Walten, MA, USA
Walten is a fictional borough in Hampshire County, Massachusetts. As of the 2000 census, it has 11,505 residents, making it one of the most populated towns in the county. It is relatively close to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and its main high school, Walten High School, is known for its athletics department. The town is known for its Irish demographic, making up over 50% of the town's population, and its St. Patty's Day Parade. It's also known for one of the grizzliest and brutal murders ever committed in Hampshire County history--the disappearance and murder of Abigail Fisher, by the hands of 20-year-old Travis O'Neil and an unknown accomplice. The case became a nationwide ordeal, with multiple manhunts being set forth to find O'Neil after the incident. To this day, O'Neil has not been put into custody nor found, yet he is assumed to have left the country.
Economically, Walten is known for the existence of CrawChem Co., a biochemical engineering company stationed in the outskirts of town. Owned by the Crawford family, the CrawChem Co. is known for supporting the US military with explosive-making material during World War I and World War II, as well as creating alternative fuels, materials for war, and arterial solutions (combinations of formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, and methanol, used in embalming). The company came under scrutiny in the late 1980s when it was discovered that thousands of gallons of waste products were dumped into the Walten Lake--contaminating nearby farms, roadways, rivers, and the Walten Cemetery grounds. Currently, the company has washed their hands clean of the event, and has since stated they plan on issuing clean-up efforts immediately. It has been five years since that statement.
Murder of Abigail Fisher
On July 5th, 2003, Robert and Melissa Fisher contacted authorities about their missing daughter, who had not returned home after meeting with her boyfriend, Travis O'Neil. Travis and Abigail were described by Abigail's mother as being in a "dysfunctional relationship," one that had been unfolding for over two years. Abigail's parents would notice Abigail returning home with bruises under her eyes and around her arms, yet attributed them to her anemia, since Abigail had not disclosed the nature of her relationship with her family until they broke up. At the end of her senior year, Abigail had begun to feel distant from Travis and attempted to break off their relationship, yet was instead invited to hang out with Travis to communicate through their issues. After leaving home on July 4th, 2003, the Fishers never saw their daughter again.
After a townwide manhunt began in the search for Abigail, it was discovered by Abigail's acquaintances that Travis was the last person she saw that night. A warrant was put out for his arrest, yet when police entered the O'Neil residence, his father informed them that their son had left days prior, with no intention of returning. His father also stated that he was unaware of Abigail's disappearance or his son's whereabouts, but allowed the police to search his son's room for evidence. Upon the investigation, police discovered tattered clothes, dirt across the floor, and a journal. This journal was filled with diary entries, receipts, and various other irrelevant information, but the last passages vaguely detailed Abigail's death. O'Neil remarks in his journal that by the time the police had begun their investigation, he would be dead as well, and the entire ordeal would be over, for both of them. Because of this journal, Travis was made the number one suspect. After months of searching, the manhunt was called off, as well as the search for Abigail herself. She was pronounced dead weeks later. Unbeknownst to the general public or the authorities, O'Neil had committed a particularly heinous crime--burying Abigail Fisher alive--and he wasn't alone. Travis' journal had mentioned another person in the ordeal, but the accomplice was never identified.
Abigail was beaten by Travis O'Neil and his accomplice brutally upon their meeting until the girl fell unconscious. The two then buried her alive in an oil drum in the woods behind Walten Cemetery. It is assumed that she had gained consciousness while inside the oil drum and died a few hours later from oxygen deprivation. No one truly knew of her fate until she emerged one night, being discovered by Collin O'Connor.
The Red Lycans
The Red Lycans are a community/pseudo-cult stationed in the outskirts of Walten, MA. Beginning in the mid-19th century, the sparse werewolf population in West Massachusetts came together to form a commune of about fifty werewolves, ranging in ages, genders, and ethnicities. The leaders of the Red Lycans were typically blue-collar workers that could find work and housing in Walten, while the lesser members were lycanthropes plagued harshly by their condition, were unable to work, or believed in a "bumming" lifestyle. These individuals tended to live in camps around the Walten Woods, as well despising every human being in their town.
The patriarch of the clan was Dedrick Lowell, a 49-year-old lycan plagued with lycanthropy since his early-20s. He reinforceed the idea of self defense, personal autonomy, and violence in the name of the clan, allowing violence and murder against anybody outside of the community. He frequently preached the divine right to conquer given to lycanthropes by God, due to their increased strength and power. This violence is not subjected to just physical violence, but sexual violence as well--a fact that Dedrick used to punish those that cross him in the most disgusting ways possible. One of the people he used this tactic on was his own son, Gray Lowell, who he subject to frequent assaults and gangrape by Dedrick's associates beginning in his early childhood. The rest of Dedrick's children were spared from this treatment.
last updated: april 28 2023
created: february 14 2022