The Sinking City Hidden Book
Telly Piatt
Secret notes are hidden documents in The Sinking City, there are 10 notes scattered around Oakmont, plus one last bonus note. Player can start searching for these notes at any point during the game after meeting with Victor, the owner of the Devil's Reef Hotel, for the first time. All the collected notes can be read in the 'Documents' section under the 'City Lore' tab.
These secret notes are similar to those in Letters From Oakmont, many of them are not related to any cases in the game. However, they provide deeper lore and backstories about the situations in the city and the people who left these notes behind. Player needs to search for them on their own without any hints provide in the game, by looking for any door with a crooked H-shaped indicates that it is an accessible building, or a place on sunken roads with a pier and accessible hole on the wall. These locations will spawn wylebeasts inside.
This note is located in a flooded factory on Sunset Avenue in Salvation Harbor, between Marsh Avenue and Maple Lane. After enter the building, Reed will find the note placed on a pillow next to a woman's dead body lying on the desk at the upper floor.
This note possibly related to the final main case Into the Depths where Charles encounters the fire worshipers, as there is a human skeleton in a pile of ashes with several gas cans around it. It is located in the basement of an office building on Bourbon Road, between Darwin Street and Yellow King Avenue in western Reed Heights, north from Oakmont University. There is no wylebeast spawn at this location.
He led me into a Zetetic room below his church. Laying there, near a Monolith wall, I felt myself falling into an endless pit underneath the city. There, at the very bottom, I met the gaze of something ancient, something cold and alien...
The note is located in an flooded office building on Whisper Street in Grimhaven Bay, between Central Street and Deepshore Road. The same location with Omega-Two in side case Defunct Brain Cylinders. It is on the desk hidden under the craft item in the room on the right after Reed enter the building.
This note is located in an office building on Hubert Avenue in Coverside, between Asher Road and Roosevelt Street, just to the east from Oakmont Police Department. The notebook is on a middle desk facing the front of the building on the second floor.
There is no point running away. That blasted hollow-eyed freak always catches up, with his grin, his long black coat, and those thin crooked fingers clutching a gun. He's got a bullet with my name on it. I dodged it once. There won't be a second time. Kay, help me.
This note is located on the top floor of an apartment building on Derry Lane near Asher Road in Coverside, just before the danger zone barricade. Reed will find the notebook on a desk at the very end of the apartment.
This note is located in an flooded apartment building on Central Street in Coverside, between Lincoln Street and Roosevelt Street. Reed will find a notebook on a desk in the middle of the upper floor apartment. Similar to the Red Queen's crash site, if Reed stays too long in the apartment, his sanity level will gradually deplete.
This note is located in an infested area on Inner Shine Street in western Shells. It is a first house on the left when entering danger zone from the pier on Justice Street, just before the 'House in Shells' for the case Open House which is nearby on Hawking Lane. Charles will find the note on a coffee table in the first bedroom on the upper floor.
This note is located at a flooded house on Moorland Road in The Shells, between C. Smith Avenue and Powderhouse Street, right across from the hidden lab from the case Fleeing Phoenix. The note is on the dinning table in the very first room Reed enters.
I can't take anymore of this. My heart is breaking when I look into the hungry eyes of my family. They are still trying to smile, saying that someday this horror will end. But I know the truth. I think they also understand this - there's no salvation.
There will be the 11th note posted on Charles's room door at the Devil's Reef Hotel, greeting him with an intimidating message. It will appear right after Charles has collected the 'Nowhere to run' note.
My family moved into the Logan neighborhood around 1991. It was our first home, and I imagine this was a dream realized for my parents. Up until that point, we had lived in various apartments around North Philly, each one moving progressively north from a rough area to a little better area and so forth.
Piece by piece the neighborhood disappeared and, at the time, I did not know why. All I knew was that I could sometimes hear water under the street and that walking up and down Logan had uneven terrain like when crossing small hills.
As I got older, the homes disappeared in strips. Huge piles of rubbish took their place. I eventually moved away, but began coming back to the area in the early 2000s to see a few hangers-on. Not knowing where they went, I started to feel bad for the last-standing homes. It was easy to see the vandalism and property damage that had encircled them. Residents gradually left their homes to be demolished. What was to come next? That is a question that has not been answered, but there have been attempts.
