Lonely Mountain Diner¶
The Lonely Mountain Diner is Sheila's diner in Radford, Virginia, a friendly 1950s-style vinyl diner with superb blackcurrant pie. The team uses it for meetings and meals across both Radford arcs, and in Radford Horrors 04 its security camera supplies footage of the gray van raid.
| Type | Location (diner) |
| Aliases | The diner; Sheila's diner |
| Region | Radford, Virginia |
| Staff | Sheila, waitress |
| First appearance | Radford Horror 01 |
Description¶
In the first arc the diner is friendly and serves blackcurrant pie (with peach ice cream and cheddar); the only drinks on offer are Pepsi and water. It has a kitchen phone with a broken mic, a payphone around the corner and a kitchen back exit. The roof of the post office is not visible from inside (Radford Horror 01). It is a 1950s vinyl diner with a friendly waitress and a discontinued "heart attack special" (Radford Horror 05).
In the second arc it stands across the street from the neon Douglas Pinball Emporium, in a row that includes a small library and a gas station. It closes at 1 a.m., and every other nearby business closes earlier (Radford Horrors 04). Its menu includes a big breakfast of two sausage patties, four bacon, three eggs over medium, half-pound hash browns, two biscuits with gravy and fruit salad, plus a Monte Cristo and pie (Radford Horrors 02).
History of events there¶
The Radford Horror¶
Sheriff Frank Roosevelt proposes meeting the team here at 9 a.m. In Radford Horror 01 Sheila serves breakfast while Roosevelt is late, and blames the disappearances on careless hikers, the woods and bears. Kurt goes out to the payphone and spots a man in black with binoculars on the post office roof, and about forty missing-dog posters. He memorizes plates in the post office lot. Sheila checks the window and sees the man but does not know him ("So this isn't like a clock tower situation?"). A red Miata with a cut muffler roars past, and she names the driver as Dean Lawson (Radford Horror 01). See Rooftop watcher.
In Radford Horror 05 the team has lunch there at about 11:45 a.m. The waitress asks whether the van is linked to "the guy on the roof." Huell Kendrick orders a pyramid stack of pancakes taller than his head. Overhearing his obvious bedbug bites, the waitress threatens to burn the diner down for the insurance if it gets bedbugs again, blaming the Pay n' Stay as "Motel Patient Zero" (Radford Horror 05).
The Radford Horrors¶
When the team returns, Sheila greets them as "secret agent man," asks about "the one who blew up the toilet" (the Biz) and about Huell's foot, and calls them local heroes for saving "that lady." The former laundromat across the street is now the Emporium (Radford Horrors 02). At that diner Andrew drinks blood in front of Daniel Webster and passes it off as a protein mix, and Huell tries some, eats a big breakfast and vomits all over the diner's bathroom (Radford Horrors 02). The incident is recapped at the start of Radford Horrors 04.
After the Emporium abduction, the team notes that the diner across the street has cameras (Radford Horrors 03). In Radford Horrors 04 Kurt Larson apologizes for Huell's mess, promises a hundred-dollar tip and asks for the footage. The waitress repairs her "on the fritz" camera and finds the gray van raid, which she says came amid a couple of months of gray vans arriving around the woods dispute, possibly tied to the Safe Environment Fund. Kurt takes the tape and promises to return it (Radford Horrors 04). See Diner security tape.
She also tells the team that Billy Thornton, the "homeless" man, hangs around the Pay n' Stay (Radford Horrors 04).
Inhabitants¶
- Sheila, the waitress.