A mystery in my own Family involving my Great grandfather who helped organize Iron Workers Local 3#

My Great Grand Father on my mother side Karl passed away when I was very young.in the 1960's
He was living in and old row of apartments similar to the picture you see below in a back alley along Penn Ave in Pittsburgh's Strip District. His apartment no longer exists .

My great Grandmother has passed many years earlier..

Karl ended up living on one of these back alley apartments after spending his life a hard drinker and former Iron Worker.

His drinking started as a way to have courage to work high in the air and would eventually destroy him and he would become a bad alcoholic and no longer able to work. He helped to Organize  Local 3# of the Iron Workers where he was constantly being plied with alcohol during negotiations at the Prestigious Duquesne Club in Downtown Pittsburgh.
unfortunately we do not even have a good picture of him and the Iron Workers where of no use in trying to locate any of his organizing efforts as he supposedly held office with in the union.

Many of the buildings he helped to build where torn down along Penn Ave when the new convention center was built  but one building he helped build Carnegie Institute still stands to this day  along 5th ave in Oakland.

I was just a small child when my mom would get a phone call from my aunt for my dad to come quickly to his apartment   and he would find the Pittsburgh Police there. It appeared as thou he fell down the steps which lead to his 2nd floor apartment and struck his head and bleed to death from his alcoholic ways. Is what the police concluded . But a radio which he got for his birthday and his SSI check was missing from the apartment. Police thought his apartment had been burglarized  after he died.

Did he just fall down the steps or did he encounter a burglar, in the act of ripping him off ?
We will never know as he police at the time attributed the death to alcohol and there was never an autopsy or any other investigation.
I visit my Great Grandparents graves yearly as my one uncle is buried with them and I make sure he gets a flag for his grave since he served in WWII  . No one in the family likes talking about this tragic death and I do not blame them and this will just go down as a mystery just one of thousands around Western Pa.

Once an Iconic advertisement for High End Furniture Business Colonial Gallery along Pa. 51 this home Once served as a Brothel and a nearby one time gun shop is said to be haunted.

Unfortunately Time has not been kind to the very old brick home which is attached to a commercial structure along Pa 51 in Baldwin Boro.

It now sits empty and sealed off and alarmed  as it can not be occupied as it has no sprinkler system but at one time it was the grand dame along  Clairton Blvd and served as a classy show room for Colonial Gallery Furniture who carried Heirloom Quality High End Furniture.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19950210&id=gtZRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lG4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=2973,5566524

But before the home took on its role as a show case it once served as a Brothel when Wilock and Streets run Coal Mines where active along that stretch of Clairton Blvd and Streets Run Road.

They say the single  miners where lined up every pay day. Thou the house went thru several owners  I have not been able to find any other significance to it  and So it was it would become part of a furniture store in the 1960's It was gutted and rebuilt had a large show room window in front and was
often used as a logo for the furniture store.

Unfortunately thou the Market for High End Furniture would see a drastic downturn  in 2013 and
Colonial gallery would be one of its victims along with many other furniture stores. The store was closed and now sells work shoes& boots and the homes windows and doors sealed up and house painted black and new owner had me install alarms to prevent meddlers.

However thats not the end of the story as there have often been rumors of strange noises coming from the home when it was still open to the public and employees often reported hearing what sounded like foot steps  on the first floor. Activity from the days when it served as a brothel? or just noise from Route 51 traffic ? Sadly we will not know since the house has been sealed off from the public and been alarmed.  I know when I worked for the furniture store owners I heard the strange noises coming from with in the house I always attributed it to the traffic but then some times there was not traffic.

I will continue my search on the history of the home to see what I can find out as it is one of the last relics from the coal mining era save a few row hoses and some old buildings scattered about in the valley.

