The White Vault
| The White Vault | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Presentation | |
| Genre | |
| Written by | K.A. Statz |
| Language | English |
| Updates | Bi-monthly |
| Publication | |
| Original release | October 3, 2017 – present |
| Website | Official website |
The White Vault is a found footage[1] horror fiction podcast created by K.A. Statz. It features an international cast and crew,[2] with notable members including David Ault and Peter Lewis of The NoSleep Podcast, as well as Lani Minella.[3]
Cast and characters[]
Main[]
Seasons 1 and 2[]
- Lani Minella as Dr. Rosa De La Torre
- David Ault as Walter Heath
- Peter Joseph Lewis as Graham Casner
- Eyþór Viðarsson as Jónas Þórirsson
- Kessi Riliniki as Dr. Karina Schumacher-Weiß
- Hem Cleveland as The Documentarian
Season 3[]
- Diane Casanova as Eva Olivia Moreno
- Carla García as Dr. Josefa Guerrero
- Eric Nelsen as Simon Hall
- Danilo Battistini as Lucas Criado
- Sophie Yang as Dr. Zhou Liu
- Alli Smalley as Dr. Carito Ureta
Season 4[]
- Tanja Milojevic as Dragana Vuković
- L. Jeffrey Moore as Raimy Armstead
- Haytham Alwan as Maheer Issa
Plot[]
Seasons 1 and 2[]
A repair team is sent to discover the source behind a mysterious signal coming from a remote Arctic research station in Svalbard, Norway,[4][5] documentation of which - including audio recordings, video recordings, unsent emails and written notes - are presented by the Documentarian, who narrates the series, in roughly chronological order to the listener.
Following the arrival of the team at the station, Outpost Fristed, and the suspiciously easy repair of the station's malfunctioning equipment, the team is trapped by a heavy blizzard that fails to subside. The team's situation begins to unravel, following the discovery of a service hatch in the storage bunker, which leads to an ancient village trapped underneath a glacier.
Following the discovery of the village, the team is subjected to a number of mysterious horrors. A strange chant, coupled with what sounds like a man screaming, is the only response to calls for assistance and rescue on the radio; upon a visit to the village, Karina falls from a ledge, and later wakes up, dissimilar to her previous self and adamant that she jumped from something "tall, black and skinny" that was reaching for her; the Outpost's generator is sabotaged, and deep, five-fingered scratches appear on the exterior of the bunker; a stone box, forming the floor of part of an anatomical theatre within the village, is brought back by Heath and discovered to contain a human heart and a full set of teeth.[6][7] Statues within the village also begin to appear and disappear without warning or sign of movement upon later visits. Karina begins to see doppelgangers of the team members within the bunker. After discovering the sabotage of the generator, Karins begins chanting in German, and becomes more paranoid and frigtened.
Following the abduction and death of Karina and the sabotage of the Outpost's food supplies and snow mobiles, the team is forced to come up with an escape plan, which ends in the abduction of Heath and the team being trapped in the ancient village. The team attempt to escape through the cave systems beneath it, resulting in the abduction of Casner; after the discovery of a small room covered with glowing glyphs, Rosa is also abducted. Jónas, having been hurt by one of the statues previously, is the sole survivor, and leaves a final written note to his family, as his injury transforms him into the same creature Karina attempted to escape from.
Season 3[]
An archaeological team is assembled to examine a recently-discovered archaeological site in the Patagonian Andes, on the mountain of Cerro Torre.[8] The team is joined by Dr. Zhou Liu, who has studied records of glyphs similar to those at the Patagonian site found in Heilongjiang province, China. The team is taken up the mountain by tour guide Lucas Criado, who is employed by Sina-Beni Retreats.
Following a day of work along the gylphs on the mountain's cliff face, Eva discovers an alcove, which is then identified as the entrance to a cave by the rest of the team. Switching focus, the team investigates the cave, discovering moving statues, an anatomical theatre with a floor made of small stone boxes, gylphs, and evidence of early human occupation. While the rest of the team's excitement grows, Dr. Liu begins to worry, and Dr. Ureta becomes withdrawn from the rest of the group.
