Church of the Father’s Vision (CFV) (2024)

The Church of Father's Vision^[1], called CFV for short, is a religious cult featured in several Puppet Combo games, including Stay Out of the House, Nun Massacre, Scary Tales Vol 1, and Feed Me Billy.

About[]

The CFV is an esoteric cult that appears to worship unworldly deities such as The Hole or the Bunker Creature. Rituals include offerings in the form of animal and human sacrifices, both dead and living. In return, the entities may grant those who serve them powers to complete their tasks and spread the church's influence. They openly try to spread their belief system and are implied to run some form of marketing campaign or at least open evangelist service in an effort to convert people. They are heavily implied to make occasional use of intimidation tactics, having likely been responsible for an attack on the house of a priest who criticsised the CFV for their unorthodox interpretation of the bible and cult-like structure, firing a single shot through a window, barely missing the priest's head. The CFV uses an eye symbol as well as its initialised title, in the colors blue, yellow, and red, as their official logos. The church routinely sends VHS tapes to prospective members, often without prompt. Said tapes have an extremely harmful effect on human beings, either conditioning them as a sort of brainwashing to serve the CFV without question, or causing fatal brain damage, as can be done with Roxanne in Stay Out of the House.

The CFV is known to be active in the southern United States, including the states of Texas, Kentucky, and Oklahoma, having strong footholds in the towns of Georgetown, Mill Creek, and Cedarville. Despite including Satanic motifs such as inverted crosses, the number of the beast and pentacles in their ceremonies, they publicly present themselves as a Christian subsect, specifically a Baptist Protestant denomination, given their location and mention of a married preacher, with elements of the New Age and Pentecostal movements.

Due to the nature of the rituals, low to middle-ranking members of the CFV are known to form a loose network of serial killers and abductors. Two known operatives include The Butcher and Billy. High-ranking ministers appear to give orders to their peers through media such as television, radio, phone lines, and, most infamously, video tapes. One such clergy is the Father himself, confirmed to also be the preacher that talks to Billy on the phone and the preacher seen on the TVs in Stay Out of the House.

There are also other theorized members such as The Nun (has CFV-themed indoctrination footage) the Riverside Ripper (performs similar dark rituals) and the Easter Ripper (owns a CFV-labelled cassette). The theorized leader of The CFV is known as "The Father", the Father is believed to be the preacher that spreads his messages through television programs and phone messages. It is said that the Father is in all of us, or perhaps the friends we've made along the way.

History[]

The Church of Father's Vision has its roots in a secret government-funded research agency in Cedarville, Oklahoma. The facility was dedicated to studying potentially useful applications of radiation, following several ill-fated experiences with nuclear power in the years prior, collaborating with other federal organizations such as the National Radiation Control Administration and the National Nuclear Security & Science Administration. For this purpose, the partially irradiated countryside was a perfect testing grounds, since the affected locals served as a reliable starting point in examining the effects of limited radioactive exposure on humans.

It had been active since at least 1966, under the backdrop of the Cold War, but on October 27, 1980, the research began shifting its focus on intensively analysing the effects of radiation on living creatures, specifically monkeys, rabbits, cows, and pigs. This involved subjecting animal specimen painful audio frequencies while exposing them to controlled doses of radiation. The lead scientist, Dr. Anthony Tambor, noted that regular radio waves had little effect on the primate subjects, but that audio in analogue video, namely VHS, elicited the wanted response in around 60 days of exposure. EEG records indicated that the animals may have achieved communication via telepathic link, an fascinating, but unwanted side effect. Overall, the subjects gained higher mental faculties and increased aggression, with similar results during the state-sanctioned human test trials in late December. With the exception of the monkeys, any remaining animal subjects were terminated and disposed of. What staff appear to be unaware of is that the hum was reaching beyond the test area and also negatively affecting workers.

By January, 1981, the science team discovered that the apes were succumbing to health effects brought on by the experiments. The staff struggles to conduct their examination due to the human test subjects becoming increasingly rebellious and violent. The final record found in the game is dated October 27th, exactly a year after the commencement of the experiment, describing an incident in which a guard destroyed critical equipment related to Project Jolly. By the time of Stay Out of the House approximately five years later, the facility is almost abandoned.

Although it is never explicitly said, it is likely that the Bunker Creature is a result of the experiments, as are other mutated beings such as the large hogs, the Demon Dog, and likely the Butcher himself.

