Apocalyptic Log: Difference between revisions

[[File:tumblr lgoepuC9zv1qcupmyo1 500 6335.jpg|frame|*Sigh* Dear Diary...]]

 

 

A story is told through a log, diary, or journal that a character uses to document their activities and progress through the plot. Suddenly, [[Gone Horribly Wrong|something happens]], the effects of which are slowly made known to the reader through by its effects on the medium.

Not to be confused with the apocalyptic Loge from [[Richard Wagner]]'s ''[[Der Ring Des Nibelungen|Götterdämmerung]]'', or for that matter, {{smallcaps| The Log}} from ''[[Naruto the Abridged Series]]''. Or with Apocalyptic [[Just for Pun|Lag]]. See also [[Video Will]], the various times when the [[Cassette Craze]] applies to disappearances, and some of the less pleasant cases of [[Message in a Bottle]].

 

 

{{examples}}

* The Director's Cut of episode 21 of ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' opens with a security video taken about a month before Second Impact. It starts off in a mundane way, picking up not only chatter from staff but a conversation between Gendo and Keel on the nature of scientists. Then with a crash, the scene cuts to the moment when Adam begins to grow into [[Our Angels Are Different|the Giant of Light]], and we hear shouting from scientists trying to get the Angel under control. The picture cuts off just as Adam's giant, glowing hands reach into the frame.

** Similarly, all we see of the activation of Unit 04 is a mushroom cloud rising up from the test site, followed by static.

{{quote|''We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon...[[Gone Horribly Right|And we succeeded.]]''}}

* In the visual and sound novels of ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'', The TIPS show that Shion kept a journal as {{spoiler|she was going mad due to Hinamizawa Syndrome}}. Although you actually do get to see many of the events that the journal refers to, it gives a closer look into her mind as the events unfold and ends with the [[Tear Jerker|"Notebook of Happiness"]] entry, which ends, as you might guess from the ironic title, {{spoiler|"I'm sorry for having been born"}}. Naturally, it was cut from the anime.

* The horror manga, ''Mail'', has a story titled "Portrait"; it starts with a woman picking up and arranging her sister's belongings after she had committed suicide via self-immolation and discovering her diary. The diary describes the last few weeks of her sister's life including finding a rare portrait and her growing obsession with it. It starts of with her trying to discover more about the painting, to learning more about the girl in the painting, to writing in her diary that she thinks there is something creepy going on in her apartment, to thinking that the source of the creepiness is that new painting she is so fond of to realizing that sometimes, the eyes of the sleeping girl would open up, to finally writing over and over again how she wants to die. When reading that last page, the woman who finds her sister's diary realizes that {{spoiler|the last few pages handwriting slowly changes from her sister's handwriting to someone else's. When she realizes this, she looks at the portrait and realizes that it's looking straight at her. It turns out that the portrait of the girl still has the girl's spirit trapped inside due to the sympathy she got in life, cheering her to live on despite the fact that the only thing she ever wanted was to die and end her suffering and since then, has been committing suicide through the various owners of the portrait!}}

 

* In ''Countdown'', when an unstoppable virus destroys an [[Alternate Universe]] (a universe that had ALREADY been destroyed and remade), we see the last days from through the journal of Buddy Blank. We watch through his eyes as the universe becomes a planet where humans and animals are transformed into violent, bloodthirsty [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half Human Hybrids]].

* Brilliantly used in ''[[Grendel]]'' to illustrate the self-doubts and conflicts within Brian Li Sung, as he slowly succumbs to the Grendel identity. {{spoiler|The brilliant part is that what at first seemed to be mere doodles in his journal's margins turn out to be the musings of the increasingly self-directing Grendel spirit, itself!}}

* Dan Turpin's internal monologue in ''[[Final Crisis]]''.

 

{{quote|Anko: "Fuck!"}}

 

* ''[[WALL-E]]'': Override Directive A113.

* ''[[Felidae]]''. The progressively alcoholic veterinary Dr. Preterius holds a pre-mortem camera diary of him and his two lab assistants trying to develop a new "''glue''" for organic tissue, by experimenting with homeless cats in his practice in his house's basement. The first trials lead to gruesome deaths of several cats, as the prototype glue turns out to be acidic. The next trials on a special homeless cat promptly named [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|"Claudandus"]] are way more successful. However, they have to cut the agonized cat open again for further experimenting. Then, the experiment's funding is cut, and both of Preterius' lab assistants quit. Preterius, who is slowly succumbing to his alcoholism, keeps on working independently, and seemingly goes mad at the end when he claims Claudandus to be talking to him. It should be noted that ''Felidae'' is a crime story told from the viewpoint of a talking cat. Therefore, Preterius' ravings aren't as nutty after all.

* In the "found footage" genre of horror movies, a good portion of the film is supposed to be footage recorded by someone experiencing a horrific scenario.

** Infamous exploitation film ''[[Cannibal Holocaust]]'' is split into halves, the first being the recovery of an Apocalypse Log, and the second being the log itself. Because the film was made way back in 1980, this makes the found footage genre [[Older Than They Think]].

* The pseudo-remake of ''[[Day of the Dead]]'' had the survivors come across a scientist's video-log in a underground medical facility (which was very reminiscent of ''[[Resident Evil]]''). The log also shows the scientist turning into a zombie.

* In the cult classic ''[[Night of the Creeps]]'', James Carpenter "J.C." Hooper leaves a audio recording for his friend explaining how the alien leeches get into your head and incubate. They then create more "brain slugs" before they kill you and reanimate your corpse. His voice is clearly changing, due to the fact he's slowly turning. It's one of the few things in this Horror/Comedy hybrid film that's played bone chillingly straight.

* Subverted in ''[[The Core]]'': Zimsky records his thoughts on his impending death... until he realizes the tape recorder's going to die with him and bursts out laughing. His final words are "What the fuck am I doing?"

* The 2001 ''[[Planet of the Apes]]'' has this, explaining how the crash of Leo Davidson's ship turned the desolated planet into a simian dystopia.

