Rotland: The Beginning of the End

Homeward Incident File · Box 3 of 11
Recovered from the Altoona regional office

The Beginning of the End

Nobody can say when it started. I've tried.

This is what I could carry out of the regional office before the power went. I put it back in the order it reached us. Read it that way.

HOMEWARDNatural Return Services

Introducing Evergreen

Nine days. Then they come home.

Evergreen gently returns your loved one to the earth as about a cubic yard of rich, living soil. Traditional composting takes a month or more. Evergreen takes nine days.

Plant a memorial garden and keep them close. Give them back to the family farm. Or let them grow in one of our partner parks, where every tree carries a name.

$2,850 complete. No casket, no plot, no stone.

Evergreen is available in 41 states. Finished soil is screened and certified free of pathogens before release. Homeward soil is sold to licensed growers and municipal programs. Ask your director about bulk agricultural pricing. HW-EV/0417

Received · No action

To whoever reads these,

I put 40 yards of your Evergreen on my north pasture last spring. My herd won't set foot on it. They stand at the fence and bawl all night. The calves too.

My neighbor says his dogs dig at his wife's garden till their feet bleed. Then they won't go out the door at all.

I'm not asking for a refund. I'm asking what's in it.

Dale Kreider
RR 4, Bedford PA

Internal

Vessel Maintenance Log Homeward Return Center 07 · Harrisburg

Date	Note	Init.
03/02 02:14	Vessel 14 knocking on rotation. Checked drive motor. Motor is fine.	T.O.
03/04 23:50	14 knocking again. Also 9 now. Day sup says the load is settling.	T.O.
03/09 07:30	14 cycle complete. Soil 61 lb under spec. Where did it go?	R.B.
03/11 01:05	Vessel 22 making a different noise than 14. Sounds like scratching. On the inside of the door.	T.O.
03/11 08:15	Per J. Hollis. Do not log noises. Vessel faults go to maintenance only.	J.H.

Decedent Care · Night Log Mercy General, Altoona · Basement B

23:40All quiet. Two in from the ER. Tagged.

01:15Heard the drawers again. Same as Tuesday.

01:30Going down to check.Ron

06:02Ron not at desk. Cold room door open. Drawers 3, 7 and 8 empty, inside latches broken. Security called. Police called.D. Varga

BEDFORD CO 911 CADINCIDENT 24-118206PRINTED 06:41

21:52CALL911 HANG-UP. 1140 FOX HOLLOW RD

21:53DISPCALLBACK NO ANSWER

22:07U12ENRT

22:19U12ON SCENE

22:31U124 DECEASED IN RESIDENCE. ADULT M, ADULT F, 2 JUV. NO SIGNS OF ENTRY. REQ CORONER

22:40U14ENRT TO ASSIST

22:58U14ON SCENE

23:02U12NEED MORE UNITS NOW. THEY'RE

23:02----TRANSMISSION ENDS

23:05DISPTO U12. NO RESPONSE

23:06DISPTO U14. NO RESPONSE

23:20DISPSTATE PD NOTIFIED. ETA UNKNOWN

06:30CORONERON SCENE. RESIDENCE EMPTY. CRUISERS 12 AND 14 IN DRIVE, RUNNING, DOORS OPEN. NO UNITS. NO DECEASED.

Altoona Mirror · Mar 14

Missing persons reports triple across central counties

Police say most cases involve people last seen near hospitals, care homes and funeral services.

AP · Mar 17

CDC finds "no evidence" linking unexplained deaths

Officials urged calm and asked the public not to visit emergency rooms without cause.

Business wire · Mar 19

Homeward shares halted after fire at Harrisburg site

The company said Evergreen soil already in circulation is safe.

Pittsburgh Post · Mar 21

Hospitals across Northeast turn away patients

Ohio and Maryland declare emergencies. Guard units deployed to Erie and Bedford.

No reply

HOMEWARD Research & Development · State College, PA

To: Office of the Director, Division of
From: Dr. A. Mendel, Senior Microbiologist
Date: March 22
Re: Behavior of the Evergreen culture in finished soil

We are writing outside company channels because our letters inside them have gone unanswered.

The Evergreen culture does not go dormant at the end of a cycle. Samples from finished soil, some of it in the ground for over a year, show it still active and still reproducing under conditions where it should not survive. Soil taken from home gardens shows the same result.

More troubling, the culture does not behave as a decomposer. In every vessel we opened, it had reorganized the remains rather than broken them down, preserving the nervous tissue and the major muscle groups.

We recommend an immediate recall of all Evergreen soil and a halt to agricultural sales. We also ask that nobody handle finished soil with bare hands or open cuts until we understand how it moves from soil into a living host.

Our full data is attached. Please call this office at any hour.

A. Mendel Dr. Anna Mendel
for the Evergreen research group

MAR-24 04:12 FROM: HOMEWARD R&D STATE COLLEGE P.01/01

It's not decomposition.

TX REPORT: INCOMPLETE LINE DROPPED

That fax was the last thing out of State College. It came to our machine by mistake. I don't know who it was meant for.

Nobody at the center ever answered the phone again. The soil is still out there, in every garden and every park.

Wear gloves.