursts were probably not the best way of action, but as for dragging in addy? Maybe we could give him a little slack. I mean, how many people, scratch that, how many loved ones have to talked about “The Tension Experience” to, hoping they would join? They could’ve been the next Addy, and you could’ve been the next Benny. All I’m saying, is that maybe we should start questioning a lot more? I know some questions have been thrown around, but we now have confirmation that someone against the church is dead. Not missing, not run away. Dead.

[MelissaModerator]

@rizzzoooooo I see your point but again I’m going to stay by my original stance which wasn’t exactly stated well this morning. @111error and @reaton were told by Tom (who made it super clear that he doesn’t like the OOA) “suffered what may be a fatal injury”.

We have NO idea if Mark is actually dead. It’s strongly inferred, but it’s not confirmed at all. Even if Mark dead, we have no idea if the mode was in fact, suicide. And if the mode was homicide, we have NO idea who did it. Let’s remember in Mark’s last statement he said fuck the BOA (which he later clarified as BOS). He didn’t exactly have any friends with the OOA as well.

If Mark is dead, all people and factions are suspect.

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

There is a lot of speculation in this thread. I feel it could be very helpful to have a detailed breakdown of the actual call between Tom and @111error.

For starters:
What exactly did Tom say, as word for word as can be recalled?
What was Tom’s tone/mood?
Any idea where Tom was or who he might have been with when he placed the call?
How long did the call last?

I was in contact with Sentinel all during last night’s events. I’m currently parsing out what may be relevant to this discussion. I’ll share what I come up with.

[111_errorParticipant]

Tom was very serious, and delivered the news calmly. The line was clear, I’ve no idea where he may have been. The call lasted two or three minutes.

I had just left a meeting and was sitting in my car decompressing, so I am not going to be completely accurate, but as word for word as I can recall, and removing my responses;
“Morgan? I’m Tom Barrow, do you know me? I have unfortunate news. Mark has suffered a potentially fatal injury, I believe it was self inflicted.
The reason I’m telling you, is Addison trusted just two people. We don’t know if learning of this would help bring her back, or could push her farther away.”

There was no direct answer when I asked if there was anything I could do, for either Addison or Tom himself. I felt that my being told set up a difficult fork-in-the-road decision, that will have consequences for more people than just Addison. That’s why I waited until I could speak to Russell, to make sure we were both okay with the potential consequences of telling you all here.

[Addison BornParticipant]

This was a lot of news to wake up to.. I’ve been turning this over in my head for the past few hours.

I’m a little upset with the way some people are reacting here, and the way they reacted to Benny/Mark when he came to us yesterday. I’m really questioning where everyone’s allegiances lie; who’s here for enlightenment and who’s just here for themselves, blindly signing away their opinions in the name of whatever’s going to get them farthest into whatever this is.

To shout Mark out of town after he risks the wrath of III and the OOA without giving him the benefit of the doubt was a poor move in my opinion. He came to us vulnerable and in need of assistance to make things right between him and Addy, and he was attacked instead of reasoned with.

Now, we hear this news. And while there are many thinking more critically about this situation and taking this history of Mark’s relationship with the OOA, BoS, Tom, Addison, and us, it makes me sick that there’s even an air of acceptance of this situation, of taking it at face value, that he did in fact kill himself after risking so much to get a single word to Addison that could change everything.

We know he was a figure with a singular goal in the middle of two seemingly desperate parties. The OOA is doing everything they can to keep their hands clean, by including many of you in their “promotional material” (which by the way, if you believe they’re not a cult.. I’d love to hear your take of what happened at that mixer). Tom is doing everything he can to get Addy back, and blames everything that happened on Mark (which to that we only have his word as proof).

Everyone wants Addison. Everyone wants four. It seems like everyone is doing everything they can to get them, and I think foul play is more likely than suicide.

[Michael RizzoParticipant]

I agree, as I stated above face value is definetly not the only option nor does it sound like the most likely. I do believe we need to start looking at things with more questions and speaking to people with more skepticism. Things aren’t right, why after all that work would be just off him self? We know he wasn’t dedicated to any faction, but he was dedicated to one person: Addison. Why take his own life before getting to own endgame? It makes no sense.

