Heavener coal mine anomaly

Urban exploration in Oklahoma
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White Rabbit
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Heavener coal mine anomaly

Post by White Rabbit »

Okay, time to let you guys know just how much of a weirdo I really am. About a year or more ago, I found a reference in a book called "World's Before Our Own" by Brad Steiger. It was about a strange thing that was found in a coal mine in Heavener, OK back in the 20s. Here's the excerpt, which is the personal account of the coal miner who discovered this:

"In the year 1928, I, Atlas Almon Mathis, was working in coal mine No. 5., located two miles north of Heavener, Oklahoma. This was a shaft mine, and they told us it was two miles deep. The mine was so deep that they let us down into it in an elevator . . .They pumped air down to us, it was so deep.� After blasting the miners came across what appeared to be some concrete blocks, according to Mathis: “These blocks were 12-inch cubes and were so smooth and polished on the outside that all six sides could serve as mirrors. Yet they were full of gravel, because I chipped one of them with my pick, and it was plain concrete inside.�

“As I started to timber the room up,� Mathis continued, “it caved in; and I barely escaped. When I came back after the cave-in, a solid wall of these polished blocks was left exposed. About 100 to 150 yards farther down our air core, another miner struck this same wall, or one very similar.� The coal in the mine was probably carboniferous which, according standard dating methods, would mean that the wall was at least 286 million years old.

Thereafter the mining company officials pulled the men out of the mine and forbade them to speak about what they had found. In a strange twist of fate the men were then sent to the Wilburton mine mentioned previously. According to Mathis the miners there spoke of having found “a solid block of silver in the shape of a barrel . . .with the prints of the staves on it.�


So, since Heavener's only like three or four hours away from us, I decided to look into this. I took the time to track down Mr. Mathis' remaining relatives. I got in touch with his grandson, who it turns out was actually raised by Atlas. He was extremely helpful, gave me lots of information about the incident, even lots of information that wasn't actually in the book.

He also confirmed the location of the mine for me (which I had already tracked down). The grandson had visited the site of mine (he lived in another state), and there was no way to access the mine anymore. The mine was also completely flooded and had a recycling plant built on top of it.

So, there's a story for you guys. If anyone's got SCUBA gear and feeling really stupid, I've got a good project for you.
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RE: Heavener coal mine anomaly

Post by sckrap »

I'm still waiting excitedly to hear all the other information the nephew gave you that wasn't in the book! When will you post it?
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RE: Heavener coal mine anomaly

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Sorry, sorry. I've got to get it over to someone with a scanner and get it all done. I'll try to get that done pretty soon.
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RE: Heavener coal mine anomaly

Post by betrumka »

Don't forget now, when you talk about Heavener you are talking about an area that has quite a lot of historical strange activity.

The Heavener Runestone State Park is an area of constant archealogical and historical argument. There is a large monolith in the park which can be easily visited today. Carved into the stone are runes. These runes, or letters if you will, have been translated and interpreted many different ways depending on the "expert" who has been brought in to read them.

The current prevailing knowledge about the rune's message is this. It reads: Gnomel's Valley. According to this expert, Gloria Farley and a team of linguistic scholars, Gnomel was marking his territory here in Oklahoma.

The only problem with this theory is that it turns New World History on its ear. The people who used runes were from Scandinavia. This means, according to the signs at the State Park, that these vikings came across the ocean sometime between 600 and 750 AD. Entered the Mississippi river, came upstream to the Arkansas River and then (for some strange reason) turned onto the Poteau River in Oklahoma. The apparently got out of the boat, carved their runes and moved on.

This is hotly disputed by many scholars. Its a bit unusual that the state of Oklahoma would spend money on establishing a state park on a premise that may or may not be true according to many scholars but... if you live in Oklahoma like me, you have seen the state do stranger things...

Anyway, could there be a connection between the vikings who visited here in the 5th or 6th century and the anomoly in the mine? Maybe...

Here is a good website with pictures.

http://www.kotv.com/okt/runestones.asp
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RE: Heavener coal mine anomaly

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Yeah, Atlas' grandson actually sent me some pictures he took of that stone when he sent his stuff to me. I'd like to see that when I make it out to Heavener as well. He thinks there might be a connection between the stone and the coal mine anomaly. I'm not so sure, but it is an odd coincidence.
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RE: Heavener coal mine anomaly

Post by betrumka »

I agree it is an odd coincidence for such a small area and small town.
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RE: Heavener coal mine anomaly

Post by sckrap »

Thanks for that story on the runes. Very interesting.

As for the Vikings in America, I think it is very possible there were many of them for quite some time. Remember, that was more than a thousand years ago, and in an uncivilized country like America, evidence of past civilizations from that long ago would tend to disappear since there were not layers of following civilization.

And, the Vikings also had a tendency to burn their dead on funeral pyres instead of burying them, although there have been some norse bones dug up recently. Total speculation here, but with their warlike natures, they may have found the Indians to much to deal with, since the Indians knew how to fight by stealth and knew the layout of the land. What Vikings tried to stay may have been wiped out by the Indians, and the rest may have headed for the icy lands of home, leaving behind little evidence of their having been here.
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RE: Heavener coal mine anomaly

Post by betrumka »

That is all very true. I do not mean to totally discount the idea that vikings were here in pre columbian America. The Heavener Runestones are not the only runes found in America. In fact they are not even the only runes found in Oklahoma!

Throughout the upper midwest of the US runes have been found. Right away I can think of examples in Minnesota and South Dakota.

