October 17, 1867: Thirteen workers constructing the Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts suffocate after being trapped at the bottom of the "Central Shaft" by a fire above. See contemporary account and photos

HOOSAC TUNNEL by Dana Robinson (Bandcamp)

The final lines, calling the Hoosac a "cursed tunnel," allude to the tunnel's terrible reputation that led the workers to dub it the "Bloody Pit." Nearly 200 of the construction crew died there over the 24 years that it took to complete it, the October 1867 incident merely being the most casualties at a single time. As of the 1970s, the tunnel became a highly popular source of ghost stories and ghost sightings.