Subject: Market Research Cards

Appearance:

Card measures at 20X20 cm, is of a pure white colour, with black text on both sides.

Text (Front):

Dear Sir/Madam.

Congratulations on finding this card – a free gift awaits you.

Please indicate your preference.

House M.D

Casualty

Holby City

E.R

Text (back):

INSTRUCTIONS.

State your preference.

State the address of local Post box (DO NOT STATE YOUR HOME ADDRESS) on an envelope with this card inside.

Send envelope to the address below.

Send nothing else to this address.

To whom it may concern:

I am Dr , I work in the psychiatric department of Mayfair Hospital, on the high-risk ward. At the moment, there are six patients within my care, each of them presenting with extreme paranoia, generalised anxiety disorder, suicidal tendencies, punctuated by psychotic episodes. These patients are linked by one common cause. The free Gift.

According to my staffs' numerous highly-disturbing psychiatric reports, there has been a spate of "dangerous" Market Research cards appearing in random locations around the U.K. It is not the cards themselves that are considered a threat, but it is the free gift (a DVD) that is the root cause of the patients' mental breakdowns.

The "gifts" are based on what preference the person selects; one card may have a selection of movies from the 1920's, one may have a selection of Bollywood films and one may have a selection of popular medical dramas (this particular card is in my possession). Upon watching the DVD, the patients claim that the characters within the shows act hostile towards each other and various nightmarish images appear on screen. The person then starts having frequent, bizarre nightmare, punctuated by episodes of intense paranoia; they feel that everyone is out to get them. This eventually evolves into suicidal tendencies.

To investigate the nature of these DVDs and their origins, I will follow the steps printed on the back of the card. I will be keeping a diary and I will provide as much evidence (pictures, audio, etc) as possible.

I realise that there are many implications involved in my investigation; legalities of information disclosed by patients and detrimental effects on my psychological well-being, but I still choose to go ahead with my research.

Daily Diary.

Day 1:

Filled out and posted card (I opted for House M.D); made sure to not add my home address, but the address of the local Post Office instead. I told the clerk that the package was of utmost importance and that they should contact me when it arrives.

Day 2:

No word on my delivery yet. Usual rounds on the ward; tried to talk to my patients, but they weren't co-operating.

** The next 6 days were relatively uneventful**

Day 8:

I tried to talk to my patients about the DVD, but no one, except Emily Hume, would co-operate properly. She mentioned a few key facts about the DVD (the words "anger", "suicide" and "faces" kept cropping up within her disjointed sentences) then promptly hid under her quilt. Emily kept requesting for someone to "nail the sheets to the mattress" to stop "it" getting in. I instructed the ward sister to sit by her bed and reassure her that she was safe then tried to coax Emily into taking a mild sedative.

Day 9:

Around midday, I got an eager call from the post office asking me to pick up my package. When I got there, the post-mistress eyed me up from the other end of the room. I still remember the conversation.

Me: Good afternoon, I'm Dr , I'm here to pick up my package.

PM: Sign here and get out. Don't ever use this address again.

She trembled slightly as she spoke – was she having a rough day? I took the box and left. Maybe she got in trouble with her manager? I've never experienced such unwarranted hostility. Did I break the rules somehow?

I went back to work and put the package in my desk. Am I doing the right thing?