**Date of Recording: August 17th, 2021**
Southeastern Nye County, 65 miles Northwest of Las Vegas, sits a site established in 1951 to test nuclear weapons. Approximately it covers over a thousand square miles and the landscape is covered in just about as many craters.
In 1955 an informational film was made and subsequently released to the public to raise awareness about the dangers of the atomic bomb. News people from different regions, including the UK, got involved. Even those that weren’t a part of major news networks managed to get in and find out some unique intel.
The “doom towns” of America was an apt way of describing these mock areas built by the Civil Defense Administration. Made for the purpose of testing and recording the effects of terrifying weaponry, these towns were built up and blown away. The uncanny part of it all is how detailed they wanted to make these places. What’s even more strange is how many shared certain similarities only a few of which were shown in glimpses from released media. What those smaller journalists found never saw the light of day. Until recently that is.
You see, I work with a small organization whose job it is to uncover the truth that “big brother” doesn’t want the public to know about. Honestly, it’s nothing official and yeah we’re a bit of a rag tag group with some who may be a few cards short of a deck, if you know what I mean. However, their views and what they can do has proven to be pretty useful so far.
According to some documents: Established in 1894, just 12 miles south of Groom Lake, Nevada, there sat a small mining settlement called Clarktown. Needless to say, you won’t find any information on it through a quick Google search. A census puts this place at having had a population of 900 during its peak in 1929 just before the mine dried up. What was left over just 20 years later was hardly a third of that.
Those 250-some in 1948 were a hearty, self-sufficient community who did what they could with the remaining finances they had. Focusing on just a small area in their little town where most of them lived, they built up what might be considered the picturesque appearance of 1950’s suburbia.
This I could tell when looking at what few photographs were developed. The rest remained in film rolls and cartridges with the word “AGFA” printed in bold lettering. Tex, our chemist / photographer / handy man is currently taking care of them. His ability of figuring out the chemical processes used for developing these obscure film types is that of a savant. Said something about “colorol” last I heard.
A small group and I have arranged an outing to try and find this place, or perhaps get as close as we could, to see what remnants may be left of Clarktown. What can be found online didn’t leave too much to be expected so we’re in hopes of finding some traces of the past in person.
Sedan Crater, they call it. The largest man-made crater in the U.S. and it covers just 1,280 feet in diameter. Worse part that we know of is how the fallout ended up irradiating people hundreds of miles away. It’s said that because of this test, the thought of using nuclear devices for mining was completely abandoned.
I think I’ll end this here while we finish up packing for the trip. There’s something about that number that bugs me, but I’ll elaborate once we see it in person. Maybe I’m missing something.
**Entry Date: July 5th, 2021**
2:48 PM
Saltpeter, coal, and potassium nitrate. Unmistakable and in some ways addictive in the same way you might enjoy the warm, humid coating of the air around you that often accompanies the smell of rain. The only clouds overhead today though were sparse and instead of rain, it was the scent of gunpowder that coated the air as families continued setting off their fireworks after the celebrations of Independence Day.
There’s a reason why I was forced to stop researching into our newest lead. Guess Nevada will have to wait, all because I had to come out here to a park about three towns away from where we usually work. The boss wanted me to be the one to reach out and she’s not someone you say no to, especially with what’s at stake. Besides, I was curious too and so I figured why not. October warned me not to go alone. He’s the oldest of our group and most conspiracy minded. While we all have our limits, he can be pretty out there. Picturing some guy with crazy hair, unkempt beard, and a sneer, distrusting everyone and everything he sees? Well, that’s not him. He’s a got a good heart actually and probably has the most wholesome smile I’ve seen an on old guy his age. Not completely well groomed, but I mean I think he tries.
Anyway, I’m supposed to be meeting a new recruit, so to speak. She often followed our postings on the internet and one day decided to show us her technical skills by boldly taking our digital information hostage until we agreed to let her in. It wasn’t anything too terrible, all our real important intel we keep only hard copies of. However, what she also found access to were each of our real identities. You see, I work with a small organization whose job it is to uncover the truth that “big brother” doesn’t want the public to know about. Though we’ve come together in person, we each go by nicknames that most of us had chosen for ourselves. However, her having our real names was a big deal as we all understood she could easily out us to some officials whoever wherever.
I’m pretty sure she’s sitting next to me on this bench actually. She hasn’t said a word, but she’s been looking around and making this annoying clicking noise against the metal with her nail.
Actually, hold on-
- . . . . - - . . . - .
**Entry Date: August 22nd, 2021**
10:34 AM
After a long talk with a guy in Las Vegas about getting a tour of the Sedan Crater, we got on the road and though it took a couple days, we made it here. What we can see, however, is lackluster at best. I mean it’s enormous and imagining the devastation is intriguing, but what we’re here for there seems to be no traces of. Nothing but a gigantic hole in the landscape with nothing else around it.
October and Diana are doing their best to look like an interested father-daughter duo out on vacation while I can’t seem to get my mind off the fact that this doesn’t seem familiar. I mean, you would think it should be after all the hours of videos and pictures I’ve gone through, but these feels new. Something about the terrain formations off in the distance. I can’t ignore this nagging at back of my mind, I mean it was a town of 200 some people that once lived in this exact area, a peak of 900 nearly a century ago. Could all that really have existed in this size of a crater? No, there definitely had to have been an intense cleanup. Something to explain what feels so weird about this. Maybe I’m getting paranoid, but I feel as if I’m being watched.
3:15 PM
Started writing again as we got back in the SUV. October’s driving and going on another one of his ramblings while Diana is in the passenger seat, busying herself with a document while having headphones in. Probably to block him out. Eventually she’ll learn to listen through a lot of the nonsense he spouts when he gets like this. She may get annoyed, but it’s a relief to me because something put him in this state, which must mean he noticed it too.
October’s Ramblings #259:
“Towers fallen… The falsity is so obvious… Ants in a well…”
“Did you see… Horizon too perfect… No, too empty…”
I mean to other vehicles on the interstate he probably looks like an old guy telling a grand story, but in here, hearing what he’s saying with that smile of his; Yeah, he’s a bit odd. At least he looks like he’s having fun with it. Was having fun with it? His smile became less cheerful suddenly. He was smiling still, but it’s different, fake, as though he was doing so for a camera.
White SUV, tinted windows that are so dark they’ve got to be illegal.
License plate: G over S followed by #####
How long have they been back there?
4:48 PM
We got off at an exit to refuel, get food, and then get back on the road home taking a different highway to another interstate. Low and behold, that SUV showed up a few vehicles back. Seems to be hanging behind a semi currently. I’m just going to keep watch for now. October is speaking again, but unlike his other cryptic nonsense, this time it’s pretty clear to understand.
October’s Ramblings #256:
“Back again… There and back again… Waiting to pounce… Watching, surveilling, reporting…“
The light from a desk lamp was all that seemed to illuminate the room. A pile of papers, a pricey looking digital camera, and a recently emptied mug cover my old, worn-out wooden desk. Listening to the man in the other room mumble a bit in his sleep, I stretch, prop myself up in the office chair, and start putting away the various pages of notes scrawled on the yellow writing pad as I end my investigation for the night. After gathering my belongings and bag, I head out for the hall, passing the night guard on my way, boots echoing off the tiles and through the silent corridor.