Coming from a distant land to visit these woods? There are plenty of other tourist destinations one can explore while visiting the Midway campus…
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Arcadia Theater
Train Graveyard
Silver Drive In
The Grand View and Ship Hotel (13 miles)
Machine Gun Preacher’s church (14 miles)
David Lewis Outlaw Ranch (15 miles)
Flight 93 Memorial (17 miles)
Leprechaun Lane (20 miles)
Our Coal Miners Cafe (21 miles)
The Ghost Town Trail (23 miles)
Roadside Buffalo and Gift Shop (24 miles)
Gravity Hill (25 miles)
Nine-for-Nine (26 miles)
Storyland and Gift Shop (26 miles)
Roadside Elephant Statue (27 miles)
Giant Coffee Pot (30 miles)
Movie Road Trip (2000) Jump Bridge (30 miles)
Dean Koontz home town (30 miles)
Omni Bedford Springs Resort (31 miles)
Fort Ligonier (32 miles)
Storybook Forest (33 miles)
Trolls Lake (34 miles)
The Secret Elephant Sanctuary (34 miles)
Latrobe Brewing Company (43 miles)
Home of Banana Split (43 miles)
Big Savage Tunnel (45 miles)
Abandoned PA Hwy and Tunnels from the movie The Road (48 miles)
World Famous Drive Thru Strip Joint (50 miles)
Delmont Crop Circle 53 miles
Kecksberg Flying saucer (56 miles)
Negro Mountain (58 miles)
Four Quarters (63 miles)
Dawn of the Dead (1978) Monroeville Mall (66 miles)
Silence of the Lambs Buffalo Bill Gumb House (69 miles)
Trundle Manor (71 miles)
Shadow of Death (74 miles)
Knightriders Jousting Camp (74 miles)
Elf Cemetery (84 miles)
Hyeholde Witch Dining 95 miles
The Castle Home (96 miles)
Mr. Ed’s Elephant Museum (104 miles)
Gettysburg (110 miles)
The Blair Witch Woods (117 miles)
Night of the Living Dead Evans City Cemetery (122 miles)
UPJ
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The GRAND VIEW & THE SHIP HOTEL
Along Route 30 is a view dubbed the “Grand View” where one can see It was described in the Complete Official Road Guide to the Lincoln Highways (1924) as “one of the most magnificent scenic views on the North American continent — in the foreground the pastoral beauty of Pennsylvania’s most fertile and highly cultivated region, the rolling hills of Maryland in the distance, and far beyond a glimpse of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.” One can see three states and seven counties.
The brilliant S.S.Grand View Point Hotel was build in 1932 on that spot by ‘Captain’ Herbert Paulson. It became a very famous tourist attraction. Even Hollywood stars came to sail on it, like Joan Crawford. The “Ship Hotel” burned down to the ground on October 26, 2001. The ruins are still there…
Fire Sinks ‘The Ship’, Saturday, October 27, 2001 By Tom Gibb, Post-Gazette Staff Writer: SCHELLSBURG, Pa. — All day long yesterday, a stream of mourners was drawn to the wild mountaintop where U.S. Route 30 crosses from Bedford County to Somerset County. For 80 years, all but abandoned in its old age, the Ship of the Alleghenies stood here — king of the roadside curiosities, a combination restaurant and hotel built to look like a ship riding the mountaintop, a melange of utterly American innocence and kitsch. “It was probably the best-known roadside attraction in America,” said Brian Butko, editor with the Sen. John Heinz Pittsburgh Regional History Center and author of “Pennsylvania Traveler’s Guide: The Lincoln Highway.” Yesterday morning, the ship went down, swallowed by flames that were hopelessly beyond taming by the time the first firefighters raced to this sparsely settled mountaintop. It was 2:30 in the morning. “But the ball of flame — from a distance, it looked like the sun was coming up,” said Lt. David Hershberger of the Shawnee Valley Volunteer Fire Co. The place had its own orchestra once. The china bore the hotel’s name and likeness. There was a marble soda fountain as long as the dining room. In the early 1930s, when Route 30, the Lincoln Highway, was the mid-Atlantic’s way west, the likes of Greta Garbo and Henry Ford stopped here. Tom Mix dropped by with his horse.
Address: on Route 30, Bedford County, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 13=========================================
MACHINE GUN PREACHER’S CHURCH
Address: Shekinah Fellowship City Church, 165 Boyers Pond Rd, Central City, PA, 15926, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from the Grand Midway Hotel: 14 miles=============================
DAVID LEWIS OUTLAW RANCH AND HIS LOST CAVE FULL OF GOLD BOOTY
David Lewis was a real outlaw who hid out in these woods with his bandits. He took great advantage of the caves in the area, hiding in them, and hiding his stolen goods within them. Lewis Spring is the name now of this property with creek they camped on. The monument at his old hideout today reads: “Outlaw David Lewis and his band made their headquarters here from 1816 to 1820. Known as ‘The Equalizer’ for his Robin hood ways of taking from the rich and giving to the poor, Lewis claimed on his deathbed to have hidden $20,00o to $40,000 in gold and silver in caves somewhere along the Forbes Road which is located just South of here. Also Fort Dewart is located just South of here.”
If found, $20,000 to $30,000 in 1820 gold would be worth $392,200 to $784,400 today.
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My Night Last Night at the Flight 93 Field
The movie United 93 earned $11.14 million it’s opening weekend. So Universal Studios, to their credit, pledged 10% of the gross and will give the $1.14 million to the building of the Flight 93 National Memorial out here in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.
So, I went to see the United 93 movie. Inside the theater I think, Oh my God, every American should see this film! And they should see it in a theater. I’m so proud that the film was created by artists. It shows the value of the arts. (And I’m glad it was made now instead of in 50 years and into the backdrop for some sanitized love story like that movie Pearl Harbor.) Watching the film, I think, Right now, this hour, this week, Flight 93 is the most relevant work of art in America. It is immediate, it is electric, it is propaganda, as well as riveting and pounding on emotional piano keys in all of us. Everyone from the President down to those conservative ninny radio hosts who shit on artists regularly should be grateful to Hollywood for creating it. It doesn’t just reflect the flight, but is current and relevant to the topic of any outsider coming into America’s borders and making demands. This is a work where our artist’s goals and our leader’s goals and the needs of our people have all come together in a unison.
Ken Nacke, brother of Flight 93 passenger Louis Nacke, said of the film and its success, “America speaks.”
So, the last frame of footage in the film is of the patch of green grass field the plane is about to hit, out here in a field in Somerset County. So I left the theater and had to drive out to the memorial site right then. I am so compelled to the area, this spot.
So I do it. I do the drive. I pass the large silver angel statue that introduces the last road into the woods to the memorial site. 10:30 PM, out at the Flight 93 Memorial Site I arrive. Again, I can’t tell you how many times I have been out here. Its far off from anything, desolate, an unpaved small lot. Familiar fence with flags and helmets and tokens from visitors. The benches. The wood cross. There were lots more photos of the fallen, I don’t see them now. The night sky is clad with stars. A crescent moon. Its crystal clear. It gives me chills to stand here.
