Chapter 6 Chapter 6: A Few Unexplainable Strange Things
It is well known how superstitious the people are in the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland, and how, in certain clans, the lord's tenants, when they gather for a vigil, like to repeat and repeat the nonsense they have heard from the treasure-houses of the myths of the Far North.These legends, which seem to be bound up with the ancient earth, cannot be dismissed as lies and heresy, notwithstanding the extensive and extensive education which has pervaded the region.This is still a land of gods and ghosts, goblins and fairies.There, there are evil ghosts that can only be sent away by paying money. The "prophet" among the highlanders who predict life and death through the second vision appears in the image of a hairy girl on her arm, and heralds the disaster to the families threatened by her. "May Molaji", the fairy "Blancy" who announces the funeral, entrusts the movable property of the family to "Blauney" which they keep.Prefer "Uresk" to patronize the uninhabited canyons of Lake Catlin - and so many others.
It goes without saying that the inhabitants of the Scottish coal mines have crammed their share of legends and anecdotes into this treasure trove of mythology.If the people who live on the hills of the Highlands are fancy people, the dark coal mines to their furthest reaches are haunted anyway.On a stormy night, who shakes the ore deposits, who points out the untapped veins, who ignites the gas and presides over the explosions, who else but a certain ore essence?This, at least, is the common and widespread opinion among those superstitious in Scotland.Indeed, when nothing but purely natural phenomena is involved, most miners are consciously convinced that it is the work of the gods, and that it would be a waste of time to wake them up.Where can superstition develop more freely than at the bottom of these abysses?
And the coal mines of Aberfoyle, being mined in this legendary area, are naturally more suitable for all supernatural events.
Therefore, the legend here is extremely rich.It must also be pointed out that certain hitherto unexplained imaginations could only provide new food for public superstition.
Of the superstitious people at Dochart's Coal Bunker, Harry Ford's friend Jack Ryan was the most radical.He is the most ardent believer in supernatural phenomena of any kind.He turned all those ghost stories into songs, which made him a hit at the winter watch.
But Jack Ryan wasn't the only one showing superstition.His companions affirmed equally aloud that the coal bunkers at Aberfoyle were haunted, and that certain elusive beings were there as often as in the Highlands.According to them.Even those incredible things before.Not incredible.Indeed, what better place for patron saints, goblins, house gods, and other actors in a spooky drama to frolic than in the murky depths of a coal mine?The set is set, why don't those supernatural characters come here and play their parts?
That was the reasoning of Jack Ryan and his associates at the Aberfoyle Coal Mine.It is well known that different coal bunkers are connected to each other by long underground drifts carefully arranged between veins.Underground in Stirling County, there is such a huge group that has dug trenches, dug cellars, and dug wells. It is a kind of underground building, an underground labyrinth, which looks like an ant nest.
Miners from different underground mines therefore often meet, sometimes going to the mining project and sometimes returning from there.So the exchange of topics and stories about the coal mines were passed from one coal bunker to another very often.Word of mouth and embellishments quickly changed those accounts.
However, there are two people who have received more education than others and have more stable personalities than others, who can always resist this impulse.They allow no goblins, patron saints or fairies to interfere.
That's Simon Ford and his son, who continued to live in the shadowy dungeon after the Dorchard Coal Bunker was abandoned to make a statement.Madge is probably, like all Highland Scottish women, a little inclined towards the paranormal.But she confines herself to telling these stories of apparitions—and besides, she does so in order not to lose the ancient tradition.
Even if Simon and Harry Ford were as superstitious as their mates, they wouldn't give up the coal mines to Patronuses or Fairies.The hope of discovering new veins of minerals led them to ignore the imaginary goblins.They were not credulous, and their belief was based on one thing only: they could not just assume that all the carbon-bearing veins of Aberfoyle had been mined.Simon Ford and his son were somewhat right about the "simple faith of the simple man," a belief in God that nothing can shake.
That's why father and son have been holding their picks, their sticks, and their lamps stubbornly and confidently for 10 years without missing a day.So the two of them searched and groped and slammed on the rock, listening for a pleasant sound.
