*How Ox plays FO4:* "Why are the safes unlocked? Why haven't they been looted?" *How I play FO4:* "Sweet, unlocked safes!"

There's only one thing that's got me worried.. There's no bathrooms in any of the houses..

"Power Armor stations" are used to lift engine blocks pre war. Post war they are just repurposed for Power Armor

I’m actually pretty happy it isn’t a settlement anymore. It would probably need my help,

Preston annoyed them so much, the settlement packed up and snuck away from the commonwealth in the middle of the night.....

This moment when places like this aren't available as settlements, but shitholes like Murkwater and Zimonja are 😬 This place is a perfect candidate for settlement and needs only some turrets and crops - I'm salty everytime I travel through it 😥

Big crow came down and ate every one to the bone That what the thumbnail suggests Im disappointed that there was no evidence on giant mutated crow.

Can we just talk about how freaking perfect his voice is to tell these stories?

"everyone except the dlc companions talked abut the scene" Even dog meat

Preston: huh, the last time I sa-ANOTHER SETTLEMENT NEEDS YOUR HELP

The dead guy shooting from the window might be an homage of Ben from Night of the Living Dead (68), who shares the same fate.

You have a very soothing voice, I work nights and struggle to sleep during the day, putting your videos on helps me sleep so thank you.

Only problem with the "Institute did it" theory is that X6 is confused. He fully expected people to be there. If the Institute had taken them he most likely would have known. He may not have said anything to you about it but he would know. Instead he sounds puzzled. Also the G1s wouldn't leave the fusion cells behind. Not when their reactor is having issues. The ballistic munitions? Sure. But not the energy ones. I like the idea but it doesn't add up.

I dont think Institute did it. X6 is also confuzed why there arent people there. He may hav been after a synth but he didnt do anithing to those people.

Here’s my theory. A group of settlers arrive at Fairline Hill. Included in that group, a ghoul family. A couple of days after they settle in, 3 of the ghouls start turning feral. So instead of killing them because he can’t bring himself to do it, he locks them up in a bedroom and keeps them secret from the other settlers. One of the settlers starts to hear the sounds coming from the house and people notice that the 3 ghouls went missing. After further investigation, they find the ghouls in the bedroom. They try to get the man to kill the ghouls or let them kill the ghouls. The man refuses and decides to fortify his house so the settlers can’t get in to kill the ghouls. After he opens fire on a settler or 2, they decide it would be best to just leave the settlement. Weeks after they leave, the man becomes severely depressed and shoots himself with his gun. The brahmin would just wander in and would be eaten by passing Yao Gui. And the 2 skeletons at the playground were just killed when the bombs dropped

[edit: In Bunker Hill Tony mentions “that settlement (someone) mentioned? Wiped out.” When talking about why he should fight the Institute. This has got to be Fairline Estates.] [second edit: eh that was probably University Point. But it could be Fairline maybe?] The problem with your theory is that it assumes X6 88 played a part in the disappearances. But, X6 88 couldn’t have been involved, because he is just as surprised as anyone else that no one is currently living there. If he had a hand in the kidnapping the entire town then he would not have been surprised. Now, that doesn’t mean the Institute wasn’t involved, but it means X6 88 himself wasn’t.

I'm still frustrated to the fact that you couldn't launch the ball up at the end of the video

Fairline Estate had to be a Tranquility Lane easter egg from fallout 3

Oxhorn - "As soon as they see you, they attack" pulls out a 5-pound missile launcher from his back pocket and blows them to ashes.

Cosworth's line made my heart sink.

Pint sized slasher probably killed everyone

the only thing wrong with your theory is that X6 was confused that there weren't any people there

This gives me tranquility Lane vibes, Because of the red dog house, the 6 houses, playground, and monkey bars. Maybe, this area was used as a model for tranquility Lane for vault 112. Probably not true, but it's just a guess.

