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Pre-Unification (Twentieth and Early Twenty-First Century)
Exhibition & Auction of Relics
Presented by Sotheby's
San Angeles, New Pangaia
August 12, 2152
Auction Catalog -- Page 12
HEADLINERS (continued)
The Winchester Demon Car
Lot Number: 67WCH
Quantity: 1 (One)
Condition: Damaged
Expected Bid Range: $20,000,000.00 - $40,000,000.00
Description: Gasoline1-powered automobile, manufactured by Chevrolet/General Motors Corporation, mid-20th Century, in Detroit, Michigan. Vehicle is tentatively identified as a Chevrolet Impala, insofar as can be determined from extant official records and cultural ephemera.
Black steel frame with chrome and rubber accents. Includes partial original identification placard (Kansas ??Z 2Y5). Black and white leather interior. All original accouterments and mechanical devices. False-bottomed compartment in rear features an array of contemporary personal curiosities and weaponry (included in auction lot, and sold as-is).
Certificates of Authenticity accompany this Lot, and may be viewed in the Auction Office.
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- "Woe betide the traveler on the lonely road who encounters this car, or the shotgun-wielding shades of the two brothers. By the light of the full moon, The Demon Car transforms into a monstrous beast. But, don't make the mistake of thinking you're safe for the rest of the month. Seeing the Car is an omen of death in the family. Crossing the car's wake will bring you more bad luck than breaking a mirror. And anyone foolish enough to stand with one foot in each tire track will see a vision of their own death. (Presumably at the vengeful hands of the Winchester brothers.)
"Of course, firsthand verification for these tales is never available. It's always the 'friend of a friend' who encounters the car. These stories spring from our imperfect knowledge of Pre-Unification times, and from our fear that another such dark age might fall during our own lifetimes."2
Goslar's point is well taken. The tumultuous decades which preceded civilization's second renaissance continue to fascinate scholars and storytellers all over the world. A historical perspective is necessary to place the Winchester family in its proper context. Everyone nowadays knows the stories of The Messenger, and The Opening of the Way; and of the peace and prosperity they brought to the world. However, as the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20. To the primitive peoples living in the Pre-Unification age, an inter-dimensional portal opening in Yellowstone Caldera (formerly the United State of Wyoming), meant the end of the world. Pockets of misguided individuals sought to overthrow what they believed to be an invasion of "evil" and "occult" forces pouring unchecked from a "Devil's Gate," like water from a shattered dam.
- "Whenever the Winchesters crossed paths with The Messenger, they usually ignored what He was sent to say in favor of attempting to kill him. This reaction is interesting (and rather ironic), considering several of the Pre-Unification's major religions prominently featured tales of a Messiah foretold by heralds and prophets. But, violence was a typical contemporary response. Things not comprehended must be eliminated. And eventually, the eldest Winchester brother did succeeded in (if you'll pardon the pun) killing The Messenger."3
It is an idea nearly inconceivable to the modern mind, but Pre-Unification religious beliefs demanded blind faith and tribute to an inaccessible deity, with no promise of reward. This belief system, coupled with the proliferation of competing religious doctrines, created a society with no unifying god. Even individuals who devoted their lives to their chosen deity or deities were subject to crises of faith. In addition, this insured that religious wars and crusades ravaged the world continually, as they had done since the dawn of human civilization.
Into this world, the Winchesters were born. It is therefore hardly surprising that they viewed the coming of The Messenger and The Opening of the Way with superstitious dread. It is even less surprising when one considers that the youngest Winchester son, Samael, was one of the first Anointed. Despite being touched by The Messenger shortly after his birth, and despite his mother's Transubstantiation, Samael was just as monstrous as his charming psychopath of an elder brother, Dean. Samael's powerful telepathy and telekinesis raged unrestrained until the Battle of Kansas in 2012, (the turning point in the War of Unification) -- when Samael at last accepted his place at the right hand of He Who Shall Not Be Named. Many historians believe that the second Transubstantiation of an unnamed female companion, only served to strengthen Samael's misguided belief that the force rising within him was to be hated and feared.
