{"id":938,"date":"2014-02-19T05:01:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-19T05:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=938"},"modified":"2015-01-09T15:49:22","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T20:49:22","slug":"pittsburghs-violent-demise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/02\/19\/pittsburghs-violent-demise\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh\u2019s violent demise"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Bits <\/a>
Bits of a broken moon bombard Pittsburgh. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A new glacial age settles over Oakland. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"The <\/a>
The sun explodes, cooks everyone. <\/div> <\/div>
\"Atomic <\/a>
Atomic explosions light up North America. <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a>
A comet attack levels the Wabash Bridge. (Illustration by Ralph Reichhold\/The Pittsburgh Press) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

June 30, 1946:<\/strong>\u00a0Last week we made a wrong turn while exploring a far corner of the vast PG photo archive. Hopelessly lost, we dug our way out through the W, X and Y files. There, we discovered a folder labeled, \u201cWorld Ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

We scratched our mulleted heads. Pittsburgh has always existed in its own time warp. Pop culture, music, fashion \u2014 we\u2019re always a decade or two behind. So the Earth was destroyed? And we missed it? No big deal, we decided. Sooner or later we\u2019d hear the news on our transistor radio. That\u2019s how we learned last month about the cancellation of \u201cWKRP in Cincinnati.\u201d<\/p>\n

We opened the folder and found a surprise: Five illustrations depicting the demise of Pittsburgh by various (and mostly violent) means. The spectacular illustrations, by staff artist Ralph Reichhold, were published in The Pittsburgh Press \u201cRoto\u201d magazine in the summer of 1946 under the inspired headline, \u201cEnd of the World.\u201d<\/p>\n

A brief story explained that the world \u201cas we know it\u201d was bound to have an end \u2014 probably not for a while, the Press assured its readers. But then again, \u201cit could conceivably happen today or tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The feature, inspired by an \u201cend of the world\u201d show at the Buhl Planetarium, offered up five possible methods of destruction:<\/p>\n

1) Comet attack. Well, the optimistic writer admitted, this probably wouldn\u2019t end the entire world, just one locality \u2014 \u201cPittsburgh, for example.\u201d Yikes! But don\u2019t spend too much time worrying about an attack by malicious comets. \u201cThe chances of it happening in the near future are infinitesimal,\u201d read the Press.<\/p>\n

2) The sun grows cold and we become human popsicles. \u201cThere could be no escape from this frozen death,\u201d the article noted. Then we glanced at the weather forecast and thought, \u201cHey, wait a minute.\u201d<\/p>\n

3) The sun explodes and fries us all. This method would have the added effect of reducing our entire planet to a cinder. We\u2019re thinking the traffic jam at the Squirrel Hill Tunnel would survive. It survives all.<\/p>\n

4) Break-up of the moon. We consider this the most creative idea: The moon decides to get a bit closer to the earth. Earth\u2019s gravity tears the moon apart. Chunks of the moon crash down on the \u2018Burg. Quite possibly several hundred of us could survive by seeking shelter in that monstrous pothole on Ft. Pitt Boulevard near Market Street.<\/p>\n

5) Atomic warfare. This scenario certainly was the most terrifying \u2014 and probable. One day after publication of Reichhold\u2019s illustrations, the United States detonated its first atomic weapon since the bombing of Nagasaki. Readers of the Press on July 1 were presented with a front-page picture of a mushroom cloud over Bikini Atoll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We discovered a folder labeled, \u201cWorld Ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesPittsburgh\u2019s violent demise<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[948],"tags":[960,1170,980,1025,1029],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/tumblr_n11kewDy9c1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C502&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":430,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/07\/23\/pittsburgh-water-towers-of-all-shapes-and-sizes\/","url_meta":{"origin":938,"position":0},"title":"Pittsburgh water towers of all shapes and sizes","date":"July 23, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The variations in water towers tell a few stories.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/tumblr_n94t4lCX4N1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C871&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":776,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/04\/11\/mad-men-of-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":938,"position":1},"title":"Mad Men of Pittsburgh","date":"April 11, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"No Don Drapers, but plenty of skinny black ties and crisp white shirts.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/tumblr_n3u5utDwMQ1rr5swxo7_1280.jpg?fit=1000%2C660&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2644,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/08\/13\/oct-14-1925-world-series-at-forbes-field\/","url_meta":{"origin":938,"position":2},"title":"The 1925 World Series at Forbes Field","date":"August 13, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"We found this crumbling print in an oversized folder labeled \u201cB\u201d (for baseball). A sea, an ocean of HATS.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/tumblr_m8hvmrZ1fe1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=864%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":404,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/08\/01\/ufo-sightings-near-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":938,"position":3},"title":"UFO sightings near Pittsburgh","date":"August 1, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Pittsburgh has a history of supposed \u201cout of this world\u201d encounters.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/tumblr_n9lhj6df6g1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C1166&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":279,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/09\/08\/pittsburgh-the-quiet-city-of-the-1950s\/","url_meta":{"origin":938,"position":4},"title":"Pittsburgh, the quiet city of the 1950s?","date":"September 8, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"How were nearly 700,000 people able to find moments of quiet and solitude amidst the din?","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/tumblr_nbg2t0JjLI1rr5swxo5_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C893&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2167,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/01\/03\/clearing-snow-at-schenley-plaza\/","url_meta":{"origin":938,"position":5},"title":"Clearing snow at Schenley Plaza","date":"January 3, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"The structure in the background is the Cathedral of Learning, then in the early stages of construction.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/tumblr_mg0b9xWY0i1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=938"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4041,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/938\/revisions\/4041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}