[MikeParticipant]

“I’m a little upset with the way some people are reacting here, and the way they reacted to Benny/Mark when he came to us yesterday. I’m really questioning where everyone’s allegiances lie; who’s here for enlightenment and who’s just here for themselves, blindly signing away their opinions in the name of whatever’s going to get them farthest into whatever this is.”

I don’t think this is a fair comparison to make at all. We have someone (doesn’t matter who it is) coming onto OUR forum and into the community WE built and threaten to burn it all to the ground. That is a threat. Someone is here threatening us and we’re supposed to care about them? Sorry, life doesn’t work that way. If someone sent you an email saying they were going to burn your house down, would you care about their feelings or would you do what you could to defend what’s yours? It has nothing to do with “getting farthest”, it’s about this quote from GK4 – “Lesson to the class- support that which you built. You constructed this, not us. Always defend that which is yours.”

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by  Mike.

[DaelaParticipant]

Gotta disagree with our Scribe here.

It would be wrong to belittle and reject someone out of knee-jerk in-group bias. I would like to believe we are above tribalism. And I think that we all have a fairly nuanced view of the OOA: nobody sees it as an unmitigated good. (If nothing else, everyone here disagrees with Four, III, or both.)

The reaction to Benny, as far as I can tell, did not stem from a primal “better not mess with us” attitude. Instead, it was informed by:

1) Benny’s repeated refusal to believe that his ex-flame had any agency
2) Benny’s refusal, from his first communications in May until the present, to disclose any useful information, despite multiple participants reaching out and PM-ing him
3) Benny’s suspicious cutting of all ties, not just OOA but BOS and seemingly the Barrows
4) Above all, Benny’s disingenuousness in claiming victimhood while hiding his own level of responsibility

I most definitely don’t want to interfere with the compassion we all ought to feel for him. This event will hopefully prompt some introspection and perhaps, in the future, kinder interactions with those we disagree with.

That said, I don’t think pointing fingers at the forum community is fair or right. Most of us gently suggested (or, admittedly, not-so-gently *raises hand*) that Benny take a breath and think about his relationship calmly and rationally. Many posts were framed as an offer to help. Let’s not create a narrative wherein the forum turned on him solely because he questioned the OOA. That’s not what happened.

[MikeParticipant]

@daela I’m a bit lost with your post, what are you disagreeing with?

The way I took Addison’s post was that he was upset that people reacted negatively. My response was a response to what I quoted in that “why should we care when he came here and threatened us.”

[DaelaParticipant]

@mike Sorry, I should be more clear. I guess I’m disagreeing with both you and Addison.

I disagree with Addison, because he said that Benny was “attacked instead of reasoned with”. That’s simply not true, many people tried to reason with him. I don’t think it’s productive to rewrite a history that casts Benny as an innocent victim and the forum members as the snarling pack who destroyed him for being an outsider. That’s far from what happened.

I disagree with you, because you said “Someone is here threatening us and we’re supposed to care about them? Sorry, life doesn’t work that way.” I like to think that life does work that way, and that nobody who responded to Benny (or at least, very few) did so because they didn’t care about him or because they saw him as a threat.

Here are some quotes from people addressing Benny:

“I am sorry for your pain and your loss, truly I am.”

“Good luck. I sincerely hope that you and I don’t find ourselves on opposite sides of this conflict.”

“Good luck. And, if you can, reach out to some of us if you need us.”

“Good luck brother”

“…will do what I can to help.”

“I sympathize with you, sir, I honestly do.”

Most of us did not have a “get out of my house, betrayer!!!!” response. I don’t think it’s useful to pretend like we did, or that such a response would have been justified.

[MikeParticipant]

@daela – thank you for explaining. I get what you’re saying.

The beautiful (and scary) thing is, we all can have different opinions…and it’s ok. It’s also ok to discuss them, like we are, here. No attacking, no allegiances, just…discussion. Even @electrichippo came in with her opinion and agreed with some of us. That’s saying a lot! 😉

[Addison BornParticipant]

@daela I’m very happy we’ve kept Benny in our thoughts and prayers as he’s going through this difficult time

[Addison BornParticipant]

@mike

If a stranger told me they were burning my house down, I’d fight back.