On the morning of 9-11 I was living along the beaches in Los Angeles. My mother woke me with a phone call, “Quick! Wake up! Turn on the news! We’re under attack! We’re at war!” (Just two weeks earlier I’d bid on an old hotel property some 3000 miles away in Somerset County, PA, having no idea about the area.) I stepped outside my Los Angeles beach apartment and looked out over the morning view of the Los Angeles basin. I wondered about my immediate future, and wondered if something awful was about to fall from the sky for a follow-up LA attack. My girlfriend that morning was in lock-down at a Minneapolis Airport as all the flights, including hers, now were stopped. She watched the disasters from an airport television.
In the very near future I’d packed up everything I owned and was on the 3000 mile drive to Somerset County. I was shocked to learn the Flight 93 plane came down here, within 20 miles of the old hotel property I’d just bought. The new mayor of Windber drove me out to the crash site for my first time. It was night, just like tonight. I have since come out here many times alone and brought many visitors as well. Its baffling to me how unguarded this place is. There is no fence. One can approach it at any hour and be totally alone, as I have many a time and am here now.
Somehow when I looked out over the city of Los Angeles and wondered about my future it is coincidentally and yet intrinsically tied that I would be 3000 miles away, relocated, and out in this field over and over where the plane came down.
Standing out here now I think, Who hasn’t been affected by that day? Who among us can’t remember the exact thing they were doing when they first heard the news? Since then, oddly (and I don’t know the details), the California man who first set up my original hotel web page was arrested and deported from the USA for some affiliation to terrorism through the Patriot Act. The new young man who is PA local who maintained the later web page was a high school student at the time of the attack and brought out here to assist that day as a junior commander with other young men of clearance the very hours the plane came down. My new neighbor was working outside that day and actually watched the plane cruise overhead as it came down. He said it passed over him coming in upside-down. Another friend of mine’s aunt lives by the crash site and she claims the plane came so close to her home it rattled all her windows. I feel eerily connected to this flight, as I imagine we all do.
-Oh my God, you’re not going to believe this one. I spent so much time sitting out here, with my headlights on and my camera battery plugged in charging, my car battery has gone flat. It’s pitch black. There’s not even a street light for miles. The roads aren’t even paved out here yet. I’m going to have to sleep out here tonight. Who on the entire planet has had to have the experience of seeing the United 93 movie which ends on this field and then had to sleep out here on it? Man, my life is just too weird.
-I can hear frogs everywhere. A distant dog barking. I just saw a shooting star. None of this feels coincidence. There’s a little shed here that keeps creaking and making noise as if someone else is in it. I am so full of coffee I won’t sleep. I see several shooting stars.
-I sit wide awake for the next ten hours watching the night sky through my car windshield as the Universe slowly changes from the massive dark navy to a light crystal blue with the dawning sunrise. Its actually quite beautiful. At 8 AM someone finally drives by and gives me a jump.
Address: 6424 Lincoln Highway, Stoystown, PA, 15563, Kingdom of Enchantment, 814-893-6322 Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 17=================================
LEPRECHAUN LANE WISHING POST
Driving 45 MPH on 56 South, it’s just a blink. You have to watch for it. Lift your feet as you drive past the street sign to assure luck. Or better, toss a nickel or a dime to the foot of the sign pole, and make a wish. The key thought: If you invest in magic, magic will invest in you. (In the photo below hotel buds Syn, Sandy, and Mark the Plumber, myself and others, throw a handful of pennies and dimes out the window for luck and magic as we bolt in an old camper speeding South on an adventure to Four Quarters Sanctuary. It ended up one fantastic magical night.)
Address: 1640 U.S. 30, Jennerstown, PA, 15547, Kingdom of Enchantment, 814-629-5518
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 21
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THE GHOST TOWN TRAILThe Ghost Town Trail is a rail trail 36 miles long, from Ebensburg to Black Lick. It follows the Blacklick Creek and passes through several communities that were abandoned in the early 1900s, now ghost towns! Photo above of Grand Midway Hotel manservant Kyle Stankan exploring winter enchantment on the trail with our dog Lucien. Photo below of Grand Midway Hotel guest and original Typewritergirl Crystal Hoffman enjoying the fantastic area, where she grew up.
Address: first entry to trail (as ther are several), Ebensburg, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment
Miles from Grand Midway hotel: 23
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ROADSIDE BUFFALO AND GIFT SHOP!
They have a gift shop, the Bison Corral Gift Shop, where you can purchase bison meat and Native American made gifts and jewelry.
Address: Bison Corral Gift Shop, 2708 Lincoln Hwy, Route 30, Schellsburg, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment, 814-733-2323 Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 24===================================
GRAVITY HILL
A big “GH” is spray-painted on the street to mark the obscure location.
Address: Gravity Hill Road, New Paris, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 25=================================
NINE-FOR-NINE / QUECREEK MINE RESCUE SITE MONUMENTJuly 24-28, 2002, caring, concerned men and women pulled together and a miracle rescue happened. See The Pennsylvania Miners’ Story (2002).
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STORYLAND
Storyland was a tiny amusement park, closed down now for good. You can still spy Humpty Dumpty and others in the woods from the road. We offered to include the enchanting unique location in the filming for Zombie Dream because it is all so charming, but the family said they no longer wanted publicity.
THE ELEPHANT STATUE
This appears in Zombie Dream.
Address: Somerset, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 27
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GIANT COFFEE POT!
Originally a diner, built in 1927, this building is a landmark location for the area. It appears in the movie Zombie Dream (2014) as part of Bill Eggert “Yes!” montage.
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THE BRIDGE JUMP FROM THE MOVIE ROAD TRIP
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TOWN OF BEDFORD WHERE AUTHOR DEAN KOONTZ IS FROM…
Dean Koontz in Everett, Pennsylvania, 1945. He grew up in Bedford, Pennsylvania. His childhood was haunted with an alcoholic father, so he escaped into books and movies, and eventually started writing on his own. He told Publishers Weekly: “When I was a kid, writers were my heroes because they took me out of that awful house. Books were an escape from the violence of the household and the poverty.”
Here is a ghost story about Koontz by his biographer (and Grand Midway Hotel guest regular), Katherine Ramsland:
A mysterious phone call from nowhere alerts a bestselling writer to be vigilant.
A bit startled, Dean asked, “Who is this?”He received no response. The woman repeated the warning three more times, and each time she said it, her voice became more distant.
When the line fell silent, Dean sat there listening for a while, uncertain what to make of it. The voice had sounded eerily like his mother’s, but she had been dead for nearly two decades. “A voice is much harder to remember than a face,” he said, “so I thought I was being melodramatic.”His number was unlisted, so it could not have been a prank call aimed at him. Perhaps it had been a number simply misdialed. He mentioned the incident to his wife, but told no one else.“It was such a strange call,” says Dean. “I don’t claim that it was a ghost. I don’t know what I believe. It certainly was odd. People report these kinds of events all the time, and it’s always struck me as interesting that everyone seems to have had an experience or two of the uncanny. Sometimes I believe that call was from my mother and sometimes that it was a very strange, serendipitous wrong number. I think you always have to keep some skepticism about things like this, but it’s comforting to think that there may be a realm where the personality survives.”Two days after this call, Dean went to visit his father at the facility where he lived. The staff was dealing with Ray’s behavioral problems, and they had asked Dean to come and talk with him. Ray had punched another resident, a man on a walker, and the nurses were worried. Dean was unaware that Ray had used some of his small allowance to go buy a yellow-handled fishing knife and had honed it to razor sharpness and oiled the hinge to make it open like a switchblade.When Dean came into the room, Ray moved fast. He grabbed the knife from a drawer, and Dean had to try to wrestle it away from him. He just managed to avoid being slashed.There were many witnesses to this altercation, and one of them called the police. Finally Dean got the knife without incident and carried it out into the hall—just as the police arrived.They drew their guns and ordered him, “Drop the knife!”Dean was startled. “It’s not me you want,” he insisted. “It’s him in there.” He pointed into his father’s room.“Drop the knife!” they repeated, still training their weapons on him.Dean froze. “All of a sudden,” he recalls, “I realized that they were going to shoot me if I didn’t drop the knife. They thought I was the perpetrator. So I dropped it and obeyed them. That was one of the worst moments of my life. My own stupidity almost got me killed.”Koontz would later include this scene in his 1993 novel, Mr. Murder, when Marty Stillwater, the protagonist, has a similar encounter (though under different circumstances) with the police.Eventually the police realized that Ray was the dangerous party. They took him to a psychiatric ward where he could be kept for observation.But Dean thought again about the mysterious phone call. It had made him more vigilant, and as a result, had possibly saved his life. He never again received another such call (although in another novel he did provide a separate phone line for ghosts).
