DOCTOR PHANTASMICAL'S
INCREDIBLE BEYOND-O-SCOPE

  "Doctor Phantasmical's Incredible Beyond-O-Scope" is a free, traveling exhibition that claims to offer patrons a glimpse into the afterlife. The exhibit consists of a glass cabinet roughly 9 feet in width and 12 feet in height, connected to an array of wires and tesla coils of undisclosed function. When a lever is pulled, a figure manifests in the center of this cabinet for approximately sixteen seconds, alleged to represent a human soul currently experiencing its place in "one of infinite beyonds." "Doctor Phantasmical," a character with a distinctive pale blue suit and top hat, is reportedly never performed by the same actor or actress twice, and their employer is reclusive enough that none questioned are quite certain of his or her identity, receiving their payment, scripts and instructions through correspondents who have proven equally uninformed of the particulars.

  Each "soul" is shown alone and utterly bare, as apparently the manifestation process does not extend to any sort of object or material other than the soul itself. Those with intact or uncovered eyes apparently often react as though they can see the gathered crowd, but do not respond nor produce sound. All efforts to photograph these beings have failed, producing only images of bright blurs.

The following is a list of all alleged displays, pieced together from all witnesses available for comment:




The First Exhibit:

The earliest known display is described as a man entombed by his own flesh, his legs fused as one and his arms trapped down his sides. His neck was cinched and his head bent such that he appeared to be hanging from some unseen noose or similar tether. His head and face were smooth and rounded, possessing only a mouth. His flesh is described as being eaten away as though aflame, but replenishing with such rapidity that the damage roiled and crept about his body throughout the ten second period. Despite this condition, the figure was smiling widely, and appeared to be swinging about in a deliberately but not obviously distressed fashion. An onlooker described the motions as resembling "a boy enjoying a tire swing."


The Second Exhibit:

A young woman was seen for ten seconds to be sleeping curled in a foetal position, smiling. Her fingers were elongated upwards into thin branches that vanished abruptly at the borders of the display cabinet, but were seen to be in constant motion as though their tips were "plucking" or "picking" at something far above.


The Third Exhibit:

This exhibition produced only half of a figure, seemingly too large for more than the head and part of the torso to fit within the cabinet. Wherever the body extended out of sight, its inner workings could be seen through the glass, even as the body moved and shifted position. The abnormally enlarged figure had pale, cracked flesh that oozed a brownish yellow substance, but its infant-like face was noted by one onlooker as having an expression of "the most sincere elation." Its large hands repeatedly entered the field of visibility to shovel something unseen into the gaping and toothless mouth.


The Fourth Exhibit:

Another "partial" soul, too large to be fully seen. What could be observed was a flat, smooth wall of greyish, wrinkled flesh. Over the course of the first eleven seconds, a particular arrangement of wrinkles or furrows moved across this wall, while its other features remained static. These furrows halted half-way across the visible surface and momentarily opened, revealing themselves to be two human eyes and a mouth which gaped at the gathered crowd and appeared to scream in terror. The eyes and mouth then scattered quickly, in three opposite directions, until out of sight. In the final five seconds, the tip of an extremely large finger is said to have entered into view and scratched at where the face had been a moment prior.


The Fifth Exhibit:

Causing quite an uproar was this lewd display of what appeared to be two figures engaged in an act the nature of which is not appropriate to describe in this publication. These figures did not however possess visible heads, but rather, long necks which coiled together before vanishing up into a mass of flesh above the pair, connected to something out of sight. In the final seconds, a tiny figure with a long, thin snout or beak is said to have clambered into view and scurried monkey-like down the entwined necks, but the display ended before its intentions could be deduced.


The Sixth Exhibit:

This exhibit displayed only a collection of large, white worms that appeared to float about each as though swimming or tunneling through some medium. All possessed the same identical visage of an unknown young lady with short, dark hair. Several of these worms coiled around one another playfully and a number are said to have "kissed" as they passed by. Depending on their vantage point however, a small number of witnesses caught glimpse of a worm suddenly biting into and tearing open the face of another.


