Haunted Pittsburgh Archives

2010-02-22T20:16:00.000-08:00

About Us

2009-11-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

We are the archivists of Pittsburgh's nightmares, the trustees of its greatest ghost stories and of all things that go bump in the night in Western Pennsylvania. Our region is a veritable treasure trove of the unexplained and the macabre, but few people tell Pittsburgh's great ghost stories nowadays because there are so few venues for it. We created Haunted Pittsburgh to fill that void. Our interest in Pittsburgh's supernatural, sometimes grisly, sometimes ghastly, past led to years of research to compile the greatest Pittsburgh ghost yarns stretching from the French and Indian War all the way through present day.

Pittsburgh has been famously called "hell with the lid off." We let our guests decide how accurate that is, but it's beyond dispute that our city's character was forged in vicious labor strife, and in pig iron furnaces so hot that men and women sometimes forgot their fear of hell. Any town that has lived through the turbulence and the tumult we've experienced simply can’t escape its ghosts.

Journey with us back to the Gilded Age of ragtime and of robber barons, of boastful mansions and of a "Millionaire's Row" that was the most exclusive address in America. Relive the terrifying stories of two Allegheny West homes where unspeakable horrors occurred. One of them was widely regarded as the "most haunted house in America," and for good reason -- alas, it is no more: it was destroyed in the famous Equitable Gas explosion of 1927. The other is still haunted to this day.

Thrill to the other-worldly tale, which also happened to be the biggest news story in the nation at the time, about the attempt to kill steel magnate Henry Clay Frick, "the most hated man in America," and how, according to Mr. Frick himself, it was thwarted by a ghostly apparition. (Here is the present day site of the building where Frick was almost killed -- on Fifth Avenue across from One PNC Plaza.) And feel the goose bumps rise as we tell you about the spirits that still inhabit Clayton, Mr. Frick's East End mansion.

Join as we try to solve the riddle of whether Harry K. Thaw killed the celebrated architect Stanford White in 1906 to avenge his wife Evelyn Nesbitt's honor, or because a spirit possessed him and commanded him to do it. The shocking crime resulted in the "trial of the century."

Allow us to regale you with stories that will make your blood run cold about the Johnstown Flood; the premonition of Roberto Clemente's death; Mrs. Soffel's deadly romance with Ed Biddle, leader of the "Chloroform Gang"; the sad spectre keeping watch over Fallingwater; the infamous mystery concerning the crash of the B-25 bomber in the Mon; the UFO witnessed by dozens of Pittsburghers in 1978; even Liberace's brush with the supernatural when he nearly died in Pittsburgh in 1963, and many, many more.

We are constantly updating our research. If you have a lead you'd be willing to share with us about a Western Pennsylvania ghost, write to us at hauntedpittsburgh@rocketmail.com

Three thrilling, ghostly events

2009-11-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

We offer three unique, ghostly events:

DINNER WITH GOOSEBUMPS: See here
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GHOST TREK THROUGH HAUNTED SOUTH SIDE: See here
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CARRIAGE RIDES AND WALKING TOURS INTO PITTSBURGH'S GHOSTLY PAST (DOWNTOWN): See here

Carriage Rides and Walking Tours Into Pittsburgh's Glorious, Ghostly Past -- Downtown

2009-10-31T20:03:00.000-07:00

CARRIAGE RIDES AND WALKING TOURS INTO PITTSBURGH'S GHOSTLY PAST: Coming in November, in the heart of it all, the Golden Triangle. Tours to be led by the dean of Pittsburgh tour guides, Woody Cunningham. Watch this space for details.

Walking Tour Through Haunted, Historic South Side

2009-10-31T20:00:00.001-07:00

Saturday: 11/7 and 11/14: 7:30 pm. Starting from the Carson Street Deli, 1507 East Carson Street. 412-381-5335. Tickets: 15$ purchased at the Carson Street Deli. The tour runs approximately one hour and fifteen minutes.

A UNIQUE WALKING TOUR THROUGH HISTORIC, AND HAUNTED, SOUTH SIDE, the "workshop of the world," on the picturesque streets between Carson and the Mon. On the tour you will hear the supernatural stories about the City Theater, Gypsy Cafe, Lava Lounge, and the Carson Street Deli. We've collected blood-curdling tales of the unexplained about private homes along the way (although we make a point not to intrude on anyone's privacy). And we can't forget the mills: steel is imprinted on our town's DNA, so it's understandable that the ghosts of the mills provide for some Pittsburgh's creepiest tales -- from the strange apparition of Slag Pile Annie to the downright ghastly apparition of Jim Grabowski. The walk provides a one-of-a-kind panorama of the Bluff, so we regale our guests with the amazing ghost tales of Duquesne University and Mercy Hospital. Journey with us back to the Gilded Age of robber barons and of boastful mansions and relive the terrifying story that can't be left out of any Pittsburgh ghost tour, the tale about "the most haunted house in America," 1129 Ridge Avenue in old Allegheny West (alas, there is no walking tour at that location because it's just an empty lot now).

