Carolina Rebellion

No writing update this weekend as this is happening in Charlotte, NC.  Come out if you are around.

Updates

This site will remain fairly basic until June, when RL is no longer quite so busy. If you have found me. I hope you stick around for my journey and bare with me though the design process.

Mining Superstitions and Folklore

The main setting for the book I am working on is a house, which I will talk about at a later date. The house is haunted and sits on land that used to be owned by and on the same land as a silver mine.

This lead me to start looking up superstitions related to mining. There are a lot of stories out there on mining folklore and superstitions. Below are just a few of the themes I discovered.

- Red Haired Women were considered extremely unlucky, they were considered omens of death.
- This doesn't mean women in a mine were any better. Women in or near was also unlucky. Probably related to the historical fact they only came to the mine to discover the fates of those they love in the face of tragedy.
- Another bit of folklore related to women in the mine, is that if they entered they could curse the mine. - If a miner is killed. The mine shuts down until after the funeral.
- At the end of the day the crumbs in the miners dinner pail developed supernatural effects.
- Mine rats were great indicators of impending trouble. If they were running out. The miners would be right after them. And soon after there would be a collapse or explosion.
- If a miner is killed underground. His ghost will stay until the job is done.
- Mules had the ability to see ghosts that the miners could not.
- Tommyknockers. According to miners are real, and not the Stephen King version. Very interesting folklore, which I recommend anyone interested in folklore look up. They were considered creatures that could warn of cave ins or even lead the miners to riches.
- Phantom wind with no apparent source is a sign to leave the mine.
- Whistling in a mine was considered bad luck. Whether you believe it would drive away any good luck spirits around or that it could offend the tommyknockers who would no longer help out the miner that offended them. It was a sure belief that it would cause a string of unfortunate events.
- Whistling was also believed to cause vibrations that would cause the earth to shift or even the ore to disappear.
- If the walls are spitting, the walls are crumbling and falling to the ground, is a sure sign to leave.
- If you see a light in the mine, it is a sign that the one or more miners will die.
- If a dog enters the mine, a miner will soon die.
- Bad luck to enter a mine after dark.
- All accidents happen in threes.
- Bad luck to drop you tools in the mine
- Candles in the mine could also predict bad happenings. If a candle fell from the wall, or if it went out three times. It was a sure sign something was wrong at home.

As you can see even from just this partial list. There is a lot of folklore surrounding the mining profession.

Hi and Welcome

This is of course a work in progress to discuss all aspects of the writing journey I have embarked on. As I will be writing mainly Romantic Suspense and Paranormal for now that is what the posts will focus on. I will also share other books I have found and enjoyed as well as interesting things I come along while researching. I hope you check back soon as I develop this along with my stories.