Ghost Mine – S01E01

There is no shortage of shows about gold mining and there is no shortage of shows about ghost hunting. So what do you get when you go out on a limb and combine the two? Quite right, you get Ghost Mine.

So what’s the premise? Well, a newly purchased mine is expected to have a last few veins of gold that need to be retrieved. It could mean big money for the owner and for the work crew. However, there is a slight snag – the mine is said to be haunted. The last crew up and left without warning. They were spooked by something and decided now is the time to get out. The new owner still believes there is gold in them thar hills and has hired a new foreman who has hand picked a crew who will brave the spirits and pick out the last remaining bars of gold. But, to be on the safe side, he’s brought in a couple of paranormal investigators to keep an eye on things and determine if the mine really could be haunted or if there are other more worldly explanations. It’s an unusual premise, but it might be world riding along for a little while to see how things go.

Right off the bat there is tension. While the miners are superstitious, they don’t want someone investigating the paranormal while they try to work. Even though the investigations will take place at night, it distresses the miners.

Then there is fact that a woman, and a redhead at that, has been brought on site. We’ve heard multiple stories about miners who said it was a bad to work when you saw a redhead in the street. They show their distress with a multitude of "bleeps" at seeing her. Stay Classy!

But this is what the owner wants so the two teams need to work together. The accommodations suck, the food sucks, the conditions suck and everyone is on edge and hostile right off the bat.

Patrick and Kristen begin by taking readings of the mine before any work starts. They want their baseline reading so they can see if things are getting "hot". Overall, it looks pretty quiet. They do make the comment that the dirt is full of quartz and this might hold on to residual spirit energy and as the miners blast and pick away at it, that energy could be released and activity will increase. Any validity to that?

Shortly after things get going, two of the miners, Duck and Jay begin to hear odd noises from in the mine. Duck, who is actually superstitious and fearful of "tommyknockers" decides it’s time to get out of there. Patrick and Kristen have been watching on their monitors and meet up with him to hear what happened. As they venture into the mine the see a small cave-in has occurred not to far from where Duck and Jay were working.

Patrick and Kristen explain their finders and there is nothing left of Duck but a vapor trail as he hauls ass off the mountain. That’s it for him, he takes it as a bad omen and wants nothing more to do with the place.

The rest of the miners want to know what’s going on and ask Jay and Kristen for some evidence, which they provide. They show the dark figure they captured moving over their laser grid, they play the couple of recordings they have of voices in the mine and explain that Duck and Jay heard tapping right before the cave-in.

It’s not looking too good here. So what are they going to do? Even though they’ve lost a man, they don’t like the investigators and they’re falling behind on the work, they decide to press on and see if they can come up with some gold. They all need the money and while they seem a little edgy, there isn’t enough of an incentive to quite. Families need to be fed and work needs to be done.

I guess we’ll see what happens next week as they go back into the mine and clear the cave-in and make the best of the situation. Is there digging stirring up the spirits or is this mine just a little too old and little too unstable for excavation?

Other Articles of Interest:

• Ghost Mine – Shadows in the Drift – S02E11
• Ghost Mine – Massacre at Hell’s Canyon – S02E07
• Ghost Mine – Return to Darkness – S02E01
• Ghost Mine – Wandering Spirit – S02E04
• Ghost Mine – The Final Barrier – S02E12 Season Finale
• Ghost Mine – Secret Passage – S01E05
• Ghost Mine – Supercharging the Supernatural – S02E08
• Ghost Mine – Disturbance at the Inn – S01E02
• Ghost Mine – Vengeful Spirit – S01E03
• Ghost Mine – Season Finale – Final Thoughts