The Pig Lady of Cannelton one of the strangest tales of Western Pa. in Beaver County

 One of the more stranger tales you will hear around Western Pa. is that of the Beaver County Pig Lady  who they hold an Annual Fair for  at The New Galiliee Community Event Center this year on October 8th  2022 

The Pig lady of Cannelton starts in the little unincorporated town of Cannelton which is with in Darlington Township   which was settled in 1795 and which was at one time a busy railroad hub.

Early days saw coal mining  for Cannol Coal which is how the town got its name and eventually the town became  a Farming Town.

It was on one of these farms where the story begins  a young lady named Barbara Davidson  daughter of Samuel and Cora McCaskey She was married to a Nathan Davidson a Revolutionary War Soldier who supposedly  disappeared under mysterious circumstances to this day unsolved ,  yet others say he had just died a young man   . These events what ever happened  would cause Barbara to go home to stay with her parents not having the means to support herself .

That's where things get very weird .

In the fall  1795 her parents took a trip to Pittsburgh to obtain what they needed to  run the farm leaving her in charge of the farm and its duty's .

When here parents returned a few days later Barbra was no where to be found she had Vanished. 

A massive search was launched and nothing found.

Of  Course all kinds of wild speculation from running off to get married to here husband mysteriously showing back up and abducting her  but still nothing. 

But then a very bad smell developed in the Mc Caskey home and after lifting floor boards trying to find the source the headless body of Barbara was found but her head was never located. 

Plus here killer never identified.

So ends the story but not so.

A few years later im early 1800s  a scary apparition of a headless women nearly kills a man after his horses and carriage encountered it and horses took off in a fit along Cannelton road . and then boys playing on a bridge near the area in the 50's one evening encounter the apparition except this time the headless woman had a pigs skull for a head. 

example of pig lady

So this is where she got her name especially after neighbors near the cemetery where Barbra is buried saw the same apparition supposedly . 

Yet another man who was camping in the woods nearby said he had a frightful encounter with the apparition without the pig head but it spoke to him saying  "Tell  them Raynoe "? 

Who apparently was a Native American who lived in the area with a bad reputation  but did he even exist?

Well the legend lives on and we may well hear about an encounter in the future . But the case to this day including here husbands disappearance is unsolved

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/163211630356972/posts/the-pig-lady-is-a-true-unresolved-murder-that-occurred-here-in-western-pa-more-t/606936715984459/

 

https://www.timesonline.com/story/news/local/2018/10/25/headless-ghost-haunts-former-homestead/9450851007/

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opvI_lR3KQM

 

No longer Affiliated with Haunted Hill View Manor

 Myself and this Blog are no longer Affiliated or have anything in anyway to do with Haunted Hill View Manor in New Castle Pa.

 

Could there be Pirates Treasure hidden some where along the Ohio River in WV its surely possible.

 Did some one say Treasure and Pirates here in the Tri State?

Yes absolutely there where as early as the late 1700's those plying the rivers in flat Boats where often prey for vicious gangs of robbers .

Out in the middle of no where these flat boats on their way south where easy targets .

One of the most infamous points along the Ohio River was in Parkersburg  WV where a gang hung out in an area known as Coal Hollow

A prominent researcher Jim Comstock  The  Editor of the West Virginia Heritage Encyclopaedia 

Said that the treasure as of 1976  was never found .

A Pirate was seen walking into the Coal hollow area with a heavy sack and returned empty handed .

what was in it no one knows 

However when US 50 was built most of the Coal Hollow area was destroyed and during construction 

no one reported finding it so it may well still be there hidden some where  around there in a hidden cave 

https://wvexplorer.com/2022/01/26/pirate-treasure-on-ohio-river-be-lost-for-good/

 Of course pirates operated all the way up all thre rivers in Pittsburgh area so there could be unknown treasure hiding about.

https://www.pa-roots.com/warren/oldtimetales/riverpirates.html

 

There are still treasure hunters always keeping their eyes open even today.

you never know what might pop up as the redevelop our river fronts 

The Giant Killer Organization / T Promo .Com /Thunder Promotions Blog By Alan Big Al Colombo has been Reborn

 A good friend of mine Al / Alan Colombo had a website called  The Giant Killers Organization

It dealt with many controversial and hot topics about our government and New World Order

I found a CD from 2004  full of his articles and have posted them up on a separate blog.

I ask you to come to your own conclusions as to what Alan found and reported on 

 

Click on link below to go to the site .

 

https://tpromothegiantkillers.blogspot.com/2022/08/the-commentary.html

 

3 Boys who got too curious about an Abandoned Coal Mine and it almost cost them their lives

 What young boy does not fantasize about adventure .  Especially with his buddies 

Well 3 young boys almost lost their lives in early 60s when they entered an abandoned Coal Mine in the South Hills of Pittsburgh  to explore it and got lost.

On July 12 ,1963 Bobby Abbot, Billy Burke and Dan Okain 

 Where able to get into a partial opening of the sealed and abandnoned Pittsburgh Terminal 2# mine Castle Shannon Pa. near the Linden grove

 

They soon became lost as their flashlights started gong out.no one knew they had gone in and where reported missing by ther parents .

A large search party was getting ready to start scouring the woods when a Trolly Operator  reported seeing the 3 boys going near the old shaft

On July 13th The US Bureau of Mines sent in a rescue team who equipped with maos and all neeeded safety equiptment went looking for the boys.

But came out empty handed .

Convinced the boys had wiggled their way in then went in one more time and found them in the dark and together , freezing starving and confused .

They where quickly removed and sent to hospital to be checked over  and the mine was permanently sealed. The boys luckily unharmed . The bureau of mines then went on a mission to close off as many  abandoned mine entrances as they could find in area .

 But open mine shafts can still be found.

The DER just this year was notified of open shafts in the deep woods around Apollo which they are now sealing .

There are even You Tube channels devoted to exploring these old coal mines still open and people regularly  put their lives at risk because of deadly Black damp and other gasses and risk of a collapse. 

Despite all the warnings they still go in and explore .

Its just a matter of time till there is going to be a death or multiple deaths because of this exploring activity.

The Headless Brakeman of Fairmont WV

 In the 1900s The then booming town of Fairmont had  Train Tracks running on both sides of the Monongahela River . The one closest to downtown the B&O  across from Palatine Park still does .and this is the setting for a ghost tale told by many.

Seems under the Jefferson St Million Dollar Bridge  at one time sat the Railroad Station for Downtown Fairmont  and in the early 1900s  a set of chains known as a tale tell device  was hung over the tracks to alert oncoming trains they where approaching the station as top of train went under causing a clacking noise . it also warned brakeman who may be on top of cars as well

 

These chain gates where often used to warn trains where approaching tunnels and under passes as well and where fairly common .

 

https://www.american-rails.com/tell-tales.html

 

In 1915 a Railroad Brakeman supposedly lost his head when he was atop the cars having it torn off by those very warning chains.

After the accident the chains where removed and  a short time later  people walking along the tracks  

on dark and foggy nights claim to have seen a man dressed like a railroader  carrying a lantern but he had no head and was apparently looking for it. 

Now is there any truth to it who knows I have looked thru local papers to see if they mention it and found nothing so far. But that does not mean it did not happen as railroad accidents where so frequent they where hardly ever all reported. 

I can tell you this much I work in Fairmont and go thru that area with Broadcast Engineer work I do at LHTC Media so you never know  its very isolated and very spooky down along those tracks even in day time.