Late Sunday night a loud, bright explosion was reported all over the New Carlisle area and was followed by a brief power outage. Citizens discovered that the grain bin near Smith Park on Jefferson Street has exploded or collapsed, taking with it the grain store next door. Currently not much is known about the cause of the incident, but we have identified a few possible causes of the disaster.
Temperature change/snow melt caused shifting of the aging structure
Due to the age of the structure, a radical shift in temperature and the melting of ice and snow could cause the building to shift. Grain dust is notoriously unstable, and a slight spark could ignite the entire bin and cause it all to explode.
Thankfully the tall, concrete structures remained intact and the beautiful New Carlisle skyline will remain as it has been for decades.
Image courtesy of Anthony Wiley via Facebook
A band of rogue farm animals blew the building up in a daring robbery
Animals have threatened to dismantle our city before. It is possible that a gang of ruthless farm animals teamed up to commit a giant feed heist. All it would take is some methane gas — something cows produce in large quantities — and a spark to blow the entire building. Once the bin collapsed, the animals would be able to make off with as much delicious feed as they could haul.
A gas leak caused an explosion
Gas leak explosions are common. In a highly combustible area like the inside of that grain bin, even a slight spark could send the whole thing up in a massive explosion. This is a very reasonable explanation.
A Google Street View image of the grain bin as it stood before Sunday night.
The banging of Mayor Reynolds’ gavel shifted the earth and made the bin unstable
Mayor Reynolds has been known to aggressively pound his gavel in an effort to maintain order at council meetings. With meetings taking place nearby at the Smith Park shelter house, it is possible that the gavel’s impact with the table sent shockwaves to the nearby grain bin, causing the foundation to falter and tonight’s explosion to take place.
I support Mayor Reynolds, but it has been a rough couple of weeks for the town since he has taken office. Our town is literally falling apart.
A rival granary committed an act of terrorism against New Carlisle
I know New Carlisle is a little town and this type of stuff is usually reserved for mob movies, but we can’t rule this possibility out. A rival town — say, one that might be spelled by reversing the word “nonE” — could be to blame. Perhaps our neighbors’ jealousy about our town finally got the best of them, prompting them to commit this heinous atrocity against one of our longstanding businesses. Given some of the things they’ve said about our town and our people over the years, I wouldn’t put it past them.
Whichever of these is the actual cause, I’m darn sad that building is gone. I spent my childhood staring at that grain building, amazed at how much feed they must be able to store. It is a landmark that will truly be missed.
What do YOU think happened to the grain bin? Let us know in the comments below!
The Giant Hand of God, from Stephen King’s book, “The Stand”, reached down to shake some sense into the city council meetings, and missed, striking the Grainery instead.
That grain bin resembles a tripod, I think someone shot it right in the sweet spot, causing an explosion and structural failure.
We’s Can’t be worried about the how fors why fors or the why and how fors! It has done happened and now wes have to start raising money to rebuild it!!! When them dang teararist blowed up the new york city siamese building’s them new yerk city people just builded a bigger buildings and there aint nothing bout new york people that is better than new carlisle people!!! Grane still needs astoring and we don’t want to loss grane storing jobs wasting time cry toweling all the awhile some other town like enon is plotting there own grane building! Why not built the worlds biggest grane building and protect with street fences and gaurd dogs
I just found dis site and u b trippin up in here! Lol u guys r crazy! But 4 real I think da just b flowin 2 much corn up in there. U push 2 much titty in da bra and that nip gone pop out! I just playin but 4 real da just 2 much an now da got a mess.