Invasion on Chestnut Ridge

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(ominous tones)

(dark atmospheric tones)

[Narrator] There are

places in the world where the

boundary between the known

and unknown is very thin.

Places whose natural and

wild beauty hide secrets

too incredible to be believed,

until those secrets begin

to reveal themselves.

When that happens, people

react in wonder, curiosity,

and sometimes in horror.

Humanity often

commemorates these places

by creating monuments

such as Stonehenge.

Scholars suggest that it

was a place from which

to observe the heavens,

a place of burial,

a place of either human

sacrifice or healing.

The Nazca Lines, etched into

the earth of Southern Peru

carry the qualities

of sacred symbolism.

The dessert southwest has kept

its own disturbing secrets

from the alleged crashes

of craft from other worlds,

to the all-too-real

testing of atomic weaponry.

Then there's the

Bermuda Triangle,

a region of the Atlantic Ocean

in which hundreds of ships

and approximately 75 planes

have simply gone missing,

along with passengers and crew.

Both scientific and supernatural

causes have been proposed

for these catastrophes, but

theories do little to ease

the pain of those who lost

loved ones in the Triangle.

There are places in the

world whose mysteries call us

to come and see for ourselves,

whatever the human

toll might be.

Places like the Chestnut Ridge.

The Chestnut Ridge, located

in Southwestern Pennsylvania,

lies on the western edge of

the Appalachian Mountain range.

The Ridge rises in

Southern Indiana County,

and rolls to the southwest by

way of towns like Blairsville,

Derry, Latrobe, Connellsville,

Mount Pleasant and Uniontown,

all the way into West

Virginia where it gradually

comes to rest near Morgantown.

Villages along the Ridge were

founded as far back as 1770.

The rich limestone clay

soil rewarded the efforts

of early farmers and soon

the communities could support

iron furnaces, whisky

distilleries and general stores.

One family, by the last name

of Keck, settled in the area

to bottle and sell spring

water and soft drinks.

They had no way of knowing

that their town, Kecksburg,

would one day become world-famous,

but not for ginger ale.

Then I was 16-years-old

when the incident happened

near Kecksburg, Pennsylvania.

Then I got involved with that,

that evening as it's

breaking on the news,

and I've been out in the

field ever since that time

investigating UFOs and

cryptids and other phenomena

hear in Pennsylvania.

Kecksburg, Pennsylvania's a

small rural community in Mount

Pleasant township in Westmoreland

County, Pennsylvania,

approximately 40 miles

southeast of Pittsburgh.

[Narrator] Like many

of the small towns

in Westmoreland County,

Keckburg sits within the

shadow of the Chestnut Ridge.

The Ridge is dotted end to

end with these tiny villages,

many of them founded

well over a century ago.

Each of them bears their own

strange history of sightings

and encounters with

things not of this world.

Many wonder what it is about

this particular stretch of land

that beckons such mysteries.

For decades, researchers of

the strange and unknown have

journeyed back to the Chestnut

Ridge in search of answers.

Their quest isn't solely

confined to present day.

For over a century, mysterious

circumstances have shrouded

the Ridge in a fog of unease.

I've been involved in the

paranormal since I've been about

10-years-old and then I

got into the field in 1997

investigating cases.

My main base of operation

in Pennsylvania is the

southwestern part of the state,

namely this particular area

where we're at here,

Westmoreland, Fayette County,

Armstrong, Indiana, Washington.

Probably about 80% of my

investigations and cases that

I've worked on have been here

in the Chestnut Ridge area.

There's been a long

history of various phenomena

along the Chestnut

Ridge, especially along

the Westmoreland County

side and Derry township.

We have many reports from

those small communities such as

Derry and New Derry and Hillside

and Superior and Brenizer,

and all throughout that area

and many sightings from around

the Keystone State Park.

Without a doubt, there's

an atmosphere to this area.

You can drive these back roads,

and you just get

a weird feeling.

Some of these places you

go into, some are very dark

and secluded, they just give

off a really ominous vibe.

Something very strange

has been going along

the Chestnut Ridge for many

many years and in fact,

the earliest firsthand account

I have of a Bigfoot encounter

where I actually

interviewed the witness,

goes back to 1931 near Indian

Head in Fayette County.

And of course, Fayette County

is one of those areas that has

year after year

phenomena being reported.

There are newspaper articles

I've found that date back to

the late 1800s that talked

about people experiencing wild

men of the forest or even

gorillas or monkeys in this area.

It's not just Bigfoot related,

there's all kinds of weird

phenomena from UFOs,

strange lights in the sky,

cryptid creatures,

haunted locations.

There's just a really

concentrated area right here.

There's a lot of weird

activity that goes on.

So there's been a lot of

history of all kinds of strange

phenomena that's happened

all around this area,

through Mount Pleasant township,

and throughout the

community around here.

UFO sightings in this

area have been rampant.

As I said earlier, it's a

very high volume of reports.

Even all the way up to

Kecksburg in the 1960s.

[Narrator] There probably was

a time when the residents of

Kecksburg felt far removed from

the tension of the Cold War

and obsession over UFOs.

While the televisions, movie

theaters and drive-ins were

full of nuclear wars or

countered by fantastical aliens

and flying saucers, this

tiny burg remained blissfully

detached from the near

hysteria that was gripping

other areas of the country.

In late 1965, that sense of

security would be shattered.

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I'll remember it all my life.

It's something

I'll never forget.

That night, we was actually

out playing football,

and we didn't actually know

about it until we walked back

in the house and Mom and Dad

said that there was a thing on

the radio that something

crashed in Acme.

My mom looked out the window

and she seen all the vehicles

and stuff on the

road, she says, well,

this is right behind the

house, that ain't in Acme.

I remember that evening

just like it was yesterday.

It was a Thursday evening,

December 9th, 1965.

I was listening to a radio

station in Pittsburgh.

There was a breaking news

story coming on the radio

about this brilliant fireball,

this fire object was seen

from the tip on Ontario,

Canada over Michigan, Ohio

and Pennsylvania.

[Narrator] That night, a

radiant fireball was seen

streaking through the

skies over Detroit

and Windsor, Ontario, moving

in a southeasterly direction,

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