October 9, 2024 • 31 mins
What if the dark allure of the underground world could spell both fortune and doom? Join me, Carole Townsend, as we uncover the riveting and sobering tale of Floyd Collins, a passionate cave explorer whose dreams of discovery turned into a harrowing tragedy in Kentucky’s Sand Cave in 1925. We’ll traverse the era of the Kentucky Cave Wars, a time when spelunkers fiercely competed to unveil the next hidden gem, transforming natural wonders into profitable tourist attractions. Floyd’s astonishing find of the Great Crystal Cave in 1917 set the stage for his final, fateful adventure—one that captivated the nation and underscored the perils of this dangerous pursuit.
And that's not all—brace yourself for a chilling exploration of Lake Lanier, Georgia’s largest man-made lake with a haunting past. Created by damming the Chattahoochee River and flooding 38,000 acres, this lake has claimed over 700 lives, earning its grim moniker as a "watery grave." Through tales from reputable sources like the Kentucky National Guard and the National Park Service, we’ll delve into the eerie lore and tragic stories that surround this infamous body of water. From the tragic fate of Floyd Collins to the mysterious depths of Lake Lanier, this episode promises a captivating journey through history, tragedy, and the relentless human spirit. Subscribe and share these haunting stories with your friends—trust me, you won't want to miss this.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Carole Townsend (00:04):
In the early 1920s, cave exploring, or
spelunking, was a favoritepastime in the United States.
In fact, caves had become bigbusiness, with tourists flocking
from all over the country toexplore new and undiscovered
underground challenges.
The state of Kentucky is hometo Mammoth Cave National Park,
(00:28):
the world's longest knownnetwork of caves.
The largely limestoneunderground structures and
passages have been formed overmillions of years, with acidic
groundwater slowly butrelentlessly licking and carving
away at the stone walls.
The temperature inside thecaves always remains a steady 54
(00:52):
degrees.
Back in 1925, all that wasknown was that spelunking was a
national craze and a big touristand therefore big money
business.
This fad sparked what becameknown as the Kentucky Cave Wars,
and competition was fierce sofierce, in fact, that it caused
(01:18):
men to risk everything just tofind the next big discovery.
Here in the South, we love ourstories.
We begin in childhood huddledaround campfires, whispering of
things best spoken in the dark,confiding in our small, trusting
(01:40):
circles.
Why is that, do you suppose?
I have researched andinvestigated Southern history
for more than 20 years and Ibelieve it has to do with this
region itself.
There's a lot that hangs in theether here and much that is
buried deep in the soil.
There's beauty here in thesouth.
There's beauty here in theSouth and shame and courage.
(02:04):
And make no mistake, there isevil.
There's always been the elementof the unexplained, the just
out of reach that we can allfeel but can never quite
describe.
And the best place for tellingtales about such things is the
comfort and safety of an oldfront porch.
(02:25):
So I invite you tonight to comeup here with me, settle back
into a chair and get comfortable, pour yourself a drink if you
like, and I'll share with yousome of the tales best told in
the company of friends, talesthat prove that truth really is
stranger than fiction.
(02:46):
And I'll turn on the lightYou're going to want that.
I'm Carole Townsend.
Welcome to my Front Porch.
The following podcast containsmaterial that may be disturbing
Listener.
Discretion is advised.
(03:10):
Floyd Collins was born in LoganCounty, kentucky, in 1887.
From a very young age he lovedthe outdoors and soon developed
a favorite hobby cave exploring.
This pastime led him to his1917 discovery of Great Crystal
Cave on his family's farm.
(03:31):
Floyd, understanding thatpeople of the day were always
looking for the next newunderground adventure, developed
Crystal Cave as an invitingtourist stop in Kentucky,
developed Crystal Cave as aninviting tourist stop in
Kentucky.
Unfortunately, his find madehim little to no profit, as
(03:55):
Collins' new cave was not aseasily accessible to travelers
as were other caves in the state.
Undeterred Collins knew ofanother cave that had
money-making potential.
This hollow, which eventuallybecame known as Sand Cave, was
located on his neighbor'sproperty.
The two struck a business deal,agreeing to share in the
(04:16):
profits should the cave proveaccessible and navigable for the
average spelunker.
Collins was optimistic.
As Sand Cave was situated onprime real estate right beside
Cave City Road, travelers wouldhave to pass his cave on their
way to explore other alreadycharted destinations.
(04:39):
It would surely prove to be aprofitable find.
Floyd Collins first entered SandCave on January 30, 1925,
though he had been preparing thesite and the cave entrance for
weeks.
Despite his thoroughunderstanding of safety rules
(05:00):
when exploring caves, he tookwith him that day just a single
kerosene lantern.
Hanging his coat on a tree limbat the cave entrance, collins
entered Sand Cave Soon enough,he saw that the cave offered
many challenges.
Some passageways were so tightthat he had to inch through
(05:25):
crawling on his belly, extendingone arm ahead of him and
holding the other close to hisside.
Once he reached a more openspace.
His lantern began to flickerand, knowing the dangers of
being deep inside a cave withoutlight, collins turned to make
his way back to the entrance.
(05:46):
Going back through the tightpassage and his light growing
ever more dim, collins pushedagainst what he thought was the
cave wall to speed his exit.
He had actually pushed againsta large rock to try to squeeze
through the narrow space.
