The cavern¶
The cavern is the vast underground cave beneath Sherman Ranch, first found by ground-penetrating radar and later revealed, under the community center, to hold the portal machine and the evacuating skinwalkers before it collapses in the finale.
| Type | Location (cave) |
| Aliases | The cave; Ballroom shaft |
| Region | Beneath Sherman Ranch and the community center, Utah |
| Status | Collapsed (as of Walkers 09) |
| First appearance | Walkers 05 |
Description¶
As first found. On the day after the night event, the dealer Drebin demonstrates the ground-penetrating radar and spots a big signal 70 feet down: "No, it's like a cave." Dante (as Kurt) rolls double fives plus three on a Sharp check, a 12, and learns that the cave seems to extend under the whole area, deeply buried, with no shallower gradient anywhere on the property (Walkers 05).
As entered. The way down is from the community center, through an unguarded back door into a hallway with dirt on the floor. Behind a lock marked "Ballroom" is a huge hole with scaffolding around its edge, a bundle of high-powered electrical conduit and shaky stairs, a few hundred feet deep. At the bottom is a huge cave lit by work lights (Walkers 09).
Notable places within¶
At the far end of the cavern stands a machine the size of about half a dozen semi-trailers, built into the corpse of a creature like the glowing, insect-limbed grub-angel the team fought earlier in the campaign (The Summer Service). See Grub-angel power core. The machine generates a portal about 20 feet across, through which people pour and tanks are carried (Walkers 09).
History of events there¶
Secrecy. Alberta Wilmarth guesses a natural gas bed when Kurt phones her, worries about mineral rights, and asks the team to tell no one (Walkers 05). In Walkers 06 Kurt asks the town for geological survey data to find an entrance, but is told that a fire years ago destroyed most of the records and that the area is "not very geologically active".
The evacuation. In Walkers 09 the team strips off its metal and clothing, marks itself with Sharpie, and sneaks down. Naked skinwalkers carry tanks of blood with things swimming inside toward the machine; the mayor carries supplies; an elderly farmer with one arm missing and a chunk of his torso blown out vomits his brain into a tank and dies; skinwalkers stop silently to entangle tendrils. Through the portal is a burned, blasted landscape under a smoky sky, with emergency lights set up in a trail that the carriers follow.
Collapse. The cavern's power fails, the portal spasms, and a diffuse scream in an unknown language sounds as people rush it. In the dark the team pulls pins and throws grenades into the crowd. Zack (as Huell) lands one far off in the support machinery and the portal winks out, stranding some 50 or 60 skinwalkers in the dark. Kurt's flame light melts itself. The duplicate Andrew attacks the team and is shot by the real Andrew, and a brain-creature wriggles out of his mouth. The ceiling collapses as the team flees up the stairs, and the community center slides into a sinkhole (Walkers 09).
What lies unknown¶
Who built the shaft and machinery, where the portal leads, and what became of those who went through are never explained. Zack asks whether the far side resembles the room with the portal in Georgia (The Things in Appalachia), and Andre says it does not (Walkers 09).
Trivia¶
- The radar signal is placed 70 feet down in Walkers 05, while the Ballroom shaft in Walkers 09 is a few hundred feet deep. The episodes do not reconcile the two figures.