But she was right. White nationalism was never just a Pocahontas County problem. It was always our problem. It was always my problem, even if it was as invisible as the radio noise polluting Green Bank.
Author’s Note
THE BULK OF THIS BOOK was reported from in-person interviews, but I also relied on many media articles, journals, and books.
For the history of the Green Bank Observatory, I benefited immensely from But It Was Fun: The First Forty Years of Radio Astronomy at Green Bank (2007) by Felix J. Lockman et al. Lockman’s Great Courses series on radio astronomy (2017) was a wonderful backgrounder on the field. I also drew information from Open Skies: The National Radio Astronomy Observatory and Its Impact on US Radio Astronomy (2020) by Kenneth I. Kellermann et al.
History of Pocahontas County, West Virginia 1981, published by the Pocahontas County Historical Society, provided an exhaustive chronicle of the area. The Pocahontas Times archive was also an invaluable resource. John O’Brien’s memoir At Home in the Heart of Appalachia (2001) helped me better understand the culture. I gleaned insights from Life Without Mercy: Jake Beard, Joseph Paul Franklin, and the Rainbow Murders (2014) and The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia (2020). Henry Rauch’s research for the Journal of Spelean History (2018) revealed much about the strange case of Peter Hauer. Helen Zuman’s memoir Mating in Captivity (2018) brought me inside the Zendik Farm.
On William Pierce, the National Alliance, and the white supremacist movement in America, I am indebted to Leonard Zeskind’s Blood and Politics (2009), Mel Ayton’s Dark Soul of the South (2011), and Richard A. Serrano’s One of Ours (1998). The Southern Poverty Law Center’s online archives were a constant reference. Further context into the modern white nationalist movement came from Everything You Love Will Burn (2018) by Vegas Tenold, Bring the War Home (2018) by Kathleen Belew, and Rising Out of Hatred (2018) by Eli Saslow. I also drew details from Robert S. Griffin’s controversial The Fame of a Dead Man’s Deeds (2001) and Kelvin Pierce’s memoir Sins of My Father (2020), which was the source of the FBI field reports.
On tech addiction and cellphones, sources included Nicholas Carr’s The Shallows (2010) and The Glass Cage (2014), Sherry Turkle’s Alone Together (2011), Adam Alter’s Irresistible (2017), Jean Twenge’s iGen (2017), and Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism (2019).
Acknowledgments
THE PEOPLE OF POCAHONTAS COUNTY made this book possible, and I owe them my deepest gratitude. They gave me lodging. They gave me food. They gave me their stories. Everyone named in this book, and many more unnamed, has my thanks.
Bob and Elaine Sheets provided guidance and nourishment. Betty Mullenax let me hover by her register at Trent’s while I bugged her for hours. Jaynell Graham was generous with her time and always willing to entertain my questions, even if she didn’t like where they were leading. Tony Byrd and Becky Sheets were among many families who extended their table to me. Bob Martin sat for many beers and many more tales. Bob and Ginger Must trusted me, and for that I am honored. Thanks to Jerry Dale, David Jonese, and Jeff Barlow for explaining the challenges of law enforcement in the Quiet Zone. I thank De and Linda Thompson for helping me understand another side of the county, for taking me into the depths of the earth, and for showing me how to forage ramps. Among the area’s many inspiring teachers and educators, I want to thank Sarah Riley, Laurel Dilley, Greg Morgan, Ira Brown, Kristi Tritapoe, and Joanna Burt-Kinderman for speaking with me. I also thank Allen Johnson, a tireless and courageous champion for Appalachia.
At the Green Bank Observatory, thanks to director Karen O’Neil for allowing me to wander her facility’s hallways pestering her employees. A huge thanks to Mike Holstine for his patience with my many questions and for once letting me borrow a dongle so I could get on wired internet. Thanks to Jay Lockman for his ability to dumb down radio astronomy without making me feel dumb. Paulette Woody gave me parenting advice; Carla Beaudet taught me the difference between a ferret and a ferrite; and Chuck Niday demonstrated how to be a smooth radio jockey. Bob Anderson, Galen Watts, Wesley Sizemore, Hanna and Dane Sizemore, and so many more people were gracious in explaining their work. I am impressed with the entire staff and their efforts to expand human understanding of the cosmos.