This was a mistake, as the rockbecame dislodged and pinned his
(06:08):
ankle underneath it.
As he struggled, loose gravelrained down on him from the
cave's ceiling, burying him upto his waist.
He could not move and becametrapped.
55 feet underground and just 150feet from the cave entrance.
The light from his lanterndimmed, then flickered and
(06:33):
sputtered a time or two and thenwinked out completely In the
black darkness of Sand Cave.
Floyd Collins understood thathe was buried alive almost 60
(06:53):
feet underground.
He alternated screaming forhelp with exhausted sleep for an
entire day.
It was indeed a full day beforeanyone realized Collins was
missing.
His neighbors, knowing thatCollins had gone inside the cave
the day before, were used tosuch a prolonged absence when
(07:15):
Floyd would go exploring.
But they became worried when hewas not home the next day.
They began looking for him and,before the day was through,
learned that he was trappedinside Sand Cave.
While none of them was braveenough to try to navigate the
narrow passages, they were ableto communicate with him.
(07:37):
He told them that he wastrapped and could not move, and
soon his brother, homer, wassummoned to the scene.
He was able to squeeze insidethe cave to get to his brother,
but he could do nothing to helphim except bring him food,
(07:59):
coffee and a blanket.
The gravel and then the largerock that had trapped Floyd's
foot had to be removed.
Homer tried digging his brotherout with his hands, but to no
avail.
Rescue efforts ramped up, withengineers, geologists and
explorers arriving on the sceneto help One man.
A respected firefighter offeredthe idea to pull Collins out
(08:23):
with a harness, but the effortnearly broke his back and was
simply too painful.
Both Collins and thefirefighter also knew that if
the effort were to be successful, collins could very possibly
leave his foot in the cave underthe rock.
Reportedly he said he didn'tcare.
(08:44):
The rock, reportedly he said hedidn't care, no matter.
His body could not havesurvived the pulling and
maneuvering, so he waited.
Conventional efforts failing,miners decided to dig a shaft to
reach the injured man.
However, torrential rain, cavecollapses, bitterly cold
(09:08):
temperatures and boisterousdisagreements about the best way
to free Collins hindered thealready disorganized efforts.
Precious time was slipping away.
No one was leading the teams ordirecting the rescuers.
Tension mounted With every daythat Floyd Collins was trapped
(09:30):
in Sand Cave.
The news story became bigger.
Within just a few days itbecame too big for small cave
city.
People from all over the countrybegan arriving on the scene and
before long the atmosphere tookon a circus-like feel.
Vendors set up areas to sellfood, cheap souvenirs and liquor
(09:54):
mostly moonshine pickpocketsand con artists abounded.
A preacher spoke to the crowdof thousands and people sang
hymns.
Unscrupulous opportunistspassed collection cups.
At the same time, lee Collins,floyd's father, begged onlookers
(10:15):
for money to support the rescueefforts.
Thousands crowded the rescuesite and this day became known
later as Carnival Sunday.
By Monday, february 2nd,reporters began showing up, the
most notable being William BurkeMiller, whose nickname was
(10:36):
Skeets, because it was said thathe was no bigger than a
mosquito.
Miller was able to crawl farinto the bowels of Sand Cave,
actually conducting severalinterviews with Collins through
the rubble and the rock.
These interviews would laterearn Miller the Pulitzer Prize.
(10:56):
But the reporter became sodismayed by Collins' predicament
that he put the career-changingstory aside and volunteered to
become a member of the rescueparty.
On Tuesday, february 3rd, floydCollins had become the nation's
top news story.
(11:18):
A crew of men from a monumentand headstone company in
Louisville arrived on the sceneready to chisel away the rock
above Floyd, giving rescuersbetter access.
Floyd's friend, john Gerald,wouldn't hear of it as the move
he said would be too risky of it, as the move he said would be
(11:40):
too risky.
This interference started arift between groups trying to
free the entombed man.
Locals felt like they werebeing excluded from the rescue
efforts, while outsiders who hadno knowledge about the local
caves were taking over.
Resentment and anger weresimmering, often boiling over.
The bickering and arguing againslowed rescue efforts.
(12:04):
Later, a man from a Kentuckyasphalt company offered his
assistance by scouting out asuitable location to dig a
rescue shaft.
His was the first attempt toorganize the hundreds of
rescuers on the scene in acoordinated effort.
However, Collins brothers andother locals disagreed with that
(12:28):
approach again, feeling thatthe move would be too dangerous.
Instead, the crew from theasphalt company agreed to simply
help remove rocks from thetight passageway to assist in
the rescue.
It was on this date that theNational Guard arrived for crowd
control, since fights, and evena shooting or two, had broken
(12:52):
out.
Amid the chaos, skeets Millerand other volunteers rigged an
electrical cord and some lightbulbs to a generator and then
strung them through the cave togive Floyd some light and a
little warmth.
This seemed to lift his spirits.
Since the first known day ofFloyd Collins' situation,
(13:16):
volunteers were tasked withgetting food, water and blankets
to him while he waited to befreed.
He was cold, his voice shaky.
He vacillated between states oflethargy and lucidity, with
dehydration and exposure to theelements taking their toll.
Later, rescuers found the foodand the blankets that were
(13:40):
supposed to be passed to Floydhidden in crevices along the
cave walls.
