Shailomba Shokihiili Shiliyappo Ayokili Haktaenwa Yaknishito Napasa Naluza Falayaiyolo Shalaiyiliikni Haktailijapa
Yakni Aokili, Yakni Aokili, Shailobishokili,
After being sent to Jerome, Arizona, to silence a conspiracy blogger, two Delta Green agents found themselves in a bloody firefight with the clandestine agency Majestic.
Their hunt for the blogger ended in a remote trailer where they discovered him physically communing with a captive gray alien, revealing a secret war between causing forces they do
not understand.
Now, the only thread connecting these conspiracies is a reclusive biologist hiding around the swamps of Boggy Depot, Oklahoma.
and the agents are sent there to find him, no matter the cost.
Welcome to the Dead Letter Bureau.
Welcome back everybody.
This is Nick, your handler, and I am joined with some familiar faces and a new face.
Why don't our familiar faces kick us off with a quick reintroduction.
Hey, I'm Christina and I am Agent Ryan.
Jordan and I play Agent Del Sandusky.
and our new face.
Go ahead.
Hey, my name is Ryan Murphy and I'm going to be playing Morgan Barone.
Agent Barone, it's a Saturday midday.
What do you find yourself doing?
she's probably out in her garage, under her 1987 Ford Bronco, just cranking away, with some loud metal music in the background.
Cause nothing settles her more than people screaming at her over and over again.
So that's pumping and she has a wrench in hand is oil up to her, up to her elbows and under a car, just, just cranking away, fixing those little knickknacks and those ticky
tack things that, that bother her.
Beautiful.
As you're listening to music and cranking away on your engine, there is a uh small echo of a sound in the distance.
Unfamiliar, but maybe a new sound.
It's the sound of that pager.
You're not sure how many times you've missed it, but this is the first time you've heard it.
What are you doing?
great.
I imagine she's, she's underneath and hears it goes quiet.
No more clicks.
Thinks about it.
like, shit.
And then sits up and hits her head on the bottom of the car and like, come on, really?
Jesus Christ.
And backs their way out from under the car and rushes over to the pager and picks it up skeptically, turning over in her hand, um remembering how and where she got it and checks
the pager.
Yeah, just a simple phone number.
Alright, well, I guess it's time.
She walks over and grabs her phone, dials the number and puts it up to her ear.
After one ring, a robo voice answers and tells you that on Sunday evening, you need to be in Oklahoma City for the opera and then it goes dead.
Hmm, simple as that I suppose.
Guess I should probably start packing.
And she clips it to her belt and turns around, wipes the oil off her hand with the rags that she has around and heads into the house to start to pack.
All right, Agent Ryan and Dell, you've arrived in Oklahoma.
You know the drill.
And you're waiting at the airport for one more.
you have a car.
It's the classic Volvo wagon.
the one that you had for your last operation still runs waiting for you.
Any conversation or any reflections that you'd like to chat with each other about.
Well, for me personally, I'm excited to see Del again.
I've been really immersed at home researching aliens and everything, getting heads down with that.
So I'm excited to see Del again, but I'm also pretty nervous that somebody new will be joining us because that's a lot of social interaction for me.
Yeah, so like as Agent Ryan, I imagine just kind of like starts hopelessly gushing about some of the things that he learned in the downtime.
I'm listening and it's washing over me and it's cool and I appreciate it, but I'm also thankful that maybe I won't be the late guy anymore, right?
Like I'm here on time quote unquote now, so that feels pretty cool.
Agent Barone, you see the parking spot marked with the number 183 and there is a Volvo parked there that looks quite beat up and you see two strange characters sitting in it.
Behind the wheel is a wiry man and a larger man in the passenger seat.
How do you approach?
I rip my car around the corner, burning, no, just kidding.
I completely unsteady and decidedly unsure and a little obviously nervous.
She has a bag slung over each shoulder um and starts walking over to the car and just kind of like gives like an awkward wave and like a shrug.
perfect time to tell them what you look like.
Okay, so she's 5'3", um decidedly muscley and um well built.
She has no matter what pants she has, she has them tucked into the top of her boots and those secured so she could be ready for anything.
I'd say right now she probably has like a semi-loose baggy t-shirt on with the front side kind of tucked into her pants.
She has long dark hair.
That's braided together in a huge ridiculous braid just over her right shoulder that she could probably looks like she could probably toss back and be ready to tussle at any point
in time.
Incredible, thank you.
So you get in the car, I'm assuming, or anybody helping Agent Brown load.
I yeah, like I'll wave through the dusty rear view mirror and get out and help, know, I imagine the back hatch has a little stick to it, so like we'll get it out and there's kind
of a poof of desert sand that comes off the back.
And I'll just kind of like, you know, hopelessly sweep off a little space in the back for you put your stuff as though it's not going to just get coated immediately.
Uh, right, no, uh, yeah, hey, thanks.
Uh, Barone.
Wanna go to shake your hand?
Agent Sandusky.
uh And this over here is Agent Ryan.
You can make his acquains.
And I'm still in the front seat.
I was kind of looking at her in the side mirror, uh but didn't even bother to get out.
I'm feeling a little nervous about meeting somebody new.
And I just kind of turn around and say, hi.
Nice to meet you.
Yeah, no, you as well.
just to get it out of the way.
Cause awkward.
Are you guys, are you huggers?
Are you hand, hand?
No.
All right.
Hard, hard pass on that.
Okay.
And I, I toss my bags down and, um, we go to, to, to sit down in the backseat.
Yeah, I mean, I'm not opposed and I'll offer like a side hug if you want, right?
Like, uh...
she grabs, she ignores the side hug and straight up gives just front on nice, strong, maybe a little too strong of a hug, especially for a first time and clearly awkward and
like doesn't know what she's doing.
Yeah, those bottom ribs were bruised, but like if they weren't, she probably would have put a bruise on them.
Yeah, you feel your back pop a little bit with the hug.
are you gonna take the wheel
I mean, I will reach for it naturally, but I'll kind of like leave a little space, right?
Like I'll be walking up that way, but I'll kind of like give a little, you know, courtesy opening.
yeah, no yeah, if we could just jump right in.
I've driven a car once or twice, maybe, and she jumps in with ease.
OK, well, just remember, this ain't a test.
Yeah.
sure with this car, we're not testing out of anything.
No, this is, this is a hunk.
That's, that's for sure.
No offense, no offense.
Yeah, well, it ain't mine, but it kinda is.
It grows on you, that's for sure.
It grows something, definitely, dust in a dusty garage.
uh We should get going.
Where are we headed off to?
Sarah Field Office around here.
you don't meet at a address.
There's no office at this time.
In fact, what they gave you was a street corner downtown in Oklahoma City.
When you get there, you understand why there was no address.
You stand before the site of the Moreau Building bombing.
It's 1998, three years after the blast of the Oklahoma City bombing.
And the place looks like a wound that refuses to scar over.
Right at the city's heart is still a long chain link fence that stretches the length of the block and has become kind of a public tombstone, a place for memory to hang its hat.
There are photos posted to the chain link fence, hundreds of them clipped there, um smiling people before the world broke for them, school pictures of kids with goofy
gap-toothed grins, man in a bad tuxedo at his wedding, beaming a woman holding a fat squabbling baby.
ah That's what meets you as you park.
Oh, wow.
I can't believe we're here.
I remember reading a lot about this.
