Sheridan, Wyoming (long); was Re: [UA] Google Maps and gaming

[Dan Spragens]

Russell Rayburn wrote:
> On Feb 13, 2008 3:41 PM, Anthony H. <ars.mysteriorum at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> Weird is Evil's favorite cousin. Hit us up!
>
> Seconded.
>
> I'm interested in what makes it evil... isolated ranches where
> unspeakable rituals are performed?  Lack of starbucks

Well in Sheridan at least we do have a Starbucks, though I'd say that's 
more adding to than subtracting from any evil floating around locally. 
Before I proceed I'd like to point out that while I'm a big fan of UA I 
haven't immersed myself in it to the point where I can point out 
particular UA angles on the stuff to follow; no doubt however you guys 
can find some useful stuff.

Sheridan is a small town of 15-20,000 just east of the Big Horn 
Mountains (if you zoom out a bit from the map Fidel posted you'll find 
it to the northwest of Wright, maybe 120 miles away). Ranching and coal 
mining have historically been the big movers in the economy, but these 
days its all about coal-bed methane. The population is pretty much a 
red-state stereotype; the local talk radio station, KROE, syndicates 
Rush Limbaugh, Michael Medved, and Sean Hannity and the op-ed page of 
the local paper, The Sheridan Press, often features screeds about how 
Muslims want to kill us all because we eat hamburgers and drive SUVs. 
There are some pretty liberal elements too which mix interestingly with 
the right from time to time. During hunting season, a big deal locally, 
it's not uncommon to see dead elk and the like lying in the beds of 
pick-up trucks and on several occasions I've stumbled across bones near 
the creek that runs through town; presumably deer or elk but that could 
be just what the cultists want us to think.

Like a lot of small towns we tend to make much ado about nothing. A 
local diner, the Silver Spur Cafe, was mentioned once in USA Today and 
they kept a big sign in their window for about five years touting the 
fleeting mention; a similar fuss was made when True West Magazine, or 
some such periodical, named Sheridan the #1 western town in America or 
something like that. The Sheridan Press in particular has a long 
tradition of trite editorials. The late Kieth Kemper, the Press's 
publisher, once wasted several weeks of his "Kemper's Komments" column 
carrying on about "The Great Switcheroo", wherein two local broadcast TV 
stations switched positions on the dial; however when a bridge 
collapsed, possibly the result of shoddy construction and good ol' boy 
bid awards, the totality of the Press's coverage was a picture entitled 
"Oops!".

One bit of local culture worth mentioning is the rodeo; basically just 
an excuse for a lot of grown men to play dress-up in oftentimes 
ludicrously expensive cowboy boots and hats. In addition to the rodeo 
proper there's a parade, bed races (the results of which are usually 
front page news), and a carnival. You also have Buffalo Bill Days in 
honor of "Buffalo Bill" Cody (see the Wikipedia article for more on him) 
which tend to center around the (allegedly haunted) Sheridan Inn which 
he managed if I recall correctly; last year the attendant parade woke me 
with the sound of shotgun fire. Then there's the July 4th celebration in 
nearby U-Cross where people spend the whole day getting plastered and 
watch a fireworks show before driving the 25 miles or so home that night 
over badly paved winding roads.

Should any characters run afoul of the law, they'll be faced with the 
local police. Until recently the police chief was Vince Yardas, an 
appropriately porcine fellow who allegedly collected Nazi memorabilia. 
These days I think he's off in Louisiana someplace doing private 
security. Although Sheridan has never had much of a crime problem there 
is a curfew which extends at least to age 18 and I think even to 21. 
Also we have ourselves a SWAT team which so far as I know is just an 
excuse to spend Homeland Security grant money. To give you an idea of 
the unit's quality, one of their snipers accidentally fired his weapon 
during the execution of a warrant (which incidentally may have been 
connected with methamphetamine); the bullet harmlessly struck the side 
of the house in question, a prime example of careless/trigger-happy law 
enforcement.

One of the best white-trash crime stories recently concerned the 
contract-killing of a teenage witness in a sex-abuse case. The case was 
actually centered on Gillette, a town about an hour and a half from 
here. There were all sorts of sordid twists and turns to the case, but 
aside from a second killing intended to cover up the contract-killing of 
the witness, I can't recall what all the case entailed.

There have also been some priceless bits of pure weirdness. Some are 
naturally occurring like when Mrs. Lyman H. Brooks writes letters to the 
editor about her conversations with the founding fathers or how Castro 
is trying to create an epidemic by infecting northward-migrating birds 
with bird-flu and West Nile Virus. Others are conjured up by those 
inclined to pulling surreal and bizzare pranks; two frequent culprits 
being my dad, known locally as Zack Replica, and Richard Miller. Zack's 
big project, Dial-a Rumor, built up a bizzare mythology surrounding the 
Sheridan area; and Richard created several prime bits of faux religious 
quackery in years past. If there's interest, I'll post some highlights.

I'm sure I could elaborate on any of the aforementioned and if I were to 
check with some of my local contacts I know I could post even more and 
better examples, but this post is starting to drag on so I'll sign off 
for now.


          Dan