The interior of Sand Cave wasunstable, water had begun
covering the floor and peoplewere afraid to be inside the
shifting cave walls.
They would come out of the cavetelling onlookers that, yes,
(14:01):
they had delivered the food inthe blankets and that Floyd was
wrapped snugly in a warm, dryblanket drinking coffee when
they left him, knowing all alongthat he was alone and cold and
hungry, and cold and hungry.
(14:23):
Churches across the nationbegan holding services for Floyd
Collins and the rescuers.
On Thursday, february 5th,kentucky Governor William Fields
placed National Guard BrigadierGeneral Henry Denhart in
command of the rescue.
Engineer Henry Carmichael wouldsupervise the digging of a six
foot by six foot vertical shaftto rescue Collins.
(14:46):
Confusion and disagreementregarding the placement of the
shaft delayed the project untilmidday.
Since the use of pneumatictools, drills and dynamite could
easily collapse the cave walls,the men could only use picks
and shovels.
It was slow, tedious work.
(15:08):
A mobile hospital was set up totreat bruises, contusions and
exhaustion while everyone waitedfor the now-famous Floyd
Collins to emerge alive and well.
By February 6th.
Floyd had been in the cave foran entire week.
The digging was slow.
(15:29):
Rain, mud and cold winds madethe work slower and even more
difficult made the work slowerand even more difficult.
More volunteers and onlookerscrowded the site.
The National Guard had set upbarbed wire fencing to keep the
rescue site clear and safe.
(15:49):
Locals were being kept away andthey did not like that.
Tempers flared and fights brokeout, often over the best way to
extricate Collins from his tomb.
No matter the method chosen, itwould be dangerous.
What many didn't realize wasthat Sand Cave, unlike the many
(16:13):
other limestone caves in thearea was relatively untouched
before Collins began hisexploration.
It was a rather fragileenvironment.
The walls were mud, rock and,of course, sand, making them
very unstable.
In February, ice played a rolein holding the walls steady and
(16:41):
strong, but the throngs ofpeople, their campfires and
their body heat, the digging,walking and bumping against
those walls turned the cave intoa melting house of cards.
The situation was precarious notjust for Collins but for
(17:01):
everyone working to free him.
Still more automobiles arrived,jamming area roads.
Movie crews showed up hoping tocapture the drama.
Floyd's brother and good friendwere banned from the site site
as their presence seemed toinstigate arguments and
(17:22):
dissension.
All the while, floyd Collinswaited, begging the men to hurry
and to keep talking to him.
The isolation and hopelessnessmust have been heavy for the
trapped man.
And hopelessness must have beenheavy for the trapped man.
(17:44):
I'm reading here a passage fromthe Farmer's Almanac dated
February 16, 2024.
Floyd, who had been crawlinginto caves since boyhood, had
been in tight spots before, butnever one in which he felt so
helpless.
His hands had become scrapedand bloody from clawing at rocks
(18:10):
.
Icy snow melt dripped throughthe cave ceiling onto his face.
The damp ground in the54-degree chamber chilled him.
The 54-degree chamber chilledhim, even knowing that it would
be hours before family andfriends missed him.
He yelled for help until helost his voice, alone with his
thoughts.
Surely one memory crossed hismind A day earlier he had told
(18:33):
his stepmother, miss Jane, thathe dreamed about being trapped
by a rock in his new cave andangels had come for him About
his latest discovery.
She had warned don't go back inthere, floyd.
Later, one rescuer rememberedseeing Collins' face covered
(18:55):
with a handkerchief and hereached in to remove it.
Collins replied weakly no, thewater.
The steady drip of the icywater was slowly driving him
insane.
The rescuer was reminded of thedreaded Chinese water torture
(19:17):
designed to do exactly that.
The next few days saw the mayhemspiral downward, with crowds
swelling and many setting out ontheir own to find a way to free
Collins.
The Red Cross arrived and beganfeeding the rescuers.
Until then, it's been said, theworkers only had black coffee,
(19:44):
crackers and whiskey to fuelthem.
Cave City was overwhelmed withreporters there from every state
in the Union and some fromoverseas.
The Floyd Collins incidentsparked the first-ever
transatlantic phone call fromKentucky to England made by an
(20:04):
English reporter.
Up-to-date news reports wentout over radios, also a first
nationwide.
As reporters will often do,members of the media began
speculating and painting theentire scene in a negative light
in order to create headlines.
(20:25):
Rumors began to circulate thatrescuers weren't doing enough
and that, in their bumblingefforts, they were doing nothing
short of murdering FloydCollins.
Another rumor made the roundsthat Collins had been murdered
by someone inside the cave, hisbody hidden deep in the cold and
(20:47):
dark, not meant to bediscovered.
Yet another rumor circulatedthat food and water were being
withheld from the trapped man sothat he would die.
This, some said, would increaseinterest in this new, possibly
lucrative, cave discovery.
(21:08):
And then then came the rumorthat Floyd Collins wasn't really
in Sand Cave after all, that hehad staged this entire stunt to
drum up business for hisnewfound tourist attraction.
In this version of events,collins was rumored to be
(21:28):
traveling to and from the caveeach night, hoodwinking the
entire world each night,hoodwinking the entire world.
This rumor was so disturbingand divisive that it spurred the
police to step in and order agrand jury investigation into
the matter.
