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Showing results for tags 'abandoned'.
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Version 1.0.0
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History: Wikipedia Specs: The file contains an 2x12 lot. You can plop in the water or on the ground (You can also use MMP under or around the model). Lot editor: AGC_Cruisers_UKN_ Ubication: Water transportation Icon: No nightlights Dependencies: No Scale of the models: 100% on all axes (Real World Scale). If you like my work, you can make a donation to fund my other projects! https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=WF9FDNHXCHDVU Thanks to the few people who have donated to me. -
So I'm fairly new to this game, and at one point I had two cities that were really prospering, things were great, no huge issues, and only a few black/grey buildings, which I'd bulldoze immediately. It seemed that the RCI demand was always on the up-tick. My latest city is doing well financially, the population is ok, but the grey/black buildings are everywhere. My RCI fluctuates like crazy, and everything is just discombobulated. Residential demand is high, but buildings actually build grey, sometimes build black. C and I buildings are similar, although they aren't in as high of demand. I have no idea why this city (which I've actually demolished and started a few times) isn't working out like my previous ones. I'm doing the exact same thing, and buildings are just not making it. Suggestions?
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Hello! I'm excited to upgrade from NAM 31.2 to NAM 47 today. During the installation process I read that there is a new Abandoned Buildings Data View. Q1 - Abandoned Building vs Radiation DataView: Does this Eliminate the Radiation Data View entirely from availability? Or does this just use that view to show the Abandoned Buildings, and if there happens to be any Radiation, it will also show up as GREEN Glow on the same Data View? How does this work exactly? Q2 - Transit - Ferry DataView - I noticed that the Ferry view in Transit does not have the 100% 130% 300% etc designators like all the other ones. Is this a bug in the NAM 47 or could I possibly have some DataView Mods competing with it that I should clean out? Q3 - Other Replaced Features / Functionality (in or besides DataView) : And besides the possibility of this replacing previous functionality, what OTHER NAM 47 full install items ALSO replace (eliminate) game functionality that older players like myself may have been using a decade ago?
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Version 1.0.0
260 Downloads
Haunted victrorian mansion made as a little project for halloween. Had problems to convert it, therefor a bit of a delay. I sketched up the house based on google photos of old victorian houses. Model made with Blender. Textures are handpainted with Photoshop. Lot works as growing $$$ residental with a size of 2x4 on light and medium density. Extra modelprops: zporp's grass 3 zporp's grass zporp's haunted birch small dependencies: BSC Texture Vol 02.dat To inspect the model closer please go to Sketchfab. Feel free to use it, and let me know if there is any issues!- 3 Reviews
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Hi. I have a 700000 inhabitants city. I decreased the taxes of IT industries in order to have 0 pollution and it worked well. I had a lot of fun untile there but now I am frustrated because many residential areas have its bulding in dark. This buildings are abandoned. They have a no job icons when I build them, then they became abandoned (the buldings are dark/black) and it says it is because of long commute time. But my sims just have to cross the road to work and they do not. I have tried everything : -decrease taxtes -build massive transportation system Nothing works. How to solve this problem in order to have beautiful buildings again ?
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Why are my buildings being abandoned ? I made commercial zones, low/medium and high (you don't see them on the photos) is it because they are not in the central of the city ? or not nearby the residential houses/apartments ? The commercial zones are growing, all the buildings are there Thanks
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No Jobs Icon, Abandoned Houses, No Subway/Train
Ssaidd posted a topic in SimCity 4 General Discussion
Hey Guys ! Hope y'all okay ! Started to play SC4 after a few years, everything works, the game doesn't stuck or whatever but i have a problem It happened since today, i am working on my city (i know it looks bored, i am not a pro) but i am getting this no jobs icons and my houses are being abandoned. I don't know why, sometimes the icons are dissapearing and the houses are being renewd. Nobody is using the subway/GLR, i don't know why. Yesterday, few days ago when i was working on other regions everything worked as wel But i deleted everything and i started all over. Is it a bug, or any dependencies that are causing this problem, i hope not becasue i have allot of dependencies but the game works wel Everything else works Thanks if somebody can help me out -
Chapter 22 - Airbags
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
“Let me drive us out of this town and then I’ll let you drive.” said Melissa. “Okay.” said Billy. Melissa got in the driver’s seat of the van, Billy got in the passenger seat, David got in the rear left seat, and Megan in the rear-right. Because of David’s long legs, Melissa scooted the seat a couple of inches forward. She turned on the headlights for the first time that day as the sun sank below the horizon. Billy took a bit more video of the shadowy buildings in the fading light before putting all of his equipment in the glove box – his cameras, laptop, and cell phone. About 10 minutes later, they got to the edge of town, and Melissa stopped the van, got into the passenger’s seat, and Billy got in the driver’s seat. “I’d rather be a little farther from this airbag.” said Billy, pulling out. His sternum was about 11 inches from the wheel. “It won’t hurt you. The closer you are to it, the less force it will go off with.” said Melissa. As the explorers drove out of town, Billy said “There’s so much I want to take out of this town. Nature’s taking over quickly. Never thought I’d see so much out and out structural collapse after less than 35 years of decay. We watch reruns of ‘80s shows, and older, on TV. We listen to ‘80s music, and older, every day on the radio. And a house built in the ‘80s isn’t old, and a person born when Izzy was abandoned isn’t even old enough to be president. What really gets me is that you were an adult in Izzy living on your own and now you’re still young enough to be adopting a kid, yet the town looks so wretched.” “Builder grade, ‘60s and ‘70s junk.” said David. “Speaking of which, what’s the details on your adoption, if you don’t mind me asking?” asked Billy. “It’s a boy whose parents died in a car crash on April 22nd. They weren’t wearing their seat belts. I’m bringing him home on Thursday, his 2nd birthday.” said Melissa. “That’s so sweet of you.” said Megan. “That warms my heart so much, but that’s a 54-year difference between you and that kid… normally I’d be against that, but you’re in perfect health, have a heart of gold, have a Top Safety Pick rated vehicle… yeah, I think you’re going to be around 50 more years.” said Billy. “I’d love to live to be 200.” said Melissa. “I’m sure everyone would, except Dirk.” said Billy. “The idea of adopting after your kids grew up was relatively popular in Izzy. Life expectancies started going way up, so the idea of someone being 45, 50 years older than their kid became more reasonable. Some friends of my parents adopted a 6 year old when they were about 50, this would have been in 1980 and they’re still living. It was called double-decker parenting. They used, and still use, the 80/40 test; you have to have an 80 percent chance of living till the child is 40.” said Melissa. The explorers continued down the highway. The conversation turned to Megan asking “what would you do if you woke up in 1986 in Izzy?” “Hmmm… I guess I’d go to the video arcade down the street from my house and play some I’m Sorry.” said David. “Oh, that Japanese video game that made fun of the Japanese prime minister… Takata or something like that?” asked Billy. “Not sure, I just know they had a machine.” said David. “I’d go to one of those house parties that seemed to be so popular.” said Megan. “I’d love to get the chance to drive supercars all day again. That was a lot of fun.” said Melissa. Billy saw a pair of headlights coming straight toward the van. He cranked the wheel hard to the right and slammed on the brakes. BOOM! The mysterious car hit the front left corner of the van, ripping into the front end, crushing the suspension and dislodging the engine, before the high-strength steel in the door sills stopped the car in its tracks before it could intrude into the cabin. The airbag that Billy had feared deployed, hitting him in the chest and face; all eight of the van’s airbags would deploy as it came to a crushing stop, spinning violently to the side. Although he was wearing his seat belt, Billy was sent flying like a rag doll, his 200 pound weight causing his upper body to sink deeply into the steering wheel airbag and his legs to sink deeply into the knee airbag in kind. Melissa’s body did the same thing with the passenger front and knee airbags, and David and Megan moved well forward in the crash, nearly hitting the front seats. As the now-totaled van came back onto its wheels, it made a sickening sound, every body panel shaking. As the van came to a stop, its interior lights activated. “Is everybody okay?” asked Melissa. “I think so. I have a big cut on my chest from the seat belt.” said David. “I’m fine, just very shaken up.” said Megan. “I can tell you one thing, if it were 1986 I would be dead right now. That was intense.” said Billy, struggling to catch his breath amid all the airbag powder. He sat, stunned but unharmed. He looked to the left, finding a large, white wall of air; the van’s side curtain airbag, which was still firmly inflated. He tried to lift it up, but it wouldn’t budge. Melissa called 911. “We’re on the Izzy Expressway, about 25 miles from Kallal, in a wrecked 2018 Honda Odyssey. A car just hit us head on and – OH MY GOSH, IT’S ON FIRE! I GOTTA GO!” The car that hit them was on fire. Melissa slid her hand behind her side curtain airbag to reach her door handle, opened it, and slid on her back underneath the airbag before running over to the car; out of habit, she re-closed the door. Billy pushed the front passenger airbag out of the way and opened the glove box, grabbing his cell phone, before reaching under the curtain airbag himself. Feeling around for 15 to 20 seconds, he finally located the door handle and opened it, pushing the door open with his legs as he slid on his back under the side curtain airbag. “Who does this car think I am? McKayla Maroney?” asked Billy. Billy emerged to find Melissa pulling frantically on a man who was trapped in a Pontiac Firebird, flames coming from the mangled engine compartment just a few feet away. The steering wheel and dashboard had been pushed to within a few inches of his chest, and the door opening had shrunk by more than a foot. The man was whimpering “Help, help, I don’t want to die.” “Dirk?” asked Billy, running over to the car to help Melissa, as David and Megan opened their doors and crawled out. Just as Billy made it to Melissa’s side, she mustered one big burst of strength, dragging Dirk through the broken window and out of the car. She heard a crack – she hoped she hadn’t broken a bone as she dragged Dirk across the pavement and away from the car. Billy tried to grab Dirk to help, but Melissa was moving too fast. Dirk screamed the whole way, a howl that didn’t seem to be humanly possible. “Melissa, Melissa… you saved my life.” said Dirk. “One of you get my first aid kit. It’s in the very back of the van.” said Melissa. David grabbed the kit and rushed it to Melissa, as Billy and Melissa stayed by Dirk’s side. Billy used the bottom of his shirt as a makeshift tourniquet to stop a severe bleed from Dirk’s leg, before Melissa wrapped it in gauze. Once Dirk was out of danger and stabilized, Melissa called her husband and daughter to pick up herself, Billy, Megan, and David. She told her husband to bring a shirt for Billy and to cut the tag out. Billy brought the first aid kit over to David, cleaning and dressing the cut on his upper chest. “Are you mad at me?” asked Dirk. “I’m not mad at you at all. Just worry about getting better.” said Melissa. Away from the fire, Melissa and Billy could smell the alcohol on Dirk’s breath. They didn’t say anything. “Thank goodness he was wearing a seat belt.” said Melissa, to the rest of the explorers. After about 20 minutes, the ambulance’s sirens were audible. Billy grabbed his camera and equipment from the glove box and filmed the ambulance as it approached. The ambulance stopped, and three burly EMTs got out and loaded Dirk into the ambulance. One of the EMT’s asked if anyone else needed ambulance transport, but everyone refused. The ambulance then headed back toward Kallal. Billy filmed the scene. The Firebird was now fully engulfed in flames. “This is the Firebird that hit us head on. It was driven by Dirk, who I suspect was driving drunk. As you can see, totally dark, not another car in sight. It’s 8:41 pm on September 27, 2020. And here’s the van that saved everyone’s lives. Word to the wise, buy a Top Safety Pick. Just… wow. I can’t believe I walked away from this unhurt. That front end is demolished.” Within a few minutes, Roger, in the 2020 Accord, and Melissa’s daughter Mikayla, in her own 2018 Accord, arrived at the scene. While Melissa and David went with Roger, Megan and Billy went with Mikayla. Billy took the shirt, which said “Kappa Xi Delta Burgerfest 1985” and put it on, then grabbed his Halcyon and various artifacts from the rear cargo area of the van and put them in Mikayla’s car. Melissa introduced all three of the explorers to Mikayla. Before Roger, Melissa, and David left, Billy walked up to Melissa, tentatively, with his arms in a hugging position. Billy and Melissa hugged goodbye. “Thank you for the trip, and I’ll see you at Part 2.” he said. Roger left with Melissa and David as Billy walked back toward the van. “Thank you for taking such good care of me in that crash.” said Billy, hugging the front door of the van. “What are you doing?” asked Mikayla. “Your mom’s van just saved my life.” said Billy. Mikayla came over to look at the totaled van for a minute, while Megan sat in the back seat of her car, before both went back to the car. Inside the car, after initially letting Mikayla know that Dirk was alive and conscious, Billy still couldn’t stop talking about the crash. “I thought I was going to die. When I saw the lights, I was doing 87 miles per hour.” “One more and you would have been able to time travel.” said Mikayla. “Haha, I don’t think a 2018 Odyssey has a flux capacitor. That was only on DeLoreans. Anyway, I had to have been doing 70 when I hit. Those airbags all blew up around me and felt like pillows. Didn’t hurt at all. Felt like a bouncy castle.” said Billy. “Yeah, a $50,000, one use bouncy castle.” said Mikayla. “That smells like burning rubber and chemical.” said Billy. “I’m glad I got a glimpse of the ‘80s, but I’m glad our car safety standards are a lot better now. I hope Dirk survives.” said Billy. “Me too. Looks like his car was just big enough and safe enough to keep him alive. It’s a miracle.” said Mikayla. “And the seat belt. I bet if none of us were wearing our seat belts, all 5 of us would have died.” said Billy. “Well, one good thing out of today is that I got to meet you. You’re just like your mom, kind and fun to be around.” said Billy. “I agree.” said Megan. “You know, I’ve always wanted to go to Izzy myself. My mom’s told me about it since I was a little kid. She said when I was an adult she’d take me, but we never got around to it.” said Mikayla. “Why didn’t you go on this trip?” asked Megan. “I figured there was limited room, and I’ll go when it’s my time.” said Mikayla. “Well, we’re out one person, and personally, I would love it if your whole family came.” said Billy. “I’ll let Mom know. Dad could probably drive as well.” said Mikayla. “David has a big SUV, and he’s born in ‘81. I could run the idea by him as well. By the way, when were you born? I can tell you what day of the week it was.” said Billy. “April 1, 1996, in New York City. It was a Monday.” said Mikayla. “No… you are not younger than me. I’m December 24, 1995, it was a Sunday, at a now abandoned hospital in Wheatley.” said Billy. Mikayla finally arrived back at the hotel parking lot; Billy and Megan each got in their cars and drove home. “How was your trip?” asked Billy’s dad. “Pretty good, saw a lot of things.” said Billy. “Like what?” asked the dad. “I’ve just been in a major car crash. I want to go to bed.” said Billy. “What? A major car crash? What happened?” asked the dad. “Remember when I was terrified of airbags as a little kid?” asked Billy. “Yes.” said the dad. “Well let’s just say, I’m alive because of the driver’s airbag in Melissa’s 2018 Honda Odyssey. We were on the interstate and that mean guy I told you about last night was driving drunk on the freeway and hit us head on. Melissa was letting me drive her van.” said Billy. “I’m glad you’re okay. Are you sure you don’t need to go to the hospital? I wouldn’t recommend sleeping after a traumatic event.” asked the dad. “I feel fine.” said Billy. The next day, Billy got a notification on his Helmstagram account from the original group of explorers. All of the explorers, including Dirk, were in the group, but Roger, Mikayla, and Melissa’s son Kyle had been added. By the end of the day, everyone but Dirk had agreed on an October 24th date, to give Dirk time to recover. Billy called up Melissa that evening. “Why are you inviting Dirk back?” he asked. “I figured I’d give him a second chance. He took a pretty serious hit in that crash.” said Melissa. “Do you realize he could have killed us all? If you have a failing, you’re a pushover.” asked Billy. “I have Roger there to keep an eye on him the whole time.” said Melissa. “Don’t you want to not be constantly criticized? ‘Melissa’s old!’ ‘Melissa hurt my arms!’ You saved that man’s life and he just complained. Please, let him go!” said Billy. “I’ll have to monitor how he acts over the next few weeks, but my husband’s going to watch him like a hawk. Any problems, he’s yanked.” said Melissa. “Sounds good. I just realized something. If it hadn’t been for the 1983 renovation of your sorority house, we might all be dead right now. They used top quality materials and renovated the house top to bottom just a few years before the volcano. That meant that the house still had enough strength to hold on when Dirk damaged it.” said Billy. “The van, too. I reviewed every aspect of the crash test results before I bought it. It looked perfect. I’m so glad it protected you so well.” said Melissa. “I still smell like airbag.” said Billy. “We’re going to see Dirk in the hospital tomorrow at 6 pm if you want to come. I can pick you up. I just got my new silver 2021 Odyssey Elite this morning.” said Melissa. “Let’s do it.” said Billy. Melissa, Billy, David, and Megan arrived in Melissa’s van, while Roger, Mikayla, and Drew, Mikayla’s brother, arrived in Roger’s Accord. David sported a couple of bandages on his neck. Dirk lay on a hospital bed, his upper body inclined at about a 20 degree angle, both of his legs in casts, a machine monitoring his vital signs. “How are you doing, Dirk?” asked Melissa. “I’m in more pain than I’ve ever been in my life.” said Dirk. “I hope you get to feeling better as soon as possible.” said Melissa. “You’re not mad at me? After I almost killed us all? I’m a screw-up!” asked Dirk. Melissa walked to the head of the bed, standing at Dirk’s left side. Billy followed, standing at his right. “You made a mistake. No one got killed over it, just a couple of cars totaled. None of us had any worse than minor injuries. Learn from your mistake, but don’t think that you’re a screw-up over it.” said Melissa. “I always kind of wondered what it would be like to experience how safe today’s cars are. Glad you’re alive. Hope you make a 100% recovery.” said Billy. “We’re all just glad that everyone is alive and okay.” said Mikayla. “I have the best mom in the world. Dirk, I’m glad you had her there for you.” said Drew. “Me and Melissa and some of the explorers have been talking, and we’ve decided that we’re going to allow you to go on our Izzy trip planned for October 24 if you’re feeling well enough. If you’re not, we’ll make another visit next spring. But I’m going to keep my eye on you like a hawk. One snarky comment, one mistake, you’re out.” said Roger. After a few more minutes of talking, a nurse came in to the room, and the rest cleared out. “Can I ask you something in private, Melissa?” asked Billy. “Absolutely.” said Melissa. “Do they know that Dirk was drunk when he hit us head on?” asked Billy. “They took a blood test, but his blood alcohol fell below intoxicated levels. 0.074 at the time of the crash, I think.” said Melissa. “And why was he going toward Izzy at that hour?” asked Billy. “He said he was a ghost hunter. I guess he might have been going back for that.” said Melissa. “I think something fishy is up with Dirk’s story.” said Billy. -
I want you to create a mod that automatically abandons buildings that have reached the highest level. Thank you for your cooperation. -
Chapter 20 - The Church
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 20 The explorers left the apartment, met up with Megan in the parking lot and got back in the van. Melissa drove the van down the avenue, until they reached an avenue-avenue intersection. Ahead of them was a steep, 20-degree slope. The road condition still looked reasonably good. “Imagine trying to get up that slope in a cheap ‘80s car like a Chevette.” said Megan. “I’ve been in a Ford Pinto going up this hill. Not fun, you have to floor it the whole way and it still got down to 15 mph. This was after it was known that they were explosive, too. Not fun.” said Melissa. “Do you think your van could get up there easily?” asked Billy. “No problem. Want to go up the hill?” asked Melissa. The others agreed, and Melissa drove the van up the hill, turned around at the crest, and drove back down, effortlessly. “Cars have come a long way.” said Billy. After proving the Odyssey’s prowess, the explorers went to a Baptist church. The church had several buildings, in various states of disrepair; a fire-hall like building was completely collapsed, and a small chapel was on the verge of collapse, but a gym building, and two other brick buildings still looked to be in relatively good shape. It was a sizable church, probably with a congregation numbering near a thousand, as well as a school, as evidenced by an overgrown sports field with a collapsed restroom building next to it. “This was the General Baptist Church of Izydorczak, the largest church in Izzy. I went here for the first 23 years of my life.” said Melissa. “I’m surprised this is the largest. I would have expected a megachurch somewhere. I’ve seen a lot of churches here, though.” said Billy. “Nope, we had 204 churches in Izzy. There would always be something going on at one near your house. Izzy was about 97% Christian, and probably close to 90% of people would be at church on any given Sunday morning.” said Melissa. “I know I go every Sunday. I would’ve probably enjoyed it here.” said Billy. “I would have welcomed you with open arms.” said Melissa. Melissa parked the van, and the explorers got out at the gym building. The building, which had a circular medallion at the top that said “1985”, was missing most of its roof shingles, but the building itself was still relatively intact. Some of the windows were blown out. “We only had, I think, 4 services in this gym. The building was brand new when it was abandoned, we’d just inaugurated it on March 1. Two years to build it, used for just a few weeks. I remember we had a $400,000 fundraiser to build this gym, I donated a grand myself. At least we know it was well built.” said Melissa. The gym’s wood floor was only buckled slightly. The red paint on the cinderblock walls was still mostly intact, and the school’s mascot, the Cavaliers, was still painted at the ends of the basketball court. About 400 chairs were set up for the March 29, 1987 service, which never came. There was little to the room that wasn’t visible from an overview look, so the explorers moved on to a hallway that served as a reception area. “Had this building been abandoned just half a day later, it would be in a lot worse shape. On this table, they always set out donuts and coffee.” said Melissa. A stack of church bulletins was on the wooden table, all dated March 29, 1987. “Can I have one?” asked Billy. “Yes, but just one.” said Melissa. Billy looked at the church bulletin, which was a six-page hamburger-style folded, stapled document typed out on a typewriter. The first page had statistics: membership of 626, last Sunday’s attendance of 831, peak attendance recorded August 3, 1986 at 1,017. Turning the page, Billy could see that the sermon planned for March 29th was “spiritual rebirth”. “How odd that the sermon would be on ‘rebirth’ the day after everyone in Izzy was forced to go through a major change, a rebirth in a different sort of way. Almost poetic. I think that God was trying to send the people of Izzy out into the rest of the world at large, to make it a better place.” said Billy. “I’d like to think so myself.” said Melissa. The next page of the bulletin listed upcoming events, and there was at least one for each day of the week: Monday’s homeless shelter ministry, Tuesday’s visit to the retirement home, Wednesday’s youth and college ministries, Thursday’s community lunch, and Friday’s game night. There was a total of 12 events one could go to – and even 3 job openings. “Someone could have practically lived here if they wanted to.” said Billy. “A few people did, mostly retirees or college students on summer break.” said Melissa. The explorers continued to find a plaque still hanging on the wall, intact, revealing the name of the gym as the “Jim Utz Memorial Gym”. Underneath was a short description of Jim Utz’s life. JAMES RICHARD UTZ – April 2, 1934 – October 8, 1984 Jim Utz was a life-long member of General Baptist of Izzy and brought a great deal of joy and comfort to everyone he encountered during his 50 years. He was often among the first faces our church members saw as a greeter and stood out as an especially kind member of our church. In addition to his impact at GBI, he also worked as a therapist and took great pride in his work. We dedicate this gymnasium to his memory. Dedicated Sunday, March 1, 1987 “That’s terrible, he died at only 50 and then his memorial plaque was only seen for a month.” said Megan. “What did he die of?” asked David. “Bowel cancer. My dad knew him for a few years, maybe about ’80 to ’83 or so? He looked for Jim again in the late ‘80s, looking to reconnect, but Jim had been deceased for a few years and he didn’t know because he’d been off at college, he’d been at a campus ministry but out of church.” said Billy. “That’s really sad, your dad was a blessed man for having known Jim though.” said Melissa. The explorers left the gym and went to the chapel. The chapel’s white paint was heavily chipped, the windows were all gone, and the whole structure leaned to the right at about a 5-degree angle. The building looked ready to keel over to the right and fall. “I presume you don’t want to go in this one, Megan?” asked Billy. “I don’t even want to get within 50 feet of it.” said Megan. “Yeah, this is a bridge too far even for me.” said David. “I guess it’s just me and you, Melissa.” said Billy. Billy and Melissa carefully walked into the chapel. “Do they have no standards on what they’ll explore?” asked David. The interior of the chapel was wrecked. The dark green carpet floor was cracked down the middle, leaving the left side of the floor intact, but the right side angled downward at about a 15-degree angle. The wall covering was nearly gone, leaving only a few bits of plaster and paint exposed amid the bare lath. The multicolored pieces of a stained-glass window were strewn about the choir’s area at the front of the chapel, amid a baby grand piano and digital organ. Near the broken windows, there was grass, 4 inches tall in some spots. Church bulletins were piled up against the right-side wall, next to a small end table; both had fallen whenever the floor had caved in. “Stay to the left.” said Melissa. There wasn’t much of the chapel they could explore; the stairs to the basement and upper level would have required walking over the obviously unstable floors on the right side of the room. Nevertheless, Billy got to a spot near the middle of the left wall and filmed the entire main room and what he could of the balcony. Looking back, both could see that the balcony was visibly sagging, and a section had fallen on the right side. The Bibles in the pews, which were wooden with upholstery the same color as the floor, were still largely intact, shielded from the elements by their pockets. Billy sat down in a pew and said a prayer for the explorers’ safety on the trip and thanked God for the opportunity. Melissa put her left hand on Billy’s head and joined him in prayer. About 15 seconds after the prayer was finished, Billy heard a cracking sound under him. “Oh, s- no!” he yelled, springing to his feet. “We gotta get out of here.” Billy looked down, finding the pew he was sitting in to be intact. Nevertheless, he and Melissa worried that there might have been hidden damage. Both quickly left the chapel. Back outside the chapel, Melissa and Billy re-grouped with the others, and they headed to the church’s main building – a sprawling, one-story building with orange roof tiles and a tan stucco exterior. Most of the windows were intact, and the building still seemed reasonably structurally stable, with the roof worn in spots but no visible holes. The explorers, including Megan, walked in through a bashed-out door window. Near the bashed-out window, moss grew on the burgundy carpet. On a marble countertop, there was a stack of church bulletins, although wind had blown a few of them off and scattered them on the carpet. About half of the white ceiling covering was missing, mostly closer to the entrance. An analog clock had stopped at 11:08. The rear wall of the lobby was painted with a cross and “GBI” above it. Two couches and two chairs were arranged, facing each other; the wooden end tables next to them were empty. Billy filmed the room, paying particular attention to the “GBI” painting before the explorers moved on to a supply closet to the left of the lobby. The supply closet, despite being less than a fifth the size of the lobby, proved to be far more interesting. Along the right wall was a stack of Bibles, 27 high and 15 wide. Somehow, they were all still standing perfectly still, despite the mess in the rest of the room; church bulletins, various religious books and games for Sunday school were scattered haphazardly. There were no holes in the ceiling or walls, and no wind in the room, which had a stale, musty odor. “I think they fell.” said Megan. “Well, what kept the Bibles standing?” asked David. “Divine intervention.” said Billy. Looking closer, the explorers could see that a stack of miscellaneous books that had fallen had stopped just an inch from the Bibles. While Billy filmed in the room and paid close attention to the dates on the scattered church bulletins – looking for the oldest he could find – Melissa waxed nostalgic on the games. “I remember the Noah’s Ark Operation game. We played it every so often when the lesson would be about the book of Genesis.” said Melissa. “We played this Trivial Pursuit Bible Edition game in my Sunday school, too.” said Megan. Billy saw a bulletin dated September 18, 1977 and decided to dig for older ones. June 2, 1968, January 4, 1959, July 22, 1956… all had the same general format as the 1987 ones. Then, he found the October 29, 1939 bulletin. “In a city were everything was ‘new’, here’s a rare artifact – a church bulletin from 1939, 48 years before the volcano.” said Billy. The bulletin was hand-written, and just one page. The attendance of 76 had been struck through and corrected to 77. The little errors on the page – no comma between Wednesday and November 1, Margaret spelled “Margeret” – also helped to paint a picture of a fledgling church in a fledgling town in the distant past. The lesson, on Habakkuk 3 – extolling that God always triumphs, even in bad times – wasn’t dressed up, just the scripture and some pastor’s notes. The church had two community lunches that week, as well as a radio broadcast of Sunday’s message the following Monday. While Billy busied himself collecting statistics from old church bulletins, the rest went into the sanctuary, finding it to be in somewhat worse condition – with a couple of small roof leaks. The carpet was forest green, contrasting with the burgundy in the rest of the church. The elevated stage platform at the front of the room was collapsed, the supports having rusted and crashed to the actual floor. The black lacquer Steinway piano had fallen with the stage but stood upright and intact on a flat piece of fallen stage. A Vox organ was not so fortunate; caught between two sections of stage collapsed at different angles, it had fallen on its front and was probably a total loss. Again, there were no pews, just the foldable chairs they’d found in the gym building. “Unusual design choice.” said Megan. “At one time, all the carpet was green. Some time in the late ‘70s they put the red carpet in the rest of the church but kept the carpet in here green.” said Melissa. The explorers spent about ten more minutes in the Sunday school classrooms and nursery at the back of the building before Billy left the closet and caught up with the other explorers. “What’d I miss?” asked Billy. “Not much, since the church was abandoned on a Saturday a lot of the stuff would have been put up, and the Sunday school classrooms don’t look all that different from school classrooms.” said Melissa. The explorers left the building and went to the back of the church campus, finding a sign that said “Mansion”. The mansion itself was nowhere to be found, having been crushed into matchsticks by a landslide that had come from the hill above. “I think this would have happened after one of the later eruptions, because I’ve never heard of any landslides happening during the initial eruption. I always heard they started happening years later.” said Billy. “Some of them happened within a couple days, but you’re right, every successive eruption and seismic event caused them. That’s one of the reasons it was so unsafe to come here until recently. There haven’t been that many landslides, luckily.” said Melissa. “I guess, since we haven’t seen any buildings destroyed by them until now.” said Billy. “There are a few in the northwestern part of town, and maybe a couple more in this part of town, but I’d say maybe 20 or 30 in the whole city.” said Melissa. -
