Pontypool, Monmouthshire, 1904.

Ghost Scare in a Mine.

The presence of a supposed ghost at Brace's Level, Pontypool, has caused quite a scare amongst the eighty workmen employed at the mine, says a contemporary. The level is owned by Messrs. Baldwin, Limited, and in the course of business some workings about 150 years old have been reopened. The colliers were startled and alarmed to see a figure with a naked light in its forehead walking about the workings, tapping the roof, and examining the sides. The workmen fled in terror from the scene, and one of them says he heard unearthly groans in the old workings. The story of the ghost has affected some of the employees to such an extent that they positively refuse to work alone. The strange part of the business is that the man with the light in his forehead can only be seen from one direction. The women living near the colliery are, of course, in a state of fear over what has become known as "Brace's ghost."

Witney Gazette and West Oxfordshire Advertiser, 17th December 1904.

A Haunted Coal Mine, Glamorgan

 Jersey Evening Post, 15th July 1902

The men employed at the Glyncorry Colliery, Glamorgan, to the number of 300, this morning refused to go down the mine. Some said they considered the working in danger of being flooded by water from an abandoned mine adjoining. Others said they have seen the figure of a woman waving a lighted lamp in the mine and have heard screams. The men assert they have heard cries for help and sounds of falls, and seen flashes of light. There is a general belief among the men that the mine is haunted. It is feared that it will be difficult to get them to resume work.

Cornish miners - Cornubian and Redruth Times October 1906

 Miners' Superstitions.

Miners say that they often see little imps or demons underground. Their presence is considered favourable; they indicate the presence of lodes about which they work during the absence of the miners.

Miners do not like the form of the cross being made underground. A man going through some "levels" or "adits," made a cross by the side of one, to know his way back, as he would have to return by himself. He was compelled to alter it into another form.

If miners saw a sail when going to "bal" in the morning, they used always to drop a piece of tallow from their candles.

Christmas Eve in the Mines.

On Christmas Eve, in former days, the small people, or spriggans, would meet at the bottom of the deepest mines, and have a midnight mass. Then those who were in the mind would hear voices singing, "Now well; now well;" and the strains of some deep-toned organ would shake the rocks. Of the grandeur of those meetings, old stories could not find words sufficiently sonorous to speak; it was therefore left to the imagination, but this was certain, the temple formed by the fairy bands in which to celebrate the eve of the birth of a Saviour, in whose mercy they all had hope, was of the most magnificent description. Midsummer-eve and new-year's day and eve are holidays with the miners. It has been said they refuse to work on those days from superstitious reasons. I never heard of any.

Warnings and "Tokens."

Amongst the mining population there is a deeply-rooted belief in warnings. The following related by a very respectable man, formerly a miner, well illustrates this:-

My father, when a lad, worked with a companion (James or 'Jim', as he was called) in Germow. They lived close by Old Wheal Grey in Breage. One evening, the daughter of the person with whom they lodged came in to her mother, crying, "Billy and Jim ben out theer for more than a hour, and I ben chasin them among the Kilur banks, and they wasn't lev me catch them. As fast as I do go to one, they do go to another." "Hould your tongue, child," said the mother; "'twas their forenoon core, and they both ben up in bed this houre."

"I'm sure I ben chasin them," said the girl. The mother then went upstairs and awoke the lads, telling them the story. One of them said "Tis a warning; something will happen in an old end, and I shan't go to mine this core." "Nonsense," said the other; "don't let us be so foolish; the child has been playing with some strangers, and it isn't worth while to be spaled for any such foolishness." "I tell you," replied the other, "I won'[t go." As it was useless for one man to go alone, both remained away. In the course of the night, however, a run took place in the end they were working in, and tens of thousands of tons of kibblefuls came away. Had they been at work, it was scarcely possible for them to have escaped."

