A Forgotten Horrific Train Wreck Behind the old D.L Clark company on Pittsburgh's North side

After all the drama of last weeks Train Derailment in Pittsburgh's Station Square which still is causing repercussions from all the damage it caused and miraculously no one was hurt or killed .



And a  more serious wreck occurred about 30 years before in Bloomfield involving hazardous materials 


 
Pittsburgh has seen its share of rail disasters even including trolleys.

But It brings up memories of a  forgotten Horrific Train Crash which took 8-9 lives in February  1934 on Pittsburgh's North Side behind the D.L. Clark Building which sits behind Heinz Stadium.

Back then the area was bustling with industrial activity and junk and rail yards which included the D.L.Clark Company and its famous Clark (candy ) Bar
 





https://www.facebook.com/OddPittsburgh/videos/2178215112422352/ 

Thanks to Odd,Mysterious & Fascinating Pittsburgh Facebook group for the video link


The luxury express train on its way from Akron to New York  was starting to round the slight bend when it went off the tracks and over the steep wall falling approx . 50 ft trapping and killing the Engineer and Fireman  and in total killing 8-9 people one who had just gotten on 30 minutes earlier F.R.Dravo  was head of the then famous Dravo Corporation  whose barges and dredging operations where all over Pittsburgh's rivers till its eventual closing in the 80's after the steel mills closed.

It was thought a frozen switch caused the accident but as far as I can find no official cause was found.

This was not the only such tragedy on Pittsburgh's North Side which has seen horrific deaths, from factory fires and  east  and spring garden valley flooding  there have been many horrific deaths and if you happen to ride behind the D.L Clark company and get a little tingle something happened there now you know why.

In doing research on this article I came upon another train wreck  but date of this video says 1938 which i can find no such accident in Pittsburgh but this may show further down from clark building
so another mystery to solve


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqCec6A8pLk

This video may be on the other side of the wall from Clark Building but so much has changed in that area hard to tell but it clearly shows Pittsburg in title when it did not have the H.  but it sure looks like the clark building area wreck.. 

Note: update it has been determined above video was a train wreck on W. Carson street near West End circle . Engineer was killed when stones on track flipped engine over hill side

Was a Boyscout Camp Closed Down due to Big Foot Activity?

In early 80s Camp Semiconon in Connequenessing Twp Pa in Butler County was shut down.
Supposedly not needed since Heritage was Opened in Farmington Pa.
But all the other camps used as summer camps where converted to weekend camps so why wasn't Semiconon deep in the Forrest and a great camp to due scouting skills and lake Arthur only 7 miles away?

Well since writing my article about a suspected Big Foot Attack in July of 1977 I wrote about I have had several individuals come forward who have told me their encounters.

If it happened to staff it means it happened to the adult staff as well. so they knew we where not making up story's and now knowing around Lake Arthur Moraine State Park in the 70s was a Hot Spot and still is for Big Foot and Dogman activity Maybe this is why camp was closed and sold off to a private family they claimed it was a sportsman club buying it.

The State Police would not go into woods that night so even they knew something was up but back then no one knew what a Big Foot was .

First Time I heard it was on the TV Show" In Search Of " Hosted by Leonard Nemoy

It was not until I did further research and talking to local Cryptologists in the area Did I even suspect it was a possible Big Foot that happened to me,.

Now things are starting to make sense and thats why they got rid of it not cost of keeping it up which is minimal the fact strange things where going on and No One knew what to do.

A strange fenced in mound of dirt along US 22 in Ebensburg Pa.

For 20 Plus years I have been driving thru Ebensburg on my way to Altoona when I noticed this strange fenced in square of ground with a dirt mound with in blink your eyes you will miss it. Because the field is heavily grown over with weeds. 
Intrigued I finally stopped the one day and checked it out from a far using binoculars as the field is a total swamp.
A sign on it is posted No Trespassing Beth Energy Mines  there is also a sign No Smoking  no open lights or matches .

