Like the mysterious town itself, Widow’s Bay held many secrets at San Diego Comic-Con.

The surprise activation materialized on Saturday morning with no advance announcement, inviting Comic-Con attendees to make a detour to “the next Martha’s Vineyard”.

The team behind Widow’s Bay opted for something intimate by SDCC standards: a quaint tourism office welcoming prospective visitors to the “island”. Before you could officially enter town, though, you first had to prove yourself worthy by answering a few trivia questions posed by a wonderfully swarthy-looking tourism representative who looked like he had wandered in from the town himself.

Pass the test, and you were welcomed as an honorary visitor. Guests could claim a Widow’s Bay keychain alongside their choice of souvenir postcard, with several highlighting the island’s attractions and its founder, Richard Warren.

There was also a surprisingly detailed “Guide to Widow’s Bay Island,” complete with local history, a town map, notable landmarks, and even an invitation to Patricia’s cocktail party.

Like any good fictional tourist destination, the fun was in the details.

There were plenty of Easter eggs tucked throughout the office, rewarding attentive fans. A stately portrait of Mayor Tom Loftis hung proudly on the wall. A newspaper headline warned of “Cannablism in God’s House.” A clown lurked inside the crawl space (seriously… don’t look). Every direction you turned seemed to reveal another reference to the series.

There were also a pair of quick photo opportunities, including one that let visitors quite literally step into the shoes of Richard Warren himself.

The experience itself was over in just a few minutes, but that’s exactly what made it work. The line moved quickly all day long, with the Apple team filtering attendees through quickly so they could enjoy without feeling rushed, but still getting through as many people as they could in the one-day activation. The decision to keep the activation a surprise probably helped immensely (and yes, okay, our team did know ahead of time, but we were sworn to secrecy).

Our only real complaint? It lasted exactly one day, from 11am-7pm.

By Saturday evening, the tourism office had vanished as quietly as it had arrived, disappearing back into the fog before many attendees even knew it existed. We couldn’t help but wish it had stuck around through Sunday. Surely one more day wouldn’t have angered whatever supernatural force calls Widow’s Bay home.

For those lucky enough to stumble upon it, though, it was one of Comic-Con’s most charming surprises this year.