S1E2: Artifactualities

The Augustan Institute proudly presents Welcome to Hope Springs, a place of everyday wonders and eternal mysteries. I'm Maddie Lee, your unofficial tour guide for everything you need to know about Hope Springs. The big news, of course, is that the grand festivities surrounding the opening of the old train depot were disrupted when smoke bombs went off in the museum wing. Who would do such a thing? And why? Those are the big questions on everyone's minds. But you'll want to pay particular attention to J. West and his new friend, Brace Nelson, along with Rooney Lane and a few friends you're about to meet. They all have a major adventure ahead. How do I know that? Well, it's my job to know what's going on in our town. That's why I can also tell you that the smoke bomb is only the first of a few surprises to come. So, hold on tight for the twists and turns on the tracks ahead as we head back into Hope Springs. This is Rooney Lane with Rooney's ramblings, recording live and in-person at the Grand T-Bo where something just happened that sounded like fireworks or. Wait, I see smoke pouring out of the museum area. Rooney! Dakota Thorpe is heading my way. What's going on? Are you recording? I'll describe the scene. Wait, and the smoke is coming out of the museum section and people are rushing to the exit. What is just happened? Rooney Lane, tell me what you saw. No, I'll interview you. I am more listeners than you do. You do not. And this is breaking news. You don't do breaking news unless it's the release of a new skin cleanser. Girls, what are you doing? Deakin Choc Crosby is approaching. You have to leave the building. Can you tell us what happened, Deakin Choc? Speak clearly into my microphone. There's no time for that. Join everyone else in the front parking lot now. Yes, sir. Come on, Dakota. Yes, sir. Thanks. All right, everyone. I didn't think Trish Deakin's were allowed to be rude. It wasn't rude. He was being firm. Hey, what if it's a terrorist attack? We should sneak back to the museum to get the scoop. It's what a real reporter would do. Real reporters aren't supposed to be boneheaded. We're going to the parking lot. Spoil sport. Oh, here come the police. Ooh, check out the fireman. Listen to that, brace. It sounds like all the action is happening at the front of the depot. Then why are we in the back? Because they said to go to the nearest exit. Where are we? The train platforms. You know where people met their trains? It looks like they have a few trains now. Check them out. A steam engine and a whole bunch of train cars. Hey, look. Hey, train. What's up? Dante, what are you doing? Do you guys know, brace? I do. Your dad works with my mom at the police department. Oh, yeah. Your dad's a detective, too? He's a consultant. This is Woody, by the way. I'm Woodward. When are you going to get it right? Here we go. Come on. We've been talking about this since kindergarten. You can't be Woodward. Why can't he be Woodward? His last name is Woodward. That would make him Woodward, Woodward. It sounds like making bubbles in a bathtub. Whoa, I'm glad they finally turned that thing off. So Dante, is your mom going to investigate whatever happened inside? Probably. She's here for the grand opening, anyway. Can I help her put up the crime scene tape? What happened? It sounded like a bomb went off in the museum. If it was a bomb, like a bomb, I don't think we'd be standing around talking about it. Check out the smoke over the roof. It's kind of pink. A smoke bomb. Why would anyone set off a pink smoke bomb at this grand opening? Maybe he was Mr. Sykes. He's been protesting out front again. Or it might have been Zach. Zach Sykes? You mean the kid we met earlier? I thought he was up to something. Has anybody seen him? Yeah, he's right over there. What? Where? Down the track. He's skulking by that passenger car. Skulking? What kind of a kid uses a word like "skulking"? Brace is homeschooled. Let's see why Zach is skulking. Wait a minute. He's gone. Where did he go? He must have gone into one of the train cars. You guys take that side. Breeze and I will catch him around the other side. Go on, baby. Let's go. April Martin here. And I am still art, Jameson. It looks like the grand opening of the grand depot has taken a sudden and dramatic turn. Someone released smoke bombs in the museum wing of the station. That's right, April. And I was there when the bombs went off. Smoke bombs, art. It's hard to know the difference when you're standing right there. One minute, I'm being lectured about dirty old artifacts. In the next minute, I'm in danger of becoming one. An artifact, I mean. Not dirty. Fortunately, art our producers can replay that moment for our listeners. What? No, no, no, no. You don't want to. Hey Nate, roll the tape, please. So those other guys aren't stormtroopers. They're the shepherds and wivesmen. Uh. What was that? It's a smoke bomb. What a dramatic scene, art. I wonder if we can just hear your reaction again with that second smoke bomb went off. Don't wait. Okay, that