Town note
Mid-19th century Scots-Irish and German families settled the area and laid the town out on a grid with a small central square.
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FILE 452 / 23 December 2023 / 71 MIN / express
We are going to Center Hall, Pennsylvania, that is dead center in the middle of Pennsylvania. about 0:03:41
Mid-19th century Scots-Irish and German families settled the area and laid the town out on a grid with a small central square.
about 0:05:01Farming and chicken raising were the main activities, with Amish communities not far away.
about 0:05:15The Grange encampment grounds are the town's big attraction, and the Grange Fair has been held every year since 1876.
about 0:05:58The Grange Fair is an annual fair and camping event held in Centre Hall and Centre County each year since 1874, according to the fair's own claim.
about 0:08:20Mid-19th century Scots-Irish and German families settled the area and laid the town out on a grid with a small central square.
about 0:05:01Farming and chicken raising were the main activities, with Amish communities not far away.
about 0:05:15The Grange encampment grounds are the town's big attraction, and the Grange Fair has been held every year since 1876.
about 0:05:58The Grange Fair is an annual fair and camping event held in Centre Hall and Centre County each year since 1874, according to the fair's own claim.
about 0:08:20The fair is typically held the last full week of August, and after the 140th fair it was announced that the next one would move a week earlier.
about 0:08:29There was no fair during the Spanish flu, during the Second World War, or in 2020.
about 0:08:40An Emmy Award-winning documentary, The Grange Fair: An American Tradition, chronicled the fair.
about 0:08:49Fair tents are 14 by 14 feet with a single four-outlet electrical box in one corner and no running water.
about 0:09:26Tent locations are passed down through generations; after the waitlist passed 500 families, some of whom had waited 27 years, it was cancelled.
about 0:09:59A tent spot is lost only for rules violations or for passing it up for two fairs.
about 0:11:00"1,496"
No direction stated.
As told in 2023 about 0:04:18
"$63,854"
Comparison: "slightly below the national average". Direction: below.
As told in 2023 about 0:04:38
"$294,100"
Comparison: "slightly below the average". Direction: below.
As told in 2023 about 0:04:38
3.3 / 5 · average of 4
“A family lived there for eight years and loved it; the commute is reasonable and it is away from the bustle of State College. It was mostly a dry town with little or no alcohol, the schools were great and the people friendly.”about 0:06:07
“A nice, quiet place close to State College with a good school district, though there is not much nightlife in town.”about 0:06:52
“The area is very rural, everyone knows everyone, which is sometimes great and sometimes not; the area is lovely and the people are great.”about 0:07:26
“The people are selfish, greedy and rude, full of snobs, and it is a terrible place.”about 0:07:50
Centre Hall, Pennsylvania, is a town of 1,496 people in the middle of the state, about two hours and forty-five minutes from Pittsburgh. James calls it dead centre, surrounded by farmland and Amish country, with the Grange encampment grounds and its annual fair as the main attraction. The town's median household income is $63,854 and the median home price is $294,100, both slightly below the national average. Reviews describe a quiet, rural place close to State College, with good schools but little nightlife; one resident calls the people selfish, greedy and rude.
Samuel Sherman Boob, known as Sammy or Booby, was born in 1980 and grew up in the area. Friends said he could fix anything, restored cars, motorcycles and tractors, and cooked for everyone. He worked as a maintenance supervisor for the Centre County Solid Waste Authority and had four children, aged from six months to ten years in 2009. The marriage was strained by her compulsive shopping and debt, and she told people Sam was abusive, though nobody believed her.
Butts refused.
He asked whether she was sure she wanted the pond done, which the prosecution said meant a hit. She told him when Sam was in the garage and when he was cooking breakfast, asked him to make it quick, and said the children were sleeping. She also told him to go to church first so there would be witnesses. At 10.07 she called 911 and said she had heard a loud boom and found her husband on the garage floor. Sam had been shot once in the chest and then once in the back at close range with his own shotgun. The gun was found in woods near the house. They also found a text from 15 August in which she said she hoped her husband would soon be six feet under and that she would use his gun.
Her lover West Decker told police she had asked him to kill Sam, and Eddie, a pizza delivery man, said she had asked him too.
August 23rd, 2009 / the garage of the Boob home, Centre Hall, Pennsylvania
As told in the episode, on 23 December 2023.
Accused
Accused
Public places are marked on the map.
crime scene
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