Somewhere in the Woods: A Gravity Falls Mystery

Chapter 4

Stanford Pines's Journal #8

June 13, 2022

We've finally been granted access to the island. Stanley and I had been trying to get onto Duckling Island for months to try and solve the mystery of the supposed treasure buried there. Unfortunately, a Michigan carpenter named Matthew Lobertta and his brother Ron had gotten to it first. Worse yet, they somehow convinced the Used to Be About History Channel to tape them for a hokey reality show. They've been tearing up the island for years now, and somehow, they managed to top television ratings despite never finding much.

That's because they don't know ancient mysteries like Stanley and I. I had been researching the Duckling Island mystery even before I ended up in Gravity Falls. I had been wanting to get on there and find what was at the bottom of the Treasure Pit for most of my life. In fact, that was one idea I had when I first received my grant money.

So of course, when I finally get the chance to explore it myself, there's an annoying television producer there telling my brother and I that we're not allowed on the island. We'd been spending these last few months coming up with different ways to try and persuade them to let us on, but nothing seemed to work.

That is, until Stanley managed to bribe them with most of our royalty money from that book. Who actually thought that stupid book would actually make us enough to bribe a producer, especially one with a title that's equally stupid; "Dr. P's Extraordinary Guide to Magic & Mystery." I always thought turning my research into a novelty book was a terrible idea, but Stanley thought it would help make some income for our adventures. And you know him, always looking for new scams to mine profit from.

Well, he was right this time. Who knew?

Anyway, today was the first day we were allowed onto the island. We actually got to see their ludicrous operation for ourselves. It really looks like they've sunk a lot of money into this, and yet, they've made so little progress.

I was able to share some of my theories with the Lobertta brothers. They had the whole thing videotaped for their show. I wasn't a fan of that, but Stanley sure ate it up. He loved having the exposure.

Even with cameras filming us, we actually had a great conversation about how to reach the bottom of the Treasure Pit. I was able to come up with a way to block off the water network that filtered into the pit. It was going to involve a complicated process that is way to complex to explain here. It's a method I had been developing for years, just in case I was ever able to put it into action. We're going to get started tomorrow. Hopefully it all works out, otherwise this would be all for nought, and we'll be the laughing stock of the Duckling Island fan pages (even though I didn't really care about that).

June 15, 2022

It all worked out. Our method of filtering the water out of the pit actually worked. It was so much more effective than anything they've tried to do for nearly a decade. Even the Loberttas were surprised.

We finally made it to the bottom of the pit, entering a semi-large cavern that was still wet from the water. At the center of the cavern was a large wooden box. We cheered with excitement. We had finally reached the treasure. We couldn't wait to see what was inside. There was a small door on top, with a very old lock on it. It was no match for my watch laser. We got it off fairly easily and got the door open.

That's when we saw it. It was empty. There was no treasure to be found. Not even a single gold coin. It was completely empty, save for one thing. A strange sheet of paper laying at the bottom of the box. Further inspection from me revealed that the inside of the box was completely lined with strange material that basically made it waterproof. I'm still not sure what it was, but clearly they wanted to protect the treasure from all forms of threats.

And whatever it was, it kept this paper perfectly preserved. It looked like a page ripped out of an old journal. It said:

"My last entry. All of my crew have been driven away. I am being forced at sword point to bury the box without the treasure. I'm leaving this for anyone who manages to find the box. I can't leave it where anyone will find it, or I will be killed. Just know that it was that traitorous Nathaniel Northwest that forced me to do this. He stole our treasure and forced me to setup this game for anyone foolish enough to go looking for it. Know that this was his doing."

Nathaniel Northwest. I hadn't heard that name in so long. I first learned about him in my research into Gravity Falls. He was used as a cover to get rid of the town's founder Quentin Tremblay. I had read that he eventually left town to prove something of himself after growing tired of being treated like the town's waist-shoveling village idiot, but I was never able to figure out where he went after that. Until now.

There's so many questions that this raises. Of course, the Loberttas and their producer wanted to know if we knew anything about this, hoping to include it in the show. Stanley and I played dumb. We didn't want them involved in this. So we left without another word.

Stanley and I knew exactly where to go. We both knew that the Northwest's youngest descendant, Pacifica, was in Los Angeles with Mabel. We thought about trying to reach her parents, but they've been almost completely off the grid ever since the Northwest family fortune was destroyed by Bill. We weren't exactly sure if she would have the answers we needed, but we figured it was worth a shot.

So I'm currently heading to Los Angeles. Stanley is going back to Gravity Falls to find out anything ahead of time. Our plan is to meet back up in the town, hopefully with an idea of what we're looking for. That's what I hope Pacifica can provide us.