It's so sad.
They did a real number on the place.
Yeah, as you start walking the chain link fence, you realize that the Oklahoma sun is quite relentless and has turned a lot of the color photos into more of a pastel ghost of
its old self.
Below them on the ground is what could be described as a garden of grief, plastic flowers that are kind of garish and some fresh bouquets that have wilted a few really fresh ones
in water still.
And there's rain soaked teddy bears here and there, the buttons in the eyes starting to fall out.
And there are pictures with laminate over them saying still missing or haven't found in large red letters with a simple picture.
But overall, it's kind of quiet.
Obviously, it feels heavy.
There's a lot of probably unheard last words as you walk through here, like the phantom sound of kids laughing.
Dang Nick, that's dark dude.
Okay, yeah.
of kids laughing.
You described it really well.
I've been to this memorial, and you've described it really well, actually.
I've never been to Oklahoma, never been here, but I can sure picture it now.
Thank you for the beautiful art picture.
Well, you three are standing there.
Maybe there's a photo of a little girl with pigtails that you has caught your eye and then a familiar voice to Dell and Ryan.
Handler Butterfield shouts from across the road.
He's in his usual black suit, looks a little rumpled and out of place, almost like he went to like an Undertaker's birthday party or something, he walks across the street trying to
flag you down.
He doesn't make eye contact and he stands there looking at the fence with his hands on his hips.
So we just start walking towards him and kind of give him a little wave and a nod.
Yeah, he shakes his head as you come up and he just, he has a low voice at this point.
And he says, yeah, one man, one man with a truck full of fertilizer and I guess a lot of hate, simple, ugly, ugly motive and a lot of evil.
It's a mess here.
Sorry to bring you into this temporary field office, m but here we are.
Yeah, um probably a little dark.
I don't think really too many people uh deserve to die, especially for absolutely no reason, it seems like.
I agree.
uh, sorry, Barone.
uh, hugger?
No.
Hand shake?
You don't look like a hug guy, do you?
Yeah, you look at him in, usually black suits don't show sweat stains like in armpits, but his does.
He looks quite warm and his face is drooping a little bit.
Very sad dad look to him.
And he holds his hand out for a handshake.
Doesn't really even respond to the hugger thing.
I'm assuming you grab for it.
Yeah.
Moist.
Nice to meet you, sir.
Yeah, he doesn't catch it.
As you guys know, what we deal with is a little older and quieter and its motives aren't something you can print in the newspaper like McVeigh.
But if we fail, the world doesn't get just a little scar.
It gets rewritten or even erased.
So there are no memorials for the victims that we're trying to save.
um Come on, let's get to it.
And he starts to walk across the road.
I'm kind of suspecting that he may have lost somebody in this, but I don't want to ask.
I just follow him and stay silent.
Yeah, role human intelligence.
86
Definitely fail.
Yeah.
It's hard to really tell based on his body language.
uh You know that he's a company man, loves the program and the FBI.
So could just be that, but yeah, it's hard to tell.
Do we take the bags, leave the bags here?
What?
don't...
new.
I'm new.
Sorry.
Yeah, Handler Butterfield turns around, it's about to cross the road.
Almost half lighting a cigarette, stops, just leave him in the car, but you guys will be taking a flight out of here pretty soon.
um Don't worry, it's just a small municipal private charter.
oh
Right, okay, and I'll shuffle across the street not to be left behind.
he opens a door and it goes into a hotel lobby that looks like it has been taken over by the FBI.
There are no bellhops.
There is just other agents shuffling around.
You pass by large conference rooms and serious men and women tapping away at government issue computers set up in strange locations throughout this hotel hallway.
They don't really give you a second glance as you walk through.
And there is a smaller conference room at the end of an ornate hallway with a grandfather clock next to it.
And he points into there.
The doors slightly ajar and you get into
to what looks to be like some sort of presidential meeting room that this hotel would have had.
Fine oak table.
There's no computer set up like last time for you, Agent Ryan, just a few stacks of paper.
He pushes the door open for you.
Yeah, I just walk in and immediately look for some place to sit awkwardly.
yeah, there's chairs too comfortable for FBI fare, but really nice.
Yeah, Barone will kind of walk in and uh make a loose lap around the papers to see if she could scrape any information.
Too nervous to sit down or commit to anything specific.
She's just kind of uh pacing and standing there a little bit looking around.
Yeah, you notice there are three copies of something printed.
And the email reads, Arthur, your enthusiasm is noted.
The specimen you describe, your visitor, its passivity, its seeming fragility, it's not weakness, it's design.
Does it show signs of external influence?
The auditory clicks, strange energy readings?
Any fungoid residue?
Engineers rarely let their probes wander too far off without a leash.
At Armitage, we were so focused on hardware they pulled from the desert in 47, they never asked who built the factory.
A fatal lack of curiosity.
Be careful.
You are holding a scalpel that belongs to a surgeon you cannot see.
Do not mistake it for the surgeon itself.
J.
he starts talking as you're reading and he says, all right, uh let's get to it.
So we've been pulling apart all the data you recovered from Finch.
Thank you, Agent Ryan and Del, appreciate it.
um He wasn't just screaming at the walls or his little gray angel in that trailer.
He had a source as you know, and we identified that source as Dr.
Julian Karras.
He pauses to let that name sink in and signals to the emails that he had printed off or email that he printed off for you.
Now, it wasn't just some random chat room friendship.
Our records show that Finch and Karis were both 10Ds of...
Some fringe science and aeronautics conferences over the past decade knew each other.
Karras seems like he was a biologist by trade.
Officially, he has no current address and his last known employment was a company called Armitage Aerospace.
He, quote, retired, I would say about seven years ago and was last seen in Arizona and then vanished.
Armitage Aerospace should maybe ring a bell for you.
It's a known majestic front for research and development.
So Karas wasn't just some desk jockey.
He was on the inside working on whatever things Majestic was studying.
He's been careful, but that uh dial-up modem he emailed Finch from leaves a bit of a trail.
Very faint, but we were able to find the direct IP address some of the last messages came from and it's a single phone line at oddly enough a park ranger outpost in the middle of
Boggy Depot State Park So we think that's where he's He paces for a second collecting his thoughts leans his knuckles on the table and looks down at you three directly
No questions so far.
no, I assume the information, the rest of the information that we have and where, when, why, and all of that is coming next?
Absolutely.
So here's the mission.
It's a delicate one.
He's probably an ex-majestic biologist who specializes in unnatural things, potentially hiding in a swamp, feeding information to a man who is torturing a gray alien for its
psychic visions.
but we do still have to answer the question, why is he leaking information now?
This.
Yeah, it seems like somebody leaking information needs something known, but why?
Yes.
And if you read that email, he alludes to a surgeon.
Surgeon we can't see.
And it seems like he's also alluding to the fact that the grays are not the end of this.
But it's hard to tell how, with how cryptic it's written.
That was just my assumption and our analyst's assumption when we recovered it.
But I see this going two ways.
Karis could be a legitimate whistleblower or a conscious stricken scientist trying to expose what Majestic was doing.
And if he has proof of their weapons program, he's a priceless asset to us.
Or he could be an unstable element, a liability playing his own twisted game.
Maybe even setting a trap, who knows?
So our drop is to drive in, put a bag over his head, knock him out, bring him back in, interrogate him here.
