Purgatory

Purgatory is a place between Life and Death.

General Information
Purgatory is a place in-between life and death where people can end up after they die.

It is believed that it is currently ruled and controlled by Norman Bones as he has brought people in and out of purgatory on several occasions.

Background Information
Purgatory was first revealed on June 23rd, 2021, when Irwin Dundee first struck a deal with Norman.

Appearance
For most who have been to purgatory it appears as a misty island filled with dead trees, graves and bones. It is usually cold, dark and dead silent. Norman has also explained that time is experienced differently in purgatory. What might be only a day passing in the living world can seem like an eternity to someone in purgatory.

There are a couple of notable landmarks:

The Lighthouse
A lighthouse can be seen in the distance. If one were to try and walk to it they would reach the edge of the water which ends abruptly by the lighthouse steps. One cannot walk up the stairs to the lighthouse. Norman was once seen walking up to it before teleporting to the lighthouse in the living world, leading to speculations if the lighthouse can act as a portal.

The Fire
There is a fire that can be found on one end of the island. Some have described it as a goblet or brazier which is surrounded by three human skulls which have smoke coming out of them. The exact meaning of the fire is unknown.

The Boat
There is a rowboat that can be found by the shore. Most people end up by the boat when they are brought to purgatory and are told to return to the boat before they get ferried back to the living or the afterlife.

Even though purgatory appears similar to most, according to Norman, every person has their own version of purgatory. Some examples of this would be how Irwin Dundee's purgatory appeared to have heavy snowfall in it and TJ Walker said his version of purgatory had a constant ticking noise.

Purgatories are also separate from one another. One can not simply travel to someone else's purgatory, but with the assistance of Norman, you may make a visitation.

Access
The only known way for a mortal being to enter purgatory is by dying. This is usually done through Norman but other entities such as Noxee or the white crow have also shown to possess powers to access purgatory through fiery portals. Nancy Drew, who is a psychopomp, also managed to enter purgatory after making and wearing a cloak made out of feathers dropped by Noxee. It is unclear if she had the power to do this before acquiring the cloak or if the power has relation to the cloak itself. Once there, Nancy managed to rescue Andi Jones and bring her back to life using her own powers and the boat found by the shore.

Theories
A lot of times when someone has passed to or from purgatory they have done so through a fiery portal. Though the portals don't always appear when someone is passing to or from purgatory, the fires still seem to be connected to the place or they could be a method used by the birds to access it.

Some people believe that purgatory is a mirrored version of the real world, similar to that of the Upside Down. This has further been supported after Andi Jones discovered the island which most visits to purgatory takes place on. She managed to glimpse into and temporarily visit the island of purgatory after consuming several human eyeballs on the island. Though this was only a brief visit, Andi still believed she was dead for the short moment she was there. She was brought back to the mortal world by the white crow.

While The Chicken Man was imprisoned in purgatory by Noxee, cultists worshipping him were seen on the island on several occasions. Eventually parts of purgatory started showing up in the real world to the point of Andi being able to pass through to purgatory during one of her visits. After the Chicken Man broke out of his imprisonment, Noxee mended whatever rift had been created between the realms, returning the island to normal.

It is believed that purgatory, or a place similar to it, is the one place where Norman and other entities like him can die. This was heavily speculated by Bryce Miller as Norman asked him to leave his firearm behind before he allowed Bryce to visit Cleo Shaw in purgatory. This theory came into question when The Chicken Man was trapped in purgatory and Andi Jones tried to kill him with a knife but to no avail. Irwin Dundee also shot Norman in purgatory which achieved nothing.

When Norman Bones died he described the place he went to as a small dark room with a faint light source. He himself seem to be unsure if this was purgatory or not, but there is a possibility that this room is where Norman managed to replace Death.