Dinner with Goosebumps

2009-10-31T20:00:00.000-07:00

Enjoy Pittsburgh’s best Pan-European cuisine in a haunted (yes, it's haunted) neighborhood cafe as you listen to the chilling tales of Pittsburgh’s ghostly past, with the great Samantha Bennett as your ghost guide: dinner served with goose bumps.

Wednesdays at Gypsy Cafe: November 4 (7:30 start) and November 11 (7:30 start). Price: $30 (with reservation).

THEN . . . we prepare for our Christmas Ghost Dinners to start after Thanksgiving -- the usual great Gypsy food served with Christmas ghost stories!

For Reservations: Call 412-381-4977 - Gypsy Cafe. 1330 Bingham Street, Southside, Pittsburgh PA. Directions here

About us

2009-10-31T19:13:00.000-07:00

The Ghost Walking Tour through historic, haunted South Side

2009-10-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Halloween: 7:00 and 8:30 pm

Sat: 11/7 and 11/14: 7:30 pm

Starting from the Carson Street Deli.

1507 East Carson Street. 412-381-5335

Tickets: 15$ purchased at the Carson Street Deli

The tour runs approximately one hour and fifteen minutes.

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A UNIQUE WALKING TOUR THROUGH HISTORIC, AND HAUNTED, SOUTH SIDE, the "workshop of the world," on the picturesque streets between Carson and the Mon. Pittsburgh has been famously called "hell with the lid off." We let our guests decide how accurate that is, but it is beyond dispute that our city's character was forged in vicious labor strife, and in pig iron furnaces so hot that men and women sometimes forgot their fear of hell. Any town that has lived through the turbulence and the tumult we've experienced simply can’t escape its ghosts. If you’re looking for ghost stories, paradoxically, you usually have to go where there’s a high level of vitality, and in Pittsburgh, there's no more vibrant -- or haunted -- neighborhood than South Side. Amidst the unique concentration of mid-Victorian architecture, we have uncovered an unusually high concentration of ghost stories.

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ON THE TOUR, you will hear the supernatural stories about the City Theater, Gypsy Cafe, Lava Lounge, and the Carson Street Deli. We've collected blood-curdling tales of the unexplained about private homes along the way (although we make a point not to intrude on anyone's privacy). And we can't forget the mills: steel is imprinted on our town's DNA, so it's understandable that the ghosts of the mills provide for some Pittsburgh's creepiest tales -- from the strange apparition of Slag Pile Annie to the downright ghastly apparition of Jim Grabowski. The walk provides a one-of-a-kind panorama of the Bluff, so we regale our guests with the amazing ghost tales of Duquesne University and Mercy Hospital. Journey with us back to the Gilded Age of robber barons and of boastful mansions and relive the terrifying story that can't be left out of any Pittsburgh ghost tour, the tale about "the most haunted house in America," 1129 Ridge Avenue in old Allegheny West (alas, there is no walking tour at that location because it's just an empty lot now).

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OUR PRINCIPAL GHOST GUIDE is the undisputed Godfather of Pittsburgh tour guides, historian and raconteur Woody Cunningham -- read about him here.

Return to home page here and check out our "Dinner with Goose Bumps"

Pitt News October 14 2009 (page 2) - click picture to enlarge

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Pitt News October 14 2009 (page 1) - click picture to enlarge

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Page 2 here

Haunted Pittsburgh's Woody Cunningham on KDKA-TV's Pittsburgh Today Live

2009-10-13T18:19:00.000-07:00

Haunted Pittsburgh's Woody Cunningham, the undisputed dean of Pittsburgh tour guides, was a guest on Pittsburgh Today Live on October 28, 2009. Woody explained our South Side walking tour and told stories about the house next to City Theater in South Side, 1129 Ridge Avenue, Byers Hall, and the Aviary.

Directions to Gypsy

2009-06-27T15:07:00.000-07:00

1330 Bingham Street,Pittsburgh, 15203Bingham Street runs parallel to East Carson Street, one block closer (North) to the Monongahela River. We are conveniently located two buildings East of City Theatre in South Side.

From the Birmingham Bridge (Oakland and City East): Bear Right onto East Carson Street and follow West through several lights to 13th Street (The Pickle Barrel; Dairy Queen). Turn Right onto 13th Street, then Right onto Bingham Street (City Theatre). Gypsy is located on the right hand side, directly across from the Schwartz Market/City Theatre parking lot, 1330 Bingham, at the corner of 14th Street.

