The Abandoned Mine in the Mendenhall Valley

Most of the paranormal encounters I've shared have occurred in my home. This one, however, took place miles from my home and only I was the witness. I live in the Mendenhall Valley in Juneau, and the high school I attend is downtown, so it's quite a ride just to get to school and back. Sometimes, my family and I go for a car trip and just drive around downtown out of sheer boredom. On this occasion, it was my parents' anniversary and my dad wanted to show my mom this neat trail he'd noticed while at work. We all got in the car (me, my brother, and our parents) and drove downtown. The trail leads up one of the mountain sides and the hike, if you go all the way, takes about a day. We decided to just walk up the trail to the old entrance to one of the mines that are scattered around here.

All of these mines are closed down and have been for decades. Because of this, they are dusty and dark and just plain creepy. Anyway, once we got to the old mine, outside, there was this little exhibit that showed some of the old tools used in the mines. My parents and brother were checking that out while I wandered around aimlessly (I seem to have a short attention span). I started kicking this rock around and it happened to land inside the mine. I followed it, and then I realized where I was. There was this rusted gate that had the sign, "Closed, do not enter" and stuff like that. About ten feet or so past the gate was this really big pile of rocks that sealed off the rest of the shaft. I'd assumed that this was one of the many mines that had caved in.

It was mid afternoon, so when I started to get a chill, I noticed almost right away. The underground wind shifted direction and, instead of blowing towards me, it started to pull me closer to the gate. Inside, I could suddenly see four or five men dressed in these dirty white shirts and jeans with suspenders. They all had a pick on their shoulder and they stopped walking as they seemed to notice me watching them. They had no eyes, just these black, empty holes, and I couldn't move. I was suddenly overcome with this feeling of absolute despair and fear. Simultaneously, the men stretched out their free hands and pointed their fingers at me, almost as if they were accusing me of something.

Next thing I knew, my mom had a hold of me and was shaking me and yelling, "Tiffany, Tiffany, what's wrong? What happened?" I realized that I was out of the covered entrance to the mine and I wasn't feeling quite so despairing. I answered my mom with, "I'm fine," or something to that affect. Apparently, while I was watching the men, my parents and brother had started to hike back down to the car. My mom noticed that I wasn't with them and went back to find me. Once she got back to the mine entrance, she heard me making this horrible noise. She told me that she ran and grabbed me, saying that I was deathly white and staring at something that wasn't there and saying over and over, "I didn't do it, I didn't do it".

She pulled me away from the mine and then I was fine. I didn't even remember anything past seeing the men pointing at me, and I told her what I saw, but she didn't see the men and thought that I'd just had an episode or something. I forgot about it and didn't really think much of it. This happened in the middle of the day, around 2:00 in the afternoon, and we were no where near the river or our house. The more I thought about what I'd seen, the more I realized that those men must've died when the mine caved in. Why they accused me of it, I don't know. But I haven't gone there since. At least, not that far up the trail. The lower half is used as an outside run for gym class, and whenever I go on that trail, the spot behind my right ear starts to hurt and it gets worse and worse until I almost can't stand it.

Any one have any insight into why I might be feeling that? Any input would be welcome.