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About Facts Net: "In 1956 I was returning from Langley Mill, it was night time. I decided to cut across the fields. I intended to head for the pathway between the two pit hills leading towards Peacock Town. I came across a sunken garden and not wishing to climb up the high field behind it, I cut across it. To my surprise I found a brick-arched entrance staring me in the face. It was approximately 20 feet wide, by 15 feet high. The entrance was not visible from the nearest of the two houses, because of overgrown vegetation.
I told my friends about that entrance and the four of us decided to pay it a visit. There was rubble in front of it and it was covered with weeds, obviously no one had been here in quite a while. We entered the brick-lined tunnel which was about 20 feet wide, 150 feet long and 20 feet high. The tunnel got increasingly narrower as you got near the end. On our left was a high wall, separating what looked like several old stables. At the end, the tunnel had dribbled down to about 12 feet wide and 10 feet high, still giving us plenty of room to walk in an upright position. High stacks of rotting wood were everywhere. We rested, then looked around. We shone our cycle lamp around the area and noticed a low tunnel entrance on our right, but we would have to crawl through it. It was obvious that mining had taken place here. We didn�t get very far become we came across a rock barrier. We couldn�t move it so we had to give up but decided to come back in a couple of days with hand tools to try and get past the barrier"
I told my friends about that entrance and the four of us decided to pay it a visit. There was rubble in front of it and it was covered with weeds, obviously no one had been here in quite a while. We entered the brick-lined tunnel which was about 20 feet wide, 150 feet long and 20 feet high. The tunnel got increasingly narrower as you got near the end. On our left was a high wall, separating what looked like several old stables. At the end, the tunnel had dribbled down to about 12 feet wide and 10 feet high, still giving us plenty of room to walk in an upright position. High stacks of rotting wood were everywhere. We rested, then looked around. We shone our cycle lamp around the area and noticed a low tunnel entrance on our right, but we would have to crawl through it. It was obvious that mining had taken place here. We didn�t get very far become we came across a rock barrier. We couldn�t move it so we had to give up but decided to come back in a couple of days with hand tools to try and get past the barrier"
posted by Adrian Eyre at 12:39 AM
2 Comments:
Here's the true factual account concerning the 'Body in the Mine' incident.
This true story has already been published publicly, but out of context and misconstrued as to what actually occurred and why. I would now like to put this true story straight and correct in all its details. The first names of the other witnesses are, - Maurice, Robert and David. Their full names are on record.
The corrections-
Firstly, we were not four miners, employed by the colliery owner. We were just four teenagers on a simple exploratory jaunt. Secondly, the drift mine was not a working, coal production mine. It was an abandoned drift mine and definitely was not ‘The New Winnings’ mine’. That lay further to the West.
Location- (as it was at the time – 1956).
From Peacock Town, go down the field in the direction of the once Bailey Brook Colliery Site. Next, cross over the small wooden bridge, walk between the two large pithills (as once was) onto the lane which led from the Ormond Colliery Offices to Langley Mill, practically opposite the MGN bus depot. A couple of hundred yards down the lane from the old Bailey Brook Colliery and in the direction of Langley Mill, a long driveway on the left, led to two houses. Well over a hundred years ago, this was a farm, then they were renamed the ‘Bailey Brook Houses’, then later, the Bailey Brook Offices – Ormonde Colliery, i believe.
The original discovery.
Returning one evening (early dusk) from Langley Mill, i decided to cut across the fields, instead of using Bailey Brook Lane. I intended to head for the pathway between the two pit-hills leading towards Peacock Town. Nearing my destination, i came across a sunken garden and not wishing to climb up the high field behind it, i cut across the garden. Halfway across the far back of the garden, i noticed a brick-arched entrance, approximately 20 feet wide, by 15 feet high. The entrance was not visible from the nearest of the two houses, because the garden was overgrown with tall bushes and trees.
