Mystery Flesh Pit National Park

Mystery Flesh Pit National Park
Created by	Trevor Roberts
Genre	Speculative evolution, alternate history, décollage, Cosmic horror
In-universe information
Other name(s)	Permian Basin Superorganism
Type	National park Roadside attraction (formerly)
Location	Texas, United States

The Mystery Flesh Pit National Park is an ongoing science fiction/horror project created by artist Trevor Roberts. It catalogues a series of multi-media illustrations and writings, which revolve around the fictional "Mystery Flesh Pit National Park". The story is set in the fictional town of Gumption, Texas, where the superorganism was accidentally discovered when workers attempted to rig the site for oil. The pit, also referred to as the Permian Basin Superorganism, was subsequently used as a tourism destination and mined for raw materials until a catastrophic incident in 2007 caused its collapse. The webpage is framed as a historical archive, depicting the signage, advertising, products and photographs of when the pit was in operation.

Development

Roberts took inspiration from the dry style of government publications, such as this signage for the giant tree Pando

The Mystery Flesh Pit started as a worldbuilding project by Trevor Roberts. An image of the Mystery Flesh Pit National Park was first posted to Reddit in 2019. The Flesh Pit in the image is modeled after a decaying cantaloupe Roberts found in his workplace in 2019, which was Photoshopped onto a stock photo of the Big Hole, an open pit mine in Kimberley, South Africa. The image was then stylised into a National Park's theme poster.

Roberts has since posted fictional letters, diagrams, posters, and advertisements that emulate the style of National Park Service publications. The artworks are in a realistic style, which plays into the grotesque nature of a living superorganism being utilised as a national park.

The works make commentary on commercial exploitation and corporate greed. The posts feature heavily of Anodyne, the deep earth mining company responsible for all operations of the pit. Roberts' artwork can be seen as a satirical story telling, depicting a company prioritising commercial gains over ethical code, as well as the shortcuts which led to a disaster.

Overview of Events

1973 - Discovery of the Flesh Pit

On May 2nd 1973, James "Jim" Jackson wrote the first letter to Colton Flemming of the discovery of the pit. Upon rigging the site for oil, the workers found the "organic deposit". The letter speculates on the source of the unknown material, further stating that "this thing breaths and makes sounds same as any other creature and it bleeds. God how it bleeds, Colton. It's a mess out here."

On August 24th 1973, in a second letter from Jackson to Colton, Jackson described the early expedition of the flesh pit. He wrote of the enormous scale of the interior of the pit, saying "innards so big you could drive a trailer truck through." The letter includes a drawing of a crab creature "the size of a coyote" which had crawled out of the pit, to which workers failed at attempting to shoot it. The letter includes a details of 3 workers in the last month had died, stating that Jackson was hopeful that attorneys could keep "vultures and feds at bay". Jackson concluded the letter with a note about a company willing to help with the exploration. Attached was an Anodyne Deep Earth Mining Company business card.

1976 - Development of the Flesh Pit as a Destination

From 1976, the pit was commercialised as a holiday destination. Park mascot "Caver Coop" was used as a strategy to market to families, an attempt at downplaying the horrific nature of the pit itself. Films were made in an effort to reassure children and parents that the pit was safe and reinforced.

In the same year, the "Circus Clown Chymus" incident occurred. A group of performers fell into the upper maw of the Entry Orifice. An unexpected dilation of an epiglottal fold allowed them to slide into an unreinforced area. Rescue personnel managed to locate the stunts-people and cut them out a few hours later, however all 50 stunts-people had already begun being digested, many of whom were still alive. An experimental antacid spray was used, which resulted in the flash-calcification of the bodies. The Circus Clown Chymus remained a geobiological feature, with an informational placard as a reminder to follow safety directions.

The park operated for about thirty years, before being shut down due to the events of the Fourth of July in 2007. During the evening celebrations, unseasonably rainy weather and an electrical fault cause the Permian Basin Superorganism to 'swallow' the structures inside the park and then vomit. The incident was said to have taken the lives of over 750 people.

Features of the Pit

Speculative evolution

The Permian Basin Superorganism is home to a wide variety of "Geo-biological" structures that were popular hiking destinations during the park's tenure. Examples included the Bronchial forests, or the lungs, the Gastric seas, or the digestive areas, the throat of the organism, and more exotic organs such as the 'Ballast pods', which contained a potent aphrodisiac and were operated by the park as hot springs. A troglobitic ecosystem of organisms lives inside the Permian Basin Superorganism, having been completely cut off from the rest of the world. The majority of the parks fauna include arthropods, echinoderms, mollusks, cnidarians, worms, and several vertebrate species. The amount of originally marine organisms in thePermian Basin Superorganism suggests that the super-organism once lived in the ocean earlier on in its life-cycle. Examples of some of the so-called 'interpit fauna' include:

• "Abyssal Copepod", a large arachnid-like arthropod that could grow to over 6 meters (20 feet) and possessed human-like hands and arms
• "Gigantipede", an enormous arthropleuridean myriapod that had evolved a carnivorous diet
• "Gasp Owl", an avian-like vertebrate that had convergently evolved a lifestyle similar to insects like mayflies and cicadas
• "Amorphous Shame", a highly derived relative of weasels that lost most of its skin, eyes, and other organs
• "Macrobacteria" a diverse collection of several species and subspecies of terrestrial echinoderms of various sizes, with some living a highly social lifestyle
• "Mesogleal Tridecapod", a unique species of arthropod that helped filter out harmful parasites from the park's arteries and blood vessels
• "Venous Shamble", a unique species of cephalopod that has dozens of long tendril-like arms

The most bizarre example of fauna in the Permian Basin Superorganism are the "Compound Surface Fauna" which were anatomical amalgamations of surface animals (deer, coyotes, et cetera) and humans that became fused together because of the bizarre phenomenon occurring within the park.

In other media

A tabletop RPG is currently being developed in a partnership with Ganza Gaming. A book is also currently being created by Roberts. Once the book is published, which is set to contain expanded lore and art, Roberts says he will be done with the project. A video game based on Mystery Flesh Pit was in the process of creation, however the project was scrapped for numerous reasons, including fan feedback and creative differences.

See also

• Roadside attraction — one of the influences on the aesthetic of the project

External links

• Official website