wasn't me. Yes, it was. And when we come back, we'll talk to Clark Perry and Professor Marcus Sheet about what happened in the museum, including this unforgettable moment. Are you love torturing me, don't you? You betcha. You know, brace, I keep wondering why homeschool kids are so much smarter than the rest of us. I don't know that we are. You use words like "sculking." My dad says you're better educated. Why didn't your parents homeschool you? Are you kidding? My parents would go crazy if they had to raise me and educate me at the same time. Here's the door to the train car. What is this thing? Check out the sign. It says this was a pulmon dining car. Are we allowed to go in? Um, the sign doesn't say so. Then let's go in. Your friend isn't the kind of kid who would attack us when we step through the door, right? Nah, he's more the kind of kid to throw a smoke bomb than hide. Oh, great. Is he the kind of kid who'd be dumb enough to throw a smoke bomb inside the same car where he's hiding? Yeah, he might be that kind of kid. Only one way to find out. Wow, this car is nice. It's like a really fancy restaurant. Okay, Zach, we know you're in here. Come out with your hands up. Seriously? It works on TV. Come on, Zach. I see you hiding under that table. No, you don't. Yes, I do. Stop messing around and come out. I'm telling you, I'm not under here. Why are you hiding? Did you set off those pink smokebumps? What? No! Ouch! See what you made me do. Get out from under there. Oh, right already. Keep your horses on. Look, I had nothing to do with those smokebumps. Especially if they were pink. Yeah, sure you didn't. Hey, I never lied when the truth works better. And this is the truth. Look for yourself. My stash of fireworks is in that closet back there. I didn't even take the plastic wrapping off. You have fireworks? Yeah, but I didn't get a chance to use them. And smokebumps aren't part of the pack. Then who did it? How am I supposed to know? Tell us the truth or you know what'll happen. Oh, come on. That's not fair. What'll happen? I'll find Boone. Boone? He likes to sit on people. Fettening me with Boone is cool. Anybody in here? Yeah. There you are. You were looking all over. Oh, and you found Zack. What is this? A posse? Wow, check out this dining car. It's amazing. I want to live here. Go live somewhere else. Just leave me alone. Not a chance. Hey, Dante, we need to find Boone. We need Boone? Already? I'll bet you're breaking the law with these threads. Boone is what you get for not confessing. Confessing? I got nothing to confess. Dante, your mom's a cop. She'll tell you that I'm innocent until I have the right to remain silent in a court of law. I didn't set off that smoke bomb. Yeah? Then why were you skulking in here? Skulking? I've never skulked in my life. I don't even know what skulking is. He has the firework stuffed in that closet. Go find Boone. Look, when the smoke bomb went off, I knew everyone would think I did it. So I was trying to get as far away as I could. That's why I hid it here. Not sure I believe it. Tell you what, Zack. If that's the truth, then you should talk to my mom. Why do I have to talk to your mom? You've been talking to everyone who will listen about getting revenge against Mr. Perry for fixing up this depot. Sooner or later, my mom will come looking for you, especially after I tell her about you hiding in this car with your fireworks. This is blackmail. It's a choice. Either you talk to Dante's mom or we find Boone. And I don't think Boone cares whether you're guilty or innocent. Since when are you guys like a spacho around here? Come on. I'll take you to her. You don't trust me to go on my own? No! We should get his dad. I think he's still protesting out front. No. Leave my dad out of it. Why? Because he's the one who bought the fireworks. He's gonna be furious. Come on. It's not fair. The one time I don't do anything wrong and I'm gonna get in trouble anyway. Put the fan over there. Be careful where you run those cords. Mr. Perry. Oh. Hi. I'm Detective Rose Hall. I was just put on this case. Hi, Detective. Please call me Clark. I talked to fire Chief Rogan and he said there's no fire or smoke damage. And the smoke itself is nontoxic. They'll set up fans to help air out the museum. The rest of the depot should be all right to open up again. That's good news. Do we know anything about the devices? We found two, one under a display table, the other behind the trash can by the door. They were rigged with fairly crude timers. Timers? That's kind of sophisticated for a prank. If it was a prank? Well, what about the smoke bombs themselves? They were the kind you'd buy at any off-road fireworks place. Any idea why someone would want to mess up your grand opening? Maybe to make a point or settle a score? There are a handful of people who don't like what I'm doing for the town. Ray Sykes was protesting out front. But I don't think he's the type of person who'd set off smoke bombs. I'll talk to him anyway. We'll check for any fingerprints on the devices and timers. And I'd