Over the next few days, i told my friends about that entrance and a few days later, four of us paid it a visit. The brickwork appeared strong and safe. A yard high mound of assorted rubble, overgrown with weeds, lay at the front of the entrance. Scrambling over this, we entered a brick-lined 20 foot wide tunnel, a good 20 feet high. This tunnel was approximately 150 feet in length, gradually narrowing towards its low circular end. On our left was a high wall, separating what looked like several old stables? from the rest of the tunnel. At the dozen feet wide, ten feet high circular end of the tunnel, were 5 - 6 foot high stacks of rotten pit props, generally white in colour because of the mildew and fungus which covered them. The prop ends crumbled at the touch. We casually surveyed the area with our one cycle lamp, eventually noticing a low branch-off tunnel entrance on our right. The height being only sufficient to allow crawling on all fours, alternating with our inching forward fully stretched out at times. It was a squeeze, but not tight. The walls on each side of the tunnel, consisted of a mixture of rock and coal from the collapsed old coal faces. About 20-25 feet into the tunnel, we were surprised to come across a rock built barrier, a ‘pack’ as it’s known down the mines, stretching right across the tunnel. This blocked any further progress down the tunnel. After some discussion after failing to dislodge the stones of the wall, we noticed that the top layer of small rocks were only partially visible. This was their lower halves, the tops completely out of sight. This meant that the roof were the pack was, was higher than on our side. There wasn’t enough room to place the top layer of rocks onto the rest of the pack from our side. The roof was too low. This led to only one conclusion; the pack had been built across the tunnel from the other side – the inside of the mine. Intrigued by this visual discovery, we agreed to come back later with more equipment, which we did some days later.
On our next engagement with the pack wall, our equipment consisted of four cycle lamps, with new batteries, a ‘Ringer’ and a hammer. The ringer, as used down the mines, was/is six feet long, by approximately an inch in diameter of solid steel. The wall soon gave way and we traversed onwards. All together, we broke through 5 of these ‘packs, each separated by about 25 feet and ALL built from the inside of the tunnel. Strange. This meant there MUST be another entrance – somewhere. Our curiosity knew no bounds. Where was the other entrance? The tunnel sloped gradually downwards.
At the end of this apparent 200-250 foot crawling long tunnel, with collapsed coal faces on either side of it, we came across a six foot iron door-frame, all twisted on its left hand side. This stood above a several foot drop into a large cavern. Here, the coal mine itself appeared to end. There was no coal refuse in the large cavern.
Cavern description –
Across from us, the North face of the cavern appeared to be a straight, smooth, 30 foot high original rock-side. Solid. On our right – the East, lay a large pile of rock rubble. This rose about 25 feet in height and stretched the full width of the cavern. It appeared to occupy approximately one third of the cavern.
On the West side, lay a yard wide diameter hole in the center of the floor. On inspection, it appeared to be several feet deep, with a small tunnel opening at the bottom, leading Eastward. The Northern half of its edge was worn glassy smooth – slicked, just as if ropes had run over its edge there for years. Or regularly climbed out of by various people over the long years passed. No one voted to go down it. Too straight sided and deep.
We stayed in the cavern about 20-30 minutes. Decided to have a last cigarette before our departure back the way we had come from. No one climbed the loose, steep side of the high rubble. As the others turned to struggle up the several foot height to the twisted door frame, i flashed my light one more time. It was then i noticed a darker shadow at the base of the solid rock on the North side. Investigating it, the darker shadow turned out to be a very small tunnel entrance. Very small in height, by approximately a yard wide. I led the way in and it was very tight. Inching forward stretched flat out, our backs still rubbed against the tunnel’s roof. Squirming through it, would be an apt description of our journey through that 20 or so foot long tunnel. Emerging at the far end, we found ourselves in a 4x4 foot tunnel, of solid, light grey rock. The walls, floor and ceiling were absolutely flat. There were no past coal seams here. It was totally solid rock. There was also no scrap of coaling refuse anywhere. You came out of that tunnel as clean as you went into it. The air was still relatively fresh. Very unusual.
We crawled on all fours along this straight tunnel far easier than walking bent double. After a hundred yards or so, we turned a left hand corner, the floor sloping gradually downwards again. Another pack blocked our way forward once again. We took it in pairs to attack this latest obstacle in our questing path – 5 minutes hammering and battering – 5 minutes rest. Not one of those pack rocks would budge an inch. Smash the hammer onto it and all you got in return was a small cloud of crumbled rock dust. Charming. The over-lying weight must have been terrific. There was no gap to introduce the end of the ringer between the rocks and prize it apart.
On our second break, Robert and i returned to the corner, to cool off. Sweating wasn’t in it. The air was still breathable though. While we were talking generalities, i idly swung my cycle lamp beam back the way we had come from. Just on the edge of the beam, something about the straight walled tunnel didn’t look as it should have done. I could see a dark, shadowy shape. I stretched my arm out straight, casting the beam further. I recognised what i saw immediately. I went cold.
“Robert, shine your light up the tunnel with mine. Tell me if you see anything”.
