Often called “lighthouses” by seasoned hikers and park field staff, the emergency trail phones located along most developed trails within the Mystery Flesh Pit National Park were the result of one of the most ambitious subterranean telecommunications projects of the late 20th century. Conventional radio communication systems were completely ineffective at piercing the miles of dense flesh and bone which constituted the geobiology of the park. Over a two year period beginning in 1975, more than 150 miles of cables were laid, threaded and draped through the organs and tissues of the Permian Basin Superorganism in order to establish a reliable land-line communication network. While the Anodyne Corporation developed the bulk of this infrastructure – at enormous expense – AT&T was subcontracted to design and install the unique public call boxes most park visitors would be familiar with. Guests could use these “emergency” phones to call the Lower Visitor Center at no cost, or they could be used to call an outside number for a small fee. Though engineered to survive the humid and caustic environment of the Mystery Flesh Pit’s internal anatomy, routine maintenance was required to prevent phones located in the deeper sections of the park from becoming subsumed by natural muscle actions of the pit. Today, it is unknown how many, if any, of these emergency phone stations are still operational, as the United States Dept. of the Interior has barred civilian access to the former park’s many trails.