My Theory: Everything there belong to the post-war settlers. As the whole Minuteman collapsed, settlements become unsafe and the people are moving away in haste (just like preston did). The ghouls on the 6th house are pre-war house owner who the settlers didn't bother to kill because it's safely locked and fortified.

@Oxhorn While I like your theory about the guy in the fortified house, there's just one problem. If Raiders or looters killed the man, why are all his weapons and ammo still there? Why didn't the settlers take them? And if the settlers got up to that room, why would they just leave the man's corpse draped over a explosives crate? My guess regarding the man in the house is: He shut his family in that room to protect them and was ready to defend his property when he realized that his family was becoming ghouls. He knew there was nothing he could do for them, he couldn't kill them cause they were his family. So, he killed himself. Put the pipe pistol under his chin and fired. My guess on the settlers is they started to set up shop there, that's why there's so few traces of their presence there, then they ran off when the bears showed up. Maybe they lacked the firepower to kill the bears. Maybe they figured it would be best to cut their losses and run rather than stay and die. Maybe they had just built the ramp to that room when the bears showed up. That's my theory anyway.

I was so focused on him putting the ball on the Teeter totter that I stop paying attention

I think the explaination is much simpler: Remember those bugs in a jar in Skyrim? You could find these rare items and players speculated that they had some hidden meaning, like each bug being symbolic of some trait or event and together they'd form a prophecy about Bethesda finally making and releasing a game that actually went through quality control. But no... no hidden meaning, no secret quest, just something Bethesda initially planned to put into the game and then just didn't, but they didn't delete the bugs in the jars. I think the ex-settlement at Fairline Hill Estates is the same: A part of the game Bethesda simply didn't finish or cut partially from the game, leaving players mystified. It's fun to speculate about these things, but most of these things in games are caused by development constraints, having to meet deadlines or developers simply forgetting them.

1:21 "somthins not rit here" *feet glitching in branch*

Am I the only one who finds it strange there are no bathrooms?

10:00 perfect place for a run away... MIRELURK DEN

0:24 It was at this moment that the yao guai knew he screwed up.

Fairline Estates is three things: a reference to the "disappearing" Roanoke colony, an homage to night of the living dead, and an interesting mystery with no clear solution (a Bugfesta favorite.) Three things of particular note about this location are the abundance of unlooted containers, a fortified house full of feral ghouls with a makeshift ramp up the side that completely undoes the fortifications, and the fact that all the houses are clean and neat. Look at other settlements like this; other houses in the game like these are full of junk, debris, and leaves but these houses are spic-and-span. Always found this place interesting.

I think power armor stations were used to lift cars before the war.

Paint this image: X6 was the run away synth and he was reclaimed re-programmed and forced to track other runaways, the town was wiped out during his reclamation.

Master bedroom, and a floor that is like 10cm thick, holds a big floor safe. Amazing

Good story! I just have one alteration: X6-88 was the runway synth hiding in the fortified house. But since then his mind was wiped and he was repurposed... but he still has flashed of memory from that time.

*hears about nuclear war*....*takes furniture* :|

Its sad that you cant turn that plase in to a settlement

Ya know, I remember going there when I played Fo4. I screamed because I was level 3 versus a stunted and legendary Mao Gui, I ran, screamed some more, and after using everything I had on me; It died. Stupid mutant bears.

If Paladin Danse tells me to keep my Safety off, I'm ADS'ing every corner and moving stealthily and maxing my volume for any movement

I think the power armor rapair station you mentioned could have several other uses, like fixing the car. Remember you fint one in sanctuary and in several other garagues.

I think it's a Tranquility Lane easter egg personally. The boarded up house can reference the Failsafe simulation room, which was supposed to be off limits and protect Braun from its activation. But it might just be a stretch.

Amazing detective skills oxhorn! However if this was around the time the bombs fell why would the survivor have a pipe pistol instead of a modern day firearm? He had them on the walls

of course preston mentions settlements when you approach the place

of course Preston would say it was a settlement

the kickball he kept trying to get on the seesaw is my favorite part XD

I think the fortified house is a Night of the Living Dead reference. Feral ghouls are basically zombies. They overran the settlement, and the survivors tried to fend them off by fortifying the house.

