The Creaking Door xx-xx-xx (10) Don't Go Down In the Mine

Summary

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Detailed Summary of "The Creaking Door: Don't Go Down In the Mine"

Podcast: Harold’s Old Time Radio
Episode Date: October 31, 2025

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode features the chilling radio drama "Don't Go Down in the Mine" from the classic series The Creaking Door. Set in rural South Wales, the story follows geologist Gordon Armstrong and his wife as they explore an abandoned coal mine, only to stumble upon tales—and perhaps evidence—of supernatural horrors, ancient druid sacrifices, and the psychological toll of surviving a haunting disaster underground. The episode encapsulates the suspenseful, atmospheric storytelling of Golden Age radio mysteries, blending folklore, ghost stories, and psychological horror.

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Key Discussion Points & Story Breakdown

1. Atmospheric Introduction (00:17 – 02:53)

• The host sets a mysterious and global tone:

  "I have flown, I have sailed. I have moved about this world of ours and ever in search of the finest of its kind. We bring you the top thin Spine chillers." — Speaker A (00:17)

• The classic phrase, “The creaking door is open, so do come in. Feeling the cold?” conjures a chilling, inviting mood.

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2. Gordon’s Descent into the Mine (03:30 – 05:10)

• Gordon Armstrong and his wife Anne visit a deserted coal mine. Gordon, curious about its history, decides to explore alone.
• Early impressions:

  “Look at that slag heap. Ugly, isn’t it?” — Gordon/A (03:30)
  “What man has done to it is ugly. It must have been beautiful a couple of hundred years ago.” — Anne/D (03:32)

• As he navigates the mine, Gordon experiences strange sensations:

  “The voices were hollow and rasping and had the strange sound of death about them.” — Gordon/A (04:50)

• Frightened by ghostly noises, he flees back to the surface, visibly shaken.

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3. Unveiling the Mine’s Dark History (05:12 – 07:16)

• At a nearby pub, Gordon and Anne meet Hugh, the traumatized sole survivor of a notorious cave-in.
• Hugh recounts the disaster: three men were trapped, two died horribly, and Hugh barely survived.
• The mythos of sacrifice is introduced:

  “Can’t get nobody to go down there, not after the sacrifices. I was lucky. I might have been sacrificed too.” — Hugh/C (07:02)

• Hugh claims the dangers were not only natural but supernatural—tied to ancient druid rituals.

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4. Supernatural Incidents Before the Disaster (07:17 – 13:03)

• Hugh describes eerie occurrences preceding the cave-in:
  • The mine’s pit train moving by itself
  • Apparitions including a naked, painted figure riding a ghostly coal cart, whipping terrified ponies

    “A man stood. A man.” — Hugh/C (09:44)
    “Their eyes white with terror...impossible that little things like that could pull that number of trucks at that speed.” — Hugh/C (09:51)

• A growing sense of doom settles over the miners as unexplainable events escalate.

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5. The Disaster and Hauntings Below (13:59 – 18:43)

• The cave-in leaves Hugh and two others, Owen and Reese, trapped underground.
• The horror intensifies:
  • Distant, spectral singing grows louder, leading the men to believe druids haunt the mine:

    “We are being sung a lullaby by a choir of druid priests.” — Host/B (13:59)

• Violent phenomena: invisible knives seem to wound the trapped men, with Owen dying in apparent ritualistic agony.

  “He was making a sacrifice out of Owen, cutting him with their holy knives.” — Hugh/C (15:56)

• The setting is revealed to have been an ancient druid temple, the supposed site of repeated human sacrifice.

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6. The Survivor’s Guilt & Ominous Fate (19:07 – 24:34)

• As midnight passes on consecutive nights, the captive men anticipate further sacrifice, praying futilely for rescue.
• Reese is next to suffer a grisly fate, leaving Hugh alone, convinced that only his imperfect (injured) body saved him:

  “A human sacrifice had to be perfect...that’s what the voices told me.” — Hugh/C (23:19)

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7. Ambiguous Close—Legend, Madness, or Truth? (24:34 – 25:41)

• Hugh remains haunted by the ghosts of his friends and the mine’s history. He believes they await the perfect opportunity to finish the Druidic ritual.

