Johnstown, PA

It was a very cold morning on Saturday when I met Richard and Margie to travel up to Johnstown, PA for an urbexing forage. We weren't too sure on what we would find but the town looked interesting. The further north we drove the colder it got and soon we were seeing snow dusting the mountains and fields.

We stopped a couple of times to grab photos of things that caught our eye but for the most part we wanted to stay inside our warm car.

The snow gradually became deeper as we traveled up the mountains with all tree branches and blades of grass encased in ice. It was very very cold. We stopped once for hot cider but soon we were at Johnstown and met with Jenn who had found us our lunch stop, Scott's By Dam.

Richard had a large taco while the rest of us opted for a small version each. The owner's wife made the soft taco shells by hand, which were delicious, but I wasn't over enthused with the fillings. But they served excellent beer and we were all hungry so were content with our full and warmed tummies. The folks there were very friendly and helpful with information on the town.

We next visited the Flood Museum which should be the first stop of anyone coming to this town who wants to know its history. Towards the end of the 1800's steel barons from Pittsburgh had bought a countryside retreat up river with cottages and a huge man made lake held back by a dam. But none of the owners paid proper interest to the maintenance of the dam, just patching it occasionally, and on May 31st, 1889, during a heavy storm, the dam broke, flooding the gorge below that lead to Johnstown, 14 miles away. Over 20 million tons of water gushed down the valley taking less than an hour to reach the town. The debris that was caught in its wake pushed against the Stone Bridge in the town and caught fire but the bridge held. Over 2200 people lost their lives in the flood and fires.

An impressive model showing the path of the dam water on its way down the gorge to Johnstown, now known as Flood City.

This is an impressive little museum which also showed a memorable short documentary of the flood.
After, we went to The Inclined Plane,  originally built to take workers up and down the hill to The Cambria Iron Company, but also took survivors and rescuers up and down during a later flood in 1936. It is now a tourist attraction, the world's steepest vehicular incline

Looking up...

...and looking down. It really was very steep but the views were amazing. Click for a video of the ride here. The staff were chatty and fun with the gift shop at the top providing welcome warmth. With the colored lights, the snow and the tree inside the small shop it felt very festive.

We loved this t-shirt.
By the time we got back down to the bottom it was dark and cold, and most definitely time for beers.

We tried a few bars and were extremely lucky in Jenn driving us around, as she didn't drink. But we did. A lot.Well I did.

A couple wanted their photo taken in this graffiti alley and soon it became a study on how we could achieve the best shot, with the guy becoming a willing, albeit frozen, subject for our cameras.

Another pub sported this lamp, the first time I'd seen one outside of the movie, Christmas Story.
The rest of the evening became a bit of a blur, but suffice to say we all made it back to the hotel safely, polished off Richard's homemade sangria, and then awoke the next morning in desperate need of a cooked breakfast.
This was obtained at a diner called 'Our Son's'.

We saw the place mats and then realized what the name related to, but after reading their website, it actually referred to their three sons. The food was great. My western omelet didn't have small pieces of ham as I was expecting, it had slices layered on the bottom, with veggies and provolone cheese. The restaurant is very proud of their Italian homemade bread, and justifiably so, it was delicious. We all felt fortified after breakfast and drove to look over the iron works.
Founded in 1852, this was once the main manufacturer of the nation's barbed wire. It made rails for western railroads, plate, girders, axles, and structural steel and operated as a model for the industry up until the 1980s when the steel industry was hit by tough overseas economic competition  It closed in 1992 and there are plans to reopen it as a mixed use site, industrial, commercial and tourism.

Walking about all I really came across was ice, lots and lots of ice, and icicles. It was cold.

This wall showed the frustration of previous workers. We left and then went to the Grandview Cemetery, one of the largest in Pennsylvania. we wanted to see if we could find any of the flood victims' graves. It sits atop a great hill looking down on the city.

