I’ve had this question ever since I played the game for the first time.
At the introduction of the game, we see various atmospheric scenes: the ARC lamp on top of the radio tower going on and off, the wind blowing on the grass and shaking the lock and chain on the Pillow Factory gate, and an ominous gun shot through the highway sign that changes the population count from 81 to 80 residents.
Who got shot there? Who is resident #81?
It can’t be Boris, the dead body of the story, because by his own admission he flew “half-way across the world” just to meet someone, so he is obviously a foreigner and not counted as a resident in the population of the town.
Then again, Boris was the last one to die, and the introduction of the game suggests that the entire thing (other than the flashbacks) happened in one single night. If indeed Boris is resident #81, then he is not a foreigner at all!
It could also be Franklin, although it may not be obvious to the townfolks that he is dead – he just has been missing for several weeks and nobody knows what happened to him.
Chuck is another candidate. It is obvious he is dead, and it is made clear by everyone’s comments that it happened just a few short days ago, so it could very well be him.
However, this would mean that Chuck was shot! This has never been mentioned or suggested in the game. (Actually, come to think of it, I don’t recall if a cause of death was mentioned at all – you would expect that murder would have come up at some point if that’s how he died.) Hmm…
So… is it Boris, Franklin, or Chuck? Who got shot by that bullet? Who is the resident, whom when shot, reduces the population count of Thimbleweed Park by one?
dZ.