There's been a lotta talk among the old diggers here. A lotta talk about weird things and goings on in the deep caves and tunnels of these here mountains, about peculiar machines that hum without sound and make the inside of your skull itch as you look at them.
Since old mountain men are an ornery, disagreeable lot, no consensus has been reached as to what them things are. Most concur that they're an ill omen, some black magic better left hidden in the bowels of the earth. Some of the less hardy folk have even upped stakes and hit the road again, rather than deal with the weird secrets below.
I never thought that there could be anythin' worse than those damn lizards lurkin' in the mines.
One of the miners who scarpered left behind an incoherent note for the rest of us. I found it on the countin' table the next morning, next to this strange symbol he'd carved into the wood, with his fingernails by the looks of it. The note said "Drocsid etagitsevni! June 22. P." which obviously ain't any kinda English I've ever read. I copied the symbol here as well, just in case I come across it again later.
I hope I don't.
- Randolph W. Akeley