Formerly known as the
Most Haunted House in America, Pittsburgh,
PA, the home of The reknowned carpetbagger
Charles Wright Congelier, his Mexican wife
Lyda, and a young servant girl, Essie, was
located at 1129 Ridge Avenue, in the Manchester,
North Side, neighborhood of Pittsburgh.
The story of its life as a haunted house
begins in the winter of 1871, with Lyda's
discovery of Charles having an affair with
the maid. Lyda was so enraged, that she
fatally stabbed Charles and chopped off
Essie's head.
Of course this is the
story that was passed down for many generations
and it is the esntial facts that so made
it haunted.
Over 20 years the house
remained vacant, and in hushed tones many
told the tale of it's former owners demise.
Remodeled to accommodate railroad workers
in 1892, The house was said to be haunted
openly those that moved in soon moved out,
claiming to hear the sobbing and screaming
of a woman, And the image of a young woman
roaming the great house night and day looking
for her severed head.
In 1900, Dr. Adolph C.
Brunrichter bought the home. "Keeping
to himself, the doctor was rarely seen by
his neighbors. Then on August 12, 1901,
the family next door heard a terrifying
scream from the Brunrichter residence,"
wrote Richard Winer and Nancy Osborn in
their book, Haunted Houses. "When they
ran outside to investigate, the neighbors
saw a red explosion-like flash shooting
through the house. The earth under them
trembled, and the sidewalls cracked. Every
window in the doctor's home was shattered."
When officials entered
the house to investigate, they found a decomposed
female body strapped to the bed and five
headless young women in basement graves.
"Dr. Brunrichter had been experimenting
with severed heads," wrote Winer and
Osborn. "Apparently he had been able
to keep some alive for short periods after
decapitation." Dr. Brunrichter, meanwhile,
had disappeared, and the house once again
stood vacant.
As a result of its reputation
for being haunted, the house stood empty
for several years before undergoing its
second remodeling to ready it for housing
emigrant Equitable Gas Company workers.
These workers experienced many strange occurrences
but wrote them off as pranks by the American
workers they had replaced (for lower wages).
One night things took a tragic turn, however,
and two of the workers were found dead in
the basement. One had a board driven like
a stake through his chest, and the other
was hanging from a rafter. These men had
both been seen alive just minutes earlier.
In 1920, the famous scientist
and inventor, Thomas Edison, came to study
the house. Edison spoke of a machine that
he was building to allow communication with
the dead. Edison died before the mechanism
was perfected. Winer and Osborn wrote that
Thomas Edison's visit to the house at 1129
Ridge Avenue apparently influenced his strong
belief in the afterlife.
In September of 1927,
a drunk was arrested who claimed to be Dr.
Adolph Brunrichter. He told police gruesome
stories of sex orgies, demonic possession,
torture and murder that had occurred in
the house. The authorities could not determine
if the man they had in custody was indeed
Dr. Brunrichter. The man was released after
a month and was never seen again.
Days were numbered for
the haunted house which everyone was convinced
was evil. Nearby, on the site that is now
the Carnegie Science Center, stood the largest
natural gas storage facility in the world.
On the morning of November 15, 1927, the
giant gas storage tank owned by the Equitable
Gas Company exploded with an awesome force
which was felt across the county. The Story
of Old Allegheny City, compiled by workers
of the Writers' Program of the Works Projects
Administration, describes the destruction.
"As houses collapsed and chimneys toppled,
brick, broken glass, twisted pieces of steel
and other debris rained on the heads of
the dazed and shaken residents who had rushed
into the streets from their wrecked homes,
believing that an earthquake had visited
the city." The force was so strong
it reportedly blew out windows throughout
downtown, Mt. Washington, and as far away
as East Liberty. Dozens of manufacturing
plants and hundreds of homes were damaged
or destroyed within a 20-mile radius.
Carnegie Science Center
The Most Haunted
House in America, which once stood at the
present day site of the Route 65/I279 interchange,
was obliterated in the explosion. According
to Winer and Osborn, it was the only structure
destroyed in the blast for which no trace
was ever found. The area is still haunted
by this ghost house, some often tell of
a strange house that appears to be solid
then just vanishes into thin air while looking
at the Carnegie Science Centers reflection
in ehe water.
According to a family member, Robert Frederick
Congelier, the house stood for several years
after the disaster and was only torn down
to make way for the freeway and the redevelopment
of the area.
Explore the mysteries
of science first-hand at the Carnegie Science
Center, one of the four Carnegie Museums
of Pittsburgh. More than 250 hands-on exhibits
make this North Shore attraction an interactive
amusement park for the mind! Special features
of the Pittsburgh Carnegie Science Center
include UPMC SportsWorks, a WWII submarine,
the OMNIMAX® theater, a world-class
planetarium, 2,000 square foot aquarium,
three live demonstration theaters and the
famous Miniature Railroad & Village.
The Carnegie Science
Center covers five floors, plus UPMC SportsWorks
in an adjacent building and the USS Requin
submarine docked at the river's edge. Expect
to spend a few hours here, especially if
you have children with you. The fourth floor
is a good place to visit with the family
where the 8,000 square foot Exploration
Station offers more than interactive activities
for both kids and adults. There's even an
Exploration Station Junior for children
ages 3-6.
The three live demonstration theaters -
Science Stage, Works Theater and Kitchen
Theater - are always popular with visitors,
so be sure to get there a few minutes before
show time to get a seat. Other shows include
feature movies in the four-story, domed
OMNIMAX theater and planetarium shows at
the Henry Buhl Jr. Planetarium & Observatory
(Friday and Saturday nights feature live
laser fantasy shows). The Science Center
is also a great place for special event
rentals and birthday parties.
Carnegie
Science Center
Dedicated to educating, entertaining and
inspiring through programs in science, sports,
and technology. Includes exhibit details,
hours, directions and ...
http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/
Carnegie Science Center: USS Requin Submarine
Located on Pittsburgh's North Shore, Carnegie
Science Center is one of the four Carnegie
Museums in Pittsburgh. Carnegie Science
Center is dedicated to ...
http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/default.aspx?pageId=38
The
Carnegie Science Center
In the following few years one of the private-public
partnerships for which Pittsburgh is well
known began to shape the future Carnegie
Science Center: The ...
http://www.clpgh.org/exhibit/neighborhoods/oakland/oak_centg.html
What
if someone told you the piece of ground
you were standing on was known as
the "Most Haunted Scariest Spot
in the world"! Would you believe
them?
Whitechapel,
Sloss Furnace, Amityville, Spittalfields,
London East End, London, England,
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Auschwitz-Birkenau
Concentration Camp, Oswiecim, Poland,
Amityville, NY, or the Waverly Ghosts
of the Kentucky Sanatorium, Bachelor's
Grove, Bald Mountain Or The entire
Haunted City of New Orleans. It's
all up to conjecture... Haunted
America Tours lets People who visit
the site vote to see what they believe
is the most haunted location, other
paranormal sites, and television
shows pick and choose their haunted
places for you.
THIS STORY MAY JUST PUT A NEW REAL
HAUNTED HOTSPOT ON YOUR LIST OF
REAL SCARY AND MOST HAUNTED PLACES
TO INVESTIGATE!
TO READ MORE PLEASE VISIT HERE NOW! |