like to take a look at the footage from your security cameras. The office is upstairs. Hi, Clark. Sorry to interrupt. Sorry. Oh, Professor Mark Sheet, Detective Rose Hall. Detective Hall. Good to meet you, Professor. I know why the smoke bombs were set off. No? Why? To serve as a diversion. Some of our artifacts have been stolen. I'm glad they let us back into the depot. We didn't really get a chance to look around earlier. Don't you want to find out what happens with your friend? Who? Zach? Not really. Don't say we'll tell us later. Hey, there's the telegraph office. Telegraph. It's like texting before there were telephones. Oh yeah, with the stapler looking gizmo that makes a lot of tapping sounds. That would be more code. Let's look inside. Whoa. This looks like the real thing. Hello? Anyone here? Hi guys. Welcome to the telegraph office. Hey, I know you. Andrew Perry. Your sister Liz plays flute in the city of youth orchestra. My older brother plays violin. Oh. And your little brother and sister are the twins. Nick and Sam. We're all in the same family. Then clock Perry is. My uncle. Who are you guys? I'm Jay West. Brace Nelson. Good to meet you. Come on in. Take a look around. Is this what a telegraph office really looked like in the old days? Pretty much. Though I'm not sure they had as many shelves full of books. We made this office part of the city archives, so there are a lot of ledgers, maps, manuals, and history books kept here. Is that the telegraph machine? Uh-huh. You know about telegraphy, right? That's when you can read minds. He's joking. Funny. Does this telegraph really work? Kind of. In the sense that we can tap more code on it. You mean this telegraph can send messages? Well, we hooked everything up to the original wires, but we don't know where the wires go. Up into the mountains somewhere. We tried to send a few messages, but no one answered. What's with the computer? They didn't have those in the 1800s? No. This is an old nine-frame computer my dad set up. He's a programmer and figured out how to connect it to the telegraph machine. It translates more code into a voice program. You can make the telegraph talk? Yeah. In reverse, too. It converts voice to more code. Can you send out a message now? Sure. Let's see. Hope Springs Station, Colorado. Stop. Andrew testing. Stop. Is there anybody out there? Stop. What's with all the stops? That's the telegraph version of a period. Now I'll hit send and. off it goes. So that message is going out to whoever is still hooked up to the wires? Right. It's not going to the internet or in the air like a radio. For all I know, the wires are cut off somewhere. We haven't had time to check. So what other cool stuff do you have around here? Well, the. Whoa. Is that an incoming message? Must be. That's weird. Can you turn on the voice program? Yeah. Hang on. Three-top station. Stop. Wendell-Burden station, Master. Stop. Two Gregory Dider. Hope Springs Station. Stop. Emergency. Stop. Heavy snow. Stop. Lines freezing. Stop. Notify crew. Stop. What does that mean? It sounds like a distress call. But I don't know where it's coming from. Urgent. Stop. Then help. Stop. Detective Hall, this is a list of everything that's missing from the museum. A dozen artifacts, all from the same display. Thank you, Professor. Looks like these are the artifacts we unearthed when I built the resort. Is there anything significant about this specific collection? Are they the most valuable? Historically, yes. But some of the other displays are worth more money. So the thief didn't know what he was taking, or he took these for reasons that aren't about the money? I'm not saying the stolen artifacts were worthless. They'd have value to specific kinds of collectors. The prayer book could fetch a good price on the black market, and there'd be an even higher interest for local historians. Why? Well, these particular artifacts prove that missionaries came to this area much earlier than anyone thought. Where would they show up if someone wanted to sell or buy them? There'd be places all over Colorado, and more online. I have a pretty good idea where to start looking. Please, let me know what you find. So, Clark, about that security footage. Our manager Chuck Crosby is getting everything ready for you in the security office upstairs. Shall we take a look? Pre-top station, stop. Wendell Burton, stop. Emergency, stop. To Gregory Diter, hope spring station, stop. Evie Snow, stop. Line's freezing, stop. I don't understand what the telegraph is saying. No, freezing? It's August. Is it a computer program? Your dad's that up? No, he didn't do an interactive program like this. Who is Wendell Burton or Gregory? What's his name? Gregory Diter, he was the first station master in Hope Springs. That's his picture over there. Wow, is that a face that grew a mustache or a mustache that grew a face? Can you send a message back? I'll try. Identify tree top station, stop. Who are you? Stop. There goes. It has to be a prank. I mean, what else can it be? Who knows how to pull a prank with a