16 replies to this topic

[Camille]

Hmmm.  How about the "Murder Swamp" near New Castle?

[DSF]

Ghostly, check out Johnstown, PA.  I think there is a thread somewhere on this board about it.  There's some good stuff there.

Camilee, WHAT is this "murder swamp" in New Castle.  I grew up and live near the area and I have never heard anything about it.  I am anxious to hear about this one.

[Camille]

"Murder Swamp" was a very real dumping ground for a serial killer(s).  It was the site where the decaptitated remains of several people were discovered in the 1920's, the late 1930's-early 40's and again in 1952.  It is located near a river delta on and around the McKees Rocks railyards along the Pitts and Erie railroad tracks in near New Castle.  

Here in Cleveland, some law enforcement believed that the "Mad Butcher" of Kingsbury Run was responsible for those murders.

I've never heard or read about any investigations in this area, and so am curious if anyone finds anything...

There are some great writings put out by PA historian and newswriter George Swetnam ("Devils, Ghosts and Witches:  Occult Folklore of the Upper Ohio Valley" 1988) and Cleveland author Ralph Stark Bellamy ("The Maniac in the Bushes and Other Tales of Cleveland Woe" 1997) on the Murder Swamp.

It's really fascinating stuff.  Was wondering whether (and hoping) that someone's investigated the place.  To me, it would seem ripe for paranormal activity.

[freyjasdottir]

Ghostly,
New Castle is pretty close to the Ohio border about halfway up the state...

I've been to Mount Hope Estates once, very pretty place

[RequiemEternum]

Pennsylvania has a ton of locations that are listed...but many others are still unrecognized. Everyone knows the bigger places such as Gettysburg, Pittsburg, Philly, Berks and Lancaster County, but other locations are constantly overlooked. A lot of places in NEPA are old mining towns with quite a history to them, and you'd be suprised with how many cemetaries are probably not on consecrated ground. I know a number of good places in Luzerne County that aren't really recognized, all within the Wilkes-Barre area. If you're interested in any of these, contact me directly and I can name off a few hotspots you might be interested in checking out. I'm keeping a lot of these places annonymous to the "general public" for the time being, since I'm still in the process of getting an investigation team together to do a more thorough research, but if you're near that area and are interested in checking out a few places, let me know.

[PoconoMouse]

Quote

Pennsylvania has a ton of locations that are listed...but many others are still unrecognized. Everyone knows the bigger places such as Gettysburg, Pittsburg, Philly, Berks and Lancaster County, but other locations are constantly overlooked. A lot of places in NEPA are old mining towns with quite a history to them, and you'd be suprised with how many cemetaries are probably not on consecrated ground. I know a number of good places in Luzerne County that aren't really recognized, all within the Wilkes-Barre area. If you're interested in any of these, contact me directly and I can name off a few hotspots you might be interested in checking out. I'm keeping a lot of these places annonymous to the "general public" for the time being, since I'm still in the process of getting an investigation team together to do a more thorough research, but if you're near that area and are interested in checking out a few places, let me know.

I am glad I saw this post because I was going to post asking if anyone knew of any locations in Luzerne Co, PA. I will email you directly as you requested.

[ucnick]

PoconoMouse, on May 10 2004, 06:03 AM, said:

Quote

Pennsylvania has a ton of locations that are listed...but many others are still unrecognized. Everyone knows the bigger places such as Gettysburg, Pittsburg, Philly, Berks and Lancaster County, but other locations are constantly overlooked. A lot of places in NEPA are old mining towns with quite a history to them, and you'd be suprised with how many cemetaries are probably not on consecrated ground. I know a number of good places in Luzerne County that aren't really recognized, all within the Wilkes-Barre area. If you're interested in any of these, contact me directly and I can name off a few hotspots you might be interested in checking out. I'm keeping a lot of these places annonymous to the "general public" for the time being, since I'm still in the process of getting an investigation team together to do a more thorough research, but if you're near that area and are interested in checking out a few places, let me know.

I am glad I saw this post because I was going to post asking if anyone knew of any locations in Luzerne Co, PA. I will email you directly as you requested.

