Alex Kister began uploading videos in June of 2021 to kickstart an online horror series that has since come to be known as The Mandela Catalogue. Most people who spend a significant amount of time on YouTube, especially those interested in the unique style of horror the platform has to offer, will be more than familiar with Kister's work. The videos are mainly comprised of public service announcements, police instructional videos, and disconnected camera footage explaining the existence of creatures known as Alternates plaguing society in Mandela County, Wisconsin, USA. Most of what is seen has been created with an old VHS filter overlayed atop the footage, as well, giving the impression that the events we are witnessing are taking place sometime in the late 1900s. Sure enough, many of the videos are dated with various years from 1981 onwards. The Mandela Catalogue's Alternates have clearly been inspired by doppelgangers from various real world legends and myths. They are described as looking somewhat humanoid, but with some features that are just off. Larger limbs than usual, uncanny faces, etc. They also appear to be nigh indestructible, as they commonly survive gunfire that would kill any known living thing. While The Mandela Catalogue appears to be another example of analogue horror already popular on YouTube, it does offer something much more unique...and much more terrifying.
Lead Many Astray
The first video uploaded to Alex Kister's YouTube channel is titled overthrone, and it tells a very different story to the videos that follow. It opens with a cartoon depiction of the Archangel Gabriel appearing to the three shepherds to inform them of the birth of Jesus. However, things take a dark turn very quickly. The story takes us further back in time to when Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary in order to prophesise her pregnancy. When Gabriel appears onscreen, his face is horribly stretched out and alien-looking for a brief moment before seemingly returning to normal, only it remains censored with a black box. He delivers his message to Mary, a mess of jumbled and reversed audio that is indecipherable. Closed captions reveal the message as follows; 'I am the one true saviour. I must reverse the delusion. Joseph is next.' Suffice it to say, this isn't the same Gabriel from the beginning of the video. It is an imposter, one who seeks to 'reverse the delusion'. What that means is initially unclear. The Imposter then appears outside the window of a sleeping Joseph to explain his plan; 'I will fool the shepherds. I will know their greatest fear. I will know your greatest fear.' The scene from before-chronologically months after Gabriel appeared to Mary-plays out again, only this time a wingless version of the angel Gabriel presents himself, shrouded in darkness instead of light. The Imposter.
He once again proclaims himself the true saviour of mankind and makes some sinister comments about knowing what the shepherds love and fear. The omission of the announcement of Jesus's birth is very intentional, as it would seem that is no longer something that took place in this version of the Bible's events. The Imposter's face distorts into a twisted, smiling version of itself before the scene ends and text onscreen appears, text from the perspective of this Imposter Gabriel gloating about how he successfully deceived humanity. It's obvious that there are a few different timelines being shown, so let me explain it in order as best I can. The real Archangel Gabriel did appear to the three shepherds to announce the birth of Jesus, after having presumably prophesised his birth to Mary nine months previous, before leaving with a congregation of other angels. The Imposter then swooped in and travelled back to the point of Mary learning the prophecy, masquerading as Gabriel and withholding said prophecy from her to instead tell her that he is the one true saviour of mankind. The Immaculate Conception never happens, and Mary never gives birth. Nine months later, this Imposter appears to the shepherds to reinforce the notion that he is humanity's saviour, and Jesus Christ is left forgotten, having never existed in the first place.
King Of Kings
The title of the video, overthrone, is a play on words, to tell us both that God and His divine plan have been overthrown, and that this thing, this Imposter, now sits on the throne of the church. Considering what follows, overthrone is a very unusual and out-of-place opener for the series, but it is incredibly important and flawlessly effective. As I mentioned earlier, the rest of the videos mostly consist of PSAs and police instructional videos about how to deal with Alternates when they are encountered. The first upload after overthrone explains the T.H.I.N.K. Principle for dealing with Alternates. The steps are Tell an authority figure, Hinder the creature's movements, Identify the class of Alternate(of which there are four), Neutralize the creature, and...Kill yourself. That last one remains onscreen for a few moments before it is swiftly replaced by Know your place in reality. Not only are Alternates incredibly deadly and mysterious monsters, but they can also tamper with the PSAs and instructional videos we are viewing. This serves as an explanation for the random moments of horror and glitchy footage. After this, the different classes of Alternates are listed, but type two is missing from the list. Interestingly, there was a specific video dedicated to the T.H.I.N.K. Principle that has since been deleted, but it included the second class-Detectable-shown to be the Imposter Gabriel before the video glitches and skips to the third class type. As well as the deleted video serving as further evidence that Alternates can tamper with and...*ahem*...alter human technology, we also have a specific classification for the individual that mislead the shepherds and Mary.