  “They’re waiting until I’m all right. And then they’ll kill me too. Won’t you? ... I got quite used to them after all these years.” — Hugh/C (23:52)

• Gordon and Anne, departing, question whether the tale was merely the invention of a traumatized man, or if the mine is truly cursed:

  “What was that chanting that I heard when I went down the mine?” — Gordon/A (25:08)

• Haunting final thoughts cycle between skepticism and unresolved dread.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the supernatural hauntings:

  “The voices were hollow and rasping and had the strange sound of death about them.” — Gordon/A (04:50)
  “On the front truck...A man stood. A man... lashed in with a long branch like a whip, as if he were driving some sort of a chariot.” — Hugh/C (09:44–09:51)

• On human sacrifice & druid ghosts:

  “He was making a sacrifice out of Owen, cutting him with their holy knives.” — Hugh/C (15:56)
  “The only thing I can think of is...and we did pray. But it didn’t do us any good. Not poor Reese, anyway.” — Hugh/C (22:14)

• On survivor’s guilt:

  “A human sacrifice had to be perfect...I wouldn’t do, you see. That’s what the voices told me.” — Hugh/C (23:19)

• Final ambiguity:

  “It could have just been an old man’s story to get drinks out of strangers...But what was that chanting that I heard when I went down the mine.” — Gordon/A (25:08)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Opening & atmospheric setup: 00:17–02:53
• Gordon explores the mine: 03:30–05:10
• Hugh’s account of the disaster: 05:12–07:16
• Supernatural events: 07:17–13:03
• Cave-in and hauntings: 13:59–18:43
• Final survivor’s tale: 19:07–24:34
• Ambiguous conclusion: 24:34–25:41

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Tone & Language

The story maintains an ominous, folkloric tone, blending rural British understatement with macabre vividness. The characters’ speech reflects working-class Welsh dialect and a stoic weariness, deepening the psychological horror. Even in moments of skepticism or attempted rationalization, a chill of the uncanny pervades.

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Summary for Those Who Haven’t Listened

This episode of The Creaking Door delivers a tightly constructed, atmospheric ghost story rooted in the haunted landscape of Welsh mining country. Through layered storytelling—a mixture of eyewitness account, village legend, and eerie encounter—the episode blurs the boundary between psychological trauma and supernatural horror. Its final moments leave listeners shivering, uncertain whether the terrors of the mine are all in the mind...or something far older and darker, echoing from beneath the earth.

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Transcript

[A]

I have flown, I have sailed. I have moved about this world of ours and ever in search of the finest of its kind. We bring you the top thin Spine chillers.

[B]

The Creaking Door.

[A]

The manufacturers of State Express 35 Filter King cigarettes take pleasure in presenting.

[B]

The Creaking Door. Good evening friends of the Creaking Door. The Creaking door is open, so do come in. Feeling the cold?

[C]

A little.

[B]

Don't worry, it's always warm here. We keep the fires going all the time and you'd never guess what we use instead of coal.

[A]

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[B]

Coal mines are interesting places, aren't they? One feels so much closer to the heart of things. But one must be careful not to make a fool of oneself. Gordon Armstrong nearly did. He was a geologist and with his wife was on a neutering holiday in South Wales.

[A]

Look at that flag heap. Ugly, isn't it?

[D]

What man has done to it is ugly. It must have been beautiful a couple of hundred years ago.

[A]

Looks as if that mine shut down altogether.

[B]

That's funny.

[A]

Mind if I have a look at this place?

[D]

The deserted coal mine? Why look, you must.

[A]

It won't take us long. If it did run out it would be rather interesting, wouldn't it?

[D]

Well, to you I suppose.

[A]

Come along. You don't have to be intelligent but you have to be interested. Many of the early coal mines in Wales were open cast workings. Those that weren't, such as this one never went down particularly deep. There was a hand ladder down the side of the pitch shaft. Anne wasn't too keen so she stayed on the surface while I descended the ladder. There were three levels and I reached the deepest one quite easily.

[C]

There must be the in your way.

[A]

Now the torch. Look at this.

[C]

Sounds like seeing.

[A]

Voices and rushing.

[C]

I'm getting out of here.

[A]

I couldn't believe my ears. The voices were hollow and rasping and had the strange sound of death about them. I admit I didn't stop to find out. I scrambled back up that ladder in double quick time and was waiting impatiently for me on the surface.

[C]

Get out of here.

[E]

What's the matter? You look as if you've seen a ghost.

[A]

I didn't see anything, but I heard enough. Come on, let's get back to the car. I need a drink. That would have been the old swell. And my nightboard didn't close down these last couple years. Why did they close it down? Because the enemy is too wetter, that's why. After they brought up those bodies. What bodies? Oh, well, there was a caving. You know, I was only a lad at the time, but I remember it well. Three men were trapped.

[C]

Took him two days to dig them out.

[A]

When they did, two of them were dead, horribly dead. And the third, well, he's been more or less out of his mind ever since.