At Wheal Vor it has always been and is now believed that a fatal accident in the mine is presaged by the appearance of a hare or white rabbit in one of the engine-houses. The men solemnly declare that they have chansed these appearances till they were hammed in apparently, without being able to catch them. The white rabbit on one occasion being run into a "windbore" lying on the ground,  and, though stopped in, escaped. In this mine there appears to be a general belief among the men in "tokens" and supernatural appearances. A few months ago, a fine old man reported, on being relieved from his turn as watcher, that during the night he heard a loud sound like the emptying of a cartload of rubbish in front of the account-house, where he was staying. On going out, nothing was to be seen. The poor fellow, considering the strange sound as a "warning," pined away and died within a few weeks.

The Ghost on Horseback.

Billy and John, working at Wheal Vor, were in the habit, early in the morning, of calling out a dog or two, kept by the occupier of an adjoining farm, and with them hunt over the Godolphin warren adjoining. One morning, while thus engaged, one of them gave the alarm that a man on horseback was coming down the road. "Tisn't possible," said the other; "no horse can ever come over that road." "There is a horse, and old Cap'n T. is upon it," replied the first. "Hold thy tongue," rejoined his comrade; "he's dead months ago." "I know that; but 'tis he, sure enough." Both crouched down behind a bush; and my informant, whose father was one of the parties, declared that the appearance of Capt. T., on a black horse, passed noiselessly down the road immediately before them, but without noticing their appearance.

The Black Dogs.

About seventy years since, a man and a lad were engaged in sinking a shaft at Wheal Vor mine, when the lad through carelessness or accident, missed in charging a hole, so that a necessity arose for the dangerous operation of picking out the chartge. This they proceeded to do, the man severely reprimanding the carelessness of his assistant. Several other miners at the time about being to change their core, were on the plat above, calling down and conversing occasionally with man and boy. Suddenly the charge exploded, and the latter were seen to be thrown up in the midst of a volume of flame. As soon as help could be procured, a party descended, when the remains fo the poor fellows were found to be shattered and scorched beyond recognition. When these were brought to the surface, the clothes and a mass of mangled flesh dropped from the bodies. A bystander, to spare the feelings of the relatives, hastily caught the revolting mass in a shovel, adn threw the whole into the blazing furnace Woolf's engine, close at hand. From that time the engineman declared that troops of little black dogs continually haunted the place, even when the doors were shut. Few of them like to talk about it; but it was difficult to obtain the necessary attendance to work the machine.

Wigan, 1906

Wigan Observer and District Advertiser, Friday 20th April 1906.
Under the Clock.
The Superstitions of the Miner.
There is perhaps no other worker, not even the sailor, who is more superstitious than the miner, and only the people living in a mining district such as Wigan know how superstitious the bravest of men may sometimes be. The industries of peace have their heroes as well as the fields of battle, and nowhere is heroism more manifest than in mining districts where some great catastrophe has overtaken the workers below ground. All the keen, cool daring of which flesh and blood is capable then manifests itself in the pitman, who, having escaped the fire himself, risks his life to save his brother worker. And yet, brave as the pitman may be, he is most superstitious. For instance, if the miner in the country districts round about Wigan sees a woman out-of-doors at five o'clock in the morning he is seized with an impulse to turn back and go home. A woman seen out of doors as a miner goes to his work is supposed to bode ill, and there is many a miner who even to-day would aver that he has more than once saved himself from harm by observing the custom which, in towns, is fast dying out. The English miner, too, believes in the prophecy of dreams, and now and then even the matter of fact evidence at an inquest would seem to support the validity of a superstition that has been set aside.

The disastrous explosion at Courrieres [?s] the fact that legends of the mine exists in France as well as in England. Even at Courrieres, as a writer in a contemporary points out, they have their "Black Miner," a spectral creature with dark skin and flashing eyes who works in the remote parts of the mines, and the men can hear the tick-tack of his pick against the seams. Sometimes they encounter the "Black Miner," who takes no notice of them, but continues his toil for a minute or two before their frightened eyes, and then disappears. When he has been seen or heard the colliers of the Pas du Nord become nervous, and may stop work for a day or two. It is now said that the "Black Miner" has often been encountered of late. But the men of the Pas du Nord are not easily dismayed. The miners go to their work singing -
"Quand now somm's de cinq cents pieds sous terre,
Nous ne craignons ni grele ni tonnerre."

