Slaughter Night Page #2

Shall we go?

- No.

I'll stay here.

Okay. Look:
Three o'clock.

He's not my type.

- You don't have a type!

Okay, I'll have him.

With relish.

My name is Louis Oup and

I'm your guide this afternoon.

Please put on your helmets and follow me.

I was a miner here for 25 years

until this mine closed in 1984.

Then they asked me to lead excursions,

which I've done for 12 years.

So, if everyone will get in the lift...

Put your helmet on, madam.

In we go.

Off we go.

Ladies and gentlemen,

we're 200 feet underground.

You can leave your coats there.

Don't forget to switch on your lamps.

More than 100 men worked

in this shaft alone.

This place is a maze.

If you get lost, you die.

That's dust lung. We all suffered from it.

And we knew it in advance.

The black gold was mined here.

But it wasn't gold for us.

It was blood, sweat and tears.

Walk on, please.

DANGER OF COLLAPSE

KEEP OU:

DANGER:

Hey, where were you?

Kris! Kris!

Anything wrong?

Since the accident...

...I see things.

What things?

Never mind...

Please don't take any pictures

in the mines.

I'm not, it's a video camera.

- Nice try, but please put it away.

Why?

- Danger of explosions!

Methane is lethal

because you can't smell it.

That's why we had canaries.

We used to use them to test for methane.

When they dropped dead,

we knew what was up.

Canaries! Follow me please.

Yes... that's why we're here. So...

Intense...

- Yes.

I have two kids with me

who went through the same.

Are you on holiday here?

Something like that.

Paul is our counsellor.

I'm teaching them to cope with...

...their free time. We call it "normalising".

If I'm boring you...

- Not at all.

Please concentrate, everyone.

I experienced a methane explosion

once in my life.

Bang!

Ten men killed!

This used to be the only protection we had.

The explosion brought these plates down...

...and a cloud of dust and sand

put the fire out.

Please move on.

Yes, stand over there. Fine.

Right, and then...

...we got a lamp for that: A Davy.

And this Davy lamp...

...was a very clever thing.

The height of the flame showed...

...whetherthere was methane or not.

But we had no ventilation...

...so we had to explode the methane

before we could work.

A long time ago...

...they had something very different.

Firemen!

Yes, firemen!

We had firemen until

the death penalty was abolished.

They were condemned prisoners sent

into the mines to explode the methane.

If they survived, they were spared.

And otherwise...

Cool!

The last fireman here

was Andries Martiens...

...a murderer...

...who killed eight children.

He beheaded seven of them.

You think that's "cool"?

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