Chapter 19 - The Trendy Apartments
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 19 The explorers got back in the van for another short trip, this time to a 6-story black building that had once been covered in smoked black glass panels. The ground around the building was covered in a layer of glass that was an inch thick in spots. “Can I talk to you for a second, Billy?” asked David. Billy and David began whispering to one another. “What do we do if those vases are worth a million bucks?” asked David. “Melissa’s not going to like this, but I want a cut of the money they’d be worth.” said Billy. “I was thinking something like 5% of what they’re worth.” said David. “Per person or for everyone?” asked Billy. “For everyone.” said David. “As much as I’d love the nearly 20 grand, I think that’s a bit excessive. I’m thinking more like 1 or 2%. We’d still each be getting several grand.” said Billy. “Hmmm, I think we could still do better. I guess we could start at like 3 or 4% and go down from there if we need to.” said David. “The truth is, it’s probably not worth millions. So, we’re probably only going to make a small chunk of money.” said Billy. “Do you guys feel comfortable exploring this building?” asked Melissa. “Heck no.” said Megan. “I reckon I’ll give it a try.” said Billy. “It’s borderline, but I’ll go in.” said David. The explorers looked in the parking lot of the building, trying to figure out what type of building it was. The highly functional design and nice cars in the parking lot – a mid- ‘80s Toyota Camry there, a W123 Mercedes E-Class there, a 3rd gen Firebird there – suggested an office building, but through the windows, they could see a lot more couches and chairs than in most office buildings. Nevertheless, the explorers reasoned that it probably just had a lot of conference rooms near the windows. “Anyone want to guess what this building was?” asked Melissa. “Some sort of modern, swanky office building?” asked Billy. “No.” said Melissa. “Lifestyle store, like what were those stores called, Design Research?” asked Billy. “Guess again, but there was a DR in this town, it’s on the itinerary for tomorrow.” said Melissa. “I don’t know, maybe some type of high-tech research building.” said David. “No. It was a set of trendy apartments. Think a New York City apartment, expensive, but you were in the middle of everything. Lots of artsy types lived here.” said Melissa. As the explorers walked toward the building, they found a pile of furniture – the contents of a living room. Looking up, they could see the cause: a section of flooring on the sixth floor that had tilted downward, allowing the contents to slide off. The 37-mph impact with the concrete of the parking lot had caused the items to become mangled – a couch’s black steel frame had been bent into a steep “V” shape, with the cushions scattered about. Bits of a 32-inch TV’s plastic casing lay strewn about, with the CRT assembly face-down on the ground, broken, with circuit boards and wiring sticking out. The books scattered around it was the only way that the explorers could tell that a pile of wood planks had once been a bookshelf. Somehow, a Macintosh computer had survived intact, still sitting on a cushion from a mangled office chair. Underneath a wood plank, Billy spotted a piece of paper. Looking closely, he could see the word “die”, so he pulled it out, careful to avoid the pieces of tempered glass from the building or the toxic chemicals from the TV tube just three feet away from the paper. Billy filmed the letter on the paper before stepping back from the building and sharing the letter with Melissa, David, and Megan. I’m about to die. It’s 10:26 pm, March 28th. People are running around, it’s total chaos out there. My husband and kids left and are somewhere in the crowd, but I fear that it’s a fool’s errand. The volcano is spewing huge chunks of rocks into the sky and it’s only a matter of time until it explodes and everyone in a 5 mile radius is killed. I’d rather spend my last moments in my house than trapped in traffic with screaming people all around me. Wally, Kristin, and Quentin, if you survive, just know that I love you, always and forever. Stay strong. A tear came to Billy’s and Megan’s eyes. Though they knew there were no fatalities, the thought of a mother facing what she thought was certain death for her and probable death for her family made them shudder. “Did you know of any people that stayed behind for a while, and what made them finally leave?” asked Megan. “I have a full evacuation report at home, I’ll bring it next trip. I think it was about 5 to 7% of people stayed behind initially, but most left after the power plant exploded about an hour after the eruption and all the power went out.” said Melissa. The explorers walked into the lobby of the building, carefully avoiding the shards of glass. Moss covered the ground inside. Water damage had worn most of the walls to their bare frames, revealing the building’s steel frame with wooden floors. The ceiling above was noticeably bowed where the wood was rotting, but rusting steel beams kept the ceiling from collapsing completely. There were a few paintings on the wall, but most had fallen down; only an abstract painting of a silhouette of the city still hung up. “I saw online that the glass walls started collapsing in 2004. I saw a picture taken on March 24th where they were all still up, by July 2nd they were down. So, some storm in the spring of 2004 probably took it down. I think I heard that water got in between the big glass panel and the roof and that’s what caused them to fall out.” said Billy. “Yeah, I always heard from my friends living there that the roof was a pain to maintain, between it being flat and loaded with snow in the winter, and the gasket clips. A sleek building, but too much was sacrificed to aesthetics.” said Melissa. Behind a desk, there were some letters still clinging to a wall that said “BLE E PAR M TS”. “Bleecker Apartments, named after the New York street.” said Melissa. “Built in 1973 and looks like ‘70s architecture. Anyway, I hear there’s a room in here that has a whole lot of National Geographics. Third floor, unit K I think.” said Billy. “Not sure if it’ll be safe, but we’ll try.” said Melissa. “I ain’t going above the first floor of this one.” said David. “That’s fine. If you change your mind, let us know.” said Melissa. Melissa led Billy to the stairwell, which provided the only respite from the winds from outside. The steel stairs were still relatively stable, though the top of the stairwell’s roof was collapsed several floors above them. They arrived at the third floor, into a square-shaped room about 15 feet on each side, and examined it, looking for holes and the layout of the steel beams. The red Berber carpet floor and the room were surprisingly intact, and the floor felt stable. There were no decorations in the room. The apartment units were labeled with 6-inch-high metal letters I, J, K, and L, next to their respective doors; while I and K had fallen, J and L were still there. Melissa carefully opened the door, which led into the apartment’s kitchen and dining room; Billy waited outside as Melissa tested the floor. “It’s fine over here to the right. Stay near the dining table. The floor is gone over to the left.” said Melissa. The kitchen appliances had disappeared into a large hole, about 12 feet by 6 feet, that extended from the roof to the 2nd floor. At the edges of the hole, the steel crossbeams were broken and distorted. The explorers carefully walked around the far end of the dining table. The floor was made a light oak wood, and the yellow walls had maps on them, much like an old Subway restaurant. A couple of dead ferns were in the room, along with a globe with a gold-plated base on the table. A 6-foot by 4-foot printed framed color photograph of a lush mountain jungle, labeled “Mountains of Cherrapunjee, India, October 3, 1980”, still clung to the wall farthest from the floor collapse. Holes in the walls allowed the neighboring rooms to be seen. Billy stood at the far wall, next to the photograph, and took pictures through the holes of the neighboring rooms, then walked over, stood about 3 feet from the hole in the floor, and got a video of the dining room, making sure to zoom in on the picture. As Billy turned around to film the hole, Melissa walked behind him, making sure he was in arm’s reach. A huge pile of appliances had fallen into the hole. A refrigerator lay with its door open, facing upward. It was unclear what floor the fridge had come from, but there was still food inside, with several egg cartons, condiments, and ground beef rolls still visible. There was evidence of lettuce and some vegetables’ packaging, but the vegetables themselves were long gone. In total, Billy counted 5 fridges, 5 ovens, 5 microwaves, 5 dishwashers, and myriad other appliances; the pile looked to be at least 8 feet tall in areas. Above it, there was a large hole in the roof, about half the size of the hole in the floor. “This building is swiss cheese.” said Billy. The living room was in somewhat better condition, with no holes in the ceiling or floor, though the dark maple flooring was buckled and warped in places. With no windows, the room felt somewhat sealed from the outside world. In the near-left corner of the room, a wooden, Art-Nouveau style couch with cream yellow cushions faced a large entertainment center with a big-screen Mitsubishi TV. Inside the entertainment center was a VCR, a large VHS camcorder, and a Sega Master System, along with a few various knick-knacks – another globe and a couple of tribal masks. A shelf next to the entertainment center, built into the left wall, had VHS tapes. Billy analyzed the collection, finding no recent big-name Hollywood releases, just documentaries, some TV shows with historical themes, a few older epic movies such as Ben-Hur, Cleopatra and Citizen Kane, and films of the resident’s travels. All were meticulously organized, and Billy made sure to get a close up of the shelf in his videos before grabbing his walkie talkie. “David, there’s some really cool stuff up here. All kinds of rare VHS tapes, artifacts from overseas, and National Geographics. Third floor, unit K. Do you want to come up?” asked Billy. “Are the floors stable?” asked David. “We’ll come get you. They’re sketchy in one room, but in the big, interesting room they seem fine. Melissa, can we go get David?” asked Billy. “Where are you at, David?” asked Melissa. “Lobby, near the stairwell.” said David. Melissa and Billy walked back down the stairs before carefully guiding David around the far side of the dining room table and into the living room. David’s eyes were immediately drawn to a desk on the near-right corner of the room. Billy finished looking at the VHS tapes; the first row had 37 tapes, with trip dates from 1963 to 1987, on all continents except Antarctica. “I wonder how they got trips from the ‘60s and ‘70s onto VHS? Slides, perhaps?” asked Billy. “Back then, you had to send your slides to a professional service to get them onto tapes. Quite expensive.” said Melissa. “I wonder what this person did for a living?” asked Billy. “He was a history professor named Hubert Yarbrough. Apparently, he’d been teaching quite a while.” said David. Billy walked over to the desk area where Billy was. A plaque on the wall showed Hubert’s PhD diploma, dated June 7, 1957 from the University of Izydorczak. Based on the dates on his other diplomas – high school from 1946, bachelor’s degree from 1951, and master’s from 1953 – they were able to determine that Hubert was born around 1928. “Oh, Hubert Yarbrough. My parents were friends of his in the early-mid ‘70s, maybe about 1973-1976 or so. He used to live in a big house in Kallal, I went there a couple times. I should have some pictures I took when I was about 11 at home. I wonder why he moved to an apartment?” asked Melissa. “I would have no idea.” said Billy. Billy and David looked at the papers in his rolling desk. On one shelf were his notes – the lesson for “Geography 211 – Helmintoller Regional Geography II” for Monday, March 30th was to cover the southeastern portion of the state, a beach area with a relatively mild climate and booming tourist industry. Billy already knew the information; David knew some but learned a few new things. “Wow, I had no idea that Mafia control was that bad on Carroll Island. These notes say 400 percent rise in tourism from 1970 to 1985, because they got the mob problem under control.” said David. “I have a personal story involving that. I was on vacation for my 10th birthday, so this would have been the end of April 1974. We got a 5-star hotel that was the only hotel in all of Helmintoller to have an automotive theme at the time, my dad was, and is, still a big car enthusiast. We’re getting settled, we love this hotel, the beds are very comfortable, there’s color TV, all that. At about 6:30 that evening a big, muscular man comes in and says we have to ‘beat feet, now.’ My dad asks him for a reason and asks to speak to the hotel manager. The man says, ‘I’m acting on orders of the manager, get out now’. My dad refuses, saying that he paid for the room and that he’d call the police, but the man pulled a gun and forced us out, wouldn’t even let us get our things. We were left without money, without our IDs, anything. It took us two weeks to get all that back.” said Melissa. “Holy cow! I can see why no one would want to stay there! Word gets around.” said Billy. “They told us not to go to the news or they’d find us and kill us. Luckily, the government had a big investigation going by the spring of 1974. The government advised everyone to stay out of Carroll Island that summer. In August they launched their attack. I remember seeing the man who forced us out of the room on the news in September being taken into custody after a police shootout. He tried to shoot the cops, got shot in the arm, and arrested. They called me and my parents in as witnesses in the trials. The head of the Mafia got life in prison.” said Melissa. “What happened to the man who forced you out of the room?” said Billy. “He got 15 years I think but died in 1986, four days before my birthday, still in prison.” said Melissa. “And two days before the Chernobyl incident.” said Billy. After looking at the desk, the explorers turned their attention to several large bookshelves at the other end of the room. The yellow magazines filling two of the shelves were decades of National Geographic magazines, though some of the issues were missing from the top shelf on the first unit. The issues were meticulously organized in chronological order, all the way up to the April 1987 issue. “I think this man had a complete National Geographic collection, but I’m seeing that some of the pre-1905 issues were stolen.” said Billy. “Well, hopefully they went to a good home.” said David. “Ebay, probably. The first issues are worth thousands a piece, up through about 1905 or so they’re worth over 100 bucks each. I’d say a good 90 percent of the dollar value of the magazines have been stolen, even though 90 percent of the magazines themselves are still here. I’m a Nat Geo collector, so I know.” said Billy. Billy filmed the bookshelves in the room, both the National Geographic shelves and the others – which were filled with binders, gradebooks, textbooks, and travel guides. Then, Melissa and David turned their attention to the artifacts on the left wall. Billy grabbed about 15 issues of National Geographic, which dated to various years between 1902 and 1906, as well as a Montserrat travel guide. Just as he turned to put them on a table behind him, Melissa turned toward Billy as he tried to hide the magazines behind his body. “What are you doing? You know we don’t steal.” said Melissa. “What about the Halcyon? You let me take that.” said Billy. “No one owns the Halcyon. The company that owned it went out of business in 1997. But we need to get permission from the owner of these National Geographics.” said Melissa. “Killjoy.” muttered Billy under his breath as he put the magazines back. I’m going to get Billy these magazines, if at all legally possible, thought Melissa. The explorers went into the bedroom. The bed stood precariously against the edge of the floor, with shattered glass and a curtain draped over the bed. The explorers stuck to the inner part of the room, and even that seemed to be chancing it, as the steel beams clattered under their feet. On the inner left side of the room, there was an end table, with an urn on it. A plaque next to the urn said, “Margaret A. Yarbrough, March 1, 1931 – March 14, 1980.” “That’s terrible. He was a widower.” said Billy. “That’s probably why he moved here. Some of the people, maybe 20 percent, who lived here were widows or widowers, they just wanted companionship.” said Melissa. -
Chapter 18 - A Mansion and Apartments
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 18 After the explorers left the restaurant, the next location was a peculiar residential setup. On one side of the block was an ornate mansion, standing four stories high and looking somewhat like a medieval castle. Melissa drove the van around to the other side of the block, finding a park and a set of low-income apartments. “That’s what I love about living in Helmintoller. There aren’t many places where there would be a mansion and lower-income apartments on the same block – what, there was even a covered walkway between them!” said Billy. “Which side do you all want to see first?” asked Melissa. “Since we’ve seen a mansion already, why not look at the apartments.” said Billy. Melissa parked the van in front of the apartments. The red-brick, 1950s-style apartments were two stories high and 12 units wide, with a balcony running across the front. They were crumbling, with numerous holes in the roof, overgrowth, and even a wall collapse which left the interior of unit 210 exposed. Through the collapse, the explorers could see the contents of the unit’s living room; a console television, a green plaid patterned couch, a plywood, wood-veneered coffee table with a book still on it, and some type of unidentified computer monitor. The roof was bowed downward over the room. Billy got a close-up shot of the exposed room. About a third of the cars were left in the parking lot, mostly 1970s models. Bricks from the wall of room 210 had crushed the front end and roof of a red Chevy Monza. A tree grew between the front ends of a white Ford Gran Torino and a dark green 1979-1983 Toyota Corolla. While Billy, David, and Melissa went into unit 107, Megan began to look at the old cars. “I wonder which came first, the mansion or these apartments? And how well did the living arrangement work out? I’ve seen a few of these mansions next to lower-income housing.” asked Billy. “Worked out quite well, actually. There was very low crime, and people were close with their neighbors. They’d often meet in the parks or in between the two buildings. A lot of times, the wealthier residents would help some of the poorer residents get jobs, and they also got to see things and do things that many others in their situation wouldn’t have, like get to go to a mansion from time to time.” said Melissa. The living room of unit 107 had peeling harvest gold wallpaper, surely a remnant from the 1970s. The ceiling above was bowed and was completely made of exposed beams and lath, the covering having flaked off years ago. The tan carpet floor had numerous discolored, wet spots, obvious evidence of water damage, but the floor was still stable. A couple of abstract paintings were the only decorative items, but the contents of the room were more complete. The room’s contents included a Magnavox console TV, an overstuffed red cloth couch, a plywood coffee table, a couple of bookshelves, a small Yorx cassette boombox, and a folding card table with a plastic chair behind it and a Commander V50 computer with a disk drive on it. The bookshelves included the household’s cassette and computer software collection – about 50 tapes in all, as well as 25 floppy disks. “What percent of people in Izzy had computers when it was abandoned? Seems pretty high.” asked Billy. “I would say at least 80 percent of households had computers. Maybe close to 90. It was almost considered a necessity. Between Izzy-Net and Commander marketing, even the working class usually had a low-end computer. I remember the saying being that you could get a used V50 for 50 bucks.” said Melissa. After doing his normal filming of the room, Billy became enamored with the computer and the books, while the others took a more general look at the room. Billy soon zoned out in a Time Magazine issue dated February 16, 1987. “Billy, do you want to see the rest of the house or stay in here with your magazine?” asked Melissa. “I’m too deep in this magazine.” said Billy. Melissa and David went on to the next room, a small bedroom, square, about 10 feet on each side. Billy continued to read the Time magazine for about thirty seconds, before putting it up and joining Melissa and David. The bedroom was in a similar condition as the living room, but the wallpaper was a baby blue. The blanket was crumpled up in one corner of the twin bed, which was centered in the room with its head area against a wall. “I guess someone was sleeping and left in a hurry.” said David. David got a glimpse of some magazines under the bed and took a closer look. “Oh, dear.” he said. “What?” asked Billy. “Adult magazines.” said David. “Uh, let’s look at the rest of the room.” said Billy. A poster of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had fallen off the wall and was rolled up and water damaged on the floor; posters for “Back To The Future”, Duran Duran, Devo, and Kelly LeBrock still barely hung on. A 5-foot-tall wooden dresser in one corner of the room had a 1970s-model, off-brand black and white 13-inch television on it. A small desk in the other corner had a lamp, a small AM/FM clock radio, and a chair. Textbooks, which included Gold level literature, Biology, Algebra II, and BASIC Programming were still stacked on the far side of the desk, above a folder filled with various assignments. A half-built Lego model of the Millennium Falcon sat on the floor next to the desk; a half-finished algebra assignment, dated March 30, 1987, sat on the desk next to the folder, with a freshly sharpened Musgrave pencil next to it. Billy was tempted to try to finish the assignment. “I hated weekend homework growing up. HATED it.” said Billy. “You know what? So did I.” said Melissa. Billy pushed the papers in the folder out a short way, to get a reverse chronology of the dates, which he would use in his video of the room. “Another building, another story.” said Billy, off-camera. The next room was the master bedroom, located at the rear of the unit. This room was a bit larger, about 10 by 15 feet, with a bathroom on the far side; together, the rooms made up the entire 20-foot width of the apartment. The layout was like the kid’s bedroom, with the full-size bed parallel to the long end of the room, next to a broken window where the blinds had fallen off. A large crack ran down the wall and through the window, pushing the two halves of the rear wall out slightly, as if the walls were ready to burst open and whatever was above crash down. Several feet below the foot of the bed, there were two large armoires, made of engineered wood made to look like cherry, with a small table to their right holding a Yorx 13-inch television. A large photo of an east Helmintoller beach hung to the left side of the bed, while on an end table to the right, next to the window, was a clock radio identical to the one in the kids’ room and a multi-colored glass lamp. Through the window, the explorers could see the garden that had been in the mansion’s backyard. The once meticulously maintained garden had grown into a tangled mass of multi-colored leaves. Cypress trees towered over the mansion, which was barely visible through the foliage. To the right of the garden, a vine reached its way into a broken window on the mansion’s third floor. “That would have been a pretty view at one time.” said Melissa. “Have you ever been to these apartments?” asked Billy. “Yes, once, but I’ve also been to a couple other similar sets.” said Melissa. “For low-priced housing, these were pretty nice. How much was rent here?” asked Billy. “I think about $180 a month, so maybe like $400 today.” said Melissa. In the bathroom, there was a two-inch gap between the inner and outer wall, and the ceiling above bowed just above the bathtub dramatically. Billy quickly filmed the room and left, reasoning that the bathtub on the floor above was getting ready to come crashing down. The final room to explore was the kitchen, a generic kitchen with avocado green countertops over gold-colored counters. The walls were the same yellow as in the living room. Appliances included an Amana fridge, an oven/range, and a microwave. Billy carefully opened one of the cabinet doors, finding stale food still boxed and canned and a hole in the wall where he could see into the next apartment unit. Poking his camera through the hole, he took a picture and quickly analyzed it. “What’s in there?” asked David. “Looks like a college student’s bedroom. I saw a fraternity paddle for Theta Phi Epsilon, football schedule, some textbooks, and a Commander 64K. And lots of posters on the wall. Can we look at it, Melissa?” asked Billy. Melissa checked her watch. “Sounds good.” The explorers left unit 107, finding Megan next to a sporty car, covered in moss, with all the windows broken and tires deflated. Due to the decay, the type of car wasn’t immediately recognizable; only that it had been orange in a past life. A tree next to the car explained some of the decay. “I can’t tell what kind of car this is, but it looks nice.” said Megan. The other explorers took a closer look at it. “Lancia Fulvia Coupe.” said Billy. “There are no badges left on it, how’d you know?” asked Megan. “I’ve had a thing for Fulvias my whole life. I know Fulvia Man himself.” said Billy. “Fulvia Man?” asked Megan. “This man can tell you anything about any Fulvia. He’s a walking Fulvia encyclopedia. He has three Fulvias and a room in his house dedicated to Fulvias. He’s loved them since they came out when he was a teenager, that would make him, I think, 74 now.” said Billy. Billy filmed the Fulvia inside and out before his face turned suddenly dour. “I can’t look at this Fulvia anymore, it’s going to make me cry.” While Megan stayed outside, the remaining explorers went into unit 108. The living room was painted red, and the paint was in oddly good shape. The flooring was the same tan carpet as in 107. On the left side of the ceiling, against the wall between units 107 and 108, was a hole, about a square foot, with a television half-fallen through it. Aside from a fairly standard red cloth couch and TV, there was a plastic red coffee table with a Scuderia Ferrari logo on it, and several car posters – Alfa Romeo Spider Graduate, Lamborghini Countach, Jaguar XJ12, BMW M1. “Someone who lived here must have had a thing for European sports cars. Could this be the Fulvia owner?” asked Billy. There were no computers in the room, but there was an Atari 2600 hooked up to the TV, its controllers still in situ on the coffee table. The other side of the room had two bookshelves, one less than half-full and containing mostly textbooks, the other full of car magazines, as well as textbooks. Both also had “The Theta Phi Epsilon Creed” in them – evidence that the residents here were college roommates in the same fraternity. The corkboards on the wall further showed the divergent interests of the two roommates. The left corkboard had pictures from fraternity parties and football games, while the right corkboard was cars, cars, and more cars: pictures of cars, pictures of the resident inside cars, and ride receipts from the supercar center. “I always liked the Theta Phi Epsilons. Good guys. We had homecoming with them my sophomore year.” said Melissa. “I’ve had a good experience with them myself.” said Billy. “They had good heads on their shoulders. Did you happen to know the person who lived here?” asked David. “No, I think they were a freshman, so they would have come in the fall after I left.” said Melissa. Billy examined the car pictures. “Look up here. There’s a man posing next to an orange Fulvia, and the same man in what looks like the Fulvia’s interior. Fulvia owner confirmed. Guy had a Fulvia and was in a fraternity, I’m jealous.” said Billy. “That’s the life.” said David. “Look at this record. I’m counting 73 supercar rides in about 3 years, 1984 to 1987.” said Billy. The explorers proceeded to the room that Billy had seen through the hole in the wall, but didn’t stay long, before going to the master bedroom. There were some automotive artifacts; a couple automotive posters, one for the Fulvia and one for a W126 Mercedes S-Class, as well as about twenty model cars, all European except for a C4 Corvette, on a small table. A Porsche 959 model car was abandoned in mid-construction. Some of the cars were rusting. There was also a Commander 64K on a small desk, along with many disks and papers with BASIC programs typed out on them. Many of them had assignment markings; a five-page assignment, labeled “Intro to BASIC Final Exam” and dated December 11, 1986 had a grade of 105 on it with a comment from the professor “Daniel, this is junior-level work from a freshman.” “Hmmm, I wonder what Daniel V. Palmer is up to today?” asked David. “My dad might know him. I’ll have to call him. He told me that he knew a guy with a Fulvia in college, but he sold it long before I was born.” said Billy. Billy took pictures of the BASIC programs, intending to try them out himself. After he finished filming the room, he realized he had only 14 seconds left of video on his SD card. “I have to change out my SD card when we finish exploring this unit.” said Billy. Melissa handed him the keys to the van, and Billy went to the van and hit the unlock button, which did nothing. She forgot she left her van unlocked, he thought. He opened the passenger door and got into the glovebox to swap out cards, before shutting the glove box. He noticed an “SRS Airbag” on the glove box door and took his camera bag out of the glove box. He found Megan taking pictures outside about 15 feet from the van. “Just curious, why’d you take your camera bag out of the glove box?” asked Megan. “I don’t want it smashed by Melissa’s glove box airbag.” said Billy. “It’ll be fine. It’s happened to me.” said Megan. “With a glove box airbag?” asked Billy. “Yup, steering wheel airbag, passenger airbag, my knee airbag, glove box airbag, and both the side airbags on my side. I don’t know why the airbags went off on the passenger side, I had no passenger, and the car was supposed to have advanced airbags. Also, the side airbags, I was told they went off because I hit at an angle, but it wasn’t that bad of a crash. Someone ran a red light and I hit them at about 35 miles per hour. I wasn’t hurt at all, the steering wheel airbag held me in the seat, so I barely moved. After the crash, I moved the deflated passenger airbag out of the way and opened the glove box. The glove box airbag fell down on its own.” said Megan. Melissa and David walked out of the abandoned apartment. “Ready to go to the mansion?” asked Melissa. “Let’s do it. You coming for this one, Megan?” asked Billy. “Looks a bit sketchy, I’ll just stay out here.” said Megan. All the explorers walked through a passageway between units 106 and 107 in the apartments, then down a sidewalk to a side entrance of the mansion, where Megan split off and began taking pictures of the front of the mansion. The remaining explorers gently opened the door. The room they found themselves in was cavernous – and very moldy. Even through their masks, the stench was overpowering. The floor above had collapsed, spilling the contents of the rooms above onto the former ice rink. The floor above that bulged downward, threatening to collapse. In the rubble, bits and pieces of a living room were visible; a couch, crumpled and standing on its end; a large rear-projection television that had somehow stayed relatively intact; and a couple of computers. The explorers immediately left after Billy had filmed an overall shot of the room and walked along the side of the house to the next entrance, on the side of the house near the front. They entered a large room, about the size of three of the apartment units put together. The room was still in decent condition; about half of the ceiling covering was missing, some of the wood paneling on the walls had been eaten by termites, and the wooden parquet floor was buckled and warped in a few spots. There was a slight odor of mold. “I guess this was the meeting point for the whole complex.” said Billy. A roller coaster cart, suspended between two rails, said “Virtucoaster” on it, presumably controlled by an unidentified type of Commander computer. “Oh, I loved the Virtucoaster as a kid!” said David. “They had a virtual roller coaster at a family fun center I went to when I was a kid, but it was enclosed and had a big screen at the front, so it was like you were on a VR track.” said Billy. “This one wasn’t quite so fancy. This cart would simulate a roller coaster’s movements, it would flip you upside down and tilt you every which way. It was unrealistic as heck, but fun.” said David. “I also rode the Virtucoaster a lot in college. There were several here in Izzy.” said Melissa. Billy made sure to get a video of every inch of this contraption he’d never seen before, including the severe rust on the joints. “If you tried to use this today, it’d snap apart.” said Billy. Next to the Virtucoaster were tables filled with board games, including Clue, Life, Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots, checkers, chess, and Go for Broke. “Did every mansion in Izzy have an entertainment room? Both of the ones we’ve been to have.” asked Billy. “It was very common, probably 70 percent had one, but most weren’t this big. Some charged admission.” said Melissa. “Were there any reclusive millionaire types, the ones that didn’t want to be bothered?” asked Billy. “Not here in Izzy. Izzy was a town that wasn’t very well suited for recluses. They existed, but there weren’t many, and certainly not millionaires.” said Melissa. “I love people from Izzy. Everyone I’ve ever met is really nice and willing to talk to you.” said Billy. “My parents taught me from a very young age, ‘Be kind to everyone. Everyone’s in your life for a reason.” said Melissa. “Yeah, too bad Dirk didn’t get the memo.” said Billy. The explorers trudged on in the room, finding a bank of TVs with video game consoles hooked up – three NESes and two Sega Master Systems. Past the TVs, against a back wall, were two dartboards. “Nice. Someone got a bullseye here.” said David. Pool tables, five Dostim Plus computers, and a DJing booth rounded out the main part of the room, but an alcove of the room had a large dining table. The dining table was a U-shaped unit, custom-built from hand-hewn wood with a granite top, with a total of 26 green leather chairs around it. What caught more attention than the chair, however, were the countertops at the corners of the room. There was a collection of 12 Chinese vases, intact, still in glass cases. Billy carefully filmed the vases; knowing little about Chinese vases, he was silent, figuring he could do some research later to determine their rarity or authenticity. Melissa came over and began to look at the vases herself. “I’m not an expert on Chinese vases myself, but I’ve studied them some. These don’t look to be super-rare, but they still look to be worth potentially several thousand dollars apiece. Let’s document these vases, and attempt to contact the owner.” said Melissa. “I say we just take the things and at least put them in a stable building. The whole floor collapsed in the next room over, from what I assume was water damage from that ice rink next door, so we’ve already got water in the envelope of the building.” said Billy. “You’re right, but I think this is stable enough that it’ll last a week, so let’s keep them in here for the time being. There’s a good chance that no one owns it, though. I was here, once, in 1981 and I remember the owners being an older Chinese couple, probably in their early to mid-60s. I’m sad to say it, but they’ve probably passed from old age, and no one would have taken over property in an active volcanic area.” said Melissa. “So, if there’s no owners, what happens?” asked Billy. “Contact the next of kin and see what they want to do with them.” said Melissa. Billy almost said, if there’s no owners, why not take them, before realizing that had the volcano not happened, the vases would have probably been handed down. David came to the same conclusion. Both were bummed that they may not be getting the thousands – with a slight chance of it being millions – from the vases. Billy documented the vases. “409 Oakley Road, Izydorczak, Helmintoller. Twelve ancient Chinese vases in danger due to abandonment and structural instability.” After examining the kitchenette, which featured a refrigerator, stove, oven, microwave, and food processor, the explorers went to the door that led into the house and found it locked. “I guess there was some attention paid to security here.” said Billy.-
