The story of this ghost town begins sometime before September 2008 when for some unknown reason, all of the town's water supply was shut off. In a scramble, all of the town's remaining 18 residents began using water jugs as a band aid solution. While the water from these jugs could have been used to fill the town's toilet's, this was deemed by those who remained as an unviable option. The solution to their sanitary problem however, was anything but. Rather than using buckets and disposing their fecal matter and hygiene products into a hole, an abandoned two-story house was designated as the town's official outhouse.

            Previous to the trip, my Saskatchewan counterparts had yet to determine which house contained the human fecal matter. So it was of great shock to discover upon entering the second story of the house that the awful stench permeating the air was in fact, bags of human shit and feminine hygiene products scattered throughout the bathroom and an adjacent bedroom. To see the pictures is one thing, but to smell it and see the crusty nuggets spilling out of the bags and all over the floor is to experience an event completely unimaginable. But the feces were not contained to the upper floor. Unbeknownst to me and my fellow explorer was that the wretched smells emanating from the kitchen were not only from the piles of rotting food but, as you probably guessed, more human feces.  For whatever reason, the countertop and floor had been painted brown and it appeared that the ceiling had a similar treatment in spots.

           In step with the condition of the house, my annual tradition of examining the fridge was to say the very least, quite unsettling. Had I eaten any lunch I am sure that it would have added to the colourful and diverse patchwork of mystery substances settled on the floor. Anything of an organic substance had been transformed into a brown slime which in turn consumed anything else within the fridge. To be certain, it was a sight and smell I had and probably will never again experience again.

           Reflecting on the town itself a number of questions arise. The first and most obvious question is why was the water supply for the town shut off and for how long? It would seem reasonable that if the cause was only a temporary problem people would tuff it out (as the water jugs indicate) and adapt to the situation. But if people were going to tuff it out why was the only 'rational' solution for disposing of human waste to throw it in an abandoned house? Wouldn't digging an outhouse seem not only more humane but simpler? The final major question I have is who was left in town when all of these events occurred? In two of the houses there was a large amount of Mac and Cheese left over, in addition to cell phone equipment. The question arises primarily because in a typical ghost town situation, the only people who are left remaining are the elderly who grew up in the town and subsequently, feel it is still their home. But the aforementioned evidence gives doubt to that theory as few rural seniors eat Mac and Cheese in large quantities and possess cell phones.