Was Floyd Collins trapped deepinside Sand Cave or was this
(21:51):
entire drama staged simply tomake money?
On February 10th, a militarycourt of inquiry convened to
look into suspicions of criminalactivity aimed at blocking
rescue attempts and to disprovethe rumor that Collins was
perpetuating a hoax.
Volunteers, dismayed, beganpacking up and leaving,
(22:17):
believing they'd been duped.
Rain continued to drench thesite and the remaining
volunteers, slowing rescueefforts even more.
The next day temperaturesdropped into the 20s and snow
began to fall.
The bitter cold slowed effortseven further.
(22:38):
And still Floyd Collins waited.
By February 12th he had beentrapped for 13 days and had not
eaten in more than a week.
The court's inquiry continued,albeit slowly.
The court's inquiry continued,albeit slowly.
On February 13th, the court'sinquiry moved to the rescue site
(23:02):
with officials askingvolunteers there whether Floyd
was indeed trapped inside thecave.
And then another rumor surfacedthat Floyd had already been
rescued.
Washington DC and then anotherrumor surfaced that Floyd had
already been rescued.
Washington DC was sooverwhelmed with phone calls
that business in the nation'scapital was suspended for a day
(23:25):
just to field those calls and todeal with the situation.
At 10pm that evening, the rescueshaft had reached 52 feet down
into the cave.
On Saturday, valentine's Day,the shaft had reached 55 feet.
Rescuers were so desperate toreach Floyd that they began
(23:49):
digging laterally in an attemptto reach him faster.
It had been raining heavily.
The walls of the shaft werebeginning to soften and slump.
Two feet of standing water onthe cave floor had to be pumped
out for work to continue.
By the end of the night onFebruary 15th, the tunnel that
(24:12):
had been dug laterally waswithin just seven feet of Floyd.
Everyone stood by anxiously andwaited to see him pulled out,
worse for his ordeal, but alive.
On February 16th, tunnelersbroke through to the narrow
chamber that held Floyd Collins.
(24:33):
A physician who also served ascoroner, went in first and came
out uttering only one word dead.
Nature had proven to be toopowerful an adversary.
Floyd Collins had lost his life.
(24:57):
Based on the condition of hisbody, the on-site coroner
estimated that he had been deadfor one or maybe two days.
Starvation, exhaustion andexposure were listed as the
causes of death, and exposurewere listed as the causes of
death.
Because his foot and leg werestill trapped and because the
(25:25):
cave ceiling and walls werecrumbling and failing at an
alarming rate, officials on sitedecided to leave the body
inside Sand Cave and seal theentrance.
Floyd Collins' promisingdiscovery had now become his
coffin.
The Sand Cave rescue attemptbecame the third biggest media
event of the time, second onlyto the two World Wars.
(25:51):
Another interesting point tonote here is that Charles
Lindbergh himself was hired todeliver photograph negatives
from Horse Cave near the rescuesite to a Chicago newspaper.
Later Lindbergh learned that hehad delivered the negatives to
the wrong paper.
Two years after that he wouldmake his historic transatlantic
(26:14):
flight.
Now this remarkable and tragicevent would be fascinating
enough if it ended here, butremember it took place in the
South.
Sand Cave was sealed afterFloyd's body was found, as it
was intended to be his finalresting place.
(26:34):
But just two months laterFloyd's brother, homer, decided
that he was not pleased withthese arrangements.
He and some friends reopenedthe cave and dug their way to
his brother's body, removing it.
On April 23, 1925 the body wastaken to Cave City for embalming
(26:58):
and then transported to theCollins family farm and buried
on a hillside near Great CrystalCave.
Lee Collins renamed GreatCrystal Cave Floyd Collins
Crystal, but the next year Leesold the homestead to Dr Harry
Thomas, a dentist and the ownerof two other caves in the area.
(27:21):
Dr Thomas disinterred FloydCollins' body and put it on
display in a glass-topped coffininside Crystal Cave, where it
remained for several years.
On the night of March 18, 1929,the body was stolen.
(27:46):
A few days later it was foundin a nearby field, the injured
left leg missing.
After this horrendousdesecration, floyd Collins'
remains were returned to thecave named for him and placed
inside a chained casket In 1962,great Crystal Cave was
(28:17):
purchased by Mammoth CaveBaptist Church Cemetery in 1989.
It took a team of 15 men justthree days to remove the casket
and the accompanying tombstonefrom the cave.
Tombstone from the Cave.
(28:40):
Floyd Collins' harrowingentombment and the remarkable
events that followed have beenmemorialized in film, in books
and in music.
The 1951 film Ace in the Holestarring Kirk Douglas,
references the tragedy.
Collins' adventurous life andterrible death inspired the
haunting musical comedy titledFloyd Collins.
(29:02):
A documentary, a few books, amuseum and many songs also
memorialize the man and thosedreadful events that began on a
cold January morning back in1925.
Join me next time as we examinethe strange and haunting
(29:29):
history of Lake Sidney.
Lanier, georgia's largestman-made lake.
Glanier, georgia's largestman-made lake.
Since the mid-1950s when theChattahoochee River was dammed
to flood 38,000 acres of land tocreate the lake.
There have been more than 700deaths on this beautiful deep
(29:50):
blue watery grave.
Why watery grave why.
I'm Carole Townsend, veterannewspaper journalist and
six-time award-winning author.
