Midlands and Northern England, 1880

 The pitmen in the Midland Counties have or had a belief, unknown to the North, in aerial whistlings, warning them against the pit. Who or what the invisible musicians were nobody pretended to know, but for all that they must have been counted and found to consist of seven, as the seven whistlers is the name they bear to this day.

Two goblins were believed to haunt the Northern mines. One was a spiteful elf who indicated his presence only by the mischief he perpetrated; he rejoiced in the name of "Cutty Soams," and appears to have employed himself only in the stupid device of severing the rope traces, or seams [scams?], by which an assistant putter, honoured by the title of 'the fool', is yoked to the tub. -The strands of hemp which were left all sound in the board at 'kenner-time' were found next morning severed in twain. 'Cutty Soams has been at work,' would the fool and his driver say, dolefully knotting the cord. The other goblin was altogether a more sensible, and indeed an honest and hard-working bogie, much akin to the Scotch brownie, or the hairy fiend whom Milton rather scurvily apostrophises as a lubber. 

The supernatural person in question was no other than a ghostly putter, and his name was 'Bluecap'. Sometimes the miners would see a light blue flame flicker through the air and settle on a full coal tub, which immediately moved towards the rolley-way as though impelled by the sturdiest sinews in working. Industrious Bluecap was at his vocation, but he required, and rightly, to be paid for his services, which he modestly rated as those of an ordinary average putter; therefore once a fortnight Bluecap's wages were left for him in a solitary corner of the mine. If they were a farthing below his due, the indignant Bluecap would not pocket a stiver; if they were a farthing above his due, the indignant Bluecap left the surplus where he found it.

The writer asked his informant, a hewer, wehter, if Bluecap's wages were now-a-days left him, he thought they would be appropriated. The man shrewedly answered he thought they would be taken by Bluecap or somebody else.

Cornubian and Redruth Times, 19th November 1880.

Ollersett pit, Derbyshire (1912)

Wraith in the Mine.

Two men on the night shift at Ollersett coal pit, Derbyshire, when creeping on all-fours underneath the dipping rock roof, observed an object standing a few feet away lifting up its arms and uttering loud screams.

The men were paralysed with fright, and before they had recovered from the shock the apparition vanished. Two nights later a white-faced miner, in a state of collapse, stated that he had also seen the wraith. The ghost was reported to be headless, and to resemble the form of a woman, but this was probably due to the fact that some years ago a woman's body with the head severed from the trunk was found in the pit.

The ghost turned out to be a pure white badger, which had made its home in the mine.

Dundee People's Journal, 31st January 1914.

Redruth and Camborne, Cornwall (1912)

 A Cornish Spook!

Miners' Story of a Strange Apparition.

During recent weeks there has been in circulation in the Redruth and Camborne district a story of a ghost having been seen on East Pool and Agar Mine. By most people it has been regarded as a hoax, but that does not alter the fact that several men are convinced they have actually beheld an apparition from the other world. Nobody can persuade these miners - about half a dozen - that they have not seen, while working in the neighbourhood of East Pool shaft, the shadowy semblance of a man, dressed in a long, caped coat of dark material. The "ghost" vanishes when it is approached.

The curious fact is (according to the "Western Daily Mercury") that the men who are certain that they have had the ghostly experience are only a fourth of the number of those who during the week are engaged at night on the spot. The others are inclined to treat their comrades supposed credulity with much levity. Nevertheless, the half-a-dozen tell circumstantial tales, and are certainly to be given credit for their honest belief.

Persons who have gone to the place on several occasions lately have not succeeded in discovering anything, during their ghost-hunting experiments. By some the "ghost" is believed to have been created by the peculiar lighting effects of the place. It is not uncommon for the men to see undesirables of the tramp class searching for a warm corner to rest or sleep in.

Portsmouth Evening News, 23rd February 1912.

A Ghost Story from a Cornish Coal Pit.

Man in a Long Coat.

[...] The "Morning Leader" representative at Redruth, led by persistent rumours, paid a visit to the East Pool and Wheal Agar United Mines, in Illogan parish, where, he says, he gathered some remarkable and well-authenticated facts. 

