Gravity Falls Alternate Route

Tourist Trapped

It all started when Dipper and Mabel's parents decided they could use some fresh air. They shipped them off to a sleepy town called Gravity Falls, Oregon, to spend the summer with their great uncle, Stan, in the woods. He had transformed his house into a tourist trap that he called the "Mystery Shack." According to Dipper, the real mystery was why anyone came. The Shack seemed to be nothing more than a collection of fake attractions, yet perhaps that was part of its charm. It was an example of the brilliant creativity of man.

Dipper and Mabel were forced to work at the Shack. "Grunkle" Stan, of course, had no regard for any sort of child labor laws. When questioned about these by the twins, he would typically respond by saying, "When there's no cops around, anything's legal!" Then they would sigh and get back to work, not even being paid for their efforts, as according to him, "This is a family business, kiddos! I'm giving yous two valuable life experience; that's pay enough!"

While Dipper, a hard worker by nature, couldn't stop himself from taking his job seriously, Mabel was preoccupied by any boy that stepped foot into the Shack. It was her mission to go on dates, even with total strangers. Her aggressive flirting style didn't seem to be doing her much good, however. That is, until one fateful day.

Stan needed someone to put up some signs in the woods to point even more gullible tourists towards the Mystery Shack. No one seemed to be eager to do this job, so Stan did as he often does and picked on Dipper, the boy that he wanted to toughen up. Reluctant as he was, Dipper knew better than to disobey his elders, and he journeyed into the forest to fulfill his uncle's request. 

In the midst of hammering nails into tree trunks, one tree produced a strange sound. It was as if it was made of metal. Dipper ran his fingers across its trunk to discover a door that opened towards him with a couple of switches inside. They looked like they hadn't been touched in ages. 

How could no one have noticed this? Dipper wondered to himself as he toyed with the switches. The first didn't seem to do anything, but the second led to yet another opening, this time on some grass not too far away from the tree. A goat standing on the grass scampered away before it fell into the hole created by this opening. Not very far down into the ground lay nothing but a single old book with a six-fingered hand on its cover and the number "3" inscribed in the hand. Dipper picked it up and dusted it off, then immediately began looking through it. He read aloud to himself:

"It's hard to believe it's been six years since I began studying the strange and wondrous secrets of Gravity Falls, Oregon." 

A journal, he thought. He flipped a few pages ahead.

"Unfortunately, my suspicions have been confirmed. I'm being watched. I must hide this book before He finds it. Remember – In Gravity Falls, there is no one you can trust."

Suddenly, Mabel appeared behind him, as if she had teleported. "Whatcha reading, some nerd thing?" she inquired.

Dipper panicked, still in a state of shock at the sequence of events that had just unfolded. "Uh, uh, it's nothing!" he yelped, hiding the journal behind his back.

"'Uh, uh, it's nothing!'" Mabel said, mocking him. "What, are you actually not gonna show me?"

Dipper thought for a moment, then decided he would show her. It was his twin sister, after all, and he had to tell someone. "Let's go somewhere private," he said, the goat from earlier now nibbling at the journal's spine.

Back in the living room of their uncle's house, Dipper told Mabel what he had just discovered. "According to this book, Gravity Falls has this secret dark side."

"Whoa! Shut up!" said Mabel, attempting to appear interested. Normally, what her brother was saying would be of interest to her, but her mind was fixated on something else at the moment. The doorbell rang.