Spud Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Hello, It's been awhile since I've been on the site. Last time I was on I was in a discussion about the Atari Landfill in Alamogordo New Mexico. I used to live there and mentioned I had a copy of a newspaper story on this from the local paper but now couldn't find it. I'm sure everyone just thought I was full of it. Well I went back this past week with my trusty video camera in hand. Went to the library, found the article again along with 3 or 4 more, not to mention a couple of photos, one that clearly has silver label boxes in them. The other shows a 40 or so feet deep pit dug out with a bulldoser, and cement trucks in the bottom crushing and covering everthing up. Also, I interviewed on camera a city employee who was a junior in high school at the time, he said he didn't see it happen first hand but it was a big event in town, and it's a small town. He did say a friend claims to have found 3 games out at the dump back then, all the same, he thought maybe asteroids but not sure. He also told me and showed me on a arial map where the old city landfill was that this took place. I have this on video as well Last but not least, I went to the landfill and shot a few mins of footage on film. It's now closed and sometimes used by people to ride off road bikes, 4 wheelers and such on the dunes where some things are buried. Now, heres my situation. Right now I could still be full of it. I'm sure some are doubting as you read this, it's been a debate for so long, would it be better to finally put the proof out there and end one of the biggest mysteries about atari or let the lore go on. I probably can't sit on this for long. It will take me a little while to get the video online and such. I was toying with the idea or making a webpage to host it put a paypal please donate button to maybe help pay for the trip. But to be honest it was fun, but gas was alot, and I like Atari and all, but I don't know if I want to go through the trouble of making a site, I'm still debating this, or I may go with someone who has a atari site that wants to put it on their site, it will take some broadband for the videos, just as long as I can get the credit for getting the proof, and maybe a donate 50 cents if you like it to the gas card fund. I'll get to working on this some tomorrow. Bruce S. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oleanhosting Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 I can provide the hosting, if someone wants to provide the webpage design Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haydn Jones Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 what sort of condition would cart cases be in left in a desert for 20 years... could they be recycled if the site has been found. Great for homebrewers and the enviroment (tho i am not sure they have one around there) haydn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Just make an mpeg and ask around. I'm sure someone will host it. :wink: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davepesc Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Interesting. I would love to see those articles. Otherwise, we just have more people talking about how their brother's former girlfriend's uncle twice-removed saw it for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malc74 Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Now, heres my situation. Right now I could still be full of it. Yes, you certainly could. So here's an idea. Why not post the newspaper name, date and page of each of the articles you found. I'm sure there's someone who posts at Atariage who lives in New Mexico and could verify your information with a trip to a major library. This saves all the hassle of waiting for you to find someone to host your video, and confirmation could be obtained pretty quickly. ...would it be better to finally put the proof out there and end one of the biggest mysteries about atari or let the lore go on. Why would you not want to post this evidence if you have it (and went to all the trouble and expense to get it?) Incidentally, I apologise if you really are genuine, but I've seen too many timewasters on various forums who post broadly along the lines of what you've just posted ("I have the proof about (insert whatever story here)! But I can't upload it just yet. And I'm not sure if I should anyway. And I'd like some cash for my trouble. etc, etc") 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goochman Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Why does this look like the start of a bad Twin Peaks episode 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Monkey Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Why does this look like the start of a bad Twin Peaks episode There were no bad Twin Peaks episodes... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lost Monkey Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 ....so maybe the time has come? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philflound Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 Go for it. I'd donate a buck from my paypal account to see the info. I believe that this happened, despite all the people who think it hasn't. There are many times when people will find dumpsters full of items that are still good to sell, but the company just doesn't want it, or possibly they went out of business. It costs more to store than dump and write off. An aquaintance of mine drives a garbage truck. He has hooked me up many times with vintage video games and systems that people just threw out. He does flea markets and shows part time from things he finds on the curb. I would not doubt he's made 10s of thousands of dollars in the years he's been doing this. One time my neighbor threw out a slew of albums and 45s. I took them all, put only about 12 on Ebay, Beatles, Monkees and more popular ones, pulled in over $100, then gave my friend all the rest. I've stopped at people's garbage several times. In fact, I had found a C64 boxed with a loose disk drive, though no power cord for the drive. I didn't have the wire to connect it to the tv, but the power light turned on. Someone on here was supposed to purchase it too. Though we never finished the deal. That was about 6 months ago right after I got married. My wife thinks I'm nuts, but it's a shame to throw away some good vintage item(s) that someone is willing to pay money for, and even wants. Once it's destroyed that's it. As for the landfill, if there is hardly any rain, or possibly no rain at all,the carts may still be in real nice condition. Especially if they are still in the mailer boxes and shrinkwrapped. I wish I could get in there. Phil Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neotokeo2001 Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 As for the landfill, if there is hardly any rain, or possibly no rain at all,the carts may still be in real nice condition. Especially if they are still in the mailer boxes and shrinkwrapped. I wish I could get in there. Phil Miss the part about being crushed with cement poured on top? A few may have survived but it sure would'nt be worth the effort. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+moycon Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 I won't hold my breath. Sorry don't believe a word of the story. Feel free to prove the nay sayers wrong though, that goes out to everyone. Feel free to provide some documented proof, a pic, a video, an office memo...anything!!! This would have been a huge undertaking, transporting millions of carts, providing bulldozers, cement trucks, it's amazing how not one photo was taken of this, not one person has come forward and even admitting to being onsite when it happened. No sir, you'll need more than words to convince me. That huge of a project should have been documented out the ass, someone provide some proof please. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tempest Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 I want to believe! Tempest 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+moycon Posted March 21, 2005 Share Posted March 21, 2005 I want to believe! Tempest That's how I feel about BigFoot While their at it, can someone please post a video of BigFoot also please. (Not the Patterson film) Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
