0:03 abandoned by Dandy written by
0:06 Christopher Howard wolf and narrated by Chadwick
0:14 pson you may have heard about the Dandy
0:17 corporation's modern-day ghost towns a
0:19 company as large and as long- lasting as
0:22 Dandy Co is bound to make a few mistakes
0:25 and when they do it's often cheaper to
0:27 just ignore them than to throw good
0:30 money after bad one such misstep was the
0:33 Pirates a toll Resort in the Caribbean
0:35 it didn't start as a ghost town of
0:37 course cruise ships would drop hundreds
0:39 of passengers off at the resort to relax
0:42 in luxury the resort had a tiki bar A
0:44 small collection of exotic animals and
0:46 daily live pirate shows you can find
0:48 these facts and even a few photos if you
0:51 know where to look it up Dandy Cole blew
0:54 over $30 million on the project that's
0:57 not a typo $30
1:00 million then without warning they
1:03 completely abandoned it blame was placed
1:04 on the cruise lines which were
1:06 contracted to provide a licensed Dand
1:08 Land Theme apparently they tried to
1:11 renegotiate fees in a predatory manner
1:13 they knew the resort would be useless
1:15 without the ships and that Dandy had a
1:18 lot to lose local staff on the island
1:20 were also blamed for showing up late and
1:23 having a poor work ethic that's where
1:25 the truthful nature of the story ends it
1:27 wasn't because of greedy cruise lines
1:29 and it most definitely wasn't because
1:33 the those dang foreigners are so lazy no
1:35 I very sincerely doubt that those
1:40 excuses hold water why because of prim's
1:42 Palace near the Beachside city of
1:44 Emerald Isle in North Carolina Dandy
1:47 began construction of prima's Palace in
1:48 the late
1:50 1990s conceptually it was going to be a
1:53 lush medieval Forest the aforementioned
1:54 Palace would sit at the center and house
1:57 the guests if you're unfamiliar with the
1:59 titular character you may remember the
2:02 classic Story the noble and the Nave
2:04 however most people probably know her
2:06 from the decades old Dandy cartoon of
2:08 the same name Prim is a young lady from
2:11 a royal family exiled into a primitive
2:14 Wilderness by a cruel nobleman there she
2:16 befriends various Woodland creatures
2:17 before being rescued by a reformed
2:20 Highwayman prim's Palace was a
2:22 controversial undertaking from the very
2:24 beginning Dandy bought out a ton of high
2:27 pric land for the project and Scandal
2:29 surrounded some of the purchases the
2:31 local local government claimed eminent
2:33 domain on people's homes then
2:36 immediately sold them to Dand Co one
2:37 home had just finished construction when
2:39 it was immediately condemned with no
2:41 real explanation the land that had been
2:43 seized was supposedly intended for some
2:46 sort of Highway project knowing full
2:48 well that this was a lie people started
2:51 calling it leming Lane a play on their
2:54 mascot lucky lemming and the legend that
2:56 the creatures took paths to their own
3:00 demise then there was the concept art a
3:02 few stuffed shirt types from Dand Co
3:04 held a city meeting they intended to
3:06 convince everyone that this project was
3:08 going to benefit them it would increase
3:10 tourism bringing extra customers to
3:12 local businesses they revealed the
3:13 concept art with a flourish and
3:16 accompanying upbeat music sure it would
3:18 impress Their audience when the people
3:20 saw the garish Technicolor eyes sore of
3:22 a building the surrounding tribal
3:24 Wilderness and staff members dressed in
3:27 Wild Savage loin cloths and masks
3:30 suffice to say everyone flipped their
3:32 we're talking about a magical
3:35 castle of sorts an Arcane forest and
3:37 half naked servants Not only would this
3:39 be in the center of a relatively wealthy
3:42 historic area but also one below the
3:44 Bible Belt magic talking animals and
3:46 Exposed Skin were highly controversial
3:49 at this point in time one crowd member
3:51 stormed the stage in fact managing to
3:54 break a presentation board over his knee
3:56 Dandy took the community and essentially
3:58 broke it over their knee in response
4:01 houses were raised Ed to the ground land
4:03 was cleared there wasn't a damn thing
4:05 anyone could do or say about it local
4:07 television stations and newspapers were
