The year is 1916 in a valley known as Timber Canyon where a thriving logging community is set in tennessee's Great Smokey Mountains. However, in 1891, this area was a bustling pocket of industry of a different sort. Nestled between two verdant hills, the now vacant rough-hewn structures once supported the mining of a nearby vein rich with coal.
Coal Mining has always been known as one of the more perilous vocations, with the constant threat of flooding, collapsing roofs, explosions, and numerous other perils. Some coalmines have earned reputations for being more dangerous than others, and an unfortunate few have forever come to be associated with disaster. But none is more infamous than this one with its unexplainable abandonment in 1891 and mysterious occurrences that continue to this day.
Wherever persistent danger lurks, people adopt superstitious habits in the hopes of warding off bad luck. The men who used to work in this mine were, understandably, no exception. In fact, the miners here were known to have developed some of the most colorful superstitions for hundres of miles around. Whistling underground, for instance, was taboo. So was removing your boots while in the mine, you had better get out in a hurryor your goose was cooked! Was it a failure to heed these warnings that led to the 1891 tragedy? No one knows. Perhaps that's why the locals refer to the long-abondoned mine as the "Mystery Mine."