TAPE 27 - "Supply Drops and the Ace of Spades" Artwork

The Unorganized Township of Bootstuck

The Unorganized Township of Bootstuck is a documentary-style audio descent into a place that shouldn't exist—but very much insists that it does.

Once a forgotten military outpost in the depths of Northern Ontario, Bootstuck has taken on a life of its own. Discovered only through a pile of mislabeled cassette tapes at a Sudbury garage sale, the story of Bootstuck slowly unravels through scattered interviews, cryptic clues, and increasingly bizarre residents. The deeper you listen, the more you realize — this isn't just a town. It's a puzzle. And somewhere in that puzzle?

A plane crash that changed everything.

Somewhere between folklore, found audio, and fever dream, Bootstuck blurs the line between documentary and delusion—offering listeners a place to get lost in, over and over again.

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The Unorganized Township of Bootstuck

TAPE 27 - "Supply Drops and the Ace of Spades"

July 03, 2025 • Richard Vandentillaart / Nick Vardon • Season 1 • Episode 27

Another tape showed up, and I had to listen through the usual haze of static, crosstalk, and a phone call that cut in halfway through. I’m still trying to figure out who is calling them, or how they even have service out there.

The conversation is hard to follow, but there are offhand mentions of aerial supply drops. They talk about waiting for things to “fall out of the sky” like that’s their normal supply chain. No schedule, no pilot contact—just hoping for a box of essentials to appear in a field.

The rest is typical Bootstuck chaos: interruptions about “Pasquale” joining some team, shouts about rules no one seems to agree on, and the constant background argument about who’s in charge of writing it all down.

The recording ends abruptly, but not before one of them mutters something about “the upside-down lady with the Ace of Spades.” I don’t even know what that means. A playing card? A warning? Another local legend?

Honestly, the more of these tapes I hear, the less I understand how any of this place works.

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0:05

Whoop, yep, it's me, and I'm not here anymore.Far away.I took a trip from Bootstuck to the.CENSOR BEEPYeah, yeah, maybe I'm just dreaming.Pinch me.Woo, where am I?Wait a minute.I'd have to record a message, and I don't know how.What button do I push to record?It's a red one, right?Where's the red button?Found a blue button. What's this blue....Well, we have a lot of ground to cover.Yeah, we cover ground mostly with tarps.We get big tarps to cover a lot of ground.All in one day.You cover ground in tarps. tarps and roll in the mountain.That's not what the saying means here.If we get used ones with holes from the baseball gamesand then it takes no time at all. takes Caleb one big kick.Whoop!There it goes.Baseball diamond?Yep, Baseball.You have a baseball diamond.See, think about a diamond ring, but play baseball,make it bigger, take the diamond ring part, and put a lot of people.Well, thanks for clearing that up.Why do you have one?For the basebaaaaaaaaaall fanaticsThere's three of us.All of us like a different team.We' got three teams of one person each. going to be an Olympic sport one day.SportEventSportWhoop!Something like that..SportYep, whoop baseballball.I don't even know where to begin with that.That's okay.We can start with how baseball came about.Or we can talk about Pasqually.He's an interesting guy.Pasqually.In all of our conversations, there hasn't been a Pasquale.Now there is.Think about it.We've never talked about him before., but now we are.That makes sense.So, he's one of the others that are that there with you?Play's on the Orange Base team.The Orange Base team.Okay, so we're here.We might as well cover it.So you have baseball in Boostuck...Three teamswith all the remarkable free time you have sorting out.We stored out the mail.We stored out other things that are going on. like the calendars.You have time for baseballOkay.Yeah, we got the orange team, we got the tangerine team, and we have the dark peach team.Gets confusing.Well, you've chosen three different teams that are similar shades.Well, somebody wanted to be the tangerine team, and then theother guy wanted to be the same team as me, but Isaid, no, you got to be on your own team, because we only only got three players in me.I was that's not going to work out.So he made a team called Clementine.Yep.We just fought all the shirts at the same place, got a bulk discount.Where do you get shirts made?Yeah, you want a shirt made?We'll get it made for you.Shirts and sweaters and mostly sweatshirts, yep.But you're making shirts.We don't make them.We get them made for us, and then they get air shifted and dropped towardsour normal container and cargo compartments.What?They get...It's the same way we got a hold ofHello, you there?Yeah, the guys over there in yonder.We just dial numbers and luck of the draw.Yep.Sometimes you get a pizza place.Who's flying the cargo into you?That's a good question..Small little silver bullet planeYep.It's got two skis on it.Yep,whoop.And an umbrella comes off and drops down a box.Every week.I see.Hey, how you doing?Who is this?My name is guy here talking to you.Who are you?I'm Bill ButtlickerOh, gotta go.How dare you?My family built this country, by the way.Would you hold on one second?That's my other line.Anywho, I would like to tell you another story about something different.You like a slushie?Woo!brain freeze.Think about it.Ice cream trucks coming to town.That's gonna be a fun day.Yeah.February 26th.February 26th, do you have an ice cream?Yeah, we're all looking forward to.They' booked up for June and most of the 2nd June.It takes a while to get some things over here.I don't even know where to begin with this.You can think of anything you want, really.Yep.You can imagine a lot of things.I one time imagined a circus act in my living room.with a lady who was wearing a two-p bikiniupside down, and she sang a song, and when she was done, she showed me in the ace of pates.and when she was done, she showed me in the ace of spadesWhat?

People on this episode

Nick Vardon

Host

Richard Vandentillaart

Host