Vandalism, health concerns at Fort Phoenix after Pokemon GO players swarm area
By Kirsten Glavin
@kirstenglavin
FAIRHAVEN, MA – It’s the site of the first naval battle of the revolutionary war, and it’s also where rare Pokemon can be captured. Since the launch of Pokemon GO, the Fort Phoenix has drawn in hundreds of players every day of the week. All walks of life using the app, glued to their phones.
"There’s just a lot of Pokemon here,” one player explained.
"It’s pretty fun coming here. You see a lot of people all playing the same game,” said another Pokemon GO player.
It may be fun for those playing, but it’s been causing a problem for Gary Lavalette, a volunteer caretaker at the historical site.
"This fort was never designed for this type of activity,” Lavalette explained.
He told ABC6 News that people have been leaving piles of trash behind, vandalizing the site, going to the bathroom on the site because public restrooms close at 5 p.m., and some even digging for buried treasure, because he says they do not understand the site’s history.
"We’re filling up a 30-yard dumpster in four days (…) we had a thirty foot stone wall that someone literally took apart with a crow bar,” he said. "In some parts of the fort it looks like a mine field.
Players ABC6 spoke with were not as concerned as Lavalette.
"People might be going in the woods or whatever. That’s definitely an issue, because no one wants to leave and come back, because you might miss a rare Pokemon,” one player explained, when questioned about people wading into the reeds to relieve themselves.
Others said it’s a way to make new friends and it gets people outside.
"Since I started playing this game I actually started exercising more. In the past two and a half weeks I’ve lost ten pounds,” said one man.
