So many Coal Mine Disasters that left behind many unanswered questions as to how they started and how many victims their really where ?

 As I travel the back roads of Pa. and W.Va I often come across old coal mine workings and all too often memorials to miners who lost their lives. Including across the valley from me in Harmar Twp where over 100 men lost their lives and inspired the Carnegie Heroes Medal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harwick_Mine_disaster

http://carnegiehero.org/about-the-fund/history/

 
 But now that its  December  it seems was always the worst time to be the wife of a coal miner it seemed the holidays brought with it a Coal Mine Disaster when Black damp  a gas  would build up in tunnels and one spark was all it took to wipe out hundreds of lives.
often times the simple spark from a miner head lamp was all it would take.
One of the worst Holiday time mine disasters was in Monongah W.Virginia and near by Rostraver pa at the Darr Mine and Naomi Mine in Nearby Fayette city

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monongah_Mining_disaster

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darr_Mine_Disaster

all 3 happening with in days of each other and to this day it is not known how they truly happened or how many where killed.

Coffins lined up at Darr Mine

Aftermath Monongah mines

http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com/faynaomi.html

http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com/darr2.html

http://www.msha.gov/DISASTER/MONONGAH/MONON1.asp

 

All investigators could do was to speculate as to what caused the explosion like a miners open light 

But how many died is also truly not known because mines did not keep good records of who was working and many immigrant miners would bring relatives into mine to help mine coal and no one knew they where even there .In the Darr and Monongah cases the actual number dead is believed to be over 400-500 dead or more.

 But we will never know as the shafts collapsed in and workers where buried and are still entombed to this day.

Luckily modern mining is much safer and the large numbers of men working underground is no more, at most you have 50-100 working  at a time but accidents still happen and miners die. 

and companys still get away with bad practices as they delay and appeal fines and court decisions.

We can never do away completely with coal mining as coal is used in many more ways than just electric and steel. and until the day it is all done by robots and automation death and danger will be lurking .

A very old an unusual Burial Ground in Washington County Pa leaves more questions than answers

I travel the back roads of Western Pa. and in doing so I often run across small family burial grounds
one of the most unusual  is along US 40  The National Road  outside Claysville  its one of those ones you blink your eyes and you miss it. Still maintained  unlike others I have encountered which have gone back to seed after all family members have died and or moved away .This cemetery has fresh flags for its veterans every spring.
But has many unanswered questions as the graves are unlike any I have seen before.

Almost all of the graves are raised up tablets.
Now I have seen the tablets flat on the ground at a Moravian Cemetery in Bethlehem Pa but to my knowledge no Moravian  settled in Washington County . It has also been suggested they might be Jewish but this is not the case either the names readable are German or Swiss in nature   and Jewish graves are not raised in this manner. they date from very early 1800's so they had to be early settlers  but every one I ask in area have no idea the place is even there its so well hidden .So many of the tablets and stones  can not even be read at this point they have so badly eroded.

Or if they did know no one knows anything abut who is buried there.  I have not had time to run down the names and hope to do so some day and find out the story of these graves and how they came to be . But for now they rest peacefully hopefully for eternity as many a grave yard has been damaged in W. Pa. by those who have no respect for the dead. I have no tolerance for those who would desecrate such a place and will not hesitate to turn them in when I spot them.

Livermore it was leveled and flooded many years ago but the rumors still persist to this day of it being haunted and thats why they call it Satans Seat

I have been all over the area of the Kiski and Conemaugh valleys with my travels back and forth to customers and when you travel the back roads around Saltsburg,Blairsville  and New Alexander area  especially at night they can definitely be creepy . Rumors of KKK activity's are true seen it with my own eyes many years ago when I was a young man.You can often find Klan pins and other items at Jonnet Flea market in Blairsville on US22  But racists aside they say there is a town now under water when the Conemaugh dam was built is one of the most haunted places in Pa. and possibly the USA depending who you talk to.
it was known as Livermore pa. and many called it the Satans Seat because of supposed witch craft activity which took place there. Which seems to be more urban legend than truth.

Now completely under water the town of Livermore was once a thriving railroad town  which the Corp. Of Engineers tore down and moved its Cemetery to make way for a flood prevention program
after devastating flood of 1936 effected towns all the way down the Conemaugh to the kiski to the Allegheny river which severely destroyed many small towns as it then hit Pittsburgh and caused major damage all the way to Wheeling W.Va and then some.

