Woodhorn Colliery

Woodhorn Colliery opened in 1894 and became one of Northumberland’s most productive coal mines, employing over 2,000 men at its peak. The mine closed in 1981, and the site was transformed into a museum celebrating the region’s mining heritage. While the colliery operated, it experienced its share of tragedy - fatal accidents, the 1918 influenza pandemic that killed workers, and the constant danger of working deep underground. Staff and visitors have long reported that supernatural activity suggests some connection to the site’s past remains tangible.

The most frequently reported phenomena occur in the winding house, where the massive Victorian machinery is preserved. Security staff conducting night patrols hear the sound of the winding gear operating and the pit cage ascending and descending, despite all equipment being switched off. Footsteps echo on metal staircases, doors slam in windless conditions, and tools are found moved from their display positions. The lamp room, where miners collected their safety lamps at the start of each shift, experiences particularly strong activity - the smell of carbide, voices in Northumberland dialect, and the sensation of being jostled by an invisible crowd of men.

Underground in the preserved tunnel sections, visitors report encountering apparitions of miners who appear briefly before vanishing into solid rock faces. The temperature drops dramatically in certain tunnels, and some guests experience difficulty breathing, as if the air is filled with coal dust despite modern ventilation. Paranormal investigators have recorded unexplained electromagnetic field fluctuations and captured audio of what sounds like men working with picks and shovels. Children on school visits sometimes speak of seeing “the old men working” in areas that adults perceive as empty, leading staff to believe that some essence of Woodhorn’s mining community lingers, forever bound to the place where they spent their working lives.