Do Dormant Bats Still Sleep in Old Mines?
In his 1943 book Coal Dust on the Fiddle, Pennsylvania folklorist George Korson passes on " a curious tale about a Rip Van Winkle-like bat" reported "some years ago" by a mine engineer exploring "an abandoned old working in the Georges Creek region of Maryland." Here, verbatim, is the engineer's story, as quoted by Korson. Photo by Ann Froschauer, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "The mines in which I was making surveys were abandoned for over fifty years. The roof had fallen; rooms had been clogged shut; and only by the most circuitous routes, often entailing a creeping on one’s hands and knees for over a half mile, could we get to the unsurveyed part. Arrow marks of chalk were necessary to find one’s way out, and a full supply of oil, sufficient to last a day or two, was taken along. Back in the recesses of this cavern we wandered and we found colonies of bats. At first we did not know what they were. Welsh miners with the party enlightened us. I...