Historically, it's hard to argue that something changed the nature of the town of Norfolk more than the Boom. The mine disaster killed an incredibly high proportion of the town's residents, but it also flattened their stories.
That is not, of course, the truth of the matter. Their stories still exist. The truth is that the people living in and around Norfork before, during, and even after the incident carried on complicated lives with problems often as mundane as ours, today. The bar served drinks, the newspaper published articles, people had their leaky sinks and roofing tiles fixed. These details are not sanded away maliciously, but the history lost to the scale of the tragedy is personal.
In the displays below you will see examples of everyday life from the people of Norfork before the events of the Boom represented through objects saved or recovered from the explosion - like a prototype writing machine that predates the typewriter, and a dress that would have been worn at the time - as well as preserved examples of their own writing about themselves and each other. As you explore the exhibit, think about what your life would have been like if you lived in Norfolk at that time. What would you have seen? What type of work would you do? Why do you think Myriads had not yet revealed themselves to the public?
When you've finished with the exhibit, please move down the hall to the right, to the room labelled "The Boom and the Divot".
-- Norfork History Museum Display, credited to Kennedy Hartsfeld(Content Warnings: flesh, eye horror, guns, fire, mention of memory loss, possession, brief description of mass death)
Check out our amazing guest players!
Our guests this week come with three amazing shows all of their own! You should go check out Kaitlin's horror call-in show "
Thin Places Radio" & "
The Streampunks", Devin's excellent music and character work on "Band of Blades" actual-play show "
Oathsworn", and Birdie's upcoming actual-play show "
The Storyplayers". All come with our highest recommendations!
Pest Control is an actual-play tabletop horror RPG podcast produced in association with AltHaven (
@AltHaven_). Our second season uses “Monster of the Week”, a Powered by the Apocalypse system by Michael Sands and Evil Hat Productions. You can pick up a copy
here.
Season two, “Norfork”, follows a trio of friends living in the edge-city of Norfork as the community adapts to the open presence of Myriads and the encroachment of The City.