In the valley of the Loire there are certain parts of the mine where no miner dares to trespass. It is well understood among the men that the dwellers in these dark places are to be left severely alone. Yet they are kindly sprites, and sometimes take the shape of dwarf miners. When they are seen with their tiny pickaxes across their shoulders danger is at hand. The "Petits Mineurs" are paid their wages regularly in the shape of a small money offering that is placed just on the border line of their own dark territory. The money disappears almost immediately, and the men are convinced that it has been duly collected by "Le P'tit." In the Central Provinces the spirits never appear when the men are at work. But afterwards gangs of ghostly miners take possession, and those above can hear the sharp sound of the pick, the movements of the waggons, and words of command.

The miners in Zola's "Germinal" fear the "Black Man" who lurks in the black recesses of the galleries, as a writer in T.P.'s Weekly points out. The fire-damp was once supposed to be the vengeance of some Pluto-like lord of the underworld, jealously guarding his black diamonds. Even now, some of these northern miners will talk of the "bianque besse," the white bat which is seen flitting, banshee-like, among the workers before the dreaded explosion takes place, or of the white snow-like flakes which are harbingers of the same terrible danger.

In Central France the "little miner" is a kobold who plays Puck-like tricks on the men. Does a lamp go out, a tool break, a piece of timbering fall on a miner - he apostrophises the mischievous elf whom he suspects to be playing these practical jokes. The Vieux Garcon (old bachelor) is another legend. When the new shift is coming down in the cage, and all should be silence, the men hear the pick resound, the "bennes" rolling along the rails, and savage cries of "Ratata!" Then comes a crash, as if all had been destroyed. But when the gallery is reached, all is in order - it is but the "Vieux Garcon."

The same sprite is supposed to haunt the Breton mines, but here he plays a more useful role. He watches over the miners, and by ghostly blows of the hammer (heard, but never seen), he indicates when timbers are rotting and danger lurks. Let us hope this belief does not tend to that neglect which, in a mine, is apt to be so tragic in its results!

Bargoed, 1907

Leicester Daily Post, Monday 23rd December 1907.
Welsh Miners' Superstition.
A remarkable case of Welsh superstition is reported from Bargoed, Rhymney Valley. Prior to the explosion at the Dinas Main Colliery, Gilfachgoch, a rumour was circulated that an explosion would take place at the Bargoed Collieries of the Powell Duffryn Company, at which nearly 2,000 men are employed. There was no justification for the report, but during the week hundreds of men have absented themselves from work.

Concerning diamonds, 1909

Hampshire Telegraph, Saturday 20th March 1909.
Concerning Diamonds
How they burn away.

The jeweller, at closing time, was putting his diamonds in a huge safe. "But why do you bother to do that when two watchmen walk the shop all night?"
"On account of fire," the jeweller replied. "Diamonds are nothing but coal - carbon: they burn beautifully. Their hardness makes us think them indestructible, but as a matter of fact a fire of diamonds would be the briskest, prettiest thing in the world. Put a handful of diamonds on a plate and set a light to them. They will burn with a hard, gem-like flame till nothing is left. There will be no smoke, no soot, and at the end the plates will be as clean as though just washed - not the slightest particle even of ash will remain."

"The diamond mines of India fail to pay mainly on account of a queer belief on the part of the native miners," said another jeweller. "The miners believe that diamonds grow, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. Hence, if they dug over a piece of promising clay last year, as like or not they give it another digging over, lest they miss some stones that have sprouted in the meantime. Thus half the labour is wasted labour, and the diamond miners of India don't get on at all."

Abertridwr, Caerphilly

Superstitious Colliers.
Despite every inducement to it to make another appearance, no more has been seen of the Abertridwr ghost. The victim of the alleged manifestations, who before the recent ghost scare was employed at one of the local collieries, is now (according to the "South Wales Daily News" debarred from descending the shaft. The colliers in the district are said to ahve made representations that the presence of a "haunted man" in the colliery would be a foreboding of evil. The victim has received many letters of advice upon the matter, but no enclosures. The letters come from all parts of the country, and offer various suggestions for solving the mystery. One writer recommends that he should sleep with a number of knives under his bed, stating that this "cure" had proved effectual in the case of a child who was under a "spell."
Northern Daily Telegraph, 8th March 1906

Coalisland, Tyrone, Northern Ireland (1900s)

Ghost Scare in Ireland.

