This blog post will be periodically updated as spooky happenings occur here at Wyrd Leatherworks and Meadery in Portand, Oregon so be sure to check on here often to see if any new paranormal activities have happened since your last read. But let’s start with some brief history about our building.

We are located in what used to be called The Ye Old Towne Crier and the building itself is almost a hundred years old. Back in the old days, it used to be a colonial themed restaurant. As described in a previous article from Willamette Week:

“For four decades, the colonial-themed Ye Olde Town Crier served homestyle meals out of a converted house at the corner of Southeast 41st Boulevard and Holgate Avenue. Known as much for its kitschy decor—which included wooden totem poles and images of pilgrims carved into the walls—as its food, the restaurant was a family-friendly favorite of the Woodstock neighborhood until it closed in 1996.”

After it was the Ye Old Towne Crier, it was home to a few other businesses such as Grandma’s and The Hutch before it lay dormant for about a decade. In that time it was simply used as storage, and many items were left untouched. Glassware still hung in racks, the old dish pit remained hooked up, you know, pretty much it looked as if one day someone locked it up and just didn’t return. This is of course, speaking about the basement portion of our building where we are located.

According to a post from the Ye Old Towne Crier Facebook page:

“The Ye Olde opened in ‘53. The building was built in 1927 as a market. The family who originally owned it converted it over many years and added a 3rd level for their residence. That’s the secret spot. The ghost first appeared in the lounge in 1966, per the old staff. All three fireplaces are still intact.”

Since we moved in, we have done a full medieval makeover for the space transforming it into our hall where we serve food and drinks, do leatherwork, and ferment our meads (we have since moved to a new site for brewing) on site in the back. Once we started construction that’s when we started to notice things happening. I will lay the occurrences out in number formation just for ease of typing and will update them anytime something new happens.

1: The Hairbrush in the Cabin

Tayler and myself (Travis here writing this) were cleaning the inside of the little cabin that is located in the hall. It’s a very small space and you can’t really fit two people inside. I was farther inside and Tayler was pretty much at the door. While inside, I was recording a little video for our patreon backers to show progress on our new location. While recording, I pointed my camera at this hole in the back wall that is basically inside concrete and goes in and up and jokingly said “Look this is where the creepy little girl lives in the walls from every horror flick”. Once I ended the video I noticed a hairbrush sitting on the edge of the hole in the wall and said “See Tayler! There is even the brush!” Once Tayler heard me he replied “There’s no hair brush” and it took me about 45 seconds of back and forth to realize he meant there “was” no hair brush. After we got back out of the cabin we looked back at the footage and sure enough when I pointed my camera at the hole there was no hair brush there.

Facebook Link from the day it happened:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2007951525959188/permalink/3140562876031375/

2023 Update: The hairbrush is now gone. No one has gone in there as that area is off limits. Maybe it will show back up?

2: Three Comp Sink Ghostly Stumbles

While painting the ceiling behind the bar during construction, there was a loud bang that happened from the back kitchen area. It sounded like someone full on walked into the three comp sink in the kitchen area. I (Travis) hopped off my stool and ran around the corner thinking Tayler had walked into it to see if he was okay. Tayler was not there. I went all the way around to the back area in the shop side and found Tayler painting away on the bathroom doors.

3: The Dumbwaiter Ringing

One night we were installing lights to our space and the employees who were here at the time experienced this. We have these antler chandeliers hanging in our hall and when we got them we needed to kill the entire power to the building to hook them up. While standing in the dark and attempting to screw in the chandelier, they both heard a faint ringing coming from the back corner of the building. This was later at night, and no one else was in the building (Other businesses doing build-out upstairs) and it wasn’t until they pin pointed the location that was pretty close to the old dumbwaiter located in the back. It doesn’t work and has no power, but they looked up the sounds an old dumbwaiter would make and it matched the sound according to them both.