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Chapter 17 - Supercars and Mongolian Food
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 17 After a short, 200-foot drive in the van, the explorers arrived at a car dealership, Izydorczak Honda. As they walked toward the dealer, they noticed a payphone with a big green “GT” sign on top of it. “Can you help me explain GT to our non-Helmintoller viewers?” asked Billy, filming the payphone. “I was GT’s president from 2011-2016 and drove for them from 1985 to a few months after my presidency ended, when I switched to Uber. I think I can help you out.” said Melissa. “I also did a year with them, back in 2010-2011, before I quit when I got a new job and didn’t have time anymore.” said David. Billy turned her camera to Melissa. “Hi, I’m Melissa Murphy, former president of Great Transport. I drove for them from 1985 to 2016 and served as president from 2011 to a few months before I finished my 31-year career with them. Basically, GT was a forerunner of Uber in many ways. In the mid-1960s, a college student named Edward Medley had an idea for his fellow students to help the community and make a little extra money. Due to technical and legal reasons, he couldn’t set it up until 1973. Back in the days of Izzy, it worked with pay phones. You’d call a marked number on a pay phone, and it would broadcast a type of radio signal that you had to have a special type of receiver in your car to pick up. The GT drivers had these receivers, which had LED screens on them, and when someone needed a ride and you were within 2-3 miles, it would light up the number of the payphone. So, if someone were at this payphone, it would light up IY-58. Nowadays, it works with GPS, like Uber and Lyft and things like that.” “Sounds confusing. Always had a lot of respect for the early GT drivers.” said David. “We had to drive around the city and area for a few months as part of training to get used to where everything was, and we kept maps – paper maps – on top of our dashboards.” said Melissa. “How was the pay? I want to drive for GT in a year or two.” asked Billy. “Usually about 60-70 cents a mile when I started, about $1.50, maybe a bit less, now. It was luck of the draw on what car you got, though they all had to meet certain safety standards. If you wanted a luxury car or an exotic, it might be 3 to 5 times more.” said Melissa. “What was the most expensive thing you could get driven in?” asked Billy. “Follow me.” said Melissa. The explorers walked across the street, and then about a block over, to find a brick building with numerous supercars in the parking lot that had decayed to the point of undrivability. The destroyed Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Aston Martins, and several other niche-branded cars were covered in decades of mud, pollen, and moss. Most of the tires were deflated, and some of the windows had broken. Melissa walked over to a Porsche 959, so thoroughly decayed that it couldn’t be determined what color it had originally been. A broken front passenger side window meant that the interior was in similarly wretched shape. “This Porsche 959 cost $300,000 when we got it back in 1986. I actually drove it several times. A ride in it would set you back 25 bucks a mile.” said Melissa. “Was it in general circulation, so one might get really lucky and get a ride in it at the cost of a normal car?” asked Billy. “No, it was exclusive, you had to book it.” said Melissa. “25 bucks a mile. Did you get a lot of customers? Also, what about the other supercars, how much did they cost per mile?” asked Billy. “We had appointments booked up solid, 8 am – 8 pm, non-stop from October of ’86 through to January ‘87, then it calmed down a bit. We ended up paying for the car by January 1st, then we knocked the price down to 10 bucks a mile. Most of the car enthusiasts in the area got to it when it was 25, before January 1st, so we weren’t slammed at 10. Most of our other supercars were in the 7 to 10-dollar range per mile. I personally usually drove the supercars on Mondays, which were one of my days off. I think the schedule they had me on was every third Monday, 2 pm – 8 pm.” said Melissa. Billy turned on the camera to film Melissa again. “What was that like, driving people around in supercars?” “I enjoyed it. They gave us our car assignments ahead of time and swapped us out every two hours. Most of the people took the standard five-minute, one mile ride so I was meeting new people every five minutes. Most were younger men or boys, between about 10 and 40. The kids and the hardcore enthusiasts were my favorite. They were always so happy. As for the drives themselves, we had a route we were supposed to take, we’d go up the road, make a left, down the avenue a few blocks, turn by the black glass apartment, make a left, down the road, down to the next avenue over, another left and finally back. If someone booked a 15-minute ride, I’d usually take them out on the interstate. On the standard 5-minute rides, I’d only get to 45, 50 miles per hour, but if someone booked a 15 or more-minute ride, I’d take them out on the interstate and punch it.” said Melissa. “What’s the longest ride you ever took someone on?” asked Billy. “We had a limit of 30 minutes per ride. One guy paid $150 for a 30-minute ride in the 959, the Monday before the volcano. We got a good 10 miles out on the interstate, up to 140 mph. Younger man, about 21 years old.” said Melissa. “You never got pulled over?” asked Billy. “The left-most lane was a ‘high-performance’ lane, no speed limit once you got 2 miles out of the city.” said Melissa. All but Megan walked into the building, entering a semi-circular room, about 20 feet long at its midpoint, with windows along all its exterior walls. Most of the windows were broken, and ducting was hanging down from the ceiling, which, other than its joists, had completely came out. Moss and grass covered parts of the oak wood floor, which was buckled and warped. On the outer side of the room, there were 27 chairs arranged; two rows of 10 each facing one another, with the remaining 7’s backs against the outer wall. Against the wall, to the left side of the row of 7 chairs, were the remains of two bookshelves lying on the floor; some of the books and magazines had fallen outside the building, into the grass, and the bookshelves themselves looked termite eaten. The explorers looked at this side of the room first. The pile of books primarily consisted of 1980s car magazines; Road and Track, Motor Trend, Car and Driver, and some even Billy had never heard of. “Wait a minute, ‘How to Test-Drive Exotic Cars’? Never thought I’d see a book called that.” said David. “Let me see that.” said Billy, opening the book. “Copyright 1980 claimed until April 30, 2000. After that date, this book is in the public domain.” “Mmm, 20 years of copyright, seems reasonable for a book like this.” said Melissa. “My dad had this book as a kid. He test-drove everything. There was this one exotic car dealer where they normally wouldn’t even let you touch the cars unless you were wealthy, because they had this manager who had a chip on his shoulder. They had stuff that they wouldn’t have even had here. My dad went there 16 times to test-drive or ride in something unsuccessfully. Then, the 17th time, the manager wasn’t there, turns out he was out for a year. The man shows up and test-drives 5 cars including a Ferrari 288 GTO. This was in July of 1985, by the way. He was 23.” said Billy. “Wow, he sounds like a persistent person.” said David. “He told me, never give up on your dreams. He wouldn’t go to a car dealership 17 times now like that, but he did end up getting a good job as an automotive journalist, before becoming a Volkswagen specialist. It’s almost scary what that man can do if he puts his mind to it.” said Billy. “I’d love to meet him, he raised you right.” said Melissa. “Thank you, he’s a great man.” said Billy. “Anything you’ve wanted to test drive?” asked David. “Actually, I’ve test driven every current Honda except the current generation Odyssey.” said Billy. “Well, you’ll have a full list soon.” said Melissa. “Thanks for wishing me luck – Oh, you’re going to let me drive your van?” asked Billy, realizing the meaning of Melissa’s words. “Yes, once we finish our exploring, you can drive us home once we get out of Izzy.” said Melissa. “You’re kidding, right?” asked Billy. “No, I’m serious. You’re more than welcome to drive my van.” said Melissa. “What if I wreck it?” asked Billy. “I have 8 airbags to take care of us. But seriously, if I’m in the car, my insurance will cover it.” said Melissa. Billy was so excited, he nearly tripped on a December 1985 Car and Driver as he walked away from the bookshelves to the other side of the room. The inner side of the room had a tall counter that concealed a Commander Dostim Plus and a red cloth office chair covered in bird droppings. Underneath the counter, near the foot area, was a generator. Billy looked at the case, covered in fine dirt, closer and found that a red LED was still on. He moved the mouse, but nothing happened. Finding a power button on the keyboard, he pressed it, and the computer’s fans whirred to life, followed by a screen that said “DostimOS”. “THIS COMPUTER FREAKING WORKS!” shouted Billy. Melissa almost said, “Turn that off”, but remembered that the computer was on a generator. She and David walked over as it finished booting to an operating system largely resembling a first-generation Macintosh, but in full color. “Why is there a generator on this computer?” asked Billy. “They always told us that it was in case of a power grid interruption from volcanic ash, like if there was a minor earthquake or eruption.” said Melissa. “They would have never guessed it would go 33 years without being used.” said Billy. There were three folders on the desktop: CARSCHED, DRIVERS, MAINTENA, and “FINANCIA”. “The names are shortened because the OSs of the time could only do 8 letter file names.” said Billy. Billy clicked on the “CARSCHED” folder, then on a file called “POR959~1”. It was a spreadsheet file, last modified 03/28/87 8:02 pm. It opened to a sheet with a date/time, driver, driver birth date, customer, and customer callback number. The first entries were dated October 4, 1986; the first line said 8:00 am, Driver 1906, April 27, 1958, Randy Watson, 2-961-492-3308. “What’s your driver number?” asked Billy. “2844.” said Melissa. “I see that guy you were talking about. 2:10 – 2:40 pm, March 23, 1987. Does anyone know a John Durso?” asked Billy. “Haven’t seen him since ’87.” said Melissa. “What was with the driver birth dates?” asked David. “The minimum age to be a driver was 21, but a few people wanted their driver to be older, like 25 or 30.” said Melissa. Billy scrolled the page down. The week following the volcano had at least 100 people booked, and there were pages for booking all the way out to September 30, 1987, though the last booking was on September 5. “When did this place reopen? I’d be pretty peeved if I were one of those people who had a supercar ride canceled.” said Billy. “Sadly, it took a while. We had a temporary location with a limited selection of cars in October, so 7 months later. We reopened at our new permanent location in June of ’88 and held our grand opening on July 30th of that year.” said Melissa. “And the funny thing is that my dad told me that they opened as close to that dealership manager’s house as they legally could, like a half mile or something. Was that coincidence or intentional?” asked Billy. “If it’s who I’m thinking of, we did it on purpose. I wasn’t involved in that decision, though. That came from the big boss, Mr. Messenbaugh, himself.” said Melissa. “Did you work there, and how long?” asked Billy. “Yes, until 1992 when I had my first child, and didn’t have time anymore.” said Melissa. Billy looked at Melissa’s driver profile and a financial statement from 1986. “This place made over 4½ million dollars in 1986? Holy guacamole.” said Billy. “Yeah, this place was always full.” said Melissa. “I’m thinking we should turn off the computer before we use up all the power in the generator and go look at that Mongolian restaurant across the street. I’ve heard that place is nuts.” said Billy. “Everybody ready to go?” asked Melissa. “Yeah, and I think I ate at that restaurant once, wouldn’t remember it though.” said David. The explorers left the car center as a tear came to Billy’s eye. “All those cars, just rotting away. All those cars that brought thousands of people joy.” said Billy. The restaurant, called simply “Buuz Grill” – evidenced by its label scar, as all nine letters had fallen off – was designed to look like a giant Mongolian yurt, complete with a fabric motif on its desert sand-colored exterior. The exterior was overgrown, save for the entrance, although the building appeared to have no windows. The parking lot was about 10 percent full. “I think I’m going to try this one out.” said Megan. All the explorers went inside, finding a large room, filled with tables and chairs, underneath a 20-foot-high ceiling. A fine dust, consisting mostly of flaked-off ceiling material, covered the tables. Many of the tables still had plates on them, the food having rotted to nothing long ago. The floor was made of copper colored stone, and the walls were covered in a large, intricately painted mural that looked somewhat Asian; the explorers could only assume that it was Mongolian as well. “Wow, they really went far with the realism. Was this a trendy restaurant?” asked Megan. “It was quite popular, and believe it or not, open for many years before the volcano, I think since the ‘60s. After the volcano, it re-opened in Wheatley.” said Melissa. “I’ve never heard of Buuz Grill, and I go to Wheatley a lot. Must have closed.” said Megan. “Changed its name to Mongo Grill back in the early ‘90s, and eventually merged with Genghis Grill about 2001 or so. So, if you’ve been to the big Genghis Grill in Wheatley, that’s the old location of Buuz Grill.” said Melissa. “This place still reminds me of a Genghis Grill.” said Billy. Billy picked up one of the menus left behind on a table. There were only a few items on the menu, none of which included vegetables. “Big Buuz Buffet Bowl, 4 bucks. Man, I would stuff myself so much at that price.” “I guess you don’t need a big menu at a buffet. Most people got a buffet bowl and called it a day.” said Melissa. Billy continued down to the drinks section. “They had airag here too. Why doesn’t that surprise me? And they also had alcohol-free airag.” said Billy. “I’ve never had this airag stuff.” said Megan. “Fermented horse milk. It’s an acquired taste.” said Billy. “I wonder why there’s no vegetables on the menu. I mean, I hate vegetables, but I’m surprised.” asked Billy. “Traditional Mongolian cuisine doesn’t have many vegetables because their climate doesn’t allow for much vegetable farming. As I understand it, it gets to below 0 in the winter there for months on end and then up to 100 degrees in the summer.” said Melissa. “That’s about right.” said Billy. The explorers walked into an alcove of the building, where the buffet had been. There was a hole in the roof directly above it. The stickers that showed what had been in the serving troughs were still there, beef, sirloin steak, mutton, lamb, goat, chevon, camel, pork, bacon, Harbin sausage, and even yak. A black, ash-like substance covered every serving trough; bird droppings covered the glass shield and surrounding areas. Spices, which had deteriorated to stale powder, were in troughs next to the meat. There was no area for vegetables. Megan got a whiff of the smell of rotten meat and stale spices and left. “Wait a minute, who would eat yak?” asked David. “Why don’t the Mongolian restaurants nowadays have some of these meats?” asked Billy. “Yak is quite good, at least in my experience, sort of like low-fat beef that’s a little sweeter. But some of those meats were expensive and hard to get, especially after Nelson International Meats scaled down their operations after the ‘90s. It just wasn’t profitable. You can still get yak and camel in some places, but they won’t always have it and it’ll be expensive.” said Melissa. “Sad that the most unique ideas end up watering themselves down or closing.” said Billy. “Well, it’s probably good that they don’t sell those meats as often. Yak and camel don’t sit right with me.” said Megan. Next up was the ovens that the meats would be cooked on. The explorers recognized the large, table-like oven, but the jugs – each about two feet tall, on a small counter – were new to all but Melissa. A large barrel, filled with stones about the size of a fist, was next to the jugs, and a fire pit was next to the barrel. “What’s with the rocks?” asked David. “That’s a type of traditional Mongolian barbecue, called Khorkhog or something like that. They put the stones over a fire to get them hot, then they put the hot stones into the jugs with water and meat. At the time, this was the only restaurant in all of Helmintoller to serve it.” said Melissa. “Sounds inefficient, but I suppose it works better in Mongolia.” said Billy. “You’d always have a few people standing and watching as they cooked the khorkhog. I remember being 8 years old, standing in this very spot, standing on my tiptoes, so mesmerized by the cooking process. A couple helped hold me up so I could see better.” said Melissa. “That’s so nice of them. Any more good stories involving this place?” said Billy. “I remember, when I started working at the supercar place, I was driving some probably 50-year-old guy in a Bentley Turbo R, and they’d brought in some Buuz in a cup and snuck it into the car. While we were driving, he got it out and started eating. I hit the gas, and the food got all over him and the interior of the new car. I hear him scream out the S word, look over and see him covered in meat chunks with his hands up. I was new and wasn’t expecting the car to accelerate so suddenly, but needless to say it’s a bad idea to bring food on a supercar ride.” said Melissa. -
Chapter 16 - The Playhouse, the Electronics Store, and the Movie Theater
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 16 The explorers got back in the van, and Billy swapped his SD card. The explorers drove east, past a row of student apartments, before driving past a wealthy residential section of town. “These were professors’ houses, some of the coaches and college deans lived here as well.” said Melissa. Billy filmed them. “Did you ever go to any of them?” asked Billy. “Yeah, I’ve been to the football coach and the dean of the engineering college’s houses. Both were at open house events.” said Melissa. The explorers reached an avenue, labeled as “Avenue B”, and turned left, heading north through a middle-class residential district. Ahead of them, they could see a massive, completely collapsed stone and brick building. “That was the Broadway Playhouse, it had been abandoned for decades even before the town itself.” said Melissa. Billy began recording the playhouse ahead of them. “That big, completely collapsed building up there was called the Broadway Playhouse. It’s been abandoned a lot longer than the rest of the town, probably some time around 1970. In its day, it was a very ornate building that played Broadway plays. People would pay, in today’s money, 500 bucks to get a ticket. Eventually, and I’m not sure why, people just stopped coming. I think it had something to do with a shift in the types of plays and improvements in the quality of movies. People still watched plays, but they mostly became a thing that went to smaller and cheaper venues, like colleges and more generalized performing arts centers. The saying went ‘Why would I pay 100 bucks’, and this was back in the ‘60s, ‘for a musical when I can pay 5 bucks for a movie or an amateur performance that’s almost as good?” said Melissa. “Well then how do they make money with Broadway?” asked Megan. “Much bigger market, much bigger pool of customers.” said Melissa. Melissa stopped the van in front of the playhouse. Through the collapse, the explorers could see an opera box, probably on the third level, with red chairs with gilded trim, surrounded by Art Deco-style decoration, gold-colored with green accents. More bits of the once-grand glory of the theater showed through on the ground level, where broken-out front doors revealed a beautiful marble floor in the lobby, largely covered by fallen roof. Billy walked to the threshold of the doors and filmed what he could of the interior, including a mangled chair that had come through a hole in a wall, made of red leather and brass. The explorers looked for clues as to what might have played at the theater. “Can I walk into the lobby a little bit? There’s no basement, and everything collapsed decades ago.” asked Billy. “Grab a hard hat, and don’t leave my sight.” said Melissa. Billy and Melissa donned their hard hats, and Billy carefully walked onto the marble floor as Melissa followed. The lobby still had sections of roof, although about half were missing. Billy first walked to the doors that led into the theater, filming through the broken window. What he found were more of the opera boxes like he’d seen from the outside, along with a floor section that was a minefield of destroyed chairs and red roof tiling. The walls behind and surrounding the stage area had fallen forward into the seating area and collapsed roof. The stage itself was empty, just a platform covered in warped cherry wood. Billy then turned his attention to the ticketing area. The letter marquee sign had fallen. The counter was empty. Looking to the area beneath the marquee, he found ten letters. “H, L, E, L, O, D, L, L, Y, O. It’s Hello, something, I think. Hello Dolly?” asked Billy. “Yeah, I think I remember hearing something about that one.” said Melissa. “When’s it from? I know it’s post-1956 because I saw a picture of this theater from 1956, and it was playing The King and I.” asked Billy. “Not sure, but probably ‘60s. I don’t ever remember seeing this theater open. I think I was about 7 or 8 when I saw it for the first time, and it looked kind of dingy then, so it was definitely closed by ’72.” said Melissa. In the meantime, David was looking into the lobby himself. “I used to work in a movie theater in high school. They might have old ticket stubs under the counter.” he said. Billy opened a wooden door. The musty stench was overpowering, but he found three old ticket stubs, all three of which said “October 31, 1965” on them. “I guess that settles that.” said Melissa, as they left the theater and walked across the street to a Lechmere store. “I loved Lechmere! Used to go there all the time to get video games until they closed when I was 16.” said David. “I think most of us in the 30 plus age group loved Lechmere.” said Melissa. “I’ve always wanted to go to a Lechmere. They closed when I was one year old.” said Billy. Even though a full-grown tree was growing in the parking lot, the Lechmere building itself still looked to be in relatively good condition. The white siding was covered in grime and pollen and had numerous holes in it, but the windows on the front doors were intact. Billy filmed Melissa talking about the store. “I remember the day this Lechmere opened. It was March 1, 1985, and they advertised it for months. Everybody in town was so excited to finally get a Lechmere, they always had the best selection of electronics but the nearest one was an hour and a half drive. The day it opened, the parking lot was full, and people were parking across the street at the abandoned theater, which was still standing and structurally stable at the time. It was a big deal.” said Melissa. The explorers walked into the store, with Megan staying behind. A faint light from the glass doors illuminated the front counters but the interior was otherwise pitch black, save for a couple of cracks in the roof where light came in, so once again, flashlights were required in this nearly perfectly preserved monument to ‘80s state of the art technology. The first area they got to was the music section. There were four sections for vinyl records, miscellaneous formats, cassettes, and CD’s. “Wow, they had everything here, even Urban Chipmunk.” said David. “What I’m most surprised about is how many CDs they have. I thought CDs didn’t get really big until the early ‘90s, well, after ’87 anyway. Also, I never thought I’d see 8-tracks and CDs in a store, unless it was a store nowadays specializing in retro records.” said Billy. “I forgot all about the video singles. I can’t believe we used to drop 20 bucks on a music video of Cyndi Lauper. So cheesy.” said David. “David and Melissa, what were your favorite songs back in the ‘80s?” asked Billy. “Rock Me Amadeus. Still stuck in my head 35 years later. Had the video single and everything, probably got it at this very store.” said David, who walked over about 20 feet. “Here it is, actually.” he said, holding the videotape up. “I used to rock a lot of REO Speed Wagon on my Magnavox CD player. That thing got a lot of oohs and aahs. Favorite song, though, was probably Can’t Fight This Feeling.” said Melissa. “I love both of those songs.” said Billy. “I used to get all of my electronics and music here. I was probably here once a month, at least.” said Melissa. Billy turned his camera to Melissa to get her in the shot and had her repeat the line. After they explored the music section, they went to the video game section. “This is bigger than my local GameStop, and in 1987, wow.” said Billy. “My parents told me as a kid, when it comes to video games, it’s Lechmere or nothing.” said David. “OH MY GOSH!” yelled Billy. “What?” asked Melissa. “An RDI Halcyon, on clearance for $999. I guess it had been sitting there a couple years. Weird no one bought it because that would be worth five figures today. I’ve never seen one in person, and I’ve always wanted to.” said Billy. “We have to take this with us.” said Melissa. David’s jaw dropped. “What?!” asked David. “I thought the Halcyon was never officially released, so this has to be very rare, maybe a very limited release.” said Billy. “You’re right about limited release. As far as I remember, they might have released 50 or 100 here in Helmintoller, as a Lechmere exclusive, about 1984, I think. I remember they had a few at the Messenbaugh Mansion that you could pay a dollar and play a game. They had some type of Dragon’s Lair type game, this was supposed to be like a high-end arcade system for your home, it could play laserdisc movies and CDs too. Of course, all that cost something like $3,000 when it came out, they ended up making them for a couple weeks and selling most of them off at about $1,000 to $1,500. They actually built the Helmintoller-market ones at a factory here in Izzy.” said Melissa. “Well, it actually came out in February 1985, at the dead of the video game crash. I think the production run was 57, but you’re pretty much dead-on right, and I’ve been studying video games and collecting them for 15 years.” said Billy. “Well, looks like you just scored yourself a Halcyon. If this weren’t such a rare and valuable artifact, I wouldn’t allow taking it.” said Melissa. Billy put the Halcyon aside while the explorers finished looking at the old video games. The whole Sega Master System library released through March 1987 was there, with several copies of each game; ditto for the NES library, although a couple games were missing. The Atari 7800 library was also largely complete. Billy wanted with every fiber of his body to start hauling off games, but he was just happy to have his new Halcyon. “This store doesn’t really explain why the NES stomped the Master System and 7800. At this stage of the game, their game libraries were surprisingly close in size, given that all three were still early in their lives. Nintendo did, by most accounts, have the highest-quality games though. It would be in the years after 1987 that the NES would really hit its stride, peaking about 1990.” said Billy. “Yeah, I remember when I wanted a video game console to replace my old ColecoVision for my 7th birthday, I asked for Nintendo specifically and Super Mario. All my friends at school were talking about it. My parents pulled the old trick of ‘we’ll think about it’ and told me that the Atari 7800 had the same quality games at lower price. But I woke up on my birthday and they’d wrapped my present in Atari wrapping paper. I was disappointed, until I found a Nintendo Action Set in there. Cheeky twits.” said David. “Mmm, sounds like a good idea, makes the surprise all the more special.” said Billy. Though most of the shelf space was given to prominently displayed games for the newer systems, most of the games on the shelves, however, were for older systems, chief among them the Atari 2600. A clearance bin, advertising games at $10 or less, had a wide variety of systems and games represented in no particular way, though none were NES, Master System, or Atari 7800 games. After wading through about 50 copies of Combat on Atari 2600 for $5 each, Billy began to find some gems; a few Sega SG-1000 games, some Vectrex games, and probably several more games worth ten times more than the pittance they were going for in 1987. Nonetheless, there were no “holy grails” – some of the games might fetch over $50, perhaps low triple digits at most. Before they left the area, the explorers also looked at the demo stations set up; one each for NES, Master System, Atari 7800, and Atari 2600. The TV set up for the 7800’s demo unit had fallen to the ground. “I probably played on these exact demo units. My parents would drop me off at the demo units while they shopped.” said David. “Mine would drop me off at the toy store when they went to the mall.” said Melissa. “Mine left me at GameStop while they shopped for clothes. I hate clothes shopping. I’ve been scared of clothes tags since I was 3, so those video game stores and demo units hold a special place in my heart, for sparing me from seeing hundreds of clothes tags.” said Billy. “How’d you get scared of clothes tags?” asked Melissa. “I guess I just decided one day I