There is said to be an additional haunted location along Streets Run Road just below  the old colonial property  which is now a service garage which sits across from the Fire Station   this building at one time served as Valor Fire Arms  store and a clerk was shot and killed during a robbery at the store and
Myself and other

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19941221&id=bLcxAAAAIBAJ&sjid=mG4DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5702,4012029

Who have worked in the building have experienced the sensation of being watched over. When a customer of mine was renting the business in 2007 for a storage area for his vehicle collection.

They say strange things have gone on in Larrys Road House along Sawmill Run Road.

For many years I only knew the place as a  large  multi unit private residence. But then one day it was remodeled  into Larry's Roadhouse a restaurant and lounge  along steep whited street which at one time served as a  boarding residence for those who traveled  on the railroad tracks next to it.
Rumors of a judge who resided there  who hanged himself along with serval other deaths I have not been able to confirm.
But claims their spirits linger with in seems a possibility if it really happened .
As seen in expert from  Three rivers haunts and History Website

https://sites.google.com/site/hauntsandhistory/threerivershauntsandhistory

LARRY'S ROAD HOUSE (Brookline, Pittsburgh) The old converted mansion on Whited Street has been many things since it was built circa 1850. It was an inn along an old railroad stop, a place that rented funeral carriages, allegedly a brothel, a private residence, and now Larry's Road House, a bar/restaurant. There have been several suspicious deaths in the building. A pregnant woman allegedly fell down the second floor stairway, killing herself and her unborn child. On the third floor, the spookiest area of the house, a judge hanged himself in the 1900's and another nameless soul fell out the window to the great beyond. There have been reports of several poltergeist-like activities, such as electrical disturbances and objects disappearing or being tossed around. Other phenomena include chairs moving & levitating, disembodied footsteps & voices, and the sighting of a misty Victorian era woman on the second floor landing.

Now I grew up in nearby  Carrick and passed the place many times and never heard the word haunted until Larry's Road House opened in the place.  
Then storys started circulating.

At one time I subcontracted for Americas Security Choice and alarm dealer long out of business and he   had the contract to put in an alarm system for the place and his regular full time installer Jeff reported all kinds of knocks on wall's shadows and doors slamming as he installed he system he got pretty spooked by it. 

Larrys is currently closed now going on almost a decade as materials lay in its parking lot they where in the process of rebuilding and ran out of funds. maybe the ghosts do not want disturbed. Hopefully some day  the house will once again be open and you will be able to find out for your self what goes on.

Secret Government and Corporate Headquaters Underground in W. Pa. There have been rumors since the 50's is there any truth to it? maybe

At one time Pittsburgh was the 3rd largest corporate  headquarters in America.
and when the Cuban Missile Crisis set off a frenzy of people building underground bomb shelters
It was rumored that many corporations set up secret headquarters in the old lime stone mines in Wampum  and Worthington Pa.  where they raise mushrooms .

http://www.post-gazette.com/life/food/2008/08/28/World-s-largest-mushroom-facility-here/stories/200808280505

Yes corporations do store records and such there and  they can set up a temporary emergency headquarters there thats very possible  the facility are designed for just such a purpose supposedly US Steel has one such location according to a late friend of mine who told me they had such a place and it makes sense they would but it would by know means  as lavish as some people make these so called bunkers out to be often its nothing more than storage space that could be quickly converted into a temporary headquarters with meeting rooms etc.designed to serve as temporary  recovery center . Not to say its spartan  some spaces are very nice but some of what you here is just plain out there. 

http://wampumunderground.com/

One customer I take care of does have a bunker that goes underground on there property but its not for the end of the world but instead if there would be a chemical leak  due to hazard of product they handle.

But lets face it how many buildings we go in and we wonder whats behind that door anyways.
In most cases  its miles and miles of wires and pipes  for telecommunication and utility service to structures. Verizon recently showed off part of one of there hidden switch centers where technicians  keep the cell network going 24/7 365

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2015/08/20/verizon-wireless-gives-rare-behind-the-scenes-look-at-regional-switching-station/

But most of these facility are not underground however they are in special reinforced structures right in plain view and you would never know.  I have worked in several such places I can not speak of they look just like any other building in an office park except no signs point to or direct you to them.

