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The Ghost of the Deep: The Legend of Blåmannen at Blaafarveværket

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The haunting of the Blue man, or Blåmannen at the cobalt mine, Modum Blaafarveværk in Norway has been told for ages now. What truly lies inside the darkness of the mines?

Blaafarveværket was Norway’s largest mine and also Norway’s largest industrial enterprise in the first half of the 19th century and is the largest and best-preserved mining museum in Europe. Could it be that it’s also one of the most haunted ones?

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Norway

Far inside the old cobalt mines of Blaafarveværket in Modum, a figure has been reported for nearly two centuries. The tunnels once rang with the strikes of hammers and the clatter of ore carts as workers extracted the cobalt-rich stone used to make the famous deep blue pigment. But beneath the sweat and industry lurked a story every miner knew: the warning spirit called Blåmannen.

Roger Pihl.

A Shadow in Uniform Haunting the Deep Mines

Blåmannen (The Blue Man) was said to appear wearing a miner’s uniform, his lamp burning with an uncanny, bluish glow. He never spoke. He simply showed himself before the disaster. Miners claimed he emerged from the darker shafts just moments before a collapse, his presence a silent signal to get out while there was still time. Those who saw him whispered that he looked more resigned than frightening, as if burdened with a duty he could not escape.

According to Kai Hunstadbråten’s article, “The Blue Man in the Rock at Modum“, the Blue Man is also said to have been called “Hans med knappene” (Hans with the buttons), due to the Blue Man’s uniform. Hunstadbråten also claims that the miners called one of the open pits at Nordgruvene “The Blue Man’s Mine”.

The Miner’s Demon: The element cobalt got its name from a mythical rock demon, a kind of gnome-like creature, who terrorized miners in German mines. German miners traveled to Norway in the 15th and 17th centuries to work in Norwegian mines. Agricala described, among other things, a rock demon from the silver mines of Annaberg in present-day Germany, with “wild eyes and a long neck like a horse.” This demon is said to have killed 12 miners simply by breathing on them. The German mining demons probably joined the crossing, but had difficulty gaining a foothold among the Norwegian workers. Norway had its own traditions of underground mines, plots and pits.

Another miner who claimed to have met the Blue Man was Hans Simen Røtter. He also worked in the cobalt mines in the 19th century. One story goes: 

“Once when Hans Simen Røtter was burning a log at Norsgruva […] a blue man came to him […] and asked him to go out, because the mine was not safe. But Røtter now wanted to set the fire first, and would not go. Then the blue man came back one or two more times and almost threatened him to go, and no sooner had he come out than the log collapsed.”

The Christmas Collapse of 1854

The most chilling encounter came in December 1854. Seven workers entered a narrow tunnel, unaware that the supports had grown dangerously unstable. Deep inside, Blåmannen appeared before them, striding toward them with urgency. Only when he pointed toward the exit and shoved the lead worker backward did they grasp the danger. The men fled in a panic, but the last of them was buried under the collapse. The sole survivor was the one who had been pushed away first.

It was December 13th and Christmas was coming. Miner Ole Torstensen noticed that a fox was following him on his way to the mines. This omen could mean a sudden death, but what was he to do? The boss was not going to give him the day off just because of superstition. Legend has it that several workers saw the Blue Man that day, and that birds pecking ominously at the windows of the sugar house where the workers slept. Ole Bøenstøa was also going to work that day, and perhaps he and Ole Torstensen mentioned the omens to each other as they set off down the mine shaft to work. It was so narrow that the eight workers had to walk in a single file.

When they had gone a little way in, a shadowy man suddenly came towards them. He was dressed in a blue miner’s uniform and held an oil lamp in his hand. The blue man looked at them and pointed towards the exit, which if he wanted them to turn around. But the miners didn’t stop. The blue man disappeared, but it wasn’t long before he reappeared and wanted them out. This time they couldn’t be persuaded either.

The miners were now restless. For the third and final time, the Blue Man appeared in the darkness. This time he went straight for the first worker in line and tried to push him out of the mine. They realized that this was a warning they had to heed, but by then it was too late. The mine began to collapse around them.

People outside heard the terrifying roar. The oldest miners quickly realized what had happened. A landslide! When the masses of rock had settled, they could hear the trapped workers’ desperate cries for help. They managed to pull three men alive from the landslide, but one of them died afterwards. Five men were found dead. One of them was Ole Torstensen. Ole Bøenstøa came out of the incident unharmed, even though the two were standing right next to each other when the landslide came. Was it the Blue Man who saved Bøenstøa, while the encounter with the fox made Torstensen’s fateful day?

From that day on, Blåmannen was no longer seen as a guardian spirit. He became a grim omen, a ghost tied to death and ruin whether he wished it or not.

Where Did Blåmannen Come From?

After the Napoleonic Wars, the enterprise was taken over by the private owners Benjamin Wegner and Baron Benecke with Wegner as director, and their ownership period from 1822–1848 is known as the works’ heyday, and possible when the rumours about Blåmannen emerged. 

