The Marblehead explosion¶
The Marblehead explosion was a 3 a.m. blast out in the harbor of Marblehead, Massachusetts, that blew out windows, killed fish and sickened locals, and the incident that opens the task force's case in The Summer Service.
| Type | Event / mystery |
| Aliases | The offshore explosion; the blast |
| Location | Harbor, Marblehead, Massachusetts |
| Time | 3 a.m., spring 1992 (the episodes disagree on how long before the case) |
| Cause | Unknown |
| First appearance | Radford Horror 08 |
Description¶
The blast came from out in the harbor and moved inland. Windows along the shore were blown out, and when the team walks the beach in Summer Service 01 they see broken panes, recently repaired ones and others taped together as a temporary fix. Afterward the town saw dead fish washing up, odd weather, headaches and bad moods, and a number of locals fell ill. (Summer Service 01)
The case file¶
The explosion reaches the task force at the end of the Radford case, when a courier delivers an envelope for Andrew. It holds a case file on eight missing people in Marblehead. About a month earlier, Andre explains, an unexplained explosion had blown out windows and sickened townsfolk. The EPA and the U.S. Geological Survey sent a field team to check whether a seabed natural gas leak had ignited, and after the first couple of days nothing more was heard from them. The local police were unresponsive and suspiciously unhelpful. The file adds that Marblehead is famous for a Loch Ness-style sea monster, a big tentacled worm said to grab people and drag them under. (Radford Horror 08) The team follows the survey team's field notes to the inn; see EPA/USGS survey team.
What the team learns¶
- Eyewitness. The fisherman Briggs blames "the goddamn Russians" for a bombing at three o'clock in the morning about a week and a half earlier. Glass was blown over him, a cut in a sensitive spot became infected, and a doctor in Salem had to drain it. He reports dead fish, weird weather, headaches and bad moods, and says, "Maybe the next one will be more successful." (Summer Service 01)
- The blast center. Walking the beach, Dante rolls a 12 on Investigate a Mystery and learns that the explosion came from out in the harbor and moved inland. He finds the center of the damage and sees something black bobbing among the dead fish, which proves to be a severed arm in a black turtleneck sleeve and glove. (Summer Service 01)
- A child victim. The Scott family say their daughter fell ill the day after the blast; see Lena Scott. Her pupils were pinholes and she was trembling, and Dante notes that her symptoms resemble a stimulant overdose. The scientists had told the family it was not natural gas. (Summer Service 01)
- Poison. Later sessions identify the illness as contact with water carrying a synthetic nerve agent.
Theories¶
Several explanations are voiced and none is confirmed. Briggs suspects a Russian test weapon, and other locals favor either Russians or a gas explosion. Andrew, speaking to locals, suggests a sea monster that someone is feeding, and after the dive he reports an "alien submarine" to a contact. (Summer Service 01, Summer Service 03) At the end of the arc a radio contact tells the team that the "advanced team" of his own group is the dead crew on the sea floor, and that their broad-spectrum agent leaked everywhere when they "got blown up." He does not say that this was the 3 a.m. blast. (Summer Service 06)
A separate crater and glassed rock behind the lighthouse are described in Melted shoreline; the episodes never tie them to the harbor blast.
Trivia¶
- The episodes give different intervals for how long ago the blast happened. Radford Horror 08 says "about a month ago," with the survey team missing for about four days, and opens on June 15, 1992. Briggs and the Scotts in Summer Service 01 say about a week and a half, Andre says in Summer Service 03 that the scientists have been missing for nearly two weeks, and the mayor says in Summer Service 04 that the scientists left "just over a week ago."