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So we head back into the Sumpter mine to continue the investigation and try to determine what caused the previous cave-in. Was it simply loose rocks or is there something to this Tommyknocker theory? The men are a bit spooked from the previous evidence of what looks like a figure walking across the laser grid as well as the recordings of voices. They aren’t finding gold and tensions are starting to run high.

Because of the dangerous location, Patrick brings in a new device called the RIPA 2 which is an ROV equipped with IR cameras, headlights, video camera and microphone. It’s actually a pretty cool piece of technology. I wonder if we will see more RIPA style devices make their way into investigations. It’s like an additional team member than go into the more dangerous areas.

Patrick maneuvers RIPA into the location where the cave-in happened. They set up to do an EVP session when everything goes dead. The IR cameras go off, the headlights go out and the car begins bucking. Patrick claims he has no control of the unit and none of the controls are working for him. Suddenly, the car kicks back on, the lights come up and it responds to the radio control. Did the vehicle short out? Did something interact with it? Did it simply go out of range? Are there minerals in the rock affecting the signal?

As Patrick is driving RIPA back to base, they notice a shiny object in the dirt and call in the mucker. As they sift through the dirt they find and old miners oil can. They also discover bones. They looks like rib bones. Are they human or animal? That remains to be seen, but they have been sent out to be analyzed.

To try and improve morale, Larry, the mine owner has brought in the families of the crew to spend a couple days at the local bed and breakfast which used to be the local hospital and Masonic lodge. Everything is going well until Jay comes to Kristen and Patrick in need of help. His wife Kate and their son Ashton have seen a dark figure in their rooms. They both claim it was a black mass that looked like man. None of them wants to stay there any longer.

Patrick and Kristen start an investigation with motion detectors on the stairs. They almost immediately go off as though someone is walking up and down. Upstairs is a common area with chairs and TV. The investigation continues as the TV repeatedly turns itself on. Patrick find multiple remotes, but none of them seem to work. EMF levels are spiking in this same area. Is the TV just shorting out or is there something more to that? We’ve seen TVs come on in other investigations. Considering the amount of radio noise today, it may not be that big of a deal.

It is interesting to note that Kristen asks for a sign of someone in the room and the TV coming on is the response. So they have high EMF without a source and a TV going on. Are there simply power surges in the room? Is this just the sign of faulty wiring?

Patrick and Kristen have also set up some letter tiles outside and ask for a name. As Patrick goes through the alphabet he seems to get a blip on the letter J. He does it a second time and sees a blip on J. Interestingly, they don’t try to get any more letters of the name. Perhaps that is simply missing from the footage, who knows.

But they do collect some evidence of EMF spikes, the TV going on and then they have what appears to be a black mist covering a chair in one of the rooms. Kate says that’s what she saw in her room when she woke up. It sure as hell looks like a fog rolling in across the room that’s for sure.

So now they have two locations for their investigation. The Bed and Breakfast seems to have it’s own activity as well as the mine. The B&B makes sense, since it was originally a hospital and certainly many miners lost their lives in there.

Is there something to these events? Is the demolition as the mine causing the spirits to stir? Is there energy trapped in the rock? Does the old hospital have it’s own ghosts independent of the mine?

A lot seems to be going on and Patrick and Kristen seem to be doing a good job with their data collection. I personally don’t think they’re doing enough debunking of the claims and may be jumping to paranormal conclusions a little soon. But overall they seem to be handlings things pretty well and they have a lot of questions that need answering.

I like this more long term investigation.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Ghost Mine – Town Wide Terror – S02E09
• Ghost Mine – Supercharging the Supernatural – S02E08
• Ghost Mine – Phantom Intruder – S02E03
• Ghost Mine – The Lost Chamber – S02E02
• Ghost Mine – Wandering Spirit – S02E04
• Ghost Mine – Return to Darkness – S02E01
• Ghost Mine – Secret Passage – S01E05
• Ghost Mine – Shadows in the Drift – S02E11
• Ghost Mine – S01E01
• Ghost Mine – Ghosts of the Geiser Grand – S02E05

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