A Belfast correspondent telegraphs that the district of Coalisland, Tyrone, is in a state of terror in consequence of the nightly visitation of a "ghost." The coal miners have several times refused to work at night despite the visits and assurances of local clergy-men. The spectre is that of a woman dressed in white. Large numbers of men declare they have seen the figure between midnight and three in the morning.
Derby Daily Telegraph, 5th December 1906.

 

Spook or Donkey?

Irish Miners Terrified into Prayer by a "Ghost".

(From Our Own Correspondent.) Belfast, Wednesday Night.

During the past few days a "ghost" of terrifying aspect, has caused much consternation among the men employed at the coal-pit at Red Row, Coalisland. I interviewed to-day the men working at the pit regarding the visitor. Amongst those by whom the "ghost" has been seen are the following workmen: Bernard Quinn, King's Row, Coalisland; Joe Hararan, Annagher; James Hughes, Derry; Joe McMahon, Braekaville, and the latter's father, John McMahon, who works at the Roan Spinning Mill. These are the men, bright and intelligent, with whom I conversed and from whom I obtained the following statement:

James Hughes saw the "ghost" first on the morning of Nov. 28th, at about half-past one o'clock. It was walking round the shed at the gable end of the Red Row, which is about 25 yards from the pit. Joe McMahon saw it after Hughes. It was dressed in white, and had a white cover on its head. You could not see arms nor legs on it, nevertheless it wore distinctly the shape of a human being. On Thursday morning, about the same hour as on Wednesday, Joe Hararan, Bernard Quinn, and John and Joe McMahon were sitting in the cabin, when they all saw the ghost, about two yards from the chestnut tree. 

The apparition, they say, looked like a man or a woman. Jas. Hughes and Joe Hararan walked out on the ban and looked at it for a minute or so. They then came in and sat down, the ghost standing all the time. About two minutes later it moved on again, and the four men then knelt and began to pray, whereupon the ghost came over the ditch into the field that the pit is in and disappeared, apparently, into the earth.

On Saturday morning the ghost came at ten minutes past one o'clock, and stopped at the Red Row corner for about three minutes, and then walked right past the chestnut tree, where it disappeared. It was then "in the shape of a four-footed animal, about the size of a sheep, and had a tail about two feet long, and ears about eighteen inches." About ten minutes later it reappeared, but this time it was like a human being, but all white - dazzling white. It stood now on the middle of the road, about twenty yards from the pit, and a while after walked through a gate into a field.

The men have not seen it since. They all say the apparition would terrify anybody.

London Daily News, 6th December 1906.

 

 Coalisland "Ghost" Turns Out To Be A Donkey.

For some time past the inhabitants of Coalisland and the surrounding district have been considerably alarmed by the reported appearance of a ghost near the old coalpits. Youths and maidens, and even those of riper years, were afraid to move out of doors after sunset. Various theories were advanced to account for the strange apparitions. Search parties were organised, and some daring individuals waited the other night with the coalers till the visitor arrived, when it was discovered that the "ghost" was no other than Mr. John Corr's grey donkey, which, it seems, is in the habit of roaming about after night near the old coalpits.

Belfast News-Letter, 13th December 1906.

Cornish miners

The festivals still celebrated by the Cornish miners are probably Christmas survivals of the Pagan customs of doing honour to the gods for the enrichment of the earth. On the second Thursday before Christmas - Picrons-day - some Cornish miners feast in honour of St. Piran or St. Kinan, the supposed discoverer of tin, while others on the Thursday before Christmas observe the feast of Chewidden, in commemoration of the first manufacture of white or smelted tin.
Taunton Courier, and Western Advertiser. 12th December 1906.

"Brownies" and "Knockers"

"Brownies" are by no means unknown in West Cornwall. Some few years ago a brownie was said to occasionally appear in a certain house in Chapel-street, Penzance. He was perfectly harmless, apparently portended nothing and when he came seated himself comfortably in a chair by the fireside. A prominent Penzance man once assured me he had seen him.

