A Halloween Contest

How would you solve this government problem?

Give this one some thought. It’s not a race. Take your time.

In the late-ish ‘90s, creative people were buzzing about a national contest. The United States government was soliciting ideas, ways to ward future generations away from nuclear-waste dumps. The warding-off device couldn’t be signage, because no system of semantics had survived for the tens of thousands of years needed for radioactivity to dissipate.

Centuries from now, the site would still have to frighten or otherwise repel anyone who might venture there and become contaminated. And the device had to be self-sustaining. People talked about tunnels or horns that would use prevailing winds to create subsonic “brown” noise; this would sicken anyone who came within earshot.

People talked about breeding a plant that would emit a constant stink. They talked about an image that would transcend all time and scare away anyone or anything who saw it. The prize was big. A half million dollars or something. A sum that had every writer and painter and musician talking.

As far as I know, no one ever claimed the prize.

Now, given that premise, how would you frighten living things away from a site for the next zillion years? An army of self-replicating clones? A dense colony of hybrid poisonous snakes or scorpions?

The best answers will get Halloween gift boxes

I’ll set the deadline as October 25th. Please post your entries below in Comments.

I will not try to sell the government your scary idea.