Voting Station

Shanksville, Pennsylvania

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Location

The Resume

    Born in United States
    Incorporated January 25, 1913
    Settled by entrepreneur Christian Shank (1798)
    Part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area
    Borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania
    Approximately 60 miles southeast from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    Estimated population of 232 (as of 2014)
    Density estimated at 1,391.9 per square mile
    Came to international attention during the 9/11 attacks when United Airlines Flight 93 bound for San Francisco crashed in adjacent Stonycreek Township (Sept. 11, 2001)

Why Shanksville, Pennsylvania might be annoying:

    Its founder purchased the territory for 20 dollars (a hefty sum back then).
    It is inseparably associated with one of the most traumatic events in both American history and world history as a whole.
    Before any official monument was created, uniformed visitors and tourists would take pictures of the local scrap yard under the impression that this was the site of the crash.
    It has been at the center of countless nut-job conspiracy theories claiming 9/11 was an inside job manufactured by the government.
    One of the most popular conspiracy theories is promoted by Alex Jones, claiming that the debris of Flight 93 was too far away from the site of the crash for it to have been real, and claiming that it was actually shot down by a U.S. fighter jet when passengers learned of the government's complicity in the attacks.
    One of the oddest, most offensive, conspiracy theories claims that the Flight 93 Memorial's design is actually that of 'a giant mosque' designed to honor the terrorists, which officials have vehemently denied.
    As public memory about 9/11 waned in later years, tour guides claim to have been asked 'were there any survivors,' 'what time of year was it when the crash occurred,' and even 'were you personally on the plane at the time?'

Why Shanksville, Pennsylvania might not be annoying:

    It is hallowed ground - the final resting place of 39 murdered citizen heroes.
    The crash is believed to have averted the possibility that the fourth plane would hit either the White House or the Capitol, causing even more damage (both immediate and long-term).
    A 2-ton, 14-foot cross made of a beam from the World Trade Center was donated by the New York Fire Department to a town landmark shaped like the Pentagon outside the firehouse (Aug. 2008).
    It received a 'Let's Roll' (in reference to Flight 93's Todd Beamer) monument from Colorado residents 'dedicated to the first citizen heroes of the twenty-first century.'
    The local chapel, largely secluded for over a century, became a spiritual monument to the heroes of Flight 93.
    The dragline where the crash occurred remains, although strip mining is no longer done in the area, as it is conceived as holy ground, with an American flag positioned at the top of line.
    It received two granite plaques from Guatemala City (the second was larger and took longer to complete, but the first was put on display in the weeks following the crash).
    Artifacts left at the site of the Flight 93 Memorial are periodically collected and preserved at the Somerset Historical Building to be saved for a permanent collection.
    A Memorial Visitor Site was dedicated at the site of the crash to honor those on board who gave their lives to divert the plane from hitting the Capitol (Sept. 10, 2015).
    Local resident, Valencia McClatchey, who took the only photograph of the mushroom cloud from crash, has been harassed by conspiracy theorists who claim its a fake (it has since been examined by multiple, credible sources, all of whom have determined that its real).

Credit: BoyWiththeGreenHair


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 8 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 7 Votes: 42.86% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 4 Votes: 25.00% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 8 Votes: 37.50% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 7 Votes: 28.57% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 31 Votes: 48.39% Annoying