Gravity Falls Wiki
Advertisement
Gravity Falls Wiki

BillVille, formerly known as Orchard Lake, Kansas, was a small rural town in the 1950's that became the birthplace of a dangerous new cult known as Ciphertology.

History[]

Orchard Lake, Kansas, was a small town that would see one of the strangest and weirdest instances of a cult begin and fall, leading to a cover up by the government.

Revival of Silas Birchtree[]

In documents found in an old trunk at an estate sale in Bootstrap, Missouri, the surviving tales of Ciphertology were uncovered.

In 1952, a man named Silas Birchtree, choked to death on a coin he was flipping while hiding from debtors. His body would be taken over by Bill Cipher, who used it to return to Orchard Lake as part of another one of his schemes. Under the body's new ownership, "Silas" would begin to hold speeches in the town square, proclaiming that his near-death experience had granted him a connection with an omnipotent being named Bill Cipher, whose power would help humans satisfy their desire for anarchy which was being suppressed by their overlords. Silas would also promise to teach people absurd and powerful skills, as well as grant them their own moons as rewards. As a result, many of the townsfolk were either indifferent or charmed by Silas's charisma, though they'd deny it.

Billville[]

With the entire town now under his control, Silas would overthrow the local government and rename the town to Billville. Under his ownership. BillVille became a totalitarian dictatorship with him at the centre. Silas would encourage Ciphertology members, known as Ciphertologists, to emulate his style, shave their heads to paint Bill's eye on them, inhale helium to imitate his voice and spread the word of Ciphertology to non-believers, harassing them until they accepted or killing them on the spot allegedly via a skull-shattering shriek. The Ciphertologists would also raid nearby stores, garages and burger joints for weapons, car parts and ball pit balls respectively, using their scrap metal and resources to begin building Bill's portal, attempting to disguise their true intentions to the general public whilst doing so.

Under Silas's rule, travel wasn't allowed (including for emergency healthcare, as he thought pain was hilarious), and all pre-existing laws were abolished, making the town crime free by technicality. Silas would also punish uncooperative cultists by sending them to "The Hole" and would host "Dream-Ins", in which Bill would possess up to 30 people at once and make them all maniacally laugh.

A few months after Silas's coup against the local government, the Ciphertologists hijacked a local television station to broadcast Silas's reading of erotic geometric fiction to the nearby region. The nearby town of Elk Glen would file a complaint to the Federal Communications Council, causing the Ciphertologists to retaliate by pouring 600 gallons of bubble bath solution into the local water source, causing any who drank it to spew bubbles. As a result, the state government of Kansas issued an ultimatum to the Ciphertologists: return the city hall and dismantle their portal or be gunned down by the state's military.

Silas and his followers would obviously refuse, leading to a standoff between them and the Kansas military, during which the Ciphertologists were holed up in a Waffle House for 13 days, chanting "TEETH" unendingly in a presumed attempt to shatter the skulls of the troopers. After escaping back to Billville, Silas would grow increasingly desperate and cut off all communication in and out of the town, ordering his cultists to work extra hard on the portal. Furthermore, Silas's body was notably deteriorating, with signs of decay finally showing as Bill's vessel began to desiccate.

Eventually, the one resident of the town who never converted, Emmaline Butternubbins, out of frustration that everybody was ignoring her anti-Bill pamphlets, would hurl a torch into the Ciphertologists' headquarters, conveniently igniting their gas tanks and destroying the portal. With all hope lost, Silas would order his cultists to drink a potion meant to kill them but when it only gave them a bad stomachache, he would order them to stand in line holding hands singing "We'll Meet Again" as the troopers fired on them. His decaying vessel falling apart, Bill tried to issue one last message to his followers, proclaiming that as an idea he can never die and that he'd return one day, but just as he could finish a stray bullet knocked Silas's head clean off, making his corpse crumble into a rotten, fly-infested mess.

Aftermath and Legacy[]

In the end, 9 members of Ciphertology were killed. In a coverup of the siege, the US Government erased all evidence of the town of Orchard Lake off maps, books and historical records. Today, their policy on what happened is "stop calling us or we'll send a drone to your house." Although local news reported that the cult was disbanded, 5 years after Silas's death at least one active sect with 138 members was still recruiting new members to marry into the cult. Today, what remains are fading billboards, bullet casings, and bowties strewn across the desert (some even on tumbleweeds). Beyond that, some straggling members still hold out hope for Silas's return and ironic T-shirts promoting the cult are still sold online.