If an acquaintance told me they were burning a house down that I helped build, but the house owned by someone else who’s motives I’m beginning to question, I’d ask them “why?” and base my actions on that. Especially if they had already been around before asking for help finding someone who had lived there prior, but the owner of the house kicked him out when he was giving backstory to something we weren’t supposed to know.

And when we, the tenants of this house (who living here in order to achieve a goal that is still unclear) who have confronted the owners about that backstory we learned, are expected to be distracted by shiny ringing bells and our pictures hidden in videos instead of being given answers?

And when many of us have been told “move out of the house, it’s a dangerous living situation,” but we want to see what’s hidden in the foundation we built the house on

And when this person comes around, and at this point needs to threaten extreme action in order to get any sort of traction.. I think it’s not beyond reason to ask “why are you doing this and what can you tell us?”

Yes, we built this. But we’re not the ones cooking dinner.

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

@addisonborn You suggest the forum should have asked Mark “why are you doing this and what can you tell us?”

My strong belief is that taking this approach with Mark is proven futile. Remember the first time Mark appeared on the forum? He spoke emotionally, made threats, was asked to tell his story by many and he gave nothing but more unbridled emotion. Last night was just more of the same. Both times people private messaged him, asking his purpose, asking for his story. Practical result: Nothing.

Addison B., you obviously have a big heart. I do appreciate your desire for truth and fair treatment for all.

[Sean (@TheGilded)Moderator]

Disagreeing seems to be the in vogue thing to do, so I’m going to chip in as well. If Benny was worried about us, he’d do something about it. All he’s done so far is complain about the woman that he lost that, by all accounts, he introduced into this “oh-so-evil cult” to begin with. He tried to get us to deliver messages to a woman who we are not sure even wants to see him anymore. In his mind, the OOA is this hugely dangerous thing and when faced with the idea that there is a whole new class of disciples, he opted to share _nothing_ with us and attempt to use us for his own gains.

Don’t get me wrong, I pitied the man when he lost his girl. I would continue to pity him right now if he is alive, as that is a rough thing to go through and something we can all relate to. If he was killed, then I would pity him in fighting for his love and losing.

However, as it stands, the man came here to use us, gave us nothing that would help us from the fate that he believes awaits us, then introduces the insides of his head to the wall when the woman he claims to love supposedly needs him the most.

It is sad, but I do not mourn him. He gave up when the battle got heated. He did nothing for anyone that didn’t benefit him and his own goals. He was selfish in life and selfish in death. If what we have heard is all true, then the bastard is better worm food than he ever was as a man. He’ll end up as a footnote in this story of ours and even that is too much for him.

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

@thegilded said “He was selfish in life and selfish in death. If what we have heard is all true, then the bastard is better worm food than he ever was as a man.”

There is an argument to be made that crueler words were never spoken on this forum.

I don’t consider death, or worm food as you so eloquently put it, a fair outcome for selfishness or any other of the questionable choices we believe Mark has made.

[Sean (@TheGilded)Moderator]

I should clarify my statement, then. The man was foolish in life, but I respected his struggle. He was fighting for something that he cared about. For that reason I even supported him to an extent, despite the fact that he and I were on different sides of all of this. I support and honor anyone who would fight against whatever they view to be an injustice, and anyone who would struggle to better the lives of others. For a while, I thought that’s what Mark was doing. In his eyes, he was the little man fighting against the big evil and regardless of whether I agree with his assessment or not, I honor the fight.

But he stopped fighting. His battle began and ended with one person, and fuck everyone else whose lives are (again, in his point of view) in danger. His battle began and ended by whining twice on a forum over the course of what, a month? Then rather than continuing the fight, changing tactics, helping the others he knew in his mind to be in danger, or fuck… even just walking away he did the most cowardly thing a man can do and ate a bullet. The woman that he claims to love more than life itself is in danger and rather than fighting for her in any way that is more significant than the equivalent of asking us real nice to maybe please convey a message to her if we felt like it, he swallowed the barrel of a gun like a bitch. His actions in life didn’t mean that he deserved death. But his actions at the end of it mean he deserves dishonor.

So fuck Mark, and fuck his memory.