was scared of them, I was 3 years old.” said Billy. “Oh.” said Melissa. The explorers left the video game section and made their way to the appliance section, where they found a sea of 70% beige appliances, with a few other colors in there, mostly black, and white. “Dang, eventually someone’s going to have to clear this place out.” said Billy. “In time.” said Melissa. “Beige was in during the ‘80s. We actually had to special order some of the appliances in my sorority house, and my first home, because I didn’t like beige.” said Melissa, as they reached the appliance section. “Look at the features on these microwaves they’re advertising. Quick defrost, clock, digital LCD display, for $300. Safe to say, we’ve come a long way.” said David. “I still have a 1986 GE microwave. After my family had issues with some of the new microwaves, we just bought a vintage one. We’ve had it 3 years, no problems. It looks like this one over here. It has all the features I need, and it WORKS, dang it.” said Billy, pointing to one of the higher-end microwaves with a $429 price tag. “Where’d you get it?” asked Melissa. “Abandoned house, it’d been abandoned in the early 1990s and was demolished in 2005, but before they demolished it, they took out all the appliances. Somebody bought the microwave, used it for a while, then sold it on eBay. I bet that 95% of these microwaves would still work.” said Billy. “Here’s the other 5%.” said David. An Oster microwave lay on the floor, face-up, dented on the back. A roof leak above had caused the shelf holding the microwave to weaken and corrode, which had caused the microwave to fall. Moss grew in a thick mat on the shelf in a small area, about half a square foot, where the sun shined in. So far, this was the only vegetation they’d seen in the store. “At least it was a low-end microwave.” said Billy. By this time, they’d been in the Lechmere about 20 minutes. Billy had filmed a wide swath of the Lechmere, including the entire music, video game, and appliance section. “We should probably go on to our next place. Grab your new Halcyon.” said Melissa. “Can we see the TVs and computers?” asked Billy. “Quickly.” said Melissa. The explorers went to the TV section, which Billy quickly filmed, before they went to the computer section. “Which one was your old computer, Melissa? The one you bought just before the volcano.” asked Billy. “Commander 1000 PC. This one right here.” said Melissa. Billy got a shot of the computer. “Aah, the days when there was more than just PC and Mac.” said David. A wide range of Commander computers were on display; at least half of the computers on sale were Commander models. The PC, or IBM-compatible models were on prominent display, advertised as “100% IBM Compatible” by Commander. The PC-compatibility, or “IBM compatible” theme extended to many of the rest of the computers as well. “You can see all of the Commander computers. This was Commander-town, after all. And you can see the IBM compatibility thing that was spreading, these PCs are the forerunners of modern PCs.” said Billy, getting several sweeping shots of the computers on the shelves. “What about all these portable computers?” asked David. “Yeah, 100 bucks for a computer with a one-line LCD display… no thanks. Especially when you could get a Commander 64K for the same price.” said Billy. “Well, now everyone has a computer in their pocket that’s probably hundreds of times more powerful than all the computers in this store. So, it was a good idea, just not ready for its time. Did you ever have a portable computer back then, Melissa?” asked David. “I tried one out once, and just couldn’t see a reason to buy it.” said Melissa. “Yeah, though I did hear they were good as scientific calculators, so I guess there was some purpose to them.” said Billy. After a few more minutes of exploring the computer section, the explorers left the Lechmere, and Billy grabbed his Halcyon. He put it in the right seat of the 3rd row of the van; with Dirk gone, there was no more need for the 3rd row. The explorers then headed for a movie theater. Megan was already taking pictures of the outside of the theater. The theater, called the Royal 16, was a relatively large building, covered in tan brick, and was a relatively modern building, with a copious amount of neon. “This was the first movie theater in Izzy, opened in 1924 months after the city was founded. In the ‘70s, probably about ’72, they tore down the original building and replaced it with this one which opened in time for Izzy’s 50th anniversary celebrations in ’74. It was considered the nicest theater in Izzy.” said Melissa. The explorers walked into the theater, save for Megan, who stayed outside once again. The foyer of the theater was over 20 feet high, and about 90% of the ceiling tiles were missing. The walls were cracked, and moss was growing in a few spots. On the right wall, now-retro movie posters hung up; the left wall had arcade games, and the back wall had two hallways, separated by a concession stand between them. “I don’t know much about movies, but Blind Date doesn’t seem to be too appealing.” said Billy. “It was a romantic comedy, and not a very good one.” said Melissa. “I don’t like romance movies to begin with, so I’d probably be asleep in 5 minutes with that one.” said Billy. “I love the Police Academy movies, sad that this theater never got to show Police Academy 4.” said David, pointing to a poster. The other movies advertised included Lethal Weapon, Mannequin, Hollywood Shuffle, Raising Arizona, and Black Widow. Billy filmed them all, as well as the arcade machines, which included Flicky, Hang-On, Out Run, Space Harrier, Fantasy Zone, Alien Syndrome, Wonder Boy, Enduro Racer, Zaxxon, Zoom 909, Congo Bongo, and Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars. All 12 of the arcade machines were intact, but dusty. “Wait a minute, these are all Sega games.” said Billy, filming, before looking up. “Sega Arcade. I’m an idiot.” he then said, as he saw the “Sega Arcade” lettering above the games. The “A” in Sega appeared to be loose. Billy finished looking at the arcade games before finding Melissa and David near the concession stand. “Look at what they sold here.” said David. Amid the standard fare of popcorn, sodas, and hot dogs, this theater appeared to have some culinary oddities. “Who would eat calamari at a movie theater?” asked Billy. “It was just one of those Izzy things, though you’ll find it at some specialty movie theaters nowadays.” said Melissa. The menu items seemed to get odder, going from cheeseburgers and cotton candy to lamb burritos, fried snake, and Mongolian style airag, with “For sale to 18+ ONLY” printed by it. “Wait, what? AIRAG?!” asked Billy. “What’s airag?” asked David. “Fermented horse milk. Popular in Mongolia, never thought I’d see it at a movie theater.” said Billy. “We had airag at quite a few places here in Izzy. Someone in the 1950s came back from Mongolia with the stuff and happened to be friends with a horse farmer. They started making airag, and it caught on.” said Melissa. “I had airag a couple times at Mongolian restaurants. It’s delicious.” said Billy. “Y’all can have that.” said David. The explorers then walked up a stairway into a hallway labeled “Screens 9-16”. Billy looked into each room, finding the room with screen 13 – which was showing “Blind Date” – had a major roof collapse. The remainder of the rooms still had major decay, but their roofs looked to be intact. David wasn’t willing to go into screen 13’s room, so Melissa gave him permission to explore the neighboring screen, 12, after visually inspecting it. Melissa and Billy went into room 13, turning off their flashlights; the hole in the roof covered about 40% of the room, concentrated close to the screen, and sunlight lit the interior. Massive, sound-absorbing foam blocks had fallen off the walls, requiring Melissa and Billy to step around them. Billy took careful note of the rows of seats – labeled A through Z, with each seat numbered from 1 to 22. Billy tried climbing up the steps to get to the top row, but the floor began to feel spongy, and he didn’t make it past row R. Nevertheless, from that vantage point, he could see the large hole in the floor that consumed parts of rows D through M, perhaps 10 seats wide at its widest point. Seats had fallen into the hole, caused when the supports had rotted away underneath the hole in the roof. The plant growth inside this room was the most of any room he’d seen so far. Billy and Melissa carefully stepped toward the hole to get a better look but stayed a few feet away. The supports for the theater floor had been built directly on pilings on the ground, meaning that the area under the hole not only had light and water, but the soil underneath the theater. An oak tree grew amid broken seats, flooring, and structural supports around where seat K11 had been; it extended about 3 feet above the former floor and was about 8 feet tall total. Moss and grass covered some of the seats adjacent to the hole. “This room is a death trap.” said Billy. After filming the room, he and Melissa left and waited about three minutes for David to finish in room 12. -
Chapter 14 - Meeting an Izzy Legend
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 14 The explorers all got back in the van. Dirk tried to take the middle row right seat. “Get in the very back.” said David, as he motioned to get in the seat. Billy got the front passenger seat again, putting his camera in the glove box. He looked and noticed he’d taken up six 64 gigabyte SD cards, and a little of a seventh for a total of almost 400 gigabytes, from just one day. The 5-terabyte hard drive that Billy had just gotten was going to have a significant chunk filled by just one trip. It was 7:54 pm, and almost completely dark outside. Melissa carefully navigated the pothole-filled University Road southward before coming to the avenue that ran along the city’s southern border. The sensation of driving on a completely dark road yet surrounded by buildings was alien to the explorers. Billy relaxed into the leather seat as Melissa carefully avoided the potholes and plants growing from the avenue. “My arms still hurt, by the way.” said Dirk. “Be quiet.” said Megan. About ten minutes after they had left, the explorers’ van got to the freeway. Megan, David, and Billy dozed off, while Dirk played on his phone. At 8:29, Billy woke back up. He looked over and saw that the van was going 106 mph. “Are we in a hurry?” asked Billy, quietly. “Yeah, we have dinner reservations that were supposed to start at (looks at clock) 8:30,” said Melissa. “Unfortunately, Dirk put us behind about 20 minutes”, Melissa whispered, so as not to draw Dirk’s attention. Billy could see the faint lights of Kallal City in the distance. “Looks like you’ve made the time up well.” said Billy. “Yeah, we should be there in the next 10 minutes,” said Melissa. “But I was planning on going 80, 85 miles per hour, not 106.” said Melissa. “Are you okay? You seem a bit, um, off.” asked Billy. ‘I’ll be fine.” said Melissa. “I know that house meant a lot to you.” said Billy. “Eh, Mother Nature was going to demolish it in due time anyway.” said Melissa. A couple minutes later, Melissa woke the others in the van up. “Wakey wakey. We’re almost at dinner.” Shortly after, Billy asked Melissa, “Do you remember when my dad signed the wall? My dad always wore old sorority shirts when I was a little kid, and he told me how good K-Xi-D and some of the others were.” “Yeah, I was there that day. He’d booked an appointment to see the K-Xi-D house and I wanted to make sure I was there. I actually drove him back to campus afterwards.” said Melissa. “Yeah, he was class of ’88, would have been ’87 but, we know what happened. He would have been a freshman in fall ’83. What did you drive back then?” asked Billy. “An ’82 Accord Special Edition. That’s why they had me drive him back, I had the nicest car.” said Melissa. “Mmmm, an ’82 Accord, that sounds like a really nice car for back then.” said Billy. “I got it when I graduated high school. It was the first Honda in my family.” said Melissa. “My dad’s been a big Volkswagen fan his whole life, he’s drove nothing but Volkswagens since his first car. He told me, ‘you gotta get a Volkswagen’ since I was a baby. When I was 10, we went to Germany, to the plant in Wolfsburg. It was his lifelong dream to go there. We rented an Audi A6 and spent 3 days in Germany, going to see the plant on the second day. I remember at lunch we waited half an hour in line to eat a sausage called a ‘currywurst’ that Volkswagen makes itself. As we were eating our lunch, my dad told me that Volkswagen actually makes more sausages than cars.” said Billy. “You can’t be serious.” said Megan. “Yup. I looked it up. Volkswagen actually makes more currywurst sausages than cars.” said Billy. “How do they taste?” asked Megan. “Delicious. I still eat them occasionally.” said Billy. “I’ve had one of the Volkswagen currywursts myself.” said Melissa. “When did you have one?” asked Billy. “It would have been a long time ago… 1993 maybe? By the way, if your dad was such a Volkswagen fan, how’d you end up in a Honda?” asked Melissa. “When I went off to college at Helmintoller Tech in 2013, I fell in love with Honda. One of my first friends there had a fully loaded black 2011 Accord, that car was nice. I didn’t know how to drive then, and wasn’t ready for college, but that’s one thing I took from there. It just so happened that the spring of my first year, so spring 2014, I felt like I was ready to drive. Of course, when I told my dad I wanted an Accord, he said ‘are you crazy? They’re built like tin cans; nothing beats Volkswagen engineering’ and reminding me ‘your mom almost died in an Accord’. One evening, me and my mom snuck off and bought that white Accord I have now. Dad wasn’t happy but he got over it.” said Billy. By now, the van was in the city, driving on surface streets. “Hondas are for losers. They make about 17 horsepower and sound like a lawnmower.” said Dirk. Melissa pulled the van into the parking lot of a restaurant called “Tamiko’s Sushi”, next to a brand-new white Honda Accord Touring, at a spot near the entrance. The restaurant, with a capacity of about 200 people, had a pagoda design and looked to be busy, but not packed. She and everyone else got out of the van, Billy grabbing his camera and SD cards, and followed Melissa to meet a middle-aged man, about 5’10 and of medium build, standing on a sidewalk near the front door of the restaurant. “This is my husband, Roger.” said Melissa. “Nice to meet you, Roger.” said Billy. “Sup, Rog.” said Dirk. “Go with Roger, Dirk. If anyone else needs to go back to their car, you can go with Roger, too.” said Melissa. Billy moved to go with Roger. “I gotta get my laptop.” he said. While Melissa, David, and Megan went into the restaurant, Dirk and David went with Roger. “Shotgun!” exclaimed Billy. “You’re not going to let me have the front seat?” asked Dirk. “Not after that stunt you pulled at the sorority house.” said Billy. Billy took the front passenger seat of the white Accord Touring, while Dirk sat behind Billy. On the way back, Billy talked to Roger while Dirk played with his phone in the back seat. “What did you guys explore?” asked Roger. “It’s been a busy day. We only really got around to the south side of the city.” said Billy. “So, like the airport, main library, University of Izzy, places like that?” asked Roger. “Yes. One place that really got to me was the old hospital, that place was a death trap. A big chunk of the building is gone entirely. The decay in there is just incredible, it blows my mind that that place was used just 35 years ago. Melissa told me that she was born there, and that the hospital was poorly built. Are you from Izzy, by chance?” asked Billy. “Yes, but I wasn’t born there, I moved there when I was 8.” said Roger. “Hold that thought. Do you mind if I record this? I’m doing a video on Izzy. Just say you’re Melissa’s husband, she’s already in the video, and tell me about your life in Izzy. If you can, give me some dates for reference, but if you can’t remember a date, that’s fine.” said Billy. “Go right ahead.” said Roger. Billy started recording on his camera. “I’m Melissa’s husband, I met her when we were students at the University of Izydor-“ As Roger spoke, Dirk interjected with a profane statement about how Melissa and Dirk had supposedly met. Disgusted, Billy turned off the camera. “Never mind, I’ll just record this bit after Dirk’s gone.” said Billy. Within two minutes, they were back at the McDonalds where the day had started. Dirk left the Accord, delivered a profane gesture, and got in his Firebird and peeled out. Meanwhile, Billy got a bag, which contained his laptop, external hard drive, and medications out of his own Accord before getting back into Roger’s Accord. “Something is not right about that man.” said Roger. “Yeah, I haven’t been too happy with him either. He almost died in the hospital when he fell through a floor that Melissa specifically told him not to walk on. It was the most impressive feat I’ve ever seen a human pull off. He was literally falling through the floor and she grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him back. That man, that man who was just in the back seat of your car, is alive because of your wife.” said Billy. “That’s why I married Melissa, her big heart. She’s always been a person who will go out of her way to do what’s right by people.” said Roger. “Well, Dirk repaid that big heart by whining about how much his arms hurt, and then damaging Melissa’s old sorority house trying to steal scrap metal. Real piece of work.” said Billy. “Well, you don’t have to worry about Dirk anymore.” said Roger. “That man deserves something to happen to him that will change the way he looks at life.” said Billy. Soon, Billy and Roger were back at the restaurant. Roger looked at his phone to see where Melissa and the explorers were sitting. As it turned out, that was unnecessary, as they were sitting near the front of the restaurant, around a U-shaped table with a hibachi grill in the middle. Roger sat on Melissa’s right side, while Billy sat on her left side, on the right side of the “U”. Along the bottom leg of the U were a man Billy had never met before, David, and Megan. “This is Tim Karaglanis, the man whose mansion we went to today.” said Melissa. “Hi, Tim. As a collector of old video games and a man very interested in old computers, I’m honored to meet you.” said Billy. “As a man who grew up on Commander computers, I’m honored to meet you.” said David. “Nice to meet you.” said Megan. The waiter came within a minute to take their orders. After taking their orders, the waiter asked who would be paying. “I’m paying for this whole table.” said Melissa, covering the explorers, Roger, and Tim, as well as a couple, whom she or the others didn’t know. “No, I’m paying for the whole table.” said Tim. “No, you save your money.” said Melissa. After a couple minutes of debating, the two came to an agreement where each would pay for half of the bill. “Tell them about your experience with Commander Computer.” said Melissa. Billy got out his camera to record. “I started working there in 1967 straight out of college. At that time, we mostly made big calculators and typewriters, and we were a small operation. We had a factory in the Zodiac Valley we leased space in, but the head office was in Izzy. I was in the product development division, so I worked at the head office.” said Tim. “Did you live in Izzy your entire life before the volcano?” asked Megan. “Yes, from birth until the volcano hit when I was 42. Anyway, we moved into consumer calculators in about 1969, 1970. Some of our lower-end models were quite cheap, 30 bucks or so back then, and they became quite popular. I was the head design engineer for our best-selling calculator, the HM-20, which came out in 1972. We were floored at how successful they were, and we had to build a new factory to keep up with demand.” said Tim. “That factory on the southwest side of the city, near the interstate exit? We visited there today. That’s where I first saw your name.” asked Billy. “That’s the one. We actually used modular construction to get that factory up in 4 months. The HM-20 came out in June of ’72, the boss ordered the factory on July 10th, and we had production, I believe, the week before Thanksgiving. The offices weren’t done yet, just the bare minimum to get the factory running. We had a big ribbon cutting ceremony February 19th, 1973 to mark the factory’s completion. Everyone there got a special HM-20 calculator. We sold over 400,000 HM-20’s that first year.” Tim stopped for a few seconds to catch his breath. “At some point, you all had to go from calculators to computers, because I know that Commander eventually ended production of calculators in the early ‘80s, I think. I also know that, at some point, I think I read in the late ‘70s, you became CEO. What’s the stories there?” asked Billy. “They appointed me the CEO in 1976. At the time, we had become a very successful calculator company and were looking for our next product. I guess, in hindsight, we could have stuck with calculators, but our R&D team was doing research on computers after things like the Altair had become somewhat successful. They wanted to cancel the project, but I told them, keep going, one day businesses and some homes will have a computer.” said Tim. “They all do now. Heck, we have computers in our pockets that are millions of times more powerful than those ‘70s computers that cost thousands to buy.” said Melissa. “Our first computer came out in ’77 and was called the Dual – because it could run CPL, a proprietary language we developed, but it could also do regular BASIC. It was supposed to be CPL entirely, but CPL proved to have a steep learning curve, so we developed a dialect of BASIC, called Commander BASIC, and put that in. It was somewhat successful, but no one ended up using CPL, so it was a good call to put the BASIC in. Our next computer was called the V-50, and that’s where things really took off. I don’t know if you went to my old house, but I started building that in ’81, after we made more money off the V-50 in its first 3 months on the market than the Dual made in almost four years. In hindsight, it was sort of a speculative move, but then the 64K came out and things just kept getting better, we came out with the Dostim and PC compatibles after that, so it seemed to be smooth sailing. At the time of the volcano, we were, by far, the biggest company in Izzy.” said Tim. “What happened after the volcano? I know Commander was re-founded and successful for a while but went out of business in 1997.” asked Billy. “We had everything back in production by May 15th and a new headquarters, converted from an abandoned factory, open by July 1st. However, this was also when our fortunes started going south. We were able to keep our fortunes up for a while by sales to Eastern Europe and other emerging markets, but the markets were all going toward IBM compatibles, and our IBM compatibles weren’t selling well.” said Tim. “I bought one of your IBM compatible computers. Good computer, shame they weren’t successful.” said Melissa. “Thanks for your business. Anyway, I left in ’91, a lot of people started leaving around that time. We went through a succession of CEOs and top brass after that, before we were finally bought out by HBM in 1997.” said Tim. “Thank you. You gave a lot of good information.” said Billy. “We went to your old house today as well.” said Melissa. “How’s it holding up?” asked Tim. “Pretty well. Definitely still salvageable.” said Melissa. “We found a vintage Corvette in there.” said Billy. “Oh, the Corvette. I miss that car.” said Tim. “We were thinking about getting it out of Izzy and maybe restoring it in the future if we can get the money. For now, though, I just want it out of that ghost town.” said Melissa. “I’ll be glad to help you get it out of there. Just bring it to my house. While you’re at it, it would be nice if you could get the other cars too, if that’s feasible.” said Tim. “What are you driving today?” asked Billy. “I’m in a 1985 Ferrari Testarossa. There’s an interesting story behind that car, it was the car that I drove out of Izzy.” said Tim. “Melissa told me that you used to have open houses most weekends at your house. Since the volcano hit on a Saturday evening, what happened at your house after that?” asked Billy. “The house was far from the volcano, so we heard a faint rumble, but the volcano was a couple miles away so we didn’t see anything, initially. A few people were saying ‘what the heck was that’ and things like that. I probably had 80, maybe 100 people in the house, watching TV, eating, playing games, and swimming in the pool. I was in the pool myself. A young woman burst into the room and yelled ‘THE VOLCANO IS EXPLODING! GET OUT OF TOWN!’. People ran over to her, a few immediately ran out of the house in their swim trunks, some went to get dressed, some asked more questions. Me and about 25 other people followed her upstairs where a projection TV simply said, in red letters on a black background, ‘ALL RESIDENTS OF IZYDORCZAK, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY’. A loud, high pitched buzzer alternated with a voice saying ‘Samberg Volcano has erupted. All people in Izydorczak must evacuate immediately. This is a life-threatening situation.’ I’ll never forget the chaos. People were going into the dressing rooms yelling ‘GET OUT NOW!’, screaming, cursing, total panic. I ran to my Ferrari, some young hippie type guy ran behind me and got in the passenger seat as soon as I unlocked the door. There were no words. As I backed out, I hit a blue station wagon, and we just kept driving – over lawns, through fields, anything we could do to get to the freeway. I saw a few people who just drove through the fields next to the freeway. Total chaos.” said Tim. “Wow. Whatever happened to you and the hippy guy? Did he ever talk?” asked David. “He didn’t say a word for half an hour, he just looked shocked. Once we were about maybe 5, 7 miles out of town or so, he finally said ‘Thank you’. I asked him if he was with anyone and he said his girlfriend, she’d been watching a movie upstairs while he was in the pool, and that if she’d taken the car, she’d be in a white Ford Fairmont. I managed to call one of my friends in Helmintoller City to stay until I could get back on my feet, I dropped the hippy looking guy off at a hotel where they had police set up to help re-connect missing parties. That’s the last I saw of him; I think he found his girlfriend the next day. I finally got to my friend’s house at 6 in the morning, I was literally dozing off to sleep behind the wheel. I’ve never before, or since, literally slept a day away.” said Tim. “Well, I’m glad he’s okay, and he got to ride in a Ferrari even if it was under terrifying conditions.” said Billy, wrapping up his recording. “I guess there’s a silver lining to everything.” said Tim. “That was something very heroic you did.” said Billy. “Thank you, we all did what we had to that night.” said Tim. “You know, I’ve never been in a Ferrari, or any Italian supercar for that matter.” said Billy. “Do you want to?” asked Roger. Billy could hardly contain his excitement. “Oh my gosh, YES!” he shouted. “Me too!” said David. Roger and Megan followed. “It’s a two-seater, so we’ll have to do this one at a time. Take it away, Melissa.” said Tim. Melissa thought it over, realizing it would take 5 trips. “Do you mind if I let Roger drive one of the trips?” she asked. “Go right ahead.” said Tim. “If you need to leave, we can just do this another day. It’s 9:41.” said Billy. “Eh, just try to keep it reasonably short. Don’t go all the way to Wheatley and back.” said Tim. -“He just lets you drive his Ferrari?” asks David. They worked it out, with Billy saying “I want to go last. I want to savor the anticipation.” Roger and David went first. They were gone for 9 minutes. After that, Roger took Megan for a spin, which lasted 10 minutes. During this 19-minute period, Billy tried his best to stay as calm as he could, but a close observer could tell he was a bit jitterier than normal. At 10:02, Billy’s time finally came. “Who do you want to drive you?” asked Melissa. “I don’t particularly care, but you I guess.” said Billy. “I can take the rest back to the hotel. Wait, I guess someone should stay behind with Tim.” said Roger. Realizing that she was the only one who needed a ride to the hotel, Megan stayed behind. “You don’t have to go out of your way to take me back to the hotel.” she said. Melissa and Billy walked out to the Ferrari, as Roger walked out to his Accord and left. As soon as they got in, both buckled their seat belts and Billy turned his camera on. “THISSS is a Ferrari Testarossa. I wasn’t expecting to ride in it today, but it’s owned by the old CEO of Commander Computer, so this is kind of a historical and car review video at the same time. This is a 1985 model, it was actually in Izzy back in the day, and the owner drove it out of there. It has, how many miles does it have, Melissa?” asked Billy. “128,105.” said Melissa. “I don’t know much about the Testarossa, so I’m just going to show you the car.” said Billy. He turned off the camera momentarily. “Do you mind if I turn a light on in here?” asked Billy. “Go ahead.” said Melissa. Billy turned on the light and videoed the still-pristine interior as Melissa merged onto the interstate. The road ahead was clear. “You got a good hold on your camera?” asked Melissa. “Yes.” said Billy. “You ready to see this thing run?” asked Melissa. “Yup.” said Billy. Melissa floored the Ferrari as Billy filmed. Both took in the whine of the V12 engine as the speed climbed to 125 mph. “Whoa.” said Billy, as he turned off his camera and relaxed for the rest of the ride. “I bet Dirk would have enjoyed this.” said Melissa. “That’s what you get when you act like a total jerk. I would have kicked him out after the hospital incident.” said Billy. “I probably should have, come to think of it.” said Melissa. “That was nice of Tim to come and bring his Ferrari. What are the odds?” asked Billy. “Truth be told, I set up the whole thing. If you can’t tell by the fact, he lets me drive his priceless Ferrari, me and Tim have been friends for over 35 years.” said Melissa. “I think I remember you saying Tim would be glad to meet us, but I didn’t know it would be tonight.” said Billy. “I planned it weeks ahead of time. When you all signed up for the trip and put what you wanted to eat, I took the most popular option and set it up with Tim. I just finalized the details over text at the factory.” said Melissa. “And the Ferrari? Surely, he wouldn’t have brought that randomly. Were you behind that too?” asked Billy. “Maybe.” said Melissa. “Wow, you didn’t have to do that.” said Billy. “Well, I figured that if there was a car guy and a Ferrari available, I’d try to make something happen.” said Melissa. Even though the rides lasted less than 10 minutes, it would be something that Billy, and the others, would remember for a lifetime. When they got back to the restaurant, Melissa gave the keys back to Tim, and the explorers got back in the van to go to the hotel, a 12-story, 3-star hotel called Zodiac Valley Hotel. At 10:29 pm, the explorers finally reached their room. Billy found it amusing that the floors were named after zodiac signs. The explorers’ room was on the 10th floor, and was a double suite – two rooms, numbered 1017 and 1018, joined by a door. “We’re on Libra level. Only in Helmintoller would a floor of a hotel would be named that.” said Billy. Melissa and Megan stayed in room 1017, while David and Billy were in room 1018. All four had their own bed, a full-size bed with burgundy sheets and pillows and a white blanket. “What time do we have to be awake tomorrow?” asked Billy. “I’d say, maybe 10 am.” said Melissa. As Melissa and Megan settled into their room, and David laid down to fall asleep, Billy wanted to do the same, but he had to clear his SD cards for another day of exploring. First going to the community tab on his YouTube account, he posted “First day of Izydorczak exploration complete. Went to: airport, crash test hall, computer factory, several businesses and homes, hospital, high school, convention center, library, and a special surprise! Expect the videos uploaded by October 15th.” Then, he plugged in his 5-terabyte external hard drive through a USB port and his camera’s off-loading cable through a second USB port. As he drifted in and out of microsleeps, he off-loaded the contents of card 1 onto his laptop, then the remaining 6 cards, before transferring the 397.6 gigabytes of files to his laptop. Finally, after that 26-minute process, he took his bedtime medications. Finding David fast asleep, he set his alarm for 9:26 am, to commemorate the awesome September 26th he’d just had. Then, he fell asleep, briefly thought about the awesome day he’d just had, and went out like a light. He was so tired; he’d forgotten to call his parents to tell them he was okay. For Billy, it felt like he was asleep for a few seconds before he was woken up by his phone ringing. When he looked at his phone, he was surprised to see that it was 1:12 am, and that he’d been asleep for about two hours. “Hello, Dad.” said Billy. “How was your trip?” asked Billy’s dad. “It was great. We got to see quite a few places, we explored most of the southern part of the town, then we had sushi and I got to ride in a Ferrari.” said Billy. “That’s awesome. Who put all of this on?” asked Billy’s dad. “Melissa Murphy. She said she remembers you from college. Kappa Xi Delta?” asked Billy. “Oh, yeah. She was the nicest person I knew. Tell her I said hi.” said Billy’s dad. “Well, she hasn’t changed one bit. We did have one mean guy that we had to kick out.” said Billy. David woke up from the conversation. “Could you take your conversation into the bathroom, please?” he asked. “Sorry, didn’t realize how loud I was talking.” said Billy, walking into the bathroom. “You’re good.” said David. “Who was the mean guy and what did he do?” asked Billy’s dad. “He started off by insulting Melissa, calling her old and just generally being a snarky jerk. Then, he almost died when he disobeyed Melissa and went somewhere, she told us not to. Melissa just barely saved him. He was literally falling through a floor, and she grabbed him.” said Billy. “Holy ****! Make sure you do what Melissa says.” said Billy’s dad. “Yeah, it was nuts. I’ve never seen anything so brave. She came up behind him and just yanked him out. Gave me a lot of confidence in her. Anyway, after that happened, he still acted like a butthole. He constantly whined about his arms hurting. Didn’t take responsibility at all. He got kicked out after he tried to steal scrap metal from the old Kappa Xi Delta house. Melissa got pretty ticked off, she was yelling at him.” said Billy. “Wow, are you serious. What a *******. Anyway, you get some sleep and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” said Billy’s dad. -
