A Horrific War Time Tragedy in Beaver County Pa lost to History

 While our men where fighting overseas during WWII  and saw horrific conditions and tragedy the same was true for those on the Home Front . So many where killed and mangled either at work and even just simply on there way to and from work this is one such tragedy which took place like many others around Christmas time on December 23rd 1942.

Men and women on their way to and from a shift at the Aliquippa J&L Steel Works and small stores which lined its streets they worked would never make it home that day .

Because that day the Ohio River Coach Bus they are riding to Pittsburgh will be involved in a massive landslide which would take 22 of their lives  buried under 200 tons of rocks and  60 ton boulder aprox. 1/2 mile  from the Ambridge -Aliquippa Bridge on Constitution Boulevard  also known as Pa route 51. 

which fell off a 600 foot cliff. 

Now this section of road has always been a hazard ever since i was a kid it would have to be closed and rocks cleared and in 90s was totally rebuilt after a major slide

Below is a full accounting of the story from the Little  Beaver County Historical Society Face Book Page

Huge Boulders Drop From Hillside On Constitution Boulevard Near Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge

ALIQUIPPA, Dec. 23 - A mangled mass of painted steel lying along the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie railroad tracks and a mass of massive rocks, mud and shale which completely blocks Constitution Blvd., is mute evidence today of one of Beaver County's most tragic calamities.

Twenty-two persons were killed and four injured when a road side cliff collapsed over an Ohio River Motor Coach Company bus enroute from Aliquippa to Pittsburgh at 5:10 p.m. yesterday on the boulevard about one-half a mile from the Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge and directly across from Jones and Laughlin Steel Corporation's coke ovens.

CLIFF WEAKENED

The towering 600 foot cliff had been weakened by recent weather conditions. As the bus passed along the highway at its base, 200 tons of rock and dirt, including one boulder weighing approximately 60 tons, smashed down on the bus which was loaded with home-going steel workers and Christmas shoppers.

Except for a bit of the rear of the bus, the machine was at the bottom of a 10 to 12 foot heap of rubble. Volunteers with shovels were joined by police and air raid wardens, finally, by a mobile railroad crane. Because the bus was smashed almost flat, the rubble had to be entirely removed before all the bodies could be extricated.

The bus was turned around and pushed off the road by the avalanche and it and the rocks on top of it hung precariously over the 30 foot bank above the railroad tracks making the digging operations more difficult.

THROWS ON BRAKES

At the time of the rock avalanche, Earl Baeuerlein, driving The Daily Citizen car, enroute to Aliquippa to deliver papers, saw it start and hurriedly threw on the brakes. The car stopped at the edge of the rocks. He, with Raymond McNees and Robert Rosensteel, who were in the car, were the first at the scene of the accident on the Ambridge side.

They witnessed the escape of Joseph Manko, Pittsburgh, from the wreckage, who crawled out through a window of the rear end of the bus with the aid of several motorists from cars which were behind the ill fated vehicle, and saw seven men lift a boulder from the near railroad track. McNees and Rosensteel drove the car to Ambridge notifying the Ambridge police of the accident.

Baeuerlein remained to render all assistance possible and to aid in directing traffic until the arrival of the police.

Ambridge and Aliquippa firemen, police, J. & L. workers and volunteers worked heroically until long after midnight in the precarious task of removing and extricating the injured and the bodies of the dead from the wreckage. BODY REMOVED

The driver, Dymtro Karapan, Fair Oaks, was thrown partially through the door and his body was one of the first removed. It was crushed and mangled, police said. He is married and has a three year old daughter. According to reports he was working on his day off as a favor for one of the other operators.

Ben Watkins, Pittsburgh, the sixth person to be removed died in the office of Dr. H. M. Hemming, Ambridge, where he had been removed in J. J. O'Donnell's ambulance. His leg had been severed and his forehead was crushed. Rescuers had to climb a ladder to the bus to get him out and carry another ladder to the boulevard. He was semi-conscious and kept repeating, "Let me up; let me up; I want to get up."

WAS WELL KNOWN

Clyde (Doc) White, Glenfleld, one of the victims was well known throughout the valley for his promotions in sports. For the past three years he has been employed in the sports department of the Pittsburgh Mercantile Company but during the holiday season has been working in the toy department.

The survivors all escaped through the rear window. They were in addition to Manko, Helen Phillips, 22, Aliquippa; John McCarthy, Monaca.

TERRIFIC CRASH

Manko described the experiences of those inside the bus as follows:

"It was a terrific crash. It sounded just like somebody hit a wash tub with a sledge hammer. I was knocked out. When I came to, I saw light coming in a broken window (the rear window). I crawled out and somebody took me to a doctor."

He was taken to the Aliquippa police station by a fellow J. and L. worker where he was given first aid and sent home.