One of the oldest written sources though, sets the emergence of Blåmannen to the late 1840s when a man retold a story in a newspaper called Buskeruds Blad from 1903, only signed O:

Mother often told me about an incident that happened at one of the Blaafarveværket’s pits at Modum in the late 1840s, when a man by the name of Røtter, who worked in the so-called Nordpit, was alerted in a miraculous way, so he avoided being crushed by the collapsing pit.

At night he was busy in one of tunnels burning “Stull”. The fire blazed bright and cast its shine through the dark Tunnels. Røtter stands with his back to the fire and warms himself, when a young man comes up to him from one of the side passages of the pits and says: “You must get out quickly”.

Røtter was amazed at the young man’s appearance, when he knew that there was not a human being besides himself in the pit that night.

He replied: “No, I cannot do that.” The figure disappears, but comes back after a few minutes and says to him: “Yes, now you must go”. Røtter then replied again: “No, I can’t; I have to take care of the fire and can’t leave my post”.

The figure disappears, but immediately comes back, goes right up to him, follows him to the ladder and says: “Now get up”.

He ran up the ladder as fast as he could, and then went into a nearby chair room and sat down on a bench. But he had hardly sat down before he heard a huge bang, and the ground shook. Right after there is another bang, more violent than the first, the door bursts open, and he thought the mine was collapsing.

Now it was quiet. He began to wonder what had happened, but did not dare to go out; he wanted to wait until morning. Then he came down to my parents and told them what had happened that night. When people came to the mine in the morning, the whole tunnel where he had been working had collapsed and were the banging sounds he had been hearing.

Who was the mysterious young man who made him leave the pit, so that his life was saved at the last moment? In the mines, as mentioned before, there was no one but himself. The figure was a handsome, young man, wearing blue clothes with a cut, which was not used around there.

When I read some pieces in your magazine about “Visions and Omens” some time ago, I thought of writing down what Mother has told me so many times.

Was it a Warning?

– O.

The Warning Still Stands

Even now, visitors to Blaafarveværket sometimes speak of a dim blue light flickering deep within the closed tunnels or the sound of footsteps pacing in shafts that have been empty for generations. Guides tell the old legend quietly, and with a gravity that suggests they believe every word.

One thing remains constant in the stories. If you ever glimpse Blåmannen standing in the dark with his lamp raised, do not hesitate.

Run.

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References:

Buskeruds Blad, fredag 25. desember 1903

Halloween spesial – Blaafarveværket

DØDENS BUDBRINGER i koboltgruvene på Modum – Issuu

Blaafarveværket – Wikipedia

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The Lady in Red Haunting the Mizpah Hotel

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The Lady in Red is said to haunt the Mizpah Hotel in Tonopah, Nevada. Murdered in her room, she whispers sweet words and leaves pearls to guests staying the night. But what actually happened to her? 

In the former silver mining town of Tonopah in Nevada, the Mizpah Hotel stands as a striking relic of the early 1900s, when Nevada’s mining boom attracted prospectors and travelers from far and wide to the Silver State. 

Read Also: Check out all ghost stories from the USA

Between 1901 and 1921, Tonopah drew thousands of people working to get around $121 million worth of mostly silver ore from mines — especially in the hills directly behind the Mizpah Hotel. There were tons of rags to riches stories back then, although it also left a couple of ghost stories. 

The History of The Mizpah Hotel

The Mizpah opened in 1907, designed as a luxury escape for weary miners and well-heeled visitors in Queen of the Silver Camps as the town was called. Originally it had been a saloon there and it was the first permanent building in the town. The hotel was named after the biblical term “watchtower,” and was supposed to be a safe haven for travelers.

The Mizpah Hotel: The hotel in the old mining town is said to be haunted by a lady in red. According to the story, a woman was murdered there and has been lingering ever since. JERRYE & ROY KLOTZ MD/Wikimedia

There are many stories about the hotel and how it ties into the wild west. According to legend, Wyatt Earp kept the saloon, Jack Dempsey was a bouncer, and Howard Hughes married Jean Peters at the Mizpah. Although all of these stories are most likely tall tales, the hotel has adapted them and named rooms and the bar after them all. 

Read Also: Check out all ghost stories from Haunted Hotels

Known for its solid granite walls, Victorian furnishings, and Nevada’s first electric elevator, this five-story hotel set the standard for Western opulence. After being restored to the original glory it is called the finest stone hotel in the desert. It is not only known as a historic hotel though, but a haunted one as well. 

The Lady In Red Haunting the Mizpah Hotel

However, amid the grandeur lies a darker, blood-stained tale. The most famous legend tied to the Mizpah Hotel is that of the Lady in Red, a ghostly resident who many believe perished on the fifth floor. 

According to local lore, she was a woman of beauty and charm, known for entertaining guests in her elegant suite. Because as many hotels used to be, this hotel also operated as a brothel. Or at least, working girls lived there, although the hotel was outside of the city’s red light districts around Main Street. The Mizpah was never a brothel officially, so could the Lady in Red have been a “kept lady” or even a mistress instead of a prostitute? In any case, there she lived and possibly worked. And if we are to believe the legends, this is also where she died. 

