A little known tragedy at a Cannonsburg Pa Opera house which left 26 dead from a Panicked Stampede

It has been a law for many years  in many states that it is illegal to yell  FIRE in a crowded  theater when it is not on fire. Anti Panic laws as they are known  are in place for good reason after numerous tragedy's resulted in people stampeding to escape a venue and people being crushed to death after some one would yell fire or bomb  etc to get a rise out of the crowd.

This case of a false fire alert played out with deadly results on a warm Saturday evening Aug 26  1911 in the Morgan Opera House  in Canonsburg.
Home to singing greats Bobby Vinton and Perry Como  you would never expect such a tragedy that would tally 26 dead would have played out in such a small town but it did.

The theater was playing several serial features when one of the film strips caught fire in the Projection Booth  and the projectionists quickly where able to remove the flaming film and stomp it out . But in the mean time a young man passing the open door to the booth saw the flames and yelled
FIRE  a panic crowd quickly ran to the single steep staircase  and the pushing and shoving would result in the deaths of 26 men woman and children.
As there had been several well publisied fire tragdys in opera house around the county at that time

https://serendipitychronicles.wordpress.com/2013/10/26/the-ghost-of-grief-impact-of-1908-roads-opera-house-fire-still-felt-today/

This may well have been what set people off in such a panic but we will never know as will we never know the name of the young man who yelled fire when there was not one. 

The opera house would close and be turned into apartments and you would never suspect  such events ever took place riding by it today.

http://canonsburgfriends.blogspot.com/2011/09/canonsburg-opera-house-tragedy.html

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2519&dat=19940619&id=8d1fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=V24NAAAAIBAJ&pg=3123,6165325

http://www3.gendisasters.com/pennsylvania/2467/canonsburg,-pa-theatre-panic,-aug-1911

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/46659

http://query.nytimes.com

https://books.google.com/books?id=Bepp6zrcI0gC&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=morgan+opera+house+disaster&source=bl&ots=SElNm5gCBK&sig=iea8H_hwpzu4AzYrGROUccJ3YEQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjB2Y-G-bPKAhUGPz4KHUzmBdkQ6AEIQTAJ#v=onepage&q=morgan%20opera%20house%20disaster&f=false

The Demon House of Brownsville Road. many in the Paranormal community are questioning its story and finding it hard to believe it happened.

There are many property's around the Pittsburgh area where Paranormal teams have documented  strange goings on.
 However when it comes to the latest home to be publicized as to being haunted their are many in the paranormal community including myself who are calling into question that events as put forth in the book are even true. 

The Demon house of Brownsville road is owned by former County Commissioner Bob Cranmer
and first time I ever heard his named mentioned was on KDKA radio when he ran for the posistiion
of  Allegheny County Commissioner, however several callers to the local talk show from Brentwood where he is from where not very kind in calling him Cram-It  Cranmer and calling him full of Bull and worthless Brentwood  Councilman.
It appears as even all those years ago he was not highly regarded which is why many who remember him as a politician are calling into question the whole matter  of the home being haunted .
The family which occupied the home before him reported no such activity and none of the Paranormal  Teams in the area here  where ever consulted or contacted to verify what happened in the home which brings with it suspicion. If you are going to write a book on a subject the more verification of paranormal the better.

http://www.post-gazette.com/local/south/2014/10/26/Former-residents-of-Brentwood-demon-house-dispute-book-s-claims/stories/201410210213

http://doubtfulnews.com/2014/02/another-hell-house-book-and-website-honestly-this-is-getting-old/

Photo Credit Post Gazette

 Only  the Catholic Clergy was permitted to examine and rid the home of entity's  and  on KDKA when one  Lay person who claims he instructs priests on performing Exorcisms and was witness to the events  was on the radio show  he could not answer basic questions from Paranormal followers who called into the show and questioned him  and was very evasive in his comments .

His  claim he taught about exorcisms  is also being called as baloney by many who are involved in exorcisms  as only the church has the authority to perform a proper exorcism. as noted by the famous Dr. Martin Malachi in his writings on exorcisms So as you can see the whole incident that happened there has more than a few skeptics calling the whole matter into question.  

Why where other paranormal experts  not called  to verify the eveidence

 if all this activity was going on why where no calls to 911 made and why did neighbors not know what was going on and why so long to release any information  at all  about what was going on then put out a book most haunted places have been well documented before any published books are published.

 Yes plenty of questions . Did it really happen until the case is independently investigated and verified  there will always be questions as to its truthfulness. 

Dale Kerstetter Was he a Willing accomplice or a Victim in a $250,000.00 Platinum Robbery in McKean county

It was Sept 12th , 1987 when there was big news out of Mckean County Pa. when a security guard and $250,000.00 dollars in Platinum went missing from a Corning Glass Facility

Dale Kerstetner was working by himself as a Security / Maintenance man in the plant  when he is seen  talking to a masked man who has apparently broken into or was let into the plant by Dale .

a $250,000.00  dollar Platinum Pipe from one of the furnaces would go missing as would Dale
was he a victim of a crime as the above  missing person piece suggests or was he a willing accomplice who was double crossed and murdered. Or was the whole thing a charade  to make everyone think he is dead and gone. $250,000 even then was alot of money but not life changing money and they got no where near that when they sold it on black market so one has to wonder.

The case even caught the attention of Robert Stack and his NBC Unsolved Mysteries program which was in production at the time but to this day there have been no leads .