Concurrently to the experiment, the Church of Father's Vision was founded, as seen by the professional CFV lettering on several walls. Whether this was purposely done by researchers to further study the phenomenon or an inadvertent effect of the radio waves is uncertain.

Night Shift/Stay Out of the House

The Butcher was exposed to the CFV through unknown means. He owns CFV-related material, but it is implied throughout the Bunker section that the facility beneath Cedarville, the one right underneath his house, was sending subliminal radio waves through the area. Either way, the Butcher was made aware of the facility and used it after the original staff was gone, since it housed the Bunker Creature and some livestock. Although he first fed the creature animals and dead bodies, the Butcher moved on to homeless vagrants to fulfill its specific wish for live human meat. Still not satisfied, however, he needed to supply it with people who would put up a struggle and experience intense emotional distress during their deaths, leading to him abducting night-time workers and travellers in his and nearby counties. He apparently tries to convert some of his captives to the CFV's beliefs by exposing them to VHS and radio recordings, but ultimately aims to sacrifice them to the Bunker Creature in live feedings. Prisoners he believes are not to the creature's taste, i.e. they do not struggle enough, or are too much of a hassle to keep imprisoned are either killed and slaughtered to stock up reserve human meat or unceremoniously fed to the creature.

Feed Me Billy/Feed Me More Billy[]

Billy appears to have been actively recruited by the CFV and has been given the mission to feed the Hole, one of the cult's worshipped creatures. He becomes increasingly delusional the longer he goes through with their demands, experiencing hallucinations, night terrors, and periodic blackouts, eventually letting go of his basic empathy. He kills six people over the course of three days before he relocates to continue his new "job".

Additionally, it is implied that Billy was the one responsible for sending the protagonist of Scary Tales Vol 1 the package containing the snuff films.

Scary Tales Vol 1[]

The unnamed protagonist receives a package with the CFV logo, the exact same kind that can be found inside houses of the Butcher and Billy. After watching each tape, the protagonist's apartment becomes more and more decrepit and unreal. Amongst other things, his pet cat is fatally mutilated and three monstrous flesh creatures come after him. Eventually, he finds a secret basement in his wall and is arrested by police who came to investigate a disturbance reported by neighbours. The protagonist is interrogated and last seen confined to a padded cell. Though never explicitly said, it is likely that the VHS had caused the protagonist to black out and commit horrific acts while consciously unaware. What felt like minutes to him were likely days or weeks of him mutilating animals, building a personal torture chamber, and presumably killing humans for the CFV, or at least disposing of their bodies in their service, all the while neglecting his home.

Members[]

Confirmed[]

Cleric[]

• The Father (presumed founder/leader)
• Dr. James F. Beau (head of the Georgetown, KY branch)

Operatives[]

• Billy (unknown area)
• The Butcher a.k.a. the Night Shift Abductor (Oklahoma/Texas area)

Bunker lab team[]

Scientists[]

• Dr. Anthony Tambor
• Dr. Hayward
• Dr. Lynch
• Jeanie's husband

Guards[]

• Harold Gutstein
• James McGannon
• Matt
• Francis
• Jim
• Angelo
• Marcus
• Rafael

Miscellaneous[]

• Stranger (associate of the Butcher)
• Grandma (mother of the Butcher)
• Margot Beau (wife of Dr. Beau)
• #918 (test subject)
• Casey Dwyer a.k.a. "001" (index case study patient)

Possible[]

• The Nun
• Easter Ripper
• Unidentified Suspect
• Driller Killer

Trivia[]

• The voice of the Father strongly resembles that of Estus Pirkle, a Baptist minister known for his fiery and controversial rhetoric, as well as his low-budget Christian exploitation films.
• Their guerrilla tactics, especially sending their followers goods such as masks after signing up for their cause, is reminiscent of Hotline Miami's 50 Blessings, an ultranationalist terrorist pseudo-cult, which also coerces unsuspecting members into killing through this manner.
• Although the CFV's gods initially seem alien and Lovecraftian in nature, it's possible they're simply just Abrahamic demons. The Night Shift Abductor practices Satanism, implying there's at least some overlap between the two religions, and The Hole manifests itself as a demonic goat, imagery closely associated with Baphomet. If this is the case, then the Driller Killer and the Unidentified Suspect would also be possible associates of the CFV, as avid Satanists.

Gallery[]