The Black Cross

Cabot, PA

This is the gravesite of an unknown number of 1918 influenza victims. These influenza victims were recent immigrants to West Winfield working in the various manufacturing and mining industries that were there at that time. They succumbed to the flu and died without church, organization or family affiliations that would ensure a proper burial. The county, state and none of the federal agencies would bury these victims. They were truly lost souls. The West Winfield companies united together sending crews of men with shovels to dig mass graves for the bodies.

It was imperative that the bodies be buried and decomposed quickly so that the virus could die off with them. The son of a wagon driver who hauled the bodies to the mass graves said his father told the story of at least twenty bodies to a grave. The son of the constable who supervised the hydrated liming of the bodies for quick decomposition verifies this number. No one seems to know though just how many mass graves there were before the virus ran its course in the spring of 1919.

Father O'Callahan from the St. John's Church in Coylesville was troubled that these victims had been dumped in mass graves without a burial service. He commissioned Joseph Baldauf to make a cross. Joseph and a Mr. McCrea made the cross with railroad ties, which lasted a very long time. Father O'Callahan then performed the Catholic burial rights over the graves with Mr. McCrea, Joseph Bauldauf and Joseph’s young grandson Harry Snyder as the only mourners.

The site owned by the Armstrong Cement and Supply Company has been marked in two ways. The remains of the original "Wooden Cross" were found and a cement, silver, granite cross was positioned beside it. A large metal roadside marker was erected on the side of the roads to alert motorists as to the location. Currently the site lays in its peaceful wooded lot where many people visit and some leave behind additional mementos to show their respect to these men who never had a chance to reap the benefits of a new life in America “on the streets paved with gold.”

There are varying reports of paranormal activity experienced here. Everything from strange mists to orbs, even to a un-nerving howling that seems to have no distinct location. It is safe to assume that with such a terrible fate that these unfortunate suffered, there is sure to be a high energy around the place.