11:26 AM ET, Philadelphia. At approx 3:15 AM a 25-30 year old man trespassed onto Liberty Bell Center Grounds and started performing lewd acts upon the fracture in the monument. He reportedly was heard singing the song “Dream Weaver” by Gary Wright while simultaneously slapping the bell. Candice, a 23 year old Senior from the University of Pennsylvania who witnessed the act had this to say “I wished my name was liberty bell last night”. The perpetrator is still at large.
The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Once placed in the steeple of the Pennsylvania State House (now renamed Independence Hall), the bell today is located across the street in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park. The bell was commissioned in 1751 by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from the London firm of Lester and Pack (known subsequently as the Whitechapel Bell Foundry), and was cast with the lettering “Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof”, a Biblical reference from the Book of Leviticus (25:10). The bell first cracked when rung after its arrival in Philadelphia, and was twice recast by local workmen John Pass and John Stow, whose last names appear on the bell. In its early years, the bell was used to summon lawmakers to legislative sessions and to alert citizens about public meetings and proclamations.