The Raw Shark Texts ARG
A reconstructed field guide to the 2007 Alternate Reality Game (ARG) that leaked Steven Hall's novel The Raw Shark Texts into the world through an entertaining guerrilla marketing effort.
This page is part article, part recovered artefact cabinet. Most of the original game has vanished into dead websites, broken Flash, missing MySpace uploads and ordinary internet decay — but enough fragments remain to follow the trail.
Puzzle mode: where practical, I've tucked clue answers behind hint and solution tabs so you can play before you read.
What was the game about?
The Raw Shark Texts is a novel about messages from the self, missing memory, conceptual predators and clues hidden in ordinary objects.
Steven Hall and Canongate extended that premise to create an interactive online treasure hunt largely as a way to create buzz and to attract the gaming community to check out the book.
The game adapted early parts of the novel to thrust readers directly into the world of the story. It was seeded as a grassroots campaign in the US and the UK, with stacks of enigmatic business cards handed out to booksellers and left at bars and subway stations, and the starting URL for the hunt www.lostenvelope.com (a site now owned by a textiles shop) planted at gaming forums and message boards.
The game provided a trail of odd little objects: a business card, a phone number, strange photos, flashing videos, lost-cat notices, fictional social profiles and websites that seemed to sit half inside the novel and half outside it. Some pieces were mailed or handed out. Others lived on public-facing sites and sent players onward to Flickr, YouTube, MySpace, eBay and other corners of the 2007 web.
How to use this page: Play the ARG, poke the artefacts, and open hints or solutions only when you want the answer. Some pieces have been reconstructed from descriptions because the old platforms have disappeared. I have noted where that is the case, and there is a list of sources and further reading at the end.
Played the game? If you remember a missing piece, spotted an error, or still have an artefact tucked away somewhere, I would love to hear from you.
Doors into the game
Booksellers and journalists were pulled in by a personal email and/or physical letter. Public players were more likely to have started with LostEnvelope.com — either by finding the URL seeded on forums, or by being handed one of the bookseller business cards whose phone message redirected them there. Open either route below.
A personal haunting
Rachel Giese's account for CBC provides the clearest direct-entry sequence for the media. First, she received an invitation by email to take an online inkblot test (the results of which suggested a mild case of paranoia). Next, a typewritten letter arrived in the mail beginning “First things first, stay calm,” apparently sent by “The First Rachel Giese,” and advised her to consult Dr Randle about her memory loss.
A follow-up letter arrived confirming her membership in the Unspace Exploration Committee, along with a business card saying “I need to speak to you” with a phone number. The call resulted in a warning from Dr Randle not to read any letters from herself and not “under any circumstances” to read The Raw Shark Texts.
This was the game at its best: an ordinary object behaving as if it had escaped from the book and landed in the real world.
Public web trail
The game's public entry point was www.lostenvelope.com. Participants were led to the site through multiple channels: a business card reading “I Need to Speak to You,” which listed a phone number with a recorded message directing callers to the website; a MySpace invitation from an otherwise empty account containing only a story about finding an envelope marked with the URL; and posts sharing the web address on gaming forums.
A player report says the webpage showed Eric's opening situation — the First Eric letter and a telephone — and that pressing the phone played a message from Dr Randle, who told players to look up the medical term for memory loss in the Merck Manual (a long-standing medical reference work).
Solution
The term was dissociative amnesia, which became a search phrase leading to Dr Randle's Flickr photographs.
Play the ARG
I've tried to recreate a playable route through the surviving game trail. Click each node to reveal what it did, then open hints or solutions if you need them.
✉️ LostEnvelope.com
A Flash site that staged the novel's opening: First Eric's letter, a telephone, and Dr Randle's voice. The SWF itself is not reliably preserved, so the interaction is reconstructed — apparently you could call the phone and get a recorded message in response.
Enter the room
You have received a letter from the First Eric Sanderson. There is a telephone. The page says very little else.
Make a call
lostenvelope:~$ awaiting input
Dr Randle: Search for the clinical expression for your condition.
Hint
Look for the clinical term for memory loss, then use that term as a search phrase.
Solution
merck_manual.query memory loss
Result: dissociative amnesia
flickr.search “dissociative amnesia” → Dr Randle's Flickr account.
📷 Dr Randle's Flickr Account
Randle's Flickr account used a small image-word puzzle rather than a direct instruction. The US version is still live (unfortunately I can't find the UK one, which was similar but included a yellow photo instead of a purple one). Randle's comments say “If you combine the photos, you'll find the shark” and “Mail me: lostenvelope[at]gmail.com”.
