Dozens of bodies could lie beneath Keighley's hillsides.

Amazing new evidence has revealed that SEVERAL collapsed coal pits may still conceal victims.

Research into an alleged mining accident at Thwaites Brow has unearthed previously-undisclosed information about other possible similar incidents.

Writer Doreen Lavin, a retired nursing lecturer, has been swamped with phone calls since we last week highlighted her research.

She was appealing to Keighley News readers for help in shedding light on the alleged pit disaster near the Druids Arms pub. It is claimed the bodies of dead miners were left buried.

"I have been given new information about that which I am looking into and someone has told me about a similar incident near Haworth," says Doreen, of Moss Carr Avenue, Long Lee.

"The phone has hardly stopped ringing and I have been given a lot of fascinating information which has provided me with some useful new leads. I am extremely grateful to everyone who has contacted me.

"One man told me that when he was young he used to play on a mound in fields near my home, and he was informed that it was an old mine entrance which had been hurriedly closed for some unexplained reason.

"Someone else has told me of two disused mines in the Haworth area, one of which apparently has entombed bodies.

"Interesting details have been provided and I will be investigating this further."

The hills around Keighley were peppered with mine workings more than a century ago, many of them in the Riddlesden and East Morton area.

For years coal was extracted in paying quantities.

It was usual practice for accident victims to be left underground due to the dangers and expense involved in recovering bodies.

Keighley's last working pit - Howden Colliery at Rivock - was closed in the late 1920s.

We will keep readers updated of developments in this story.

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