Transcript of this chapter:

sheriff: Wow. When they said you found something big, they weren't kidding!
barlow: Thanks for coming out here so quickly. I wanted you to see what we found, and what's inside...
sheriff: Just look at this thing... Why, it hasn't been seen for... almost fifty years.
barlow: So you know what it is?
sheriff: Of course I do. Don't you?
barlow: Nobody will tell me what it really is! Alex knows what it is, he called it an historical artifact.
sheriff: And he would know that, with his knowledge of local history.
sheriff: This is a vehicle... a gondola. It was build to ferry people over the woods on a cable. There was an accident, apparently, and the whole thing came crashing into the woods...
barlow: I guess someone tried to build something out here. It could be some sort of cabin, I guess.
sheriff: It is a cabin, but not for living in. It's a vehicle... a gondola to be precise. It once traveled over the woods on a cable.
barlow: Really? I've never heard about any of this.
sheriff: Well, it fell into the woods a long time ago...
barlow: It's a vehicle, I think. Like a bus... but I don't see where the wheels were.
sheriff: It's certainly a vehicle, but it didn't travel on the ground. It's a gondola, and it once traveled over the woods on a cable. In fact, I remember the day that it fell into the woods. I was six years old at the time, but I have vivid memories about it.
sheriff: As I recall, it was called "The Great Gondola Disaster of 1958". It was actually the very first day that the gondola was operating...
sheriff: The whole population of Spider Cliff was on hand to watch it take the first passengers to a distant gondola station. The passengers got there just fine, but when the empty gondola was returning to Spider Cliff, the cable snapped at it fell into the woods.
sheriff: And here it is!
barlow: So you say it was empty?
sheriff: Absolutely. The gondola fell, but nobody was hurt in the accident.
barlow: In that case, there's something I want to show you...
barlow: If this gondola was empty, what do you make of this?
sheriff: It's!... That's not right! There's wasn't supposed to be anyone on board when it fell! This is completely out of keeping with the official story.
sheriff: And yet there's no denying that he died in the fall! The corpse is still buckled into the seat.
sheriff: Barlow, I've seen enough. We have to leave this place... and you need to put this completely out of your mind.
barlow: Do you think this is a crime scene?
sheriff: Barlow, this is way out of my jurisdiction. Even if this WAS a crime scene, I'm not interested in pursuing the matter.
barlow: But we all left the body undisturbed until you got here, just in case you thought this is suspicious.
sheriff: I appreciate the gesture, Barlow, but are you sure nobody disturbed anything near the body? It appears that someone recently scraped away something right next to his hand.
barlow: I can assure you that none of us did that!
barlow: But we can look into that after we get this whole thing back to town.
sheriff: Back to town? We can't move this thing. We shouldn't!
barlow: Shouldn't we at least bury the remains?
sheriff: I think it would be best if we left things exactly as they are.
barlow: But you won't stop us if we bring him and this whole gondola back to town?
sheriff: Bring the whole thing back?
barlow: How can I forget about something like this?!
sheriff: Alas, we have to leave it.
barlow: No, plans are already underway to recover this whole thing...
barlow: So you really saw this thing fall?
sheriff: Indeed I did. I was very young, but I have very clear memories of that day.
barlow: Are you positive that there wasn't anyone on board?
sheriff: Well, it was too far for us to really see that far. The first passengers were supposed to have disembarked at a remote station. We didn't expect anyone to be on board.
barlow: Did Vedalia investigate any demon-related angles?
sheriff: Now that I think about it, I don't remember her being present that day. She seemed to have little regard for the gondola. She...
sheriff: Barlow, I don't think this is an appropriate place to mention your aunt. We need to leave this gondola exactly as we found it.
barlow: Alex already went back to town for an electric winch and a long chain. He wants to bring this entire gondola back to Spider Cliff.
sheriff: This... upsets the balance of things...
barlow: We've got a few hours until the fog comes back. I'd prefer to drag this whole thing back, because I don't feel comfortable carrying... those bones. We have to recover the remains, or at least that's what Crystal insisted.
sheriff: Well... I want you to keep me out of this. I can't help you.
barlow: Do you know who the corpse could be?
sheriff: I know EXACTLY who he is... uh, was.
sheriff: He was one of the four people who rode the gondola on it's maiden voyage. He must've stayed in the gondola for some reason when it returned to Spider Cliff and fell to his death on the return trip...
sheriff: I recognize him by his frontiersman jacket and paper-skin cap. This is the body of Elkwood Sprawling, the great adventurer and local hero.
barlow: Where did this gondola travel to?
sheriff: there was a remote station, a way-point, build on top of one of the highest points of the woods. I guess it was quite a feat of engineering to build something like that out in the middle of such a dangerous place.
barlow: So it just led deeper into the woods?
sheriff: Well, the way-point had another gondola car that took passengers down the other side of the hills and into the outskirts of Sprawling-Mossville.
barlow: Really... Another passageway into the world...
barlow: Do you remember how the disaster happened?... What caused it?
sheriff: I think it was just an accident... Possibly some kind of engineering flaw...
barlow: There was no investigation?
sheriff: I don't think so. Frankly, nobody really had any interest in the situation after that...
sheriff: Many of the townsfolk thought the project was foolish from the start. I think others got distracted from it because Spider Cliff fell into economic troubles soon after that happened.
barlow: Why don't you want to get involved?
sheriff: Why? Because this is the Smoggy Woods. This is the place where things go into oblivion... and they're never supposed to be brought back. I just think it's dangerous to want to bring something out of the woods once the woods have claimed it.
sheriff: It's one thing to flirt with death by venturing out here once a year, but we shouldn't upset the balance of things.
barlow: Are we in danger if we disturb the body? It's not going to... uh, start moving, is it?
sheriff: I don't think so. Elkwood was a man, not a zombie or anything like that.
sheriff: But then again, I guess anyone could become the walking dead...
sheriff: I'll leave you to watch over him.
barlow: Oh, thanks a lot.
sheriff: See that?! I think he just moved!
barlow: You lie!
sheriff: Well, have fun.
barlow: This isn't fun, this is creepy!