Coal Country

There are a few friendly caves in Appalachia where the spirits of the earth are happy to welcome tourists and explorers and also are willing to let them leave unharmed.

 

Those are the exceptions.

 

For the most part, the things lurking under West Virginia hills hate you. 

 

Maybe it’s all the ghosts of proto-trees from the Carboniferous Era, maybe it’s resentment from the wounds of pickaxes and mountaintop mining, or maybe the ground is just cursed.

 

It doesn’t really matter. 

 

We never should have dug, and we certainly never should have let what we found see the light of day.

 

All of which is to say, “Welcome to Coal Country.”

 

Next stop: Island Creek Valley.

 

Full video here.