You can find me on social mediaand check out my website at www
(30:10):
.
caroletownsendcom.
As always, thanks for listening, and if you're enjoying these
tales of Southern history andlore, I hope you'll tell your
friends.
Subscribe to this podcast onSpotify, apple Play, iheart and
anywhere you listen.
My team and I benefited fromthe following research and
(30:34):
writings to bring this tale toyou the Kentucky National Guard,
military News, national ParkService.
Tragedy at Sand Cave.
Dreamed of being trapped.
Collins had a terrifying vision, his mother says, but did not
heed.
New York Times, march 7th 1925.
(30:57):
The Farmer's Almanac andWikipedia Floyd Collins.
In the early 1920s, cave exploring, or
spelunking, was a favoritepastime in the United States.
In fact, caves had become bigbusiness, with tourists flocking
from all over the country toexplore new and undiscovered
underground challenges.
The state of Kentucky is hometo Mammoth Cave National Park,
(00:28):
the world's longest knownnetwork of caves.
The largely limestoneunderground structures and
passages have been formed overmillions of years, with acidic
groundwater slowly butrelentlessly licking and carving
away at the stone walls.
The temperature inside thecaves always remains a steady 54
(00:52):
degrees.
Back in 1925, all that wasknown was that spelunking was a
national craze and a big touristand therefore big money
business.
This fad sparked what becameknown as the Kentucky Cave Wars,
and competition was fierce sofierce, in fact, that it caused
(01:18):
men to risk everything just tofind the next big discovery.
Here in the South, we love ourstories.
We begin in childhood huddledaround campfires, whispering of
things best spoken in the dark,confiding in our small, trusting
(01:40):
circles.
Why is that, do you suppose?
I have researched andinvestigated Southern history
for more than 20 years and Ibelieve it has to do with this
region itself.
There's a lot that hangs in theether here and much that is
buried deep in the soil.
There's beauty here in thesouth.
There's beauty here in theSouth and shame and courage.
(02:04):
And make no mistake, there isevil.
There's always been the elementof the unexplained, the just
out of reach that we can allfeel but can never quite
describe.
And the best place for tellingtales about such things is the
comfort and safety of an oldfront porch.
(02:25):
So I invite you tonight to comeup here with me, settle back
into a chair and get comfortable, pour yourself a drink if you
like, and I'll share with yousome of the tales best told in
the company of friends, talesthat prove that truth really is
stranger than fiction.
(02:46):
And I'll turn on the lightYou're going to want that.
I'm Carole Townsend.
Welcome to my Front Porch.
The following podcast containsmaterial that may be disturbing
Listener.
Discretion is advised.
(03:10):
Floyd Collins was born in LoganCounty, kentucky, in 1887.
From a very young age he lovedthe outdoors and soon developed
a favorite hobby cave exploring.
This pastime led him to his1917 discovery of Great Crystal
Cave on his family's farm.
(03:31):
Floyd, understanding thatpeople of the day were always
looking for the next newunderground adventure, developed
Crystal Cave as an invitingtourist stop in Kentucky,
developed Crystal Cave as aninviting tourist stop in
Kentucky.
Unfortunately, his find madehim little to no profit, as
(03:55):
Collins' new cave was not aseasily accessible to travelers
as were other caves in the state.
Undeterred Collins knew ofanother cave that had
money-making potential.
This hollow, which eventuallybecame known as Sand Cave, was
located on his neighbor'sproperty.
The two struck a business deal,agreeing to share in the
(04:16):
profits should the cave proveaccessible and navigable for the
average spelunker.
Collins was optimistic.
As Sand Cave was situated onprime real estate right beside
Cave City Road, travelers wouldhave to pass his cave on their
way to explore other alreadycharted destinations.
(04:39):
It would surely prove to be aprofitable find.
Floyd Collins first entered SandCave on January 30, 1925,
though he had been preparing thesite and the cave entrance for
weeks.
Despite his thoroughunderstanding of safety rules
(05:00):
when exploring caves, he tookwith him that day just a single
kerosene lantern.
Hanging his coat on a tree limbat the cave entrance, collins
entered Sand Cave Soon enough,he saw that the cave offered
many challenges.
Some passageways were so tightthat he had to inch through
(05:25):
crawling on his belly, extendingone arm ahead of him and
holding the other close to hisside.
Once he reached a more openspace.
His lantern began to flickerand, knowing the dangers of
being deep inside a cave withoutlight, collins turned to make
his way back to the entrance.
(05:46):
Going back through the tightpassage and his light growing
ever more dim, collins pushedagainst what he thought was the
cave wall to speed his exit.
He had actually pushed againsta large rock to try to squeeze
through the narrow space.
This was a mistake, as the rockbecame dislodged and pinned his
(06:08):
ankle underneath it.
As he struggled, loose gravelrained down on him from the
cave's ceiling, burying him upto his waist.
He could not move and becametrapped.
55 feet underground and just 150feet from the cave entrance.
The light from his lanterndimmed, then flickered and
(06:33):
sputtered a time or two and thenwinked out completely In the
black darkness of Sand Cave.
Floyd Collins understood thathe was buried alive almost 60
(06:53):
feet underground.
He alternated screaming forhelp with exhausted sleep for an
entire day.
It was indeed a full day beforeanyone realized Collins was
missing.
