They say the Miners are still working their shift at the Rolling Mill Mine disaster in Johnstown Pa.

 The Johnstown area  has seen more than its shares of disasters , floods ,explosions and accidents
over the past 200 years from 3 disastrous floods to tragic trolley and train accidents to deaths in its steel mills and manufacturing plants. But one disaster is little remembered and thats the Rolling Mill mine disaster which happened  over 100 years ago.
As you drive down Pa 56 into Johnstown you see the magnificent Inclined Plane which rescued towns people during the floods but almost right beside it a disastrous coal mine  explosion in the Rolling Mill Mine which took 112 men and boys lives  occurred on July 10 1902 

http://www.friar555.net/coaleroo.html

 

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

What made this event even more tragic where those who died trying to save the miners who where trapped in the only portal into the mine it was one of the largest mines in US with only one entrance way..

Thou the mines shafts have been sealed off after the mines workings played out you can still visit the shaft which has a partial opening and some claim see ghost miners walking that same trail

There is a Youtube Video which documents the mine and its haunting 

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

As well as a 100th commemoration video of the accident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddwXB8TYUEo

To think of the horror that day of the explosion you are a newly arrived immigrant in a strange land now stuck in complete darkness awaiting your last breath. Company's did not care if you died few followed safety regulations and mine inspectors where often bribed  No one cared  and in many cases it was not known who the miner even was or if he had family  often times death tolls where much higher bcuse mines collapsed and it was not even known who all was working that day.

 

They say some Patrons never left The Oaks Theatre in Oakmont Pa. ?

In the beautiful little town of Oakmont Pa. one of the few river towns along the Allegheny River  left untouched by the blight that hit other towns when the mills closed is a small venue Theater  called the oaks.http://theoakstheater.com/
Thou it started as a small traditional  Film  theater  in the 40's it would see its ups and downs with the economy but was recently rescued in past decade and is now a live performance and film theater along with a dinning room.
http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/6412613-74/theater-oaks-wichryk

But of course when they close up for the evening  Staff and guests claim  not everyone has left. with doors closing by them selves and all the spooky stuff that goes with it.

Thats why Oakmont Paranormal Society  Which I am a member was recently called in to conduct an investigation in the theater.

http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/2778250-74/bowan-group-miller-oakmont-paranormal-society-building-floor-strange-antique

OPS at oaks during haunted Oaks Theater event

While it was believed at first one of the spirits  of a Burglar who broke into the theater and was shot and presumed killed by the theater  owners son

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19461210&id=EMMwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YGoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3272%2C3339116

This has proved to not be the case  he survived  although some investigators say traces of that violent event could still linger 

However after I started doing some research for the group I found a  45 yr old gentleman from Fox Chapel  a well to do  town across the river from Oakmont  died of a heart attack in the lobby.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19490825&id=pXxIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=imoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2032%2C1820464

I also found some other interesting facts on the burglar he was going to use Nitroglycerin  to blow the safe  they belive he stole from a farmer.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19461214&id=pHYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0UwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2392%2C3845165

  Plus the name of the thief is similar to that of Criminals who blew up and attacked an armored car carrying a payroll to a coal mine  near South Park   So that may be where he learend his skills.

I have to do some further digging on this issue. But in the mean time  oakmont Paranormal while conducting there investigation did find signs of paranormal activity and will be releasing a report shortly of what all they found.

A haunted Cemetery in Wintersville Ohio with an interesting Confederate Army Connection

My Father In Law recently passed and in cleaning out his basement I had a load of scrap metal that needed recycled on my way back to the scrap yard  I came across a well maintained but very old cemetery and came to find it played a very important part in Civil War History seems in 1834 The Cross Creek Presbyterian Church and Cemetery was started but in 1863 it was the site of an encampment of Confederate troops commanded by General John Morgan.  Yes that John Morgan and his Raiders  seems they spent the night in the cemetery on their way riding thru and terrorizing Ohio residents they would be forced to surrender the next day.

http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/john-hunt-morgan-1.html

But to make this cemetary even more interesting is the fact it is suposedly haunted as noted in this excerpt from  The Ohio Exploration Society Website

http://www.ohioexploration.com/paranormal/hauntings/jeffersoncounty/

– At the end of Cross Creek Road (Fernwood Road) is an old cemetery where a white figure is reported to have been seen wandering under the trees among tombstones. The figure is usually reported as female and is visible from the road. The cemetery used to be a popular place to park, but few couples go there more than once after hearing strange moaning sounds there. The ghost is not always visible. Trespassers often report feeling that they are being watched or sometimes hear someone following them. The origin of the cemetery’s ghost is unknown.

