The Ghosts Of Shaw Mines Some places never truly vanish, even when the world moves on without them. Shaw Mines, once a thriving coal town in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Allegheny Mountains, was one of those places. All physical traces of that town have been erased by subsequent strip mining and by time itself. Shaw Mines exists today only in a few old photographs and in the memories of those who lived there. History is often told through the lens of great cities and grand events, but the story of places like Shaw Mines, forgotten by time yet still alive in memory, is just as important. This book is a tribute to those who built, lived in, and ultimately outlived a town whose only mistake was that the deep minable coal ran out. This is the story of the history of Shaw Mines and the experiences of a boy in mid-20th-century America who grew up among its ruins, forever haunted, shaped, and inspired by its real ghosts .