Tom Leonard had dreamt of opening a museum to preserve and display the history of the mining community. He met a friend Tom Robinson who owned the land it now stands on, who agreed this was the perfect location for it. The mine started in 1981 opened in 1983 but sadly Tom Leonard had died before its completion. The items on display had previously been displayed in Gisburgh hall.
The discovery
of the mine was first made in 1847 by Samuel Frederick Okey, whilst walking
on the beach at Skinningrove he come across some ironstone nodules, he met a
man Anthony Lax Maynard who told him there was an ironstone seam on his land.
A friend of Okey agreed to work the mine but he soon sold the lease to Messrs
Roseby, who started work at the mine on the 7th August 1848. The ironstone was
hauled by horses to base of North and South drifts and then to the surface by
cable system & weighed & tipped into railway wagons and shipped to Middlesborough
by rail which was brought in in 1865. The mine closed in 1856 then re-opened
in 1865 when the rail link from Whitby to Middlesborough opened,The mine finally
closed in September 1958.
THE INVESTIGATION
PRESENT FOR THE NIGHT WERE FROM A.G.H MARK, ANGIE, KELLY, DEREK AND WAYNE.
STAFF FROM THE MINE WERE JOAN, MARGARET, MIKE, PAUL AND GARY.
10:00pm in the gift shop we set up the C.C.T.V with video as Angie had sensed the spirit of a man called John (a nickname was also given but in respect of family members we wont give the name) this was confirmed by staff of the mine who told us he used to sit in the chair in the shop. E.M.F readings 0 and 17.5celcus on thermometer.
10:15pm we set up a camcorder on tripod in the experience, the spirit of Ned was sensed by Angie, Kelly felt someone breath on her, the E.M.F twice gave a reading of 1 and a half, temp was 9.5. Staff confirmed another member of staff has heard his name called several times in here.
10:40pm a camcorder was
set up in the north drift were the spirit of a cat was sensed by Angie,
staff confirmed a cat used to roam here. 0 readings on E.M.F and temp 18.5celcius.
11:00pm we went to the sound room to listen to the story tape of the trappy lad spent his days down the mine.
11:30pm we went to the gift shop for a break and to plan the for the night ahead.
11:50pm trigger objects were set up, in the gift shop we placed a slate and piece of chalk, below the shop we placed a carbide lamp on a piece of paper and drew around it.
Midnight we went to the experience to conduct a table tipping experiment, during which two spirits were sensed Tommy and Ned, the table vibrated a couple of times. We decided to form a circle to see if we could communicate with the spirits, the camcorder we set up earlier switched off despite having a fresh battery and reading fully charged! during the seance all ten people present heard heavy footsteps, sounded as if they were directly above our heads, above us was three feet of soil and grass! also we experienced some tapping sounds but we could not be sure of their location, some of us also felt a presence during the seance firstly between Mark and Kelly and then between Wayne and Joan and Angie felt an icy breeze pass her and Mike. We ended the seance at 01:00 at this point Gary went home.
01:15 we headed back to the north drift, were we sat and talked for a while. Angie gave a member of staff a private message. At 01:40 Kelly turned to see a small figure beside her the E.M.F made a vibration sound through the earpiece but no reading. We left a voice recorder there to see if it picked anything up, on checking the tape a cough can be heard and possible footsteps.
02:00 we went back to the shop area for a break, and at 02:30 decided to go to the sound room to conduct a seance. When Mark spotted what looked like a mist near Johns chair we took some photos but nothing come of them, so we placed the ION detector next to the chair and the slate and chalk on the chair watched by Joan. At 02:50 when leaving the area Mike and Joan looked at the chalk board and seen a scribe on it also the ION bleeped three times we took photos and went to check C.C.T.V tape but this had stopped recording on its own at 02:49!
02:58 in the sound room
the four remaining staff from the mine stood around the table fingers on glass
to ask the spirit of Ned some questions. During this we all could hear dragging
sounds and a mans voice calling hello twice from the room next door. On inspection
no one was there.
(We ask the spirit questions with yes no answers, for yes the glass to be moved
side to side or in circular motion for no the glass to be still)
click here to read what happened during seance 1
04:15 seance held in room
below shop by Angie, Kelly, Derek and Wayne, Mark observed through camcorder
and the staff stood back to observe.
click here to read what happened during seance 2
05:00 the night come to a close.
IN CONCLUSION
the whole night went well a good time was had by all, further investigation
warranted and we have been invited back.
FINALLY all of the AGH staff would like to thank the staff at the mine for their
hospitality.
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