Bob Cranmer - The Demon of Brownsville Road

Id like to thank J. G. Faherty of the Horror Writers Association who generously agreed to mentor me on the craft of creating suspense, and who did a first edit of the manuscript, which was extremely helpful. I would also like to thank publishing attorney Sallie Randolph who helped Bob and me sort out contractual issues and work together productively.

Published by Trib Total Media, Wednesday, March 6, 2013, 9:00 P.M.

Evidence gives support to tales of local history in South Hills area

by Stephanie Hacke

A wooden cross at the base of a more than 200-year-old oak tree in Bob Cranmers front yard honors a woman and her three children likely killed by American Indians.

Their grave, probably from the late 1700s, is verified by tales from those knowledgeable about the area, letters between leaders of the Northwest Indian War and a radar scan of the trees base, said Cranmer, 56, of Brentwood, a former Allegheny County commissioner whose 1909 house was featured in a television documentary chronicling an exorcism he requested there.

Cranmer believes the womans husband planted the tree at the propertys entrance along Brownsville Road as a memorial for his family.

Its pretty compelling, he said of the history he unearthed in his yard.

The Cranmers moved into their home nearly 25 years ago. It often attracts questions.

People were always saying, Oh you live in that home? said Cranmer, president of Cranmer Consultants. If youre from the South Hills, you generally know something about this home.

He was always curious about the tree. The homes former resident, Walter Wagner Jr., told him about a town legend that George Washington camped there.

Wagner, 78, of Bristol, Ind., who grew up in the home, said he is uncertain where he heard the tale.

It just seems to be something that somebody once told me, he said.

Then a woman told Cranmer about the possible murder of a woman and children on his lawn.

She heard that Indians killed and scalped family members living there during post-Revolutionary War years, before the current home was built. The father, who was away when they died, buried his family in the yard and transplanted the tree at their grave...

Cranmer said, Well, thats a pretty interesting story.

To find out if it were true, he searched the Internet and the National Archives, reading war department documents. He came across a letter from Isaac Craig, the commander of Fort Pitt, to Secretary of War Henry Knox, dated March 31, 1792, during the Northwest Indian War. The letter referenced the wife of Deliverance Brown, killed with her three children.

(The Indians) wanted to terrorize these people from trying to settle out here, said Cranmer, a history buff. Come 179192, this was a very dangerous place to be. Im told this story and then I read this. How unique that in the same time period I find a record of three children and their mother being killed by the Indians. Yet he wanted physical evidence.

While watching The History Channels Unearthing America, he learned about a technique: holding two copper rods steady while walking above a grave will cause the wires to cross, he said.

Cranmer tried it on the grave of Pete, the familys cocker spaniel.