The miners all sat together in their
cramped but very comfortably warm
mining hut to wait out the time before the
Christmas mass. According to tradition,
the miners always went down to the
church in St. Veit together that night.
Suddenly, earlier than usual, the bell rang
for them to set out. They were a little
surprised at fi rst, but then after another
ring the miners followed the little bell.
When they returned the next morning,
they found their hut buried under meters
of ice and snow.
The friendly mountain
spirits had warned the miners in good time
and saved them from a certain death.
There is another story about twelve miners
in the tunnel. They had only been at
work for a short time when the call “shift
finished” suddenly rang out. When they
ignored the call at the first prompt, it
repeated itself a second time! They then
hurried to the exit and stepped outside.
Almost at the same moment, the mine
building collapsed behind them, and all
the tunnels and shafts collapsed. And
once again it was the kind mountain
spirit that prevented worse things from
happening.