I believe there are three examples of runes being found in Oklahoma. The two other than the Heavener site are much smaller. The Heavner Runestone I believe is something to see. Its pretty intriguing and interesting. Its also a nice park and camping area as well.
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RE: Heavener coal mine anomaly

Post by bugo »

Anymore information? Heavener is just up the road from me.
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RE: Heavener coal mine anomaly

Post by wamccormick »

The thing that everybody overlooks about the Heavener Runestone is it's angle. Everybody gets caught up in the runes, but compared to the placement of the stone, they are probably extremely modern. Sure, they do have some historical significance, but that is trivial. Look at the stone itself and it's placement. It is perfectly vertical, or nearly so. It is buried so that only a tiny portion of it is above ground, yet they tell us that it's original location on top of the mountain can still be seen from which it "slid" and somehow plunged so deeply into the ground in a perfectly vertical angle and without breaking. For that to have happened as a freak of nature is beyond credible. Go look for yourself.

Now, who placed that stone like that and why? It's angle points approximately toward the Heavener mine shaft. Though the people who coccupied the site about 5 years ago said the mine had been only 1800 feet deep, my grandfather said that the owner of the mine told them they were working 2 miles deep, and the details he told me backs that up. There are a lot of details that I will wait for the "Boss" to reveal in his book. From the bottom of the shaft, the miners went out in various directions to bring the coal back to the shaft's central location. My question is whether the Runestone may have been an ancient marker of the location of the underground structure, and someone many thousands of years later came along and etched markings on it. As a matter of fact, that deed may have been repeated many times over as a new wave of intelligence moved over the land.

W.A. McCormick
Grandson of Atlas Almon Mathis.
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Re: Heavener coal mine anomaly

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what book
Kit wrote:I am old
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RE: Heavener coal mine anomaly

Post by Freak »

There are lots of wierd stories about things found in mines. I recall one from the UK about large egg-like stones found in coal mines, which cracked open and released various living creatures.

In Minnesota, there was a persistent myth from the 1860s about a local cave, which supposedly had tunnels under the river, strange ancient rusted-shut doors, piles of jewels and bones of giants. Today that cave actually does connect to extensive passages and tunnels under the river that have ancient rusty doors, but unfortunatley those are all from more recently :-P
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RE: Heavener coal mine anomaly

Post by NGC2736 »

I'm new to this site, having run into WhiteRabbit on another site, and got a lead to this one.

Let me start by saying that I find the hobby of being an urban exploror pretty far out. I've been one for years, I just never knew I had a tittle. :lol:

I live about twenty minutes from Heavener, and can tell you that this place is full of old storis, though how many are tall tales I couldn't say.

This whole area was just for hunting before the coming of the whites, at least according to what I have been told. It seems that no Native wanted to live here. It seems to have been thought of as a "spooky" place.

These mountains can be pretty remote, complete with a wilderness area a few miles south of Heavener. And down in the edge of McCurtain County, there's stories, even on the local news in Ft. Smith, of a bigfoot.

If you want to follow up on the runestones, check out a web page by Gloria Farley. According to her she has found, and had documented, everything from the Norsemen to Egyptions passing through this area. She is dead now, but her work is still around.

There's even a ghost town in the county, named Page. It was a railroad stop for many years, with a hotel and a schoolhouse and a livery. Yes, there are people living in the area, but part of the land the school was on has an old trailer on it now, but you can see the foundation. (I don't know as I would bother the old boy at the trailer as he is something of a recluse, and about half wild to boot.)

The livery, later a garage, is on a parcel owned by an elderly lady in OKC. I think I recall her name as being Butcher. She gave me permission to metal detect the area some years back, though I have long since lost her number, and don't even know if she's still alive. (The land was vacant and overgrown the last time I was down that way in the spring.)

The old hotel site is long gone as the railroad has cleared that area and is using it for piling up junk. There are no really old houses left from the time of the town, so it's not much to see. But it's a nice drive in the fall when all the leaves are turning anyway.

I'm enjoying this site a great deal, and will keep an eye over here. Even though I am a wee bit long in the tooth, my wife and I get out and poke around some anyway.

Regards to all,
NGC2736
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RE: Heavener coal mine anomaly

Post by wamccormick »

On Oct. 2, 2006 I revisited the Heavener Runestone and the Heavener Mine site. I studied the Runestone and it's surroundings to try to determine whether the claim that it had slid off the mountain above and left a discernable groove might be true. I found no evidence of that. The park was closed for renovations, so there was nobody to talk to, but I was allowed to walk about as I wished. I was able to view the Runestone again and recheck my assessment that it points approximately toward the mine, and it does. I noticed that one of the signs posted outside the museum stated that "no excavations have been done", but when I was there in 1998, the lady in the museum told me that some digging had been done around the stone down several feet (I think she said 35 feet deep) without finding any indication of the bottom of the rock. This rock is variable in thickness and width, but the signs posted there say it is 16 inches thick. I would say it is about 8-10 feet wide in the portion that is visible. Nobody knows how long it is, but about 10 feet of it sticks up out of the ground.

As for the mine, it looks like they are trying to hide it well. The oil recycling plant is now gone. There is a pasture fence around the site with the high fence topped off with barbed wire. The site is about 1 mile north of Heavener on the road just east of Hwy 259. It is on the west side of that road, about 200 feet from the road. There is now a concrete, round structure about 20 feet in diameter and about 30 feet tall about 300 feet west, north west of the mine site. With the strong fence there, walking to the site is discouraged. Trespassing might be prosecuted for all I know, though there are no such signs there.

The next discouraging thing is that in 1998 Heavener had a big museum in it's downtown area that featured the mine as one of it's main attractions. That museum is now gone. Perhaps someone wants us to forget about that mine.

W.A. McCormick
Grandson of Atlas Almon Mathis.
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Re: Heavener coal mine anomaly

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