FLIGHTSUIT, Research & Background

I wanted to ground FLIGHTSUIT in reality. I think science fiction is best when we can solidly connect to it, either through realistic characters, situations or settings. I set FLIGHTSUIT in a combination of two places. One is the Lost Cove, an abandoned settlement between Erwin, Tennessee and Poplar, North Carolina. The Lost Cove was once home to eleven families, isolated and more than five miles from a road in any direction, then and today.

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The second setting I used was Bumpas Cove, Tennessee. Driving on the small road alongside the river through this small community, you’d never guess that a massive EPA cleanup site is nearby. Millions of tons of hazardous liquids were released right into the ground near the abandoned iron mines in the mountains near Bumpas Cove.

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The Lost Cove

• “The Ghost Town of the Nolichucky”

• Train Wreck Near The Lost Cove

• Photographs of Lost Cove (2012)

• Video with photos of Erwin’s Lost Cove
  This is a nice video I discovered on YouTube . Please note that I’m not the creator of this video. It shows the buildings, including the church, before the 2007 fire.

• Southern Appalachian Highlands Conservancy
  Preserving The Lost Cove. Thank you!

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Bumpas Cove, Tennessee

• Bumpas Cove once listed on EPA’s “100 Most Dangerous Landfills”

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Additional items of interest

• Hand-drawn map locating both FLIGHTSUIT coves by Tom Deaderick