A mine outside of Williamsville, Illinois. Known once as the Valentine Mine, now as the Viper Mine. The old Valentine Mine was very successful for many-a-year, but one “small” (as the company laid with corruption, through and through said) incident did the the company known as Jackson and Allison Mining Co. in. 14 miners and 1 police officer murdered brutally. The killer never found the investigation, long left cold. 1951 was the year - the mine in question had just opened for business. And the migration of people from Chicago had picked up whom ever was looking for a much more country life. The pay was great for the time, ‘twas a $1.00. The pay was good for a reason though…considering the mines were very dangerous and also there were some very trying requirements to be chosen.
72 men were chosen to work there on the opening shift. Strong willed and physically tough men. All gathered at the soon to be entrance. It took little over 7 days to get down into coal levels. Eventually they got down deep enough, built the scaffolding and other mining necessities. So for about 5 or 6 weeks everything was running smooth. During the day they would work like a dog, get lunch break and regular break up on the surface considering the black lung isn’t too fun to obtain. Around week 7 things began feeling off… the energy and synergy between everyone was tense. There wasn’t as many jokes as there once was, frankly… there were just low suspicious whispers being spread about one another. It’s almost as the deep, dark mines and coal dust was slowly driving the long-worked men whom are hardened by many years for that matter, insane. There was another energy in the pit. A darkness not in the physical sense, no. But, but in the…the spiritual sense. Something that was just nagging at the sanity of the good men from the dark. Voices from the darkness flooded individuals minds with thoughts of murder and/or being murdered. Fear, suspicion and just utter suspense flooded the whole entire area. Those daily 12 hour shifts damn sure didn’t help…
Within the first year they had over 120 miners on the roster. Now, some of those from the original crew had long left. They, claimed that the mines held an influence that collided with any god-fearing man. As one quoted:
“If you don’t fear or know the Lord above, God help you if you go down into that mine. You best have a lick of discipline…or you’ll either be murdered or the…the…th- murderer.” -Anonymous Miner, (just a specification for those curious).
1952: Not a soul knew this would be this great mines last year. Nor would they know that this was the end of the owners of that mine. The events that happened were far too much for anyone, anywhere to handle. So, somewhere in the 9 o’clock hour of the morning. The sound of pickaxes and heavy machinery rang out. When the sound of a blood curdling scream rang out. Some men were afraid others were annoyed believing it to be a certain college that has done this at the random before. Although, after a minute they begin to realize that it might not be him because there was not an echo of his laughter from any corridors or anywhere. So the suspicion quickly grew into worry. 3 fellas stopped working and started searching for whom made that scream. Eventually they came upon a sight that soured all of the 3 guys stomachs. There on the ground lay the corpse of one of the newer workers. Head split open with a pickaxe…still hanging on to his skull. His helmet did almost nothing to block the impact. Who ever did it used a whole hell of a lot of force to burst through it. The 3 men who found the body immediately ran to their boss alerting him of the death. As they broke the news to him he immediately ordered all of the miners out of the cave since it was very dangerous for them to be in there as whatever cold blooded bastard did it is still out there.
The police were called on scene and scoured the entire site with the aid of one of the more experienced workers whom knew the mine inside and out. No-one was ever convicted. The mine stayed closed for the weeks the investigation went on and was eventually opened, with police and security now monitoring the site. After no deaths came up for about a month the police eventually left it in the hands of the hired security sanctioned by the company. Another week passed without incident, until… another 3 miners were discovered with their throats slit with what looked to have been a saw…considering the cuts were not clean and were more rough than anything. It also so happened that it was the 3 fellas who discovered the last dead body… it looked to be an almost revengeful murder.
Again all miners were ordered out for their own safety. All but 10 showed up… police searched in the mines and found many more gruesome murders. Such as one miner having his entrails ripped out of him by a pickaxe…another having his heart cut out with a sharp stone. The others well they were so gruesome that…that the police wouldn’t release what happened to them. Many of the other miners were under heavy investigation looking for clues. Such as, if they had anything against the other miners or whatever. Nothing was found. The police stayed out this time to see if they could find the culprit and hopefully catch him before anyone else was taken out.
The feeling of spiritual darkness creeped ever again, stronger this time. The feeling of some malevolent presence grew stronger than ever before. Many miners began to quit under the pressure of the ongoing murders and also that god-damned feeling that always creeped in the back of their necks.
One cold December night, the police began to scour the mines making sure everyone was okay. Two officers were present in the mine that day as opposed to the five that were normally there. The rest that could perhaps come from the department were caught up in a massive incident happening within the city that required a lot of help. Anyway, as one the officers rounded a corner leading to a long dusty corridor. A loud gunshot were heard off in the distance. The officer ran to go see what in gods heavenly earth had just happened. Praying it wasn’t what he thought it was. As he made his way into the bend that led to one of the main strips he saw what he hoped he wouldn’t see… there laid on the floor was his partner. Gunshot wound to the back of the head. He began to search for who did it gun drawn and eyes and ears wide open. He never found who did it.
Matters are made worse knowing it was his gun that did it. Because a week prior he sat his old revolver down at one of the desks in the office of the mine to go use the can and when he came back it had vanished. They never found it…but he did. It was right there by the body of his fallen comrade.
A month later the mine closed down and the company went bankrupt because of all of the fees and fines they had to pay. No one knows who did it…but one thing is certain…that mine held an energy that no man has ever known. Perhaps it wasn’t one man who killed all of those men. Maybe the darkness got to more than one man after-all.