128bytes Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 As for the landfill, if there is hardly any rain, or possibly no rain at all,the carts may still be in real nice condition. Especially if they are still in the mailer boxes and shrinkwrapped. I wish I could get in there. Phil Miss the part about being crushed with cement poured on top? A few may have survived but it sure would'nt be worth the effort. You know, a cement-crushed E.T. cart from the actual New Mexico landfill would probably be more valuable than a common E.T. cart... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sandmountainslim Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 What carts are supposedly in the landfill, only ET right? If so I am sure everyone who wants a copy has one and several people who dont want it have it as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+FujiSkunk Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 What carts are supposedly in the landfill, only ET right? If so I am sure everyone who wants a copy has one and several people who dont want it have it as well Reportedly some Pac-Man carts also ended up in the scrap heap, and some other titles may have been steamrolled as well. I believe this has been mentioned elsewhere, but Snopes has a write-up on the mystery here. According to Snopes, the story is true, though curiously the article doesn't offer any proof in the way of links to other articles or web sites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delicon Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 According to Snopes, the story is true, though curiously the article doesn't offer any proof in the way of links to other articles or web sites. There is a reference to a New York Times article from 1983, "Atari Parts Are Dumped." at the bottom. Has this been verified? Vern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sku_u Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 The landfill story's bunk. If it were true, why did Atari re-issue ET a few years later??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nukey Shay Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 It was good enough for the bean counters at the time...if it wasn't, somebody would have faced charges of fraud. A few points here: NO - a company does not usually "document out the ass" of what is written off and thrown away. Their only concern here is to satisfy the auditors. I know for a fact that this is how it works...because I've done my share of trashing dead weight inventory for other companies that I've worked for. NO - any product found at the site would not be in any salvageable condition (done in order to fulfill the above). Forget about being able to use them in any way if the product was written off as excess/obsolete. YES - everybody here knows the story and is already sick to death of it. YES - this trip would be a wasted effort. Go to the beach instead 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MayDay Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 The New York Times article does exist, however it is archived and you have to pay to read it. I found the intro here: http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nytimes/119298...arts+Are+Dumped Here is the relevent information from the free preview: Atari Parts Are Dumped New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Sep 28, 1983. pg. D4, 1 pgs Document types: article Section: Business Digest ISSN/ISBN: 03624331 Text Word Count 123 Document URL: Abstract (Document Summary) With the video game business gone sour, some manufacturers have been dumping their excess game cartridges on the market at depressed prices. Now Atari Inc., the leading video game manufacturer, has taken dumping one step farther. But I guess we all know how reliable the Times is now... wonder if the same was true back then? -Jason Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NE146 Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 According to Snopes, the story is true, though curiously the article doesn't offer any proof in the way of links to other articles or web sites. There is a reference to a New York Times article from 1983, "Atari Parts Are Dumped." at the bottom. Has this been verified? Vern What.. the NY Times article? Well I know there's a scan of it here. http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=52494 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inky Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 I bought the NYTimes article and pasted it in one of the other billion ET threads.... Here it is.. Knock yerself out. http://www.atariage.com/forums/viewtopic.p...ght=york#525838 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Albert Posted March 22, 2005 Share Posted March 22, 2005 I would not doubt that this is true, and if it is, it's probably along the lines as what was described in the short New York Times article. In that the games were covered with concrete and effectively destroyed, to prevent anyone from attempting to dig them up. I don't think we'll ever see any examples of these games dug up from this landfill, given that you'd need heavy duty excavating equipment, and who knows how many years of garbage are on top of the dumped Atari games. Spud, I'd be glad to host any video you create so people can view it. ..Al Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spud Posted March 22, 2005 Author Share Posted March 22, 2005 I would not doubt that this is true, and if it is, it's probably along the lines as what was described in the short New York Times article. In that the games were covered with concrete and effectively destroyed, to prevent anyone from attempting to dig them up. I don't think we'll ever see any examples of these games dug up from this landfill, given that you'd need heavy duty excavating equipment, and who knows how many years of garbage are on top of the dumped Atari games. Spud, I'd be glad to host any video you create so people can view it. ..Al I agree with you there when I get the photo online of the pit, it makes the cemet truck thats in it look like a tonka toy. Also although I have it narrowed down to the landfill the exact spot is still unknown. There are hills where items have been covered, if it's just the last section worked on before the landfill was closed or if there were other areas that were flattened down after work has been compleated in the past. I do have some contact names in the articles. I tried to find the writer at the newspaper office while I was in town but of course the person who I spoke with had heard of him. She was young thought and a follow up call may be helpful. I didn't have the time I wanted to do all the investagating I would have liked too but it's a start. Albert, I would like it very much if you would put the video on Atari Age that would be great. I'm not a professional reporter or cameraman, some of the footage looks like it's out of the Blair Witch movie, shaky and all, at the dumpsite. I was filming some while driving and such. I'll get a scan of one a couple of the stories on here real fast, hopefuly within the hour. Bruce S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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