The Agonizing Death Of Floyd Collins, The Cave Explorer Who Was Trapped Underground For 17 Days

 

The Agonizing Death Of Floyd Collins, The Cave Explorer Who Was Trapped Underground For 17 Days Before He Finally Perished

On January 30, 1925, William Floyd Collins got stuck in a passageway deep inside Kentucky's Sand Cave, inciting a media spectacle that drew tens of thousands of people to the scene in hopes of seeing him rescued.

On January 30, 1925, Floyd Collins squeezed himself inside Kentucky's Sand Cave in hopes of exploring its caverns and turning it into a tourist attraction. But as Collins tried to make his way out through a tiny passageway barely bigger than his own body, he accidentally dislodged a 27-pound rock that pinned his leg — and left him trapped deep underground.

For the next 17 days, rescue teams tried desperately to save Collins as news of his predicament spread across the nation. Engineers, geologists, miners, and fellow cavers all came together to brainstorm ways to save the doomed explorer. But in the end, their efforts were for naught and Collins eventually perished after more than two torturous weeks 55 feet below the earth.

This is the harrowing story of Floyd Collins: 

Floyd Collins was an experienced cave explorer. A participant in what became known as Kentucky’s “Cave Wars” of the early 20th century, Collins made several notable discoveries, including the Great Crystal Cave. But that’s not why the story of Floyd Collins — or Floyd Collins’ body — is remembered today.

A cave explorer since the age of six, Collins had never lost his lust for adventure — or for profit — and thus eagerly explored a new cave called the Sand Cave in 1925. But instead of turning the cave into a money-making operation as he’d hoped, Collins got trapped there.

Once his rescuers arrived, Collins’ entrapment became a media sensation. People gathered at the mouth of the cave, the entire nation waited in suspense to see if he would be saved, and heartwrenching interviews with Collins conducted by William Burke Miller later earned the reporter a Pulitzer.

In the end, however, Collins perished. But the story of what happened to Floyd Collins’ body is almost as astonishing as that of his demise inside Sand Cave.

Floyd Collins And The Kentucky Cave Wars

William Floyd Collins was born on June 20, 1887, in Logan County, Kentucky. His parents, Lee and Martha Jane Collins, owned a plot of farmland not far from Mammoth Cave, the world’s longest-known cave system comprising over 420 miles of surveyed passageways. Naturally, Mammoth Cave was, and still is, a popular destination for curious folk looking to explore its depths.

That same curiosity took hold of a young Floyd Collins, who, according to the National Park Service, made a hobby out of exploring caves near his parents’ farmland. Collins’ passion for caves led him to discover what came to be known as the Crystal Cave beneath the family farm in 1917.

Collins worked to develop the cave into an attraction that could draw people en route to Mammoth Cave by boasting of its unique formation of helictite and gypsum cave systems. But by the 1920s, other locals started trying to turn a profit from the state’s vast cave systems. Soon, rival businesses across the land touted their own guided cave tours.

The so-called “Cave Wars” erupted as enterprising entrepreneurs scoured Kentucky for new caves. The competition was fierce and the work was dangerous — and Floyd Collins was determined to come out on top. Disappointed by Crystal Cave’s lack of financial success, Collins set his sights on a different cave nearby.

This cave, located on the property of a nearby farmer named Beesly Doyel, seemed promising. Best of all, Doyel’s property was closer to Cave City Road than Crystal Cave, which meant that anyone on their way to Mammot.....

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