Oceanic Conspiracies

But wait, there's more...

2008-03-28T19:30:00.003-04:00

...maybe. This was new on Find 815 today. Stay tuned to see if this is the start of Find 815 Part II. Does Sam need more answers?

Fiction Meets Fiction- How it all comes together (Spoiler Alert)

2008-02-08T18:45:00.010-05:00

From Find 815

From Confirmed Dead

In the first 6 episodes of Season 4 we've seen our Find 815 game clues and passwords tied into the show. Here's a brief recap of how the game has been incorporated.

Season 4 opens with views of the freckage of flight 815 as seen from ROV cameras operated by two men that are not Sam. The news reporter, recounting the story along with the footage, states that the wreckage was found by the Christiane 1 , in the Sunda Trench.

From Find 815

From Confirmed Dead

We were introduced to five new characters whose names were passwords to unlock our Season 4 clues. (Click for pictures of the clues they unlocked):

Matthew Abaddon- Oceanic "Lawyer"
Daniel Faraday- Empathic physicist
Charlotte Lewis- Ambitious anthropologist and possible Dharma hunter.
Miles Straume- High-strung ghost whisperer
Frank Lapidus- Former Oceanic pilot, who was supposed to be flying Flight 815.

All of the clues have now been accounted for as well:

On the news story (The Beginning of the End) we were shown the Oceanic Hotline number.
Charlotte Lewis in Tunisia shows us our Tunisian Newspaper.
Hurley gives meaning to the Santa Rosa Pill Bottle.
The passwords Southfields, and 423 Cheyne Walk have shown up in The Constant. Also, Desmond learns Penny's Number, and he finds Daniel at the Queens College (Department of Physics).
Previously, Red Sox was discussed between Frank and Jack, and in The Other Woman we see Red Sox written on Ben's surveillance tape.
The Other Woman also had our final clue, 36-15-28.

New update or just an error- It's not over until Oscar Talbot sings?

2008-02-06T12:34:00.001-05:00

UPDATE 2/7/08- The new email from M Smerdon is now gone. (Thanks Codysmom) If it was necessary to complete progress, why did they put it up and then take it down? Your guess is as good as mine. Happy Lost Day, Everyone!!! Jess

There's a new mail on Sam's computer (thanks Maven for mailing about this). It's text reads as an error but it's sender is Mark Smerdon.

We've seen the name M Smerdon before on Talbot's cell phone along with the number 259 194 032. Is this mail really just a progress place-holder, or is something afoot?

Chapter Five Summary - That sinking feeling.

2008-02-02T13:28:00.001-05:00

Sam's Story

Sam has decided to take affirmative action and speak to Ockham. He tells him that he found the co-ordinates in Talbot's cabin and mentions that they are currently within range of the co-ordinates and it's the only chance they'll get for the next three weeks to check it out. He points out that Ockham gets paid for three months regardless of when they find “Black Rock”.
Ockham agrees and they come up with a plan to reprogram the coordinates without Talbot finding out. Unfortunately this doesn't quite work out as planned and Talbot realizes something is amiss.
Talbot argues that his search grid is based off of coordinates from Magnus Hanso's journal which his “employers” have access to. He question what makes Sam think that they will find something at those specific coordinates and demands their course is reset.
Sam comes clean about how he acquired the coordinates, but that fails to help his argument, especially as Talbot claims the Maxwell Group makes no mention of him. Sam thinks Ockham is about ready to throw him overboard. However luckily for Sam the navigation equipment starts bleeping. “Mr. Talbot, I think we've found Black Rock," says Ockham.
While Ockham sets things up, Sam retreats to his cabin to get away from Talbot's angry glares. He finds a voicemail from Tracy. She is worried about him and wants to remind him that he is, “not alone”.
He also receives an email from Austral Air offering him a job with them. However Sam is not in a state of mind to think about this and writes a quick, polite reply rejecting their offer.
Sam checks out a weather forecast for the area of the Sunda Trench. Rough Seas are reported.
Finally he receives a final mystery email. This time, simply with the numbers 411151057. They are keeping it simple this time. It is hacker speak (Leet/l337) and says “ALL IS LOST”.
Having had enough of the emails, he heads up to the top deck. It may be his mind playing tricks on him, but he hears Sonya's voice calling him, “Sam...Sam...” He looks over the side and is sure he can see Sonya's face saying, “Love you madly.” Ockham comes up behind him to give him an update on the situation. He tells Sam, “This place can get to you”. Ockham tells him as soon as the weather clears Sam will get to drive one of the ROV's down to get a look at the Black Rock.
Sam takes the time to reflect in his video diary. He talks about his anniversary with Sonya and how he met her on the island “Tanna” in the Pacific.
Finally the weather clears and Sam takes control of an ROV. They appear to be at a depth of 480 feet (according to the numbers Ockham counts out as they lower the ROV).
After some maneuvering around the sea bed Sam spots something... “That's no ship,” says Ockham. Sam knows what it is right away. It is the wreckage of Flight 815. He is distraught. Talbot however just looks smug.

Epilogue

Back at home Sam watches a news broadcast about his discovery. According to the report sympathies are flooding in for Sam. They even interview Oscar Talbot who plays things up for the media saying, “ Sam had studied every aspect of the plane and in an extraordinary twist of fate, he had his answer.” Sam looks a wreck.
The Maxwell Group website put up a press release/interview with Oscar Talbot. Seems Oscar is going all out to put a PR spin on this. He explains that it is impossible to salvage the wreckage given the depth of it. He also claims that the whole thing helped to put Sam at peace.
Oceanic Air have been advertising for a new promotion/competition for a “Golden Pass”. The winner apparently will be able to fly anywhere, anytime as much as they want, for free (Like Jack from last seasons flash forward). It seems Sam isn't as peace as Talbot claimed as he is still hacking their commercials. This time with the message, “Don't trust these people”.
Shortly after this, the Maxwell Group website went down and was replaced by a flashier looking version with a new look logo. The log in is still there however and at this time we do not know of a user name and password that gives us access.

Behind The Scenes

This final clue hunt passwords are “Southfields” and “Red Sox” and the season four clue itself is a crate with the words “property of Queens College Dept of Physics”.
As well as the usual array of various visual glitches in the final video diary there is also some reverse speaking. This turned out to be from the press release interview with Oscar Talbot that was posted up on the Maxwell group.
The MP3 of the Maxwell Group press release contains the following in the "comments" area. So far we have found no meaning in it.

00000062 00000073 00002140 00001429 000000B6
000138F5 00007DB1 00006151 000000D0 000138DB

Left Over Questions and Clues

Obviously the biggest question of this whole experience is how can Oceanic 815 be in the Sunda Trench when we know that it crashed on the island. Is this an elaborate set up or is it something stranger then that?
What is Talbot's Agenda and what exactly are the links between Maxwell, Widmore (and with it the Hanso Foundation), Oceanic and the current events on the Island?
Were the video glitches in game and if so what does that mean? They seemed to be coming from the future in many cases. Add that to the ghostly images of Sonya and the unusual electro magnetic disturbances, and we have a very curious puzzle. Especially as the electro magnetic stuff seemed to hint at “The Island”. Was that co-incidence (for the sake of teasing us the viewer) or is it more significant?
A huge amount of clues from this game pointed us towards the works of James Clerk Maxwell, his equations and works on “Lines of Force”. We know Magnetism and the Island are linked, but what does this tell us specifically? It can't be a coincidence that the name of Talbot's group was also “Maxwell”.
Was it really just amateur radio enthusiasts broadcasting the Amelia Earhart report?
We still have no meaning or significance for the SHIMMR clue. Was there ever one? It seemed to relate to that complex Walt Whitman stegosaurus clue. There must be something to it all.
Was there ever anything to the weird thing with the changing numbers on Sam's chest and his verbal hints about that?
What's the deal with this code in the Maxwell press release MP3?
Is there more significance to the L337 email and the words “All is lost”?
What is the significance of the billboard locations, the phrases written on them and the pictures contained within?
Things that seemed to lead nowhere: Sam's Mum, Sam's investment in a box company and the whole deal with Austral Air.
A.M. Mullins, the apparent owner of the briefcase Talbot has in his possession. Also Talbot had various names on his phone. Could any of this have some meaning?

All the Season 4 “Clues” from the Clue Hunt

The Season Four Clues in the Clue Hunt were: The Oceanic Hotline (888-546-0034), Penny's Number, A Tunisian Newspaper, Santa Rosa Hosptial meds. and a crate from Queen's College Dept. of Physics.
The passwords for the Season for Clues were: Matthew, Abaddon, 423 Cheyne Walk, Daniel Faraday, Charlotte Lewis, 36-15-28, Miles Straume, Frank Lapidus, Southfields and Red Sox.

Okay, that's all for the five chapters of Find 815 and their immediate aftermath. What will happen next and when, I couldn't tell you. But we'll certainly be back here as and when (and even IF) it happens! In the meantime you can find all of us over at The Lost Community joining in the discussion as always of our favourite series and of course I myself will be posting my theories and analysis of Season Four over at The Lost Bullet Points. Also, don't forget to check the TLC Podcast this week as it features our very own Ange giving her opinions on the experience and it's possible direction.

In the meantime I'd just like to thank everyone involved here, all of you that have commented and emailed. We have a great think tank here. I'd especially like to thank Ange and Jess for their hard work getting the daily updates up. Without them we wouldn't have a site!

Namaste

~Fenris

Maxwell Updates with a Press Relaease and Sam's on TV Again

2008-01-31T23:33:00.000-05:00

Update 2/2- The Maxwell Group site has returned after disappearing for a day, and it's had some enhancements (thanks oodles and tallone).

If you're having trouble with the site, you can still access and download an mp3 of the press release here.
*If you download the mp3 and then look at the properties (right click-properties) there are some letters and numbers in the "comments" area. So what's this all about?

00000062 00000073 00002140 00001429 000000B6
000138F5 00007DB1 00006151 000000D0 000138DB

Oceanic Air Commercial

1/31- 11:02 pm: During the show Eli Stone on ABC, they had an Oceanic commercial. In it they are touting a "Golden Pass" but Sam hacks the commercial. (Please excuse the video quality...I did my best.)

There are some undersea pictures of the wreckage of Flight 815.
Sam tells us, "We found it," and "You can't trust these people."
The flight attendants in the commercial continue to direct us to www.FlyOceanicAir.com for details.
DocArtz has the HQ version of the commercial up.
Find815 has a new look. It seems they are trying to attract all of the Lost viewers that missed the game the first time around.

The Maxwell Group Updates

1/31- 11:27 pm: The Maxwell Group site has a new press release from Oscar Talbot.

There's an audio interview there detailing how they found the wreckage. Click here or here (UCLAradio link from the page) to listen.
The Maxwell Group reports a new message when you attempt to log-in as of 7:01 am 2/1:

Authentication Error
The username or password you entered was incorrect.

Click here to return to homepage

Server updated and secured.

*Robin Hood sent us some reversed audio blips on 1/31 from Sam's final video diary.

