Mines, Haunted
An Encyclopaedia of Occultism (1920)
The belief that mines are haunted is an ancient and universal one, probably arising from the many weird sounds and echoes which are heard in them, and the perpetual gloom. Sometimes the haunting spectres are gigantic creatures with frightful fiery eyes. Such was the German Bergmönch, a terrible figure in the garb of a monk, who could, however, appear in ordinary human shape to those towards whom he was well-disposed." Frequently weird knockings are heard in the mines. In Germany these are attributed to the Kobolds, small black beings of a malicious disposition. White hares or rabbits are also seen at times. The continual danger attending the life underground is productive of many supernatural "warnings," which generally take the form of mysterious voices. In the Midland Counties of England the "Seven Whistlers are well known and their warnings solemnly attended to. A light blue flame settling on a full coal-tub was called "Bluecap," and his work was to move the coaltub towards the trolley-way. Bluecap did not give his services for nothing. Every fortnight his wages were left in a corner of the mine, and duly appropriated. A more mischievous elf was "Cutty Soames," who would cut the traces, or soams, yoking an assistant putter to the tub. Basilisks, whose terrible eyes would strike the miner dead, were another source of dread to the worker underground. These, as well as the other mysterious foes who dealt fatal blows, may be traced to the dreaded, but by no means ghostly, fire-damp. Mines of the precious metals are still more jealously guarded by the supernatural beings. Gnomes the creatures of the earth-element, are the special guardians of subterranean treasure, and they are not over-anxious that their province be disturbed. Mines containing precious stones are equally well looked after. The Indians of Peru declare that evil spirits haunt the emerald mines, while a mine in the neighbourhood of Los Esmeraldos was said to be guarded by a frightful dragon. It has also been stated that the poisonous fumes and gases which ofttimes destroy the lives of miners are baleful influences radiated by evil spirits.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
The 1920 Encyclopaedia of Occultism already conceded that the mysterious foes who "dealt fatal blows" underground were really firedamp, and that reading has simply won: the knockings, the sudden deaths and the blue flames belong to methane, roof movement and carbon monoxide, and gas detection, ventilation and safety lamps have made the workings far less mysterious. What has gone is the industry that carried the beliefs. Britain's last deep coal mine, Kellingley Colliery in Yorkshire, closed in December 2015, and with it the working communities that kept Bluecap, Cutty Soames and the Seven Whistlers alive as anything but folklore-society material. The creatures survive chiefly in names and in stories told above ground — cobalt and nickel are both named from German miners' demons, and Cornish emigrants carried the knockers to America, where the "tommyknockers" of Colorado and Nevada mines are still cheerfully invoked.
Written for this edition, 2026.