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THE OMNI BEDFORD SPRINGS RESORT
This is an amazing local 4 star resort. It sat quiet for years. Recently renovated, I told my new girlfriend at the time, Deanna, that I would drive us by it for a road trip. Secretly I’d reserved us a room. When the man opened her car door she was totally caught off guard. The local water is said to be magical with healing properties. The inside halls are lined with amazing historic photographs of life here back in the day. The first transatlantic telegram arrived here. Our luck as a couple for a first big date went through the roof that night. We had a small question about our room, so they upgraded us to an incredible triple room suite, and then comped our dinner and all the wine. What followed was the richest steak dinner I have ever had the pleasure to enjoy. The gods were with us. Best romantic dinner ever! We walked the grounds for hours, gazing at old photos and taking in the building. I also snuck in a DVD player to our room to screen the movie Somewhere in Time (1980), starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. (The romantic movie actually takes place in the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Michigan, but the place looks so similar to Bedford Springs Resort that it’s enough to make the imaginary leap. Do it! Take someone here. Rent Somewhere in Time. Step back in time. Create a rich, romantic memory.) There are still names carved in the glass windows by brides from their wedding rings…
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FORT LIGONIER
Still from Zombie Dream.
Address: Ligonier, PA 724-676-9994 Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 32 ======================================
STORYBOOK FORREST
US TODAY, by Gene J Puskar, AP LIGONIER, Pa. (AP) — A doorway beckons visitors to pass through a book made of concrete that stands some 28 feet high. The simple verse on its open pages reads in part, “Here dreams are real … and so are your story book friends.” There are no massive roller coasters, bumper cars or swings that spin visitors high in the air at this 17-acre attraction, tucked into the rolling mountains of western Pennsylvania. But for the little ones in the family — or anyone who is simply young at heart — you will find Mother Goose, Goldilocks and Little Red Riding Hood waiting to play at Story Book Forest. Part of the larger Idlewild amusement park, Story Book Forest this year is celebrating 50 years of making the characters and scenes in nursery rhymes from Alice in Wonderland to Snow White come alive. “Everyone can enjoy it, because it taps into what everyone can relate to,” said Jeffrey S. Croushore, who has worked at the park for about 13 years and authored a book about its history.Story Book Forest was built in 1956, an era when many children’s parks based on storybooks were sprouting up around the country. The Pennsylvania attraction was created by Idlewild’s then-owner C.C. Macdonald and Arthur Jennings, who was a performance clown at the park. Jennings had always said he wanted to create a theme park “based on emotion rather than motion.” The result was a winding path through a wooded area dotted with scenes from the most beloved nursery rhymes. The Good Ship Lollipop sits floating in a lagoon, Mary Mary Quite Contrary sits in front of her watering-can shaped house, and Snow White gives apple stickers to children who visit the cottage of the seven dwarfs.Outside, the larger Idlewild and Soakzone park features more traditional amusement fare, such as games, rides and waterslides. Visitors can even ride a life-size red trolley through Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood of Make-Believe, an attraction designed by the late Fred Rogers. In 2005, Idlewild was named the second best kid’s park in the world by readers of the trade journal Amusement Today. Only a handful of the children’s storybook lands still exist across the country.Visitors to Story Book Forest enter through the giant book and are greeted inside by Mother Goose, played for the past 11 years by Beverly Leonatti. “I love seeing the kids come up the path and they are so excited. Some days they’ll stop in their tracks” when they realize she’s not a statue, said Leonatti, dressed in a blue and white dress and holding a stuffed goose named Bartram Clarence which she introduces to each child. Mother Goose’s son … actually, Leonatti’s son, Brandon, is general manager at the park owned by family-operated Kennywood Entertainment Corp. Her husband plays the part of Gepetto at the park, proudly displaying his toy creations — including Pinocchio — in his workshop to visitors. Brandon Leonatti said what distinguishes the park from others is its emphasis on family. Small parking lots skirt one side of the park, so patrons can park for free close to picnic areas. In a longstanding tradition, families leave small grills and picnic baskets full of goodies on wooden tables while they enjoy the park, then return later to feast. He said generations of families have been coming to the park, making it a fun experience for kids as well as their parents and grandparents. “When they come here, they have high expectations of us,” Brandon Leonatti said.Theresa Rohaly sits in a rocking chair playing the role of the old woman who lived in a shoe. One by one, kids approach her and sit next to her in a small orange chair. Behind her, a giant shoe has openings where kids can explore. “You can go in, sweetie, and check it out,” Rohaly tells wide-eyed 3-year-old Katrina Thompson as she licks a lollipop. “You might even want to live here.” Katrina’s grandmother, Dianne Thompson of South Park, smiles as she encourages the girl to go into the shoe house. Thompson snaps pictures of the tiny girl along the way. “The story books are really coming alive because we just started reading these to her,” said Thompson, who was visiting the park for the first time. Rohaly has been working at the park for eight years — and has loved every minute of it. “This is the best job I’ve ever had,” the gray-haired Rohaly said. “Where else can you sit in a rocking chair all day?”
Address: On Route 30, Ligonier, PA, 15658, Kingdom of Enchantment 724-238-3666
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 33
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TROLLS LAKEA little bit of Easter Island hidden right here among the farms of Somerset County, this picturesque body of water boasts an almost exotic serene setting complete with the mystery of the origin of its name.
Address: Trolls Lake Road, Somerset, PA, 15501, Kingdom of Enchantment
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 34
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THE SECRET ELEPHANT SANCTUARY
The Association of Zoos & Aquariums job posting reads: “The Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium is seeking an Elephant Manager for its International Conservation Center (ICC), a 724 acre facility located in Somerset, PA. The Pittsburgh Zoo has a major commitment to elephants, with a dynamic and growing conservation and breeding program, with 13 elephants, including 6 breeding females (including a pregnant female) and Jackson, a breeding bull. The ICC is located in the beautiful Laurel Highlands mountain region of Pennsylvania. The ICC is home to 3 breeding age female African elephants recently imported from Botswana, who will serve as the foundation for a breeding herd. The ICC also houses a breeding bull, who is bred naturally and collected for AIs. The position offers the opportunity for involvement in elephant breeding, collection of the bull, management of pregnant females, birthing, and rearing of calves.” Wow!
