The Intrigue of the Mystery Mine:
I finally mustered up enough courage to ride the Mystery Mine at Dollywood. Walking by it, and seeing the mine carts dash out of the old themed abandoned coal mine and loop and twist upside down, made me queasy at just the sight. I admit I like my coasters on the tamer side, but the Mystery Mine would surprise me and become one of my favorite attractions in the park.
It was opening day in March of this year. The night before a surprise snow blanketed the region. It was mostly melted now, except for white clinging onto the trees in the shaded divots of these Smoky Mountain foothills.
Seemingly one-by-one, coasters warmed up and started to make their runs. Just as the snow surprisingly fell the night before, today for some strange reason, my reluctancy had melted away and the desire to ride the Mystery Mine suddenly came upon me.
Despite the fear that always gripped me, the attraction had intrigued me for a while. It is a prominent feature in the park, towering over Timber Canyon in its own dark ominous way, and the inside portion of the ride was always unknown and mysterious to me. Numerous times, outside the attraction, I had walked by the animatronic vulture which tells stories and warns of the dangers inside the Mystery Mine. It must be quite an attraction to have such a feature next to its entrance, I thought. No other Dollywood ride has this.
As I waited in the queue line with my friends, we were doing some serious people watching from the rocky platforms which lead up to the ride. I also noticed the old rustic signs and fictitious newspaper articles posted along the walls recounting tragedies in the mine long ago and the condemnation of the now abandoned mine. An announcement about keeping your boots on and not losing them made my friends and I laugh, because we had just all bought cowboy boots the evening before in Pigeon Forge and talked about wearing them to the park but quickly decided they were not quite practical for the occasion.
Nervously, I boarded the minecart with my friends. One of the first things that stuck out to me was a canary in a small cage falling from its perch to the bottom of its cage. I remember going on a tour of an old abandoned coal mine in Alberta, Canada and learning about how miners would hang up canaries in cages throughout the mine. If a canary stopped singing and dropped from its perch, it was a sign that miners needed to evacuate as the air was becoming noxious from mine gas. This is smart theming, I thought. Someone knew this small detail to include it in the mine. As the ride progressed, there were a few other themed moments that stuck out to me, including those with vultures, a lightning storm and dynamite.
I was intrigued by these clues. There obviously was a story going on, and I wanted to know the full story. Between the animatronic vulture, the signs and newspaper articles posted outside and the elements within, there was some real thought going on behind all this, but I couldn’t quite piece it all together. I decided it was time to investigate.
The Story of Old Grandpa Jack:
I started my quest by studying point-of-view videos of the ride online, then watching all the videos and studying the animatronic vulture out front. I gathered the story of Old Grandpa Jack told by the vulture. He was a trapper who lived in a cave in the Smoky Mountains. As folklore goes, you’re not supposed to whistle in a cave, because its vibrations can cause rocks to shift, but Grandpa Jack whistled in his cave causing the earth to tremble and the ground to open up revealing an abandoned mine. Then Grandpa Jack wandered in the cave never to return. Because of this legend, the Mystery Mine also informally became known as the “Whistle Mine.” Despite its colloquial name, guests of the attraction know it’s formally the unlucky Mine 13. Just as your ride in the Mystery Mine begins, you hear a heinous life. Could it be the ghost of Grandpa Jack?
Wrong Way Joe:
Another character related to the mine, or at least to the themed area of the attraction is Wong Way Joe. The vulture outside the ride, recounts his story: “Back in the logging days, it was Joey’s job to determine the natural lean of a tree so they would know exactly where it would fall. Well, Joe had a knack for doing things the wrong way. So if Joe called the tree in one direction, ya’ll could stand in that same spot and live to tell about it. Some say a huge tree nearly fell on the potato shack, but Joe, with the help of his head, broke the fall. Ever since then, Joe has been twenty mules short of a mule team. If Joe ever spoke his mind he’d be speechless. Truth be told, Joe has been doing things the wrong way ever since he has been knee-high to a bark beetle.”
What does twenty mules short of a mule team mean? In the mining days of old, what was referred to as a twenty-mule team, was actually composed of eighteen mules and two horses. If Wrong Way Joe was twenty mules short of eighteen mules, he was certainly in bad shape, and bad luck must permeate from this mine.