The next glimpse of ancient religious events being manipulated by the Imposter comes during exhibition. The Imposter appears to Noah and warns him that he will be punished for resisting the Imposter's message. He also instructs Noah to take another creature aboard his ark that he will not notice, but he assures Noah that the biblical figure will eventually feel a change in his mind. This is presumably Metaphysical Awareness Disorder, or M.A.D., a condition that people in present day Mandela County become afflicted with when they succumb to the influence of Alternates and their abilities. The condition often results in those affected losing their minds and, sometimes, taking their own lives. Yet another well-known religious tale has been manipulated by the Imposter for his own gain, and the Alternate hiding aboard Noah's Ark presumably went on to spread more of its kind throughout the world after the great flood was over. The naming of the series makes more sense after this video, as the Mandela Effect is a real life phenomenon where false memory is shared by multiple people. Most examples include misremembering the appearance of a cartoon character from one's childhood, or the lyrics of a famous song. In the context of The Mandela Catalogue, the entirety of mankind seems to have misremembered the religious events that formed the church. Very unsettling stuff.
Be Not Afraid
It is not clearly explained what exactly the Imposter is, whether he genuinely is an angel that sought to usurp Jesus and take his place, the Antichrist, or even some kind of extra-terrestrial being taking advantage of humanity's reliance on and servitude to religion. There is one answer that makes the most sense, however, one reinforced by a direct quote from the Bible appearing in the closed captions of exhibition. 2 Corinthians 11:14; And no wonder! For Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. This must have been the inspiration behind the entire series, and it also reveals the Imposter Gabriel's true identity as Satan. The Devil himself posed as Gabriel, somehow travelled back in time to the moment the angel would have prophesised the coming of Jesus Christ, and changed the course of history. In The Mandela Catalogue Vol.333, Mark seemingly has a realisation that the holy and divine humanity has learned so much about are no longer in control of the church. His notes recording the last days of his life are made up of scribblings and erratic ramblings, but he does ask the question, 'Who have I been praying to all this time?', which hints that he might know that his religion has been usurped by something much more malevolent. Alternates, then, must be demons set loose on the world by Satan in his grand plan to take advantage of humanity and perhaps even eradicate them from the face of the Earth.
There is a strange scene during The Mandela Catalogue Vol.333 where a face appears inside of a television and begins talking to what is presumably a young child. It introduces itself as Stanley and attempts to befriend the child. Stanley asks the child how many friends they have before going on to tell them that he can create friends out of thin air. He asks the child to imagine a friend in their head so that he can create it. At the end of his brief appearance, he says 'I think it worked. Your new friend is somewhere inside your house.' Earlier in the series, we are told that several thousand children have gone missing from various counties, including Mandela County, and we know from other videos uploaded by Alex Kister that Alternates manifest themselves and their power through television sets. Whatever Stanley is, he has the power to will Alternates into existence in the homes of the children he communicates with, before abducting said children.
Whether Stanley is the same as the Imposter is not as clear as it might seem. It was my first thought, that Stanley is merely Satan in another, more modern disguise. Religion does not play as important a role in society in the 20th and 21st Centuries as it did two thousand years ago. Plus, with the introduction of televisions to most households across the United States from the fifties onward, impressionable young children and small families gathered around said televisions in the evenings would become easy targets for the Alternates spreading across Mandela County. The Imposter, then, might not be Satan after all. Perhaps he serves the same purpose as Gabriel did for God, a messenger working for the Devil. It would certainly explain why the Imposter is classed as a Type 2 Alternate, whereas Stanley is an entirely new addition to the series that we actively witness creating Alternates from thin air. Plus, Stanley has a much different voice than the Imposter, more coherent and softly spoken. But that could just be a ruse to gain the trust of young children. Personally, I believe Stanley is the Imposter from overthrone taking advantage of the large masses of people enamoured with their television sets and technology in general. In a modern setting, a change of tactics was required for Satan to continue to exert his influence over humanity, and this is how he accomplished that. The video ends on the image of a statue of Jesus carrying the cross, and the Imposter slowly appears in the shadows behind him. Satan is successfully usurping God, Jesus, and the entire Christian faith and there is nothing that can be done about it.
Judgement Day Approaches
Religious horror is so uniquely terrifying in what it offers and how it presents itself. The Mandela Catalogue has managed to blend the aesthetic and style of modern analogue horror with the oldest, most deeply ingrained fears of humanity to create something truly awful(in the best way). The idea that some dark force usurped the most powerful, prominent religious faith in the world and used it to further its own agenda is downright horrifying on a level I can't even begin to describe. The institutionalism of religion and its obsession with control and conformity are very real fears that many people deal with in their lives already. The Mandela Catalogue takes those fears and amplifies them, attributing them to an even more insidious entity that has managed to take our deepest, darkest feelings and use them against us. Alex Kister has put together something truly, uncomfortably frightening, and his works are telling us that we are at the mercy of the worst horrors imaginable. And I am loving it. Bring on the next chapter of this masterclass in modern horror. I'm ready to see what lies in store.
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