First Haunted House in USA to be open to the Public Tours was right here in New Castle Pa. area and it was Truly Haunted according to locals

 When it comes to New Castle and Haunted  that Manor on the hill is what first comes to mind. But not so fast.

In fact the First Haunted house to allow tours in the USA  was across town and opened in the 1960s 


 

It was located at 1161 N. Liberty (Atlantic Ave. )  and was built by Alexander L. Crawford  who was an Iron Works Pioneer between 1855-1872  

The home served many purposes over the years including as a home for as many as 35 under privileged girls to serving the elderly . and  was Added onto over the years to make it 33  rooms from original 13 . During this period many thought the home was haunted or had eerie experiences.

It was eventually leased by a  Retired Chiropractor G.A.Laughlin from Bethel Park

Who had interests in the Paranormal and started  candle light evening tours for couples at his now christened  Haunted House 

complete with the Seance Room and  its Hidden hidden passages 

https://medium.com/truly-adventurous/the-house-of-lost-souls-c4aed0378bb8

 The link above is a very long article on the home and all its hauntings and criminal acts which happened at it . Its eventual down fall and forced closing and eventual demise  in a Fire which demolished it on October 9th ,1970 

 

Below is a small sample of the almost 20 page article on the home with such a fascinating History

it is well worth signing up for the free account to read the whole article 

https://medium.com/truly-adventurous/the-house-of-lost-souls-c4aed0378bb8

Just after 2:20 on the morning of Friday, October 9th, 1970, the thirty or so members of the New Castle, Pennsylvania, volunteer fire department woke to the sound of squealing radios.

Listen to the audio version of this story from Audm

 

Fire Chief Jack Stoner bypassed the station, which was out of his way, and tore off for the scene, only two-and-a-half miles from his home. Following the curve of the Shenango River, he watched the blaze transform the black sky into a swelling neon bruise as he swerved south onto Atlantic Avenue. Intense heat shot from the rambling brick mansion with a low, crackling gasp.

 

As the first trucks arrived on scene and underequipped volunteers laid hose and began dousing the blaze, the water pressure inexplicably dropped. It was as if some grand, invisible force were silently willing the fire to finish its work.

 

By the time Stoner radioed for additional units and manpower from West Pittsburg, five miles south, an uphill battle had become a lost cause.

 

There were no victims to save or survivors to comfort in the home, which had been abandoned four months earlier. The last firefighters left the scene before the sun rose, concluding the sort of dull and exhausting battle referred to in the fire service as a surround-and-drown. The fire had brought to a close the brief and strange history of the first haunted house in America open to the public, but it wasn’t done yet.

 

Forty-five minutes later, the firefighters’ radios shrieked to life for the second time that morning. The house, saturated with thousands of gallons of water, had burst into flames again.

 

Three years earlier, in the summer of 1967, the Sonntag Real Estate Agency got a nibble on a property they worried they might never unload, 1161 North Liberty Street on the western edge of New Castle. In its industrial heyday, the town had been called “Little Pittsburgh.” Not anymore. In less than a decade, nearly fifteen percent of the town’s population had left.

 

In the two decades since an out of town investor had purchased the dilapidated mansion, the agency had only managed to rent it out to a single family. The family did not stay long, even though the sprawling estate cost less per month than most of the compact ranch houses that peppered the rest of the town on quarter acre lots. It stood atop a slope overlooking the road at the base of a hill that faded into looming pines and old maple trees. A shallow angled roof crowned the second story, supporting a tall, white cupola. A trio of high windows glared down beyond the grounds at the road, the railroad tracks, the river. A shaded porch competed with the wild vines snaking around its front columns.

 

At first glance, Dr. Gerald A. Laughlin seemed an unlikely taker. A man with round proportions and well-groomed facial hair that brought an Old World colonel to mind, he had a conspiratorial smile that tended to pull people into an easy confidence. No one could have looked more out of place in a rundown house with a leaky roof and busted windows. His previous home was tidy and nestled in a row of prim houses with broad front lawns in Bethel Park, a fashionable suburb of Pittsburgh.

 

But under the respectable veneer, there had always been something different about Laughlin. A doctor, yes, but a doctor of chiropractic medicine, a discipline founded only a few decades before on the idea that all diseases stemmed from an interruption in the flow of divine presence. He was also one of only eighteen qualified hypnotists in the Pittsburgh area.

