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Whispering Rock
Camp sign
You were born with a special gift. But the people around you treat it like a curse. Your mother is afraid of you, and your father looks at you with shame in his eyes. Come to Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp, and you can show them all. Back home, your powers make you a loner, an outcast, a circus freak. But in this dojo, in this psychic dojo, they make you a hero.

–Written by Coach Oleander, recited by Razputin Aquato


Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp is a remote government training facility where children with psychic abilities are trained to become Psychonauts. It is located in Whispering Valley. The camp sits directly above a large Psitanium deposit by the shores of Lake Oblongata, opposite of Thorney Towers Home for the Disturbed. It is the main setting of Psychonauts.

Timeline[]

Camp map

Map of the camp showing the five main areas: Kids' Cabins (pink), GPC and Wilderness (brown), Boathouse and Beach (orange), Main Campgrounds (green), and the Reception Area (yellow).

The history of Whispering Rock/Valley can be read in the center of the Main Campgrounds' parking lot, where it is inscribed into a large tree-log:

  • 500 years ago: An enormous Psitanium-bearing meteorite strikes the Earth, leaving a giant crater.
  • 200 years ago: Native inhabitants begin making arrowheads out of the Psitanium, which they call by the name 'Whispering Rock'. This is a rough English translation.
  • 100 Years Ago: Prospectors and settlers take over the area, naming their boom town, 'Shaky Claim.'
  • 99 Years Ago: First case of 'Paranormal Hysteria' diagnosed in Shaky Claim.
  • 75 Years Ago: Houston Thorney builds his Home for the Demented to deal with the insanity epidemic.
  • 60 Years Ago: More residents in the Asylum than in the town. Houston Thorney commits suicide by throwing himself from the tower.
  • 55 Years Ago: Asylum closes. Last valley residents paid to leave by the federal government, who flood the crater to prevent further habitation. Lake Oblongata is created.
  • 5 Years Ago: Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp founded to nurture and train future Psychonauts.

The timeline also includes an extra note left by Nils Lutefisk:

Purpose[]

Described by Sasha Nein as a "remote government training facility", the purpose of the camp is to train young psychics to become psychic secret-agents known as Psychonauts. Under the guise of an ordinary summer camp, the agents acting as camp staff engage campers to help them to unlock, understand, explore and advance their psychic powers, as well as provide a safe haven away from the ridicule and suffering that often comes with possession of these abilities.

Due to the high amount of Psitanium in the area, any psychics in the area receive a boost in their powers. As such, the area is the perfect place for psychics in training to practice their abilities. Whilst at the camp, campers can learn a large amount of psychic abilities, but once they leave they lose the ability to use most of them. But if they awaken the powers again, or manage to keep the weakened versions, then they'll be able to manage them due to a mixture of their training and muscle memory.

Camp Residents[]

Camp Staff[]

Camp leaders

Sasha Nein, Coach Oleander, and Milla Vodello; the three camp counselors featured in Psychonauts.

Whispering rock is run and staffed by agents of the Psychonauts organization.

The camp staff featured in Psychonauts are:

Campers[]

Whispering Rock Group Photo

Group photo of the campers featured in Psychonauts alongside Ford Cruller.

The Campers of Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp are children between the ages of seven and thirteen, many from various locations within the US, but also some hailing from Canada, Russia, and in one case, possibly even outer space. Each camper is assigned a Psychadet rank depending on their psychic abilities, and participates in camp activities in order to develop and hone new powers which are represented by Merit Badges. For the vast majority of time, however, the campers are left free to do as they please.

Locations[]

  • Kids' Cabins: The area where the campers go to sleep for the night. There are 3 cabins in total, one marked for boys, one for girls, and one for "advanced" campers, according to the plaque's texture file. Coach Oleander's treehouse office can be found here at the top the huge tree in the center of this area, along with the first mental world of the game, Coach Oleander's Basic Braining. Raz will be locked to this area until he completes Basic Braining.
  • Main Campgrounds: The central hub of the camp, which also hosts the Main Lodge and the Parking Lot, and connects to all other areas of camp. The parking lot contains two cars, belonging to Coach Oleander and Milla Vodello. A large log with the history of the area labeled on it is present in the center of the Parking Lot.
  • Main Lodge: The Main Lodge is located at the heart of Camp, and is home to the Camp Store and the TV Room. Chef Cruller can be found at the camp store, and will sell Raz usable items.
  • GPC and Wilderness: The GPC and Wilderness is a heavily forested area containing the Geodesic Psychoisolation Chambers, as well as the entrance to Sasha's Underground Lab. Ranger Cruller is present in this area and will reward you for when you have half and all of the scavenger hunt items.
  • Sasha's Underground Lab: Sasha's lab is hidden below the GPC. Here, Sasha Nein conducts advanced training and tests of morally questionable status on the campers, which may or may not be authorized, through use of the Brain Tumbler.
  • Reception Area: The location of the main campfire, as well as Janitor Cruller's trailer. The opening cutscene takes place at this location.
  • Boathouse and Beach: The Boathouse and beach are located along the shores of Lake Oblongata, with Admiral Cruller present in the boathouse. A bathyspere is present at the docks, and Milla Vodello is present at a dock further out into the water, which must be accessed by canoe. After finishing Lungfishopolis and recieving the Lungfish Call, Raz can summon Linda at this location for transport to Thorney Towers Home for the Disturbed.
  • Ford's Sanctuary: The secret headquarters of Whispering Rock. Ford Cruller is present here and will give Raz information, as well as award him merit badges. The Cobweb Detangler and Psi Challenge Marker machine are located here. It is also where the campers will be located after they have all been kidnapped, and will remain until rebrained.