At the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Charlottesville, thanks to Anthony Beasley, Kenneth Kellermann, and archivist Ellen Bouton, who helped me sift through folders in the archives and enthusiastically hunted down answers to my questions. At the Robert C. Byrd Center for Congressional History and Education at Shepherd University, archivist Jody Brumage also dug up dusty boxes that provided illuminating details.
I want to thank Diane Schou, Sue Howard, and others in Green Bank’s electrosensitive community who spoke with me. For their sake as well as for astronomy, I hope the National Radio Quiet Zone continues to be recognized as a valuable resource. Thanks also to the family and friends of Marianne Roberts.
I would also like to acknowledge the help of David Pringle, as much as I disagree with what he stands for. He spoke with me for many, many hours and openly shared about his role in the white nationalist movement.
Thanks to David Helfand for his encouragement, and to two additional faculty at Columbia University who provided crucial support. First, Terry Thompson accepted me into the Knight-Bagehot Fellowship at Columbia. Once there, Professor Samuel G. Freedman begrudgingly allowed me to take a coveted seat in his book-writing seminar—begrudgingly, because my initial book idea was so half-baked. He showed no mercy in critiquing my writing, which was a great gift. For years afterward, his steadfast enthusiasm for The Quiet Zone pushed me onward, even when my own morale was flagging.
Thank you to my literary agents, Larry Weissman and Sascha Alper, who took a chance on an unpublished author. They were excited from the start to learn more about Green Bank.
Thanks to Jessica Sindler, my first editor at Dey Street Books, who had an incredible ability to see the narrative thread through my bloated drafts. She brought a big-picture vision to this project, which included lining up the talented cartographer Mike Hall to create a beautiful map. Hilary McClellen, fact-checker extraordinaire, saved me from potential embarrassment. Thanks also to editor Nick Amphlett, who deftly led the manuscript across the finish line. I appreciated his patience and even-keeled nature through my many last-minute changes.
My aunt Kathleen Brown and my good friend Nate Paluck suffered through early drafts and provided generous feedback. They and other friends and family endured many rants from me about the Quiet Zone and the publishing process.
My parents have always been a source of unwavering support, and their faith in me is surely why I had the confidence to embark on this endeavor. They also provided a lot of child care, which allowed me time to work.
When I first drove to West Virginia with Jenna, we had only been dating for several months, and she could hardly have guessed what she was signing up for. I thank her for being a constant supporter, yet critical; for encouraging me to make extra calls, while dragging me out of rabbit holes; for reading more drafts than she would care to remember, yet always being willing to read another. Her patience with this project is underscored by the fact that we got married and had two children before the book was published. She’s never asked me to get a cellphone, and for that I am also grateful.
Index
A specific form of pagination for this digital edition has been developed to match the print edition from which the index was created. If the application you are reading this on supports this feature, the page references noted in this index should align. At this time, however, not all digital devices support this functionality. Therefore, we encourage you to please use your device’s search capabilities to locate a specific entry.
