January 1 2022 What was the Mysterious Blast that was heard all over Western Pa. is it a warning from the heavens ?

 I was laying on the couch enjoying a cowboy Movie on New Years day when approx 11:30 AM I heard and felt what sounded like a terrific clap of thunder .

But I was not alone from Washington to Beaver to Armstrong County it was heard and felt 

At First it was thought to be an Earthquake however seismic equipment picked up no quake. 

https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/no-explanation-reports-loud-booms-across-region-allegheny-county-reports/BPBN5AK63BDDND4VUF6HZMQQOI/

Now it is believed to be a meteor  since a large flash was recorded over Washington County at that time 

But they still do not know for sure .

 Report US National Weather Service -Pittsburgh

We have been getting a lot of questions about a loud explosion that was heard over southwest Pennsylvania earlier today. Data from GOES-16 may provide a clue.

This image is a product of the satellite's Geostationary Lightning Mapper function, showing Total Optical Energy (basically, a measure of flash intensity). You can see the flash showing up here in the area of western Washington County, PA at 16:22Z (11:22 EST). This flash does not appear to be connected to any lightning activity in the area. One possible explanation is that a meteor exploded at some level above the ground. We do not have any confirmation of this at this time, but it seems to be the most likely explanation.

 Then there this from USGS web site

If it was a meteor it is very rare they explode over this are one of the last was recorded in  June 24, 1938

There was also a loud explosion about 1 Pm on December 31 as well.

UFO Expert Stan Gordon  says he has been getting reports from all over about loud explosions the past 3 months and I can confirm this with many people posting about loud noises  on socail media.

So what is it? Meteors , Explosive  Gas from old coal mines blowing off  and possibly Collapsing 

Underground explosions being set off by secret government project tunneling under Western Pa. according to some conspiracy theorists .

Or as some have conjectured the coming of Revelations with all the weird  noises, Big Foot Sightings and UFO and weird things seen in the sky.

Whatever is going on lets hope it is for good and not evil intent.

 

A new in 2021 Park in Lawrence County Pa. Quaker Falls with a spectacular view and a long forgotten significant stop. On the Underground Railroad.

 Earlier this summer in 2021 The Lawrence County Commissioners opened up a spectacular new park near the Pa. and Ohio Line along US-224 W. State Street 

Known as Quaker Falls Recreation Area

https://uncoveringpa.com/how-to-get-to-quakertown-falls-new-castle-pa

https://pabucketlist.com/exploring-quaker-falls-in-lawrence-county/

 

But while many might know about these falls far fewer know about a one time town they are named after known as  Quakertown  a 1/2 mile North East of the Falls

The town played a significant role before the Civil war when they where a stop on the Underground Railroad  for Fugitive Slaves heading north to Canada after the passage of the Fugitive Slave act of 1850

https://phhist.com/quaker/

The town which existed till last resident left in the 1930's at one time had a train station  and several businesses and was founded by Quakers who where pacifists 

All that's left now are foundations and a few graves. 

 

These men and women of the town put themselves at very significant danger of arrest and imprisonment for helping escaped slaves but they did so fully confident of the protection of the lord from the slave chasers who crisscrossed the are looking for fugitive slaves. 

You never know what you will find in the woods of Pa. because so many towns like Quakertown have been lost to history.

The day Nazi Swastickers Flew over Pittsburgh

As Pittsburgher's where hurriedly going between and on their way to work on a cold October 27th  afternoon in   1933 a large dark shadow would pass over the downtown and as they looked up many where shocked to see the enormous Nazi Swastickers  above them which where on the rear of the Graf Zeppelin one of Nazi Germany's largest Hydrogen Filled  Zeppelins 

It had just come from Akron visit and was on its way home to Germany after being at the Colombia world exhibit in Chicago .

 

https://newsinteractive.post-gazette.com/thedigs/2012/11/27/airship-graf-zeppelin-passes-over-the-point/

My Grandparents remember it because it was very unusual  to see such a large object in the sky and little did they know the coming implications of it. 

My grandfather had ridden a trolley the way to  Akron Ohio to see the launch of the USS Akron so I am

sure They got a thrill over it that day seeing it. 

But the days of air ships where numbered in 1937 when the Hindenburg went up in flames and in 1940 Herman Goering ordered them all including the Graff scrapped for their valuable metal. 

What Ever Happened to the memorial marker on corner of the old No1# mill in Pittsburghs South Side.

 When I was a kid to time I was a young man a small  bronze memorial marker about 20 x20inches  which was painted over with steel mill orange was on the corner of the old No1# shop of the old J&L /LTV steel mill in South Side of Pittsburgh 

On it where the names of mill workers who served in the First World War but others say it was those who where killed in the mill.

But after the buildings where torn down No One knows what Happened to it let alone what was on it.

I have asked all over former workers historical groups you name it and nothing most people don't even remember it and it seems gone for good 

 

I will update this article if I do find anything about it.

What are those Those Mysterious Concrete wall ruins along Freeport Road in Blawnox From plus what was next door to the property

 If you have ever gotten off Pa 28 at the Blawnox Exit and gone thru town as soon as you get off you first encounter the remains of a very thick solid concrete wall as you enter town.

But what was it.?

Well until 1971 it served as the Allegheny County Work House and Anibereate Asylum  basically a jail for low level offenders

Where inmates worked maintaining a farm and making brooms and brushes .

But the facility got old and worn down and it was decided to be closed due to rising costs to keep it open

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/US-PA-Allegheny/

https://pennsylvaniagenealogy.org/allegheny/prison-records-from-the-allegheny-county-workhouse-and-inebriate-asylum.htm

 I remember riding by with the family when it was still operating and even would later work at The bank center on Wood Street with the man who was the Stationary Engineer  when prison was operating 

he talked about the prisons one major downfall when Stanley Hoss got away and killed a Verona Police officer. which I wrote about in previous article. 

They should have kept the jail going it would have helped when all the overcrowding started in 80s  with the county jail downtown but as usual instead of trying to save something it gets torn down. 

there is no respect for old structures and history in this area. 

 

Now what what most people don't know is beside the prison once sat a Trolley Amusement Park 

which only existed for a few years its still mostly and abandoned weed filled property and was known as valley park , national park and Harmarville Park

https://coastertalknobszone.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-former-valley-parknational.html

 I have not been able to find much on the park  or photos like many of the more than 50 Trolley Parks in the area at one time.