Yeah, essentially that's one of your jobs, I would say.
um I would...
a TV box this time or something different?
I prefer the most hidden way possible of getting him back here if he is a asset that you think we could convert.
If he is not, then I expect him to disappear in that swamp unlike last time when Finch made it back to my office.
I was joking, you guys actually brought them back, the vector here?
And I just give like a side eye look to Dell.
That's your bottom dollar.
you
And again, I don't like to get angry or chew people out, so please do not put me in that place again.
He looks like he could have a heart attack at any moment with how much he's Agent Sandusky, you were gonna say something.
Do we have an idea of why we think this Dr.
Karras is out at this particular ranger station?
It just seems like an odd place for anybody to be, let alone somebody we have a best interest in.
Well, we wouldn't have known if you hadn't have cracked Finch's laptop.
As far as I can tell, he is a biologist and is out there looking for something, has found something, or he doesn't
seemed like one to fully retire, as you might say.
And the fact that he completely disappeared from Arizona until now, uh rings some strange bells.
oh
Alright, well that's not a lot to go on, but I think we understand our charge.
he pulls out a picture, hands it over to you and says, this is Caris's last known photo.
Looks like a golf course in Arizona.
So that is the target.
Alright, he seems like a nice enough guy if I didn't know anything about him.
just to clarify, what type of doctor was he exactly?
Do we get that?
biologist?
Bye.
Okay, great.
And she folds the photo up and tucks it in her back pocket.
When you were talking weapons program, is there like a biological weapons program in particular that you think there was an affiliation with or were they just both part of the
same organization and weapons of any sort?
As far as we can tell, they would be working on all manner of weaponry.
uh When it comes to the weapons that we think that they get from the gray aliens, there is a significant overlap between biological and traditional weapons.
They usually have a biological component to them from our Intel, but we have no idea what Keras was working on there.
one of the most top secret companies uh in the world at this point.
Okay, that's good to know kind of where we might Keep our eyes out for more Intel on that not a traditional Armory
Yes, I wouldn't expect anything about this to be traditional.
even the operational area, Boggy Depot, its name is definitely a winner, but don't let it fool you into thinking that it's some bustling hub of commerce.
Back in the 1800s, it was actually a pretty big deal, important to the Choctaw Nation and it had a post office and a general store.
It was a bit of a pioneer convergence point and the railroad decided to build a little bit to the north and completely killed the town.
Yeah, one question, stepping back just a little since I am new.
uh Biological weapons?
Question mark.
Yeah, so you're newly read in and I understand some of this will be jarring to you.
I don't understand it myself, but typically when we fuse our technology with alien technology, there needs to be some sort of DNA match between the weapon itself and the
user.
And they have to typically sacrifice.
something of themselves to use the weapon.
We've seen in the past, majestic agents who uh have gone insane from using these weapons too much.
Alright, uh noted and she shifts a little awkwardly, little pale and out of it.
Go ahead and roll your sanity.
Yeah, all right.
Let's do it first roll.
I got a 34.
Let me find it.
It is, Yeah, right, no, 34.55.
you knew this was going to be a strange mission based on your conversation with the recruiter who picked you up and you're able to steel yourself against the information.
But you know that you're not in Oz anymore or you're not in Kansas anymore, I should say.
You
Do we have any topographical maps or em anything like that?
Yeah, he gives you a, and this isn't topographical, but you can, we can say it is uh a map of the area.
And he lays it out on the table.
You can take this with you when you're done.
uh And he points to the little green square.
He said, this is the actual state park.
Just one simple road through it and a ranger station with a loop.
but this entire area is one giant cavernous swamp land.
And I say cavernous because my guess is the trees form a canopy over everything, making it hard to traverse or monitor from the sky.
There were multiple towns and outposts set up all throughout here, especially along that river to the north, the Boggy Depot North River.
And we assume that Charis is in there somewhere, but we have no clue.
Okay great, so obviously we're taking the Volvo.
We'll just swap those tires out real quick and jump right on it.
Funny, um you will be on a charter flight to Atoka Regional Airport, which is the closest.
And there we have a four wheel drive pickup for you and a place to put your gear.
It might be a little cozy for you three.
I believe it is a bench seat, but I'm sure you'll enjoy the ride out there and get to know each other.
and the flight path isn't a coincidence.
I wanted them to fly you over Boggy Depot State Park so you can get a clean high level view of the terrain on your way to Etoka.
You know the drill.
like the ranger station might be a good first stop for us.
Yeah, no, yeah, definitely.
um Yeah.
Yeah, I could see that panning out.
um Maybe in the more civilized areas they'd have an idea of like, you know, rumors goings-ons in the park.
I guess what it feels like is we're gonna go walking into something where they can see us and we can't see them.
On account of anybody that comes in that place is like, you know, foreign, unnatural.
Ryan?
You had it on your list to chase down some night vision goggles.
What do y'all think about the idea of getting equipped to operate, you know, silently at night?
Maybe we could pick up some heat signatures.
On account of there can't be much moving out there.
I start to slowly unzip my fanny pack to reveal that I actually have three pairs of night goggles.
Right?
Ryan, you have one pair of night vision.
If you want, can ask Handler Butterfield for a few others.
He would gladly supply you with them.
OK, yeah, I just hold him up and I look at Butterfield like, eh.
And yours are binoculars.
They are not the strap on like special forces ones.
And he gives you a night vision scope that has some distance to it.
And then another set of binoculars.
So we have two binoculars and one scope.
OK.
Thank you.
Hey, I know we got this first little surveillance flight.
And it sounds like then we're going to touch down and talk to some of the locals.
What do you all think about having it in our back pocket that maybe if we see a spot that we like, we could parachute on in, like charter another flight to just drop on in topside?
I'm very nervous about this idea, Del.
Are you sure?
There's a truck waiting for us.
ah I don't know.
I've never jumped out of a plane before.
Well, but like that bog, we're just gonna be sitting ducks.
So we can either sit there on our own asses, watching out for some sign of movement, or we could be the ones moving, and for all we know, he's doing the same thing, and he just
picks us out.
And uh you remember being pinned down by that sniper in that little gully in the desert, right?
I mean, it's that all over again.
But how do we know where to jump out at this point?
we go and survey first, but we don't intend to get close close.
Then we can, you know, drop on in once we kind of dialed in a location.
Could, right?
Not like we must.
This is an option.
If you would consider tandem jumping with me, then maybe.
no, no yeah, we wouldn't do that.
I mean, have you seen Dumbo Drop?
Fantastic, Fleck.
We could just Dumbo Drop the heck out of a truck and then bam bam, thank you ma'am, we all win.
Hell yes.
And I'm just like looking around like what on earth am I getting myself into this time?
Yeah, Butterfield's been quietly listening, shaking its head.
However you get to the operational area uh is up to you.
I have a flight for you landing in a TOCA.
um And he looks at his watch, well, in about three hours is my guess.
get ourselves over there.
Anybody else have any other questions about Julian or...
Anything else we might need to know?
I don't think so.
mean, I do, but maybe more for the locals and Baguio Depot.
Yeah, what type of clout do we have walking in here?
we flying under the radar socially, avoiding people at all costs, flashing imaginary badges?
What's the deal there?
Telephone Company.
Okay, nuanced great idea.
Never heard of that before.
Okay.
You
it's coming handy before, like, here it seems like anybody being seen is gonna be suspicious, so like, seen or unseen, there's no in-between, you know?