The existence of "knockers" will not be called in question by any true westcountryman. These are the "Old Men" working away underground at their old "Pitches" (i.e., workings). Unfortunately for the romance of the thing, they are generally heard in miners' cottages in remote country districts; but there have undoubtedly been cases in which the inhabitants of houses built over filled and forgotten mine shafts have heard some very queer noises, connected in all probability with blasts of gunpowder in the mine beneath them.
LINDUM.
(Reply to Query 883).

In 'The Cornish Telegraph' for 22nd October 1908. What does he mean, in the cottages? This makes it sound like more of a poltergeist and less connected to the knockers of the mines. I don't know. Brownies are usually found around the house.

Compensation vs superstition

A Ghost in the Mine.
Remarkable Claim for Compensation.

One of the most remarkable claims under the Workmen's Compensation Act has been heard at the Tredegar County Court, the Judge reserving his decision.

Frederick George Shellard, a lad aged fourteen years, was in the employ of the Powells Tillery Steam Coal Collieries Company in May last. He was a pit boy, earning 10s. a week as an assistant to his father, a collier. On one occasion the father sent him to get what is known as a "stick."

Amid the gloom and loneliness of the colliery the lad says that he suddenly felt something brush past him and he was confronted by two glaring eyes. This greatly terrified the lad, for most miners are exceedingly superstitious. He cried out to his father to come and help him, and was so overcome by what he regarded as an apparition that he had to be taken home.

The Judge suggested that the eyes were those of a cat, but the solicitor for the lad did not readily assent to this explanation.

Three days afterwards the father took the boy again to the colliery, with a view to convincing him that there was nothing to alarm him. So great was the shock, however, that the boy had not been able to work underground since. The medical evidence showed that the lad now suffered from St. Vitus's dance, brought about by fright.

Compensation was claimed at the rate of 5s. 3d. a week, but the company repudiated liability

Leeds Mercury, 22nd January 1904.

Superstitions at the Universal Colliery, Senghenydd

The Welsh colliery disaster, for the firends of the victims of which the whole working class population of this country have felt the deepest sympathy, has been the means of reviving some very curious superstitions amongst the mining population, which were once general. It will be well known that the doings of certain birds under certain conditions have been held to be unfailing signs of calamity. Hence it used to be held that a robin on the doorstep was a certain sign of death in the house. So also our forefathers used to say that the settling of rooks in the street was a sure sign of a death amongst the people living in it. Amongst miners superstitions of this character are even now much regarded. So it happens that the folk in the neighbourhood of the Senghenydd disaster believe that Providence had given the poor victims of the explosion a prophetic warning by means of birds of the frightful disaster which overtook them. For several days a dove is said to have been seen hovering over the frame of the pit, and refused to go away from the mouth of the pit at night. Again, it is stated that a flock of crows flew about the pit a few days before the disaster, and that on the night before the explosion actually took place they were seen to settle in the streets of a neighbouring village, beat their wings in flight against the windows, and otherwise signal by unusual conduct in the fraternity of rooks the impending calamity. It will be observed that this latter superstition is similar to that believed in by our own Warwickshire grandparents with regard to rooks. [...]

Warwick and Warwickshire Advertiser. 29th June, 1901.

Nantymoel pigeon at the Wyndham pit.

Miners' Superstitions.

Welsh colliers still retain a firm belief in omens. It will be remembered that after the Llanbradach explosion one of the rescue parties found a robin in the mine, and the workers in the pit felt convinced there had been a "Jonah on board." A strange incident has occurred this week at Nantymoel. A resident of that little mid-Glamorgan mining town was the possessor of a valuable pigeon, which he "freed" for the first time on Sunday. It did not return. On Monday morning, when the colliers employed at the Wyndham mine approached the shaft, they saw the bird perched upon the framework. A considerable section declined to descend the pit, until the bird was removed, convinced that the pigeon was a bird of ill-omen.

Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 4th October 1901.