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The file contains an abandoned house (no night lights), an old ZIL-130 from 1982 with two sims. You can use these props to create lots. You can find the props in the Lot Editor as: AGC_House_US_Old-fashioned_Light_Blue AGC_CAR_ZIL-130_1982_Rusted_L-Blue_Anim1_90 I'll add the night lights later. -
Chapter 11 - Faded Luxury
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 11 Melissa and Billy got back in the van, taking the front seats. Melissa started to drive the van northward, crossing an avenue. Billy handed his camera to David in the back seat to show him the pictures of the room he was born in. “I’m surprised you could even go in it. I would have thought the floors would have been far too damaged.” said David. “You lucked out. It was one of only two of the birth rooms that we could even go in.” said Billy. “What was the rest of the hospital like?” asked David. “Collapses down as far as the 1st floor, had to watch your step everywhere. Extremely dangerous building, I’m guessing in 5 or 10 years the whole top half is going to be gone.” said Billy. “Yeah, I was really nervous about you all in there.” said David. “Would you believe that building was used until the ‘90s? Less than 30 years ago. Maybe even 25. There were apartments on the 2nd through 5th floors. It was some kind of commune established after the volcano. I guess they abandoned it because the building was becoming unsafe.” said Billy. “Well, I’m glad the room I was born in is still there, even if it won’t be for much longer.” said David. “I am too. As an aside, I heard somewhere that building had more people born in it that test-drove the 2008 Honda Accord in Helmintoller when it came out than any other building.” said Billy. “Wow, how do they know that? I was born in that building, and I test-drove the ’08 Accord when it came out, but I didn’t know that very building was number one.” said David. “It was in Izzy, it was a big hospital, and it operated from the early ‘60s to ‘85. A car salesman where I live said that most of the people that test drove those Accords in the first days and weeks were born between about 1975 and whatever would have been 18 years old then, so 1989.” said Billy. Just then, Melissa turned left. “Why are you going left? It’s only 5:04.” asked Billy. “The stadium, event center, and library are up here. Really nice buildings.” said Melissa. “Can I go inside?” asked Dirk. “Shouldn’t be too sketchy, so yes. But if you disobey any instruction, you’ll get pulled again.” said Melissa. The first building they explored was the stadium. All five explorers decided to come along on this one, as it was outdoors. The parking lot, while overgrown, was empty, unlike the parking lot of the event center next door. “Remember, since Izzy was abandoned in March, they wouldn’t have been using this field yet for the season. They only used it from April to October, sometimes November. They played rugby, football, and occasionally a few other outdoor sports and events.” said Melissa. The field itself was just a large expanse filled with grass 3 to 4 feet tall; any identifying lines had long vanished. At one end of the field were two scoreboards, a rugby scoreboard on the left and a football scoreboard on the right. Both were heavily rusted, with chipped paint, but still standing. Some of the glass pieces covering the score panels themselves were missing. The explorers stayed on the concrete adjacent to the bleachers. “How’d they get both rugby and football in?” asked David. “Originally, it was just a football field. Rugby came here in the mid ‘70s. They’d start the field as a rugby field in the spring and convert it to a football field in July or August. Not too much difference.” said Melissa. The bleachers themselves had sides made of brick, with a concrete structure. The plastic seats were white, with some green seats arranged in a pattern that said “PELES”. A few bricks had fallen from the sides, and the concrete was cracking and had some small plants growing through it, but the structure looked stable enough. There was a press box at the top of the bleachers; it had a few missing bricks near the tops of the walls and the roof appeared to have a hole in it, so exploring it would depend on how it was attached to the bleachers. “The high school said Peles too. I guess that was the mascot for the town.” said David. “Bet the whole town felt like idiots after the volcano went off, naming their mascot after the Hawaiian god of fire.” said Dirk. “The volcanologists all told us that the volcano hadn’t erupted since the time of the pharaohs in Ancient Egypt and that it probably wouldn’t erupt for thousands of years, and even if it did erupt, we’d have at least a week of warning. It was a one in a million thing. As for the mascot, the football, basketball, baseball, and rugby teams were all called the Peles, the hockey team was called the Destroyers.” said Melissa. “Easy to remember what team was from Izzy.” said Billy. Melissa climbed a staircase to get onto the bleachers; all but Megan followed. They walked up next to the spine of the “P” in PELES, as Megan took a selfie in front of the bleachers. Billy took a picture of the bleachers from the side and a close-up of seat R1. The bleachers had 26 rows. “I love how the rows are A to Z, so you know exactly how far from the bottom or top you are.” said Billy. “We don’t care.” said Dirk. “I went to this stadium many times and didn’t remember that. Interesting little detail.” said Melissa. Melissa opened the door to the press box, putting one foot on the floor to test it out. It felt solid. She motioned for the rest of the explorers to follow. The first room was a corridor, empty except for three stacks of posters, about two feet tall each. Billy looked at the posters on the top; a poster for a football match between the Peles and the Gorham Sailors on October 4, 1986, a football playoff match between the Peles and the Cornelius City Griffins on November 1, 1986, and a 14th Annual Water Balloon War, put on by Phi Gamma Alpha Fraternity on September 12, 1986. “Water balloon fight, that sounds like a dream! I need to get a DeLorean and go to 1986.” said Billy. “Most of the Greek community at Izzy University came down here every year to hurl water balloons at each other on Friday night. Sometimes, even alumni would come, I was at the last one in fall 1986 even though I’d graduated in May. Every organization got a few thousand balloons – ours were green – and we just went nuts with them.” said Melissa. In the next room, there were three torn black leather chairs and a table with a camera mounted in front of it, facing out a still-intact window toward the field. The explorers gave the room a quick once over and walked out. Next door to the field was the city’s main event venue, a large building that, at a distance, looked sort of like the airport terminal, clad in numerous windows. A label scar said “Medley Arena”; the actual lettering for the arena, red letters about 8 feet tall, had torn loose and were laying in a mangled lump in front of the arena. The exterior of the arena was covered in laminated-glass windows, some of them cracked and all covered in dirt and grime. While it appeared to be in worse condition than the mansion they explored earlier, it still looked very much structurally stable, a relief for Melissa, Billy, and Dirk. All explorers, including Megan, went in. The interior of the building smelled musty, though no plant life was visible inside. In the entrance concourse, the light-tan, marble floors looked ahead of their time for the 1980s, and they and the white marble walls looked to be largely intact. There were a few flakes of paint and drywall from the ceiling on the ground, but the ceiling – painted with a beautiful mural of the city – still had 90% of its paint and covering. “Wow, this place looks modern for 1987. The event arena in my hometown still looked a lot like this until they renovated it a few years ago. It’s in great shape, too.” said Billy. “They’d just done a top-to-bottom renovation of the arena in 1984. Had they abandoned it a few years earlier, it would be in a lot worse shape; the old arena had roof leaks, as well as hideous avocado-green walls. They’d been wanting to repair and update it for at least a decade, and they finally did, only for it to be abandoned a few years later. They built, and renovated, this place to last and to take the weight of thousands of people on the floors at once. Izzy was booming in the ‘80s, so several of the major attractions in the city were renovated just a few years before the volcano.” “What’s your best memory here?” asked Megan. “Probably the Steven Wonderful concert in December 1984. It was a huge event that they hyped up since that summer. They actually had to do 3 nights, because they could only hold about 15,000 people in here. 15,000 tickets sold out in 15 minutes, so they expanded to a second night, and that sold out quickly. They added a third night, and that almost sold out. I went on the first night, and let me tell you, it was the most amazing concert I’ve ever been to, before or since. Steve was on top of his game that night.” said Melissa. “Any other big-name singers sing here?” asked Billy. “We got Michael Jefferson, Wham-O, Motley Crew, GEO Speed Wagon, they all came to Izzy. Steve was the first, the 1984 renovation made the big names take this venue seriously. They tripled the size of the venue in ’84. We had probably 20 or 30 concerts scheduled that had to be canceled because of the volcano, ’87 was going to be the biggest year yet.” said Melissa. “Why were there no cars in the parking lot, then?” asked Billy. “The night of the volcano, there had been a hockey game that let out at 9, I believe. Don’t quote me on that, I wasn’t there, but everyone would have gone home before the volcano hit after 10.” said Melissa. On a wall to their right, the explorers found a marquee board with a list of major events listed on it. Only a couple of the letters had fallen, so it was still readable. There were three sections: Sports, Music, and Events, as well as a calendar in a binder with laminated pages on a small, elevated table underneath. Although the city had been abandoned on March 28, 1987, the calendar didn’t have an opening until August 18 of that year. “Do you know anything about this Izzy Car Show, scheduled for June 1-7?” asked Billy. “I actually drove people around in the new cars the last two times they held it. It was a lot of fun. They paid me $200 a day just to drive the new cars. Helped me pay off my college debt, too.” said Melissa. The explorers walked down the concourse, finding a restaurant called “Frisco Burrito” on their left. The theme was similar to a Chipotle, with an adobe and red color scheme. “Wow, I bet in the ‘80s that was trendy.” said Megan. “Yeah, and delicious.” said Melissa. Next to the Frisco Burrito, there was a passageway to the main event room itself. The room itself was massive, and much more decayed than the concourse. The humidity was noticeably higher than in the concourse. The concrete floor of the main room was covered in steel coils, with no sign of the ice that would have been on the rink; there was a large amount of moss growing from the concrete floor and steel coils, and even some moss growing on the walls that separated the rink from the spectator area. “Hmmm… I wonder how that worked?” asked Megan. “I think they send a really cold liquid, something that can get to below zero without freezing, through the steel coils. The coils get to below zero and that freezes the water around them.” said David. “And what about when they needed to use the arena for something else?” asked Megan. “They laid an insulated, foldable floor over it. It would feel like a normal floor, but there would be ice underneath.” said Melissa. Above them, the ceiling was about 40 feet above them. Though covered in moss and grime, the concrete roof structure was intact, and all the little workers’ passageways running a few feet below the ceiling looked stable. Some pieces of plastic, from the rings of advertising that lined the walls at the boundaries between levels, had fallen on the high-backed green chairs ringing the stadium. There were probably 60 rows of these seats. “Yeah, just looks like the inside of a stadium, with a little more decay.” said Dirk. For once, everyone agreed with him. “I’d love to go up to the walkways near the ceiling and get a top-down shot.” said Billy. “I’ve been up on those walkways at another stadium, as a maintenance worker. It’s an interesting novelty the first time you go up.” said David. “If we can get up there, and they’re stable, we’ll walk on them.” said Melissa. The explorers left the ice rink room by climbing up through the seating area, reaching row 63 and leaving through section 314. They walked back toward the lower numbered sections, 313, 312… until they found a luxury lounge near section 308. A sign on the wall said, “Rhodes Furniture Lounge”, next to a large door that said, “Members Only”. “No sense in keeping my poor butt out.” said Dirk, as the explorers walked into the room. “Did you ever get to go in here, Melissa? I only got to walk by it, I always wondered what was in here.” said David. “Yes, once. It looked just like this, but in better shape, obviously. Tim got me an invitation in here in 1985.” said Melissa. The lounge was wrecked; the entire drop ceiling had come down, covering everything in the room with a thick coating of plastic and drywall. The tan shag carpet was covered in moss. The bare concrete walls were visible in some spots where the green and white wood paneling had come off. A white patch on the top of the big screen TV revealed one of the sources of the decay. “Bird crap. Birds are getting in here somehow.” said Billy. An overstuffed red couch was ripped and had bird droppings on it as well. The explorers soon found where they could have come from, a broken skylight. A serving cart’s troughs were filled with dead vermin. Plates were left on a table, and there were even cups laying on the floor. “Somebody didn’t clean up in here.” said Billy. “I’m out. Eew.” said Megan. She left the room and went back out to the 3rd floor concourse. The remaining explorers continued to explore the lounge for a few more minutes before leaving to keep looking for the maintenance room. During the walk toward the maintenance room, Dirk reached in his pocket for his cell phone; he felt some pain in his shoulder. “Ow, my shoulder.” “Oh, boy. Not this again.” said Billy. “Melissa hurt my shoulder in the hospital. I just tripped over something little and she grabbed my shoulders like a ******* gorilla.” said Dirk. “No, you were falling into a hole where you would have died, and I grabbed you so you wouldn’t fall to your death.” said Melissa. “Let me get this straight. Melissa saved your life and you’re going to try to frame her for hurting you?” asked Billy. Billy showed Megan and David a picture of the hole. “This is the hole he almost fell down. He stepped on it, after Melissa told him not to go in there, and it fell out from under him.” “Yeah, I’d say that’s a pretty serious hole. You did the right thing, Melissa.” said David. “If Dirk tries to get you in trouble, we’re all behind you.” said Billy. “Yeah, you’ve been nothing but nice to all of us.” said Megan. Finally, between sections 301 and 328, they found a door that said, “Employees Only”. Melissa tried the door, expecting it to be locked. It opened. She looked at the walkway in front of her, finding its connections secure and structure stable. The walkway, made of black corrugated steel, was about 2 feet wide and had a black steel railing that was about 4 feet tall. She called for the explorers to follow her, and all but Megan did. David followed Melissa on to the walkway, and Billy followed behind, followed by Dirk at the back. The walkway moved unsteadily with all four on it. “Billy and Dirk, you need to go back to the concourse. I’ll come get you in 5 minutes.” said Melissa. They left, while Melissa and David walked on the walkways for a few minutes. “You gotta see the control center over the scoreboard.” said David. Five minutes later, Melissa came back. It was Billy’s turn. Melissa followed about two feet behind Billy, so he could film unobstructed. Billy filmed every second of the walk, getting a few top-down shots of the ice rink itself, as well as the ceiling. On the ceiling, the explorers got a close-up view of the air ducts and water pipes that serviced the building. Billy reached out and touched an air duct at a place where it ran inches from the walkway. The walkways intersected at the center of the arena, directly above the score board, around the control room at the center of the room like a porch on a house. The walkway that the explorers walked on ran across the diameter of the short side of the room and was about 60 feet long between the entrance and control center at the center of the arena. The control center was an enclosed circular room about 7 feet in diameter. Billy realized that the best place to get a good top-down video wouldn’t be from the control room or its immediate vicinity, but about 4 feet away. Billy zoomed his camera out to its widest angle and pointed the camera toward the ice rink and seats on one side, then to the ice rink and seats on the other side. Then, Billy had an idea: put his arm through the camera strap and poke his camera through the railing to get a direct overhead shot with no walkway in the way. With the camera pointing straight down, he took a picture, getting the whole ice rink and at least 30 rows of seats in the frame. “Wow. Melissa, take a look at this.” said Billy. “Impressive. I haven’t seen many pictures that capture their subject so well, and I taught photography classes for 5 years.” said Melissa. ‘Didn’t know I had it in me. Dumb luck, perhaps.” said Billy. After the picture, Billy opened the door to the control center; Melissa followed. “What, did they not have any locks on the doors in this place?” asked Billy. “Guess not. They would have had security staffed there, so I guess they didn’t see the need to lock stuff up.” said Melissa. The control center had papers on the table still left over from the last hockey game. The Destroyers had 6 points, the opposing team, the Kallal Ducks, had gotten 4. The game-ending time was 9:21 pm, less than 45 minutes before the volcano. “I live in Kallal, but I’ll root for the Destroyers here. It was their last game.” said Billy. “They were having a good season. They let them go to the Yelnats Cup the next year as the Murphysville Destroyers, and they won, so it was a victory, just a year late.” said Melissa. “That was so nice of the HHL. How long were they out?” asked Billy. “I think they came back around April of 1988, a little after the first anniversary of the volcano. They were all away games for a couple years after that.” said Melissa. “I love a good resurgence story. What about the Izzy Car Show?” asked Billy. “That was brought back in ’88. It’s been held in Cormack City since then, but it’s still called the Izzy Car Show.” said Melissa. “So, I take it, ’88 was the year stuff really came back, at least all the big events.” said Billy. “You really started to see the re-scheduled concerts and events start coming back around Christmastime of ’87, though most of our big events came back in ’88, some in ’89. Most of them were in venues in the Cormack City/Murphysville area, as that’s where most of us moved.” said Melissa. Billy finished exploring the control room, and then Melissa went back with Dirk. A few minutes later, the explorers were done with this building, and it was 6:09 pm.-
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Chapter 9 - High School Terrarium
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 9 The explorers got back in the van, Megan taking the front passenger seat this time. The van went through a residential area. Most of the houses were structurally compromised in some way; holes in the roof on many, a missing wall here, one house totally collapsed there. Billy had Megan hand him the SD card labeled “4” and put card 3 in the glove box, with the two other used cards. After a drive of about five minutes, the explorers arrived at a two-story high school which said, “C N A ZYD A IG SC O”. The school was medium-sized, probably 500 or 600 students. “Central Izydorczak High School.” said Billy. “This is where I went to high school, class of ’82.” said Melissa. “You don’t have to keep reminding us that you’re old.” said Dirk. Megan decided to stay outside, given the condition of the school. The overall architecture of the school looked 1970s. The school had tan tile walls on the first floor and silver siding on the second floor. All the windows were shattered. “This place seriously looks like Candu High School in Uranium City, Canada.” said Billy. The explorers walked through a broken tempered glass front door. Inside the school’s front hallway, the floors felt stable, but a mush of fallen ceiling tiles covered the floor. The red paint on the cinder-block walls was peeling and faded. The interior smelled of mold. Inside the front office, a dirty sign-in sheet still said March 27, 1987 and the last person to sign in to the school – a boy named Patrick, at 12:29 pm. Elsewhere in the office was a logbook that said, “Detention”. “Hmmm, wonder what Harry Jones did to get the last-ever detention at this school?” asked David. After a short time in the office, the explorers went into Room 103 – a classroom. Much of the plaster had peeled from the walls, revealing the cinder blocks underneath, but the desks were still arranged neatly in five rows of six. There was a map of the United States that had fallen off the wall on the right side of the room laying on the floor. The subject matter on the blackboard revealed that on March 27, 1987, Mr. Donaldson’s 11th grade history class was learning about the Teapot Dome scandal, and that their homework was questions 7-12 on page 226. “Well, if you ever have to take a test on the Teapot Dome scandal… here’s some notes from 1987.” said Billy, filming the blackboard. The teacher’s desk had an Apple II computer, a gradebook, and a teacher’s edition textbook on it. Billy was most interested in the gradebook; David and Dirk looked at the textbook, a blue book that said, “American History”. It was laid out much like a modern textbook, but had no color photographs, and the maps were out of date, showing the Soviet Union. Of course, they had to look at what the doomed assignment had been. Question 7 had been, “What were some of the legislative changes that resulted from the Teapot Dome Scandal?” “I forgot all about the Teapot Dome scandal.” said David. “I remember hearing about it on the Simpsons.” said Billy. “I wonder how many of the students even finished that assignment. I always did my weekend homework on Sunday night.” said Billy. “Sometimes, I did it on Monday morning, in my other classes.” said Melissa. The explorers went down the hall, past a few more history classes, and found a chemistry lab. “This was Mrs. Conley’s class. I never was one for science growing up, but she always found a way to make it interesting. She taught junior level chemistry and was one of the people who inspired me to teach.” said Melissa. The blackboard had a detailed drawing of an alkane, an alkene, and an alkyne structure. The board said, “Remember the Alley rule like the vowels. alkAne = 1, alkEne = 2, alkYne = 3.” Under “Homework” on the board, it said “ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND”. “Mrs. Conley always used mnemonics and little tricks to help you memorize stuff.” said Melissa. A big periodic table, printed on cardboard, probably 4 feet tall by 6 feet wide, still clung to the wall; it only had up to element 109, with elements 104-109 having temporary names. The periodic table had a 1981 copyright date. Desks were arranged in much the same manner as in the history room, but on the left side of the room, there were lab counters, with wooden shelves inside the counters and gas hookups for Bunsen burners. Inside the shelves were all the trappings of a chemistry experiment: test tubes, pipettes, beakers, and the Bunsen burners. Billy and David looked inside one set of shelves, while Melissa and Dirk looked at another set. “Did anyone ever get hurt doing a chemistry experiment?” asked Dirk. “Not that I can recall.” said Melissa. “What was your favorite class in school?” asked Billy. “Probably newspaper class. I always enjoyed getting out in the community and interviewing people.” said Melissa. “I’d love to see that classroom.” said Billy. “Alright, next class.” said Melissa. The teacher’s desk was the last thing the explorers looked at in the room. It had another Apple II computer and a gradebook, with a pile of papers and an EZ Grader next to it. Billy moved a fallen ceiling tile to see the gradebook. Most of the grades looked good – lots of B’s, with quite a few A’s and C’s and few failing grades. “I guess only the smart kids took chemistry.” said Billy. “That, and a good teacher really helps matters too.” said Melissa. Melissa then led the explorers down the hall to a stairwell at the rear of the building. Once they got to the top of the stairs, Melissa looked at the main hallway on the second floor. It was in worse condition than the first floor, with most of the paint missing from the walls and a few small holes in the roof. Insulation showed through in a few places. Moss grew from the floor in a few spots, and there was a small hole, less than a square foot, visible on the right side of the hall about 30 feet away. “Follow me. Floors are a little sketchy.” said Melissa. The rest of the explorers followed Melissa in a single-file line through the hall as she tested the floors before putting her full weight on them. Dirk scanned his EMP meter, but it was empty, yet again. One locker was open, on the right side of the hall about 10 feet from the hole in the floor. “Can we see the locker?” asked David. As Melissa carefully walked toward it, she stepped on a soft patch of floor. She stepped back, sidestepped the patch, and got to the locker, number 423, asking the explorers to look at it one at a time. The binders and other ephemera attracted the most attention. The locker clearly belonged to a teenage girl. There was a faded, peeling River Phoenix photo on the inside of the locker door. The black Trapper Keeper inside the locker held assignments, tests, and various doodlings; although the Trapper Keeper itself was dirty, the items inside were in pristine condition. Two pencils still had their sharp points. An Algebra II test looked like it had been done yesterday, the feminine pencil script still clear, though the date said March 26, 1987. The grade on it was a 97. A biology test had a 94 on it, and several more assignments had A’s on them. Only a music test, dated March 4, 1987, had a mediocre grade – a 74. Melissa made sure the explorers didn’t take anything from the binder and put it back in an orderly manner. “All that studying, that good score, gone to waste. What happened to the grades of people who had to evacuate?” asked Billy. “As I understand it, they just gave everyone a passing grade for the current year in all of their classes and let them go to the next grade. There would have been no way to get the school records until long after the students graduated, with the constant threat of being blown up by a volcano. So, if you were in 10th grade at the time of the volcano, you just went to 11th grade in September of ’87. College was a real mess, certain universities agreed to take certain majors, some students had to take tests to be able to clep out of classes they’d already taken, but what they usually did is just say you didn’t have to take certain classes depending on what grade level you were in. Of course, this varied from major to major and university to university. On top of all that, all the ex-Izzy students got free tuition for a couple years.” said Melissa. “I don’t remember much, I was in kindergarten when the volcano hit, so not much schoolwork left behind to speak of. I just started first grade the next year, like Melissa said.” said David. “Lucky *******”. said Dirk. After looking at the locker, the explorers kept following Melissa. Near the end of the hallway, they turned left into a room, about the size of a normal classroom, with exterior windows. At the head of the room, away from the windows, were two photocopiers. Half of the blackboard had fallen where the wall covering had totally rotted away, revealing insulation and bare cinder blocks. On one side of the room, there was a row of desks, with four Macintosh computers and a printer. There was a large circular table in the middle of the room and filing cabinets on the other side. The filing cabinets had been labeled, but some of the labels had come off; the remaining labels had ranges of 3 years on them, like 1958-1960 and 1973-1975. One of the filing cabinets had fallen over, and papers had spilled out. Luckily, the floors in this room were still stable, though Melissa still tested them all out before calling the rest of the explorers in. The room had transformed into more of an indoor terrarium than a classroom. Moss and small plants covered the entire floor and parts of the desks, photocopiers, and computers. A 6-inch tall flower grew out of the rotting papers that had fell out of the filing cabinet. David and Billy looked at the papers that had fallen from the filing cabinet. A fragment of paper said May 6, 1943. An ad on the same page said, “BUY WAR SAVINGS BONDS”. One of the flower’s roots coiled itself around an article about gasoline rationing. “That’s just sad. This is World War II historical memorabilia.” said David. “So much we have to save in this town.” said Billy. After looking through what they could of the WWII-era newspapers, Billy and David looked over and saw Melissa looking at the newest newspaper in the room, with a print date of March 26, 1987. Dirk was standing nearby, disinterested. “What years did you work on this paper?” asked Billy. “1979 to 1982. Sophomore through senior year, I was editor in chief senior year.” answered Melissa. Billy carefully opened the 1979-1981 cabinet, picking up the first paper in there, the December 3, 1981 issue. For a high school newspaper, it was a serious piece of work, with 8 pages. It looked more like a local newspaper. On the dateline it said, “Editor Melissa M. Mingo”. “Wow, your initials have always been Mmm. That’s awesome.” said Billy. “A guy in high school actually called me Mmm.” said Melissa. The paper had several articles listed on a column on the front page; they included study tips for finals, places to go over Christmas break, a sports schedule, and a write-up about the school arcade. The front page had an article about the school’s football team, the Red Devils, going to the post-season after winning a game 35-28 against East Izydorczak High School the past Saturday, November 28. “Go Red Devils!” said Billy. Melissa repeated the cheer as she came over to look at the paper with Billy. “Go Peles!” said David, referring to his elementary school, Samberg Mountain Elementary School. At the bottom of the page was a reminder, “Wear your seat belts. Do it for those who love you.” “A seat belt saved my mom’s life.” said Billy. “I remember you telling us about that. Glad she’s okay.” said Melissa. Getting to the arcade article, Billy was mesmerized by a large color picture of the arcade, which had black walls with space motifs. Pac-Man, Centipede and Turbo were visible in the photo, Turbo described as having just arrived Tuesday [December 1]. “I bet this was a lot of fun to write.” said Billy. “It was. I had to play all the games; they gave me about 10 bucks in quarters to do that.” said Melissa. “I have to see the arcade.” said Billy. “They took it out a couple years before the volcano. It stopped being profitable.” said Melissa. “Rats.” said Billy. Billy kicked a mat of moss away, revealing a patch of the room’s original red carpet, still in good condition. There wasn’t much left to the room, so Billy and David went over to see the last newspaper ever printed at the school. At the top of the page, it said, “Soccer Season Starts March 31”. “I guess they didn’t have a soccer season.” said David. As the explorers left the room, Melissa’s left foot slipped on a patch of moss, suddenly sliding forward about a foot. Her right leg lifted off the ground, and her body tilted precariously forward as she flailed her arms attempting to regain her balance. Billy and David began to run toward Melissa, but just before they got there, she managed to regain her balance. “Wow. Good recovery.” said Billy. Melissa led the explorers down the hall and into a large room with dozens of circular tables and hundreds of chairs around them. There was some moss and mold in the room, but not nearly to the extent that was in the newspaper room. The ceiling was heavily decayed and discolored but had no visible holes. None of the tables and chairs seemed to have fallen into any holes, but the floor was covered in debris and suspect in the area. Melissa told the explorers to stay near the edges of the room. The explorers went through an archway into the food serving line. The menu on the wall was for the week following the volcano, March 30 to April 3, 1987, and was for burritos or meatloaf Monday, sushi or cheeseburgers Tuesday, cheeseburgers or pizza Wednesday, breakfast or grilled chicken Thursday, and a hot dog bar or salad bar Friday. “Looks like they had good food at this school.” said Dirk. “Too bad none of this ever got made. I wonder if they’d ever had sushi before?” asked Billy. “They had it a couple times when I was there, I remember it would have been during my junior year that they first offered it, I think it was the day after the Super Bowl in 1981. It was nothing fancy, just fish wrapped in rice, like a low-end roll you’d get today. It was 2 dollars; regular lunch was a buck. I did a news story about it; they ran out the first day about halfway through the lunch periods and offered it again a couple days later for the later lunch periods.” said Melissa. “The day after the Super Bowl that year would have been January 26, 1981. They offered sushi a couple times when I was in high school, a few students tried it, it sold decently but not especially well. This was 2013-2014 or so, so it wasn’t the novelty it was in the early ‘80s.” said Billy. “I’m not a big fan of sushi.” said David. “I’ll eat sushi all day. It’s one of those foods people love or hate.” said Billy. The serving line itself was very dirty and moldy; ironically, the cafeteria’s health grade of 99 was clearly visible. In the distance, a hole in the roof shined a light onto a large freezer, which flies buzzed around. The stench of the food was noticeable even 30 feet away. The explorers walked through the line like they would have if they were students, getting to the cash register at the end. The black cash registers had an LED display, looking like a large ‘80s calculator. After looking at the cafeteria, Melissa led the explorers back downstairs, where they decided to look at the gym and then leave. There wasn’t much to the gym: it was a large room, two stories high, in similar condition to the cafeteria. There had been a few pennants on the walls, but they had all fallen over the years. In one area, a piece of metal hung down precariously from the roof. The wood floor of the gym was warped and buckled. The rusting basketball hoops, surprisingly, hadn’t fallen, despite a small hole in the roof near one of the hoops. Billy carefully walked onto the wooden bleachers. The bleachers moved unsettlingly beneath his feet. He quickly left the bleachers for more solid ground and got a wide shot of the gym. The explorers then left the gym and walked out of the school for their next exploration. On the way out, David saw a sign that stated that the school was built in 1976. “This school was built in ’76.” said David. “Wow, same year my high school was built!” said Billy. -
