Madison Johns - Agnes Barton Paranormal 02 - Ghostly Hijinks

by Madison Johns

  Great, another man with a nickname. But I listened intently as he told us his rules. “Rule number one: stay with the group. Rule number two: don’t dig anywhere unless we tell you it’s okay unless you want to fill the mine shafts with water and drown everyone.”

  “Water?” I asked.

  “Yes, ma’am. It’s almost happened a few times now. There’s an underground spring that was found to run along the side of the north mineshaft, and in 1910 it was tapped into, sorta the reason we found it in the first place. Anyway, it flooded the mineshaft and twenty men drowned. The mine had to be pumped out and that section of the shaft is now off limits. As a safeguard, we don’t ever allow anyone too close to the north shaft. They abandoned that section of the mine after the accident.”

  “So there might just be gold over there, then?” Unique asked.

  “That’s not what I said. I said it’s not safe over there,” Big Jake said with a stern look. “Let’s just say this, when the spring was tapped into, the water rushed in so fast that the miners never stood a chance.”

  Unique gulped and clammed up finally, as we were led inside. The main entrance was smaller than I expected and some of the taller ones had to stoop down to get in, but once we were inside, the main area was more open. “This area was opened more for tours. As you can see, there are timbers on the walls and ceilings of the mines to keep the soft dirt from caving in. It’s constantly building pressure and new timbers were also added to the existing ones to keep the mine from collapsing. All the timbers above your heads are original and have done quite a good job of holding up the ceiling of the mine. You’ll find them all along the shafts. I’d be careful and not run into any of the timbers on the side. I can’t assure just how safe it will remain.”

  “What’s that pipe near the ceiling?” Marsha asked.

  “That’s for ventilation. Otherwise, it can get a might dusty down here.” He went on to explain, “The shaft we’ll be going in is uncharted for anyone other than Jo Ellen’s guests, so consider yourselves fortunate.”

  I raised my hand, and when he pointed to me, I asked, “Has anyone ever ventured into the shafts without you knowing about it?”

  “We keep a pretty good watch on our tour groups here.”

  “I’m sure you do, but what about after hours?”

  “Never has happened that I know of. Only a fool would attempt such a thing at night. The mineshafts go on for miles and even I can get a little confused at times. That’s why even I only go in only so deep.”

  I had a few more questions, but didn’t want to voice them. I’d wait until the tour was over before I questioned Big Jake further. Wendy brought in the picnic baskets. We munched on sandwiches and were each given a bottle of water as we listened to Jo Ellen talk about Peyton Leister.

  “Silver was founded in 1850 and, once gold was found, the town quickly was built as folks came to town once they got word.”

  “Is it true that there was a Winfield Hotel here once that burned to the ground, the same site where the Goldberg Hotel & Saloon now is?” I asked.

  Jo Ellen’s brow furrowed. “And who told you about that? It’s not common knowledge.”

  We heard it at the Willington General Store.”

  “Did Glenda also tell you that it was a mining dispute and that arson was suspected? That the ground where the Goldberg sits now is cursed, some say, since they never even bothered looking for the bodies. Jessup Goldberg was one greedy man. It’s no wonder he met an untimely end.”

  “So he knew about it and didn’t care? Just built overtop of them?”

  “Exactly what I’m saying. Dying from pneumonia was too good for the likes of him. They say he kept a woman locked up, a prostitute that he’d gotten pregnant. Rumor was that he killed her and the baby.”

  “I’ve heard that, too, but is there any truth to it?”

  “You sure have a lot of questions.” Jo Ellen said. “What are you, some kind of historian?”

  “I consider myself a history buff, but just as a hobby.”

  “I see. Well, back to Peyton Leister. Nobody knows for sure what year he came to Silver, but he came in like a hotshot. He didn’t reside with the other miners in tent city. He had himself a small cabin on the other side of town, far from the rest of the miners. Nobody even knows where he found his gold and he wasn’t talking. What he did best was brag, but that didn’t help him a bit when he found a huge amount of gold that nobody would let him turn in.”