Tinners' Omens

A Cornishman who works in his native tin or copper mines must never be addressed as a miner, or trouble will promptly ensure. This is because such a designation might cause him to be confounded with other underground workers, colliers in particular, and the clannish Cornishman esteems himself, with or without reason, to be of an altogether higher social standing than "darty coalers". But then the true-bred man from west of the Tamar has no doubt that his race is vastly superior to any outlandish foreigners from up the country, no matter what their rank or dignity may be.

Although the tinner has not the explosive firedamp to dread, yet the deep Cornish mines have their own dangers, no less swift and sudden. Many run out far under the sea, so that the crash of breaking waves thunders incessantly overhead. In very ancient times, the Phoenicians and they that dwelt in Tyre traded with the Celtic folk of Cornwall for tin and copper, then lying near the surface; there were shipping-places on islands round the coast where the metal was brought by the country folk, who jealously guarded the sources of their wealth. St Michael's Mount, the Island of St. Ives, the Chapel Rock at Perranporth, and even lordly Tintagel itself, were among the most notable of these stations.

Marazion, or Market Jew, was so called by the Jewish slaves, who were sent by the Carthaginians and Romans to work in the mines, the former name signifying "the bitterness of Zion." Tradition tells that the souls of these unlucky ones, because of their unbelief and also of their nefarious practices as tinners, are still condemned to toil underground, as they did in life, until the end of all things. They are known as the Knockers, or Buccas, and the belated or solitary tinner often hears the tap of their ghostly pickaxes; but this is not altogether an alarming sound, for wherever the Knockers work, the ore is certain to be plentiful and of excellent quality. Sometimes they will do a kindness to a mortal who has worked side by side with them for years, not doing anything to offend their sensitive feelings, but they are oftener malicious, and their vengeance is swift.

For this reason tinners object to the sign of the Cross being made underground, as the holy symbol irritates the Knockers. A stranger, going through the levels, made a cross on the wall by an adit, or opening, that he might know his way, for he had to return alone. He was directly implored by the men, his guides, to alter the mark into another form, for a cross would certainly bring ill-luck to the mine. Notwithstanding this, the Piskies, another tribe of Cornish spirits, who have hopes of ultimate salvation, meet at Christmas Eve at the bottom of the deepest mines, when exquisite music may be heard, with choirs of unearthly voices singing, "Nowell, Nowell." The Knockers sometimes betray the presence of an unsuspected lode of ore, from strange noises being heard underground, as of miners at work, in places where there is no mortal shaft. Houses built over such spots are subject to uncanny hauntings.

In a life of constant, unforeseen peril, it is natural that supernatural warnings should be eagerly watched for. To meet a red-haired woman or to see a hare run across the path when going to work is an evil omen, and many a man will forfeit a day's pay rather than go underground after such a token. At Wheal Vor a fatal accident was always presaged by the appearance of a white hare or rabbit in one of the engine-houses. This mysterious animal has often been chased in the enclosed space by the men - no dog dares join the hunt - but always escapes. On one occasion it dodged into an unused pipe lying on the ground, and stopped at the farther end, exactly as a living rabbit might have done. Secure of their prey, the pursuers rushed to the spot, only to find the pipe empty, and all trace of their quarry vanished.

The Seven Whistlers, why seven no man can tell, for they are invisible, also warn the tinners against decending in the face of impending danger, by strange, musical whistlings heard in the air at the shaft's mouth.

At Wheal Vor, there was once an accident in one of the engine-houses, not that where the white rabbit is seen, which resulted in the death of a man and boy, their remains being burned in the furnace. From that moment troops of little black dogs haunted the spot, seeming to issue from the furnace when all the doors were shut. No bribes nor threats would induce the men to be left alone in such company, and it was even difficult to get hands to work this machine.