As investigation of the archaeological site continues, heavy, dense fog surrounds the mountain, and the satellite phone needed to call for the helicopter in order for the team to leave goes missing. Lucas begins acting strangely around the site, injuring Hall's ankle severely by pushing him into an insect nest concealing broken bones. Dr. Ureta goes missing; overnight recordings from the cave show her talking clearly to an unknown person, whom she appears to believe is conversing with her, but whose half of the conversation is completely inaudible and non-existent.
As the fog continues to surround the site, the situation worsens, with the team forced to consider ways of getting off the mountain with an injured person and no chance of rescue; all attempts at radioing for help result in either static or unidentifiable chanting over the sound of a person screaming. Dr. Liu tells the team all that she knows about the site in China, and that they are unlikely to be able to leave; despite this, they continue to plan for their descent. As Eva descends the mountain one last time to gather supplies from base camp, a colossal tremor of snow and rockfall cuts her off from the rest of the team, and she is later found further down the mountain, severely injured and barely conscious.
Season 4[]
A rescue group is assembled and sent to find the stranded Patagonian archaeological team. The Documentarian is reunited with her mysterious estranged mother.
Season 5[]
Chaos erupts after the destruction of the Patagonia site. The remaining team members attempt to return to Svalbard, while the Documentarian presses to learn the true nature of her family’s connections to the events.
Additional works[]
Spin-offs[]
- The White Vault: Artifact - Marion Sutton, doctoral student at the University of Oxford, is assigned to begin research on a mysterious artifact gifted to the university by an anonymous donor.[9]
- The White Vault: Imperial - In the early 1700s, a Jesuit cartographic team reaches the lands of China, and sets about plans to complete a map of Qing Dynasty China.[10]
- The White Vault: Iluka - An oceanography research vessel working to collect Antarctic deep-sea sediment cores pulls up something unexpected from the depths of the Southern Ocean.
- The White Vault: Avrum - Amid the terror of the 1648 Cossack Uprising, and following the destruction of his home, Avrum is rescued by a group of travelers, befriending a young girl, Rivka.
Bonus episodes[]
- The White Vault: Summit - A young couple living in Rio de Janeiro get a call from work, informing them that they have won an all expenses paid hiking trip to Patagonia. However, their trip soon unravels, as the pair have no idea what awaits them in the heights of the mountains.[11]
- The White Vault: Acquisition - Stashed away in the streets of Paris, an illegal artifact auction house auctions off unique pieces to the highest bidder; in particular, a journal is up for grabs.
Critical reception[]
The show has been praised for its diverse cast, immersive soundscape,[12][13] and use of different languages.[14][15] The podcast has been featured on the front pages of iTunes, Pandora Radio, Spotify, and Himalaya, on the top 10 charts for The Arts and Performing Arts on iTunes, on the top 50 chart for 'All of iTunes' in the US, and on numerous blogs for 'Best Podcasts/Audio Dramas of 2017'.[16]
Awards and honors[]
| Year | Award | Category | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | HEAR Now: Audio Fiction and Arts Festival | The Gold Listening Showcase Official Selection | [17] |
| 2018 | Mark Time Award | Silver Award, The Ogle For Horror | [18] |
| 2018 | Audio Verse Award | Finalist
|
[19] |
| 2019 | Discover Pod Award | Finalist (Best Fiction Podcast) | [20] |
| 2019 & 2020 | Webby Award | Honoree (Best Original Music / Sound Design in Podcasting) | [21] |
| 2019 | Audio Verse Award |
|
[22][23][24] |
| 2020 | Audio Verse Award |
|
[25] |
| 2020 | HEAR Now: Audio Fiction and Arts Festival | The Platinum Listening Showcase Official Selection | [26] |
| 2021 | Webby Award | People's Voice Award Winner for Scripted Fiction Podcast | [27] |
Production[]
The budget for the show comes entirely from its fans via crowdfunding through Patreon,[28] and its creators regularly host educational panels across the US on creating radio drama podcasts,[29] including: MAGFest 2020, NY Comciccon 2019, The Austin Film Festival 2019, PodX 2019 (Nashville), Podcon 2019 (Seattle), Podfest 2018-2020 (Orlando), Emerald City Comic Con (2020) Tampa Bay Comic Con (2016-2018), Rose City Comic Con (2017-2019), WW: Philadelphia (2017), and WW: St Louis (2017).[30] They also release exclusive content and episodes through their Patreon such as the spinoff stories Artifact, Imperial, Iluka, and The White Vault: A Musical.