“FAIRHOPE, Pa. — It’s not a savannah in Tanzania, but the Pittsburgh Zoo’s International Conservation Center on 724 rolling rural acres appears to be a good fit for Bette and Kallie, two 20-something African elephants from the Philadelphia Zoo. Yesterday, the two cow elephants, who arrived at the former commercial wild game hunting reserve July 8 when the Philadelphia Zoo closed its elephant exhibit, ambled outside for the first time, ripping up some grass and rearranging several trees. They roamed around the 3.5-acre paddock, fenced in by cement-anchored, 10-foot-tall steel I-beams, and heavy braided wire similar to those used on suspension bridges.” (Dan Hopely /Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, photo by Bob Donaldson)The above photo is not from this sanctuary but was too adorable not to add here. Mark the Magician wrote of it, “I imagine it was the mother African Circus Elephant from The Werewolf Lotus. This draws even more emotion.”
Address: Secret location, Fairhope, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 34
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LATROBE BREWING COMPANY
One of the largest breweries in the United States, Latrobe Brewery was the original maker of Pennsylvania’s well-known Rolling Rock Beer. The original pledge once printed on all the Rolling Rock bottles read, “A little nip from the glass lined tanks of Old Latrobe. We tender this package as a premium beer for your delight and economical use. It comes from the mountain springs to you.” But, brewery tours are not available. Phooey.(Note: There is a historic relationship between the open road, the church, and breweries, all being linked in a traveler’s enjoyment, monk beer-making industry, grid once upon a time. “Next stop is half a day’s travel,” where one would could find just at that distance the next brewery, church, and worship center, kind of like truck stops. So, one enthusiastic season sick of watching adults play that stupid game Beer Pong, I attempted upgrading the entire human race through creating a more profound game based on this interesting trio of open roads, historic religious locations, and variety of beers out there available to explore. Thus, the Grand Midway Hotel’s humble game Beer Monks. Making it required locals pose for photographs drinking beer dressed as monks. Playing it was an enchanting blast.)
Address: 119 Jefferson Street, Latrobe, PA, 15650, Kingdom of Enchantment
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 43
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HOME OF THE BANANA SPLIT
In 1904, 23 year old David Strickler launched the world’s first Banana Split in Tassel Pharmacy, adding a new pillar to America’s soda-fountain era. It became a smash with nearby students from Saint Vincent College. Strickler later bought the pharmacy and renamed it Stricker’s Pharmacy. Ingredients: Vanilla, Chocolate, or strawberry ice cream, bananas, pineapple topping, chocolate syrup, strawberry topping, nuts, whipped cream, and maraschino cherries. Original price: 10 cents.
Address: 805 Ligonier Street, Latrobe, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 43====================================
BIG FOOT SHOOTING?
“This is No Joke” Big Foot Shooting reported by Police in Altoona, PA (by Dana Matthews, May 21013)
Was Bigfoot shot and killed in Altoona, PA this morning? It’s possible says Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society. In a message posted earlier today to the PBS facebook page, a man going by the name “Daniel C” claimed to have overheard a call dispatched across his police scanner of an apparent shooting of what he described as a Bigfoot. He also claims a body was retrieved from the scene. “You guys might want to check out the Somerset County state police call log,” he wrote. “I heard a call come over my scanner [saying that] a gobbler hunter shot a Bigfoot this morning and they did find a body. This is no joke, that call was real. ”
Bigfoot Evidence reported yesterday that Pennsylvania Bigfoot Society president Eric Altman has made a formal statement: “At this point all this is rumor and a claim. Once I have more info and more details, I’ll update you. I can confirm we are investigating this claim, but as of right now. That’s all it is, is a claim. We do not have any information or proof to support this claim. Once I have more information that I can confirm, I will let you know. Until we do, no further rumors will be released. We do not want to jeopardize any possible legitimate information at this time.”
Location: Altoona, PA
Miles from the Werewolf Den: 44
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MT. DAVIS
Mt. Davis is the highest point in Pennsylvania, elevation 3,213 feet. Pounded by heavy winds and rain in the summer and ice storms in the winter, Mt. Davis can be a beautiful yet harsh place. The temperature record low is 38 degrees F.
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Address: Near Markleton, Elk Lick Township, in Forbes State College, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 44
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BIG SAVAGE MOUNTAIN TUNNEL
Big Savage Mountain is an abandoned railway tunnel now turned bike trail. The tunnel is 3,294 feet long. The mountain and tunnel are named after John Savage, an early surveyor who narrowly avoided becoming a victim of cannibalism in the area in 1736. In the hotel’s movie Zombie Dream, 2014, the Big Savage Mountain tunnel was the farthest location South the characters would dare venture from the Grand Midway Hotel to drop off Butch Patrick (AK Eddie Munster from The Munsters) during the zombie apocalypse. In the film Butch Patrick was never seen again. Big Savage Mountain tunnel is currently the South East Border of the Kingdom of Enchantment, Latitude: 39.7963667 Longitude: -79.0102297.
Address:
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 48
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WORLD FAMOUS CLIMAX DRIVE-THRU STRIP JOINT!He is shouting, “Look what I found!” Manuel Ibarra, in an outtake from Zombie Dream, taken outside the ‘World Famous’ Climax Drive-Thru Strip Joint. Peep show: $10 a minute ( $20 a minute if you have others in your car with you). You had to wait in your car in line just like a fast food drive thru. Sadly, this landmark has closed.
Address: US 22 Northside, Congruity, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 50
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DELMONT CROP CIRCLE
May 23, 2000: A family living on a rural farm reports that between 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. an irregular 32’ wide oval-shaped (randomly-downed) area in their 6’-7’ tall rye grass was “pressed down by some higher force”. The family reports that the field was fine when checked earlier that morning. There were no unusual weather conditions at the time of formation. There were no tracks found into the field or the formation, nor could the area affected be seen from any road. Crop type: rye. (as reported by the Independent Crop Circle Researcher’s Association)
Address: Delmont, Pennsylvania, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 53==============================
KECKSBURG FLYING SAUCER
Western Pa.’s Close Encounter, by Bill Eggert (Tribune-Democrat, Nov 16, 2013)
— A NASA study recently estimated that there are at least 40 billion inhabitable planets in our galaxy. The odds that Earth is not the only one with life on it are, well, astronomical. And yet many scoff at the concept of unidentified flying objects, despite the fact that many of these UFOs have been spotted by folks knowledgeable in aviation, such as airline pilots and even astronauts. In addition, there have been stories of major significance in this concept of UFOs and alien beings. While many deride these stories as flights of imagination, many take them to be factual accounts of close encounters of a third kind, entangled with government and military cover-ups so as not to panic the public. One anecdote is the 1961 abduction and medical examination of Barney and Betty Hill by extraterrestrials. Another is the so-called “Roswell incident,” in which the wreckage of a UFO – and alien bodies – were said to be found on a ranch in New Mexico in 1947. The third such incident is said to have occurred here in western Pennsylvania, in the village of Kecksburg, Westmoreland County, an hour away from Johnstown. Stan Gordon, the most noted authority on the Kecksburg story, spoke last month in Johnstown on the incident. An articulate and pragmatic person, Gordon, who was a teen in the Greensburg area at the time, explained the chain of events that evening. It was a compelling story from beginning to end. Gordon clearly laid out the timeline from the initial sighting to the military occupation that night. Also intriguing was the investigation by local radio news director/reporter John Murphy, who photographed the UFO and taped eyewitness interviews before authorities arrived. Government agents shortly confiscated his photos and tapes. Four years later, Murphy was killed in an apparent hit-and-run accident.