Manko and his friend, James Burger, who also worked in the metallurgic department, were riding together in the rear seat as was their custom. Burger died in Rochester General Hospital at 8 p.m. last night.

LEGS FRACTURED

Miss Helen Phillips, an employee of the P.M. store, suffered fractures of both legs. Her condition is reported as "fair" by Rochester Hospital attaches today.

The condition of John McCarthy, Monaca, also in the hospital, was said to be "fair".

Robert Espey, South Heights, was injured while assisting in the removing of bodies from the wreckage last night and is in the Sewickley Valley Hospital with a fractured skull. Espey has a wooden leg and is employed at an Aliquippa service station.

Miss Martha L. Gearing, who was killed, was a traveling supervisor for the Federal Housing Authority in New York City but resides at her home in Pittsburgh due to the serious illness of her mother. She leaves two brothers in Army service and a sister.

HEADS CRUSHED

The stories told by the men who were engaged on the rescue work were blood curdling. Bodies were severed and heads were crushed beyond recognition. The roof was caved in to the tops of the seats over all but the last two rows.

A mobile railroad crane operated for many hours and lifted the crushed roof in order to remove the last eight bodies.

Jones and Laughlin Corporation had a large section of its fence cut and removed so that the bodies could be carried to the emergency hospital.

ROAD OPENED

The old road, discarded when the present boulevard was built, was opened in order to relieve the congestion which existed following the accident and before the police arrived to regulate the traffic.

The Red Cross carried on canteen service until 2:30 a.m. today. They served coffee and sandwiches to the workers. The Aliquippa side was taken care of by Jean Dowdell, field secretary; Robert Stout, chapter chairman; and two girls. On the Ambridge side Mrs. George Kelley was in charge, assisted by Mrs. Charles Sachs, Mrs. Harry Greenberger, Mrs. Charles E. Meinard and Mrs. Peter Milheim.

From The Ambridge Daily Citizen, December 23, 1942

Is the old AMC Carmike 6 Theatre in Uniontown Mall Haunted ?

 This past weekend we had a great time at Creature Fest V    Scary Movies , Cos Play vendors a DJ and some great speakers including myself and everyone had a good time.

 But there seems to be some other guests who had a fun time as well

Several people attending including my self saw while setting up mysterious shadows appear and disappear in the theaters

Then we had 2 mysterious hot spots show up on thermal camera  up stairs in projection area  and feeling you where not alone .

a couple people who attended also said they felt a presence in the theaters as well. 

Is there anything to it who knows . but hopefully mall owners will be open to allowing a public ghost hunt some day. 

In mean time its private property and respect it as such

A strange short divided highway which sits in middle of a Pittsburgh neighborhood which goes no where

 This secluded section of Pittsburgh known as Fairywood sits on far western edge of Pittsburgh  next to Crafton and Thornburg .

It has several large warehouses  in one section and a strange section of divided highway less than a mile long which runs on its edge. Which runs along Chartiers Creek. 

 

So what was this highway built for and what was its purpose?

Its called The Industrial Highway it was started in 1972 and was suppose to connect from The West End Bridge to the nearby Thornburg Bridge  and eventually I -79 but the project was abandoned in 1974

It would have been a great relief to those who are forced  to take I -376 also known as Parkway West 

due to constant traffic back ups and wrecks But Penn Dot and City of Pittsburgh shut it down and abandoned it.  

So it sits and deteriorates with occasional motorist who checks it out or those who want to race on it.

Just one of many proposed and then abandoned projects in the City of Pittsburgh and total waste of Taxpayers Money.

The Pig Lady of Cannelton one of the strangest tales of Western Pa. in Beaver County

 One of the more stranger tales you will hear around Western Pa. is that of the Beaver County Pig Lady  who they hold an Annual Fair for  at The New Galiliee Community Event Center this year on October 8th  2022 

The Pig lady of Cannelton starts in the little unincorporated town of Cannelton which is with in Darlington Township   which was settled in 1795 and which was at one time a busy railroad hub.

Early days saw coal mining  for Cannol Coal which is how the town got its name and eventually the town became  a Farming Town.

It was on one of these farms where the story begins  a young lady named Barbara Davidson  daughter of Samuel and Cora McCaskey She was married to a Nathan Davidson a Revolutionary War Soldier who supposedly  disappeared under mysterious circumstances to this day unsolved ,  yet others say he had just died a young man   . These events what ever happened  would cause Barbara to go home to stay with her parents not having the means to support herself .

That's where things get very weird .

In the fall  1795 her parents took a trip to Pittsburgh to obtain what they needed to  run the farm leaving her in charge of the farm and its duty's .

When here parents returned a few days later Barbra was no where to be found she had Vanished. 

A massive search was launched and nothing found.

Of  Course all kinds of wild speculation from running off to get married to here husband mysteriously showing back up and abducting her  but still nothing. 