  “That seems strange.”

  “Folks can go against you in a heartbeat. The thing is, you couldn’t afford to make enemies back then. I suspect folks were a might jealous and wanted to know where he hid his stash. He stayed for days in that cabin of his and folks said you could see the smoke from his fire all the way into town. The sheriff went out there to check it out, but Peyton ran him off his claim. You could do that back then as long as you weren’t breaking the law.”

  “After Peyton disappeared from town, folks found a kettle with gold in the bottom of it, and boards lying around in the shape of bars. They figured he had melted his gold into bars and taken it with him, right out of town, but days later when his wagon was found in the desert, the gold wasn’t anywhere to be found.”

  “What about Peyton, did they him dead?”

  “Not from what I heard, but I suspect he died of exposure after he was stranded when his wagon wheel had broken off. When there weren’t any deep wheel tracks in the dirt, folks assumed he didn’t have the gold with him, that he had hidden it for safekeeping until he returned. Some suspected that it was too much gold to haul off by himself and that he was off to report to the U.S. Marshal about the corruption in Silver since he wasn’t able to sell his gold.”

  “That sounds like a good reason to murder a man,” I said.

  “But they say his body was never found.”

  “No? Then why is there a tombstone with his name on it?”

  “I can’t say, ma’am. Word is that his body was never found. I suppose they must have wanted to give the man some kind of resting place.”

  “That must be it because his remains certainly aren’t at the cemetery since there were grave robbers there this morning. Aren’t you a little curious if Peyton was murdered?”

  “Not really. His story has turned into a legend that sure is interesting, but today we’re not here looking for Leister’s gold. Nobody has ever turned it up in all these years, and, believe me, plenty have looked. Problem is that not many came back alive, they just left one day to look for the treasure and never came back.”

  “Like the Thompsons,” I said.

  “Who told you about them? That’s unfortunate, but their car broke down in the desert and they didn’t have any survival skills. If they had stayed with their car they might have survived, but their bodies were found about a mile away in the desert. It’s not very smart to go anywhere down Highway 50 without making sure that you have both food and water.”

  “So you don’t suspect foul play?”

  “Why would I?”

  I couldn’t hold myself back now. “It’s just that I wondered if the Thompsons were searching for Leister’s gold. You know, like the family that disappeared from the Goldberg not long ago.”

  “Not sure of when that might have happened.”

  “Really, in a small town such as this? It seems like you’d keep up to date about a big thing like a second missing family, especially tourists.”

  “Not really sure where you’re going here, but I’d like to mosey into the mine shaft now and give you folks a chance to find a gold nugget or two.”

  “It’s about time,” Unique sighed. “I swear I never knew old folks could yap so much.”

  “Of course in my days, younger folks were taught to respect their elders,” Big Jake said. “Anyone wanting to know an in-depth history of Silver is okay in my book. It seems like younger folks don’t even care about things like that anymore.”

  I smiled as we were each handed a helmet with a light attach
ed, just like you’d see in one of those adventures where tourists get trapped in an abandoned mine or underground cavern. We then headed up a long shaft that came to a fork with one to the right and the other to the left. “Take the one to the left,” Big Jake said.

  When I passed the one on the right, I couldn’t help but sneak a peek inside, but it was too dark to see much of anything. I wanted to go down there, if only I had the chance. Small pickaxes were handed out when we were in a different mine shaft and Big Jake demonstrated how we should pick along one area only. We were also told that we could keep what we found, which brought a smile to Eleanor’s face.

  Unique and Ramone strode farther ahead until Big Jake said, “Stay right here. I don’t want you getting lost in the mineshaft.”

  I took that moment to slip away, tugging Eleanor along with me, unseen by Big Jake, Jo Ellen, and Wendy who were helping the other guests on their technique as they picked, looking for a morsel of gold.

  Once we were out of sight, Eleanor asked, “Where are we going?”