Got you, hence operation Dumbo Drop.
Got it.
Dumbo drop, I'm just gonna, I'm gonna say that because you think it's okay to say that, but I have no idea what that means.
other gear on the wish list?
You.
maybe we should have some sort of gear to wear if we're going to be trudging through some swamps.
Do you want me to iron your underwear for you too, Agent Ryan?
uh Any gear you need, and he pulls out a wad of $100 bills, throws it on the table, you can get in a toka.
We don't have swamp gear in Oklahoma City.
Okay, well that's all I was looking for.
Thank you.
will not be ironing your underwear.
I do that myself.
Thank you very much.
big boy on campus, okay, look at that.
I'm assuming now time to go to the airport.
All right.
you go back to the area you met each other in, in the parking garage and go into the airport.
There is a complete separate terminal for law enforcement and you walk right down to the runway and there is a small, looks like a small hopper plane, basically a taxi cab for the
air.
There is a pilot who looks like he,
He skydives himself, long beard, long hair, tattoos all over his body.
He's like, hey guys, I'm here for you.
And he like waves you over to his blue and white plane.
How big is this plane?
Is it a private plane?
Pretty small?
Big-ish?
It's a little Cessna.
So there, I believe there are four seats and then two pilot seats.
wow, smile.
I'm feeling very nervous, but what can I do at this point?
So, but I do start asking him, how long have you been a pilot?
how long ago was 1987?
Okay, so for about 11 years.
Yeah, that's it.
Yeah.
Well, I started school then.
I wasn't really a pilot at that point, but I've been flying for a while.
I was used to fly around on passenger planes a lot and got some experience riding.
Anyway, you can put your crap back here and he pulls down a compartment hatch in the tail of the plane.
Just make sure it's even in there because, you know, the weight can throw a plane like this off.
Well, Ryan did that conversation.
Both of your confidence.
How are we feeling?
Um, a little sick.
It's okay.
I'm, it's okay.
And then I just like sit in the chair and just like extra tighten the seatbelt.
Sweating a little bit.
Cool, I'll patch you on the shoulder and tuck the bag away in the back and shift it around being conscious of the weight apparently.
Yeah, I assume we have the heaviest ones depending on the the clunk clunk that I sound out of yours.
So we'll put ours on opposite sides and hopefully we're not listing up there.
There you get on the plane, have your gear stowed away.
he flips on some switches and the propeller kicks in and you start lurching forward
Here goes nothing.
Yeah, that propeller picks up speed, starts pulling you faster and faster and you're on a straight runway and off of the ground in no time.
It's shaky and you feel every gust of wind in it You can't hear anything.
other than the shaking of the plane and the wind slamming in the side of it.
And he careens around and seems like gets on course to a toka.
Cool.
As soon as we take off, Barone leans over and taps Dell on the leg and makes the motion for sign language for map.
Do you have the map?
uh Yeah, I'll rifle through my my little carry-on and I'll pull it out I mean it's not really much more than a green square, but like if you can't keep that all in you're not
gonna hear you go
Yeah, yeah, you have the map out go ahead and roll and navigate.
sure.
It's exactly what I hoping for.
Let's look at this.
I've burned all my good good already.
We're down to 57 of...
like 70 probably.
missing no navigate oh of 80 57 of 80 all right whoa
as the flight goes on, you're paying attention to the landscape and you start to see where that river is, is your guess and start clocking everything as you pass over that area.
So you're paying attention, anything specific you're looking for.
We're looking for like a beginning egress point because obviously we've never been here before and flying over is great for wayfinding.
Obviously with planning convoys and being in charge of that, um know, with my background, that's kind of what I'm used to.
Like Del said, there's a giant question mark.
How do we be not see without being seen and what is like the safest way in?
Because obviously dropping out of an airplane is not actually going to happen.
you see the park area easily.
There the road is marked on the map, but through the canopy of trees, it's hard to pick out at first, but you can pick up where the road is.
It looks like before you get into the park, there is a offshoot small access road that goes parallel to the park itself that looks like it has trails starting off of it.
And you can't pick up anything other than that.
It looks like a foot trail after a while.
And the river itself is clear.
and there aren't as many trees there and you see between in that fork of the river it seems like you see some structures up there like maybe that's where the the ghost town is
and you're able to mark that down on the map easily.
Cool, great, I'll pull the pin out and do a little scribble, make a little mark.
The world below you is, looks like a tangled mat of dark green, like primal weave of oak and cypress knotted together, threaded through veins of black water.
The ground doesn't, beyond the trees doesn't look green everywhere.
It looks like it's a swamp down there.
you throw some sun on that you get a greasy sheen reflecting back up to you and it doesn't look like a pleasant place.
I haven't taken a lot in outside of the plane.
Every time I look, I feel really sick.
And I kind of am looking to see what's been marking on the map.
But other than that, just reach for the barf bag in the seat in front of me and totally go to town in it.
Okay, yeah, you don't have to roll constitution since you're electing to just let it go.
Yeah, yeah, the beans and milk you had for breakfast all come up and yes, yes.
Maybe that's the strategy, right?
They're real easy coming up.
Can't get much more neutral than that.
Yeah.
uh
that is absolutely putrid.
Yeah.
Well, you pass over this land.
The land looks like a ruin so complete that it's nearly featureless other than the tangled trees and memories of right angles that could have been there at some point are now just
curves in this sprawl of tangled trees.
The land doesn't look like it has ever cared for anybody who tried to tame it, because they most likely and definitely did fail at taming it.
and it's brooding under you in a humid air that feels in the plane already ancient and thick.
there is a small part of each of you that probably wonders why the hell you're doing this looking down at this tangled mess.
Just leaps like a
get past the tangle of Cyprus and whatever primeval trees are down there waiting for you and land in a very small airport.
It is quite a bit more dusty over here, still humid though, and you pull into what looks to be like.
a terminal that is a double wide trailer almost.
No one's there checking anything and you're able to unload your gear.
And the pilot laughs and says, well, thanks for riding and throws you a key.
like, it told me to give you this key.
And he points to a Chevy pickup truck that is past a chain link fence in the parking lot.
It's like, I think it goes to that one.
Oh, dibs.
I grab it and shuffle really quick to grab my bags to head over the car ASAP.
And I, as I'm deplaning, I hand him my barf bag and I'm like, sorry.
And I just keep walking towards the truck.
He's like, it's no problem.
I'm used to it.
Yeah, I'll hand him $200 out of the wad that Butterfield coughed over and I'll just ask him like, hey man, I don't know what you got going on for the next couple days, but just
in case maybe we need a little assistance, if we pay double your normal rate, you think you could be on call for us if maybe we need another little trip over top of this year
place?
Yeah, go ahead and roll a persuade with plus 40%.
Uh...
No.
80.
Can't be helped.
Well, I mean, I could stay...
I could stay an extra day, I suppose.
I could stay the night here.
Yeah, mean, yeah, uh if you got that as an option, I mean, I don't want to intrude or anything, but it might really help us out.
All right, yeah, yeah, sure, sure.
Yeah, I'll figure out a place to shack up and um you can just meet me at the airport or how you get a hold of me.
I'll give you a call.
You got a card?
No man, I don't even have a phone number.
Okay, well, I guess we'll come calling out here then, I suppose.
Just holler into the air.
