I grew up in a hard rock mining world, knew a lot of miners, and eventually worked underground myself. One memory I have is of a time in Alaska when one of my dad’s miners said that he wouldn’t work on Friday the 13th. The guy flat out refused. What happened? My dad didn’t make him go to work that day and didn’t dock him.
When working in a dangerous environment–one in which you only have the illusion of control, because there are so many things that can go wrong–superstitions give a person that much needed sense of control. Mining and danger go hand in hand, so miners had a lot of superstitions. As a woman working underground, I undermined one of the superstitions (undermined…get it?), with no ill results, but I understand why miners had/have their beliefs. They helped the guys get through the day.
Here are a handful of superstitions:
1)Having a woman underground, or even near a mine, was bad luck. This belief is thought to have arisen from the fact that the only time women came near a mine was when a disaster had struck and their loved ones were involved. Therefore women near a mine = potential disaster. A redheaded woman was particularly unlucky.
2) If the miner’s candle went out, he needed to think about leaving the mine. Candles went out in bad air, which is not detectable, but will kill you (thus the canary in the coal mine). If a candle went out three times, it meant there was trouble at home and, again, a miner needed to get out of the mine. Side note–I once had my headlamp fail me, and I can promise you that there is nothing darker than being underground. The darkness feels thick.
3) Do not whistle underground. Tommyknockers came to this country with the Cornish miners. These
goblin-like creatures could help miners, warning them of danger by knocking, or hurt them, depending on how they were treated. Miners would leave a bit of their lunch for the tommyknockers, which in turn, caused the tommyknockers to watch out for them. However whistling at a tommyknocker was considered disrespectful and disaster would follow.
4) Whistling underground was also thought to trigger earth movements, which could cause the drift (tunnel with only one opening) to cave in. Side note–I was underground when the planets aligned in 1980. The miners were afraid that increased gravitational pull would cause earth movement. We got lucky. It didn’t.
4) Of course there were to be no black cats underground. A black cat underground meant someone would die.
5) There are a lot of personal superstitions involving clothing and not turning around backward shirts or inside out socks. Things that, again, helped a miner feel like he was in control.
Those are a few of the mining superstitions, but superstitions abound in all environments. Do you know of any interesting superstitions ? Curious minds want to know.
Wow! I had no idea, but I can understand the control factor with superstitions.
Two of my boys like the volume (TV or radio) on an odd number, and one likes it on an even number.
That’s cute about your boys, Denise. Sounds like an eternal struggle, lol.
that was fascinating. I knew some of them. I do not know of any unusual superstitions.
Thank you, Debra.
Good morning, Jeannie! I’ve known for years you were once a miner, and it’s still amazing to me. These superstitions are funny – and fascinating. 🙂
Thank you, Pam!
Fun post, today, Jeannie. I just came from a vacation in Colorado where we spent a day in Silverton and went through the wonderful mining museum there. I remember seeing mention of the Tommyknockers and seeing those rudimentary clips that would hold a candle to a miner’s hat. I can’t imagine working underground with only a single candle lighting my way. What they accomplished is really remarkable . . . and so dangerous.
It was a dangerous life. I have early mining hats and they were made of oiled canvas and look like the caps soldiers wore in the Civil War.
I really don’t know of any superstitions that we all haven’t heard before.
Thank you for stopping by! 🙂
I didn’t know any of these! I don’t know of any unusual superstitions.
Thanks, Trudy.
My inlaws were miners in WVa. I knew nothing of the stories which u told. They were amazing
My inlaws were miners in WVA i knew nothing of their stories
There are lots of fascinating facets of mine culture.
Hi, my husband mined in a Uranium Mine in New Mexico for over a year and a half. I’m trying to think if he ever told me about any superstitious things they had there, but I can’t recall, I know that him being underground really made me nervous, a couple of people also had accidents in the mine and they even died. I was so very happy when my husband left the mine and got another job, too dangerous there, we had a little 1 1/2 yr. old and a 5 month old when he got another job.
I totally understand your nerves, Alicia, especially with small children.
this is a very interesting post. thanks for sharing. how cool that you worked in the mines. what a plethora of information to draw from
Thank you, Lori.
Fascinating post, Jeannie!
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing these interesting tidbits. I can understand people in such a dangerous job as mining having superstitions. In some way they would give them a sense of control and security.
The superstitions I know are all pretty well known. One that may not be is If you go to bed with your hair wet you will go blind or another version says your hair will fall out.
I’ve never heard the wet hair superstition before. Fascinating!