At least a dozen men, unimaginative Cornish miners, told him that they had seen the ghost in the pit. One of these declared that he could hardly believe the evidence of his own senses, and did not know what to make of his experience. He is as certain as he can be, however, that while working at night in the immediate vicinity of the shaft he beheld the shadowy semblance of a man wearing a long, black, caped coat.

This miner is obviously not at all of an excitable temperament, and not inclined to joke about the matter. The "ghost" is said to vanish on being approached. Another story is that the spectre on one occasion visited the engine-room, and sat down there. About one-quarter of the men who are engaged on night duty near the shaft in the course of the week are ready to swear they have seen the phantom, but the remainder have observed nothing out of the common, and are rather inclined to laugh at the expense of the others. 

An unfortunate pitman was drowned in this part of the mine about eight months ago, and the body was never recovered. Many of the miners who have seen the ghost are inclined to associate the spectre with this man's death.

Sheffield Evening Telegraph, 23rd February 1912.

 

East Pool Miner's Terrible Death.

A verdict of accidental death was returned on Thursday at an inquiry at Pool Institute [...] into the death of James Curnow (21), who was killed by falling 48 fathoms (288 feet) at East Pool Mine the previous day [..]

West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, 22nd February 1912.

 

East Pool Horror. Three Miners Instantly Killed.

A terrible accident, involving the instantaneous death of three young miners, occurred at East Pool Mine about 11a.m. on Friday. [...] 

West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser, 7th March 1912.

 

 

Morfa Colliery

 Carrickfergus Advertiser, 18th September 1896.

A Haunted Coal Mine.

The Morfa Colliery, South Wales, possesses the unique, if unenviable, reputation of being haunted. This has always been a singularly unlucky pit, and the scene of several terrible disasters. Some time in the "sixties" these uncanny traditions appear to have been started owing to an elderly miner one day solemnly refusing to go down to work, asserting that the strange sounds he had heard in the workings were a warning of approaching evil. He adhered to his resolve, and there was an immediate explosion of fire damp, resulting in the loss of many lives. The terrible explosion of six years ago, when nearly one hundred miners were entombed, must still be familiar to the minds of many, and shortly before it occurred the most extraordinary noises were fully attested to. Cries, groans, and what was described as a weird "twittering music" reached the ears of all in the lower galleries. Heavy doors in the roadways were seen to open and shut of their own accord, and on the eve of the fatality the cage bell was mysteriously rung, and an apparition attired in a black oil-skin suit descended from the shaft by the side of a tram of coal on the stage, and walked across the yard to a building that a few hours later was destined to be used as a mortuary for the terribly mangled bodies of the victims. Immediately after the explosion one of the officials of the colliery, dressed in the same manner, did exactly as the apparition had done.

Only last December the scare broke out afresh as a recurrence of the same curious sounds took place, and, direst sign of all, one Sunday night a dove was found perched on a coal truck in the weigh house. By way of reassuring the miners, who had all struck work in a body, the Government inspector, the chief manager, and a small party of officials made a strict examination of the workings, but though they found nothing changed, it was several days before the superstitious miners could be induced to resume work. It is quite conceivable that a seismic tremor, or a settling of strata over the older workings, some of which extend under the sea, caused the sounds and movements thus described, and in either case there might be danger. But according to the miners the "weirds" of the victims of the past are giving warning to their living successors.

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.

West Auckland, County Durham

Graphic - Saturday 5th April 1873

 

 Since the execution of the West Auckland poisoner there has been much excitement in the neighbourhood, caused by the reported appearance of the ghosts of several of her victims. The scenes of the apparitions are the churchyard from which the bodies were exhumed, and the old rectory where they were dissected. On Monday week a pitman was followed home by the spectre of a child, which went upstairs, and then made such unearthly noises that the man and his wife ran in terror to a neighbour's cottage, leaving their child behind. A young man who boldly undertook to bring it, came back in a fright, saying that he had seen the ghost on the stairs. The child was at last rescued by a lady, who it is said has had much experience with apparitions. Several pitmen have given up work rather than pass the spots supposed to be haunted.

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.