His neighbors, knowing thatCollins had gone inside the cave
the day before, were used tosuch a prolonged absence when
(07:15):
Floyd would go exploring.
But they became worried when hewas not home the next day.
They began looking for him and,before the day was through,
learned that he was trappedinside Sand Cave.
While none of them was braveenough to try to navigate the
narrow passages, they were ableto communicate with him.
(07:37):
He told them that he wastrapped and could not move, and
soon his brother, homer, wassummoned to the scene.
He was able to squeeze insidethe cave to get to his brother,
but he could do nothing to helphim except bring him food,
(07:59):
coffee and a blanket.
The gravel and then the largerock that had trapped Floyd's
foot had to be removed.
Homer tried digging his brotherout with his hands, but to no
avail.
Rescue efforts ramped up, withengineers, geologists and
explorers arriving on the sceneto help One man.
A respected firefighter offeredthe idea to pull Collins out
(08:23):
with a harness, but the effortnearly broke his back and was
simply too painful.
Both Collins and thefirefighter also knew that if
the effort were to be successful, collins could very possibly
leave his foot in the cave underthe rock.
Reportedly he said he didn'tcare.
(08:44):
The rock, reportedly he said hedidn't care, no matter.
His body could not havesurvived the pulling and
maneuvering, so he waited.
Conventional efforts failing,miners decided to dig a shaft to
reach the injured man.
However, torrential rain, cavecollapses, bitterly cold
(09:08):
temperatures and boisterousdisagreements about the best way
to free Collins hindered thealready disorganized efforts.
Precious time was slipping away.
No one was leading the teams ordirecting the rescuers.
Tension mounted With every daythat Floyd Collins was trapped
(09:30):
in Sand Cave.
The news story became bigger.
Within just a few days itbecame too big for small cave
city.
People from all over the countrybegan arriving on the scene and
before long the atmosphere tookon a circus-like feel.
Vendors set up areas to sellfood, cheap souvenirs and liquor
(09:54):
mostly moonshine pickpocketsand con artists abounded.
A preacher spoke to the crowdof thousands and people sang
hymns.
Unscrupulous opportunistspassed collection cups.
At the same time, lee Collins,floyd's father, begged onlookers
(10:15):
for money to support the rescueefforts.
Thousands crowded the rescuesite and this day became known
later as Carnival Sunday.
By Monday, february 2nd,reporters began showing up, the
most notable being William BurkeMiller, whose nickname was
(10:36):
Skeets, because it was said thathe was no bigger than a
mosquito.
Miller was able to crawl farinto the bowels of Sand Cave,
actually conducting severalinterviews with Collins through
the rubble and the rock.
These interviews would laterearn Miller the Pulitzer Prize.
(10:56):
But the reporter became sodismayed by Collins' predicament
that he put the career-changingstory aside and volunteered to
become a member of the rescueparty.
On Tuesday, february 3rd, floydCollins had become the nation's
top news story.
(11:18):
A crew of men from a monumentand headstone company in
Louisville arrived on the sceneready to chisel away the rock
above Floyd, giving rescuersbetter access.
Floyd's friend, john Gerald,wouldn't hear of it as the move
he said would be too risky of it, as the move he said would be
(11:40):
too risky.
This interference started arift between groups trying to
free the entombed man.
Locals felt like they werebeing excluded from the rescue
efforts, while outsiders who hadno knowledge about the local
caves were taking over.
Resentment and anger weresimmering, often boiling over.
The bickering and arguing againslowed rescue efforts.
(12:04):
Later, a man from a Kentuckyasphalt company offered his
assistance by scouting out asuitable location to dig a
rescue shaft.
His was the first attempt toorganize the hundreds of
rescuers on the scene in acoordinated effort.
However, Collins brothers andother locals disagreed with that
(12:28):
approach again, feeling thatthe move would be too dangerous.
Instead, the crew from theasphalt company agreed to simply
help remove rocks from thetight passageway to assist in
the rescue.
It was on this date that theNational Guard arrived for crowd
control, since fights, and evena shooting or two, had broken
(12:52):
out.
Amid the chaos, skeets Millerand other volunteers rigged an
electrical cord and some lightbulbs to a generator and then
strung them through the cave togive Floyd some light and a
little warmth.
This seemed to lift his spirits.
Since the first known day ofFloyd Collins' situation,
(13:16):
volunteers were tasked withgetting food, water and blankets
to him while he waited to befreed.
He was cold, his voice shaky.
He vacillated between states oflethargy and lucidity, with
dehydration and exposure to theelements taking their toll.
Later, rescuers found the foodand the blankets that were
(13:40):
supposed to be passed to Floydhidden in crevices along the
cave walls.
The interior of Sand Cave wasunstable, water had begun
covering the floor and peoplewere afraid to be inside the
shifting cave walls.
They would come out of the cavetelling onlookers that, yes,
(14:01):
they had delivered the food inthe blankets and that Floyd was
wrapped snugly in a warm, dryblanket drinking coffee when
they left him, knowing all alongthat he was alone and cold and
hungry, and cold and hungry.
(14:23):
Churches across the nationbegan holding services for Floyd
Collins and the rescuers.
On Thursday, february 5th,kentucky Governor William Fields
placed National Guard BrigadierGeneral Henry Denhart in
command of the rescue.
Engineer Henry Carmichael wouldsupervise the digging of a six
foot by six foot vertical shaftto rescue Collins.