So what is it at first glance I thought must be a hazardous waste pile which was sealed over and capped  Thinking there was a chemical company on the site but this is not the case . But seeing it was owned by a Coal mining company and knowing the nearby Bethlehem Coal mine in Revloc possibly goes under this area I am more  thinking now this was one of the rescue shafts to get miners out during and emergency or possibly even an air shaft  but it is strange the way it is capped most places use concrete cap but some do use a mound of dirt like this when sealing entrances. Why the no smoking sign. there is always the possibility of methane escaping from the old mine better safe than sorry.
So another mystery solved even if its a small one but there are so many little fenced off and mysterious little utility buildings and mounds and pits all over our state most still in use but plenty abandoned after coal and limestone etc mining operations ceased. So it is best advised not to trespass and photograph from a far to avoid problems


A strange little structure high on a hill in Fayette County . Whats was its purpose?

It sits high on a hill along US-119 a short distance from Smithfield Pa.


 Strangely all by it self with no road or path to it. and a single telephone pole with nothing attached beside it.
 Its not a church or one room school and at one time it appears to have served as the site for Fayette County 2 way radio repeaters for police and fire services , until service was upgraded and moved to a newer tower.
Which explains the telephone pole which had many antennas on it at one time .

Was it possibly used as a rangers observation tower for Forrest fires? Surely possible as high as it sits or it was just made fancy instead of the usual plain looking transmitter huts . Either way its one of those unique pieces of history still being preserved and luckily not lost to history and with a story to tell.


Strange Oriental Statues along a Butler County Road seems no one knows why.

As you ride along rural Renfrew Rd. coming out of Renfrew pa. in Butler county and approach Three Degree Road you are meet by a Bonsai Warrior and companion statues


Put up in the 90s no one not even the  Butler county Tourist Bureau seems to know the story why behind them .They just popped up one day.

All the research I have done short of stopping and bothering neighbors has turned up zilch.

I can not even find an artist name on them. 

But some one cuts the grass and some one knows who put them up and why.


An Oddly Placed Memorial about a forgotten massacare during the American revolution in Altoona area

As you drive towards Duncansville on Pa 764  coming out of Altoona in a small industrialized area you will come across a rather oddly placed memorial right beside the road so close in fact you can hardly stand in front of it a read it with out stepping onto the roadway itself.
it looks like one of those markers for a bridge deck or road mileage marker. But you would be wrong in your thinking because this marker tells of the horrific massacre of 17 Bedford Scouts during the American revolution by English Tories and Indians.



While the whole incident should be noted as part of the Battle of Frankstown it is now largely forgotten except for historians and history buffs. A dam shame these are just a handful of the many patriots who gave their lives to form this great country and this lonely marker is all there is to tell their story a story not well told or recorded at that.

As a side not a Rod equals 16.5 feet so this massacre took place approx. 742 feet from this marker.


Flaigs Guns a Legendary lodge which was hidden high up in a hill side in Ross Twp Pa. and supposedly had Nazi Leanings

The unique wood sign with carved in lettering which sat at the corner of Thompson Run and  Evergreen Rd is long gone but the legendary Flaigs Hunting Lodge and Gun store  will never be forgotten by those who visited it high up on a cliff along the road which took you up a long narrow twisting and intimating steep path to it. Many would turn around and go back rather than going all the way to the top as it was a challenging if not scary drive up there . I was only there one time when I was tracking down my friend Anthony Skotaks firearms ,which went missing and I inquired had any one tried selling them to him ,as they where very high end hunting rifles and shot guns. Many people thought Flaig was a Nazi or had Nazi leaning because he had Nazi flags and a bust of Adolph Hitler in the shop. It was even thought that during WWII there was collusion with the Nazis going on there the late night secret meetings and such which supposedly went on . Any truth to it? who knows  the shop is long closed now and its secrets long lost. Its private property now. But the rumors still go on to this day.


    But lets allow this edited excerpt in the Pittsburgh Press tell the story from when Mr. Flaig Passed