At another mine there was, or is, an apparition known by the gruesome name of the "Dead Hand." This is seen in a deserted shaft, long unused, and is always the forerunner of misfortune. In the evening dusk a faint glow shines from the shaft, and those bold enough to walk up to its edge may see a man's hand moving up or down the empty hole, as though someone were climbing where no ladder has stood for many a day. This had grasps a miner's candle, fixed in a ball of clay in the usual manner, the spectral gleam falls upon the hand, though no other part of the body is visible. The light has the irregular motion of a candle hld by a man who grasps stave after stave of a ladder while his finger and thumb clasp the clay socket. Tradition tells how an unlucky tinner, who did not bear the best of characters among his fellows, while ascending alone, was seized with giddiness, tripped, and fell. Though he was buried with Christian rites, yet the appearance was first seen soon after his death; and his late comrades, terrified, took the trouble to sink a new shaft rather than pass the ghostly hand upon the narrow ladders.

Saint Perran is the patron saint of tinners and is said to have invented their banner, a white cross on a black ground, symbolising the black tin ore and the white metal. Some think it was he who first taught the Cornish folk to "stream" for tin. But he lived in the fourth century after Christ, so it is difficult to reconcile this with the other legend of the Tyrians who traded in Cornwall in the days of King Solomon. Be this as it may, Saint Perran was a man of great local importance in his day, for many villages are called by his name, such as Perranzabuloe, Perranawhorthal, Perranuthnoe, and Perranporth. There is a story that he sailed the seas from Ireland sitting miraculously upon a floating mill-stone, so perhaps his history is not to be entirely accepted without question.

However, one evening when the holy man was cooking his supper, he took a large, heavy black stone for one side of his fireplace. This primitive stove burned with intense heat, and suddenly a stream of brilliant white metal flowed from the block of ore. The Saint rejoiced; and called the Cornishmen together that they might celebrate his discovery with feasting. This they did with much zeal, consuming their national drinks of mead and metheglin in such quantities that "Drunk as a Perraner," passed into a proverb that remains to the present time. This event took place on the second Thursday before Christmas, since called Pierous Day, and still kept as the tinners' holiday.

The Globe, 17th September 1902.

French miners' superstitions

The French mind is essentially material. Would not the more mystic Celt or Anglo-Saon feel a superstitious thrill cross his mind when he saw, surging from the silence and the night of the fatal galleries where he knew all was death and decay, spectral forms in the "unlucky number" of thirteen? Yet the legends of the mine exist in France.

The miners in Zola's "Germinal" fear the "Black Man" who lurks in the black recesses of the galleries. The fire-damp was once supposed to be the vengeance of some Pluto-like lord of the underworld, jealously guarding his black diamonds. Even now, some of these northern miners will talk of the "bianque besse," the white bat which is seen flitting, banshee-like, among the workers before the dreaded explosion takes place, or of the white snow-like flakes which are harbingers of the same terrible danger.

In Central France the "little miner" is a kobold who plays Puck-like tricks on the men. Does a lamp go out, a tool break, a piece of timbering fall on a miner - he apostrophises the mischievous elf whom he suspects to be playing these practical jokes.

The "Vieux Garcon" (old bachelor) is another legend. When the new shift is coming down in the cage, and all should be silence, the men hear the pick resound, the "bennes" rolling along the rails and savage cries of "Ratata!" Then comes a crash, as if all had been destroyed. But when the gallery is reached, all is in order - it is but the "Vieux Garcon."

The same sprite is supposed to haunt the Breton mines, but here he plays a more useful role. He watches over the miners and by ghostly blows of the hammer (heard but never seen), he indicates where timbers are rotting and danger lurks. Let us hope this belief does not lead to that neglect which, in a mine, is apt to be so tragic in its results. -- "T.P.'s Weekly."

Belfast News-Letter  17th April 1906.

Gateshead colliery

Nearly 300 miners from a neighbouring colliery were summoned at Gateshead on Thursday for having absented themselves from work after a fatality in a pit.
The owners, it was said, had agreed that in future if a fatality occurred before three in the afternoon the pit should be idle that day, and if after three it should be idle that and the following day.
The summonses were withdrawn.

Derby Daily Telegraph, 23rd September, 1904.

Cynicism in Lancashire

Superstition or Pleasure?

Work was resumed at all the collieries in South-east Lancashire after the Easter holidays yesterday. In the Manchester and Bolton districts several hundreds of men absented themselves, causing much inconvenience. Many of the miners in these localities consider it unlucky to start on the first day after a holiday stoppage, and make this an excuse for another day's play.

