Lakewood Park in Barnesville PA thrived in the 1930s.. It would host some of the era’s big band stars.. It was called Ryan’s Farm before the purchase of land in the coal region became an amusement park and recreational area.
It was birth to the an area attraction for people to enjoy leisure and relaxation. A man-made lake was created in the 1920s to become a massive swimming location.
The Lakeside Ballroom still exists, though the lake has dried and the park is a memory since the 1984 when it abruptly closed..
You can visit the website DeFunctParks.Com for photos they have taken of Lakewood ruins from a 1998 bleak photoshoot.
For the purposes of this story, place yourself into a reality of the past where the Lakewood Park was as big as Knoebels..
THE COLD MARCH MURDER
MARCH 31, 1930: State police were busy trying to solve a mysterious death of William Laughlin.. he was 39, and was found near the entrance of Lakewood Park.
Evidence pointed to murder.
Autopsy results revealed that Laughlin had a broken neck.. a blow to the back of the head. And was wearing virtually nothing when his body was found, though some reports indicate he was in pajamas or undergarments.
Cold weather kept Laughlin’s body preserved in a decent state to be examined thoroughly..
WILLIAM LAUGHLIN COLD AS ICE
When Laughlin died at the age of 39, he worked for his father in a candy shop in Centralia Pennsylvania.
He was well known and well liked. A search party of 50 men and police officers reportedly searched for his body in the days leading up to it being found.
Laughlin went to Lakewood Park the Tuesday prior to see a boxing match between famous names of the time Pat Igoe and Mickey Diamond.
John McGinley, who drove him there, waited after the match to take him home. When he did not show, McGinley told police he figured he went with someone else.
A night watchman named William Ault reported that an unidentified man was seen later that same evening, wandering the park grounds. Ault said he saw the man in a short sleeved short and barefoot, surprising him since the weather was cold that night.
According to reports, Ault said the man continued walking without talking.
The day after, Laughlin’s coat and hat were found in the park.
A watch was in the pocket of the coat.
To make matters more mysterious, the coat was clean and dry despite rain occurring the night before.
The boating and swimming dam was opened and drained for days, as it was suspected that Laughlin could have drowned in the lake.
But by Friday afternoon, his DRY socks but his WET shoes were found on the ground that was thoroughly searched earlier.
Still missing at this point: His pants and underwear.
Finally on March 29, 1930, his lifeless and wounded body was found at the entrance of Lakewood Park–right in a spot where police and that 50 volunteer Centralian posse searched for him already.
THE LAKEWOOD BRICK WALL
Just a month after the murder and body recovery, police hit a brick wall: They could not piece the strange circumstances of this case together and solve it, let alone come up with any possible suspect.
The only break in the case initially seemed to be Ault, but the watchman’s tale led to nothing tangible.
Investigators in Tamaqua were able to theorize was that Laughlin “came to his death as a result of violence administered at the hands of a person, or persons, unknown.” I wonder what drew them to such a conclusion.. (the previous sentence in a purely sarcastic tone)..
There were other theories about Laughlin.. he was potentially hit by a car.. He was potentially murdered in a nearby hotel and his body was brought to the park entrance—that theory may not make much sense of the body was as well preserved as some of the initial police reports indicate.
Police theorized that he was the victim of a robbery and beaten to death when he fought back.
But none of the explanations are able to give reason for the strange shoeless man walking along into a forest, or a body appearing at the entrance when it wasn’t there during a search.
The case quickly was forgotten about as the spring season opened at Lakewood. The last thing the park wanted to dwell on was an unsolved creepy murder at their front gates.
By the Fourth of July 1930, the Mauch Chunk TIMES reported on a happy mecca of thousands swimming, boating, and enjoying rides:
Fun was to be had! Not one mention of the cold case from months earlier. It vanished from news.
When Laughlin died, he left a 7 year old daughter alone, as Laughlin’s wife Clara died a few years earlier in 1927.
Eventually the Lakewood pool was closed and boating ceased in the 1960s.
Lakewood Park finally closed permanently in August 1984.
Music was over..Fun was done.
The Crystal Ballroom burned down in 1998..
And the murder, to this day, remains unsolved.
William Laughlin was buried on April 2, 1930.
The funeral took place at St. Ignatius Church, and the Shamokin NEWS DISPATCH reported that it was the largest gathering for a funeral in the history of the town. The family was locally famous, after all, and the story received national attention.
Laughlin was one of the town’s best known and most popular residents.
Whatever secrets of his final moments Laughlin knew, they were taken to the grave near the mine fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania.