I went to Wilkes College (now Wilkes University) in the mid 70s to early 80s and heard many stories from girlfriends about weird occurrences in some of the women's dorms like Delaware, as well as a few other dorms whose names I don't recall. Stuff like rocking chairs rocking themselves, water faucets turning themselves on and off in the night, doors opening and closing, footsteps on the ceiling, that sort of thing. Also was in the school Karate club, before I had joined they had a meeting in one of the dorms that was empty over the weekend, heard sounds from downstairs, went to investigate, no one there, went back upstairs to the meeting, started again, checked again, still no one - enough was enough, they left. A very good friend of mine ran the club and told me about this, he was a veteran streetfighter and had a black belt in judo and a brown belt in karate but he did not want to stay in there! Interestingly enough, I never heard of any activity in the men's dorms....

[freshmug7]

im from lancaster pa and i have travaled all over lancaster york and some other areas theres a alot of good places around this aera but i would half to saty the best place to go is gettysburg

jb

[midnight_ravynhawk]

Requiem I'm from Benton and I can't email you directly because I'm not a member yet, but I'm working hard on my posts. I'm going to a ghost hunting class in Oct. and would be really interested in joining a group that is close to me.

[Carmen Rose]

Can someone please give me more information on Murder Swamp? Was there ever discovered the body of a youg girl around the age of 5?

[TheresaRHPS]

Carmen Rose, on 31 July 2012 - 11:41 PM, said:

Can someone please give me more information on Murder Swamp? Was there ever discovered the body of a youg girl around the age of 5?

Here's a link to get you started. Unfortunately, I poked around a bit and found that 5 of 7 bodies were noted to be adults, including one cited as a "young male," but no mention of a little girl. The body of a woman was found well after the initial 'burst' of bodies being found, and since its theorized that this area may be the dumping grounds for more than one person's grisly deeds, its possible that a little girl was dumped there and either hasn't been found yet...or that information isn't easily found in a 5 minute google search, lol.

http://www.trutv.com..._scene2/13.html


Anyway, I have another popular PA location to add to list...Ever since this location was featured on SyFy's School Spirits, my website has been blowing up, lol. Its the Ghost of Mary Green Hall, on the campus of LVC. Here's the tale as featured on my website:

Mary Capp Green Hall is a coed residence hall, located on the campus of Lebanon Valley College, in Annville, Pennsylvania. Although the college was founded in 1866, Mary Green Hall has only been a campus staple since its dedication on Saturday, May 18, 1957. Named for the former Dean of Women, Mary Capp Green, the building originally was a women's only dormitory built under the presidency of Dr. Frederic K. Miller.

Legend states that the dorm is haunted by a little girl. As the story goes, the girl's older sister was moving into the dorm on its opening day of the Fall 1957 semester. As the girls' parents were assisting the older daughter in getting settled, the younger sister, bored, wandered off to play with her ball outside. It is here where the story's details become muddled depending on the story-teller. Some say that the ball got away from the girl and rolled into the road, where the girl was hit and killed by a passing car. Other stories claim that the ball got away from her and she found herself on the railroad tracks that are located immediately behind the dormitory and met her demise there, being hit by a passing train.

Stories of the little girl were popular gossip among more modern residents of the dorm and many claimed that on many nights, the little girl's giggling and the bouncing of her ball could be heard in the hallways.

In 2002, several male residents of the now coed building decided to incorporate the legends of the little girl into their sophomoric college pranks. They recorded the giggling of a little girl, and played the tape, along with bouncing a ball, down the hallways one night during Quiet Hours. They believe they may have possibly awoken the girl's spirit once again.

Immediately after the incident, the boys began experiencing electrical disturbances in their room. Another residence saw the little girl running noiselessly down the hall. After several more sightings, the boy's decided to apologize to the little girl in hopes to bring her spirit some peace.

These tales were recently featured on an episode of SyFy's new School Spirits show. The location is also a stop on a popular campus haunted history tour.

