In 1974 a case of Domestic Terrorism hits the Gulf Building in Downtown Pittsburgh and has gone unsolved to this day.

Yes when I was a young cub scout in late 60's you could actually go up to the top of the Gulf building in Downtown Pittsburgh and they had an observation deck on top which we all checked out . At the time the Gulf Building was the tallest building in Pittsburgh  with its high powered blue or red beacon depending on what weather was doing and when it flashed meaning weather was changing would spell in Morse code welcome to Pittsburgh  this was before they built the US steel Tower also known as the Rusty Nail. for it rusty looking  Corten Steel. was built in 1970's before the US Steel tower was erected when we went to visit our aunt Peg who lived on 3rd floor of a tenamant on 49th street in Lawrenceville we could see the Gulf Building.

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

That easy carefree time came to an end on June 13th 1974 around 9:30 Pm when the  Guard watching the desk gets a call telling him he had 20 minutes to evacuate the building there was a bomb  and several minutes latter there was a massive explosion  on the 29th floor  luckily no one was hurt and emergency officials who had been checking out the building had just cleared the area before it went off .

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1979&dat=19740611&id=lGgiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=9KkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4060,1913337

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=19740614&id=5cMPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FI0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=3866,5946231

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19740614&id=ZctRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Y20DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5613,1841833

The Gulf Building was targeted supposedly by The Weather Underground  because the famous Gulf Oil Company was headquartered there and the Weather Underground held them responsible for supposed deaths they caused to native Africans  during there oil explorations.

The building from that day on was sealed off no more of the public just walking in and the observation deck was closed forever .

 The Pittsburgh Police and FBI would investigate along with Allegheny county Detectives  but no suspects where developed or arrests ever made . Of course back then Closed Circuit cameras where still in there infancy and few where deployed and most did not record. To my knowledge the Gulf building did not have them.  I suspectsome one posing as a cleaner or contractor planted the explosives and since no one checked in back in those days the Gulf Building was an easy open target.

What ever happened to Carl Brunner from Franklin twp pa. ?

I meet Carl Brunner  a retired gentleman who was a recovered alcoholic while staying at my dads friend  from J&L Steel Charlie Jackson  summer home  on Mckim Way in Franklin Twp along Conequnessing Creek .He resided with the Jacksons after meeting Charlie at an alcoholics anonymous meeting . He was originally from Windber Pa area and grew up with Johhny Wiesmiller the actor who played the  Original Tarzan  in the movies . He had a neat old Corvair car yes the one Ralph Nadar said was dangerous at any speed. Just like in picture below.

He and Charlie always kept these very strong little candy's called Nibs around the house to help keep that taste for alcohol off there minds.  Even thou both had been dry for many years the temptation is always there.

He was always nice to me and my brothers and often talked about his exploits when him and Charlie where off the wagon  Like the time they put a horse in charlies car when there friend got to drunk to ride it home . After Charlie passed from a heart Attack one of the nicest guys you ever wanted to meet ,  he stayed on with Mrs Jackson for  the summer but then one day he asked if he could ride into Rochester with us to get something. While my dad was getting something from the Pharmacy Carl went into the state store unknown to my dad and once again started a life of alcohol .

He started getting mean with Mrs Jacksonand she asked him to leave this would have been around 1972  he got into his Corvair and was never heard from again. Did he end up in some skid row apartment  or nursing home or did he die a homeless unknown bum on the street did he go to find family no one knows . Tragically Mr Brunners story plays out every day in this state by those who become afflicted by the devil in the bottle. Where ever he is I hope he is Resting in Peace for he hs surely passed by now he would be well over 100 by now.  hopefully some day I will find out what happened to him and know the rest of his story to be able to share it

Sknojin Road in Ohara Twp. a dream not realized and an old mans warning

Yes if you look for Sknojin road in Ohara twp you will not find it on a map unless its an old map as its name has been lost to history  to be replaced with Falconhurst  a housing development. which sits back off falconhurst road . Which was built upon the ashes of the property's original descendants the Novasols and Skotaks
whose ashes  along with Barbara friend Mitzi where spread on the property in 2005  by there descendants . The housing development is also on top of a pet cemetery as well I buried many of my pets there including my beloved English bull dog Winston and Mr. Rabbit plus almost every pet the novasols owned well over 30 pets laid to rest and not to be disturbed.

But lets start from the beginning one of the more interesting people I have meet in my life time was Barbra Novasol my 10th grade Biology teacher who I had a life time friendship with after she introduced me to the world of collecting rocks and minerals. I even went on to become the president of the long forgotten Pittsburgh Mineral & Lapidary  Society I may at this point be one of the last member living .

Barbara lived with her parents  Nick and Hilda on an old farm along Sknojin road in ohara along with her cousin Tony Skotak The last of the real men he did not have running water or a phone and lived on the old skotak property in picture below with his beloved black Labrador  smoky and neighbors dog .

Tony and Novasols property was right next to the farm orchards of the old Allegheny county Work house jail and one time Tony single handed caught 2 escaped inmates  on his property and marched them back down to the jail  at the point of a shot gun.  a distance of almost 1 mile .on rugged hill side.