HERE is the version Robin Hood sent.
Fenris did some noise reduction, and compressed and normalized it. HERE is the modified version.
After listening to both I can hear the words "two" (at 1 min. 21 sec. in the press release) "common" (at 1 min. 27 sec. in the press release) and "half-hour" (at 1 min. 46 sec. in the press release) in both sets of audio.
These "blips" are certainly sound bytes from the press release. ~Ange

Chapter 5 - Find the Black Rock.... or did we?

2008-01-31T12:35:00.000-05:00

Today's final update starts with a video of Ockham communicating with the crew of the Christiane 1 to lower the ship's ROV. Ockham is counting as they lower the ROV. The final number he says is 480. Is that 480 feet?

Once this is successfully done, we are led to the...

FINAL ACTIVITY

Find the Black Rock:

The object of the game is to maneuver the ROV through ten different way points that could be the Black Rock.
You have 3 minutes to complete the activity.
If you have a slow internet connection you are advised to click the low resolution button.
Thewonderllama sent in a PICTURE of one of the paths that works. (Thanks!)

Upon completion of the activity we are given our...

FINAL VIDEO

As Sam watches the ROV top a crest on the ocean floor, Oceanic Flight 815 comes into view.
Sam is extremely distraught!
Talbot has a very smug look on his face.
Then the video changes to Sam watching the news about how Oceanic Flight 815 was discovered. The news anchor reports that sympathies are flooding in for Sam Thomas.
The news cuts to an interview with Oscar Talbot. Apparently Talbot "hopes this discovery will bring some closure to the families". Talbot says "Sam had studied every aspect of the plane and in an extraordinary twist of fate, he had his answer"!

FINAL THOUGHTS

As usual, there are screencaps posted in Oceanic-Conspiracies Photobucket Album.

It seems were are left with a lot of unanswered questions. Talbot's final words have me thinking that we were right all along about this being an "accidental" find. What do you think? Who is Oscar Talbot working for? Exactly how deep was the wreckage? I would assume that since Sam used an ROV to find it, it was too deep to "recover" the bodies. How did it get there? Who put it there? Last, but not least, how will they explain finding the wreckage in the Sunda Trench?

In closing, I just wanted to say (and I am sure I speak for the whole Oceanic-Conspiracies Team) how much I have enjoyed working with everyone here. I can't wait for S4 tonight! I look forward to chatting with everyone over at The Lost Community!

Thanks Everyone!

Thanks to Robin Hood who sent us some reversed audio from the video diary from last night. No doubt there is a voice in there. I've uploaded the file as sent (it is reversed, trimmed audio from the video). I also did some noise reduction, compression and normalization on it and put the modified version. HERE is the original, and HERE is the modified version. Check it out and post what you think it says. ~Fenris

NOTE: Don't forget, in theory the Maxwell site goes live at 7:08PM EST. So there may be one more part to this puzzle.

Chapter 5- Clue Hunt and Video Diary

2008-01-30T21:30:00.000-05:00

**According to the timer on Find815.com our final "Activity" will come around noon eastern time on 1/31. According to the Maxwell-Group log in page and some creative conversions, it looks like the final log-in there will be at 7:08pm eastern time on 1/31. Synchronize your watches and after the conclusion of the game, head over to TLC for some Season 4 premier discussion! ~Ange

Tonights video starts with Sam walking the deck of the Christiane 1. He hears Sonya calling him..."Sam...Sam..." Sam looks out over the ocean. An image of Sonya's face appears and says "Love you madly". Is Sam just seeing things? Is Sonya projecting herself? Ockham walks up and tells Sam that "this place" can "get to you"!

After that we have our, Clue Hunt

Tonight's clue hunt takes place on the deck of the Christiane 1.

Clues:

Season 1 - Backgammon
Season 2 - Four Toed Statue
Season 3 - Gas Lamp
Season 4 - HERE

Which, of course, leads to a game at your Network Affiliate. (The clue hunt did not link to the right game, so you may have to go directly to ABC to get the right one.)

Game - Navigate the Storms and Tidal Waves

This is pretty much self explanatory. You have to use the arrow keys to make your ship avoid the lightning storms and the tidal waves. You can touch the clouds without the lightning though.
Once you are finished you get your Chapter 5/Season 4 Clue. The passwords are:

A) ABC - Southfields
B) Yahoo - Red Sox Thanks to Patch and Pharmacopaeia for e-mailing.

Chapter 5 Video Diary:

Sam says they found the Black Rock.
He said when they first got there it appeared as though nothing was there. Talbot said the coordinates were insufficient.
Sam says at first Ockham wanted to throw him over board. When he tried to explain to them how he got the coordinates, emails and such, they looked at him like he was crazy.
Sam says as Ockham was turning the ship around, the sonar finds something out of the blue.
Then I think Ockham wants to kiss Sam, or something like that.
Sam is going to get to drive one of their ROV's down to get a look at the Black Rock as soon as the weather clears.
Sam starts talking about his anniversary and says that he and Sonya met on the island, Tanna in the Pacific.

Here is a slide show of the glitches in this video that Ange put together.

As usual all of the blip pictures can be found at the Oceanic Conspiracies Photobucket.

The video has a lot of glitches this time. I think I heard speaking as well. What do you think? Also, since we know the "actual" location of the Black Rock, what do you think they have actually found? I think this ending could either answer a lot, or leave us with a creepy cliffhanger!

Chapter 5- E-mail, Website, and a Voicemail

2008-01-29T21:22:00.001-05:00

*Update 1/30- You might want to go over to ITE and see what Speaker has for us (Thanks Maven for the mail about this). **Update- Thanks to Memphish for linking in comments. ABC has an Oceanic Airlines press release today. ~Ange

Voicemail

Tracey is calling Sam to let him know she is worried about him (she also sounds a little sleepy). She wants to make sure he's okay as he hasn't seemed right lately. She reminds him he's, "...not alone."

E-Mail

Sent Items:

Subject: Employment Opportunity Recipient Austral Air

Sam is responding to their offer of employment, but declining as "one or two things have come up". Also, he's not sure he wants to work for an airline.

Subject: Message Recipient: Tracey R

He apologizes for not getting in touch with her but something has "come up" for him, and he has a "bad feeling" about what's going to happen.

Inbox:

Subject: Employment Opportunity Sender: Austral Air

They are informing Sam that a position may have come up that would work for him, and would like him to come to Sydney. It's signed Isaac Chapman

Subject: [no subject] Sender: Unknown

The number: 411151057 appears.
Thanks to Maven for e-mailing about this. 411151057 translates to ALL IS LOST. WeBB at Dark UFO figured this out using 1337 (leet).

Website

The site is Ocean Forecasts and it is a weather report for the Sunda Trench for the next 24 hours.

It reports Southerly gales and rough or very rough seas that may be occasionally high.
Thanks to Memphish in comments for the link to the Beaufort Scale which is used for measuring gales.
http://www.oceanforecasts.com is not a live site at this time.

I'm left with some questions, how about you? 1. What's so important about this correspondence with Austral Air? 3. Could that weather report be any more all encompassing? It does look like there's some rough weather ahead though.

Chapter 5- We Need to Cover Our Tracks

2008-01-28T22:35:00.001-05:00

Tonight's update begins with a video which highlights Talbot telling Sam that he doesn't know who he's dealing with.

Next, we see Sam in a conversation with Ockham.

He tells him a story about finding the coordinates on the slip of paper in Talbot's cabin, mentions that they are within range of the coordinates, and it's the only chance they will get for the next three weeks.
Ockham and Sam agree on a deal and he and Sam come up with a plan to reprogram the coordinates without Talbot finding out. The first part of the plan is that Sam needs to navigate the ship through the reef.

Navigate the Reef:

Sam must get the Christiane 1 to the coordinates without hitting the reef.

Hint: You will have to steer away from the coordinates to get through the reef safely. Beware of dead ends.
It seems the best course is to bear to the left while also drifting up. You really need to keep track of where you've been.

At the end of successful navigation we get another video:

Talbot knows they changed course, but that the coordinates Sam has are insignificant.
Everyday Magnus Hanso recorded his ship's position in a journal. His employers have that journal and the search grid is based on it.
He questions what makes Sam think his coordinates are the ones he needs. Sam says he got them from the Maxwell Group, but Talbot tells Sam that his employers never make mention of him.
Sam comes clean about how he ended up there (e-mails, coordinates, etc.).
Talbot wants the original coordinates reset...but just as they go to turn the ship around the navigation starts beeping, and Ockham says, "Mr. Talbot, I think we've found Black Rock."

We are left with lots to think about. 1. Who are Talbot's employers, and how did they get Magnus Hanso's journal? 2. If Maxwell sent Sam to the Sunda Trench and Talbot knows nothing of it then who works for whom? 3. And of course, if they have found the Black Rock...what now? Where does that leave Sam?

Chapter Four Summary - Light and Shadows

2008-01-27T08:30:00.001-05:00

Sam's Story

Continuing on from last week, Sam has found his opportunity to hack the chart plotter and try and figure out where these coordinates are. He has been carrying them around written on a piece of paper waiting for his chance.

Sam tricks Ockham into thinking the plotter has a fault and while "fixing" it he uses a nifty little program on his pen drive to give him access and locate the coordinates. Turns out to be right in Talbot's search grid.

Unfortunately for Sam, while he fooled Ockham, Talbot is more suspicious and finds the piece of paper that Sam had carelessly left lying around. Talbot gives him a warning "You have no idea what your involved in" he says.

Sam counters by telling Talbot he was given the co-ordinates by the Maxwell group. Strangely Oscar isn't phased. "Stay away from those coordinates, you won't find what you're looking for."

Returning to his cabin, Sam finds a voice mail. Seems Sam isn't as broke as he thought he may be. An investment in a box company has come through, or so he is told by Richard who works for a person named Randy. The news is a welcome break for Sam.

More Good news for Sam turns up in the form of an email from Tracey. She seems to have smoothed things over with Sam's Mum and has even agreed to spent Christmas with her.

However things then take a bad turn. Sam receives another mystery email. This time containing a code (hidden in anagrams of numbers that then convert to letters of the alphabet). The message is "Love you Madly" something he and Sonya used to say to each other all the time.

Later during one of Sam's night time strolls on the deck he spots something glowing off in the distance.He grabs a pair of binoculars and gives it a closer look. It looks like some kind of Aurora.

Sam returns to his cabin to look into it. He emails Tracey who tells him (after joking about aliens from the planet Zubelleedubelee), that it probably was an Aurora, although she found it odd that it faded away so quickly. She speculates that it could be related to the strange mishap on the bridge the other day.

Following on from this Sam looks up some information online on Aurora's and finds a website on the phenomenon of the Aurora Australis (the Southern version of the Aurora Borealis).

Sam is having mixed feelings. Are people just messing with his head? He doesn't know, but he knows he misses Sonya and thinks about her all the time. He has decided to continue to help "these people" to find The Black Rock in the hopes that they will give him what he wants in return.

