Episode Transcript
00:00:09 On this episode of Common Mystics, Jill and I are guided to the village of Coal City, Illinois.
00:00:16 What's buried beneath the Coal City and its neighboring towns? The answer may surprise you. I'm Jennifer James. I'm Jill Stanley. We're psychics. We're sisters. And we are Common Mystics. We find extraordinary stories in ordinary places and we found another one in Coal City. Wow. Let's get right into it. Yes. It was a hot and humid day in June. Jen and I left her house near Joliet/Plainfield, Illinois. And we dropped Bug the beagle off at our friend Sonia's house to watch him for the afternoon. Right. And that's significant because it meant we didn't have all day. Right. We had a very specific amount of time and we had to be back to get the dog by two. Right. There was a hard stop. Right. So we sat in the car and we set the intention. Do you remember what the intention was? We wanted to find a story that was verifiable and also would give a voice to the voiceless.
00:01:11 Do you remember having that conversation? Yeah, so that was really important and we put that out into the universe and then we got started. Right. And what did we do from there? You know, I remember feeling an urge to drive South on I55. I remember agreeing with you. Right. I also remember, as we were driving, I was feeling a connection to the land and that it was bountiful. I didn't understand what that meant, but that was a feeling I was getting. Okay. Okay. And as we were driving South on 55, we did happen to see a sign. Right. For the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery. Right. Which is located in Elwood, Illinois. Right. So do you remember what we did at that point? We exited and we headed out looking for the cemetery. Right. When we got there, we noticed, number one, it was a gorgeous place. And it's somewhere, I think, that you wanted to go before.
00:02:05 Absolutely. I had always wanted to see the cemetery. So we were at the cemetery and it was really awkward. So, first of all, we've got these GoPro cameras. We were going to try for the first time ever to document our adventure. And it was so weird because there was a funeral procession happening while we were there. It felt intrusive. So wrong and disrespectful. So we did, we walked around just a little bit, but it just felt wrong. We put the cameras away and were just like, this is a cool place, but we should go. Right. And at that point, I wasn't really feeling like that cemetery was part of the story we were supposed to tell today. Right, right. Same thing. Absolutely. But when we got back in the car, I was like, we need to go to downtown Elwood, the city or village, and just check out that vibe there since we were there.
00:02:55 Right. And what were you feeling as we were driving around Elwood? You know, it was such a weird feeling. It reminded me of the village of McCook. And I know for the listeners that aren't familiar with the Chicago land area, it's a little industrial town in the western suburbs that feels like the industry is choking out the residents in some way. I also felt like there was something underneath us. Do you remember me saying that? I do remember you saying that. And then I remember seeing in my mind's eye, an image of chunks of coal and then hearing coal, coal, coal in my head. As if it were a heartbeat. Yeah, well that's creepy when you put it that way. That's what I thought of when you said it in the car. So yeah. So having heard coal, coal, coal, and seeing coal in my mind's eye, I immediately thought of Coal City.
00:03:58 Now I had never been to Coal City. Had you? I had never even heard of it. So I asked you, Jill, have you ever heard of Coal City? And you said no. And here's what I know about it. Or here's what I knew about it at the time: It was off the Stevenson. I knew that people had lived there or live there who commute to Joliet for work or the restaurants or the shopping or whatever. And I knew it had to be close by. Right. So we decided to get back on the Stevenson going South. And the very next exit was the Diamond/ Coal City exit, Rte 113. Right. Which is really exciting because it felt like we were onto something then. It did. Yeah, it did. Totally. We got off on 113 heading west. And the first little town that we drove through was called Diamond.
00:04:45 Right. Blink and you miss it. Right. But there was a historical marker on the side of the road. Right. And were you feeling like you wanted to stop at the historic marker? No, absolutely not. And Jen... Well, you know, if you are on a random road trip and you come across a random historical marker on the side of the road, nine times out of 10, it might as well say ‘This is the site of something that you totally don't care about.” Right. And near our house in Battle Creek, there literally is a historical marker that is just a large rock that says, “This is a historical marker.” I am not kidding you. So every time Chad and I see a large rock, we're like “Historical marker!” So we continue west on 113 and we end up in Coal City.
