The Mysterious Horton Mine

a reply to: Atsbhct

No, I don't believe in Trolls. The underworld is a mysterious place though. You can see where all those stories come from once you've been down there.

Are there any cavers on ATS who have any supernatural experiences to relate?

We worked a lot in the disused end of the mine with closed off areas and service tunnels for old machinery and huge conveyor belts. We had rules about being alone in certain parts, or not getting too far apart. There's always chips of salt dropping from the ceiling and walls so if you're quiet you can easily make yourself jump. I'm still talking about mines but I'd really like to see some natural caves. I really wouldn't go alone though. Scaredy.

Im a mine engineer and responsible for our ventilation system. I would say that if that vent tube was swinging as well, then it would be a blast of air coming theough, possibly from a fresh air or exhaust raise. Our vent system is a push and pull system as well as fan fed air.
A push and pull system uses natural air flow to pull good air in and push the bad air out.(exhaust). Natural flow could blow the chains around...but it would be all of them not just a select few.
If its not a hoax -someone off camera swinging a few chains - then it is definitely an odd occurrence.

One thing i will say though, never enter an abandoned mine. 1st world Mines are meticulously maintained to adhere to the ministry standards. Gas pockets build up in these places. As you could see, he was in the main drift of the mine and there was vent tube hanging. That means there was originaly bad air flow....even when there was air being blown into the mine. As well, that mine is being held open by strapping. Strapping isnt rated to support on its own a 5x5 meter drift. Usually screen is applied in addition to the strapping.
That strapping was rusted out by the looks of it and clearly not in any condition to safely rely on.
Just my safety Advise.

a reply to: Macenroe82

Thanks for the technical expertise.

So the chains aren't necessarily wind. Would a road going over the mine shaft cause just one to swing?

I applied to work there in the late 1980s.

That tunnel was a ore haulage way and not part of the older horton mine but was on the horton mine claim.

By the way there are no record of any one being killed in ether the horton mine or Victorine mine.

The mine closed around 2002 and is owned by Newgold inc and is not a abandoned mine and the tunnel is posted no trespassing.
www.newgold.com...

That chain swinging was definitely strange and deliberate. Not wind. It was done deliberately to get the guy's attention and maybe meant to scare him out.
The second video was super freaky lol.. That would have been creepy to be there.

I'm a chicken with that cave/mine stuff.

But I caught a bit of a tv show called ghost mine.

Seems like it was tapped out that way. The usual ghost hunter stuff, fwiw.

a reply to: Atsbhct

I would hope no one would build a haul road over a drift thats so close to surface.
If it was a haul truck causing the couple chains to swing like that, we would have also seen an enormous amount of dust and possibly the back ( the "back" is a mining term for the roof of a drift) caving in. It would take a considerable amount of energy on surface to make those chains swing like that.
I know it wasnt seismic related, because the camera guy would have ran in terror at the sound of the ground releasing pressure. Not to mention he would have been knocked flat on his arse lol.

a reply to: Macenroe82

I'm thinking again that all of the chains would swing.

In my mind, it's either hoax or paranormal, or, is there an off chance someone would be squatting in an old mine?

a reply to: ANNED

Did you ever hear of anyone being kicked out for trespassing or squatting?

Interesting thread, OP,

I do not want to come off as a paranormal denier (in fact, I've experienced quite a bit of strangeness in my time, and actually LIVE in a house that has some - if you could call it that - mildly restless spirit who whas murdered here. if there's interest I could make a posting about it here, PM me if you'd like to know more)...

Ok, beyond that preface... it certainly is an interesting set of footage; however, though I don't doubt that the guy exploring the caves experienced something genuinely spooky (being a dank, dark hole in the ground), I feel that there are a few points that might need a bit of exploration. Be warned - some reading is ahead...

Firstly, in the first video clip, with the swinging chain. The length of the chain says to me that it would hold momentum for a decent amount of time. One can see it in how far the chain travels from side to side without losing much distance from left to right on each swing. To me (and I'm no physicist, so I could be wrong), this, along with the fact that the video skips just before that, to where he's looking back out of the cave, gives the possibility that he MIGHT have set the chain to swing before the shots, and turned around shortly thereafter.

