Air Signal Pittsburgh a Mysterious Early Paging service heard on multi band radios around the region in 60s in Pittsburgh Region

Back in AM radio days of 60s as the new FM  band was making its way to the top  it was all the rage to have one of the new multi-band Radios which had AM, FM ,VHF, TV  and some times MB Military Band or W Short Wave  and when you tuned down into the VHF band to hear Pittsburgh Police  you would hear a short twist down dial this repeating message 

This is Air Signal Pittsburgh there are no messages at this time. 

But then you might hear a message like This air signal Pittsburgh  Dr. Johnson you have a message 

So what was going on ?

Well it was one of the first Pager services in the country that was run by a lady I meet during a exhibition at now demolished Central Medical Center Hospital.in Pittsburgh's Hill District.

From what I gather the system worked by some one trying to contact a subscriber who  would call a special number  and leave a message with Air Signal Operator , who then recorded the message which was continuously broadcast over the designated VHF band . The Dr. or CEO who had the receiver  would then turn it on between calls and breaks and listen to see if he had a message he would then call special number to retrieve from the operator.  

Since the system was such an early use of airwaves I do not know if a tone signal was sent out like more modern pagers to let you know you have a message which is why it kept repeating.

 

I have searched for and have found no information on this business and will try old business directorys but i have asked numerous people about it and no one remembers it but they do remember hearing the signal but no info on company. 

The now Demolished G.A. R home where Civil War Veterans Widows lived and where still alive well into late 1990s

 Yes hard to believe a Civil War Veterans where still alive well into 19190s at the G.A.R Home in Swissvale  on Wood Stock Ave.which stands for the Grand Army of the Republic

But it true in fact the last official widow receiving a pension check passed in 2013

The building always has a mystique about no signage except in front and very little you can find on line  and now that it has been demolished it will soon be forgotten altogether

https://www.post-gazette.com/local/east/2018/02/01/Swissvale-s-historic-Ladies-GAR-home-to-be-demolished/stories/201802010014

 

Built in 1890 to house widows of the war veterans the home was expanded over the years to 53 rooms and eventually some time in 80s started excepting regular civilians  not GAR affiliated it sat facing the river and getting to it was not easy the way streets intersected to it. 

 But your saying to yourself wait a minute how could widows still be alaive that long ? Well in days past  older civil war vets would marry much younger women  as was common in those days a young man would establish himself and then seek a young bride and of course there where some vets who married younger women who where well into their senior years so yes its was possible to ave widows living that long. 

There are still Spanish war vets widows receiving  benefits .

 Its very strange not much was written about or can be found on the old GAR home which gives it all that more mystery since it stayed out of the news.

 

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Mysterious Miniature Train that's sat abandoned along PA 18 in Burgettstown Pa. for Decades . Where did it go to and what did it serve?

 If you travel down US 22 toward the state line with WV and get off at exit for Burgettstown as you head into town  an as you leave town short piece down the highway on the right hand side of PA 18 you will see a rusted and rotting away miniature train set consisting of a couple old Plymouth Switchers on a short piece of track that have been sitting there for many years.

 

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

Locals say the tracks they sit on went all the way into town at one time but that's not true the whole story is very different .  They where narrow gauge and very small compared to a regular railroad engine  and  typically used to serve steel mills and quarry's possibly even coal mines  and the area looks like it was at one time stripped of coal and has a history of  coal  mines in the area some of which there are no trace when they  came back and strip mined the area.  .

Of course the bigger question why where they just abandoned there 

Most where sold to other industrial users or  put on display .There is one at a gas station in Tarrentum Pa  Picture Below  belonged to Allegheny Ludlum Steel now AK Steel  and one at Mars Pa. Train Station Museum but many more where scrapped for their metal value .

 Here is a surplus navy  one which was little bigger that  Carnegie Mellon  University used to haul coal cars to its boiler plant  which has since been converted to gas. 

But for now if you want to see something unique they are still sitting there .

 Well seems I have gotten a different answer. They belonged to a gentleman who had a used industrial

Equipment Business  many years ago on this site on both sides of road and these where left behind in the field which was full of junk for what ever reason after business closed and was cleaned up. One of the engines belonged to Wheeling Steel at one time so they never ran thru Burgettstown or local mines etc . as some locals claim . Yes there where tracks in town but those where full size railine tracks .

