Featured Image Credit: TikTok/@nickhall720
Topics: Health, Mental Health, Social Media, TikTok, World News, US News, Reddit
Poppy Bilderbeck
Topics: Health, Mental Health, Social Media, TikTok, World News, US News, Reddit
A coal miner has revealed what their journey into work looks like and it's a claustrophobe's worst nightmare.
You may not have given the profession of coal mining much thought unless watching movies such as Billy Elliot or October Sky, but being lowered into small, confined spaces is a daily reality for people like Nick Hall.
As of 2021, according to Statistica, there were an average of 3,084 coal miners working underground and Hall - who goes by the username @nickhall720 - is one of them.
Hall isn't only a dad-of-three and a TikToker, but also 'a proud Kentucky coal miner' and his video of his journey into work is freaking social media users out. See for yourself:
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Hall shared footage of himself going into work earlier this year and it's fair to say it proves the job is not for the faint hearted.
The video shows the miner being lowered down through a narrow crevice via a type of lift, his body twisting and turning in the thin gap between two walls.
Hall goes past plastic sheets and the sound of clanking metal doesn't do much to make the journey appear any less daunting.
Basically, imagine when you last played Minecraft and got stuck in one of the caves, but you can't just get up and walk away from your computer, you're wedged down there - with a heck of a long journey back to the surface.
People are flocking to the coal miner's post in a mix of horror and respect for Hall and his profession.
One TikTok user said: "Just watching claustrophobia kicks in..."
"My dad spent his whole life doing this.. and black lung took him away from me.. much respect to anyone who does this.." another added.
A third wrote: "Several of my family from Floyd County work in the mines. No way in hell I could do it. That looks like one big coal coffin."
The video was also shared to the Reddit thread r/Damnthatsinteresting where social media users were equally as shocked by the conditions.
"It's an unholy version of Mario Kart," one user noted.
A second joked: "$4,000 a month plus utilities. No pets."
And a final resolved: "Nope, nope, nope, nope."
Other videos shared by Hall show him with fellow coal miners, operating some pretty intense machinery and giving even more of an insight into the gruelling and claustrophobic nature of the job.