“Look a kick ball.... LETS PLAY” 😂😂😂

This area feels like it could be a shout out for Night of the Living Dead. After all, in the original film those ghouls (the director's term, today we call them zombies) were reanimated by space radiation, and Fallout ghouls are more or less made by exposure to high levels of radiation. And Night of the Living Dead features a group of survivors fortifying a house against the ghouls, only to die one by one... Except for the last one. He survives to morning... Only to be shot on sight by soldiers coming to clear out the undead. I think someone at Bethesda saw the movie - or read the cliff notes - and designed an area around it as set up an "And then 200 years pass" layer on it.

You're reading more into what x6-88 says than is actually there

3:26 alternate theory: the people living there were being attacked and dragged the furniture out to use as cover

4:38 maybe this house was where the vault tec rep lived? Because the vault reps van isn’t in sanctuary? Maybe he quickly drove off but found he was lonely there so he went to sanctuary and talked to codsworth. But codsworth got too annoying so he went to good neighbor.

They all went out to get pancakes.

Ok so, I think X6 would mention if he took out the whole town. There is a near by mutant camp. The mutants could've kidnapped the towns people or drove them out. I think that sounds more plausible than X6 taking everyone during an SRB Mission.

Bunch of people below are saying X6 couldn't have been sent to recover an escaped synth and kidnapped the settlers here, because he seems surprised there are no people. What if he WAS the escaped synth? What if X6 tried to run away but was captured -- and for some reason still has a faint memory of this place after being repurposed by the SRB?

I love how Ox keeps getting confused by X6’s voice lines. Most of what he says doesn’t make any sense because he’s completely crazy.

He said "came *through* here", not "came here". The house is at this point in a secluded spot and fortified, good place for a runaway to hide, synth or not.

Maybe the settlers moved to goodneighbor/diamond city and the Institute wasn't involved at all.

Ox, you have a vivid imagination and theories. I'm glad you are piecing together the puzzle because I don't think I can.

At around 10:55 Cait says “They’ll be back. You’ll see” Who’s they?

This is what happens when you don't do Minutemen radiant quests

This doesn't look like the institutes doing , like at all.

Oxhorn "why is this safe unlocked" Me "nice free loot":

1:26 Danse is my favorite. Everybody else's reaction to confusion is just "heh. . . . Weird." While Danse's reaction is "be ready for anything." Fave. Companion. One problem with the theory: If the institute kidnapped the whole town, why didn't X6 know about it? He seems unsure of why everyone's gone.

I got the feeling that Oxhorn doesn't like the institute :p

I do like this, but I believe there is a slight difference with how things happened in the end: X6-88 does his job, and does it quietly. The person with the 10mm, the escaped synth, is quickly and quietly disappeared. However, it may not have been quickly and quietly enough. One of the other settlers sees the man in the big black coat and sunglasses take away this person, this friend of theirs who had been a part of their community. The Institute is the Commonwealths Boogeyman, after all, and seeing a well dressed man sneak into a persons very home and take them away is precisely what the settlers know of the Institute. When daylight comes and the escaped synth is confirmed to have disappeared, the witness shares what they saw. The settlers panic; they know what happens to those settlements that catch the attention of The Institute. University Point, the CPG, and the like are all very significant events in the recent history of the Commonwealth and undoubtedly affect the reactions of those involved. The run, taking everything they can quickly while the fear is at its highest. In their haste, they even forget their prized brahmin. The brahmin stay behind until, when their hunger and thirst become too much, start to make a racket and draw the yao guai to the scene.