[D]

The strain of being trapped in.

[A]

Well, that plus the fact that they were breathing bad air, I suppose, could damage the brain. Wasn't that at all? Oh, you. As it is, man, he's sitting over there. Why don't you have a word with him like a straight mister. Oh, they calls me you. I'll have a pint of ear, just.

[C]

No, thanks.

[A]

Busy at the moment, so. This is my wife, Anne Hugh would like to have a word with, if you don't mind. I don't mind. What about? What do you want to talk about? It doesn't sound that my friends don't mind either. But I don't suppose you can see them, your friend sitting here next to me.

[C]

They won't bother you, though. It's me they're interested in making sure I don't talk too much.

[A]

Talk about what?

[C]

So what do you want to talk about then?

[A]

The mine. The barman says that you were the only survivor of a disaster there. Okay, then.

[C]

That's right.

[A]

Only I didn't survive.

[C]

Really.

[A]

Not really. I'm. I'm a geologist. I'm very interested in that old mine. Looks to me as if there's still plenty of coal down there. Oh, plenty.

[C]

Tons and tons and tons of it.

[A]

Plenty. Boy, so what? Is no one worth it anymore?

[C]

Can't get nobody to go down there, not after the sacrifices. I was lucky. I might have been sacrificed to.

[A]

I don't understand.

[C]

Sacrifice.

[A]

Who would have sacrificed you?

[C]

The druid.

[A]

The druid?

[C]

Down there in the mine.

[A]

They would have done this. I looked at the old man. He was smiling at me with a look on his face that was far from mad. But he didn't expect me to believe what he said. I consider the possibility that he was having a joke at the stranger's expense. I'd heard of the druids of course, the ancient Celtic people had inhabited that part of the world before the romans landed in 66 BC an ancient. Their secrets lost in antiquity. But I did remember that they were known to have had temples where they carried out human sacrifices. Like Stonehenge, for instance. I prodded you with a promised drink and he started on his story. There was me, Owen Williams and Reese, David. Just the three of us.

[C]

Though for a long time before that we've been bothered with strange things happening in that mind. Everyone was on edge.

[A]

Like what sort of thing?

[C]

Well, there was the time the pit train ran itself.

[D]

Pit train? Do they have trains down there?

[C]

Oh, used to have strings of trucks filled with the coal and pulled by ponies in those days.

[A]

Never saw the light.

[C]

Today some of them ponies born down.

[B]

There, died down there.

[A]

This one they know.

[C]

So long ago now, it seems like another life.

[A]

We was walking along number three level.

[C]

See you in a bit. When we heard the train coming. Did you see that? Did you see that? I saw it. One I saw him standing there naked.

[A]

As the day painted all over, screaming alarm.

[E]

I saw him.

[B]

Oh, boy.

[C]

Did best to say nothing about this. Oh, Robert. Nobody will believe us.

[E]

Come on, boy.

[A]

Let go.

[C]

That was only one of the things.

[D]

But what did you see on the.

[C]

Front truck which was traveling along like a butt out of darkness, A man stood. A man.

[A]

A ghost.

[C]

I don't want to see any boy lashed in with a long branch like a whip, as if he were driving some sort of a chariot. Only never know what say. Just those little pig ponies traveling as if. As if the devil himself were behind them. Their eyes white with terror. And it was quite impossible that little things like that could pull that number of trucks at that speed. But they did.

[A]

They did.

[C]

They galloped, trying to get away from the thing to which they were harnessed. That first truck was that mad stuffed bitch standing on the. And he was laughing. Laughing and screaming and whipping at the ponies. And he wasn't really there at all. I knew that.

[A]

But who would believe us?

[C]

We decided to say nothing about it. 50. Because if we had, well, maybe Owen and Elise would be alive today.

[D]

They were the ones who were trapped with you?

[C]

That's right. Well, it wasn't just that train. Other things happened. The cage dropped two levels. Luckily there was no one inside it. And then came Dante. Owen. Reason Pals.

[A]

We were good pals. Used to sing in the choir together.

[C]

Oh, fine. Tennis Owen. Hope he gets a chance to sing wherever he's gone. But he didn't sing that day. He screamed, yawned, screamed in terror. We were working in number five. Working a new face. Hadn't been worked long just the three of us. Owen and me working with the picks and an E shoveling into the truck. Then I slap from the rump of.

[A]

The lead pony and off they would.

[C]

Drop the duck loose while I stay at a breed until they came back again. Take a leader boy.

[A]

We're not working on bonus night is boy oh boy. Except your old day don't it right hand me. I just sleep so it don't matter.