A UFO was said to have crashed in woods near Kecksburg around 5 p.m. in early December 1965. The UFO was tracked on radar and even seen as a “fireball” by eyewitnesses in part of Canada and in six states. Local witnesses saw the UFO overhead prior to its crash. Witnesses also said they saw the UFO after the crash and described their encounters with the military, who cordoned off the area from onlookers and curiosity seekers. Witnesses also reported seeing an Army flatbed truck leave the scene with a large object under a tarpaulin that fit the acorn shape believed to be the crashed UFO. The UFO was said to have been delivered to a military base in Ohio and later moved to Wright-Patterson Air Force base, also in Ohio, where the alien bodies from the Roswell crash are said to have been stored. (A friend of mine who was in the military police at Wright-Patterson said that despite his security clearance, there was one area on the base where even he was not allowed.)
Recently an old friend of mine, Fred, an Air Force veteran and UFO devotee, trekked over to Kecksburg. A life-size mockup of the UFO, constructed for the TV Series “Unsolved Mysteries,” is on permanent display near the Kecksburg Volunteer Fire Department. Inside the fire hall is a small gift shop where they sell Stan Gordon’s book and other Kecksburg and alien related items, including inflatable green aliens for the kids. The shop was run by a helpful and friendly young woman named Stacey, who showed us around and invited us back to the Kecksburg festival in late July. The actual crash site is on private land, but you get a nice sense of this picturesque area by visiting it. The townsfolk are generally accepting of the interest in their town’s claim to fame. Stacey showed us the sign-in book, which reveals folks from all over the United States, even other countries, visit the area to learn more.
Obviously, the concept of UFOs and extraterrestrials is a controversial subject to many. I am not here to convince anyone of their existence. I have never seen a UFO or an alien, but I do feel that given the scientific evidence provided by NASA, along with documented accounts by astronauts, there is something to the whole issue. If UFOs do exist, I feel they are only here for observation, not world domination, sci-fi movies to the contrary. As for government cover-ups, well, they are more easily believed, especially in this day and age. It is understandable the government would not want to acknowledge the existence of UFOs, especially given the panic it might cause. Ultimately, it is up to you folks to decide what to believe. But remember, as they used to say on “The X-Files,” the truth is out there …
Address: Kecksberg, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment
Negro Mountain is a 30 miles long ridge of the Allegheny Mountains. History says after the French and Indian war Negro Mountain was named respectfully to honor a brave black slave’s sacrifice who died fighting arm and arm with the settlers and British in 1756. His name was Nemisis. (State Rep. Rosita Youngblood of Philadelphia recently seeing the mountain’s name as insulting, even though it was not when it was named to champion the fighter, has begun a political campaign to rename the mountain, perhaps after the bold slave himself, into Nemisis Mountain, making the title an individual recognition rather than a racial acknowledgement.) This is not just any mountain. Negro Mountain’s summit is Mt. Davis, the highest point in Pennsylvania.The State Marker is near Grantsville, Maryland, in Garrett County. The Marker is at the intersection of National Pike (Alternate U.S. 40) and Zehner Road, on the left when traveling west on National Pike. Marker is at a roadside picnic area at the crest of the mountain. The inscription reads:You have reached the highest point on the National Road. Here, in the far western mountains of Maryland is the backbone of eastern America. In 1817, the National Road construction crew took on the challenge of crossing this tough terrain by laying a crushed stone road surface and building a stone bridge over nearby Puzzley Run. By the 1930s, the National Road evolved into an asphalt and concrete ribbon. This improved road surface inspired a new generation of travelers to “hit the road,” and a new road culture began to emerge. Although the curves were straightened, and the grade a bit gentler, travel was still tough over Negro Mountain. At almost 3000 feet, this is the highest point on the National Road through all six states. Descending Negro Mountain required early drivers to pay close attention to their brakes. High Point camp catered to travelers that commonly packed camping gear and joined other auto campers in grounds provided by entrepreneurs. 
In July 2007, PA State Representative Rosita C. Youngman (Democrat of Philadelphia’s 198th District) called for the renaming of Negro Mountain. In a news release, she said, “Through a school project, my son and granddaughter first informed me of the name of this range and I found it to be disparaging that we have one of our great works of nature named as such… I find it disheartening for tourists who visit this range to see the plaque with the name Negro Mountain displayed on the mountainside.” However, Professor Christopher Bracey, a law professor and associate professor of African and African-American studies at Washington University in St. Louis (He is a leading scholar on race, inequality, and the law. He is the author of Saviors or Sellouts: The Promise and Peril of Black Conservatism from Booker T. Washington to Condoleezza Rice, 2008, and co-editor of The Dred Scott Case: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Race and Law, 2010. Since 2011, he has served as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the George Washington University Law School) has said, “I must confess I have a slightly different take on it than [Youngblood]… Here we have a mountain, whose name was intended to be a testament to Negro bravery. It seems rather crass and unsophisticated to name it Negro Mountain, but the intentions were strong.”
Address: 3o mile ridge along Allegheny Mountains
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 58
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OHIOPYLE & FALLINGWATER
Ohiopyle is a borough visited by many tourists who enjoy the Ohiopyle State Park. The year round population is a mere 77. The park offers 19,052 acres. It is listed by by the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and its Bureau of Parks as one of “Twenty Must-See Pennsylvania State Parks”. It boasts 14 miles of the Youghiogheny River Gorge. Referring to the beautiful white waterfalls, the name “Ohiopyle” is derived from the Lenape phrase ahi opihəle, ‘it turns very white’.
Here, Deanna Dolges Kane and I traveled to Ohiopyle with our magical dog Lucien for a winter Sunday day trip…
Nearby stands the famed house Fallingwater, the Kaufman residence designed in 1935 by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The American Institute of of Architects dubbed it the ‘best all-time work of American architecture’. It offers a tour open to the public well worth seeing. Fallingwater boasts visiting guests from Frida Kahlo to Albert Einstein. original works of Pablo Picasso hang on the walls. Below is a photo of actress Angelina Jolie surprising her husband actor Brad Pitt to a trip to Falling Water.
…and Grand Midway Hotel’s George Sporay!
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FOUR QUARTERS INTERFAITH SANCTUARY
Here hotel tarot reader Syn Berns meets Four Quarters Sophia Kelly Shult, creator of the lavish new Stone Circle Oracle deck. This night, the Moon Ritual of November 16, 2013, we got to use Sophia’s beautiful deck on the first night of it’s launch, a few weeks before it would go on sale.
THE MONROEVILLE ZOMBIE ATTACK MALL
…Where they shot Dawn of the Dead (1978). See the movie, then go there and eat at the food court! This area is also where the Pittsburgh Comic Con takes place.
Address: 200 Mall Cir Dr, Monroeville,PA, 15146, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 66 ====================================
THE “BUFFALO BILL” GUMB HOUSEIn the film’s story this horror house is said to be in Belvedere, Ohio. But this actual house location used in the movie lurks in Layton, Pennsylvania. This is where creep-o Buffalo Bill Gumb says to the unfortunate girl in the pit in his basement, “It rubs the lotion on the skin or else it gets the hose again.”