The Seventh Exhibit:

While the first six "souls" showed no obvious signs of discomfort with their peculiar shapes or disturbing circumstances, this figure is said to have been in obvious torment. Its form was too distended to identify any particular features save for a greatly enlarged head and four smooth lumps where one should possess arms and legs. The head had wild, fearful eyes that darted about and the mouth, pointed upwards, was stretched impossibly wide, the lips forming a circle. The being shuddered and jerked violently while evidently struggling to close its jaws, while the distorted lips remained precisely fixed in place as though surrounding some large drum or pipe. More repulsively, the opposite end of the figure was in a constant state of dissolving, not unlike the "burning" figure from the first exhibition.


The Eighth Exhibit:

This soul appeared otherwise human, but compressed tightly as though trapped in a perfectly spherical cavity. Their face could not be seen, but their breathing appeared heavy and pained. Four seconds into the display, a number of witnesses are said to have fled and at least one fainted as a second being came into view, a ghoulish intruder stretched and twisted like a tree branch whose head dangled down limply from his crooked frame. This figure crawled jerkily across an unseen solid plane inches above the first, and stopped suddenly when it apparently took notice of the latter by some unknown means, its head stiffening to fix its gaze in the trapped soul's direction. A long tongue quickly snaked from the beast's mouth, probing the invisible "ground," or whatever surface it traversed, until apparently finding some small opening. The display concluded only shortly before the winding tongue would have made contact with the buried figure.


The Ninth Exhibit:

The only exhibit to display an identified soul. The figure closely resembled a local woman whose identity we have chosen not to disclose, but who had passed away by natural causes only days prior. As usual, the actor playing "Doctor Phantasmical" maintained that they had no prior knowledge of what was to be on display or how the display functioned. The woman, apparently well liked by her community, was recognizable to several onlookers from her face, but the rest of her form consisted of many long arms and large hands in a rounded, tangled heap, her head gazing out from a gap in the many knotted joints. The appendages were reportedly quite busy, and even with no other visible matter, it was obvious that they were engaged mostly in some manner of construction, lifting unseen objects and placing them atop one another in an intricate pattern witnesses found impossible to follow. The face observed this activity as though in no direct control of it, but with apparent curiosity and even amusement rather than any show of alarm. She is reported to have taken notice of the observers, only to cock her head in puzzlement before noticing the actor dressed as the "doctor," at which she rolled her eyes and smirked before the display ended. It was later discovered that the woman had been present for the fifth exhibition, on record as finding it "whimsical, if obviously fabricated."


The Tenth Exhibit:

Initially, the cabinet in this instance displayed only a single, immense eye ball, attached to no face or body, but alive enough to dilate in the surrounding light. The eye, already in the process of slowly swelling as it came into view, soon burst, scattering its jelly, and a diminutive figure arose from the remains. This figure was black, shrunken and thin, like the skeletal or mummy remains of a small child. It spent some time wiping jelly from its body before turning to the crowd, and as the exhibit concluded, it is reported to have smiled and "curtsied."


The Eleventh Exhibit:

Ridiculed in the next morning's papers as a disappointment. This exhibit displayed only a small, white lump of flesh, like a pile of bread dough, gently rising and falling. One end momentarily curled upright, exposing an eye that looked over the crowd before the thing evidently returned to its nap.


The Twelfth Exhibit:

Considered by most witnesses to be the most grotesquely unpleasant sight in their memory. The figure on display was suspended at an angle, as though leaning back against a slanted object. Whatever entity or force was at work upon this soul could not be seen, perhaps of some mechanical nature or quite possibly an entity invisible even under its normal circumstances. This force appeared to be crudely picking the subject apart, pulling and twisting away their bones and innards, only to rotate these pieces in mid-air, as though examining them carefully, before depositing them on the "ground" at the soul's feet in a pattern approximating their correct respective arrangement in the body. The victim, not surprisingly when compared to a number of other exhibits, did not resist or even seem bothered by this process, but was seen to shake his or her mangled head at the incorrect placement of a rib bone, which the invisible force hastily corrected.


The Thirteenth Exhibit:

This exhibit offered a sort of cut-away view into a wet, pale cavern likened by some as the interior of a stomach or intestine, albeit lined with a number of human faces. These faces appeared to be conversing enthusiastically with one another, smiling and frequently glancing upwards, salivating or licking their lips. Only one face showed only a grimace of horror and appeared at one point to shout or scream several words as yet unidentified by any lip-readers present. This seems to have elicited nothing but "raucious-looking laughter" from the many other faces.