4. The Wrench and Cutting Board

Copy and pasted from the Facebook post on this day this happened (videos can be seen using the URL link to original post):

The Ghost tales continue! This is the first time we’ve ever really captured it on camera (minus the exploding shot glass!)Hey guys, Travis here. So I’m in the meadery this morning. The first video is today around 11:30 AM on August 12th 2021. While preparing the fermenter for BlackBerry you can see me in the distance pulling out Baldur’s Bladder (the name of our rolling fermenter) and dealing with that.Then a loud bang happens behind me. I was super confused because it was like right behind me and I didn’t know what it was and thought something fell, so I was looking around for the source. It wasn’t until I went back to try and see the source that I noticed the wrench on the ground. If you blink you will miss it, but the wrench appeared on the ground in the video. I am pretty sure it came from the back prep table seen on the left but I don’t have a way to slow the video down at the moment. The second video was something I noticed while going back and trying to find this current occurrence.

In the security camera footage, you can see at 12:30 AM a piece of cardboard in the back defies gravity, pulls itself out of its wedge, and then falls down. Over the course of 45 mins it slowly moves about a foot (had to pause footage and check every few minutes to be able to notice it was slowly getting farther away) and then after 1 AM it then does a flop again.

This video is from like 12:30 in the morning today and of you look you can see something randomly move in the left corner. (next tale!)

FACEBOOK POST LINK (EACH VIDEO HERE HAS ADDITIONAL VIDEOS IN THE COMMENTS, BE SURE TO SEE COMMENTS UNDER BOTH VIDEO’S COMMENT SECTIONS): https://www.facebook.com/groups/2007951525959188/permalink/4177943672293285/

5. The Flying Cutting Board

On the same day as the wrench and the piece of cardboard moving, Tayler and myself were in the meadery and we hear a loud noise of something falling to the ground. We came around the corner to find a cutting board on the ground and I instantly started recording. This cutting board was on the back of a drying rack, and had to go over other items on the shelf to flop to the ground. We did manage to catch the board flying off the shelf with our security camera, even though it was some pretty good distance away.

FACEBOOK POST LINK (SECURITY CAM FOOTAGE IN COMMENTS OF ORIGINAL POST):

Tales From The Community

6. THE FLYING SONOS SPEAKER

One evening while open to the public, Christian and Travis who were working experienced our sonos speaker fly off the fireplace mantle to almost the center of the room. This was during full service while patrons were inside. When it occurred the hall went silent. There was no loud music playing, in fact, we were listening to very chill The Legend of Zelda music “Great Fairy Fountain” when it occurred, so there wasn’t any bass that could have vibrated it off, let alone send it to the center of our hall floor.

7. The Exploding Shotglass

One night we had a shot glass just randomly explode. It shattered while just sitting in the shot glass spot. The employee working at the time witnessed this and had to clean up all the glass. Luckily they were not hurt.

TO BE CONTINUED……

With fall right around the corner and summer coming to an end, the time for all things spooky is drawing near. It is a time for ghouls and ghosts, rainy fall nights, beautiful colors among trees, and the horror movie night binges. Portland, Oregon is home to many reported haunted locations, and has a long history of sights attracting fans and paranormal investigators. Many places such as The Shanghai Tunnels, Cathedral Park, The Bagdad Theater, McMenamin’s, Lone Fir Cemetery, and many others are among the most famous, but there are other smaller places around.

Many local Portlander’s are familiar with the long closed Ye Olde Towne Crier,a building built in 1927 with a long history of it’s roots. It is most famous for being the Ye Olde Towne Crier, but a variety of other bars and businesses have resided within it’s walls.

More recently and after nearly a decade of being vacant, Wyrd Leatherworks and Meadery have taken up the mantle of bringing the basement area back to life with their own medieval twist. The new business location for Wyrd will include a fully functional mead hall style tap room, their meadery where they make their honey based beverage, and their storefront of handmade leather goods with artists on consignment. If all goes okay with Covid-19, Wyrd is aiming to open their new doors in the fall and will operate within all the guidelines in place for safety.

The hauntings and ghost sightings date back to the staff at Ye Olde Towne Crier. According to the building’s Facebook post:

The Ye Olde opened in ‘53. The building was built in 1927 as a market. The family who originally owned it converted it over many years and added a 3rd level for their residence. That’s the secret spot. The ghost first appeared in the lounge in 1966, per the old staff. All three fireplaces are still intact.

