It was in 1990 that we helped with a 150 mile event that went thru 2 county's and during that weekend a horrifying attack and murder of a young woman Emily I Johnson would take place right by where the bicyclists would pass.Unsolved to this day.
An Investigation and Inquiry into Unsolved Crimes, Mystery's , The Bizarre ,Macabre,Unusual and just strange events and unique properties and buildings which played a part in or that have occurred in Tri State Area
A young Women murdered in her home during a 150 Mile Bicycle Event Weekend in 1990 is there a connection?
It was in 1990 that we helped with a 150 mile event that went thru 2 county's and during that weekend a horrifying attack and murder of a young woman Emily I Johnson would take place right by where the bicyclists would pass.Unsolved to this day.
A Real Life Lion Protecting a Junk yard in Beaver County its true
He is kept in a large cage on the property which is no longer a working venture but now a storage location for the gentleman's business .
No Answers in disappearance of 3 yr. old Nicole Brenner from a South Side Super Market 30 years ago
3 Young Girls missing in 1981 One found murdered 2 never found where they connected?
All 3 disappearing under similar circumstances . The work of a Serial Killer? very possible and there has been no answers in all 3 cases.
Unanswered questions after firefighters find a woman in burned out jeep in North Side by Scrap Yard
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=20020406&id=RIVIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=PXADAAAAIBAJ&pg=3337,1773510
Was it an accident ?was it a homicide ? damage was so severe it may never be known.
But friends believe she was murdered. But no new leads have come about in 12 years since it happened .
I can tell you this the north side is crawling with all kind of criminals and lost souls when it comes to human beings as it has several homeless shelters and half way house facility for newly released criminals.
The North Side is no place to be at 4:00 am So I can understand why her friends think it was foul play.
Unsolved killing of two young teens on Rural Butler County Road in 2002
What happened we may never know but some one does . One possibility they may have stumbled onto something they where not suppose to see. Like a drug Deal etc. but till some one comes forward or the woman who was prosecuted talks we will never know .
They buried a what on Neville Island ? Yes they buried an Elephant among other things
at one time it was all very fertile farm land and the asparagus grown on island was featured on the menu of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York but then with demand for steel and other industrial products needed for WWI 1/2 of neville Island was seized by the government for production then horn swaggered by US Steel. after the war and not returned to the community.
and its never been the same since .
There have been all kinds of story's about the island one of them of the island being used as a body disposal site for the McKeesrocks Mob and body's do wash up along the river bank occasionally but with all the digging being done down there you do not hear of any body's being found and besides the island was 24 / 7 with activity and many plants had guards patrolling as well if they closed on weekend. I know I spent many days on that island at several places working Guard shifts
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Another dusty dirty day on the island |
There is a small burial yard on the island right in the middle of all the industry.
There was also all kinds of hazardous chemicals dumped by Hillman Chemical that was found while a park was being built
an explosion at a rendering plant when they brought an Elephant that died at the Pittsburgh Zoo down to be rendered.
This is a known fact that they disposed of Zoo animals at this on the plant on Neville Island and Herrs Island and that's where the story gets interesting .
The explosion which did happen and severely damaged the plant in 1963 but it was a sewage pump station which exploded and damaged the rendering plant.
Not the elephant which blew the plant up but that's what locals will tell you.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19630305&id=TSkNAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KGwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7106,541139
Beulah Church Road Cemetery Haunted?
The Church no longer exists having burned down but that's where fact and legend get mixed up.
I Take Care of and Engineer at WAVL 910 AM in near by Spring Church section of Kiskimetas Twp. and as one of my duty's I must every 3 months run out to 3 points and check our signal level to make sure we are on signal and not causing problems and Brownstown is one of the points I travel to which is by way of Beulah Church Road where I pass the old cemetery and upon doing some research I find there is rumors it is haunted by those who perished in a fire at the church . The fire did happen but it was at night and no one perished as one legend goes . Most say the haunting started after the church burned down and was not replaced . Maybe the spirits are mad there is no church to attend? I have never seen or heard any kinds of activity in or around the well kept cemetary . But people love to belive what they will believe .
As you can see its really rural out there on the narrow twisting lanes many times I have encountered Guys having fun in 4x4 jacked Up customised Pickup Trucks running up and down the road but no ghosts .
Did a UFO or Nazi Bell mystery Craft actually crash in Kecksburg or is it all speculation.
Then while recovering from Colon Cancer treatment I visited Kecksburg several years ago and it has since exploded on the History Channel as they have an ever presence of UFO investigation shows and even the Americas Hero Channel shows on WWII which talk about the Nazi Bell and connection to Kecksburg.