The Fourteenth Exhibit:

An "angelic" figure, of sorts. Long-limbed and rail-thin, covered in something like a coat of crystal clear feathers. These rippled constantly as the figure hovered, arms outstretched. The face was very human, except for what resembled a red "flute" protruding from its mouth, lined with black holes that opened and closed in succession. Those closest to the exhibit say there was no dividing line between this object or organ and the figure's flesh, but that its lips smoothly transitioned to the material of the instrument.

The figure hung quite still for some time, until quite suddenly its chest is said to have burst outward, leaving a clean and bloodless round hole the size of a fist. The "angel" fell from view, only to be replaced by another, identical being whose "flute" was of a different shape. This one's eyes were open, and its brows furrowed with a worried look.


The Fifteenth Exhibit:

At first, all that could be seen was a floor of grey-white, muddy material. But soon a pair of great, gnarled and hairy arms came into view from the top of the chamber. The cracked and calloused hands dug into the ground, and piled the "clay" into a rough doll-shape. This shape sprang to life, waving one "arm" frantically towards what must have been the owner of the monstrous hands. With one finger, the left hand poked two holes in the lumpy "head" of its creation, as though to grant it eyes.

The clay-man allegedly clapped its arms together, hopping and dancing about in what looked like "profound rapture," until it is said to have raised its head and looked upwards for the first time. By now the sculptor's hands were out of view, but the sculpture quite shockingly vanished as it leapt or pounced upwards. A blackish ichor began to rain down from somewhere, followed by gobbets of brown meat and familiar cracked, hairy skin.


The Sixteenth Exhibit:

Patrons suspected at first to have duped, when there appeared to be nothing in the chamber but an ordinary, brown-furred jack-rabbit. But within minutes, the animal swelled, fat and round, squirming horribly until its belly broke open. A pale, hairless head rolled out, and then another and more followed, tumbling without end from the little rabbit's remains as though they concealed a trick passageway. Most of these heads bore an expression likened to "having tasted something sour," with some appearing to weep or wail. The original rabbit was soon buried out of sight as the heads continued to multiply, but one observer claims to have seen the head nearest to him begin "cracking open," like an egg, glimpsing a bit of brown fur beneath the flaking "shell" before the spectacle concluded.


The Seventeenth Exhibit:

All that could be seen of this soul was the chin and the mouth, protruding upside-down from the ground. The mouth held open widely, the lips stretched as if pulled by unseen hooks or wires, with another seemingly pulling the tongue clear of the throat, and it seemed that the front teeth had been removed. Even this grisliness was not so shocking as the procession of diminutive "elves" forming a line up to this mouth, ascending what must have been a small staircase before diving headlong into the throat in a "jolly" fashion, some playfully patting and teasing one another, others holding hands to enter in two's and three's.

The features of these little people were obscured by their intense whitish glow, and the edges of the soul's mouth did appear blackened by proximity to great heat.


The Eighteenth Exhibit:

The most recent exhibition at the time of this document is also the most concerning. What appeared within the cabinet is described as resembling a large, decapitated human figure with long, crooked arms and legs, which appeared to be running about its invisible environment, the view within the cabinet following it across its journey. At six seconds, the figure halted abruptly and moved as though excitedly "looking around." It then fixed its stump of a neck on a single point and ran in this direction with renewed vigor. With four seconds remaining in the exhibit, the headless soul halted once again, aimed carefully, made a fist and reportedly smashed the glass cabinet open from the inside. Those witnesses who did not flee in terror report that it then leapt from the remains of the cabinet, landed before the speechless showman and swiftly pilfered the young actor's top hat, which it secured to its neck before patting the boy on the head and running with blinding speed down the nearest alleyway.

If this last story is not an elaborate prank, and certainly it would be unusual for such a large crowd of citizens, police and local business owners to concoct such a jest together, then the whereabouts of this outlandish character remain unknown, as does the whereabouts or status of the "Beyond-O-Scope" since the good doctor's men retrieved what was left of it. Sightings of "Hat-Head Jack," also called "The Beyond-O-Man" are frequent, but difficult to distinguish from childish tricks or hysteria, and assuming that this figure exists, it does not seem interested in much but to continue running round the city, startling honest citizens with its shameless appearance.