Wilbur's journal¶
Wilbur's journal is the notebook of Wilbur Whateley recording how he found and raised a monstrous moth larva, handed to the task force by the sheriff at the end of the Radford case.
| Type | Item / document |
| Holder | The task force (given by the sheriff) |
| Status | Only the legible pages survive; later pages were removed |
| First appearance | Radford Horror 08 |
Description¶
Sheriff Frank Roosevelt explains that deputies found a hidden basement under the Whateley residence containing a spaceman costume, and that the journal was inside the costume (see Spaceman suit). He gives the team a plastic bag of pages, saying a lot of the later pages had been removed and that these were the legible ones (Radford Horror 08). The pages are dated June 3rd through August 15th, plus April 16th through 18th. The year is never stated.
Contents¶
The players read the entries aloud at the table (Radford Horror 08):
- June 3rd: Wilbur finds a larva in the woods by the church in the old town. It resembles a Morpho menelaus larva but is much larger, with anatomical abnormalities. He saves it from the specimen jar and stashes it in the basement.
- June 10th: Amanda Lucky and Phoebe Augustine visit and hike the river. Wilbur writes that he does not think Amanda knows, but feels Phoebe might. The larva refuses leaves but loves beef.
- June 14th and 21st: The cocoon is huge. Wilbur keeps thinking he hears someone talking to him, and recalls that people can pick up radio on their fillings, something Abelforth always tells him about.
- July 30th: "She's talking all the time now," and he can hardly tell her voice from his own.
- August 15th: "She hatched hungry. The dog is dead." The later lines repeat that she is beautiful and that she is his.
- April 16th to 18th: Abe will not stop looking for the dog, and Wilbur fears he will find her, so he decides to move her to the old church. On the 17th he writes, "I did something. I need to figure out how to get away with it." On the 18th: "She's helping me. She's taking it away. I don't have to feel any of it."
Andre confirms that the team can work out that Abelforth's disappearance lines up with April 17th.
History¶
The sheriff presented the police theory that Wilbur killed his brother and staged both boys' departure, making him a serial killer. The players read the journal as evidence that the Radford Moth was influencing Wilbur, with Kurt comparing it to the way it tried to affect his own mind, and Huell admits he did not shoot Andrew on purpose. See also Moth life cycle (Radford Horror 08).