long story short
Anodyne, a deep earth mining company, discovers a large biological pit in the middle of the Permian basin, which they first use to mine the internal tissue of the creature, and eventually open it as a national park. Many scientific journeys have been made into the pit attempting to explain it. Eventually it gets accepted into the national park system of america, in 1991.
In 2007, faulty water managment causes the massive creature to engage in a coughing reflex, which destroys most if not all anodyne tech inside, and causes over 750 fatalities. This caused Anodyne to disband and the entire area around the pit to be quarantined and evacuated.
