General Questions:

1. Is Karnak’s ability to predict the details of a person’s death man-made or through supernatural intervention?

2. Does Karnak view this power as a blessing or a curse? Or, do they perhaps hold a neutral view on their power?

3. Is Karnak sentient? How would you describe the exact nature of Karnak? Is Karnak of this world?

Precognition:

Definition: “the supposed ability to obtain cognitive information about a future event that could not otherwise be anticipated through any known inferential process” (Taylor, 2014)

• Because of the nature of precognition, researchers have attempted multiple studies to prove precognition as a real process and how it works. This includes Jon Taylor, an interdisciplinary scientist and member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Dean Radin, a scientist who specializes in the study of exceptional experiences and psychic abilities. These studies have not been met with widespread acceptance due to it falling under the field of parapsychology and the inability for many of these studies’ results to be replicated by other researchers.

• Below are some theories of how precognition may work, which are discussed in Taylor’s article, titled “The Nature of Precognition.” While an exact theory or explanation has yet to be proven, these proposals suggest how Karnak’s precognition could operate:

  • The events that occur throughout all time are fixed, so every action will lead to the same result. Therefore, precognition occurs when a person’s future brain, with the relevant information to seemingly “predict the future,” sends that information back to a person’s present brain.

  • Strong emotional resonance throughout time, perhaps also in relation to a specific place, could cause precognition as the same emotional response is triggered. When triggered in the present, the same resonance that occurs in the future is hypothesized to potentially also be felt/experienced.

  • When the time between the actual event (future) and when a person experiences a vision of what will occur (present) is a short distance apart, precognition is believed to take place since the bridge is shorter.

    • Here is a brief article discussing different ways precognition can occur, including one example of a person’s experience with precognition : https://noetic.org/blog/science-of-precognition/

1920s Magicians:

In your mind, picture a fortune telling machine. Perhaps, an image of Zoltar or Esmerelda comes to mind? While these two characters commonly appear in such fortune telling machines, their dress and backstories uphold outdated ideas of orientalism and the exotication of these cultures.

For our production, the design team chose to instead draw inspiration for Karnak’s design from 1920s magicians. During the “golden age of magic” (late 1800s-early 1900s), surviving posters depict male magicians wearing three piece suits and sporting mustaches, styled to curve upwards. 

Spiritualism:

A second source of inspiration for Karnak was this period’s fascination with spiritualism, which is defined as “the belief that souls continue to exist after death and that it’s possible to talk to them” (Hix).

Spiritualism, as a form of entertainment, began in 1848, when Margeret and Kate Fox began talking with a spirit who communicated through loud knocks. Their ability to ask questions to the spirit, who would respond, drew audiences to their home in Hydesville, New York. This led to Margaret and Kate being known as the Fox Sisters and recognized as spirit mediums. With this growing interest in communicating with the spirit world, other mediums began to come forward throughout the country. These mediums claimed to possess the same abilities as the Fox Sisters and would host their own spirit callings.

Early mediums communicated with the spirits using one of three methods.

1. Following in the footsteps of the Fox Sisters, a medium would ask yes/no questions, with a set number of knocks corresponding to the spirit’s answer.

2. To ask the spirit more complex questions, mediums would call “out the alphabet, letter by letter, to the rapping ghosts and thereby, spelling out words and sentences” to form their response (Hix).

3. A writing device, known as a planchette, would be placed on a piece of paper, which the people present at a spirit calling would place their hands on. Then, the spirit would move the device to write out their response.

As spiritualism grew in popularity, people began to host spirit callings in their own homes, allowing these individuals the chance to contact the spirits without traveling to watch a medium’s show. This led to the development of “table-tipping” or “table-turning,” a process described as a group of people putting their “hands on a small- to medium-sized table and [waiting]” before a spirit would supposedly cause it to “start moving” (Hix). Séances were another way for people to attempt to contact the spirits at home. Jill Tracy, a composer and performer in “The Musical Séance,” describes how “A séance brought people together…It enabled them to face their fears because it was being pitched to them as a form of group amusement, instead of a frightening experience where one sits in their house alone and tries to talk to a spirit” (Hix). By holding each others’ hands, this was meant to assure participants that no person could tamper with the table/writing device and reinforced the idea of séances being a group activity.

With more people performing spirit callings by themselves, mediums were expected to contact the spirits in more elaborate ways. The development of spirit rooms and manifestation cabinets occurred as a result. The Koons Family’s Spirit Room was supplied with a number of instruments, which “visitors reported that when Jonathan Koons played the fiddle, the other instruments in the room would join in, playing strange melodies in time while they danced above the sitters’ heads” (Hix). 

