Floyd Collins (1887-1925)
Tragedy in Cave of the Mammoth: Floyd Collins died exactly as he imagined in his night night, a week earlier.
The “largest cave explorer ever” (at least, according to his tombstone) died tragically 100 years ago to do what he liked the most, in one of the most talked about expeditions in the history of specleology.
Everything happened in late January 1925, when the fearless William Floyd Collins38, he ventured into the Sand Cave in the Mammoth Cave National Park region of Kentucky.
At the time yet to explore, Collins wanted to be the first to see the cave with his own eyes to open it to visitors, through an agreement with the landowner to share profits if the venture was successful, such as the National Service of US parks.
With a kerosene flashlight and nothing more, he crawled and sneaking down the narrow passages and tight cave spaces. On the return, a 12 -pound rock fell on top of his footholding it in the cave.
When Collins did not return home, they started to get them. His coat was discovered outside the cave, which led the rescuers to concentrate their efforts on the sandwithstage. However, the tight and treacherous passages made it almost impossible to reach the explorer.
A 17-year-old, Jewell, even crawled enough to communicate with Collins, but could not help him loose. They spent the days, and the explorer was still in the same place, unable to move.
As the news spread, the media were obsessed with the story. Some reports even said (falsely) that the whole incident was a scam or that Collins had been murdered.
One from The New York Times, published on February 6, 1925, was entitled “Dreamed of being in prison.” Collins’ stepmother said he had spoken of a nightmare that had a week before the fatal expedition, in which he was stuck in a cave due to the fall of a rock. He would have begged his stepson not to go, but it was the last time he saw him.
Despite the rumors, the attempted rescue continued, and on February 14, the excavated well to remove Collins had reached a depth of 17 meters.
On February 16, Collins was found dead by exposure, exhaustion and hungerJust 24 hours before rescuers arrived at their place.
His body was initially left inside the cave to avoid further accidents, but was later removed to a decent burial in the cemetery of the Baptist Church of the Cave of the Mammoth. Your tombstone will have the inscription forever: “The largest cave explorer ever known.”
This Saturday, Floyd’s death was remembered and honored in Cave City with a play dedicated to its history, according to the.
