Minor items and artifacts: The Summer Service¶

These are the smaller objects of the Marblehead case: gadgets, weapons, souvenirs and clues. Bigger items have their own pages, including the M28 Davy Crockett, the crystal marbles, ivermectin and the severed arm.

The Biz's pocket knife¶

A new carbon-steel folding knife that the Biz buys in Summer Service 01, after his tussle with the moth. He tests it on one of the crystal marbles, the blade blunts without leaving a mark, and he decides to steal the marble. See Crystal marbles. (Summer Service 01)

Bug¶

A listening device that the Biz plants in Madeline's house before the team leaves her there. See Madeline's house. (Summer Service 05)

Casaba¶

A weapon that the radio voice of the covert group says it has. He explains that it cannot be fired from the ground because it would kill the shooter and that the wind speeds are too high to fly it, so the team has to deal with the creature itself. It is never used. (Summer Service 06)

Claymore¶

Kurt's directional mine. He sets one on Arnold Weathers' porch aimed at the door, and in Summer Service 05 he also sets one at his hotel room door, telling the others to knock before entering. A Claymore set off on a truck in an unrecorded session is, in Andre's words, presumably the explosion that the radio voice in Summer Service 06 says "pissed it off." Compare Claymore Mine from the Things in Appalachia. (Summer Service 05; Summer Service 06)

Experimental submarine¶

The small research submarine used for the dive in the unrecorded Summer Service 02. According to Andrew's account to Big Bill in Summer Service 03, the team went down with a college researcher to see a dead body she had found, but the body was gone. While they searched, a vessel covered in lights returned, and the team shut off all power and lights and went undetected. Andrew says the vessel "hummed," and asks whether such a hum could break apart the sub they were in. See The stealth wreck and College researcher. (Summer Service 03)

Fish-in-bikini ornament¶

A souvenir that Andrew buys in Marblehead for his mother, a fish in a bikini staring saucily at the viewer on a bed of dancing crabs. Andre calls it "a pretty slutty fish." Andrew keeps it on his nightstand, where it is the first thing he sees when the voice wakes him, and Ezra later tells him to "make peace with your fish god." (Summer Service 04; Summer Service 05)

Ford Pinto¶

The getaway car that the team steals in the finale: a Ford Pinto with a lift kit and flames painted on the side, which Dante jokes juxtaposes well with the molten swipes the creature has taken out of it. See The nuclear power plant. (Summer Service 06)

Geiger counter¶

Part of the team's gear in the trunk of their car. As they leave, it is going wild, and Andre says that it barely registered when the nuke was fired and began going off only when the creature died. The team leaves it behind with the rest of their radioactive gear. See Stolen FBI car. (Summer Service 06)

Hand grenades¶

Kurt decides in Summer Service 04 to carry two hand grenades in his fanny pack, convinced that there is a conspiracy in town, and he makes room by dumping his interagency loan paperwork. He brings them to the town hall because he trusts no one there. In Summer Service 05 Madeline asks for a grenade and is refused. (Summer Service 04; Summer Service 05)

Hydraulic tripod gun¶

Also called the boat gun. An exotic oval-barreled gun on a tripod, bolted to the deck and built around hydraulic recoil absorbers, with a thermal scope on its side. It is used by the crew in the cold open of Radford Horror 08. See Boat crew. (Radford Horror 08)

Kurt's gear¶

Also called the caltrops, steel plate, flamethrower and amphetamine tooth. Before the nuke shot in the finale, the team unloads the old car into the new one, including Kurt's caltrops, steel plate and flamethrower. Kurt pops his amphetamine tooth to clear the -1 that his chicken pox has been giving him, and he uses it again later on the drive home. Dante explains that Kurt has to have his teeth redone between missions, because he used both his LSD and amphetamine teeth. (Radford Horror 08; Summer Service 06)

Lighthouse basement evidence¶

Also called the ropes, teeth and chairs. In the basement below the lighthouse the team finds blood-stained ropes cut to lengths of two or three feet, two teeth (a canine and an incisor), a field notebook with EPA branding, and two bloody chairs set out in the middle of the room, along with smashed bulbs and mirrors. It suggests that one of the missing scientists was beaten there. See The lighthouse. (Summer Service 03)

Molotov cocktail¶

Kurt teaches Madeline to make one before the team leaves her house, explaining that guns are not that effective against what is out there. (Summer Service 05)

Muriel¶

Huell's favorite knife, which Zack names on the spot after Huell's wife. He gives it to Madeline when the team leaves her. See Madeline Weathers. (Summer Service 05)

Rice jar of worms¶

Also called the mason jar. Huell empties a rice jar from the pantry to collect samples of the worms from the bathroom. A line about it later becomes a table joke from Zack: "their god's definitely real, I have a mason jar full of it right here." See The worms. (Summer Service 05)

Spy radio¶

A bugged radio that the team finds in their car before Summer Service 03. It leads them to avoid using the car radio and to proceed with caution. (Summer Service 03)

Statesman's Journal¶

The Salem newspaper that the Biz buys at Readful Things as cover. Its front page carries the nuclear plant protests and the fish die-off. See Seabrook nuclear plant. (Summer Service 04)

Stolen FBI car¶

The team's FBI car, which Rita says Jester carjacked from them. In the finale the Biz spots it one row from the rear of the convoy and is about eighty percent sure it is theirs. Its tire burns out during the chase, and the team abandons it. See Jester. (Summer Service 06)

Toilet tank lid¶

Andrew's improvised weapon against the man in the alley outside the hotel bathroom window. He drops from the window holding it, hits the man on the head and badly twists his own ankle. See Toilet guy. (Summer Service 05)

Welding goggles and earplugs¶

The Biz buys four pairs of welding goggles and a box of earplugs in Summer Service 04. In the finale he explains he had a bad feeling about looking directly at a nuke, even a little one, and the team brings them along. During the Davy Crockett shot something extremely bright happens, even through the goggles, and the person firing is briefly struck blind by stars in their eyes. (Summer Service 04; Summer Service 06)