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.

 

They Claim Giants walked among the Hills and Valleys of the Allegheny Mountains . The effort to erase the past.

 Yes there are plenty of story's of a Giant Native Americans known as the Allegewi who lived in S.W.Pennsylvania and grew as tall as 9 feet in length

There are also plenty of story's of How the Carnegie Museum and Smithsonian Institute   among others have helped to erase this history. 

My5th Great uncle on moms side even wrote about this legend  The Rev. John Heckewelder.

Excerpt From : Henry Schoolcraft Book

Giants and Ancient North American Warfare

Schoolcraft, referring to the entire Appalachian chain as the Alleghenies, is believed to have secured his information specifically from the writings of John Heckewelder, assistant to the Moravian missionary David Zeisberger, himself from Moravia. Together Zeisberger and Heckewelder founded the town of Shoenbrun, near present day New Philadelphia, Ohio. They successfully converted as many as 400 Delaware to the Christian faith through peaceful persuasion, doubtless making many close allies during the work. Heckewelder's account may not be the only one concerning prehistoric America, but it is surely reliable for the conveyance of the tradition of the Delaware, who were derived, however indirectly, of the venerable Lenni Lenape. Heckewelder writes regarding the Allegewi:

Many wonderful things are told of this famous people. They are said to have been remarkably tall and stout, and there is a tradition that there were giants among them, people of a much larger size than the tallest of the Lenape.

Many centuries ago, the Lenni Lenape, for some undisclosed reason, moved en masse from the western half of the present day United States, toward the east. As the legend goes, these people found themselves at the shore of the Mississippi, the white man's enunciation of their Namesi Sipu, River of Fish. There they met up with the Mengwe, who had come from a bit further north and closer to the source of the Namesi Sipu, perhaps the present-day Missouri. It was a meeting of destiny, and was, at that time, a peaceful one. The Lenape sent out their scouts across the broad current.

 

One such site bones where suppose to have been found was where the Dickerson Run Roundhouse in Fayette county was built . Along the Great Allegheny Passage Trail

 

 This is one of many stories told of giant bones being found in W. Pa yet when it comes time to see a display of these bones they seem to have all disappeared like modern science does not want to admit that Giants did roam this area. 

Occasional Pictures show up with people showing the bones but the bones themselves 

rarely and when one does pop up scientists are quick to dismiss them saying time has lengthened the bones or other force of nature.

But why would science want to deny such humans waled the earth? Good Question

because it would disturb the entire  theory pf life and the white mans superiority in it. 

Unfortunately we will never know for sire what all was destroyed by science because it did not fit the narrative.

A Forgotten West Penn Trolley Accident that killed 5 near Mckeesport Pa.

 West Penn trolleys at one time went everywhere you could travel 3 states and multiple county's One of the popular routes Scottsdale Haven  Division line  took you from Mckeesport  thru Westmoreland county  down into Fayette county along some of the most spectacular hills and valleys , across death defying bridges with spectacular views  that took you across  one particular precipice high up a hill side near Coultersville Pa. at 1165 ft one of highest in county

 But on a bitter Cold February 6th 1912 That would one day lead to a Horrific accident when a trolley would roll over and down a hillside almost 100 feet near the Mt Vernon Cemetery and nearby Country Club approx 5 miles from McKeesport with 20 aboard

 

 

The Trolley car  would land against a large tree

splitting apart and sending the dead and dying all over.

It was a horrific site 

Residents from Coulter 1 mile across the Youghiogheny River  where first to arrive to render aid.

and come across the devastating scene made all the worst by the freezing weather .

The Conductor James Miller miraculously survived and ran to a nearby home for help where the injured where taken and most severe eventually transferred to the hospital in McKeesport.

The Neat Geodesic Dome Home in East Liberty Section of Pittsburgh is it the reason so many UFO reports come from that area?

 I grew up in East Liberty in 60s before moving to Carrick and their where a lot of Italians at one point and many where contractors and Home builders so it just makes sense they would build some unique homes well one went beyond unique to totally out there like UFO type out there. 

Built in 1969 by Joseph Yacoboni  it sits down the end of a long dead end road.and has been getting stares and visitors for many years.

Its now a AirBnB you can rent .

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/4203475?source_impression_id=p3_1651168389_oBA4f3oAnDJFA6Yh

It was designed to resist extreme storms like Hurricanes  and even Earth Quakes  was even mentioned in Popular Science magazine in 75  and recently in Pittsburgh Magazine  

https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/dome-away-from-home/

 But while it is a fun place one has to wonder.

There have been many UFO type sightings in the Sky all around that part of East Liberty  and 

could this UFO home be attracting them? like a Homing Beacon.

One never knows but if your looking for some unique place to stay or just visit look them up.

Martians landed in Calvary Cemetery in Pittsburgh in 1950's .Apparently alot of people belived it.

 While I can find no Media account of it apparently a bunch of young boys and girls where scared to death after rumors of Martians landing in Calvary Cemetery in Hazelwood Section of Pittsburgh and where hiding on top of the nearby Water Tower .

http://www.interment.net/data/us/pa/allegheny/calvary-cemetery/index.htm

 

 Apparently a bunch of strange lights where seen in the cemetery one evening in 1950's during the Cold War Scare when many where on edge and supposedly some boys went and investigated and saw the Martians and spread it all over the neighborhood. 

As far as I can tell there is nothing to it a bunch of active imaginations .

surly if there was anything to it press or post gazette would have picked it up. 

But given the times yes a school kid would have been very scared to hear Martians had landed 

But look how the Green man story took off . But there was some truth to that one .

Why Did So many fires happen at the Old Trolley Amusement Parks in Pa and WV. ?

 When you look at the Historical Record of Trolley Parks which there where over 30 in Tri-State  it seems that many meet their demise due to Fires and Accidents and in some cases Floods .

Luna Park - Fire and Accident

Oxford Park - Flood 

Rock Springs - Fire 

 

Fatal Rock Springs Fire Chester WV

While others like Kennywood and Lakemont Survived Fires  because they where better spread out and financed .

 

But Why.

One of the problems back in the day was Smoking 

Yes poorly discarded cigarettes started a lot of fires not just in Trolley Parks but many buildings .

But in the case of trolley parks many where mostly all wood based add in the highly flammable scenery in attractions and no sprinkler protection and you have a disaster in the making.

One simply discarded cigarette could take down an entire parks fairway .

 

Introduction of Electricity  

Yes many early rides also had newly designed electrical systems  which where still in their infancy and problems developed when wiring got abraded and damaged and caused a spark to fall into wooden ares some times covered with grease used to keep ride lubricated and operated. 

Poor Maintenance and,Financing 

Many Parks sprung up and disaperared with less than 5 years use 

like Southern Park in Carrick and Wonderland in Wilkinsburg 

Cheaply built not properly maintained rides breaking down and then following  the Depression of 1930s' many could not survive  with the introduction of automobiles trolleys disappeared and so did much of their funding as they where started by trolley company's and the automobile all but sealed their fate. 

In some cases it is highly believed that Arson was involved as parks started failing hoping to collect a fat insurance check.

Yes there where many complicating issues why some survived some died  but I am glad many did across the state and its fun researching and reminiscing about those that no longer do.

New 3rd Event from Fayete County Bigfoot Research Group