Haunted Roads of Western Pennsylvania

by Thomas White

  Haunted roads, like many other legend trip destinations, exist in what are known as liminal spaces. Liminal space is a place of transition, both physical and psychological. Such spaces can be understood as boundaries between physical areas and/or social and cultural divisions. Liminal spaces are open to interpretation and do not always fit into a clear category because they are vaguely defined, much like supernatural experiences themselves. Haunted roads are in many ways the ideal liminal space for a legend to unfold. These roads are usually located at the fringe of suburbia or in nearby rural areas and are fairly isolated but still easily accessible by car. They are not places where one would normally go in his or her daily routine. For people who live on or near the roads, they hold little mystery. But for legend trippers who are unfamiliar with the area, the dark and lonely stretches seem like they are places where truly unusual things can happen. In some cases, the legends about specific haunted roads decline over time as areas develop and cease to be true liminal spaces. There will be a few examples of such transitions in this volume.

  While it has traditionally been assumed that legend trips are primarily undertaken by adolescents, this is not the case, at least not anymore. In fact, in recent years, adults have made the trips to haunted roads as often as teenagers. Though their motivations may vary a little, both of these groups are seeking contact with ghosts and supernatural entities. Adults are often more serious than their teenage counterparts, and many are ghost hunters and paranormal investigators seeking some kind of serious proof of hauntings. They are frequently aware that a haunted road may be steeped in untrue urban legends but attempt to discover whether there are any real supernatural occurrences that inspired the legends. Paranormal investigators may attempt to use scientific or pseudo-scientific means to find proof of ghosts but in the process are adding another layer of ritual to the legend trip. By using devices like electromagnetic field (EMF) detectors, cameras and audio recorders, they try to elicit a supernatural reaction. Investigators ask ghosts and spirits questions, hoping they will speak into a recorder or make an EMF detector spike as a response. It is, at some level, the same as any of the other previously mentioned legend trip rituals. Such technology is often used in conjunction with the other, more mundane rituals. The primary difference is that the paranormal investigators believe that they document the existence of the supernatural in addition to experiencing it. The validity of such evidence is hotly debated, and we will not try to settle such arguments here. It is also important to remember that everyone who travels to a haunted road, regardless of age or purpose, is also going there for entertainment and excitement.

  A view of the abandoned stretch of Irwin/Blue Mist Road. The road is a prime example of a liminal space. Authors’ collection.

  GHOSTS, URBAN LEGENDS AND THE SUPERNATURAL

  Now that we have discussed both the transmission of legends and the experience of the legend trip, we must turn to a more elusive subject that is at the very core of haunted roads—the ghosts themselves. The belief in ghosts is as old as recorded history and just as alive today as it has ever been. Ghosts have been the subject of much thought and speculation over the centuries, in spite of their intangible form. Many reasons have been suggested for their appearance. Some ghosts were once thought to guard treasure, while others stayed around to right a wrong, prevent an injustice or even identify their own killer. The ghost may even be seeking revenge on someone who wronged him or her. Some people believe that ghosts remain because of a tragic or untimely death that left a person’s spirit tied to the material world, unable to move on. Other ghosts are thought to appear only once or a few times, just long enough to say goodbye to a loved one. There are some researchers who believe ghosts may not even be conscious entities at all but are rather like a recording in the Earth’s electromagnetic field, replaying an action over and over again that was performed frequently in life.

  Before we go any further, we must be clear that we are not attempting to prove or disprove the existence of ghosts and supernatural phenomena. The belief in ghosts is both personal and subjective. Science can neither confirm nor eliminate the possibility of ghosts because they are unmeasurable by scientific means. Many people, including the authors, have had authentic experiences that could be deemed supernatural, though there is no real way to quantify or confirm such happenings. Just as there are many alleged supernatural occurrences that have practical explanations, there are those that remain mysterious and unexplained.

  Most ghost stories have more than one layer of meaning, however, and they are not always obvious to the observer or the person who experiences the haunting. On the surface is the direct encounter with the supernatural, whether real or imagined. As previously mentioned, this layer is the most difficult to assess, but it is obviously the one that holds the most interest for those who casually hear of the legend or of a firsthand encounter. But if we dig a little deeper, the legends of haunted roads can reveal much more.

  Some ghost stories actually function as a form of nontraditional community history. These types of supernatural accounts are usually based on some historically verifiable facts. At least a few of the people, places and events that they describe can be proven to have existed or occurred. That is not to say that all of the elements of the ghost story are true, but the fact that they are grounded in reality makes them plausible. The people and events in the ghost stories may not have been recognized as historically significant at the time that they occurred, but they had an impact on the local community. Telling the ghost story recalls these people and events and keeps them in the popular memory.