Am I the only one who finds this place ERIELLY similar to Tranquility Lane from Fallout 3? The Playground in the center, the one house no one was supposed to go into. The story may still be a mystery for the pre-war people, but the post-war does make sense. But I believe that Tranquility Lane was made from data of Fairline Estates, art imitating life

This reminds me of the simulation town in fallout 3 where you have to find your dad in the town

I stubbed my toe on the coffee table the other day and you know who's fault that was.? . . . The Institute's fault.

9:55 PERFECT SPOT FOR A RUNAWAY SYNTH DEN

Hey man, I recently started watching these lore videos of yours and they have definitely inspired me to redownload all the fallouts and play back through them. Magnificent content you're making here, a good blend between a walkthrough and a lore lesson that is combined together in a way that keeps it engaging and easily digestible to even someone unaffiliated with the franchise. I know this is an older video and you may not see this comment, but keep up the good work.

Thanks for taking the time to go through all these places with each follower. It must've taken forever. You probably know the map like the back of your hand by now judging by the fine tooth comb you rake through these lands with in each of these videos. Bethesda should be paying you at this point!

Really love how you showed all companions reactions.

WAIT A MINUTE!! The ghouls were left in the town and people covered the house in defenses so if they got out of the room. The man in front of the room of gouls was the watchman for the gouls. The the "bears" attacked and that exsplains the pistol in the one house.For any confusion the people made the fortifications. This is my theory.

In my playthrough the yoigai were killing the glowing one so that was lucky lol

I've been watching your content for about a year now and I absolutely love it, interestingly theory about the institute being behind the disappearance. Keep up the good work man!

I have a weird question for you. Would you think that this area be a Great settlement ?

I agree with your prewar theory because of logical soundness behind it. However I do believe that the bureau and bed frame was evidence of a family moving in the day the bombs fell. Further more I completely disagree with your intitute/post war settlement theory. Listen back to x6-88's voice. The actor made him seem confused that there was no one here after his last run through. This could have been for more than him recapturing a synth. It could have been for recon, passing by, making sure this isn't another bunker hill where they hide synth's. Any which way you slice it x6-88 was still expecting people to live here. When you come across the fortified home, he recognizes the difficulty in entering the home and its armaments. This is why it's a good place for a synth to hide, it's desolate, well armed, only one way in but several ways out, making it a good safe house. Lastly the problems with kidnapping the town ring very clear: A) why wouldn't x6-88 just tell you about it? B) why aren't there any logs in the institute about such a large operation (they keep track of everything, from lost synths to informants to all their 'watchers', so they'd keep track of the abduction of an entire settlement.) ? C) there'd be rumors about across the commonwealth, take the CPG for example, you hear settlers and npc's across the game speaking of the attack on the CPG. Also abductions of single persons are noticed as institute abductions. The fact that none of your companions know what happened shows that this is not only recent, but outside of the institute. Even though the institute specializes in covert operations the commonwealth still catches wind of most of their doings. D) the resources, planning and low key movement of that many institute provisions would be difficult even for the institute, especially to keep it under raps. E) using the settlers for the FEV program doesn't make any sense, out of recourses, time, and difficulty. The institute would just kidnap individuals who don't have attachments and the timeline doesn't work out if Virgil is already a supermutant for the length of time he was and if the disappearances happened as suddenly as I suggest. I don't have any idea of how this could've happened but I doubt the institute had anything to do with it at all. Thank you and I've been enjoying everything you do especially since TheNthApples heartbreaking departure from youtube.

Me : This would be a great settlement! Also me : dude it’s literally empty and creepy My other personality : this settlement needed our help

