Forest Hills
Pennsylvania
January 2014
January 2015
A Pittsburgh community called Forest Hills is home to the big light bulb thing you see in the photograph.
Actually it’s not really a light bulb, it’s just shaped like one. This large not-a-lightbulb was the first van de Graaf nuclear generator in the country, or maybe the world, depending on whom you believe. It was built in 1937, and decommissioned in 1958, the same year the movie called “The Blob” was made. Even though the blob had a celestial origin, it still did yucky things to people. Connection? You be the judge.
Whoops. wait. Too late. Because the laboratory building that supported the generator was unstable, the building was torn down and the light bulb was, as you can see in the photo, gently laid on its side. The new owner promises that when he begins development of the land, he will resurrect the thing. Let’s hope.
The Blob? Connected to a decommissioned power plant? Naah.
But since we’re being careful about radiation and blobs and aliens, please read my column titled PA II — The Blob.
