Rumors of a not so Holy Cemetary in Westmoreland county where a Convent and Academy once stood

The St Xavier Convent Academy for Girls once stood along Us 30 The Lincoln Highway  near Latrobe it was within eye site of St Vincent's .
Sadly all that remains is a old road a couple pathways a broken statue of Mary and some foundations the Academy and Convent where destroyed in a catastrophic fire back in January 28 1963
.

http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-373

https://screenshots.firefox.com/TksYmED1fiyr5p8h/books.google.com

What does remain and is still in use thou is the St Xavier Cemetery a little down Xavier road
with its neatly aligned tomb stones and markers the final resting place of the Nuns of Mercy

Unfortunately they have had to fence off and forbid trespassers due to graves being robbed of brass plates and ornaments and vandalism .
It is a Holy and consecrated  place not to be disturbed.

But locals have for years have talked about Rumors of a 2nd Cemetery on the property an Unholy Cemetery
 where the fetuses of unborn babies are buried those conceived by young lady's who attended the academy who got knocked up by one of the boys from St. Vincent's and even those of nuns said to have become pregnant by priests.  

Is there any truth to it the local diocese  adamantly denies any such activity ever happens and such cemetery full of  hundreds unmarked fetuses graves exists .

However having been raised Roman Catholic I have heard these same rumors not only here at St Xavier but other catholic institutions its a subject not talked about. But lets face it . In very rare instances it did happen, and how it was handled is a subject not to be talked about.Because the Roman Catholic church is anti abortion . Where the children Aborted or where they given up for adoption?

The only way these rumors will be put to rest would be to use ground penetrating radar on the grounds  and be allowed to be explored and I do not see that happening.

Yes there has always been quiet rumors about the church and its some times unholy practices  and plenty of documentary exist on You-Tube as well as books and on the History and other Cable Channels .Will the truth ever come out who knows but as long as the church is not willing to come out and allow questions to be resolved there will always be  questions rumors and conspiracy's.

The strange abandoned cement ponds in South park which where once swimming pools complete with water fall

If you go up behind the Stone Manse in South Park in Allegheny County Pa. you will find several shallow  cement ponds complete with water fall  emptied and abandoned in early1960s. and now overgrown and forgotten. maybe your grandparents talked about swimming there.

Up until the time they where permanently shit down they where a favorite place for young children to go swimming I went there with my 2 younger brothers several times until the county closed the ponds due to several reasons.

First the ponds had no filtration or treatment to the water and spread of disease was a worry.

2nd they where always being vandalized as they had no fence around them and illegal late night party goers would throw glass beer and wine bottles into the ponds .

 You would have to be in your 50s. to say you swam there but what a neat experience it was
especially getting to play around the water falls. I remember a couple kids brought a plastic boat to the pond which was from a promotion for Chicita bananas one time which stores had on display.

Just one of the great memories I will have that younger generations will never ever know .

If you know where to look the remains of a deadly US Navy Hell Diver Bomber that crashed in the Laurel Highlands can be visited

There have been many small aircraft over the years that have crashed into the mountainous area known as the Laurel Highlands which composes parts of Westmoreland, Fayette and Somerset county's in Pa. Famous for its thick unforgiving fog which has caused many crashes after pilots lost their bearings and did not know mountain was below .

One of the more famous cases is a TWA flight 1# which went down in 1936

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_1

Killing 12 of 14 aboard and recently featured on Mysteries at Museum TV show segment because the Connelsville Canteen Museum has a piece of burnt mail from the crash among their display items.

and of course the tragic crash of flight 93 during 9-11

But one of the lesser known crashes of a Navy Hell diver while on maneuvers  and which plane engine parts can still be scene is one of the forgotten crashes

http://www.tribdem.com/news/local_news/family-visits-plane-crash-site-outside-ligonier/article_b3c1601d-bf44-554a-a614-b7c307b4a465.html

A  Curtis B2C-4E crashed between Ligonier  and Jennerstown on October 9 1945 on a return trip to airbase in Michigan after taking place  with 21 planes from Bombing Squadron  97   in Washington DC celebration that very foggy day

 and has remained largely forgotten .

Petty Officer George A. Cohlmia, who died with Ensign Frank J. Campbell when their U.S. Navy dive bomber tragically slammed  into the mountain at a horrific speed  parts of the plane as seen below still exists to his day and can be viewed if your up to to the strenuous hike to the site, in the middle of no where . Apparently a well known one often tagged by those who chase  geocaches .

If you go remember this is a site of reverence people lost their lives here and respect it as such.

 

AT&T Long Lines Tower in Lillyvale Pa. once part of a very intricate and complex means of protecting the nations communications during the Cold War

As you drive along Pa. 288  from Zelinople to Ellwood City high on one of the slopes sits the Lillyville AT&T Long Lines Microwave Communications Tower.

Now mostly unused  since most phone and data signals now travel by Fiber Optic Lines and Satellite

Complete with underground hardened bunker to protect the electronics these sites played a very critical role insuring communications could continue after a nuclear attack in this case if Pittsburgh where attacked.

http://www.coldwarcomms.org/

https://99percentinvisible.org/article/vintage-skynet-atts-abandoned-long-lines-microwave-tower-network/

 

Many of the large Pittsburgh Corporations also had command centers and storage in nearby Wampum in an underground Lime Stone Mine. The coaxial  lines to the towers where hardened underground as well to prevent damage and where given designations such as L Line etc.
which ran between the various phone exchanges to the towers. The entire system was started  after WWII  and ramped up around
1951 and was in use into 90s in some cases  Till the microwave Horns where turned off but the towers are still used for Cell Service and 2 way radio repeaters etc.  Some Towers have had their horns removed and reconfigured.

Some of the towers and bunkers have been sold off to private communications company's for there use . 

Since these towers are under rules of FCC it is a violation of federal rules to trespass on these sites and penalty's are severe  so urban explorers are best advised to stay out. as with any radio tower site .
working or abandoned . Be warned if you trespass or cause damage you will be prosecuted.

There are many resources on line talk about the whole AT&T Long Lines system and its many fascinating things it did prior to 1984 break up of AT&T