Friday afternoon I ventured off to Governors Island to check out the archaeological dig that they have going on and was blown away by what I found.
What I had heard about ‘The Dig’ prior to entering is that an ancient inlet that once was had been undercovered and that a group of archeologists had been working on locating pottery and other things related to the early colonial presence and prior.
What I found when I actually got there was something I never would have imagined in the middle of New York City - a buried town of bizarro world that once was, on a tiny now buried island called ‘Goverthing.’
This is the above ground portion of the chapel of Goverthing. Notice the metal cat at the tip and the odd railing that is wrapped around the steeple – those are to scare the numerous aggressive birds off of the island. Yes, apparently Governors Island and the now defunct Goverthing (now part of Governors Island) were at one point infested with numerous species of extremely aggressive birds.
People used to climb up the the base of the steeple which is currently at ground level in the photo, sit down and run as if they were driving the car from the Flintstones. Seriously!
Doing so would force metal balls up a shaft and pop them out and into the railing that wraps the steeple. Each time the ball drops it makes a loud noise that is meant to scare off said aggressive birds and eventually it makes the cat at the top twirl around which clanks and bangs into a bunch of metal objects thus making more noise to scare off the birds.
There were so many birds flying around and pooping that everyone wore plastic around their hats and had special contraptions on their forks so as to not allow bird poop to ruin a meal…and men wore heavy duty SCROTUM PROTECTORS in their underwear!
Those birds must have been hardcore!
The entire little village that once was existed up until 1954 when the Army gave the civilians the boot due to “extreme chance of lightning strike” and people wonder why the government isn’t trusted by so many.
The Army Corps of Engineers was ordered to cover the town with 16 feet of sand, did so and ended up dumping an unknown amount of crabs on the town as well. Brittle old crabs and seashells are all over the town.
I pieced together these guys.
More than anything, the majority of the people that lived in the now buried town tried and tried and tried to keep the bird population away.
Aside from the whole weird Flintstones Chapel above, there were numerous scarecrows, crazy spinning contraptions, water shoots and whistles to mimic the danger cries of various bird species.
A building is or perhaps buildings are under here.
Despite the fact that there were aggressive birds all around the town one person loved them – when the gas station was uncovered it was found that the proprietor built and hung bird houses on and all around the gas station.
Even the cars that were left behind were buried by the Army.
Yet the most odd part of the buried Goverthing is the SNOWGLOBE FACTORY!!!
Yes, they made snowglobes there! It just doesn’t get any more odd than that.
Check out the uncovered roof and statue!
As if all of that wasn’t cool enough, everyone who enters the site enters at their own risk and has to wear a vest and hard hat – SO COOL!!!
And before I go, this whole archaeological dig is nothing more than an elaborate hoax in the name of art…Best $5 spent, EVER!