That Other Liberty Bell No One Cares About Locked Away in Closet Today


In 1976, the Queen of England brought over a replica of our old pal Liberty Bell, to commemorate the Bicentennial. How sweet and thoughtful–our new friend was even molded in the same foundry as the original!

But when the six-ton bell arrived, no one could bear to look at him and his hideous uncracked facade. So he was banished to the red brick tower on Chestnut and 3rd, where no one could see him. For 25 years, until the dawn of the 21st century, the poor bell rang twice a day, wailing out in solitude. Finally, one day, the clapper broke, and he stopped crying. Nobody seemed to notice, no one complained, and so nobody ever fixed him.

Today the sad tale of the red-headed stepbell finally ends: he has been removed from his perch and placed in storage, to make room for the forthcoming Revolutionary War museum. A spokesman from the National Parks Service (the same cruel agency that never fixed the poor thing) said it will one day be reappear in Independence National Historic Park. But I have my doubts. [Washington Post]