(Content Warnings: Adultery, sexual content, body horror, self-harm)
From: henrietta@comynswagner.org
To: aleisterblake@justice.org
Subject: Subpoena request
Date: 06-20-2023 1:03 pm
Mr. Blake:
Please find attached the email correspondences you subpoenaed for the Bennington missing persons case.
I apologize for the delay. Retrieving data from the dark web is always a challenge, and the OVID forum was an especially tough nut to crack. I also want to warn you that Aickman and Morton is an unusual case. On that note, our technician found esoteric references to nature deities and sacred locales in the site’s code comments; these can be provided upon request.
I recommend you exercise a high degree of caution when corre-sponding with Ms. Aickman and her associates. Please be advised that this document’s contents are disturbing. The enclosed photographic dossier contains unforgettably horrific images. We recommend not viewing the contents of this folder in a public place.
Sincerely,
Henrietta Comyns
Comyns & Wagner LLC
187 Hogarth Street
Burlington, VT
(555) 865-2671
•••
From: spinningjenny
To: DoctorPotamoi
May 27, 2023 1:33 am
hiiii doctor! thanks for the follow . . . what brings u to the ovid forum? u look a lil more straightlaced than our average metamorphosis seeker. i love a man in a bowtie 😉
•••
From: DoctorPotamoi
To: spinningjenny
June 1, 2023 1:39 am
Hello, spinningjenny!
You’re quite the “sexy young thang”! After seeing so many OVID users covered in piercings and tattoos, it’s refreshing to behold an “old-fash- ioned beauty” like you.
Apologies for the belated response; my sabbatical has been busier than anticipated. I might look “out of place” here, but I assure you it’s all for scholarship’s sake. Well, sort of . . . (wink, wink!)
Would a young woman like you be willing to “show the ropes” to an old man like me?
Sincerely,
Your mysterious Dr. Potamoi
•••
From: spinningjenny
To: DoctorPotamoi
June 1, 2023 10:04 am
ouuu, a professor! i’ve always been ~*hot for teacher*~ hehe . . . i’m not so old-fashioned, but i guess u knew that 😉 i could show u you a rope or 2, or maybe something else. i just lost my last apprentice, so i’m on the market rn. i’m curious tho, how did u find me? and are u willing to push ur flesh to the limit? judging from that family photo on ur desk, it looks like u have a couple things to lose.
•••
From: DoctorPotamoi
To: spinningjenny
June 2, 2023 12:17 am
Spinningjenny,
Recently, I had post-conference drinks with a scintillatingly erudite Romanticist (brunette!). She slipped me a card with the OVID QR code. Her eyes were so blue as to look almost alien—Try it out, she told me. You won’t regret it . . . Colored intrigued, I was!
Ah yes, my ex-wife (key word: EX!) and darling daughter . . . I should’ve cropped them out, but I’m admittedly a bit of a “tech dinosaur.” I’ve grown weary of my suffocating bourgeois milieu. I’ve tried (and tried, and tried) the Rockwellian monogamous marriage thing—two and a half kids, three glasses of wine before bed, intercourse once a month, etc. (Oversharing, maybe?? L.O.L.) So yes, I’m ready for “A Little Excitement.”
Oh, and my name is Rolfe, but you can keep calling me Professor, if you’d like 😉
Yours obviously,
Rolfe
•••
From: spinningjenny
To: DoctorPotamoi
June 4, 2023 2:03 am
that’s too bad, your wife is gorgeous! all the more for me, i don’t like to share my toys 😉
before i can give u that much needed sea change, we have to lay down some ground rules. be forewarned tho, professor . . . the meta- morphoses we deal in are irreversible. is this a rabbit hole ur willing to go down?
xoxo, jenny
•••
From: DoctorPotamoi
To: spinningjenny
June 4, 2023 2:41 am
Hoo-boy, Mama! I’m getting a little “Hot And Bothered” over here!
I’d like to clarify something. I read about a sculptor’s mysterious death near Bennington. The autopsy revealed his arteries were “clogged with grass.” Word has it they also found an unnatural green scar on his pelvis. Some people say it looked a lot like the OVID logo. This is probably something of an “Internet hoax,” but I would be lying if I said it didn’t give me a mild case of the willies. As I’m sure you can understand, I would like to be surer than sure about what you’re “about” before “taking the plunge” with you . . .
Shed some light, O Jenny of my dreams?
With bated breath,
Rolfe
•••
From: spinningjenny
To: DoctorPotamoi
June 4, 2023 2:53 am
are u talking about this thread? https://ovid.web/forum/botched- metamorphoses/the-glastenbury-green-man/.onion
yes, spencer was part of our community. from what i understand, he went against his mentor’s instructions and tried to rush his metamorphosis.
the mysterious matrix of nature should not be taken lightly. when u play with fire, u get burned. as long as u follow all my instructions, i promise u won’t suffer the same fate.