00:05:33 We do. And we had no idea why we were in Coal City. So what do we always say? When in doubt, find the cemetery! So, you know, Jill, you have a gift for this. It's true. It is true. I can find a cemetery blindfolded. It's very helpful. It's a very, very useful gift. Yes. Yes. So we were driving around. Do you remember? You told me it felt like we were in a fog. I did. Yeah, totally. In hindsight. Absolutely. That's interesting. So we were driving around looking for the cemetery and I felt like someone had a Twinkie on a string that was leading me someplace. And as soon as I was going to reach out and grab it, it was gone. So I literally would stop, feel where the bodies were, where the cemetery should be, and I would drive there and it would... nothing would be there.
00:06:25 It would be like a residential street. So as a result, we were driving around Coal City and the extended area for an hour. Oh, I know. It was ridiculous. I felt like a hound dog. Like I was not giving up. I was like, it's there, it's there. But you did say something that I remember very distinctly. I did say that I felt like they were bodies all around us and they just are not in a cemetery. Right. And then I got the immediate impression that those bodies you were referring to had to do with coal miners. It's true. You did say that. And then we were out of time and then we had to go. Then we had to go. Ah, so, but again, on the way out of town, back to the Stevenson, the historical marker. Just, at this point, we are, let me just describe the scene. We are out of time. We don't feel psychic at all. It's been a complete mess and we have no footage on the cameras that we even want to see. Oh, we have a lot of footage. We have a lot of gripping footage… of us eating McDonalds… exactly.
00:07:37 So we stop at the historical marker. The first thing I do is I go to the historical marker, but you are like, I'm feeling the grounds. I'm doing my thing. I'm still trying to figure out what it is about this area that I was feeling. And then, and then, I hear a noise. I hear a.. Hark! Oh Jill, Oh Jill, you're not going to believe it! So, it's coming from you. So we were stunned because here I am and I'm looking at a historical marker. And on this plaque, it says “In commemoration of those who died in the Diamond Mine disaster, February 16th, 1883. Number of known victims, 74. Bodies recovered, 28. And then it listed the names. Crazy. Yeah. So that happened. So we're feeling a little bit better. Like, I told you. I knew it. I knew I was psychic.
00:08:45 So we decided there's no way we're not coming back tomorrow. So that's what we did. That's right. We went back the next day. And this time we took the dog with us. Right. And what we noticed is when you're two grown women walking around with GoPro cameras, through cemeteries and, like, the library, people can look at you pretty funny. But if you have an adorable puppy with you, they're not even looking at us, they're looking at the puppy. And the puppy is a perfect decoy because they assume we're taking photos of the dog. Right. So having said that, we went back to the historical marker. Right? Bee-lined for the historical marker this time.
00:09:26 So you started getting some impressions. Yes. Right away. Tell us about those. You know, it's interesting. Um, I turned my Spidey's on and at this point now we know why we're there. Now we know why we’re there. So at this point I'm able to tune in more and focus on this particular disaster on this day and try to feel that out. And what I was feeling at first was this whirl of energy. It felt like a swirl. And I, I didn't know what it was. I just, I didn't want to say, we knew that the tornado had gone through the town, but that's not how it felt to me. It just felt like this, this energy going in a circle. And then I heard a noise that felt loud, but I had never had a circle of reference for it.
00:10:14 So I didn't know how to describe it, but it felt loud. And there was also cracking that went with it, like cracking almost like sticks cracking. So it was this loud noise that I didn't recognize. And when I was standing there, it felt like I couldn't get close enough to the shaft. I couldn't get close enough as a bystander, as a witness to this tragedy, to get whoever out of the shaft. It felt like the ground wasn't stable around me and I felt helpless. It was, it was hard. It was hard. It was hard. Now while you were getting those impressions, I saw and felt very distinctly, a young man who was drowning and I could see and feel his arms flailing and him grasping and grasping. And I could hear the heartbeat in his ears. You know how you can hear the heartbeat in your ears underwater?
Speaker 1 00:11:11 Like the way you described coal, coal, coal. Yeah, I guess so. Yeah, that is creepy. And then I also had the distinct impression that there was a young lady in a white dress who was wailing “Billy, Billy, Billy!” Oh my God. And so that's what I was feeling that day. So at this point, having documented with the cameras, our impressions, Jen, headed out to the library and I Googled the names of the victims commemorated or honored on the plaque. And so while Jen's in the library, I'm outside on Google. And I noticed a couple of things: that the age group is all over the place. And that... as young, as 13, as young as 13... and that there is listed not only the names, their ages, but also the country of origin. And that really stuck out to me, it felt as though, um, these people were expendable.