The Clues

Love you madly - Were the Maxwell group playing with Sam with this message or is it a message from Sonya. It should also be noted this is something Sun and Jin used to say to each other as well.
The Box Company - Sam's payout from his investment here has raised suspicion that this could be Hurley's box company.
The Season four clue this week was a bottle of pills from the Santa Rosa Mental Hospital. The other clues included a picture of Vincent and playing cards with "The Swan" Station logo on.
The Aurora Australis - Was this what Sam saw, or was it some other kind of Aurora
There were a LOT of screen flashes in this weeks video diary. The highlights of which seem to be information relating to James Clerk Maxwell's equations.

Behind The Scenes

We finally have the password (X4x98adfo97)to the hidden message in the stegosaurus picture from last week. This was provided via more braille characters hidden in this weeks opening video. The hidden message was binary code which when translated turned out to be a Walt Whitman Poem title "When I heard the learn’d astronomer". Seems Sam won't be following up on Tracey's "Holiday tip", so he will probably never find this out.
There is hidden text in the background of one of the websites on Sam's laptop (Sunda Trench). There are columns of numbers under the headings of the letters A to F. When each column is added and divided by six they give: a: 115 b: 104 c: 105 d: 109 e: 109 f: 114. These numbers can then be converted into ASCII characters and these come out as: S H I M M R. What this means remains to be seen.
Camp Millar - This comes from hazy sources, but is allegedly hidden in a code on the label to the pill bottle from the clue hunt.

Commenter Oodles guided us toward how this clue was solved. ~Ange

The passwords for this weeks clue hunt were: Miles Straume and Frank Lapidus (SPOILER ALERT: If you google this, you WILL be spoiled).

The other characters

Oscar Talbot - Didn't seem surprised to hear Sam has been getting information from the Maxwell Group. He also seemed to know what the coordinates were all about.
Mr. Ockham - Hardly present this week and seems Sam can easily pull the wool over his eyes.
Tracey R - Seems willing to do a lot for Sam, including stay with his Mum for Christmas.
Sam's Mum - Still worried about Sam but has Tracey looking after her now.
Richard and Randy - We don't know much about these two except that Randy seems to be Sam's accountant and Richard works in his office.

Unless there is a false ending at the conclusion of the supposed final chapter, next weeks summary will be the last. So that will be posted followed by a retrospective the following day. To end this week I leave you with a quote:

"Stars hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires."

Chapter 4- Video Diary 4

2008-01-25T21:28:00.001-05:00

Video Summary

Sam recaps Chapter 4 for us saying he can not pin Talbot down. He recounts the incident with Talbot and the coordinates. Sam admits that he indeed has no idea who he is dealing with. He thinks they (Maxwell) are toying with him, using coded e-mails.

He mentions the LOVE YOU MADLY mail and how he and Sonya said that to each other all the time. He feels that someone is trying to mess with his head, or spur him on. Sam misses Sonya and thinks about her all the time.

He knows he can't trust, "these people," but he feels that he needs to find The Black Rock to give them what they want. Then maybe they will give him what he wants in return.

Screen Shot of Disturbances and Helpful Links

Here are some great shots of the blips from Video Diary 4 (Thanks Jess and Fenris!). Also some links to James Clerk Maxwell's Theories written by Germain Rousseaux (thanks Jess) and Carol in comments found what appears to be the Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science where it appears the image blips from Sam's video may have come from. Oodles in comments also found James Clerk Maxwell On Physical Lines of Force that shows more of the images that look to have been used.

Chapter 4- Some e-mails and some reading.

2008-01-24T21:28:00.001-05:00

Tonight there are two e-mails and a web site.

Sent Mail

Subject: Strange Lights Recipient: Tracey- Sam explains to Tracey that he saw a "green cloud of light" while on the deck of the Christaine 1. He explains that they blended and moved, and faded after 20 seconds.

Inbox

Subject: Lights Sender: Tracey- She kids Sam about aliens from the planet Zubelleedubellee. She also explains that Sam most likely saw an aurora, but that the one he saw seems like it faded away too quickly. She also mentions that it could be related to the "...mishap on the bridge the other day." (referencing the time all of the instruments went haywire).

It seems Sam decides to to a little aurora research himself and finds tonight's website.

Website:

On Sam's laptop we get a web site for the Aurora Australis (It looks like Kyle was a little clairvoyant with that link he posted in comments today!).

These are natural phenomena in the southern hemisphere caused by magnetic forces in the atmosphere and plasma particles colliding with the Earth's magnetic field.
www.southernauroralights.com is a live site.
There are two images not loaded and one that is.

Some things of note. The planet name Tracey mentions seems long and elaborate. Is there something hidden in Zubelleedubellee? Also when Sam writes to Tracey he sometimes writes to Tracey and other times to Tracey R. Is this significant?

Lag Alleviation!

2008-01-24T16:36:00.000-05:00

As usual, a place to discuss as tonight's update unfolds.

Chapter 4 Clue Hunt

2008-01-23T21:09:00.000-05:00

UPDATE 1/24/08- At Darkufo there is a post regarding a possible solution to the numbers found on the pill bottle in the Chapter 4/Season 4 Clue. We are not sure if it is legit because the clues on how to solve it came from Lostforever in their chat room. At one point Darkufo informed us that characters in his chat room are fake and the real "in game" characters are posting in his comments. I really apologize for all of the confusion. We do not want to fall behind if it is a "real" clue. Also, I know there may be some of you who would like to try to solve if for yourself. Soooo, I will give you the synopsis hidden with links to Photobucket pics if you want to check it out. :D

Kudos to TAE at Darkufo who came up with THIS solution to the numbers on the pill bottle. Here is a Map of the clue. (Thanks aimless22 and Kirsten)
~Jess
The Chapter 4 Clue Hunt Video tonight shows Sam walking the outside decks of the Christiane 1. He spots something off in the distance and grabs his binoculars to get a closer look. (What is that he sees?)
*Maven had an interesting post in comments with a link to Wiki on how electromagnetism and auroras are related. It even references Faraday.

The Chapter 4 Clue Hunt takes place in the Lounge area of the Christiane 1. You can see where the clues are located by clicking on the following picture.
Clues

Season 1 - Picture of Vincent
Season 2 - Swan Hatch Logo on Cards
Season 3 - Parachute (Naomi)
Season 4 - Picture HERE

Once all of the clues have been found, you are guided to your Network Affiliate for tonights Game.

Mr Ockham wants to test Sam's ability to locate coordinates on a map.

You are given 5 sets of coordinates that you have to mark on a map. Screenshots of the answers are posted in Photobucket. The coordinates are:

1: -11.1784, 69.2522
2: -6.4024, 117.0123
3: -27.0297, 35.8210
4: 36.5817, 107.4063
5: 12.7017, 83.5802

After the game is solved you are given one of two passwords to enter at Find815.

ABC- Frank Lapidus SPOILER ALERT: If you google this, you WILL be spoiled.
Yahoo 7- Miles Straume (Thanks Carol and Patch)

Entering the password reveals our Chapter 4, Season 4 clue.

Chapter 4- E-mails, & voice mails, & letters, oh my!

2008-01-22T19:01:00.001-05:00

UPDATE 1/23 - Last night Maven e-mailed us about some numbers showing up in the Sunda Trench website on Sam's laptop. I took a screen grab and played with the contrast and they are there. Click here for the picture in the Oceanic Conspiracies Photobucket. Carol in comments mentioned that the numbers are in columns and when thinking about the Walt Whitman poem from the other night along with the equations at the bottom of each column, we glean that you need to add each column and divide by 6. Here's what you get:

a: 115 b: 104 c: 105 d: 109 e: 109 f: 114

These numbers can then be converted into ASCII characters and these come out as:

S H I M M R

What these are for and/or what they mean is as yet unclear.

~Ange

Tonight we have a voice mail and four new e-mails.

Voice Mail:

From Randy's Office- It's someone called Richard calling per Randy. There is an insurance pay out from an investment in a box company that has come through and would like to know how he is to get him the money.

E-mails:

Inbox

Subject: your mum Sender: Tracey- she called his mum and confirms that she is worried about him. She's also scored an invite for Christmas with Sam's mum.
Subject: [no subject] Sender: unknown- It's a random string of numbers and letters again.

The letters in each line are anagrams for numbers spelled out (ie. twelve, fifteen, etc). When decoded you get:

12 15 22 5 25 15 21 13 1 4 12 25 which using corresponding letters of the alphabet gives you LOVE YOU MADLY
Is this a message from Sonya?!
Thanks to Ellen in comments who points out: Sun would tell Jin that she loved him every time she spoke to him, and then he would ask her, "madly?" and she would respond with "yes, madly." It became sort of an icon...especially when we got the flashback of her infidelity.

(Thanks Takes a Village for the e-mail and Jess and Fenris for working it out.)

Sent Mail

Subject: payout Recipient: Randy- Per message he is replying by e-mail because he can't make calls. He's happy about the box company payout and he needs the money now that he's not at Oceanic.
Subject: Homesick Recipient: Tracey R- Sam thanks her for the "holiday tip" but he won't be following up on it.

So is the box company THE box company? Is there more to the whole Mum part of this story? Are these messages telling us something? Does Sam not following-up on the holiday tip mean that that clue is a dead end? Could the possible Jin and Sun reference be a clue that Paik Heavy Industries is involved here?

Chapter 4- Hack the Chart Plotter

2008-01-21T22:38:00.001-05:00

UPDATE: Thanks Eugene for the clue finding process and Maven for the poem. The password for Openstego is X4x98adfo97. There were braille characters and arrows (thanks Zort70 for the pictures) indicating capital or lowercase letters in tonight's video. After the video on find815, OurMutualFriend posted "Braille AOE" in Dark UFO's comments . Googling Braile AOE took you right to dafont.com where the symbols can be translated. When the password is entered correctly you get a bunch of binary code that when translated is a Walt Whitman poem title. The binary had to be translated to text, then copied and pasted to hex and converted to text (thanks Jess for working so hard to figure this out!). Then that text had to be copied and pasted to base 64 and converted to text. There's a translator here if you want to try it yourself.

We begin with a video recap reminding us that Talbot is working for Maxwell per the file in his cabin. Next we're taken to a video to set us up for tonight's game. In it we see Sam steering the ship. He pulls the coordinates (-11.1784, 112.2363) out of his pocket and waits for his opportunity to hack. Ockham leaves the helm and Sam opens panel and tampers with the plotter to give him a reason to "fix" it. When he is asked to fix the "faulty" plotter he inserts a flash drive into the computer and the game begins.

Hack The Chart Plotter

The Instructions: The password for the chart plotter is a combination of 5 unique numbers and letters. None are repeated. There are 8 possibilities narrowed down by Sam's hacking software. You need to choose 5 possibilities and enter them. You will be prompted if they are wrong, all correct, or some correct. You get 10 chances and 3 minutes before a security breech alert sounds.

