FILE SUMMARY
RF-004 concerns the recurring appearance of a symbol known by the Archive as the Hollow Circle.
The symbol consists of a simple circle with its center removed.
While seemingly insignificant, the marking has appeared in connection with nearly every major Archive
investigation.
The Hollow Circle has been discovered in locations where it should not exist, on objects with no known
connection to one another, and within personal journals belonging to individuals who deny ever drawing it.
The origin and purpose of the symbol remain unknown
DESCRIPTION
The Archive officially designated the Hollow Circle as RF-004 after researchers noticed a recurring pattern
across multiple investigations.
The first known appearance occurred beneath the slide structure documented in RF-001.
Since then, the symbol has been found in abandoned homes, forgotten notebooks, public buildings,
missing-person reports, and private journals.
No single creator has been identified.
Forensic analysis suggests many instances were created years apart by different individuals.
The symbol itself is simple.
A circle.
An empty center.
Yet witnesses frequently report an immediate emotional reaction when viewing it.
Most describe a sense of loss.
Others report familiarity.
A smaller number claim they have seen the symbol before despite no evidence supporting the memory.
The Archive currently believes the symbol functions as more than graffiti or coincidence.
Whether it serves as a warning, marker, or message remains unknown
INVESTIGATION RECORD
Investigation Report
In February 2015, Archive personnel reviewed over two hundred case files unrelated to known anomalies.
The Hollow Circle was identified in twenty-three of them.
Examples included:
A sketchbook recovered from an abandoned school.
A maintenance log from a condemned hospital.
A church attendance record dating to 1974.
A child’s drawing discovered inside RF-003.
None of the documents had previously been connected.
The symbol appeared regardless.
Researchers were unable to determine how or when it had been added.
Witness Statement
Interview Subject: High School Teacher
Date: 12/28/2014
The following statement was recorded after repeated appearances of the symbol in student assignments.
“I kept finding it everywhere.”
“Margins of notebooks.”
“Scratched into desks.”
“Drawn on folders.”
“The strange thing was the students swore they didn’t draw it.”
“I thought they were lying.”
“Then I found it in my own planner.”
“I don’t remember drawing it either.”
Research Notes
Psychological testing suggests the Hollow Circle is unusually memorable despite its simplicity.
Subjects exposed to the symbol often remember it long after forgetting surrounding details.
Several researchers have proposed that the symbol represents an incomplete memory.
A missing piece.
A gap where something should exist.
The theory remains speculative.
However, growing evidence suggests a connection between the symbol and the unidentified individual
appearing in multiple Archive investigations
RECORDED PHENOMENA
- Appears across unrelated investigations.
- Found in locations with no known connection.
- Frequently discovered near Depth-classified anomalies.
- Triggers feelings of familiarity in some observers.
- Appears in journals without the author's knowledge.
- Occasionally appears in photographs after development.
- Often associated with forgotten individuals.
REDACTION NOTES
A photograph recovered during an unrelated investigation contained the Hollow Circle drawn on a wall in
the background.
The image was dated 1968.
This predates the Archive's earliest known documentation of the symbol by several decades.
Additional historical references are being investigated
ARCHIVE NOTES
Symbols exist to communicate ideas.
Warnings.
Directions.
Names.
The Hollow Circle appears too frequently to be accidental.
Someone—or something—keeps leaving it behind.
The troubling question is not why the symbol appears.
The troubling question is why so many people recognize it without knowing how.
If the Hollow Circle represents a missing memory, then the Archive may already know what it means.
It may have simply forgotten