  This is one reason why ghost stories are frequently tied to marginalized groups of people. Until the second half of the twentieth century, history was written primarily from one perspective. Women, immigrants and minorities were often left out of professional historical accounts or were barely touched upon. Ghost stories were one way to keep the history and memories of their communities alive, even among outsiders. For example, if one surveys Pennsylvania’s ghost stories from or about the 1800s, one would find that a very large number of the reported ghosts are female. Does this mean women make better ghosts? Of course not. Women’s lives were documented far less extensively than men’s in the histories of the day, even when they met tragic ends. However, when a ghost story is told about them, it keeps pieces of their personal histories alive in a nontraditional, almost hidden way.

  These kinds of ghost stories can also be a record of some tragic event that impacted a community, like a ripple in the collective memory. Accidents, fires and murders all hold a level of morbid fascination for those who were not involved directly or heard about them later. The stories of victims can easily morph into reports of ghosts in such situations, and the memory of the tragedy is kept alive for years, and sometimes generations, to come. Of course a ghost story can keep a community memory alive in spite of attempts to let it fade. These ghosts may remind a community of racism, greed, incompetence or corruption. In such cases, the ghost is a moral reminder for the community involved.

  Not all ghost stories carry a direct historical link, however. Such stories fall into the realm of what is commonly known as urban legend. While all the ghost stories are technically legends, for this book we will use the popular term to describe legends that can be proven to be historically false. These types of ghostly tales are not true in the sense that they represent actual people and occurrences, but they are true representations of societal fears. Urban legends carry warnings about perceived dangers and moral threats and are often initially indistinguishable from the historically based ghost stories. Upon closer examination though, it becomes clear that they resemble stories that are told in other areas of the state and country. Such legends carry weight and seem believable because they are passed along by trustworthy friends and acquaintances who heard the legend in the same way. Though many urban legends do not have a supernatural component, there are a sizeable number that do.

  Urban legends remain popular, even
though they lack verifiable proof, because they tap into the underlying fears of a community. Those fears sustain the legends and keep them alive for a while because they seem like they could happen. The urban legends of different decades reflect social and cultural fears of that time. They also frequently carry a moral warning, reminding listeners to remain vigilant against moral corruption. A non-supernatural example of this is the classic urban legend of the babysitter on acid. It emerged in the late 1960s and circulated well into the 1980s. The story has several variations, but basically a couple leaves their baby at home with a teenage babysitter (who was sometimes described as a hippie) while they go out for the evening. At some point in the evening, the babysitter takes acid. The parents called to check on everything after a few hours and the babysitter told them that she put the turkey in the oven. Not knowing what she was talking about, and being concerned by the strange conversation, they hurried back home. When they got there, to their horror, the babysitter had put the baby in a roasting pan and cooked it in the oven, being delusional because of the LSD. The purpose of the legend was twofold. First, it warned teenagers of the dangers of drug use. Second, it warned parents to be careful with whom they entrusted their children.

  Urban legends and the more historically based ghost stories also become a way to address death and dying. Ghost stories, including the ones associated with our haunted roads, usually involve individuals who met a tragic or untimely end. Car accidents, murders and other similar occurrences impact the young as often as they do the old. Ghost stories and urban legends are a way for young people to address fears and issues concerning mortality in an indirect way. They also allow for the possibility of life after death.

  As we look at western Pennsylvania’s haunted roads, it will be apparent that many of the stories are urban legends that address fears and social conflicts. Others will have real historical roots that at least partially live on in the roads’ legends. Most of the time, however, the legends about any particular haunted road are a combination or mixture of the two types of ghost stories. And if the roads are really haunted—well—we can’t speak for the ghosts.

  COMMON THEMES AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT

  The interest in haunted roads and the activity around them must also be placed against the historical background from which the legends emerged. All of the road legends that we will examine in this volume became popular legend trip destinations in post–World War II America. Some of the stories may contain elements that predate that time, but they only attracted regular visitors afterward. It would be impossible for us to discuss every historical influence and change from the second half of the twentieth century that made visits to haunted roads popular. Instead, we will just mention a few larger cultural changes that seem to directly apply to the roads and their legends.

  Two of these changes, and perhaps the most obvious, are the birth of “car culture” and the changes to the status of teenagers in the postwar years. Due to the economic boom after the Second World War, more Americans could afford to buy a car (and often a second) than in the past. Coupled with Eisenhower’s Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, average Americans were able to travel, explore and take vacations like never before. Americans also moved to the suburbs in record numbers because of their mobility and newfound prosperity, which placed them closer to the liminal spaces that haunted roads occupied. In fact, in the beginning, suburbs themselves were liminal spaces, neither urban nor rural, but a blending of both. They rapidly became a defined space, however, for the new American middle class.