•••
From: DoctorPotamoi
To: spinningjenny
June 4, 2023 3:26 am
Sweet Jenny,
Thank you for clarifying. Your explanation eases my mind.
I admit, my tenacity sometimes outsizes my reason. I’ll be totally transparent, so you’ll understand the seriousness of my commitment to OVID. Despite what I said, my motives are not purely academic . . .
When I was just a young strap, I began having recurring dreams whose details have clarified and intensified with each consecutive Iteration.
The initial reverie was brief but vivid: I stood in a limitless expanse of waist-high grass, far too green to be real, and I experienced something like sexless lust (I know it sounds like a paradox, but it’s what I felt . . . dreams don’t follow the rules of waking reason). I heard the grass breathing, and the sound frightened me. That was the first iteration, so brief but so evocative it haunted me for years. To say I awoke with “morning wood” seems a bit too “on the nose,” but the truth is the truth . . .
Iteration two: the same image—ultra-green grass, audible breath, sexless lust—but this time I plucked a blade from the earth and heard a sound like my grandfather’s twilight gasps as he died of emphysema.
Iteration three: the same preceding events, only this time I slashed open my wrists and slid blades of grass into my veins. There was an
excruciatingly beautiful sense of fusion, vaster than words could express, and I awoke in tears of sorrowful ecstasy.
The dreams started up again the very day you and I inaugurated our little “epistolary fling.” In these recent iterations, I plunge more and more blades of grass into more and more veins, and then arteries, and then orifices, until I’m bristling with ineffable terrestrial energy . . . The grass screams, a celestial choir of exquisite harmony. I always awaken with a sense of profound longing and dread.
So why do I share this? I don’t know. Perhaps for the sake of being vulnerable. Perhaps to show you I’m “real.” Perhaps I just needed to tell someone. I am eager to learn, and I am willing to be patient.
Sincerely,
Your Potamoi, Rolfe
•••
From: spinningjenny
To: DoctorPotamoi
June 4, 2023 11:11 am
those are some fascinating ~*nocturnal emissions*~ professor 😉 what if i told u there’s a way to make ur dreams come true?
metamorphosis can be unlocked only by extreme passion. passion that elevates, combusts, mutates the human form into something transcendent.
if ur ready to take a leap of faith, then come and find me at glastenbury mountain. tomorrow night, 11pm. take the main path into the woods. when you come to a culvert, follow it until you reach a clearing. i’ll be waiting 4 u 🙂
•••
From: DoctorPotamoi
To: spinningjenny
June 4, 2023 12:06 pm
I’ll be there. And I’ll be ready.
Most excitedly,
Rolfe
•••
From: DoctorPotamoi
To: spinningjenny
June 6, 2023 12:53 am
Spinningjenny,
I arrived at the location you specified and waited until nearly midnight before deciding to return home. I must admit, I would’ve appreciated advance notice of your inability to show. I’m buried “up to the neck” in research, which I could have dented in the three hours I spent commuting (plus waiting).
Perhaps some emergency came up. If so, why didn’t you “fill me in”? I try to read others in “good faith,” as it were, but I’m having a hard time containing my aggravation. I’m a good-natured man, but I don’t care to stand around in the cold, dark woods on a weeknight. You made me look like a damned chump.
If you’re trying to play games with me, you’ve chosen the wrong target. I’ve lived a lot longer than you, baby.
Decidedly,
Rolfe
•••
From: spinningjenny
To: DoctorPotamoi
June 6, 2023 1:35 am
oh i was there, professor! just not in the form u might expect. you’ve yet to discover the dazzling gamut of shapes the body can take . . .
it’s not safe for a young lady out there. you’ve got a daughter, u understand. i needed to see u w/ my own eyes before we could take the next step (ur strong arms wrapped around me in the moonlight, ur beard scratching against my cheek . . .)
you’ve gained my trust, rolfe, so here goes . . . my real name is arachne, which is also the password into the site’s ~*deepest layers*~. browse the secret gallery and lmk what u think. and then tell me if ur willing to give this a second chance.
xoxo, arachne
•••
From: DoctorPotamoi
To: spinningjenny
June 6, 2023 1:58 am
Arachne,
Your message brought me from Grouchy Rolfe to Grinning Rolfe in mere seconds. Arachne . . . I’m glad to know what name I’ll be moaning into your ear when we finally meet—whoops, did I just say that? (wink, wink)
I browsed the secret gallery. The sight of those images so excited me that I spent all night slowly spinning in my desk chair, occasionally pausing to top my tumbler with another finger of scotch, but mostly just whirling sluggishly, trying to get my bearings.
