Giant Hole In Dormont Reveals 3 Huge Mystery Containers

Giant Hole Has Dormont Officials Stumped

pittsburgh.cbslocal.com

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – There is what was thought to be a sinkhole near the Dormont pool and it is growing larger.

At first, an underground container the size of a mobile home collapsed and swallowed part of the parking lot.

Now, two more concrete boxes have been discovered.

(visit the link for the full news article)

So basically there was a sinkhole, then it was discovered that this sinkhole was actually an underground bunker of some type that had collapsed. On top of that, no one knows what this bunker is.

With all the news of sinkholes lately I thought that this story was especially interesting. According to the article they may be part of an underground drainage system but right now no one knows exactly what they are.. this also made me think about the DUMBS that are said to exist in various places throughout America.

pittsburgh.cbslocal.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Speculation is the 8-foot –thick concrete structures were part of an underground storm drainage system.

“It appears that they were there for storm drainage purposes probably for the road,” Naftal said. “We’re not sure of that exactly, because we haven’t fully excavated, so we don’t know that for sure.”

Its seems it might just turn out to be something pretty boring.

Originally posted by emptyOmind

Giant Hole Has Dormont Officials Stumped

pittsburgh.cbslocal.com

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – There is what was thought to be a sinkhole near the Dormont pool and it is growing larger.

At first, an underground container the size of a mobile home collapsed and swallowed part of the parking lot.

Now, two more concrete boxes have been discovered.

(visit the link for the full news article)

If this is some simple mundane drainage system etc then surely it will be easy enough to check-out with city/council officials or plans and other city documentation ... let's face it whoever placed these three containers underground in that spot for whatever purpose they must have had permission from someone in authority at the time.

The guy mentions there is no-one around from the time the containers were buried so how long do they presume these things have been down there ... must be within someone's living memory I'm guessing ... and if not then we have to ask the question 'how old are these things' ?

Interesting post OP ... the sinkhole thing fascinated me but here we have the added twist of mystery containers ... I shall be following this to see where it leads ... thanks for sharing.

Woody

reply to post by emptyOmind


Hey there me again ... just a thought (and feel free to tell me to mind my own business) but maybe you should ask a MOD to help you change the title of the thread to something more eye-catching eg;

'Giant Hole In Dormont Reveals 3 Huge Mystery Containers'

... or something similar ... I just think this thread deserves more attention otherwise it will get lost or dismissed as just another sinkhole thread ... this is something different and if people realize that their interest will be peaked.

Woody

They have had issues with that Pool for years, so maybe this is associated with the reason the pool always needed re-sealing.

Buried giant containers? I bet they are filled with dead bodies.

Hey, the gubmint has to dispose of bodies somewhere. Why not under a parking lot right next to a community pool?

Originally posted by CaticusMaximus
Buried giant containers? I bet they are filled with dead bodies.

Hey, the gubmint has to dispose of bodies somewhere. Why not under a parking lot right next to a community pool?

edit on 3/9/2013 by CaticusMaximus because: (no reason given)

Hmmmm.....So that's why I keep seeing sunglass wearing, dark suited guys, pulling up in black-windowed, unmarked vans, and unloading large body shaped bags, just behind our local community pool......

Originally posted by woodwytch

Originally posted by emptyOmind

Giant Hole Has Dormont Officials Stumped

pittsburgh.cbslocal.com

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – There is what was thought to be a sinkhole near the Dormont pool and it is growing larger.

At first, an underground container the size of a mobile home collapsed and swallowed part of the parking lot.

Now, two more concrete boxes have been discovered.

(visit the link for the full news article)

If this is some simple mundane drainage system etc then surely it will be easy enough to check-out with city/council officials or plans and other city documentation ... let's face it whoever placed these three containers underground in that spot for whatever purpose they must have had permission from someone in authority at the time.

The guy mentions there is no-one around from the time the containers were buried so how long do they presume these things have been down there ... must be within someone's living memory I'm guessing ... and if not then we have to ask the question 'how old are these things' ?

Interesting post OP ... the sinkhole thing fascinated me but here we have the added twist of mystery containers ... I shall be following this to see where it leads ... thanks for sharing.

Woody

exactly! that is what i was thinking. if it was a drainage system, that should be easy enough to figure out. if you spot anything else relating to this story let me know, i'll be looking myself trying to find any new info as it becomes available.

edit: found this video - pittsburgh.cbslocal.com...

But why would a 'drainage system be made of "three vaults" '? Vaults side by side are not draining anything. They are storing something in the form of "black sludge". Make it all disappear now. Haul it off to landfill and bury it somewhere else.

My take is surely they know what it is already. They just ain't saying because if they did... whoops, outcry. Some towns have deep dark buried secrets.

Whats that old building in the background look like in the video?

