The moment I realized the food court fountain was just piped in noise

I was poking around the old Northgate Mall outside Seattle last weekend and stood in the empty food court for a solid 10 minutes. That fake marble fountain in the middle has been dry for years, but there's still a speaker hidden behind the plastic plants playing water trickling sounds on a loop. I bent down and saw the little wire running into a cracked tile. It hit me that malls spent money on these weird artificial atmospheres just to make us feel calm while we spent cash. Has anyone else noticed fake noises or scents still left running in abandoned spots?

2 comments

2 Comments

hall.quinn20d ago

Check the base of the planter on the north side first, that's where I found a blown speaker in our local mall that was still buzzing. A utility closet key tucked under the third loose tile near the fountain let me get to the sound system panel and finally kill the loop after three years. You can push the fake foam rocks aside to trace the wire if you want to disconnect it yourself without making a mess.

wadeowens20d ago

Holy crap that is some next level detective work right there. Three years of a buzzing speaker would have driven me completely insane, I would have just started smashing planters with a sledgehammer by month two. Its always the random loose tile or fake rock that holds the secret to everything, like some kind of weird mall treasure hunt nobody signed up for. Glad you finally got some peace and quiet, now you can hear the Muzak versions of pop songs from 2004 in crystal clarity instead of static.