During the remodeling process over the last few months, Wyrd Leatherworks and Meadery has noticed minor paranormal activity while working on their new space. Objects have shown up in random spots, ceiling fans have begun to spin on their own while the co-owners ate their food on breaks, loud noises as if someone walked into a metal sink hard, etc. Often it is just the three co-owners there working on the space and can confirm their experiences so far, which led to them researching into whether or not the place has a history of being haunted.

Wyrd Leatherworks and Meadery does not wish to upset any spirits who share their residence and is currently working on a plan to collaborate peacefully with their new shared space roommates. Wyrd currently operates from their small storefront (no taproom yet) and meadery in Milwaukie, Oregon and is open to the public.

To anyone interested in checking their new place out this fall, this very well could be Portland’s first haunted meadery.

Follow Wyrd Leatherworks and Meadery here:

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Wyrdleatherandmead.com

Mead (known in Nordic history as “the nectar of the Gods”) is an alcoholic beverage brewed using honey, and it is about to hit Portland in a big way. Wyrd Leatherworks and Meadery is a company who opened their doors in Milwaukie, Oregon two years ago and have since built a name as the primary mead supplier for the Portland area in addition to making custom leather pieces ranging from cosplay attire, renaissance faire costume pieces, heavy metal attire, to full suits of functional leather armor, some of which have made it as far as on the set of the television show ‘Vikings’. They are now expanding their production as well as their offerings by moving into Southeast Portland and revamping a well loved classic bar space.

Ye Olde Town Crier was a colonial-themed restaurant and bar located at SE 41st and Holgate known for it’s decor that included log walls, large wooden colonial-style murals, and stone fireplaces that served home-style food. It is the perfect foundation for Wyrd to build out an old medieval mead hall aesthetic which will include everything from shields and swords on the walls, long antique wooden tables, and of course, drinking horns and plenty of mead.

Wyrd is very involved with the medieval fantasy, cosplay, Scandinavian folklore, renaissance faire, and the SCA crowds and that is why you may even find patrons dressed up and hanging out in costume at this new spot. They intend to take their visitors out of this world and into another when entering their place, and have a goal to have a very immersive ambiance to the their hall.

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The company is also gaining some traction with celebrities who are in similar themed movies and shows. Actors from Harry Potter, the Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and Avatar the Last Airbender have been known to sport their merchandise.

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In addition to Wyrd’s own mead, they will highlight other meaderies products, focusing heavily on those produced in the Pacific Northwest. The new location will also host live music, karaoke, trivia nights, Hnefatafl boards (think something along the lines of Viking chess), and mead hall friendly foods such as charcuterie boards with a variety of meats and cheeses, breads, vegetables, and soups.

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Wyrd’s meads tend to be non-carbonated much like a standard wine, with the alcohol perentages ranging from 12-14% ABV. In the new location they will also be able to produce “session” meads which are carbonated and lower ABV usually around 5-6% and plan on expanding into braggots which include grains and is a type of mead/beer hybrid.

In light of the economic impact of COVID-19 on many local businesses, Wyrd, has had to adapt their business model with curbside pick up, shipping (they are now able to ship to over 40 states), and local delivery. Despite this, they have been able to continue making their product available and having many of their recent batch releases even selling out within days of them becoming available. Meeting demand has in fact been difficult with their current facilities as Portlander’s seem to have quite a thirst for this age old drink, and Wyrd intends to meet it head on.

Keep an eye out this coming fall for this new space coming to Portland. You can follow them by visiting:

Wyrdleatherandmead.com

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

You can also back them on Indiegogo, a campaign to help raise funds for the buildout with awesome perk rewards for backers:

Indiegogo

It is a time of change and many small businesses are greatly feeling the hit due to the Corona Virus Pandemic. Portland has closed down restaurants and bars, it’s events, and anywhere that hosts large groups of people. But this is also a time to not add to the wide-spread fear and to heavily focus on supporting your small, local, businesses wherever you live. It is essential that we take the time and effort to encourage as much support for places that are now allowing take-out, to-go, and delivery as a means fighting back the virus and to help keep our local places alive and thriving.

Wyrd Leather and Mead, a local shop dedicated to supporting a variety of artists who make handmade items, as well as their own leather goods and their own brewed mead has launched a new delivery service for the Portland area.

