When I belonged to Troop 224 In Carrick we where very fortunate Harry Bishop a Business Executive for a paper manufacturer and Scout Commissioner who owned some acreage in very rural Butler County in Boyer Pa. allowed us to camp on his property some where off a side road of grub road .
We had permanent camp sites where we spent the weekend at several times a year .
One fall weekend in 72-73 was like no other it was mid Saturday afternoon when all of a sudden an extremely loud noise was heard thru out the valley the camp was situated in. It sounded like some one taking a piece of sheet metal and bending it back and forth very fast but so loud we had to cover our ears. It lasted for almost 3 solid minutes and was intense. Some one suggested it sounded like one of those UFO in a sci-fi movie . We looked all around even hiked up to top of valley where a previous strip mine operated and was reclaimed but found nothing , however there was a discolored circle of rock and dirt in the strip mine but it did not appear to be burned. Plus the circle could have been site of an old water tank.
With the area being so large and so remote what was going on could have been anywhere in the valley which was several miles long and 2-3 miles across and thick with Forrest and swamp areas
Our leaders kind of fluffed it off maybe military was flying around caused the sound or coal mining equipment . Maybe some exotic bird ? but at this same time unknown to us at the time there where several sightings of UFO's in that area of Butler County.
But back then you did not have cell phones ,internet and social media so people would call and report it to the state police who would take a report and that was about it., Some times if it was really interesting they would notify Stan who would send a team to investigate, and the area even to this day is still very rural definite not a place to break down or wander if you do not know it.
Was it a UFO? who knows but I will never forget the sound thats for sure and never heard such a sound again . When I run across old scout friends they to wonder to this day just what was that noise.
some talk about it most do not want to admit they heard it all these years later.
Butler County has always been a hot bed for Big Foot ,unknown Cryptids and UFO sightings or was it something natural happening from all the strip coal mining and reclamation going on ? I guess we will never know .
Update:Mr. Bishops cabin and the camp no longer exists was clear cut and bulldozed and now private property :picture below shows where hunting cabin stood and where we parked to go back to camp bottom picture is country store we use to stop at in W. Sunbury which once had gas pumps and was also a coin laundromat which was few miles from camp.
There was a cabin and lake further down road on Mr. Bishops side and cabin was supposedly burned down deliberately after a black family moved in across from Mr Bishop.
Supposedly the family said property would never be used again as long as blacks where allowed to live there . I noticed the property is occupied and structures built so either the black family has either all passed or moved on or same for family who burned down the cabin. I meet the son of the black family that moved into that farm had a son Mike who would come over and visit while we where camping and they where nice people the little we saw of them.
The Strip Mined areas all around the camp area have now completely grown in since being reclaimed and one of them has been turned into a Waste management land fill.
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| where Mr Bishops cabin stood. |
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| country market in W. Sunbury |
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