Presidente Street

Presidente Street is both a quaint residential street in central Brooklyn and an industrial road outside the Santo Gordo beer factory in the Dominican Republic. It is thought that Presidente Street contains a wormhole connecting these two disparate locations, causing it to be a constant source of confusion in both localities. The confusion arises from the fact that the location of the actual Wormhole Terminal linking the two locations seems to shift up and down the street, making it difficult to know when one will suddenly find one's self in a different country.

The anomaly was first discovered in 1964 by Georges Rose, a retired New York bricklayer. Rose was inadvertently transported to the Dominican Republic and back as he attempted to cross the street on the morning of June 5th. He later described to reporters how the sun felt unusually hot as he stepped onto the asphalt. He was immediately overcome by a profound feeling of dizziness, and his first thought was that he was suffering a heat stroke. "The sun was all I could see," he remembers. "I shielded my eyes with my hand and when I looked back down it was chaos. There were people and broken bottles everywhere. And chickens. I opened my mouth to speak, and I was back in front of my house again. It all happened so fast. I'd never seen anything like it."

It's unclear if the phenomenon is triggered by excessive sunshine or if that's merely an apparent effect of the spatial distortion. Since Rose's experience there have been 144 other documented cases of travel between Presidente Streets, most occurring accidentally, and all of which correlated to unusual summer heat between the months of May and September. Hundreds of wormhole enthusiasts have turned Brooklyn's street into a pilgrimage destination in hopes of experiencing the anomaly for themselves, though few have been successful at finding it willfully. Traffic on that Presidente Street has increased markedly during the summer months, causing bottlenecks and delays on the surrounding roads. The city of New York has filed to widen the street to accommodate more vehicles. The work is slated to begin in Fall 2010, though protests staged by activist group Hands Off The Presidente Wormhole aim to delay construction or prevent it entirely.

The U.T. Government is also investigating the Brooklyn street for the potential threat it poses to national security. Spokesperson Michelle Pressorfly told reporters, "It is still unclear whether the Presidente Street phenomenon appears at random or if it may be triggered by human action. It's in the interest of the United Territories to ensure that it does not represent a breach in our borders, and that it cannot be intentionally used to aid terrorist activity or assist in transporting illegal immigrants." A leaked 2008 TEAR memo also suggested further research may be underway for military purposes, the details of which are not known at this time.

In the Dominican Republic the wormhole is less widely reported, remaining a common theme of local folklore (Milagro Presidente, or the "Presidente Miracle," has been credited for the increased attendance of nearby Catedral de Madre Maria de Cristo de Santo Gordo). International research firm Instituto de Ciencia Dominica announced in a January 2010 press release that it is seeking funding to develop a tool for triggering the phenomenon, adding that "we hope to aid future commerce with the United Territories and travel between that country and ours, and someday to make the entire world as connected as we will become."

In May 2010 the U.T. Government threatened sanctions against the Dominican Republic and ordered Instituto de Ciencia Dominica to cease all operations on Presidente Street. A spokesperson in Washcovington declined to comment, saying only that "we are in talks with the institute regarding violations of international treaties, and no further research into wormhole activity will be permitted until the matter is closed."

Published under the terms of the CC BY 3.0 license.