Tag: Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre Mine Cave-In Destroyed Homes in Five Points
In the bitter cold of a January morning in 1883, the people of Wilkes-Barre’s Five Points neighborhood were jolted awake by a sound like an…
Rural Valley Man Dreams of Missing Neighbor’s Body
In February 1925, a strange report out of Kittanning, Pennsylvania, told of a missing man, a repeated dream, and the discovery of a body exactly…
9 Men Hurt in Pittston Mining Incident
A mine cage was supposed to carry workers safely down into the darkness and back again, but when something went wrong, it could become a…
Headless Body Discovered on the Pittsburgh Tracks
The discovery was as grim as it was puzzling. Early one October morning in 1915, the mutilated body of Miss Sophie McCallin was found near…
70 Bodies Found After Finleyville Coal Mine Blast
In April 1913, the hills around Finleyville, Pennsylvania, shook with the force of a mine explosion so violent it shattered windows hundreds of yards away….
Pottsville Boy Denies Making Grandmother His Target
In 1924, a 14-year-old boy from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, became the center of a grim and puzzling murder case after his grandmother was found dead and…
Troopers Use Riot Clubs in McKees Rocks Strike
In the summer of 1909, the strike at the Pressed Steel Car Company in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, had become a scene of hunger, fear, and…
Twelve Men Killed in Johnstown Mine Blast
In the coal regions of western Pennsylvania, danger was never far beneath the surface. Men went underground each day into narrow passages where darkness, gas,…
The Night Black Tom Island Blew Up
At 2:15 on a July morning in 1916, New York Harbor erupted. A series of explosions tore through munitions cars, barges, and warehouses near the…
Philly Girl Thought a Spider Was Eating Her Life Away
A walk through the woods near Manayunk turned into a terrifying ordeal for 16-year-old Mary Schulz in the spring of 1895. What began as a…