Okay cool, I got a few good books I need to read.
I'll chill out.
All right, well, many thanks.
He's like, yeah, know a toke is kind of a shithole, so have fun with that.
Yeah, thanks.
oh
the distance you hear the hood of a car open and she's like, sweet a V8, awesome, shit yeah, slam the hood, gets inside here a little beep beep, beep beep beep, beep.
Yeah, yeah, you can inside.
Dell's middle.
Shit.
Now I'm gonna go lie down in the bed.
Nice.
Yeah, it's got one of those open up windows too, so they can open up and talk to you through it.
Yeah, maybe like a dog bed with a bunch of hair caked in it in the back.
I'll just kind of fold it up and lean against it.
I don't want to get puked on, that's really the thing.
You get your gear in the truck and you are on your way, but what's the first stop?
Barone turns around.
She's like, I mean, uh, I assume we shopping first.
didn't bring any bog clothing by any means.
Yeah, you're driving.
There is a Kmart here too as well, like every town of this size.
God.
this was a shihur.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it seems pretty awesome.
I mean, Kmart, what else do need?
Yeah, absolutely top notch.
you get to Kmart and you're just going to the sporting goods section and getting some boots, probably coveralls, um mosquito spray, mosquito netting.
You pull all that gear out and realize you would look like an absolute fucking dork wearing it, but it'll keep you safe in the swamp.
Yeah, maybe like a deer blind or something so we could not be observed as being so dorky by passersby.
Yeah, yeah, you're able to get a truck like a setup that has three stakes that will do a simple deer blind.
And you say we look like dorks, but I put this stuff on and I'm like, you guys look at me.
I look so cool.
And I'm like turning around, moving around my new gear.
Okay.
it, work it.
How far up can you bring your knees?
Is it mobile?
Can you do this?
And I like give it a little like a squat and I'm like, see, still got it.
Yeah, all right.
Looking good.
Top fashion and functionality.
Who could ask for more?
Like a redneck beekeeper is what I'm imagining.
Just like duct tape holding this to the neck of whatever shirt you have so it's like all one piece.
And I'm like, look, my fanny pack still fits around my waist.
This is awesome.
The important things, of course, yeah.
It'll come in handy.
You'll be embarrassed how thankful you are for that thing.
You leave Kmart and you see that sign for Atoka, Oklahoma has seen better days.
The green paint is peeling back to show the gray metal underneath like skin flaking off old bones and some forgotten wit has spray painted a crude smiley face over the population
count.
Can't quite pick up what it says.
And you roll through town in your...
Chevy truck and it kind of sticks out here.
It's newer than most cars that you see.
They probably wouldn't peg you as a fed.
You're not in a Ford Crown Vic or suburban but it's definitely newer than the other stuff
uh, Barone goes to turn the air on and she turns on the AC.
She's like, uh, do you mind for some reason this whole town smells like beans?
She turns the AC on and turns it up to like as far as it could possibly go.
Yeah, it's blasting.
It's hard to even hear yourselves over it.
Yeah, that cuts through the wet blanket of humidity you were feeling between the parking lot and the car.
So it's nice to get some dry, cool air.
You have to pass through the main street as you're driving around.
Isn't much to look at.
Yeah, I guess the uh question is do we try to talk to the locals?
mean, I guess it's dinner time.
Maybe we um hunker down somewhere.
Do we poke around or do try to keep to ourselves?
I don't know how we ask around, keep it to ourselves.
I think we gotta get, you know, a little more familiar.
Maybe there's a bar or somewhere we can grab dinner.
Yeah, as you're driving through the main street, you see a hardware store with a dusty window display that hasn't changed since probably the Carter administration.
Next to it is a diner with a buzzing neon sign that says, eat and all E-A-T are lit.
So there are no busted bulbs in it.
Even though the sun is starting to set.
Beyond that, you see a First Baptist Church with a cracked steeple and the sun is shining through that top crack, casting a strange shadow on the main street.
All the bulbs work on this sign and that is a sign of a top notch establishment.
uh I vote yes and she puts her hand up.
No?
Yep.
Okay, yep, we're in.
Awesome.
Del, do want to get some beans?
Yeah.
All right, you uh park, there's plenty of parking.
The diner has very few people in it.
There is a woman behind a counter.
It looks like a classic diner counter and there are a few booths as you walk from the car to the diner.
The town feels like it's kind of like holding its breath.
It's waiting for something that already happened a long time ago to happen again, or waiting for something that's never gonna come.
It just has a strange air or a hesitation about it.
And you get into the diner and there's an old woman and she's sweeping behind the counter.
Well hey there, Nana, are you still seatin'?
Y'all coming in on a Sunday, okay.
um Chercher sets the broom down, comes around, lifts up a hinged counter piece and comes around, has a hunch to her, grabs a few menus sets them down on a table.
We usually only have locals, you guys uh from out of town.
Yeah, you know everybody by first name around here.
I'm not good with names, sorry, but I do know all their faces, I would think.
Even the folks that don't come in, I see them walking by the window.
Yes, you got us pegged.
Well, we're here to go traipsing around in the national park.
State park?
State park.
Got some sort of nature documentary to film?
I don't know, I'm not the cameraman.
documentary?
What is that?
Is that like a movie like Hollywood?
Yeah, they got some sort of rare birds out here and uh we're meant to come capture them in this uh unforgettable season.
It's like all those turtles that migrate back to the beach or something, so I'm told.
well I'm quite the bird enthusiast myself and I don't rightly know a bird like that, but whatever you say.
Bring in like uh big lights too or just cameras.
We know just little ones are trying to stay low profile.
We're just curious if maybe you know any areas out in the bog where people tend to go, like uh an info station, maybe a ranger station or something like that.
yeah, they got the state park out there.
There's a ranger station out there.
It's staffed this time of year.
yeah, all year round.
oh
You think you'd be able to point on this here map, which is about where that is, maybe the quickest way in from the edge of the park?
of course, yeah, you just come in right from the south and you'll see a, I guess a few loops and then in the middle of those loops is the ranger station.
It's a small thing, but people stop there all the time on the way to the park.
Yeah, all right.
mean, just flying on in, looked like a place a man could get lost in pretty easy.
you know, trying to make sure we don't waste our window of opportunity.
Oh, well, I wouldn't be walking into the swamp or anything, but the ranger station, it's got a road up to it and everything.
I think there's even a little playground out there past it.
Yeah, all right.
um
Menus everybody, ready to order, you know what you want.
Take a minute.
Yeah, she hands you the menus, typical diner fare.
and goes back and grabs some ice waters and starts filling them up.
Right.
Oh, can we um can we look at that map?
It looked like flying over the the marks that we made And what she said kind of line up for an egress point um into the park and then where did she say the station was and uh She
leans over to look at the map
And I suppose we didn't grab like a tent or anything.
I guess you probably don't really want to evenings or nights out on boggy ground, right?
We do already have a tent and some camping gear too, I guess.
But I have to imagine there's a boardwalk that goes through at least some portions of it.
I don't know what the setup is gonna be.
Yeah, and that's the kind of thing where like if we get intel from the Ranger station, there's happenings in that place in particular, that maybe we just don't go traipsing all
the way over there.
Maybe we just drop on the wishbone of the river and fan out from there.
I think that no, yeah, no, that's a great plan.
think having anywhere to start and make it less effort, I think is the way to go.