Possible Passwords:

6H957 and S38TI (Thanks Lost2010)
O74ZF (Thanks ib4uc)
EA87I (mine)
ZE1FQ (Thanks Memphish)
XV529 (Thanks Zort70)
F5XSW (Thanks DedJezter)

A strategy e-mailed to us by Lost2010:

Take the 8 coordinates - abcdefgh
Enter - aaaaa (if you got a red - keep an a in the first slot
Enter abbbb (if you got a red and now have a white, leave a and b and move on to c
Enter abccc (say you now have one red and two whites)
Enter acbdd (every time you get an additional dot, you know to keep the letter)
If you add nothing just take that letter out of your next sequence. And as long as you have whites and not reds, keep sliding the letters that got a hit one slot to the right.
You should have a couple of tries left after you have all five dots even if they aren't all red - then you can play with it.

If you succeed, you get a video where:

Sam tells Ockham that it was a loose display cable and Ockham tells Sam he is on call 24/7.
Talbot asks Sam if he fooled with the chart plotter. He shows him the paper with the coordinates and Sam denies any knowledge of what they are.
Talbot tells Sam, "You have no idea what you're involved in do you? You don't know who you're dealing with."
Sam tells Talbot that his employer Maxwell gave him the coordinates to which Talbot replies, "Like I said you don't know who you're dealing with. Stay away from those coordinates, you won't find what you're looking for."

A challenging little game tonight, and lots left open for speculation. Who is Talbot working for? Are we sure it's Maxwell? Also, do you think this canine friend looks familiar? What could the poem mean?

E-mail us at the usual place with any hints, clues, or anything that you find. Please be sure to tell us how you got the information, and sign your mails so we know what name you post by :D. THANKS!

Lag Alleviation

2008-01-21T14:18:00.000-05:00

In preparation for tonight's update, here is a new thread to chat in.

Dear TLC,

There's a lot of angst flying around in comments regarding spoilers. In keeping synchronized with out parent blog, The Lost Community, we are going to try to play the game and stay spoiler free. Everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion about the spoilers. Perhaps a better way to voice your opinion about it would be to email other sources directly rather than have heated discussions in comments.

We welcome clues from other places at anytime, but please do not post comments that are potential spoilers or come from any methods, such as decompiled flash or chats, that are not game related. If you find information from other methods that you really think are "in game" please send an email to oceanicconspiracies@gmail.com.

We value each and every member of our community, as well as your opinions. Our goal is to keep this blog game related and fun!

Sincerely,
Your Oceanic-Conspiracies Blogger Team

Chapter Three Summary - Reading between the lines.

2008-01-19T16:05:00.001-05:00

Sam's Story

Chapter three kicks off with Sam trying to negotiate his way off the Christiane 1.
Mr. Ockham informs Sam that they will not be returning to Jakarta until January (after Christmas) and that there is no way he can deviate from the search for Black Rock just to allow him to jump ship. He reminds him to report for his 3am shift.
With nothing better to do and finding an opportunity (with Talbot heading off somewhere), he sneaks into Talbot's cabin and has a dig around. Eventually he finds a briefcase with the initials AMM on it, and a document within (on the salvage of the Black Rock) that links Talbot to the Maxwell Group and the group itself to Widmore.
Sam is caught leaving Talbot's cabin by the man himself. He claims the door was open and he was just shutting it, but Mr. Talbot is obviously suspicious.
Back in his cabin Sam writes to Tracey once again, this time the only favour he asks is for her to contact his mother and let her know he is alright but that he won't be home for Christmas.
He also receives and replies to an email from "Ian and Pam", who appear to be Sonya's parents. They give Sam their support and ask him to come and stay with them. Sam tells them he is out of the country but he is thinking of them and will get in touch some time in the new year.
Finally, he receives a new mystery e-mail. This time with a string of letters. Some of which appear to be in a slightly small typeface with a space after them.
Later. While taking a breather on deck (presumably during his 3am shift), Sam hears some strange noises from below and comes across some strange anomalies in the control room. The radio is crackling and all the screens seem to be going crazy and making strange beeps and chirps. Sam's never seen that before.
Sam returns to his cabin and e-mails Tracey about this. While waiting for her reply he decides to see if he can find out some more information about the significance of the name "Maxwell" by searching on "Answermyquestions.org". The most interesting result was relating to James Clerk Maxwell, a pioneer in the field of electro-magnetism.
Tracey replies to his e-mail and tells him that it was probably caused by lightning or a temporary failure inside the system. Although she does mention that it could have been caused by a really strong wave of electromagnetic energy.
Tracey's email takes a strange direction however when she suggests to Sam that he may need a holiday and suggests he check out the "BaliHolidayFun.com" web site. A website that appears fake (see clues section).
Around the same time Sam receives a voice mail message from Sean Dowling at Oceanic Air. Mr. Dowling informs Sam that his loyalty flyer points have been revoked due to his dismissal and that he shouldn't try and use them. There is however something strange about this message (see clues section).
With some time to himself, Sam has figured out that those two mystery e-mails he received earlier contain co-ordinates. He plans to hack into Talbot's chart plotter to find out what they point to.

The Clues

Talbot's "deep pockets" - He relies on a syndicate, which allows them to plunder heritage sites without tarnishing their reputations.
The Document that links Talbot with Maxwell (could this be the "Syndicate"?) and Maxwell with Widmore.
The initials on the Briefcase are AMM which seems to refer to a number in Talbot's phone for "A. Mullins".
Talbot's mobile phone (used to get the code to the briefcase).
The altered letters in the second mystery e-mail are AABBCFC, which when changed to number (A=1, B=2, etc) give 1122463 which read as a co-ordinate is 112.2363 and works with the numbers in the previous email (-11.1748) to give a location in the Sunda Trench.
The season 4 clue this episode was a Tunisian Newspaper with an article about flight 815 and Oceanic closing the investigation.
The passwords for that clue were "Charlotte Lewis" and "36-15-28"
It seems the Maxwell group may well have been named after James Clerk Maxwell.
When e-mailing the contact at the BaliHolidayFun.com website (baliholidayfun@gmail.com) you receive a garbled response from a Mr. Ole, but included in the email are fragments of a URL that leads to http://www.find815.com/steg/stegosaurus.png. The subject of the reply email "Amuses Mr.Ole" turns out to be an anagram for "Samuel Morse". Meanwhile the phone message from Sean Dowling contains Morse Code that reads "OPENSTEGO". An application that opens hidden information contained within a file. When run against the stegosaurus.png file it is apparent something is hidden. The suggestion seems to be that the password is somewhere in the clues listed below (from Sam's Video Diary).
Sam mentions several things during his video diary that may be clues. While talking about Sonya he mentions that she liked things to be straight forward and out in the open. He also said he feels it is good to get things off his chest.
It is worth noting that on his chest there are some figures that appear to be numbers and a minus or dash. By the end of the video these numbers have changed. At the start this appears to read "79-" by the end it is less clear but appears to be something like "7S2". The only thing that is clear is that they change.
There are several video flashes during the diary, the most significant of which appears to be something that is clearly braille code. Several possible translations of this have been made so far. But nothing is definite.

Other Characters

Mr Ockham - As stubborn as ever, he refuses to get Sam off his ship. He does however answer some of his questions.
Oscar Talbot - Continues to grow even more suspicious about Sam. It seems to Sam that whoever his mystery contact is within Maxwell, they haven't told Talbot to expect Sam's company on this trip.
Tracey R - Continues to aid Sam and perhaps us in direct and indirect ways.
Ian and Pam - Likely Sonya's parents. They are concerned about Sam.
Sean Dowling - Continues to be a long distance pain in the butt for Sam. Seems Oceanic aren't going to do him any favours.
A.M. Mullins - Apparently the owner of Talbot's briefcase.

It's a bit of a strange one this weekend with an important piece of information not quite revealed yet. Hopefully we will have an update for you some time today or tomorrow with that password we need to get into the hidden file inside the picture. Stay tuned folks!

Note: It is likely that this Experience was postponed due to the writers strike and so this is why the current in game time seems to be earlier then the launch date we were given for Oceanic.

Chapter 3- Video Diary

2008-01-18T23:29:00.001-05:00

Update 1/19: Opium at Dark UFO did a little creative picture editing and found an image of Maxwell (from the Wiki) in one of the blips in Sam's video. Is hunting through Maxwell stuff the key to this password? Maybe we need to look here some more? ~Ange

In tonight's video diary on find815:

Sam begins by telling us that he couldn't convince the captain to let him off the Christiane 1, and that he's, "In for the long haul." He also give us a little insight into what he's discovered as well as a little about Sonya. He tells us:

Talbot is working for Maxwell Group.
No one told Talbot that Sam was part of the expedition and Talbot won't be telling him what he knows any time soon.
Sam has finally worked out the e-mails. They have coordinates and he doesn't know where they point to.
He'll hack into the chart plotter and find out.
Sonya hated sneaking around. She wanted things out in the open and If she had something on her mind would bring it up. She would want Sam to do the same and he hated it.

We had a hunch that there would be a password for the stegged image in the video tonight.

I managed to grab a random screen cap of some electromagnet blips that had braille in them pretty early on, but we've not had any luck finding a translation that will work as a password in OpenStego to scan the stegosaurus picture.
Sam also has some writing on his shirt that seems to change as the video progresses.

Also from FYSB in comments, could this be Morse Code?

So that's it as of 11:27 pm . As usual there are a bunch of screen caps in the OC Photobucket. Keep working, e-mail us with anything you come up with, and we'll update as things become clearer!

Chapter 3- Video and a Password?

2008-01-18T20:52:00.000-05:00

Info to come, settle in and get comfy...watch a video, have a fish biscuit, find a password. You know the usual Friday night stuff...

Sam's got something on his shirt:

And there's Braille:

Braille is qdxihadfji THANKS ELLEN...more to come!

Ellen's Braille Chart...have a go:

Chapter 3 - 2 Emails, a Website, and a Message

2008-01-17T20:58:00.000-05:00

UPDATE 1/18: I just wanted to keep a current log tracing what Dark UFO has discovered regarding the Bali Holiday Fun stegosaurus image and possible stegged clues. Dark UFO readers discovered some possible Morse Code within the voice message from Sean Dowling on Sam's phone (larger image here), translating it as OPENSTEGO. Dark's readers went on to discover a computer program by that name that which scans for stegged data. They found that you need a password to access whatever the data is. So that's where we're at. Trying to find the password (which may well come tonight or be in something we've already seen). ~Ange

We have a busy night tonight at Find815.com. The update consists of 2 emails, 1 website, and 1 message.

E-mails:

Sent - Equipment Meltdown

Sam explains to Tracey how the equipment on the Bridge went crazy last night. He says it was "freaky" and asks her opinion of it.

Inbox - Equipment Meltdown

Tracey replies to Sam that the meltdown was probably caused by lightning or a temporary failure inside the electrical system. She continues that it could be caused by electromagnetic energy, but it would have to be a really strong wave.

Then, Tracey tells Sam that she thinks he may need a holiday! Guess where she suggests he look!
At BaliHolidayFun.com there is an e-mail address (baliholidayfun@gmail.com).

When mailing it you get an immediate response from a Mr. Ole and a bunch of nonsense.
In the nonsense the website http://www.find815.com/steg/stegosaurus.png can be found.
It takes you to a picture of a stegosaurus from Bałtów Jurassic Park, Pol and.

