A Workers Body in the concrete used to build the Westinghouse Bridge ?

One of what appears to be one of the longest running myths involving the George Westinghouse Bridge which carry's US 30  The Lincoln Highway over the town of East Pittsburgh  and the Turtle Creek Valley is that there are workers embedded with in the concrete who fell in during the massive concrete pour .I drive over the bridge every few weeks and looked into the story and
well it is nothing more than an Urban Myth . The bridge was done in many large pours  but not all at one time and no worker fell into the concrete and was entombed. In fact if this did happen  it would threaten the integrity of the concrete.  All work would stop and the section of concrete removed and re-poured  according to structural engineers . Penn Dot dept of engineering has come out on numerous occasions over the bridges many celebratory years and refuted any one being stuck in the concrete .








But the rumor persists. Same for the Hoover Dam , Brooklyn Bridge etc. Now yes workers did get severely hurt and there was at least one possible death of a worker falling off the structure but falling into and remaining in the concrete ? No it did not happen. How ever the bridge has been the end point of many desperate people lives when they jumped the 200+ feet from and took their lives at least 30 body's have ended up below the bridge since it was built in 1932. and the bridge has had many  deadly vehicle accidents on it especially in winter time and many desperate actions of those attempting suicide have closed the bridge and played out as well.










They say Reverend Clifton is still at his typewriter doing his Sermons at WAVL 910 AM in Apollo ?

I have been the Contract Broadcast Engineer at WAVL 910 AM  in Apollo Pa actually Kiskimetas Twp  since 2000  The Christian based Station which started in 1947 by the Reverend  Cecil F.Clifton   WAVL was one of the first stations in the nation to offer brokered time to ministers to deliver their sermons .

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


While the original studios where once located in downtown  Apollo they moved to the transmitter site in late 50's after a fire devastated a whole block of buildings including the studios of WAVL 
while the studios are now located in Kittaning the transmitter site studios  are still occasionally used for live broadcasting .
  The building which sits in the middle of several large parcels  of ground has a very isolated feeling so working there late at night can put some people on the edge. 
But several of the former on air personality's  who worked there late at night claim to hear what sounded like typing upstairs where The good Reverend would prepare his sermons.I have been there many late nights and not heard it but I usually am making noise adjusting and doing preventative maintenance so I can not verify it. However I know we get birds and squirrels in the attic so it may even be them making the noise. But AM stations are kind of creepy anyways because you can often hear voices  coming from the transmitter even with out a radio turned on and strong AM radio waves can cause all kind of other phenomena as well.
So if it is Rev. Clifton staying up late working  I bet its one of his best sermons ever. 


Long abandoned this little building played a big role in protecting Neville Island from Nazi sabotauers in WWII

A customer of mine on Nevile Island  bought the old Liberty Pittsburgh Tag company building on Grand Ave. after a long strike by workers saw the company end up in bankruptcy , which has been many things over the years it started out as a Printing Company then became Triangle News Company warehouse then a furniture clearance warehouse and finally Pittsburgh Tag. All this time a small brick building at the top of the property sat empty and unused rotting away.
Thousands of people have passed this little brick building unaware its significance during WWII
as it served as the Headquarters for the US Navy Shore patrol an armed force  which patrolled the island  24/7 during WWII as it was high up on the list of industrial facility's which  Nazi Germany had on its list of places to hit as the LST Landing Ship Tanks and other boats where built on the island. In fact if you where caught on the island without a  special pass you could well end up shot on site  for being a spy.


Lockers for personnel

door to small armory where riffles where kept
A LST paid for by Citizens of Allegheny County being commissioned at N I Boat Yard

Bench in the jail cell which held drunks and those who came on island with out a pass 

Unfortunately nothing was left on the inside of the building  but the old jail cell minus its barred door   and an empty armory vault  My customer in an effort to save it  had a new roof and windows installed and hopes to one day feature it as a small museum on the islands history during WWII  and open as a museum some day  but for now it sits empty  and secured and on private property  and inaccessible  till it can be restored some day .

