The Mysterious Annual Easter Event that was a main stay for many years in Pittsburgh

 The Passion Play the mysterious looking purple posters where seen all around the Pittsburgh area every Easter  for many decades 

 Performed at St Micheal's  Roman Catholic  Social Hall  in the South Side of Pittsburgh It was a live actor play that showed the persecution and rising of Jesus Christ put on by local Parishioners and other volunteers including a couple of my neighbors from Carrick  That Included Tom Hayes from St Basils .

as a little kid the posters where most unusual and mysterious to us till we where old enough to go see the play. When i was in 5th grade .

https://abandonedonline.net/location/st-michael-school/

https://archive.triblive.com/news/veronicas-veil-is-spiritual-tradition/

Which drew crowds from across 3 states 

Unfortunately St Micheal's was caught up and closed by the diocese and the buildings now sit in decay and church turned into apartments 

Why Couldn't Lansberry Get Mail? Just one of the Colorful Characters who roamed Downtown Pittsburgh Streets Was it Mind Control?

 When I was a young man and attending Connely Skill Center as I was waiting for a bus or trolley home  you often ran across some colorful characters . The Tall Thin white  guy with signs he carried saying he was Black Balled by US Steel and could not get work.  The guy with no legs who sold pencils  ,the pretzel guy and others all of whom have passed on over the years,.

But one of the most memorable guys was Robert R. Lansberry  who carried signs that said "  why cant Lansberry get mail "

He claimed the CIA was trying to control his mind and where censoring his mail and why he was not getting any. and he picked on congressman Coyne about it often with profane language signs

Now he was not your ordinary mentally ill kook.

He was at one time a highly educated man owned a grocery store and worked for IBM and Westinghouse and  who fell into mental illness.

But with a twist yes some one was monitoring his mail  and possibly trying to control his mind read his fascinating story in the link below 

http://old.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990611lansberry9.asp

Was there some one trying to control him? you decide 

Henry Meyer The Donut Guy. The original Night Crawler who you looked forward to meeting on Dark Cloudy Pittsburgh Nights

 I first meet Henry Meyer when I was going to Connely Skill Center  for Refrigeration School in 78-79 

He would come by most mornings as he finished up his 6 nights a week routine of traversing the city of Pittsburgh to sell donuts from his  unmarked beige colored Chevy Van 

He would go on to become a Icon of Pittsburgh's nights no matter the weather Henry was there with his donuts .

even on darkest wettest snowy nights.

Since I worked as a security guard at night while starting my business he was always a welcome sight

and he delivered donuts well into the 1980's when he was well past retirement age.

You could always find him around the strip district at night and some times other areas and he always remembered you even f it had been a couple years since he last saw you.
 

Thank You Henry and I miss you and your donuts RIP.

Those Strange Railroad Underpass Tunnels in W. Pa where you have to stop Blow your vehicles Horn then carefully proceed

 There are at least 3 very strange Railroad under Pass Tunnels in W. Pa  where you must come to a complete Stop . Blow Your Horn  then carefully proceed But Why?

If you have ever Driven Little Deer Creek or Horning Road in Allegheny County or Been to Bolivar in Westmoreland County  Then you have encountered them. 

Strange  low under passes at hard angles going under railroad tracks.

Like here at Little Deer Creek Road in Russelton .

The answer comes down to the Chicken and the Egg and who came first.

In this case the road was there first but it was just a dirt path and the railroad took priority so it did 

not have to have a hard curve in its tracks . Railroads where much more important than roads in late 1800's

Little Deer Creek road was never expected to become the busy paved  road it has become over the years 

So you have this bottle neck and if your a truck driver you know just what a pain it is having to detour around these bottle necks .

Especially in Bolivar since it is an official state route  Pa 259 which goes from US22 to US 30  and a short cut taken by many .

As you can see the road is tight against the river and not much room to make a proper underpass. and the cost to fix this is too high to justify the costs

Now as some railroads have disappeared and turned into rails to trails bike ways the old underpasses have been ripped out and traffic able to flow properly like when the Montour Railroad went out of business .

But there are still plenty of bottle necks out there in rural Pa. to explore