It’s good that Melanie’s being helpful! Are you literally covered in eyes or just thinking about the future?

Ghost Hunt UK is a pretty middle-of-the-road paranormal YouTube channel. They go to haunted places, talk about the history, show EMF meters and blurry footage of them running away. Nothing particularly substantial.

Well, I'm covered with eyes in Melanie's dreams so I figure this is probably the thing to be prepared for. Eyes in excessive quantities.

How are her epistemics? Does she seem unusually credulous or skeptical? Does she look for alternate non-paranormal explanations? Does she seem to understand how evidence works? If he checks the history she reports against the records he can find, is she telling the truth or being sensationalist?

She’s not very good at looking for alternate non-paranormal explanations. (Alternatively, the paranormal explanations sell better.) She has a tendency to dramatize the history to make a better story, but never to the point of lying; she seems to have a decent grasp on how evidence works, if not a great one. She’s on the credulous side, but it’s her job to be; compared to other ghost hunters she’s pretty average. 

Okay, makes sense. I am not against you being covered in eyes in a general sense but I would be worried about you suddenly being covered in eyes due to everything about how magic works. 

Does Melanie show any signs of having interacted with any evil spirits?

Love you. If I wind up covered with eyes I assume it will be a gradual process, I just wanted to give you a headsup.

Martin seems mysteriously eye-positive.

Nope, no signs of having interacted with evil spirits.

All right, he's going to draft the consent form until his meeting with Melanie.

And eventually it will be time for his meeting with Melanie!

“Hi, Dr. Aarons, right? It’s... weird, to see you in person. ...I guess it’s probably weird for you too.”

"Uh, less weird I think because I knew you existed the whole time. --You can call me Lev, I mean, I am a many-eyed monster haunting your dreams, I don't really think it's time for formality."

"Yeah, okay, that's fair. I mean. It's not like anyone exactly writes etiquette manuals for these situations."

"So what I know is that the Magnus Institute is... haunted?... by a spirit called the Beholding. It doesn't let us type true statements into a computer or record them with modern equipment. When I read a true statement, it makes me more curious and less empathetic; it doesn't have a similar effect on people other than the Archivist. As you've seen, when I read a new true statement, the person has nightmares. Also it won't let any of the employees quit. --I'm telling you this in part because I don't know whether trying to work with you on understanding the nightmares will make the Beholding decide that you're its employee."

"It had better not. What other equipment does it let you use, if it doesn't let you use the modern stuff? I mean, besides the typewriter. That thing was ancient."

"Tape recorder, but I don't use it because that makes the mind control worse."

"....Yikes. Any EVPs on any of the recordings, or does listening to them make it worse too?"

"...sorry, I have no idea what an EVP is. --I'm a psychologist, not a parapsychologist, and as far as I can tell I was hired more for my Beholding-pleasing personality than for my actual knowledge of the subject."

".....Rrrrrright, okay. An EVP is an electronic voice phenomenon? The idea is, if you're recording something, sometimes the recorder picks up on a spirit voice that you didn't hear. Some people say they're more common on tape recorders, but it's also harder to tell, because tape recorders have more background noise, so... who knows. But if your spirit seems to like tape recorders, that would be what I would check. --I assume you've already checked for carbon monoxide and infrasound? I guess that's really more of a formality at this point since clearly something's going on here, but you should probably have started with that."

"Yep. Did it as soon as I was hired and noticed the creepy watching sensation. --If you notice a creepy sensation of being watched that's the Beholding probably, normally it sticks around the Institute but not always."

"Well. That certainly makes sense, I suppose. I had figured it was just... you, honestly."

"...I realize nothing about what you've seen of me so far makes this obvious but I am not actually a horrifyingly creepy person. I am a perfectly innocuous weird nerd with a creepy haunting situation going on."

“No, no, not like that, I just— it’s the feeling I get in the dreams? And then talking to you now? I definitely believe you that you’re haunted. ...Sorry about that.”

"Look, I'm just counting my blessings that I have an Aura of Creepy instead of being infested with worms. --Anyway, I had my-- assistant Martin listen to the tapes and there is static when the paranormal being speaks."

“Right. Any words audible in the tapes that you didn’t say, any spots in the building that get more cold or hot than makes sense for them to...?”

"Not that Martin heard, and no weird cold or hot spots."

“That... doesn’t give us a ton to work with, especially if technology doesn’t work. —I guess if the tape recorder works then it’s not electricity that’s the problem. Not sure how to balance the risks of people who aren’t you using the tape recorder, or turning it on just to record empty rooms or whatever, with anything we might gain from it. ...Different track, you said I was the second person this happened to?”