One sidetrip to my 2002 Coastal Vacation was a visit to Mount Jackson, Virginia, smack in the middle of what I refer to as the I-81 Conspiracy Corridor.

My wife and I had always joked that there seemed to be an inordinate number of suspicious things on I-81 between the I-64 (leads to the previously secret Congressional "Greenbrier" Bunker) and I-66 (leads to Washington D.C.) intersections. What kinds of suspicious things, you ask? Probably the most noticeable are frequent, large, multiple radio antenna, cell phone, and other communication towers, as well as high-voltage power lines and towers, and water towers, all out in seemingly the middle of nowhere, far from any major cities. There were other things too that seemed "out of place".

The town of Mount Jackson, population 1,710, has two large radio antennas, three cell towers and three water towers within view of the tiny town's shopping area. What would a town of a thousand people need with all that?



The other thing that Mount Jackson has is Merrilat Industries, a medium-sized cabinet manufacturing plant. You can see the grounds of Merrilat above (click "Read On" below to see additional photos at higher resolution). They have two huge (50-60ft) satellite dishes, a large dish and half a dozen 15-30 foot dishes. Now I've seen many manufacturing plants in my life but never one whose satellite dishes could only be beat by the Wallops Island (the NASA receiving center) or the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Very Large Array in New Mexico.

Unless they are "transporting" the furniture atom by atom to or from the plant, I can't imagine what they need the dishes for. I've spoken to additional technical folks who agree that the dishes seem quite unreasonable for a cabinetmaker. Interestingly enough, after at least five years with only the large dish, the two 50-75 foot dishes were added since "9/11". I'm not sure how the furniture industry is doing economically but I don't think it's that well.

I have much more "evidence" which I will eventually upload to the Net for examination and the collective intelligence of the Net may be able to account for some of it -- maybe it's not a conspiracy afterall but after my visit there, I am more convinced than ever.

It's not like I haven't tried... when driving through Mt. Jackson, I saw a couple signs that said "Dial *511 For Local Information." I picked up my cell phone and did just that. The reply: "There is no such number in this location." Additionally when I got back home I emailed Merrilat to inquire what the use for the large dishes was. They replied simply...

"Standard factory operations equipment."

SEE PHOTOS & READ ON... IF YOU DARE

UPDATE 4/1/05: Google Maps has a satellite map showing the dishes (saved for posterity here), snapped probably pre-9/11. It confirms that the large dishes are close to the (average 50 foot) length of tractor trailers that are passing by on the road.

If you have any information, pro or con, about why a furniture company would need dishes this large, please contact me at
I81 @ cybervox.org