Dead Man’s Hollow – History & Minor Investigation

History

Dead Man’s Hollow lies no more than 500 feet from the Monongahela River and is one of the areas best and most undisturbed protected parks.   There are ruins still standing of an old industrial factory which met its’ demise with an intense fire around 1920.  The factory used to produce tera cota pipe and some remnants of their products still lay in those woods to this day.   The area is beautiful and can make for a very very enjoyable nature hike.  However, don’t let the ambiance of nature fool you, there are quite a few tales of dread stemming from this location, in particular one of which how the hollow got it’s name.

Local myth tells that in the 1870’s, a group of boys exploring the area happened upon a body of another boy, very similar to their own age, hanging from a noose by a nearby tree.  Now there is no finite proof that this ever actually happened but there have been numerous reports of a young boy being seen peaking out around trees, yelling for help, and even sounds of a branch snapping with no apparent culprit.

In 1905, while working at the factory, a man was crushed by a failed elevator.  There is sure documentation of this death, however, the man’s name is still up for debate as many immigrants worked for the factory with false aliases.

After the factory shut down from the fire, the hollow began to be used as a quarry.  In the late winter in the 1940’s, four workers attempted to place explosives in the nearby hillside.  They realized that the dynamite was frozen and tried to thaw them out.  Needless to say, that was a bad idea.  As they thawed out the explosives, they detonated, killing three of the men immediately, leaving charred bodies strewn about the hollow.  The fourth man was never found.

Not long after the quarry was shut down, a local store owner was robbed.  Bravely, albeit recklessly, the store owner chased the criminals who fled into the woods.  He was gunned down in cold blood near the base of the hillside.  Once the robbers heard police sirens, they hid their loot somewhere in the hollow and attempted to flee the crime scene.  A man was caught, charged, and hanged in the local penitentiary.  However, that man claimed that he was innocent until the very end and stated that the police captured the wrong man and let the real criminals loose.  It is said that the money is still buried somewhere in the hollow and that the store owner guards it in the afterlife.

While traveling down the Monongahela River, right outside Deadman’s Hollow, a boat flipped and trapped two women underneath.  They drown to death as the boat caught fire and no one was able to help them out.  Some of the echoing screams of panic and pain and yells of “help” have been attributed to these women.

Investigation

September 29, 2018

 We’ve visited Dead Man’s Hollow before, but this time we managed to bring some of our gear and had a little time before our next site.  In the past, we’ve felt as though we were being watched  and heard noises that we could not distinctly make out a reasoning for.  During this second visit we did feel a few cold spots but did not feel as though we were being watched or hear any odd noises that couldn’t be attributed to the random squirrel or bird.  We managed to capture a little evidence utilizing our spirit box and recorder.  There wasn’t a lot to acknowledge but we definitely recorded the spirit’s attitude and name.   Take a listen and decide for yourself…

Abandoned Mill (With Spirit Box)

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/507604323″ params=”color=#ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&show_teaser=true&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”300″ iframe=”true” /]

Recording:

• :49 “Asshole”
• 1:17 “Sad”
• 1:51 “Dean Edward”
• 2:56 “Listen”
• Same time – Odd Noises
• 3:58 “Edward”