And I'm like, by drop, do you mean out of an airplane?
yeah, absolutely.
Okay, we're gonna do this, aren't we?
We're still on that.
You know, we, you know-
gotta but like I'm not playing
I was like, haha funny, that's a funny joke, haha.
No, you were serious about that.
Yeah, I don't want to get my shoes all dirty if I can help it.
No, but did you see the wheels on that car?
Like they are fantastic.
I'm like, he's serious.
But no, the wheels and it's the VA and the engine.
Did you hear that thing?
We could go anywhere.
We could go over hills, we could go under hills, we could go around them.
We don't have to leave the ground.
look, Barone, I heard it, you heard it, we all heard it, and guess who else fucking has ears?
Karas!
So, if we can all hear it, he can hear it too.
What do think he's gonna do when he hears some big old gas guzzling, cold choking, blub blub blub blub blub, going through the underbrush?
He's gonna run, he's gonna run or he's gonna go underground.
I know I would.
he's not a snake, Del.
He's a human being.
Well, I guess the old lady did say that not a lot of people go through there, so maybe that would be a little suspicious.
He lives in a swamp and he worked for Majestic.
If he ain't a snake, I don't know what the fuck he is.
And my head's just like whipping back and forth between the two conversations going on here, knowing that for damn sure we're probably gonna jump out of an airplane.
But hey, look, it ain't no foregone conclusion.
We'll go and see what the very sensible ranger people have to say.
And if, uh you know, they're not at all uh peculiar about the fact that we're from out of town and, you know, they're not about to take an ice pick to us in our sleep, then maybe
we take their word for it and find another way.
All right, that's a good start.
And I'll tell you what, if it comes down to it, eh and we have to flip a coin for one or the other, we'll just have a beer-chugging contest and settle it that way, Del.
You got it.
Simple.
Keep things simple.
I like that.
Any more questions for the waitress while you're here and eating?
I might ask her about this river that's on the map.
Just, you know, is this a place that people go to recreationally?
Is there, you know, what's up with this river area on the map?
Well, it dries up in the summer and it's uh pretty gross with bugs and stuff.
No one uh swims in it, if that's what you're asking, but I don't think it has much use um for people looking for birds.
So nobody lives up in that area that you know of?
No, I don't think so.
I mean, there's some ghost towns out there, but that's just like junkies and things that go out to there.
Okay, all right, thank you.
throughout the meal and especially conversations with other people I'll just be trying to you know watch her eye patterns pay attention and try and figure out what it is that she
thinks of us or like why she's regarding us so peculiarly
Yeah, that would be another human intelligence.
oh
Love that.
No, no, 94.
We're not even trying.
she seems fine.
She does give you glances here and there, but they aren't like paranoid or anything.
Okay, well seems like we have three preliminary points, maybe two are better starting points than others.
Maybe one better starting point than the other two, so we should go on to the rager station.
Is there anything else to be done?
Yeah, well, I don't think the ranger station is probably going be open here at 7.43 p.m.
on a Sunday.
ah You mean tomorrow?
Should we grab a motel and go to sleep?
You seem very practical.
Sure, yeah, if you don't want to get a head start on tomorrow today, then that's fine.
I'm sure it can wait.
We could but if we're supposed to talk to some humans, I think they probably close at I don't know six something sundown something like that
Yep, how very sensible of you.
Yeah, sundown is typical if you wanted to meet somebody there.
So find a hotel and spend the night.
Sure.
Yep, yep, I think that's way to go.
There's definitely a cheap Motel 6 a little bit down outside of town.
Two intersecting highways pass through it and you're able to get a room What time are you getting up and at it today?
I'm up early and I think I'm just watching the road to get an idea of how many people are coming and going.
go ahead and roll a alertness.
Sure, I think that's good enough.
63 is the number, let's go.
Great.
Yeah, you are watching and there are a decent amount of cars passing in this interchange.
Nothing going, pulling off and going towards a toka.
It's like everybody's driving past it and you don't see any cars out of the usual for a long time.
But then you actually see a state park truck.
driving by, probably out to go to work at the ranger station
Okay, yeah, when I see that I'll give a little wrap tap tap, little look lively on the doors and we'll try and circle the troops here.
Typically I wouldn't be dressed yet, but because they don't have an iron and an ironing board for my t-shirt, I just put on my clothes begrudgingly and open the door to see
what's going on.
Yeah, we got action.
Looks like they're awake, so we're awake.
Okay, I'm awake.
Barone pops out the front bags on shoulders like ready to go like all right up and out of gang.
Yeah, let's let's do this um Let's go
You just like pack coffee with you everywhere you go.
Is this how you're like this?
Literally all the time if you see a water bottle coffee if you see coffee also coffee and then if I'm drinking bubble water It's probably also coffee.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm
Wow, that was like every food group.
is just coffee.
Yeah, it's just another type of bean, so that makes sense.
surrounded by him.
She drinks her beans.
you get in the truck, head out, you're going along a flat area with no trees, and then you start to see sprinkles of cypresses hanging low in the distance as you get closer to where
the state park is and the area of the swamp.
Anything you're looking out for as you head out here or anything you want me to note.
Just any movement, obviously, any people, obviously, and any signs of anybody that has moved through this terrain at some point.
I'm in the bed of the truck again and I'm listening for like the sounds of the morning.
It's like what kind of beasts or maybe even rare birds, you never know, uh could be out there.
you don't see anything out of the ordinary you do pass a gas station that looks like a
like a rehabilitated carcass of a gas station more than anything.
The white paint is peeled off almost look like it has leprosy like with how the paint is peeling off.
There's, water stained wood beneath some of the paint as well.
Just two gas pumps.
Yeah, we're pretty full, aren't we?
I mean, coffee number one's halfway empty.
I could always restock if anybody needs.
Oh, right.
No, yeah, we're fine there, yeah.
Yeah, you continue on past it um and you start.
losing lines on the road.
Now it's just a, the road's still, you know, two cars can pass each other, but it's no longer painted and the trees start to encroach in on the road until you are under a canopy
of the trees.
you pass a sign that says Boggy Depot State Park.
and there is a turn that you have to take or you can go straight to a dirt road.
This is the dirt road you would go straight at is the one that has the foot trails that you saw from the plane and the turn is into the park.
oh
Yep, into the park towards the Ranger Station is stop number one.
Well, you're driving, so we go where you go.
the last paved highway at this point was a few miles behind you.
You're on a graded country road.
It's given way to a reddish dirt and it looks like it's cut.
into trees based out at this point you are in a cave of blackjack oaks and hickories the air starts to change as you drive and Del you notice this from the back the prairie heat
has given way to a thick damp
breath of the bottomlands is stuck in your throat when you breathe it.
This is old country Choctaw country.
This land looks like it was hard and a lot of trouble for anybody to get through and the trees again crowd the road even more their branches lacing together overhead and it turns
that bright Oklahoma sun into a dim green twilight from under the canopy.
You keep your eyes moving, scanning the woods on either side, I'm assuming.
you can tell that this is a good country for anybody who wanted to hide, being that you can't see anything through all of these vined together trees, and also potentially a
perfect place for a trap.
The road.
shows no signs of anything but car traffic.
You don't see any foot traffic on the road or footprints off the side of the road as you look out and you continue on.
What's our plan once we get to the ranger station?
Like what are we gathering and who are we to them?
You know, that's a good question.
