Attenborough; A small coastal town located in Washington
County, Maine.
What remains of the town of Attenborough after the storm of 93 seemed a stark contrast to what the storm wrought upon nearly every inch of the rest of the eastern seaboard that March. While near blizzard conditions fell upon the citizens of Calais, Maine, the closest town to Attenborough by 30 miles, during March 13th-15th, multiple citizens reported seeing bright orange and red lights emanating from the area of Attenborough's location. What the citizens of Calais did not realize was the fact that those bright lights were raging fires from multiple sources spread throughout Attenborough. The storm made it impossible for any outside groups to check upon Attenborough for nearly 3 days after the height of the storm had passed. Multiple family members as well as emergency services prior to the storm reported being unable to contact those within Attenborough beforehand. Sadly modern upgrades that were common place in most developed regions in Maine had yet to fully reach towns such as Attenborough. The last message officially received from the town were in the form of a followup phone call to the Calais Police department by a police deputy from Attenborough in regards to supposed prank phone calls about multiple people being executed by the Sheriff of the town. The deputy had assured the police in Calais that it was simply a gag by some of the local teenagers. With the ominous forecasts predicting troubling times ahead for their town the Calais Police chalked it up as such and focused their resources to the storm ahead. The truth of what happened in Attenborough would be lost amongst the turmoil raging in the world around them.
Despite being abandoned for over 20 years signs and banners of the once prosperous town have somehow managed to continue to cling upon the partially burnt window fronts of the businesses that made up and surrounded the center of Attenborough. A dark irony is not lost upon most people whom come to investigate the ghost town as a sign covered in flowery writing that says "Welcome To Attenborough! The Town of Bright Tomorrows!". The ruins of the town have become a favorite spot for amateur and urban explorers. Yellowed newspapers that have somehow managed to survive in the newspaper racks that weren't destroyed in the fire and subsequent years of distress by nature and time. feature the last set of stories concerning the town before the events of March, 93. These stories include mentions of resistances to the latest "beautification" proposal by the late Mayor Robert Michaud by members of county council being lead by Sheriff Attenborough, the last living descendant of the namesake of the town. The newspaper and stories from the archive show a history of native citizens fighting changes to the town brought in by the late mayor. Its a story that's all too familiar to many towns throughout the United States. Those who wish to keep things as they were and those seeking to bring progression to their little piece of the world. All of this history remains mute now as the town is nothing more than an empty shell. Outside of a few empty buildings on the outskirt of the town, only burnt shells remains of the Attenborough courthouse and the adjacent homes and offices that made up the core of the town. Most of the streets and roads throughout the town have crumbled can only be traversed by foot. Miraculously the service road leading to old Moosehorn Lighthouse remains accessible despite the onslaught of years and nature slowly taking both of the town and lighthouse back. The horrors that had besieged this town in March of 1993 seem to echo still throughout the dilapidated buildings and the unusually silent forest surrounding them.
A decade and a half prior to 93 the town of Attenborough was barely surviving as a shift in demand for it's primary industry of fishing had the town on it's last legs before the arrival of Robert Michaud. Within 15 years Robert Michaud rose from an aspiring entrepreneur and land developer to one of the biggest businessmen and eventual Mayor of the town. His pushes for economic growth and shift of industry in the town from commercial fishing to tourism helped to breath life back into the once desolate fishing village. At its height of 92 the population of Attenborough during its then booming tourist season would swell to nearly 3000 visitors with a standing population of only 300 during the off seasons, many whom were members of the last surviving families that had called the town home for nearly a century. With many of these families dying off as the elder members passed away and the children seeking to make their way and fortunes beyond the town, the core community of the town was at a precarious point. Despite this Attenborough was poised for even more growth and revitalization that had not been seen in the small to since the brief opening of a metal mining operation that ended in disaster with nearly 32 local men from the town dying in a tragic mine collapse in 1907. Thanks to the efforts of the late mayor Robert Michaud, Attenborough was on its way to becoming a significant tourist destination for an area of Maine that had historically been known for little outside of fishing and sea commerce before. A series of events roughly beginning on and around March 6th through March 18th, 1993 would see all of those hopes destroyed along with the deaths of nearly 287 people within the town. The deaths within the town have often been chalked up to being caused by multiple factors, the largest one being the “Storm of The Century”, a category 5 storm that had blanketed the whole Eastern half of the United States in severe weather including but not limited to blizzard-like conditions, severe flooding, and gale winds that brought blackouts throughout the Eastern seaboard. Due to the subsequent power outages and road conditions, including the main bridge to and from Attenborough being destroyed to the town it had become impossible for nearly a week after the storm reached the town around March 13th for emergency services to respond. Interviews with the survivors from the town though revealed that something far more bizarre and terrifying had occurred that caused the deaths of their fellow town members than just severe weather and exposure. Their accounts in television and newspaper interviews days after their rescue on March 18th are wildly varied as to what really happen during those two weeks, but certain “facts” seem to be confirmed by many of the survivors. Sometime around March 6th a survey crew clearing a piece of land that bordered Attenborough and the Moosehorn Wildlife Reserve ceased contact with officials in Attenborough. A group of volunteers lead by Sheriff Attenborough entered into the woods to search for the survey crew. Discovering an abandoned camp with no evidence as to where the service crew had disappeared to, the search team brought back an object described by the survivors as a “manuscript or book”. This object somehow lead to multiple conflicts within the town that culminated to the town being nearly burnt down entirely with those initially surviving having to deal with the aftermath as well as attempting to survive through the harsh conditions brought by the ’93 Super storm. What emergency crews discovered upon investigating the remains of the town and dead described a grizzly scenario in which it seemed that the town had went to war with itself. Whispers of evidence of severe sadism and torture on the many corpses that dotted the town made their way from the emergency crews to local police and media outlets brought many outside groups to investigate in those initial day after the rescue. What is peculiar of this story is that subsequent follow-ups and investigations were ceased soon after the initial investigations and rescue. Nearly 2 months after the tragedy that had befallen Attenborough, there exists as far as this investigation has discovered of any evidence surfacing of any official continuation of the investigation into the events surrounding the death of the town of Attenborough. For 20 years Attenborough and its survivors have kept their secrets locked away but the truth of what happened during those 13 days will be revealed through this investigation. Through archival interviews, evidence, and reports from the emergency crews during the two weeks that lead to the death of Attenborough as well as interviews of survivors we've managed to recently track down, we're hoping to shed light on the full story of this cryptic story around the now ghosttown of Attenborough.
