Chapter 53: Author’s Note – Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens with the author reflecting on the train ride home to Johnstown, Pennsylvania—a journey she uses for writing and reflection. She explains that while the novel is fiction, the emotions required her to ground the setting in reality, eventually rebuilding her hometown as the story’s backdrop. She describes arriving in Johnstown with her mother and noticing clues of a past tragedy: water lines on buildings, brass bars, concrete locks in the riverbed, and an inclined plane. These clues pointed to the Johnstown Flood of 1889.

Adams then recounts the disaster: after days of heavy rain, the South Fork Dam failed on May 31, 1889, sending 20 million tons of water into the valley. The wave, up to forty feet high, destroyed four square miles of downtown. Debris piled up at the Stone Bridge and caught fire, burning for three days. More than 2,209 people died. The American Red Cross, led by Clara Barton, arrived for its first major peacetime relief effort.

The author notes that the dam was owned by the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, a retreat for wealthy industrialists like Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, and Henry Clay Frick. The club modified the dam for their convenience, lowering its height and reducing its ability to discharge stormwater. After the flood, lawsuits resulted in the disaster being labeled an “Act of God.” It was not until 2013 that the club’s misrepresentations were officially acknowledged, confirming what locals had long believed: the flood was caused by wealthy negligence.

Adams then turns to a second historical event: the racial banishment of 1923. She describes growing up as one of three Black students in her school and sensing an unexplained anxiety. Research, especially Cody McDevitt’s Banished from Johnstown, uncovered a 1923 incident. After a drunken brawl in the Black neighborhood of Rosedale led to the deaths of one Black man and four white police officers, Mayor Joseph Cauffiel ordered all Black residents who had lived there less than seven years to leave. He banned new Black and Mexican laborers and prohibited Black gatherings except for worship. Though the decree was never formally enforced, two thousand Black and brown people left within a week. Cauffiel lost his office, and ten crosses burned in the hills.

Adams connects the two tragedies: the flood shows the carelessness of the wealthy destroying a working-class town, and the banishment illustrates white fear driving out Black residents. She concludes that confronting these ugly truths—with anger and fear—is necessary for understanding and healing. Anger, she says, fueled her writing, and facing the truth can inspire change.

Key Events

The author describes her train journey to Johnstown and the clues she saw as a child.
She recounts the Johnstown Flood of 1889, including the dam failure, the wave, the fire at Stone Bridge, and the death toll.
She explains the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club’s role and the subsequent legal cover-up.
She details the 1923 racial banishment ordered by Mayor Joseph Cauffiel and the exodus of two thousand Black and brown residents.
She reflects on the parallels between the two historical events and her personal experience of estrangement from her hometown.
She concludes by urging readers to face uncomfortable truths.

Character Development

Erin E. Adams (author/narrator): Shares her personal history of moving to Johnstown with her mother, her anxiety as one of few Black students, and her journey to research the town’s hidden past. Her growth involves moving from unease to active excavation of historical truths.
Liz (protagonist of Jackal): Referenced as a parallel figure—like Liz, Adams had to face what homecoming meant to her.
Clara Barton: Mentioned as leading the American Red Cross’s first major peacetime relief effort after the flood.
Andrew Carnegie, Andrew Mellon, Henry Clay Frick: Represent the wealthy elite of the South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club.
Robert Young, Otto Nukem, Otto Fink, Joseph Louis Abrahams, John James: Victims and officers involved in the 1923 brawl.
Mayor Joseph Cauffiel: Issued the banishment decree.
Cody McDevitt: Historian whose book Banished from Johnstown provided crucial documentation.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Negligence of the wealthy: The flood is directly linked to the club’s modifications and the legal system protecting them.
Racial banishment and white fear: The 1923 decree and cross burnings illustrate systemic racism and forced displacement.
Historical excavation: Adams uses the metaphor of collecting clues (water lines, brass bars, hidden records) to uncover truths that official history obscured.
Homecoming: The author’s unease with Johnstown mirrors Liz’s struggle; confronting the town’s past becomes a way to reclaim home.
Anger and fear: Adams acknowledges anger as a driving force for writing, but notes that behind anger lies fear, which can be overcome by facing truth.
Scars and clues: Physical remnants (water lines, inclined plane) and social scars (segregation) serve as symbols of unresolved trauma.

Why This Chapter Matters

This Author’s Note grounds the novel’s supernatural and psychological horror in real historical horrors. It reveals that the tension between Liz and the town of Johnstown is not merely fictional—it stems from actual events of class exploitation and racial violence. The chapter also provides a clear authorial statement: the book is an act of excavating hidden truths. For readers, it transforms the story from a thriller into a commentary on how communities bury their darkest moments. The note underscores the importance of remembering and naming injustice, especially when those in power have tried to erase it.

Study Questions and Answers

1. What two historical events does Adams link in this note, and how does she connect them?
She links the Johnstown Flood of 1889 and the racial banishment of 1923. Both events reveal how powerful groups—wealthy club members and white authorities—sacrificed the safety and well-being of marginalized residents. The flood shows negligence by the rich; the banishment shows deliberate exclusion by white fear. Together they form a pattern of harm rooted in greed and prejudice.

2. Why does Adams say she had to “face what homecoming meant” to her?
Growing up as one of three Black students in Johnstown, she felt constant anxiety and sensed a hidden history. To write the novel honestly, she needed to investigate why the town was so segregated and why she felt unsafe. Researching the 1923 banishment and the flood’s class dynamics helped her understand her own unease and allowed her to craft a more authentic story.

3. How does the author use the concept of “clues” (e.g., water lines, brass bars) as a narrative device?
These physical clues are remnants of past tragedies that the town carries but does not explicitly discuss. Adams uses them as metaphors for the way history leaves marks on a place. For her, collecting these clues (and later historical documents) becomes a method of detecting truths that official accounts have obscured. The process mirrors how Liz in the novel must piece together enigmatic occurrences.

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