Is The Mystery Flesh Pit real? Start Here

The Mystery Flesh Pit sinks into the vast depths of human imagination. It’s a creation of the mind that has confounded as well as intrigued, attracting people to the worldbuilding community that spawned this famous lore. Writer and illustrator Trevor Roberts, known on Reddit as u/StrangeVehicles, created the Mystery Flesh Pit. 

Roberts describes the Pit as ‘an enormous subterranean organism of indeterminate size and origin embedded deep within the earth.’ In other words, it is a vast chunk of flesh embedded inside the earth inside a closed national park in Texas. 

The lore behind the Mystery Flesh Pit has developed a lot and is, therefore, near impossible to summarize. However, this article should give you a brief yet sufficient understanding of the Mystery Flesh Pit. 

The Mystery Flesh Pit has existed for millions of years and is thought to consist of sea creatures

Immanis Colosseus, Latin for ‘monstrous colossus,’ is the scientific name for the Permian Basin Superorganism or the Mystery Flesh Pit. The Pit’s location in Texas and the marine organisms that exist in it provide a rough indication of its age. 

It has bones in its gastric juices that contain many undigested shells of sea creatures. Therefore, we assume that it was once covered by ocean water. The Pit, thus, goes as far back as 146 million years.

Scientists believe that the Pit isn’t a superorganism but a conglomerate of organisms living in a shared space. Superorganisms consist of many organisms of the same species interacting synergetically, like termites on a mound. 

The Pit consists of swallowed creatures that have adapted to live in the organism. These creatures probably had defenses against the Pit’s gastric juices and, unable to escape, they learned to live inside their jelly prison. 

The Mystery Flesh Pit likely started as one organism, but through its millions of years of existence, other creatures adapted to it, and it to them. 

It remains unclear whether the creature is growing and, if it is, where it is growing to. Since no one is yet to discover its depths, the likelihood is that it keeps growing deeper into the earth’s core, which could lead to apocalyptic consequences (more on that later).

Since the government closed off the park in 2007, the park hasn’t fed on humans or other organisms. It initially feasted on sea creatures, and considering its distance from the ocean, it has to look for sustenance elsewhere. 

Its properties suggest that it feeds on fossil fuels, which makes a lot of sense: Texas has more crude oil reserves than any other U.S. state. 

Mystery Flesh Pit National Park – Park Overview Brochure
by inworldbuilding

The Pit secretes mysterious substances that force people to worship it and have sex in it

The Mystery Flesh Pit is a scary and mystifying organism that people should stay away from. However, some human brains are morbidly attracted to danger and mystery; nevertheless, it doesn’t account for the throngs of people who visited this terrifying Pit. 

Scientists opine that humanity was powerless against the Pit. It reportedly secreted portions that drew humans to it and compelled them to worship it. 

Anodyne Deep Earth Mining corporation, the company managing the Pit, made no secret of the dangers of entering the Pit. Everybody embarking on the voyage knew that the tunnel created by Anodyne was essentially a pathway into the organism’s throat. 

By being inside it, one risked being trapped and digested. One tour consisted of a one-mile trip into an actively swallowing section of the Pit – it was arguably the most popular trip among tourists. 

The creature appeared to protest Anodyne’s attempts to create more pathways within it. As Anodyne excavated and reinforced the walls with braces, the beast occasionally groaned, producing a noise heard miles away.

The lucky few who witnessed this phenomenon stayed and explored the mysterious creature. Some worshipped it, powerless against the ancient organism’s secretions. However, some researchers cast doubt on the idea that the Pit forced humans to worship it; they claim that some humans impulsively worship ‘really big things.’

Few, if any, disputed that the creature released chemicals that encouraged people to have sex in it. Amniotic ballast coming from the ‘amniotic thermal springs’ was a potent aphrodisiac. It combined with another chemical that acted as a natural contraceptive. 

This mix encouraged amorous activity inside the sinister creature, especially from people who came to worship it. Several hiking pamphlets mentioned religious pilgrims engaging in ‘psychosexual rituals’ within and with the Pit. 

Governments and private corporations exploited the Pit for selfish purposes

The Mystery Flesh Pit was discovered in the 70s by oil workers in the Permian Basin of West Texas. It attracted scientists from all over the globe, including scholars from the Soviet Union. 

At the time, the Cold War was at its freezing heights, but the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the USA’s Department of Defense agreed that the Pit presented an unknown danger to both nations. Therefore, the government acquired the Pit and chose Anodyne to run it. 

The U.S. government and Anodyne had no intention to leave the Pit alone. They excavated tunnels inside it, turning it into a tourist attraction. Furthermore, they found that the flesh formed cheap raw material for other industries, so they invited other corporations to cash in. 