[C]

Whether it's night or day to me. What time is it now? Midnight. Yes, midnight lady. Give or take her two minutes.

[E]

All right boys. It's a cadence which really fast.

[C]

Let's get back by this time. I'm all right. Oh, it's my leg but I'm all right I think.

[A]

All right. I just can't see anything. The lights have gone out or the key.

[C]

They would have done that. Don't worry. In over here won't take a blow. They'll get a note. What's that sound? Flight singing.

[A]

And he thought of singing. We'll be singing down here.

[C]

Singing like that. There's something to do with that chap right in the pony. I'll tell you what it is making that noise. It's good, that's what it is.

[A]

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[B]

Well, well, well. Three Welshmen trapped in a coal mine and they are being sung a lullaby by a choir of druid priests. That's poetic justice, isn't it? But what was all this business about human sacri.

[C]

And it was ghost singing. It was coming towards us and seen after the first shock we just looked at each other. I'd managed to get my helmet lap worked in, so had the other two. And there were these three beams of light in the picture and a scene. A seamless king looking at each other. They stopped. Whoever it was, they stopped. Must have been a trick of the echo down here. Must have been a rescue party trying to reach us. And why have they stopped?

[A]

How's the leg?

[C]

Broken, I think. Terrible pain If I try to move it.

[A]

Don't move it.

[C]

What's wrong? Going stab me.

[A]

Somebody stabbed me in the arm.

[C]

Look. Blood again.

[D]

Happened again.

[E]

Oh for heaven's sake. They're trying to kill me. They're stabbing me with an eye. Leave me alone. What are you trying to do to me? Leave me alone. They're cutting me up. Look at the blood all over the place. Somebody's cutting me to pieces.

[C]

Jesus.

[B]

They were.

[C]

It was them. Druid priest. Sui Ghostly. They got fed up with us interfering or trespassing on their holy place. He was making a sacrifice out of Odo and cutting him with their holy knives. Oh, how terrible. How horrible. And he took a long time to die. He's gone, Hugh. He's gone. What can I do? Look at the cup, the stamp and all that. Couldn't have been rat. Anyway.

[A]

Look at the wounds. And you're sort of weary. They just appear before your eyes as.

[C]

If you were being stabbed with an invisible knife.

[E]

We got to get out of here. We've got to Hugh.

[A]

Now. Boy.

[C]

How are we going to get out?

[A]

We're trapped down here. Nothing. We can go on to the rest. I'll never find it. Not alive.

[E]

We'll be there by the time I get here. We'll all be there. Like poor old was killed.

[A]

Well, why don't they finish their thought now?

[E]

What are you waiting for? Where you are? What are you waiting for? Finish your bath now and get it done with me.

[C]

Sit that way.

[A]

Don't hold yourself together.

[C]

That's not going to help at all.

[A]

Not at all. Now. But what did it? Are we going mad? I don't know what did it boy.

[C]

I don't know. But I do know. 400 and Gaia Veyard. Do you believe in ghosts, Hugh? I never asked. I've been thinking. What else can it be? That singing. I never heard singing like that before. I think I know what it is.

[A]

Boy.

[C]

Remember there's been talk on and off for years about this mine. Old Shue well then had trouble originally when he tried to think. The first shot. Supposed to be the site of an old Druid temple. Those were the voices we heard. Ghosts of long dead druid priests.

[B]

You mean.

[C]

We.

[A]

Where we are now must have been a holy place.

[C]

I can't think of nothing else.

[A]

But what about Owen? How did he die? Those life wound.

[C]

Where did they come from? I think I know the answer to that too. It used to make human sacrifices.

[A]

You told me in the Rowan.

[C]

Yes I do.

[A]

Boy.

[C]

Remember the time it started just after midnight. What's impossible? I know, but I was to explain it. They cut him and stabbed him until he died. They made a sacrifice of him.

[A]

Unbelievable. Oh, I wouldn't believe it myself if.

[C]

It wasn't for my two friends. Yeah, friends nobody can see but me.

[D]

Oh, yes.

[C]

Oh, you don't believe me. I know. I don't blame you. Sometimes I don't believe it myself. But they are all right. They're smiling and nodding now, waiting for me for their third sacrifice duty.

[A]

Go on with your story.

[C]

All right then. I had a feeling somehow that we were safe until midnight the next night. Something told me that this was the time when they carry out their next human sacrifice. And then the next midnight, the third one. Our only chance, these and me, was to be rescued before midnight came. My leg was bothering me bad by then and I couldn't help much. But we tried to dig and we listened to the sounds of the rescue party on the other side. Same beat for you.