But then a very bad smell developed in the Mc Caskey home and after lifting floor boards trying to find the source the headless body of Barbara was found but her head was never located. 

Plus here killer never identified.

So ends the story but not so.

A few years later im early 1800s  a scary apparition of a headless women nearly kills a man after his horses and carriage encountered it and horses took off in a fit along Cannelton road . and then boys playing on a bridge near the area in the 50's one evening encounter the apparition except this time the headless woman had a pigs skull for a head. 

example of pig lady

So this is where she got her name especially after neighbors near the cemetery where Barbra is buried saw the same apparition supposedly . 

Yet another man who was camping in the woods nearby said he had a frightful encounter with the apparition without the pig head but it spoke to him saying  "Tell  them Raynoe "? 

Who apparently was a Native American who lived in the area with a bad reputation  but did he even exist?

Well the legend lives on and we may well hear about an encounter in the future . But the case to this day including here husbands disappearance is unsolved

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/163211630356972/posts/the-pig-lady-is-a-true-unresolved-murder-that-occurred-here-in-western-pa-more-t/606936715984459/

 

https://www.timesonline.com/story/news/local/2018/10/25/headless-ghost-haunts-former-homestead/9450851007/

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opvI_lR3KQM

 

No longer Affiliated with Haunted Hill View Manor

 Myself and this Blog are no longer Affiliated or have anything in anyway to do with Haunted Hill View Manor in New Castle Pa.

 

Could there be Pirates Treasure hidden some where along the Ohio River in WV its surely possible.

 Did some one say Treasure and Pirates here in the Tri State?

Yes absolutely there where as early as the late 1700's those plying the rivers in flat Boats where often prey for vicious gangs of robbers .

Out in the middle of no where these flat boats on their way south where easy targets .

One of the most infamous points along the Ohio River was in Parkersburg  WV where a gang hung out in an area known as Coal Hollow

A prominent researcher Jim Comstock  The  Editor of the West Virginia Heritage Encyclopaedia 

Said that the treasure as of 1976  was never found .

A Pirate was seen walking into the Coal hollow area with a heavy sack and returned empty handed .

what was in it no one knows 

However when US 50 was built most of the Coal Hollow area was destroyed and during construction 

no one reported finding it so it may well still be there hidden some where  around there in a hidden cave 

https://wvexplorer.com/2022/01/26/pirate-treasure-on-ohio-river-be-lost-for-good/

 Of course pirates operated all the way up all thre rivers in Pittsburgh area so there could be unknown treasure hiding about.

https://www.pa-roots.com/warren/oldtimetales/riverpirates.html

 

There are still treasure hunters always keeping their eyes open even today.

you never know what might pop up as the redevelop our river fronts 

The Giant Killer Organization / T Promo .Com /Thunder Promotions Blog By Alan Big Al Colombo has been Reborn

 A good friend of mine Al / Alan Colombo had a website called  The Giant Killers Organization

It dealt with many controversial and hot topics about our government and New World Order

I found a CD from 2004  full of his articles and have posted them up on a separate blog.

I ask you to come to your own conclusions as to what Alan found and reported on 

 

Click on link below to go to the site .

 

https://tpromothegiantkillers.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-commentary.html

 

3 Boys who got too curious about an Abandoned Coal Mine and it almost cost them their lives

 What young boy does not fantasize about adventure .  Especially with his buddies 

Well 3 young boys almost lost their lives in early 60s when they entered an abandoned Coal Mine in the South Hills of Pittsburgh  to explore it and got lost.

On July 12 ,1963 Bobby Abbot, Billy Burke and Dan Okain 

 Where able to get into a partial opening of the sealed and abandnoned Pittsburgh Terminal 2# mine Castle Shannon Pa. near the Linden grove

 

They soon became lost as their flashlights started gong out.no one knew they had gone in and where reported missing by ther parents .

A large search party was getting ready to start scouring the woods when a Trolly Operator  reported seeing the 3 boys going near the old shaft

On July 13th The US Bureau of Mines sent in a rescue team who equipped with maos and all neeeded safety equiptment went looking for the boys.

But came out empty handed .

Convinced the boys had wiggled their way in then went in one more time and found them in the dark and together , freezing starving and confused .

They where quickly removed and sent to hospital to be checked over  and the mine was permanently sealed. The boys luckily unharmed . The bureau of mines then went on a mission to close off as many  abandoned mine entrances as they could find in area .

 But open mine shafts can still be found.

The DER just this year was notified of open shafts in the deep woods around Apollo which they are now sealing .

There are even You Tube channels devoted to exploring these old coal mines still open and people regularly  put their lives at risk because of deadly Black damp and other gasses and risk of a collapse. 

Despite all the warnings they still go in and explore .

Its just a matter of time till there is going to be a death or multiple deaths because of this exploring activity.