Tragically, she met a violent end when an ex-lover, or perhaps a jealous patron, strangled her in a moment of rage, shattering her necklace, spilling pearls across the floor—and sealing her spirit to the hotel forever.

The Lady in Red: The Mizpah Hotel has accepted the legend of the lady in red as part of their legacy and you will find portraits of her as well as a room named after her.

In some versions she was a wife who cheated on her husband in the hotel. He found out when he missed his train and went back to her. Finding her in the arms of another, he killed her in rage. 

Read More: For more ghost stories of The Lady in Red, check out The Lady in Red of Bang Pakong River, The La, dy in Red at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver The Mysterious Ghost Stories of The Haunted Dock Street Theater and The Ghost Crowds of Leap Castle

Her name is now lost, if she ever did exist. Some call her Rose and it was most likely her prostitute name. According to some her name was actually Evelyn May Johnston born in Baltimore in 1879 and died on January 2, 1914. 

There are no official documents supporting this however, and there isn’t even certain that a murder like hers ever happened at the hotel. Where this name and dates came from is uncertain. Some versions of the story claim she arrived in town in the 1920s so the story varies.

But the stories about her are thriving and growing, and those staying in the hotel, check out claiming that she is still lingering there. 

The Haunting of Mizpah Hotel

The Lady in Red is said to make her presence known in eerie yet strangely affectionate ways. Male guests often report hearing a soft whisper in their ear, especially when alone in the hotel’s old-fashioned elevator, as if the Lady in Red is still escorting her guests to her chambers. 

Some have even found small pearls under their pillows, believed to be remnants of her broken necklace. While unsettling, her spirit is described as warm, with a kind and welcoming presence that mirrors her rumored generosity in life.

The boudoir belonging to her was eventually split into three rooms. 504 is now called the Lady in Red room, but it is actually in room 502 that most strange things have been reported. 

Other Ghosts Haunting the Hotel

The Mizpah Hotel also has reports of other spectral sightings, including apparitions in the hallways and cold spots felt throughout the building. 

Some are saying that they can hear the sound of phantom children running around in the hotel hallways, especially on the third floor. When they look into the hall, there is no one there though, and when they call the front desk to complain about the children, the front desk tells them there are no children staying at the hotel for the night. 

Staff also passes around stories about two men who linger in the basement. People speculate that they must have died when one of the subterranean tunnels in the mines nearby collapsed. There are said that several miners are haunting the hotel, still looking for silver. 

A Haunted Night at Mizpah Hotel

Now fully restored to its former glory, the Mizpah Hotel attracts visitors from around the world who come for both its luxurious ambiance and the thrill of its hauntings. You can today stay at the Lady in Red Suite and there is a portrait of a Lady in Red on the wall as a homage to the in house legend.

And the guest book of the hotel tells it all. Perhaps after a stay here, you too will have something to make an entry on in the book of ghosts. 

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References:

Mizpah Hotel | Hotels in Tonopah, NV | Uncommon Overnighter 

Meet the Lady in Red: Nevada’s Most Famous Ghost 

Mizpah Hotel – Wikipedia

Lady in Red (ghost) – Wikipedia 

Ghost of a chance at experiencing the paranormal in Tonopah | Jane Ann Morrison | News

Haunted Tonopah

Who was the Lady in Red? – NEVADA GHOST TOWNS & BEYOND

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The Haunting of Bodie Ghost Town Frozen in Time

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Frozen in time, the Bodie Ghost Town, once a big mining town in the Sierra Nevada mountains during the Gold Rush, now only sand, dust and ghost lives. It is also said to be cursed.

 “Goodbye God! We are going to Bodie.”
Prayer from a little girl moving to Bodie

High in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California, Bodie was once a bustling gold-mining town in the 1870s and ’80s Gold Rush, drawing thousands of hopeful prospectors with gold fever. As the gold dried up, the people left the town to die. Now there are only tumbleweeds, dust and ghosts left. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from the USA

Today, Bodie Ghost Town stands as a State Historic Park and has done so since 1962, preserved in a state of “arrested decay,” where the remnants of its vibrant past remain eerily untouched. Visitors wandering through the abandoned streets of over 150 buildings still standing as they did the day the people left, they can peek into homes with tables set for dinner and shops still stocked with supplies, as if the townsfolk might return at any moment.

History of Bodie Ghost Town

Founded after gold was discovered in the hills surrounding Mono Lake in 1859 by W.S. Bodey, the town rapidly grew, especially during the 1870s and ’80s, reaching a population of around 10,000 at its peak, becoming one of the most successful gold mining places in California. 

Bodey searched the area for 10 years in the area and the mining camp he and his friends founded in 1859 soon grew into a prosperous town. The same year though, he was caught in a blizzard on his way to Monoville. The next spring his friends found him and named the town after him, although the painter did misspell his name on the sign and they never changed it. 

