History & local legend
The Valley Hotel stood beside the railway on New England Road in Jefferson Hills. A 1971 fire had removed its third floor, a fact central to one of the stories told by former operators Jo Ellen Oggier and her husband, Bill Deemer.
A guest complained that heavy boots had crossed the floor above his room at about three in the morning. Oggier listened before explaining that the floor he was describing no longer existed. Deemer had his own recurring experience downstairs: a knock on wood, a pause and then three more knocks. He checked the door and the security cameras without finding anyone responsible.
The couple described the incidents to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2009. In February 2022, another fire destroyed the hotel while new owners were renovating it, only weeks before they hoped to reopen.
Sources
- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, October 15, 2009, interviews with Jo Ellen Oggier and Bill Deemer on the guest and the knocking
- KDKA, February 28, 2022, new co-owner Kevin Falk on the fire and planned reopening
- WTAE, footage of the blaze and interview with Falk at the former hotel site
- Allegheny County, 1004 New England Road address point, parcel 0559S00305000000
- Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, 2018–2020 statewide orthoimagery