Chapter 8 - The Evacuation Story
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 8 Billy loaded his third memory card into his camera, and Melissa drove the van across the street, parking in the driveway of a three-story mansion. The mansion had an elongated shape, much wider than it was deep, with a car port on the left side. The mansion’s condition was better than average for the town, with a very dirty but structurally intact roof. Ivy and plant overgrowth surrounded the mansion, which had a dark green shingled roof and ashlar stone walls. The windows were all intact. There was an overgrown fountain in the front. All five explorers, including Megan, elected to go into this one. “Remember Tim Karaglanis from the computer factory? The mansion we’re about to go in used to belong to him. This was one of the biggest and most expensive houses in all of Izzy. It’s in such good shape for a few reasons. It was only used for a few years; Tim had this mansion custom built around 1984. Tim always believed in keeping things clean and taking care of his stuff, so he kept the house well-maintained. He used quality materials, there’s no builder-grade stuff here. That’s all real stone, real old-growth wood, marble imported from Italy. A lot of people went to this mansion, not just the elite but normal, everyday people. I went here a couple times, once not long after it opened and the second time about a month before the volcano. I actually have probably 30 or 40 pictures taken of this mansion taken, inside and out, in February of ’87 when I did a news story on it.” said Melissa. “Can I see the pictures?” asked Billy. “I don’t have them with me, but I’ll get those pictures to you.” said Melissa. “You should scan them in and upload them onto the internet.” said Billy. “I’ll do that. Great idea.” said Melissa. The condition of this mansion contrasted with the one next door, which was about the same size and had noticeable roof leaks and broken windows. The explorers reasoned that the mansion next door probably wasn’t totally structurally safe. Approaching Tim’s mansion, the explorers saw that the entrance was by the carport. The 5-car garage had separate berths, with separate doors, for each car; the berths were connected at the back by a hallway. The fourth garage door was open, while the rest were closed. The explorers looked at the cars. In the first berth was a burgundy Mercedes-Benz 560SEL sedan. It was very dirty, and had flat tires, but still looked restorable. Billy looked at the interior to try to determine its model year; it was black leather and looked immaculate. There was a CD player in the dash, but it could be aftermarket. The airbag in the steering wheel wasn’t. “Driver airbag. It’s at least an ’84.” said Billy. “Unless he had it imported from Europe.” said Melissa. “Whoa, I forgot about that.” said Billy. Billy opened the driver door of the Benz. The interior smelled like a strange combination of mold and leather. The production date said January 1986; Billy relayed this information to the other explorers. “We don’t care.” said Dirk. In the next berth was a large white Ford conversion van. Melissa opened the back doors of the van to show its interior. Again, the interior smelled like mold and leather, but looked untouched. An NES hooked up to a 27” CRT TV in the second row attracted all of the explorers’ attention. A few boxed cartridges, all early “black box” titles, sat on a small shelf next to the TV. “Wow, an NES in a van. I would have loved that as a kid.” said David. “Did you have an NES as a kid?” asked Billy. “Yes, but I got it in 1988 for my 7th birthday, so um… a year and a half after the volcano.” said David. The third car was a vintage candy apple red Corvette Sting Ray convertible. “DUDE!” said Billy. He made sure to video every detail of the ‘Vette. Though its chrome was tarnished, and its paint faded, it was still in salvageable condition. Its tires had deflated from decades of sitting. “You know the owner and this car’s still fixable. You should get it taken out of here and restored.” said David. “I’ll contact Tim about that now. Once it’s restored, you’re all more than welcome to go for a spin in it. Ever been in a vintage Corvette?” asked Melissa. “I have, a couple times. A ’69 in high school, and a ’66 last summer.” said Billy. “This one’s a ’67 with a 427 Big Block in it.” said Melissa. “You sure you can handle all that power?” asked Dirk. “I’ve driven this very car before.” said Melissa. “Yeah, but now you’re old and your reflexes aren’t as good.” said Dirk. “Not cool.” said David. “Just kidding with you, Lissa.” said Dirk. After admiring the car for a few minutes, Melissa reminded everyone that time was running out during the day. The last berth was empty, so the explorers walked through a side door into a laundry room. The floors felt rock-solid. There were still clothes in the dryer, and new clothes hanging on a bar above the washer and dryer. The next room was the kitchen. The paint was peeling, and the ceiling material was starting to flake off, but the most notable thing about the room was a half-eaten McDonalds cheeseburger on a large, ornate wooden table. “I knew there wasn’t much time to get out, but a half-eaten cheeseburger? I guess when they said abandoned in a few minutes, they meant it.” said Billy. “We had to abandon quite fast. Do you want to hear my story from the evacuation?” asked Melissa. Every explorer gave an enthusiastic yes, and all sat down at the plush red chairs around the table. Billy asked if he could record Melissa. “Absolutely.” she said. “It was a Saturday night, March 28, 1987 just after 10 pm. I had just sat down to watch the new episode of Golden Girls, when suddenly I heard a loud rumble, and everything started to vibrate a little. I dropped the TV remote and looked outside. There were huge red rocks, maybe the size of a car, shooting out of the volcano. The emergency broadcast system suddenly came on, and in big red letters on the screen it said, ‘ALL RESIDENTS OF IZYDORCZAK, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.’ An announcer said that everyone needed to get as far away from the city as possible, that lava was going to start flowing down the mountain. I grabbed my wallet, left my house and ran across the street to check on my neighbors.” said Melissa. “I would have gotten the **** out of there.” said Dirk. “I knocked on one door and screamed ‘GET OUT! GET OUT!’ with the ground still vibrating and the volcano still spewing red hot, car sized rocks. I don’t think anyone was there, and there were no fatalities so if they were there, they made it out. I knocked on the next door, screaming some things that probably weren’t the most G-rated. There was a family inside, they were sleeping. They woke up, heard the volcano, and ran to their car to evacuate. By now there was starting to be a little traffic on the road. I ran back inside my house, opened my garage door, and got into my car. Billy, in case you’re wondering, it was a white 1986 Honda Accord LXI sedan. I put my seat belt on, turned up the heat, because it was below freezing that night. Then, I turned on the radio to 102.5, normally they played soft rock-type music like REO Speed Wagon and Peter Gabriel but that night they were saying on continuous loop, ‘ALL RESIDENTS OF IZYDORCZAK, EVACUATE THE CITY IMMEDIATELY. USE A CAR OR MOTORIZED VEHICLE.’ I barely got two houses down, and there was a woman running down the street, holding a baby, right next to my car. I yelled over to them to get in, I stopped the car, they got into the passenger seat and the woman tells me how her husband had the family car that night, and was thanking goodness that I picked her up.” said Melissa. “I can’t imagine! So, you had to leave everything behind, wondering if a flaming hot rock was going to crush you to death at any moment.” said Megan. “It was. The baby and the mom were crying. Everyone in Izzy was using the roads, so traffic was moving, probably, at 1 or 2 miles per hour on average. Walkers were piling into cars. Another walker opened my back door and got in. About 15 minutes later, everyone had gotten into a car, mine probably had 10 people in it, but the traffic was still backed up. People were driving through yards, which ended up only causing more gridlock. Some of the people in my car were telling me ‘go through the yards, go through the yards’. All the lights in the houses were left on, and some of the doors were left wide open.” said Melissa, pausing for a few seconds. “Then, probably 45 minutes after I left the house, there was a loud boom, the car shook a little bit, and all of the lights went out. A few minutes later, I saw a fire truck cutting through people’s yards, with its lights on, going up the hill. I’m thinking ‘what are you doing, you’re going to get yourself killed’. Then we started seeing the news helicopters flying toward the volcano, and by midnight or so we were getting updates on what was going on over the radio. They were saying that there was a ‘lip’ on the volcano that had kept the lava from going into the town so far, but the eruption was very unpredictable. It was the longest 3 hours of my life driving out of that town, until I finally got on the interstate. Once I got onto the interstate, traffic sped up to about 20 miles per hour, but it took me until about 4:30 in the morning to get to Kallal. We tried 3 hotels before we found a Days Inn that had vacancy, they were all packed with other Izzy evacuees. The hotel workers were under emergency orders to give us free accommodations. They put me and my group of about 12 people in two rooms. I had to stay in that hotel for 5 days before one of my sorority sisters from college called me up and said I could be her roommate; she took on the mother with her baby as well. This was on a Thursday, April 2. I finally moved out on June 30, when my insurance check came in. The mom and the baby stayed until August, I believe. I offered to let them move in with me in June, but they said they already had their things moved in with my sister.” said Melissa. “Wow, that was very noble of you to do that! So, you were an angel even back in 1987.” said Billy. He wanted to ask what sorority Melissa was in, being a college Greek himself, but decided to save the question for a more opportune time. “Yeah, I don’t think I would have stuck around. You’re a better person than I am.” said David. “Wow.” said Megan. With that story told, the explorers continued exploring the mansion. The large, fully equipped kitchen had about 50 linear feet of dark granite countertops and a huge stainless-steel fridge. Lining the countertops were a gas range, an oven, a microwave, two sinks, an electric food processor, a coffee grinder with bags of premium Colombian coffee beans still next to it, a coffee maker, a blender, a juicer, a waffle iron, a Crock Pot, a trash compactor, a pressure cooker, an industrial-grade dishwasher, a meat grinder, and a deep fryer. “Holy cow, I would love to have this kitchen in my house.” said Megan. “Somebody ought to fix up this house.” said David. Billy went to open the fridge. “Remember what happened in the airport.” said David. Billy decided against opening the fridge and decided to look in the pantry instead. The next room was the living room. Dead house plants sat at every corner of the room. In the center of the room, there were three large, plush leather couches facing a TV that was 10 feet tall and probably 5 feet thick. Next to the TV was a large stereo, with a shelf by it with about 60 CD cases and even more cassettes and vinyl records. Large speakers were next to the plants. The remotes for the TV and sound system were on an end table. “Oh, I bet a CD in this room would have sounded like being at a concert.” said Billy. “Actually, the early CDs sounded kind of tinny. A vinyl record would have been your best bet.” said Melissa. Then, David noticed something at the back end of the room – a Rembrandt etching. He called the explorers over. After poring over the etching closely, it was determined to be a reprint, but it had a date of 1717 on it – meaning it could still be worth tens of thousands of dollars. “How much is it worth?” asked Dirk. “50 bucks, maybe. They made thousands of these.” said Billy, lying to keep Dirk from trying to steal it. Melissa whispered something in Billy’s ear. “Tim kept the real valuable stuff in the party room, so everyone could see it.” There was also a fully upgraded Commander Dostim Plus computer on a desk in an alcove in the back of the room, about 10 feet to the right from the Rembrandt reprint. The setup was much like the one in the office at the computer factory. “Figures, the head of Commander has a Commander computer.” said David. “There are a lot more Commanders in here.” said Melissa. After finishing the living room, the explorers reached a huge, 3-story tall room with a grand staircase. A catwalk, going from one side of the third story to the other, hung above them. A now-deactivated fountain sat in the middle of the room, directly in front of the front door, with painted porcelain sculptures of ducks on plinths. There were tracks running along the bottom of the fountain. Presumably, when the fountain was in operation, the ducks would appear to be gliding on the water. Abstract paintings hung on the walls, and huge, 3-story tall windows covered the front wall of the foyer, bathing the room in natural light and allowing the explorers to switch off their flashlights. Sconces hung on the walls on all three floors would have provided light decades ago. The atmosphere reminded of a trendy office building lobby. One of the windows was cracked, revealing that the windows were made of laminated glass. All the sconces were still in place, and the ceiling and underside of the catwalk looked structurally intact. “That’s the importance of keeping a structure sealed. Once windows break or holes form, that’s when decay begins. Usually, that’s a lot sooner than 33 years.” said Billy. A pair of glass doors on the right-side wall of the foyer led to a large room with a dried-up swimming pool, perhaps 30 x 50 feet, in it. The walls were painted with palm trees and blue sky to simulate a beach, and wooden beach chairs, with small end tables next to them, sat around the pool on the Tuscan red cement floor tile. There were several bars stocked with soft drinks and bottled water around the pool. “Must have been nice to be able to swim 365 days a year.” said Megan. Melissa pointed to a spiral staircase in the corner of the room. “See that staircase? That led to an area dedicated just to parties and entertaining. When I went here the last time, a month before the volcano, Tim claimed that about one-third of people in Izzy had been in the house. That’s something like 20,000 people in three years.” “He must have thrown parties here every day.” said Billy. “More like an open house. The place was pretty much open on the weekends, you did have to be accompanied by a staff member if you wanted to go outside the entertaining area though.” said Melissa. “Wait a minute. If this place was abandoned, suddenly, on a Saturday night, then why isn’t there leftover food and stuff like that here?” asked Billy. “A few people got together about a week after the volcano, went back in and cleaned it up, because there would have been rotting food. As I understand it, they only spent a few minutes in there.” said Melissa. “Why would they care about rotting food if the town were totally abandoned? And why didn’t people just move out?” asked Billy. “Because, at that time they thought the evacuation was a temporary thing that might last a year at most, and Tim didn’t want vermin in the house for when he moved back in. But, even getting that food out was a risk, people actually coming to move stuff out would have been a huge risk.” said Melissa. Upon finding out there had been a party going on the night of the volcano, Dirk began scanning his EMP meter around the room for ghosts. It was empty yet again. After finishing the pool room, the explorers went back into the lobby. Melissa tested the stairs, just in case of hidden damage; they were rock solid. The rest of the explorers climbed them and went to the right, going into the entertainment room. The L-shaped room was quite large, larger than the pool room. There were stone brick walls and plush carpeting. There was a roller-skating rink covering about 40 percent of the room, at the top of the L; the wooden floor of it was slightly warped. A shelf adjacent to the rink had skates still on it. In another section of the room, there were several arcade machines lined up against a wall – Out Run, Commando, Pac-Man, Arkanoid, Galaga, Dragon’s Lair, Demolition Derby, Donkey Kong, and a few more obscure games. All were sit-down or converted to be sit-down, with plush leather chairs behind each machine. The machines, while covered in dust, otherwise looked exactly as they had over 33 years ago. Next to the arcade machines were two TV’s, one hooked up to an NES and one a Sega Master System, and a computer desk with a fully upgraded Dostim Plus. There was a shelf on the desk, filled with Dostim, NES and Master System games. A pool table was on the other side, the sticks still hung up on their racks. Billy and David looked through the arcade machines and video games. “I didn’t know that Johnny the Duck was that old. I played it in the early ‘90s.” said David, referring to a Dostim game. “I’ve just been so overwhelmed today… this whole town is a gold mine.” said Billy. In the spur of the L, there was another kitchen, like the one downstairs, but with several buffet tables adjacent. They were still stained with the scars of the food that was in them on that fateful night. A long dining table, made of teak wood, had chairs for 20 people. Unfortunately, the only thing left at the table was a dead floral arrangement, its dried-out leaves reaching out of its container. The explorers left the room, went up another flight of stairs, and got to the third floor. To the right, there were several rooms, labeled “Music”, “Theater”, “Gallery”, and “Jacuzzi”, connected by a small hallway. The explorers, except Dirk, all went to the music room first, which was a square, about 25 feet on each side, and featured a DJing booth in one corner, folded chairs against one wall, and a dance floor. The walls of the room were wood paneling, with minimal decoration, and the floor was wooden parquet. The CD player on the DJ booth had a glass window, so the explorers could see what was in there – a CD of “Rock Me Amadeus”. Billy started to sing quietly to himself. “Amadeus, Amadeus…” before catching himself to film the room. His SD card was about 75% full, just from this mansion. The explorers heard a muffled “DANGIT!” coming from a nearby room. In the art gallery room, which was perhaps 25 x 40 feet and directly next to the music room, Dirk had discovered paintings by historic masters worth hundreds of thousands of dollars – but they were all sealed behind Plexiglas. There were perhaps 50 paintings in the room, which had blonde oak floors minimalist white painted walls with slightly peeling paint; a few of the paintings would have been small enough to sneak into his pocket. Melissa and David rushed into the room, leaving Billy and Megan, who stayed in the room a minute longer. “What’s your favorite 80’s song?” asked Billy. “Last Christmas by WHAM.” said Megan. “Love that song too.” said Billy. Billy and Megan caught up with the rest of the group in the art gallery. Billy didn’t find the artworks very interesting. “I never liked art class much.” he said as he filmed the room. Despite being the last in the room, he was the first out, heading across the hall to the jacuzzi room, which was rather unremarkable – it had a jacuzzi and a changing room. He only used a few seconds of his video on it before heading to the final room, a movie theater. The movie theater had a higher ceiling than the others, with a TV that was about 15 feet high and 20 feet wide on one wall of the room. Large speakers were at each corner of the room, and burgundy curtains lined the walls. At the back of the room was a refrigerator and a countertop, with a large bucket of various snacks on it. The refrigerator was labeled “Soda”, so Billy opened it, finding vintage cans of Coke, RC, ginger ale, grape soda, and iced tea. Billy filmed the room and interior of the fridge and then went to sit on one of the large, butterscotch-colored easy chairs facing the screen; there were 6 rows, with 6 seats each, arranged like stadium-style seating in a modern theater. He waited on the rest of the group. After the rest of the group arrived, Billy and Melissa found a door to a small adjoining room. The room’s door was behind one of the curtains and painted the same color as the walls, but a hinge had been visible. Once the explorers were done with the movie theater itself, Billy pointed them toward the door to the adjoining room. The room was small and undecorated, with plain white walls and a plain green carpet floor. A Dostim Plus computer sat on a white table, connected by several wires to a large black machine designed to take film reels, which in turn connected to the television through several wires that ran through holes cut in the wall. The machine was called a “Tristar Film System”, and, of course, it was made by Commander Computer. It was sort of like a VCR that could hold the same film reels that a movie theater would use, and it could hold three of them; a large switch on the front controlled which of the movies would be played. “Lethal Weapon”, “Blind Date”, and “Mannequin” were the films in the machine. “Blind Date. I fell asleep when I saw that movie.” said David. “I’ve only seen Mannequin, in high school. Very ‘80s cheesy, don’t remember much else. Saw it in a marketing class.” said Billy. “I’ve seen all three, and I’d have to say Lethal Weapon is my favorite.” said Melissa. “You don’t strike me as the type who would watch Lethal Weapon.” said Dirk. “Oh yeah. I love me a good chase in a movie.” said Melissa. More ‘80s blockbuster films were stored along another wall of the room, but a ladder attracted the most attention. A pull cord was attached to a door on the ceiling that would lead to a “hidden” 4th floor. Melissa knew what was behind it but didn’t spoil the surprise. She pulled the cord, and all but Megan climbed the ladder, one at a time. “When I was in college, one of my sorority sisters told me about the ‘duck room’. I didn’t believe it, until I came here a month before the volcano.” said Melissa. The room seemed to be a shrine to ducks; there were paintings of ducks, taxidermied ducks on the wall, duck sculptures, and hundreds of rubber ducks on shelves. In addition, there were records of the song “Disco Duck”, VHS tapes featuring Donald Duck, and pretty much anything else that was associated with ducks, whether real or cartoon. This room, which was about 2,000 square feet on its own, was jam-packed with duck-related memorabilia. The hardwood floor had a painting of a duck on it. “Someone likes ducks.” said Billy. “Yeah, what’s with the ducks?” asked Dirk. “Tim was born on January 12th, Duck Day. As a kid, he used to get a lot of rubber ducks as presents. He sort of made it his thing. When he went into the business world, he put the duck thing aside, at least in the public eye. He thought it would be embarrassing, but word started getting around that he was ‘Duck Man’, and people thought it was an adorable quirk. People would ask to see the Duck Room; he was getting ready to put in a staircase and turn the room into a museum.” said Melissa. “Yeah, but what the heck does January 12 have to do with ducks?” asked Dirk. “It’s a holiday that started among the duck hunters of Izzy. Duck season is usually in the winter, and someone noticed that they always got the most ducks on January 12, several years in a row. That’s where it came from.” said Melissa. “Guess they don’t celebrate Duck Day in your neck of the woods, because it’s huge where I am.” said Billy, as he made sure to film every inch and artifact of the room. “I’m out of space on my SD card.” said Billy, with just 1 minute and 14 seconds left of video space on his card after filming the room. “Do you want to finish the mansion or go somewhere else?” asked Melissa. “Is there anything interesting left in the mansion?” asked Billy. “Really, just a few bedrooms. We’ve done probably 70% of it. We can come back later if you want to see the rest.” said Melissa. “Yeah, let’s head out.” said Billy. Everyone else agreed. The explorers left the mansion over an hour older than they entered it. As they left, Billy asked the question that had been on his mind. “What sorority were you in, Melissa?” “Kappa Xi Delta.” “I’m a Kappa Man at my school, Southern Helmintoller University. I love KXiD, they are so nice.” said Billy. He did half of the Kappa Xi Delta hand sign with his right hand, and Melissa finished it with her left. “Kappa Xi Delta there are lucky to have you.” said Melissa. Billy gave her a side hug. -
Chapter 6 - Izzy Means Business
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 6 The explorers got back in the van for another three-block ride, leaving the industrial district and entering a commercial district. Melissa parked the van on the side of the road, in front of some shops, and the explorers got out and started walking along the road, looking for buildings that would be interesting and relatively safe to explore. One of the first buildings to catch their eyes was a gas station with a two-story convenience store attached. The entire top floor of the building had buckled in the middle and fallen into the first floor, turning the first floor into a sort of “bucket” that held both its own contents and the destroyed contents and structure of the second floor. The convenience store’s exterior was finished in rustic wood shingles. “Wow. That store’s seen better days. Anyone want to take a look?” asked Billy. The other explorers agreed and walked into the store’s parking lot, which was now mostly a grass field. A sign said, “Checker Gas”, priced at 95 cents for unleaded, $1.00 for premium unleaded, $1.00 for diesel, and $1.10 for leaded. “I’ve never seen a Checker Gas before, or gas that cheap. I do remember it being $1.20 or $1.30 when I was a little kid.” said Billy. “I haven’t seen a Checker since maybe 1990. They’re long out of business.” said David. There were 12 green, rusting, old-style gas pumps underneath a large green detached awning, about 10 feet in front of the store, that had somehow stayed standing. One of the nozzles had been left disconnected and hanging. The store itself had so much debris inside that it was totally impassable, but through the broken windows, the explorers could see what looked like rotting wooden beams and 1980s snack food packages put in a blender. The floor had a green-and-white checkerboard pattern. David saw the gas station as a backdrop to get his picture taken. He asked Melissa to take his picture on his phone, and she obliged. Meanwhile, Billy filmed what he could through the windows, Dirk scanned for ghosts, and Megan stayed with Billy. After just a few minutes at the gas station, the explorers walked to the building next door, a small strip mall. This was a one-story building that was still standing; the walls were made of a light beige brick, with a black shingle roof. Most of the windows were broken. There were 5 stores: a toy store, two clothing stores, a sports bar, and a hair salon. The building was quite dirty and decayed, but the roof, while missing shingles, looked structurally intact. “Where do you all want to go?” asked Melissa. “Toy store.” said Billy. “Yeah, I’m not that into fashion. I want to see the toys I grew up on.” said David. Confounded by the vast difference in condition between the gas station and strip mall, Billy asked when the buildings were built. “This part of town was first developed in the 1950s, I believe. The east side of town was first, in the ‘20s and ‘30s, then the south side we’re in during the ‘50s, then the west side, up toward the mountain, in the ‘60s and ‘70s.” said Melissa. “Hmmm. Probably differences in maintenance, or construction quality.” said Billy. Walking up to the store, they could see that it was called “Toy Safari”, but all of the letters, each about 8” tall, had fallen off and were laying on the ground. Megan decided to stay outside, only looking into the store through the front windows with her smartphone’s zoom. In the front window of the store, a bird’s nest sat on a Transformers standee; the standee itself was faded, and it and some of the action figures within had bird droppings on them. Crossing a threshold of broken glass and deftly dodging the fallen letters, the rest of the explorers entered the toy store. Due to the small space, Melissa stayed with Dirk, while David stayed with Billy. Inside the store, there was a noticeably musty smell that was quite significant even through the masks. The store was about 30 feet wide, maybe 100 feet deep. The toys were mostly still on the shelves, arranged in four aisles, although a shelf in aisle 1 had fallen, spilling racks of Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, He-Man action figures and Superman action figures on the floor. Billy was a bit disappointed that there were no video games, while David was elated to see toys he’d had as a kid, frozen in time. Flaked off pieces of the ceiling covered the toys on the top shelf; the ceiling itself was very moldy, deteriorated, and cracked, but still structurally barely hanging on. At the front of aisle 1 were Lego sets; somewhat ironically, Lego Town playsets were heavily featured. Next to them were other building sets; Construx, Erector Set, Lincoln Logs, and more generic-branded blocks. There were about 50 feet worth of building sets, ending just a few feet from the fallen shelf, stacked floor-to-ceiling. David dug into a 1000-brick Lego set, building a simple tower before taking it apart and putting it back in the box. “If this place were made of Lego, we could just re-build everything.” said David. “Reminds me of that Simpsons episode where everything was made of Lego.” said Billy. “I loved Legos as a kid. Had many of those Town sets, but most of that was after I left Izzy.” said David. “I loved them too, but I always got the sets that weren’t pre-made. Liked the creativity. Do you mind if I video you reminiscing over the Lego sets?” said Billy. David approved, and Billy got his first video of David reminiscing; he already had several scenes of Melissa recounting her time in Izzy. Meanwhile, Dirk led Melissa into aisle 4, walking past the cash registers. He was drawn to the “dangerous” toys in the store; the Daisy air guns and lawn darts. Midway through line 4, he saw the lawn darts display. “Aww, they’re the ***** plastic tips, not the real ones. Did you ever play with the real ones?” asked Dirk. “Yes, quite often in fact, until I was 8. Then one hit me in the back of the leg, near my ankle, and I had to go to the emergency room. I couldn’t walk for a week because it cut a muscle in my leg. I still have the scar from it.” said Melissa. “Can I see the scar?” asked Dirk. Melissa pulled up the back of her pants leg slightly, showing Dirk the scar about six inches above her ankle. “Gnarly. Does it still hurt?” asked Dirk. “No, it’s fine. Just a rough patch of skin.” said Melissa. David and Billy turned around upon reaching the fallen shelf, looping back around, and going down aisle 2, where they saw board games. “Wow, they had Go for Broke here. My grandparents had that game, that’s how I remember it.” said Billy. “Even I don’t remember that one.” said David. Billy and David continued exploring the aisles in ascending order, as Melissa and Dirk came the opposite