The Gold Rush really kicked off in 1876 when the Standard Company discovered a large deposit of gold ore and people flocked to the place to get a piece of it. 

Brodie Ghost Town: Bird’s Eye View photograph of Bodie, California in the 1890s when people still lived there. Looking east from the cemetery. // Source: William Thompson – Heritage Auction Gallery

Bodie became infamous for its lawlessness and rough reputation, filled with 65 saloons on the Main Street stretching for a mile down the road, brothels, and gambling halls in the red light districts on the northern end of town. As a true Wild West town it had a Wells Fargo Bank, several fire departments, a railroad and its own Chinatown with several hundreds of Chinese residents, a Taoist temple and plenty of Opium dens. 

Life could be rough in the town with gunfights and murders as well as the harsh working conditions in the mines took many lives. The weather was harsh and the winters could take hundreds of lives in blizzards, exposures and other diseases. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from Haunted Towns

However, as the gold veins were exhausted and mining operations became less profitable, the population dwindled, and by the early 20th century, Bodie was in decline. After the second world war, they never resumed mining and only six people lived there at the time. The last residents left by the 1940s, and Bodie became a ghost town. 

As mentioned, Bodie Ghost Town stands as a State Historic Park, preserved as a ghost town where everything is left, offering a glimpse into the past with its abandoned buildings. The term used to describe the stillness of the town, arrested decay, means the state park only intervenes to prevent the remaining buildings from collapsing and no more restoration will be done. Around 10 % of the original buildings are still standing, and perhaps soon, they too will only become a distant memory.

The Haunting of Bodie Ghost Town

Bodie’s ghostly atmosphere is more than just a preservation effort; it is a place steeped in supernatural lore. Many who visit the Bodie Ghost Town report ghost sightings, particularly of miners and townspeople from the town’s heyday. A woman in a white hood and black and white dress holds a basket in her hand and wanders the town at midnight. Around the mines a tall figure is said to hold a light as he enters the mines and walks them until dawn. 

Phantom music sometimes drifts from the shuttered bars, evoking the rowdy nights when saloons were filled with the sounds of clinking glasses and laughter. There are also particular ghost said to haunt the houses mostly named after the families who lived there. 

Storm over Bodie Ghost Town: Dave Bradford Condit/ Flickr

Ghost of the Last Residents of Bodie Ghost Town

But what happened to the last people living in Bodie? According to the legends, they are now haunting it. One of the men named Ed shot his wife dead, but then three other men came and killed the murderous husband, beating him up and leaving him to drown in a creek. 

It is said the ghost of the murdered man came two months after his death back to haunt his killers, shaking his fist and trying to attack them. The three men soon died themselves, said to be from different strange diseases. One died from a huge cut on his face, the other died from a hemorrhage that made his head blow up like a balloon. The third walked off and died in a ravine.

The three men remaining in town thought it had to be because of the curse put on them by the man they murdered. Sometimes, people claim they still haunt the Bodie Ghost Town.

The Angel of the Bodie Cemetery

Many of the lawless people and prostitutes were not buried in the local cemetery, but in the Boothill Graveyard known as the Bodie Outcast Cemetery. 

This is also where they buried the Chinese residents, often in unmarked graves. The idea was to be buried in the ground until the bones were clean so they could be sent back to their homeland and family. However this has not been the case for many of them, and the unrest people think must be over these graves are thought to be the paranormal reason to many of the strange things happening around the old Chinatown that are no longer standing. 

Read also: Check out the ghost stories from haunted cemeteries

In the Bodie Cemetery though, you can find the grave marked with a child angel. This is the grave of Evelyn, now known as the Angel of Bodie, said to haunt the cemetery. She was a three year old child, the daughter of general shop owner Albert and Fanny Myers. She died when she was hit in the head with a miner’s pick by accident. 

The Angel of Bodie: The grave of Evelyn, said to haunt the cemetery. // Source: George Oates/Flickr

Now people claim to have heard giggles of a small girl in the cemetery, and they believe that it must be Evelyn, the Angel of Bodie. Parents that have brought their children also claim that they have started playing with a thing the only child sees. 

The J.S Cain House

One of the haunted buildings in Bodie Ghost Town is the J.S Cain House. This used to be the home of a banker and businessman at the corner of Park and Green Streets. James S. Cain made his fortune from lumber and banking before finding gold. They were perhaps the riches in town and ended up owning most of the property in it.

Now the house built in 1879 is occupied by Park Rangers and their families. Strange things like doors and window opening by themselves happen from time to time. It is said to be haunted by a Chinese woman, appearing to children who visit the bedrooms on the second floor. This has made people think that she might have been a maid used to taking care of the children of the house. 

According to a park ranger staying there, he used to have friends and family with children come to stay with him. One day the children came downstairs and asked who the nice Chinese lady that read them a bedtime story was. 

But it is not only children that have felt her presence. Although the ghost is said to be friendly with children, she seems to hate the adults and people talk about being pushed and having a suffocating feeling when staying there. 

