ADF-7

A NOTE FROM THE ADR TEAM

We would all like to apologize for publishing this article so late. We're in the middle of dealing with a surge of former IARA Facility-21 employees who decided now would be a perfect time to transfer over to ADR, so we couldn't publish this article on Hill's birthday as we planned. We're all very sorry.

Either way, happy birthday, Hill! We hope you'll stay with us for many years to come!

:)

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The Marison Alley.
(07/08/2019)

File #: ADF-7

Danger Class: Ira

Obscurity Class: Dodeca

Current Whereabouts: ADF-7 regularly appears within a radius around Marison Alley, using it as its preferred hunting ground, with most reported sightings and attacks happening between 5:00 and 6:00 PM. Still, encountering ADF-7 and actually surviving is considered highly difficult, to the point that encountering Bigfoot in the woods is much more likely.

This mostly has to do with the anomaly being intelligent enough to avoid getting caught, and the fact that the exact dates and locations where it will appear within the area are inconsistent, with no confirmation of when or where it will make an appearance.

Marison Alley is located around the southeastern part of Hartnall Valley, Cawson County. You can freely ask locals around there about Marison Alley since it is one of the most well-known locations in the town and is generally known to most people living in the County.

Note: The use of any electronic or tech-based equipment in Marison Alley is NOT RECOMMENDED because the anomaly can interfere with that. Any equipment that is capable of capturing its physical appearance is also not going to work, even if you might think it did. You need to seriously get creative with your methods.

Description: ADF-7, infamously referred to as "The Marison Alley Killer" by most of the locals, is described as a humanoid entity, appearing as a caucasian male of average build, approximately 180cm in height, seemingly being in his late 30s to early 40s in terms of age, with short, straight-black hair. According to numerous survivors' accounts, coming from both direct and indirect interactions, ADF-7 always manifests wearing clean, well-kept "business" clothes. Any attempt to capture the direct appearance of ADF-7 has never succeeded, as it's capable of interfering with all electronic equipment. Strangely, even artistic depictions of its appearance have been deemed impossible to create, as all surviving victims claim they can't remember any details of its face aside from other aspects of its appearance, likely due to ADF-7's anomalous capabilities.

ADF-7 is believed to be responsible for numerous cases of disappearances within Marison Alley, with 75 cases confirmed of its involvement and around a hundred or possibly more cases that have no solid proof of its participation, but are believed by many people to be connected to ADF-7, despite all the speculations.

Marison Johnson (23/02/1941)
Portrait censored as requested.

Its first victim¹ was Marison Johnson, a 19-year-old female, who went missing on 19/08/1941 while using the alley as a shortcut to her house. She was reported missing by her parents after she didn't return home for about 7 hours. The police were unable to find Marison, or her body, and this same alley where she went missing would be named 'Marison Alley' as a tribute to her disappearance, later gaining the infamous reputation of being "the alley where people always go missing".

Speculation on forums related to the 'Marison Alley Murders' case intensified after several photographs of alleged bodies of missing persons surfaced online. According to forum discussions, it is believed that ADF-7 can kill its victims simply by making physical contact, which apparently allows it to remove all internal organs from the body instantly. The anomaly can then 'wear' this hollowed-out body like a suit, using it to lure new victims while disguised. However, its other activities while disguised remain unknown, fueling further theories with no conclusion.

Although weapons are recommended for safety, ADF-7 appears to be invulnerable to physical injury. Firearms cannot kill the anomaly, though they are able to stun or paralyze it long enough for a victim to escape its hunting ground. However, according to all credible accounts, knives and other melee weapons are completely ineffective in a direct, up-close encounter. Furthermore, using someone as bait to attract ADF-7, even for research purposes, is strictly prohibited due to the extreme lethal risk involved.

Local law enforcement appears either unaware of or unwilling to acknowledge ADF-7's existence. Despite the overwhelming number of disappearances within Marison Alley, authorities continue to describe them as unrelated cases. This has led to a theory that ADF-7 is either directly working with the Hartnall Valley police force or is blackmailing them into actively suppressing information regarding the case². Regardless of whether or not ADF-7 is directly responsible for this negligence, this information is vital for the investigation and research on the case, since it confirms that local law enforcement will not cooperate with the ADR Team and will likely withhold significant evidence.