News video

this is rather intriguing to say the least. what the heck are they? sewer/storm drain system components just doesn't seem to work for me.

here are the dimensions given on the video. 53 feet long, 17 feet wide, 12 feet deep, with 8 foot thick walls (this is the kicker for me, why would you need 8 foot thick walls ). buried 7 feet deep under the parking lot. no dimensions given for how thick the roof was. also not mentioned is that it looks to be reinforced concrete. i'd love to hear what exactly that "black sludge" is.

anyone know what was on the site BEFORE the pool and parking lot? also how old exactly are they since from the news sites it appears to have been long enough that there is no one left who might know what these are.

definately has my interest

I'm guessing it's an old abandoned armory. The Army did have a habit of burying explosives or other items in the most random locations and then losing all the paperwork. Must have read at least 3 stories over the past 10 years about places doing excavations only to find mustard bombs or other sort of random bombs.

The story didn't say if they were empty or not. My guess is still abandoned armory.

This must be a conspiracy. It must be aliens, or republicans or North Korea or comets or Bigfoot. It just must be, it could not just simply be an old structure that collapsed. That would be too boring.

Giant Hole Has Dormont Officials Stumped

I understand the authorities have said about the hole. 'We are looking into it'.

I'm sorry but it needed saying.

Well the pool was at first natural, and was created by damming a creek. If this helps any...

Ah wait a minute! Here is an update from Tuesday with pictures and a video. So there is a pipe from at least one box.

During Monday’s Dormont Council meeting, Naftal said he was hopeful crews would find pipes leading to or from the container, and on Tuesday, that hope was fulfilled.

“It was probably some sort of water vault, but we don’t know where that pipe goes,” Schneider said. “That’s what we think, but we don’t know yet.”.

Pipe Found at Dormont Pool Collapse Site

And a comment under that link may possibly help. I figured finding out what was previously there would answer our questions. But unfortunately in another comment it says that the old map was off and the sewage beds would not have been in that spot.

The following is a link to a snapshot of a 1923 Map of Dormont that shows that there were Sewage Disposal Beds in what appears to be the exact location of the Dormont Pool Parking Lot.

Old Pittsburgh Map

Perhaps it has something to do with what a commenter on that article says: box culvert detention basin.

Here is a link to show what these would look like under construction:

Stormw ater Detention Basin

That's what I think it is, and the black "sludge" could be a collection of oils/pollution and water that has not percolated out of the basin yet. These are supposedly under most every parking lot that had the money to invest in them.

My 2 cents.

reply to post by emptyOmind


Could it be an abondoned section of an early attempt at a subway system for the area?

Been searching for clues to a failed project, but no luck so far.

Those walls are very thick at 8 feet, the 17 foot width might have been planned to carry two sets of track to carry trains at 8 feet wide.

It's near the surface, so if it was intended for a failed underground transit system, this may have been where the terminus would have been.

Found this information on other old tunnels built during the 19th and early 20th century.
Tunnel

It was originally begun as a coal mine in 1825 by Jacob Beltzhoover.

The mine was extended to the south side of Mount Washington by 1861, and used as part of a system to transport coal from mines along the Saw Mill Run valley to Pittsburgh, connecting with the 850 feet (260 m) Mt. Washington Coal Incline.

The lease to the tunnel was purchased by the Pittsburgh and Castle Shannon Railroad from Mrs Mary Anne Bailey in November 1871, with the height of the tunnel being increased from 5.5 feet (1.7 m) to 12.5 feet (3.8 m) in 1874.

The tunnel provided passenger service beginning in 1874, but this was terminated in 1880, and its passenger duties assumed by the Castle Shannon Incline. The tunnel was declared unsafe for passenger transport in 1893. However, the tunnel and the Horseshoe Curve continued to be used to transport coal until May 1, 1912

While not the same area, it's interesting that the height of the tunnel in the quote above was raised to a 12 feet high, the same height as these large concrete box sections are...might be connected?

I doubt a drainage system...no point having massive, over engineered concrete boxes that don't go anywhere..they wouldn't drain anywhere. Pipes have been spotted entering or exiting from one of the boxes, could be for water, but could also be ducting pipes to carry cables.

Another possibility is they were put in to shore up loose ground, when they were building over the area. Maybe they didcovered the ground was especially weak and put these in to add support? Although, it would have been simpler to have just filled them in completely i suppose.

reply to post by emptyOmind


This is interesting no doubt. I just find it sad that we will never truly know what's in there unless we have a look ourselves. Even if there is bodies or nuclear waste in there or what have you, all we're gonna get fed is "yeah, they were forgotten about from a project nobody remembers for a purpose nobody can explain, but they were empty so no harm done".
Maybe I'm wrong, though.

reply to post by emptyOmind


Two questions comes to mind:

1)
For what is 8 feet of concrete shielding needed?

2)
What destroys 8 feet of concrete shielding?

reply to post by DupontDeux


Gamma rays?