The Vanishing Light: A Haunting Tale from Coober Pedy (Australia)

Hey, my name’s Roy. I’m 22, and I live in Coober Pedy, the underground town in South Australia. You’ve probably heard about us—opal mines, weird underground houses, and scorching heat. But what people don’t talk about are the stories… the things that happen in the mines that no one can explain.I didn’t believe any of it until last year.—It was late in the summer, and my mate Liam and I were bored out of our minds. He came up with this brilliant idea to explore an old opal mine he’d found while hiking. It wasn’t one of the regular tourist mines—it was one of the abandoned ones, hidden way out in the desert.“I’m telling you, Roy,” he said, “there’s still opals down there.

The old miners didn’t get everything.”I didn’t want to go. Everyone knows the stories about people disappearing in the mines or seeing strange lights. But Liam wasn’t going to stop bugging me, so I caved.—We headed out just before sunset, armed with flashlights, a bottle of water, and no clue what we were getting into. The mine entrance was barely visible, hidden behind a mound of rocks. The moment we stepped inside, I felt off.The air was cold, which was strange considering it was over 40 degrees outside. And it was silent. Not the kind of quiet you get in an empty room—this was too quiet, like the mine was holding its breath.“Creepy, isn’t it?” Liam joked, shining his flashlight down the tunnel.We walked for a while, the light from the entrance fading behind us. The walls were rough, carved out by hand, and every now and then, I thought I saw something glinting in the stone. Liam was excited, talking about how we might find a big opal.But then I noticed something strange. The beam from Liam’s flashlight was flickering, not like it was dying, but like something was passing in front of it.“Hey, is your light okay?” I asked.“Yeah, why?”“Never mind,” I said, but my gut was telling me something wasn’t right.—We came to a fork in the tunnel. One path looked newer, reinforced with wooden beams, while the other was old, crumbling, and covered in strange carvings. Spirals, crosses, and what looked like stick figures.“Let’s take the old one,” Liam said. “The newer ones are usually picked clean.”I wanted to argue, but he was already heading down the older tunnel.

The deeper we went, the weirder it got. The carvings on the walls became more detailed—figures standing in circles, holding hands, and others kneeling in front of what looked like a glowing orb.“Who do you think made these?” Liam asked.“No idea,” I said. “Let’s just keep moving.”We eventually reached a large chamber, and that’s when things got really creepy. In the center of the room was a single, old lantern, still lit with a faint orange glow.“Is someone else here?” I whispered.“Doesn’t look like it,” Liam said, stepping closer to the lantern.As soon as he touched it, the light flickered and went out.—The moment the light died, we heard it—a faint humming sound, like electricity or bees, coming from all around us. I turned my flashlight toward the walls and froze. The carvings… they were moving.The stick figures on the walls were shifting, their tiny arms reaching out toward us.“Roy… what the hell is this?” Liam whispered.Before I could answer, a bright white light appeared at the far end of the chamber. It was blinding, like a car’s headlights, but there was no sound, no footsteps, nothing.And then it started moving toward us.—“Run!” I shouted.We bolted down the tunnel, the light chasing us. It wasn’t fast, but it didn’t stop, and no matter how far we ran, it kept getting closer.The humming turned into whispers—dozens of voices overlapping, saying things I couldn’t understand. Every time I glanced back, the light was closer, and the walls around it seemed to warp and bend.We reached the fork in the tunnel and sprinted down the newer path. I thought we’d made it, but then Liam tripped. His flashlight flew out of his hand and shattered on the ground.“Liam, get up!” I yelled.He scrambled to his feet, but the light was already on him. He froze, his eyes wide, and I swear I saw shadows moving inside the light—hands reaching out toward him.“Don’t leave me!” he screamed.I grabbed his arm and yanked him forward, dragging him down the tunnel. The light stopped at the edge of the newer path, flickering like it was angry.We didn’t stop running until we saw the entrance and stumbled out into the night.

When we got back to town, Liam was a mess. He wouldn’t stop shaking, and he refused to talk about what happened. A week later, he left Coober Pedy without telling anyone where he was going.I stayed, but I can’t stop thinking about that mine. Every time I walk past it, I feel like something’s watching me, waiting for me to come back.So, if you ever visit Coober Pedy and someone tells you about the old mines, listen to them. Some things aren’t meant to be found.

Would you go exploring after hearing that? Let me know!