Evening Express, 18th April 1906.

Cornwall

Among the superstitioins which still survive with old folks in Cornwall is that of the "knockers." The tap, tap of the tiny hammers these pixies use is heard, or supposed to be heard, in the tin mines where the lodes are richest. They are supposed to indicate to the miners where it will be best to drive a level. Once the miners reach the spot it is said the tapping ceases.

A few generations back such noises were said to be caused by the ghosts of the Jews who crucified the Saviour, and who were sent to work in the tin mines as slaves by the Roman Emperor. Latter-day science, with its explanations of the physical causes of such sounds in the depths of the earth, has killed all the romantic and legendary lore which obtained so abundantly in the duchy in the early decades of last century.

Weekly Mail, 30th August 1902.

"Strikes caused by ghosts"

Quite recently the whole of the miners belonging to the Glyncorrwg Colliery, near Port Talbot, Glamorganshire, went out on strike through fear of a ghost. Deep down in the nethermost workings, they assert, a white-clothed female figure appears at frequent but irregular intervals, waves her arms thrice above her head, mutters certain words in an unknown tongue, and then vanishes.

This, of course, is no new thing. Miners are proverbially superstitious, and it is only natural that they should decline to go down into a mine that they believe to be haunted; but it is rather hard lines for the mine-owners especially as these ghost-induced strikes often prove exceedingly expensive.

Thus, in 1873, several hundred Warwickshire colliers ceased work, owing to the alleged appearance, in a disused drift, of a "luminous boy." This strike lasted for the better part of a year, and cost £30,000; and after all the so-called "luminous boy" turned out to be nothing more supernatural than a collection of decaying fungi.

Bell-ringing apparitions have haunted the Cornish tin-mines from time immemorial. The miners assert that the bells are rung by kindly-disposed ghosts, themselves miners when in the flesh, as a warning of impending calamity; and no amount of persuasion will induce them to venture below ground at such times.

One of these curious strikes lasted five months; and another which threatened to continue indefinitely, was only brought to a close by the plucky action of one of the proprietors, who, in order to reassure his men, descended himself into the particular working which was supposed to be haunted, and stayed there quite alone for three days and nights.

Very tragic was the termination of the spook-bred strike which, in 1887, occurred iat Mons Colliery, in Belgium. Late in April the men came out because, so they averred, a strange shaggy man, who vanished when approached, had been heard in the workings foretelling disaster and muttering imprecations against those who disregarded his warnings. for several days the mine lay idle, but on the morning of the 5th of MArch the manager had so far succeeded in allaying the fears of the men that a goodly proportion of them returned to work. Two or three hours later a terrific explosion occurred, causing the death of eighty-seven of them.

Northants Evening Telegraph, 16th August 1902.

Trimsaran mine, Carmarthenshire

Fortune Teller Creates a Strange Panic.
A Llanelly telegram states that the colliers in the mining village of Trimsaran, which was the scene of a terrible fatality about twelve months ago, resulting in the death of ten men, are panic-stricken, and decline to enter the pits, in consequence of the statement of a fortune-teller, who stated that the mines would be flooded and many men drowned. The pits are now idle.
Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 14 January 1908.



The refusal of the Welsh colliers of Trimsaran to enter the pits in consequence of warnings of a fortune-teller may seem at first sight a case of grossest superstition. The miners have probably been superstitious from one generation to another, but an incredibly large number of educated classes, in the reaction against utilitarianism and the doctrines of hard fact, have fallen back upon old fancies and myths, if only for their romantic interest. -- "Tribune".
Belfast Telegraph, 15 January 1908.

Scaring the Miners.
A Clairvoyant fined.
At Llanelly yesterday, a professional clairvoyant named Madame St. Leonard was fined £5 and costs amounting to about the same sum for fortune telling. It appears that the seeress, among other things, predicted a colliery accident at Trimsaran, a village outside the town, and the superstitious miners refused to go down the pit, which gives employment to 200 men. Some workmen, it was stated, had been idle a month, while others had left the place for good. The village has, however, regained its normal state.
Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, 18th Februry 1908.