I was young boy of 6 when it happened and do not remember it on news at the time as so many other bad things where going on then in the news and did not even here about it till local news ran a show on it about 30 years ago and then the NBC Mystery Show.
Of course now with Radio Shows like Coast to Coast AM and the Internet have brought out all the kooks and conspiracy theorists about what happened there, which some claim nothing at all.The night of Dec. 5 ,1965
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Poster from X files TV show |
replica of craft supposedly found in kecksburg for TV show |
OK so what really happened it was during the cold war and I believe it was a Soviet space probe which crashed not a Nazi Bell which means we have old Nazis running around here .
So if that's what it was I can understand the cover up of what happened if it was an National Security Issue maybe some day we will know for sure but till then just speculation. just like the B-25 crash into the mon river.
In the mean time Stan Gordon and his UFO group continue to this day to get reports of strange lights over Western Pa all the time.
Sabotage of Train tracks in 1941 which resulted in 5 dead unsolved to this day in Beaver county
March 17 1941 the Cleveland to Pittsburgh Passenger Train is en route thru Beaver County in Baden when it is thrown from the tracks 40 feet into the Ohio River which results in 5 dead it is discovered the trains tracks have been loosened and the protective signal which warns of track separation had been bypassed.
A suspect is arrested but released and the case has gone unsolved over 70 years.
http://www3.gendisasters.com/pennsylvania/13655/baden-pa-train-wrecked-mar-1941
This is prior to America entering WWII but it is going on overseas and there are those in America under suspicion of being collaborators and sleeper agents ready to attack in particular German Citizens who are major part of immigrants in the country. If they did have anything with the wreck there has been no connection established. Was it a Disgruntled Railroad Employee very possible it took expert knowledge to disable the signal system.
But none was found responsible. It is believed the actual target was the Manhattan Limited which passed earlier with out incident .lots of questions but no answers.
There is also an unsolved train wreck from sabotage in Lawrence County as well
In a strange twist while reading about the baden story in a local paper It reminded me of a similar passenger train wreck in 1995 in Arizona where train was deliberately derailed in similar manner and no suspects found.
a note saying Sons of Gestapo an unknown group was responsible. Coincidence ?
Its been a year since Penn Hills resident Dan Niehaus disappeared into thin air as well as Armstrong County resident
Both cases the men disappeared and left behind there wallets and cell phones like they wanted to disappear and walk into new lifes.
But until they are found only the worse can be thought.
Still Unsolved Murder of young Girl on way to school haunts Peters Twp. 30+ years ago
http://www.post-gazette.com/local/south/2011/11/06/Murder-case-cold-for-30-years-warms-up-after-
billboard-and-Internet-campaign/stories/201111060219
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Donaldsons crossroads |
The interchange and area around it has been overly developed now and you would not recognize it if you have not been thru it for a while .
Her body was found along Cecil Sturgeon Road in South Fayette in Allegheny County at the time a very rural area and road so it would appear who ever did the crime had to be a local to even know that road existed.
Perhaps Christine after waiting so long for the non running bus excepted a ride from some one who seemed worried about her or she started walking home or to pay phone to get help when she was abducted.
But no one has seen any thing or any one pick her up.
Serial killer very possible I have long suspected one or more of running around the area and in this case ready to pounce at opportune time.
But fact her body was found where it was suggests some one local who had to know area and that road .
Which is still very rural as South Fayette is now being slowly taken over by home developers.
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Cecil Sturgeon road |
Many Unanswered Questions in Abduction and Murder of young John Baglier from Clearview Mall in 97
The coward gamble would take his life in Arizona when tracked down and confronted by Law enforcement after making Baglier change into his clothes and stealing his identity and credit cards .
johns Body would be found in Armstrong county several weeks later in a culvert along a county road about a mile from where Gamble grew up.
http://old.post-gazette.com/regionstate/20010604newsmakerreg4.asp
Unfortunately we will never know unless some one comes forward with further information.
But why Would gamble from Armstrong County travel all the way to Butler County to that particular mall
and choose that particular victim.
Ford City and City of Butler are 2 worlds apart I have worked and traveled both areas and done work in the mall itself and kids from Ford City do sometimes make the 45 minute drive down US 422 to the mall to hang out so did Gamble track and watch his prey before pouncing or was it strictly an impulse crime grab first affluent kid you see and think will not fight back and take from him
out of jealousy because they have it all and you have nothing seems to be the case but to then take off on what plan and think your going to get away with it that's a whole different story.
But then again Gamble was nothing more than a loser.
He had no idea what his actions have done to Johns family and those who knew and loved him other than his own pathetic cowardly wants.
If others where involved I hope it is discovered and they get there due punishment.