* The BBC docudrama ''Supervolcano'' has a group of people watching the logs of a dying scientist, who documents the conditions of the U.S. after the eruption of Yellowstone. Subverted, in that {{spoiler|the scientist actually survives, and is one of the people watching the logs}}.

 

* Played with in ''[[World War Z]]'', which is an oral history of a narrowly-averted [[Zombie Apocalypse]].

* ''And the Ass Saw the Angel'', by Nick Cave, is the protagonist's stream of thought as he sinks into [[Quicksand Sucks|quicksand]].

* In [[Garth Nix]]'s ''[[Old Kingdom|Sabriel]]'', the titular heroine discovers a magical recording of the last moments of a soldier's life.

* [[Older Than Radio]] example: ''M.S. Found in a Bottle'' by [[Edgar Allan Poe]], also a [[Message in a Bottle]]. The protagonist states that he's writing the account for posterity, and that if he is about to die or suffer some other fate that would render him incapable of finishing the story, he will put it in the titular bottle and throw it in the sea. He apparently does so when he goes down a whirlpool on a ship full of [[The Voiceless]]...

* ''[[Frankenstein (novel)|Frankenstein]]'' may or may not be one of these, depending on whether or not you think the sea captain who narrates the [[Framing Story]] will rescue his ship from the Arctic ice.

* [[Shel Silverstein]] combines this with [[Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion]] in the poem ''Boa Constrictor''.

* [[Dan Simmons]] seems to really enjoy these. In ''[[Hyperion]]'' the Apocalyptic Log is subverted as we get to read the journals from the character as he goes insane from sickness and then as he gets better. In ''[[The Terror]]'' it's much nastier as the journal appears through out the book slowly becoming more and more hopeless until in the final entry {{spoiler|he tells us how he finally managed to kill the people who captured him as he dies of starvation, scurvy and freezing cold.}}

* ''[[The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'' has Dr Jekyll give the narrator his Apocalyptic Log in the final chapter.

* [[Bram Stoker]]'s ''[[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]]'' is assembled from several of these logs, with a few newspaper articles thrown in.

* W.J. Stuart's [[Novelization]] of ''[[Forbidden Planet]]'' has an excellent example of the Apocalyptic Log, in which "Doc" Ostrow, having had a taste of the mental powers provided by the [[Upgrade Artifact]], suggests the answer to the question of how the incredibly advanced Krell [[Precursors]] could have been wiped out in an instant: by unleashing [[The Heartless|invincible monsters from their subconscious minds]]. As he feared, the [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|effects]] of the [[Upgrade Artifact]] killed him before he could explain any further.

* In the novel based on true events ''Mila 18'', one person decides to keep a log of his starving to death as a Jew in Nazi occupied Warsaw. He figures since he is starving, he might as well contribute to science with full logs of all the effects. That is not the only instance of Apocalyptic Log, as other Jews also record the atrocities and their resistance for posterity. [[Downer Ending|This is not a happy book]].

* ''[[The Third World War]]: August 1985'' includes excerpts from the emergency logs of three communities during the war and pulls this twice. The first log ends when the building it is in is destroyed by a bombing raid (with a statement that the book was found in the ruins), but resumes with the backup copy describing the situation. The second, from an area in central Birmingham, ends with {{spoiler|the warning of Birmingham's imminent nuclear destruction being received, stopping mid-word. A statement follows that its charred remains were found in the destroyed building}}.

* At least half of ''Strange Objects'' by Gary Crew is taken up by the serialized journal of Wouter Loos, one of two convicted killers marooned on the western coast of Australia in 1629. At first a straightforward record of Loos and his "friend," Jan Pelgrom, attempting to seek shelter with a local tribe, the journal slowly becomes more and more supernatural- especially with the introduction of a mysterious ruby ring that Pelgrom wears. However, the truth of this particular matter is never quite resolved, as the most overt record of anyone displaying magical power is in the final chapter- by which time, Loos is [[Unreliable Narrator|delirious]] and barely coherent in his last pages.

** Being a [[Scrapbook Story]], ''Strange Objects'' also includes diary entries written in 1986 by the scrapbook's "compiler," Steven Messenger. The diary begins with Messenger's accidental discovery of a small cache of artefacts that once belonged to Loos and Pelgrom: though most of them are quickly handed over to the authorities, Messenger succeeds in taking one- a small jewelled ring, which he keeps on a necklace. As the months pass, he begins to experience a feeling of [[Being Watched]], and frequently mentions encountering a silent "double" of himself. Eventually, Steven begins wearing the ring on his finger; according to the epilogue, he vanished from his home soon after and was never seen again.

* ''[[The Stormlight Archive]]'' has an Apocalyptic Log in the form of {{spoiler|Dalinar's visions}}. Yes, an Apocalyptic Log {{spoiler|from God}}.

* ''[[Otherland]]'' uses this trope in a rather interesting way by having the narrative point of view occasionally shift to Martine Desroubin's subvocalized journal entries. The segments are thus effectively an apocalyptic log in the progress of being written. They're doubly intriguing because she is blind and is therefore writing solely from her own experiences and perspective. Later, her journals are recovered from Otherland and she spends time reading them to analyze her own [[Character Development]].

* The [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] short story "The Horror of the Heights" details the adventures of an intrepid aviator who flies above 40,000 feet and encounters an "air jungle" - an entire ecosystem of atmospheric beasts. He barely escapes from a predatory creature on his first flight, and records his intentions to go back up later and explore more thoroughly. The framing story reveals that the aviator's plane was found crashed and the aviator himself missing. All that was found in the plane was a torn, blood-stained journal. The last words are hastily scrawled: "Forty-three thousand feet. I shall never see earth again. They are beneath me, three of them. God help me; it is a dreadful death to die!"