Anodyne and the government feared waking the Pit, but corporate greed eclipsed their worries. The county of Gumption surrounding the Pit benefitted as tourism and mining pumped money into its economy.

The fear that a calamity would arise from exploiting a creature that nobody understood never went away. The disaster of 2007 proved that the U.S. government was wrong to encourage tampering with this organism.

Tourism ended after the disaster, but mining of the skeletal material of the creature continues – in fact, it has increased since the disaster of 2007. It happens in secret, however: the government wouldn’t want people to learn that it is tinkering with a ticking bomb. 

The county of Gumption has faded, with profits secretly funneled to the pockets of executives. The government provided over $100 million of COVID-19 relief to Pit-related agencies, providing conclusive evidence of its support of mining activities. 

Human error caused hundreds of deaths and thousands of injuries across a 50-mile radius

The Pit’s groans every time it felt stressed by human excavation elicited wonder and excitement rather than trepidation and fear. If the Pit retaliated, the people inside would be swallowed and digested quickly. 

A group of circus clowns once fell into the Pit and were partially digested. Rescuers cut out some of them before they passed away, but the rescue team couldn’t get the digestive fluid off the clowns without calcifying the dying clowns. 

Therefore, Anodyne knew that an unexpected pit closure would lead to considerable loss of life. However, they failed to set up safety mechanisms to prevent such a disaster.

In 2007, an electrical grid reset caused a massive Pit spasm that trapped all people inside. The emergency protocol involved pumping the creature with a muscle toxin forcing it to puke its contents. 

The toxin worked, prompting the creature to throw up gaseous gastric acid, undigested chunks of people, and some of the native organisms inside it. The acidic vapor spread over 50 miles, far exceeding the expected danger zone. 

Over 750 people died, and 1,800 suffered major injuries. Some alive people reeling from shock climbed back into the Pit to save their loved ones, only to seal their fates. Approximately 18,000 people within the 50-mile puke radius sought treatment for various medical and psychological ailments. 

Most survivors lived only due to life-support machines, which their families switched off after months of despair and financial ruin. Anodyne became bankrupt a year after the disaster.

The Pit is expected to wake up and wreak havoc on the western hemisphere

Experts say that the Flesh Pit was supposed to awake in 2007 after the stress of human interference got too much to bear. However, Anodyne used mystic artifacts excavated from sites near the Pit to appease the angry giant. 

Unfortunately, these ancient artifacts have been depleted; if the creature arises angry, there’ll be no way to soothe it. Furthermore, Anodyne held more knowledge about this beast than any other organization. Anodyne left the scene after the disaster, so no company can withhold a potential escape from the creature. 

Corporations continue to pester this dormant creature as they try to milk it dry before it inevitably awakes and wreaks hitherto unknown havoc. Humanity has accepted that the Mysterious Flesh Pit will awake and is looking for ways to stop it when it arises. 

Anodyne’s successors have discovered that the creature has five limbs stuck to a central body. The beast has resumed its slumber, but it stirs in its sleep, reacting to the constant prying by greedy humans. 

Researchers have concluded that the Pit can move on land, and given its size, it will be impossible to stop. It’s expected to create one of the biggest craters on earth once it emerges from its Texas refuge. Authorities considered nuking it but abandoned the plan. 

It’s unclear how far the creature will roam, but experts expect the Pit to decimate the western hemisphere. Others opine that the Pit will lay waste to humanity, so it can resume its slumber undisturbed. 

The Pit’s creator opines that people believe in the Pit’s existence due to its links to real-world issues

As stated above, the Mystery Flesh Pit is not real. However, due to the enormous effort placed into creating the narrative, some people believe there’s really a killer flesh pit in Texas.

“I am surprised that some people believe it is real, as that was never the intention,” Trevor Roberts told Snopes. Trevor told the outlet that despite his efforts to make the Pit look and sound authentic, he expected people to see the Pit as an art project rather than a real thing. He said:

“I do try my best to mimic the style of real NPS brochures and materials through layout, typeface selection, color choices, and general wording, but I had imagined that the absurdity of the basic concept would be enough for someone to see that it was all an art project.”

Tyler opines that the story’s connections to the harsh realities of mining and the unsustainable exploitation of nature make the narrative sound believable. He continued:

“Much of the Mystery Flesh Pit project is, at least in the words of others, a very obvious critique of both the oil industry and the nature tourism industry, so if some people are so ready to accept it as fact, maybe that speaks to some aspects about the real world.”

Roberts appreciates that some people interpret his art as fact but hopes it doesn’t cause ‘genuine discomfort or anxiety.’