Address: Layton, Pennsylvania, Kingdom of Enchantment
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 69
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TRUNDLE MANOR
Their web page reads: “Tourist Trap? Art House? Gallery? Creepy Abode? What is it? We have always considered ourselves an old fashioned part of roadside America. Trundle Manor is currently the headquarters of the Secret Society of Odd Acquisition and is curated by the eccentric Mr Arm and Velda Von Minx. Built in 1910, Trundle Manor has become a place where a culmination of years of insane collecting and creating has found its niche. Want to be a little creeped out? Need something different to bring your chick to? Like horror movies and want to see the beginnings of a serial killer’s obsession? Well, come on down and experience all of this and more.”
I kept hearing about this guy Anton Miriello, named Mr. Arm, and his sweet home. I’d be in a bar and people would come and mention stories about this place called Trundle Manor and how Anton and his girl was mentioning us as well. For a while I think folks thought our two fantastic homes were competing. We weren’t, except for both of us every year wanting the same date to throw our annual post-Halloween party. Because we have all the same weirdo friends between the Midway Hotel and Pittsburgh, Anton and I joked we should build a long eccentric underground tunnel between our two buildings. It is already in the works. (Our small film crew for Zombie Dream drove out and visited the Manor to shoot a scene there. He described our speedy visit as ‘film ninjas’.) If the Grand Midway Hotel had to ‘keep up with the Joneses’, Trundel Manor would be our similar-to-our-kind strange neighbor setting each new bar. They were on MTV. We were on SyFy. They did this. We did that. And so on into endless bizarre, creepy, Bohemian, new dawns…
Below is a photo of their awesome car, Trixy.
SHADOW OF DEATH
Address: Shade Gap, Pennsylvania, 7255
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 74
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THE KNIGHTRIDERS’ JOUSTING CAMP
See Knightriders (1981) starring Ed Harris.
ADVENTURELAND
Address: Kennywood Amusement Park (setting), 4800 Kennywood Blvd, West Mifflin, PA
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 88
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HYEHOLDE WITCH DININGThe Hyeholde ‘Castle’ Restaurant from George Romero’s early movie Season of the Witch (1972), starring Jan White. The movie seems a little goofy. The restaurant seems very expensive. But you can still eat there, paint a romantic night, and dwell on witchcraft. They also offer picnics on the grounds.
Address: 1516 Coraopolis Heights Rd, Coraopolis, PA, 15108, Kingdom of Enchantment.
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 95
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=========================================================MORGANTOWN, WEST VIRGINIA Population: 30,666.
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 95
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DARK SHADOWS
Actor David Lynn Selby who played Quentin Collins on the ABC Serial Dark Shadows was born in Morgantown.
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(Kasdan far right)
WRITER / MOVIE PRODUCER LAWRENCE KASDAN IS FROM MORGANTOWN
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DON KNOTTS BOULEVARD
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THE CASTLE HOMEBuilt by romantics Cara McCandless and Barton Branstettee’s. A private home. Available for weddings, parties, etc.
Cara McCandless and Barton Branstetter have never forgotten their storybook wedding trip toThornbury Castle Hotel in South Gloucestershire, England. King Henry VIII spent 10 days in 1535 in this grand country fortress with his beloved Anne Boleyn.
Yet it’s what they did 12 years after their 1994 wedding that really makes for a great story.
After finding a 3-acre lot in a quiet Marshall subdivision, they asked architect Alan Dunn to design them a castle of their own.
Modeled after Bodiam Castle in East Sussex, the 7,000-square-foot house is about as medieval as you can get in modern times, with battlements and turrets, arrow slit windows and even adrawbridge that leads visitors across a dry moat to the front door. It’s certainly the most unique stop on Sunday’s annual Wesley Spectrum Tour of Homes in the North and South Hills.
The feudal feel continues inside. The Great Hall is so great that the couple can fit more than 100 fellow members from the Society for Creative Anachronism inside with nary a worry of anyone stepping on another’s costumed toes or the hem of her hand-stitched gown.
“It was important everything be period,” says Ms. McCandless, a pediatric and adolescent psychiatrist. Her husband is a radiologist with UPMC Presbyterian Radiology Associates. They have three children.
As the couple began the four-year construction process, their guiding principle was historical accuracy. They sent Mr. Dunn to England and worked closely with general contractor Jim Horan to get the details right. Had they scaled the cast-stone house down to suburban sensibilities, Ms. McCandless explains, the proportions would have been all wrong, and the end result would have looked like something you put on a miniature golf course.
That also explains why the castle was built at the bottom of a hill instead of just a few yards from the street, like all the other neighboring mini-mansion Colonials. Remember, medieval castles were built for defense. So in addition to narrow, vertical windows from which inhabitants could shoot arrows and “murder holes” through which they dumped boiling water or rocks on attackers’ heads, there’s almost no landscaping. Other than the trees that shield it from the street, there is no real landscaping. Trees and vines close to the fort would provide something for invaders to climb on.
However, because a real family of five has to live here, there is a “modern” wing with children’s bedrooms and a playroom with ping-pong and foosball tables. There’s also an enormous walk-inslate shower in the master bath and a workout room in the basement, where the couple — known to their SCA brethren as Baroness Ariella of Thornbury and Baron Byron of Haverford — practice their sword work.
The couple chose Bodiam Castle as their architectural blueprint because unlike most English castles, it was built in one style over just a few years (1385-89) instead of mish-mashed together over the centuries. Its rooms were destroyed in the 1640s during a civil war, however, so the couple turned to Penshurst Place, a sprawling medieval estate in Kent that dates to 1341, for theirfloor plan.
Back in the day, a castle would have been built by hand over many decades or even centuries using stone quarried on site. Taking advantage of today’s “green” technology, this modern version is crafted from energy-efficient insulated concrete forms faced with a cast-concrete, stonelike veneer. It also has radiant heat flooring, buried utilities and recycled rubber slates on the roof. Its 37 wooden doors, however, were handcrafted to period style in England and the exquisite post-and-beam framing in the 30-foot-story Great Hall was built old-style without nails; it’s held together with mortise-and-tenon joints.
Rob Rich of Hagerstown, Md., and local artist Christine Hutson created the giant murals that bring the Great Hall’s white plaster walls so vividly to life (and cleverly hide modern-day distractions such as outlets and HVAC vents). As was common practice in the 14th century, they used centuries-old hand techniques and powdered pigments. And they made intentional “mistakes” in their artwork: Look closely, and you’ll see someone shooting an arrow from behind his head and ahorse with a twisted bridle. That’s the family and their coat of arms depicted in the mural with the tree.
If you’d rather spy on the crowds below, take a peek through the long, narrow squint in the corridor outside the second-floor guest room. It offers a bird’s-eye view of the Great Hall.
“This is where the lord or lady would go after they retired if they wanted to look or listen, and no one would see them,” says Ms. McCandless.
Other details that speak to the couple’s medieval state of mind are spiral staircases that turn to the right on their climb to the roof (that makes it easier to defend yourself with a sword when facing down); a period kitchen in the east tower with a fireplace; giant iron chandeliers crafted locally by Iron Eden; and a bookcase in the library that swings open to reveal a hidden staircase. There’s also a portcullis protecting the entry. Alas — or maybe thank goodness — there are no winches to raise and lower the gate and trap enemies while burning wood or rocks were dropped on their heads.