So this one intrigued me. It's one of those little oddities Bethesda setup with no quests, but enough to make you think about it if you care about such things as you explore. Evidence Yagoi eating fresh Brahmin : Brahmin could have been wild. No yokes or pens keeping the beats in place to suggest they even belonged to the settlers. If they did belong to the settlers, it explores the idea that the settlers vanished recently. Furniture in Street : Likely done by settlers getting rid of junk inside houses that were not useful. Cleaning up. No real signifigance. Could be anything. But furiture looks like it has been there for a long time. Old skeletons : Unlikely pre-war. Seems rather unsavory and unsettling to keep pre-war corpses in a place you want to settle. Power Armor Station : Found throughout the commonwealth, particularly in garages. Not really evidence. Unlocked Safes with Loot / Loot Left Behind : Signs that the settlers left in a hurry. Settlers may have been using them for storage. Doubtful has anything to do with pre-war. Personal effects left behind (gun and ammo) : Signs that the settlers may have left in a hurry. Doubtful pre-war artifact. Settlers would have moved it. One single secured house with ghouls inside : House has untriggered traps House has walkway up to second floor Chains on door (one from inside, one outside upstairs) Facts: Preston Garvey states that it was a small settlement. Not many people. Pre-War story: Likely pre-war inhabitants died pretty quickly. We know that the Sole Survivor and family had very little time before the news broke to get to the Vault. Fairline estates is much closer to the main nuclear blasts than Sanctuary Hills. Though not by much, they would have had less time to begin evacuation upon hearing the news of the first nuclear strikes to the point when they fell on Boston. No Known Settler Corpses : Everything said by companions that knew of the area seems to point to the settlers being around fairly recently. Which means all corpses of settlers found would likely be still intact. It is unlikely the corpse in the house was a settler. He seems to be a third story. Sometime after the bombs dropped, but before the settlers came. Likely self inflicted wound when surrounded by ghouls who eventually got to him. Someone else locked the ghouls in the house. Which could have been the settlers. However... See final notes. Suspects Institute : X6-88 seems to be expecting people to be there Raiders : Little looting. Traps in place. No signs of struggle. Super Mutants : No signs of slaughter Environment : Disease, sources of radiation. No graves as people started dying. Railroad : Not their style, no motive Gunners : No signs of struggle around town and no gunner tags. Children of the Atom : Nothing to attract them here. Not enough rads. Ghouls : Possibly. See final notes. Beasts : Possibly. See final notes. Zetans : Best candidate theoretically. Final Notes: It is unlikely the settlers were killed. They could have been chased off by a horde of ghouls or beasts, leaving a few things behind. Perhaps ghouls, explaining a final struggle in the house trying to maybe lure them in and blow them up with the crate of explosives. But the state of the corpse doesn't sit well here. It is more likely the settlers trapped and locked the house to stop the ghouls inside from coming out, not being able to deal with a glowing one. It is also possible that the glowing one poisoned them with a dose of radiation and ghouled them. Perhaps they went feral and wandered off. We cannot suggest that the settlers moved on. As many companions state, it is a nice place to settle, why aren't there people here. However, we must also consider the proximity of Fairline Estates to other places in the area. The settlement is fairly isolated. Fairline is just north of some other ruins which are inhabited by Raiders and Super Mutants. But we can rule them out for the reasons of evidence and motive. However, we do know that Zetans are still around. One crashes northwest of the estates. Perhaps the Zetans beamed them up like the Lone Wanderer in Mothership Zeta. One thing Bethesda loves to get across is that the wastelands are full of mystery. There may be some other factor here that we aren't privaledged to leaving it an unsolved enigma.

when I discovered it I thought it was the place from fallout 3 but I can't remember its names the Virtual reality town

That theory seems to fit. But X6 mentions that it is strange that there were no longer people. You'd think he would be less puzzled if the people were taken by the institute. Perhaps there was a synth recollection and it scared off the rest of the settlers. *shrugs* either way, that place reminds me too much of tranquility lane XD where freaken Dr Braun is a little girl standing in the middle of the play ground XD

Alternative: No looters shot the guy in the upper room. His family most likely turned into ghouls causing him to lock them in that room. Not wanting the same fate, he most likely killed himself which would explain the position of the skeleton.

i remember that in sanctuary hills, a lady and her daughter were fixing up an old car with a power armor station donated from the red rocket truck stop. apparently it's pretty good for all your general mechanical needs. also, the institute theory makes a lot of sense, what with the synth crows all over the place.

there's a creepy town like that somewhere else and it has a mailman and letters and a mirelurk queen (only clean mailman outfit I could find was on this mailman)

But there's a problem with your final theory. If the institute did kidnap all the residents and X6 was part of it, why would he say "Strange. People were living here the last time I came through. Now, nothing."? He finds it strange that there aren't people there meaning that there were people there when he left. He would probably know if they kidnapped everyone since he was there.

