Residents of Linglestown reported, throughout the evening of Monday, May 13, an extended sensation of being “watched, communally” that began at approximately 4:14 in the afternoon and persisted, without notable variation, until shortly after 10 in the evening. The reports were widespread, were received from households across all twelve precincts of the township, and were, in the words of one Borough employee speaking on condition of anonymity, “the closest thing I have ever experienced to a unanimous town meeting.”
Investigators dispatched by the Pennsylvania State Police arrived at approximately 7 in the evening, reportedly at the request of the Borough Council. They departed at 11:30, having taken no fewer than forty-one written statements and confirmed, in writing, that no electromagnetic anomalies, no unusual seismic activity, and no functioning Dairy Queen could be identified within a thirty-mile radius. (The Linglestown Dairy Queen, at the corner of Mountain Road and Boyer’s Lane, has been closed since 14 March for reasons the franchise has declined to specify.)
The Borough Council, in an extraordinary brief session held shortly after midnight, issued a written statement on the matter. The statement, distributed without letterhead and consisting of a single line, read in full: “we know.” When pressed for elaboration, Mayor Heffelfinger (no relation) declined further comment, telling this reporter only that “the rest of it is on a need-to-know basis,” and walking back into the Borough Hall.
Residents this morning report ordinary business and no continued sensation. Several have indicated, however, that they do not intend to discuss Monday evening with anyone, including with each other; an arrangement which, the Borough Council’s communications office confirms, is “the preferred approach.”
This newspaper’s offices, located at 5 N. Mountain Road, were among the locations that reported the sensation. The reporter assigned to the present article was, at the time, on the premises. He prefers not to be named in the byline. He also prefers not to walk past the manhole on the corner of Main and North Mountain for the foreseeable future.