Back in the Middle Ages, castle defenders would also have shot arrows at the enemy from embrasures in the roof’s crenellated walls. In this modern medieval home, the roof serves as a gathering place for family and friends.
“Look at the view,” Ms. McCandless says, gesturing toward the rooftops in the distance. “This is our favorite place in the entire castle.”
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GETTYSBURG BATTLEFIELDS
“By dawn Tuesday, July 4, 1863, after three days of brutal fighting, some fifty thousand Americans had become casualties in a matter of seventy-two hours. The corpses, along with three thousand horse carcasses, baked in the summer heat.” -From The Werewolf Lotus (2012)
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THE BLAIR WITCH WOODS
If you keep on driving in this direction, an hour later you will reach Burkittsville, Maryland, where the Blair Witch movies were based. When this movie came out everyone I met repeated the title at me non-stop because my name is Blair. Because I am also an independent horror film director I was asked to offer my opinion along with others for a magazine following the film’s release. Often people I barely know attempt to get my attention by calling out, “Blair Witch Project!”
Address: Burkittsville, Maryland, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 117=============================
EVANS CITY CEMETERY
Location of the famed opening attack scene in the classic zombie film Night of the Living Dead, where brother Johnny teases his sister Barbara, “They’re coming to get you Barbara!” And then they do!
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GREENCASTLE, PA
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 85
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JOHN L. BURNS’ GRAVE
1793-1872
Address: Evergreen Cemetery, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 110====================================================================================
THE CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL
UFO SPOTTED
UFOs Spotted in Somerset, Pennsylvania and Bracnell, Huffington Post 2013
UFOs photographed in the U.K. and U.S. days apart have yet to be identified, which isn’t to say that they might be from another planet. We just don’t know yet. The most recent case happened this week in Somerset County, Pa. The identity of the man hasn’t been released while the case is under investigation by the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). He saw the object on Monday and in his short written report to MUFON the next day, he wrote: “Driving tractor and trailer south in PA. Looked up and saw object hovering over mountain top. About that time, other truckers were heard on CB chatting about seeing the same thing. The object was quite a distance away but was still very visible. So actual size was very big. Not sure exact location, however it was close to the Allegheny Tunnel.”
“It was a cigar-shaped object. But you have to be careful about the cigar shape — there could be wings on an object that you just can’t see because of the angle, but it’s a still frame, so we’re taking the witness’ word that this thing was hovering,” said Roger Marsh, editor of the monthly MUFON Journal and also the national UFO examiner at Examiner.com. Marsh lives near the part of southwestern Pennsylvania where the aerial object was photographed. “The first thing I would do is look for probably dirigibles in the area, and we do get them flying through this region. Something at that distance — even a 747 — can look like a cigar-shaped object, but obviously they’re not going to be standing still in the sky,” Marsh told The Huffington Post.Three days prior to the photo taken of the object in Pennsylvania, across the Atlantic Ocean, two glowing white-colored discs were photographed from a pub in Bracknell, U.K. and remain unexplained. According to The Reading Post, Steve Lambert snapped a picture of two very bright lights in the sky near the Running Horse Pub located west of London. “They were there for less than five seconds, quicker than any normal aircraft,” Lambert said. “I have seen a lot of funny things in the sky and I have always practiced trying to take a photo quickly on my mobile phone. I am interested to see if anyone knows what it is.”From an investigator’s point of view, Marsh likes this U.K. UFO case. “It’s interesting for some of the same reasons as the Pennsylvania case. One, it’s a daylight sighting, and two, these two objects are low to the ground. But they look like they’re lit, even in daylight, which raises an eyebrow for me. And we only have the testimony from one person saying the objects were moving faster than any known aircraft. “The witnesses don’t always get it right.”
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 23===================================================================================
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HIGHWAY 76
The Pennsylvania Turnpike: go East and it will take you to Philadelphia, go West and it take you to Pittsburgh. We cannot stress enough the unlimited romantic value of the American open road.
Address: Entrance 110, Somerset, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 27=====================================================================
BRENDLE FARMS’ FOUR-LEGGED CHICKEN
The story of Henrietta, Somerset’s famous four-legged chicken, has taken a strange turn as the bird is being linked with a modern freak show as a famous oddity. While the bird has not reached the fame level of exhibits like the FeeJee Island Mermaid and The Elephant Man, a Venice Beach, Calif., operation called the Venice Beach Freakshow is claiming Henrietta — or a bird nearly like her — as one of their own. A Windber couple visited the self-proclaimed museum of oddities on April 30 only to see a deceased four-legged chicken on display with a history that closely mirrored Henrietta’s own. “It was like a beam, the word Somerset, when I saw it on the jar,” Deanna Kane said. “It was ridiculous that we would go all the way out there and see something like that. Small world.”
The display claims the four-legged bird was born in Somerset and found living by the foreman among 36,000 other chickens on Brighton Farm, which produces 150,000 chicks per year. The description mirrors Henrietta’s story, but is not definitively the same in an industry famous for historic hoaxes and what operators like P.T. Barnum would call an homage. There is no record of a Brighton Farm in Somerset but Henrietta was found on the Somerset Township Brendle Farm among an estimated 36,000 birds and the operation also produces approximately 150,000 chicks per year. The problem is that Henrietta’s owners — the Brendle family — says the former pet died in August 2007 and is on ice, awaiting taxidermy.
“You know, we just had a lot of fun with her,” Mike Brendle said. “I hope somebody’s not trying to make a buck off of her, that’s not right.” Henrietta was found in September of 2006 and was quickly featured in thousands of newspapers and radio shows through Associated Press content, frequently with a picture of 13-year-old Ashley Brendle holding the bird. It was amazing how many radio shows called,” Mike Brendle said. “They were from all over the country. (David) Lettermen’s show even called. They were considering putting her on.”
The buzz around Henrietta consisted of more than entertainment-hungry publications. Scientists conducting a genetic study at the University of Illinois, in Chicago, took blood and tissue samples from the bird. “That was interesting. We never expected that either,” Brendle said. Henrietta died in August 2007 from complications relating to the bird’s rare genetic mutation, he said. The extra legs continued to grow inside the breast until she essentially suffocated, he said. The bird lived for 71 months. Ashley Brendle said Henrietta moved into the home with the family. “She was friendly and she was nice. She was definitely a pet,” she said.
Which brings the story back to the minor mystery of what exactly lies suspended in that jar in Venice Beach. Owners of the freak show would not return calls for comment. Kane and her companion Blair Murphy could only guess at what they saw. “Are there other four-legged chickens out there?” he said. “Was it a chicken they sewed extra legs on? The whole thing is fascinating.” Murphy and Kane finding this oddity-within-an-oddity only adds to the overall strangeness. Murphy is an independent filmmaker who was filming a cameo with actor Eric Roberts for his self-financed movie “Zombie Dream.” Roberts is famous for appearing in movies like “Star 80,” “The Pope of Greenwich Village,” “Cable Guy” and “The Dark Knight.” The famous actor agreed to the cameo after exchanging a few emails, Murphy said. “The whole weekend was amazing, a bit like a dream,” he said.
The Brendles are certain the odds of a second four-legged chicken coming out of Somerset are nil. “The deformity runs into chances of hundreds of millions,” Mike Brendle said. “In all my years we’ve never had another like her.” Ashley Brendle agreed. “I don’t know what they have out there. She was one-of-a-kind for our family and our farm,” she said.