Thus Dean and Samael took after their father John, each accruing impressive criminal records in numerous jurisdictions. Until The Opening of the Way in 2007, they cut a zig-zagging swath of murderous destruction across the former United American States. Following the death of Dean Winchester, however, the Demon Car disappeared. As decades passed and eyewitnesses to the War of Unification died, most people came to believe that the car had never really existed; that the tales of the Winchesters were only folklore. Even the story of The Prodigal Son was considered nothing more than a simple parable.
Then in 2072, Dr. Bennett Burton excavated a Pre-Unification site in the former Badland Territory. Everything had remained perfectly preserved beneath the meters of volcanic ash that buried the area during the cataclysmic 2014 eruption of Mt. Harney. Burton's dig unearthed not only the charred ruins of a twenty-first century dwelling, but numerous contemporary vehicles. So many, in fact, that Burton concluded the site must have been a salvage yard -- a repository for old and damaged vehicles, which were then broken down for parts. This was an incredibly rich find in and of itself. Yet, two weeks later, the earth divulged an even greater treasure. Diggers at the northwest end of the excavation, working delicately with picks and brushes, removed the last ash and rubble from the Winchester Demon Car. Dr. Burton must have felt like Howard Carter peering into Tomb 62, or Heinrich Schleimann standing in the ruins of Troy. Even after he had verified his find, he still could not believe it.
The Winchester Demon Car was exhibited by The Unification Museum of Culture in 2075. Over the next five years, it toured the world in a traveling Exhibition of Badlands artifacts that was hugely successful, but plagued by many accidents.
Dean Winchester was widely alleged to have perished in The Demon Car during the Battle of Kansas, though few accounts exist chronicling this late and grim chapter in the War of Unification. Nonetheless, numerous spectators at the Exhibition reported glimpses of a shadowy presence; and feelings of unease and fear. Following a string of strange incidents, the car gained a reputation for being cursed.
- "Alexander Lempkin stood in line for two days to attend the Exhibition when it reached the Eastern Protectorate. He showed up with a rock hidden in his pocket, which threw at the car, cracking the windshield. He contended that the Exhibition was 'profane and an offense to modern morality.' He was arrested and fined, and he spent the night in prison. The next morning, having damaged a priceless artifact, but unshaken in his religious zealotry, he went home. Two weeks later, Lempkin's body was discovered by his landlady. He was too badly decomposed for a cause of death to be determined.
"After the Exhibition, the car passed from owner to owner. Two died attempting to drive the car. One was decapitated while examining the engine, when the hood slammed shut on his neck. Several others were injured in various ways. The car had a tendency to break free of garages and roll away from trailers, as if seeking the open road. Finally, it was crated and secured in a warehouse at the Unification Museum of Culture -- the only place willing to take it. The Demon car had come home again. But whether it will rest quietly, only Dean Winchester can say for certain."4
In October of 2151, Sotheby's acquired the Winchester Demon Car, following a catastrophic fire on the museum grounds. After three-quarters of a century, the car returns to public view, accompanied by a stunning array of Pre-Unification relics. The Winchester Brothers and their cursed chariot have cast a long shadow in the minds of the fanciful, speeding down empty highways in the dead of night, the car's engine howling like a chorus of the damned. We are delighted to offer our hospitality to this legendary survivor of a mysterious, maligned and misunderstood age.
Sotheby's assures its prospective bidders and exhibition viewers that the Winchester Demon Car has been thoroughly inspected and vetted by a Price-Waterhouse Mage, and has been certified 100% free from occult influence. As always, you may bid with confidence.
1 A flammable fuel created from petroleum (fossil oil), and used to power the internal combustion engines of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
2Goslar, Olivia The Last Outlaws, Simon & Schuster, 2145, page 134.
3ibid, page 41.
4ibid, page 316.