The Tevatron particle accelerator at Fermilab, outside Batavia, Illinois
Dr. Felix Bauxite-13 von Peterswald was a physicist based in Urbana, Illinois, the husband of Wilma Pachysandra-17, and the father of their child, David Daffodil-11. He had previously run a particle-accelerator which fell into disuse. A janitor, Francis Iron-7 Hooligan, accidentally discovered a means of talking to the dead by storing a piece of pipe and his lunchpail atop a cabinet which held the controls for the particle-accelerator. For this reason, the device would later be known as The Hooligan.[1] He informed Dr. Peterswald, but could not reproduce the effect. However, showing that "he was a great scientist", Dr. Peterswald nevertheless believed him and eventually determined that placement of the lunchpail was the crucial element. The voices identified themselves as being in the afterlife and largely complained about their boredom, leading Dr. Peterswald to comment that the place sounded like "a badly run turkey farm".[2] He died shortly afterward, having never taught the technique to his wife or son, but it was somehow learned about by the Chinese.[3]