City Hall Station is a location within the Briarverse.
History
City Hall Station is an abandoned subway station in New York City, which was officially closed to the public in 1945. Since then, it has played a significant role in the Briarverse as a well. It was where Martin Rank found Brandon Lachmann’s body in 1986, and where Saberlane was finally able to knock into Neithernor for the first time in 2019.
The Monarch Papers
While researching the disappearance of Brandon Lachmann, Martin Rank recalled reading some of Brandon’s stories where he had reimagined several New York landmarks, including City Hall Station, as “fantastical places of wonder.” Martin decided to investigate the abandoned station himself, following a trail of Brandon’s drawings scattered around the platform, and eventually discovering Brandon’s body.
Later in Phase One, the Mountaineers discovered that City Hall Station was part of the path Brandon had created for himself to escape out of the mundane world and into the magical one. It had been the final location of his three trials, where he was able to catch an impossible train and escape to the “spaces in between,” where magic exists.
The Secret Society
After discovering the phone number for New York Transit Museum in the blog post, “Buzzed,” Saberlane was able to secure a place on a private tour of the abandoned subway station in March of 2019. While he didn’t experience anything out of the ordinary on the tour, he did notice strange discrepancies in the photos and videos he took underground, including sounds of knocking in a video taken and a photo of Saberlane in the station that he couldn’t have possibly taken himself.
After discovering the knocking sounds in the video, Saberlane returned to City Hall Station and was able to successfully knock into Neithernor for the first time.