Kecksburg, Pennsylvania

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 [the investigators had] been taken out of the bedroom where the demonstrations [by the alleged ghost were] made in an unconscious condition," adding that "the spirits [had] made 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, 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.[6][7]

A model depicting the supposedly crashed object, called the "space acorn", originally created for the show Unsolved Mysteries, and put on display near the Kecksburg fire station.

On December 9, 1965 a large, brilliant fireball was seen by thousands in at least six states and Ontario, Canada. It streaked over the Detroit, Michigan/Windsor, Ontario area, dropped metal debris over Michigan and northern Ohio, 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.[8] It is now believed to have been the Soviet Kosmos 96 spacecraft.[9]

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.[10][11]

In 1990,[12] the television show Unsolved Mysteries 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, and it was placed on a wooden pedestal behind the Kecksburg Volunteer Fire Department.[13][14] It is now mounted on a metal pedestal lit with spotlights.