Cthulhu in Anchorage Alaska 

Hellbend, California

Welcome to Hellbend, California, population 82 just a bump in the road on the way into Death Valley (map). It covers an area of 799 acres and was founded in 1940. In 1950, the population peaked at 3,526. As of the cenus of 2000, the population had shrunk to 82. The industry that drove the population of 1950 was Hunt Electrodynamics. Now, there is just tourism. Temperatures range from a high of 128F (53.3C) to a low of 18F (-7.7C).

Hunt Electrodynamics

Arthur Hunt, a home-schooled genius from rural Ohio formed Hunt Electrodynamics (now Hunt Electronics) in 1926. With three significant patents by Hunt in its first year of operation, the company was rapidly flush with capital. By the time radio and rural electrification had swept the nation, Hunt was already at the head of the pack — the Hunt Resistor was a standard electronic component in nearly every radio produced between 1933 and 1949.

With World War II, Hunt revenues exploded and the company grew to gargantuan proportions. By 1945, Hunt  Electrodynamics employed nearly 11,000 individuals across the U.S. In a move that  would prove his genius, Hunt expanded his business into home electronics such as washing machines, refrigerators and freezers, as well as electric ovens. By 1948, Hunt was the second largest producer of such items behind Westinghouse.

In his lifetime, Hunt guided the privately held company in several odd directions; first, the company never went public. Secondly, though it did have large offices in both Los Angeles and New York, Hunt ran the business from the Hunt Electrodynamics plant he had constructed at great expense in Hellbend, California; in the center of one of the most inhospitable places on earth; Death Valley.

More to come...