But after the town was torn down it seems its secrets legends did not end as many claim all types of haunting's and strange things which go on in the area  to this day  from ghost trains to children cry's at night in the cemetery as you can see in the links below.

http://www.strangeusa.com/ViewLocation.aspx?id=8578&

Description=_Livermore__Blairsville__PA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livermore,_Pennsylvania

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-history-of-livermore-pennsylvania-and-the-now-infamous-trail-associated-with-the-location

http://www.stuffthatsgone.com/livermore%20pa%20prr.htm

http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/westmoreland/tsimages/livermore-derry.htm

http://www.gendisasters.com/data1/pa/floods/livermore-flood-mar1936.htm

This area has also been the scene of many UFO and Big Foot sightings as well but I have never seen or experienced it . 

But if you go to explore know that cell coverage is spotty and roads are tight winding and narrow. 

The best time to explore is in the fall when the leaves on the trees are just fantastic . 

Brownsville a once thriving town with a most unigue attraction a Castle said to be haunted.

Brownsville was a once vibrant town with a busy boat building and rehab yard and busy downtown full of small business. But when the economic downturn in steel hit the Mon valley Brownsville was also hit as the Barges and other craft built there where now not needed and many small forges and other suppliers to steel industry which grew up in the region where also shuttered. 


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownsville,_Pennsylvania

To make matters worse in the late 90's a couple from Churchill the Liggett began purchasing property in the downtown  with the supposed intent to rebuild the town but it all hinged on River boat gambling coming to the town and when it did not the Liggett allowed the property's to decay ruining what was left of the down town.

http://old.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20010311liggett5.asp

But thru it all one shining high point of the town has been the Castle high on the hill above town known as Nemacolin.


http://www.nemacolincastle.org/history.html  


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowman%27s_Castle

What started out as a wooden trading post near a fort was transformed by the Bowman Family into a beautiful home built like a castle. that several generations would live in

Of course what would a castle be if it did not have a ghost or two

http://www.ghostresearch.org/Investigations/nemacolin.html

But beside the 2 prominent ghosts one named Elisabeth there are 8 more said to roam the castle. 

Why so many ? well it may be spirits of angry Native Americans who did not want their land befouled. But who ever they are they just make visiting the castle that much more exciting. While I have never been thru it But past it many times on Historic US 40 the national road  I understand its a fantastic tour .

 So if you find your self in Fayette County and looking for something to check out check out Nemacolin Castle.

The old Allegheny Social Hall One night it wasnt so social when some one showed up with an Uzi and still a mystery to this day

The Allegheny Social hall was the place to be on Concord Street in Pittsburgh's Duetch Town section of the North Side  back in the day when all the Big Bands where touring  and there where social events almost every night of the week from Bingo to the basement Bowling Alley to union rally's  when there was not dancing.
It had a bar almost 50 ft  long at one time and a  intricate wooden chandelier 35 ft in diameter  till roof collapsed and it was destroyed.  The place is rumored to be haunted as workmen cleaning the place always got an uneasy feeling when working in there  in particular the basement but I never observed such activity. But I could just stand and imagine the big bands playing and people dancing as you stood on the dance floor it had to be an exciting experience I would have loved to experience back in the day.

Unfortunately thou the popularity of such places went down hill in the 60's and like most places it slid down hill as well to become more of a sleazy after hours club where Rocco let you in the door only if he knew you.
 .


But one night in particular March 10,1984 would never be forgotten when a group of  2 or more men showed up outside and shot the place up with an Uzi sub machine gun. you can still see bullet marks where the shots hit the front of the club Luckily none of the bullets hit there mark and no one was hurt .

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19840310&id=oJEcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=5mEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4183,4788839

Bullet holes can be seen left of door way

No one was ever charged and shooting has gone unsolved to this day. But it is believed to have been some rivalry between drug gangs . After the shooting no one wanted to go there any more not even to just drink and it closed and was bought by a Dr. who stored all kinds of crap in it till a 

 a customer of mine Bruce Klein bought the building a few years back with hopes of moving his Photoantiquities Museum to it  and while researching the clubs history  I often wondered about the marks in the brick  hearing rumors about the shooting when I came upon the above article.  He has since cleaned up the interior fixed the collapsed roof and installed a security system and cameras  in hopes of one day making the building great again one day.  as it will make a great museum with its heavily reinforced floors once used for dancing .