I was just browsing and my wife found a ref to Odin Mine nr Castleton being Haunted by Black Dog (Shuck), it said "which may be connected to the invading Norse who named the mine (according to legend)".

Anyone else heard of this and can anyone elaborate on the legend?

In fact theres a shed load of refs to mining ghosties... http://www.paranormaldatabase.com/reports/colliery.php 

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Plenty of mileage in it all for those who've watched a touch too much Derek Acorah, Paranormal evenings at our local mining museum are all fully booked.

http://www.abbeyghosthunters.co.uk/ghosttours1.htm 

Blimey I didn't realise these tours had spread so much.... 😉

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We had the Ghost Hunters at Snailbeach recently not sure what they found but the donations to the Trust were gratefuly received

mike

Ghost tours / paranormal events at mining sites / museums - Interesting issue. As a manager of a tourist mine my personal opinion is that they devalue and trivilaise what I am trying to do. However I can't help feeling that I might be being too precious. Does one stand by ones principles or does one grit ones teeth and take the money which would undoubtably benefit the mine?

I agree, it leaves me uneasy too... but in a similar vein we have this with Thomas the Tank Engine on preserved railways were loads of members/enthusiasts don't want it as it trivialises the railway down to a childrens theme park ride... but without Thomas, Percy et al there wouldn't be the railway...

This way those of us involved in any preservation effort be it mines or railways etc get to keep the thing we love the most...

But it is hard sometimes but when seen as the cash cow it is I think its a burden worth bearing....

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I have a similar question to do with vintage motorcycle racing.

I can't say that some of the classes we run excite me very much, but they make the meetings viable, they are popular and it means we can still provide track time for the handful of truly historic bikes still racing.. and watching a 1928 Douglas tearing up the grass against a couple of Rudges, followed by a close, tactical race between a 1000cc Vincent outfit and a 500cc Ariel, is worth any amount of 2-stroke whizz-bangs.

anyway my son rides a 2-stroke and reckons I am a stiff-necked old fart, and who knows, he may be right.

as far as running a tourist mine goes, I would tend to suspect that most people go out the gate not much wiser than they came in. I greatly doubt that most of the members here have much real idea of what mining is actually like, and these are people who at least make a hobby of entering old workings.

I worked in Central London on tunnelling, for several years. Any urban tunnel site has a huge pile of clay in one corner and a couple of rubbernecks at the gate. I got fed up with being disbelieved, that we were selling the arisings for constructing enbankments on the M25, so i started telling people we dug a hole and buried it... 😢 I was never challenged on this ::)

so, if you are paying your staff, preserving what in your informed view is an accurate impression of the subject matter, and spreading a certain amount of information, I reckon you are ahead of the game.

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I think our club does quite well from the paranormal chaps too.

I used to know a lad whose father ran a company providing paranormal investigations to private clients concerned about hauntings in their houses etc. around Cambridge. Did rather well out of it too.

Very difficult to tell when he was talking toungue in cheek and when he was serious but I got the impression he wasn't really a "believer"

who ya' gonna call....... :blink:

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Well you... you're bound to know a professional mine ghost cleanser with all your experience! 😉

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I've a recollection of Jim Rieuwerts referring to phantom dogs in his glossary of Derbyshire lead mining terms, though I don't think it mentioned Odin - I'll have to have a look.

As for the supposed Magpie ghost, I think the business of there being a photo is codswallop, it's a myth which keeps getting cited without anyone ever having seen this alleged ghost photo. Unfortunately, this happens quite frequently with this type of thing - it gets into print once without a source, and then endlessly repeated by people too lazy to do original research.

It does amuse me that whenever these so-called psychic investigators come to Magpie allegedly knowing nothing about the site, they always pick up something relating to the Magpie murders (which are well covered in print) but never to any of the other untimely deaths (which aren't well covered in print). Draw your own conclusion.....

p.s. like the new signature ICLOK, it's a favourite line of mine from Apocalypse Now!

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Glad you like the signature... well recognised ... I love quotes and have actually worked this one into a few meetings and discussions for a laugh. Thats my fave war film too!

You are right re the spook investigators they always seem to pic up on well known bits... did you hear that Derek Acorah was tricked by someone on the cast in most haunted into coming out with twaddle... what a surprise.

Give me Brian Connellys 'Septic Peg' anytime...

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Ghost tours / paranormal events at mining sites / museums - Interesting issue. As a manager of a tourist mine my personal opinion is that they devalue and trivilaise what I am trying to do. However I can't help feeling that I might be being too precious. Does one stand by ones principles or does one grit ones teeth and take the money which would undoubtably benefit the mine?

Take the money, they would want to be there at night anyway when you're otherwise shut.

I'm sure they probably think your hobby is as bonkers as you think theirs is. :lol:

Dear AR, you will be pleased to know I have located the picture of the Magpie Ghost... apparently there are other supernatural entities in the pic but I can't see them...

Simonrl.... Have I won yet?

🔗Personal-Album-856-Image-38949[linkphoto]Personal-Album-856-Image-38949[/linkphoto][/link]

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Well you... you're bound to know a professional mine ghost cleanser with all your experience! 😉

I usually settle for leaving the corner of my pastie for Tommy Knocker...

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I was just browsing and my wife found a ref to Odin Mine nr Castleton being Haunted by Black Dog (Shuck), it said "which may be connected to the invading Norse who named the mine (according to legend)".

Anyone else heard of this and can anyone elaborate on the legend?

In fact theres a shed load of refs to mining ghosties... http://www.paranormaldatabase.com/reports/colliery.php 

I don't believe in any of this stuff but I do love old ghost stories, legends and folklore...

Black Dog legends appear all over the country but Black Shuck is the name of a particular entity localised to East Anglia so the name "Black Shuck" doesn't really apply. I don't know of any Black dog traditions specific to Derbyshire but a little further North, it's usually known as "Barghest" (presumably the "ghest" part of the name is a corruption of "geist").

Odin was meant to have been accompanied by a large black hound and this has become incorporated into "Black Dog" traditions. I'm sure I've seen examples of Black Dog apparitions being directly referred to as "Odin", so there's an obvious connection there.

Given the age of the mine and the fact it's soundly within the limits of the Dane-law, it sounds fairly likely that it was given it's name by the Norsemen or as a result of them having being there. I'd guess though that the Black Dog legend connected with this mine has come about due to confusion with the name "Odin" and it's association with Black Dog legends in general.

I was surprised they called it a Shuck as well... as I had it in back of my mind it was a term not local to Derbys... thanks for that...

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It's very likely that the name 'Odin' is of Viking origin, if you look at sagas and other written records from Iceland, Norway etc, Odin is obviously a big part of their belief system. Why they gave the mine the name Odin is another matter, but perhaps the legend of Odin being associated with the mine (from Norse times) came to be associated with evil (Odin was the God of war), and thus came the story of the black dog etc, perhaps also giving rise to that a 'sence of evil' was still felt around the place, long after the Norse tradition had been buried by the modern English one.

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