Secondly (and I'm quoting from info from the OP, while watching the second video), with regards to the eerie sounds observed. Sound waves travel faster through denser mediums than less dense. This is why Whales can communicate over hundreds, of not thousands of kilometers - water is denser than air, and therefore conducts sound waves much better. Solid rock, being MUCH more dense than air or even water, could conduct sound waves much more efficiently; these sounds could potentially have come from a fair distance off. I'm not familliar with the area (I'm fifteen thousand miles and the atlantic ocean away) so I can't speculate on any potential sources of the sounds.

That being said though, and watching the second clip while typing the above paragraph, the sounds, in my opinion are too loud and clear to have been transmitted through the rock. I've left the above info in any case just for reference though. However, I believe that the sounds are either a fabrication (an audio clip played from a distance away in the shaft), or genuine. I'm still open to either possibility, though, based on the filmographer's reaction (and my own personal experiences), I'm leaning towards it being something real and tangible.

a reply to: Havoc40k


I think we're on the same page regarding the explorers experience.

I wouldn't hold being a skeptic against anyone, that's for sure. I honestly think that this was truly paranormal, or he faked it.

I don't go with the vibration explanation for the chain swinging, and if someone had set it swinging it would have stopped while he was filming it after an easily observable decline in the angle of swing.

To me that voice sounded female. It sounded like it was making some sort of announcement or issuing instructions, and there were 3 tones at the end. Maybe some attention-getting notification/alert sound, and the voice was a supervisor or official saying something over an intercom or tannoy or PA system
If it only closed in 2002 that's recent enough for such technology, and although I don't know much about mining it seems plausible that such a system might have been used.

originally posted by: intergalactic fire
sounded like radio chatter no? or even music.
He should have gone further, like in real movies.

Are there other cave or mine complexes in the area? maybe connections or vent shafts?

There is another mine that was owned by the same company as this one, I have heard different figures but anywhere from 400 yards upslope to 2 miles .

As for the "radio" like sounds, it could actually be an intercom/PA system that still has a connection to the other mine which is still being worked. That may be what was heard.

The noise sounded like what it was, a PA or radio, these are mines, he's not the only person in them and some are still at work in various different fields. As for the swinging single chain, well the whole video of the video was to instil a creep out vibe so what better than to swing a chain and start shooting again, you don't see that chain until he turns around.

Not buying it but that said I'd never venture in to parts of an abandoned mine by myself for safety reasons and of course you don't know who or what will be in there, imagine turning a corner to find a mountain lion or some such, on your own is just stupid..

a reply to: Atsbhct

His claim would have been somewhat more credible if he hadn't conveniently panned the camera away and then back, just "happening" to catch the moving chain already in motion. My initial reaction was that he did that on purpose to give a friend the opportunity to jiggle the chain.

a reply to: CharlestonChew

I lean towards the same explanation. I'm surprised the explorer didn't get a taste for the views and keep doing it.

a reply to: CharlestonChew

I lean towards the same explanation. I'm surprised the explorer didn't get a taste for the views and keep doing it.

Just watched the 2 clips. The swinging chain is interesting because it's the ONLY chain swinging, no other movement on anything else. The disembodied sounds in the second clip are interesting because of how he reacts ( in addition to the mist forming prior to the sounds ). Based on the OP's channel, I'd say these are not hoaxes.

I used to spend weekends and even parts of a week in the old mines of Kelly, New Mexico. I had 3 of the creepiest experiences of my life at Kelly: 1 inside the old church, and, 2 inside the actual Kelly Mine.

On a very stormy night in March while hiking into and camping in Kelly, me and a friend took refuge inside the church. As the storm raged outside, we began to hear creepy sounds of people talking, moving about, things being moved, etc. We decided to hide behind and beneath the altar until the sounds disappeared. It was not a caretaker or other people.

On 2 different times inside the Kelly Mine, I was descending a stope and was about to make the small jump down to Level 9 onto the tracks, when 3 floating objects ( bigger than orbs ) passed along the tracks from left to right. Silently -- no sound of rocks beneath their feet. No flashlights, just bright objects floating. I was frozen with fear, as were the friends behind me. A 2nd occurrence also happened on Level 9. We were working a recently-opened stope and 2 of my friends were up the ways, while I stayed nearer the bottom where it intersected with the tracks. As they hammered away in the distance, I heard voices and " sounds " in the distance down the tunnel. Then I saw what appeared to be lightning streaks or flashes from one end of the tunnel to where I was. Again, I was frozen with fear until the sounds and strange lights slowly disappeared as if they were heading down the tunnel.

I've been in dozens of old mines and inside operational mines, and I've never experienced anything like this.

The Horton Mine haunting, to me, is real. Just my opinion.