00:12:15 And it felt as if there was more people than what I was looking at, there was more people than what was documented. Interesting. So we were actually talking about that very thing as we were driving home that day. Right. And we actually got into a little argument because I kept saying that, you were, that I felt that the workers were undocumented. Right. And that was very triggering. You were arguing because... what did you think I meant by that? Modern day, when you say “undocumented,” it sounds derogatory towards immigrants. So that's why I was like, why do you keep saying that? You were assuming that I was talking about their citizenship status. Right. But in fact, what I was just talking about undocumented in terms of their names would not have been documented by the mining company in terms of employees or people working for them. And that's fair. And we got over it.
00:13:11 We did get over it, but it was awkward for a minute. It was. And then what we were talking about? Billy. We were talking about Billy. So I asked you, how old did you think he was? Right. And I thought right away, 18. And I totally knew that you were going to say that. I was like, I know we're going to have the same thing. I almost wanted to stop you and write it down first. Yeah. And also we, we asked each other, do you think he's married? And we didn't. No. I didn't think he was. He was a young man. Maybe had a sweetheart. Yes. Yeah. So let's get into what we actually discovered through our research. Right? Well, I think it's appropriate to read this excerpt regarding the Diamond Mine disaster that was published in the Wilmington Advocate on February 19th, 1883:
00:14:00 “There are many persons who even yet do not fully understand how the terrible affair of Friday could have occurred. The first man who knew anything concerning the break was the pump man who is located at the bottom of the shaft and whose duty it is to keep the water out of the shaft and see that the loading of the coal cart goes on properly. He had just sent up a load of coal. And upon going back up to the pumps, he found the water was rising rapidly. And the cause he thought was a lack of steam power in the engines above. He accordingly went up and saw the engineer who said he had on as much steam as usual. The engineer stepped into the cage and went down to see what was the matter. And to his astonishment, he found the water onto his waist and rising rapidly.
00:14:47 “He also found a number of miners who had come to the shaft to escape. An alarm was at once given by the shovers and all made for the top. The big whistles of the engines were sounded three times. And the little Hamlet recognized it as the signal that the mine was flooded, nearly 400 distracted women and children gathered in a few minutes. And the heart's sickens when imagination paints the scene that followed. The water was rapidly rising. And the stealthy stream had swollen into a roaring torrent. The miners had received a late warning and they started late, some toward the main shaft, and others toward the air shaft, a little west of it. The tide met them before more than 20 had reached the principal exit. Some had lingered to warn friends or collect tools. The rushing water, which was descending like an Alpine torrent, with the impetus given to it by a fall of 85 feet, struck many of the unfortunate victims, whirling them away and dashing them against the blackened roof with irresistible force. Some struggled on with seething water up to their armpits, but at points where the roof sloped downward, they found the waves touching the top and recognized the terrible underground trap. One man dived three times under the sloping roof, and finally rose in the mind shaft and climbed into an elevator.
00:16:17 “He was a good swimmer and knew the locality perfectly. Hence he was the only one of those whom the waters had shut off, who escaped when hope had deserted everyone else.”
That is so terrible. It's heart wrenching. Okay. Can you describe to me what research you found about why these people were immigrants? Like what brought them here? Sure. So when coal was discovered in the 1860s, the first miners to be imported into the area were actually from Pennsylvania, but that stream of workers dried up pretty quickly because if you're mining in Pennsylvania and doing this incredibly dangerous, difficult job, why would you come to the middle of nowhere, Illinois, back, you know, in the 1800’s and, and do the same thing. It didn't make sense. So that's stream of, of.. labor.. labor (thank you)... That's stream of labor stopped. And the coal mining company started advertising in Europe for immigrants to come over.
00:17:22 Now, those people just came and came and came. Um, and they were, it seemed, from reading it, like, it must have seemed like an unlimited supply of people coming here... willing, willing. And they specifically were coming to the quote, unquote, the Braidwood Illinois area after they arrived here. What was life like for them? Obviously it was an incredibly dangerous job. Miners worked 10 hour days, and often more. They worked six days a week from fall through spring. And it was often said that a minor would go from fall through spring without ever seeing the light of day. They were also paid by the load, which meant that they weren't paid for the number of hours they were down there. They were paid by the amount of coal that they were able to bring up. And the larger chunks of coal that they were able to bring up to the surface, well, those were worth more than the smaller chunks.