During this time, spirit trumpets also emerged as another tool for mediums to use when contacting a spirit. Spirit trumpets served as a bridge between spirit rooms and manifestation cabinets because they supposedly allowed a spirit to “[manipulate] a spirit medium’s vocal chords,” the first step towards full body manifestation (Hix). This ushered in the practice of using a manifestation cabinet during callings, which reportedly allowed a spirit to temporarily take control of a medium’s body to interact with attendees. Popular spirit mediums became known for materializing a specific spirit guide “over and over—and these ‘familiars’ would introduce them to the other spirits that happened to be in the room, such as a sitter’s dead son or daughter” (Hix). However, as spirit mediums began to embody the whole spirit, sceptics questioned the uncanny resemblance between the medium that entered the manifestation chamber and the spirit now interacting with attendees. This escalated to “spirit grabbers” attempting to disprove the medium’s legitimacy by grabbing the emerged “spirit” and revealing an empty manifestation chamber. With a number of mediums facing accusations of faking their abilities, spiritualism faced a decline in popularity. 

Spiritualism experienced another surge in popularity during the 1920s as a result of WWI. Due to the number of lives lost during The Great War, people once again grew interested in contacting the spirits of their dearly departed. This renewed interest in contacting the spirits was captured in the cover art of the May 1st, 1920 edition of The Saturday Evening Post and the song “Weegee Weegee Tell Me Do” by Harry Von Tilzer. In both pieces, a young couple is depicted using an Ouija board. However, skeptics, who again sought to disprove the legitimacy of spirit mediums, and advancements in other forms of entertainment ushered out its quick rise in popularity during the 1920s.

Questions to Consider:

• Can you draw any similarities between Karnak’s power and the various methods people used to contact the spirits?

• How might Karnak be able to call or converse with the spirits of the six teens?

The Narrator from The Twilight Zone:

An unnamed being who introduces each episode of The Twilight Zone and delivers a closing remark at the end as well. The Narrator possesses knowledge of what happens in the world of each episode, including details about the setting or a specific person’s life, but does not appear to interact with or have the ability to change the actions of others.

The Future Devil from Chainsaw Man:

A “devil” in the world of Chainsaw Man that embodies the fear of the future (chronophobia). A being who can see a person’s future upon them sticking their head into a cavity in the Future Devil’s chest. Much like Karnak, the Future Devil’s ability to read someone’s future is dependent on the other’s proximity and willingness to complete an action that allows their future to be told (Future Devil - sticking one’s head into their chest; Karnak - pulling the lever)

Link to collaborative moodboard: 

Karnak's Playlist:

While Karnak does not have a dedicated song, an instrumental track is included on this musical's cast recording. The writers of Ride the Cyclone, Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond, described "Karnak's Theme" as a "moody, mysterious, grand and unresolved piece" (Maxwell & Richmond). The pair also mentioned how the sense of mystery that weaves its way throughout this piece reflects "some of the musical DNA of the show" (Maxwell & Richmond). With aspects of "Karnak's Theme" representing "the musical DNA of the show," this may convey how the teens (and the audience) enter a world partially influenced by Karnak.

Below is a playlist that pulls inspiration from Maxwell and Richmond's description of "Karnak's Theme," especially its embrace of the "mysterious" and "unresolved." This is a collaborative playlist, so please feel free to add songs throughout the process that remind you of Karnak.

Sources & For Further Exploration:

Cheung, T. (2023, Feb. 9). The Mystery of Your Time: The Science of Precognition. Institute of Noetic Sciences. https://noetic.org/blog/science-of-precognition/

Hix, L. (2014, Oct. 29). Ghosts in the Machines: The Devices and Daring Mediums That Spoke for the Dead. Collectors Weekly. https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/ghosts-in-the-machines-the-devices-and-defiant-mediums-that-spoke-for-the-spirits/ 

Maxwell, B. & Richmond, J. (2021, Dec. 10). Track-by-Track Breakdown: Brooke Maxwell and Jacob Richmond on the Creation of Ride the Cyclone. Playbill. https://playbill.com/article/track-by-track-breakdown-brooke-maxwell-and-jacob-richmond-on-the-creation-of-ride-the-cyclone

Oatman-Stanford, H. (2014, Feb. 5). Dark Art: Spectacular Illusions from the Golden Age of Magic. Collectors Weekly. https://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/spectacular-illusions-from-the-golden-age-of-magic/

Taylor, J. (2014). The Nature of Precognition. Journal of Parapsychology, 78(1), 19-38. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285145333_The_nature_of_precognition