I'm good with metal and vehicles and I can talk to people, okay, but as you can tell, I am decidedly awkward.
um Yeah, who's gonna be our director?
uh All Cameraman, Camera Woman, that's me.
I could do that part.
Yeah, well I mean, I guess if we're going with the bird cover story, Ryan, you're our resident birder, ain't that right?
Okay, and if you're the camera woman, then I must be like the mule that lugs everything around and kind of gets things set up.
Roadie, you were a PA or something.
All right, well, welcome to the trip, Director Ryan.
happily accepted.
Yeah, do you know of uh a peculiar bird that we could ask after?
I mean, look, more than anything for these folks, I think we're just curious about areas of activity within the park.
Places where maybe they've seen any sort of strange goings-ons or maybe they've noticed that there's been an abnormal amount of people visiting for some reason.
I don't know what.
Well, have you guys heard of the red-bellied woodpecker?
It sounds like a good one.
Well, they're known to be in this area and we can use the season for the excuse.
And maybe other people are out traveling looking for red-bellied woodpecker.
That might be a good reason for us to ask if there's a lot of people out and about.
I love that.
uh Also as a backup, could, you know, too many people activity means less birds.
So we could say, Hey, you know, where are, where are people?
We could avoid those places, you know, maybe go somewhere else and maybe that'll, that'll help as well.
So a couple angles there, I guess.
Yeah, I like that.
Wouldn't want to disturb him.
Might kill him.
Wouldn't want to disturb him though.
In fact, I'm going to pull out my bird watching book from my fanny pack and just flip the edge of the page where the red-bellied woodpecker is down so that I can show them a
picture in case anybody starts questioning.
Perfect, it.
the gravel service road at this point is more pothole than gravel and ends in a small clearing that's dominated by a single squat building.
This is the Boggy Depot Ranger Outpost.
Standard park service design, low slung wooden structure, paints a little faded.
It's brown, dark green shingles on the roof and there's a thin coat of moss on the top of it.
And the building
seems to be surrendering to the swamp around it.
The paint is peeling off in long strips.
The grassy patch on the roof is strange.
And in fact, the grass in front of it is overgrown with weeds.
And there is a screen door to keep the bugs out, but it sags a little bit to the side.
You see the park service pickup truck near the building.
And there's a lean-to drive port that has two ATVs parked under it.
Looks like maybe they get around the swamp on those ATVs.
there is just the sound of unseen insects.
Maybe cicadas, maybe grasshoppers, maybe crickets, who knows?
It's just this constant droning sound that assails you when you get out of the car.
And...
The weird thing is though, you don't hear any birds.
what's your approach to get in?
I think first thing Barone will do is she'll jump out of the car as soon as Del vacates the back area.
I assume there's probably with these old trucks, I know me growing up, we'd always have a TART back there and where if you have anything it doesn't get too dusty so I'll probably
pack the bags into a nice big pile and toss a towbar over it so it's not so clear what is or is not there but obviously could be camera equipment, could be whatever.
So I think that'll be what she gets working on right away.
Great, yeah, you're able to cover it up, no problem.
You tuck the tarp under,
All right, Director Ryan, after you.
Okay.
Then I just open the door and walk on in.
the rusty screen doors, the spring complains as you open it.
Inside is a single cluttered main room, smells dust.
There's some freshly brewing coffee that you get the scent of as you open the door.
And there's a harsh chemically smell like bug spray that comes wafting out as well.
when you look around, you see that
There's paperwork everywhere no organization to the place at all on the main desk.
There's a crackling radio off to the side and a man holding that radio and he's kind of listening to it and he peeks over at you oh hi, um you're here early?
Yeah, got a early bird gets the worm.
Am I right?
I guess so.
Yeah, sorry, I was running late this morning.
I didn't quite make sunrise.
Hopefully you weren't here before.
Ranger McKell.
He holds out his hand.
Hi, my name is Ryan.
We are in town.
We've brand new to this place, but we are shooting a documentary about the red-bellied woodpecker.
Are you familiar?
Well, I'm more of a plants guy, so not really.
But this sounds interesting.
I don't quite understand what a, or know what a documentary is, but is that a type of film or?
It is, yeah, it's a movie and we're here to get some footage uh of this bird.
It is the mating season.
They actually really enjoy wetlands and so that's that's why we're here.
it's like National Geographic.
Yeah, very similar, but we're direct competitor of theirs.
sorry.
I only know of National Geographic.
I had no idea they had competitors.
Well, I mean, the park's pretty small, but I mean, this area is just covered in swamp, so it seems like you're going to be able to find your bird.
I haven't seen or heard a woodpecker here in a while.
actually heard one when we were coming in.
This is Dell.
carries all of our equipment.
And he was sitting in the back of the truck.
And he alerted me to a sound.
And sure enough, that's the Red Belly Woodpecker, if I've ever heard it.
Yeah, I got a good feeling about today.
know what, I should stick to trees, you're right.
well, if there's anything I can help you with, I'm not much of a bird-sider, but you know, I know about the park, but that's about it.
Yeah, how busy is this park this time of year?
um Every time a year is, I mean, let's see, the first new people I've seen in probably three weeks, so not too busy.
So it's a swamp, um totally get it, lots of bugs.
He's looking at the bug spray that he just had covered himself in.
um So yeah, yeah, not a lot of new people.
Definitely not anybody working for a National Geographic competitor.
Yeah, I heard this is quite the spot,
And you wouldn't happen to keep, say, like a record of the people who come and go from here, like a logbook of some sort, people that register.
Oh yeah, absolutely.
Well, it's more of a voluntary log book, you know, like a sign in, tell us where you're from type of thing.
Right over there.
He points to a large leather back thing that isn't open yet, but has a pin next to it.
Yeah, I'll go take a look and thumb on through, see if there might be uh a name or a hand we recognize.
Yeah, you've mentioned that we're the only new people, but do you have like locals that hang out here a lot?
hang out.
That's a strong word.
But yeah, we see some people come out here from time to time.
We don't really have much to do, let's say, but they like to go on little walks around here.
There's a small playground over there.
Some people will drive in, bring their kids to you every once in a while.
But the itself is pretty small.
Yeah, we're just trying to look to actually avoid people.
do you keep a track of if anybody's in your park right now?
yeah, you're the first one, you're the first customers of the day.
no one's in the park right now other than me, you, and hopefully that bird you're looking for.
Yeah, hopefully, right?
Yeah, is there no overnight camping, no accommodations if someone were to stay in the park overnight?
Well, he can't stay in the park overnight.
But, I mean, we do get campers or squatters.
yeah, you mean they're not supposed to, but surely somebody's tried.
yeah, of course.
Yeah, we do a quick patrol at night and make sure they're all out of here if they're trying.
north of the park, deeper in the swamp, there's a, I mean, it's like a, guess you could call it a ghost town.
It's more of just like a pile of old lumber and some old buildings that get some, well, drug users, I guess you would call them there.
um
And, but we, you know, that's further outside of the park.
I don't have to really deal with that, but every once in a while they'll wander and.
But if he wanted to get lost, something fierce, could probably not find too many unwanted visitors that way.
yeah, north of here?
I mean...
Yeah, I mean up in that ghost town you were mentioning like there might be some permanent denizens.
yeah, you know, years ago there was, you know, they had like a commune there.