00:18:11 How often were they paid? They were only paid once a month. And also in the summertime when there was less demand for coal, work was slow, obviously. So if you needed supplies or food for your family during the summer, or like, the second week of the month before you got paid, you would have to go to the store. But the store wasn't a privately owned store. The store was actually owned by the mine, the mining company. So the mining company not only owned the stores, but they owned their homes. And so what ended up happening was these workers were going to work just basically to pay off their debt to the coal mining company... for basic human needs. Exactly. Wow. So I want to share with you two stories that I had found while researching coal city.
00:19:08 The first one is in regards to Mrs. McQuinton. Her family was listed on the plaque as having perished, right? And so Mrs. McQuinton lost all the men in her family: her husband and her boys. There were three boys and the youngest of which was William, who was 14. And it was said that she had gotten on the ground, prostrate, and she didn't recover. Her mind was forever broken dealing with the tragedy of her loss. Awful. Also, I want to share with you an eyewitness account by John Huber. And John said that he was inside the main shaft and he was getting his cart ready to be transported. When he heard faintly the noise of someone saying, “Look, out water! Look out, water!” And at first he didn't pay it any mind. He just continued to work and get the coal ready in the cart.
00:20:07 And then he heard it again, this time stronger and all at once, he said, he realized, Oh my gosh, I'm in danger. And he noticed that the trickling stream of water that was in the main shaft began to swell. So he rushed to where his boys were working that day because they had worked in the mine with him and they were gone. So he felt good. He was like, okay, I'm going home. My boys are safe. When he got home, he found his wife in bed crying, pulling at her hair saying, “Oh John, Oh John, where are the boys?” And at once he freaked out and went back to the mine and he discovered that his worst tragedy had fallen upon him and his wife because the boys were not seen since they arrived to the mind that morning. Wow. What's interesting about that story about John Huber is that his name is listed on the plaque as one of those who perished in that mine disaster at Diamond.
00:21:08 And that was one of the questions that I had when I met with the contact at the Carbon Hill Historical Society in Carbon Hill. And she told me that actually her sources said that John Huber went back to try to rescue his boys and perished. But she did say that the state of Illinois only accepts that 68 people perished in the mine that day. Now the plaque says 74. Now, when I asked her about that discrepancy, she said that at the time, if a miner and his family were in debt to the coal company and didn't see any way of getting out of it, they would take advantage of a situation like this and leave town and start over. Wow. Yeah. And she actually told me a story about a Mr. Skinner. Now, Mr. Skinner was one of the big bosses at the time in the mining company.
00:22:04 And he, years later, was in Arizona of all places. And he was in a Tavern or some public place and a man approached him and said, “Are you Mr. Skinner?” And he said, well, yes I am. And this person said to him, “My name is on that plaque, but I didn't die in the mine that day.” Wow. Yeah. So there's at least one story that supports that idea that some miners escaped. I found in the Chicago Times on February 19th, three days after a tragedy, addressing another discrepancy with the numbers of people who were said to be perished that day in the mine. So in the article, it describes that it was learned that many people who were in the mines that day, that weren't on the company books, because these immigrants would bring their friends that traveled with them to America to work with them in the mines.
00:23:01 So it was believed that where the company thought three men were working, there would be 12. Okay, so that conversation, that argument, that we actually had in the car about workers being undocumented, totally supported by this. Yes, totally supported. And it also makes sense that they would bring their friends if they got paid by the load, because the biggest pieces of coal were the hardest to bring up. And if you had your friends with you, you'd get paid more, you'd get paid more and everyone would benefit. Wow. And it also makes sense that the coal companies might even turn a blind eye to this practice because they would benefit too. Right. Getting free labor. That's crazy. I know. Yeah. Wow. Okay. So let's debrief. Let's talk about Billy. Yes. So as far as I can see, Jill, Billy could be one of two possibilities.
