Subterranean Centaur Scare

It is early March of 1913 (probably the 7th, to be exact) - and hundreds of sweaty men are bustling about in the Chicksaw Mine under Kittanning, Pennsylvania. They are presumably quite desperate to see the sunlight outside, but the circumstances in which they would be forced out into the light in just a moment would haunt them for the rest of their days. Violent hoofbeats and a ghostly light seep their way through the subterranean gloom, signalling the fateful arrival of a bizarre spectre unlike any other...

The Kittanning Incident

The hoofbeats (which I have presumed must've been present) got louder and louder as the surreal form moved from room to room in the mine, ordering all the workmen to abandon their tools and leave the mine in a 'sepulchral voice'. Terrified and likely utterly dumbfounded at the sight, the workers promptly did as they were told by the incomprehensible creature - pouring from the entrance of the mine in droves, perhaps setting a new record for the speed at which a mine could be evacuated. 

The illustration that appeared in Fortean Times accompanying this story.

As my description of hooves might imply, this entity was not your average humanoid ghost. No, instead it was described as having a torso like that of 'an emaciated man' and the lower body of a horse. It was a centaur, to put it simply. In one hand, it carried an odd object which was compared to a dinner pail - from which issued 'lurid gleams' of phantasmal light. 

One John Martel was working as the driver of the mine motor, and was allegedly at his place atop the machine when the spectre came for him. It apparently manifested out of nowhere, before pointing its bony fingers at him and uttering a single word - GO. Martel found himself unable to move for a moment, being literally paralysed with sheer terror. As soon as he was once again capable of movement, he screamed in horror and dashed away from the creature. He sprinted along the tracks towards the light streaming in from the mine's entrance - only momentarily glancing back the way he came to see the motor in hot pursuit, now apparently being somehow driven by the centaur. By the time Martel finally emerged into the safety of daylight, he turned back once more to see that the motor (now driverless) was close behind him. He had only just made it. 

The miners refused to go to work the next day, and as of the time that the story was originally published (in the March 9th, 1913 edition of The Philadelphia Enquirer), it had yet to be decided how business should proceed in the Chickasaw Mine. The centaur was apparently seen as some kind of ill omen. One of my sources speculated that perhaps this was an incredibly bizarre excuse for the miners to escape work - but surely there would be less fantastical and more believable stories to be made up for this purpose? And presumably to be employed more effectively? 

Sources

I originally found this story in an issue of Fortean Times, which sadly only included a very much abbreviated version of the tale and didn't offer me any realistic way to track down the original source or even any more information. Eventually, fellow researcher Albert Rosales was able to find the full story in various newspaper clippings. I was also able to find another source online that repeated what the newspaper clippings said. Here is that source.

The most extensive (and sadly least clearly scanned) clipping on the topic. 

Wondrous Wraith of Willow Creek

Willow Creek is nestled just two miles from Brooksville, Kentucky. According to a report made in the Atlanta Daily Constitution on the 4th of November, 1868 - a 'wonderful phenomenon' made its presence known here, much to the hysterical excitement of the local residents.

A Sulfurous Centaur

'Fire Centaur' by JupiterWaits on DeviantArt

It was October 10th of 1868 when an unnamed 'prominent tobacco merchant' was confronted by the outlandish apparition in question. He lived in Brooksville, and was returning home along a darkened country road in the southern portion of Bracken County after a long day buying up tobacco crops. Running late and thus presumably in quite a rush, his swift course was suddenly halted when he beheld 'a most frightful object' stood in the middle of the road before him. He described it as walking upright and reaching a height of 6ft, and as having a 'very pale' face like that of a man - with flames licking down over its shoulders like a hellish mockery of human hair. Its eyes were 'of sulfurous blue' and appeared to be constantly changing in size, one moment being as large as tin cups and the next being almost nonexistent.
Its 'deadly pale' arms once again resembled those of a human, and in one hand it carried a torch while in the other it held a sword of roughly 4ft in length. Its lower half was that of a horse with 'well proportioned' legs tipped with equine hooves. In place of a tail, it had a 3ft-long mass of flames - and its breath was also described as 'a solid sheet of fire, which vibrated with the heaving of its breast, like the pendulum of a clock'. The fiery fiend - apparently the most frightful thing that the witness had ever seen - walked off to the side of the road and vanished into the darkness.
Immediately motivated to give chase to the weird wonder, the witness put spurs to his horse and galloped towards the area to which he had seen the entity disappear. Roughly 200 yards later he had reached the summit of the hill - but had not yet managed to apprehend the infernal apparition. However, as soon as he looked back in the direction he had come, he caught sight of the creature 'in the same spot where he had first beheld it'. Presumably somewhat peeved and utterly bewildered at this point, the merchant stopped his horse to observe the anomalous happening. The creature, perhaps upon realising that it was being watched, crossed over to the left side of the road whereupon it scaled a fence and commenced running at full tilt towards the witness.
Horrified, he beat a hasty retreat from the apparition and made a beeline towards the nearest town - where he told some of the citizens about what he had seen. Presumably all eager to track down a bona fide monster, said citizens almost immediately formed a mob and 'started out to see the strange visitant'. When they got to the location at which the creature had been observed - some of them were able to clearly see the entity while it seemed completely invisible to others. The creature was seen on the fence, running rapidly backwards and forwards. It passed the witnesses at a distance of 'a quarter of a mile'. I do not pretend to know what this latter segment of the description means - I have no idea as to what the entity's movements were supposed to be at this point...
At about 23:00pm, the monstrous creature vanished and was not to be seen again that night. However, since then it would apparently manifest every night at the same time - being 'on hand' like clockwork. Nervous excitement was said to be mounting in the little Bracken County community as of the source's publication. It is, sadly, unclear what became of the spectre due to the event still being ongoing when the source was written.

Source
'Humanoid Encounters' by Albert Rosales