General Collectibles[]

All Whispering Rock Location Items
Note: The addition of deep arrowheads despite not being a forcefully needed item, is because unlike its normal variant this one cannot reappear.

Kids' Cabins

— PSI Cards 12
— Scavenger Hunt 1
— PSI Challenge Marker 1
— Brains 0
— Deep Arrowheads 0

Main Campgrounds

— PSI Cards 18
— Scavenger Hunt 2
— PSI Challenge Marker 1
— Brains 0
— Deep Arrowheads 9

Main Lodge

— PSI Cards 0
— Scavenger Hunt 1
— PSI Challenge Marker 0
— Brains 0
— Deep Arrowheads 0

GPC and Wilderness

— PSI Cards 18
— Scavenger Hunt 4
— PSI Challenge Marker 2
— Brains 0
— Deep Arrowheads 15

Reception Area

— PSI Cards 21
— Scavenger Hunt 4
— PSI Challenge Marker 1
— Brains 0
— Deep Arrowheads 12

Boathouse and Beach

— PSI Cards 16
— Scavenger Hunt 2
— PSI Challenge Marker 1
— Brains 0
— Deep Arrowheads 5

Sasha's Underground Lab

— PSI Cards 2
— Scavenger Hunt 1
— PSI Challenge Marker 0
— Brains 0
— Deep Arrowheads 0

Ford's Sanctuary

— PSI Cards 2
— Scavenger Hunt 0
— PSI Challenge Marker 0
— Brains 0
— Deep Arrowheads 0

Total

— PSI Cards 89
— Scavenger Hunt 15
— PSI Challenge Marker 6
— Brains 0
— Deep Arrowheads 41

Psychonauts 2[]

In a Project Upgrade video made by DoubleFine (Psychonauts 2 Art Test w/ Tim and Zak), a reimagination of Whispering Rock was made to test how would the original Psychonauts look on current generation hardwares. The segment used as base was the Kids' Cabins, mostly differing a lot from the original, having some cabins at different positions, the giant tree where Coach Oleander's classroom was, got changed a lot and of course the area being drastically smaller. While it is unknown what exactly happened to this build, part of the style was re-used for the final product seen in Psychonauts 2 but using as base the Reception Area.

In the Psychonauts 2 // Special Trailer for the Psychobackers there was a small glimpse at the Reception area, hinting more stuff related to the Psychic Seven and more importantly about Ford. In-game wise, Raz reaches a mental construct of this area when entering Ford's mind for the first time; having to fix the wooden carving of Ford Cruller and then ignite the top of the rest until unlocking the access to a new area that its beginning point resembles the Boathouse and Beach. Unfortunately this segment cannot be replayed by any means.

Trivia[]

  • Some early name possibilities for Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp included; Whispering Stones, Whispering Bones, Whispering Pines and Thinky Rock.
  • Years ago, an unnamed teacher hosted a project at camp to make voodoo dolls. He ended up in the hospital because the dolls created actually worked, and now creating voo-doo dolls is now banned at camp.[1]
  • An unreleased Psychonauts mobile game was intended to have Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp as its main setting. In the game, Ford Cruller arrives at the empty plot of land that would become Whispering Rock, and orders the newly-arrived camp kids to build the facilities of the camp using Telekinesis. Of course, this does not line up with the camp's timeline, and is not canon.
    • In the unreleased mobile game, Elka Doom was the first camper to enroll at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp.
  • In Psychonauts 2, several notice boards at the Motherlobe have fliers pinned up that encourage signing up to become a volunteer at Whispering Rock. Someone, possibly Lili or one of the interns that may have attended Whispering Rock in the past, has added a little doodle of a frowning face and "this place suxs!".
  • Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp is one of the main revenue makers for the Psychonauts.[2]

References/Notes[]

  1. Referenced in the Voodoo Doll description in the scavenger hunt.
  2. https://youtu.be/NJPYmRLIRkE?t=572
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