The 50 yard brick tunnel is located in the ghost town of Moonville, the town was established in the 1850's but by the 1940's due to the closure of the mines families were leaving, the last family to leave was in 1947. At its peak it only had between 60-100 residents. All that remains now are a few foundations, a cemetery and the railroad tunnel.
Moonville was an isolated town, to get to the nearest towns of Hope or Mineral, people had to walk the tracks; unfortunately there were a few fatalities from doing this.
The tunnel was about 500 yards from Moonville. The tracks and the foot trestle over Racoon Creek which separated it from the town have been removed. The last train to use the tunnel was in 1986.
There are said to be several ghosts that haunt the tunnel and surrounding area, the most popular ones are a headless figure who carries a yellow warning lantern thought to be a train conductor who fell in front of a train whilst drunk and was decapitated, the other is a woman in a night gown thought to have been killed whilst she was walking the tracks.
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