THE MAGICAL WORLD OF ANIA: LIKE DAVID LYNCH’S TWIN PEAKS SET IN POLAND

David Lynch’s recent passing has had me thinking about an online production in the spirit of his series Twin Peaks. 

Balladeer’s Blog’s love of quality horror ARGs (Alternate Reality Games) has been well established. In the past I’ve examined productions like Local 58, Claridryl and Jack Torrance (NOT the character from The Shining.)

This time around I’m taking a look at what I call Poland’s answer to Twin Peaks – MAGICZNY SWIAT ANI or MAGICAL WORLD OF ANIA. Like Local 58, this ARG is still going, so if you’re interested in pitting your wits against the producer’s, the various mysteries remain unresolved as of this writing.

NOTE: BE SURE TO USE THE CLOSED CAPTIONING FOR TRANSLATION FROM THE POLISH LANGUAGE.

The eerie storyline revolves around the disappearance of a beautiful young Polish woman named Ania Slowinska and the dark, seemingly supernatural forces behind it. As the tale unfolds it becomes apparent other women have fallen victim to the same forces, with one having had all her teeth removed after being murdered.

Among the many suspects and supporting characters in the drama are Ania’s mother Kristina, who seems to be morbidly enjoying the attention her daughter’s disappearance has brought her. Others include Ania’s birth-father – whom she never knew – plus her step-father, an infatuated stalker, a jealous female friend and a faith healer with a very strange band of disciples.

WARNING: If you don’t like off-kilter horror don’t click “continue reading.”

Organs and limbs seem to be stolen for transplant use and replaced with porcelain or papier mache substitutes. This practice extends even to the heads of the victims … sometimes while they’re still alive. Obviously this is for adults only. 

Like with Twin Peaks, the dark allegories and the supernatural doings blend together seamlessly, with it seldom being entirely clear where the former end and the latter begin. And Ania’s diary contains a lot of backstory as surely as Laura Palmer’s did. This series, however, is mostly like the 2017 Twin Peaks revival, especially that revival’s notoriously cryptic 8th episode.

So far there are 15 episodes total – 13 “official” and 2 that were “hidden” at other sites like Tumblr and Instagram, but which were moved to the main site after online detectives tracked them down. Reading the comments below each video will be a must, since some mysteries have already been cracked.

There are mock newspaper articles and such as well. Remember, Bing and others have great Polish to English (or other languages) translators that can be used for free online with no need to download apps or anything.

Morse code, links to Soundcloud and other forms of cryptographic work need performed at times, but, as usual with ARGs, once any viewer decodes something they add it to the comments and Subreddits so that it all becomes part of the common pool of clues.

The YT Channel Nexpo (short for Nightmare Expo) provided a detailed review of the first several episodes, but be forewarned some of his theories have since been proven wrong. Plus he mistook Ania’s attention-whore of a mother for Ania herself in the video about crying in front of the media’s cameras.

Otherwise, Nexpo’s review is great for deciding if this macabre ARG is your kind of entertainment. BELOW is the 2nd episode of Magical World of Ania. (The 1st is too brief to convey much at just over a minute in length.)  If you like it and want more, the link to Nexpo’s review is HERE . THE ARG’S MAIN CHANNEL CAN BE FOUND  HERE