There are abandoned coal mines in western Pennsylvania where generations of children were warned not to go.
And it wasn't just because the mines themselves could kill you.
According to the folklore of Cannelton, something was waiting near those old mine workings. Something that looked like a woman… except for one very disturbing detail.
They called her the Pig Lady.
The legend centers on Barbara Davidson, a woman whose supposed violent death became the foundation for one of Beaver County's strangest ghost stories. But when you start digging into the history of the Pig Lady, the story gets even more interesting because the monster people know today isn't necessarily the monster people originally feared.
So where did the Pig Lady come from? Was the legend simply invented to keep children away from dangerous abandoned mines? And how does a ghost story change so dramatically that an entire community eventually remembers a completely different monster?
Tonight we're heading to Cannelton, Pennsylvania, for a wonderfully weird example of how folklore evolves, mutates and occasionally grows a pig head.
If you enjoyed the video, please LIKE, SHARE and SUBSCRIBE. We've got plenty more ghosts, monsters, cryptids, folklore and deeply questionable decisions involving abandoned places coming before Halloween.
Support the channel:
Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/jasonroygaston
YouTube Membership:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCH5-1lKzwxVqlkLdGLtM5w/join
Website:
http://www.jasonroygaston.com
Jason's Amazon Wishlist:
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1DHY80RHZDKWP?ref_=wl_share
Classroom Wishlist:
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/24XEZBHP9XIJO?ref_=wl_share
SOURCES:
William G. Pomeroy Foundation — The Pig Lady, Legends & Lore
https://www.wgpfoundation.org/historic-markers/the-pig-lady/
Farm and Dairy — The Pig Lady and Other Folk Tales Show Why Recording Stories Matters
https://www.farmanddairy.com/news/the-pig-lady-and-other-folk-tales-show-why-recording-stories-matters/795127.html
Pennsylvania Center for Folklore
https://sites.psu.edu/pafolklore/about/
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection — Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation
https://www.pa.gov/agencies/dep/programs-and-services/mining/abandoned-mine-reclamation
Little Beaver Historical Society — Legends & Lore of Little Beaver Creek
https://littlebeaverhistorical.org/books/legends-lore-of-little-beaver-creek/
#PigLady #Cannelton #PennsylvaniaFolklore #GhostStories #UrbanLegends #Paranormal #BeaverCounty #Halloween #DefinitelyNotAPig #StayOutOfTheMine
Leave a Reply