Paradise, Pennsylvania

**Paradise** is a city on the Ohio River in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 24,374. The city is infamous for being the site of one of the largest ecological disasters in the U.S in 1999. The Ohio River National Forest is also located within the city. It was founded by Benedict Gumble Asscrat, Jr. in 1899.

## History

In 1899, Benedict Gumble Asscrat, Jr. was riding on his horse on the banks of the Ohio River when he accidentally fell off the horse. He landed directly on his head, and suffered a major concussion. He suffered vivid hallucinations for the next 5 days, in which he saw himself being paraded down the road by happy citizens in a town named Asscrat, which he founded. After miraculously recovering from the concussion, he started to build the town he imagined. Over the next 3 years, the town expanded, both in size and population, as construction continued. And, just like in the hallucinations, he named this town Asscrat. In 1905, while riding a hot air balloon near Pittsburgh, a bird hit his balloon, which made a large hole, causing the balloon to sink. It landed directly into the streets of Pittsburgh, killing a snake oil salesman who was selling his goods on the streets. In 1948, the Ohio River National Forest was founded near the city. In 1968, a chemical processing plant was built in the city, which would later go on to be the initial site of the 1999 disaster. In 1979, citizens started to protest the name of the city, as Benedict Asscrat was a Grand Dragon in the KKK and was the founder of the *Beaver County Citizens Against the Existence of Colored Peoples Association*, and was generally seen as a massive racist. Because of this, the town was renamed to **Paradise** in 1981. After the disaster in 1999, the city was left in shambles and almost half of its population of 49,000 was killed. Despite most of the city's infrastructure being rebuilt soon after, the population still slowly declined. To try and get more people to move there, the city's board of tourism started using completely false advertising in 2003, which was very affective in getting people to move there. When people found out that the town was not what it seemed, it was completely blocked off by large fences in 2004 which has trapped the population inside the city's boundaries. The fences still remain today, however they are quickly deteriorating due to age and and human-caused damage, and they are expected to fall by the end of 2024. In 2021, an outbreak of Diphtheria occurred in the town, infecting at least 500 people.

## 1999 Disaster

Following severe floods in Beaver County in June 1999, the Paradise Chemical Processing Facility started to act unusually. Numerous malfunctions of plant equipment were reported in the days leading up to the disaster. On June 20, plant workers were working on a refining machine, when it suffered a catastrophic malfunction and caught on fire. This fire spread to many containers holding explosive chemicals, and the entire facility exploded. Because the city was among the poorest in the state, densely packed slums made up most of the city. The facility itself was disguised as a school, leading to many slums being built around it. When the explosion occurred, it not only destroyed the facility, but most, if not all of the slums around it. The initial explosion resulted in the death of at least 9,000 people. However, the vast majority of the deaths would occur when the chemicals that had not exploded drained into the sewage system. This went unnoticed until the 22nd, when children frolicking in the sewers accidentally caused the chemicals and sewage to ignite, leading to a massive explosion that exited through manholes and citizens toilets. This series of explosions caused over 15,000 deaths, at least 100 of which were from blunt force trauma from manhole covers impacting citizens. The resulting fires devastated even more areas of the town, and spread to the OHNF, causing at least 45% of the park to be destroyed. The fire also spread to the banks of the Ohio River, which caught on fire due to the amount of industrial waste that was dumped into it in the 1960s. The fire spread downstream, all the way to Pittsburgh, leading to the Great Fire of Pittsburgh, which killed 50 more people, including Republican Presidential Candidate Ira Fernandez, the son of Cthulhu Fernandez. The total death toll is estimated to be around 27,000, with around 24,500 of them occurring in Paradise. The remaining residents of the city then sued Benedict G. Asscrat V, the great-great-great grandson of Benedict Asscrat Jr., the city's founder, for allowing the chemical facility to be built, despite the fact it was built in the 60's, before he was born. However, Benedict caught McDougal disease and died before the case could be taken to court, so the residents of Paradise decided to sue Benedict's uncle, Bass Proshop, for the same reasons. They settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

## Buildings

After the 1999 disaster, only around 40% of the city's infrastructure still remained. Most of the buildings that were damaged in the disaster were demolished soon after, however some damaged buildings still remain to this day, like the old White Castle, which now acts as a pre-school. At the 2020 census, there were around 19,000 homes in the city. There was also a single Subway restaurant, which miraculously survived the 1999 disaster without a scratch, despite being in the initial explosion zone. There is also an Arby's in the southern part of the city, which has not seen customers since at least 2010. Despite that, there is still a single person working there, local resident Wen Bray, who was patient zero of the 2021 diphtheria outbreak.

The city is also home to the *Paradise Amish Exclusion Zone,* a large zone at the banks of the Ohio River where the city's Amish population are forced to live in. The zone was established in 1998 following the Bill Beerdrinker incident, wherein an Amish person driving a horse-drawn carriage ran over and killed a local man named Bill Beerdrinker. The City Council then decided to re-locate every Amish person they could find into a fenced off zone for 'safety reasons'.

## Demographics

As of 2020, 98% of the city's population was White. For unknown reasons, the 1999 disaster killed almost all of the city's Black population, leaving only ~1000 Black residents. There are around 600 people who identify as other races.