I saw shadowy faces etched into my oak bookshelf. I was afflicted by imagined sounds—the numinous cries of sheared grass, a root’s hungry suction underground, the hot cacophony of insects at work; and I recalled the intravenous nature of my own dream visions.
(And yes, in case you’re wondering, I did feel some movement “below the belt” . . . I’ve still “got it” at this distinguished old age. Wink, wink.)
The question, then, is how do I know I can trust you? I’m enticed, yes, but I’m also a professional thinker who’s met uncountable sociopaths throughout his decades in the academy. The ivory tower roils with hideous secrets.
I’d like to try meeting again. If I’m to live this dream, I can’t imagine a more enticing companion than you.
Most emphatically yours,
Rolfe
•••
From: spinningjenny
To: DoctorPotamoi
June 7, 2023 4:09 am
omg, i’m agreeing to have a steamy sesh w/ u in the deep dark woods! ur just going to have to trust i’ll be there 😉 if it gives u reassurance, here’s an alluring compromising lil photo of me as collateral: https://ovid.org/secret-vault/full-frontal-foliage/arachne/.onion
i’ll make ur dreams come true, bb. vines tightening around u, chlorophyll coursing through ur body as u climax . . . once you’ve felt it, there’s no going back.
if ur ready to commit, i’d love to ~*initiate*~ u 😉
i’ll be in the clearing tonight, 11pm.
oh and ps - i recommend packing a suitcase. these lucid dreams can last for days, and it’s best to prepare for a tantric good time . . .
pps - i strongly advise that u clear ur browser history and delete this thread before leaving. now that u know what we’re all about, i’m sure u can appreciate we want to keep our body of work (no pun intended hehe) out of the wrong hands.
•••
From: DoctorPotamoi
To: spinningjenny
June 8, 2023 1:07 am
Arachne,
It seems I’m conversing with a seductive young maestra of logic. I’ve no further questions, “Your Honourable Miss Sexy Mama.” I’ll see you then and there.
Oh, P.S.! I had another plant dream last night. It went further than any of the others. By the end I was completely subsumed; nothing of my humanness remained—I was pure plant. My sleep-brain glimpsed an indescribable kind of consciousness . . . vegetal visions of the highest order. I possessed nothing remotely like a prefrontal cortex. I saw without seeing, heard without hearing! As if all that existed was a sort of feeling, a need. O horticultural holiness! O goddess of greenery! I still don’t know if it was scary or beautiful. But it sure was “a trip”!
See you tonight (wink, wink).
Passionately,
•••
From: cynthia.ross@gmail.com
To: webmaster@ovid.onion
Subject: Missing husband [urgent]
Date: 13-06-2023 8:23 am
To whom it may concern,
My name is Cynthia Ross. I’m married to Dr. Rolfe Morton (AKA ‘DoctorPotamoi’ on your message boards). I have worked with a private investigator to locate this site. Though it embarrasses me to admit, my initial reason for conducting this investigation was to address suspicions that my husband was committing infidelity (again). I share this information to assure you I have not yet involved the police. I’m something of a public person—a relatively well-known lawyer—so given the sensitive nature of this matter, I’d prefer to keep our resolution private. I’m sure this would also be preferable for you. Based on what I’ve read about your operation, I’m sure you wouldn’t want your website to become the subject of a major investigation. If you help me, I’ll help you. Confidentiality is my speciality.
My husband has been missing for nearly a week. My initial assumption was that he’d flown off with a secret someone from his spotty past. Long story short: I’m told there’s a lot of data connecting Rolfe to a user by the name of ‘spinningjenny’. I’ve created an account in an effort to get to the bottom of this, but spinningjenny promptly blocked me when she realized I wasn’t interested in playing her lewd games.
All I ask is that your team puts me in contact with spinningjenny and provides any information related to my husband’s whereabouts. My anger is directed at her, but I do hold this highly unorthodox hookup site responsible to some degree.
I would appreciate a response at your earliest convenience.
Regards,
Cynthia Ross
•••
From: webmaster@ovid.onion
To: cynthia.ross@gmail.com
Subject: RE: Missing husband [urgent]
Date: 15-06-2023 9:44 am
Dear Cynthia,
Bravo! I’m impressed that you’ve located us among the dark web’s vast rhizomes. I welcome your truth-seeking lantern in our digital dungeon—our “highly unorthodox hookup site,” as you’ve so cleverly put it.
I did some Googling myself (two can play the private investigation game!) and I see you’re quite the battleaxe. Perhaps you can appreciate the poetic justice of your womanizing husband donating his body to Mother Nature’s project of healing.