While ADF-7 is most commonly sighted within Marison Alley, several accounts suggest that it has been encountered in other parts of Hartnall Valley and is known to stalk victims and follow them home. Its frequent presence in the Alley is believed to be a behavioral preference dictated by the surrounding environment, rather than a physical necessity to remain in that specific location.

The anomaly's intelligence seems comparable to that of an average human. Through several tests, ADF-7 has demonstrated the ability to write, read, and even speak English in some cases. This suggests that the anomaly is either a human with anomalous traits, or a creature capable of mimicking human behavior with disturbing accuracy.

Since the early years of online discussion, multiple paranormal groups suspected the case involved something anomalous, citing the photographic evidence of victims' bodies found in various dumpsters throughout the hunting ground, as well as many other credible sources within their community. Despite this, ADF-7 remained off the radar of major anomaly-related agencies for years. This changed following the death of the late Carol Rickerson, a paranormal detective for the Ministry of Preternatural Society. Rickenson had been investigating the 'Marison Alley Killer' as his final case; his death resulted in a massive surge of interest from prominent groups and investigators.

Research Logs: The following logs are a compilation of my research, investigation, and all knowledge I have about ADF-7 that is important to the article.

➤ Research Log 7-1 - Speculations & Theories

These are the famous speculations and theories regarding ADF-7, which are attempts to understand its nature with all the information we have.

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List of Speculations

• ADF-7 is an extraterrestrial lifeform who uses the human body as a disguise to conceal themself among people of the Hartnall Valley for an unknown reason.
• Marison Johnson, the original victim, is actually ADF-7, who has been Marison for a while, and her disappearance is actually ADF-7 getting rid of the body.
• ADF-7 actually knows about and actively seeks out everything related to it in all media in order to gather information about people who are digging into the case.
• The Hartnall Valley's law enforcement actually knows about ADF-7 but does nothing to prevent a moral panic from people within the town.
• ADF-7 can read the mind of anyone it meets.
• There is secretly a cult that worships ADF-7 in the town.
• The Hartnall Valley's ground was once the ADF-7's natural habitat before it became a town.
• ADF-7 is a demonic entity that wears the victims' skin for its enjoyment and has secretly hidden within the area, possibly even before Hartnall Valley was founded.
• ADF-7 is actually a skinwalker³ that has been residing in the town since the 1940s or possibly before that.
• ADF-7 was actually the one who caused Carol Rickerson's death because he knew too much.
• The law enforcement of Hartnall Valley knows about "The Marison Alley Killer" but is being blackmailed and is refusing to investigate the case.
• ADF-7 wears its previous victims' bodies for sexual reasons.
• ADF-7 is actually an entire species of creatures that have been nesting within the Hartnall Valley since the 1940s, and use Marison Alley as its hunting ground while hiding in the town's sewer system.
• Carol Rickerson and Marison Johnson supposedly dated each other prior to her death and the start of his investigation on the Marison Alley Killer's case.
• One of the users on Preternatural Candle living in Hartnall Valley once claimed that she thinks one of her co-workers is "The Marison Alley Killer".

Most speculations on this list were never confirmed, even if some do have convincing evidence to support their claim. The only exceptions are the ones about Carol and the Preternatural Candle forum thread, both of which still lack credible evidence.

Since my investigation unfortunately resulted in a failed attempt, I cannot look into these speculations about the case any further.

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"It isn't Human" Side of Theories

This is the most popular side of theories, and is generally accepted as the truth regarding the nature of the "Marison Alley Killer". Most people lean towards this side due to the entity's obvious anomalous nature; aside from its humanoid appearance, ADF-7 displays absolutely no other traits that would identify it as a human being.

While those of us on the "ADF-7 isn't human" side can't really agree on exactly what it is, the consensus is that the entity likely existed long before the founding of Hartnall Valley. This is strong evidence that it can not possibly be a resident of the town. If it were, someone would have undoubtedly encountered ADF-7 somewhere other than its hunting ground.