  At the same time, teenagers were experiencing more free time, and they also had more spending money because the wages that they earned were not necessary to keep the family financially afloat. Often teenagers invested this money in cars of their own. Many grew up in the suburbs, with much of America’s consumer and entertainment culture targeted directly at them. With more time and mobility, teenagers around America began to take legend trips more frequently. They almost always went to car-accessible areas like haunted roads, which existed on the fringe of their routine world.

  The cars themselves often became a center of legend trip rituals. As we explore western Pennsylvania’s haunted roads, it will become clear that cars hold a special place in many of the legends. Because of their importance to the legend trips, these machines become the unlikely link to the supernatural.

  By the late 1960s, as society changed again, there was a resurgence of interest in the occult and the supernatural for a variety of reasons. Though such interest may have begun among youth involved in the counterculture of the day, it quickly went mainstream. Interest in Eastern mysticism, traditional European occult practices, Druidism and Wicca, poltergeists, ghosts, Bigfoot and UFOs all surged during that time. This is easily seen in the movies, music and popular culture of the day. Bands like Black Sabbath and movies like Rosemary’s Baby and The Exorcist reflected the darker aspects of the newfound obsession with the supernatural.

  A new wave of changes and a conservative backlash began to emerge in the mid-1970s as America faced new social and economic problems. Trust in government reached an all-time low after Watergate. Revelations about government misdeeds destroyed Americans’ trust in the system and spurred the growth of conspiracy culture. Threats seemed to emerge from all sides, and the fears that they brought with them were fed by the ever­growing media. Predators and other threats to children and families, serial killers, drugs and cults came to dominate the news. Many Americans felt that their traditional ideas and culture were under assault from all sides. By the 1980s, the interest in the occult came under fire as the Satanic Panic swept the nation. So-called experts identified a vast network of thousands of devil-worshipping, child-abusing, ritually murdering cult members (who, of course, never really existed). Though the panic faded by the mid-1990s, it left a lasting impression on a generation of young people who grew up during that time.

  Parallel to the Satanic Panic, an interest in all things paranormal continued to grow among a different segment of the population. For many, it was a matter of curiosity about the unexplained. For others, the “New Age” provided an alternative spirituality. Paranormal enthusiasts remained something of a subculture in the 1970s and ’80s. The topic was confined mostly to magazines and books, but there were still a handful of television shows like In Search Of (1977–82) that broached paranormal topics in a documentary format. The coming of the Internet in the 1990s pushed the paranormal into the mainstream, allowing users to share experiences and information like never before. Fringe topics began to be taken seriously. By the 2000s, paranormal themes saturated television networks as the paranormal investigators/ghost hunters became the stars.

  A variety of different polls in the past ten years have placed the number of Americans that believe in ghosts at about 50 percent. The surge in paranormal interest in recent years has driven more people to personally seek out supernatural experiences. As a result, haunted roads and other haunted locations have received a long stream of visitors from curious teenagers to amateur paranormal investigators alike. Western Pennsylvania’s haunted roads are no exception to this trend. So let us begin our look at the region’s most mysterious roads with the one that may be the most documented of the group—Blue Mist Road.

  BLUE MIST ROAD

  ALLEGHENY COUNTY

  On the edge of North Park, in northern Allegheny County, is a long and isolated road that has become home to many legends and ghost stories over the past several decades. Stretching from Babcock Boulevard to Route 910, Irwin Road runs for almost two and a half miles along the stream called Irwin Run. For those acquainted with its legends, it is known by the more mysterious name of Blue Mist Road.

  Blue Mist Road is interesting not only because it is genuinely creepy but also because it provides one of the best examples of how legends can evolve over time. The earliest stories date from at least the beginning of the 1970s, though some people claim to remember tales circulating in the mid- to late ’60s. These legends originally spr
ead in the surrounding communities and schools but later reached a wider audience over the Internet. The road itself dates back to the 1930s, but very few buildings have been constructed along the lonely stretch. Most of the houses that are on the road occupy the northernmost portion near Route 910. (This part of the road is a normal neighborhood, so please be respectful of people’s property and privacy.) The majority of Blue Mist Road is blocked off from car traffic by metal barriers and is currently owned by the Allegheny Land Trust, which has preserved it as a trail adjacent to North Park. This section has crumbled and has not been maintained for vehicles, which adds to its creepy and abandoned atmosphere. The southernmost portion, which connects to Babcock Boulevard, is still maintained by the county. There is one very long driveway that connects to this section. At various times in the past, the Babcock “entrance” has been blocked by sawhorses to prevent vehicle traffic. This part of the road is open only to authorized vehicles today. As a result, most legend trippers now visit Blue Mist Road on foot, though in the past it was possible to drive down at least part of the way.