The Last Remnant of Pennsylvania's Sunken Ghost Town
Saltsburg, PA
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Free access; the cemetery is located near the Conemaugh Dam reservoir on the West Penn Trail.
Access
Limited Access
Unpaved trail access; uneven terrain near the reservoir
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1827 · 1936 Flood History · Intentionally Flooded Town · Conemaugh Dam History · West Penn Railroad
John Livermore founded the town bearing his name in 1827 along the Conemaugh River between Blairsville and Saltsburg. The community grew through the 19th century with the completion of the Main Line Canal's Western Division and the West Penn Railroad's arrival in 1854. By 1906, Livermore had a modest town center with multiple stores and three churches — Presbyterian, Methodist, and United Brethren congregations — and was incorporated as a borough in 1865.
The 1889 Johnstown Flood damaged the canal system and initiated Livermore's economic decline. The definitive blow came on St. Patrick's Day, March 17, 1936, when catastrophic flooding submerged the town under 18 feet of water. One local resident died. The flood swept away the bridge spanning the Conemaugh and destroyed fourteen buildings; others were heavily damaged.
Federal Flood Control Acts of 1936 and 1938 authorized construction of the Conemaugh Dam to protect Pittsburgh from future catastrophic flooding. The project required the permanent removal of Livermore. The 57 remaining residents were relocated and compensated. The town's structures were condemned and demolished in the early 1950s. In 1952, the completed dam flooded the former townsite permanently.
As required by the flooding legislation, the cemetery was relocated to ground above the waterline — the law prohibited disturbing buried remains through intentional flooding. The West Penn Railroad bed became the West Penn Trail, a recreational corridor that passes through the former townsite.
Sources
The name Satan's Seat appears in accounts of Livermore going back decades, carrying two different explanations in local folklore. One ties the name to the repeated, seemingly cursed flooding that prevented the community from recovering — three major floods in less than a century. The other involves a witch legend: according to local accounts, a woman with alleged powers settled in the area, was eventually burned by residents who feared her, and cursed the town to the floods that followed.
The witch narrative is folk tradition with no documented historical basis. There is no archival record of a burning in Livermore, and historians note the town's repeated flooding had identifiable meteorological and geographical causes. The legend nonetheless persists and gives the site a name that appears consistently in paranormal accounts.
The more specific reported phenomena are tied to the physical remnants of the town. A phantom locomotive is described by multiple accounts: walkers on the West Penn Trail at night have reported seeing a light approaching on the former railroad bed, feeling the physical presence of a passing train, and then watching the light disappear. The West Penn Railroad operated through Livermore until the town's destruction.
Apparitions of former townspeople walking near the waterline, the sound of dogs barking with no visible animals, and a foul smell are also reported. Paranormal investigators who have visited the site have described elevated activity near the waterline — the boundary between the flooded and unflooded portions of the original townsite.
Notable Entities
The Livermore Cemetery sits above the Conemaugh reservoir that swallowed the town of Livermore in 1952. The West Penn Trail follows the former railroad bed through the area. The cemetery remains above waterline — the town beneath it does not. A phantom locomotive has been reported on the trail at night.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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