BREAKING/EXCLUSIVE/MUST CREDIT KELSEY: They Cut The Wire

12:04 PM EDT on March 22, 2024

photo of brick building with missing brick — Kelsey McKinney/Defector

Friends, Philadelphians, countrymen, lend me your ears! Something huge has happened!

Many of you may remember the wire that I am obsessed with. As a quick reminder, in the summer of 2023 we spotted a wire going through the wood framing of a building near my home in Philadelphia. This was funny, until the building construction continued apace, working around the wire until the wire was quite literally going through the building. Here is a photo:

missing brick showing wire going through the building — There's the wire! Kelsey McKinney/Defector

There were many speculations. Could the wire be an eruv? It was not. Could the wire be electrical? I hope not! Would the wire remain inside the building after people moved in? Yikes! Mainly everyone wondered: Would the wire ever be removed? Would someone, anyone, do something about the wire?

I am here, three months after the initial post, with breaking news: The wire has been cut!!!

On Wednesday morning, I took my usual walk to visit the wire. "Every day we check on the wire! What is happening with the wire!?" I sang. The wire was intact. But at 4:30 p.m., when I walked my dog again, the wire was gone!!!! Goodbye wire!

close up of missing brick in building — Kelsey McKinney/Defector

As you can see, the missing bricks remain, but there is no wire running through the holes!

Across the street, where the other end of the wire is, you can see it dangling sadly from the pole.

dangling wire! — Kelsey McKinney/Defector

Look at it drooping straight down. How pathetic. How tragic. Whimsy has been severed!

I do not know why, after all this time, someone has finally decided to deal with the wire. I asked a construction worker what happened, and he did not know what I was talking about. I thought perhaps this was a language barrier, so I switched to Spanish, but it turned out he had no idea what I was talking about in that language either. He didn't know the wire had been there to begin with.

For months, the wire has been a constant source of intrigue and excitement in my life. A small stupid thing to enjoy. Everyone loved it! Many of you emailed, asking for the location of the wire so that you could make a pilgrimage to view it yourselves. I will miss it very much.