Spamming Shack

In Sharon's dream world of Harry Barker, the Spamming Shack is a small building just outside Hexadecimal Village and near Hollerith's School of Phreaking and Hacking. It is believed to be "the most spam-riddled place in the country". Every conceivable surface inside and out is covered in advertisements, many of which overlap each other several layers thick. Because of this glaring assault to the eyes, the shack is largely abandoned and few hackers enter its walls. That said, it is a popular attraction for students of Hollerith's to visit when they come to Hexadecimal in their third and later years. Much like a haunted house, however, most students steer well clear of the building, only ogling it from afar. However, as evidenced by some images taken from inside, a few brave souls over the years occasionally enter the building and use it as a hideout, leaving trash and the odd set of footprints in the thick dust.

During "Harry Barker and the Prisoner of Angband", "Serious" Nick used the shack as a hiding place after escaping from Angband Prison. Its proximity to Hollerith's allowed him to search the surrounding area for Petey Petagrue, whom he saw in a photograph online in the company of Donald Measly, who in turn was attending the school at the time. When he caught Don chasing after "Scribbles" the mouse, Nick transformed into the Grue, overpowered Don (who was clutching Scribbles), and dragged the pair through an underground tunnel into the Spamming Shack. There Nick and Dwayne Duncan were able to confront Scribbles and reveal his true identity as Petagrue. After hearing the truth about the adults' relationships to each other and his parents, Harry prevented Nick from murdering Petagrue and convinced him to hand him over to the debuggers.

The Spamming Shack is the analog of the Shrieking Shack in Harry Potter, deemed the most haunted building in all of Great Britain. It is named after the plague of electronic "spam" that has flooded the Internet since its inception. Had there been enough time to include it in the story, the Spamming Shack was also supposed to have a cacophony of overlapping sounds as dozens of auto-playing music and video ads streamed within, and virtual reality "pop-ups" would have impeded Harry and Harmony's progress. There wasn't enough time to squeeze this in, however, and it would have been too distracting during the key scenes that take place within the Shack.