Sheppton, PA/ Centralia PA

Sheppton, PA/ Centralia PA

Author: Fred Knoop October 26, 2019 Duration: 1:10:48

Sheppton Pennsylvania like many small towns in Pennsylvania used to live, breath and eat coal.  It was a coal-mining town, just like so many others.  However, on August 13, 1963, three men would enter a defunct mine at Oneida Slope number 2.  Hank Thorne, Dave Fellin, and Lois Bova went down into the darkness at 7:30 AM; two of them wouldn't see daylight for 14 days.  One would never see daylight again.


WikiPedia article about Sheppton, Pennsylvania


WikiPedia article about Blackdamp


www.eastuniontownship.com/thrones-account-of-the-sheppton-mine-disaster/


Sheppton: The Myth, Miracle & Music, Maxim W. Furek. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1st edition (December 31, 2015). www.amazon.com/gp/product/1519145985/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1


stuofdoom.com/main/?p=3097


Almost a year before the Sheppton incident a very different mining disaster took place.  In 1963 in the little town of Centralia PA a coal fire would start and still burns to this day. Coal mining started in the area around Centralia in the 1850’s.  The mining became a boom and Centralia would grow into a community of 2,761 at its peak in the 1890’s.  Coal would be the lifeblood of the little town but it would also be it’s undoing.


YouTube video (IFZqWRtYvpM)


www.centraliapa.org


WikiPedia article about Centralia, Pennsylvania


WikiPedia article about Centralia mine fire


www.theverge.com/2019/4/2/18290774/centralia-pennsylvania-ghost-town-underground-fire-bacteria-microbes-microbiology-science


www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-centralia-pennsylvania-burning-coal-town-2011-11#some-residents-spent-the-next-few-decades-fighting-to-keep-their-homes-even-though-they-had-officially-been-seized-by-authorities-12


You can follow the show on Twitter or Facebook @stscast, or on Instagram@stscast.gram


This week's featured podcast is Wasting Time Podcast

And be sure to check out Big Heads Media for more great pods!

Also hit up Dirty Knees Soap Co. for some fantastic soap and other products!

Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/small-town-secrets.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.


There's a particular kind of quiet that settles over a small town, a hush that often holds more than it reveals. Small Town Secrets, hosted by Fred Knoop, goes digging beneath that surface calm to find the stories that define a place. Each episode is a journey to a different community somewhere in the world, where the strange and the historical intertwine. You might hear about a decades-old mystery that still divides local opinion, or an architectural oddity with a bizarre origin story. The scope is broad, touching on unexplained phenomena, compelling historical footnotes, and those simply peculiar events that become local legend. This isn't just about cataloging oddities; it's about understanding how these narratives become woven into the fabric of a community's identity, shaping its culture and the people who live there. Knoop approaches each tale with a curious and respectful tone, letting the atmosphere and the details build a vivid sense of place. The podcast serves as an audio travelogue to the shadowy corners of the map, proving that sometimes the most remote locations harbor the most fascinating secrets. It’s for anyone who suspects that the real story of a town isn't found on the welcome sign, but whispered in its diners and remembered in its forgotten buildings.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 80

Small Town Secrets
Podcast Episodes
Amityville, NY Part One [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:08:22
Amityville is a actually a small village that is part of Babylon New York. According to legend when the settlers wanted to establish a post office they needed a name. A meeting of the town name became heated with someone…
Alamosa, CO/ Dalby, Isle of Man [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:13:19
The town of Alamosa Colorado actually started out as a rail center established by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. Over the years the rail center evolved into the town of 8,780 that is today. There is a very curious s…
Hazelhurst, MS/ Clear Lake, IA [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:23:15
Hazelhurst is a town in central Mississippi, 4,000 strong. In the 1870s the town began to boom. It had become a rail stop for the newly developed New Orleans, Jackson, and Great Northern Railroad. Its growth was so large…
Duncan, BC/ Snowflake, AZ [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:29:26
On Vancouver Island in British Columbia there lies the small town of Duncan. Its current population sits at around 4,944. It’s a quiet town known for having the largest collection of Totem Poles, so many in fact that in…
Circleville, OH/ Westfield, NJ [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:50:24
The name Circleville comes from the town’s original layout. The Center of the town was once built around a 1,100-foot Hopewell earth mound. In the 1850s the town’s layout was changed to a more familiar grid-like layout.…
Bridgeport, CT/ Desert Center, CA [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:48
The town of Bridgeport Connecticut is an eastern seaport town that boasts a population of 144,900. P. T. Barnum founder of the Barnum and Bailey Circus took up residence there and was even mayor for a year. The Frisbee P…
Old Orchard Beach, ME/ Foss OK [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:11
Old Orchard Beach is a small coastal Maine Town. It was incorporated in 1883 but records of it go as far back as 1653 when it was settled by Thomas Rogers. the name Old Orchard Beach comes from Rogers abandoned apple orc…
Flatwoods, WV/ Pascagoula MS [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:41
Even though Flatwoods was incorporated in 1901 it shows up on maps dating as far back as 1873. It’s a small place with population of just over 270. Like Point Pleasant to the north it’s a small quiet place in West Virgin…
Willow Creek, CA/ Fouke, AR [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 58:17
Willow Creek is technically a Census-designated place with a population of 1,710. It’s nestled on the north-east end of Humbolt County in Northern California. Willow Creek is known as the Bigfoot Capital of the World and…
Point Pleasant, WV Part 3 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:54:52
When you start to look at the Mothman case you very quickly start to understand that it’s not about a strange cryptid prowling around a West Virgina town at night. It’s more like a phenomenon that engrossed a whole year…