[A]

Can't eat no more.

[C]

Take a breather. Not get a hold on us. A tiger at you. We've been sat here over 20 hours getting on for 9 o'. Clock.

[A]

What was I shout?

[C]

The rescue boys all been working on it. I need a chocolate. I see what I can now.

[A]

No, no, Heidi say sharp.

[C]

It gives a me in two.

[A]

Won't take long now, boy. Oh, it won't take long.

[C]

But what worries near will it take till past midnight? And it did take to a past midnight. And I remember that midnight as long as I live. If you can call this sort of existence building. We could hear them working on the other side quite clearly by then. Rescue was very close, there was no doubt about it. But not close enough to see the poor. Came midnight and the champion started again.

[A]

Not coming again. Heaven help us.

[E]

Not coming again.

[A]

Not coming for another. Something quite quiet.

[E]

Quiet is all about quiet.

[A]

Not coming for one of us. You keep finding. You or me.

[E]

Who's going to die? Cut the bed for those minds that can't see.

[A]

Get through, boy.

[C]

The rescue people will get through.

[A]

They stop digging.

[C]

Or perhaps they can hear this in too.

[E]

But if it's not far, dig your pal big.

[A]

I can't hear you, boy.

[C]

You're wasting your bread. You hear that? It stops to be.

[A]

Which. Which one of us is it going to be?

[C]

I don't know, boy. I. I don't know what we can do. The only thing I can think of is. And we did pray. But it didn't do us any good.

[A]

Not poor east, anyway.

[C]

Just after 12 they started on Him. Oh, I can hear his screams now. Just like Owen. Screams every time they stuck a knife into him. He was a long time dying too away a hell. I must be going mad. But I saw it. With my own eyes. I saw it. And if they don't get me out of here within the next 24 hours, I'll go the same way. Hurry up. Can you?

[E]

Forever sake, hurry up. But don't leave me here.

[A]

And they got you in time. Is that the story? They got you before another 24 hours had elapsed?

[C]

No, as a matter of fact they didn't. It was another day and a half before they got me out.

[D]

But how? Why?

[C]

Why didn't they kill me too? Well, by the time they got me out, I was hearing things. I must have been. Although I don't know. They told me it was my leg that saved me. I like my brother, can you see? And a human sacrifice had to be perfect. Had to be a perfect body to offer up so I wouldn't do. You see? That's what the voices told me.

[A]

Well, it's the blood says this story.

[B]

All right.

[C]

Do you think it's a story, do you?

[A]

I don't blame you.

[C]

I wouldn't believe it myself if somebody told me.

[D]

Well, anyway, you were lucky to escape the cave in, weren't you?

[C]

I didn't escape. They're waiting for me. You see, that's why these two are always with me. I have to be sacrificed because I designated the holy place. And these two are just waiting. You mean the planet first. You see, they get weaked till my leg got better. Then I got the dose of the flu. They're waiting until I'm all right. And then they'll kill me too. Won't you? Yes. They're not inherits some, you know. I got quite used to them after all these years. I accept they'll be smiling when they put the knives in. That's why people think I'm my duty.

[D]

Well, we must be getting along.

[A]

Oh, well, of course.

[C]

Thank you very much for the beer.

[A]

Oh, thanks for telling me the story.

[C]

I know you don't believe it, but it's true.

[D]

Well, it looks peaceful enough.

[C]

The mind.

[D]

It wasn't true, was it? It couldn't have been true.

[A]

No, it.

[C]

It couldn't.

[A]

But there's one thing worries me.

[D]

What's that?

[A]

Well, it could have just been an old man's story to get drinks out of strangers. But if that's all there is to it. What was that chanting that I heard when I went down the mine.

[C]

I can hear it too.

[A]

Will. Will.

[B]

Will. Stabbed to death as human sacrifices.

[C]

Impossible.

[B]

Though I must say that neither Owen nor Reese look very pretty down here behind the creaking door.

[A]

Move in, wildlife. Get the taste of new smooth State Express 35 today. We promise you it's the smoothest cigarette you can get. It's a blend that has been perfected after years of constant research by our master blenders and the recent development of an entirely new process which gives you an even smoother 35 smoke. We promise you it's the smoothest cigarette you can get. Move in. World class. Get the taste of new smooth State Express 35 today.

[B]

Just a reminder of our rendezvous next week. Where are we going? Through the creaking door of Tor.

[A]

The manufacturers of State Express 35 Silver King cigarettes invite you to listen next Saturday at 9 o' clock when they will again present.

[B]

The creaking door.