Which makes sense these are narrow gauge rail trains not designed to run on regular gauge tracks.

So mystery partly solved maybe they could not get clear ownership  to scrap them or they left them as a curiosity piece either way still neat to see.

 

 

 

 

Introducing Gregory Nicholas The Real Deal Old School Medium

 I have been interested in paranormal research since I was a teen and of course in dong so you often run across physic mediums  who can be found from Run of the Mill to  Very Good . But then, there are a handful of exceptional Psychic Mediums and one of them is Gregory Nicholas who I recently meet at an event at Hill View Manor .

A 4th Generation Natural Born Psychic  he is the Real Deal. 

When I talk with psychics I can often tell who the real ones are and the fakers and there are plenty of fakers out there . Having studied Magic and Mentalists  I know how   many  of the fakers know how to read your facial features or use certain trigger words to get a reaction. But not Gregory no tricks and gimmicks with him.

He uses Sea Shells ,Dominoes and Palmistry as aides to unveil the answers to questions  you have. The way it has been done for century's by the old masters .

He is also very reasonable with his fees. Like he says his decedents would strike him down dead if he used his talents to cheat those who seek answers.

Gregory can be found  thru out the many mystic shops of Sandusky, Akron and Cleveland 

such as Goddess Elite  ,Namaste Life Center and Cindys Spiritual Haven

He posts his available dates and days on his Face Book Page  

 

He has appeared on several Mystical TV shows as well as does other public appearances like Hill View Manor 

 

Looking for answers others have not been able to answer. Then I encourage you to look up Gregory Nicholas . 

 

The Strange Case of Christmas Music that came over an Intercom system and then disappeared at Photo Antiquities Museum

 One of the stranger things I had happen with an install of electronics I did was when installed a  Maxon Video Door intercom at Photo Antiquities  Museum on Pittsburgh's  North side. 

Owned by Bruce Klein a long time Jewish Businessman who also owns Bernie's Photo Center

He decided to expand his love of photography for all to see. 

So up on 2nd and 3rd floor of building next to Bernie's he opened his museum. and needed something to know when visitors where at the downstairs door .

Maxon who at the time in early 90s was big time into 2way radios and electronics had a very economical video intercom so I picked one up and installed it. Front door camera and intercom and a video monitor intercom on each upper level

 

The museum was a big hit with the community  and had a fun opening in September of 1994 

But something strange happened that winter to this day I have never figured out nor have a couple engineers been able to figure out either.

One day during December  when one of the staff was walking down one of the halls which has the video monitors when they hear Christmas music playing .

OK so where is it coming from seems the video monitor is playing Christmas music something it was never designed to do. 

I go up and check it thinking it is hearing music from street and probably the front door intercom is stuck on.  

No this is not the case it is definitely music coming thru the intercom.

I turned off power to system and it can still be heard very slightly. OK so we are getting an overloaded signal from one of the radio transmitter  towers up on Observatory  Hill .

But this is not the case we are hearing Word FM 101.5  tower is not near the museum . 

OK this has got to be some kind of joke some one is playing on Bruce since he is Jewish  so I check all the wiring and find nothing .

I then call the Broadcast Engineer at Word FM tell him what is going on he is intrigued as well says maybe there is a spur coming off tower caused by all the ice that year but as far away as his tower is not likely. 

So the music played all month mentioned it to an Electrical Engineer friend about  what was going on he come down and could not figure it out either. 

But then January 7 little Christmas it stopped and was never heard again   we never did figure out what was causing it. 

Was it a sign from god  ? some kind of atmospheric anomaly? who knows but it was neat to be part of the experience. 

Since the Museum is supposedly haunted anyways well just chalk it up to another case of the unknown. 

 

 

A Very Scary and Strange Incident in a coal mine near Kittaning pa.

 Okay so I have heard plenty of story's about haunted coal mines after they have closed strange noises coming out of the shafts etc.

But what happened at the Chickasaw Mine  in Madison Twp. near Kittaning Pa. happened while it was still a very active mine 

 on March 9 of 1913  300 miners came running and screaming out of the Chickasaw Mine after a Half 

Man half beast  came towards them and told them to leave.  It then took control of a Mine Motor and took a loaded train out of the mine but then when it came outside the beast was gone.

