Worumbo A Dark and Dusty Thrill Ride Of Mind Control In Lisbon Falls

Mark LaFlamme digs Lisbon.

The news reporter and author lives in Lewiston, but in private hours, you'll often find him prowling here, looking for news or just listening to the buzz of the city.

"Lisbon is mysterious," LaFlamme says. "To me, it feels like something hot is always simmering on somebody's back burner – things to which an outsider is not necessarily privy. It intrigues me to no end."

LaFlamme is especially drawn to the area around the former Worumbo Mill in Lisbon Falls, as witnessed in his latest work of fiction. It goes something like this:


 

Area 51 in Nevada?

 

No. Worumbo Mill in Lisbon Falls, Maine.

Local author Mark LaFlamme's first novel suspiciously remained under wraps until this, the 25th anniversary of the blaze that reduced most of Worumbo to blackened ruins.

 The result is pure serendipity. In "Worumbo," LaFlamme casts an eerie light into the deepest, darkest corners of the iconic mill, exploring one of the nastiest secrets in American history – the CIA's post-war experiments with mind control.

Jack Wilding is a young newspaper reporter with a blossoming psychic gift – he can hear the thoughts of his fellow man; random snippets that come to him unbidden. It's the kind of ability most journalists can only dream of, but the voices bring Jack no joy. Some thoughts, he will find, were not meant to be shared. And along with the voices in his head come the memories – dim recollections of a childhood experience at the spooky mill along the banks of the Androscoggin River.

The Lisbon landmark is no stranger to the page. The legendary mill is frequently on the creative sidelines, used as a prop in Stephen King's latest novel and whispered about by UFO theorists around the country. But in LaFlamme's latest work, Worumbo takes center stage and the author leaves no creaky beam or rusty cog unturned as he lays bare once and for all the grim secrets that have hidden for so long among the cobwebs and crumbled bricks.

"Worumbo" isn't so much a history lesson as it is a horrifying thrill ride through the dark and dusty caverns of a place that has waited long for its story to be told.

Available in digital form or paperback at your favorite bookseller. To find out more, visit www.marklaflamme.com. 

"Worumbo" was written in 2004 with the help of an authentic cog purchased from the Worumbo Mill Outlet, which still stands on Route 196 in the heart of Lisbon Falls.

A reporter and columnist at the Sun Journal in Lewiston, Mark has published the novels "The Pink Room," "Vegetation," "Dirt: An American Campaign" and "Delirium Tremens" as well as the short story collection "Box of Lies" and the novelette "Asterisk: Red Sox 2086."

For interviews or further information, he can be contacted through www.marklaflamme.com/contact.