The wife of a ranger once talked about when she went to bed in the room and woke, feeling something sitting on top of her. She almost suffocated and had to fight her way out, falling to the floor. A ranger named Gary Walter also claimed to have had an encounter with her in the same room. He saw the door open and felt a heavy presence again, giving the same suffocating feeling. 

What could the resentment come from though? Some say that there is more to the story, and the maid and nanny working in the house did not have a happy ending. It is said that she was fired when the wife, Martha Delilah Cain threw her out on the street on a cold winter night. The woman wandered off in the snowstorm and was never heard from again. It was also said that her reputation was ruined and the woman killed herself. 

The Gregory House

The modest house in Bodie Ghost Town close to the stamp mill Is said to be haunted by the ghost of an old woman, sitting in a rocking chair as she is knitting an afghan. It is also said that at times, the rocking chair has seen rocking by itself. 

The Gregory House: King of Hearts/Wikimedia

It used to belong to Nathan Gregory and his son, Spence who were cattle ranchers. Spence was one of the last residents of the town, and a retired mining engineer. 

It is also said that park rangers have seen something sitting down at the foot of a bed in one of the rooms, invisible, but leaving marks of leg and hands on the quilt. Could it be Spence Gregory himself haunting it?

The Dechambeau House

The Dechambeau Hotel was first a post office in 1879, but then it became a hotel before it turned into a bar and cafe, operating until the early 1930s as Bodies last businesses. It is said to be haunted by a female ghost said to be looking out from the upstairs window. 

The building itself is named after the miner family Dechambeau, originally from Lonqueil, Quebec Province Canada. Could it be one of those still remaining inside? 

The Dechambeau House: King of Hearts/Wikimedia

The Mendocini House

On Union Street there is the haunted Mendocini House, that was the house to an Italian family said to still have ghostly gatherings and dinners. It belonged to a man who drove freight trucks from Aurora and several generations of the family lived in the house. Annie Mendocini herself is said to be haunting the house and the smell of her Italian cooking sometimes comes from the window. Park rangers in Bodie Ghost Town claim to have smelled the scent of garlic as well as seen the steam from boiling water. 

There are also reports about the sounds like there is a large gathering happening inside, as if they are holding a large meal. It is also said to be haunted by children and people claim to have heard their laughter. 

The Mendocini House: Daniel Mayer/Wikimedia

The Haunted Mines of Bodie

But what about the mines that drew the people to this deserted place in the first place? Over the years it is said many died working the mines right outside of Bodie Ghost Town. 

It is said a miner who was killed in the Lent Shaft explosion is still haunting the mines. This came after the story from a park ranger who threw rocks down the shaft when the ghostly voice of the miner yelled back, “Hey you!” at him.

Read Also: The Glowing People in the Mines of Barranco de Badajoz or The Gold Fevered Ghost of the Lost Horse Mine in Joshua Tree National Park for more haunted mines.

There is also a tale of a white mule who started to haunt the mines two weeks after it died when the mine was still in operation. The workers smelled mule droppings and appeared in front of the miners 500 feet below the ground, making many of them refuse to work there.

The Curse of Bodie

One of Bodie’s most chilling legends warns of a curse that befalls those who take anything from the town, even a simple rock and bad luck will follow those breaking the rules. 

Every year there are around 200. 000 people visit the park, and some can’t help themselves and take things from Bodie Ghost Town. Even a whole piano was loaded on the truck before being returned after they heard about the curse. Tales abound of visitors who, after pocketing a memento, experience a string of misfortunes—health issues, accidents, and unexplained bad luck. Desperate to rid themselves of the curse, they often return the stolen items to Bodie, hoping to appease the restless spirits.

The rangers receive letters and packages from the visitors that regret that they stole and believe themselves to be haunted by the curse. Even things like purchased things at the gift shop are sometimes returned. The letters are often anonymous and handwritten, telling the town that they are very sorry and for the spirit to forgive them.

“You can have these godforsaken rocks back. I’ve never had so much rotten luck in my life. Please forgive me for ever testing the curse of Bodie.”
– From a letter to Bodie, 2004

Is the curse said to linger in Bodie Ghost Town real though? As with more than one park, there is a curse put on parks where the rangers get frustrated with visitors taking bits and pieces with them. In an attempt to stop people, it is said the Californian Department of Parks and Recreation started the rumor. Perhaps they didn’t realize how big it would get, but it surely did deter people from stealing, or at least giving it back when they think they are cursed.

Although the curse of Bodie Ghost Town is said to have been made as a cautionary tale from a well meaning ranger, it seems to have brought more work than worth. Now people are said to have started stealing, just to see if the curse works or not before sending the items back. Every time an item is returned, they have to file a police report for it, and most often, they can’t put it back as they have no idea where it came from, now only sitting in storage or on display. This is why they have stopped talking about the curse all together.