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

@thegilded I respect your choice to dislike Mark. I don’t have patience for the characterization of his assumed death.

[Anonymous]

Wow dude. That’s harsh.

[Sean (@TheGilded)Moderator]

If the reports are wrong and it turns out this was the work of III or 4 or the Barrows or Addy herself or anyone else, then I’ll be the first to apologize and lead the damn funeral march in his honor.

But all we’ve got to go on is what we’ve heard so far, so for now

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

As stated above, I was in contact with Sentinel all during last night’s events that centered around Mark (Benny) Samson. I’ll make this brief:

Last week my primary BoS contact, James, left the organization. Under what circumstance is unknown. What his current fate is, also unknown. What is know is Mark Samson left *with* James. Sentinel described Mark’s state of mind as “desperate… he will now act out of desperation. This is dangerous.”

Although Mark left, BoS was not turning their back on him. His safety, as well as Addy’s remained of vital importance. BoS just will not act carelessly, or as swiftly as Mark, or Tom Barrow had wished.

At 8:00pm last night Mark called Sentinel. Mark was described as, “not in the right head space… emotional and not thinking rationally.”

At 8:30pm Sentinel informed me that they had been trying to call Mark, but all calls were going directly to voice mail. Sentinel was frantically trying to locate Mark.

At 9:15pm Sentinel expressed the vague hope that of anyone at all, if Mark was going to reach out, it would be to me. Reason stated “He (Mark) knows you and where your loyalties lie.”

I did not hear from Mark.

Although things seem dire, I have not heard conclusively that Mark is dead.

[Michael RizzoParticipant]

I do hope you find your brother, as well as hopefully on the off chance mark turns out to have survived somehow. Just clarification, when you said mark left with James, you just mean the same time frame right? Not together?

[MelissaModerator]

@electrichippo, I have to say hearing another source warn you of Mark’s state of mind last night does raise a little bit more suspicion that something in fact did happen to Mark…still not convinced though that anything did happen.

[MichelleParticipant]

I’m going to chime in again.

First… We need to know for certain that there was a death. As @mkarrett said, we only have Tom’s word and that wasn’t even a definitive confirmation because he said Benny/Mark “suffered what may be a fatal injury.” It’s why I suggested trying to find a police report or some other type of evidence such as someone had suggested like a medical examiner’s report.

Second… I don’t believe that people are blind to what is possibly happening. Some are more cautious than others to make conclusions so quickly. This is a huge accusation made against anyone if indeed he is dead and it wasn’t suicide. We aren’t certain who’s hand Benny/Mark would have fallen to.

Third… I think it’s important that we work together not begin to choose sides. Asking questions is a good thing even if they are hard questions to ask or may sound insensitive. I don’t think anyone here takes what has happened lightly and condones violence against another human.

[CrelegantParticipant]

I have to admit, reading all of this is making me really scared and uncomfortable. Nonetheless, I believe that we should wait for more information, no matter how stressful the wait may be. Because if this wasn’t a suicide (or suicide ATTEMPT, because nothing has been confirmed) then I feel like whoever is behind it would want us to start splitting up into different directions to make it even harder for us to get to the truth and pinpoint who exactly is responsible. Hopefully someone else will be contacted soon to give us some sort of verification about what’s really going on. I’m just going to try to be cautious.

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

@rizzzoooooo Sorry Mike, I realize I was unclear. It was put to me specifically as “Mark left us when James did.” This reads to me as they both left at the same time, but not necessarily, for example, in the same car, to the same destination.

As far as the mixed emotions, and disagreement on how Mark was treated on this forum, i’ll say this… Mark was my Brother. In any family there will be some strife and disagreement. My relationship to him was no different. I do not condone the way Mark approached the forum yesterday. To threaten, once again, to burn this place to the ground, was not acceptable, and the reaction he received from some of the the Apostles understandable. Furthermore, Mark’s statement in it’s entirety was very specifically not approved or sanctioned by BoS.

Even though Mark left us, BoS wished him no harm and were committed to looking after him best we could from afar. We tried to locate him last night, in an effort to assist him in whatever it was that was happening. Until I hear that Mark is truly gone I will hold out hope.

[Anonymous]

@electrichippo – how certain do you feel that something terrible has happened to Mark?