Mr. Brown, a resident of Logan since the late 1970s, remembers the early morning explosion on February 14, 1986. He recounted to me how the middle of the block exploded, rudely waking him up. He was astonished as the fires consumed homes in full view of the neighborhood. He remembered learning that the ground had high levels of lead and how the City languished on the issue. What the area residents were now learning was a closely-held secret that had been swept under the rug for decades. Logan was sinking, and the incident was entirely man-made.
In 1959, the first signs that the homes were sinking began to appear. A cracked main on 9th Street was seeping gas into various homes along the boulevard. On October 30 of that year, three explosions and a fire devastated the neighborhood. The occupants described being home when their windows were blown out. Elderly residents made their way through smoke-filled living rooms to the middle of the street only to watch their homes burn. Another resident was returning from work when an explosion pushed her back. Upon regaining consciousness, she saw her home burning in front her. Her only thought was to find her grandmother and get to safety. Other residents experienced similar reactions to being thrown to the floor amid the confusion. They had only a few moments to get themselves together and flee to safety. In the aftermath of the explosions, there was scant news coverage. The gas main was repaired, and life moved on.
A thorough assessment in 1986 discovered that 957 homes were affected by subsidence issues. Hallmarks of the area became cracking foundations, warped floors, and sagging porches. The streets had an overall wobbly appearance. A walk down them required walking up and down bulging pockets.
The United States Geological Survey discovered that an estimated 500,000 cubic yards of coal ash were underneath the streets. The Army Corps of Engineers estimated that improvements would cost over $48 million.
From 1998 to 2013, planning studies were done to both assess the land and hone in on what could be done with it. During this time, the City acquired each property, yet formal plans were never solidified.
Initiatives to clean and better police the area with cameras had some success. Yet, old habits are hard to break. In 2018, City Councilmember Cindy Bass and the 8th District Trash Task Force witnessed a contractor dumping trash in the Triangle.
In 2015, The Goldenberg Group acquired the southwest corner in a bill to transfer ownership to develop the area. The cost was a single dollar. In 2018, plans were introduced to build a $25 million basketball recreation center that would include indoor courts, a library, and a computer lab. Additional details of the transfer reveal that The Goldenberg Group will have to donate $500,000 into a community fund throughout the project and for an additional 10 years after its completion.
A few of the older residents do not see the point of a basketball development center when there are not many families with children in the area. Some of the ideas floated were along the lines of improving the area like a raised-bed neighborhood garden. Other suggestions were towards Black ownership of businesses that could improve the neighborhood by keeping money circulating in the area. Additional comments simply reflected a loss of faith in anything being done.
The Triangle has found a new use as a truck stop. On any given day, vehicles are parked along the coordinator as its drivers hop into their personal cars and speed off. Recreational vehicles are usually found around the periphery to the annoyance of residents due to the headaches that come with them. Recently an RV caught on fire, while another was found stealing electricity from a few of the surrounding homes via extension cords.
Cracked pavements, newly dumped trash, and weeds growing through cracks have left people who need specialized vehicles for mobility as well as parents with baby carriages to struggle to navigate the streets due to the terrible shape of the sidewalks. An improvised car wash uses some of the space that was marked for the basketball center to service its customers. This is currently the only sign of Black ownership in the area.
As for the residents of Logan, they wait patiently. The cycle of trash dumping and partial cleanups continue under the gaze of cameras. A feeling of ambivalence has set in. For many, including myself, Logan is a lost cause. It was built to fail, and it is too expensive to repair. Yet, other residents remain cautiously optimistic as they sit and wait and wonder if the plans for the area will sink before they ever come to pass.
Keshler Thibert is a voracious reader, book collector, tour guide, and current member of the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides. He was born and raised in Philadelphia, but has also lived in Atlanta, GA, Santiago de Chile, Madrid, Patras, Greece, and Adelaide, South Australia. Thibert has an interest in social sciences, language, and local history. Read more of his work on Substack.
c80f0f1006