The legend of Green Man also known as No Face Charlie . He was a real person whose legend spread to many regions
I remember hearing about the green man in Allegheny County's South Park clear back in the 60's when I was a young kid he was supposedly a utility worker who got severely shocked and skin turned green and he
would hang out around a tunnel off Piney Fork Road
http://hauntsandhistory.blogspot.com/2007/12/green-man-of-south-park.html
Only problem there is absolutely no truth to him hanging out there or in north hills or anywhere else in Allegheny or any other county except Beaver County in the town of Koppel
He was a real person named Raymond Robinson
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My friend Joe Mallack 2nd from left with the green man Raymond Robinson |
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Greenman's Tunnel South Park |
While he lived and only traveled the roads around Koppel in Beaver county mainly Pa 351 his legend has gone all over the place where people have meet him and how he was injured all just made up story's and if you really did meet him in Koppel you would have to be well into your fifty's to have done so.
I traveled sections of Koppel/New Galilee road many times as a kid both days and nights as a short cut to Ellwood city where our family stayed with friends along Conequenessing creek and never ran into Raymond until one nght when we where on our way home from new castle and I still use the road as I have customers in Beaver falls and Ellwood City and I travel down Wallace run Road Pa 551 and go over the bridge on Pa 18 which replaced the trolley bridge where Raymond was hurt and never knew this is where The Green Man legend came from till I started working with an older electrician from beaver county Joe Mallack 73 who personally knew Raymond and would protect him and one time he and his biker buddies took Raymond to Ohio for a beer I found this out while researching this article on Raymond .
So another legend busted unfortunately. But he did exist but no where outside the Koppel area but still fun to tell your grand kids or scare a girlfriend so she holds you tight as you go check his tunnel
Shades Run and the Purple Gang is there any truth to the Legend in Penn Hills ?
It is located along Allegheny River Blvd just as you cross from city to Penn Hills and go over a concrete bridge .
Its all grown up this time of year but normally you can look up the Hollow.
Grizzly talked about a pack of Wild Dogs runs around it and how Body dumps and suicide victims where found there but he also talked about the Purple Gang or Purple Hood gang who conducted mayhem and murder in the caves hidden among the weeds during the 1920's Boot Legging hay days
As you can see in the Google Earth Image its a very big very thickly wooded area some of it encompassed by the Former Government Run VA facility to the left .
While victims of foul play and suicides as well as walk away's from VA who lost there way and perished where found in the area as well as cases of wild dogs running free in area have been documented .I can find nothing on the Purple Gang or Purple Hood Gang linking them to the area other than the notorious Purple Gang in Detroit which was loosely associated with the mob and had dealings in almost every big city during boot legging days supplying booze and possibly did business with Larocca Crime family here in its early days .
But almost all of the old mob of Pittsburgh have passed into history and if the actual purple gang operated here other than to deliver booze to the city I can find no evidence of it or the supposed caves
and also some day I hope to explore the area to see if there are even any caves up there which is always a possibility with terrain in area but for now it seems more legend than fact. Like the 13 bends road across the river in Harmar Twp.
7-11 clerks murder during robbery in Wilkinsburg goes 30 + years with no answers
A Treasure supposedly hidden in Mckees Rocks before the Revolutionary War
Supposedly it is the collected wealth of John McKee who McKees Rocks is named after
who took up sides with the french and Indians against the British and who disappeared into the Ohio river with a jump from a cliff never to be seen again .
Butler County Girl vanishes in 1985 with out a trace
got off her school bus on Corn Planter Road in rural Winfield Twp after a long day at school and vanished into thin air never to be seen again despite a massive manhunt by the entire community for her.
There has been no trace or contact its like she was just sucked into a vortex
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19850223&id=jKccAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GGIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4863,3874822
The only possible clue to her disappearance a van with a skiing scene on it kids report was in the area
Unfortunately there was a van like this driving around a woman owned which had nothing to do with the case which caused even more confusion
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Still a very rural area of butler county despite development |
Cornplanter Road .
It might mean a farmer planting corn which there is plenty of in Butler County .
But there is also a legend and curse that goes with this name the name of a great Seneca Indian Chief Corn Planter whose grave was disturbed when the Allegheny was flooded to make the Kinsua Dam and is said to have put a curse upon the land.
http://www.examiner.com/article/kinzua-dam-a-paranormal-hotbed
The Allegheny River passes right thru Butler County .
Coincidence?
Was McKees Rocks doomed by a curse when an Indian Burial Mound was Desecrated?
Instead of the residents backing up and replacing the bones and leaving it alone like you would a cemetery they desecrated it by digging into it and putting business and homes on it .
Ever since that day long ago McKees Rocks has seen many Fires caused by accident and arson and horrific explosions and Industrial Accidents like no where else.
Many are quick to blame a curse put upon the people of McKees Rocks for disturbing the mound .