* The style of ''[[28 Days Later]]'' is meant to evoke this, even though the film itself doesn't fit the category. Aside from shooting on relatively inexpensive DV cameras and using odd angles to mimic a "found footage" look, several scenes were deliberately staged to resemble photographs from the genocide and war in Bosnia.

* An in-story example for ''[[Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close]]''. {{spoiler|Oskar comes home from school early on the morning of September 11th and finds to the voice mails his father, who works in the WTC, has left on the answering machine. When he calls again, Oskar freezes and listens as his father's last words go to voice mail. He hides the tape out of shame and panic and never tells anyone, but listens to it by himself at times.}}

* In ''[[The City of Ember]]'', a journal from one of the first residents of Ember is found {{spoiler|as Lina and Doon find their way out of the city. In the prequel to ''Ember'', ''The Diamond of Darkhold'', this log is shown to be the work of the protagonist of ''Darkhold''.}}

* Hans Heinz Ewers's short story ''The Spider'' is about a hotel room whose guests always end up hanging themselves, and it mostly consists of the journal of Richard Bracquemont, a medical student who offers to investigate.

* The novel of ''[[Double Indemnity]]'' consists of entries from the main character's diary leading up to his [[Suicide Pact]] with the [[Star-Crossed Lovers|star-crossed]] love interest. In the film, the story is told from the mortally wounded protagonist's recording on his Dictaphone.

* ''[[Non-Stop]]'' by Brian Aldiss conveys the story of the disaster that made the setting [[After the End|post-apocalyptic]] through a diary found by one character.

 

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'': in the episode "Silence in the Library", the Doctor and his companion listen to a recorded message (censored "for tone and content") on a data-terminal in an abandoned library. "Message follows: Run. For God's sake, run. Nowhere is safe... We can't--Oh, they're here. Argh. Slargh. Snick. Message ends."

** "[[Doctor Who/Recap/S26/E03 The Curse of Fenric]]" featured the runic inscriptions of a Viking who made the mistake of stealing a flask [[Sealed Evil in a Can|containing Fenric, Evil Incarnate.]]

{{quote|'''Darling:''' Made a note in my diary on the way here. It simply says..."Bugger."}}

* ''[[Star Trek]]''. Several episodes in several series feature the crew discovering the logs of the last folks to encounter the disease/NegativeSpaceWedgie/villain of the week.

** In at least two ''TNG'' episodes ("Time Squared", "Cause and Effect"), the ''Enterprise'' crew receive an Apocalyptic Log out of a [[Negative Space Wedgie]]...from themselves.

** Also nicely subverted in one episode where it turns out the person who made the log is still alive, and quite upset that the crew was watching her video diary.

** This wound up being recursive: at the end of the episode, Matt records a second Apocalyptic Log explaining what had been discovered the first time 'round, so that when the crew found it the next time, they'd have a leg up. At least two loops and logs were required to ensure the crew's survival, but for all the viewer knows, there were three, or [[Fridge Horror|three hundred]].

* ''[[The X-Files]]'' episode "Ice" shows the first and last videos of the sequence. At first the tidy, cheerful and well-lit scientists of an arctic research base report digging ice cores from record levels; the second is gloomy and shaky, with one dishevelled man saying "We're not... who we are... we're not... who we are..." before being attacked.

* This happens in an episode of the ''[[Logan's Run]]'' series. The protagonists discover an ancient bunker from [[After the End|before the end]] holding a few [[Human Popsicle]] survivors (the best and brightest) from the ancient civilisation devasted by a plague. There is also an Apocalyptic Log from a man dying from the disease, but holding long enough {{spoiler|to reveal he discovered that one of the hibernated people is an imposter (and potentially a murderer).}}

* The [[Clip Show]] episode of ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]'' featured an Apocalyptic Log that the [[Teen Genius]] left in case they lost the [[Robot War]]. It provided a brief character summary and log of the fight, but most of it focused on the <s> merchandise toys</s> weapons and equipment they'd been using all season that the prospective finder of the log would find nearby, the general impression being "if you've found this, we lost our war of attrition. You are now one of the last humans alive. Here's what you have to work with- now take up our fight". An odd case of seeing the Apocalyptic Log as a caution of what might happen if they lose, rather than a means of figuring out how they lost.

* The original ''[[Land of the Lost (TV series)|Land of the Lost]]'' had the Marshall's tracking down installments of a diary by a predecessor to the land. Eventually, they enter a cave full of dormant Sleetaks and find his long decayed corpse and his final entry in a small section. They read that he never found a way home and was doomed because of being trapped in the cave with the Sleetaks awake. Suddenly, the Marshall's heard the sound of the Sleetaks waking up, take the hint and barely manage to escape themselves.

 

* "Death Story" by Lecrae is the last-minute prayer of a gangster on his deathbed.

{{quote|''I wronged You, I see that, I want to give in,

* "The Chariot" by The Cat Empire.

{{quote|''This is a song that came upon me one night

* "Chiron Beta Prime" by [[Jonathan Coulton]].

{{quote|''That's all the family news that we're allowed to talk about

* "Experiment IV" by [[Kate Bush]].

* "Space Oddity" by [[David Bowie]].

{{quote|''Ground Control to Major Tom

** The acoustic version on the ''Sound+ Vision'' album even [[Last-Note Nightmare|ends with a choked sob, and the Morse Code for S.O.S. repeating into the fade.]]

* Dr. Jekyll sings an Apocalyptic Log in the musical version of ''Jekyll and Hyde''.

* "Two Suns in the Sunset" by [[Pink Floyd]] describes the last few moments of a man's life before he is killed by a nuclear bomb.

{{quote|''the rusty wire that holds the cork

* [[Billy Joel]]'s "Goodnight Saigon" - the first two lines let you know that it doesn't end well.

* [[Iron Maiden]]'s "Satellite 15...The Final Frontier" is about a pilot in a damaged ship giving his last report.

* "Pioneers over C." by [[Van der Graaf Generator]], which, like "Space Oddity" deals with space exploration gone wrong:

* [[Rush]]'s "Cygnus X-1" is about a space pilot flying his ship directly into the heart of a black hole. Subverted in the second part, "Hemispheres", where he comes out the other end.

