Dale Vandermeer

Dale Vandermeer. He is a homicide detective currently working on solving the case of Laura Vanderboom. It’s hard work, but he’s getting so close— he can feel it. There’s got to be something he’s missing. Maybe if he could find more information on Rusty Lake. Dale is a man with black hair (with some grey hairs on the side) and a beard. He wears a suit. He appears as old and haggard from his entire body being covered in scars.

During the Fall of 1971, Dale leads the investigation on the murder of Laura Vanderboom. He finds Laura's dead body lying on the floor, with a trail of blood leading into the Room. When he tries to enter, the door disappears. Looking around, he notices a newspaper on the coffee table, advertising a trip to Rusty Lake. He calls the number on the paper, and is answered by Mr. Crow, who does not provide any answers. After the phone conversation, Dale discovers Laura's body hanging upside down. Black moths come out of her mouth as her body rises out of sight. The moths fly in formation to spell out the code to her safe, which contains the key to the Rusty Lake archive.

For months, Dale cannot focus on anything other than the events that occurred after he found Laura's body. In the Summer of 1972, he decides to collect all of the information he can about Rusty Lake, and locks himself in his office in order to try and learn more about the Lake. In his office he has a mysterious television, with a device attached to change its channels. When he inputs 247 into the TV, Bob in handcuffs appears on the screen, who reveals that he is a Corrupted Soul. After killing the accompanying Policeman, Bob lunges at the window. He breaks the window pane and disappears, leaving a black cube. After inputting the code 746 into the TV, Laura appears on the screen. She reaches her hand through the top of the TV and gives Dale a white cube. With both cubes collected he inputs 392 into the TV and places the cubes into two slots on the screen. A light on the strange machine next to the TV lights up, shooting a beam of light to the ceiling fan. Slowly the ceiling fades away as the fan spins faster, and Dale falls into a deep sleep.

When Dale wakes up, he finds himself on the floor of the Chapel. Outside of the chapel door there is a boatman in the distance, whom Dale calls with torch signals. By cutting the boatman's sewed mouth open with scissors, the boatman's mouth widens to reveal Mr. Crow. He rows Dale to a small island in the middle of the Lake, and drops him off at the Cabin. Mr. Crow leaves him without another word, and Dale does not understand what to do. However, while at first all seems serene, the longer he spends in the Cabin, the more disturbed things become. The deer standing outside will become decapitated, and be replaced by a Corrupted Soul with antlers. Dale hurries to activate the elevator hidden within the Cabin, and rides it into the Lake as the Soul watches in silence.