Elsfreth’s Alley in Philly’s Old City has two big claims to fame: One really old and one much more recent.

First, the really old one. It’s one of the oldest continuously inhabited residential streets in the nation, dating back to 1703. That’s why over 300,000 tourists from around the world, according to the alley’s museum , come to see it each year.

The more recent factoid happened this century, and isn’t so positive. On Aug. 1, 2015, hitchBOT , a Canadian hitchhiking robot, was found decapitated at the top of the alley , cutting short its planned journey from Boston to San Francisco after just two weeks.

No charges were filed, no culprits were found. For 10 years not much mention of hitchBOT really happened, except to lump it in with other tales of Philadelphians behaving badly

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