  “I’d like to check out the other shaft, is all.”

  “Th-That doesn’t sound safe at all. You heard what Big Jake said.”

  “We’ll be fine, and won’t go in that far. I promise. If we don’t see anything of interest, we’ll just come on back out and re-join the group.”

  “Why is it that I feel so uneasy about this?”

  “Quit being a worrywart.”

  “I can’t help it. Maybe you should call Caroline to join us. I think I’d feel more comfortable having her here. After the way she handled those grave robbers, I have a new appreciation for having her on our team.”

  Giggling could be heard from behind Eleanor and she whirled to see Caroline standing behind her. “Thanks, Eleanor. I like you, too.”

  There were rocks all along the shaft and the wooden beams didn’t look quite as sturdy as in the other parts of the mine. “I bet this was the shaft that was flooded. We’d better be extra careful.”

  “Which will only work if we leave right now,” Eleanor said. “Agnes, it is too dangerous to be in here.”

  “I just want to see if the family is lost in here.” I froze when after a few feet, there was a body on the floor in a sitting position against the wall of the mine.

  “Oh, oh. I told you this was a bad idea. We just found another body.”

  I heard a crunching of stones behind us and Big Jake stepped forward. “You’ll find plenty of bodies if you were to travel the length of the mine, but how about we not add you ladies to the list. Come along now, this area of the mine just isn’t safe.”

  I stared at the beam overhead and loose stones were covering us with dust as they trickled from the ceiling. I hurried along with my arm looped through Eleanor’s arm to make sure that she came along with me. Caroline bobbed silently next to us and didn’t disappear until we were back in the main part of the mine.

  “So what are you really here for?”

  “I just wanted to take a quick look. There’s a missing family I had hoped to locate. Trisha, Aaron and their daughter, Rebecca Jameson, disappeared from the Goldberg Hotel in the middle of the night.”

  “I heard that, but I assure you they never came this way. Francine called me and I checked the mine, but there was no sign of them. Maybe those folks went home.”

  “Do you believe in strange occurrences or the paranormal?”

  “I sure do. This mine is haunted by many spirits, believe me, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Actually, no. I had a dream and I just know that the family is in trouble.” I went on to tell him all about my dream and how some of the details had proven to be true—like Francine and Sheriff Wilford, the actor.

  “If you think they went after Leister’s gold, they wouldn’t come here. What you folks need to do is look for Peyton’s cabin. It was located on the opposite side of town about a mile away. Peyton never mined here.”

  “Have you ever been there?”

  “On occasion, but none of my searches ever turned up any gold. My firm belief is that the story has been modified as it was told. There might never have been any gold and I do wish that Peyton’s story wasn’t so glamorized, but it does bring in the tourists.”

  “Thanks, Big Jake, we’ll check that out.”

  “Just don’t do it alone and be sure you have plenty of water. I’d even tell you to bring the sheriff with you just in case someone is checking out the same area. Especially with the festival going on right now.”

  “The thing is that we’re stuck here now, until the group is done.”

  “That’s just fine. Come on back and see what you can find. You just might end up with a nugget.”

  We passed a small machine and I had to ask, “What’s that for?”

  “That’s from the 1876 invention, the wiggle-tail, or widow-maker as it’s been nicknamed, because when that machine runs, it creates quite a bit of dust. Many miners died from being exposed to that dust.”

  “That seems like it wouldn’t be such a great thing to use, then.”

  “Yes, but they used it for striking into the rock, so it really served a purpose and it was much easier than doing it by hand. There was plenty of ore in this area of the mine.”

  “But they did find gold, too, right?”

  “Sure did, ma’am, in the area where we’re allowing you to check. Now, let’s get back to the others.”

  When we went back to where the rest of the group was picking at the walls, I could see that this was just for entertainment purposes since there was just no way that we’d ever find anything, but Eleanor really got into swinging her pick axe at the wall and with menacing intent, I must say.

  “I have to use the bathroom,” Unique said.