As long as the granite on the Paleozoic surface has not been detected, Simon and Harry Ford agree that if it is not found today, it may be found tomorrow, and it must be detected tomorrow.Their entire time was spent trying to restore the Aberfoyle coal mines to their former glory.If the father may die before success, the son will continue the task alone.
At the same time, these two passionate coal mine guards inspected the coal mine from the perspective of keeping the coal mine.They reinforced the padstones and vaults.They looked carefully for worrisome landslides that would suddenly block parts of the bunker.They checked for signs of water infiltration from above, diverted the water, and opened channels for the water to flow into the sewage seepage well.In short, they gladly pretend to be the protectors and caretakers of this unproductive domain, from which so much wealth has been dug up, but is now in smoke.
On several occasions during these excursions, Harry in particular encountered several oddities which he could not explain.
Several times it happened that, as he walked along a side to the level lane, he seemed to hear something, like a pickaxe being slammed into a raised rock face.
For Harry, neither supernatural phenomena nor natural phenomena can frighten him. He quickened his pace, hoping to suddenly discover the origin of this mysterious labor.
There was no one in the tunnel.The young miner's lamp moved across the rock face, not revealing any new marks left by the blows of the sled-bar or the pickaxe.So Harry wondered if he was being fooled by an auditory hallucination, by some strange echo.
On other occasions, when a bright light was suddenly thrown at a suspicious bend, he thought he saw a shadow running past.He charged...nothing, there wasn't even a way out for a man to escape his pursuit.
For a month or so, Harry, inspecting the west side of the coal bunker, had heard distinctly a distant explosion, as if some miner had detonated a high dynamite cartridge.
The most recent time, after careful searching, he found a newly blasted pit log.
Using the light, Harry carefully inspected the blasted rock wall.This rock wall is not a simple stone filling at all, but a whole piece of shale inserted deep into the deposit.The purpose of the explosion was to discover a new vein?Is someone trying to cause a landslide in this part of the mine?So Harry thought, and when he told his father, neither the old overman nor he could answer the question satisfactorily.
"That's weird," Harry thought over and over.It seemed impossible that a stranger had appeared in the mine, but there could be no doubt about it!The other man is like us, and therefore wants to find out whether there is a mineable vein, or rather, he will not try to destroy what is left of the coal mine in Aberfoyle?But for what purpose? "I'll figure it out, even if it costs me my life!"
Two weeks before Harry Ford led the engineer through the maze of Dochart's coal bunkers, he thought he was on the verge of finding what he was looking for.
He ran all over the far southwest of the coal mine, and he carried a very bright lantern in his hand.
Suddenly it seemed to him that a light had just gone out, a few hundred feet before his eyes, at the end of a narrow chute that ran obliquely through the highlands.He ran towards the suspicious light....
Looked for nothing.Because Harry was unwilling to give supernatural explanations for natural things, he concluded that there must be a stranger wandering in the coal bunker.But no matter what he did, he searched extremely carefully, exploring the smallest recesses in the alley, but it was useless to draw any conclusions.
Harry therefore searched aimlessly again, trying to solve the mystery for himself.Farther and farther he saw lights again, flying from side to side like St. Elm's fire.But this light was fleeting, and he had to give up looking for the reason.
If it was Jack Ryan and the other superstitious people in the mine who saw this amazing flash, they would definitely not forget to shout about the supernatural phenomenon!
But Harry didn't even think about it.Same goes for old Simon.When the two spoke of these oddities, apparently due to some purely natural cause:
"Son," replied the old foreman, "wait, it will all be explained some day!"
It must be noted, however, that until then, neither Harry nor his father had ever been targeted by an act of violence.
If the stone that fell at James Starr's feet that day had been thrown by the hand of a perpetrator, it was the first act of such crimes.
James Starr, when questioned, believed that the stone had fallen from the vault of the alley.But Harry disagreed with such a simple explanation.He speculated that the stone was not falling but thrown.If it had not been impelled by an external impetus, it could never have traced a track except by bouncing.
Harry thus saw a plot directed against him and his father, and even against the Engineer.All in all, there are good reasons to believe this.
Notes:
Notes: