About 20 years ago, they say a meteorite fell here. It razed the settlement. They searched for it, but they found nothing, of course.

Why “of course”?

Then people began to vanish. Finally, it was decided —

- Well?

Finally, it was decided that this meteorite was not quite a meteorite. So, for a start they put up barbed wire to stop the inquisitive taking risks. Then rumors began that somewhere in the Zone there’s a place where desires come true. Well, naturally, they started to guard the Zone like a treasure. For who knows what desires a person might have? 

Stalker (1979) dir. Andrei Tarkovsky