The Novasols and Tony always wanted their property's preserved as parks so people could see how people lived there lives in the early 20th century. The property was also significant in the fact that they where original homesteaders and it was once used by the Pennsylvania Canal for maintaining  the mules used to haul boats along the canal

This was not to be because a couple of  relatives  decided they would turn the property into high end homes  and destroy all the natural beauty this property  afforded the township. often on summer afternoon the lady's of the surrounding homes would walk up Sknojin and visit barb and her mom and have a glass of fresh lemonade and the kids would play in the woods
 When Barbra the last Novasol Died  they could not wait to get their hands on the property and develop it against the Wishes of Tony and the Novasols. and 1 other relative who was still living at the time.
 When an old man tells some one their wishes and warns them they better do it  and they are not carried thru well I will let you use your imagination.  But it has all the makings for a good Paranormal Story in the future . I wonder if the people living in those 8 fancy houses even know they are living on the graves of the Novasols and Skotaks  plus all those pets?  Plus those who crossed Tony and the Novasols and did not follow their wishes  will have to answer in the end  for what they did to such a beautiful property filling it in and destroying it .

There was once two community's of Seven Springs one in Westmoreland and a long gone one in Beaver County

Yes it is amazing how many community's in Pa. have the same name . Some one tells you they are from Pulaski Pa.  you have to ask the one in Lawrence County or Beaver County and while Penn hills is a well known suburb east of Pittsburgh there is also a Penn Hills in Pocono's section of Pa. same goes for two Nemacolins and two Donegals

So it is not surprising there would be a 2nd Seven Springs . This very small town was located along  Pa 18 in Beaver County and if you go along the road today you know it as the  little Racoon  State Park area  known as Franfort Mineral Springs  where a hotel once stood and the whole town was a little bigger than a postage stamp.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19321112&id=p8JRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=02kDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2845,2970041

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2002&dat=19750702&id=QxsvAAAAIBAJ&sjid=U9sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2140,978218

The entire town was no more than 1/2 mile square and consisted of the hotel and a couple homes. and barns etc. and its name disappeared in early 80's when repairs where made to Pa 18 & Us 30 and the sign pointing to Seven Springs was taken down. and like the article published in newspapers at the time Penn Dot predicted the name would be lost to history with in a generation and it has .The Franfort Mineral Springs site is now part of Hanover Twp.

  Thou the bigger Town of Frankfort Springs  up the road  got its name for the hotel Resort .Where the hotel sat was actually named Seven Springs for the fact this is where the Seven different Springs converged and where the towns name came from  The Seven springs where said to have healing powers the one even had natural magnesia in its contents and was bottled as a healing cure. Many who visit think the area is haunted as some report seeing Orbs etc or hearing voices or feel they are being watched while many feel nothing at all.

http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/FSprings.html

http://www.farmanddairy.com/news/defunct-mineral-resort-has-a-healing-history/6095.html

http://www.examiner.com/article/come-drink-of-the-waters

It could well be the spirits of indians watching over you as native Americans knew of the place and its healing waters.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19730703&id=0EcdAAAAIBAJ&sjid=S1QEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2859,1235511

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1997&dat=19000411&id=RKIiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=tawFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4826,2005039

An old Gas Station in Sharpsburg that has a Hidden Secret you would never know was there

As you ride down thru the valley along Kittaning Pike  that leads to Sharpsburg  you pass an old gas station that at one time was a Radiator Rebuild shop but what you do not know is if you go into the building there is a doorway in back which leads into the hills side and secret caves which where carved into the hill side.

The caves served as Mushroom growing rooms for the famous  Monteverde Provisions company who serve the many restaurants around Pittsburgh .

I was able to see the hidden caves in early 1980's before they totally collapsed  when my friend grizzly knew the man who owned the radiator shop and he allowed me to go back and check them out.

There are many hidden caves all over Pittsburgh especially on the North Side which where used for
holding a  small brewery's Beer  back in the days before Refrigeration  when there where over 70 different small brewery's.One set of caves was revealed when the old Allegehny Auto body shop was torn down when Pa route 28 was rebuilt and where visable for sevral weeks till pendot filled them in .


Most of these tunnels and caves have been long forgotten and are all mostly collapsed  like in Sharpsburg . It is a forgotten part of Pittsburgh History. as well as Wheeling W.va. which also had a rich history of brewing and caves .

Smoking in Bed a Mechanic I knew foresaw his own death by fire .

Yes  a Fire is a scary thing especially if it happens while you are sleeping. I had nightmares for years  when in second grade  we lost almost an entire family in Carrick where I lived at the time and Ronny one of 2 boys to die was in my second grade class at St. Basils .

Yes it still haunts me to this day every time I ride past where the home once sat.

So you can imagine just how haunting some one I knew prediction of his own death by fire  has haunted me . This is a true story I blanked the last names to Give Bill his privacy. and have not posted it as a link.