But if you believe all the rumors there are these elaborate secret military bunkers etc all under Pittsburgh connected by tunnels with there own trains.   Which is more fantasy than truth.

One such fantasy place is the Federal Bureau of Mines in Library Pa. which conducts  research into protecting miners and conducts all kind of tests  and is supposedly more than just old mine shafts. 

But thats all it is an old mining complex . Yet some people who work there love to make up elaborate stories  how Government is conducting secret work because the old phone system lights  for that section even thou abandoned are still powered on and working.  Just like those who supposedly have done work in Wampum and  Worthington   storage mines speak of a secret military installations and armed military  guards etc etc.  most of it all talk and nothing to it.  Why would the government be doing secret  things where civilian eyes could run across it.  Its more like government keeping records and supply's for emergency's there which is known public information. . But secret projects no way. But it does make for a good story and I have heard plenty of them and while I have been under plenty of buildings under the ground and got to see all kind of neat old infrastructure never ran across anything secret the government was doing. How ever I have run across plenty of old civil defense drums  which once held water and crackers and such. Some times you find old treasures as well in old tools and parts and such and a lot of junk as well as plenty of bugs and rats .  But since it is under the ground and hidden there must be something more to it which people think just like all the masonic rumors.

While on the other hand  The Iron Mountain   Storage Complex   in Wampum Pa. is one of the most secure and complex underground data storage facility in the world  where   servers keep and store  our corporations critical data  from above ground catastrophes as well as store and care for many historical records ,films and prints in other parts of there operations.

http://www.ironmountain.com/Services/Data-Centers/National-Data-Center.aspx

There is also the rumor of a complete train with supplies buried some where under Pittsburgh in an old railroad tunnel  which it was backed into during the 50's as well ready to be taken out and used in an emergency  as well as rumors of secret stuff going on in the old Missile silos at the old Nike sites 

one of which I got to explore at the Allegheny County Fire Academy  the missiles are long gone and sites sold to developers so nothing going on in them as much as people want to believe there is. 

some have been turned into personnel emergency bunkers by the owners. most where just filed in for liability concerns. 

Also since 9-11 many of the underground passages etc have been blocked off for security reasons or filled in to prevent terrorist activity  in many areas including downtown Pittsburgh so it just helps add to story's of secret things going on. But the truth is many of the old abandoned steam tunnels you could once walk thru have been filled in because they where in a state of collapse from no longer being used. 

Of course there are all the story's of whats down inside the old coal mines  in the Pittsburgh region as well persistent story's of kids going into the old mine shafts and finding old tools and lanterns and even whole underground trains and carts.  Most of the mines where sealed off years ago  so again just story's for most part but some stuff may have been left behind but to say you walked all thru the mines etc. not possible many quickly filled with water after  no longer being mined so you could only go back few hundred feet if that  and after a group of 4 kids got trapped underground in  in some old mine shafts in 70's   and luckily where rescued .The bureau of mines started going around and making sure mine operators permanently sealed mines entrances off.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19630713&id=bccwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=OAEEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5727,1732536

However yes at one time you could ride a underground  coal train all the way from community of Carrick to Library Pa. aprox. 20 miles  thru old coal mine tunnels  but that was back in the late 1800's  before the mines where all closed off and sealed.  The ride was not totally underground tough as you would come in and out of shafts  like in carrick where it came across Wagner street  via an open air bridge between shafts . In fact the now long gone Castle Shanon Inclines  On Mt Washington where built to transport people and vehicles over Mt Washington  after it became dangerous for people to ride the trains thru the old coal shafts due to choking fumes .

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle_Shannon_Incline

http://www.brooklineconnection.com/history/Facts/Inclines.html

So again lots of good story's with a little truth to them greatly exaggerated  just like with the green man everyone loves a good story  .