Crank Caverns is an abandoned quarry that has been out of use for many years.
Due to the mystery and sheer size of the eerie cave system, the site, close to Rainford, has become the subject of folktales. From an army of bearded dwarves living deep underground, to witches and other spooky paranormal experiences reported.
Surely none of this could be true? The ECHO set out to explore the caverns to see if there was any substance to these legends - or if we could understand why how rumours started.
READ MORE: Several St Helens takeaways ordered to improve their food hygiene
Initially it was difficult to even locate the caverns, with a gate sealing off the private road that heads towards them. After walking a short way down a country path, we were met with a large home, then to the rear of the property, the entrance to the caves - heavily marked with graffiti - stood out in the wilderness.
Approaching the entrance to the caverns, it is clear why some of these legends and myths started. The sheer depth of the caves means you can't see more than five feet in front of you in the darkness - causing your imagination to run wild.
The site, formerly Rainford Delph Quarry, has been disused for many years and was thought to have been used as a game reserve and also an ammunition storage facility during the Second World War. Now officially closed to the public, the caves can still be accessed from a nearby footpath.
As we ventured slightly deeper, past the entrance, every sound from within seemed to be amplified greatly, leaving us on edge - I would definitely not recommend exploring Crank Caverns alone. One popular legend around the caves is a story of little boys being chased by dwarves. In the 1930's, a group of reporters went down looking for the dwarves.
Lewis Atherton, from Exploring History UK folklore podcast, said: "There's a story form the 1970s of three children, they're teenagers who went through 'the mousey' and it's described in the newspaper that the mousey hole went in a circle and that's all that's left.
"But they went down there with candles, I don't think they had matches and if they did they only had two or three matches and cave mountain and rescue had to haul them out."
Another myth surrounding Crank Caverns is that there could be a cathedral deep within the caves, however through research, Lewis, along with Claire Rigby from Momo's cafe, believe this is not the case. In the podcast, Lewis said: "In a caving world, a cathedral would be the opening of a cave, of a mine. The best way to describe a cathedral in a mine is how it is described to this day - a big grand opening with big rooms and big walls.
Claire said: "If you studied caving at university, a cathedral would be classed as the largest cave out of a series of caves and caverns, and the largest cave would normally have some sort of slab and that would be where a lot of miners would sit and rest and drink and things like that."