telegraph machine? Wendell Burton, station master, stop. Evie Snow, stop. This guy is a station master somewhere? Yeah, but where? Why is he talking about snow? Let's find out. To Wendell Burton, stop. Clarify Snow in August, stop. This is so weird. If you're sending and receiving, then this means the telegraph lines are connected somewhere, right? I guess. February, stop. Snow storm, stop. Stranded travelers. This is crazy. I have to tell my uncle. Don't touch anything until I get back. Detective Hall, this is Chuck Crossby, our manager. A pleasure. You're also a deacon at St. Clair's, right? That's right. What can I do for you? Let's talk about your security setup. It looks fairly sophisticated. From the number of monitors, you seem to have the place well covered. We wanted to be thorough, especially since it's a family place. Professor Sheed can talk about the museum. Yeah, I didn't want any blind spots, because of the artifacts and displays. Good call. I've already looked over some of the footage from this morning. It's mostly our staff and volunteers getting everything ready. Here's a list of their names. Thank you. I was working in there more than anyone, so I can identify those who are helping me. There's a professor dribble on the list. Professor Dribble. He's a consultant. He was in earlier this morning to put the finishing touches on some of the displays. He left before we opened. How would you like to go through the video footage detective? Let's start a few minutes before the smoke bombs went off. Sure. Here you go. Wait, go back to where you started. I'm curious about one person. All right. There. That man in the overalls. Any idea who he is? He's a new volunteer at the food bank. You can see him walking around the museum. He goes near the table where the first smoke bomb was placed. And there he's by the trash can where we found the second smoke bomb. He kneels down at both places. He's tying a shoe the first time. It looks like he bent over to pick up some litter near the trash can. You said that he works with your food bank? What food bank? It's in the roundhouse just across the parking lot. We put a food bank in one of the bays. His name is Michael. No, it's Sheridan. Sheridan Michaels. He's just started volunteering or he's new in town. My wife Carol would know for sure. She's in charge of the volunteers. I'd like to talk to her. I'm curious about that kid standing off to the side. He's just hanging around not really looking at anything. I'll get it. I think that's Troy Curtis. Oh hi. I'm Dante Hall. Is my mom here? She sure is. Hi Dante. What's going on? I have someone who needs to talk to you about the smoke bombs. Oh, who is it? Zack Sykes. Where is he? Just down the hall. Waiting on a bench. Is his dad with him? No, he wants to talk to you first. Okay. I'll talk to him unofficially. I've got it, brace. Maybe these messages are coming from a hacker. How can someone hack a telegraph machine? Sorry guys. My uncle's with Detective Hall. Anything new from Windleburton? Not a word. Whoever is doing this must have an amazing knowledge of Hope Springs history. What do you mean? I was just thinking about it. We have a lot of maps for Hope Springs and the mountains, including Hope Mountain. That's where the telegraph wires go. I'm pretty sure we have. Oh, here it is. This is the one from 1894. It marked the various trails and campsites and there. Do you see this line going up the side of the mountain? That's the lion's trail. We have lions in the mountain. L-Y-O-N-S. It was named after Frank Lyons. He was a guide who took tourists on hikes up the mountain. What's all this had to do with the telegraph messages? Frank Lyons used the trail for years. And look, he set up rest stops for tourists to take a break. See? They're marked with X's. These were tents and shacks, but later, Frank Lyons died and the army built cabins at those rest stops to use his observation posts to watch for fires and things like that. And they put in telegraph machines at the stations. That's right, Jay. Look at the map again. The stations all had names. You see? This first one near the bottom of the mountain. Crow's landing. And then there's deer view. And this one was called Rest Haven. And this one. Tree top. Tree top was the last stop before the summit station on the top of the mountain. The telegraph line went from here to there. Are you saying that Wendell was a real person living at Tree top station? Yep. I'll bet we can find out more about him in our archives. Wait a minute. You're talking about someone from over a hundred years ago. How could he be sending you telegraph messages now? I don't know, Jay. Uh-uh. The answer to the question is no Jay. He can't be sending us messages now because it's impossible. Is it? Yes. Right, guys? It's impossible. Right? You've been listening to Welcome to Hope Springs. A production of the Augustine Institute made possible through the generosity of friends like you. Find out more about the entire collection of stories and characters in Hope Springs at Hopesprings.org.