* Mind.In.A.Box's "Stalkers". By the sound of things, the singer is either suffering from a mental breakdown from paranoid schizophrenia, or being [[You Will Be Assimilated|forcibly assimilated]] by a [[Hive Mind]].

{{quote|''I can feel my thoughts dying out

* "30k ft" by Assemblage 23 is about a doomed airline passenger making a final phone call to his wife/lover. The song [[Killed Mid-Sentence|cuts off in mid-sentence]] at the end.

 

** An even better example is the announcer broadcasting from atop the CBS building in New York, watching the Martian's poisonous smoke drift across the city.

{{quote|'''Announcer:''' Smoke comes out, black smoke, drifting over the city. People in the streets see it now. They're running towards the East River, thousands of them, dropping in like rats. Now the smoke's spreading faster. It's reached Times Square. People are trying to run away from it, but it's no use. They're -- They're falling like flies. Now the smoke's crossing Sixth Avenue... Fifth Avenue... a hundred yards away... it's -- it's fifty feet.... ''(a thud, as he collapses)''}}

 

* The prologue to the [[Zombie Apocalypse]] game ''All Flesh Must Be Eaten'' has a scientist, just bitten by a zombie, discuss the transformation from human to infected cadaver in a truly disturbing series of logs. The last few are ''after'' his death, as the brain is the last thing to go... and the final one has him reduced to groaning that the hunger is all he has left.

* There's at least three examples along these lines from the ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' magazine ''White Dwarf'', although two are merely dealing with attacks by vampires and Necrons respectively.

* Not a tabletop RPG, but a ''letter-writing'' RPG, the out of print [[Cosmic Horror Story|Lovecraftian]] game ''De Profundis'' was presented wholly as a collection of letters from someone gradually going insane after having a dream about a book that laid out the game's rules. Part of the supernatural insanity gripping the "author" involved writing down and sharing the game to try to spread the insanity.

** We never get to read it, but the galaxy-sized locust swarm that is the Tyranid race was named because of the Apocalyptic Log that was left behind, buried 1000 feet underground, on the planet Tyran. Most of the Tyranid Codexes—combinations of backstory and rulebook—contain detached descriptions of Tyranid attacks that read like an encyclopedia entry based off an Apocalyptic Log as well.

** Similarly, the ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' background book ''Liber Chaotica'' is written as an in-character study of the Chaos Gods. As the book goes on, the author starts having more and more ominous visions and making less and less sense as he descends into madness. At least half of the quotes in the Necron, Tyranid, and Dark Eldar codexes fit this trope.

** A ''[[Planescape]]'' supplement contained, as [[Flavor Text]], the diary of an explorer describing his journey around the Concordant Plane of the Outlands. The diary takes on a distinct tone of encroaching madness after he set foot into the Caves of Thoughts, the domain of the mindflayer deity Ilsensine the Great Brain. It doesn't end well.

** Module S4, ''The Lost Caverns of Tsojcanth'', had a diary left by a previous expedition into the title dungeon. It had vague hints of what was to come, with several sections with [[Lost in Transmission|vital information being smeared and smudged]]. It ended with the party meeting the [[Final Boss]] of the dungeon.

** [[Dragonlance]] module DL12 ''Dragons of Faith''. A page from a ship's log tells of the destruction of the ship and the fate of its crew.

** Module DA1 ''Adventures in Blackmoor''. In the Comeback Inn the [[PC]]s find a parchment scroll written by Hepath Nun. It tells the story of how his adventuring party searched for, found and entered the Inn. It further tells of how they were trapped inside, couldn't find any way out and eventually went through the Gate in the cellar. Only Hepath Nun decided not to go, because he was too scared. The [[PC]]s find his body hanging from a chandelier near the scroll.

* ''[[Call of Cthulhu (tabletop game)]]''

** Adventure "The Warren". When the [[Player Character]]s enter a room sealed by rubble, they find a skeleton and a piece of paper with the last words of the victim. It describes how he heard cult members chanting, a bolt of lighting striking the house and finding the door blocked. His last words were that he'd been waiting for rescue for several hours.

** Supplement ''Cthulhu Companion'', adventure "The Mystery of Loch Feinn". Professor Gibbson's journal details his investigation of the Water Horse and his run-ins with the MacAllans - the Cthulhu cultists who eventually killed him.

** ''Fearful Passages'', adventure "Armored Angels". Professor Powell's notes give information on his plan to open a gate to the planet Yuggoth. The last page of his diary give a horrifying account of the invasion of Mi-Go and a Dark Young of Shub-Niggurath through the gate.

* Many of the cards one can draw on the Forbidden Island in the ''Touch of Evil'' expansion "Something Wicked" detail an exploration party gradually succumbing to a lycanthrophy curse. Several other cards can ''inflict'' lycanthopy on the exploring player.

* The recent "Jihad" series of [[BattleTech]] sourcebooks feature a number of these, usually from victims of the Words frequent use of WMDs. Probably the most distressing are the {{spoiler|cries for help from Alarion; the population are dying from a bioweapon attack, but claim there are un-infected children}}.

* ''The Morrow Project'' adventure R-002 ''Project Damocles''. In the [[Backstory]], a group of scientists create an artificial intelligence but a nuclear holocaust begins while they're testing it. They try to escape the underground area where they're working but the AI (named Damocles) malfunctions and won't let them out. One of the project members, William Lezrow, records the events that led up to the disaster and the fate of each of the team members. The [[PC]]s can find it and read it as they explore the area.

 

* At [[Disney Theme Parks]], one of these can be heard while waiting in line for the Jungle Cruise ride.

** The plot of Curse of Pompeii and many other Howl O Scream rides is often one of these, too.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* A staple in the ''[[System Shock]]'' series; logs from personnel can be found scattered everywhere and frequently out of order. ''[[System Shock]] 2'' in particular, contains an audio log which follows this trope word-for-word, where a scientist tries to focus on conveying useful information about [[Big Bad|The Many]], even as he is being devoured.