This was so sad to see this, many members of a family lost on that fateful day.

This area is the resting place of 777 souls who could not be identified and is known as the Unknown Plot. In 1892 the monument, was dedicated before a crowd of 10,000. As of March 1992, there were 57,006 persons interred here at Grandview, and to this day, the names of all are handwritten in the Chronological Book of Interment.
The temperature was dropping fast as we walked around the grounds and we soon succumbed, hurrying to the warmth of the car. We drove around the city looking at the beautiful churches. We stopped at the Immaculate Conception Church, closed in 2009, and walked around the outside, wishing we could get in. We couldn't have timed it better. A guy walked out, he was organizing a 50th wedding celebration and very kindly allowed us inside to take photos. It was stunningly beautiful. Construction was completed in 1908 and it served the german residents of Cambria City. It underwent major renovations after a fire in 1983. After closing as a church, it reopened as Grand Halle in 2012 and is now used for special events.

It was mid afternoon when we got back outside and everyone was feeling tired and wanting to head home. If we were lucky, we'd be back in our homes before dark, and I was looking forward to cuddling up to two furry felines in front of a blazing fire.

 We stocked up with drinks and nibbles for the journey and I noticed this horrendous cake thing on a shelf. A donut topped with fruit loops? Not appetizing to me but it had an amusing name. Driving back through the mountains encased in ice we stopped for a few photos, but were soon back in the warm car again. And a few hours later, our prediction proved true. I managed to pull up outside Meadow House just as the last of the pale dusk gave it self up to the dark night, with Kota and Rosie Lee waiting for me inside the front door.

North Korean Child Prisoners

On Monday evening I drove down to DC to meet with Margie for a very special evening. We had managed to get passes to listen to and meet Shin Dong-Hyuk, witness and survivor of Camp 14, the infamous political concentration camp; Suzanne Scholte, 2008 Seoul Peace Prize Laureate and chairman of the Defense Forum Foundation; and Pavel Klein, neurologist, at the Czech Embassy.

I never drive down to DC on week days because of the horrendous traffic but for this an exception had to be made. I got there early and was amazed to see how small the gathering would be. I counted only 100 seats.

Before long, our speakers arrived. Above is Shin, with a representative of the Czech Embassy. Shin has to be the most incredible person I have ever met. He is the only known person to be born in and escape from Camp 14, one of North Korea's most notorious camps. He escaped in 2005, aged 23, spent a month walking to China, was living in South Korea within two years, and then was in California four years after that. For the last two years he has been a senior human rights ambassador. My first impression of him was that he looked so young, far younger than his 32 years but when you get up close his friendly face has old eyes, rimmed with many lines, and you get a glimpse of the cruel hard life he has endured.
He had to watch many executions in the camp including those of his mother and older brother who had tried to escape. He and his father were tortured, held over a fire, as the guards tried to extract information from them. He had never known the emotion of love, or even the word, and never heard of God. He had been trained to regard his family as competition for food, never receiving any warmth from his mother or brother and only seeing his father five times a year, regarding him as a stranger.
It's mind numbing to try and comprehend what this man has been through, and I could only admire and respect him as I watched with awe at how he now interacted with people and talked of his past life. He looked so healthy yet from having started to read his book, I have learned that his growth is stunted through malnutrition, his arms are bowed from heavy labor, he has a finger tip missing, cut off by guards for damaging a sewing machine, he has scars and burns on his back from the fire he was held over with a hook piercing his skin to keep him in place, his lower legs have welt scars from shackles while hanging upside down in solitary confinement and burns from the electric fence as he escaped. His teeth have been cosmetically enhanced. It was a miracle that this young man had survived all this and was now standing before us bent on making us and the rest of the world understand what goes on in these North Korean camps.
He spoke through an interpreter, and when he suggested that we all went home afterwards and took some cold medicine because his interpreter had a cold. Everyone laughed and I was incredulous that he had a sense of humor, he was genuinely funny at times. All I could do was shake my head hardly believing what I was hearing.

