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FILE 035 · VOL V · You Already Ate It
It's in Your Blood Right Now. The Company Knew in 1961.
The money runs out. The chemical does not.
Based on: PFAS Forever Chemicals
Intake record
| Recovered from | Farmhouse, Wood County, West Virginia; a strongbox under the floor of a hay barn |
|---|---|
| Contents | Settlement agreement (1994), a mason jar of creek water, blood test results (2023) |
| Finder | J. Pritchard, grandson |
| Status | The creek water was tested in 2024. The results are summarized below. |
Recovered file
Wade Pritchard's cows started dying in the summer of 1993.
He had two hundred acres in Wood County and a creek that ran through the bottom of them, and on the far side of the creek, past a line of sycamores, the company had bought a hollow and filled it with something it called non-hazardous waste. The cows drank from the creek because cows drink from creeks. By August they were thin and staggering. Their teeth went black. One morning he found a calf in the shallows with its eyes clouded over, standing perfectly still, as if it had forgotten how to walk.
The creek foamed in the shallows. Thick white foam, like soap, that piled up against the rocks and did not go away.
He called the county. He called the state. Nobody came. And then, in October, somebody did. Two men in good jackets from the company, with a check and a folder.
The rest of this file is sealed. The ending, the sources and the archivist's note unseal with the file.
Unseal File 035 ($2.99) · its volume · everything ($49.99)
Built on real, cited records. The stories are dramatized. Disclaimer · If you are in crisis in the U.S., call or text 988.