* You find quite a few of these through the course of ''[[System Shock]]'''s [[Spiritual Successor]] ''[[BioShock (series)]]''. For example, Dr. Steinman's logs detail how, thanks to [[Psycho Serum|ADAM]] abuse, he went from an ambitious plastic surgeon to a deranged, self-proclaimed "[[Mad Artist|Surgery's Picasso]]" whose motto was "Aesthetics are a moral imperative."

** And it gets the bonus points too. In one log, Dr. Suchong is reporting that the plasmid he designed intended to force the Big Daddies to bond with Little Sisters and protect them, violently for preference, is more or less a failure. At the same time, a Little Sister can be heard in the background, trying to get his attention. Fed up with her bugging him, Suchong slaps her, and then a Big Daddy's whalecry can be heard. Guess what happens next.

*** ''[[BioShock (series)]]'' maintained this trend for the most part; the few people the player makes direct face-to-face contact with don't live long after the meeting, with the exception of the eerie Little Sisters and Dr. Tenenbaum.

*** Due to Adam absorbing and containing memories of it's previous users, you can sometimes see Ghosts throughout Rapture. The Apocalyptic part comes in because, well, obviously ''something'' had to have happened to them.

{{quote|"Of cour{{spoiler|se i}}f {{spoiler|I}} don'{{spoiler|t}} ha{{spoiler|ve a}} face, I{{spoiler|'ll}} j{{spoiler|u}}st make one."}}

* ''[[Brink]]'', as unlockable Audio Logs.

* Parodied in ''[[The Curse of Monkey Island]]'' with the plaques of the Plunder Island Naturalist Society.

{{quote|'''Guybrush:''' ''(reading the last plaque, found on the edge of a quicksand pit)'' "[[Quicksand Sucks|Quicksand]] pit. [[Quicksand Sucks|Quicksand]] pits of this type are common throughout Plunder Island's nature trails. Many an unwary traveler has found himself trapped and unable to esca- Someone, anyone, please, please help me, I'm sinking..."}}

* In the undersea lab level of ''[[Deus Ex]]'', at least one scientist attempts to send a message for help all the way to the last moment. The message, retained in text format, is notably filled with spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors, as would be expected. In several other points in the game, the last words of the dead are to be found on datacubes left beside their bodies, including in the Hong Kong Canal Road tunnel collapse, X51's underground section and the MJ12 base under {{spoiler|Hell's Kitchen}}.

** Likewise, the Antarctica level of ''[[Deus Ex: Invisible War|Deus Ex Invisible War]]'' is also strewn with Apocalyptic Logs.

* Though your protagonist is present for the beginning of the Apocalypse in ''[[Doom]] 3'', most of the story of the game, as well as the How and Why of said event, is told through the scattered Apocalyptic Logs of Mars City's scientists, soldiers and workmen.

* Practically every book you can find in ''[[Dungeon Siege]]'' and its expansion. For bonus points, most of them contain variations on "The rest of the pages are covered in what appears to be blood."

** There is also a second example in the dungeon of the tower Tel Vos. A construction crew was working on building the place, and fragments of the foreman's journal are all that is left. They are scattered around to be found by the player.

** What's mildly funny is that the Telvanni who owns the place doesn't actually care that much there's an eldritch abomination under his tower. Or that he sent the construction crew or hired them in the first place.

** There is also a miniquest near Kvatch involving a man that believes he must appease "The Sunken One" to prevent the rest of the world from suffering the same fate as Kvatch. You don't meet him while he is still alive, learning of his quest (and its depressing ending, as he died believing that his failure to appease The Sunken One will doom the entire world) through journal entries.

** A [http://www.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Trolls_of_Forsaken_Mine Fighter's Guild quest] sends the player to find out why some comrades (including the guildmaster's over-protected son Viranus, who [[I Just Want to Be Special|desperately wants a chance to prove himself in battle]]) haven't come back from clearing out a troll-infested mine. They're all dead, of course. The son's journal, found on his body, explains how it all went wrong, ending with:

* The Mo'ia Atoll tablets in ''Endless Ocean'', albeit a lot less disturbing than most. Also, the emails you get after discovering parts of the Deity Idol.

** "There is something... from the window..."

*** Another chilling example is "Terry Kotter's Army", the area behind the Wraithmarsh Demon Door. Cotter was a shy, young [[Momma's Boy]] who befriends an army of silent golems called the Knights. His journal, which lies beside his corpse in a room filled with suits of armour, details his first encounter with the Knights and his ever-more frequent trips to the cave where he found them. His final entry simply repeats over and over the phrase: "They watch. They watch. They watch. They watch."

*** Also, the first cave you enter also has three pieces of paper - a journal entry, a letter and a suicide note - written by three dead treasure hunters who grew to mistrust each other and, amusingly, poisoned each other at the same time.

* ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' has Patient Interviews with idealistic doctors trying to cure some of Arkham's worst inmates hidden throughout the game. Each ha-s five segments, and they pretty much all end up getting more and more unnerving as you find them. The worst is definitely Zsasz, whose doctor truly tries to cure him... [[Complete Monster|so he tries to kill her]] halfway through. The last bit has him escape, and his current doctor giving an urgent call to warn her... but she can't talk, there's someone at the door... {{spoiler|but a [[Feelies|preorder bonus comic]] reveals that Batman stopped Zsasz before he was able to go through with it.}}

** Croc's is a close second for most unsettling... his doctor simply can't believe that he's cannibalistic like the rumor's say... well, at the end he escapes... she makes it out unscathed, but the scene she sees... [[An Arm and a Leg|isn't pretty]].

* The ''[[Fallout]]'' series is packed with these, most notably [[Evilutionary Biologist|The Master]]'s.

