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Worldbuilding: Goodharts

Sources of inspiration:

Goodharts is a fictional place. The name is a reference to the "good hearts" of the people that inhabit it, although that's not entirely true because there are a lot of secretive, sketchy characters living in the small town surrounded by hills.

Disclaimer: this is the map of the town which helped me visualize the places better. 

The name is loosely based on Goudhurst Village in Kent, England. The architecture of the houses in Goodharts is also based on this charming, fairytale village's architecture. 

In terms of geographical characteristics and weather, Goodharts is based on my hometown. There is a four-seasons climate (spring, summer, autumn, and winter), also based on Romanian climate (Romania is a temperate region). 

It's the forest... It's always been the forest.

We can't talk about Goodharts without mentioning Shepherd's Forest, the mysterious, dark woods that borders the small town where a person disappears every seven years. But unlike Goodharts, Shepherd's Forest is actually based on a real place called Hoia Baciu Forest located in Transylvania, Romania, my country of origin (baci means shepherd in Romanian).

Hoia Forest is a forest situated to the west of the city of Cluj Napoca (source: Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoia_Forest).

Named after a shepherd who went missing in the forest with a flock of 200 sheep (300 sheep in The Moonlight Boy), Hoia Baciu came to international attention in 1968 when Emil Barnea, a military technician, photographed what he claimed was a UFO hovering over The Clearing. What differentiates this story from other UFO claims is that Barnea had nothing to gain from reporting the sighting, and everything to lose.

Today, visitors to the forest report strange symptoms – nausea, anxiety, the feeling of being watched – and the failure of electronic devices. "Ectoplasms" are routinely seen by joggers brave enough to enter. One shows a man in the traditional dress of northern Romania – a very local ghost (source: The Independent, https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/hoia-baciu-transylvania-haunted-trees-ufo-ghosts-how-visit-camping-alex-surducan-marius-a8023136.html).

The forest is famous for its twisted-shaped trees, the Clearing (Round Meadow in my books), a place where no vegetation grows, and the strange apparitions that people have seen and recorded over the years. 

Disclaimer: Viewer discretion is advised for the following clip; not recommended for the weak of heart. 

Ambiguous history

Before the town was established by Albert Pride Sr, Goodharts was a village demolished at his orders. In The Moonlight Boy, according to Mrs. Cobbs, villagers were paid to leave the village. The only buildings that survived were the old church and the cemetery, as well as Mrs. Cobbs's house who refused to leave the village because her daughter was gone missing into Shepherd's Forest. 

After the Pride&Haughthy sawmill was built, new people arrived in town, and Goodharts flourished in a couple of years. However, those who were allowed to move in town had to meet some conditions: they had to be young and white or mix-raced, but not black. The reason behind this decision is later to be revealed. 

From the outside, Goodharts looks like a quiet, peaceful place. The perfect place to live a nice, quiet life. However, the place is isolated from the rest of the world (known as the Big City in my books), and very few people are allowed to get out of town. Strangers are also not allowed to visit the town, and the only way to get in or out of the town is by train. 

The town of Goodharts gives its inhabitants the feeling of security, stability, and happiness. But as we've seen in The Lost Son, it is only an illusion...

"Sometimes, the illusion of happiness is stronger than happiness itself..." (Mildred Cobbs, Between the pages chapter, The Lost Son).

What do you think? Would you live in a place like Goodharts? Let me know your thoughts.