 

Born to older parents, his nearest sibling was twelve years Laughlin’s senior. When he was three, the economy tumbled into the Great Depression, then at five his mother died after a mastectomy failed to rid her of cancer. His father, a salesman, was forced to send Laughlin to live with an aunt. Just the same, like so many people forged by tragedy, he grew into a gregarious young man, described by his high school classmates as “our funny man, known by everyone.” His senior yearbook photo shows a pale, plump face with a smile fighting back laughter.

 

Upon graduating in May of 1944, he enlisted in the army, and by December he was overseas. Shortly after being discharged, he met and married a woman a decade his senior. Being an unmarried woman in her thirties at that time would have branded her an old maid to most people, but like Laughlin she had her own strange allure and was even elected Most Excellent Chief of the Pythian Sisters of Indianapolis, a secret society. As they settled into a life in Bethel Park, they proved every bit the outwardly perfect family the 1950s expected. They had one child, Gerald Alexander Laughlin, Jr., and by all accounts lived happily.

 

If lives wax and wane, the man being shown the house in New Castle in the summer of 1967 was more crescent than full moon. A few years earlier, a radio documentary had launched an undercover investigation into the chiropractic office he shared with his partner and claimed to have discovered irregularities. The program, called “The Shadow World of Medicine,” made clear its distaste for the relatively young homeopathic practice. Merited or not, the public nature of the charges ensured the demise of Laughlin’s livelihood. The Bethel Park property was foreclosed and put up for auction, and the family found itself sleeping in a station wagon.

 

Under the weight of such strains, it is not surprising that by the time Laughlin toured the deserted home, he did so as a single man. And the house must have been more appealing to him than most. Beyond the benefit of not being a station wagon, it retained a grand and imposing character undiminished by the scars of time. You could say Laughlin sympathized.

 

Besides, the lease came with an option to buy for $7,500 at a time when the median price for a house stood at over three times that. Laughlin shook hands with the relieved realtor and signed the lease. As he received the keys to the mansion, he became its final resident.

 

Laughlin threw himself into repairs. Most of the houses window’s were broken, and the days found


The Strange Atlas Statue at an Auto Body Shop in New Eagle Pa

 New Eagle along the Monongahela River in Washington County Pa is one of those sleepy river towns with not much going on typical antique shops and small business except for one business where a statue is out of place .

A full size statute  of Atlas holding a globe all in gold tone  at Eddie Volkers Body Shop on Main Street .

Meant as an eye catcher  advertisement many wonder where did this statue come from?


 

Well back in the 1970's Pittsburgh saw the opening of 3 high end health clubs known as European Health Spas.   which where owned by Fitness Guru at the time Jack La lane

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

 

Who had a morning exercise show which was nationwide on TV I remember watching it in 60s when i was a little kid.

So investors approached Jack about opening health clubs with a European Spa touch across the country and Pittsburgh was lucky to get 3 .

One in Wilkins Twp on Business 22 where  Shop n Save now sits on Clairton Blvd. Pa 51 in White Hall and one in North Hills near former North Way Mall

They where ahead of their time and very popular and helped popularize the athletic wear movement . We had a couple guys in my High School Gym classes that would come in wearing the classy tracksuits to class. 

They where eventually bought out in  70s by Ballys and all 3 went out of business in 80s 

The clubs had a unique round shape and a statue of Atlas holding a Globe on his back 

Unfortunately the 3 clubs in Pittsburgh closed early and 2 caught fire Route 51 and Wilkins after sitting vacant for a time
Mr Volker picked up the statue at an auction and why not he restores body's to beautiful shape even thou-they are cars .




Lots of Paranormal and Psycic events coming this September and October








 


                                 715 Gas Valley Rd New Cumberland WV 26047

The Chain Lady of Pitts Forbes Hall

Student Residents  of the 5th floor of University of Pittsburgh's  Forbes Hall have for years heard the story of the Chain Lady and how she haunts the floor .

The story goes that Forbes Hall before it became a Student Dormitory was a former Insane Asylum and that on the 5th floor was  kept the most violent inmates who where kept secured by chains.

One night the women in charge of the floor who was short staff that evening was caring for the inmates when one of them  managed to escape there bonds while being cared for and took off down the stairwell.



The women in charge went sailing after her with the confinement chains to  hold her once she got hold of her 

slipped and fell and ended up with chains wrapped around here neck and suspended from them. 


Students claim they can often hear what sounds like chains rattling around the 5th floor stairway. 





Except there is a big problem to this whole story.

The site before it was Forbes Hall was a Nursing home for the elderly which went bankrupt.

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

There was never an Insane Asylum located there its a totally made up story. to scare the students and nothing more .