00:23:59 First of all, he could be Mrs. McQuinton's youngest son, William, who was 14 at the time. Now I know that you and I had picked up on the age of 18. So how do you justify that? Good question. Well, here's how. In researching mining practices historically and current day, right now in the state of Illinois, you need to be at least 18 to work in a mine at all. So when you and I were trying to pick up on Billy and his age, he might've been trying to tell us that he was under age and should not have been working. So that's one possibility as I see it. The other possibility is that Billy is one of the nameless individuals, the workers, who died in that mine, that nobody knows about, whose names are not documented anywhere. That happens to be what I believe. That's what I believe or who I believe Billy to be.
00:25:01 Wow. So let's go through my impressions. And so what I'm going to do is just list them out. And then you tell me if there's any evidence to support what I had gotten. Gotcha. I got you. Okay. Ground unstable and the feeling of helplessness. Okay. So there's lots of support for the ground being unstable. The ground itself was marshy. So that in and of itself made it unstable. But also the mining practice of the time was to find a vein of coal, drill in an area, in this case the Braidwood area a little farther east, exhaust the coal in that area, and then, literally, pick up all the homes and all of the stores and just move them down a little farther west. Right. And so in effect that left a bunch of big gaping holes in the earth and yeah, that made it unstable.
00:25:51 That feeling of helplessness that you described again is so supported in pretty much all of the literature that you read about this event. And some of it is because you have people who are trying to rescue the miners underneath the ground, who went down and never came back. Wow. So that happened. What about the whirl of energy? I was picking up on noise. Are you sitting down? I am. There is this one excerpt from the Department of Labor Annual Coal Report from 1883. And it literally, it's almost like you were psychically reading this. Here's what it says: “We hastened to see and discovered the water rushing into the break, like a whirlpool and could hear noise for a quarter of a mile.” That's crazy. It is crazy. And also that noise. I learned you, you talked about wood cracking, the supports for the ceiling of the mine was wooden beams.
00:26:54 So you absolutely would hear wood cracking as the ground caved in. What's weird about that specifically is because my Jill mind, like my ego mind, I would not think that the water would come in in a torrent or in a, in a, in a whirlpool. I would assume that it would be seeping in or in gradually coming up, like gradually increasing. Right. So that is just really crazy to me. Yeah, it is. It's terrifying. So let's just recall that we were literally driving around the Coal City area for hours looking for a cemetery that we couldn't find because we were literally on top of a burial ground. Oh my gosh. And before we even got to Coal City, when we were driving around the greater Elwood area, again, with nothing to show for it, you are picking up on something under the ground. And you also picked up on which suburb, uh, the village of McCook. Right? So, uh, once again, sitting down,
00:28:08 I just Googled McCook today because I thought it was weird that you brought it up at the time. And McCook was in the news in 2019 for updating their mining practices to include drilling and explosives. That really isn't... That is... how random! So crazy. I don't think anyone just brings up the village of McCook. I guarantee you that that is never happened before in the history of things.
00:28:39 You heard it here, you heard it here first. But Jill, even before that, when we first started, our intention was to give a voice to the voiceless. Do you think we did that today? I do. And not only do I think we gave voice to the voiceless, but we also gave voice to the nameless. Others who are still underneath Coal City and the surrounding communities. I hope so, but perhaps the most tragic thing about this event is that it didn't have to happen at all. I'm going to read a quick excerpt from Jim Ridings who wrote Cardiff: Ghost Town on the Prairie. And he's talking about this disaster. He says... “The disaster that took so many lives at Diamond on February 16th, 1883 did not come without warning. The flooding was a concern. The superintendent at a nearby mine ordered his men not to work that day, fear of the mind flooding, but the men at Diamond went to work on February 16th as usual.”
00:29:49 Well, I hope that us visiting the area and doing this episode can bring peace and comfort for those souls. I do hope so. And also, if anyone out there is listening to this and is interested in the history of the area, specifically the history of coal mining in the area do go to Diamond and visit the historical marker there. And do go to the Carbon Hill Historical Society, the Carbon Hill School Museum in Carbon Hill, Illinois, because it is a gem that should not be missed. That's great. Thank you so much for listening. Tell people how they can find us Jill. Well, if you enjoyed this episode, please visit our website at commonmystics.net. Find us on Apple podcasts, like and subscribe, leave a message, a review rather. And tell us what your thoughts are.
00:30:45 And Facebook. And Facebook. All right. That's everything.