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References:

Bodie Cemetery – Haunted Houses 

This Ghost Town’s ‘Curse’ Isn’t What You Think | KQED 

The Spooky Story of Bodie Ghost Town | Mammoth Lakes Blog 

The Spirit of Bodie: A Walking Tour of the Ghost Town | Visit Mammoth 

https://eu.vvdailypress.com/story/lifestyle/travel/2021/10/24/beyers-byways-seeking-ghosts-bodies-arrested-decay/6140108001

Mendocini House 

Bodie State Historical Park Mines – Haunted Houses 

Gregory House 

John S. Cain House 

List of buildings in Bodie, California – Wikipedia 

de chambeau ranch california 

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The Gold Fevered Ghost of the Lost Horse Mine in Joshua Tree National Park

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On the trails leading up to the abandoned Lost Horse Mine in Joshua Tree National Park, people talk about a ghost said to haunt the place, the spirit of a miner who died starving as he was looking for his lost gold. 

Tucked away in the rugged expanse of Joshua Tree National Park, the Lost Horse Mine stands as a relic of a bygone era of gun slinging cowboys, horse thieves, gold fever, where over 300 mining claims once dotted the landscape. 

Read More: Check out all ghost stories from the USA

Joshua Tree National Park, located in southeastern California, is a vast desert landscape known for its rugged rock formations and iconic Joshua trees. Spanning nearly 800,000 acres, the park encompasses two distinct desert ecosystems: the Mojave and Colorado Deserts. Rich in cultural history, Joshua Tree also preserves evidence of past civilizations, including Native American petroglyphs and remnants of 19th-century gold mining.

Joshua Tree National Park: The desert national park in California has more than one ghost story said to haunt it. One of them is the story about an old miner said to still be looking for his lost gold.

The Lost Horse Mine

Perched on a peak of the San Bernardino Mountains among the cacti, yucca and wildflowers, this historic gold mine lies between Lost Horse Valley to the west and Pleasant Valley to the east, about 15 miles north of the City of Indio in Riverside County.

The Lost Horse Mine Trail winds through the harsh, arid terrain of the Mojave Desert, leading adventurers to the dilapidated remnants of what was once a bustling gold mine. The Lost Horse Mine was one of the few successful mines in the San Bernardino Mountains from 1894 to 1931 when it shut down for good. This was because of the climate of hot summers, lack of water and wood sources as well as being so far from everything made transportation and operating a mine challenging. 

Lost Horse Mine: One of the haunted places in the Joshua Tree National Park is by the abandoned Lost Horse Mines that ended the partnership in quarrels and eventually poverty and death.

The man who started it was a man named Johnny Lang together with his three partners. The name the Lost Horse comes from a story from 1890 when Johnny Lang met two outlaws that threatened him after stealing his horses. 

Legend of the Lost Gold

Johnny Lang: Could the old miner be the thing haunting the trails leading up tp his old Lost Horse Mine, still looking for his gold?

However, the journey is not just a step back in time but also a brush with the supernatural. According to local lore, the mine is haunted by the ghost of a miner who met a tragic end in a horrific accident. His restless spirit is said to wander the area, forever searching for his lost gold. Who was this miner? Although not all sources of the ghost story state his name, the story of Johnny Lang and his ending surely is a haunting one. 

After the Lost Horse Mine ceased operations, Johnny Lang returned to the site around 1923. According to stories, Lang had stashed away stolen amalgam at the mill site, which he couldn’t retrieve when he was driven away from the mill. When he returned, he hoped to find it but continued prospecting without much success. 

Occasionally, he sold “pure gold bullion” to local homesteader Bill Keys. Perhaps he really did find some of it? But it can’t have been much, if any at all as the state of him in his final days were dire. Bill Keys’ son, Willis, recalled seeing a malnourished Lang visit their ranch one day, running his fingers across the teeth of a meat saw, searching for any signs of fresh meat. It was also said he walked everywhere because he had eaten his horse. 

In January 1925, Lang left a note on his cabin door, stating he was going for supplies. Bill Keys found his body two months later, with only a small piece of bacon wrapped in wax paper in his possession. Lang was buried where he was found, but stories of his hidden gold persisted and he didn’t get the chance to rest in peace. Some believed a map to his stash was buried with him, leading to his body being dug up twice. On the second time his skull was stolen, but the gold is still said to be lost.

Lang’s Lost Gold Still Haunting the Lost Horse Mine

As you hike the trail, the scorching desert heat might suddenly be pierced by an inexplicable cold breeze, sending shivers down your spine. This chilling sensation is often reported by those who dare to tread this path, a stark contrast to the typical desert climate. 

Strange noises, too, plague the area. Some hikers swear they hear the unmistakable sound of pickaxes striking rock, an eerie echo of the Lost Horse Mine’s bustling past, despite the surrounding silence. Could it be the ghost of Johnny Lang looking for his gold?

Unexplained movements and shadowy figures are common sightings among those who brave the trail at dusk or dawn. It’s as if the spectral miner is not content with solitude and seeks to make his presence known to all who venture near his domain. 