[Carmen Rose]

TheresaRHPS, on 01 August 2012 - 11:45 AM, said:

Carmen Rose, on 31 July 2012 - 11:41 PM, said:

Can someone please give me more information on Murder Swamp? Was there ever discovered the body of a youg girl around the age of 5?

Here's a link to get you started. Unfortunately, I poked around a bit and found that 5 of 7 bodies were noted to be adults, including one cited as a "young male," but no mention of a little girl. The body of a woman was found well after the initial 'burst' of bodies being found, and since its theorized that this area may be the dumping grounds for more than one person's grisly deeds, its possible that a little girl was dumped there and either hasn't been found yet...or that information isn't easily found in a 5 minute google search, lol.

http://www.trutv.com..._scene2/13.html


Anyway, I have another popular PA location to add to list...Ever since this location was featured on SyFy's School Spirits, my website has been blowing up, lol. Its the Ghost of Mary Green Hall, on the campus of LVC. Here's the tale as featured on my website:

Mary Capp Green Hall is a coed residence hall, located on the campus of Lebanon Valley College, in Annville, Pennsylvania. Although the college was founded in 1866, Mary Green Hall has only been a campus staple since its dedication on Saturday, May 18, 1957. Named for the former Dean of Women, Mary Capp Green, the building originally was a women's only dormitory built under the presidency of Dr. Frederic K. Miller.

Legend states that the dorm is haunted by a little girl. As the story goes, the girl's older sister was moving into the dorm on its opening day of the Fall 1957 semester. As the girls' parents were assisting the older daughter in getting settled, the younger sister, bored, wandered off to play with her ball outside. It is here where the story's details become muddled depending on the story-teller. Some say that the ball got away from the girl and rolled into the road, where the girl was hit and killed by a passing car. Other stories claim that the ball got away from her and she found herself on the railroad tracks that are located immediately behind the dormitory and met her demise there, being hit by a passing train.

Stories of the little girl were popular gossip among more modern residents of the dorm and many claimed that on many nights, the little girl's giggling and the bouncing of her ball could be heard in the hallways.

In 2002, several male residents of the now coed building decided to incorporate the legends of the little girl into their sophomoric college pranks. They recorded the giggling of a little girl, and played the tape, along with bouncing a ball, down the hallways one night during Quiet Hours. They believe they may have possibly awoken the girl's spirit once again.

Immediately after the incident, the boys began experiencing electrical disturbances in their room. Another residence saw the little girl running noiselessly down the hall. After several more sightings, the boy's decided to apologize to the little girl in hopes to bring her spirit some peace.

These tales were recently featured on an episode of SyFy's new School Spirits show. The location is also a stop on a popular campus haunted history tour.

How young was the young male? or was it said?

[Carmen Rose]

are there any haunted swamps in Effort,PA?

[creepyjon]

I have been trying to find the physical location of murder swamp for over 10 years, does anyone have gps coordinates or better directions that it's near new castle which is all I have ever heard no matter how many people I ask? I've been bugging people for years, and very few have ever heard of it, let alone know where it is. The cemetery where several of the torso killer's victims are buried is in a very rough part of cleveland on a main road and between 44th and 45th st, but it's pretty much off limits to explore. The site of the the murders in cleveland is an even worse part of town and is not safe with anything less than an assault rifle. People not from around here really don't understand how bad cleveland is. I've always wanted to try and do something related to the torso killers, and the swamp has been my nemesis for far too long. Also if you game for going with me, I have an open door policy and hunt with anyone crazy enough to come hang out with me.

[CaveRat2]

Been there. ( not for Torso Murders, rather investigated a Bigfoot sighting report a couple years ago.)

Murder swamp is along the railroad tracks near Lawrence Junction. That area is between New Castle and West Pittsburg. The entire area is a backwater near the New Castle sewage treatment plant. It is just off the Pa turnpike.

Regarding the exact location of a swamp, the term refers to the entire area; no exact location for a particular swamp is noted. The area along the stream is generally swampy and thus referred to as the "swamp" Regarding the torso murders, the bodies turned up in several of these swampy areas. Some debate exists over exact locations but the information could probably be found with some research.