A little known battle between Railroad Workers and Pipe Layers in Ohara Twp. which changed how Oil would be transported across the country

As a young man I had a fantastic Biology teacher  in Carrick High School named Barbra Novasol and over time became very good friends with her as we both had an interest in Rocks and Minerals and I often spent time at her gentleman's farm in Ohara twp  also known as Montrose Hill  and Powers run  helping to maintain it in the summer time, and she often spoke of a battle at the bottom of Powers Run Road and Freeport Road  Old Pa 28   between the railroad and Oil Pipe Layers which appears to have been very violent  and is discussed in the excerpt below
In a book published by Dan Nowak

An Incomplete Historical Survey
of
Montrose Hill, O’Hara Township,
Allegheny County, PA
and the
Surrounding Area
including
Powers Run Area, RIDC Area, River Road Area, Blawnox
Area and lands downstream as far as Aspinwall.
Dan Nowak
February,2010

Finally, there was the incident that took place at the foot of what is now Powers Run
Road that helped shape the way oil was delivered to the refineries from the oil field in
Pennsylvania. As George S. Davidson wrote and delivered as a speech entitled “Pittsburgh and

the Petroleum Industry” to the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce and is documented in the
publication “Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Spirit, Addresses at the Chamber of Commerce of
Pittsburgh, 1927-1928”, page 97, as follows:
“As already related, pipelines were first used in the oil region to replace teaming. They
were of two and two and a half inches diameter, and but a few miles in length. After the railroads
had built their lines into the main valleys of the oil fields, more ambitious pipe lines were built for
the purpose of delivering the crude oil direct from the wells to the cars. The success of these
local ventures eventually suggested the idea of building pipe lines of larger diameter and much
greater length that would compete with the railroads and carry the oil directly from field to
refineries. As methods of terminal operation, the railroads welcomed the pipe lines, and in many
cases owned them. But as competitors they opposed them, which for a long time they managed
to do successfully, because this new service was not recognized as a public utility and did not
possess the right of condemnation of land. The approach of a pipeline to the crossing of a
railroad meant a legal battle. A pipeline of much interest to this community was the Columbia
Conduit Pipe Line, under the control of Dr. Hostetter of this city, planned to bring oil from the
Butler county fields to Pittsburgh. The line was built in late 1874. The General Pipe Line Act of
Pennsylvania, conferring the right of condemnation was not enacted until 1883, some nine years
too late for use by this enterprise. When the line reached a point upon the West Penn Division of
the Pennsylvania railroad above Montrose, Allegheny county, and an attempt was made to lay its
line under the railroad in the bed of Powers run, its workers were met with a large force of
railroad employes, armed with all sorts of weapons both offensive and defensive, and the ‘Powers
Run Riot’ passed into history as one of the outstanding incidents of the oil industry. The pipe line
company appealed to the courts in vain for relief, but six months later the interested companies
settled their dispute, the line was put in operation, and the delivery of 3,000 barrels a day to the
Pittsburgh refineries was accomplished by means of it.”
Unfortunately, Mr. Davidson did not mention the extent of battle casualties from this
encounter. It would appear that the railroaders had the better of the situation and, most likely, the
pipeline men backed off after a short engagement. Any locals that were involved were most
likely working for the railroad, while the pipeline men were probably all outsiders.


Seems Ohara and Blawknox also known at times as  Fairview , Montrose and Hoboken  where big players in the oil business back then and Sunoco still maintains a oil distributions facility along the road from their pipeline .


A long Gone Haloween Haunted House attraction in Cranberry where a real Axe Murder took place ?

About where the Sheetz now sits on freedom Road sat an old farm house which was turned into a Halloween Haunted house attraction.
But the house hid a real secret many years earlier an entire family was killed in an axe murder.
back around 1980 while attending a Gem & Mineral show in new castle in October   a friend  Danny Michaels decided to stop and check out all the haunted houses on the way back to Pittsburgh we stopped at several which no longer exist.


Several articles mention a house which was part of the old Warrendale Youth development center a Juvenile jail but we did not drive back over the turnpike bridge as I remember and it was torn down for Thornberg industrial park so this must be the 2nd location for it.


 While waiting to go in the staff member I was talking to told me about a family being murdered in the home by some one with an Axe  and how girls would get there hair pulled some times when working the home and setting up for the evening and some had seen a full body apparition.
Thou I have tried to verify the story I have not found anything yet. But yes there have been many murders by axe in early years of Western Pa. so the story could well be true.
The few people who I know who live in cranberry know nothing about the house or the murder as the community has greatly expanded over the years and even those at community center did not even know it existed or about it being a haunted Halloween attraction.My next try will be thru the historical society and then County records if I can find the time some day.