Website

Tonight's new website is Answermyquestions.org. Seems Sam is searching for answers on who The Maxwell Group might be. Surprisingly enough, one of the search results is for James Clerk Maxwell. Ring a bell, anyone?
Considering Tracey's reference to electromagnetic energy waves and the mention of James Clerk Maxwell, I thought it might be interesting to have another look at one of our S4 clues: Daniel Faraday

Phone Message:

Sam has a new voicemail from Sean Dowling at Oceanic Air Employee Relations. Sean is informing Sam that, due to his dismissal, his loyalty flyer points have been revoked. Sean definitely doesn't want Sam thinking he can still use them!(smirk)

Chapter 3- Clue Hunt: Do you see the writing on the wall?

2008-01-16T21:55:00.001-05:00

UPDATE 1/17 (3:20pm): Dark UFO has confirmed to us that OurMutualFriend42 is an "in game" character. So you might want to head over and check out the "interesting developments". Apparently they were given a code to break, which lead to this website: http://www.baliholidayfun.com/
There was an email address there that some people, after emailing of course, received a response from. The response had THIS hidden URL in it. That is all I know at this point, so check it out and see what you can come up with. Jess

UPDATE 1/17 (6:53am): Over at Dark UFO there are some interesting developments. I'm not sure what to make of this, but it's either really clever or an extremely elaborate wild goose chase. Have a look and decide for yourself. ~Ange

Tonight's hunt begins with Sam looking over the edge of the Christiane 1. He hears radio static and other strange electrical sounds and goes into the ship's control room to investigate. There he sees weird things happening like flickering screens and strange electronic beeps and chirps.

Here, you can click on two monitors and hear Sam say things like, "I've never seen that before," etc...

Clue Hunt:

By clicking around in the room inside the ship we find our 4 season clues:

Virgin Mary- your season 1 clue
108-your season 2 clue
submarine- your season 3 clue
Tunisian newspaper- your season 4 clue
- Nirvana at DarkUFO is posting a possible translation for the text in the paper. (Thanks to Maven for the heads up on this.)

To view the season 4 clue, you are directed to ABC.com or Yahoo7 to find the password. There you play a game called Talbot's Search. In it, Sam needs to plot an unbroken course through Talbot's search grid without taking the same path twice.

There are 3 search grids to complete, and you basically have to connect the dots.
HINT- watch carefully when each search grid loads for a hint about where to start.
Passwords are here in hidden-ish text--> 36-15-28 or Charlotte Lewis

Click here for what could be more information on the second password. (Thanks to Pharmacopaeia for the Yahoo7 password.)

As we search for the four season clues you can see an image of Sonya on the wooden door in the cabin as well as some writing (Sayid's Girl and her daughter Sayid's Girl Jr. were keen to notice this is the e-mail Sam received with Sonya's picture in it). What could that be about, and what do those password numbers mean?

Chapter 3- You've Got Mail

2008-01-15T21:35:00.001-05:00

Tonight's update gives us 4 new e-mails:

In Sam's Inbox we find:

Subject: invitation Sender: Ian and Pam- They are asking Sam to stay with them sometime. They're thinking of him as his anniversary approaches and they offer to help him through it as a family. (Are these Sonya's parents?)
Subject: no subject Sender: unknown The e-mail is a string of letters A A B B C F C which appear in slightly smaller font than the rest and with a small space after them.

In Sam's Sent Box we find:

Subject: Invitation Recipient: Ian and Pam- Sam replies to their mail telling them he is out of the country, but that he is thinking of them. He goes on to say that things have been rough and he will get in touch upon his return sometime after the New Year.
Subject: Mother Recipient: Tracey R- Sam writes to Tracey telling her that Mum is worried about him. He thinks he'll be away longer than he thought and that call reception on the ship is "dodgy". He wants her to call Mum and let her know he is okay, but that he won't be home for Christmas.

Super sleuths Maven and Shellma in comments figured out that by replacing the letters A A B B C F C with corresponding letters of the alphabet (A=1 B=2, etc) you get the number 112.2363. Combine that with the number from the first round of e-mails (-11.1784) and you get coordinates for the Sunda Trench.

So it seems that Sam's family and friends (other than Tracey R. and his thousands of Facebook and MySpace friends) have no idea that he is out of the country.

Thanks to Codysmom for the e-mail on the find815 updates.

Chapter 3 - Oscar Talbot's "Syndicate"

2008-01-14T21:43:00.000-05:00

Update 1/15: Ninja has found the Sydney graffiti (picture in our "Image" area). Thanks to Carol (aka Lavenda) for the e-mail about this. ~Ange

Chapter 3 begins tonight at Find815.com with a recap of Chapter 2, a video, and an activity.

The video:

Begins with, NONE OTHER THAN, a discussion about Christmas Island. How ironic considering Patch, Capcom, and Ellen spent today discussing just that! Sam learns from Mr. Ockham that the Christiane 1 will not be returning to Jakarta until January, after Christmas. (So we get a little idea of a timeline here.) Sam questions Mr. Ockham about who provides the "deep pockets" for Oscar Talbot. Mr. Ockham replies, "a syndicate", so they can plunder heritage sites without spoiling their reputation. As Sam walks away from the conversation, he sees Talbot leaving his room. Of course, he has to go in, which leads us to the activity.

The activity for Chapter 3 takes place in Oscar Talbot's Cabin. The objective is to find the clues that:

Lead to Talbot's briefcase (see the above picture *click to enlarge).
Find the code to open the briefcase. (Hints: Think where numbers would be stored, and check the initials on the briefcase.)

Once you are able to open the briefcase you are taken to another video. This second video shows Sam going through Oscar Talbot's briefcase. You can see what he finds HERE. It seems we do have a connection to Widmore.

Chapter Two Summary - Into the Deep End.

2008-01-12T11:12:00.000-05:00

Sam's Story

As we wait for Sam to arrive at the Christiane 1, he sends out an e-mail to his friend Tracey to ask if she can find any information on “Black Rock” and how it may relate to the Christiane 1.

Sam arrives at the Christiane 1 and tries to convince the captain (Mr. Ockham) to let him ride aboard. His chances appear slim until an opportunity presents itself in the form of a broken plotter, which he fixes to demonstrate his usefulness.

Sam comes across Mr. Oscar Talbot, whose company appears to be paying for the expedition. Mr. Talbot appears to take a dislike to Sam and treats him with distrust. He also seems to hint that he knows something about Sam.

Sam sets up a temporary office on the boat in a room that includes such features as a picture of black smoke pillowing away from what appears to be a temple in the middle of a forest and Penny Widmore's phone number (02079460893). He sets to work on his laptop.

Sam receives a mystery e-mail, which he believe to be from The Maxwell Group once again. The e-mail is just a string of numbers, although the following numbers appear in gray rather then black “-1 1. 1 7 8 4”

Sam sends an e-mail to Sean Downling at Oceanic claiming he has indeed returned all their property and sees no reason for them not to release his final pay check. He also receives a reply to his query about employment with Austral Air. They say they have no positions at the moment but will keep his file on record.

Sam researches a website with information about various planes and boats that have gone missing in the region of the Sunda Trench. Most notable in this is someone that was searching for Amelia Earhart. The page also mentions that there have been reports of unexplained electronics failure and magnetic interference (effecting compasses).

Sam e-mails Tracey to see if she can find any information on Mr Talbot and mentions that the camera she lent him seems to be playing up.

While waiting for replies Sam hears what appears to be a radio broadcast from the past about the loss of Amelia Earhart. Wondering if he was hearing a documentary he e-mails the Broadcasting Authority to see if any were broadcast that day. They reply that there was no documentary and cite amateur radio enthusiasts as a possible explanation for the broadcast.

Tracey replies to Sam's e-mail with information on Oscar Talbot (see below) and later, The Black Rock. She believes that The Christiane 1 is indeed looking for the wreckage of the slave ship. She also tells Sam that the Camera was working fine when last she had it.

Sam researches websites on The Black Rock and Amelia Earhart (see below).

Sam's mum leaves another voice mail. She hasn't spoken to him, she doesn't know where he is, and is still worried.

We leave Sam 300KM off the Indonesian coast at the Sunda Trench. He is having second thoughts and wondering if he has made a big mistake in going there on the strength of a mystery e-mail. He wonders if he has been played for the fool. He can't make sense of the mystery numbers in the e-mail and can't see what The Black Rock has to do with Oceanic Flight 815. He is thinking about getting off at the next port.

Clues

Graffiti advertising find815.com has appeared on all of the Oceanic Air Billboards.
Live commercials from Oceanic Airlines have appeared on VH1 and The Sci-Fi Channel (Thanks to barbarajay, dedjezter, and takes a village for having an eagle eyes on those.)
The Clue words for this weeks clue hunt were: 423 Cheyne Walk and Daniel Faraday.
The expedition has “special requirements”
Electronics Malfunctions are common in the area.
Sam claims he has returned all property to Oceanic.
“-1 1. 1 7 8 4” The numbers in gray in the mystery email Sam believe to be from The Maxwell Group.
Amelia Earhart (see below)
The Black Rock (see below)
Video Flashes – We saw this last week with a flash of Mr.Talbot in Sam's video diary. This week there are flashes of Oceanic's advertising and text relating to The Black Rock along with the word “salvage”.
The Name Talbot – Speculation in comments has linked this name with a character killed by Locke's father. It has also been noted by myself that Talbot is the name of a character in Anne Rice novels who involved in a cult that studies supernatural activity.
Missing Images on the Websites – This is probably just to show the poor internet connection Sam has at sea. However it is worth mentioning just in case these pictures are revealed later (when back on dry land) and have relevance.

The Black Rock

A 19^th century slave ship thought to be owned by “The New Word Sea Traders”. A company that is now under the wing of the Allied Copenhagen Marine Merchants (which itself is owned by The Hanso Group)
Usually sailed from Portsmouth, England (where it was docked in slip 23) to Africa, the Americans and the Pacific.
On it's last voyage (in 1881) it was due to leave Indonesia and Papua New Guinea with a shipment of gold which it would exchange in Africa for slaves. However on leaving the area it unexpectedly headed east away from Africa and was never seen again.
The web site www.slaveshipsearch.com was confirmed as in-game by Dark UFO.

Amelia Earhart

1937 Amelia Earhart attempted a mission to be the first woman to fly around the world.
Communication was lost with her on July 2^nd 1937 while she was flying (along with navigator Fred Noonan) from New Guinea to Howling Island in the Pacific.
Her plane was low on fuel and there are reports from across the pacific of intercepted communication with her. 8:43am was the last communication.
Her body and plane were never recovered.
Another pilot involved in searching for Earhart is known to have gone missing near Sumatra.
Often speculated about or hinted at in relation to Lost.

Other Characters

Oscar Talbot –From a highly reclusive and very rich east coast New England family with a sketchy history in the diamond trade. They arrived in New England in 1908 from Somerset (England).
Mr. Ockham – captain of the Christiane 1 salvage boat
Tracy R - Continues to aid Sam by finding information for him. She has now researched Christiane 1, The Black Rock and Oscar Talbot.
Mystery Maxwell Contact – Provided Sam with another cryptic e-mail that he is yet to decipher.
Owen – Crewman aboard the Christiane 1.
Mr. Sukanaro – The man Mr. Ockham usually goes to for technical support.
Isaac Chapman – HR for Austral Air. Turned Sam down for a job.
Sam's Mum – Sam still hasn't contacted her and she is still worried.
Sean Dowling – Oceanic HR. Sam told him he had returned their property

Chapter 2- Did you hear what I heard?