4:10 against the building of the resort at
4:12 first then some corporate connections
4:14 between Dand CO's media Holdings and the
4:17 local news venues came into play their
4:21 opinions soon turned on a dime but I
4:23 digress remember Pirates at toll in the
4:26 Caribbean Dandy sunk all that money into
4:28 it then split at the first sign of
4:30 trouble the same thing happened with
4:32 Prim Vera's Palace construction was
4:34 completed and visitors stayed at the
4:36 resort with little to no problems the
4:38 smaller surrounding communities were
4:40 flooded with traffic and the usual
4:42 annoyances that came with an influx of
4:46 lost and cranky Travelers then it all
4:49 just stopped they shut it down and
4:52 nobody knew what to think still though
4:54 the lack of answers was confusing
4:56 residents were pretty happy to hear the
4:59 news D's loss was hilarious and
5:01 wonderful to a large group of people who
5:03 didn't want this in the first place
5:05 personally I hadn't given the place a
5:06 second thought after hearing it had
5:09 closed over a decade ago I live about 4
5:11 hours from Emerald Isle so I only
5:14 managed to hear the rumors and Rumblings
5:17 no firsthand information made it my way
5:19 then I found an article from a blogger
5:21 who had explored the Pirates at to
5:24 Resort he posted detail descriptions of
5:26 the crazy he discovered there
5:28 everything Left Behind was smashed
5:31 defaced ruined by disgruntled former
5:33 employees hell maybe people came from
5:35 miles around to wreck the place they
5:37 were probably just angry about Pirates
5:40 at all as folks here were about the
5:42 palace there were even rumors that Dandy
5:44 Co had released their aquarium stock
5:46 into the local Waters when they closed
5:48 down this would have included a variety
5:51 of dangerous invasive species including
5:53 sharks who wouldn't want to take a few
5:56 swings at them after that the blog post
5:59 about Pirates a toll got me thinking
6:00 even though many years had passed since
6:02 it closed I figured it might be
6:04 interesting to do some Urban exploration
6:07 at Prim Vera's Palace I could take some
6:09 photos write about my experience and
6:11 pretty much copy what this other blogger
6:13 had done long before me I might even be
6:16 able to take something home as a momento
6:18 I can't say that I hurried there it took
6:20 me around a year after I first found
6:23 that blog post over that time I
6:25 researched the resort or rather I tried
6:28 to naturally no official Dandy related
6:30 website or resource made any mention of
6:33 the location they had all been scrubbed
6:36 clean Strang or still it seemed like no
6:37 one other than myself had thought to
6:39 talk about the place or even post
6:42 vacation photos from there none of the
6:44 local news sites contained one word
6:46 about the place though that could be
6:49 expected since they had all swung D's
6:51 way they wouldn't be allowed to bring
6:53 attention to the embarrassment more
6:55 recently I learned that large
6:57 corporations can actually ask search
6:59 engines to remove search results from
7:01 what I've heard they don't even need to
7:03 provide a good reason for the removal
7:06 looking back on it that's probably what
7:07 happened it's not that there were no
7:10 posts about the resort but their words
7:12 were simply made
7:14 inaccessible so naturally I could barely
7:17 find the place in the end all I had to
7:19 work with was an old as hell map I
7:21 received in the mail back in the 9s it
7:23 was part of a promotional brochure that
7:24 had been sent out to people who had
7:27 recently been to Dand land my family had
7:29 visited the park in the late ' 80s so we
7:32 were on the list I hadn't intended to
7:34 keep the brochure but it got shoved into
7:36 a box with my childhood comic books I
7:38 only remembered it existed a few months
7:40 into my research and then it took me a
7:42 couple weeks to get around to visiting
7:44 my parents and finding where it had all
7:47 been stored after I found the map I was
7:49 sure the difficult part was over however
7:52 on my way to the resort I found that the
7:54 locals weren't going to be any help most
7:56 were transplants who had moved to the
7:58 beach in recent years others were old
