Clearwell Caves (Forest Of Dean)

These are iron ore mines in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. They are now used primarily as a mining museum. The caves are a natural formation, cut by underground streams and were once mined for iron ore dating back as far as the Stone age (4500 years ago). Mining over the many years has enlarged and extended the caverns to such an extent that there are now nine impressive caverns (down as far as 100 ft deep) open to the public and many more deeper chambers available to cavers with appropriate equipment.

These caverns were created by generations of Forest people who mined the iron ore and ochre (iron ore in a red/purple/yellow powder form within the rocks) for all manner of weapons, tools and machinery. Many of the miners believed there were ghosts down the caverns, ans since it opened to the publis in 1968 many of the public have reported seeing and hearing strange anomalies deep within the darkness of the caves.

On entering the Caves it feels quite welcoming with all the displays of old mining equipment and information boards but when you start descending deep into the darkness of the caverns it all changes. The first thing you notice is the dramatic drop in temperature and then the ear piercing silence that hits you as you leave the hustle of the outside world behind. When your eyes finally adjust to the darkness you can finally realise the splender of this creation between man and nature. The first cavern we entered felt strangely tranquil and peacefull but as we delved deeper into this dark damp wilderness it became a little less pleasant.

We experienced cold sensations and the feelings of spirits rushing around us. At one point it almost felt like something threatening was lingering behind me in the darkness.

Many people have recorded orb like odjects on camera whilst being deep in the caves. We also captured about 20 plus photos of possible orbs and orb clusters, so here are a few of those photos.

Just before we were about to head towards the surface we took a few more shots and at one point the camera wouldn't work (which has been reported by people visiting the caves in the past). When it finally did take the photo this is what we got. We think its an orb cluster but we're not sure whether it is or or not it's definately abit strange maybe paranormal.

Clearwell Caves and its strange activity is definately a location to visit whether your in search of the paranormal or you just want an interesting trip out. The miners may have believed in ghosts for a good reason. The amount of deaths caused due to the hazardous nature of mining and the menacing feel of the still, silent and dark atmosphere down there its not surprising that there may be some form of paranormal activity going on.