The Response to 9/11: Tell Tales

At a Halt

We had just finished our first segment, "On the Trail of the Hookerman".  Our plan was a magazine format television show featuring the tales of small towns.  The "Hometown Tales" logo was designed by our friend who was an art director at the agency Bryan and I both worked at, DVC.  The logo was awesome.  Everyone at the agency knew of our endeavor and couldn't wait to see it.

I looked over the footage we had shot.  Ugh?  I looked terrible.  What was with the baggy t-shirt? My jacket was so big.  What saggy-bottom jeans we had. Man I needed a haircut.  We should've had a stylist or art director on the shoot.  That made the post-production process a little discouraging.  We were stalled.  We were discouraged.  We were stagnant.  Would Hometown Tales ever see the light of day?  Would it remain just an idea that we barely started?  A few shot segment pieces and that's it?   Months later it changed.

Tuesday Morning

It was a beautiful morning.  Absolutely perfect.  Like most people, I was driving to work.

I was listening to Howard Stern in my car.  The inappropriate banter of the show was interrupted by news about a plane hitting one of the twin towers.  Like everyone, it was assumed to just be a freak accident of so small plane off course.  Then the mood changed.  The hole in the building was huge.  It was from a big plane.  And then another plane hit.

I was in shock as I pulled into the parking lot at work.  I wanted to stay in my car and keep hearing but I also needed to get into work to confirm this madness with co-workers.  Not many people were in yet (like most agencies were were a little lax in the morning).  My friend Lourdes just arrived and she seemed to be the only other person sharing the "WTF is going on" mentality.  Both of us were political junkies and always debated about the middle east the global issues so we both seemed to really understand what was really happening. We immediately questioned each other,  "Do we really work today?"  Next, everyone settled in and it was eerie throughout the office.   So many of us had friends, relatives, spouses that worked in the city that we waited to hear from.  Online video streaming wasn't really perfected then and I remember searching for a TV antenna with Minogue as if it were a military assignment.

Soon we all realized it was not a time to be working, it is time to leave the office and be with our families.  I was single and for the most part unattached so I remember going to Bryan's house right down the road to watch the rest of the day's news coverage before heading to my parents house.  In the short drive from the office to Minogue's, the second tower fell.  Bryan told me as soon as I got to his house.  I remember how pissed I was.

Seeing It

The next day Minogue told me how he drove into the city the previous night, went downtown and asked how he could help.   He helped firefighters move around some supplies and donated items. That Saturday we both drove in together and just headed downtown to see if there was anything else we could do.  They had volunteering covered so we ended up just witnessing the madness - Military trucks everywhere, National Guard everywhere, Military security, a smoldering sky, -It was a war zone.  It was unreal. I still have the footage I shot with my camcorder.  I will eventually edit a story out of it but it hasn't felt right yet.

9/11 Changed everything.  It affected so many lives.

So what business does all this have with Hometown Tales.  Truthfully, 9/11 birthed Hometown Tales. Before September 11th, we were stalled, going nowhere.  But a few weeks after September 11th there was an awakening in me and I think in Bryan too.  Our lives required us to do something more than just work, get paid, drink beer and watch TV.   We needed to leave something, to affect something.  There are people to help.  There are lives to change.  There are stories to tell.  A legacy to leave.   It was after September 11th that Hometown Tale was no longer just an idea or a hobby.  It was a mission.  I know it sounds pretentious.  After 9/11, there was a passion inside of both of use that has fueled Hometown Tales. It gave us purpose.  We then began creating several TV episodes that ran on cable (and still do) for years.  We created one of the first podcasts and they are still downloaded all over the world today.    We began telling stories.  We began leaving something behind, something that mattered. Every tale we told, mattered.  Every show we've recorded meant something.  While we haven't recorded a podcast or created a video segment in what seems like forever, "Hometown Tales" is still alive and well.

