10/12/2026
It is Sunday night and the sun has set. That only means one thing... it is time for another post. Today, we are talking about where we shot episode 1 of our "After Dark" series. The Big Thunder Gold Mine and the ghosts that still mine it or... reside in it...
For those new to the page every Sunday in September and October, we talk about some of the most haunted places that we have documented.
This week, we are talking about an old gold mine that is open to the general public. Big Thunder Gold Mine in Keystone, SD.
Now, in the past, we have gone into great detail of the history of the mine, but to give you guys a quick summary of the mine's history... The mine was first discovered in 1892 by two German immigrants who went by the names W.B. Krupp and J.A. Engle. A lot of people do not know that the name of the mine originally was called the Gold Hill Lode. However, later, it would be changed to Big Thunder Gold Mine. Initially, the mine was located up higher on the hillside as the miners were hoping to intersect with a nearby vein. However, that did not come to profit much. Later, they would go on to dig where the mine is located today.
Big Thunder Gold Mine would end up closing due to low profit in the 1920s and would end up becoming a shelter in World War 2 for the people of Keystone. Today, it is one of the most popular tourist mines in the Black Hills.
In 2024, we were given unprecedented access after 10pm to document the old mine and hear some documented history. We pulled up the empty parking lot, and right away, we were greeted with goosebumps on our arm. We exited our vehicles and went and met up with one of the mines premier tour guides. We started in the old gift shop where we were told stuff will move on it own when no one is around. At this point, we were already on edge...
The tour guide then took us from the gift shop to the portal of the old mine. As we gazed down the dark drift, something felt off and dark, but we put on our big boy pants and went anyway. The guide pointed out this large sheet that they referred to as the "rock sheet" they used to use it to pull ore out on. She said often that when no one is in the mine, they will hear the sheet banging. Keep in mind that when Rock hit this sheet back in the day, people at Halley's General Store a block away or more would be able to hear it. To this day, they do not bang it because it is so loud, but on quiet nights, when you listen close, you can hear it. We can verify the night we were there. we did hear a slight bang, which our camera did pick up, and that did indeed come from the rock sheet...
Another story is the tour guides with long hair, especially when they report getting their hair pulled. Often, this will happen either on tours or after tours as the guides are locking up. We can verify we had two tour guides with us on the night of this investigation, both of which had long hair. Neither of them reported that night getting their hair pulled.
At the end of the main Big Thunder, Drift is a miner who likes to show himself. However, only kids and dogs can see him. One of the tour guides tells a story of giving a tour that had both kids and a dog on the tour. It was at the end of the drift where they would turn out the lights to show how dark it can get in the mine. This portion of the tour is meant to show the kind of conditions the miners would have worked in back in the day. It was during this portion that the dog started to bark, and then the small child on the tour asked who the man in the corner was. They asked the child what the man looked like, and the child went on to say it was a miner wearing overalls and a hat. Well, there was no man in the corner... So, what did the child see that day?! Was it truly a ghost of a miner?!
Now, that night, we were sitting in the very back of the drift with the lights off. Yes, very terrifying... as we were making small talk with the tour guide who was with us, a heavy sigh or moan was documented. Our entire group heard it, and we quickly turned our flashlights to the back of the mine. Now, there was never a documented death in this mine, so this was odd. A few weeks later, we would go on to find out another mine lays just a few feet behind the back wall of the Big Thunder. If they had dug 5 to 10 more feet, they would have intersected another mine. That mine did have a documented death in it... was it that miner who was trying to make contact?! It has us scratching our heads for sure... to this day, we still think about it.
Tour guides time and time again will talk about shadow figures and voices that they hear and see in the mine when no one is around. One of the tour guides believes that it could be residual from when it was a shelter back in the day... Whatever it is or whoever it is, they still call Big Thunder Gold Mine home. Maybe it is a miner stuck at their job...
As we made our way out of the mine, we made two last stops. The mill and the backyard of their property. In the mill, we were told a few different stories. One of them consisted of a giant man who is seen near the stamp mill. It is said that he worked the stamp mill and is very much connected to it still. We just verified the other day a sole image of this large male does exist in archives. Turns out it is a true story. Pretty spooky. Another story in the mill is of a box that was used in a robbery. The story goes that there was a man locked in the box during the robbery who would later perish in it. It is said his spirit is still trapped inside of it... according to a paranormal investigation, they have talked to the spirit, but they also said another spirit kept interrupting as they were chatting. The spirit interrupting kept saying how she burned down Keystone back in the day. The investigation said the spirit was almost proud that she burned down the town. It's kind of terrifying...
As we finished up our spooky visit to the mine, the staff wanted to take us back where Discovery had recently filmed. Now, keep in mind it was pitch black out. As we were looking at a spot on their property, we heard a noise and quickly turned on our flashlights... as we shined up a hill, it was a large male mountain lion about 6 feet away from us... ya! More terrifying than any ghost or haunting is a mountain lion in the dark. Definitely what nightmares are made of! We quickly made a lot of noise and backed out all the way back to the mine. To this day, staff still do not like going on the property in the dark. We do not blame them...
Well, we have more stories, but we will save those for next time... Until then, do not let the nightmares keep you up. We will see you back here tomorrow for another post!
-HBP