8:00 residents who sneered the second I spoke
8:09 Dandy the drive took me through an
8:12 inordinately long Corridor of overgrowth
8:14 exotic plants had run rampant and
8:16 overpopulated the area mixing with the
8:18 native species that were desperately
8:21 vying to reclaim the land I was in awe
8:23 when I finally reached the entrance to
8:25 the main Resort the tremendous
8:27 monolithic wooden gates still stood
8:29 their supports cut from what seemed like
8:32 giant Seas the otherwise Majestic gate
8:35 was gouged by woodpeckers and the base
8:37 was slowly being eaten Away by burrowing
8:40 insects hanging at face level was a
8:43 sheet of metal it was some random scrap
8:45 with a hand painted message scrolled in
8:49 black paint abandoned by Dandy clearly
8:50 this was the handiwork of some past
8:53 local or employee who wanted to voice
8:55 their own small protest the entrance was
8:57 open wide enough to slip through but not
9:00 wide enough for a vehicle so grabbing my
9:02 digital camera a flashlight and the
9:05 brochure I set off on
9:08 foot flipping the paper over displayed a
9:10 layout of the resort itself though the
9:13 landscape was a little less friendly the
9:15 inner grounds were just as wild as the
9:17 entry fruit trees still stood unattended
9:19 and ragged among piles of their own
9:22 stinking bug riddled rot there was a
9:25 strange clash between Order and Chaos as
9:26 carefully planted rows of perennial
9:29 flowers fought for space with tall weeds
9:32 and stinking blackened mushrooms all
9:33 that remained of any smaller outdoor
9:36 structures were piles of broken charred
9:38 debris something that seemed to be an
9:40 information booth was now a chopped up
9:42 heap of wood and splintered information
9:45 boards what vandals hadn't ruined was
9:48 ruined by inclement weather what struck
9:50 me as bizarre was a large statue of
9:52 Princess Prim which stood prominently
9:54 within a courtyard in front of the
9:57 palace she was frozen in a delicate wave
9:59 toward no one staring into into empty
10:02 space with a Demir slight Smile as
10:04 generations of birdshit covered her
10:08 crown hair and dress ugly thorny Vines
10:09 entangled her
10:12 platform I approached the building any
10:15 colors left were washed out sunfed and
10:17 much of the plaster meant to simulate
10:19 stonework had cracked from exposure
10:21 where the paint hadn't peeled or chipped
10:24 away there was a copious amount of
10:26 graffiti the front doors weren't just
10:28 left open they had been taken completely
10:30 off of their hinges and were seemingly
10:33 stolen above the gaping ma where the
10:35 front doors had been someone had once
10:39 again painted the phrase abandoned by
10:41 Dandy you're probably waiting to hear
10:43 about all the awesome stuff I saw inside
10:46 the palace forgotten valubles derel cash
10:48 registers a full-fledged secret society
10:51 of homeless cannibals but no the inside
10:54 of the building was so Stark so bare
10:56 that I think people may have even stolen
10:58 the molding off the walls anything that
11:01 was too big to steal like counters desks
11:03 and giant fake trees rested in an empty
11:06 Echo chamber every step I took was
11:08 Amplified like a slow radatat of a
11:11 machine gun I checked the floor plan and
11:13 headed to the specific locations that
11:16 seemed interesting the kitchen was as
11:18 you'd imagine it was an industrial food
11:20 prep area with rows of various
11:24 appliances no expenses were spared every
11:27 glass surface was broken every door was
11:29 knocked out of its frame every metal
11:31 surface was kicked and dented worst of
11:34 all the entire room smelled like stale acrid
11:35 acrid
11:38 piss the walk-in freezer not even
11:41 remotely cool at that point had row upon
11:43 row of empty shelves hooks hung from the
11:45 ceiling most likely for hanging cuts of
11:48 meat as I took in the sight for a moment
11:50 I noticed that several of them were
11:52 swinging their movements were so slow
11:55 and small that it was almost impossible
11:57 to see if you weren't paying attention I
11:59 briefly considered that it had been
12:01 caused by me moving through but they
12:03 were moving in areas I hadn't even been
12:06 to yet the public bathrooms were in much
12:09 the same state just like the Pirates a
