Blake Hall
Retired Navy veteran Ted Storck used to enjoy ringing his prized carillon bells around Chistmas. Thanks to a complex sounds system he installed himself, Storck would toll the hour and play holidays hymns and carols that would echo throughout his small town. He would also play military anthems during funerals, so that mourning families could hear a joyous song as veterans were laid to rest.
His hometown of Morris, Minn., however, viewed those bells as the “Curse of Morris.”
To be clear, these aren’t jingle bells we’re talking about. These are carillon bells, the same type of bell that rings at Arlington National Cemetery. While Storck’s bells are much smaller than those at Arlington, he amplified the chimes with a $6,500 sound system. The entire Morris community could hear the bells whenever they chimed, from Summit Cemetery to the University of Minnesota dorms.
Though Storck spent hours programming his system to ring during funerals and holidays, the bells were a frequent target for criticism and vandalism. Neighbors also filed complaints with the City Council and pressured Storck to silence the bells for good.
“It was very frustrating. Every time I went out to the cemetery, people told me how much they enjoyed them,” Storck said. “People loved it … People would tell me they’d go to the cemetery to visit loved ones, and they’d go on the hour or the half-hour so they could hear the chimes.”
The loudest critic was PZ Meyers, a local blogger and biology professor who has railed against Storck and his bells since they were installed in 2002. His complaints range from the religious themes of the songs, the volume and the futility of supporting troops.
As a non-Christian, I am not pleased to have religious music cheesily banged on at me every time I step outside the house. How would you feel if a mosque were installed in town, and five times a day a muezzin made an extremely amplified call to Muslim prayers? We have something similar, only it’s more like 60 times a day.
Now Storck has removed his beloved bells from Morris for good and reinstalled them at his summer home in Arizona. They will ring for the first time in their new home on Christmas Eve.