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

@jeromy I’m not certain at all. If I was forced to decide if Mark’s fate last night involved a pleasant Caribbean vacation or death, I’d have to chose death… or at least something close to it.

BTW, welcome aboard

[Anonymous]

@electrichippo – Thanks! Happy to be around.

[Anonymous]

@crelegant I’m not sure if there is anything else we can do but wait. We can talk and talk and talk, and we should, but until more information or definitive proof of anyone’s version of things come to light, then all there is is wait.

Boring old wait.

[MichelleParticipant]

I think someone over the next 24 hours will receive some vital information regarding what happened to Benny/Mark. Until then, it is a waiting game where we are all watching the second hand on the clock anticipating.

[Michael RizzoParticipant]

Something I keep seeing is, “he came here asking for help and wanting us to do something but wouldn’t give us any info at all”… Who does this sound like to you? To me I hear the OOA in a way. Sure we have been been given some info about the institute, but how long did it take to get that info? How many random tasks do we carry out with little to no info given to us?

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

@rizzzoooooo Agreed. If nothing else OOA and BoS share the trait of providing an excessively slow drip of information, meanwhile expecting (or at least hoping for) our loyalty and patience. Of course, both organizations will also make it clear if we don’t like it, we can leave whenever we want.

[Michael RizzoParticipant]

I believe the one thing we learned in this whole thing is that whoever you speak to (and this goes to both sides or whoever), you need to play your cards right for the truth. It seems the number one reason everyone is here is for the truth, and to gain the truth you need to play your cards and maybe do something you may not feel comfortable to do. This is the main reason I’m so confused about the hostility to Mark (at least in his early contact with us). He has info, valuable info that could potentially blow this whole thing open.

[Addison BornParticipant]

Yes, agreed. Sure Mark didn’t have a cool acronym to make his requests official, and was going at this stream of consciousness style. But he came to us with a single request and some background into who Addison is, someone who many of us claim to care about.

But why are we so focused on faulting him, when Tom did basically the same thing when he barged in on the Ringing of the Bell? He burst in, emotionally shouting about the OOA kidnapping his daughter, and placing the blame on everyone in attendance. And then we’re expected to believe that he was calm in calling one of the people at that event that he was placing blame on, and that there was no foul play.

All I want people to understand is that there are a lot of desperate players in the game. Mark is/was desperate. Tom is desperate. The OOA is desperate. Four is desperate. We’re all desperate.

And I hope we all know that a desperate person with nothing to lose is the most dangerous person in the room, and it seems like we’re stuck in the middle of a few of those people right now.

[Michael RizzoParticipant]

Definetly, we need to be smart and safe in this. We have seen how things end up for those who have not carefully thought their plans through. I believe we truly need to take any info we receive so we can, as a community, put the pieces together and truly solve the puzzle that is Anoch.

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

@addisonborn: “We’re all desperate.”

I’m not desperate. I’m focused and determined. I do believe things can get done while leaving the histrionic outbursts at the door (See: Tom, Mark)

[Anonymous]

Speaking of really old things that I don’t think I’ve seen brought up over here…I found this a LONG while back – Addison’s twitter account?
https://twitter.com/ScaredAfraid

[Kimberly @ElectricHippoParticipant]

@coryphella Interesting find. Addy’s choice of usernames could be considered quite telling regarding her state of mind when she made the account: “ScaredAfraid.” So many apostles figured Addy was just fine at that time, making her own choices. I’m going to believe Scared and Afraid is intended as it seems. BTW, thank you for showing such care and compassion for Addy, @reaton.

[RustyParticipant]

Yes, @coryphella. That is the Twitter account used when Addison contacted me asking if the stuffed animal I was given came from her parents. It was public, nothing was sent in private message or anything. it seems to have gone dark. I only got a few short messages, which ended with the statement “it’s happening” which was right before the periscope of the fire was posted and she ended with the “I’m ready” statement.

I was tweeted a message to never contact Addison again… that was the end of the exchange.

And yes, @electrichippo I felt the name was in specific reference to her state of being at the time, which is (my guess) it may have never been used after that. Obviously, Addison has gone through some changes.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by  Rusty.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 5 months ago by  Rusty.

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