Aaron Richters¶
Aaron Richters is a Spud Hut distribution-center worker in Dahlonega, Georgia, who walked out for a smoke break and never returned, becoming one of the missing people in The Things in Appalachia.
| Type | NPC (minor, never seen) |
| Aliases | Aaron; Richters |
| Affiliation | Spud Hut, Georgia Regional Distribution Center |
| Status | Missing (as of Appalachia 04) |
| First appearance | Appalachia 02 (mentioned) |
Description¶
Aaron is never seen on screen. He is known only through what his co-workers and the distribution center report: a smoker and a habitual no-show, with about nine unexcused absences in two years (Appalachia 03). He has also vanished before, when a hunting buddy offered an impromptu trip (Appalachia 02).
History¶
In Appalachia 02, Edward Nick Sr. arrives for dinner at the trailer park in gray Spud Hut coveralls, exhausted. He explains that a co-worker, Aaron, went out for a smoke break in the middle of a shift and never came back, so Ed Sr. and a colleague named Ben had to cover. Servicing the plant machinery takes three people, and corporate will not shut the line down. Kurt asks Ed Sr. to call if Aaron does not turn up (Appalachia 02).
That episode's cold open shows an unnamed worker in a gray jumpsuit, with cigarettes and a lighter, who hears a baby-like cry from the woods behind the plant, squeezes into a cave and is attacked. The episode does not name him (Appalachia 02).
In Appalachia 03, Andrew phones the distribution center from the payphone at the Consolidated Gold Mine. The operator, Stacy, verifies his badge with the FBI and, eight minutes later, reports that the worker did not clock out the previous day and did not come in that day. She gives his name as Aaron Richters and offers to connect Andrew to Jan, who runs the center. His initials do not match the "HF" on the lighter recovered from the Dead Man in the Cave, so the players wonder whether the dead man is a different victim (Appalachia 03).
In Appalachia 04, Sheriff Burke tells Andrew that a check of Aaron's house has made him an officially missing person, and Andrew supplies the name. Burke later complains that he has five missing people in two days (Appalachia 04).
Unresolved¶
Aaron's fate is never stated. It is never established whether he is the man in the cold open or the Dead Man in the Cave, or whether he was taken by the ape-men or by Jan Martense's operation (see Jan's Conspiracy). In Appalachia 09, the handler Clive is told about the missing kids, the truck driver and the Spud Hut workers, but Aaron is not named.