5G, 50, 154, 291, 303
Adams, Hunter “Patch,” 102, 205–15, 221–22; arrival in Pocahontas, 97, 202; author’s interview with, 209–12; author’s tour of Gesundheit! Institute, 207–9; background of, 205–6; complaints
about, 212–15; hospital proposal of, 97, 202–3, 205–15; at Rainbow Gathering, 202
Afflicted (documentary), 161
Age of Missing Information, The (McKibben), 17
age of the universe, 174, 242
Aguilera, Christina, 216
Allegheny Mountain Radio, 85, 89, 110
All Too Human (Stephanopoulos), 104
alt-right, 125–27, 131, 219–20, 305
Amazon, 17, 68, 105, 254, 283, 290–91, 305
American Academy of Pediatrics, 172
American College of Radiology, CT scan limits, 75
American Friends of the British National Party, 138
American History X (film), 94
American Nazi Party, 103, 132
American Renaissance, 139
American Spelean History Association, 222–23
Americans with Disabilities Act, 150
Ames Research Center, 177
Anderson, Bob, 37–39
Anti-Defamation League, 95
Antifa, 279–80
anti-Semitism, 124–25, 132
anxiety and cellphone usage, 83
Appalachian stereotypes, 89, 297–98
Appalachian Trail, 80
Appalshop, 89
Arbovale, West Virginia, 27, 31
Arbovale Cemetery, 42–43, 44
Arbovale United Methodist Church, 110–11
Arecibo Observatory, 44, 70
Army Corps of Engineers, 27
Army Map Service, 62
asbestos, 149
asparagus, 41
Astaire, Fred, 40
At Home in the Heart of Appalachia (O’Brien), 187–88
Atlantic Coast Pipeline, 146
AT&T, 91, 185–86, 188–89, 289–90
Attack! (newspaper), 103
Australian Radio Quiet Zone, 52
auto accidents and cellphone usage, 83–84
Balogh, Alan, 126–27
Balogh, Warren, 127
Baltimore, children and screen time, 172
Bamford, James, 56–57, 70
Barber, Greg, 283
Barlow, Jeff, 137, 302
Bassett, Nathanael, 88
Battle of Blair Mountain, 96
Battle of Droop Mountain, 96, 175
Bauserman, Jason, 98
Baxter State Park, 80–81
Beam, Louis, 130–31
Beard, Jacob, 194–98, 222, 228
Beasley, Anthony, 59, 70, 118, 288
Beaudet, Carla, 156–57
Beirich, Heidi, 138, 305
Bennet, David, 253–54
Bennet, Susan Alexander, 253–56
Berger, J. M., 107
Better Call Saul (TV series), 76, 284
Beverage, Linda, 47, 48
Bible, 5, 20, 121, 174, 189, 237
Biggs, Jack, 199–200
Birely, Coleton, 163–65
Birely, Debbie, 163–65
birth rates and screen time, 83
Black, Derek, 276
Black, Don, 139, 195, 276
Bland, Ruth, 47–48, 167, 179, 301, 303
Blank, Martin, 154
Blood and Politics (Zeskind), 129
Body of Secrets (Bamford), 70
Bond, David, 165–68
Booth, John Wilkes, 275
Bosley, Bruce, 28
Boundary Waters Canoe Area, 80
Bout, Paul Vanden, 53
Bowers, John, 67–68, 69
Bowers Store, 67–68
Boyd Thompson Road, 93, 221, 227, 272
Boyer Hill Mennonite Church, 1, 3, 257, 265–66
Boyer Motel, 8, 11, 256, 257–58, 262
Boyette, Gayle, 173–74
Boy Scouts, 174
“brain drain,” 171–72
Brandeis, Louis, 15
Braveheart (film), 200–201
Breakthrough Listen, 43–44, 288–89
Briery Knob, 10, 100, 194, 196
British National Party, 138, 139
British Royal Academy of Engineering, 66–67
Brundtland, Gro Harlem, 76
Buck, Pearl, 144
Buffalo Lake, 85
Bundy, Ammon, 131
bunker at Greenbrier, 62, 64–65, 67
Burke, Bernard, 245
Burning Man Festival, 80
Burt, Susan, 89, 90
Burt-Kinderman, Joanna, 167
Bush, Laura, 145
Byrd, Erma, 246
Byrd, Robert C., 42–43, 55–56, 140, 243, 244–46
Byrd, Walter “Tony,” 149–50
Byrd Green Bank Telescope. See Green Bank Telescope
Caesar Mountain, 227–28
Cain, Susan, 42
California Institute of Technology, 36, 247
Calvin, Melvin, 29–30
Cambodia, 13–14, 164
Cambodia Daily, 13–14
Cameron, Laurie, 98, 102–3, 104, 223
cancer, 75, 81, 153, 157
Capitol riots of 2021, 305
Carpenter, David, 154
Carr, Nicholas, 42
cellphones: author’s unplugging, 13–17, 19–21, 284–85, 299, 304; harms of, 41, 42, 81–84, 153, 154, 171–73, 300; Helfand on, 17–19; interference. See radio frequency interference; Pocahontas County’s cell service ordinance, 181–84; school use, 90–91, 168–75; unplugging, 13–21, 82, 88–89, 283–85
