WAMO go blamo?

Dcist and NBC4 reported another threat to the Washington Monument yesterday. This is two in little over a week.

It got me thinking about when I used to work at the top of the Washington Monument for Parks&History Association. To the many people who know me and have heard me gripe over the years about how much I hated that job, I swear these threats are not coming from me as some sort of retro-revenge deal.

While I was with P&H there was this crazed rumor about the government’s Washington Monument (WAMO for short) counter-terrorism plan. It is funny so I thought I’d share it. After Norman Mayer drove his truck up to WAMO and got his head blown off supposedly the Park Service and the Pentagon discussed options for various WAMO take-overs. The plan they allegedly approved in case of a hostage crisis up top was to fly a metal hood by helicopter and drop it on to the top of WAMO. Thus cutting the hostage-takers off from the outside world. The authorities would then wait out the hostage-takers until they gave up due to lack of supplies and ventilation. (If true this was really reassuring to me working up there every damn day of the week).

While this plan is ridiculously far-fetched, about half of the P&H staff and quite a few Park Rangers completely believed that it was truth. Maybe one of those former employees are gearing up to test the theory?

Originally published on October 14, 2005.