 

http://hauntedohiobooks.com/news/creature-feature-the-centaur-of-the-chickasaw-mine/

of course the towns people scoffed at the whole thing and papers had a field day running the news that day. 

But what really happened. 

http://theresashauntedhistoryofthetri-state.blogspot.com/2019/08/vintage-mine-ghost-of-pennsylvania.html

 

There could be several things that could have caused this a mass hallucination brought on by some one bringing illegal hooch into the mine and sharing it.  or lunches that where contaminated  when bread in sandwich soured. 

Bread back in day before preservatives has been responsible for many issues of mental illness type incidents.

Was it some one playing a big joke? or a way the miners did as a form of striking.

or maybe it was a real hallucination or divine intervention and miners where warned out before there was an explosion in the mine.

For many a miner talked about and believed in Tommy knockers little spirits that teased but also warned miners of a possible cave in.  

What ever it was seems to be a one time thing the miners went  back to work and mine produced coal for many years onward till it finally closed.

An old Abandoned home in the deep woods and a Mystery with a possible very Dark Past ? in Lawrence County Pa.

 Recently an employee who maintains  a large local property  heard about a story of an abandoned house that sat far off  left side the property , very deep in the woods down a dirt road by the golf course.

So Curiosity got the cat and he explored the woods and found the remains of the residence which  time has forgotten as to who owned it and that it was even there.

Although it is empty and all fallen in  those who explored it in the past  said it had in it a Dentist Chair and a bunch of hypodermic needles scattered about and many strange implements . Now you don't need  much imagination as to the horrible things that might have gone on here .

There are 4 Possibilities

 The place belonged to a retired dentist or some one practicing dental work with out a license 

The place was being used for  S&M/  Bondage & Discipline  type scenarios  being filmed . Where a consenting adult playing the slave in a rubber outfit is tied to the dentist chair  and tortured with injections and tormented in other ways . Don't believe me Google Dentist Chair Bondage

The 3rd more disturbing  scenario this was a hideout of some Psycho Killer  or Sadist or both .

who used the remote  home to torment and kill his victims he had kidnapped.

Knowing the number of unsolved Murders and disappearances in the area  you could understand just how disturbing this house could be. Murder Swamp is not far from this spot .

Of course the 4th possibility is nothing at all happened here there was no dentist chair and needles and was just a made up story .

I asked one of the Shenango Officers if they had ever heard of this place or strange goings on  around it and they said no .

So it may just be nothing  more than an old house left abandoned by a last living relative  who passed.

I will be doing further research and hopefully have answers for you in the future. 

 

A Grave for a Steel Worker who died in a Horrendous Accident involving a ladle of hot steel appears to all be a lie

 Working in a Steel Mill in the 1920's was a Hot ,Dirty and Dangerous job and deaths happened all too often  depending on the plant. which saw some massive strikes like the Pressed Steel car company

There was no Protective FR Fire Resistant clothing or OSHA  to protect workers  you where on your own.

 

So goes the story of a steel worker named Andrew Posey  who was consumed in a fiery explosion of a ladle of hot steel  at the USS Donora Works. in 1920  a recently returned WWI veteran  whose job was that of a ladle stopper some one who controlled and inspected ladles . He had just climbed down into a ladle to check it when there was an explosion and he was instantly vaporized. with 3000 degree molten steel.

 

http://scottbeveridge.blogspot.com/2008/08/donora-man-of-steel-grave-was-hoax.html

 

 https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/man-of-steel/

 

https://andymcphee.com/2017/04/08/is-andrew-posey-buried-here/

 

USS Steel who at the time had just gone thru a brutal labor strike out of sympathy took that steel which filled the ladle poured it into a mold and then buried next to the open hearth as a Memorial to Mr. Posey. but explorations have proven no steel in  or under the grave .

It appears to be a Big Lie 

Now I also heard story's of similar accidents at other mills like J&L  where the family was given a small amount of steel from ladle a worker fell in and steel was just poured off over hill side since it was contaminated.  and then years later when the steel was disturbed during a gas line install that's when the haunting s started in the old no 1# shop 

This also appears to be a lie and just a made up story as well. 

Why would a Steel Mills owners make up such a lie and story ? It was well known how little regard owners had for their workers back then and even now. Was it just Public relations to ease tensions? or was it a dastardly plan to quell the workers I think the latter because USS has a history of being a bad employer back then. Need I mention Homestead which wasnt all the long ago.