(14:46):
Confusion and disagreementregarding the placement of the
shaft delayed the project untilmidday.
Since the use of pneumatictools, drills and dynamite could
easily collapse the cave walls,the men could only use picks
and shovels.
It was slow, tedious work.
(15:08):
A mobile hospital was set up totreat bruises, contusions and
exhaustion while everyone waitedfor the now-famous Floyd
Collins to emerge alive and well.
By February 6th.
Floyd had been in the cave foran entire week.
The digging was slow.
(15:29):
Rain, mud and cold winds madethe work slower and even more
difficult made the work slowerand even more difficult.
More volunteers and onlookerscrowded the site.
The National Guard had set upbarbed wire fencing to keep the
rescue site clear and safe.
(15:49):
Locals were being kept away andthey did not like that.
Tempers flared and fights brokeout, often over the best way to
extricate Collins from his tomb.
No matter the method chosen, itwould be dangerous.
What many didn't realize wasthat Sand Cave, unlike the many
(16:13):
other limestone caves in thearea was relatively untouched
before Collins began hisexploration.
It was a rather fragileenvironment.
The walls were mud, rock and,of course, sand, making them
very unstable.
In February, ice played a rolein holding the walls steady and
(16:41):
strong, but the throngs ofpeople, their campfires and
their body heat, the digging,walking and bumping against
those walls turned the cave intoa melting house of cards.
The situation was precarious notjust for Collins but for
(17:01):
everyone working to free him.
Still more automobiles arrived,jamming area roads.
Movie crews showed up hoping tocapture the drama.
Floyd's brother and good friendwere banned from the site site
as their presence seemed toinstigate arguments and
(17:22):
dissension.
All the while, floyd Collinswaited, begging the men to hurry
and to keep talking to him.
The isolation and hopelessnessmust have been heavy for the
trapped man.
And hopelessness must have beenheavy for the trapped man.
(17:44):
I'm reading here a passage fromthe Farmer's Almanac dated
February 16, 2024.
Floyd, who had been crawlinginto caves since boyhood, had
been in tight spots before, butnever one in which he felt so
helpless.
His hands had become scrapedand bloody from clawing at rocks
(18:10):
.
Icy snow melt dripped throughthe cave ceiling onto his face.
The damp ground in the54-degree chamber chilled him.
The 54-degree chamber chilledhim, even knowing that it would
be hours before family andfriends missed him.
He yelled for help until helost his voice, alone with his
thoughts.
Surely one memory crossed hismind A day earlier he had told
(18:33):
his stepmother, miss Jane, thathe dreamed about being trapped
by a rock in his new cave andangels had come for him About
his latest discovery.
She had warned don't go back inthere, floyd.
Later, one rescuer rememberedseeing Collins' face covered
(18:55):
with a handkerchief and hereached in to remove it.
Collins replied weakly no, thewater.
The steady drip of the icywater was slowly driving him
insane.
The rescuer was reminded of thedreaded Chinese water torture
(19:17):
designed to do exactly that.
The next few days saw the mayhemspiral downward, with crowds
swelling and many setting out ontheir own to find a way to free
Collins.
The Red Cross arrived and beganfeeding the rescuers.
Until then, it's been said, theworkers only had black coffee,
(19:44):
crackers and whiskey to fuelthem.
Cave City was overwhelmed withreporters there from every state
in the Union and some fromoverseas.
The Floyd Collins incidentsparked the first-ever
transatlantic phone call fromKentucky to England made by an
(20:04):
English reporter.
Up-to-date news reports wentout over radios, also a first
nationwide.
As reporters will often do,members of the media began
speculating and painting theentire scene in a negative light
in order to create headlines.
(20:25):
Rumors began to circulate thatrescuers weren't doing enough
and that, in their bumblingefforts, they were doing nothing
short of murdering FloydCollins.
Another rumor made the roundsthat Collins had been murdered
by someone inside the cave, hisbody hidden deep in the cold and
(20:47):
dark, not meant to bediscovered.
Yet another rumor circulatedthat food and water were being
withheld from the trapped man sothat he would die.
This, some said, would increaseinterest in this new, possibly
lucrative, cave discovery.
(21:08):
And then then came the rumorthat Floyd Collins wasn't really
in Sand Cave after all, that hehad staged this entire stunt to
drum up business for hisnewfound tourist attraction.
In this version of events,collins was rumored to be
(21:28):
traveling to and from the caveeach night, hoodwinking the
entire world each night,hoodwinking the entire world.
This rumor was so disturbingand divisive that it spurred the
police to step in and order agrand jury investigation into
the matter.
Was Floyd Collins trapped deepinside Sand Cave or was this
(21:51):
entire drama staged simply tomake money?
On February 10th, a militarycourt of inquiry convened to
look into suspicions of criminalactivity aimed at blocking
rescue attempts and to disprovethe rumor that Collins was
perpetuating a hoax.
Volunteers, dismayed, beganpacking up and leaving,
(22:17):
believing they'd been duped.
Rain continued to drench thesite and the remaining
volunteers, slowing rescueefforts even more.
The next day temperaturesdropped into the 20s and snow
began to fall.
The bitter cold slowed effortseven further.
(22:38):
And still Floyd Collins waited.
By February 12th he had beentrapped for 13 days and had not
eaten in more than a week.
