Park City Utah
Park City Silver Mines
The spirits of silver miners who died in mining
accidents are stuck here for a variety of reasons.
DESCRIPTION
The silver mine museum and tour is now closed. Prior to 1998, The Park City Silver Mine Tour was open from September through November and again from April to June. However, it is no longer advertised as being a museum, and they no longer advertise their tours. It was rumored that the tours had stopped in 1998, but there was no article in the local paper announcing the closing of the tours.
The mines in the Park City area go down hundreds of feet, and are a labyrinth of tunnels. The Ontario Park City Mine is located in Ontario, near Park City. It is just over 860 miles long, and is rated one of the best that has tours for the public. The deepest shaft is at 2,600 ft. Tour guides were mostly former miners, as this mine closed when the price of silver nose-dived.
The following information came from Claire Walter, a reporter writing for The Denver Post.
This reporter took the tour, when the visitor still could. Tours of this mine took 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours. There was a small, private museum in the head house, located at the top. Other displays showed mining equipment, how miners lived and Park City cultural ways of living throughout the eras could be perused in buildings located above ground.
In order to take the underground adventure tour, the visitor put on a hard hat and slicker, and took a cage elevator that held eight people down 1,500 feet. It was a 3 and a half minute ride, feeling like being on a roller coaster. Miners used to go down twice as fast.
Upon arrival, the visitors got on a motorized train that took the tour, 3,200 ft into the pitch black mine. Train cars were protected by heavy metal grating. One stop was made at the Keely Drain Tunnel that still sends up to 13,000 gallons of water per minute into the closest reservoir.
In the middle of this train trip, the tour arrived at the heart of the mining operation where the most dangerous, hand-mining was done. Also on display were the work rooms where miners “jury-rigged” parts for broken parts, the compressor room, as well as displays of the mining practices used in the late 19th century.
The visitor could see the cage that took miners even deeper in the mine, an ore bin to take ore to the surface via train, and what was called “‘the web’; a specific pattern of holes drilled into the rock as ‘candle holders’ for sticks of dynamite.” An actual film of a past blast was also provided.
HISTORY
The mines in the Park City area made millions of dollars, bringing not only silver, but lead, copper, zinc and gold to the mineral market.
The down side to mining has always been that there is/was an element of danger involved. Mining accidents throughout the years have claimed many lives. In the early years, they were frequent. The most deadly of these mining accidents in Utah happened in 1902, when dynamite stored underground exploded, blowing many miners apart, and killing many others by poisonous gas created by the explosion.
After this disaster, new legislation was passed which forbade the storing of dynamite underground.
HISTORY OF MANIFESTATIONS
People who died unexpectedly while performing their jobs, sometimes want to continue doing so, despite being in spirit form, relive their final day to see what went wrong, or try to re-experience their death, and find a way to escape their destiny, but of course never can.
Working in an underground mine has always been a dangerous occupation. Many mining accidents have killed many men underground since mining started in the United States:
The mines in the Park City area made millions of dollars, bringing in not only silver, but lead, copper, zinc and gold to the mineral market. The down side to mining has always been that there is/was an element of danger involved. Mining accidents throughout the years have claimed many lives.
The most deadly of these mining accidents at the Ontario Mine happened in 1902, when dynamite that was stored underground exploded, blowing many miners apart, and killing many others by poisonous gas created by the explosion. After this disaster, new state legislation was passed which forbade the storing of dynamite underground.
Sometimes spirit people try to warn the living when an accident is about to happen.
Sometimes spirit people resent the living as they are upset with their own deaths, and don’t think it is fair that others are still walking around alive in this world.
MANIFESTATIONS
Sudden death in a mine has caused restless spirits exhibiting a variety of reactions. Ghosts of miners have been seen by the living haunting the scene of their death.
Reactions of Miners
Upset: Some are looking for missing body parts, being upset about being blown to pieces.
Anger: Angry presences were blamed for knocking out the lower rungs of ladders so miners couldn’t escape in an emergency.
These entities are angry about their own deaths and resented the living miners doing what they once did, working their jobs.
Denial: Others are trying to go back to their work.
Guilt and Warning
A foreman is still there reliving his work schedule, and perhaps trying to see if he could’ve prevented his death and the death of others.
Before any of the mining disasters that took lives, an apparition of a miner in a yellow slicker would appear to try to warn the still living miners of their last moments of being alive before death will come.
Spirit of Female
A beautiful woman with long blonde hair riding a horse has been seen haunting a mine shaft on the 200 foot level.
No one has been able to ask her why she is haunting the mine. Perhaps she is looking for a deceased family member, or killed here as well.
STILL HAUNTED?
A big YES INDEED! Hard evidence has been caught that backs up the experiences of so many people who have seen these restless spirits. No effort has been made to help them let go of their distress, or retire from this world, to move onto the spirit world.
The living have long seen the spirits of miners who had been killed over the years from mine explosions that happened, sometimes because of dumb human mistakes (storing dynamite underground) and accidents that come along with this job. The blonde woman riding a horse has also been seen and reported.
Though the mine is closed to the public, apparently paranormal investigators are allowed in to investigate. In 2012, SEEKERS PARANORMAL caught some hard evidence of a long dead foreman, and shared it on a YouTube video.
LOCATION
The Park City Silver Mines are located in the Park City Mining District, “which is comprised of a tract that lies between the steep wall and ledges that mark the crest of the mountain range on the the west, and the mountain meadows of Heber, Kamas, and Parleys Canyon along the eastern foothills.”
The Ontario Silver Mine is located 1 1/2 miles from the town of Park City.
SOURCES INCLUDE
- Park City Silver Mine Tour page on showcaves.com
- Park City Silver Mine photo gallery page on mojaveunderground.com
- Park City Silver Mine Adventure page on gigaplexdesign.com
- “Park City mine tour delves into boomtown’s beginnings” by Claire Walter for The Denver Post
- “Bodie, CA Mine Gunpowder Explosion, July 1879” on GenDisasters.com
- YouTube video: “seekers paranormal park city, Utah haunted mines”
Our Haunted Paranormal Stories are Written by Julie Carr
Our Photos are copyrighted by Tom Carr
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