The Enduring Mystery of Pittsburgh Who was the the Baby Named Catherine found in the Sheridan Theater and help launch a famous Charity

It is long gone now and happened many years ago in 1928 when a group of 11 men playing cards in the back of the there after a Matinee and the cries of a child was heard and was located in one of the theater seats

Pinned to the young child was a note

Please take care of my baby. Her name is Catherine. I can no longer take care of her. I have eight others. My husband is out of work. She was born on Thanksgiving Day. I have always heard of the goodness of show business people and I pray to God that you will look after her.”

With this child and note began an enduring mystery.  Who was she and where did she come from

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/16551

https://www.varietypittsburgh.org/organization/history/

Although the theater  along Penn Ave is long gone and the men who found her have all long since passed . They made sure she was taken care of  for many years serving as adoptive uncles and given to a good set of  parents who adopted
her and kept anonymous despite fact she served in Korea and Vietnam as a nurse  in 1980 .
She voluntarily came forward to reveal who she was as an adult and sadly passed at the early age of 65 in September of 1994.

But that's not the end of the story . Many speculate the reason the mother had abandoned her daughter in the theater is because show people have a big heart . In fact those 11 men where among a group of theater owners and performers who had the year before set up the social club known as the   Variety Club which was known for its many good deeds she had indeed picked the right place and Catherine
became  the inspiration behind it
Now known as  Variety- The Children's Charity  it has spread worldwide in its quest to help disabled children.

https://www.varietypittsburgh.org/organization/mission-vision/

But who was Catherine  some speculate she came from a Catholic background because Catholics often raised big family's . No one knows for sure and to my knowledge a DNA test was never performed to possibly find descendants.

Strange Little 2 Story Buildings you can find in Beaver County What are they ? Prophets Chambers what?

If you travel thru the country you may run across these strange about 8ft square 2 story structures every once in a while 2 such structures still exist in Beaver County Pa  one in Darlington and one in South Beaver

They served a very important purpose in the Community's and where known as Prophets Chambers
Back before community's had fully established churches and full time ministers you had ministers known as  Circuit Riders .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_rider_(religious)

 Many of the Methodist Faith they would ride from town to town providing ministry and the Prophets Chamber provided a place of rest  and refreshment for the Circuit Riding Ministers  after a long days ride. 

As permanent full time ministers and churches became the normal in towns around the country 

the Circuit Riding Minister went into obscurity with the exception of one minister in the deep south  Robert E. Harris

who rode a horse and stopped at Truck stops thru North Carolina.  till His Death in 2007

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-04-20-mn-443-story.html

https://www.grocefuneralhome.com/obits/robert-edward-harris/

Monthly Column appears in Movin Out Truckers Newspaper available most truck stops 

 and Pastor Dan Boyd  who calls himself the last circuit Rider. 

http://www.the-last-circuit-riding-preacher.com/

Was the Old Giant Eagle Supermarket on Pittsburghs North Side Haunted? many claim so and why it moved to new location.

While the official story from Giant Eagle Corporate was that they where expanding the North Side Giant Eagle Super Market on E.North Ave and East street  next to the old Recovery Room Lounge  and had to move it to be able to expand it and make more services available to North Side Shoppers.

But according to  Some locals  who worked and shopped there they seem to think otherwise.

In fact they think they closed the store a couple years after the robbery  because it was Haunted .

The reason it was haunted leads back to an armed robbery in 1986  where a lady clerk was killed.
during the evening shift .

I have not been able to find  the newspaper article but I remember it. The North Side Community was in shock.

Giant Eagle announced the new store expansion a few months after the murder. I do not know if crime was ever solved I seem to remember an  off duty Pittsburgh Police Officer managed to shoot one of the suspects .

But after the murder strange things started going on in the store. Lights flashing  and turning on and off  plus doors opening and closing by them selves and strange noises.
One shopper supposedly saw a full body apparition of the clerk in an aisle way.

A day care opened and closed after a couple years in the old store front  which was completely remodeled and again according to locals because of the haunting .
The kids supposedly saw ghostly images in the windows  which terrified the staff.
 which had their own stories.

Although the building now serves as a private daycare for Allegheny General Hospital Employees and I have not heard of the current tenants have experienced any paranormal activity. 

Is this a case of vivid imaginations and wild stories ? maybe then again maybe there is something to it. 

A Forgotten Tragedy right next to the Mckeesrocks Bridge

I drive over the McKee's Rocks  Bridge several times a month on my way to Neville island and all these years of driving seen plenty of tragedy's on the bridge deck from motorists speeding and causing horrific Crashes. I knew about the Pressed Car Steel Riot right beside the bridge and various explosions and fires  .But I never knew about the tragedy that played out before the bridge was built in May 12, 1909 when a skip boat carrying 30 workers home after a hard days work capsized
and 24 workers lost their lives in the freezing cold Ohio River.

If it where not for a Ferryman named  John Deer who lived right beside the river running to his own ferry all but 2 would have survived. .

 

http://www.gendisasters.com/pennsylvania/1239/pittsburgh,-pa-ohio-river-ferry-boat-accident,-may-1909?page=0,1&fbclid=IwAR2VTWuDRXhSGp_POaWFG84TkRhseP0TA48IOBAjXz_9094DRzi7XpKXrlo

Photo Credit Frank Zouloufos