Address: found at 252 Schoolhouse Rd, Somerset, PA 15501, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 28======================================================================================================================================
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JUAN THE LEPRECHAUN HIDING SPOT! TROLL LAKE ROAD…
CORE ARBORETUM
Find 91 acres of mostly old-growth forest! Open to the public and free!
Address: Miles from Grand Midway Hotel:=============================================================================
DIRECTOR ROBERT TINNELL IS FROM FAIRMONT
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SITE OF THE FIRST FATHER’S DAY
July 5, 1908, to honor over 200 father’s lost in the Monongah Mining Disaster which occurred on December 6, 1907. 360 to 500 workers including children were killed. This left over 250 widows and over a 1000 children fatherless.
Address: Monument in Mt. Calvary Cemetery Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 111
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 74
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PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
(Map of Pittsburgh created by artist Stentor Danielson, see his site Mapsburgh)
“Pittsburgh Pennsylvania” song by Bob Merrill (There’s a pawnshop on a corner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)And I walk up and down ‘neath the clock
(By the pawnshop on a corner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
But I ain’t got a thing left to hock She was peaches, she was honey
And she cost me all my money
‘Cause a whirl ’round the town was her dream
(Was her dream) Took her dancin’, took her dinin’
Till her blue eyes were shinin’
With the sights that they never had seen
(Never seen) If you should run into a golden-haired angel
And ask her tonight for a date
She’ll tell you somewhere there’s a rich millionaire
Who is calling again about eight (There’s a pawnshop on a corner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
And I’ve just gotta get five or ten
(Five or ten)
(From the pawnshop on a corner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Gotta be with my angel again She was peaches, she was honey
And she cost me all my money
‘Cause a whirl ’round the town was her dream
(Was her dream) Took her dancin’, took her dinin’
Till her blue eyes were shinin’
With the sights that they never had seen If you should run into a golden-haired angel
And ask her tonight for a date
She’ll tell you somewhere there’s a rich millionaire
Who is calling again about eight (There’s a pawnshop on a corner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
And I’ve just gotta get five or ten
(Five or ten)
From the pawnshop on a corner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Gotta be with my angel again, gotta be with my angel again
CITY OF PITTSBURGH
Jack Kerouac mentions Pittsburgh in On The Road: “…and I slept all the way to Pittsburgh. I was wearier than I’d been for years and years.”
THE THREE RIVERS CONVERGENCE
Pittsburgh is unique as a city in that three rivers meet it, the Allegheny River and Monongahela River unite to form the Ohio River. There has long been claims of a spiritual significance to the emergence of these rivers.
In a Pittsburgh free paper a recent wild article by Vikki Hanchin noted, “Our Pittsburgh history confirms that the Point Park area, where our three rivers converge, was a sacred site for tribal rituals of the Native Americans who inhabited this region. All indigenous cultures recognize the sacred power of any geographical area where three rivers merge. Our area is even more unique with the fourth, underground river (more accurately defined as an aquifer), that feeds the fountain, and empties into the Ohio River. The four rivers carry special significance regarding our area’s surprising connection to the origins of the Maya themselves as well as the Mayan 2012 prophesies. Recent archeological studies conducted through the University of Pittsburgh (Adovasio, The First Americans) have confirmed that the Western Pennsylvania area of the Meadowcroft Rockshelter near Greater Pittsburgh is the area where the first Americans established themselves in permanent settlement over a 16,000-year period. These first Americans dated back to 15,000-19,000 B.C.E. Tracking the migration of what appears to be their cultural footprints of sacred mound technology along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers into the Yucatan, one witnesses the sacred mounds evolving into the mathematically sophisticated step-pyramids typical of the Maya. This evidence leads to an interesting conclusion. It appears that these first Americans, established in our Western Pennsylvania region, were the predecessors of the ancient Maya. If this conclusion is valid, this would link our Pittsburgh area with the Maya historically. Returning to the significance of Pittsburgh’s converging rivers, several visionaries, healers, a Himalayan holy man, and the Dalai Lama himself have all confirmed that the Point where the rivers converge is indeed a sacred portal. Several of them have confirmed that this portal, or gateway, will soon be activated to bring forth pure universal light for our planet’s transformation.”
Some Pittsburgh movies:
Pittsburgh and it’s rivers and the city’s magical bridges are the current Western Border of the Kingdom of Enchantment. Put on your Enchantment Goggles, the next view is a beauty:
Miles from Grand Midway Hotel:
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THE CATHEDRAL OF LEARNING
The centerpiece of the Pittsburgh Main Campus. Dubbed “The closest thing to Hogwarts you’ll ever see.”
Address: 4200 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway Hotel:==========================================================================
GEORGE HETZEL GRAVE
January 1826-July 4, 1899
Address: The Homewood Cemetery, 1599 South Dallas Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 75==========================================================================
CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART
Address: 4400 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA, 15213, Kingdom of Enchantment, 412-622-3131 Miles from Grand Midway Hotel: 76========================================================================
THE NICKELODEON THEATER
Price to get in (a nickel) + odeon (Greek for theater), the Nickelodeon Theater was the first exclusive motion picture house in all the world! It opened in 1905. 7000 attended the Nickelodeon every day!
Address: 435 Smithfield Street, Pittsburgh, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway hotel: 77============================================================================
THE ANDY WARHOL MUSEUM
The Andy Warhol Museum celebrates the artist Andy Warhol. Warhol owned a studio in New York City he called ‘The Factory’. It was a wild scene with all kinds of arts happening. The Factory was in part a model for the Grand Midway Hotel’s vision as a collective-of-artists location.
In this photo, Grand Midway Hotel regulars Mark ‘the Magician’ Swindler and Bill ‘Silent Cinema Bill’ Eggert attend the private premiere screening of Skot Jones’ film Screen Tests from Enormous Hotel, 2011. The film recorded twenty faces of the growing mythology of Grand Midway Hotel participants. Of his film, Jones said, “It was a homage to Warhol’s practice of running screen tests of Warhol’s friends and people who came by the Factory. Film often is too preoccupied with narrative. And for me film doesn’t necessarily have to be about anything. And what more an interesting thing to shoot than the human face? It was a way to put out moving photographs of people I thought were interesting at a particular time.”
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HEINZE FIELD
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THE DOGMA CHURCH
Address: St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Larimar Ave, Pittsburg, PA, Kingdom of Enchantment Miles from Grand Midway Hotel:=====================================================================
CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY
Address: 5000 Forbes Ave, Pittsburgh, PA Miles from Grand Midway Hotel:=========================================================================
IRON CITY BREWERY
Started in 1861, the famous brewery is actually named the Pittsburgh Brewing Company. It is still a mystery if they offer tours or not.
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ANDY WARHOL’S GRAVE
Saint John the Baptist Catholic Cemetery, Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania Miles from Grand Midway Hotel 84====================================================================
When I interviewed Dean Koontz for a biography about his life and work, he told me a number of interesting stories. The following one is appropriate for a spooky fall season blog. On September 20, 1988, Dean had an experience that he would not write about for nearly a decade, but he claimed it in his essay for Beautiful Death as his one possible encounter with evidence for life after death. He was at work that day in his office when the phone rang. He picked it up and heard a female voice that sounded far away. She spoke with a sense of great urgency. “Please, be careful!” she said.