** Probably the best example in ''[[Fallout 3]]'' is in the [[H.P. Lovecraft|Dunwitch]] [[Shout-Out|Building]]. Something about the building is conducive to turning people into [[Our Ghouls Are Creepier|radiation ghouls]]. In the days after nuclear war, you can read the journals and track the progress of the building's residents as they lose higher brain functions and end up as violent, mindless [[cannibal]]s.

*** [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Diary_of_Candace_Keller There's a cut tape that provides an epilogue] for the Keller family's saga that can be obtained in the PC version through the console. It was originally meant to be found in the shelter that the other tapes are about trying to get to, and indicates that at the very least Dad and Candace survived. However, Candace complains that her father keeps leaving the shelter and going out into the bombed-out DC ruins to scavenge for useless junk and that everytime he does, he lets a little more radiation in...

** There's also the notes and holotapes from the residents of Vault 92, and the scientists performing experiments on them.

* In ''[[The Guardian Legend]]'', the [[Sole Survivor]] of NAJU's native population left a ton of helpful notes, including the introduction to the premise of the plot. The full text can be read in the quotes page.

* The ''[[Half-Life]]'' mod ''[[They Hunger]]'' has a series of audio logs left by a doctor experimenting on the... [[Not Using the Zed Word|creatures]]. His final recording (which describes his own infection) plays {{spoiler|right before he attacks you}}.

* ''[[Killer7]]'' has as its second-to-last level a high school in Seattle dotted with old style tape-recordings containing the details of a detective's investigation of the murderer and assassin Emir Parkreiner. The tapes become increasingly disturbing, as the facts presented seem bizarre and contradictory (much to the exasperation of the detective). The final tape ends with him mentioning in shock that Emir is standing ''right in front of him'', with his final words cut off by a gunshot.

* Ansem's Reports in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]''. Especially subtle in the first game, where you only have the odd-numbered logs to begin with, showing Ansem under steadily increasing threat from the Heartless... then you're handed the even-numbered logs in the second-to-last area, {{spoiler|and learn that he ''created'' the things.}}

** Saving the game requires a typewriter and consumes a typewriter ribbon, meaning the player's save files are an Apocalyptic Log.

** ''Resident Evil 4'' is different from the others in that the logs are generally written by your enemies, and usually detail either general orders or what plans they happen to have for you. Nevertheless, there is at least one "Oh crap the protagonist has killed us all" note to be found.

** Later on you'll find one in Mort'ton, a ruined town where the populace has gone mad with a strange affliction. The log tells of the affliction's spread and concludes with the author succumbing and writing gibberish. {{spoiler|The quest in the area deals with using the author's research to develop a cure.}}

** However, easily the most literal use of this trope is during the quest Ritual of the Mahjarrat where you have to go to a ruined plane called Kethsi and, after an extensive puzzle, find a bunker with a log sitting at a desk detailing how {{spoiler|The natives of this plane found the Stone of Jas and, upon using it for a few months, learned rather unfortunately that its use causes creatures known as the Dragonkin to appear and [[Disproportionate Retribution|destroy every living thing on the plane the stone was used on.]]}}

* Bones are scattered throughout the Crystal Desert in ''[[Guild Wars]]''. Examining some of them lets you read the last written entries by the person when they were alive. The desert really, ''really'' sucks, by the way....

* A quest related diary in ''[[Tibia]]'' ends like this:

[[Came Back Wrong|THE FIRST DAY OF ETERNITY I CAN SEE NOW. FOOLS. ALL OF YOU. HAHAHAHAHA.]] }}

* The Dorfs of ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'' will often make artworks depicting significant events in the fortress. "Significant events" usually means "terrible, bloody violence": "On the item is a finely-designed image of a goblin and dwarves in pink tourmaline. The dwarves are dead. The goblin is laughing."

** {{spoiler|There is little left for us. Little time. But much irony. The galactic destroyers that darkened out skies are not invulnerable. The can be stopped, but we have no way to deliver the blow. This, then, will be our legacy. In subspace, they cannot use their shields. And into subspace, they can be tracked.}}

* ''[[Doom]] 3'' and ''Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil'' both have a few PDA's in them with this. Most of the PDA's are members of the task force complaining about security problems, other members, or the occasional [[Things That Go Bump in the Night]], however a few PDA's involve people trying to relay a last minute message, and the one inside of Hell details two logs about a man being toyed with for nearly two days by the demons. One man involved in the storyline gives you a data disc he asks you to send back to Earth when you escape which details the entire plan that {{spoiler|Dr. Betruger and}} the powers of Hell had for Mars.

* The Steam game ''Alien Swarm'' has a number of pads lying about on the floor from a number of people showing how quickly the swarm progressed and took over the facility.

* Professor Windlenot's tape recorder in ''[[Shivers]]'' plays back an audio journal in which he discovers the [[Sealed Evil in a Can|Ixupi]] have been released from their vessels and are loose in the museum. The player hears how the professor is dying due to the Ixupi sucking out his life.

** Both of the two kids (who unwittingly released the Ixupi) leave behind notes too. The boy's notebook is instructive and helpful at first, but end in panicked scribbles about having to find some place to hide. Do some poking around near where you find it, and you'll find... his dessicated corpse, curled up inside one of the displays. Hiding didn't help, evidently.

* Parodied in the ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'' official blog with [http://www.teamfortress.com/post.php?id=3692&p=1 A Week in the Life of the TF2 Team], where they depict themselves as insanely devoted to making new [[Nice Hat]]s, to the detriment of everything else.

* One of the secret Reports in ''[[Dissidia]] 012 Duodecim Final Fantasy'' is written by a {{spoiler|Lufenian}} scientist. It's a log of the events happening around his lab in {{spoiler|Cardia}}, including a few things about {{spoiler|Garland}}'s growth and {{spoiler|Cosmos}}. When disaster strikes, his final log is this:

Sucks to know you're going to die. }}

* ''[[The Lord of the Rings Online]]'' has two of these:

* There are a quite a few of these in ''[[Skyrim]]''. One example can be found in Japhot's Folly. Japhot's journal chronicles his ill-fated attempt to start a settlement on the inhospitable hellhole of an island. Even when the rest of the settlers went [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]], he stubbornly refused to leave. He was eventually reduced to eating ice-moss before starving to death. The journal is found in a a small locked room with Japhot's dessicated body. The final entry in the journal?