Granted, encounters with ADF-7 have occurred elsewhere in the town, and accounts have proven that the anomaly can willingly leave its preferred hunting grounds. However, its complete absence in populated areas of the town, or not doing anything that doesn't involve searching and hunting for victims, supports the theory that it isn't one of us. It doesn't socialize; it only hunts.

There isn't much else to say about this side of theories, mostly because it is the most obvious conclusion. Compared to the theory that this is just a person in a costume, this is the only logical path.

Personally, I don't want to believe this thing is human.

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"He is Human" Side of Theories

A much more obscure and "niche" side of theories regarding the anomaly, compared to the "It isn't Human" side. Surprisingly, however, this theory actually possesses a solid foundation and some evidence to support its claims.

First, the "Marison Alley Killer" never appears outside of a specific timeframe (between 5:00 and 6:00 PM). This schedule aligns perfectly with the average office job release hours in Hartnall Valley, allowing him to work and return home in that timeframe. The fact that no one has identified him as human is easily explainable, though, since not a single surviving victim can describe any details of his face.

But how do we explain the "Marison Alley Killer" being active for decades? There are two main possibilities. One: the killer is actually a group of serial killers sharing the same anomalous traits. Two: ADF-7 somehow has knowledge of the Aion's Spell⁴. If the entity studied Thaumaturgy, this is a highly likely possibility, since the Hartnall Valley was once renowned in the paranormal community as the "Witch and Warlock Capital" of the United States. That is, until the Arcane Normalis War left only a few surviving individuals with arcane knowledge in Hartnall Valley, all of whom actively hide from the anomalous agencies looking for them.

There is also the thread on The Preternatural Candle titled "I Think My Co-Worker might be the Marison Alley Killer AND there is evidence to support this claim" by user occultcutie4213. She provided evidence of a co-worker who was never acknowledged by literally anyone in the workplace, including herself. This individual perfectly matched the appearance of ADF-7, right down to the fact that no one could ever remember his exact face, and his work schedule was identical to ADF-7's appearances in Marison Alley. This garnered significant support from the community for the "He is Human" side of theories.

However, it must be noted that occultcutie4213 is often an unreliable source of information regarding confirmed anomalies on The Preternatural Candle, which brings the validity of her story into question.

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The Marison Alley Police Proxies Theory

Photograph of a suspicious police car supposedly watching people.

One of the most famous theories discussed since the early 2000s on multiple board forum threads regarding the "Marison Alley Killer". Interest in this topic was revitalized in recent years after it was discovered that many surviving victims, and even their families, were being followed and surveilled by police cars. The earliest confirmed accounts of this specific behavior date back to August 5th, 2019.

There are even disturbing accounts of police seemingly aiding the "Marison Alley Killer" in hunting its victims, or searching for survivors who managed to escape the territory. Furthermore, local law enforcement appears to place anyone investigating the case, or anyone who simply happens to be in the vicinity of the alley, under surveillance for reasons never addressed to the public.

The motivation behind local law enforcement's protection of the "Marison Alley Killer" is still unknown. Some theorize that the Hartnall Valley Police Department is being blackmailed or compromised by the entity. This would explain the shift in recent accounts: we have moved from speculating that the police were simply ignoring the case to witnessing them actively assisting the entity.

In the Investigation Logs below, I can confirm being followed by a black hatchback (which is speculated to be an undercover police vehicle in most discussions of the case); however, I have no hard evidence of police involvement in my specific investigation of the case. The presence of that car, though, is undeniable.

➤ Research Log 7-2 - Investigation Logs

This is my first investigation without Hill, and I'm not sure how to go about this.

Hartnall Valley is the kind of town where rain is a rare phenomenon, or it just straight up doesn't have any rain at all because of how sunny the entire town is, to the point where I think it should be on the list of the hottest places on Earth. I still remember how me and Hill had to borrow the air conditioner from the ADR Team when we came here for the first time, when we visited one of the witnesses in this case, who happened to live here. Most of the memory just happens to be about how we wanted to get out of the town as fast as possible after we finished the questioning, because it weren't worth our time. Like seriously, the temperature of the town alone makes you regret coming here, unless you don't mind the temperature or come prepared like me.

