“It seemed as if the scenes and characters of the Bible were living again now, before our eyes.” Before he became the Coal Region’s most important folklorist, George Korson served in the Middle East during World War I. His letters and reflections capture a world in transition and a remarkable journey from Pennsylvania to Palestine. Read the Full Story.
In May 1871, fire swept Pittston’s Knight Shaft. Eleven-year-old mule driver Martin Crahan turned back from safety to warn miners, was refused behind their barricade, and chose to die beside his teams. Nineteen others perished. A poem immortalized his courage in the face of a disaster similar to one that ravaged Avondale, PA two years earlier. Read the full story.
Coal mining regions brim with folklore—especially ghosts in the mines. Drawing on newspaper accounts and tales elsewhere, I talk with Matt Maris of Local Historia about stories shaped by ever-present death and grief in Pennsylvania and beyond. Check Local Historia’s tours and programs. Read the full story and watch the video!
Folklorist George Korson roamed Pennsylvania’s Coal Region in the 1920s and 1930s, capturing stories born of mysterious knockings, spirits of miners killed in disasters, and minds disturbed after fatal accidents. From Avondale’s haunted chambers to a peddler’s wailing rock and the unrecovered dead of the Woodward Colliery - these tales reveal miners’ fears and folklore. Read the full story.
"The Avondale Mine Disaster" is a miner's ballad originally recorded by folklorist George Korson in 1946.