Kecksburg is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Mount Pleasant Township, Westmoreland County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, United States. Located in a heavily wooded area along PA Route 982, it is approximately thirty miles southeast of

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

at an elevation of 1,209 feet.

History

Sometime around 1860, the community of Kecksburg was laid out on five acres of land purchased by German merchant, farmer and businessman Johann Martin Keck. In 1868, Keck was appointed

postmaster A postmaster is the head of an individual post office, responsible for all postal activities in a specific post office. When a postmaster is responsible for an entire mail distribution organization (usually sponsored by a national government), ...

of the town, being the first to occupy this position after the establishment of the office, and held the role for twenty-six years. In August 1888, residents of Kecksburg established a

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...

Democratic society to increase Democratic voter turnout in future elections. During the fall of 1890, George H. Sewell, district deputy grand chancellor of the

Knights of Pythias The Knights of Pythias is a Fraternal and service organizations, fraternal organization and secret society founded in Washington, D.C., on . The Knights of Pythias was the first fraternal organization to receive a charter under an Act of Co ...

, established a new organizational lodge for the fraternal service group in Kecksburg. In March 1892, J.M. Keck & Sons purchased Jacob Rumbaugh's farm in Kecksburg, which was located adjacent to land owned by the Frick Coke Company in Mammoth. Newspapers stated that the owners of J.M. Keck & Sons intended to build "a large plant of ovens" on the former farmland, which was reportedly situated above a large coal deposit. During early November of that same year, intense forest fires on the mountainside above the communities of Kecksburg and

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

destroyed roughly thirty thousand acres of timber.

Unexplained phenomena

Haunted farmhouse

In December 1892, Pittsburgh-area newspapers reported on an investigation by "three to ten men" of "so-called supernatural phenomena" that had allegedly been occurring at an "old stone farmhouse" in Kecksburg for "some weeks past." '' The Pittsburgh Post'' reported that "several of he investigators hadbeen taken out of the bedroom where the demonstrations y the alleged ghost weremade in an unconscious condition," adding that "the spirits admade no trouble for the occupants" until the previous fall when work "to remodel the building resulted in the demonstrations that are now the talk of the country-side." According to a ''Post'' reporter, the alleged ghost was said to have been that of the farm's former owner, David Ranler, who had been "driven off the farm" by the area's sheriff after the farm was foreclosed on and sold during the financial

Panic of 1857 The Panic of 1857 was a financial crisis in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission ...

, even though Ranler only still owed a small amount on his mortgage after having spent roughly twenty years paying it off. Forced into poverty as a result, Ranler ended up homeless, destitute and alone because his fiancee had also died around this same time, and "swore he would haunt the man or woman who tried to alter the condition of things on the farm if he died before he got it back." The incidents in question involved "hammerings all over the frame of the bed" of the subsequent owner of the farmhouse, William Newell, "tearing of the bed-clothing and the violent ejectment of anyone who attempted to sleep in that particular bed or room" that was allegedly haunted.

UFO incident

On December 9, 1965 a large, brilliant fireball was seen by thousands in at least six states and

Ontario, Canada Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. It streaked over the

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Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

area, dropped metal debris over Michigan and northern

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

, and caused sonic booms in Western Pennsylvania. The fireball crashed in the woods just outside Kecksburg and was reportedly acorn-shaped. Some speculated that it was a UFO, however the United States government officially stated that it was just a meteor. It is now believed to have been the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Kosmos 96 Kosmos 96 ( meaning ''Cosmos 96''), or 3MV-4 No.6, was a Soviet spacecraft intended to explore Venus. A 3MV-4 spacecraft launched as part of the Venera programme, Kosmos 96 was to have made a flyby of Venus. However, due to a launch failure, it ...

spacecraft. To celebrate this local event, the Kecksburg Volunteer Fire Department holds an annual festival featuring presentations by UFO enthusiasts, vendor booths, and a community parade. In 1990, the television show ''

Unsolved Mysteries ''Unsolved Mysteries'' is an American mystery documentary television series, created by John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer. Documenting cold cases and paranormal phenomena, it began as a series of seven specials, presented by Raymond Burr, Kar ...

'' created a large, metallic, bell-shaped object to accompany their story on the incident. After the story aired, the show donated the model to the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

, and it was placed on a wooden pedestal behind the Kecksburg Volunteer Fire Department.Johnson, Dylan. "Aliens in pop culture: From little green men to big purple villains," ''Courier-Post'', June 18, 2021. It is now mounted on a metal pedestal lit with spotlights.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh metropolitan area

History

Unexplained phenomena

Haunted farmhouse

UFO incident

See also

References