A little known story When Muslim community where Attacked in there Wilkinsburg Home in 1980's

It was a nondescript apartment building which sat behind the local KFC restaurant which I often stopped at beside an electrical supply house I purchased from as well.  and got lunch at when working that part of town  The building sat  on Wallace Ave  2  nondescript apartment buildings side by side  . Over time one  on right where things got out of hand  became a public parking lot.

However the property would become a heated battle ground which saw the posting of guards to protect it front and back  in a little known war between Muslim factors and neighbors  in the 1980's in Wilkinsburg.
Apparently when the Muslims moved in they where not welcome to the point some one threw a fire bomb  at the building causing damage thats when the guards members of the community in Muslim guard stood and protected the small community. What started it and what ended it I do not know very little was ever written about it . I talked to them a couple times always receptive to me we discussed our faiths  the weather or what ever. I never saw them as a threat but apparently others in the community did.  These where peaceful Muslims yes they do exist but like even in the christian faith there are those who take the word of god like extreme fundamentalists and the KKK who use there christian religion to hurt others just what has happened in the Muslim faith .

Then one day when I went to the supply house I found the guards where gone and building boarded up they had moved on. to where I do not know . The building sat empty several years and was then bulldozed and made into a parking lot .

I hope where ever they have moved they have been able to find peace in there lives.

They say the Miners are still working their shift at the Rolling Mill Mine disaster in Johnstown Pa.

 The Johnstown area  has seen more than its shares of disasters , floods ,explosions and accidents
over the past 200 years from 3 disastrous floods to tragic trolley and train accidents to deaths in its steel mills and manufacturing plants. But one disaster is little remembered and thats the Rolling Mill mine disaster which happened  over 100 years ago.
As you drive down Pa 56 into Johnstown you see the magnificent Inclined Plane which rescued towns people during the floods but almost right beside it a disastrous coal mine  explosion in the Rolling Mill Mine which took 112 men and boys lives  occurred on July 10 1902 

http://www.friar555.net/coaleroo.html

 

http://patheoldminer.rootsweb.ancestry.com/camrollingmill.html

What made this event even more tragic where those who died trying to save the miners who where trapped in the only portal into the mine it was one of the largest mines in US with only one entrance way..

Thou the mines shafts have been sealed off after the mines workings played out you can still visit the shaft which has a partial opening and some claim see ghost miners walking that same trail

There is a Youtube Video which documents the mine and its haunting 

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

As well as a 100th commemoration video of the accident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddwXB8TYUEo

To think of the horror that day of the explosion you are a newly arrived immigrant in a strange land now stuck in complete darkness awaiting your last breath. Company's did not care if you died few followed safety regulations and mine inspectors where often bribed  No one cared  and in many cases it was not known who the miner even was or if he had family  often times death tolls where much higher bcuse mines collapsed and it was not even known who all was working that day.

 

They say some Patrons never left The Oaks Theatre in Oakmont Pa. ?

In the beautiful little town of Oakmont Pa. one of the few river towns along the Allegheny River  left untouched by the blight that hit other towns when the mills closed is a small venue Theater  called the oaks.http://theoakstheater.com/
Thou it started as a small traditional  Film  theater  in the 40's it would see its ups and downs with the economy but was recently rescued in past decade and is now a live performance and film theater along with a dinning room.
http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/yourallekiskivalley/yourallekiskivalleymore/6412613-74/theater-oaks-wichryk

But of course when they close up for the evening  Staff and guests claim  not everyone has left. with doors closing by them selves and all the spooky stuff that goes with it.

Thats why Oakmont Paranormal Society  Which I am a member was recently called in to conduct an investigation in the theater.

http://triblive.com/neighborhoods/2778250-74/bowan-group-miller-oakmont-paranormal-society-building-floor-strange-antique

OPS at oaks during haunted Oaks Theater event

While it was believed at first one of the spirits  of a Burglar who broke into the theater and was shot and presumed killed by the theater  owners son

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19461210&id=EMMwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=YGoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3272%2C3339116

This has proved to not be the case  he survived  although some investigators say traces of that violent event could still linger 

However after I started doing some research for the group I found a  45 yr old gentleman from Fox Chapel  a well to do  town across the river from Oakmont  died of a heart attack in the lobby.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19490825&id=pXxIAAAAIBAJ&sjid=imoDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2032%2C1820464

I also found some other interesting facts on the burglar he was going to use Nitroglycerin  to blow the safe  they belive he stole from a farmer.

https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1144&dat=19461214&id=pHYbAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0UwEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2392%2C3845165

  Plus the name of the thief is similar to that of Criminals who blew up and attacked an armored car carrying a payroll to a coal mine  near South Park   So that may be where he learend his skills.

I have to do some further digging on this issue. But in the mean time  oakmont Paranormal while conducting there investigation did find signs of paranormal activity and will be releasing a report shortly of what all they found.

A haunted Cemetery in Wintersville Ohio with an interesting Confederate Army Connection

My Father In Law recently passed and in cleaning out his basement I had a load of scrap metal that needed recycled on my way back to the scrap yard  I came across a well maintained but very old cemetery and came to find it played a very important part in Civil War History seems in 1834 The Cross Creek Presbyterian Church and Cemetery was started but in 1863 it was the site of an encampment of Confederate troops commanded by General John Morgan.  Yes that John Morgan and his Raiders  seems they spent the night in the cemetery on their way riding thru and terrorizing Ohio residents they would be forced to surrender the next day.

http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/biographies/john-hunt-morgan-1.html

But to make this cemetary even more interesting is the fact it is suposedly haunted as noted in this excerpt from  The Ohio Exploration Society Website

http://www.ohioexploration.com/paranormal/hauntings/jeffersoncounty/

– At the end of Cross Creek Road (Fernwood Road) is an old cemetery where a white figure is reported to have been seen wandering under the trees among tombstones. The figure is usually reported as female and is visible from the road. The cemetery used to be a popular place to park, but few couples go there more than once after hearing strange moaning sounds there. The ghost is not always visible. Trespassers often report feeling that they are being watched or sometimes hear someone following them. The origin of the cemetery’s ghost is unknown.

Never know what you will find riding down those lonely country roads.