Shirland Colliery, Alfreton

During the 1860s, miners at Shirland Colliery near Alfreton reportedly went on strike after one worker claimed to have seen the ghost of a former collier killed in the pit. The apparition, described as man-shaped, was said to appear when danger threatened his old comrades. Panic spread quickly through the mine, leading around 200 men and boys to abandon work and refuse to return underground. The so-called Shirland ghost later became a local byword for superstition.