way. Then, David froze. In a small open space behind the aisles, he saw the toy he’d longed for as a kid – a Thomas the Tank Engine toy train set. Against the back wall of the store, there were dozens of blue boxes about 24” high x 30” wide x 16’ deep, stacked three high, with the train sets in them; folded-up tables sat in long, brown boxes. The boxes were warped and buckled from moisture exposure. A price banner, laying on the floor after the tape holding it to one of the boxes had failed, said $149.99 for the train set and table combination. A table, with a train set already set up on it, sat on the floor. It was about two feet high and suffering from some dry rot. David blew some dust off one of the trains and gingerly moved it around the track for a couple minutes, until Melissa and Dirk finished their exploration of the store. “I wanted one of these for Christmas back when I was 5. One of my few memories in Izzy is playing with this very train set during the weeks leading up to Christmas 1986. My parents brought me to Kay Dee Toys a few times, and I got everything I wanted on my Christmas list, except for the train set. My parents got me one of those off-brand train sets, it had about half what this one did. They told me they’d get me the real thing for my birthday. Of course, the volcano hit, and my birthday was just 6 months later, so they still had more important things on their mind. I grew out of Thomas the Tank Engine after a couple years, but I never forgot that train set. Thanks for letting me relive a piece of my childhood.” said David. The explorers were all touched by the speech. Melissa gave David a pat on the shoulder. Even Dirk was moved. On that touching moment, and with it nearing 1 pm, the explorers left the toy store for another place, catching up with Megan, who was in the van. Billy showed her a few pictures of the inside of the toy store. Megan stayed in the van once she found out the next exploration target: a real estate office located 200 feet down the street. This was a two-story building, about 2,000 square feet total. It had a rather Italianate look, with yellow-beige stucco walls and burgundy ceiling tiles on its hipped roof. Even from the outside, the explorers could see that this building was in far worse condition than the toy store. Roof tiles were missing, with holes formed in the roof. The windows were all broken out. There was a hole in the wall on the second floor, about four feet wide and half the height of the floor. A pile of bricks lay under the hole. Whatever signage was on the building had long disappeared, but Melissa demystified things, giving a historical explanation in the parking lot to the explorers. “This is the old Brambling Real Estate office. It was a family run business, owned by a man named John Brambling. Their logo was a, sort of stylized, black and gold brambling bird to play off that. John had been a football superstar at Central Izzy High School in the ‘60s. He founded his real estate agency probably sometime in the ‘70s, I know by 1986 it was one of the biggest real estate agencies in town. All my friends told me to go to Brambling or Enter Realty. I went to Brambling the last month I was in college before I graduated. I had a good job lined up as a feature writer for the Izzy City Herald making 30 grand a year, so I came to Brambling and looked at the house listings they had and went to a few open houses. I got a nice two-story, 2,500 square foot house up on the hill for $130,000. It was built in 1973 and had just been renovated top to bottom. I saw the house and saw that it was the one for me, and I moved in on July 18, 1986. Brambling had the best service, they told me everything I needed to know and got me a well-maintained home at a good price. I think he’s still a real estate agent.” said Melissa. “Aw, I want to see your old house, if it’s still there!” said Billy. “I was here last year, and it’s still there and structurally pretty stable. You’re more than welcome to see it. It’s 126 Lampley Road. We’ll actually all get there later on.” said Melissa. The explorers walked through the agency’s front door, into a large room, maybe 20 feet wide and 30 feet deep, with a dark oak wood floor, a peeling brown and beige wallpaper, and elegant pendant light fixtures. There was a large hole in the ceiling at the rear of the room where a section of floor, about 3 x 4 feet, had collapsed on the upper floor. Large, overstuffed leather chairs sat at the front of the room, in a small lobby area. A bit further back, there was an empty water cooler, and two identical desks, both with a Commander 64K computer and three chairs around them, one behind the computer where the agent would sit, and two on the opposite side where the prospective buyers would sit. On those sides of the desk, moldy, mildewed pages in binders showed houses that had been for sale. Under the hole in the ceiling, pieces of wood from the upper floor and two chairs had fallen onto the broker’s chair on the rear desk. As the explorers went forward, they found the floor inside the room largely stable. Billy thumbed through the pages of one, amazed at the houses one could get for the low prices. A 2,367 square foot house, built in 1974, on the slopes of a volcano then-dormant for centuries for $120,000 would be a good deal even adjusted for inflation. The other explorers gathered around him. Even after seeing all the abandoned artifacts left behind, seeing pictures of houses, all prepped for sale and decorated, from 33 years earlier was a surreal experience. They perused the binder on the desk in the front for a few minutes. Billy got the pictures in his filming. “Such a shame. All that work to prep those houses, and they never got a chance to sell.” he said. In a central hallway, the explorers found a staircase and climbed it. Going to the right, they found the room just above the one they’d just been in. It looked like its downstairs counterpart, other than having several roof leaks and the aforementioned collapsed section of floor, which a desk tilted precariously toward. While the other explorers stayed on a relatively stable piece of floor near the staircase, Melissa put her left foot on the floor; it felt very spongy, like if she stepped on it, it would immediately collapse. Not wanting to risk it, she turned around. “Floor’s bad in there. You might not want to go in.” said Melissa. After they went back down the stairs, Melissa shared another memory. “I sat in one of those very chairs that fell through the floor as I signed the deed to my house.” They left the building to head to their next building, which they decided would be their final building on this walk before heading back to the van for something else. A Cadillac dealer got the honors. Dirk saw the rows of old luxury cars next to a crumbling glass-fronted building, and the explorers went across the street to the dealership. “Let’s look at this stealership” said Dirk. The explorers looked at the cars on the lot first – there had to be at least 100 rotting 1987 Cadillacs, all with very few miles, here. The paint was severely degraded on all of them, to the point that rusty bare metal covered some one-third of the total surface area, and the tires had deflated over the years at different rates, leaving the cars tilted at odd angles. About half of all the car windows had broken. Various molds, mosses, and even full-sized plants grew out of the cars. The showroom’s front wall was entirely made of windows, and they were all broken; part of the roof had collapsed. The Allantes were the first thing the explorers looked at. This was a soft-top convertible that had just launched months before the volcano. Billy and David explored them, while Melissa and Dirk explored other Allantes. The Allante that Billy and David went to first appeared to have once been gold with a burgundy interior but was now ransacked. The convertible top’s fabric had completely dislodged and fallen into the car. Large pieces had fallen off the severely cracked dashboard. The steering wheel was missing its hub. The seat frames showed where the cushioning had rotted away. Much of the interior and exterior was coated in a green mold, and mosses grew out of the interior of the car. “Cadillacs of the late 80s were junk anyway. My uncle had a ’81 Deville when I was little, he loved the thing. Then, he got an ’85 Deville because it was the new design. He said it rode like an ox-cart compared to the ’81. He swore off Cadillacs until recently, he got a ’17 Escalade and is happy with it.” said David. “Glad he likes his new Escalade. I’ve been in one, they’re really nice.” said Billy. “One of my college friends test-drove an Allante when it came out. I think it was actually a couple days before it officially launched, he got up early one morning and test drove it. He told me it wasn’t worth the $55,000. Same guy test-drove a new Ferrari, I don’t know how the heck he pulled that off. He was only a few years older than me; I think he was born in 1961 and drove a late 70s Chevy Monte Carlo.” said Melissa. “What was a college kid doing driving a new Ferrari? Surely they knew he wasn’t going to buy it.” said Dirk. “That’s my dad.” said Billy. “Quit BS-ing.” said Dirk. “No, really, his name is Dave Alexander, and he was born November 12, 1961. He used to test-drive a lot of cars back then.” said Billy. “You know what they say about Scorpios, they’re weird.” said Dirk. “It’s not about the zodiac sign, it’s about the person.” said Melissa. After looking at a few more unsalvageable decayed Cadillacs, the explorers decided to look in the building. The grey carpet was covered in leaves, and a Seville and Coupe de Ville were in similar condition to the cars outside, but underneath the section of collapsed roof was a navy-blue Sedan de Ville crushed to about a foot tall. Billy made sure to film the pancaked Cadillac with as much detail as he could get, one of the most interesting things he’d seen so far. After a few more minutes of exploring, they were ready to move on. “I’m hungry.” said Billy. “Who’s up for lunch?” asked Melissa. Everyone agreed; it was 1:31 pm after all. [Disclaimer: the characters in this story are fictional. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.] -
Chapter 5 - They Made Computers Here
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 5 Back in the van, Billy put the test reports in the door pocket, opened the glove box, and switched out the memory cards on his camera. Melissa drove the van the 600 feet or so over to the computer factory, with Billy in the passenger’s seat. The clock in the van said 11:26 AM; it hadn’t felt like almost 2½ hours had passed. At the factory, they found Megan standing outside the factory. Melissa parked the van, and both got out and walked up to Megan. The factory was a one-story, overgrown brick building. The shingled roof was a mess, and was missing many of its shingles, but was structurally sound. “What are you doing out here?” asked Melissa. “I don’t feel comfortable going in there. It looks dangerous.” said Megan. “Feel free to stay out here. I’ll leave the van on. If you need anything, feel free to contact me,” said Melissa. “Billy, do you want to go in?” “Absolutely.” said Billy, and Billy and Melissa walked toward the entrance. “How bad is it in there?” asked Billy, over the walkie-talkie to David. “Not too bad. The floors are fine. Really interesting stuff in here.” said David. Melissa opened the door and walked into the factory lobby. “David says it’s not bad inside. You sure you don’t want to go in?” asked Billy. “I guess I’ll give it a look.” said Megan, who walked into the factory with Billy. Melissa held the door for them. Inside, the plaster drop ceiling in the lobby had largely flaked away to the ground, its material accumulating like snow on the grey carpet. On the wall, behind a desk, the sign said “C an r C p r”; the remaining letters of “Commander Computer” were piled up on the floor. Melissa, Megan, and Billy went inside the main factory floor, a massive room, perhaps 50,000 square feet, with no ceiling. The roof was still there, if sagging in a few places. Pipes and ducting ran through the roof, hanging down in a few places. The concrete floor was mostly clear of debris, save for one 10-foot long piece of air conditioner ducting that had fallen. There were about 20 long tables, in rows about 10 feet apart, about chest high, with chairs by them and computer parts and computers in various stages of completion as far as the eye could see. At the head of the assembly line on Row 1 was a pile of green silicon sheets, about 4 x 6 inches; down the line was a machine, which had the wiring pattern that would go on the motherboard. Further down the line was a station called “Motherboard Inspection”, with a magnifying glass, a completed motherboard, and a blue leather office chair that the inspector would sit in. Then, there were stations with boxes of computer chips and soldering guns. At the other end of the room, near the end of the row, were cases, stacked up against a wall; this is where case and motherboard were joined together, completing the production of the computer on one continuous line about 150 feet long or so. Billy walked quickly through the aisles to David and Dirk, who were at the head of Row 1. Megan walked slower and more hesitantly, and Melissa stayed with her for reassurance. They reached the row two minutes later; during those several minutes David and Dirk looked at the adjacent rows, finding them to make the same type of computer as Row 1; Billy walked down Row 1, filming the entire row in one continuous shot before going back to the top of the row just as Melissa and Megan met up with them. Together, the explorers walked down Row 1 together; Billy didn’t reveal what type of computer that the line made. As they walked by the chip boxes, Billy picked up a few MOS 6502 processor chips and looked at the dates. They seemed to be made at random times between January and March 1987. The end of the line revealed the computer to be a Commander 64K, an extremely popular computer of its era. “Cool, a Commander 64K. I had one as a kid. It was a lot of fun.” said David. “I had a 64K too, in college. A lot of my friends did too. I didn’t know they were still making them in ’87, I’d moved on to a Commander 1000 PC by then. Remember coding in BASIC on the 64? I often would get computer magazines that had BASIC programs you had to type in yourself, because the disks you’d get at the store were a lot more expensive.” said Melissa. “Typing in your own programs? Doesn’t sound fun. Anyway, why didn’t the crash test lab have any Commander computers?” asked Megan. “Commander was a cheaper computer designed for the general public, at least from what I can remember. If you look in the houses, you’ll probably find a lot of Commanders left behind.” said Melissa. “Makes sense that people would own Commander computers with the factory right here in town.” said Billy. “Izzy was always a city that was big on technology. This isn’t even the only computer factory in town, there were a couple of others, for HBM and Helmintoller Instruments. Pretty much every piece of 80’s technology you could think of was made in Izzy. We had factories that built Atari video games under license, TVs, VCRs, the chips that went into computers. We even had our own internet service of sorts.” said Melissa. “What was that like?” asked Billy. “Was there X rated stuff on it?” asked Dirk. “It was all text. It was called Izzy-Net, we could get the news and all kinds of information, send messages to one another, and we could even connect to Usenet and talk to people around the world. It was a dollar an hour to talk to people locally or get local news, but if you wanted to access stuff from the outside world it was 5 dollars an hour. It was free if you accessed it from the college campus. It came out in about 1983, I think. The first night I got access to it, not long after it came out, I was at a computer lab at Izzy University here in town. It was quite easy and intuitive to use, and about maybe 10 minutes after I first got on, I was chatting with a guy from France. We talked for four hours, until the computer lab closed at midnight and they kicked us all out. And Dirk, to answer your question, there were adult boards on there, but I never went to them.” said Melissa. “How fast was it?” asked Billy. “It wasn’t bad, actually. Since it was all text, the amount of data was small. It was a bit slower than texting on a modern phone if you were chatting. Getting a newspaper article or something like that did take a while though.” said Melissa. “How many of the people in Izzy had computers and Izzy-Net?” asked Billy. “Computers, probably a good three-quarters of households had a computer of some kind, quite a few people even had a main computer and maybe a cheaper or older computer for the kids. Izzy-Net, I’d say maybe 20 percent, but it was spreading fast. You have to remember, we could get this stuff cheaper in Izzy than they could in most places because it was locally made.” said Melissa. “David, did you ever use Izzy-Net, or CompuServe, or any of the early internet services?” asked Billy. “Could you knock it off, Billy?” asked Dirk. “You’re asking too many questions.” “Remember, this is supposed to be a learning experience. Asking questions is good.” said Melissa. “No, I was too young to use Izzy-Net, I didn’t get to use the internet until about ’94. We got AOL then.” said David. The explorers proceeded to explore the remainder of the large room. On rows 7-12 were hundreds of completed computers, all ready to be boxed up. At the ends of the rows were boxes piled up on the tables, and several dozen boxed computers, all ready to be shipped, against a wall next to a large loading dock door. The computers were all still clean and looked to be in operable condition. All were tempted to take one. Dirk reached for a boxed Model 1000 PC. “Don’t you dare.” said David. The explorers looked at the other rows, finding similar production lines to the 64K line they saw earlier, only these lines made models called the 1000 PC on 3 lines, 1500 PC on two, Dostim on 3 and Dostim Plus on 2. “These were more expensive computers than the 64K, so they didn’t sell as many. When I got my 1000 PC, I cross-shopped Dostims. The Dostims were about the same price as the 1000 PC but didn’t have IBM compatibility. My 1000 PC was $1,399 at Lechmere, the 64K’s would have been going for probably $200 then. I brought it home on March 7th, 1987, just three weeks before the volcano.” said Melissa. “Whoa, 1400 bucks. That would be about 3 grand today. Oof, sorry about that.” said Billy. “It’s fine, that computer would be long out of date anyway.” said Melissa. “I could grab you one out of here.” said Billy. “I can just buy one myself, there’s probably thousands around.” said Melissa. “Maybe we could get the one out of your old house.” said Billy. “You can have it if you want, but I don’t need it.” said Melissa. “I’ll have to think about that. By the way, Dostim is Uzbek for ‘friend’. That’s why they named a computer that.” said Billy. “Interesting.” said Melissa. The explorers looked around the rest of the building, finding no more computer manufacturing floors, only some offices. They decided to look at the big corner office, which had belonged to the factory manager. This room had a plush red carpet and a plaster drop ceiling; though about 80% of the plaster was still attached, there was a small hole in the roof at the very corner of the building. The large windows were intact, but their view was only of overgrowth. A slit, a few inches wide, had formed in the walls directly under the hole, and a few leaves poked through the slit, but the remaining 95% of the room, about 20 feet square in size, was in remarkably good shape for its period of abandonment. The explorers reasoned that with the hole, the room would quickly deteriorate over the next few years. There was a large, ornately detailed wooden desk against the right-side wall, with a chair that sort of looked like an Aeron chair behind it. On the desk was a name plate that said Timothy A. Karaglanis. Seeing the name, Dirk started scanning his EMF meter. “I’m pretty sure Tim is still alive. He’s a family friend.” said Melissa. “Seems like an interesting guy.” said David. “Do you want to meet him?” asked Melissa. “Yes.” said David. “Me too.” said Billy. “All right, I’ll shoot him a text. He’d be glad to meet both of you.” said Melissa. Tim’s desk still had a fully upgraded Dostim Plus computer on it, though it was yellowed almost to the point of being brown, with an equally yellowed 20-inch monitor on it. There were no pieces of paper on the desk, though there were 3 stacks of about 3½ inch floppy disks, about 50 disks in all. Most of their labels suggested they had run-of-the-mill business data on them, but there were a few games and tech demos mixed in. These were more treasures that needed to be rescued, but they’d be safe in this room for the near future. “That computer could really use a retro-bright.” said Billy. “What’s retro-bright?” asked Melissa. “It’s a process where they take the plastic pieces from a computer that’s yellowed and expose them to peroxide and UV light to make them their original color again. There’s several ways to do it, but you can’t just pour peroxide on an old computer and put it in the sun. It’s an involved process, you’d have to go on the Internet to figure out exactly how to do it. It’s ironic that sun causes the yellowing, but you can use the sun in combination with peroxide to reverse it. I don’t actually retro-bright stuff, that takes someone who knows what they’re doing with computer repair.” said Billy. “Amazing that people figured that out.” said Melissa. On the left side of the room were several bookshelves, with hundreds of old programming and computer books on them. They included rare books on long-dead programming languages from ABC ALGOL to Z++, manuals for computers both common and rare, and books on all types of software. It seemed that every book printed about computers up to 1987 was in this very room. All the explorers decided to peruse a few of the books, making sure to be gentle with the aged paper, except Dirk, who luckily didn’t do any damage. After a few minutes, they put the books back and headed out for their next location.-
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Chapter 4 - The Abandoned Crash Test Lab
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 4 As Melissa drove the van toward town, she and the explorers saw a large, unusual looking building. From above, it sort of looked like a lowercase “d”, with a 3-story, grey-brick circular building with windows joined to a long, windowless hall. Another building, a two-story, peeked out from behind it. The van made a left turn, passing a couple of crumbling factories to get to the building. As they got closer, they saw that only the top two floors were circular, and the bottom was a square footprint. All the explorers saw this building as a must-explore. Melissa turned left, and then left again, ignoring the long-deactivated traffic lights and parking in front of the building. A concrete sign said “HELMINTOLLER MOTORS AUTOMOTIVE SAFETY RESEARCH CENTER”; about half of the glue-on letters had fallen onto the ground, but since the concrete itself was recessed in the shapes of the letters mounted to them, it was still clear what it said. The building was heavily overgrown and decayed; most of the windows were broken, the roof had holes in it and was missing most of its shingles, and ivy crawled up the entire height of the building. The parking lot and paved grounds were heavily cracked, with grasses growing through. Immediately next to the building, the once artfully arranged flowers, hedges, and cut grass had grown out of control, the grass now being about two feet tall. The explorers walked toward a collapsed awning and break in the overgrowth, carefully stepping over the metal remains of the awning to get to the entrance door. A plaque next to the door said, “Dedicated December 3, 1973”. “Looks pretty rough for 47 years old.” said Melissa. The lobby floor was covered by ceiling tiles which had mostly turned to a strange mush that was an inch deep in some places; about 70% had fallen. Fluorescent lights were in the ceiling, some missing their covers. Moss grew in some places on the grey-tiled floor and ceiling tile mush. The white paint on the walls had almost entirely peeled off; in some places, the drywall itself had disintegrated due to water damage, revealing dirty cinder blocks. The floor above looked to be bowed down slightly. There were a few office chairs in the lobby; a water-damaged car safety newsletter, dated March 14, 1987, sat on an end table. The headline said, “GM plans 3 million driver air bags for 1992 models”. On the opposite wall was a directory; the first floor was a sled testing area and crash test observation area, the second floor was safety feature development, and the third floor was offices and the test library. “Has anyone ever had an airbag go off on them? I hear the older ones hurt pretty bad, but the newer ones are a lot better.” asked Melissa. “I have. They didn’t hurt me at all, but my car was a 2015 model.” said Megan. “Glad you were okay.” said Melissa. “I think it’s a good thing that we live in a world now where everyone has airbags. I’ve never had one go off on me, but my mom was saved by one in a major head on crash in 2001.” said Billy, who was filming the lobby and got a close-up of the newsletter, and would continue to film the rest of the building. “Oh my! Glad the airbag saved her.” said Melissa. Passing an elevator and going to the sled test area room, they found an occupant compartment of a car mounted to a rail that ran under the floor. Everything forward of the firewall, everything behind the rear seats, the doors, and the undercarriage had been removed, but the car had a boxy shape, much like a typical mid-1980s American midsize sedan. The floor in this room was solid concrete, and in much better shape than the tile floor in the lobby. A sticker on the car said, “032387 AIRBAG TEST”. The interior of the car had brown leather seats, and four deflated airbags hung out of the steering wheel, dashboard, and both front seat backs for the rear occupants. “Did they ever put the rear seat airbag system in any production cars?” asked Billy. “Not that I’m aware of. There would be safety concerns involving children, so that’s probably why they never put it in cars.” said Melissa. “They probably could today with the much more advanced airbags in cars.” said Megan. “Airbags are a crock. If you’re a good driver, you don’t need them.” said Dirk. “My mom is a good driver, but the 19-year-old drunk that crossed the center line and hit her wasn’t. They were in a dually pickup truck; my mom was in a ’96 Honda Accord. Her ankle was crushed, and she was in the hospital for several days, but the firefighters on the scene said the airbag saved her. I rest my case.” said Billy. The explorers walked toward the back of the room, finding a part of the roof missing in the corner. Directly underneath the missing section of roof was an IBM PC XT computer. Pieces of roof and ceiling material covered the corner of the room and the computer; a small plant grew out of the computer’s keyboard. “Somebody ought to send that thing to the 8-Bit Guy. It might still work with a deep cleaning and restoration.” said David. The next room was an observation room for the crash hall; a large window, now broken, looked out of the room toward the barrier, and a glass door connected the room and the crash hall itself. A small room to the side of the observation room had the crash test controls. In the observation room, there was stadium-style seating in three rows of 20, sort of like in a modern movie theater, and four CRT monitors hanging from the ceiling labeled “CAMERA 1”, “CAMERA 2”, and “CAMERA 4”; the sticker for Camera 3 was gone. At one end of the observation room, the floor above had fallen through, leaving a large hole that covered perhaps 25% of the ceiling area in the room. A strange object, about 7 feet tall and 10 feet wide at the base, had come through the floor and had landed on one end of the seating rows, crushing seats 1 through 5 in each row. The object itself was severely damaged, with cracks all over. The explorers went to look at the object, looking for any evidence of what it might have been. The unmistakable green of computer boards shined through, and Megan found a badge on it. “It says Cray-1S. Looks like some kind of old supercomputer.” said Megan. “Yup, Cray Supercomputer.” said Billy. He looked for any computer chips that may have been showing. “I see, I think, an 8107 on one of the chips. That’s 7th week of 1981, so about February. So, they got a few years of use out of it.” The explorers decided to look at the control room before going into the crash hall itself. Dirk hit the big red button that started the test, but, of course, it didn’t do anything. There wasn’t much to look at in the small room, so they went back out and went into the crash hall. The crash hall was a large room, about two stories high, with numerous holes in the roof. Pieces of metal and ceiling material covered the concrete floor, and the entire area was covered in a greenish grime. Next to the barrier, large lights, which once lit up crashing vehicles for the slow-mo cameras, had fallen to the ground and pulled a section of roof down with them. There was an underground rail that cars would be attached to guide them into the barrier. The explorers carefully dodged the pieces of metal on the ground as they walked to the other end of the crash hall, the section where the cars would have started on their journey to doom. A midsize coupe, labeled “1988 Saber Supreme Prototype”, sat at the end of the runway, its tires deflated from decades of sitting. Two dummies sat in the driver and passenger seats, still in their seat belts and sitting up as straight as they had been 33 years ago, staring forward, waiting for an impact that would never come. The somewhat creepy humanoid figures, sitting in a dirty car, staring forward would make a great video thumbnail for one of Billy’s videos. More dummies were against a wall, standing in racks; there were six adult size dummies and four dummies about the size of 3-year-olds. Just like the dummies in the car, they were eerily frozen in place despite the mess that had rained down on them for decades. A large metal cabinet was against another wall, with a computer and a notepad on it. The back wall, directly behind the car, had a large garage door; presumably, this is where cars that were destined to be crashed would come through. Along the wall that joined the crash hall and main building, there was a staircase that led to the second floor. After about twenty minutes exploring the crash hall, the explorers had seen everything they’d wanted to see. “Do you all feel comfortable going upstairs?” asked Melissa. “This building’s sketchy.” said Megan. “This building’s boring.” said Dirk. Not wanting Megan to be left alone with Dirk, David decided to stay downstairs. “I’m going to stay with them.” said David. “This is probably one of my favorite buildings I’ve ever been in. I want to see upstairs.” said Billy. “Just remember to let me know where you’re going with the walkie talkies. I’m going to stay with Billy.” said Melissa. “Mama’s boy.” said Dirk. “She’s not my mom.” said Billy. Billy began climbing the stairs, with Melissa following. Billy opened the door to the second floor. It led into a hallway that was in significantly worse condition than the first-floor rooms had been. The floor was the same grey tile as had been in the lobby, and the same ceiling tile mush covered parts of it. The same peeling white paint was on the walls, but these walls were standard house-style wood construction. The walls were a strange mix of paint, exposed plaster, and even exposed wood, depending on how much water damage was in that spot. There was a small hole in part of the ceiling. Billy stayed to the left side of the hallway; Melissa took the other side, both staying close to the walls where the floor was strongest. A door was labeled “Passive Restraint Development” to the left. Billy opened it, and both walked into the room. In the center of the room was a cutaway of the dashboard and front seating areas of a car. The floor was sagging under the car, so they didn’t go near it, but they could see that it had automatic seat belts because the driver’s seat belt was extended forward, but the passenger’s seat belt was buckled normally. “Those automatic seat belts. I hated those. The regular seat belts, ironically, are so much more convenient.” said Melissa. “Never had one in my family that I can remember. They were federally mandated for a while in the early ‘90s on cars without airbags, but eventually they just required airbags.” said Billy. “Yeah, my ’90 Accord had them. They were a pain in the neck. I, and most people I knew, wore their seat belts then anyway.” said Melissa. In one corner of the room were three Macintosh SE computers on desks, each with a black leather chair, all connected to a printer. There was no drafting table to be found – the facility had gone full AutoCAD. A whiteboard on another wall still had lots written on it; the deadline for the revised seat belt design to be finalized on the 1989 “WF-20” sedan was June 30, 1987 – the targeted HICs in a 35-mph frontal crash test were below 700. The ’88 Saber Supreme, the car they’d seen in the crash hall, was scheduled for testing March 31, 1987. On the top of the whiteboard, in red letters, said “COMPUTER SWITCHOVER MONDAY, MARCH 23 – OLD COMPUTERS WILL BE REMOVED AFTER FRIDAY, MARCH 20”. “Wow, those computers were only used for a week. What a waste.” said Billy. “I bet we’ve seen millions of dollars of stuff left to rot already.” said Melissa. “I want to ask you your story of evacuating, but I’ll savor the mystery for now.” said Billy. “Whenever you’re ready.” said Melissa. In another corner of the room, right next to where Melissa and Billy were, was a car dashboard, with dual airbags deployed from it, inflated for display purposes. Both were both amazed that the bags had stayed inflated for so long and a bit