Mossdale Caverns, Yorkshire Dales, Saturday 24 June 1967: ten cavers go in on a fine summer day. Four turn back. Then the weather breaks, Mossdale Beck floods the entrance, and six men are cut off deep inside. Rescuers dig a trench and dam the beck to reach them. Told from published accounts of the tragedy. Content note: this story ends with six deaths.

The case: Mossdale Caverns, Upper Wharfedale, Yorkshire Dales, England, 24 June 1967.

On Saturday 24 June 1967, ten cavers entered Mossdale Caverns in Upper Wharfedale, in the Yorkshire Dales. Four turned back after about three hours. Heavy rain swelled Mossdale Beck and flooded the entrance and much of the cave. Rescuers diverted the beck with a trench and a dam; the bodies of five of the six cavers left inside were found in the Far Marathon Crawls, and the sixth later. The cave was sealed.

Chapters

0:00 The entrance

0:29 Ten cavers

0:59 The beck

1:24 The dam

1:52 Far Marathon

2:22 Sealed

2:45 What the record says

Sources

Wikipedia, "Mossdale Caverns" (the 1967 tragedy, with its references)

"Remembering Mossdale fifty years on", with John Conway's account, Darkness Below, 2017

Full transcript:

https://pub-413c1fc5107e439dbec7a1f1c322ed45.r2.dev/transcripts/ep12.vtt

Caving Stories on YouTube:

English

Spanish

Portuguese

Follow the show in your podcast app to get each new episode as soon as it is out.

Produced by Caving Stories.

Tongue River Cave, Wyoming, June 2002: nine young cavers are exploring when a 300-pound boulder comes loose and falls, trapping two of them, Barry Blaha and Danna Herbert, in a small passage. Their friends run for help. Sheridan County rescuers work for hours and move the boulder with a winch. Told from the National Speleological Society's accident report, with the cave's earlier record.

The case: Tongue River Cave, Sheridan County, Wyoming, June 2002.

In June 2002, Barry Blaha, Danna Herbert and seven other young cavers were exploring Tongue River Cave, Wyoming, when a 300-pound boulder became dislodged and fell, trapping Blaha and Herbert in a small passage. Several companions went for help. After several hours of work, Sheridan County rescuers moved the boulder with a winch and other tools, and the two were freed at about 10:30 p.m.

Chapters

0:00 Three hundred pounds

0:26 Nine young cavers

0:59 The boulder

1:19 For help

1:32 The winch

1:53 What the record says

Sources

NSS News, American Caving Accidents, August 2005, Part 2 (2002 incidents), p. 18: "Tongue River Cave, Wyoming, rockfall entrapment"

NSS News, American Caving Accidents, June 2003, Part 2 (1999 incidents): Tongue River Cave, 26 September and 6 November 1999

Wikipedia, "Tongue River Cave" (location)

Full transcript:

https://pub-413c1fc5107e439dbec7a1f1c322ed45.r2.dev/transcripts/ep11.vtt

Caving Stories on YouTube:

English

Spanish

Portuguese

Follow the show in your podcast app to get each new episode as soon as it is out.

Produced by Caving Stories.

A cave on private land in the Black Hills of South Dakota, 7 and 8 October 2022: a young caver squeezes around a 90-degree bend in a passage nine inches high, and cannot come back through it. Cavers of the Paha Sapa Grotto bring wired field phones, hammer drills and webbing, forty minutes of crawling from the entrance. Eighteen hours later, he crawls out on his own. Told from the press accounts of the rescue.

The case: A cave on private land in the Black Hills, South Dakota, 7-8 October 2022.

On 7 and 8 October 2022, a young caver exploring a cave on private property in the Black Hills of South Dakota became stuck at a 90-degree bend, in a space about nine inches high, some forty minutes of crawling from the entrance. Cavers of the Paha Sapa Grotto and rescuers from Custer and Pennington counties worked through the night with hammer drills. After eighteen hours, he pulled himself free with webbing and crawled out under his own power.

Chapters

0:00 Nine inches

0:34 Private land

1:13 The call

1:54 A wire to the surface

2:21 The drills

2:53 The webbing

3:38 What the record says

Sources

Jason Ferguson, "Between a rock and a hard place", Custer County Chronicle, 20 October 2022 (Hill City Prevailer News): https://hillcityprevailernews.com/content/between-rock-and-hard-place-0

Patrick Springer, "Cave explorer rescued after 18 hours stuck underground in Black Hills", InForum, 13 October 2022: https://www.inforum.com/news/south-dakota/cave-explorer-rescued-after-18-hours-stuck-underground-in-black-hills

KOTA Territory News, "Paha Sapa Grotto team rescues man from cave", 12 October 2022: https://www.kotatv.com/2022/10/12/custer-sar-team-rescues-man-cave/

Full transcript:

https://pub-413c1fc5107e439dbec7a1f1c322ed45.r2.dev/transcripts/ep10.vtt

Caving Stories on YouTube:

English: https://www.youtube.com/@caving_stories

Spanish: https://www.youtube.com/@cavingstoriesenespanol

Portuguese: https://www.youtube.com/@cavingstoriespt

Follow the show in your podcast app to get each new episode as soon as it is out.

Produced by Caving Stories.

Black Cave, Arizona, April 1995: Thomas Edward Benning goes into a cave he knows, alone, with one electric lamp. Search teams go in several times and do not find him. Twenty months later, three cavers follow a trail of his things down a passage hidden behind a rock. Told from the National Speleological Society's accident report. Content note: this story ends in a death.

The case: Black Cave, Arizona, April 1995 (found 14 December 1996).