Never know what you will find riding down those lonely country roads.

A Historic foot bridge over the Kiski River with a Unique Story

As you take River Road Pa 66  east out of leechburg Pa. you can not miss seeing a very uique  Steel Foot Bridge which goes over the Kiski River  to  the  little community of Hyde Park

But when you look at the piers which hold it it appears  to have held a much larger bridge at one time and you would be correct in your thinking.

At one time this was a railroad bridge  built in 1886 which connected trains across the Kiski from Leechburg  but this was before the massive Flood Protection Projects to keep Pittsburgh from flooding where put in place ,after a horrendous flood took many lives and  caused hundreds of  millions in damage in 1936 to Southwestern Pa

You see the problem was before the flood protection measures where put in place Higher up on the Conemaugh River which feeds the Kiski River  during the winter time massive sheets of ice would build on the river  and come down stream thru Leechburg and several times the railroad bridge was destroyed.

http://old.post-gazette.com/lifestyle/20030914herep2.asp

 

Finally in 1904 in an effort to keep the bridge from being wiped out by spring time flooding they put a train full of coal cars on it and weighted it down to hold it in place and of course this also failed and train was swept down stream.

 So then the only way across was a Ferry boat till the earlier  foot bridge was built in 1920  with the current bridge version being built in 1955 which is very unique to the area.

 With its 600 foot length. and fantastic photographic view This is one day trip well worth it to take about 45 minutes from Pittsburgh.

A small shopping plaza on old William Penn highway in Penn Hills rumored to have Paranormal activity's

Its easy to miss as you go out old US 22  William Penn Highway thru Penn hills at the busy Jefferson intersection  a small 3 store front shopping plaza  behind a Sunoco C store. once an Open Pantry  C store and Pizza shop and tavern only the tavern remains open no wonder given its strange configuration for a parking lot and 2 c stores beside each other just does not work.
But thats not the only thing strange about the plaza a Penn Hills Progress article from 20+ years ago tells of strange goings on at the plaza of the paranormal type particularly in the now closed  Pizza shop seems an old employee or owner stayed behind after their death.

 becuase doors would open and close by them selves and lights turn on and off. was it employyes playing games maybe but then again maybe not. I have been unable to locate the original article but a late freind Noel McCarthy   who drinked at the tavern on ocassion said there was talk about the ghost.
among patrons .
I do not have much more on the place but hopefully will be able to investigate it further and confirm what I read all those years ago.

If you have this Top Hat design on your Game Room Floor ? Your old house may well have a conection to the Old Pittsburgh Mob.

I have worked in many old homes in the Pittsburgh area and many where at one time owned by Italians who make up a  large part of the population  and even have community's  they settled  in like Bloomfield , Sharpsburg and Penn Hills etc .
So it would not be unusual to find similar likes and taste  in how the homes are furnished . But in one case  the old home you own may well have been owned by an old Pittsburgh Mobster or one of their many friends and associates ,if they have a certain top hats' champagne glass and playing card motive in the center of there game room Floor.
It seems that Pittsburgh Godfather  John Larocca liked this one particular floor pattern that he  had in his own game room  in his north Hills residence in Ingomar , its middle square a top hat with cane  playing cards around outside border   and when friends  who would visit with Mr. Larocca and be invited to his game room for drinks asked him about the unique design he would send a  rug /tile layer over he knew and had it put in for them.
I found this out after installing a burglar alarm at a woman's house in the Squirrel hill section of Pittsburgh I asked her about it when I saw it in her basement and told her I had seen others and thats when she told me the story about the floors .  Her late husband who died in a private plane crash during bad weather  was John Larocca's  long time attorney and the floor was a gift from Mr Larocca. The center top hat tile was designed custom just for Mr. Larocca and his friends and associates.

I have seen the floor pattern in old   Bloomfield  ,Squirrel Hill  and in East liberty sections of Pittsburgh
It was definitely a 50's  Vegas cocktail lounge type theme to it and unfortunately most of the floors have been removed or covered over or the homes demolished ,  which is a shame as it was seen as dated and uncool. Unfortunately I do not have a picture of the design but needless to say  this floor was expensive to put down and since the Pittsburgh mob was big time into gambling I can see why the floor  design would have been so popular
Hopefully I will run  upon it one more time and be able to share an image of it. But its now one of those great hidden story's about the Pittsburgh Mobs past. They may have been criminals but they did so in style.