Fallout 4 has more than its fair share of tragic stories, with even the main plot centering around a parent’s frantic struggle to find a missing child. In a world of constant loss and struggle, it naturally makes sense that the stories the Sole Survivor comes across would often have unhappy endings. And while some tales play out in front of the Sole Survivor’s eyes, others are told cleverly with just holotapes and environmental details.

Unfortunately, tragedy and sadness are all over the Commonwealth, and there are plenty of unmarked locations and hidden quests in Fallout 4 that demonstrate this for the Sole Survivor once they emerge from Vault 111. From pre-war catastrophe, with families scrambling to take shelter as the bombs fell, to heartbreak and loss as people struggled to survive in the post-apocalyptic wasteland, these stories are worth listening to and are bound to bring a tear to the eye of even the most hardened Sole Survivor.

8 Brotherhood Of Steel Lost Patrol

Holotapes Tell Of The Squad's Fate

As the Sole Survivor heads south, away from Sanctuary and Concord in their search for Shaun, one of the first groups they may encounter is Paladin Danse's team at the Cambridge Police Station. However, speaking with Danse will reveal that his recon squad was not the first Brotherhood of Steel patrol sent to the Commonwealth. It seems that Recon Squad Artemis was the second group to travel from the Capital Wasteland, but they were almost immediately ambushed, resulting in the team scattering.

“The Lost Patrol” can be started by either finding the wreckage of the team’s Power Armor, picking up their distress beacons from Relay Tower 0MC-810, or receiving the quest from either Danse or Kells. The Sole Survivor can use the radio on their Pip-Boy to track the distress beacons and locate the fallen of the squad. As each is found, holotapes of their last moments can also be recovered, painting a tragic picture. One by one the team was separated, each succumbing to their wounds alone until only their leader, Paladin Brandis, survived.

7 Rachel’s Final Thoughts

A Brave Woman Choosing Her Own End

Nuka-World is a huge area filled with some great pre-war stories for the Sole Survivor to discover as they explore the various sections of the park. One such area is the Kiddie Kingdom, a strange fantasy medieval land filled with rides, radiation, and lots of ghouls. As the bombs fell, the employees took shelter beneath the Kiddie Kingdom. Unfortunately, they still fell victim to the radiation storms ravaging the area, which turned many of the survivors into ghouls.

One such survivor was Rachel Watkins, a biochemist who had been working at the park after university. Over the next two centuries, she was forced to watch helplessly as her friend deteriorated and eventually became feral. Eventually, Rachel left the park, setting out to find a cure to help the remaining sane ghouls in the park. However, if the Sole Survivor explores the neighboring town of Bradburton, they will find Rachel's body. In her final message, it is clear she has begun to change, and in the end, she chooses to end her life while she is still herself.

6 The Separated Tournquist Family

A Husband’s Desperate Call To Reunite A Family

Relay Tower 0MC-810 is located just west of the National Guard Training Yard, and if its satellite dishes are extended, the Sole Survivor will be able to pick up a heartbreaking broadcast. The Separated Family Radio Signal comes from Wayne Tournquist, a Med-Tek employee, pleading with his wife Bonnie to come home and telling her that he and their sons are safe in the family bunker. It is unclear when Wayne set up the looping message, but it seems like some time has ed since the bombs initially fell.

The Tournquist children, Michael and David, went to school in Malden, and hid rather than entering Vault 75 with the rest of the children and staff.

The Sole Survivor can trace the signal to the West Everett Estate, directly west of the relay tower, which will be overrun by Super Mutants. Locating the family bunker and reading the terminal will reveal more about life in the aftermath of the Great War. Unbeknownst to Wayne, Bonnie did try to make it home but was most likely killed in the attempt, and a holotape she left with a co-worker can be found in the Mass Bay Medical Center MRI control room.

5 Mother & Son’s Final Hiding Spot

Injured & Alone The Pair Were Being Stalked

One message that appears to have come from just after the bombs can be received after activating Relay Tower 1DL-109, south of Oberland Station. In it a woman can be heard frantically whispering about being chased by something and that she and her son are hiding in an overturned train car. The message ends as the woman begins to scream for her son to run, as whatever was chasing them has managed to get into their hiding spot. The train car in question isn't too far south from the relay tower and has several feral ghouls resting in the area.