2008-01-10T21:37:00.000-05:00

1/11/08 Video Diary: "There's nothing to find here."

Sam has given us his second video diary. In it he looks weary, seems discouraged, and tells us, "I think I have made a big mistake."

He gives his location as: 300 KM off Indonesian coast at the Sunda Trench (which is 7,000 meters deep in places).
The video is skippy with horizontal lines across it. There are several blips where something is visible in the frames of the video (see the shots above). One blip contains the words shipwreck, Black Rock, and salvage while a second is a blip of the Oceanic Air commercial.
He references the Maxwell Group e-mail with it's "incomprehensible numbers", and can't make sense of it. He wonders if someone is playing a trick on him because he was "...mouthing off on TV ," and he thinks he should get off at the next port.

1/10/08 Clue:

Tonight's update gives us: 2 Web Sites, 5 e-mails, and 1 voicemail.

Web Sites:
The first is the Black Rock site which we had an accidental preview of earlier.

The site outlines the history of the ship mentioning that it collected gold from mines in Papua New Guinea.
Instead of sailing west to Africa it went easterly and was never seen again.

The second is about Amelia Earhart. It outlines her biography and is also missing three images at the bottom of the page.

1928- She was first woman to fly across the Atlantic.
1932- She repeated the flight solo.
1937- She attempted a mission as the first woman to fly around the world.
On July 2 of that year she and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared en route from Lae, New Guinea to Howland Island in the Pacific.
Her body and plane have never been recovered

E-Mails:

Sent: Sam writes to the Broadcasting Authority. He inquires about any radio documentaries about Amelia Earhart's disappearance broadcast in the last few days .
Inbox: The Broadcasting Authority replies stating that there were no records of the transmission that Sam heard. They cite amateur radio enthusiasts, who tend to broadcast materials including historical recordings, as the likely explanation.

Sent: Sam writes to Tracey, telling her that the camera she lent him is "playing up" and it's interfering with the playback heads and affecting the motor drive.
Inbox: Tracey replies saying the camera was working when she last had it.

Inbox: Tracey writes giving Sam information about the Black Rock. The information is consistent with the voicemail she left with clues for the Black Rock trivia game.

It also confirms that the Christaine 1 is indeed going to look for the Black Rock

Voicemail from Mum:

She is wondering why he hasn't called her back.
Apparently he hasn't told her that he has left for the Sunda Trench as she went to his place and he wasn't there.
She's worried that he hasn't been himself and that he might do something "silly".

And Also:
Finally, something interesting comes in an e-mail to Oceanic Conspiracies, from korijane. Attached was a picture of yesterday's Season 1 Clue. Could this be the temple that Ben is leading everyone to?

Chapter 2- Clue Hunt and a Blast From the Past

2008-01-09T16:30:00.000-05:00

Chapter 2 continues at find815 with a video, a clue hunt for 4 clues, and 1 e-mail.

The Video:
We start with Sam laying in bed looking at the ring. He then gets up and begins to tune a radio in his cabin, moving through the static until he gets a signal. Sam hears a news report seemingly from the past about Amelia Earhart. The report states:

Communications with her have been lost while she is flying from New Guinea.
8:43 AM today (the day of the transmission) was last communication.
Her plane was low on fuel, and there are other reports from "across the Pacific" of intercepted communications with her.

Amelia Earhart was also mentioned in the web site about the Sunda Trench found on Sam's laptop.
In the episode Not in Portland (Season 3), Juliet is taking a flight to the island with Herarat Aviation, which is an anagram for Earhart.

The Clue Hunt:
This takes place in Sam's Cabin where we find clues for Season 1-4. To complete the hunt you must go to ABC.com or Yahoo7 , play a game, and get a password to view the Season 4 clue. The Season 4 Clue is the book on Sam's bed. If you click it, you will be prompted to enter a password. (*It seems that the site has some glitches with clicking the book. Try refresing a few times to make the book "clickable".)

The game is Black Rock trivia, which is played after listening to a voice mail from Tracey educating us on the subject.
When you get 100% you are given 1 of two passwords to open the Season 4 Clue. The passwords are: 423 Cheyne Walk OR Daniel Faraday (*Note: Originally the password for Clue 4 was 423 Cheyenne Walk, but ABC changed it to reflect an address in London.)

Pillar of Smoke- your Season 1 Clue
Balloon- your Season 2 Clue
Ping Pong-your Season 3 Clue
Penny's Number (02079460893)- your Season 4 Clue

E-mail:
In Sam's inbox there is an e-mail from Tracey titled, you owe me big. In it she says:

Talbot is from an east coast New England family with a sketchy history in the diamond trade.
They are reclusive in a way a LOT of money can buy.
They arrived in New England in 1908 from the English county of Somerset.

There are screen shots of some of the clues and various other areas of the Chapter 2 play in the Oceanic Conspiracies Photobucket. As usual, e-mail us with anything you notice, and stay tuned for updates!

Thanks to Patch for e-mailing with the second season 4 password.

Chapter 2 - All Aboard.

2008-01-08T21:03:00.000-05:00

*Update 1/9 7:00am- The find815 website no longer has our new found Black Rock website on Sam's laptop. It's now been replaced with a web site called Sunda Stories from findoutpedia.com which details a time line of "List of notable ships and planes lost in the Sunda Trench".

Lots of interesting things on the time line but I saw this and thought Berlin (In 1981- Pleasure craft captained by West German business tycoons disappeared). Could this be our Berlin tie-in per the billboards?
There is also a mention of Amelia Earhart (that someone searching for her disapeared).
Also on the time line: "In addition to these, there have been reports of high incidence of unexplained electronics failure in the area. Compasses have also been know to behave erratically."
There are again two missing images from the Sunda Trench site (perhaps to reflect the poor internet connection?). -Ange

The website has updated with 2 new emails and a new website and as you can see above, Sam's desk has changed to reflect his new surroundings!

The first new email is to Trace asking for yet another favor.

Sam is after information on Mr Talbot.
His first name appears to be OSCAR.
Sam believes Mr.Talbot is old money and a company man.

The second email is a reply to his application for employment with Austral Air. A person named Isaac Chapman replied saying they have no positions but will keep his file on record.

Finally, have a website on the Black Rock (provided by Trace? Maybe, we don 't know). The website tells us stuff we already know from the previous experience. But to recap:

The Black Rock is one on three 19th century slave ships thought to be owned by "The New World Sea Traders".
Usually sailed from Portsmouth, England to Africa and then on to the Americas or the Pacific Ocean.
On it's last voyage it left Portsmouth and went to the South Indian Ocean where it collected gold from Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to exchange for Slaves in Africa.
However on leaving that area, instead of heading west to Africa as expected it headed in an easterly direction and was never seen again (well until Lost anyway).

There are two missing images from the bottom of the article that read "image not loaded, check network settings". Perhaps they will turn up later

Chapter 2 - Finally

2008-01-07T23:09:00.000-05:00

Morning all. Fenris here. Seems I can access everything this morning so let's get with the update!

After a brief recap of episode one we see Sam arrive at the Christiane 1. The captain (Mr. Ockham) isn't keen on having him tag along, but an opportunity presents itself in the form of a broken chart plotter. IT guy extrordinaire Sam offers to fix the plotter himself in return for passage aboard and the Captain agrees.

Here follows a timed game (*Click here to see the solution. Thanks to Elizabeth for e-mailing the picture!). The game itself is simple but with three minutes to do it, I have to admit it took me three tries. The game basically involves rotating squares on a board to get the circuitboard to match up with no loose lines. There are three boards to fix in the time.

Once repaired the captain lets you on board. However a mysterious Mr.Talbot, who's company is paying for the expedition (and has "special requirements") seems suspicious and appears to know more about Sam then he is letting on. Fortunatly, Mr.Ockham, wanting to honour his word to Sam, comes to his defence and states "Given our destination I can't rule out a complete electronics meltdown..."

Mr Talbot

Back to the Sam's Desk and we see there has been some activity before Sam left.

As reported during the Chapter 1 recap, Sam has sent a further email to his friend Trace, asking if she can find information about "Black Rock" and how it may link to the Christiane 1.
Sam has sent a response to Sean Dowling at Oceanic claiming he has indeed returned all their property and he sees no reason for them not to release his final pay pack.
Finally Sam has received a very mysterious email from an unknown sender. This email is nothing but numbers but if you look closely at it you can see some numbers are written in grey rather then black and appear to be as follows "-1 1. 1 7 8 4"

According to the "My Progress" section that is all for this update. However there are in total 6 Emails (1 found, so I guess some of the above didn't count), 3 Web Sites, 1 Video, 1 Message, 1 Activity (complete), and FOUR clue hunts (makes sense while your on a salvage boat) listed as part of this chapter.

That's it.
~Namaste, Fenris

PS: I've left this last bit from the original Post as Ange has a good point. It's a bit early to be breaking down the doors of random companies (Unless their names are Hanso, Maxwell, Paik or Widmore, naturally). [Fenris]

I don't even need to really say this, but please just be patient. I don't think it's wise to start e-mailing the companies hired to create this game for us (until we know for sure who they are). No one could really ever mean for this to happen. Just my two cents.
~ Ange

Chapter 2 Where are you? / Billboard Graffiti

2008-01-07T17:05:00.000-05:00

This post is in lieu of tonight's continuation of the story on Find815.com. When things get up and running on find815 we'll have a new post for you. -Ange

But for now...

SPOILER WARNING: It seems most people have no access and may not get access until much later maybe even tomorrow. However as there may have been a few things seen before the site went down, the comments section may well spoiler you. If you don't want this, please avoid the comments and come back when the new article is up. Namaste - Fenris

UPDATE 10:46pm: Winged_eel just sent us a picture of the NYC billboard with graffiti. THANKS winged_eel! -Ange

UPDATE: Hot off the presses from special agent Capcom! The Knoxville billboard has also been "vandalized". NICE WORK Capcom! -Ange

Dark UFO is also posting pictures of Tustin and Portland's (photo by Squid Vicious) billboards with the find815.com graffiti.

UPDATE Jess4ua 5:10pm: It has been brought to my attention (Thanks espiao!) that Darkufo has posted a pic of the Miami Billboard with a new look. Apparently it has graffiti on it that says find815.com. I am very curious to know if the other billboards are getting the same makeover!
Also, Ange brought up that the graffiti on the Miami Billboard is similar to the graffiti on Sam's Facebook. I put the two images together for your comparison and posted them in Photobucket. Tell us what you think.......In-game, or the work of misdirected artists.

Chapter One Summary - The Adventure Begins Here.