miffed that airbags hadn’t been implemented in most new vehicles by 1987. As Billy filmed the room, he noticed that his memory card in his camera could store only 26 more minutes of video, giving this building’s exploration new urgency. Billy attempted to reach under the passenger airbag and open the glove box, but the bag was too firm. In fact, the bag covered both the glove box and the entire center stack of the dashboard; combined with the driver bag, little on the dashboard was visible. The passenger bag came out over 3 feet deep from the dash. “Gosh, I hope your passenger airbag isn’t that big, or mine. That could kill someone.” said Billy. “I wouldn’t think they would be. I bought my cars because of the high safety ratings. I’m an Uber driver and have passengers in and out of my car all the time, and if we get in a crash, I want me and them to be as protected as possible. Can’t have that with an airbag that gives you a Mike Tyson punch.” said Melissa. “What cars do you have?” asked Billy. “The 2018 Honda Odyssey Elite I brought on this trip, and a 2020 Honda Accord Touring” said Melissa. “Nice cars.” said Billy. They left the room and decided to go into another room labeled “Structural Development”. “This building certainly needs some structural development.” said Billy. Melissa laughed. This room was approximately in the same condition as the passive restraint room, and was laid out similarly, except instead of seatbelts and airbags on display, it was the frame of a car, the same one they’d seen in the passenger restraint room. Billy decided to give the room a once-over with his camera and go to the next room, the “Accident Avoidance” room. Again, it was laid out like the other two rooms on that floor, except with brakes and suspension systems, but was in worse shape. The floor had a large crack that extended across the middle of the room, and its center was sagging severely; crossing to the back half of the room would be suicidal. Billy took a close look at two anti-lock brakes that had been taken from cars. One was labeled “Production”, and the other “Concept”; both looked quite like one another. Billy was stumped; the only reason he could come up with is that maybe the new design was cheaper. The last major room on the second floor of this building was the Supercomputing Room, though the floor directory said that there was a second instance of each of the four major rooms, as well as several minor office rooms, storage rooms, and the like, meaning that perhaps only a third of the total square footage of the floor had been explored. Given the poor condition of the building and the limited time of the trip, Billy didn’t want to explore rooms that would largely be duplicates or ones with nothing interesting in them. Billy opened the door, and most of the floor was gone, including the section directly in front of the door. He and Melissa looked inside the room. Against the right wall of the room, on the sole section of intact floor, were six terminals, with black leather chairs behind them. Instructions for the supercomputer’s operation still hung on the walls next to where the supercomputer had been. There was a hole in the roof, about one-foot square, above the collapsed section of floor. A slow drip of water came from a corner of the hole. “All those years of water dripping down must have weakened the floor, and it just couldn’t hold that heavy computer anymore.” said Melissa. “That thing’s probably several tons and has less power than my smartphone. The ‘80s was a long time ago, in more ways than one.” said Billy. Leaving the room, they found the building’s central staircase. It looked passable, but in rough condition, with lots of debris and a few small holes in some of the steps. “Can we go to the third floor?” asked Billy. Melissa approved, and they carefully climbed the steps, which moved unsettlingly. When they reached the steps, the library doors were directly in front of them, meaning that the library was on the opposite side of the third floor than where they’d explored on the second, and thus a totally unknown quantity. The section of floor nearest the door was still stable, but the floor was warped and buckled across most of the library. Some of the bookcases had tipped over, and a few had even fallen through a hole in the floor. The room was well-lit; most of the glass panes in the skylight directly above the hole in the floor had broken out, and there were various other small holes in the roof. The only intact section of ceiling was near that same section near the door; the rest of the ceiling was entirely gone. “When I get back into town, I’m going to see about getting all of these books and documents taken out of this library by someone with specialized equipment. The urban explorer’s creed is to take only pictures and leave only footprints, but these are irreplaceable documents that are (puts her fingers very close together) this close to disappearing forever. Another two years and this floor’s going to be all gone. I wouldn’t go into this room if I were you.” said Melissa. Against Melissa’s advice, Billy studied the room and decided to walk toward a section labeled “Technical Documents”. He found what appeared to be a beam under the floor and carefully walked on it; Melissa walked on another beam, about two feet to his left, ready to grab Billy if the beam gave way. He got to the documents, which were labeled chronologically, and grabbed a handful that dated to late 1986. Just as he withdrew his hand, he heard a loud bang underneath him. Then, his body moved back rapidly. Billy looked, and saw Melissa’s hands tightly clamped around his left arm and right shoulder. Standing on a more stable patch of floor, Billy saw that the floor where he’d been standing had no additional damage. “False alarm? Whatever it is, I’m getting the **** out of here.” said Billy. While they were leaving the library, Melissa’s walkie-talkie buzzed to life. “Perfect timing.” said Billy “We found a computer chip fab. Me and Dirk want to go inside it.” said David. “Where’s it at, and what identifying features does it have?” asked Melissa. “It says Commander Computer, it’s a brick building, and it’s directly to the right of the crash test lab if you’re looking at it from the front.” said David. “All right, you can go ahead and go in, we’ll be there in a few minutes.” said Melissa. -
Chapter 3 - Ghost Airport
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
The red numbers in the image indicates where the chapter takes place. Chapter 3 The airport terminal building, made of concrete, still looked relatively stable. Most of the windows were still in place, but some were broken out, their tempered glass piled up along parts of the perimeter of the building. Melissa went to the back of the van and grabbed a mask and a walkie-talkie for each person; each explorer donned their mask and put their walkie-talkie in their pocket. All five opened a front door that said, “Airport Employees Only” and walked in. The interior of the terminal was huge, probably at least 150 feet wide and 80 feet deep, with a 20-foot high ceiling. Dirt, leaves, and bits of fallen plaster from the ceiling covered the red-carpet floor. Above, the plaster came off the roof in some places, revealing the concrete roof underneath. The floor was at ground level and rock solid. About every 30 feet or so, there were concrete pillars. A hallway came off each end of the room; the left one was labeled Food, and the right one Services. A metal fence, about 5’ high was about 15 feet in front of them; looking to the right they saw the main entrance to the terminal, a pair of doors between the railing and front wall. A baggage claim conveyor belt was in the middle of the room. Only a railing separated the check-in area from the rest of the terminal. The explorers observed that that would never fly in the present day. The back wall facing the runways was mostly windows, but there were sections of wall, with peeling beige paint, at regular intervals; about 10 linear feet of floor-to-ceiling wall, then 40 linear feet of floor-to-ceiling windows, in a repeating pattern. On each section of wall, there was a number – from 1 to 3 – and a large board which would show flight details. Board #3 had fallen and was laying, broken, at an angle propped up on a chair. Banks of large beige leather chairs, probably about 80 per section, were adjacent to the back wall, covered in the same detritus that covered the floor. There were also small booths where airport employees would check tickets. All the explorers, except Billy and Dirk, took a wide-shot picture of the terminal; Billy took a video of the room, panning his camera from left to right. Dirk got out his EMF meter, scanning for ghosts. Melissa explained the purpose of the airport. “This airport took people to other small airports within a few hundred miles or to the big international airports in Helmintoller and Cormack City. People wanting to take a vacation overseas would normally take a flight of about an hour to Helmintoller City and then catch their main flight there. During peak tourist season, sometimes there would be 5 or 6 flights a day to and from Helmintoller City alone. But it never was a particularly busy airport, if a plane was coming every hour then it was a busy day. The big jet planes, like 747s, never flew here. We’d mostly get the smaller turboprop type planes, 50 or 60 passenger tops.” “Did you ever catch a flight out of here?” asked Billy. “A few times. I went to New York City in ‘74, to the U.S. Virgin Islands spring break of my junior year of college in ‘85, and a couple of local flights in between. My dad also brought us here in 1977 when they expanded the airport. We didn’t take a flight then, but it was a source of local pride for us to finally have an up-to-date airport.” said Melissa. Dirk walked off during Melissa’s speech, scanning his EMF meter around the room, but it wasn’t indicating anything. Melissa kept an eye on Dirk as she and the rest of the explorers went to the back of the room. Staying several feet back from the board in case it fell, they read it. A line of “CANCELED” notices ran down the right of the board. Even a chair said “CANCELED”, one of the decals having come off and landed on it. “People weren’t very worried about their flights. The minute the volcano hit, all of that got canceled. I remember hearing that they sent everyone at the airport home. There was an inbound flight, they diverted it to Cormack.” said Melissa. Billy wiped off one of the cleaner looking chairs and sat down. “Still comfortable after all these years.” he said. David tried one out too, coming to a similar conclusion. Dirk was near the opposite wall of the terminal near the ticket check-in booths, so the group went that way. The outside of the booths was fairly non-descript; faded white letters said HELMINTOLLER AIRLINES, EXPRESS AIR, AIR IZZY. Another flight information board, bigger than the ones near the other wall, hung between the Helmintoller Airlines and Air Izzy booths. Megan found a door that led to the interior of the booths. The interior of the Helmintoller Airlines booth was a small room, a square about 10 feet on each side. A desk at the front of the room had an old Macintosh computer on one side, connected to a printer on the other. Somewhat protected from the main terminal area itself, the room was remarkably clean; the red-carpet floor still felt in good shape. A paper on the table said, “LIST OF SCHEDULED FLIGHTS: MARCH 28-30, 1987”. The first four flights, the last of which had left for Helmintoller City at 9:00 pm on March 28, were checked off as departed. The 5th to 11th flights, which would leave at various hours on the 29th and 30th, were marked through with a red line, the red Sharpie still laying a few inches away. Tickets for the next flight had been printed. It was a connecting flight from Izzy to Helmintoller, which would then leave for Orlando, FL. The date on the tickets said “SUN MAR 29, 1987 6:00 AM” “What you are seeing is several canceled vacations. I hope all these people eventually got to go where they wanted to go.” said Billy, filming the papers close-up. They might have data he could put on Wikipedia or something. Melissa responded to Billy, adding to his video. “Helmintoller Airlines was really good about giving refunds if I recall correctly. My mom’s friend had a flight canceled from the volcano, and she got her money back within a few weeks. So, they probably did get to make them up, but it might have been a year or two later.” Seeing that the others were beginning to wait on him, Billy turned off the camera and went back toward the group. As they walked toward one of the hallways that led out of the main terminal room, Billy asked if it would be okay if he put video of the airline tickets on the internet. “I don’t see why not. They don’t have any personal information and they’re 33 years old.” said Melissa. “Why would you take video of airline tickets?” asked Dirk. “I find the data interesting.” said Billy. “Weirdo.” said Dirk. “Some people like that kind of stuff. It’s not weird.” said Megan. The left hallway of the terminal was lined with advertisements for various airlines. The ceiling was lower in here, but much of the drop ceiling had come down, littering the floor with the ceiling tiles, and leaving pieces of the ceiling framing hanging down. The explorers had to watch their steps to avoid slipping on the tiles; luckily, the ceiling was high enough that the framing hanging down was still above their heads. The metal roof itself was mostly intact but had a couple of small holes in it. The hallway itself was only about 25 feet long before opening into a large circular area with white tables and attached chairs in the middle, still arranged as they had been decades ago. The walls were beige, and the carpet blue in this area. Restroom doors were at the very end of the hallway. There was a large dome skylight above the tables. Most of the glass panes were intact. “Whoa, they had a Queso Burgers here. I’ve always wanted to go to a Queso Burger again. I only went once, when I was like 7, and it was delicious.” said Billy. “What’s a Queso Burger?” asked Megan. “It was a burger place where you could get burgers with spicy cheese dip right inside the patties. I think it started here in Izzy in the ‘70s. When I was growing up, they were everywhere. It was one of my favorite places to eat, they were delicious. Then about 2005 or so they went out of business.” said David.” “Maybe you should have eaten a few less of them.” said Dirk. “Maybe you should be a little less negative.” said Melissa. There were two other restaurants in the food court: Uno’s Pizza and Subway. While Melissa and Megan explored them, and Dirk kept “ghost hunting”, Billy and David went over to the Queso Burger. Aside from being very dirty and stained with rotting food, the serving troughs looked just as David remembered them. They opened a door and went into the kitchen. The scents of mold and rotting food wafted through the air. It smelled bad, but not overpoweringly bad. Then David opened a large fridge. That was a mistake. David and Billy quickly walked out of the room, recoiling at the smell of beef rotted decades ago and dead bugs. “Serves you right, dumba**es.” said Dirk. David and Billy cleared off two chairs and sat down to catch their breath; Melissa and Megan walked over to them and stood nearby. “Are you two okay?” asked Melissa. “Yeah, pardon my French, but that kitchen smells like s***.” said Billy. After about two minutes, Billy and David got back up. Billy got out his camera and filmed the food court, making sure to get close-ups of the serving areas of all three restaurants and poking his camera into Queso Burger’s kitchen. “I’m warning you, any prospective explorers, do NOT open anything in this kitchen.” said Billy. The group then went to leave the food court area. Billy filmed down the hallway, choosing the return trip so he could better chart his course so he wouldn’t slip on any of the fallen ceiling tiles. After that, the group crossed the main terminal room again and went into the right-side hallway. In here was the non-food services of the airport: a rental car agency, a gift shop, and a money exchange. This hallway was, architecturally, a mirror image of the other, and the level of decay was remarkably similar. Melissa, David, and Megan looked through the duty-free shop while Billy went to the rental-car agency counter and Dirk looked at the money exchange. The rental-car agency was rather plainly labeled, “Airport Rent-A-Car”. Billy perused the binder on the counter, finding a selection of Ford and Toyota vehicles, everything from Toyota Tercels and Ford Escorts to Lincoln Town Cars. Billy also peeked inside the booth and found a desk with a computer and a printer, much like he’d seen at the check-in terminal. He moved on to the gift shop and met up with those in there. Everything had been left on the shelves of the gift shop; T-shirts, cups, and various other souvenirs that said, “We call it Izzy because even we can’t pronounce Izydorczak”, along with various other corny slogans. The gifts were covered in a thick layer of dust, but somehow 98% of them were still on the shelves. Meanwhile, Dirk stuffed 50 dollars in his pocket from the money exchange – no one was the wiser. The group had been in the airport for over an hour and were eager to start exploring the city itself. After finishing up with the airport exploration, the group went outside to find it noticeably warmer and sunnier than when they’d came into the airport. That was a rather small airport, but I’ll take it, thought Billy, as they walked back toward the van. They’d explored only about 30% of the airport. “SHOTGUN!” yelled Dirk. He climbed in the front seat of the van; Billy and David got the second row, while Megan took the third. In her mind, Melissa didn’t want Dirk getting the front seat, but she didn’t say anything. Melissa turned the van turned around and went back down Airport Road, making a left turn at the end of the road to go into the ghost town itself.-
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Chapter 2 - The Trip to Izzy
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 2 Thirty minutes after leaving, and halfway to Izzy, they had only seen one car on the highway that ran between Kallal and Izzy, and even that had been 25 minutes ago. The lands the interstate ran across were rugged, wild, and heavily forested. A faded sign said, “Izzy City: 32 miles”. The highway was in an oddly good condition to be going only to a town abandoned for 33 years. Melissa decided to give a little history. “Back in the ‘80s, this highway would be crowded at this time of day on a weekend. It was our main way out into the world outside Izzy. I remember being a kid, I guess this would have been in the late ‘60s, and this road had a speed limit of 45 and no fences or lights. You always had to worry about hitting a deer on the way home. My dad hit a big deer with me in the passenger seat when I was 5. We were in a ’66 Ford Falcon, no seat belts, and we were lucky to walk away. Almost totaled the car.” “Glad you were okay!” said Megan. “Fortunately, I’ve never been in any other serious car crashes. And the road was upgraded. About 1972 or so, they finally put fences up so no one hit deer anymore. But 45 mph was still pretty slow, took almost two hours to get anywhere. Between my sophomore and junior years of college, so 1984, they upgraded the road to the 6-lane, 70 mph highway they have today. The city of Izzy paid for the whole thing and finished it in six months. They had the road closed weekdays from midnight to 6 am for a while. They used concrete that was supposed to last 40 years between re-paving. They said it was the best-made road in all Helmintoller when it was built. I think it cost something like half a million Simoleons. It’s a shame it was only really used for a couple of years.” said Melissa. “Well maybe if Izzy makes a comeback, it’ll be used.” said Billy. “I don’t think Izzy’s going to come back to life. It’s just too cost-prohibitive to fix it up.” said Melissa. “They had the money to build this highway, so they must have been a rather wealthy city.” said Billy. “Izzy was, financially, a very well-run city. I went to a couple of city council meetings back in the day- “ “You were on the city council there? How old ARE you, granny?” asked Dirk. Melissa laughed it off. “56. The volcano happened right before I turned 23.” said Melissa. “That wasn’t very nice, Dirk. She’s taking you on a trip, and you call her granny?! Anyway, go ahead, Melissa.” said Billy. “The years before the volcano, Izzy was making about a 6,000 simoleon profit every month. We had a great school system, great hospitals, great roads, all the things that made a city run well. The taxes were still fairly low, so I don’t know how they made it all work. Everything in town was clean, well-maintained, and just worked. The DMV wasn’t a pain in the neck.” “Oh, if only it were that way today.” said Megan. A few minutes later, Billy took out his camera for the first time. He took out a memory card labeled “IZZY 1” and put it in the camera. “Filming the highway.” said Billy. “Why do you have to film a road?” asked Dirk. “This highway’s part of the trip too.” said Melissa. “If anyone has anything to add, feel free to say it.” said Billy. Billy started his video, pointing his camera out the windshield. “This is the highway that runs from Kallal to Izzy. This road, I assume, dates back to 1924 in one form or another, but the smooth highway we’re riding on was built in 1984 and hasn’t been repaved since then. I guess since it’s been a road to nowhere for 90% of its history, so it hasn’t got a lot of wear. As you can see… not a car in sight. It’s a Saturday morning, September 26, at about 8:40 am as I film this. We’re on our way to Izzy.” said Billy. He looked over and saw that the van was moving at 96 mph. He didn’t say anything until the camera was off and back in the glove box. “You’re going pretty fast. I’m not on to you, and I trust your driving, but I don’t want to get pulled over.” said Billy. “There hasn’t been a cop on this highway in decades.” said Melissa. A few minutes later, evidence of a nearby city came into view. The rusting frame of a billboard was the first sign; the content of the billboard had long disappeared. Billy got his camera out. Another billboard a half-mile later, in slightly better condition, said “Thomasina’s Bar and Grill”; Billy managed to get a semi-decent shot. The volcano appeared in the distance. Soon, some of the taller buildings in Izzy began to appear out the windshield; the buildings were dark and looked heavily decayed. Billy started filming again. As the buildings got closer, the other passengers in the van began to look to the right. One tall building, perhaps 10-15 stories, had about half its windows broken and half intact, in no discernible pattern. University Street Tower’s sign had decayed to “UN E I Y S REET T R”. Soon, shorter buildings began to appear in the distance. All the buildings appeared to be coated in a thick layer of grime and dirt. Most looked to be barely standing; some had collapsed. Megan, David, and Dirk all got out their cameras and started taking pictures. About a minute later, the city was right next to the van, about a half-mile to the right. Melissa slowed the van to 55 mph as everyone looked in awe at the city, which seemed to go on forever. Directly to the right of the van, there were about 20 blocks of factories and various industrial buildings, then many more blocks of houses, mansions interspersed with more modest houses, then finally, various shops and offices. Around the time the industrial district yielded to the residential, the highway turned into an avenue, and the van slowed to about 20 mph. The avenue wasn’t in nearly as good of condition; potholes had eaten away at it, requiring Melissa to swerve the van around them in spots. “Wow,” said Billy. “This place is massive. I knew it would be big, but it’s hard to put into words just how big without being there in person.” “I bet there’s a ****load of ghosts in there.” said Dirk. Billy would have to edit the profanity out of his video, which aimed to be family friendly. For the first time in many miles, the road made a sharp turn to the right. Now, the abandoned city filled the view out the front of the van. A red line on the road marked the city limits; the sign itself had fallen over. Melissa turned the van onto a side road. A control tower in the distance made it clear that this road went to an airport. Just before reaching the airport, Melissa stopped the van. She asked everyone to get out. “Before we go into the city, I’d like to lay down some ground rules and explain the trip. As explained in the online signup, this is a 3-day, exhaustive tour of Izzy City. There are thousands of buildings in the city, and we won’t have time to explore them all. We’ll be exploring quite a few buildings, and we’ll try to get a good sample of them. That being said, these are buildings that haven’t been maintained in a very long time, and they could be structurally unsound. You all are adults and we can go inside the buildings, but you must wear a N95 mask, bring a walkie-talkie, and go in groups of at least two; no one should go inside the buildings alone. I have masks and walkie-talkies in the van for everyone. Also, make sure to test the floors and don’t walk on them if you feel unsafe. You don’t have to go into any of the buildings if you don’t want to. I’ll be going in as much as I safely can. Any questions?” “Yeah, why do I need a mask just to go inside an empty building?” asked Dirk. “Because there could be mold in there, and if you inhale it, it’s bad news.” said Melissa. “Why can’t I go inside the buildings alone?” asked Dirk. “Because if the worst happens, having someone there could mean the difference between life and death.” “What if a ghost spooks me?” asked Dirk. “Then I’ll use my Ghost-B-Gone spray on him.” said Melissa. “Where can I buy Ghost-B-Gone spray?” asked Dirk. “You have to get it online.” said Melissa, jokingly. After five more minutes of inane questions from Dirk, Billy had had enough. “Knock it off, Dirk. Quit asking questions so we can get to your ghost hunt.” -
Chapter 1 - Meeting the Explorers
drocca posted a City Journal entry in Izzy City - A Ghost Town Exploration Story
Chapter 1 The plan was to meet at the McDonalds on the west side of Kallal City on Saturday, September 26 at 7 am. This Mickey D’s was chosen because it was the last bastion of civilization for the next 60 miles, and thus was the closest place to the ghost town that the group of five explorers, accompanied by one of the town’s former residents, would meet at. The Mickey D’s wouldn’t open until 8, so there wouldn’t be any customers there. The weather only added to the desolate atmosphere; it was 54 degrees, windy, with a pall of clouds and a thin fog. Billy was the first to arrive, a man who appeared to be in his early 20s, about 6’ tall with short mousy brown hair and a medium-stocky build. He was wearing a beat-up Sonic the Hedgehog shirt and long khakis. He pulled his white 2014 Honda Accord in at 6:35 am. This was followed by Melissa, the group leader, just two minutes later, in a black 2018 Honda Odyssey Elite van, who parked two spaces to the right of Billy. She had medium-length blonde hair and was of a medium build. She was wearing a Kelly-green T-shirt, a light jacket, and khaki pants. As soon as Melissa arrived, Billy got out of his car, and Melissa got out of her van. They met in the parking space between their cars. “Hi, I’m Billy. Are you here for the Izzy trip?” “Hi, I’m Melissa. I’m here for the trip.” “Oh, you’re the organizer of the trip,” said Billy, having seen the name on the invitation. “I’ve been waiting for this day for months. I’ve been into Izzy since I was a kid. I’ve studied on it on the Internet for 15 years, and I’ve seen every picture I could get a hold of, but I’ve always wanted to go myself, but it’s been so dangerous until the last couple years. I wasn’t even born until 8 years after Izzy was abandoned, so I like the time capsule aspect, seeing a place frozen in time since before I was born. Have you ever been to Izzy?” asked Billy. “Been to it? Oh, I just lived there the first 23 years of my life.” said Melissa, chuckling. Billy was awed. “First off, you are not 56 years old. I might believe you lived in Izzy as a child, but no way you’re over 45. Second, I’m doing a video on Izzy, and I don’t want this to be awkward, but do you mind if I film you giving some stories from your time living there? I don’t have to put your face in it.” “You’re more than welcome to, and you can put my face in too. Glad to help you with your video.” said Melissa. “I’ll keep your secret about being 56.” said Billy. “Why’s it gotta be a secret? I don’t care if people know how old I am. They’ll figure it out anyway.” said Melissa, chuckling slightly as she pat Billy on the shoulder. They’d only met minutes ago, and Billy already felt like he could be fully himself around Melissa. I’ve hit the jackpot, he thought. I never thought my trip to Izzy would be this good. “Let me get my cameras.” said Billy, grabbing a small backpack from his back seat. He put the bag on his back. “You can put your bag in the van if you’d like.” said Melissa. Billy opened the right rear door of the van and put his bag in the middle, between the first and second rows of seats. After a couple minutes standing, they got in the van, Melissa in the driver’s seat and Billy in the passenger seat and talked until the rest arrived. A young woman was the next to arrive; at 6:56 am, she pulled her red 2014 Ford Escape as Melissa and Billy got out to greet her. She looked about Billy’s age. About 5’4”, with medium length brown hair and a light-medium build, Megan was rather attractive. She was wearing a “University of South Helmintoller” hoodie and jeans. “Hey guys! I’m Megan.” “Hey!” said Melissa and Billy, simultaneously. “Whoa, Ms. Melissa, I didn’t know you were on this trip!” exclaimed Megan. “Well, Murphy’s a common last name.” said Melissa. “You know Melissa?” asked Billy. “She’s my favorite professor I’ve ever had. She’s very nice and a great teacher. I’m looking forward to this.” said Megan. Right at the stroke of 7, the fourth member of the trip arrived, a man who appeared to be around 40, give or take. He was about 6’2”, with short red hair and a medium build, wearing a white shirt with a pocket and jeans. He was driving a blue 2008 Nissan Pathfinder. “Hi,” said the man. “I’m David.” he said, reaching out his right hand to do a handshake. Melissa, Billy, and Megan introduced themselves, shaking David’s hand. His handshake was sure and firm. The four got in the van, Billy getting the front seat because of his photographic equipment. To give Megan and David more room and for easy access, Billy put his DSLR, associated equipment, and flash memory cards in the glove box. After a few minutes of talking, David revealed that he was born in Izzy. “I was actually born in Izzy, but I was just 5 when I left. All my things, my old toys and books are still in my house in West Izzy, right near the volcano. This is the first time I’ve been there since the volcano, and I just want to see what became of my old town.” “Where’s your old house? We can go there.” asked Melissa. “255 Balboa Road. When you get into town, you just keep going north. It’s past the two blue towers.” said David. “I know exactly where that is. I lived on Wood Road, just across the little commercial district toward the mountain.” said Melissa. “The blue towers, are those the Western House Towers?” asked Billy. “That’s the one. I’d forgotten what they were called. Do you have family from Izzy?” asked David. “No, I’ve just researched Izzy for many years, always wanted to go,” said Billy. “Never been.” “This trip is a birthday present for me. I turn 39 next Wednesday.” said David. “Hmmm… 9/30/81… That makes you born on a Wednesday.” said Billy. “Wow, you’re smart.” said David. “What day of the week was April 28, 1964?” asked Melissa. “Tuesday.” answered Billy. After Billy told Megan that Oct. 28, 1998 was a Wednesday, and Dec. 24, 1995, his own birthday, was a Sunday, the conversation went back to Izzy. Eventually, David noticed that it was 7:26, and they hadn’t left yet. “Why haven’t we left? We’re almost 30 minutes behind.” said David. “We have one more coming.” said Melissa. “I say, if he isn’t here by 7:40, we leave,” said David. “I think a 40-minute grace period is plenty.” 7:40 came and went, and Billy, David, and Megan all wanted to leave. Finally, Melissa decided that she would leave at 8. The employees of the McDonalds arrived to start their workdays. At 7:58, a red 1998 Pontiac Firebird roared into the parking lot. It was rusty and loud, in an obnoxious way. The Firebird parked right next to Billy. A man, about 5’10”, of muscular build, with a goatee and tattoos, came out. Oh gosh, please don’t let this be the last member of our party, thought Billy. Melissa rolled down her driver window. “Hi. Are you here for the Izzy trip?” asked Melissa. “Yeah bro.” said the man. “Come on in.” said Melissa. “Shotgun!” shouted the man. He opened the passenger door, only to find Billy sitting there. “Sorry, if you wanted the front seat, you shouldn’t have gotten here an hour late.” said Billy. “Billy needs the front seat for his photo equipment.” said Melissa. Megan opened the back right door, and the man got in the third row of the van. Melissa backed out of the parking spot and started on the trip. “What’s your name?” asked Billy. “Dirk,” said the man. “I thought we were going to be in a bada** Jeep or something.” “What are your plans for this trip?” asked Melissa. “I’m going to find me some ghosts.” said Dirk, pulling an EMF meter out of his pocket. “I don’t think there are any ghosts here. Just abandoned buildings with a lot of ‘80s stuff inside.” said David. “Bruh. Have you ever seen that show Ghost Catchers?” asked Dirk. “I was born in this town, and I’ve never heard of any ghosts.” said David. “I guess there could be some ghosts, but I doubt it.” said Billy. “This place is ****ing crawling with ghosts,” said Dirk. “It’s been abandoned for, what, 50 years?” “33.” said Melissa.
