The Dustman Monster ( Big Foot ) of Washington County Pa.

I have heard all kind of tales about Big foot roaming around Western Pa mostly in Fayette County and Westmoreland County which has a long history of sightings. But recently those crazy guys from WV  who produce the TV show Mountain Monsters on  Destination America where in town to hunt the Dustman .

According to them it is a Shawnee Indian legend which goes back to the 1700's of a hairy creature with extreme speed and strength  which roams the woods of the tri state.

However until this show spoke about the Dustman I have never heard word one about it and I spent plenty of time camping in the woods in Washington County as a youth and have plenty of customers which takes me all over Washington county and its back roads at night  and I have never ever heard any one talk about the Dustman. With all the exploration going on you think the gas well drillers would be talking about it as well and same thing no ones ever heard the legend I ever spoke to.

When you do research on the Dustman there is very little reference to it outside of the shows episode so once again it looks like a made up  name  for realty TV .

http://cryptomundo.com/bigfoot-report/mountain-monsters-bigfoot-of-washington-county/

Yes the Shawnee do talk of the Big Foot creature in their legends  but not of the dustman .

and the few recorded sightings in washington county do not use the name dustman

http://www.pabigfootsociety.com/sightingswashington.html

So while Big foot may be on the loose in Washington County  he is no where near as active  as neighboring Fayette County which has much denser woods .

A mystery in my own Family involving my Great grandfather who helped organize Iron Workers Local 3#

My Great Grand Father on my mother side Karl passed away when I was very young.in the 1960's
He was living in and old row of apartments similar to the picture you see below in a back alley along Penn Ave in Pittsburgh's Strip District. His apartment no longer exists .

My great Grandmother has passed many years earlier..

Karl ended up living on one of these back alley apartments after spending his life a hard drinker and former Iron Worker.

His drinking started as a way to have courage to work high in the air and would eventually destroy him and he would become a bad alcoholic and no longer able to work. He helped to Organize  Local 3# of the Iron Workers where he was constantly being plied with alcohol during negotiations at the Prestigious Duquesne Club in Downtown Pittsburgh.
unfortunately we do not even have a good picture of him and the Iron Workers where of no use in trying to locate any of his organizing efforts as he supposedly held office with in the union.

Many of the buildings he helped to build where torn down along Penn Ave when the new convention center was built  but one building he helped build Carnegie Institute still stands to this day  along 5th ave in Oakland.

I was just a small child when my mom would get a phone call from my aunt for my dad to come quickly to his apartment   and he would find the Pittsburgh Police there. It appeared as thou he fell down the steps which lead to his 2nd floor apartment and struck his head and bleed to death from his alcoholic ways. Is what the police concluded . But a radio which he got for his birthday and his SSI check was missing from the apartment. Police thought his apartment had been burglarized  after he died.

Did he just fall down the steps or did he encounter a burglar, in the act of ripping him off ?
We will never know as he police at the time attributed the death to alcohol and there was never an autopsy or any other investigation.
I visit my Great Grandparents graves yearly as my one uncle is buried with them and I make sure he gets a flag for his grave since he served in WWII  . No one in the family likes talking about this tragic death and I do not blame them and this will just go down as a mystery just one of thousands around Western Pa.

Once an Iconic advertisement for High End Furniture Business Colonial Gallery along Pa. 51 this home Once served as a Brothel and a nearby one time gun shop is said to be haunted.

Unfortunately Time has not been kind to the very old brick home which is attached to a commercial structure along Pa 51 in Baldwin Boro.

It now sits empty and sealed off and alarmed  as it can not be occupied as it has no sprinkler system but at one time it was the grand dame along  Clairton Blvd and served as a classy show room for Colonial Gallery Furniture who carried Heirloom Quality High End Furniture.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19950210&id=gtZRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lG4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2973,5566524

But before the home took on its role as a show case it once served as a Brothel when Wilock and Streets run Coal Mines where active along that stretch of Clairton Blvd and Streets Run Road.

They say the single  miners where lined up every pay day. Thou the house went thru several owners  I have not been able to find any other significance to it  and So it was it would become part of a furniture store in the 1960's It was gutted and rebuilt had a large show room window in front and was
often used as a logo for the furniture store.

Unfortunately thou the Market for High End Furniture would see a drastic downturn  in 2013 and
Colonial gallery would be one of its victims along with many other furniture stores. The store was closed and now sells work shoes& boots and the homes windows and doors sealed up and house painted black and new owner had me install alarms to prevent meddlers.

However thats not the end of the story as there have often been rumors of strange noises coming from the home when it was still open to the public and employees often reported hearing what sounded like foot steps  on the first floor. Activity from the days when it served as a brothel? or just noise from Route 51 traffic ? Sadly we will not know since the house has been sealed off from the public and been alarmed.  I know when I worked for the furniture store owners I heard the strange noises coming from with in the house I always attributed it to the traffic but then some times there was not traffic.

I will continue my search on the history of the home to see what I can find out as it is one of the last relics from the coal mining era save a few row hoses and some old buildings scattered about in the valley.

There is said to be an additional haunted location along Streets Run Road just below  the old colonial property  which is now a service garage which sits across from the Fire Station   this building at one time served as Valor Fire Arms  store and a clerk was shot and killed during a robbery at the store and
Myself and other

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19941221&id=bLcxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mG4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5702,4012029

Who have worked in the building have experienced the sensation of being watched over. When a customer of mine was renting the business in 2007 for a storage area for his vehicle collection.

They say strange things have gone on in Larrys Road House along Sawmill Run Road.

For many years I only knew the place as a  large  multi unit private residence. But then one day it was remodeled  into Larry's Roadhouse a restaurant and lounge  along steep whited street which at one time served as a  boarding residence for those who traveled  on the railroad tracks next to it.
Rumors of a judge who resided there  who hanged himself along with serval other deaths I have not been able to confirm.
But claims their spirits linger with in seems a possibility if it really happened .
As seen in expert from  Three rivers haunts and History Website

https://sites.google.com/site/hauntsandhistory/threerivershauntsandhistory

LARRY'S ROAD HOUSE (Brookline, Pittsburgh) The old converted mansion on Whited Street has been many things since it was built circa 1850. It was an inn along an old railroad stop, a place that rented funeral carriages, allegedly a brothel, a private residence, and now Larry's Road House, a bar/restaurant. There have been several suspicious deaths in the building. A pregnant woman allegedly fell down the second floor stairway, killing herself and her unborn child. On the third floor, the spookiest area of the house, a judge hanged himself in the 1900's and another nameless soul fell out the window to the great beyond. There have been reports of several poltergeist-like activities, such as electrical disturbances and objects disappearing or being tossed around. Other phenomena include chairs moving & levitating, disembodied footsteps & voices, and the sighting of a misty Victorian era woman on the second floor landing.

Now I grew up in nearby  Carrick and passed the place many times and never heard the word haunted until Larry's Road House opened in the place.  
Then storys started circulating.

At one time I subcontracted for Americas Security Choice and alarm dealer long out of business and he   had the contract to put in an alarm system for the place and his regular full time installer Jeff reported all kinds of knocks on wall's shadows and doors slamming as he installed he system he got pretty spooked by it. 

Larrys is currently closed now going on almost a decade as materials lay in its parking lot they where in the process of rebuilding and ran out of funds. maybe the ghosts do not want disturbed. Hopefully some day  the house will once again be open and you will be able to find out for your self what goes on.