{{quote|''OH GODS HELP ME''}}

 

* In Warren Ellis's ''[[Superidol]]'', a pop culture writer describes a computer-generated [[Idol Singer]]'s [[The Virus|viral]] takeover of the world.

*** [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Or he just made it up, writing a story in the hopes it would be published should someone find it.]] After all, what's a better way to kill time when you're trapped?

** Later, when they travel to the sunken Sea Shrine in a submarine which is ''really'' their aptly-named airship "The Deathtrap", Black Mage falls into a spoken version. After he tells you of his team's decent into madness, Red Mage tries to tell him it's only been a few hours since they started the journey. Black Mage keeps narrating with something to the effect of "I ignored the gibberish which sprouted from my former teammates misshapen lips". Apparently he really likes doing this. Or he just [[Omnicidal Maniac|wants to see them all dead. As usual.]]

* [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=69 This strip from] ''[[VG Cats]]'', even though the writer actually comes out okay.

 

* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', [[The Spock|Nymgrock]] finds the elven sages' forgotten diaries which chronicle the first spread of the Blood Fever which occurred hundreds of years earlier. The first entries show some curious, out of the ordinary events in the sages' lives. However, as the entries progress, the effects of the Blood Fever start showing up in more gruesome ways and the writings become increasingly desperate and terrified, eventually culminating in the respective final entries where the writers perform a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to end the plague. [[Foregone Conclusion|It doesn't work because the plague shows up deadlier than ever in the present day, which has been the very reason Nymgrock sought out the diaries in the first place to find information about what could be causing the plague]].

* There's a web-only story which isn't an apocalypse log, but a diary found in a life raft out at sea. The sole survivor of a shipwreck saw dolphins around her all the time and believed that she was turning into one; the last entry is more or less a heavily misspelled variant of "Flippers are useless. Fuck it, I'm going into the water."

* ''[http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Journal_of_Kith The Journal of Kith]'' chronicles one dwarf's ill-fated quest to re-discover [[Dwarf Fortress|the ruins of an (in)famous dwarven fortress]] -- [[Boatmurdered]].

* It is very common in ''[[The Slender Man Mythos]]'' for the stories to be told in an Apocalyptic Log format. But then, if you're writing about seeing [[Humanoid Abomination|Slendy]], that means [[Captain Obvious|you've seen him]], and if you've seen him, it means [[Paranoia Fuel|he let you]]...

* Several notes in ''[[Ruby Quest]]'', particularly {{spoiler|Filbert}}'s journal, detailing his... [[Complete Monster|tests]]... of the limits of the treatment. It's a [[Cosmic Horror Story]] where everyone has recurring amnesia, so what else would you expect?

* The Alternate Reality Game "[[Ben Drowned]]" is an account of what happened to one person who picked up a haunted ''[[Majoras Mask]]'' cartridge, and what happened to the people who interacted with it.

* "[[Zalgo]]": H̬̬̯̺̠͈̥͎̓̾̇ͦ͑ͣ́̚͢e̛͉̺͂ͦ̋ͬ͂̕ ̛̥͎̮̤͓̭͍̂͡ͅc̴̰͎͖ͮ͊́o̴͈͕̙̬̟͔̣̤̤͑͌̂͐̈̍̉ͩm̝͔̗̖̥͎͇͗̽ͪ͢͠e̝̩ͦ͆́̂͆͐̉͠͝͝s͎̮̈́̿̓͑́́͒͊͢͝

* [[Sevenshot Kid]] has gone this way not once, but twice.

* Right-wing [[You Tuber]] Nightvisionphantom made an "If Obama Wins" video during the 2008 election (needless to say, it was quietly removed afterwards), in which he claims to be the last surviving member of a resistance who fought a losing battle against the Islamofascist hordes that Obama unleashed upon the world.

* The [[ARG]] viral campaign for the Nine Inch Nails album ''Year Zero'' is a wide collection of barely decypherable websites That describe a [[Crapsack World]]. These websites are sent from the future by a team of computer programmers and quantum physicists as a warning to those of us living in the time of the events triggered their circumstances. Bonus points for one entry written by a White House aide describing the monster sent to allow the Earth to... shall we say, [[Kill'Em All|start]] [[Reset Button|over]].

 

* ''[[Code Lyoko]]'' features a rather unique and disturbing take on this trope, as Franz Hopper (a.k.a. Waldo Schaeffer), the creator of [[Cyberspace|Lyoko]], uses the supercomputer's "Return to the Past" function to create a [[Groundhog Day Loop]], while preserving a video file of his attempts to avert his and Aelita's impending abduction by government agents during that looped day. By the time the entry for "day 1000" rolls around, his sanity seems to be hanging by a thread (and there are still a thousand more entries to go). Meanwhile, as far as his daughter and the outside world are concerned, no time has actually passed at all.

* In an episode of ''[[Futurama]]'', the Planet Express team, on their way to the hive of giant space bees, aka "deadly, deadly bees," on a quest to gather space honey, discover the wrecked ship of their predecessors, who were killed whilst undertaking the same mission. They discover the black box recording, which recorded a conversation between a nervous underling suggesting they turn back because it's too dangerous, and the over-confident captain insisting they press on to glory. And then recorded the sounds of their horrible, horrible deaths moments later. Leela, who has been taking the role of "over-confident captain" in the current team's efforts, is particularly keen to pretend they never found it.

* ''[[Jonny Quest]]'' Classic episodes "The Invisible Monster" (Isaiah Norman's notebook) and "The Sea Haunt" (the ship captain's log).

* A classic ''[[Space Ghost]]'' episode, "The Energy Monster", features a posthumous recording by the scientist who created it.