cells on wheels (COWS), 301
Center for Humane Technology, 173
Ceres, 178
Cessna 414 crash of 1995, 191–92
Channel 37, 45
Charleston Gazette, 27–28, 28, 268
Charlottesville Unite the Right rally, 124–26, 131–32
Chavarria, Athena, 172–73
Cheat Mountain, 27, 85
Chernobyl nuclear accident, 155
Chestnut Ridge Country Inn, 7, 8
children and screen time, 171–73
China: internet addiction, 82; quiet zone, 52
Christian Science Monitor, 14
Christians for the Mountains, 146
CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), 63, 158
City National Bank, 189
Civilian Conservation Corps, 175
Civil War, 96, 175
Clark, Allan, 74, 252
Clinton, Hillary, 158
Clover, 252–53
CNN, 111–12
coal mining, 10, 96, 146
Cobb, Craig, 143–44, 296
Cochran, Makinsey, 187–88
Cold War, 54, 62, 64
Colini, Goffredo, 84
Colorado School of Trades, 127
Columbia University, 16, 17, 154
Communications Satellite Corporation, 56
Condon, Clay, 192–93, 208
Condon, Danette “Brandy,” 99, 214
Connecticut bank robbery of 1996, 137
conspiracy theories, 61–70, 158, 241, 303
Contact (Sagan), 29–30
Cosmos (TV series), 175
Cosmotheism, 95–96
Cosmotheist Community Church, 95, 136, 274
Cotterill, Mark, 138
Couric, Katie, 112
Cousins, Norman, 213–14
COVID-19 pandemic, 300, 301–4
Cox, Jo, 105
Cozart, Jan, 115
Crab Nebula, 242
Cranberry Wilderness, 191–92, 193, 275
Craten, Adam, 207–9
creationism, 174
Creativity Movement, 143–44
credit scores and cellphone plan payments, 16
Cruise, Tom, 201
CT scans, 75
Dale, Jerry, 98, 102, 136, 143, 196, 215, 277
“Dang Me” (song), 230
Darby, Seyward, 140–41
Davidson, Richard, 82
Deadly Wandering, A (Richtel), 83
“dead zones,” 58, 88–89, 298
“Dead Zones: A Phenomenology of Disconnection” (Bassett), 88
Dean, Andrew, 296
Dean, Larkin, 225, 227, 228–29
Defense, U.S. Department of, 248. See also National Security Agency
DeMarais, Robert, 126
depression and cellphone usage, 83
“Desiderata” (Ehrmann), 294
diabetes, 81, 155
Die Hard (film), 271
digital detox, 17, 80, 289
Digital Minimalism (Newport), 284
Dilley, Laurel, 168–69, 285, 300–301
Dillon, Read & Co., 260
doomsday bunker, 62, 64–65, 67
doomsdayers, 66–67
Dorsey, Jack, 76
Drake, Frank, 29, 30, 48
Droop Mountain Battlefield State Park, 175–76, 215
Duke, David, 105–6, 130, 131, 132, 195, 276
Durbin, West Virginia, 8, 11–13, 184
Durian, Vicki, 193, 194–200
Eager Beaver Bar, 139–40, 275
Edquist, Linda, 206
Eisenhower, Dwight, 27, 62, 65–66
electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), 147–62, 251–56, 285–86, 296, 300; Bennet and, 253–56; “evidence” for, 152–54; Graham and Pocahontas Times, 266–68; high-profile advocates of, 76; Howard and, 158–62, 251–52; nocebo effect, 154–55; Roberts and, 2, 259–62, 266–67; Schou and, 73–78, 147–51, 155; symptoms of, 77, 157
electromagnetic interference. See radio frequency interference
electromagnetic interference tracking truck (EMITT), 109
electromagnetic radiation, 26–27, 40, 42, 73–76, 109, 147, 156, 160, 300
electromagnetic spectrum, 44–45, 50, 117–18, 243
electrosensitives. See electromagnetic hypersensitivity
Elijah, 79
Elk River Inn, 282
emergency 911 calls, 183–84
eminent domain, 47
Emory University, 100–101
“energy spirits,” 254–55
Epicurus, 79
Ervine, Bobby, 32, 35, 111, 281–82
Ervine, Debbie, 32, 163–65, 285, 286, 287
Ervine, Donnie, 302
Escobar, Pablo, 293
Essays of a Klansman (Beam), 130–31
European Southern Observatory, 247
Facebook, 14, 16, 82, 172
Fair Labor Standards Act, 15–16
Fairmont State University, 25
Faraday cages, 156–57
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 91, 104–5, 106, 138, 143, 224
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