Wyrd Leather and Mead states on their Facebook Page:

“In order to adapt to this strange new world we are living in, we have gotten the official okay to begin delivery services within the Milwaukie/Portland/Oregon City area. That’s right. We can and will personally deliver mead to your front door if it is within the 10 mile radius of our shop (a small $5 delivery fee will be added as well.) Order a bottle on our website, choose local winery pickup during shipping check out, and then email us with your address and we will be in touch for delivery with additional required information and time frames. We at Wyrd Leather and Mead are dedicated to our fans and followers, and we believe that going the extra mile(s) to ensure customers remain satisfied is a great step to showing what small local businesses are capable of. Let’s support any and all small businesses during these wild times. Our shop will remain open for normal business hours.”

Having mead delivered to your door in 2020 seems like the perfect way to eliminate any outdoor contact if you are choosing to do so, and to have a ready stock of alcohol on hand for any medieval movie/television show marathons you might be having within the safety of your own Keep. Help support any and all small businesses during this time.

Wyrd Leather and Mead can be found on:

Facebook , Twitter, Instagram, Google, and on their Website.

The Chamber has been opened!! The Wonderful Weekend of Wizardry returns this May to a brand new location at the University of Puget Sound for Year 2! Fans of the Harry Potter Series can attend a weekend full of magic by attending any of the event’s three day course.

Still going strong after two decades, The Harry Potter fandom is thriving and this event has been created by fans and for fans. The first year was held held at the Murano Hotel in Tacoma WA. Here you could attend classes, collect house points, visit vendors alley, attend the great feast, ball, and MUCH MORE!  The event was visited by amazing cosplayers who made the experience so much more real, actors Stanislav Yanevski (Viktor Krum) and Chris Rankin (Percy Weasley) were in attendance, as well as the Cast from NYC performance of “The Puffs”. By the end of the weekend Hufflepuff came out victorious and won the house cup!

This year the event will be taking place at the University of Puget Sound, which brings forth it’s own “Hogwarts” feel to the event with it’s beautiful campus. Here fans will be able to attend classes, roam the grounds, visit shop vendors, interact with other students, earn house points for the end of the weekend House Cup, attend a dance, and even stay in a dorm room on location for the weekend. This is about as close as you can get to the real deal as you could possibly hope for!

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To purchase tickets for this truly fantastic and magical event, head over to Weekendofwizardry.com and enter the magical world being held in Tacoma, Washington.

Weekend of Wizardry prides itself on being as immersive as they can get, so be prepared for lots of familiar characters wandering the halls. The event highly recommends ditching your muggle clothes and doning witches and wizard attire, but it is definitely not required! Any and all fans of the Harry Potter series are welcome at Weekend of Wizardry, in whatever fashion you choose!

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After a year and a half of planning for the next event, Weekend of Wizardry seems to have definitely upped their immersive game by bringing their fans to a real school this time around. Be sure to grab a friend or two, dive into the magical world at Weekend of Wizardry, and be able to say “Mischief Managed” when the weekend is over.

Stay up to date with Weekend of Wizardry on social media by following their Facebook page.

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A new star rises in Salt Lake City’s Heavy Metal scene. Blood Star (not to be confused with the Swiss band Bloodstar) is a new act formed by Jamison Palmer (Visigoth), Madi Smith, and Noah Hadnutt (Sanctifyre) and before they had anything set in stone, they previously burned throughout America on tour with Night Demon proving to the masses that you can still spread your music today without anything recorded as in the days of old.

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As it reads on their Facebook page:

“Cold canyon winds whip across snow swept summits, whirling down to a sprawling valley floor. A blood red star hangs low over the horizon: the only light that pierces the opaque particulate haze. Perhaps it is an omen – a harbinger of good fortune. Or perhaps its presence symbolizes a chaotic and malevolent end. For several weeks the star has grown brighter, swelling in size and reddening in color. As the anomalous Blood Star’s crimson glow encroaches on the cobalt sky above, unease permeates all facets of existence. Anomie and malaise take root. Entropy seems to accelerate at an ever-increasing rate. Madness reigns. The world takes its last labored, heaving breaths bathed in relentless red rays of a sinister star.”

