The lighthouse¶
The lighthouse is Marblehead's tourist lighthouse, a site with a blast crater, a scorched and glassed wall and a hidden basement where the missing EPA scientists were interrogated.
| Type | Location (historic lighthouse and tourist site) |
| Region | Coastal rocks, Marblehead, Massachusetts |
| First appearance | Summer Service 03 |
Description¶
The lighthouse is a historic tourist attraction on rocks at the coast. A paved path with brass signs leads to a wrought-iron gate set between two outcroppings, closed with police tape and a Master Lock and chain. The front door is padlocked and taped (Summer Service 03).
Notable places within¶
- The crater. Behind the lighthouse a crater has taken out a railing of the viewing platform. The back wall is scorched, with bubbled paint, drips of volcanic glass and spiky glass filaments on the nails, and the crater rock is melted to glass. A smeared bloody fingerprint on the door post looks as if someone grabbed it and was pulled away.
- The ground floor. A little-used cot, a vanity and a dish shelf, with every piece of glass shattered. A police-style walkie-talkie sits on a side table with its button taped down.
- The hidden basement. A trapdoor with a slide-down ladder leads to a storage basement: blood-stained ropes cut into two- to three-foot lengths, two teeth (a canine and an incisor), two bloodied chairs set for interrogation, smashed replacement bulbs and mirrors, and an EPA field notebook. Luminol shows cleaned-up blood and a bleach trail from the trapdoor to the front door and out to where a car would park.
(Summer Service 03) The glassing is discussed on the Melted shoreline page.
History of events there¶
Summer Service 03¶
Ma Gramoire tells Kurt that the missing scientists said they were going to check out the lighthouse ("There's only the one lighthouse in town"). Kurt, drunk on her absinthe (-1 forward), picks the gate lock, and the Biz, now the party's investigator, finds the fingerprint (14) and the trapdoor (14). Huell reads the room and spots the walkie-talkie; Kurt hides it in the car under blankets. Lena Scott and her parents arrive at the gate and ask whether the lighthouse is reopening; Andrew tells them not to follow, Kurt warns them to stay out of the water and not to eat the fish, and they leave. The basement shows someone was beaten in a chair and taken to a third location, probably by police. The field journal records the nerve-agent conclusion, the strange fish and threats from the mayor and senior officials; its last entry is about the lighthouse (Summer Service 03).
Summer Service 04¶
The party leaves the lighthouse at the start of the session as the storm sets in. Andrew, who stood guard outside, catches the end of a squad car driving away. Because of that, and because their out-of-town car may have been noticed, Dante (as Kurt) calls the lighthouse "an active trap" and the team decides to get away from it. The walkie-talkie is returned to the car so they can speak aloud (Summer Service 04). Later, when Kurt asks about the melted shoreline, the Chief of Police goes very still, and Kurt says he saw it from a boat near the lighthouse (Summer Service 04).
Summer Service 05¶
The lighthouse is mentioned only as a joke hiding place (Summer Service 05).
Inhabitants¶
None. The missing scientists were held and questioned here, and the police are implied to have removed them, but no one is present when the team visits.