“The Mollies’ Wake” – Alexander Campbell’s wake and funeral in June 1877

Posted on by Jake Wynn

Alexander Campbell’s 1877 wake wasn’t the wild scene newspapers loved to imagine. A reporter found a quiet house, women keeping vigil, and men talking in low voices after the execution of 10 Molly Maguires. But his funeral the next day drew one of the biggest crowds the Coal Region had ever seen. Behind the legends, a far more human story comes into focus. Read the full story.

Ghost stories and dark folklore collected by George Korson in the Coal Region | 1938

Posted on by Jake Wynn
Gangway at Kohinoor Colliery coal mine at Shenandoah, PA Jake Wynn Public Historian

Folklorist George Korson roamed Pennsylvania’s Coal Region in the 1920s and 1930s, capturing stories born of mysterious knockings, spirits of miners killed in disasters, and minds disturbed after fatal accidents. From Avondale’s haunted chambers to a peddler’s wailing rock and the unrecovered dead of the Woodward Colliery - these tales reveal miners’ fears and folklore. Read the full story.