It soon becomes clear what had been chasing the mother and son, and inside the woman's skeleton can be found still surrounded by blood. It is unlikely that a modern resident of the Commonwealth wouldn't know what a ghoul was, dating this broadcast to some time shortly after the bombs, as those affected by radiation succumbed to feralization. As only the mother’s body is found, it’s unclear if her son Thomas managed to escape, although the message does mention that he was already injured.

4 Teen Runaway’s Final Resting Place

Forced To Leave Home Just One Day Before The Bombs Fell

Directly south of Fallout 4's Vault 111 and a short walk west of Abernathy Farm is a broken-down Ranger Cabin that the U.S. Forest Service would have used. The Sole Survivor will encounter several bloatflies upon first arriving, but neither those nor the issue of the Wasteland Survival Guide found inside are what make this cabin stand out. Laying on a mattress in the corner of the small space is the skeleton of a young woman, curled up as though sleeping with her suitcase still next to her.

The runaway girl is listed as Abigail in Fallout 4’s files.

Inside the suitcase is a holotape that explains how she came to be sleeping in such a remote location, making her heartbreaking story clear. This girl ran away from her parent's house the night before the bombs fell after a falling out. She speaks of telling them a secret, and after they told her she should be ashamed, she left. Reading between the lines, it seems she was pregnant and was debating whether or not to tell her boyfriend John. Unfortunately, she never got the chance, as she was most likely still sleeping when the bombs came.

3 Woman Trapped Inside A Sealed Safe

With No Food Or Water, She Sadly Stood No Chance

Relay Tower 0SC-527 has two particularly tragic stories that can be listened to if the satellite dishes are extended. The first story will require the Sole Survivor to travel southwest from the tower to Fallon's Department Store, which will be home to plenty of Super Mutants, including several suiciders carrying mini-nukes. The message itself comes from a Fallon's employee who took shelter in the jewelry store’s safe as the bombs started to fall but became trapped, as there was no way to open the door from the inside.

Her pleas for help are utterly heart-wrenching as she sobs into the radio, and it's hard not to feel a sense of urgency despite knowing her ultimate. Heading down into the basement of the store and releasing the lock on the safe, the Sole Survivor will find her skeletal remains slumped over the ham radio she used to call for help. Trapped inside the safe, the young woman was shielded from the radiation but eventually died of hydration before anyone could find her.

2 The Miller Family’s Bunker Breakdown

Safe From The Bombs, But Not From Malfunctions

Relay Tower 0SC-527's second sad story comes from Big John's Salvage and involves Big John Miller himself, who had constructed a bunker for his family to take shelter in. John had linked up a generator to the bunker, but entries on his terminal reveal he had been having issues with it prior to the Great War. The salvage yard is a short walk northeast from the relay tower and will be occupied by Super Mutants who will have to be dealt with to find the generator and bunker in the message.

John's message is awful as he gasps for air and pleads for help in restarting the generator, as the bunker's ventilation has stopped working and vacuum-sealed the hatch. Reactivating the generator will allow the Sole Survivor to climb inside the bunker and the remains of the Miller family. While John and his wife's skeletons will be resting on a mattress, most distressing are the two small graves at the far end of the bunker, both marked with toys.

1 The Abandoned House’s Test Subjects

A Young Woman’s Bravery Doomed Her Long Before The Bombs

The final sad story can be found in an abandoned house a short walk south of Bunker Hill. The front of the house is covered in Halloween decorations and has a couple of feral ghouls resting outside, which hint at the tragedy that took place within. Going inside, there are more ghouls, along with three holotapes made by a young woman only identified as Peters who describes an experiment she volunteered for. Peters, along with the other subjects in the house, was testing a new radiation drug, and she sounded hopeful about helping so many people.

However, as the trial goes on, her tapes become more tragic, as it's obvious that either the drug isn't working or she was given a placebo. The last Fallout 4 holotape is found along with Peters' Glowing One form in which she reveals she requested medical assistance or the end of the trial but was denied. It appears everyone in the house was left to their fate by the organization running the medical experiment and, as the second holotape is dated in March, Peters and the others were probably some of the first ghouls in the Commonwealth.