Which is why I have a dozen electrical fans that I got from winning my bet with Lazar, an air conditioner that I borrowed from Vilson, who exchanged that for my ant terrarium after he wanted one for a while but couldn't buy any until I got this case, and a bicycle that I "borrowed" from the ADR Team's HQ⁵.

To be honest, I was about to investigate a typical "haunted house" case as my first solo case, but then one of our previous clients, Josie, went missing and her parents contacted both Hill and me to investigate. Hill is too busy with the "Flying Graveyard" case at this time to actually have both of us investigate another case at the same time, and I decided that he deserves some rest, so I left this case to me only.

Right now, Hill is staying at his grandparents' house after solving the Flying Graveyard case, while I'm writing down on my laptop and still haven't left my van yet.

I should probably rent some motel since I'm going to stay here for a while during my entire investigation.

So, here is what I know so far from a web forum and other sources about the case:

• The first case that relates to the "Marison Alley Killer" case was the 19-year-old Marison Johnson.
• The Marison Alley Killer seemingly killed around 5:00 to 6:00 PM in all accounts about the case.
• The Marison Alley Killer is possibly working with the police.
• The Marison Alley Killer uses the body of its victim as wearable clothing.
• Carol's last case is The Marison Alley Killer's case.
• Any attempt to capture The Marison Alley Killer's appearance has always resulted in a failure.
• Often appearing in the Marison Alley or the areas around the alley, but there are some accounts of The Marison Alley Killer appearing in other areas within the town.
• Even if no surviving witnesses can remember the exact face of the Marison Alley Killer or are unable to tell anything else about the case, the killer appears to be a man in his mid-30s to 40s in most accounts.

This log is just an introduction since I'm still settling in the town, and I will start the investigation tomorrow, or at least prepare for the case - so the next log will be the start of the actual investigation of the case.

10th November, 2025.
Huron Jameson

So I'm asking several people around the area about the Marison Alley Killer's case, and it seems there is not much to be learnt about the case that I haven't already.

Granted, I did learn that the Marison Alley Killer has been appearing more regularly these recent weeks, and there isn't a sign of him stopping anytime soon, which seems to me like I have a decent chance of catching the killer or at least making some progress with the case.

Aside from not much progress from interviewing surviving victims or witnesses, the fact that most people do not even bother to talk to me when I have brought up any question regarding the Marison Alley Killer's case is pretty much a guarantee that I will never have any progress with the investigation with just simply asking questions to people around here.

Also, strangely enough, it seems like there isn't anyone else besides me investigating this case, or at least in the area, which is not a common sight, but fewer people don't mean a problem in my investigation. It is definitely weird for sure, but it didn't seem to be too much of a problem to ruin my investigation.

I'm still not getting over the 'ignoring my question' attitude of people around the area btw - like what is their problem? is this something to do with the case? my aluminium hat and clothing? or the black police car that keeps following me around?

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the local creepy car there.

Yes, there is indeed a black police car following people around, but I'm still not 100% sure about any police involvement. You think that it being a black police car would be enough for me to be sure, but, my experiences told me that it could also be a secret government car since that car has the exact same model as the one from those people from secretive agencies asking me to help with whatever messed up activities that they decide should be the responsibility of a dude with an aluminium hat in his twenty-somethings. And I have a feeling that they are not likely to actually work with my investigation if that is the case. Trust me, this became a usual routine for both Hill and me. We don't bother to look into a car that likely belongs to either secret agencies that deal with the paranormal, or the Ministry, until we actually run out of things to investigate, and the black car becomes our last hope for our investigation. The fact that it has the exact same car model as those agencies just makes me skeptical of the car's involvement with the case.

It might be important, but I don't want to seriously risk getting forced by people in fancy black business suits to get involved in something else that isn't this case. This article will never be finished if that is the case, even if me and Hill might at least listen to what they propose on a regular case, but I really want to finish this.

I did have an idea about how I'm going to deal with the Marison Alley Killer, but whether this will be a success is going to be up to what happens tomorrow, and I would rather spend the rest of today finding any further info about the case in the library around here.

