Invocation

UNIT #5.2

Released: 29 November 2017

Listened: 4/13/23

This story, from Roy Gill, takes advantage of the anthology format to go for the straight-up scary. The story is told in several parts, but definitely centers around a haunted house. Specifically, an old manor that UNIT owns but isn’t using, so Kate decides to go have a look, and remembers having been there as a child. Josh attends a Halloween party that’s crashed by some actual ghosts (or what appear to be actual ghosts to everyone except Josh), and Osgood picks up a signal from a 1960s-era satellite that really shouldn’t be broadcasting, especially not in Latin. It’s a bit of narrative convenience that all of our main characters happen to be in the right places to each get a piece of the puzzle and then put them all together. (Osgood does a lot of odd things, but listening to a dead satellite?) There is a human element to the whole story, with a scientist who was funded by UNIT years ago, but now resents having her project terminated. But the main thrust is to create a spooky feeling that can’t entirely be explained away by the science. No mention of the Auctioneers here, but Sam is mentioned as still being missing.