From the West End, Station Square, and Smithfield Street Bridge (Downtown): Follow West Carson Street headed East, with Station Square and the Monongahela River on your left. Continue past the Smithfield Street Bridge, or turn Left onto East Carson from the Smithfield Street Bridge from Downtown Pittsburgh (the bridge is the division of West and East Carson St.)Follow East Carson Street to 13th Street (Dairy Queen on left). Turn Left onto 13th Street, then turn Right onto Bingham Street (City Theatre). Gypsy is located on the right hand side, directly across from the Schwartz Market/City Theatre parking lot, 1330 Bingham at the corner of 14th Street.

From Eastern Suburbs/I 376/Second Avenue and the 10th Street Bridge (Downtown): From 376 West headed toward Pittsburgh, take the Glenwood Exit (just past Oakland) and turn Right onto Second Avenue. Follow Second Avenue along the Monongahela River approximately 1.5 miles to the 10th Street Bridge/Armstrong Tunnel. Turn Left onto the 10th Street Bridge and get into the Left lane. Turn Left at the end of the bridge onto Muriel Street. Follow Muriel Street 3 blocks to 13th Street and turn Right. Turn Left onto Bingham Street (City Theatre). Gypsy is located on the right hand side, directly across from the Schwartz Market/City Theatre parking lot, 1330 Bingham at the corner of 14th Street.

From South Hills area: Approach the Liberty Tunnels and get into the Right Lane. Turn Right at the end of the tunnel, following signs to South Side. Cross at the light onto PJ McArdle Roadway and follow until it ends on 10th Street. Turn Left onto 10th Street and follow it to East Carson Street and turn Right. Turn Left onto 13th Street, then turn Right onto Bingham Street (City Theatre). Gypsy is located on the right hand side, directly across from the Schwartz Market/City Theatre parking lot, 1330 Bingham at the corner of 14th Street.

Gypsy Cafe -- 1330 Bingham Street, Southside, Pittsburgh PA 412.381.GYPSY (4977).

About us

2009-06-26T15:24:00.000-07:00

We are Haunted Pittsburgh LLC, a group of Western Pennsylvania professionals whose interest in Pittsburgh's macabre, unexplained, ghostly, sometimes ghastly past led to years of research and studying in an effort to compile all the shocking tales from the French and Indian War through today.

For a fixed price, we serve up Pittsburgh’s most chilling ghost stories along with the best food in town -- a dinner that will delight your palate and stories that will tingle your spine. Please note that all cuisine is served with a generous helping of goose bumps.

We are launching a South Side ghost tour in the summer of 2009 -- details soon on this website.

We are constantly updating our research and welcome any and all leads you might have. Write to us here: hauntedpittsburgh@rocketmail.com

2009-06-25T19:00:00.000-07:00

The dagger at the center of one of Pittsburgh's greatest ghost stories

2009-06-25T16:00:00.000-07:00

This dagger -- now on display at the Senator John Heinz History Center -- was at the center not only of one of Pittsburgh's greatest ghost stories but of the biggest news story in America at the time it was used to try to kill a powerful steel magnate.

On the afternoon of July 23, 1892, while the greatest steel strike in American history was raging against the Carnegie Steel Company, an anarchist named Alexander Berkman burst into the downtown office of the man who ran the company, Henry Clay Frick -- "the most hated man in America" -- and shot him twice in the neck and stabbed him four times with this dagger.

Frick survived the attack, and Berkman later claimed his bullets failed to hit Frick in the head because he was blinded by light coming through the office window. The only problem is, there was no light coming through the window. Mr. Frick, by any measure the most level-headed of businessman, knew the real reason he survived -- and it had to do with a ghost.

Join us and hear the whole story!

2009-06-01T18:55:00.000-07:00

2009-06-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

Clayton: The Frick House

2009-06-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

"Clayton" is the name of the Italianate-style home located at the corner of Penn and South Homewood avenues in Pittsburgh’s residential East End neighborhood that is literally the last remnant of Pittsburgh's fabled millionaire's row. It was the home of Pittsburgh coke and steel magnate Henry Clay Frick and his family. Mr. Frick ran the world's largest steel company and was at the center of some of Pittsburgh's -- and the nation's -- greatest tragedies, including the Homestead Steel Strike and the Johnstown Flood.

The Frick family lived in Clayton from 1883 to 1905, and retained the house even after they moved to New York. In 1981, Mr. Frick's daughter Helen returned to live there in her old age. Before her death in 1984, she arranged for the home to become a living museum. It is now open the public and is among Pittsburgh's greatest treasures.

Clayton was witness to far more than it's share of sorrow, and there have been multiple reports of spiritual sightings there. Join us and hear about them.

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2009-04-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

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