Documentary
Chronicling the historic activities of the deaths of Legionnaires and a Wobbly who was also in WWl. And, along with many Centralians with injuries during the first Armistice Day parade on November 11, 1919.
During and after the first Armistice Day parade when the Legions went out of formation and ransack the Industrial Worker's of the World hall shots rang out into the crowd, bullets flying into businesses and homes hitting the local people.
The loggers heard about the upper United States, from Oregon territory to Montana, has jobs in the logging industries. The loggers traveled from Ireland, Finland, England etc... to the United States.
During and after the first Armistice Day parade when the Legions went out of formation and ransack the Industrial Worker's of the World hall shots rang out into the crowd, bullets flying into businesses and homes hitting the local people.
The loggers heard about the upper United States, from Oregon territory to Montana, has jobs in the logging industries. The loggers traveled from Ireland, Finland, England etc... to the United States.
About the Producer Ursula Richards
FILM PRODUCER AIMS TO SET RECORD STRAIGHT
19 Jan 2006 The Chronicle Centralia, WA by Aaron VanTuyl
(CENTRALIA, Wash.) Ursula Richards-Copplola, founder of U Vision Film Productions LLC and producer of an upcoming documentary films exploring what’s been called “The Centralia Massacre of 1919,” reached her present movie project through hard work and a dozen years of historic research plus 28 as a researcher of missing persons.
When she first visited her family in Washington, she learned that her grandmother had been born in Centralia, an hour north of the Oregon border. While visiting a local library, Timberland, looking for information about her relatives, a 1919 newspaper headline caught her eye: “Bert Bland Captured.” Her curiosity peaked, and a search was on. Who was Bert Bland and why was he captured? As she began trying to talk with Centralians, doors slammed!
Slammed, that is, until Ursula read an article about a 97-year-old woman in the summer of 2005, Lucille, who’d been alive in Centralia at the time. Ursula contacted the woman’s family asking to interview the elderly lady, but was refused. “She’s not feeling well,” Ursula was told, “and there’s no way we could write down her whole story.” Richards-Coppola suggested the family videotape the woman, which was completed and given to the producer just a few months before Lucille passed away.
In 2006 Ursula returned to Centralia intending to videotape more people who knew of the 1919 event, and photograph individuals and buildings still existant from those days. While strolling the center of town one day, camera in hand, Ursula was spotted by a local woman demanding to know what she was doing. “I was startled,” Ursula recalls, “and a bit scared. I handed her my film producer card showing ‘The Ghost of Hangman’s Bridge’ as my next movie project,” Hangman’s Bridge having been the site of much of the carnage those years ago. The two spoke at length about those days and the often violent labor/union battles in the lumber industry then.
A few days later Ms. Richards-Coppola received a call from a local newspaper reporter, Aaron Vantuyl, who’d gotten wind of her interest and research, and wanted to interview her for a feature article. They met at a nearby pub, The Oly Club, and the interview began. Later that week the story about her labors and her challenge made the front page, resulting in a wealth of phone calls, emails and letters from locals with incredible stories to tell.
Ursula plans to bring to light the true story of what happened 90 years ago, and now doors are beginning to swing wide for her, though some of the elderly still just peek through curtains when she comes knocking, and others write their recollections, but without including a name or return address.
In hopes to finish the film for the fall 2014.
19 Jan 2006 The Chronicle Centralia, WA by Aaron VanTuyl
(CENTRALIA, Wash.) Ursula Richards-Copplola, founder of U Vision Film Productions LLC and producer of an upcoming documentary films exploring what’s been called “The Centralia Massacre of 1919,” reached her present movie project through hard work and a dozen years of historic research plus 28 as a researcher of missing persons.
When she first visited her family in Washington, she learned that her grandmother had been born in Centralia, an hour north of the Oregon border. While visiting a local library, Timberland, looking for information about her relatives, a 1919 newspaper headline caught her eye: “Bert Bland Captured.” Her curiosity peaked, and a search was on. Who was Bert Bland and why was he captured? As she began trying to talk with Centralians, doors slammed!
Slammed, that is, until Ursula read an article about a 97-year-old woman in the summer of 2005, Lucille, who’d been alive in Centralia at the time. Ursula contacted the woman’s family asking to interview the elderly lady, but was refused. “She’s not feeling well,” Ursula was told, “and there’s no way we could write down her whole story.” Richards-Coppola suggested the family videotape the woman, which was completed and given to the producer just a few months before Lucille passed away.
In 2006 Ursula returned to Centralia intending to videotape more people who knew of the 1919 event, and photograph individuals and buildings still existant from those days. While strolling the center of town one day, camera in hand, Ursula was spotted by a local woman demanding to know what she was doing. “I was startled,” Ursula recalls, “and a bit scared. I handed her my film producer card showing ‘The Ghost of Hangman’s Bridge’ as my next movie project,” Hangman’s Bridge having been the site of much of the carnage those years ago. The two spoke at length about those days and the often violent labor/union battles in the lumber industry then.
A few days later Ms. Richards-Coppola received a call from a local newspaper reporter, Aaron Vantuyl, who’d gotten wind of her interest and research, and wanted to interview her for a feature article. They met at a nearby pub, The Oly Club, and the interview began. Later that week the story about her labors and her challenge made the front page, resulting in a wealth of phone calls, emails and letters from locals with incredible stories to tell.
Ursula plans to bring to light the true story of what happened 90 years ago, and now doors are beginning to swing wide for her, though some of the elderly still just peek through curtains when she comes knocking, and others write their recollections, but without including a name or return address.
In hopes to finish the film for the fall 2014.
Won the local film festival 'Best Trailer'
Trailer for Centralia Massacre Expose - Ursula Richards-Coppola want to point out on several things that happened in 1919. The trailer shows the problems went on in a small town dealing with the loggers and the timber trusts.
Ursula now resides in Centralia, WA to complete the documentary and the "Centralia Heritage Museum", from the past to the present for the future, opening in 2016.
Ghost of Hangman's Bridge film poster
Welcome and thanks to the following:
Ayala Bro's Furniture - Sponsoring and being great friends since we've met in 2003.
Peter Lahmann - Thank you for letting us have a display at your building.
Centralia - Thank you everyone for all the interviews and stories about Centralia and massacre.
Centralia Chronicle - Thank you for the opportunity to interview Ursula over the years.
The Morgan Family - Thank you for a chance to add the trailer in your film festival.
The poster originally designed by Jessica Richards in 2009.
Ayala Bro's Furniture - Sponsoring and being great friends since we've met in 2003.
Peter Lahmann - Thank you for letting us have a display at your building.
Centralia - Thank you everyone for all the interviews and stories about Centralia and massacre.
Centralia Chronicle - Thank you for the opportunity to interview Ursula over the years.
The Morgan Family - Thank you for a chance to add the trailer in your film festival.
The poster originally designed by Jessica Richards in 2009.