Deep beneath the Appalachian Mountains, abandoned coal mines hide dangerous tunnels, tragic histories, and stories of miners who may have never truly clocked out. This week, Kelly takes us underground for two chilling tales: The 24th Victim and The Whistle at Midnight. We're talking phantom miners, mysterious disappearances, impossible tunnels, and voices echoing from places no one should be. Meanwhile, Jen provides increasingly unhinged commentary and repeatedly questions why anyone would willingly stay in these places. Because apparently, hearing ghost miners calling your name isn't enough of a reason to leave.

⚠️ Content Warning: Mining disasters, death, disappearances, disturbing imagery, and discussion of mental health.

👀 Sneak Peek

- ⛏️ Three unsettling facts about coal mines, including underground fires that can burn for decades.

- 👻 A researcher discovers something deeply wrong inside Black Rock Mine.

- 🔦 Phantom workers, shifting tunnels, and a mysterious lunch pail.

- 📻 A security guard at Ravens Hollow hears a whistle, but nobody's supposed to be working.

❓ Question for the Comments: Would you spend one night guarding an abandoned coal mine, or is that paycheck absolutely not worth it?

🔗 Links

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotMyGhostPodcast

🎧 Listen now: https://pod.link/1754259268

📩 Paranormal Postcards submissions: notmyghostpodcast@gmail.com

🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/notmyghostnotmyproblem

🛍️ Shop: https://notmyghostpodcast-shop.fourthwall.com/

📸 Instagram & TikTok: @notmyghostpodcast

📘 Facebook: Not My Ghost, Not My Problem

📖 Chapters

00:00 Welcome to the Haunted Coal Mines of Appalachia

01:52 Unscripted Banter and Question of the Day

11:36 Appalachian Coal Mine Facts

16:35 The Stories Behind the Hauntings

18:35 The 24th Victim: Black Rock Mine

32:15 Something Is Still Working Underground

46:40 The Mystery of the Missing Miner

53:04 The Whistle at Midnight: Ravens Hollow

01:04:14 The Whistle and the Voices

01:19:24 Final Thoughts and Outro

📚 Sources & Further Reading

Reclaiming Abandoned Mine Lands — Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement

https://www.osmre.gov/doiu/programs/reclaiming-abandoned-mine-lands

Hazards and Safety: Abandoned Mineral Lands — National Park Service

https://www.nps.gov/subjects/abandonedminerallands/hazards-and-safety.htm

Emissions from Coal Fires and Their Impact on the Environment — U.S. Geological Survey

https://www.usgs.gov/publications/emissions-coal-fires-and-their-impact-environment

Appalachia already gave us rules about whistling, looking, answering voices in the woods, and generally knowing when to mind our own business. Naturally, we responded by finding three Reddit paranormal stories about people doing their best while the mountains apparently ignored every reasonable boundary. We’ve got a honeymoon cabin outside Gatlinburg where voices start calling people by name, a West Virginia dirt road with an eight-foot white figure waiting near a fallen tree, and a bizarre, shadowy camper at Elkmont whose headlight does something lights are absolutely not supposed to do. Meanwhile, Joel arrives as Aunt Judith and becomes increasingly concerned about everyone involved, including us.

With Joel (FuelNeve) — paranormal creator, podcast host, and our resident “WTF are you still doing here?” commentator. Follow: IG @thefuelneve | TikTok @Fuelneve

⚠️ Content Warning: Mature language, sexual humor, drug and alcohol references, frightening paranormal accounts, and brief discussion of racist imagery.

👀 Sneak Peek

📞 A mysterious call somehow comes through at a remote Gatlinburg cabin with no signal

👻 A walk down Grandma’s dirt road ends with an eight-foot white figure near a fallen tree

🔦 A strange camper at Elkmont repeats the same unsettling routine before seemingly disappearing

📱 We attempt to establish whether looking through a camera violates the Appalachian rule about looking

❓ Question for the Comments: If you saw something strange in the woods through your phone camera, does that count as looking?

🔗 Links

🎥 Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotMyGhostPodcast

🎧 Listen now: https://pod.link/1754259268

📩 Paranormal Postcards submissions: notmyghostpodcast@gmail.com

🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/notmyghostnotmyproblem

🛍️ Shop: https://notmyghostpodcast-shop.fourthwall.com/

📸 Instagram & TikTok: @notmyghostpodcast

📘 Facebook: Not My Ghost, Not My Problem

📖 Chapters

00:00 Aunt Judith Arrives

09:59 What Counts as Looking?

16:48 They Kept Calling Our Names

39:49 Grandma’s Dirt Road in West Virginia

58:05 Smoky Mountain Campground Experience

1:08:50 Closing Chaos

📚 Sources & Further Reading

Paranormal Encounters — Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/ParanormalEncounters/

West Virginia's Backwoods Are Definitely Haunted! — Odd Trails

https://crypticcountypodcasts.com/podcast/odd-trails/episode/episode-183-the-backwoods-of-west-virginia-are-definitely-haunted

Paranormal — Reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/Paranormal/

You’ve probably heard the warnings: don’t whistle in the woods, don’t answer when something calls your name, stay on the trail, and if the forest suddenly goes silent… leave.

But are the viral “Rules of Appalachia” actually old mountain folklore, or did the internet take a mix of traditions, safety advice, and spooky stories and turn them into one giant supernatural rulebook?

We’re kicking off October in Appalachia by separating documented folklore from modern internet horror. We dig into the cultural roots of Appalachian traditions, folk magic, Spearfinger, witch “stirrups,” alpha-gal syndrome, and the way social media helped reshape the region into a list of supposedly ancient survival rules.

⚠️ Content Warning: Brief discussions of death, slavery, and Indigenous displacement.

👀 Sneak Peek

🌲 Which viral “Rules of Appalachia” actually connect to regional folklore

🗣️ Why you supposedly shouldn’t answer a voice calling your name in the woods

🧙 Appalachian folk magic, Spearfinger, and witch “stirrups”

📱 How the internet helped reinvent Appalachian horror

❓ Question for the Comments: Which Rule of Appalachia have you heard before, and where did you first hear it?

🔗 Links

🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotMyGhostPodcast

🎧 Listen: https://pod.link/1754259268

📩 Paranormal Postcards: notmyghostpodcast@gmail.com

🔗 Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/notmyghostnotmyproblem

🛍️ Shop: https://notmyghostpodcast-shop.fourthwall.com/

📸 Instagram & TikTok: @notmyghostpodcast

📖 Chapters

00:00 Cold Open

00:06 October in Appalachia Begins

11:27 Appalachian Mountains, Alpha-Gal & Witch Stirrups

17:12 What Actually Counts as Appalachia?

22:23 The Cultural Roots of Appalachian Folklore

37:45 How the Internet Reinvented Appalachian Horror

44:46 Breaking Down the Rules of Appalachia

59:05 Never Answer a Voice Calling Your Name

65:51 Whistling, Trees, Carvings & Stacked Rocks

84:44 What’s Coming Next

📚 Sources & Further Reading

About the Appalachian Region — Appalachian Regional Commission

https://www.arc.gov/about-the-appalachian-region/

Witches, Ghosts, and Signs: Folklore of the Southern Appalachians — Patrick W. Gainer

Hiking Safety — Great Smoky Mountains National Park, National Park Service

https://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/hikingsafety.htm

Appalachian Trail Conservancy

https://appalachiantrail.org/

About Alpha-gal Syndrome — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

https://www.cdc.gov/alpha-gal-syndrome/about/index.html