The court's inquiry continued,albeit slowly.
The court's inquiry continued,albeit slowly.
On February 13th, the court'sinquiry moved to the rescue site
(23:02):
with officials askingvolunteers there whether Floyd
was indeed trapped inside thecave.
And then another rumor surfacedthat Floyd had already been
rescued.
Washington DC and then anotherrumor surfaced that Floyd had
already been rescued.
Washington DC was sooverwhelmed with phone calls
that business in the nation'scapital was suspended for a day
(23:25):
just to field those calls and todeal with the situation.
At 10pm that evening, the rescueshaft had reached 52 feet down
into the cave.
On Saturday, valentine's Day,the shaft had reached 55 feet.
Rescuers were so desperate toreach Floyd that they began
(23:49):
digging laterally in an attemptto reach him faster.
It had been raining heavily.
The walls of the shaft werebeginning to soften and slump.
Two feet of standing water onthe cave floor had to be pumped
out for work to continue.
By the end of the night onFebruary 15th, the tunnel that
(24:12):
had been dug laterally waswithin just seven feet of Floyd.
Everyone stood by anxiously andwaited to see him pulled out,
worse for his ordeal, but alive.
On February 16th, tunnelersbroke through to the narrow
chamber that held Floyd Collins.
(24:33):
A physician who also served ascoroner, went in first and came
out uttering only one word dead.
Nature had proven to be toopowerful an adversary.
Floyd Collins had lost his life.
(24:57):
Based on the condition of hisbody, the on-site coroner
estimated that he had been deadfor one or maybe two days.
Starvation, exhaustion andexposure were listed as the
causes of death, and exposurewere listed as the causes of
death.
Because his foot and leg werestill trapped and because the
(25:25):
cave ceiling and walls werecrumbling and failing at an
alarming rate, officials on sitedecided to leave the body
inside Sand Cave and seal theentrance.
Floyd Collins' promisingdiscovery had now become his
coffin.
The Sand Cave rescue attemptbecame the third biggest media
event of the time, second onlyto the two World Wars.
(25:51):
Another interesting point tonote here is that Charles
Lindbergh himself was hired todeliver photograph negatives
from Horse Cave near the rescuesite to a Chicago newspaper.
Later Lindbergh learned that hehad delivered the negatives to
the wrong paper.
Two years after that he wouldmake his historic transatlantic
(26:14):
flight.
Now this remarkable and tragicevent would be fascinating
enough if it ended here, butremember it took place in the
South.
Sand Cave was sealed afterFloyd's body was found, as it
was intended to be his finalresting place.
(26:34):
But just two months laterFloyd's brother, homer, decided
that he was not pleased withthese arrangements.
He and some friends reopenedthe cave and dug their way to
his brother's body, removing it.
On April 23, 1925 the body wastaken to Cave City for embalming
(26:58):
and then transported to theCollins family farm and buried
on a hillside near Great CrystalCave.
Lee Collins renamed GreatCrystal Cave Floyd Collins
Crystal, but the next year Leesold the homestead to Dr Harry
Thomas, a dentist and the ownerof two other caves in the area.
(27:21):
Dr Thomas disinterred FloydCollins' body and put it on
display in a glass-topped coffininside Crystal Cave, where it
remained for several years.
On the night of March 18, 1929,the body was stolen.
(27:46):
A few days later it was foundin a nearby field, the injured
left leg missing.
After this horrendousdesecration, floyd Collins'
remains were returned to thecave named for him and placed
inside a chained casket In 1962,great Crystal Cave was
(28:17):
purchased by Mammoth CaveBaptist Church Cemetery in 1989.
It took a team of 15 men justthree days to remove the casket
and the accompanying tombstonefrom the cave.
Tombstone from the Cave.
(28:40):
Floyd Collins' harrowingentombment and the remarkable
events that followed have beenmemorialized in film, in books
and in music.
The 1951 film Ace in the Holestarring Kirk Douglas,
references the tragedy.
Collins' adventurous life andterrible death inspired the
haunting musical comedy titledFloyd Collins.
(29:02):
A documentary, a few books, amuseum and many songs also
memorialize the man and thosedreadful events that began on a
cold January morning back in1925.
Join me next time as we examinethe strange and haunting
(29:29):
history of Lake Sidney.
Lanier, georgia's largestman-made lake.
Glanier, georgia's largestman-made lake.
Since the mid-1950s when theChattahoochee River was dammed
to flood 38,000 acres of land tocreate the lake.
There have been more than 700deaths on this beautiful deep
(29:50):
blue watery grave.
Why watery grave why.
I'm Carole Townsend, veterannewspaper journalist and
six-time award-winning author.
You can find me on social mediaand check out my website at www
(30:10):
.
caroletownsendcom.
As always, thanks for listening, and if you're enjoying these
tales of Southern history andlore, I hope you'll tell your
friends.
Subscribe to this podcast onSpotify, apple Play, iheart and
anywhere you listen.
My team and I benefited fromthe following research and
(30:34):
writings to bring this tale toyou the Kentucky National Guard,
military News, national ParkService.
Tragedy at Sand Cave.
Dreamed of being trapped.
Collins had a terrifying vision, his mother says, but did not
heed.
New York Times, march 7th 1925.
(30:57):
The Farmer's Almanac andWikipedia Floyd Collins.
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