In reality when you look at all of the incidents its mans own greedy, uncaring hand of stupidity and ignorance involved putting money above human life.
The Pressed Steel Car Company where conditions where so bad a person a day died there is just one of many examples .
as well as the Petromark explosion .
Of course the death of one of the Bryans in a fall and a couple fires and explosions at Bryans plants over the years keeps the curse alive in many peoples minds because they where the ones to cut into and chop up much of the mound .
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19980407&id=uIRIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=LG8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=6647,6163944
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Mound as it looks today |
Below is pictures and links involving the mound decide for yourself .Is McKees Rocks actually cursed for having disturbed the mound?
http://pgdigs.tumblr.com/
Pine Creek Flood of 1986 was like a flood never seen before and one man never came home and is still missing
I had customers with lighting damage to there equipment I could not get to because so many roads where cut off by flooding and I would have to wait til the next day .
What I saw was horrific as I went thru Etna along route 8 and they where pulling vehicles out.
They where also looking for William Gamble and not find him some one even took an old 3 wheel Unimog and early ATT into creek to look but gave up after the tires flattened .
Some suggested he did not drown but decided to disappear and use the flooding to his advantage but he has never been heard from again and no man leaves his tools and money behind.
He very well could have been carried all the way down 8 and thru Etna to the river there was that much water moving.
No bones nor any trace of William has ever been found and there have been several stream improvements and dredging done to prevent it from happening again. But no closure for the family of William Gamble .
Who or What attacked our scout group while camping at Camp Semiconon in summer of 1977 in Butler County ?
I was hired as a Voyager and assistant to Camp Range Joe Huburda a really great guy whose family would get screwed in the rend by the council when he unexpectedly died.
I would take groups of scouts and their leaders on what was known as Shoe & Canoe a small version of the Boot & Paddle program run out now gone Camp Tionesta it was a 7 mile hike to Lake Author we would then canoe 2 miles across set up camp stay overnight and repeat in the morning.
When not doing this I would help the ranger maintain the camp along with 3 other scouts.
As a break in the first scouts we would work with would be Webelow Scouts 10 years old and 1 year from becoming boyscouts. I and another scout was assigned a group of boys to supervise during the week.
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Area has greatly grown up and changed over 30+ years |
Everything went good the first night . But the second night something went very scary and bizarre.
Our camp site was across the small feeder creek and by it self. We where sitting at camp fire and it was pitch black when a stone came into camp hitting a scout some one had thrown a quick look around with flash lights can not find anything.
Then it happened again 5 more times at this point the stones where getting bigger I grabbed up the kids and got them to the camp lodge and got the camp leader to come up to site to check things out we saw nothing and as he was asking me questions an even bigger rock came into the campsite hitting the fire pit. With that we took off back to the lodge and brought all the webelow's and staff to lodge for safety and Pa. State Police where called 2 troopers in a unmarked car responded. They looked and could find nothing either and decided it was probably locals playing games .
But we decided it would be safer to keep kids in lodge for the night. That morning we looked around stones where everywhere and we climbed up the hill looking to see if it where locals playing a trick but it would have been impossible for them to do it and sneak down in the dark.
So what could it have been? I have had it suggested we encountered a Big foot Attack but we heard nothing
but they are known supposedly for throwing rocks at cabins and such and disappearing .
Witches Black Magic there has always been rumors of dark magic and satanic rituals going on in the deep woods but nothing ever substantiated than kids playing around .
Was it some one on staff playing tricks maybe but everyone was accounted for including the rangers 2 sons.
If it was locals how where they getting around in pitch black and not making a sound.
As far as I know there was not another incident like this at the camp but heard it from other scouts in other councils when I talked to them at jamboree about similar things happening to them. . But that was also year they announced
they where closing Tionesta which I helped to tear down and year they announced camp heritage was being built in Fayette County also known as Fayettenam for a reason .Because of all the violence that goes on in that county with the highest amount of poverty in the state and its mountain people and inbreeds. yes you can definitely hear banjos playing in that county.
During the presentation of the new camp that fall I asked what security precautions where taking place at camp and they basically shook it off saying its so remote no one should bother any one after everyone knew what happened at Semiconon Some scout leaders started carry concealed hand guns and did not like answers they where getting as well. But like I said that's the useless council for you.
Even thou earlier that summer all of scouting world would be shocked when 3 Girl Scouts where raped and murdered in a camp as they slept.which was same week we had problems at Semiconon coincidence. Needless to say sleeping in the woods would change for ever. I always kept a weapon close while camping after that and even to this day I am always on guard in the woods.
http://www.girlscoutmurders.com/
To this day scouts are still camping and hiking and nothing is being done to insure their safety.