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With classic influences of Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Mötorhead, Accept, Saxon, and Irom Maiden, Blood Star is on the path of becoming a pure gem in the Heavy Metal scene.

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For those interested in giving the band a listen, Blood Star now has a new track and pre-order for their upcoming album titled “The Fear” up on their Bandcamp page.

The band was just recently signed onto Shadow Kingdom Records.

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Stay in the loop with this up and coming band by following them on social media, for one night in your city soon a Blood Star might be seen shining in the sky above.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10204747302997680&id=1690408636

Milwaukie, Oregon is a small city in the outskirts of Portland and is home to a tight knit community of people who call the Dogwood City their home. The town has many unique shops, restaurants, a nickel arcade/theater, comic stores, and coffeehouses, but now a new unique business has been added – a leather and mead shop full of additional local artists.

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Wyrd Leather and Mead located on Mcloughlin Blvd is a medieval nerdy themed spot that specializes in handmade leather goods while also making their own mead. The shop also also prides itself in creating a place where other small artists can display their works, further promoting the love and support of art.

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The idea of the shop came into being when longtime best friends Tayler Toll and Travis Sigler had the idea to open a place that focused around their love for all things medieval and fantasy based.

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Sigler had been doing leather working for years as a freelance artist creating many things from armor to custom belts and while working for Dark Horse Comics. He attended many renaissance faires and comic conventions while doing cosplay, while Toll had been in the food industry working for local favorite spots such as Blue Star Doughnuts and Boxer Ramen since they left high school.

It wasn’t until the summer of 2017, that the pair began brewing mead in Toll’s closet and one day the idea of a weird unique shop sprung.

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After a few years of build out with the help of close friends, family, and their newfound support from followers around the globe, Wyrd Leather and Mead finally began it’s mead production in the summer of 2019.

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Now with a new friend and business partner Doug Wingate of Acuinked (Acupuncturist and Tattooist), the trio plan increase their mead production line in Milwaukie using fresh local Oregon Oregon honey with a variety of coming flavors that they are concocting.

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The small local business seems to be taking their leap into the world by storm, as they already have a huge army rallying behind them around the globe, including many famous actors supporting them such as Harry Potter stars Stanislav Ianevski and Christopher Rankin who played Viktor Krum and Percy Weasley.

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If you happen to be in the area of Milwaukie, Oregon, near Portland be sure to stop by their shop and browse their wares for any quests you happen to be on!

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Wyrd Leather and Mead can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Etsy, on their website, and they can now legally ship to many US states.

Additional leather work of past commissions can also be found in a Portfolio by clicking HERE

Keep Milwaukie Wyrd

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It was recently announced that beloved actors Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan will be starting a new podcast tentatively titled “Two Hobbs in a Pod” while guesting on the podcast Inside of You, the podcast that is run by Smallville actor Michael Rosenbaum.

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The pair have had a long history of friendship, and over the many years they have many tales to tell, so this is excellent news for fans of Middle-earth who are craving even more tales twenty years after the series came to an end.

Boyd and Monaghan recorded the first episode of their new podcast within Rosenbaum’s very own studio.

The pair also invited Michael Rosenbaum to be a guest on their podcast.

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Inside of You is a podcast hosted by Michael Rosenbaum where he brings guests on and really dives into who his guests are as people, discussing mental illnesses, past history, the film industry, and more and is a creative outlet where his guests can truly be themselves.

We at Wyrd Leather and Mead are huge fans of Middle-earth, and longtime supporters of Inside of You and are extremely excited to see where this new road (that goes ever on and on) leads!

The two hobbits aren’t exactly sure where the podcast will be going, in traditional “Great! Where are we going?” fashion but nonetheless it is still very exciting news for fans.

Be sure to subscribe and follow Inside of You on all social media platforms to show further support!

Thank you Michael for a great podcast episode!

A few days have passed since Tanagra’s forces became slaughtered in the battlefield, with Nagra Audio’s untimely betrayal (see previous article about the Nagra Audio Employee who went rogue and started bashing every private Facebook account he could find) just when fans thought they were making a great stand.