He did and replied in a whispering voice – “A man. It’s a man stretched out”.
We called Maurice and David. With all four light beams on the figure, the bizarreness of the figure became apparent. The ‘man’ sat with his back resting on the wall, arms hanging down by his side, chin on chest, legs stretched out straight across the tunnel floor. His clothes, coat and trousers appeared darkish and to be made of a course material. He never moved. One of the others said in a faint voice – “He looks dead”. That was it. Gone was our quest for the hidden exit. All we wanted was to be out of there. For another ten minutes we attacked that obstinate pack in feverish threes. It crumbled, but no stone would budge. We went back to Robert, our guard, on the corner. We agreed unanimously to switch all lights off except one, to conserve battery power. We didn’t know how long this would last. Our ringer and hammer lay at the front of that damn immovable pack wall and no doubt, are still there to this day. We were literally scared to death. My biggest worry was what would we do if ‘he’ suddenly started to crawl towards us? I bags the ringer. While we were mumbling quietly among ourselves, i glanced back along the solitary beam of light. ‘He’d gone. Just like that. There one second and literally gone the next. We waited apprehensively for a minute or two, wondering if he’d ‘pop up’ again. Our one basic instinct was one of immediate flight. He didn’t return and i set off quickly on all fours, the other right behind me. I kept my eyes purposely focused straight ahead of me. If he came back, i didn’t want to know. I reached the area where he’d sat, not turning my head, but a sudden movement caught my attention. I looked through total fear. Another movement. We all remained motionless for one brief moment, then i saw what he’d left behind. Several large, whitish maggots writhed on the tunnel floor. Above them, a couple of dozen maggots wriggled on the tunnel wall just about where his shoulders had rested. Now there support was gone, they were falling to the floor. Realisation concerning the facts of what this confirmed evaporated any sense of unity among we four. It was literally every teenager for himself and the Devil take the hindmost.
It is perfectly true that you do not feel pain at such times. The rapid knee running, the sore back as we raced through the tight fitting tunnel – there is no pain. Self preservation rules supreme. Nothing else matters in the least.
In the cavern, we just had to snatch a break, to try and get our breath back, the sweat oozing out of every pore of the body. The sweat of pure fear. Suddenly, a noise from the far side of the high rubble roared into our ears. It sounded as if someone was slowly climbing up towards the top or it could have been a piece of rock rubble slowly sliding down the incline of the far side. We didn’t stop to find out. The several feet of height upto the twisted door frame was scrabbled up easily. What is height at such times?
Only outside, in the fresh air of daylight, did the knees and back reveal the torment they had suffered on our quick exit of that mine. I never went down again. But, a few weeks later, we returned to the entrance with further friends. The entrance was half collapsed, huge rocks hanging above. I didn’t care. I’d gone as far as i was going anyway. Did that entrance collapse of its own volition, or was it induced to do so. If the latter….. by who?
It wasn’t till two years ago, that i learned of a possible explanation for the appearance of that ‘Body in the Mine. Apparently, an old collier of the Bailey Brook Colliery, many years ago, had stepped out of the cage at the wrong landing and plummeted around 130 feet to his death. Other miners too, more recently in that time frame have reported seeing a ghost in the area. Does that old fellow claim all the area’s underground tunnels as his own. If so, he’s quite welcome to them.
In 1958, the area behind the steeply rising field, in which the Mine’s entrance is situated, was outcropped up the nearby edge of the lane from Loscoe Dam and up towards Hog Barn Farm. Looking down the steep face of the outcrop, the 4x4 light grey colour of the tunnel was plain to see halfway down, where approximately 50 plus feet had fell down to the floor of the outcropping. It was running parallel with Hog Barn Lane in the direction of Hog Barn Farm. Come to think about it, why outcrop the same area twice. Costly?
They never outcropped the Mine’s hidden from view entrance. They merely tipped thousands of tons of soil on top of it at the last outcropping of the area. The trees have grown over it and a path passes directly over it today.
I visited the area in the 1990s, and a swilly was being cut in the general neighbourhood of the buried entrance. Perhaps as time goes by……………………. Anyone fancy a spot of ‘caving’?
All the included above is totally true. The only discrepancies are the length of the coal face tunnel. Allow 20 feet either way for this. The cavern, the 4x4 light grey tunnel, the appearance of the body and the moving maggots are burned into memory. No discrepancies there.
Fact really is stranger than fiction.
Azzabuv.
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