Many years on, a historian of esoteric cults named Donna Rutherford would write up an article about Ciphertology, coming to the realization that many of Silas's predictions have been coming true. They end the article by stating they have converted from being a Lutheran to a Ciphertologist.

Notable residents[]

Trivia[]

  • The Ciphertology story is inspired by and references actions done by actual cults over the years.
    • Ciphertology itself is a reference to Scientology, a notoriously litigious new age cult with similar rules (albeit less morbid).
    • Silas Birchtree can be seen as a reference to infamous cult leaders like Jim Jones and David Koresh among others
    • BillVille is a reference to the concept of cults establishing their own communities such as the Peoples Temple's Jonestown settlement.
    • The government coming to attack the Ciphertologists is a reference to events such as the Waco Siege on the Branch Davidians.
    • Emmaline's anti-Bill pamphlets are a reference to Chick Tracts, conservative evangelical comics that helped spread the Satanic Panic.
    • Silas ordering his followers to drink a potion meant to kill them is a reference to the events that happened at Jonestown and/or Heaven's Gate.
  • In the story, a Waffle House is mentioned to be in the town that would be used as the Ciphertologists HQ and where Silas would meet his end. In reality, this isn't possible to have happened, given the events that occurred happened in 1952 and Waffle House was not founded until 1955.

Gallery[]

See Also[]

Silas Birchtree

Ciphertology

This Is Not A Website Dot Com/Computer

Site navigation

V - E - H - D Places in and around Gravity Falls, Oregon
Private property 412 Gopher Road | Abuelita's house | Bunker | Claymore Manor | Corduroy cabin | Gleeful residence | Gleeful's Auto Sale | Mystery Shack | Northwest Manor | Northwest Mud Flaps | Petting Zoo | Underground laboratory | Tent of Telepathy | Valentino Funeral Home | Wax Museum of Mystery | Wentworth residence
Municipal property Circle Park | Gravity Falls Cemetery | Gravity Falls Church | Gravity Falls Civic Center and Buffet | Gravity Falls High School | Gravity Falls Junkyard | Gravity Falls Library | Gravity Falls Maximum Security Prison | Gravity Falls Swap Meet | Gravity Falls Museum of History | Gravity Falls Pool | Gravity Falls Water Tower | Gravity Malls | Lake Gravity Falls | Lookout Point | Main Street | Scuttlebutt Island | Town Hall | Town square | Trembley's Cove
Natural Abandoned mines | Enchanted Forest | Gnome forest | Gravity Falls Forest | Hand Witch Mountain | Man Cave | Multi-Bear's cave | Pain Hole
Supernatural Bottomless pit | Crash Site Omega | Euclydia | Fearamid | Ford's mindscape | Infinetentiary | MAB-3L | Mindscape | Nightmare Realm | Prison Bubble | Stan's mindscape | The Crawlspace | Theraprism
Local business Aquatic restaurant | Arcade | Barrels & Crates, Incorporated | BeeblyBoop's Videogames | Big Gunz Laser Tag | Bowling alley | The Club | Dusk 2 Dawn | Heart-A-Tap Dance Studio | Hermanos Brothers | Hoo-Ha Owl's Pizzamatronic Jamboree | Gravity Falls Gossiper | Greasy's Diner | Mattress Prince's mattress store | Meat Cute | Mr. Zzz's Mattresses | The Royal Ragtime Theatre | Shop Thrifty | Skull Fracture | Smokey Joe's All You Can Eat | Summerween Superstore | Theatre Time Theater | Tons grocery store | Ye Royal Discount Putt Hutt | Yumberjacks
Non-local Backupsmore University | Bijou Theater | Eggbert Elementary | Glass Shard Beach | Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey | Government base | Mystery Mountain | Pines Pawns | The Juke Joint | Upside-Down Town | West Coast Tech | BillVille
Misc. Abandoned church | Future city | Globnar stadium | Headquarters of the Blind Eye Society
Advertisement