🔎 Live URL: Doctor_Randle / randle1 on Flickr
Hint
Read the four photographs as words, then say them aloud. The first two form the name of a video site.
Solution
The clue reads ewe + tube + purple + shark: “YouTube Purple Shark.” That pointed US players toward the Purple Shark video. (There were obviously significantly fewer videos to search through back then!)
📼 YouTube Accounts & Videos
YouTube appears in several ways: as the next stop after Dr Randle's Flickr photos, as a place for the flashing Yellow and Purple Shark videos, and as the home of WolfLion / @FirstEricSanderson's Raw Shark uploads.
🦈 Yellow Shark / Purple Shark
UK and US players were routed to different colour-coded shark videos, each playing a short sequence of flashing lights. Choose a video and see how you go.
Purple Shark
Live URL: youtube.com/watch?v=vzIh83CpkGU
Hint
The flashes are Morse code. Decode the pulses as digits, then read them as a US-style phone number.
Solution
Morse transcription: ..--- .---- ..--- -.... .---- ....- --... ----. ---.. -----
Decoded number: 212 614 7980 — a US phone number, now inactive.
What it revealed: a short voicemail along the lines of “Hello, this is Scout. I will be your guide. Go to myspace.com/scout2000”.
Yellow Shark
Live URL: youtube.com/watch?v=7gGmN3Sha80
Hint
The flashes are Morse code. Decode the pulses as digits, then read them as a UK mobile-style phone number.
Solution
Morse transcription: ----- --... ---.. ....- --... --... --... ..--- ..... ..... ...--
Decoded number: 07847 772553 — a UK phone number, now inactive.
What it revealed: a short voicemail along the lines of “Hello, this is Scout. I will be your guide. Go to myspace.com/scout2000”.
🐺 WolfLion / @FirstEricSanderson
Another YouTube account called WolfLion / @FirstEricSanderson uploaded several Raw Shark Texts videos in 2007. It is not clear whether these were part of the Negatives collection, the ARG, or a neighbouring promotional/reader trail.
The account includes a repost of a Light Bulb Fragment video, a Flip Book introduction to The Raw Shark Texts, a short encounter with a Ludovician, a reconstruction of the Orpheus boat, and the Orpheus Source Code.
📼 The Orpheus Source Code
Live URL: Orpheus Source Code.
A decodable video.
Hint
The decoded material is HTML. You are looking for the message carried by the webpage, not just the code itself.
Solution
The code essentially reconstructed the front page of the now-defunct AnnotatedRawShark website.
Fifty percent of memory is devoted not to what has already happened, but to what will happen next.
— First Eric Sanderson
FIRST THINGS FIRST, STAY CALM
What follows is an attempt to explore, analyse and annotate some of the intriguing elements of Steven Hall's innovative The Raw Shark Texts.
Eric Sanderson is jolted awake one morning to discover that he does not know who he is or where he is. All that he has to cling to is a series of letters and packages — which he is warned not to open — signed “with regret and hope” from the First Eric Sanderson. Attacked in his own home by a force he cannot see and memories he cannot ignore — including those of a perfect love now lost — Eric tears open the parcels and discovers he is being relentlessly pursued by a shark that may exist only in his mind, but which stalks him through the flows and streams of language and human interaction. Hunting the answers as he is hunted, Eric is led on a journey that will either bring the First Eric Sanderson back to life or destroy both Eric Sandersons forever.
A daring and unique novel that confronts readers with literary hieroglyphs as well as an intensely original story, The Raw Shark Texts plumbs the depths and dangers of language, the fluidity of memory and the bittersweet ripples of loss.
🧑🦲 MySpace Accounts
Email from the First Eric Sanderson:
Ian has a MySpace - he usually hangs out with Scout on there. And that other Eric Sanderson. You should ask Scout about it, she's at least 2000 times better at all this stuff than i am.
E (the 1st)
UEC
Character accounts used in the game included myspace.com/scout2000, myspace.com/ericsanderson and myspace.com/ianthecat1. Although these are still live URLs, unfortunately most of the original content was lost in MySpace's server migration.
Around publication, player notes report that Scout's account linked to a cluster of eBay items. One Rorschach Inkblot Test listing contained a password for a link from the inkblot test that led to a family tree on Genes Reunited. Scout's genealogy then pointed toward The Red Cabinet.
Show MySpace book spoilers
Player notes say the Genes Reunited page revealed that Clio is Eric's wife, and that Scout posted on Eric's MySpace page and signed off as Clio.