Suzanne Scholte spoke for a while explaining what was being done to help and rescue the orphaned children from North Korea who make their way to China.

The photo above shows a group that were awaiting flights from China to the USA and South Korea where they would then lead free lives. They were all incredibly excited until guards suddenly swooped on them and the eight that don't have flags above their heads in the photo were grabbed and taken back to North Korea, where we can assume they ended up in the camps. Imagine their horror at tasting freedom for a fleeting moment and then having it so cruelly snatched away.

The above documents are examples of flyers that are sometimes dropped in North Korea. Money is often sent with them or DVDs or radios. They are attached to balloons and sent over the border.

 After everyone had spoken, we were allowed to go up to the front and meet the speakers. Most of us were at a loss what to say to Shim. He speaks some English but chooses not too, he's not really ready to come out of his shell fully yet, but he had plenty of smiles for everyone. He signed copies of his book for us and all I could do was gently squeeze his shoulder and say, "Thank God you're safe."

Some interesting websites here:
A brief history of Shin's life in the camp:
http://www.northkoreanrefugees.com/2007-09-atbirth.htm
Free North Korean radio - click on the ENG button at the top:
http://fnkradio.com/
Working for freedom and the human right of North Koreans:
http://www.nkfreedom.org/

Aspin Pet Cemetery, MD

A group of us went up to Maryland on Saturday to look at Aspin Hill Pet Cemetery. It was a dull damp day which lent a sad ambiance to the small gravestones with little animal figurines poking up from the long unkempt grass.
There used to be a schnauzer breeders kennel here that had a line of champions with the Aspin name. Some of the dogs were buried here as well as some of the neighbors' pets. The cemetery passed through many owners and is now run by Montgomery County Humane Society. Because of the recession and the lack of foundations, the land is badly neglected and needs volunteers to help maintain the grounds. Sadly there are quite a few beer cans littering the ground and towards the back of the grounds where the older graves are is quite difficult to access because it is so overgrown.
It seemed such a forlorn place as we wandered amongst the graves but obviously there have been many loved and revered family members laid to rest here. Some of the owners even chose to rest here with their pets, most of which we found to be dogs, with a lot of cats too. We came across a bird grave, a monkey, brave heroic animals and there's also supposedly a horse, but we didn't find that.

The majority of the graves, from the 20's and 30's were once adorned with these beautiful porcelain portraits. Many were missing, a lot suffering from the elements but probably from vandalism also.

This poodle statue was placed in what I could only think was supposed to represent a boat.

A mausoleum for what must have been a very pampered pooch, who now rests here with his owners.

The late newspaper correspondent Bascom N. Timmons, buried 129 stray animals at Aspin Hill, including 80 cats.

We marveled at this talented feline. I've never seen a cat in a dress before, especially standing upright.

A much loved monkey rests here..

...and who calls their favorite pooch this?

Beautiful sentiments from an adoring human struggling with his loss.

Someone had a sense of humor using this as a marker.

I absolutely adored this statue, a Lewis Caroll style cat.

A memorial for some incredibly brave dogs.

And this one speaks for itself, it was quite a shock coming across this, but really we should have expected some kind of memorial for all those poor animals killed for humans' vanity.
All below are iPhone photos.

I found out later that Aspin Hill is believed to be the second-oldest pet cemetery in the nation, so it's surprising that it's in such neglect. There are a lot of photos on the internet that reveal how badly this cemetery has deteriorated, many showing it in better times with the grass tended and weeds kept back. There are also a lot of comments from others who have photographed it recently, describing it as scary or creepy. I never thought this at all as I wandered about, I just felt sad that it had been abandoned. I also read that the graves won't be disturbed, unless by vandals, as building is not allowed here, so maybe soon funds will become available to restore the cemetery back to its former condition.. A great article is here, explaining some of the graves.