Tombstone Silver Logo
Tombstone Silver Image

Haunted Mines

Introduction

Dark interior of a stone structure with a wooden beam visible on the left, an old mine entrance.

More than 100 silver mines are in the Tombstone District, but none are still in production today, though the Goodenough Mine is open for tours. Both tourists and guides have shared numerous stories about paranormal activity from the Goodenough, Toughnut, and Girard Mines. This article posts only a few of those stories.

Paranormal Activity

Other than orbs, which are commonly photographed throughout the mines, one of the most common paranormal experiences involves touch. Many guests report feeling something like a spider's web raking across their face, arms, or legs while walking through the mine. While a few spiders live in the mine (though I cannot imagine what they eat), none of the guides have ever found a strand of web built across one of the drifts we use. Moreover, we lead tours through the mine several times daily, so there would be little opportunity for a spider to build a web that our guests would feel.

On occasion, one other report the guides receive from guests is that of two old miners working down in the drift near the hydrothermal vent. They see one miner kneeling and hammering a drill into the face of the mine while the other stands in the background and observes. The driller wears a blue neck scarf closed with a silver ring and a leather vest with some blood around a cut. These miners are not seen often, but we have had similar reports from several guests. We are not sure who these miners are, but the stories are so consistent that we tend to think that they worked in the mine at some time.

Not surprisingly, most of the tales of paranormal activity come from the Goodenough Mine since we lead regular daily tours through that mine. However, we have at least one report of a paranormal touch in the Toughnut Mine from someone on tour there. We suspect that paranormal activity is frequent in all mines and would be reported if there were regular tours there.