With all the mysteries of the “S-Town” podcast, it’s easy to forget the huge one in the middle of it: a massive, life-size hedge maze, lovingly built by the story’s protagonist, John B. McLemore.
If you haven’t finished listening to the podcast, released this week by the creators of “This American Life” and “Serial,” go ahead and skip down to the cool pictures, which contain no spoilers. Then, if you find yourself intrigued, listen to the podcast, which you can find here.
Still here? Welcome, fellow “S-Town” fan.
One of the hanging threads of “S-Town” is what will become of McLemore’s maze, full of young plants that will, once mature, offer a quagmire of elegantly laid paths with 64 possible solutions. But it may not be allowed to mature. Because at the end of the podcast, the new owner of McLemore’s land, Kendall Burt, says he doesn’t think he’ll pay to keep up the maze.
“I would like to see the maze reach maturity but I probably will not put forth the effort or the money to do so. But it’s a real neat concept,” he told “S-Town” host Brian Reed.
That’s pretty much what McLemore predicted — that his maze might become a parking lot. “That’s why we don’t have mazes in s—town,” McLemore told Reed.
So the pictures below — shared across the internet since Tyler Goodson posted them on Facebook — may be the most lasting memories of the maze that we’ll have.