So if there are spirits about making noise its the Former Nursing Home residents not a chain lady

 

Museum in Northern Pa . Has a display so dark everyone should see it so the can understand Pure Evil

 Eldred Pa. located in Mckean County in North Western tip of Pa. is your typical rural small town except for a very unique an interesting museum on World War II 

The Eldred WWII Museum located on the Main Street of Eldred   along US 6 

is one of the most impressive museums I have been in. You can see the time and care the staff put into the displays 

 

https://eldredpawwiimuseum.com/

You have 3 levels to explore  including the Anderson Library full of WWII books and literature 

The museum works on donations and there is no set fee .

But why a museum all the way up north in Western Pa. in middle of no where ? 

Its because of the National Munitions Plant once located there 

 https://eldredpawwiimuseum.com/about-us/

 


 

When you first enter the museum  a large area is full of displays and dioramas  and then work your way up to Col. Mitchell Paige Hall who was a native from Jeanette Pa and recipient of Medal of Honor. 










 

 

 

 

But Then as you enter the next display room you spy something out of the left corner of your eye

You see Nazi Flags and a mannequin dressed as a Gestapo Agent complete with leather trench oat.


You do not want to go any further you want to turn away . But this man beckons you to enter the display You do not want to but the closer you get the more evil  and despair  coming from this room compels you to enter-as you feel it pull you in

You come to the doorway and a sign warns you what you are to experience  Pure Evil.


As you turn the corner you see wall plaques with time lines of the Holocaust 

But from there it gets much worse and photography is not permitted .

Lining both sides of this small room with only one way in and out you will find  glass cases  filled  with authentic items which where donated and curated from the Nazi Death Camps  including restraints  prisoner uniform's, Jewish star patches  , keys from Dachau  prison cells  and a lamp made of Jewish skin

Plus many Photographs of inside the camps .The display is Chilling and Horrifying how man could do to man what they did. 

Every man women and child needs to visit this room to understand what happened  and why we need to make sure it never happens again .

Below is some of the Nazi Uniforms and Regalia  that can also be viewed. at the museum along with Japanese items. when telling a story you have to tell both sides. .




Yes if you want to fully understand  pure evil and see with your own eyes what man has done to his fellow man then this museum is a must visit and well worth the trip.

















How the Alarm Industry Pulled off off a master Deception all over the Tri State in late 70s early 80s

 Yes Dictograph Corporation   in the 1970's and 80's  stopped and deterred many shop lifters and employee thieves By leasing to to merchants  for $350.00 a month a CCTV Camera system 

With its big 3 inch Lens and red blinking light it panned back and forth  or was sometimes stationary carefully keeping an eye on shoppers and employees . Some times just 1 camera or as many as 3 to 6 cameras in a business 


A warning sign  warned that a sophisticated anti theft camera system was deployed


Once a month a technician would come in with his special suitcase go up a ladder open it up pull up an antenna and talk to a person at central control who gave directions how to adjust the camera.  

Except the whole thing was a charade the cameras where Fake   and the technician talking to master control that was a tape recording he was talking to in the brief case .


One of the most best kept secrets in the industry  they pulled it off for several years till thieves figured out what was going on. 

I thought all along they where fake but i was in the industry and knew we had fakes I even put up some that looked real at the time and still some times use them strategically  along with real cameras to give the impression every area on a floor is being watched. 

Plus the trick worked it stopped a lot of problems by being a deterrent .

Of course many business now have cameras and many times they are broken or not working or are of such poor quality the images can not be used in court but all in all dummy cameras have done their job.


 






Daron Royal a Master of Healing Energy's and some one you should get to know

 Daron Royal is a master of many skills including  Energy Alchemist, Medical Intuitive, Medium, Pranic Healer, Reiki Master, and Sin Eater.

His Business known as   Royal Energy Alchemy LLC located near Erie Pa  is on Face Book and

You can find him at many Paranormal and Psychic events in Pa and Ohio with his massage type table helping to heal those who need help . 


Now you can say what you want but there really is something to Reiki which he performed on me at Jefferson County Big Foot Fair in 2022

Usually in a Tie Dye T shirt shorts and barefoot he does his work carefully and thoroughly  to probe and ease a persons troubled soul and answer their questions.

He works with the Universe to heal.  and can be contacted at

(814) 392-2095
 
droyal168@gmail.com

 Give him a try you will not be disappointed

 




 


Speaking Engagements

 

 

 

 I will be speaking at   Fayette big Foot festival in Perryopolis PA July 15 

and Kecksburg PA UFO Festival  July 23 rd 

on EMI and RFI and how it appears to effect Paranormal Activity