Live performances[]
In December 2017, The White Vault announced that they would perform a live version of their show in New York City as a part of The NoSleep Podcast's 2018 Sleepless Tour.[31] They performed a prequel episode, 'Ashore', at the Highline Ballroom, flying cast members in from Iceland, Germany, and the UK for the event, which was sold out a month before the event. A second live show also took place on October 19 in Cambridge, MA, which also sold out.[32]
References[]
- ^ "HorrorWriters.com Interviews K.A. Statz". Retrieved February 17, 2018.
- ^ "Top 5 Fiction Podcasts of 2017 News". Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- ^ "Creative Loafing – Halloween Debut". Retrieved October 30, 2017.
- ^ "Svalbard Local News". Retrieved December 23, 2017.
- ^ "Best of 2017 - Svalbard". Retrieved January 1, 2018.
- ^ "Braintrust Bros Interviews Travis Vengroff". Retrieved March 2, 2018.
- ^ "FearForever.com Interviews K.A. Statz". Retrieved March 11, 2018.
- ^ "The White Vault: Episode 3.1". The White Vault. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
- ^ "The White Vault: Artifact - Full Version". The White Vault. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
- ^ "The White Vault: Imperial - Entry 1". Patreon. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
- ^ "The White Vault: Summit". The White Vault. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
- ^ "The White Vault on Page 22 - Top Podcast Recommendations by Pod Bible" (PDF). Retrieved February 1, 2020.
- ^ "Willamette Week - Authenticity of Fool and Scholar Productions". Retrieved January 28, 2020.
- ^ "The Comeback's Best Audio Dramas of 2017". Retrieved December 21, 2017.
- ^ "Vox Special on Modern Radio Drama". Retrieved October 30, 2018.
- ^ "The White Vault Opens to Rave Reviews". Retrieved December 7, 2017.
- ^ "Hear Now Festival Listing". Retrieved August 1, 2018.
- ^ "Mark Time Awards 2018". Retrieved June 7, 2018.
- ^ "Audio Verse Award Finalists". Retrieved November 15, 2018.
- ^ "Discover Pod Award Finalists". Retrieved November 5, 2019.
- ^ "Webbie Awards 2019". Retrieved April 2, 2019.
- ^ "Audio Verse Awards 2019 Forbes Article". Retrieved January 15, 2020.
- ^ "Audio Verse Awards 2019". Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- ^ "Audio Verse Awards 2019 Yahoo News Writeup". Retrieved January 13, 2020.
- ^ "Audio Verse Awards 2020 Website". Retrieved March 28, 2021.
- ^ "Hear Now Festival Listing". Retrieved June 16, 2020.
- ^ "Webbie Awards 2021". Retrieved May 15, 2021.
- ^ "Found Footage Podcast Announcement". Retrieved January 15, 2018.
- ^ "80th Anniversary of "War of the Worlds" by PR Newswire". Retrieved October 18, 2018.
- ^ "Interview with Fangirl Radio". Retrieved November 20, 2017.
- ^ "Nerdy Show Interview with Eyþór Viðarsson". Retrieved February 14, 2018.
- ^ "KBOO Interview". Retrieved November 11, 2019.
External links[]
- 2017 podcast debuts
- Audio podcasts
- Horror podcasts
- Horror short stories
- American radio dramas