Parents' Guide to

Ghost Mine

By Melissa Camacho, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

Paranormal docuseries is a bit creepy and macho.

TV Syfy Reality TV 2013
Ghost Mine Poster Image

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What you will—and won't—find in this TV show.

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What's the Story?

GHOST MINE is a reality series that follows a group of miners willing to go into a potentially haunted east Oregon mine and dig for gold, and the paranormal investigators committed to making the mine safer for them. After Crescent Mine owner Larry Overman had an entire mining team "tramp" (walk off the job) due to unexplained occurrences, he hired overseer Stan "Papa Smurf" Griffith, his son and job supervisor Edward Griffith, drill operator Keith "Dingus" Leingang, and heavy machinery operator Jared "Bucket" Anderson, to open up the abandoned mine and dig. Also joining the team are new guys (a.k.a. "Greenhorns") Jamol Eli and Jay Verburg. To clear the mine of any ghosts or spirits, Overman has also hired paranormal experts Patrick Doyle and Kristen Luman, much to the dismay of old timer Dick "Greybeard" Secord Jr. From blowing out tunnels with dynamite to investigating warning noises potentially made by legendary gremlins or "tommy knockers," the miners and investigators work together to open the mine while understanding the spirits and other paranormal entities that inhabit it.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Ghost Mine features some interesting historical and present-day information about the mining culture, and reveals many of the superstitions that guide miners while underground. However, many of their legends and beliefs are exploited by the investigators, who are looking at this job as a way to lay the foundation for establishing a new area of investigative research.

Some of the exchanges between the miners and the investigators feel a little rehearsed, and some of the miners go from being paranormal skeptics to believers just a bit too quickly. But the combination of mining stories, creepy video footage, and other effects tells an entertainingly eerie story.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about where superstitions come from. Many superstitious beliefs come through stories passed down within a given culture. What are the different ways that the media shares these stories?

  • Are you or anyone in your family superstitious? Where can you go to learn more about how these beliefs got started?

  • Read or watch some fairy tales or ghost stories from different countries. Can you find similarities between some of the superstitions in them?

TV Details

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