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After a few days of recovery, a new alliance has rallied to the call and Tanagra’s forces have picked up their arms once again.

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“I had a friend named Jeff Taft, who is also a fan of Tanagra message me asking if it was okay to start a group chat with some other fans who also happen to be lawyers. If it wasn’t for Jeff’s message our fight may not have reached this second wind. Fans around the world have been voicing their opinions, and it’s because of our booming uproar that we are being noticed. The Heavy Metal community is like one big family and we look out for our own. Together we are strong. “

-Travis Sigler, Longtime friend and fan of the band Tanagra

As things began to unfold, the new warriors that heeded the call began secret messages in the dead of night. The battle commanders over at Foundation Law Group offered their services pro bono, via the trademark expertise of Sevag Demirjian and the support of the CEO of the firm, Armen Martin.

“We have been astounded at the response; the community is the only reason the corporation is negotiating at all. Fans have come together and they’re saying things like ‘They [Nagra / Kudelski Group] need to drop it completely’ and the community is right. There is no reason we can’t reach a co-existence agreement.”

-Erich Ulmer, Tanagra

One thing is for certain though and that is the fact that Nagra Kudelski didn’t expect this last alliance of fans and bands to be marching on their enormous gate at the ready.

Let the Lord of the Kudelski Land come forth! Let justice be done upon him!”

-A Battle Captain who just marched up to the Kudelski Gate

“We do not come to treat with Kudelski Group, faithless and accursed. Tell your master this: the armies of Kudelski must disband. They are to depart these lands, never to return.”

-Old White Haired Dude who also approached the gate.

This is a glorious day for Tanagra, because the fight isn’t over, and with the new allies of Foundation Law Group we are ready to charge straight into the fire.

‘We will consume all that lies before us

We will strike down all who oppose us

Let it be known that on this day your kingdom falls

Your pathetic civilization will be crushed to the very depths of oblivion!”

-Tyranny of Time Lyrics by Tanagra

The Battle of Tanagra still blazes on, and if you are new to battle please go back and read the past articles as there isn’t much time to recap while out here in the field.

Swords and shields clash, lasers pick off many, and all out armageddon rages in the war that is upon us.

Earlier this week, the company Nagra Audio released a statement pledging their allegiance to Tanagra, the small independent progressive power metal band from Portland, Oregon in their epic war against the Swiss giants Nagra Kudelski.

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This statement of Nagra Audio’s put the thousands of heavy metal fans rallying at ease knowing they had some support against the trademark bullying Nagra Kudelski Company, who happens to be the former parent company of Nagra Audio.

In a swift stroke and what some are saying is the worst betrayal since the “Red Wedding“, angry reacts began popping up above the heads of many of Tanagra’s forces all over the battlefield, causing them to instantly crumble and fall.

The source of this incredible backstabbing nature is from one of Nagra Audio’s Employees Philip Chamberpot, who began his onslaught in mass genocide formation by leaving hundreds and perhaps thousands of angry reacts across anyone’s personal social media profile that he was able to get his hands on (Those who left reviews and comments) as well as messaging many of the forces on the battlefield with angry messages.

He even angry reacted a post of the passing of a beloved dog on one fans personal Facebook page.

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“The fact that they are going out of their way to leave mad emojis on several of Tanagra’s fans private posts directly shows us their motives are vicious and their word deceptive”

– April Jones, Filmmaker/Journalist

It is a heavy day for Tanagra, as many forces in their ranks have been slaughtered on the battlefield by these angry reacts.

“It is salt on the wound knowing that not only does this business (Nagra Kudelski) bully and sue innocent persons without just cause, but also has their child company (or someone who apparently works for them) resort to harassment of a private level and unconnected individuals when criticized for their predatory business practices”

-Trent (Tanagra Fan)

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No further word from the band, Nagra Audio, or Nagra Kudelski has been spoken at this time. It is unclear if this was a rogue attack from an employee that broke off from Nagra Audio and decided to take matter’s into his own hands or if the company Nagra Audio is aware of these messages and actions and just simply doesn’t care.

Hopefully Nagra Audio will comment regarding this matter, as the Heavy Metal Community was under the impression that Nagra Audio had sided with Tanagra.

More to come as new information is released.

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