For the record, it’s not my style to sleep with married men (honor among thieves!). Had I known he was hitched, I wouldn’t have proceeded. However, I’d say he got his just deserts, no?
Are you familiar with the etymology of grotesque? It comes from the word grotto, as in fifteenth-century Roman baths, where animal and vegetable entwined into artistic depictions most illogical and sublime. Your husband underwent a very similar transformation when we met in the moonlit woods. That’s all I can say on the matter . . . my lips are sealed!
I hope my message offers you some solace. If you want to see your husband, I can tell you where to locate him. But please be forewarned: you might not like what you find.
Sincerely,
Arachne Aickman
•••
Online “sex forum meet-cute” gone wrong
Investigators link suspicious death and disappearance to mysterious hookup website
Bennington Beagle, June 21, 2023
Gladys Knight
Local investigators have uncovered key information connected to the death of Rolfe Morton, a Classics professor employed by Halloran College. Morton was last seen alive on June 9, 2023 in Bennington, Vermont.
An anonymous source informs private investigators that Rolfe Morton “had vices” and that he has sent inappropriate text messages to his students on several occasions. According to this source, Morton was also “a prolific user on several cam sites.”
Morton’s wife, Cynthia Ross, worked with a private investigator to trace her husband’s online activity to a dark web forum called OVID. On June 24, Cynthia Ross likewise disappeared.
“Cynthia texted me saying, I think I might know where Rolfe is,” recalls Gloria Bedford, Cynthia’s sister. “That was the last I heard from her. We never go a day without speaking, so obviously I’m concerned.”
Local librarian Henry Wilson says he saw Morton near Glastenbury Mountain around 3:00 a.m. on June 9. Wilson, a former student of Morton’s, feels confident in what he saw.
“Sometimes I drive up there and take long walks when I’m struggling with insomnia,” Wilson explains. “I’d recognize Dr. Morton any day. He’s a handsome, sort of distinctive-looking guy. I passed this dark clearing, and I knew it was him right away. He was kissing a very young woman—she was 20 at the oldest, probably younger. She and Dr. Morton were both naked, and they might’ve been having sex. I didn’t stick around to find out.”
Bedford and Wilson collaborated with local authorities and community volunteers to explore the clearing. They found Morton’s mutilated body in a cluster of oak trees.
“His skin looked green,” Bedford reports. “Like the victim of a radioactive accident from some sci-fi movie. His hair had changed, too. It looked like moss.”
The autopsy revealed unusual findings: Morton’s organs showed signs of plant growth. “Somehow, grass had grown through his heart’s ventricles. Fibrous roots were detected in his liver and kidneys,” notes Chief medical examiner Claude Ringel. “We also found extraordinary quantities of chlorophyll in his bloodstream.”
Detective Dave Teagarden told the Beagle that these aberrations likely resulted from a radical plant-based diet. “Many members of the liberal academy subscribe to veganism. I think what we have here is nothing more than a case of disordered eating.”
Ringel describes Teagarden’s theory as “absurd.”
“Eating a lot of spinach doesn’t cause a man’s organs to turn into ferns,” he says.
OVID did not respond to requests for an interview.
The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information about Rolfe Morton or Cynthia Ross’s whereabouts is encouraged to contact Bennington police at 1-888-555-0315.
•••
From: aleisterblake@justice.org
To: henrietta@comynswagner.org
Subject: RE: Subpoena request
Date: 06-23-2023 4:22 pm
Ms. Comyns,
Thank you for the warning. I’ve definitely never seen anything like this. I’ll have to dive a little deeper down the proverbial rabbit hole in order to make sense of this rather unsavoury–albeit intriguing–conundrum.
I’ll circle back once I’ve made progress on this front.
Best,
Aleister Blake
District Attorney
402 Pine Avenue
Burlington, VT
(555) 782-2911
•••
From: LawAndDisorder
To: spinningjenny
June 23, 2023 4:38 pm
Hi there, spinningjenny.
I recently heard about OVID and decided I simply had to see it with my own eyes.
I’ve always been a bit of a skeptic, but I’ve been having these extraordinarily vivid dreams where I’m lying beneath weeping willows, tingling with arousal as the trees gently fondle me. I keep telling myself, “They’re only dreams.” But it seems I can’t quite convince myself that’s true.
Maybe because I so badly want the dreams to be real, want to feel those pendulous branchlets gliding down my exposed abdomen and shuddering thighs . . .
Ahem.
Perhaps we could meet sometime to discuss the details of your business venture? Maybe over a glass of wine? I’ve got a bottle of top-shelf Vinho Verde I’ve been saving for the right occasion . . . Let me know what you think.
Warmly,
Aleister