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/k/kerstetter_dale.html

http://unsolved.com/archives/dale-kerstetter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JV7S_vTMCzQ

 Dales if he is even still alive he would be in his 80's  and statute of limitations has long run out.  Surprisingly not much attention has come of this case all these years later.
as with so many cases.

"The Red Head Murderer " He is still out there and possibly still preying on young red headed woman.

In the 1980's it was not a safe time for Women in W.Pa.  with several who disappeared never to be found and others murdered and dumped in rural areas  and especially if you had Red Hair
One serial Killer in Particular known as the Red Head Killer was traveling around the tri state area.
who would prey on young red headed lady's  and to this day has not been captured .

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr0T7Se5J7k

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1985-04-21/news/0290210184_1_serial-killer-redheaded-woman-abandoned-refrigerator

This killer who many believe to still be alive and possibly still active has been  indicated in as many as 8 -11 deaths of red headed women  and  at one time it was thought a truck driver may have been responsible since the murders happened off of interstate highways and in so many states. 

Many of the women appear to have been involved in prostitution which makes it that much harder to track 
as people consider them society's throw away's  and not worth  worrying about.

Pa. Investigators  got involved  as they thought the red head killer may have been involved in some unsolved murder victums found dumped  in Pa.  But to this point none has been confirmed but the cases are still being looked at as possibly related.

and a trucker possibly being involved makes sense since it is well known certain truck stops are crawling with Lot Lizards what truckers call prostitutes so one getting in a truck and vanishing would go un noticed very easily and just as easily when a trucker stops and picks up a hitch hiker.

This once again is a case of if you see something say something  as this is only way this killer will be brought to justice if he is still out there.

Sorry Art Bell I do not believe you this time. Its time for you to permanently retire I am tired of the games .

I will never forget that dark cold winter late Saturday night in 1994 when I was driving home alone along lonely Pa. Route 8 after visiting a dear friend in Erie Pa.

I love listening to the sky wave when it gets dark and picking up out of town stations it is a hobby known as AM DX-ing  or distance listening now a lost hobby with the internet and I heart and Tune In apps. Which allow you to listen to just about every AM /Fm station in the USA plus around the world.

I picked up a paranormal type show  out of the mid west called Dream Land and its hosted by a gentleman known as Art Bell.
its a long ride almost 3 hr ride  from Erie to Penn Hills so I caught the tail end of the show at Midnight and then I heard Art say to stay tuned for Coast To Coast AM I was hooked   what a great show talking about UFO's the unexplained etc However I would have to wait till summer of 95 when the local WIXZ 1360 became WPTT and went from Country Music to all talk to start getting Art Bell locally after looking up Arts show on my Dial Up Earthlink account and finding out he was broadcasting from the Kingdom  (county) of Knye  in Pharump Nevada from a double wide trailer

Sometime in 96 he turned Dream land over to Whitley Streiber  but kept Coast to Coast going but then all of a sudden he announces he was quitting radio after an incident involving his son being molested and he being accused of doing it instead of the man who was prosecuted.
I found him and he was gone for about 6 months when here I find him on again after things cooled down. he would have some fantastic guests like professor Michua Kaucua  , John Lear   Father Maliki and others even crazy guests like Mel Waters and his Mel's Hole which ended up being a hoax but Art and his guest just had a fascinating way of  keeping you hooked.

But then Art announced he was retiring and moving to Philippines  one of several such events  where he would go away for year or 2 and come back in the mean time he turned the show over to Mike Seigel who tried his best but he was just not Art Bell and of course here comes another Art drama a letter shows up in a Philippines newspaper  with very racist comments about Philippines  and supposedly sent by Art who flees back to US  and of course he comes back on the air.
He is on for  another year or so and decides to semi retire and lets others fill in on days he is off and of course he comes back on full time. then he announces he is retiring for good when he turned the show over to George Noory and is retiring to Philippines and selling off his Ham radio gear.
He calls George Noory from Philippines one night and they cook up a show for art to be on Saturday night live and of course there is all kind of problems and drama getting a proper internet line set up and show is on some times and sometimes the show is not due to internet problems. Which by the way IT guys who travel tell me the Philippines has very good internet even better than is US in many places . Of course more drama the Philippines letter shows up and Art once more must flee back to the states .But thur agreement he is off for 10 years  due to a no compete.

But then he is back on Siruis Satellite Radio and he goes a month and they cut him off for what ever reason  he is off the air for 2 more years due to non compete then he decides to start his own show on  Dark Matters Radio Network which may be goingoff the air in 30 days if they do not get more subscribers.   But more drama first he can not figure out getting music with out the big royalty fee despite how many of his listeners including me who are broadcast engineers told him how to get around it then he was ready to go but he and his one time producer Keith Rowalnds got into a big dispute  and no show then they decide to yes we will have a show. he comes on and is on air less than 6 months and now a mysterious stalker is after him and he retires again because the stalker wants him off the air.  But he might be back . His guests this last time where less than intriguing some old timers where always welcome the others pathetic. Unfortunately many of Arts best guests have passed away or have not ben heard from in many years .Art is 70 now 

Do us all a favor Art Bell stay off the air retire and enjoy your life either do a show or not set a schedule once a week a month for 1-4 hours and stick with it stop all the damn drama  enough is enough  too many storys  like the boy who cried wolf. . Like the song by the Who goes. " We wont be fooled again"