WARNING: While what you are about to see in the video is not exactly a spoiler, some of the commentary about it definitely does contain big Fringe season 5 spoilers. Read (and watch) at your own risk!

On Thursday, October 4, J.H. Wyman tweeted the following message:

"Here's something BRAND NEW for you guys to have FIRST!"

That's always an exciting thing for a fan to read, isn't it? When one clicked on the link that went with this message, however, things got even more exciting. The "something BRAND NEW" turned out to be a short -- but tantalizing -- video of Walter Bishop (John Noble) talking through some static. Watch the video for yourself right here:



What is all this about? What are the tapes referred to in the Twitter hashtag, #FollowTheTapes?

Because I have actually seen this episode, I can give you a few clues:

• The video tweeted by J.H. Wyman is actually only a small part of a longer video that will appear in the upcoming Fringe episode, "In Absentia."
• In order to get hold of this tape, the team has to break into Walter's old lab at Harvard. This is far more complicated than it might seem.
• Because Walter is insane and awesome like that, this video is actually a video -- not a DVD or another form of electronic recording. Not only that but it's a Betamax video! That's right, in 2015, Walter Bishop was still recording things on Betamax. Wow.
• The tapes mentioned in the video will be a major factor throughout the rest of Fringe season 5.
  

Why are the tapes important? Who is Walter speaking to in the video? What does all of this mean anyway? I can't give you all the answers here, but you definitely will get more when "In Absentia" airs on Friday, October 5 at 9pm on FOX.

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(Images courtesy of FOX, video courtesy of FOX via @JWFRINGE onTwitter)