12:11 toll Resort someone had methodically
12:13 smashed each porcelain commode with
12:16 whatever was available to throw about a/
12:19 in of stinking stagnant water had pulled
12:21 on the floor so of course I didn't stay
12:24 for long what's odd is that the toilets
12:27 and sinks and the Beday yes I went in
12:30 there all dripped leaked or just flowed
12:32 freely it seemed to me that the water
12:34 should have been shut off quite some
12:37 time ago there were plenty of Hotel
12:39 style rooms in the resort but I
12:40 definitely didn't have time to look
12:43 through them all the few I did peer into
12:45 were similarly destroyed and I wouldn't
12:47 have realistically found anything
12:49 interesting in them I thought I could
12:52 hear a television or radio in one room
12:53 since it almost sounded like there was a
12:56 conversation going on inside it was like
12:58 a whisper but looking back it could have
13:00 just been in my own breathing echoing in
13:03 the silence maybe it was just entirely a
13:05 trick of the mind it sounded like an
13:08 exchange between two
13:11 voices I didn't believe in it you
13:13 believe it
13:17 you I didn't know that I couldn't know
13:29 you
13:32 I'm aware of how ridiculous that sounds
13:34 still I suspected there might have been
13:37 something running in that room or Worse
13:39 some meth heads who had holed up there
13:41 and probably would have knifed me when I
13:43 returned to the front of the palace I
13:46 figured I hadn't found anything of note
13:48 the trip had been a waste of time I was
13:50 going to drive straight home again
13:53 rather than booking a hotel room so I
13:55 couldn't even consider it a one night
13:58 vacation as I looked outside I noticed
13:59 something in the Courtyard that I must
14:01 have missed before it was something that
14:03 would have given me one really cool
14:05 thing to show for all my trouble even if
14:08 it was just a picture a lifelike statue
14:11 of a python maybe 50 ft long sat coiled
14:13 up and sunning itself on a large
14:15 graffiti covered rock it was almost time
14:18 for the sun to set so light was falling
14:20 onto it in the perfect way for a
14:22 photograph I approached the python and
14:25 snapped a photo I stood on my toes and
14:27 snapped another I moved in closer to get
14:30 the details of its face face slowly
14:33 casually the snake lifted its head and
14:36 looked directly into my eyes it turned
14:39 slithered off the rock across the grass
14:41 and into the tree line its headlong
14:43 disappeared into the woods before its
14:46 tail even left the sunning spot Dandy Co
14:48 had released all of their exotic animals
14:51 onto the grounds right there on my floor
14:55 plan map was the reptile house of course
14:57 I should have expected it I had read
14:59 about the sharks at Pirates toll and I
15:02 should have known they would do this I
15:05 was dumbfounded utterly stupified my
15:07 mouth must have been hanging open for
15:08 the longest time before I came to my
15:11 senses and snapped it shut I blinked
15:13 stupidly for a moment then back toward
15:16 the palace away from the snake even
15:18 though it was gone I wasn't taking any
15:20 chances and retreated to the building to
15:22 gather my wits again I looked for a
15:24 place to sit down and breathe I had
15:26 always had an unreasonable fear of
15:30 snakes of anything with scal really at
15:31 that point my legs felt like they'd
15:34 become jelly of course there was no
15:35 place to sit down unless I wanted to
15:38 recline in broken glass and a leaf
15:40 carpet crawling with insects I could
15:43 have hauled myself onto a desk but it
15:45 probably would have collapsed from age I
15:47 had seen a receding staircase in the
15:49 lobby and decided to have a seat there
15:50 until my pulse stopped pounding in my
15:53 ears the stairs Were Far Enough from the
15:54 front of the building to be somewhat
15:56 clean other than a startling
15:59 accumulation of dust I pulled a wedge of
16:01 metal off of the wall and used it as an
16:04 improvised seat cover once again it had
16:06 been painted with the abandoned by Dandy
16:09 motto I had become accustomed to the
16:11 stairway LED down to a below ground
16:13 level of the building using my
16:15 flashlight I could see the stairs ended