* Done in Disney's ''[[Tarzan]]'' series by a character who actually lived, but thought he was going to die and didn't get to finish his entry. Didn't help when he said that the item that he (falsely) believed would solve the problem plaguing the jungle was "hidden inside the p-", leaving Tarzan and Jane to run around the hut exploring every item they could find beginning with "P" (it was the phonograph machine, for the record.)

* ''[[Adventure Time]]'' has one in the episode Holly Jolly Secrets. Finn has found an old set of VHS tapes that contains a video diary of the Ice King. {{spoiler|The last tape is the diary of a human, Simon Petrikov, as he slowly loses his mind and humanity, until finally becoming the Ice King.}} Bonus points for the apocalypse taking place in the background over the course of said log.

* ''[[The Amazing World of Gumball]]'' episode The Joy is a parody of a zombie apocalypse. With Miss Simian playing the role of the protagonist, she has a video camera that she uses for this trope.

 

* David A. Johnston: [[wikipedia:David A. Johnston|"Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!"]]

* Vince Coleman: [[wikipedia:Vince Coleman (train dispatcher)|"Stop trains. Munitions ship on fire. Approaching Pier 6. Goodbye."]]

* There are a number of appropriately awful accounts from the Submarine world, notably the brief log kept by the survivors of [[wikipedia:Russian submarine Kursk explosion|''Kursk'']] after her sinking. And, even worse, the audio recording from [[wikipedia:USS Thresher (SSN-593)|''USS Thresher'']]'s underwater telephone. The captain kept up a narrative as the submarine sank, totally out of control, and passed crush depth. Utterly horrifying.

* And so forth. Real life examples aren't going to detail an apocalyptic horror, or anything, but will definitely qualify in the "desperation and insanity grow from entry to entry" sense.

* ''Any'' detailed, candid diary writing by a person in the grips of depression or similar can read like one of these. Things are going great, then one starts going downhill...

** For example, the last words Kenneth Williams wrote in his diary before his apparent suicide were, [[Tear Jerker|"What's the bloody point?"]]

* A heroic example from September 11 is Todd Beamer, who used an on-plane telephone to recount what had happened on United Flight 93 and a plan to take back control of the plane: "[[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Are you guys ready?]] [[Tear Jerker|Let's roll]]."

** Less 'heroic', but far more fitting with this trope is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTMF6k3c3q4 Kevin Cosgrove's last phone call] from an upper floor in the south tower of the World Trade Center. As he describes the situation, he suddenly shouts, "''Oh, '''God!'''''" and screams as the building collapses around him.

{{quote|I, Brother Clyn of the Friars Minor of Kilkenny have written in this book the notable events which befell in my time ... so that notable deeds shall not be lost from the memory of future generations I, seeing many ills, waiting for death till it come, have committed to writing what I have truly heard; and lest the writing perish with the writer, I leave parchment for continuing the work, if haply any man of the race of Adam escape this pestilence and continue the work which I have begun.

(in another hand) Here it seems the author died. }}

* This is sort of the whole reason they have black boxes on airplanes. The CVR, or Cockpit Voice Recorder, records everything said in the cockpit and over the radio on an aircraft.

ALA 261 - [upside down and falling fast] [[Distress Call|Mayday]] }}

** The most common last word on black box recordings is "Shit" (or its equivalent in the pilot's native language). This is rendered as "Unintelligible" when said recordings are broadcast on the news.

* The last speech that Jim Jones gave to the residents of Jonestown was recorded for posterity. In it, you can hear him direct the older members of the community to help the younger children, and for them to "not worry about the children's crying; [the punch] is just a little bitter. It's not painful." Makes for some [http://www.archive.org/details/ptc1978-11-18.flac16 chilling night time listening.]

* After the Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004, a tourist victim's camera was recovered with the memory card still readable. Photos of the wave were published, one of them shot just a few seconds before the guy was pulled under.

* Even the "scientist records his last thoughts, scientifically" variant has occurred; Allan Blair, the scientist credited with proving black widow spider bites are dangerous to humans, took a rather direct route, as recounted in Gordon Grice's "The Red Hourglass." The guy continued writing notes until the pain proved too much; then he had an assistant continue taking notes. Fortunately, though he proved spiders can be dangerous, he did manage to survive the bite.

* An episode of ''I Shouldn't Be Alive'' recalled the story of two campers, hopelessly lost in the woods, stumbling upon the abandoned campsite of a more experienced climber. Among his belongings, there was a detailed journal recording the climber's attempts to get out of the valley, and his dwindling food supply. {{spoiler|They later found his body.}}

* A [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eejQPUyeNiY recorded footage] of a diver who had a diving accident and died, the video shows how he goes in the water, starts diving just as he normally would, but things starts to go wrong when the diver begins sinking and cannot react. The video basically records the process along with the reaction of people watching it. Be warned, the footage is rather disturbing...

{{quote|'''Proton Jon'' (audibly on the verge of tears): MOVE FASTER POKEY!}}

* There is an [[Urban Legend]] of a man detailed his agony of being [[Locked in a Freezer]]. A freezer which [[Your Mind Makes It Real|turned out to be turned off.]] According to Snopes, there is no proof that this ever happened.

* [[Ulysses S. Grant]] completed his autobiography five days before succumbing to throat cancer. His notes concerning the progress of his cancer were reportedly required reading in medical schools for many years.

* During the shooting at Columbine High School a library phone line was left open by a teacher who called 911 before the shooters entrance forced her to leave the phone to go hide. The open line caught and recorded the sounds of students being killed and injured, the dialog of the shooters to their victims and each other, and after the shooters leave the surviving students being told to quickly flee out a nearby door then dead air.

 

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{{reflist}}

[[Category:Fictional Document]]

[[Category:Madness Tropes]]

[[Category:Speculative Fiction Tropes]]

[[Category:Information Desk]]

[[Category:Horror Tropes]]

[[Category:Apocalyptic Index]]