Jules Verne, a master of intrigue and imagination, wrote this little masterpiece of science fiction with the yearning for lost civilizations, such as Atlantis. Some of his books and thoughts became fact as generations wents by.. will this one?
Excerpt:
MANY superstitious beliefs
exist both in the Highlands
and Lowlands of Scotland.
Of course the mining
population must furnish its
contingent of legends and
fables to this mythological
repertory. If the fields are
peopled with imaginary
beings, either good or bad,
with much more reason
must the dark mines be
haunted to their lowest
depths. Who shakes the
seam during tempestuous
nights? who puts the miners
on the track of an as yet
unworked vein? who lights the fire-damp, and presides over the
terrible explosions? who but some spirit of the mine?
This, at least,
was the opinion commonly spread among the superstitious Scotch.
In the first rank of the believers in the supernatural in the Dochart
pit figured Jack Ryan, Harry's friend. He was the great partisan of
all these superstitions.
All these wild stories were turned by him
into songs, which earned him great applause in the winter evenings.
But Jack Ryan was not alone in his belief. His comrades affirmed,
no less strongly, that the Aberfoyle pits were haunted, and that certain
strange beings were seen there frequently, just as in the Highlands.
To hear them talk, it would have been more extraordinary if
nothing of the kind appeared.
Could there indeed be a better place
than a dark and deep coal mine for the freaks of fairies, elves, goblins,
and other actors in the fantastical dramas? The scenery was all
ready, why should not the supernatural personages come there to
play their parts?
Softcover, 5¼" x 8¾", 110+ pages
Perfect-Bound