 February 6, 1991 The Pittsburgh Press Mr.Flaig moved to Ross about 1940. After Flaig's death in 1978, Mellon Bank administered the gun business. "He never set up any provisions for somebody to run it," said Forsythe. Former Aspinwall resident John Levendos, an exporter of commercial shooting supplies, bought Flaig's about two years ago. Levendos always knew about the place, but stayed away. "It was intimidating. I didn't want to go up the driveway. It has Transylvania overtones. Dense stands of tall evergreens still line the narrow road , that climbs, twists and leads to Flaig's, a maze of small buildings on 13 steep acres. Customers do business in the lodge, an 18th-century log house, moved to the site in 1927. A knob shaped like a rabbit "hanging by its back paws opens the lodge's front door. Resale rifles and shotguns hang from the ceiling beams. Antlers from European stags and roe deer decorate the .walls. Shooting supplies fill the cases and shelves. Oblivious to the business at hand, deer and squirrels freely roam the property, safe from the test firings performed on every gun,-new or repaired. "They're safe. We're not that bloodthirsty," said Forsythe. Test shots go into a sand-filled concrete chamber built into ground behind the gun shop where Forsythe works. Although he specializes in 'gun work, Forsythe also carves animals and birds in his spare time. Mr.Nelson was always good; with wood," said former Flaig's manager Bill Knabel of Ross. "He'll duplicate anything by hand. He does a lot .of statue carving. One of his hawks is sitting right here in my kitchen."- Forsythe and his wife, Doris, both shooters, spend most weekends at their farm in Lockport, Mifflin County. They have one daughter, Nicola Hood of Richland. ".: The couple, married almost' 40 years, met as youths. "A date was going out groundhog hunting," said Mrs. Forsythe, who has three guns made by her husband. She often hears about his projects at home. "He's always very proud of the guns he has made. He'll come home and say, 'I made a gun for. this person today.' "He likes to see the finished product, the beautiful wood," she continued. "That's what gives the gun-its beauty Lovers of fine firearms appreciate Nelson Forsythe, a quiet craftsman of uncommon artistry. Forsythe chisels and melds the choice woods and blackened steel that become one in guns made at Flaig's, a one of a kind of shooter's emporium on a hillside in Ross. ' Flaig's reputation for "Serving sportsmen Around the Globe" largely rests with Forsythe, "one of the  best stock makers in the country," said shop manager George Lnoll Jr. "He has made guns for kings, and he has made guns for gasoline station attendants," said Jae Levendos, wife of Flaig's owner, John Levendos. one of Forsythe's latest projects include matching hunting rifles for a Saudi Arabian prince and princess.  The prince's rifle, a Remington powerful enough to hunt elephants, will feature a barrel modified to educe recoil. Hand carvings  will embellish the stocks of both guns, priced about $5,300 for the pair. "It's just another job," said Forsythe, who makes the custom riffles and shotguns each year for hunters and target shooters. He specializes in gun stocks, usually made from assorted walnuts. He also repairs and alters guns for customers across the United States. You always run into something you haven't seen before." More than 100 chisels, rasps and chapers hang above the narrow workbench where Forsythe works, overlooking traffic on Thompson run Road. He talked last week while repairing a loaded shell from one gun's ammed action. "I'm a chiseler," said the 61-year-)ld Butler County resident, one of five gunsmiths among Flaig's eight employees. Each custom-made gun begins as a piece of wood that is cut by machine according to one of more than 100 patterns available to suit any shooter's physical build. While other gunsmiths blacken, cut and assemble the receiver, barrel and trigger, Forsythe fits the wood parts of each gun to its metal components. The exacting work of Gunsmith Nelson Forsythe carves out the stock to Donald J. Stetz of The Pittsburgh Press a rifle by tracing over a template 1953, remembers Forsythe the student "His work stood out." Other fans include Howard Wells of Peters, a gun manufacturer's representative and former professional shooter for the Winchester Repeating Arms Co. "He has built several guns for me. He has done an incredible job. He's a tremendous craftsman. The guns I have, that Nelson has built, have worked as smooth as butter." had to hold it up on a fence for me." Forsythe came to Flaig's in 1957 after training at the Pennsylvania Gunsmith School in Avalon. "They needed somebody and I needed a job." He started as a barrel fitter before he found his niche in woodworking. "I was always more interested in wood than I was in metals." George Thacker, director of the Pennsylvania Gunsmith School since Fellow gunsmith George Bole of Middlesex, a competitor, also praised Forsythe's skill: "He is as good as they come." But Forsythe remains humble about his work. "Really, that's the only thing I've ever done. I can't do much else. A lot of people came and went I just kind of hung in there." The late Edwin Flaig, a World War I veteran, established his gun business in 1934 on the North Side  which requires accuracy within a few thousandths of an inch, "to make it look like the metals are growing out of the wood," said Forsythe, who lives , in Jefferson. A railroader's son and a veteran of the Korean conflict, Forsythe grew up in a family of Mifflin County hunters. "Guns were always an interest to me," be said, recalling his first shot from an old Winchester. "