If you see this, Hill.
Happy Birthday!
(Well, your birthday is not today but I'm expecting the article to be published around late November, which would line up perfectly with your birthday if everything with this case went perfectly fine)⁶

19th November, 2025.
Huron Jameson

Due to a lot of things that happened yesterday, I don't have time to create a log for that day, which I had expected to be the end of my investigation on this case until some complications.

First, turns out that Marison's case wasn't the first case, or at least it could be possible for the Marison Alley Killer to have existed before then, which still doesn't help much with the case.

And about my 'catching' plan that I didn't give any details of within the previous log. The plan (in nutshell), is basically me having a lot of homeless cats act as something like a signal to warn me about anything else beside me in the alley, and me setting a lot of Nighty Roses⁷ around the area as a trap to knock out the Marison Alley Killer and wait for the ADR Collection Team to arrive on the scene and collect him.

As you can guess from the fact that there will be logs after this, this wasn't the case.

My failure in catching the Marison Alley Killer is on me for having too much trust in the Synchronize Garden⁸ which shouldn't be failing because that is straight up impossible, but it's apparently failed because I caught the wrong person.

Josie, who was the client who mysteriously vanished, possibly due to the Marison Alley Killer, was the person that I caught in the alley, which doesn't make much sense because I put all of my will on catching the killer. My luck usually works, as it did in all previous cases, or literally anything before this case.

Good news is Josie came back to her family, and she seems to still suffer from trauma to be able to tell anyone about her reason for going missing during these past several weeks, which doesn't really help me with my investigation. I wish all the blessings in the town to Josie and her family.

I think I will contact Hill to ask him for Carol's diary since I remembered something about Carol giving his diary to him, which includes most of his investigation on this case until the day he gave it to Hill, and it might shed some light on the case.

21st November, 2025.
Huron Jameson

I'm spending most of today reading Carol's diary in the motel. There isn't really anything I can do with the investigation that isn't interviewing Josie and her family or reading Carol's diary, since these are the only two pieces of information that are important to my investigation, which will probably be finishing soon.

I don't think there is much to do with this case at this point.

I'm to pack up my things tomorrow and leave the town if everything goes perfectly fine, and something like what happened in the previous log does not happen again to force me to stay in this town a bit longer. While my attitude towards the heat of the town may have told you otherwise, I did enjoy my time here in Hartnall Valley, from the town's scenery to even feeling sad about leaving my homeless cat empire behind. This should give you an idea about why my overall experience of the town was solid and decent enough for me to revisit this town again if there isn't a supernatural serial killer looking for me.

The ADR Team is going to deal with the entity, and it is basically their problem now.

Carol's diary actually gave me a new insight into the entire case and a whole different perspective about it from just reading the details of his investigation on the Marison Alley Killer. But, due to the Ministry of Preternatural Society forbidding any pages within the diary from being exposed to the public, I cannot put any direct entries from Carol's diary in the article, or really reveal anything about its contents.

However, the Ministry did allow me to give you this information - Remember the whole 'it uses the body of its previous victim as clothing' detail? Well, I might have missed the detail where no one can really tell differences between the actual previous victim and the entity, because it doesn't just wear the body of its previous victim as a costume - this fucker is also identical to the last victim when actually wearing them, to the point where not even their families or people that are closest to them can see any differances with their appearance⁹. That is, until you start asking it about something that the previous victim is supposed to know.

I can't discuss anything else about the diary, but that information is too irrelevant to the case to be put in the investigation logs, and I'm better off discussing everything else that happened yesterday, since I didn't have time to make another log.

To be honest, most of what happened yesterday was just me managing stuff in the van since a cursed doll messed it up again, and the other cursed artifacts in the van might have helped them with that, too. In case you didn't know about this - Hill and I put a lot of haunted dolls and cursed artifacts in the "back door" of the van, but some ended up elsewhere in the vehicle.

I also had a talk with Josie and her parents about this entire situation, and it seems like Josie may have amnesia since she doesn't remember anything about anyone in her life, or her life to begin with. The doctor can't really explain this since her brain is perfectly fine according to their examination, which still doesn't explain Josie's situation, and it's not something that I should be involved with.

So, I'm going to spend the rest of my day relaxing since tomorrow is when I will leave this town for good.