I know this is five years old but I’d like to throw my theory in the ring. I think that the story of the fortified house is different as to what you told. I think that there is only one ore-war person in that building: the ghoul corpse. I think that the settlers were developing their settlement, creating chemistry stations and using safes in some of the buildings, slowly exploring every building. Then one day they grabbed guns, ammo and other loot from their safes, leaving them unlocked, and went to the sixth house, where something horrible was about to happen. When getting to the final room they got surprised by a feral ghoul which they shot, but only after two of them got exposed to lethal amounts of radiation by it’s slashing and biting. Knowing they wouldn’t live long and quite likely turn into ghouls themselves, they willingly but their weapons and loot away in the crate/duffle and let the last survivor chain the door and lock them in the room. While the two radiated were passing away and turning into ghouls, the last survivor was fortifying the house, barricading the doors, placing warning traps like the tesla, cans and eventually even guns. He did this to make sure no one would witness the horror his fellow settlers, his friends, had become. After he was done he lived at the other side of the door for a while, constantly having his hand on the gun, feeling unsafe, but still living there, sleeping in the sleeping bag, hearing noises on the other side. Eventually he couldn’t take it anymore, being the last survivor of the group made him lose his mind and eventually he decided to take his own life. He became the skeleton on the explosive crate. Heyy, but that’s just a theory ;)

I know this is 4 years later but, I agree with you to an extent. I feel like since The courser Says there were people when he first went through that he snuck in to take the runaway synth and seeing the synth disappear suddenly the settlers got scared thinking they were next and left the town to live elsewhere and quickly

I have another option for the post war...hear me out "Aliens" No really...think about it Everyone goes poof no blood No new body food left uneaten guns sting as if some one was just loading them Mutilated cows the cows are not the NORMAL dead Bramin used, when Bethesda wants a dead eaten cow they have two models for it one with it side ripped open and one desiccated and drained of blood. Why use normal cow body so the heads can be knocked off and body parts can be missing. :P anyhow just a theory... Pre war story reminds me of the night of the walking dead, guy is stuck in a hose zombies of people he knew in the other room cant bring him self to kill them gets shot looking out a window by passing by "zombie" hunters could be a Easter egg nod to that

"There really is no way to ride a seesaw with dignity."

Any one notice how simaler the house positioning looks like the simulation in fallout 3 at the end of the game

Absolutely fantastic video, I’m playing fallout 4 blind now and I always come to your channel after I find something interesting in the game.

If anyone have notice. Just on the otherside on the woods. There's a trap dog in a cage. If you free the dog, I think gunner's ambush you. Maybe one of them killed the man. 2nd I think he killed himself to end the suffering madness. 3rd Everyone else left because not of the ghouls but none of the houses have bathrooms.

looks like a town from fallout 3 in the virtual world from one of the vault that we had to find "dad"

love at the end of the video how ox is just trying so hard to keep the kickball and the seesaw.

I just found your lore videos a few weeks ago and I'm hooked, your voice is perfect for these stories, the lore of fallout 4 is pretty interesting and it's my first fallout game.

21:55 “Have I ever told you the definition of insanity?”

I think I enjoyed you trying to launch that kickball with the seesaw way too much. Probably because I would try to do the exact same thing

The one flaw in your story is that X6 says “We should look into it” when approaching the house. He says the word “should” as if the institute hasn’t yet looked into it. I could be wrong. Maybe it’s just a mistake on Betesda’s part.

I love your videos. You make everything that I’ve simply glossed over and looted seem so interesting and meaningful