PAranormal (and True Crime)

Lehigh Millennium Folk Arch and Art Enclave

Down a gravel path past Look Out Drive in Bethlehem, PA, sits a hidden world of wonders. Officially known as Stolfo Sculpture Garden, the Millennium Folk Arch and Art Enclave is the result of a 1999 Lehigh University religious studies class in outsider art. Taught by Professor Norman Giradot, with assistance from artist Mr. Imagination and the Banana Factory, this class of students created this park of wild sculptures out of concrete and found objects, taking inspiration from mysticism and their own personal expression. This eight session class wasn’t technically an art class, and the students weren’t artists by their own definition, but what they created is possibly the most creativity-driven sculpture garden in Pennsylvania.

Who Was Harriet Cole? - The Unknown Life of the World’s First Dissected Nervous System

The story is told as follows: 

Harriet Cole was a member of the custodial staff at Hahnemann Medical College (Drexel University), Philadelphia in the late 19th century. When she died of tuberculosis in 1888, she donated her body to Dr. Rufus Weaver to be used for anatomical study. For the period of 5 months after her death, Dr. Weaver worked meticulously to carefully extract every nerve from Harriet’s corpse, and arrange them to be studied. Save for the filaments on intercostal nerves from between the ribs, he succeeded. Dr. Weaver effectively achieved the first full dissection of the human nervous system, winning several awards at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. Dr. Weaver’s accomplishment is still extremely impressive today, as it is one of only four full nervous system dissections in the world.

But who was this woman who now sits greeting students entering the medical school?

The most common facts of the story are these: Harriet Cole was African-American, she died of tuberculosis, and she was 35 at her time of death. As for the rest, it’s up for debate. Back then, it was common for medical schools to receive cadavers from prisons, poor houses, and asylums. Body donation was almost unheard of. If Harriet’s body was used with her permission, there’s no written record of it, and it was likely so she wouldn’t have had to burden her family with funeral costs. There is a death certificate for a Harriet Cole in 1888, and it states that this woman died of tuberculosis at age 35, was African-American, and lived very close to Hahnemann. It also lists her place of burial as Hahnemann Medical College. 

I am not saying that the common story told about how Harriet Cole’s body fell into the hands of Dr. Weaver is a complete myth, but understanding the time period of the supposed donation should lead us all to question just how much of this process was Harriet’s choice.

Onto the dissection itself, it was achieved through a time-consuming step-by-step process. Dr. Weaver started from the top, chipping away at the skull, separating and spreading the dura mater and cranial nerves and pinning them to a blackboard. Dr. Weaver then worked his way down, wrapping each nerve in moist gauze, and then later covering them in lead paint for preservation. The final result was titled simply “Harriet,” a full human body shown only in nerves, including the eyes, mounted on a blackboard to be used in medical study. 

Abandoned Missile Batteries Scattered Across PA

During the Cold War, the United States lived under the constant fear that the Soviet Union could bomb the country at any moment. Although the Civil War was the last to be fought on American soil, the attack on Pearl Harbor was still fresh in the minds of the American public. Because of WWII, Americans had more confidence that ever in the military to defend them against foreign attacks.

This is why everyone was perfectly fine with 256 missile launch sites being established in suburbs across America. These Nike Missile Batteries, which remained in operation until 1974, were first proposed in 1945 as Project Nike, named after the Greek goddess of victory. Bell Laboratories created the first missile, the Nike Ajax, in 1953 as a line-of-site anti-aircraft rocket. The Ajax were followed over the years the Nike Hercules and Nike Zeus. 

In Pennsylvania, 24 missile sites were established in the suburbs surrounding Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the 1950s and 1960s. The sites were given a letter designation, PH for Philadelphia and PI for Pittsburgh, and a number relating to how close each site was to the major city it was supposed to be commanding. The first of these sites were established in 1955, and the last were decommissioned in 1974. Many of the sites were decommissioned in the 1960s due to Nike Ajax technology being surpassed by both new American and Soviet technology. Those that weren’t decommissioned were upgraded to fit Nike Hercules, and many are still under army ownership, being used for other military activities.

The missiles at the bases were stored in underground magazines and launched with hydraulic elevator systems, but could be seen above ground during test drills. 

All of these Nike Missile Bases still exist in some capacity. Though the missiles are gone, the land and structures have found new uses over the years. Some are still military sites, some are owned by private owners, and some are operated by townships. The land sometimes gets reused as a nature area, such as the PH-97/99 launch site in Warrington, PA becoming Lower Nike Park, and the control site now being Twin Oaks Summer Camp. 

The PH-49 control site in Mantua Township, New Jersey (still technically a PA site because of its proximity to Philadelphia) is now Bethel Church and Glouchester County Christian School. 

The PH-07 launch site in Richboro, PA, is now the Northampton Township Recreation Center. There are bating cages on top of the missile magazines. Whatever works, right?