16:17 at a metal Mesh Door with a padlock a
16:20 sign on the door a real sign unlike the
16:24 hastily scalled ones read mascots only
16:26 thank you that perked up my spirits for
16:30 two reasons first first a mascot's only
16:31 area would definitely contain some
16:33 interesting things back in the day
16:36 second the padlock was still in place
16:38 nobody had gone down there not the
16:42 vandals the looters no one that was the
16:44 one place I could actually explore and
16:46 perhaps find really unique stuff to
16:49 photograph or even steal I had come to
16:51 the palace with the decision that it was
16:53 okay to take something back for proof
16:56 after all the owners clearly didn't care
16:58 I didn't have much hope of breaking the
17:01 lock the ravages of age weren't powerful
17:03 enough to corrode the metal that much
17:05 what I could do however was separate the
17:07 plate that held it in place from the
17:10 damaged wood of the wall the screws
17:12 pulled free easily once I applied enough
17:14 pressure either others hadn't thought to
17:16 try bypassing the lock or it was still
17:19 too solid when they had tried the
17:21 mascot's only area was a startling and
17:22 welcome change from the rest of the
17:25 palace every second or third fluorescent
17:27 light was illuminated though they
17:30 flickered and Faded r rly nothing had
17:32 been broken or stolen though time and
17:35 desertion had taken their toll tables
17:37 bore notepads and pens clocks hung on
17:40 the wall Frozen at different times there
17:42 was a punchin clock complete with filled
17:44 in time cards chairs were scattered
17:46 around and long rotted out food and
17:49 drink sat on countertops it was like one
17:51 of those post-apocalyptic movies where
17:52 everything is left in a state of
17:55 evacuation as I wandered the mazike sub
17:57 basement hallways the sites became more
18:01 and more disquieting further in desks
18:03 and tables were knocked over scattered
18:06 papers had melded with the damp floor
18:08 and a large expanse of fungus was slowly
18:11 overtaking rotted carpeting everything
18:14 was just squishy anything made of wood
18:16 disintegrated into mush when I applied
18:18 even the least amount of force clothing
18:20 items left hanging on hooks simply fell
18:22 to moist threads if I tried to remove
18:25 them one thing that got on my nerves was
18:27 that the light became more sparse and
18:30 unreliable as I proceeded it wasn't dark
18:32 enough for a flashlight but not bright
18:34 enough to be comfortable the depths of
18:37 the sub basement grew dank and
18:39 suffocating eventually I reached a
18:42 bright yellow door with the words mascot
18:45 prep one stencl on its surface in my
18:47 excitement I all but yanked off the
18:49 doorknob I figured that room held the
18:51 costumes and I definitely wanted a
18:53 photograph of all that Twisted stinking
18:56 mess try as I might whatever angle or
18:59 trick I tried the door wouldn't budge
19:01 that is until I acknowledged defeat and
19:04 began to walk away that was when there
19:06 was a slight popping sound after which
19:10 the door slowly creeped open just a bit
19:12 inside the room was completely dark
19:15 pitch black I used my light to search
19:18 for a switch on the wall by the door but
19:21 there was none as I focused on the walls
19:23 I was Jarred out of my concentration by
19:25 a sudden and piercing electrical Buzz
19:28 rows of Lights overhead suddenly flashed
19:30 to life flickering and fading like the
19:33 others I had passed it took a second for
19:35 my eyes to adjust and it seemed as if
19:36 the light was going to keep growing in
19:39 brightness until the bulbs exploded just
19:41 when I thought it would reach the
19:43 critical stage they dimmed a bit and
19:46 steadied the room was exactly how I had
19:48 imagined it various Dandy character
19:50 costumes hung on the walls like strange
19:53 cartoon cadavers suspended from invisible
19:54 invisible
19:57 nooses what I found odd and what I
19:59 really needed to make a Rec record of
20:01 was a lucky leming costume at the center
20:03 of the room unlike the other costumes it
20:05 was laying on its back like a murder
20:09 victim its fur was matted and shedding
20:12 creating bare patches what's worse