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Johnny Lang and the Lost Horse Mine 

3 Haunted Trails To Try Inside Joshua Tree National Park — WKNDR 

Lost Horse Mine – Joshua Tree National Park (U.S. National Park Service) 

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The Glowing People in the Mines of Barranco de Badajoz

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When the miners dug deep into the ravines on Tenerife, they encountered something otherworldly. Strange glowing people as well as legends about time ticking away differently in the Mines of Barranco de Badajoz, the place have become a place of wonder and mystery.

Deep down in the ravines on Tenerife in Spain there is a mystery about the strange things living down in the mines. These mystical Barranco de Badajoz mines hold a captivating secret that has left locals and explorers mesmerized for centuries.

Read more: Check out all of our ghost stories from Spain 

The Barranco de Badajoz is a ravine found south of Tenerife on the Canary Islands in Spain, close to Güimar. It can only be reached by car via the road that goes to the volcano. Many years ago, the place was known for the mining in the ravine walls. The ravine itself holds a rich history, with tales of hidden treasures and supernatural occurrences. However, it is the stories surrounding the glowing people that truly capture the imagination.

The Mines of Barranco de Badajoz: The caves on Tenerife have many legends and strange stories coming from it. //Source: Mataparda/Wikimedia

It is in these ravines we have found Guanche mummies from the aboriginal people that were the ancient inhabitants of Tenerife.

Numerous legends come from this place, where angelic beings, UFO’s and Satanic rituals and other paranormal phenomena. But no stranger story is the stories about the glowing people found in one of the mines in the ravine. 

The Glowing People in the Ravine: Legends and Encounters

One of the mysterious legends about Barranco de Badajoz revolves around the strange lights and glowing beings that people claim to have seen in the ravine, especially in the mines in the cave known as Cueva del Cañizo. 

These beings are said to wear white and have an otherworldly glow that captivates all who lay eyes upon them. Witnesses describe them as silent observers, watching intently without making any discernible movements. Some even claim to have had conversations with these ethereal creatures, forever altering their perception of reality.

The Missing Girl with the Pears in the Mines of Barranco de Badajoz

The most perplexing tale is that of a 15-year-old girl who vanished while playing in the ravine, searching for pears. This was supposedly in the 1890s. They looked for her all over the ravines, but she was nowhere to be found.  

For 30 years, her disappearance remained a haunting mystery until she resurfaced and came home, knocking on her parents door, not a day older than when she went missing. When questioned about her whereabouts, she shared a chilling account of her encounter with the glowing people. Apparently she fell asleep at the foot of the pear tree and was awakened by a tall being wearing all white. 

She claimed that they took her to a cave where she claimed there was a large garden filled with these beings, where they conversed with her for a brief moment before she was returned home. To her astonishment, she discovered that three decades had passed in the span of those fleeting moments.

Parallel Dimensions: A Gateway to the Unknown

What could possibly be happening within the ravine and its mysterious caves? The strange stories and legends surrounding Barranco de Badajoz have led many to believe that the cave acts as a gateway to a parallel dimension or world from which these enigmatic beings originate. The notion of parallel dimensions has long fascinated humanity, and the experiences shared by witnesses in the vicinity of the ravine only fuel these speculative theories.

In 1912, the workers in the deeper mines stumbled upon a landslide near the ravine at sunset. Intrigued, they began to dig and unearthed a ladder that seemingly emerged from the deepest depths of the cave. Curiosity getting the best of them, they descended and were met with the sight of two glowing beings dressed in white. These beings watched them intently, neither moving nor uttering a single word. Filled with fear, the workers fled and reported their encounter to the Civil Guard. However, upon returning to the spot where they had seen the creatures, there was no trace of them.

We don’t have a paper trail with the Civil Guard to prove the story, but the galleries in the mines were abandoned after the walls collapsed in the landslide and filled with water. 

A Modern-Day Mystery: The Legacy of the Glowing People

Today, the Barranco de Badajoz has become a popular hiking area, attracting adventurers from far and wide. Yet, even in modern times, reports of strange phenomena continue to emerge from those who venture close to the ravine. From inexplicable lights that dance in the darkness to an overwhelming feeling of being watched, the allure of the glowing people persists. These encounters leave witnesses in a state of awe and intrigue, forever questioning the boundaries of our reality.

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References:

Ten paranormal places that you can actually visit in Spain
Leyendas de Tenerife: El Barranco de Badajoz
4 sitios de España en los que pasar una noche de miedo | Placeres

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Gyeongsan Abandoned Cobalt Mine

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What kind of tragedy can be so horrible that it is mostly silenced and forgotten by the world? The massacre of thousands of people that were found in the Gyeongsan Abandoned Cobalt Mine is one of them. But although often ignored and not talked about in the later years, the haunting rumors of ghosts from the past still has a firm clasp of the place. 

There used to be an abandoned cobalt mine in Gyeongsan in South Korea in full operation and a little easier to access than it is today.

The Cobalt Mine was used during the Japanese occupation where the Japanese used Korean labor to mine gold, silver and then eventually, cobalt, but abandoned it when the mine was emptied. 