23rd November, 2025.
Huron Jameson

"It knows."

Those were Carol's last words before he passed away in Hill's arms from an unknown cause of death. No one really knows how he died, but it is definitively "weird" how literally everyone in Carol's motel room at the time, including me, would describe it, since Carol was perfectly healthy and had no history of illness or anything to cause his death so quickly, which is why we believe it is anomalous in nature.

Strangely, Carol's last words in his diary (The Ministry allowed me to say this) are the exact same words he spoke to Hill before his passing, which is (as I learnt from actually commiting to reading the earlier entries) actually a code for both him and Hill to tell each other when their "target of their interest" in the investigation is aware of it, or The Ministry's classified information enough to be consider as a possible lethal threat, requiring assistance to their investigation.

I think I finally get the meaning of Carol's last words now that I was in his shoes. Furthermore, the disappearance of Josie and her family in their house just confirmed my worst fear, which led to the decision to end my investigation of the Marison Alley Killer's case here.

In further detail, Josie and the rest of her family in the residence vanished under mysterious circumstances yesterday. Their neighbours and everyone close to the house reported that they simply vanished while never leaving the house, and there is apparently no sign of forced entry found by the police's investigation. The investigation is still ongoing right now, and I'm not going to get myself involved with it.

I'm going to get out of this town ASAP and leave this to the ADR Team to deal with because I'm not gonna risk my life here.

24th November, 2025.
Huron Jameson

Note: These logs were originally written on Google Docs before I put all of them here.

➤ Research Log 7-3 - Footnotes & Closing Note

Footnotes

1. While Marison Johnson's case was the first popularized case related to ADF-7 and is what most paranormal communities see as the first case, there have been numerous documented cases before Marison's disappearance in the exact same alley. Even without any proof, a number of people speculate that ADF-7 has been active long before Marison Johnson's case.

2. While this could also be caused by police incompetence, the 'Marison Alley Police Proxies' theory remains popular and is worth noting.

3. A mythological figure from Navajo folklore, considered a malevolent witch who uses dark magic to transform into animals and humans to cause harm and chaos.

4. A spell that can stop its user's aging process, keeping them in their youth or at the age they were when the spell was cast. Due to its rarity and the Ministry of Preternatural Society forbidding any knowledge regarding it, little is known about the spell's specifics.

5. I still don't know whose bicycle this is.

6. Well, this is embarrassing… sorry for being late lol. -Lazar

7. A rare type of a purple-ish rose that is only available to the Ministry of Preternatural Society which has the effect of having everyone around a 5m raidus of it fall unconscious. It can be resisted, but I would not like to mention how. I'm immune to the effect for a certain reason, which is a long story that's just too long.

8. A mystical garden currently located in my van, full of magical flora and artifacts that can give us luck and favor the probability of the universe to be on our side.

9. This doesn't even include the fact that the entity mimics the identical voice of its victim, meaning it is almost impossible to know who is or isn't ADF-7 unless you're really close to the victim to know something is wrong with them.

In case anyone is wondering about my well-being - I'm fine, and actually doing better than fine because Hill and I finally got back to our usual routine of living the lifestyle that my parents describe as "questionably healthy" and investigating paranormal cases as if whatever happened in Hartnall Valley didn't happen at all.

I will probably do another solo case at some point, but I'm definitely not going back to Hartnall Valley without having someone with me.

Also, good news - I have decided to adopt those cats from Hartnall Valley, and they travel along with both Hill and me now.

This note is basically just my advice for anyone from the ADR Team, or anyone involved with the ADR Team, who will be dealing with it about how to survive.

• Always have someone with you and never get separated during your time at Hartnall Valley.
• Pet a lot of homeless cats because they are an essential friend to warn you of any danger and provide general protection.
• Make sure that it didn't see or remember your face.
• Nighty Rose is not recommended unless you are immune to them.
• If you suspect that someone isn't who they claim to be, create a passcode that only someone from the ADR Team knows, or ask a question that they will personally know.
• Contact any person or group with useful connections and resources to help you.

I have one last message in this note to all of you.

It knows.

29th November, 2025.
Huron Jameson.