Thanks to a little help from Russell Crowe, The Numinous Place has reached its Kickstarter goal of $75,000 with just six hours to go. Crowe pledged $25,000 to the fledgling project. The Numinous Place is the brainchild of screenwriter Mark Staufer and will be released as an ebook and app for iPhone, iPad, Android and e-reader devices, as well as computers.

The project is described as “a bold new way of storytelling” as the app or ebook uses video, audio, images and text to make stories come to life. Webpages, news stories, text, dream films and historic documents will be presented to readers, for lack of a better word, to uncover mysteries and conspiracies over the course of the story.

The Kickstarter pitch explains:
"The Numinous Place has the visual impact of a Hollywood blockbuster, and the pace, depth and intrigue of an irresistible work of fiction... We artfully merge video, audio, images and text to reveal the greatest conspiracy of all time. It's like if The Da Vinci Code came to life in your hands showing you actual video footage of the clues and interviews with suspects, presented the real life historical documents and artefacts, and played you recordings of crucial pieces of evidence."

The first instalment in a quartet of books is scheduled for release in December 2012. The team has recognised the importance of the traditional book market and will also be catering for more traditional readers. However, they have said that the interactivity element won’t be lost as “Augmented Reality will allow paper-book readers to access the multimedia elements on their smartphones with a swipe.”

For more information regarding the project, check out the Kickstarter project page and view the video, or visit the dedicated website for The Numinous Place.