One of the first posts I did when I started this blog was called "I'm surrounded by TV Towers!" Since then, last October, there has been action around them. I never did hear an update on what actually happened to the man that fell off.
A couple of months later, all the lights went off on the same tower. So at night, you could barely see it. Theoretically, if you were flying low, you may crash into it. Not sure what the story was, but it was three full days before the lights came back on. I think some of them were replaced, and some of them seemed to be in a new place. This was only November, and the top light has already been blown out again. I have never seen them change that bulb, it's at the tippy top. It sure doesn't seem safe being 1200 feet up.
There was yet another story about this tower that made the local news on June 11th. I had just arrived in Maine for my vacation. Was bringing some stuff into the room, and turned on the 5:00 news from my local station channel five (that's the best part about "modern" technology- I can watch the Red Sox and the Boston news stations while I am away. The first time we went to Old Orchard Beach in the early 1990's, we didn't have that luxury, or even cable TV. Only three channels, just like it was the 1970's!)
Getting back to my story, the top story was about two dare devils from New Hampshire who climbed half-way up "my" tower, and were going to film themselves jumping off! They had parachutes, of course. Their plans were thwarted when someone spotted them, and called police. The cops told them to come down, and I guess they went peacefully, but were arrested for trespassing and malicious destruction of property. I wonder why there isn't at least security cameras or alarms to go off. Maybe because nobody in their right mind would do something like that.
A couple of years ago our next door neighbor came running home and saw us outside and excitedly told us how he saw somebody with a parachute land in the middle of the playground, get up off the ground, look around and run away. We wanted to believe him, but didn't think it was possible for someone to jump off the tower and get far enough out not to get tangled up in the wires, or even to be able to "fly" at all, even with a stiff wind. We thought our neighbor may have had an overactive imagination. I guess I owe him an apology!
We wondered what was going on that night, because we saw several police cars, a fire engine, and the street was blocked off. This was at nine o'clock on a Sunday night, and I was getting ready for my trip. I thought it was pretty cool that while I was far away from home, I could see a story that happened right across the street from my house. I will try to upload the news clips at the end of this post.
One of the other towers nearby had work done recently, and naturally, I was fascinated and spellbound, so I took some pictures. (see above). I think that they may have extended it's length, but I'm not sure. There is actually a crane that was coming out of the top, and I think the long red thing hanging off the side is the piece that belongs on the top.
Here is the clip about the tower climbers! Enjoy! I need to find a new obsession.....after watching this video, you'll understand why these things gave me nightmares!
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