There's been people in and out of there for, I don't know, since, well, since my grandfather, I could remember, but now it's just junkies, so.
excuse me, drug users, sorry, yeah.
m
Yeah, okay.
A commune, that's curious.
Do you know anybody else who might know something about that?
I mean, I'm just curious about, you know, history of how national parks came to be, state parks as well.
If you know, you know, anything about who might have propped that settlement up before state claimed the land.
I don't know what that has to do with birds.
mean, it's all, you know, I guess common knowledge in the area, but I mean, there used to be a settlement up there and um they had a church and a town and um they, I think slowly
just stayed to themselves and...
I there were rumors and stuff that over time they became a bit deformed because they didn't really recruit from outside, if you catch my meaning.
But I mean, a few years ago, the, the, all just disappeared, so.
What disappeared?
Sorry.
Well, I mean, it started off as a little town that slowly evolved into, you know, some folks that kept to themselves and a commune and then...
At some point they just took off.
Yeah, they just up and left and now it's just squatters and drug users.
Hmm.
Well that does have me mighty curious.
Well, they didn't take the birds with them when they left, so.
um
I'm not concerned about the birds.
I'm just wondering, you know, this place is like a peculiar little time capsule in a way.
I've never seen nothing like it.
Yeah, yeah.
Well, alright.
You guys got any questions here for Ranger McHale or you think we're ready to take our chances on the boardwalk?
Yeah, no, I have a question.
um Can I top off this coffee over here?
yeah, of course.
Yeah.
um
thanks, alright.
She starts pouring glug glug glug glug glug.
I see you got a Honda TRX 250 out there.
I mean, I'm kind of a Kawasaki Bayou girl myself.
But is that what you guys use to navigate um all the ground out there?
Those little ATVs?
You have that big old truck, you can't run that as well?
Oh well, a truck will get you in most places, but it gets pretty thick as you get out there.
So the ATVs can get in between the trees better.
um And it's more like we're required to have it in case there's a search and rescue thing in the area.
So we have to be able to do that, which has never happened.
So, um but yeah, we don't use them a lot.
say and yeah most of the time I'm here or in the truck so I wouldn't necessarily recommend wandering out there in any way but it's pretty thick out there.
Yeah, no, definitely.
em You don't happen to rent those out to anybody visiting the park to putz around a little bit so they don't have to be on foot?
no, no, those are, yeah, it was probably insurance paperwork for stuff like that.
That's over my pay grade.
Yeah, the state would, I'd probably lose my job, I guess, is what I'm trying to say if I did that, so.
uh Yeah, no worries.
Like I said Honda not not my jam in the first place.
So no.
Yeah.
good It was it was nice to meet you
ah I pull out my bird book and show him a picture of the bird we're after and just ask him if he's ever seen it around or are you familiar?
I'm not familiar now
All right.
Well, maybe we'll just take our chances and head out and see if we can locate them ourselves.
I appreciate your help.
What time does the ranger station close?
Oh, dusk.
So it's been about, I guess, 730 ish lately.
So, well, yeah, good luck.
While the conversation was happening, people who while you're not talking, is there anything you were doing, anything you're looking for
I was uh scanning the room when Barone was talking to him to see if there was an obvious place where they keep the ATV keys.
yeah, there is a small key box right beside the door that looks like it has the ATV keys.
You also notice the computer.
that you're guessing is where Keras emailed from, or at least use the phone line that goes to that computer.
And in the log book, your quick glance of it, Sundusky, you don't pick up Keras's name directly.
Probably more careful than that is your guess.
So I asked him, is this computer available for public use?
Well, you guys wanna use my four wheelers and my computer?
I am very, very flattered, but no, not typically.
Okay, all right, no worries.
I just wanted to do a search and email to my producer, just letting him know what our status is.
Well, I mean, that sounds important.
um Go ahead and roll a Persuade with 20 % for sugar and them up.
at 37.
Well, just don't tell anybody and he kind of throws you a wink I got to start it up em and he pushes the giant Cream colored button on the top you hear the fans whirl on Takes a
minute
and half to start up and then after the Windows 95 loading screen, he connects it to the internet, you hear the classic dial tone and pulls up AOL for you to use.
Thank you, appreciate that.
So I'm like, is it OK if I sit down over here while I take a look?
yeah, yeah, suit yourself.
While Ryan's doing that, what are you guys doing?
Yeah, I'll ask Ryan if he's gonna be a minute and if he is, I will suggest to Ranger McKell that maybe we go into the other room where there's a little bit better light and we
can just get you like a B-roll, a little bit of like background interview stuff, just doing kind of like campus of the area for filler.
Yeah, you don't have a camera.
What are you gonna, how are you gonna, yeah.
I was just thinking that.
Barone was gonna be like, yeah, let me get the camera out of the car.
Yeah.
That's maybe a good point.
You have a photo camera.
Um, okay.
I mean, maybe, how about a, how about like a voiceover recorder?
How about, how about that?
We bust out a little little tape recorder and it'll just be kind of like the intro narration as we pitch it.
Yeah, go ahead, give me Persuade again.
Add 10 % to it.
Okay, yeah.
Yeah, well, I don't know if I have time to do that right now, but if you come back, I would love to contribute.
I still gotta open up everything.
I mean, you're welcome to join me while I get everything set up.
Yeah, I'll take notes while he does the rounds and just try and body block uh for Agent Ryan if there's anything he's trying to get up to.
Ryan, roll me a luck roll.
Nope.
80.
Oh.
I should have, sorry.
Barone, roll me a luck roll.
Yeah.
Yep, yep, sounds good.
So I'm looking for less than 50.
We got 22.
I am hot fire today, guys.
Well here I still I still haven't you were talking about the ATVs.
I know you're Kawasaki, but um let me show you the Honda real quick
yeah, yeah, I'd be honored for sure.
I don't know nearly anything about computers.
It's just magic in a box anyways, but yeah, show me.
Del, are you going with him or are going to stay in with Ryan?
Agent Ryan.
Okay.
Agent Ryan, what are you doing on the computer?
like the matrix.
mean, I am, I pulled out a little like device copying device that I have, and I just plug it in and I start downloading all the information.
In the meantime, I'm looking through files to see if there were any like logins from, you know, cross around the time that I know that that email was sent.
And if so, you know, any login data.
go ahead and roll your computer science and you're gonna look for log files in the Outlook app and see if there were different login attempts.
Great, yeah, you go through and you're able to find the string of numbers that was his email address and a login attempt um or a login.
There's no other data than that he logged into this computer.
It looks like it was logged into at 10 p.m.
at night though.
to do it.
oh
ago was that?
That was two and a half months ago.
And is the...
match the date on the email that we saw?
Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, and the email address and everything, that was the same as what we had uncovered on Finch's computer, his hard drive.
Okay.
Alright.
Can I search any other files that might match, like, that email address or that number specifically to see if there was any other activity that we don't know about from him?
Yeah, you were able to isolate the, with the email address in the logs and you see that this is about a monthly occurrence.
Like, and around the same time between 10 PM and midnight, he has come in here and used the computer to do something on email.
Well that does it for another episode of the Dead Letter Bureau.
Again, I thank you for listening.
I hope you join us next week when these agents start wandering into that old swamp.
I'd also like to this time to recommend another Delta Green actual play podcast.
This one's called 9mm Retirement Radio.
Search it up and give them a listen.
They're a great crew.
Thanks again everybody.