I meet Bill a very talented Truck Mechanic at a customer of mine in the south hills who does
Asphalt work. Bill was always a  fun guy to talk to any time he was always courteous and helpful any time I needed ladders or even a second hand. when  I was in the  equipment repair shop working on the phones
or alarm system .
One day in fall of 2000 I had to change a smoke detector in the shop that was causing false alarms
and when I showed it to Bill as to what the problem was he said it was a good thing they had smoke and heat detectors in the shop as he is always worried about fire as he and friend are smokers and have fallen a sleep in bed  .He was always worried he would die in a fire because of it.
I said You have smoke detectors in your place and he said he did  because he was so worried.

Sadly his words would come true as I woke up and started reading the Post Gazzette one spring morning in 2002  and there was his picture along with a friend he had died in a fire from a discarded cigarette. I was devastated as where his fellow employees  who worked with him.

The following is an Excerpt from Post Gazette 

BEECHVIEW: Fire blamed on smoking

A house fire in Beechview that killed two people was caused by a discarded cigarette, Pittsburgh Fire Chief Peter Micheli said yesterday.

The blaze broke out shortly before 10 p.m. Thursday at  Kenberma Ave. It started in the upstairs rear bedroom of the two-story brick home.

Janet M. 55 the home's owner, was found dead at the scene in that bedroom. She was identified through dental records. Micheli said she is the mother of a city firefighter, whom he declined to identify.

The second victim, William W., 52, was found badly injured in another bedroom. He was taken to Mercy Hospital, where he was pronounced dead just before midnight.

Micheli said investigators ruled the fire accidental. They attributed its origin to "discarded smoking material," which Micheli said meant a cigarette. Someone was probably smoking in bed, he said.

Investigators have an idea why the victims were unable to escape from the burning house, but Micheli said he could not release the information publicly.

There were no smoke detectors in the house, Micheli said.

Damage to the building and its contents was estimated at $25,000.

 Please if your going to smoke be careful do not smoke in bed and have working smoke detectors.

We have too many fire deaths  with out helping them along

What if Flight 93 was not headed for the White house but instead the USX Steel Tower in Pittsburgh ? an alternate theory with much darker intent

Flight 93 headed towards Pittsburgh instead of the White House? Preposterous you say.
Well maybe but then again Pittsburgh has a secret most people do not know about back in 2001.
Its that the AT&T building in downtown right across the street from USX Tower on Grant Street  and this building handles all international call and most of the internet traffic in and out of North America as well as much of cross country traffic at that time . Had the terrorists managed to knock the USX Tower into the AT&T building the damage and confusion caused by losing all those lines as well as what was going on in New York would have been devastating.
In fact the day of 9-11 US marshals with automatic weapons formed a perimeter around this building to protect it as well as federal court house as  seen on KDKA TV 2 and other local stations that day.
I am not the only one to realize this possible scenario I have talked to many others including pilots  who say it could have been done I am just the first to write and talk about it that I know of.


In fact this same scenario could have well played out in New York as  well as Nyex Telephone Exchange supplier to wall street could have been knocked out as well  when the towers fell imagine the confusion and  severe financial loss that could have been created had wall street been knocked out for months to a year  compared to a couple days. Had this or Pittsburgh been pulled off it would have created tremendous panic in the streets when no one can communicate.
with just the towers themselves falling many large radio and TV stations went off the air in New York
luckily some had back up sites but most did not. There is nothing worse during a panic than the ability to not be able to communicate to authority or loved ones. During 9-11 it happened nation wide for several hours where phone lines where jammed but imagine picking up the phone going on internet and having nothing.

If you go to the Flight 93 Memorial  in Shanksville Pa. and look at the placard which shows the flight path of 93 although yes it looks like it is headed for the White House it flew right over Pittsburgh

The first question I had to ask myself if the plane was headed to White House why did they choose this flight and wait so long before it  was taken  over they could have taken a much shorter faster route like they did to take out the towers.
OK so if it was the USX tower they where after why did they fly over Pittsburgh and not hit it ? this would have been when the fight broke out on board and the pilot was distracted and unable to take the objective. It is only a few seconds flight time from Pittsburgh to Shanksville the fight aboard would have been well under way.
 One would have to believe that well planned terrorists  would have more than one objective to hit if they where unable to hit the initial targets . It should also be noted that only a few air miles from where the plane went down are important towers which provide Cross country phone and data communication as well . Of course miles of fiber optics has been laid now along railroad tracks to help harden up communications but in 2001 not nearly the amount was available like it is today.

 If it is true there was a fight and this brought down the plane which in all likely hood did happen
 despite  conspiracy kooks  who insist a jet shot it down. Which yes there was a white jet seen in area but this was a small private corporate jet the FAA controllers  asked to look for the flight after it dropped off radar.

Of course all I have proposed is speculation and I doubt we will ever get the whole truth on 9-11
but what I conjecture makes a lot more sense than so many of the outright bizarre conspiracy's  now floating on the internet. I do not belive our goverment was involved in this attack bu that their laxness allowed it .I and others have always said we are too open to attack . Becuse just like the known EMP threats to this country we know people want to kill us every day but we ignore the dangers and do not harden up our infrastructure.

If you understand communications and also understand its importance then you know just how devastating 9-11 would have been had we lost international and cross country communications.