The Sunken

"The Sunken" are the hivemind-like main antagonist of Oxenfree. They were once the 97 people aboard the USS Kanaloa, including 85 officers and 12 army passengers. The Kanaloa was sunk by friendly fire on October 25th, 1943, causing the experimental nuclear reactor contained within its hull to implode, sending its 97 crew members to their deaths and causing them to be, as Maggie Adler states, "separated from our dimensional existence", which is to say, they were trapped in a parallel, void-like dimension outside of time and space. Maggie also goes on to say in her eighth note that she believes that the Kanaloa crew's mental states had been "reduced to that of children."

Henry Griffin
As a SOC Sergeant, Maggie Adler convinced him, as well as her other higher-ups, to bring her friend Anna Shea onto Edwards Island as a comms officer some time before the Kanaloa's sinking. He eventually boarded the Kanaloa as a passenger and was among those who met their demise when the ship imploded. Maggie was able to identify him by his call-sign ("Call-sign #F139" written on Adler Note 8) during one of her and Anna's research sessions at Catbird Station. They deduced from his confused diction and reliance on "game"-logic that the Kanaloa crew members' emotional (if not mental) states had been reduced to those of children's. Later on, when Maggie and Anna attempted to reverse the manifest breakdown in the cave, Maggie mentions that they spoke, albeit briefly, to Henry after tuning into the temporal tear, just before Anna was overwhelmed and absorbed into the ridge.

Calvin Gilbert
An electrician on the Kanaloa. After the sinking of the USS Kanaloa, his first transmissions were received in Fort Milner's Facilities by a signal officer. These transmissions were later dismissed as a prank, faulty equipment, or AM stations bouncing off the midland. One of these transmissions, however, was deciphered by Maggie Adler as a mayday. When Maggie began working with Marianne Bozek to decode these transmissions, Marianne Bozek told Maggie that she had corresponded with a man named Calvin. Maggie mentions the frequency of Calvin's call-sign echoing through the relays in her ninth letter. Additionally, his family also apparently opened a restaurant on the island when it became a tourist destination.

Francis Salter
An engineer on the Kanaloa. Maggie believed that the distress signal she received the night of the Kanaloa's sinking was sent by Francis. The transmission was cut off and she hastily translated it as an attempt to jam radar. This lead to the sinking of the Kanaloa via friendly fire by the USS Walter Roy. He is said to have been married and had a daughter. It is also said that a weapons technician of the Walter Roy had attended Francis Salter's wedding before the incident, which seemed strange to Maggie upon discovery.