Mine Superstitions:
In my quest for more information about the Mystery Mine and to see how all these pieces tie together, during the Dollywood Influencer week, I was able to meet with Pete Owens, vice president of marketing and public relations at Dollywood. I was told he was the man that would provide the answers. He explained that Dollywood “does not do scary,” but that it does entertain mystery and superstition, and the Mystery Mine is themed after traditional mine superstitions. According to mining lore, there are three great superstitions related to mines:
- Never take your boots off in a mine. It’s bad luck, for there’s only one way a man comes out of a mine without boots. Mr. Owens went on to explain that at one part in the ride, if you look carefully, you’ll see boots hanging in the mine. Also, this makes sense in the queue line when we are warned to keep our boots on.
- Don’t whistle in a mine. This can bring about danger. We hear the warning not to whistle in the mystery mine in the theme song that plays in the line queue: “Don’t whistle in the Mystery Mine or danger you will meet.” This brings us back to the story of Old Grandpa Jack. As a park guest, you should be warned, as whistling is also heard accompanying the music of the ride.
- Birds in a mine are bad luck. This explains all the vultures and ravens in and surrounding the mine. The one exception is you want your canaries with you in the cave, but if they drop dead or pass out, you better get out fast. Guests are warned “If the canary ain’t tweetin’, you’ll be sleepin’.”
Mr. Owens went on to explain that each lift and drop in the ride is related to one of these bad omens. At the beginning of the ride, you see the red beady eyes of vultures and ravens, at the second lift you see the canary dropping dead in its cage, and the third lift is where you find the boots hanging. All of these bad omens foreshadow the danger which is to come— the storm, in which lightning strikes the mine, which causes the mine shaft tower to collapse and the dynamite to ignite, exploding, and blasting you out of the cave in your mining cart.
I was fascinated by this theming. It was very smart, based off of real historic mine superstitions, and it fits perfectly with Dollywood’s larger Appalachian theme.
The Mystery Mine Movie:
Perhaps the most interesting tidbit Mr. Owens shared with me was that in 2006, to promote the forthcoming Mystery Mine, Dollywood employees produced a short film explaining the backstory of the Mystery Mine. It was uploaded to YouTube in five short segments. It features a young brother and sister happening upon the mine and finding a man in the forest that tells them about the mine’s mysterious past. “Is it still there on Youtube?” I asked.
“Oh I’m sure it is.” Both Mr. Owens and I got out our phones while standing there in Dollywood searching for these promo videos. In my ignorance, I was searching on the official Dollywood YouTube page. “You won’t find it there,” Mr. Owens explained. Deep in the tunnels of Youtube we mined out these old gems. He said they filmed it all in one evening, that the girl in the video was his own daughter and all the small cast were regular Dollywood employees and relatives. As I watched and saw all I learned come to life.
Other Fun Mystery Mine Facts:
In my talking with Mr. Owens and my own investigation, I learned quite a few other interesting facts about the Mystery Mine:
- At the time of its opening, it was the first coaster with a complete vertical lift and beyond vertical 95 degree drop.
- The Mystery Mine theme song was written by a composer who has written songs for another well known theme park and entertainment company.
- At its time of construction, Mystery Mine was Dollywood’s single biggest investment in the park at $17.5 million.
- Mystery Mine is award winning. It gained the title of Best New Theme Park Attraction in 2007 by Theme Park Insider and gained second place the same year from Amusement Today.
- Mystery Mine went under some refurbishment in 2021, receiving some new track.
- During its first year in operation, the vulture out front was voiced live and could interact personally and in real-time with the guests. There also was Old Grandpa Jack there. Jack was eventually removed and the vulture was later switched to a recording.
- The Mystery Mine is manufactured by Gerstlauer, a German rollercoaster company, known for rides in many well-known parks.
Insider Tips:
Now that you know the story, and hopefully I’ve built up your curiosity of the ride, here are a few practical insider tips for your visit:
- This is one of those rides that can have a long wait time, or no wait time at all. It fluctuates greatly at different times during the day. So if it’s crowded, just check back later.
- In my opinion it has some of the best t-shirts and themed merchandise in the park. Check them out!
- This ride is thrilling, but it’s not too much. I don’t like to go upside-down on my rollercoasters, but trust me, this one is not bad. Don’t be scared. Just keep your boots on… and don’t whistle…and watch out for those vultures!
- If you are on a vacation in the Southeast, and are interested in the mining theme, consider checking out the real coal mines tucked away in the beautiful natural parks of the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in Kentucky and the New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia.
Josh Hodge blog 