Tales of a haunted oil well on the edge of Rosedale Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania spread in 1910. Residents reported hearing “blood-curdling groans” and desperate pleas: Help! Let me out! I’m being smothered!
A party decided to investigate as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports:
It was found that a pipe extended from the casing of the well back into the woods. A member of the investigating party groaned into the pipe. His colleagues at the well almost jumped out of their shoes. The groans, apparently, came from far down in the earth. The mystery was solved.
Even though they found the hoaxer’s tool, the hoaxer was never identified.
Source: 23 September 1910, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (pg. 2)
It Was Not a Ghost 