The old Danielson cabin is a location in the Savage Divide region of Appalachia in Fallout 76, introduced in the Ghoul Within update. It is situated directly west of the hillside cavern.
Background[]
At some point prior to the Great War, Hetty Danielson, a professor at an unknown university, took a vacation at this cabin with her husband. Hetty took a term off from the university to have a respite from the stress of teaching, but was paranoid that she had been followed there by one of her students. Although Hetty believed she was being stalked by this student, her husband was doubtful and considered sending her to Allegheny Asylum.[1]
Ultimately, Hetty was right to be fearful, as the student stalked her and tracked her down to the cabin, believing they could not stand a full term of school without seeing her. After staking out the cabin and its residents for a few days, the student saw Hetty's husband enter the nearby shed. They took this opportunity to attack and kill Hetty's husband. Initially, the stalker had planned to cook Mr. Danielson into a meal that they would serve to Hetty, but Hetty witnessed the murder, and the stalker was forced to kill her, too. The stalker beheaded the Danielsons and preserved their bodies to cannibalize them. The stalker decided that, now that they had taken over the cabin, it would serve as a suitable place to indulge in the crime of cannibalism, away from prying eyes.[2]
The stalker proceeded to use the cabin as a stage for murdering and cannibalizing victims. They accumulated several bodies that were dumped in a burial hole behind the cabin.[3] They developed a system for kidnapping unsuspecting patrons of the nearby Red Rocket Mega Stop to kill and devour. However, when the bombs dropped, the cannibal drove there and found the gas station abandoned, seemingly unaware that the war had taken place due to the cabin's isolation. They realized that "something catastrophic" must have happened and lamented that it would ruin their system for acquiring people to eat.[4] At some point after this, the stalker devolved into a wendigo due to their practice of cannibalism, and they continue to lurk in the area surrounding the cabin.[5]
Layout[]
The old Danielson cabin is found at the end of a dirt road north of the Bailey family cabin and Vault 79. There is a parked yellow car on the path outside of the cabin. A tree has fallen on the cabin itself, causing some damage to the roof. Inside the cabin, there is a desk with a chainsaw on it across from the entrance. A cuckoo clock hangs on the wall, while a fireplace with a deer head mounted above the mantlepiece is to the right. The broken doorway next to the desk leads into the kitchen and dining area. There is a cooking station in the corner and a potential recipe spawn on the kitchen counter; there is also a first aid box on the wall above it. A door on the left opens up to a small bedroom area, with a bed and dresser inside. Another door at the back of the kitchen leads to the small back porch, where some crates and broken appliances have been tossed away against the rock wall.
On the west side behind the cabin is a massive ditch where several skeletons are found, a burial hole for the cannibal's victims. To the east, directly to the side of the cabin, is a garden where crops, including melon and mutfruit, are growing. Further east is the shed outbuilding, which has several junk items inside.
In the wilderness to the north of the cabin, a chem box and cooler make up a chems stash hidden underneath some rocks.
Notable loot[]
- Hetty is loosing her mind - Note, on a desk in the den.
- A failed dinner - Note, on a side table in the kitchen.
- Change of plans - Note, on a dresser in the bedroom.
- Potential recipe - On the counter of the kitchen.
- Potential magazine - On the shelves of the bookcase in the den.
Notes[]
- Upon entering the kitchen, an activator will be triggered to spawn a wendigo in the nearby tree line, showing what happened to the cannibal who occupied the cabin. A wendigo may not spawn if other players have visited the cabin recently and/or even killed the wendigo, though the spawn will occur if the location has not been recently disturbed. This is most easily observed on a private Fallout World.
- The desk in the living room of the cabin is guaranteed to spawn a chainsaw. It may not appear if it has already been taken by other players on the server, but if it does, it will always be a standard chainsaw.
- The note Hetty is loosing her mind, found at this location, mentions "check[ing] her into Allegheny for a bit," apparently in reference to Allegheny Asylum, which closed down in March 2061.[6] This may indicate that the Danielsons were killed at some point prior to that, which would mean that the cannibal occupied the cabin for over 16 years before the Great War occurred. However, there are no dates on any of the notes found at the cabin, and it is not known for certain how long the cannibal used Red Rocket Mega Stop as a source of victims, nor how long it took to fill up the hole with bodies near the cabin. Hetty's husband may also have been speaking metaphorically or was unaware of Allegheny's closure; alternatively, the cannibal may have indeed spent many years at the cabin, the mention of Allegheny by itself may refer to something else, or the reference was a simple oversight.
Appearances[]
The old Danielson cabin appears only in Fallout 76, introduced in the Ghoul Within update.
Behind the scenes[]
- Level designer Ryan Johnson worked on the creation of this location.[Non-game 1]
- This location, including the main cabin and its tool shed, broadly references the Knowby Cabin from the 1981 horror film The Evil Dead and its 1987 sequel, which are entries in the Evil Dead franchise. The interior layout of the old Danielson cabin closely resembles the Knowby Cabin, including the general arrangement of the rooms, as well as a desk immediately opposite the entrance, and a fireplace to the right with a deer head mounted above it. Additionally, the desk at the old Danielson cabin is a guaranteed spawn for a chainsaw, which is an iconic weapon for the Evil Dead series' protagonist, Ash Williams.
- The cabin used in the filming of The Evil Dead was a real-life location in Morristown, Tennessee, but it burned down some time after the release of the 1981 film. A new cabin in Wadesboro, North Carolina, was built specifically for filming of Evil Dead II.
- One of the original occupants of the old Danielson cabin was Hetty Danielson. Hetty is a diminutive form of Henrietta, which is also the name of Henrietta Knowby, a character from the Evil Dead franchise and one of the namesakes of the Knowby Cabin, on which the old Danielson cabin is based.
- Level designer Ryan Johnson originally wanted to add a cellar to the old Danielson cabin, further referencing the cellar of the Knowby Cabin seen in the Evil Dead films, but this would have required creating a small interior cell. The team did not have time to do this, since the location was added late into the development of Ghoul Within. Instead, Johnson placed a carpet where the cellar would be.[Non-game 1]
- When this location was first added in the Public Test Server, it did not have a map marker and was unmarked. It was given a map marker, bearing its current name, with the February 7, 2025, update to the PTS (v1.7.18.3).
Gallery[]
Parked car
Burial hole
Inside the cabin
Potential magazine spawn
The skulls of the Danielsons on the mantelpiece
Kitchen (A failed dinner)
Behind the cabin
Garden
Tool shed
Chem stash to the north
References[]
Non-game
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Ropiequet (Ryan Johnson) on Reddit: "Hey there! I'm the level designer who made the cabin. I wanted to add in the cellar, but ended up not doing so because of how late I added it in :/
It would have required a small interior cell, so instead I placed the carpet over where it should be. So maybe there is secretly a hatch down there? Maybe there IS somebody in my fruit cellar!
Glad you enjoyed it otherwise! :) we had a lot of fun making this update! "
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