-
12. Mine Ghosts
- The University Press of Kentucky
- Chapter
- Additional Information
12 Mine Ghosts THERE HAVE been hundreds of mine accidents in West Virginia, with undoubtedly many more victims-nearly four hundred were killed in one accident alone-and the dark passageways of the coal mines are indeed likely places for ghosts and visitations. Perhaps it is no wonder then that there are so many wandering ghosts of miners. By and large they are friendly souls-neither violent nor malevolent-like Big John and Jeremy Walker, who come back to see how things are getting along and to lend a helping hand when needed. Sometimes there is an element of protest-one man wants to make sure that the mine officials give his widow what is justly hers-but in none of the tales I have collected which take place in the mines is there an element of retribution. The Grant Town mine, the scene of four of the stories 103 here, is one of the largest in the United States, and possibly in the world. The town itself, with a population of a little over a thousand, is about seven miles northwest of Fairmont . Surrounded by hills, it is a kind of sunken gardena well at the bottom of the stairway of hills and highways -so that it seems to be in a world of its own. In a way, perhaps, it is. At least fourteen different European nationalities live in the town and work in the mine. 67. BIg John's Ghost My GRANDFATHER was a coal miner all of his life. He had started to work in the coal mines of Wales when he was only eleven years old. He told me many of his experiences in the mines, some of which I found quite hard to believe. One story I remember very well was about a big Russian coal miner and an accident which took place when the Grant Town mine was just getting its start. Grandfather said they called this man Big John because he was such a huge man. Big John loved to work and he loved to talk while he worked. Grandfather worked with Big John all day. John planted the charges to blow the coal out, and Grandfather fixed the plunger. One day John was planting the dynamite in a vein of coal and Grandfather was around the corner, fixing the plunger that detonated the charge. All of a sudden he heard an explosion and a terrible scream. He ran around the corner to find Big John lying on the ground, with his head completely blown off. A stick of dynamite had accidentally gone off. It was a terrible shock to Grandfather, for he and John had become close friends while they worked together. It seemed as if he could still hear John talking while they 104 [3.231.3.140] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 08:50 GMT) were going down in the cage, and while they worked. Now he was gone. One foggy morning, about a month after the accident, Grandfather was going down in the cage by himself. All of a sudden he felt as if he were not alone. He slowly turned around. There before his eyes stood Big John, holding his head on his arm. The head smiled and spoke to Grandfather just as it used to do when it was on Big John's shoulders. Grandfather shut his eyes and kept them shut until the cage hit bottom. When he opened them, Big John was gone. To this day Grandfather will get a funny look in his eyes when he tells this story. He will swear that he actually saw Big John. Who am I to doubt his word? 68. The Pointing Finger IF YOU HAVE ever been in the coal mines, you know how troublesome sulfur balls are to the miners. Sulfur balls range from the size of a basketball to one weighing several tons, and whether large or small, they are almost impossible to drill. Jim Tokash, a "Joy" operatorO in Section North Butt, thought he was the best coalcutter in the Grant Town coal mine. Whenever he ran into a vein of sulfur, instead of reporting it to the section boss, he would try to drill through it. He was warned many times by the section boss that if he didn't stop breaking the drill bits he would be fired. One afternoon Jim ran into the biggest sulfur ball he had ever seen, and as before, he tried to drill through it. o...