2008-01-05T16:02:00.000-05:00

THE STORY

The time line is hazy, but appears to be set a fairly short while after Flight 815 went missing

The experience starts as Oceanic Airlines prepares to start up services again after a period of being shut down while they investigate the disappearance of Flight 815. As part of this they have made a press release, re-launched their website, set up a number of billboards and opened a hotline.

Oceanic's investigation apparently found nothing and is now closed.

Sam Thomas, an IT technician at Oceanic Airlines lost someone very dear to him on that flight, a woman named Sonya. He has made it his personal mission to find out what happened to her. As part of this he has launched a website "find815.com" to track his progress and gain publicity for his endeavour. He also has a Facebook and MySpace page and has even started up a T-Shirt campaign.

Sam had planned to propose to Sonya on the 8th anniversary of when they first met. This is apparently two months away. He had purchased an engagement ring.

As a result of his investigations and criticisms of Oceanic, Sam has lost his job but this has only led to him being more determined. Oceanic also claims he has some property of theirs that they want returned. His mother is worried about how this obsession is effecting him.

After some exposure on the news Sam is contacted by a mysterious person who hides some clues for him inside a picture of Sonya (see below for the specifics). The email appears to have originated from "The Maxwell Group". So far there is no information about this group and while they have a website it is simply a log in screen that is currently out of action, reportedly until "02/01/2008 00:08:15 UTC".

The clues are as follows: "Sunda Trench", "Christiane 1", "Black Rock" and "Tell no one, grave consequences"

Sam finds the location of Sunda Trench on his map in the northeastern Indian Ocean and does a bit of research on it discovering it is a central point for natural disasters including volcanic activity and that it has a reputation similar to the Bermuda Triangle due to vessels and aircraft going missing.

He also figures that "Christiane 1" sounds like a ship and with the help of a friend he discovers that it is a salvage vessel that is due to sail out from Jakarta.

Sam has decided to head to Jakarta and hitch a ride on board this vessel. He also applied for a job with Air Austral, an airline based in Réunion, an island in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar (and an overseas region of France).

THE CLUES

The Oceanic Air Press Release - Lists the following destinations:

Los Angeles, CA
Tustin, CA
Ames, IA
Miami, FL
New York, NY
Portland, OR
Knoxville, TN
Seoul, South Korea
Sydney, Australia.

All of these locations have turned out to have billboards advertising Oceanic Airlines. They also mention London later in the press release, but it is not in the main list.

The Oceanic Air Hotline - To begin with this took names and numbers and publicized the website. Now you can access voice mail on it, however so far this hasn't lead to anything.
Oceanic Airlines Billboards (see below)
Sunda Trench - A an area in the North East Indian Ocean with a reputation for mysterious disappearances of planes and boats as well as various seismic activities, currently Sam's only lead on a location.
Christiane 1 - This is a salvage vessel. It is currently in Jakarta and going to head to an unknown destination.
Black Rock - We all know about the Black Rock. But we don't know for sure how it relates to this story. We did however learn in the first Lost Experience that it's destination when it disappeared was the South Indian Ocean,
The Maxwell Group - So far we know nothing about this group, except someone from their wants to help Sam. The website seems like it is not due to be involved until February.
Matthew - (Abaddon is an alternate password given) password received from ABC's mini-game to finish the clue hunt, it may relate to this story, it may relate to Season 4, or it may be nothing.
Sam's manifest on 815 passengers - This bares no direct relation so far to the rest of Sam's story. It may be just to tie this story into the show or there may be further significance to it.
Oceanic Airlines property. Apparently Sam has some of their property and they want it back.
zkillen_t99@hotmail.com (appears on the mystery email when first viewed in the video, but not on Sam's computer)
Zeke Klotho Freundlich - the last line given in response to emailing the above address. The response also says "Since the dawn of our species, man's been blessed with curiosity. Your curiosity will be rewarded. Namaste."

Interesting Note: Clotho/Klotho is the youngest of the Greek Fates. It was Clotho who spun the threads of life with her distaff. Her Roman counterpart Nona, was originally a goddess called upon in the ninth month of pregnancy.

The Mystery Man - Sam's video diary had flashes of this mystery man. Who is he? A lot of people have commented that he looks familiar.

THE BILLBOARDS

The Billboards are one of the bigger mysteries at the moment. Several have been found in the locations listed in the Oceanic Airlines Press Release, usually near airports. These are the only real world clues in the experience so far. Each billboard has a location on it and a slogan. This is what we have seen so far:

Portland, Oregon - "A new life awaits you in Seoul". **One of the Korean signs in the background reads "keu chung 6 myeong man i" which means roughly "Out of that group 6 only six people..."
Tustin, California - "Discover the mysteries of Berlin". Interestingly there is no commercial airport in Tustin, which makes this location unusual (Thanks Alison and Memphish for that).
Sydney, Australia - "Fly to L.A.".
New York, New York - "Lose yourself in London"
Los Angeles, California - "The Adventure Begins Here". Shows Sydney, Australia.
Knoxville, Tennessee - "Find your way back to LA" (LA Again, but a different slogan).
Ames, Iowa - "Lose yourself in London" (London Again and the same slogan).
Miami, Florida- "Discover the mysteries of Berlin"
Seoul, South Korea- "The adventure begins here. You have arrived at your ultimate destination." It shows Sydney, Australia and is translated slightly different from Korean.

CHARACTERS

Sam Thomas - IT Technician extraordinaire and protagonist of this story.
The mystery helper from the Maxwell Group
Sonya - Sam's girlfriend, a flight attendant that disappeared with flight 815.
Sam's Mum - She is worried about Sam and wants him to call her.
David Massingham - former work colleague of Sam's. Helped him get tickets to Jakarta.
Tracey R - A friend of Sam that helped him track down the Christiane 1.
Sean Dowling - Oceanic Air Employee Relations, wants Sam to return Oceanic's property.
Referenced Lost Characters - Kate Austen, James Ford, Dr Jack Shephard, Sayid Jarrah, Jin Kwon, Sun Kwon, Hugo Reyes, Claire Littleton, John Locke

So that's it so far! Let me know at the usual address if I have missed anything, and I'll fill in the blanks. Failing that or any further billboard finds this weekend I'll see you all after Monday's reveal.

Thank-you Rizzia for e-mailing about the Klotho information.
Thanks to Winged_Eel in comments for the confirmation/translation of the Korean on the Portland billboard.

Chapter 1 - The video diary

2008-01-04T21:16:00.000-05:00

Okay, we have our final update and video for Chapter One. These videos will be part of a video diary. In this first installment we learn:

Sam was planning to propose to Sonya in 2 months time, which is Sam's 8th anniversary of meeting her.
He is going to Jakarta tomorrow
He intends to hitch a ride on the Christiane 1 salvage boat (which is looking for a ship wreck apparently)
Sam feels like cr*p and has had enough of waiting to feel good.

Facebook and MySpace:

Sam has also posted the following on his MySpace blog. under "Going out of Town"

He's also added that same text to a wall post on his Facebook and changed his status to, "Sam Thomas is heading to Jakarta."

As always we will keep you informed with extra stuff as it happens.

There aren't likely to be any online events over the weekend however, there may well be billboard action, so get snapping!

UPDATE: Dark UFO has posted a couple of pics. of a mystery man that appears in frames at the start of that video.

NOTE: You can also access the video by going to Sam's Desk and clicking the video tape (says "video diary 1" on mouse over).

Chapter 1 - Final Emails

2008-01-03T21:06:00.000-05:00

Capcom, so graciously, went out and took a picture of the Knoxville billboard for us! It is VERY CLEAR, I might add!

So...Knoxville, Tennessee (posted on Oceanic Conspiracies!): It's an add to fly to L.A.: "Find your way back to L.A. Your ultimate destination"

Thanks for all your effort Capcom!

There are 2 new emails on Sam's Laptop!

1 - An email from Oceanic Airlines informing Sam that his employment with them has been terminated. Also, Sam apparently has some property of Oceanic Airlines that they want back. (hmmmm)

2 - Sam has sent an inquiry to Austral Air (WIKI) about new employment. It reminds us that Sam was an IT technician with Oceanic Airlines.

Chapter 1- Clue Hunt and Billboards

2008-01-02T20:02:00.002-05:00

Clue Hunt:

Find815.com had updated with the release of 4 Clue Hunts (See the "Help" section on the site for more details).

There is a new video in "The Story So Far".

The video shows Sam in bed awakened by a window that has come unlatched, and is banging open and closed. When Sam latches the window he sees the reflection of Sonya in the window. He turns and sees her flight attendant uniform hanging on the closet door, and hangs it up.
At the end of the video we are taken to Sam's bedroom where we have our Clue Hunt:

Drive Shaft CD (Live From Jakarta)-Your Season 1 Clue
Pearl-Your Season 2 Clue.
Rocking Chair-Your Season 3 Clue
Oceanic Hotline (888-546-0034)-Your Season 4 Clue

To access clue 4 you need to enter Matthew or Abaddon (the ABC and Yahoo7 passwords from Pack Sam's Bag).
When calling the hotline you get the following message:

"Thank you for calling the Oceanic Airlines flight 815 hotline. Information is updated as the investigation proceeds. Investigations are thorough and, as such, may take a period of time to complete. At this time we do not have any additional information regarding the crash of flight 815. If you are a family member or relative of a passenger on Oceanic flight 815, we are sorry for your loss. Detailed information is given during the daily family briefings. This briefing updates families on the progress of the investigation and allows for questions to be asked of the medical examiner or coroner and other parties connected to the investigation. Please contact your accident coordinator or call back later for more information." Source: Dark Ufo Find815

There is also a new voice mail from mum on the cell phone on Sam's Desk (Thanks Docartz for the text).

"Sam, it's mum. I just saw you on the telly. What's going on? You're going to loose your job if you keep carrying on like that. I know you probably wouldn't care at the moment, but you look like you hadn't slept in days. I'm worried about your health Sam, physical and... well, otherwise. Can you call me?"

Billboards:

Ames, Iowa (posted on Dark UFO). It's an ad to fly to London: "Lose yourself in London. Your ultimate destination."

Tustin, California (posted on DocArtz) It's an ad to fly to Berlin: "Discover the mysteries of Berlin. Your ultimate destination."

Portland, Oregon. It's an ad to fly to Seoul: "A new life awaits you in Seoul. Your ultimate destination." With a possible translation of the Korean writing on the signs in the back being: "Only 6 people of/among them..."

New York, New York (posted on Dark UFO). It's an ad to fly to London (again): "Lose yourself in London. Your ultimate destination."

Knoxville, Tennessee (Thank-you CAPCOM!): It's an ad to fly to L.A.: "Find your way back to L.A. Your ultimate destination"

Los Angeles, California (posted on Dark UFO): The picture is of Sydney, Austrailia: "The adventure begins here. Your ultimate destination."

Sydney, Australia (posted by The Lost Ninja): It's an ad to fly to L.A.: "Fly to L.A. Your ultimate destination." <--Notice this is NOT the same text as on the other L.A. advert. found in Knoxville.

Miami, Florida (Posted on Dark UFO and found on Meadaura's Flickr). It's another ad to fly to Berlin: "Discover the mysteries of Berlin. Your ultimate destination."

