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“a horror experience like no other"
an overnight hybrid horror experience that took place online and on Flat Holm Island in the Bristol Channel in September 2024.
Photo by Jack Offord
Ahead of the launch, an online community was built around the story through online films, puzzles and digital art.
Photo & video by Malaper Photographyguests were chosen via a lottery and visited the uninhabited island to play out the the story’s finale.
Photos by Jack Offordghosts emerged from the static, demons prowled the land, and monsters from The Nightmare Market struck deals.
The Static Sea was brought to life through crowdfunding support from 250 people worldwide, produced by Stormjar and executive produced by Alex Dean with a team of volunteers to raise funds for the conservation of Flat Holm.
Photo by Jack Offord
Flat Holm Island
Flat Holm is a small Welsh Island with a mysterious and macabre past. A haunted lighthouse, a quarantine hospital, the smallest pub in Wales and many many ghost stories…
Now a designated nature reserve and site of special scientific interest (SSSI). The crumbling remains of its dark history is preserved alongside breeding colonies of great black-backed gulls, herring gulls, slowworms, and rare plants such as rock sea-lavender and wild leek.
The Crowdfunder
On 14th November 2023 we launched this project on Indiegogo and on 9th January 2024 we hit our 100% target and went on to raise £1000 for the Flat Holm Society charity.
A total of 250 backers supported this project and claimed perks such as telegrams, soundtrack downloads, and have even named some of the ghosts in the story!
Despite the project's focus on a small Welsh Island, we've had backers from Germany, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, India, Canada and the United States!
The Story
We released fragments of backstory online through puzzles, film and digital art. The story brings together real historic elements of the island, such as the birth of radio with the world’s first wireless transmission sent from the island to the Welsh mainland, the now derelict and crumbling quarantine hospital for sailors, and smugglers caves where 18th-century pirates would hide contraband from the Cardiff Port authorities, combining them with our creative ideas.
All of the backstory was collated on a story-so-far website which was put together by our community on Discord who were actively uncovering the story.
THE Live Event
The finale of the story took the form of a hybrid event on Saturday, September 14th, where six lucky participants, chosen through a lottery, embarked on a journey to the island to experience the real-life aspect of the aspect of the finale of the story. The participants were transported back in time to 1924, a century earlier, to find the ghosts, unravel the mystery, and make pivotal decisions shaping the outcome.
On Discord, individuals from across the globe joined in to play an online version of the story where we dropped photos, audio and videos based on real-time events happening on the Island. Due to the emergent nature of the online game this ended up running into the following evening resulting in 7 hours of live gameplay.
REVIEWS
We recieved some incredible reviews both from the volunteers who helped us make the experience happen as well the ticket winners who got to join us on the island.
We also invited Ash Millman a a UK content creator specialising in horror & dark fantasy, McKenna Fernandez from Little Dot Studios/Shiver Dark History and Louis & James Inglis from HANA news. What was perfect about these mix of brilliant creators is they covered it from three angles that we are equally passionate about.
MEDIA
Want a flavour of the experience? There’s a quick recap, full aftermovie or behind the scenes interview with Horror Hangout
SOUNDTRACK
The OST was made by Jim Wheale, co-founder of Stormjar
Each character has it’s own theme in which many of the characters are named by our backers
Thank You
We want to say a massive thank you to the volunteers who have made this experience happen, The Flat Holm Society Charity, the Cardiff Harbour Authority, Cardiff Council, Vale of Glamorgan Council, the World Experience Organisation, Duchess Media, Andre Pattendon, everyone who has contributed, shared or spoken about this campaign (especially those in the Discord taking part in the story every single week), our Executive Producer Alex Dean, the warden and volunteers on Flat Holm Island itself, and the teams at Indiegogo and RallyUp.