(Found on the work computer of I. Marie Herschel of Pen Island during a routine computer examination on May 1st, 2020. This file was discovered and edited for easy-reading purposes with quotes and chapter names added by J. Lee Aster, O. Augustus Smith, and R. Jack Fink and released to the public four years afterward with Herschel's permission. Document also e-mailed to legally listed author by Z. Artemis Phillips. Reader discretion advised.)
Act I.
"The story is that there's a whole legion of devils seen sometimes on that reef—sprawled about, or darting in and out of some kind of caves near the top." – H.P. Lovecraft, The Shadow over Innsmouth.
1 – An Introduction and a Backstory
Beginning in 2016 and concluding in 2017, the federal government raided the village of Balltown. This raid began a few years after the inauguration of a new mayor in 2013. Four years after the mayor took his spot, the small town of Balltown shrunk to a distant memory.
An anonymous witness reported illegal activities within the town under testimony. Some have speculated that they had gone under witness protection. However, this rumor also states that the witness received leniency for information about where and to whom they sold illegal goods.
It was not until there was pressure from the international press that the details of which, albeit abridged, did the government disclose the basic details to the public. Newspaper articles, online blogs, and the scripts of television reporters had their own sides of the story to share. They shared many reports of arrests, razing of empty buildings, and missing people.
Few citizens remained, though most were in hiding. Not even the main economic drivers of the town could save it from abandonment. The remains of the sleepy village, on my last visit, were less like old Balltown, except for a campsite on the ruins. The people the government arrested there received an early release after a year for good behavior. Most formerly imprisoned residents were innocent. The government criminalized them for their silence on the allegations of trafficking in their town.
Sources like the BBC and Fox News have said the town was a hub for theft. Those who follow what they had to say claimed that the town's trafficking of rare animals and stolen artwork raised concerns about immigration. Only one news website reported on what ended up replacing Balltown. This news website had a pro-environmental viewpoint and opposed the capitalist structure. The author, a man named William, told the story of the campground. William focused on a former shopkeeper turned realtor in the town who sold coupons for premium goods.
The campground on the ruins made its mark as a popular tourist site for the locals. Some former residents reported on how the campsite opened for business after the Raid of Balltown. These folks speculated that the theft raids played a role in the use of the land once occupied by the town for the development of the campsite. Others also mentioned that the coupon seller at the camp had ulterior motives. These motives included ways to reuse earnings gained from the campsite for personal plans, after purchasing the campsite.
Many locals said something similar happened back almost a century ago. In a sleepy town called Innsmouth in the Eastern US, with a gold-based economy. The government bombed a nearby coral reef to intimidate the rumrunners and bootleggers. The rumors from that era proclaim that one person's testimony of strange things wiped the town from the map.
I was a young civic engineering doctorate graduate working as the camp's assistant manager. My superior was a very smart and modest man named Michael Harris. I spent my time pushing papers and visiting campers and my dear twin brother before the pandemic. Campers dotted the landscape of an old forest once known as Balltown. Hushed whispers of what happened to the old town lingered amongst the campers. Others seemed friendly and were eager to invite me to any new venture that would provide me with answers to what happened to the town.
Little did I know that I would unwillingly flee the old campsite. I'd never thought I'd heard of Balltown before I got a job on the ruins. I had a hunch that if I had never left, the plans the ticket seller plotted would not go underway as they are now. As far as I was aware at the time, it was the first and last time I'd been there. My brother was eager to stay, but I had my wits about me. I swore up and down I'd never go camping there again, even if they paid me.