20:15 however was the coloring of the costume
20:17 I think mold and milw must have taken
20:19 roote seeming to turn it into a photo
20:21 negative version of the actual lucky
20:24 leming black rot where he should have
20:26 been white white fungus filaments where
20:29 he should have been black his clothes
20:31 seemed faded and bleached the opposite
20:34 of their usual Hue the sight was so
20:36 off-putting that I postponed looking at
20:37 the thing again until I was ready to
20:39 leave the room I took a picture of the
20:42 costumes hung on the walls upward angles
20:45 downward angles Sid shots to show an
20:48 entire row of Frozen stinking cartoon
20:51 faces the occasional missing eye made it
20:52 all the more
20:56 Grim then I decided to Stage a shot I
20:57 was going to place one of the bedraggled
20:59 car character heads on the Slick grimy
21:02 floor reaching for the headpiece of a
21:04 loopy loon costume I carefully removed
21:07 it so it wouldn't fall apart in my hands
21:09 as I looked into the face of the
21:11 wide-eyed moldering head a loud
21:13 clattering sound made me jump with
21:16 fright looking down at my feet I saw a
21:18 human skull now resting between my shoes
21:20 it had fallen out of the mascot head and
21:23 cracked into several pieces the empty
21:26 face stared up at me jaw detached I
21:28 dropped the costume head immediately as
21:31 you'd no doubt expect I moved for the
21:33 door but something stopped me I looked
21:36 back to the skull and felt a flush of
21:38 anger I had to take a picture to show
21:40 the world I'd need proof of this
21:42 especially if the Dandy Corporation was
21:45 going to somehow make this all disappear
21:47 I had no doubt in my mind that Dandy was
21:50 responsible for this even if it was just
21:53 gross negligence whatever happened this
21:55 was the real reason the resort had
21:59 closed I was the only one who knew knew
22:02 me as I contemplated the
22:05 implications that's when lucky the photo
22:07 negative opposite character in the
22:11 middle of the floor started to get up
22:14 first sitting then climbing to its feet
22:16 the lucky lemon costume or whoever was
22:20 inside of it stood on oversized unsteady
22:25 feet no no all I could do was mumble no
22:27 over and over again as its false face
22:29 stared me down with an inoffensive Pleasant
22:30 Pleasant
22:32 expression with shaking hands a
22:34 violently thrashing heart and legs that
22:36 had once again turned to jelly I managed
22:39 to lift the camera it took all of my
22:40 strength to raise and aim it at the
22:43 thing that was quietly sizing me up head
22:45 tilted the camera's screen displayed
22:47 only dead pixels in the shape of the
22:49 thing it was a perfect silhouette of the
22:51 lucky lemon costume as the camera
22:54 shifted and shook in my hands the dead
22:57 pixel spread marring the screen wherever
23:00 luy's out outline appeared the camera
23:03 died it went blank and quiet it was
23:05 broken I raised my eyes once again from
23:07 the black screen to the costume in front
23:12 of me Hey it said in a hushed perfectly
23:15 executed lucky lemming Voice want to see
23:17 my head come
23:21 off it started to pull at its own head
23:23 working clumsy glove clad fingers around
23:26 the surface of its neck with clawing
23:28 impatient movements it was like watching
23:30 a wounded man trying to pull himself
23:33 free from a predator's Jaws as it worked
23:35 its digits into the fabric flesh rolling
23:38 rivulets of thick curdled yellow bile
23:41 spilled from what seemed like wounds at
23:44 least it looked like bile infected blood
23:47 puss vomit I had zero interest in
23:50 finding out I turned away as I heard a
23:53 sickening tearing of cloth and flesh I
23:55 only cared about getting away above the
23:57 doorway out of the room I saw a final
23:59 message clawed into the metal with
24:03 fingernails or possibly bone abandoned by
24:04 by
24:08 God the picture files in the camera were
24:10 irretrievable I never got my head around
24:12 writing the blog entry about what
24:15 happened after I ran from that place
24:18 fleeing for my sanity as much as my life
24:20 I knew why the Dandy Corporation didn't
24:23 want anyone to know about this place
24:25 they didn't want anyone like me getting
24:27 in because they didn't want anything
