"The Murmuring" Trivia Quiz

Answer: A movie camera

Providing a lecture on the flight patterns of the common dunlin, Nancy Bradley talks about the almost seamless shapeshifting of their murmurations while her husband, Edgar, operates the slide projector. So few species, she claims, partakes in their exceptional display with or without a predator present, forming perfect patterns of movement in the hundreds, thousands without any collision. Scientists simply don't know why.

As the lecture concludes, Nancy and Edgar thank their benefactors for their generosity, showcasing footage from a new movie camera that was purchased with the funds. It makes all the difference in their work. Fortunately, the Bradleys are expecting to use it on their upcoming field trip, a welcome getaway considering the recent death of their daughter, Ava.

Answer: True

Their belongings in tow, Nancy and Edgar arrive at their island destination and are driven by car and boat to their remote, bayside research site delighted to find that their hosts have prepared for them to stay in lodgings with running water and electricity, a welcome change to their normal research arrangements. They've arrived at the perfect time to catch footage of the dunlins; the house is a luxury. As they explore the premises, they're told that the last owner gave it to their daughter, but it was subsequently handed off to the State and left virtually empty since. They'll be alone on Big Harbour Island until their next supply drop-off on Sunday.

The location is perfect. On their first day, they catch footage of the dunlins at sunset, recording video and audio while a peregrine falcon flies in from above.

Answer: Their equipment turning on

After their first day on the island, Nancy and Edgar head to bed grateful for the kindness bestowed upon them by their hosts but there's still a lingering sense of emptiness as the pair turn out the lights, leaving the fireplace as the only glow in the room. Nancy, tossing and turning, struggles to fall asleep, and it's because she's awake that she hears the crying of a baby and footsteps in the hall. Both Nancy and Edgar are jolted out of bed soon after when their audio recording devices turn on in a burst of static.

The following day, the pair head out for their first full day of research and, later in the evening, Nancy commences her cataloguing system inside. As she listens to her recordings, she believes she hears the sound of footsteps running through the house. Fortunately, Edgar arrives and turns on the lights, removing her from the gloom of the dining room. In the sitting room, the pair dance to the sound of an old phonograph, but Nancy explains that she's not in the mood for it. Edgar complains that she's never in the mood.

Answer: Birds

After their first full day on Big Harbour Island, Nancy and Edgar head to bed and Nancy once again struggles to fall asleep. On this evening, the footsteps in the hall are louder, and while she doesn't hear the door open down the corridor-- at least not the first time-- she starts seeing the shadows in the hall.

She gets up alone, peeking out into the hallway to find that door at the end swinging open and shut in the wind. She heads to turn on the light, finding the power is out, and as she approaches the door she finds a stairway up to the attic.

At the top, she's amazed to find a flock of dunlins perched on the attic beams. She wakes up Edgar so that they can collect footage; dunlins don't act this way.

Answer: "It's so cold."

While Edgar records the dunlins on his movie camera outside, Nancy remains in the attic with her audio devices, struggling to stay awake having spent the night making her discovery. She believes she hears Edgar whistling from the stairwell and tells him off-- she's recording after all-- but the whistling continues at a lower pitch, unnerving her. When she plays back her audio she hears periods of dull static followed by a low, constant whistle. There's no explanation for the weird sounds, especially when she hears the low whisper of a child saying "it's so cold." Unfortunately, when Edgar listens back, he hears nothing odd.

That evening, Edgar tries to get through to Nancy but she finds herself caught up in why dunlins have chosen to roost in their house. Dunlins don't typically roost anywhere in human structures; it's like they're drawn to the spot. Nancy explains that the house upsets her, and that they don't know anything about the family in the portraits on the walls, she worries that something is wrong.

When they head to bed, Nancy rolls over to find the silhouette of a small boy in the room. It whispers to her that "it's so cold".

Answer: FREEDOM

Nancy and Edgar's research continues despite the odd occurrences on Big Harbour Island and Nancy can't put her finger on exactly why the house upsets her. When she heads inside alone she spends time gazing at the pictures on the staircase wall, looking at the former owner and her son. She makes her way into an old study to find it virtually untouched and there, inside one of the cabinets, she finds bundles of old written letters. Amongst the items in this room is a sewn handkerchief bearing a blonde woman standing beneath a murmuration of dunlins. At the bottom of the image is the sewn word: 'freedom'. It's the word she's always used to describe why she's been drawn to birds.

Edgar finds the handkerchief to be a great coincidence. That evening, when they discuss the situation, Nancy says that she feels for the woman who made it; it's beautiful embroidery, but it only makes her sad.