🛒 Scout's eBay items
Scout's MySpace reportedly linked to newspaper references and eBay items. A Rorschach Inkblot Test listing contained a password for the next stage.
🧬 Genes Reunited
The eBay password reportedly unlocked a genealogy trail for Scout, revealing a relationship clue and pointing onward to The Red Cabinet.
🦈 RawSharkTexts.com
At time of publication, the RawSharkTexts website also contained several interactive elements that provided entry points into the game. I've reconstructed these from the archived website and various player posts in discussion forums.
🐈 Lost Cat Poster / Ian
If you responded to the lost cat poster with a potential sighting, it reportedly produced a reply from Eric and redirected you toward Scout's MySpace page.
Get your own shark
A mailing-list / sharing mechanic from the official site. It fits the campaign's habit of turning readers into vectors for messages and warnings. If you clicked on the EYE it revealed a cover image for the book.
🧭 Unspace Exploration Committee
The UEC branch appears both in the direct-mail strand and in publisher-site material. In preserved copy, it teases access to a locked forum for people who had tracked down advance copies of the novel — or who were willing to lie.
💡 The Light Bulb Fragment notebook
The various publisher websites included a link to a notebook-style click-through called “The Light Bulb Fragment” (despite the name, not one of the official Negatives, which include a similar-but-different piece named The Torch Bulb Fragment). The first page flickered between “on” and “off,” mimicking the light bulb footage described in the excerpt. The fragment you downloaded at the end was Chapter 3 of the book (The Lightbulb Fragment Part One).
🧠 Dr Randle's Rorschach Personality Test
Dr Randle's Rorschach/Personality Test included four tests with a selection of possible answers, and finished with an offer for a free consultation and personality assessment.
This mini inkblot / personality test uses preserved screens from the original online game. I wasn't able to find all the answers (and it looks like they might have been different depending on whether you played via email or online), but if you click the button after filling in your responses, you'll find all of those I was able to reconstruct.
Q1. What do you see most clearly?
Q2. Which group of words best describes it?
Q3. How does it make you feel?
Q4. What do you see?
Submit for assessment
Choose one answer for each blot, then submit the test.
Submit for Dr Randle's assessment
I appreciate this isn't easy for you. It must be terribly unsettling. You are doing very well though and you should try to relax if you can. The condition you have, well, I'm afraid it's quite unusual.
Mail me anytime, I'm here to help.
Dr Randle
Follow up with Dr Randle
You are suffering from a rare form of memory loss caused by a dissociative condition. What this means is there is nothing physically wrong with you. What you have is an injury...a non physical one. The really good news is that there's no reason why you can't make a complete recovery. Just try and stay calm.
Preserved email responses
Open this archive to see the response text I was able to reconstruct from preserved player notes.
Show preserved email responses
Rorschach Q1
two rows of shadowy people
Hmm… two rows of shadowy people, you say. That's a very specific, kind of menacing way of putting it. The crowd is a very potent symbolic archetype. Do you find the crowd threatening? Do you want to be a part of it, or apart from it? It's up to you whether or not the crowd is an asset or a hindrance. Perhaps you will be more prepared to discuss this in the coming weeks.
the moon above a calm sea
Well, you see a moon above a calm sea. Good. The sea can often be quite threatening. I mean, just take that movie… what was it called… “The Big Bad Sea”? Actually, I don't see too many movies. I like to read. But anyway, it seems like you have a calm and comfortable relationship with the sea, a symbol for your immediate, lived environment.
“the shark so early in the test”
Okay, let's have a look at your results. Yikes. The shark so early in the test! I know it's difficult, but you really do need to try to relax a little. I know it's easy to find yourself jumping at scary things but remember that sometimes - most of the time - things are only what they appear to be. There are no conspiracies. There is no danger. Nothing and no one is trying to harm you.
Rorschach Q2
scared / anxiety response
Moving on to blot number 2… Yes, you know, this one scared me a little bit too. Normally I'd say a response like this is an indicator of some sort of anxiety, but, well, I think this picture's a little bit on the freaky side as well. Let's move on!
curiosity, mystery, challenge, change
Ahh. The second inkblot image instills in you a sense of the unknown. It's all right that you don't know what the image means. In fact, I believe that the realization that we do not know everything is important prerequisite for individual growth. I think this is real progress for you.
underneath and behind things
Moving on to blot number 2… Really? Are you still thinking a lot about what's underneath and behind things? I used to love that sort of thing when I was a child, secret tunnels and the like, but there are limits you know. Sometimes a wall is just a wall and there is nothing at all behind it. Try to remember and tell yourself that.
hole, loss, emptiness, silence, deep, heartache
Blot number 2. Your answer speaks to a profound sadness, a depression. Maybe you should relax a little. Treat yourself to some of life's simple pleasures. Go to a movie, or better yet, pick up a good book. That's what I do when I'm down. I also drink a cup of hot cocoa and snuggle up next to my cats, Merlin and Domino. This is my prescription for you: book and cocoa.
