Here’s another hit from Seth Breedlove and his crew at Small Town Monsters. Seriously, I will go out on a limb and say that Breedlove is one of the most important film-makers of this generation. He brings the greatest stories of yester-year into the spotlight once again and continues to provide them with a long lasting legacy. His documentaries and their narratives are thought provoking, factual, and scary. Though he’s released several projects in the past, Breedlove is most known for The Mothman of Point Pleasant, which recently shattered expectations and Amazon chart records in terms of independent productions. And while his latest feature, Invasion on Chestnut Ridge, is a step up in terms of quality, I think it’s going to be just as successful because it rehashes a decades’ long, counties wide phenomenon that the majority of scifi freaks have forgot about. Have you ever heard of the Kecksburg Crash? It’s basically the East Coast’s version of Roswell, and it’s explained in detail here along with a handful of other mysteries that surround Chestnut Ridge. This is a certainly a documentary you don’t want to pass on!
Seth is smart. He begins this documentary in a special way – explaining that there are places all around the world that are inexplicably linked to the supernatural or paranormal. Think Stonehenge. Think The Bermuda Triangle. For some reason, possibly out of our realm of comprehension, certain spots are a beacon for weird activity. Chestnut Ridge, Kecksburg, Mount Pleasant Township and Westmoreland County are the beacon in Pennsylvania. As data and narrator Mark Matzke will tell you, there are articles, reports and strange sightings going all the way back to the 1800’s. The town of Kecksburg was founded in 1770, as seen in a vintage photo, and was known for selling spring water and soda, but eventually the town would become an unwilling participant in UFO history after the flying saucer crash of 1965.
As The Invasion on Chestnut Ridge will tell you The Kecksburg crash occurred on December 9, 1965. That night, an acorn shaped, metalic object raced through the sky, from Canada to Michigan to Pennsylvania, before making contact with the ground in the woods of Kecksburg, PA. The media tried to write the event off as nothing more than a meteor, but the presence of hieroglyph on the “meteor” and its trail of vapor blue smoke made that argument null and void. The building presence of government and military officials were also a red flag that something else was going on. Now, I’m sure this event sounds crazy – even just reading about it – but wait until you get your copy of The Invasion on Chestnut Ridge. Seth and Small Town Monsters take you inside the actual town of Kecksburg, PA as it stands today and take you into the forests that surround the crash sight. Not only that, but real-life eye witnesses lend their commentary to the documentary. Invasion on Chestnut Ridge is the most in depth and definitive piece on the Kecksburg crash that you will find in 2017. With nothing to fear and nothing to lose, Seth gives you every glimpse into this historic UFO event. He tackles every theory and piece of the puzzle, and then he leaves you to make your own conclusions.
Although UFO sightings continued for a few years after the initial crash, IE: An Incident At Bell Farm, it should be noted again that paranormal activity began in Chestnut Ridge before the 1960’s. How about the 1930’s, particularly 1931 when bigfoot sightings started popping up all over the county. And that’s only scratching the surface! The area in question, in south west Pennsylvania, is also rumored to be home to ghosts, werewolves, black panthers and thunderbirds. Due to all this activity, strange men – or Superior’s Mystery Man – who we can equate to The Men in Black, frequent the area to cover up the tracks of these unknown phenomenons. Of course, all of these creatures, cryptids and ghouls are investigated and explained in greater detail in The Invasion on Chestnut Ridge. It’s like you’re watching a full season of “Unsolved Mysteries” and “Expedition Unknown” in one feature length documentary. It’s uncanny. The use of actual footage, eye witness accounts, testimonials, and b-roll of the strange-lands today make The Invasion on Chestnut Ridge a homey, realistic adventure into the unknown. I guarantee you’ll be glued to your screen while diving into thriller head first. It may seem as if I spoiled a lot of the story for you, but there’s so much more evidence I haven’t touched on and so many more startling truths that are bound to haunt your dreams.
The documentary ends on a smart note, too. Why is this area so frequented by otherworldly beings? Is it because of the rural, rustic scenery somewhat out of the eyesight of gawkers? Is it because of power grids that disrupt mechanical and dimension borders? We may never know, but as the film shows you, Kecksburg and its surrounding neighborhoods have embraced the lure and legends just as Point Pleasant, West Virginia has embraced The Moth Man. The Invasion on Chestnut Ridge is co-written, directed, produced and edited by Seth Breedlove with co-writer Mark Matzke, cinematographer Zac Palmisano, and executive producers Cameron Jones, Dwight Bishop, Forest Hazel, Morgan Hazel and Rod Fielder. Instead of having my eyes to the sky, I had them glued to my computer watching this in total aw, astonishment and fear. Spine tingling, mysterious and educational at heart, this one’s another hit for the team at Small Town Monsters. Final Score: 9 out of 10.