In bed that night, Nancy turns over to find a small baby laying next to her-- her daughter, Ava. This is only a dream, however. Something grabs her from behind, pulling her from her memory. Downstairs, someone walks through the house, and when she enters the study following the crying of a young child, she finds that the room is in disarray, the bundles of letters scattered on the floor.

Answer: A soldier

Nancy goes through the bundle of letters in the study finding one addressed 'to my sweetheart', bearing the same handwriting as found on a picture in the hall, and reading these letters she uncovers a troubled romance between a soldier at war and the woman he left behind on Big Harbour Island, returning to his wife instead. The notes mention a child; the woman the notes were sent to must have been head over heels in love. Nancy remarks to Edgar that it's sad and he expresses his surprise in her. Knowing she has a scientific brain, he's interested in knowing why she's so invested in the feeling of the house.

When Nancy returns to the house, she finds that the dunlins have returned to the attic en masse. She radios for Edgar to join her but sets up alone, recording while she has the opportunity. Voice break through the static, however-- a child crying that his mother is angry and a woman screaming at the boy. Nancy hears the sound of crying near the stairs and turns to find a child, soaked and dripping, descending out of the attic. When she follows the boy down and through the halls, she's shocked to find that as he turns around, his face bears the signs of a long-drowned corpse.

Answer: When she's in a bath

When Edgar finally returns to the house, Nancy frustratedly asks where he's been. There's no time to chat, however, since a dunlin appears to have made its way into the main level of the house. As the couple tries to get it out the door, it flies into the window, breaking its neck.

Nancy runs a bath in an effort to relax, but it's anything but restful. As crying and moaning starts in the hallway, something bangs on the door from outside. Nancy looks into the bathwater and sees the body of a young boy in the tub with her, and at the same time, the bathroom door creaks open, revealing a screaming woman as she rushes in. When Edgar arrives, responding to her screams, there's nothing else in the room.

In the aftermath of the vision, Edgar tells Nancy to let her emotions out. She hasn't cried since before everything happens with Ava's death; it would do her good to let it out. She tells Edgar she just wants to sleep.

Answer: Thirty years

When Sunday arrives, Nancy and Edgar film the dunlins out by the water until their supply shipment arrives with everything they've requested. Nancy asks questions about the people who lived in the house, explaining she's seen some very odd things, and she finally gets answers. The woman who lived in the house was put there by her family and, unfortunately, it was too isolated. It didn't work out, she's told. The boy died-- he drowned. The mother killed herself in grief. It all happened thirty years ago, he says, but he doesn't believe in ghosts.

Edgar asks Nancy about her conversation with the caretaker and she tries to avoid letting on what she knows. She finally admits to him that she's seen and heard the mother and child in the house and she can't explain why, even if Edgar tries to rationalize her visions with her grief and lack of sleep. Nancy explains that Edgar has also had trouble expressing his grief, but he can't understand why she's bottled it all up. She's never let him in and more and more he worries that she's slipping away. He lets her know he'll sleep downstairs for the night and be at his station before dawn unless she wants him to stay. She doesn't respond to him, however.

Answer: Come into the light

As the sun rises in the morning, neither Nancy nor Edgar find themselves rested. Edgar leaves without speaking to Nancy and she heads up to the attic to watch the dunlins, but as she starts to sing a lullaby, the windows fly open. The ghostly child recommences its walk out of the attic and Nancy pursues him only to come face-to-face with the ghost of the former homeowner. She locks herself into the study while the ghost screams and pounds on the door finding, when the banging stops, that the little boy has hidden in the study with her.

Nancy reasons with the boy, telling him that his mother wasn't mad at him; she was mad, instead, that she'd done a bad thing to him. She tells the boy that he's not alive anymore but that he did nothing wrong. As the sun rises outside, Nancy tells the boy to come into the light where it's warm and he won't be alone or unsafe anymore. He runs towards her and vanishes into the ether and, with that, Nancy cries.

...But upstairs, a horrible wailing is let out. Nancy heads into the attic to find the room covered in dunlins. Next to the balcony, the woman of the house turns in disbelief, dismayed at what she's done, and falls out the window. Nancy peers over the edge to find the body missing as the dunlins take off into their murmuration.

Running out the front door, Nancy watches as the dunlins flutter into formation and descend from the sky, flying around her in a rush before taking off altogether. Once they depart, she gets onto the radio and tearily apologizes to Edgar, admitting that she's been so lost. They express their love for one another and Nancy tells him that she wants to talk about Ava.