Rorschach Q3
lost
Believe it or not, feeling lost is a good thing! I mean, we can only really learn about ourselves when we are lost. It's about self-discovery. Embrace it and follow it; it will show you the way.
I don't feel anything
Nothing? Fine, but you know, you have to trust yourself that your mind can make conclusions without your ego. Only then can you begin to unpack the secrets you've hidden for yourself in the depths of your subconscious. Don't be afraid to probe the limits of your reality; that is where your memory will begin to reconstruct itself.
conflict / head-on collision / stress
Blot 3. Right, yes. Conflict. Head on collision. Stress. Is there someone or something you feel is obstructing you? Something in your way that you can't get past? Maybe you should think about it a little.
trapped
The image makes you feel… trapped. Right, well. You look like you haven't left your place in a while. Looking at the same four walls all day everyday takes the worst kind of toll on the psyche. Get out at least once a day. Coming here doesn't count.
Rorschach Q4
an explosion
On to number 4, the last blot. You see… an explosion? Perhaps you are sensing a cataclysmic change for you sometime in the near future. But for good or for bad is anyone's guess. Come back in a week, maybe you'll know more then.
a shark's mouth
The last blot. You said… a shark's mouth? Open? Like it's going to eat you? I'd say that this is some sort of anxiety complex. A fear of violent bodily harm, perhaps? Well, I can't say that this is out of the ordinary. I mean, really, who isn't afraid of a shark's mouth? But I sense there is something a little bit more specific here. Let's probe this image more deeply next week.
“The shark”
Last one. You said… The shark. Oh dear, I was so hoping you wouldn't say that. Have you been suffering from states of heightened clarity? Hallucinations? If so you have to remember they are just hallucinations – keep telling yourself they are just hallucinations. I need to make a note… This could be a problem. I think we should probably review first thing tomorrow.
🗄️ The Red Cabinet
The eBay and Genes Reunited branch reportedly led to the website https://www.theredcabinet.com/. If you entered the correct password you could access additional material (which I think might have included The Aquarium Fragment; see the Negatives page), flipbook and other pieces provided elsewhere.
Check the hint/solution if you need help.
Access granted. The Red Cabinet led to SharkFlickBookStevenHall.pdf and bookshop addresses.
Hint
Think Greek island: the clue points back toward Clio / Eric and the novel's Mediterranean memory geography.
Solution
Enter NAXOS.
I do not have a copy of the original flip-book PDF. My best guess from player comments is that it was extracted from the relevant section of the book.
Important note
Additions/corrections gratefully received. All game elements remain the property of the publisher of The Raw Shark Texts and the companies involved in developing the ARG. This page is a reader-created, non-commercial fan reconstruction intended to document, discuss and celebrate the book's scattered fragments. To create it, I've used some evidence from first-hand reports, some from marketing case studies, and some relies on player-memory / forum posts from platforms that are now dead, damaged, or changed beyond recognition. I've done my best, but I'm sure the Ludovician took more than a few bites...
Sources and further reading
First-hand player accounts
- Rachel Giese (2007). “Great white hype,” CBC Arts, 13 April 2007 [archived].
- Trugbild, Literaturschock forum posts about LostEnvelope.com, 5 November 2007.
- RawSharkTexts website [partially archived / changed].
Marketing context
- Australia Council for the Arts (2008). The writer's guide to making a digital living: choose your own adventure.
- Rachel Deahl (2007). “Canongate Unveils Alternate Reality Game for New Book,” Publishers Weekly, 21 May 2007 [archived].
- Vulture (2007). “Publisher Struggles to Get Anyone to Notice Its Innovative Guerrilla Marketing,” 21 May 2007.
Reddit threads
More Raw Shark Archives
This ARG reconstruction is part of a small set of Beautiful Books pages about The Raw Shark Texts, its hidden fragments and its conceptual fish.
The Negatives / Unchapters
The companion field guide to lost, found and candidate unchapters.
Hidden Trails
An exploration of literary and musical Easter eggs in the text.
The Encyclopaedia of Unusual Fish
An expanded visual guide to the conceptual fish of Negative 26.