During the Korean war, many people, civilians as well as convicts were accused of conspiring with the communists and North Korea. Many of them were brutally massacred in the area and their bodies were thrown into the mines to be forgotten in this so-called Red Hunt from July to September in 1950. 

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The Massacre in the Gyeongsan Abandoned Cobalt Mine

It is believed that many of the victims were political prisoners that were supposed to be moved from Daegu Prison to Busan Prison and it is estimated that around 2000 to 3 500 people were murdered and tossed into the mines. 

Gyeongsan Abandoned Cobalt Mine: A massacre is hiding inside the Gyeongsan Abandoned Cobalt Mine.

There is to this day not spoken a lot about the war crimes that happened and a lot of it has been silenced by both parties. Even by the families that were affected by the massacre as they even to this fear can feel fear of the guilt by association that many of the victims of the massacre was. 

The families affected by this have still not gotten their apology and answers for what happened to their family members as most of the skeletons found have never really been examined and the entrance to the mines simply sealed off.

And most likely, what really happened probably never will see the light of day. 

The Hauntings of Gyeongsan Abandoned Cobalt Mine

But their ghosts created legends of their own as sites of huge atrocities and tragedies have occurred. 

Many legends surround the last owners of the mine that brutally died as well as factory owners of factories that were built close to the mine. One of the last companies to be in operation around the same parts as the mine was a glasses manufacturer. 

The owner of said factury is said to have poured petroleum over himself as well as his sleeping employees before setting them all on fire. They all burned to death. However not really confirmed by any hard evidence. 

Although sealed off and left to be forgotten, the locals are said to avoid the site of the abandoned mines, even to this day. 

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Top 12 Most Haunted Places In South Korea!

Creatrip: Korea’s Most Haunted Places

경산 코발트광산 학살사건 – 위키백과, 우리 모두의 백과사전

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The Witches of the Black Diamond Mines

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Guarding the old mining community, these ghosts of these two women have been dubbed witches by the locals, feared as well as revered in their lives. Who were The White Witches of the Black Diamond Mines?

Before the place in the San Francisco Bay area used to be a bustling mining community at the turn of the century. The coal mines was operating until 1945. Now the mines are closed and the place forgotten, but the remains can still be reached an hour away from San Francisco. 

Although named the Diamond mines, there was no sparkling diamonds to be found in the mines. Instead it was coal, the black type of diamonds. It is here the legend of the white witches started to take hold of the mining community.

Overview

Type of Haunting:Female Ghost, Witches
Place:USA, North America
Other:Haunted Cemetery
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The Contra Costa County is ranked as the scariest place in California because of legends like the Black Diamond Mines and the White Witches that are said to be haunting the place.

The White Witch in Rose Hill Cemetery

Sara Norton worked as a midwife to the people living in the small towns across the bay area and she delivered over 600 babies in her time. She was a widow to Noah Norton that even got the town Nortonville named after himself. 

She died however in 1879 at the age of 68. She was on call at her midwife duties when she was thrown from a carriage to make a delivery in Clayton and was killed in the accident. 

According to the legend, Sarah was not a religious person and told her own kids that she didn’t want a church funeral. However, when she died that was exactly what they gave her and her spirit became enraged. On the day of the funeral a storm crashed their plan and they decided to go through with the funeral the next day. The next day however, another storm came crashing and ruined their plans. The townspeople took the hint and skipped the formalities and buried her in the Rosehill Cemetery. 

From then on the spirit of Sarah has been spotted in the old mining towns as well as floating around the tombstones in the graveyard. 

Mary the Wailing Witch in the Black Diamond Mines

Another lady that is haunting the place is Mary, who history forgot her last name. She was working as a nanny in the 1870s, but in contrast to Sarah that brought life into this world, her legacy tells that she put life out. 

All of her children that she cared for died of illness and it was not soon before she was accused of witchcraft after some local townspeople allegedly found evidence of her dark rituals that resulted in the death of their children. 

In some variations of the legend, she worked as a school teacher, not a nanny. And with the diseases of the times, it is not unlikely diseases went through the community, striking the kids at the same time. So was it a tragedy or witchcraft? The townspeople certainly was of the belief that it was and set out to punish her.

The legend differs from how Mary met her death. Although the evidence is lost to us, it supposedly was enough to hang her for her crimes in some versions of the story. In other version her dead body was found in the mines under strange circumstances. But it was not enough to bring her out of this world. 

To this day she is spotted guarding the mines wearing all white and seeking revenge for her murder. But there is also another side to her hauntings. It is said that it is mostly children that see her, and she pushes them out from the dangerous mines that are filled with harmful gasses and unstable tunnels. 

So the question remains, is she remaining in the world as a resentful witch, or as a protector of children that she wasn’t able to be alive?

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References

Haunted? Why East Bay’s Black Diamond Mines Are So Spooky To Some | Concord, CA Patch

Black Diamond Mines is Most Haunted Cave Near San Franciscoi

Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve | East Bay Parks

Spooky Trails and Tall Tales California: Hiking the Golden State’s Legends, Hauntings, and History by Tom Ogden