  “There’s a Porta Potty outside,” Big Jake said. “I’ll show you.”

  “No, no need. I can find it. Can’t be too hard to find.”

  Ramone went along with her, and when they didn’t come back in what seemed like a long time, I whispered to Eleanor, “I think those two are up to something.”

  I walked up the shaft and back down the other juncture. We walked for some time, even passing the body we had seen earlier. We continued into the shaft when we began to hear voices. I rushed forward, hoping that it was the missing family, but it was Unique and Ramone. While Unique held a long bar in her hands, Ramone struck the end of it with a large hammer. Boom ... boom ... boom! The racket was unmistakable.

  “Stop it, you two!” I shouted above the noise they were making. “You heard what Big Jake told you about this shaft.”

  “Go on back to the group and mind your business, Grandma,” Unique said. “The only reason he don’t want us here is because there’s gold over here, an untapped area.”

  I heard a rushing noise; my eyes widened and we backed up as a trickle of water began to seep out of the upper surface of the wall. “You’ve sprung a leak, you fool!” I shouted above the now roaring sound, racing as fast as I could up the mineshaft to alert the others. By the time I made it back into the main corridor, we were ankle deep in water. Eleanor and I met the rest of the group that ran in a panic for the entrance of the mine.

  “What have you done?” Big Jake asked.

  “It wasn’t us, it was Unique and Ramone.”

  The water was getting deeper now, and we were wading toward the entrance, the water now to our knees, but a loud voice stopped us. “Help, Unique’s trapped under a large rock,” Ramone said.

  “Get out, everyone. I’ll help her,” Big Jake said.

  Ramone went back into the shaft with Big Jake and I followed, with Eleanor shouting, “Don’t you dare, Agnes Barton.”

  I didn’t listen, though, and continued to follow Big Jake and Ramone. Unique was struggling to keep her head above the water, and I helped hold her head up as Big Jake and Ramone lifted the large rock that had fallen, pinning Unique’s ankle. It took a few tries before she was released and I helped Unique stand, but Big Jake moved in and picked up Unique like she weighed
nothing. Moving up the shaft, the water was now at my thigh level and my hip ached as I waded for the entrance that loomed in the distance. It seemed like it was so far away, miles, but it wasn’t quite as far as it seemed. After a minute or two, we finally made it outside.

  “Keep moving,” Big Jake said.

  “Where’s the bus?” I shrieked.

  “Hopefully, they moved it to higher ground.” Jake led the way to a set of stairs that ascended upward, and I huffed and puffed as I climbed them. Once we were up above the opening of the mine, I wanted to drop from exhaustion, but Big Jake said, “Keep moving.”

  When I glanced below, water was pouring out of the mouth of the mine. We walked quite a spell until Jake, exhausted, set Unique down, resting her back against a boulder. I sat down, too, wondering if Eleanor and the others made it to safety.

  “Wh-What, now?” I asked.

  “Hopefully, they’ve gone for help.”

  “So we’re stuck on this mountain until then?”

  “We can go down the other side, but the stones are quite loose. It might make a treacherous descent for you, ma’am.”

  “How am I going to get down? I can’t even walk,” Unique whined.

  “Slide your big ass all the way down.” Big Jake spat. “It told you how dangerous it was in the north shaft, but did you listen? No!”

  “Calm down, Big Jake. There’s nothing we can do about that now, but we need to get off this mountain or we’ll bake for sure.”

  “True, but greenhorns really make me mad when they don’t listen.”

  “Why can’t they send a helicopter to save us?” Unique asked.

  “Well, do you see any place they could land her, missy?”

  “N-No, I don’t.”

  “Okay, then. Let’s move and get down off this mountain,” Big Jake said.

  Ramone helped Unique up and she hobbled on one foot until he carried her to the side where Big Jake told us that we’d be going down. Once there, I gave the steep slope a dirty look with all those tiny stones that would, for sure, send us flying to the bottom in a quick hurry if we weren’t careful.