Solved.

The texts read:

"While I am decaying like a rotten thing / like a garment that is moth-eaten." —Job 13:28

"Thy hands fashioned and made me / and now thou dost turn about and destroy me." —Job 10:8

~~~~~~~

Somewhere, I've forgotten where unfortunately--may even be in the bathroom--, there's writing on the ceiling, & it looks like this:





I altered it, making it slightly easier to read, but I still can't make out most of it. The top line reads Shattering like a button--no it doesn't: DECAYING LIKE A . . .--but beneath that is too distorted for me to make out. Anyone else wanna give it a shot?



Also, thinking back on more abstract text: As Scarlet mentioned in another thread, there are photographs advertising Heaven's Night, featuring a promotional picture of Maria. ( http://usera.imagecave.com/mircalla/james1.jpg , http://usera.imagecave.com/mircalla/james2.jpg ) What's interesting to note is that there is text beneath her as well--I'm looking round my computer for the screenshots of it, but it's taking awhile. I couldn't make it out entirely, but I could descry this much:

THE HAND CARRION _AN_ TAO___

The first two _'s look like a C & and a T, making it CAN'T, but the last word means nothing to me.

Anyone got any references they'd like to share perhaps?

Found'em. For you, Scarlet:

Yes it is Maria in those pictures, together with some text about Heavens Night.
If you play the PC version, it's quite sharp.

As for the text, I never saw that... gonna check it out.

ok... here is another image of it... I filled in the lines that seems to be the hardest drawn.

http://www.arcnet.mine.nu/christoffergl ... fcarri.jpg

I think we need a teextureviewer for a closeup...


EDIT: Oh darn, you got a much better close up there...

EDIT2: I know that Carrion could be an anagram for "I rancor" but I don't see how that fits... Tau could be "Thau" as "You".

Good finding, A., but I'm intrigued. I never saw this before and it doesn't make much sense?
Hand may mean that [spoiler] James killed Mary with his own hands?[/spoiler]

As in, he carried on with his hands?

Maybe it says "Hard"? I dunno. I tried fucking with it six ways to Sunday using Paint Shop and I couldn't make much sense of it.

>As in, he carried on with his hands?
Well, the word carrion means dead & decaying flesh, so it doesn't relate specifically to James--or really anything, given the context. If it does in fact say THE HAND CARRION..., then that would mean the hand itself is dead, or decaying.

The TAO__ may actually be TOUCH, but still: THE HAND CARRION CAN'T TOUCH. Senseless.

The first word of the second line--Shattering like a button--is that, but I still can't make out what it reads after that. The last word looks something like hostile--or something that ends in -tile. I don't see much of an S, so it probably isn't hostile.

the word carrion means dead & decaying flesh

Dang, what an idiot I am... Sorry...
But are you sure it say Shattering? I can't only figure out the word button?
Maybe both sentences are quotes from movies, you know like the quote from the Exorcist III?

My two cents.
http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b38/hjartu/rrgh.jpg
I really have no idea, though.

I don't really dabble in all your theories, they're usually too difficult for me. But this one seemed too easy

"The hand carrion can't touch"...The dead hand, can't touch...Don't touch the dead hand...?

The line is located under Marias flyer. For all intents and purposes, isn't Maria 'dead'? She isn't real, right? She endlessly flirts with James for the whole game but he doesn't bite. Maybe this is some kind of sub-conscious message. Maria is in James' world, no-one elses. Laura or Eddie don't see her. It's all very Fight Club.

Maybe "Don't touch the dead hand" means don't touch Maria because she's...well...dead? Don't wanna be seen having sex with an imaginary woman, that's just embarassing.

There may be a reason I stay away from threads like this

Don't touch Maria... roughly translated

Yeah that's what I meant...

That wasn't sarcasm lol

Interesting... so, that is a warning.... well, it makes some sense.

But it says CAN'T, not DON'T.

Do not...Cannot...Not a great deal of difference.

Damn, the only person whose opinion on it I wanted and he's the only one who burned it

We're stuck in a loop here...
If it infact says that "The hand carrion can't touch" it may mean that Mary cannot touch James by herself, because she is dead. But, she can manipulate things from the world beyond in order to bring James to reality and make him remember what he did.

I'm throwing random thoughts here because I'm really intrigued by this message.

Well, do not implies an admonition, or warning. Can not, however, implicates 'that which is impossible to do.' Just a language issue.

I'm not really burning it, I'm just trying to come up with an explanation. Sorry.

Well maybe 'cannot' applies also. I may be wrong, but at any point does James actually TOUCH Maria?

Maybe...

Maria can't be touched, in the sense of, Maria can't be touched because she isn't really real. (I'm just brainstorming here)

James doesn't touch her, but she touches him. See... I'm real. Oh, and it's definitely not TOUCH--that's certainly an A next to the T.

TAUNT seems like a plausible word. THE HAND CARRION CAN'T TAUNT. Could just be a play on language. Such as: A maze. Amazing maze. A maze meant... What did it mean? A May zing perhaps. M.A.s in the bush or amidst the maize. Quite amazing huh?

Yeah but in that same sense, Pyramid Head isn't real. They're both figmants (sp?) of James' imagination. Yet PH is able to cause James pain and he throws him off the hospital roof.[spoiler]But then again, Maria also causes him pain depending on who you face at the end.[/spoiler]So that throws that idea out of the window.

Edit:Oh yeah, forgot about that.

I meant "touching" on a more poetic level.
He cannot touch her like he touch Mary... he cannot love her like he loved Mary.