The Magpie Mine

This mine is known for being both cursed and haunted.

Magpie Mine

The Magpie mine is located in the Peak District of Derbyshire. It is just south of the village of Sheldon.

The mine is shut down today, but many visitors come to see it on the weekends. It is a well-preserved example of the lead mining industry history in the district.

The Magpie was mined for 300 years. Trouble came to the district in the 1820s and 30s when a dispute occurred over one vein of lead.

Miners from the nearby mines, Maypitt, and Red Soil would periodically break through on each other’s workings. When this happened, one side would light a fire underground to smoke the others out.

Tragically, in 1833, a fire lit by the Magpie miners caused 3 Red Soil miners to die.

These Magpie miners were then tried and acquitted of the charge of murder because of “lack of intent” and “conflicting evidence.”

It is said the three widows of the Red Soil miners bitter about this verdict placed a curse on the Magpie mine.

Many felt this curse took hold for after this trial for murder, floods, and fire plagued the Magpie. In 1880, the Magpie Mining Company even changed its name in an attempt to rid the mine of this curse.

Magpie Mine on limestone uplands.

In 1835, the mine plagued by floods and people’s belief in this curse was closed down. It reopened in 1839 and continued to produce lead until its final closing in 1954.

A side story to the curse is the fact that after the three Red Soil miners lost their lives the Magpie gained a reputation as being haunted—supposedly by these three unfortunate men.

One well-documented encounter with this activity occurred in 1946.

A survey team working in the Magpie spotted a man holding a candle further down the shaft. This figure vanished as they watched it.

Later this team took a photograph that shows a ghostly figure standing on top of a deep pool of water.