Horror House Presents

Malum Mine

           Malum mine, which in English simply means 'evil mine'. It was named by the Romans when they came across the ancient Tin mine in the Yorkshire Dales around 120AD. That was when the first documented cases of the strange disappearances of whoever went in it. But the locals the Romans soon found had ghostly tales going back generations. They claimed that it was full of cursed men, who angered the Gods by taking the metal from the land. Of course, when the Romans heard this, they didn't believe it. They soon sent in slaves taken miles from their homelands to the strange island known as Albion. They had no idea what they were in for, nor did the Romans. The first day it is said thirty-six men went into the mine but not even one returned. Roman soldiers, it's told went in to locate the missing slaves, but they found nothing. No scrapes of clothing, not even any human remains. They sent slaves in again and again, but every time they entered, they were never seen again. It was written that a Roman commander, simply known as Attilous approached an elder of the Brigantes tribe to ask about the mine. Attilous was told that the mine was cursed and that creatures were sent by the Gods to protect the tin from mankind. After that Attilous made sure that no man was sent down the mine again. He lied and marked on maps that there was no tin in the mine. But this wasn't the end of the ancient story. Attilous managed to keep the Romans away for three hundred years, but when the Romans left Britain the Anglo-Saxons arrived and they didn't keep away once they discovered the mine. There was little recorded in the records by the Saxons, only one record where it was described as hell on earth. After that, the mine was noted on maps and records, but it was never was open again.

Now in modern times, the mine isn't included on any new maps. Not mentioned in any books, it lays forgotten in the ancient papers locked away in the city of York's archives. Just waiting to be discovered once again. That brings us to our story, the latest story in the long list of stories.

Kris Collins is a twenty-year-old archaeology student studying at York University. To see him you would mistake him for being younger than his twenty years he really is. He is shorter than average and a little lighter. His blonde hair is cut short and his face is clean-shaven, as his facial hair has hardly started coming through. Tired he's sat slumped in an uncomfortable wooden chair, it's back-cut low and digging into his back. The desk he is sat at is as old as the chair, a massive solid oak table, dark with age. In front of him is the black A5 notepad he carries with him everywhere, and a silver ballpoint pen he was given by a long-time ex as a good luck present. Not like it has ever brought poor Kris any luck. Surrounding him on every spare space on the desk are maps and papers, mostly copies of older documents he has managed to find in the area of Yorkshire Dales he is studying. The room in the archives is cold and Kris shivers as he leans over the desk to look at the documents, hoping that what he is looking for will jump out for him. But in truth, he doesn't know what he is looking for. He has been locked away in the small side room for hours and came up with nothing. Now the wooden panelled walls and high ceiling started to feel more like a cell than a room of learning. Kris rubs his tired eyes and in a fit of rage sweeps all his papers off the desk and they scatter over the wooden floor.

Frustrated Kris gets up and paces around the small room, he tries to calm himself down but in truth, he is struggling with his degree. It is a lot harder than he thought it would be, and now in his second year, he has chosen to study ancient British history he is finding out how hard it really is. His plan was to do a case study on little known sites located in the Yorkshire Dales, but every map he has found with sites located are all well studied and documented. But then something catches his eye. Bending down he picks up a photocopy of a medieval map with a mine marked down as Malum Mine. Quickly he throws his papers all over until he finds what he is looking for, copies of maps and then he finds them. To his amazement, the mine isn't listed on any of them. In fact, the only one it is marked on is an Anglo-Saxon map copied in the 1200s. Kris feels his heart race as he feels he may be the first to find a major site of iron age Britain, maybe even older.