The Mission to Tell Tales

I love America.  America is not our government.  Our government is far from perfect.  People make up this country.  Neighbors make up our towns.  Our towns make up this nation.  It is the people that are amazing.  That's the America I love.  The one filled with stories of the people.  I like sharing those tales.  And after 9/11, for me sharing them is not just babbling on a mic or typing on a blog.  It is a call of duty.  Pretentious? Silly? Over-thinking it?  Perhaps.  But if you've enjoyed Hometown Tales over the years, I think it's important for you to know, we created it because we believed in it and still do.  

We'll never forget 9/11.  It's difficult to imagine how much it affected so many things in this world including a dopey little americana podcast by 2 goofy irish-american guys.  We’re not sure if anyone really knew how much that event affected our show.  Every town has a tale.  Every person has a story.  Keeping telling and tell them with purpose.

-Gene

Central, PA - The Watermelon Baby

There is a strange legend told by camp councilors and big brothers in select parts of Central Pennsylvania. One that lacks many details and historical facts but is extremely interesting nonetheless. It usually involves a beat up old house just along Route 78 or the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Inside that house lives a deranged person raised by abusive and wicked parents. A pair of parents that kept him locked up as a child, deprived of sunlight, food and all the basic needs of a normal human being. The only food he was fed was watermelon- it’s seeds and rinds. He ate his nutrition-less meals locked inside a closet or basement depending on who you hear the legend from.

Of course now this “Watermelon Baby” resides alone in the decrepit shack visible from the highway and does not welcome visitors. Occasionally, travelers passing by will notice a dim light flickering in the window of the unstable home. There are the rumors of the college kids being chased away by the intelligible large and freaky resident. It seems everyone has a friend of a friend that encountered the mutated being.

While there is speculation this legend has foundation in a murder case involving a criminal from Pittsburgh who locked up his victims feeding the same fruity produce, the dates don’t add up. The legend of the Watermelon Baby dates back much earlier.

Feral children gone wrong seem to be a common theme of urban legends in many towns and states. But in central PA, there is an abandoned house off the highway that embodies this theme. And adds a little twist involving the food the child was raised on. Regardless, Pennsylvanians should be wary of the beast raised on nothing but large melons.

Photo courtesy of Ronnie Bergeron

Tons of MP3s

Hey Everyone,

You'll notice a list of all our Radio Shows on the right column of this site. Just scroll down a bit but we also figured we'd update a couple of the last shows in a post. We didn't post for every show in like the last 20 or so.

But here they are.

HT Radio Show #321 - Bryan And the Tornado. Hear about Bryan's trip to the midwest where he went Storm Chasing.

HT- Radio #320 - Weird Northwest. Discussing the odd tales of Oregon and Washington with Weird Washington and Weird Oregon authors, Jeff Davis and Al Aufrasio.

HT- Radio #319- Tales of Meat, Part 1. While we mostly cover tales of beef, we discuss some of the origins of your favorite cuts and other delicacies. One of our most popular shows in a long time.

HT Radio #318. Catching up on the strangest tales including the square donuts, Bryan's trip looking for tornados, Lord Jesus Christ hit by a car, life on Mars, Lost Colony, more strange food and much much more.

HT Radio #317. More on haggis, Cheeburger Cheeburger, oldest jazz club, Ghengis Khan killing the messenger, church in the basement, massive fireball and more.

HT Radio #316. Where'd the tomato come from? Kids in car moved by UFO in NH, the troll hidden in a closet, dead body under the couch and much much more.

HT Radio #315. Catching up on the latest and strangest of news. Big fight in the UK over dry roasted nuts. Haggis Chocolate, Strange Sighting, The Golden Dawn and the Tarot and Satanic terrorist threat. Plus much more.

HT Radio #314- Kuchisake-ona. The Japanese urban legend of the Slit-mouth woman.

Radio Show #308

Bryan's infection, Melusine, The Town on Fire evacuated, trolls in Florida, an update on Suicide Bridge and much more. Intro music by DINOS Alive.