Seoul, South Korea (Posted by FoxySmile on Dark UFO) It's an ad to fly to Seoul: "The adventure begins here. You have arrived at your ultimate destination." translated slightly different from Korean.

E-mail and Facebook:

Sam has an e-mail address posted on his Facebook profile. It's find815@gmail.com. He is also sending out invites for the Facebook group called find815.com.

Thanks to Eugene for e-mailing the billboard information.

Thanks Dissonation (aka Joel) for the find815 screenshots. There are more of Dissonation's screen shots the Oceanic Conspiracies Photobucket.

Thanks to diggitydirge for Sam's g-mail, and the updated Oceanic voicemail.

Flickr T-Shirt Campaign

2008-01-02T08:36:00.001-05:00

On Find815.com there is a new Flickr tab underneath the login info. Seems we need to show our support for Sam! The Flickr T-Shirt Campaign asks us to.....

Download one of the Find815 graphics
Iron it onto a T-shirt
Upload a photo of you wearing the shirt onto the Supporter Flickr Photos

Get your irons heating!!!!

By the way, here is the Flickr pool for Find815.

UPDATE: Sam has a MYSPACE account now!

BONUS UPDATE: Look who Speaker found a photo of!

Thanks to ib4uc for the Flickr info.
Thanks to diggitydirge for the myspace account.

Chapter 1- New Website and 4 New Emails

2008-01-01T21:47:00.001-05:00

There have been several updates to Find815.com.
It appears Sam has been doing some work on his laptop. There are 4 new emails and 1 new website. They are as follows:

A new informational website for the Sunda Trench, which appears to be similar to the ones we have posted. It makes particular note of volcanic activity in the region. [Note: This is not a real website and cannot be accessed outside of find815.com. A sign of things to come? - Fenris]
Email 1 - Sam sent an email to David Massingham asking for tickets on a booked flight.
Email 2 - David responded giving Sam tickets from

8:50 Sydney - 11:45 Darwin FLT 511

14:14 Darwin - 15:15 Jakarta FLT 601

Email 3 - Sam sent an email to Tracey R. inquiring about a BOAT named Christiane 1 (interesting!)
Email 4 - Tracey says Christiane 1 is a salvage vessel leaving from Jakarta in "a few days". Apparently she has no idea where it is headed.

UPDATE: At some point, I have been informed, there were actual email addresses on the computer in Sam's inbox. They are listed HERE. For some reason, they no longer seem to be in the inbox. (If someone knows differently, please send an email.) There is one in particular that folks have sent an email to and received a response from. (including myself)
The address is zkillen_t99@hotmail.com. The response I received was......

Since the dawn of our species, man's been blessed with curiosity.
Your curiosity will be rewarded.

Namaste

Zeke Klotho Freundlich=

UPDATE (6:53 AM 1/2/07): It seems Sam has a gotten himself a Facebook.

You need to have a Facebook account and be logged in to see the link properly. Looks like some familiar faces in his friends.

Also StationZer0 was reporting a Flickr page that was taken down, but the image that remains is quite interesting, directing us to find815.com. [UPDATE: This has also been removed now-Fenris]

UPDATE (1PM GMT): The Oceanic phone number (818) 460-5520 has changed somewhat and no longer asks you to leave your name. Instead you eventually get an option to access voice mail, however currently no account/password combination seems to work. It is also worth noting that according to the message on the Maxwell Group website (assuming a D/M/Y format) their web mail should be up and running again. However this doesn't yet seem the case (which could mean it is a US style M/D/Y format instead and we will have to wait until next month).

Shout out to Molly for the hotmail information. Thanks Kinetic for the facebook and flickr!

DON'T FORGET to e-mail us if you have something to add to the main post: OceanicConspiracies@gmail.com!

Chapter 1- Pack Sam's Bag

2008-01-01T13:32:00.000-05:00

Click HERE for a picture of one of the solutions. This comes from commenter YONaTan at docartz.com. Click HERE for a video walk-through from DocArtz.

On ABC.com there is a game in the Lost section called Chapter 1- Pack Sam's Bag.

The goal is to help him pack for his trip to the Sunda Trench.
It's harder than it looks, and apparently there is more than one way to successfully pack the bag. All of the items to pack can also be found on Sam's desk at find815.com
Packing the bag gives you the password MATTHEW, although we aren't sure where it goes yet..

Thanks Maven for being the first to mention this in the comments. And to Maven and ib4uc for the password.

Find815.com - Sams Story (chapter 1)

2007-12-31T21:37:00.001-05:00

The video at fly oceanic has changed to a hacked version with a message from "Sam" about the flight 815 and his missing "Sonya" who was a flight attendant. He points us to www.find815.com where there is a new video to see and that leads you into a few simple puzzles, some extra videos and a whole bunch of stuff.

Sam is on his own mission to find out what happened to flight 815. He has obviously been looking into it a while but is upping his commitment to it due to Oceanic officially giving up their search for the plane (this has time line complexities given the difference in show time and real world time but we won't worry about that for now, this seems to be a very in-show experience this time). Today he received an email from someone out of the blue from someone claiming to be an old friend of Sonya's. They include a photo of Sonya with some clues hidden in it. They are as follows:

In her mole she has the words "Black Rock" written.
In her right eye she has the words "Christiane 1" written
In her left eye she has the words "Sunda Trench" written
Around her hairline she has "tell no one, grave consequences" written

At this point Sam tries to reply to the email with "Who are you". This bounces, but examining the header you find that it was apparently from "the-maxwell-group.com" (I heard a strange bit of audio when I clicked on this, I may need to look into it). Sam also finds Sunda Trench on the map (near Christmas Island). So far that is it. The Maxwell group doesn't appear to be an active website yet.

The website let's you sign up to it, to remember your progress there. You can also click on various things on Sam's desk including:

His laptop (which let's you review websites and emails that are known to him. You can type in URLs on the browser but it doesn't appear to actually do anything, instead there are sites listed to the left you can click, currently though just Oceanics)
His phone (which has no messages at this point)
A little notebook thing he has that has information about several of the Lost Characters! Nothing earth shattering there however.

There is strange witting over this screen that looks like some kind of equation (probably just for atmosphere mind).

You can review your progress on the site by clicking the "My progress" banner. It seems there are 9 emails, 2 websites, 1 video, 1 message, 1 activity and 4 clue hunts to this chapter. Currently my list only has found and unreleased squares on it, so I think this is all there is so far.

Finally, There is a timer for continuation in the bottom right of the screen. Seems there are another 46 hours till the next stage. Meaning we won't get anything else until the 2nd of January.

UPDATE: (Good morning, and Happy New Year from Ange!) Dark UFO is reporting an Oceanic billboard spotted in Portland, Oregon (PICTURE).

The text of the advert treads, "A new life awaits you in Seoul. Your ultimate destination."
Also, a commenter at Dark UFO (foxysmile) is reporting that he/sh can read Korean, and states: "They are just some billboards for coffeeshop, restaurants, or something like that except the red ones on the left! (next to the O from Oceanic) They say "Only 6 people of/among them..." This is unconfirmed right now though.

UPDATE: www.the-maxwell-group.com is live, and has a compass and an area where you can attempt to log in with a username and password. (Thanks to Jess for the heads up and Shellma for the Whois).

When log-in is attempted, this message appears: The server is currently being serviced. It is expected to be back in service by 02/01/2008 00:08:15 UTC
Domain registration seems to be sketchy on this right now. It looks like it was created yesterday, but worth keeping an eye on. A whois shows:

The Lost Experience 2 - The Start

2007-12-30T20:58:00.000-05:00

Looks like things have actually kicked off on the long awaited and often rumored second Lost Altered Reality Game. Rumors were it was canned due to the writers strike, but it seems that wasn't true. The official launch date would seem to be New Years Eve 2007. I guess there won't be a lot of people researching that night! Anyway, I intend to keep it simple here just to give people a place to reference and to discuss while the "scene" gets organized.

So in traditional Bullet Point fashion:

The website flyoceanicair.com has appeared containing an advert for the site and a link to a press release (there was also an advert in Lost magazine).

The press relate states that the company will be starting up again December 31st (presumably 2007, lol).

The press release also states that they will be flying to the following destinations:
1. Los Angeles, CA
2. Tustin, CA
3. Ames, IA
4. Miami, FL
5. New York, NY
6. Portland, OR
7. Knoxville, TN
8. Seoul, South Korea
9. Sydney, Australia

At the bottom of the press release there is a telephone number: "Georgia Cavanagh (818) 460-5520"

Calling this number gives you a brief message about the website opening and asks you to leave your name, number and time of calling (don't answer machines tell you that?).

The only other information in the press release is a comment about being around for 25 years (they don't say how much of that they were shut down) and that they are a major carrier travelling to destinations including Los Angeles, London, Sydney and South Korea (which begs the question: Why don't they fly to London anymore?).

UPDATE: Speaker has posted a video building things up even more, mentioning an unnatural fog, the Oceanic site and making a mention about keeping your eyes open, having a camera with you and taking screen shots.

Oceanic Conspiracies

But wait, there's more...

Fiction Meets Fiction- How it all comes together (Spoiler Alert)

New update or just an error- It's not over until Oscar Talbot sings?

Chapter Five Summary - That sinking feeling.

Sam's Story

Epilogue

Behind The Scenes

Left Over Questions and Clues

All the Season 4 “Clues” from the Clue Hunt

Maxwell Updates with a Press Relaease and Sam's on TV Again

Authentication Error

Chapter 5 - Find the Black Rock.... or did we?

Chapter 5- Clue Hunt and Video Diary

Chapter 5- E-mail, Website, and a Voicemail

Chapter 5- We Need to Cover Our Tracks

Chapter Four Summary - Light and Shadows

The Clues

Behind The Scenes

The other characters

Chapter 4- Video Diary 4

Chapter 4- Some e-mails and some reading.

Lag Alleviation!

Chapter 4 Clue Hunt

Chapter 4- E-mails, & voice mails, & letters, oh my!

Chapter 4- Hack the Chart Plotter

Lag Alleviation

Chapter Three Summary - Reading between the lines.

Sam's Story

The Clues

Other Characters

Chapter 3- Video Diary

Chapter 3- Video and a Password?

Chapter 3 - 2 Emails, a Website, and a Message

Chapter 3- Clue Hunt: Do you see the writing on the wall?

Chapter 3- You've Got Mail

Chapter 3 - Oscar Talbot's "Syndicate"

Chapter Two Summary - Into the Deep End.

Chapter 2- Did you hear what I heard?

Chapter 2- Clue Hunt and a Blast From the Past

Chapter 2 - All Aboard.

Chapter 2 - Finally

Chapter 2 Where are you? / Billboard Graffiti

Chapter One Summary - The Adventure Begins Here.

Chapter 1 - The video diary

Chapter 1 - Final Emails

Chapter 1- Clue Hunt and Billboards

Flickr T-Shirt Campaign

Chapter 1- New Website and 4 New Emails

Chapter 1- Pack Sam's Bag

Find815.com - Sams Story (chapter 1)

The Lost Experience 2 - The Start