The Day it Rained Bananas in Pittsburgh's Strip District

Now a completely changed landscape from what it was once. Pittsburgh's Strip District has surely changed with the times. there was a time when you drove down Smallman Street and you would see lines of trucks loading fresh produce which had just come in by rail and later large 18 wheeled trucks .

But one day things got out of hand when it literally rained bananas down in the strip after an explosion at the  long closed Pittsburgh Banana Company .which was recently torn down to build condos and so another piece of Pittsburgh history to be lost for ever.

http://idnc.library.illinois.edu/cgi-bin/illinois?a=d&d=CHP19361226.2.118

http://pittarchives.tumblr.com/post/135381482147/the-pittsburgh-banana-company-explosion

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P-_eZB4PP0

 It was December 1936 when a lone worker that fateful morning  flipped a switch around 2 am and caused the gas which had built up from the bananas to explode ripping off the roof and destroying much of the building and damaging a near by church .miraculously the employee survived being buried under the bananas

A Forgotten Horrific Train Wreck Behind the old D.L Clark company on Pittsburgh's North side

After all the drama of last weeks Train Derailment in Pittsburgh's Station Square which still is causing repercussions from all the damage it caused and miraculously no one was hurt or killed .

https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/video/3912695-precarious-clean-up-continues-after-station-square-train-derailment/

And a  more serious wreck occurred about 30 years before in Bloomfield involving hazardous materials 

https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/13/us/derailment-drama-ends-in-pittsburgh.html

 
Pittsburgh has seen its share of rail disasters even including trolleys.

But It brings up memories of a  forgotten Horrific Train Crash which took 8-9 lives in February  1934 on Pittsburgh's North Side behind the D.L. Clark Building which sits behind Heinz Stadium.

Back then the area was bustling with industrial activity and junk and rail yards which included the D.L.Clark Company and its famous Clark (candy ) Bar
 

http://www.gendisasters.com/pennsylvania/9955/pittsburgh-pa-train-wreck-feb-1934?page=0,0

https://www.facebook.com/OddPittsburgh/videos/2178215112422352/ 

Thanks to Odd,Mysterious & Fascinating Pittsburgh Facebook group for the video link

The luxury express train on its way from Akron to New York  was starting to round the slight bend when it went off the tracks and over the steep wall falling approx . 50 ft trapping and killing the Engineer and Fireman  and in total killing 8-9 people one who had just gotten on 30 minutes earlier F.R.Dravo  was head of the then famous Dravo Corporation  whose barges and dredging operations where all over Pittsburgh's rivers till its eventual closing in the 80's after the steel mills closed.

It was thought a frozen switch caused the accident but as far as I can find no official cause was found.

This was not the only such tragedy on Pittsburgh's North Side which has seen horrific deaths, from factory fires and  east  and spring garden valley flooding  there have been many horrific deaths and if you happen to ride behind the D.L Clark company and get a little tingle something happened there now you know why.

In doing research on this article I came upon another train wreck  but date of this video says 1938 which i can find no such accident in Pittsburgh but this may show further down from clark building
so another mystery to solve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqCec6A8pLk

This video may be on the other side of the wall from Clark Building but so much has changed in that area hard to tell but it clearly shows Pittsburg in title when it did not have the H.  but it sure looks like the clark building area wreck.. 

Note: update it has been determined above video was a train wreck on W. Carson street near West End circle . Engineer was killed when stones on track flipped engine over hill side

Was a Boyscout Camp Closed Down due to Big Foot Activity?

In early 80s Camp Semiconon in Connequenessing Twp Pa in Butler County was shut down.
Supposedly not needed since Heritage was Opened in Farmington Pa.
But all the other camps used as summer camps where converted to weekend camps so why wasn't Semiconon deep in the Forrest and a great camp to due scouting skills and lake Arthur only 7 miles away?

Well since writing my article about a suspected Big Foot Attack in July of 1977 I wrote about I have had several individuals come forward who have told me their encounters.

If it happened to staff it means it happened to the adult staff as well. so they knew we where not making up story's and now knowing around Lake Arthur Moraine State Park in the 70s was a Hot Spot and still is for Big Foot and Dogman activity Maybe this is why camp was closed and sold off to a private family they claimed it was a sportsman club buying it.

The State Police would not go into woods that night so even they knew something was up but back then no one knew what a Big Foot was .

First Time I heard it was on the TV Show" In Search Of " Hosted by Leonard Nemoy

It was not until I did further research and talking to local Cryptologists in the area Did I even suspect it was a possible Big Foot that happened to me,.

Now things are starting to make sense and thats why they got rid of it not cost of keeping it up which is minimal the fact strange things where going on and No One knew what to do.

A strange fenced in mound of dirt along US 22 in Ebensburg Pa.

For 20 Plus years I have been driving thru Ebensburg on my way to Altoona when I noticed this strange fenced in square of ground with a dirt mound with in blink your eyes you will miss it. Because the field is heavily grown over with weeds. 
Intrigued I finally stopped the one day and checked it out from a far using binoculars as the field is a total swamp.

A sign on it is posted No Trespassing Beth Energy Mines  there is also a sign No Smoking  no open lights or matches .

So what is it at first glance I thought must be a hazardous waste pile which was sealed over and capped  Thinking there was a chemical company on the site but this is not the case . But seeing it was owned by a Coal mining company and knowing the nearby Bethlehem Coal mine in Revloc possibly goes under this area I am more  thinking now this was one of the rescue shafts to get miners out during and emergency or possibly even an air shaft  but it is strange the way it is capped most places use concrete cap but some do use a mound of dirt like this when sealing entrances. Why the no smoking sign. there is always the possibility of methane escaping from the old mine better safe than sorry.
So another mystery solved even if its a small one but there are so many little fenced off and mysterious little utility buildings and mounds and pits all over our state most still in use but plenty abandoned after coal and limestone etc mining operations ceased. So it is best advised not to trespass and photograph from a far to avoid problems