Seaton Snook and the building of a parafictional seaside town

What Happened to Seaton Snook? is an online archive of sounds and music dedicated to uncovering the history of an abandoned town on the coast of County Durham, UK. Run by Dr Peter Falconer, the archive contains classical pieces for piano and harpsichord, pedagogic works, folk tunes for voice and Northumbrian Smallpipes, brass band music, Krautrock, psychedelic rock, and tape pieces. There are biographies and photographs of people key to the history of the town, and interviews with experts in matters pertaining to the artefacts. But Seaton Snook, as described in the archive, is not entirely real. It is a parafictional artwork, in which real events are paired with fake artefacts, and fictional events are bolstered by genuine historical records. This article describes a methodology of parafictional art creation, and demonstrates the power of parafiction to explore real issues in a fictional setting.