In April 1995, Thomas Edward Benning entered Black Cave, Arizona, on a solo trip, with no helmet and one electric miner's lamp. His wife reported him missing the next day. Search teams went into the cave several times. He was found on 14 December 1996 by three cavers: Bill Graff, Elizabeth Robb and Dale Green.

Chapters

0:00 A book of matches

0:37 Alone

1:07 Behind the rock

1:36 Light failure

2:09 The search

2:50 Twenty months later

3:49 Three more trips

4:12 What the record says

4:44 With their map

Sources

NSS, American Caving Accidents 1994–1995 (NSS News, December 1997, pp. 428–429): "April, Black Cave, Arizona: solo caving, lost, light failure, fatality"

Full transcript:

https://pub-413c1fc5107e439dbec7a1f1c322ed45.r2.dev/transcripts/ep07.vtt

Caving Stories on YouTube:

English

Spanish

Portuguese

Follow the show in your podcast app to get each new episode as soon as it is out.

Produced by Caving Stories.

Skunk Cave, north of Cresco, Iowa, Saturday 6 October 2001: an hour into a trip with his father and two friends, Andy Wernimont is wedged in a tight crevice. Rescue units from two states work on the rock with a hammer drill and a hydraulic pump. Twelve hours later, Minnesota cave explorer John Ackerman brings him out. Told from the press account of the rescue.

The case: Skunk Cave, north of Cresco, Iowa, 6 October 2001.

On Saturday 6 October 2001, Andy Wernimont of Byron, Minnesota, entered Skunk Cave, north of Cresco, Iowa, at 10 a.m. with his father and two friends. About an hour later he was wedged in a tight crevice. At 11:15 p.m., twelve hours after he became stuck, cave explorer John Ackerman escorted him to the surface.

Chapters

0:00 Nothing is working

0:38 Ten in the morning

1:07 Two states

1:44 Forty-eight degrees

2:23 The message

3:01 11:15 p.m.

3:17 What the record says

4:03 The same spot

Sources

Press article on the rescue (reproduced on the Minnesota Cave Preserve website)

Star Tribune (2018): "Cave explorer discusses dangers of hobby"

Post Bulletin (Rochester, Minnesota), news report

Full transcript:

https://pub-413c1fc5107e439dbec7a1f1c322ed45.r2.dev/transcripts/ep08.vtt

Caving Stories on YouTube:

English

Spanish

Portuguese

Follow the show in your podcast app to get each new episode as soon as it is out.

Produced by Caving Stories.

Two short cases from the caves of Harrison County, Indiana, both from the National Speleological Society's accident reports. Near Ramsey, around 1975, a rock slide at a cave entrance shuts two young cavers inside, and a whole community turns out to open it. In Parker's Pit Cave, on 25 January 1986, a caver sticks in a passage called the Z-Bend. Nobody dies in this episode.

The case: Harrison County, Indiana: a cave near Ramsey, 1975(?), and Parker's Pit Cave, 25 January 1986.

Near Ramsey, Indiana: the rock slide at the entrance

Three young cavers entered a cave near Ramsey, Indiana, at about 4:30 p.m. About two and a half hours later, as they were leaving, a rock slide trapped two of them in the entrance. By 10 p.m. rescue workers had pierced the wall and the two crawled to safety unharmed. The NSS report dates it "1975(?)".

Parker's Pit Cave, Indiana: the Z-Bend

On 25 January 1986, four cavers were in Parker's Pit Cave. One came down a 22-foot pit with his rappel device only half rigged and was not injured; on the same trip a caver became stuck in the Z-Bend and was helped through by the cavers ahead and behind.

Chapters

0:00 Two sides of a wall

0:37 Half past four

1:10 The slide

1:28 Everyone who came

1:56 Not enough care

2:30 Parker's Pit

2:52 Whoosh

3:15 The Z-Bend

3:41 What the record says

Sources

NSS, American Caving Accidents 1975, pp. 31–32: "Indiana, unidentified cave, 1975(?)"

NSS, American Caving Accidents 1986 (NSS News, November 1987, p. 394): "Parker's Pit Cave, Indiana, 1-25-86"

Full transcript:

https://pub-413c1fc5107e439dbec7a1f1c322ed45.r2.dev/transcripts/ep09.vtt

Caving Stories on YouTube:

English

Spanish

Portuguese

Follow the show in your podcast app to get each new episode as soon as it is out.

Produced by Caving Stories.

Ellison's Cave, Georgia, 12 February 2011: a backpack falls into the Warm-Up Pit, a University of Florida student goes down after it on a rope rigged inside a waterfall, and a friend follows him on a second rope. Told from the National Speleological Society's accident report and the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. Content note: this story ends in two deaths.

The case: Ellison's Cave, Pigeon Mountain, Walker County, Georgia, 12 February 2011.

On Saturday 12 February 2011, ten University of Florida students went into Ellison's Cave on Pigeon Mountain, Walker County, Georgia. When a backpack fell into the Warm-Up Pit, Grant Lockenbach went down after it, and Michael Pirie followed on a second rope. The call to 911 was logged at 2:19 p.m. Both men were out of the cave by 8:30 that night.

Chapters
0:00 Two ropes in a waterfall
0:36 The Warm-Up Pit
1:35 The backpack
2:26 Difficulty on rope
3:06 The second rope
3:51 2:19 p.m.
4:26 The rescue
5:20 What the record says
6:20 Both still on

Watch this story, animated, on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTNDWDy8RfM

Sources
NSS, American Caving Accidents 2011–2012 (NSS News, August 2013, pp. 13–14)
Carnegie Hero Fund Commission: Michael Wayne Pirie
Wikipedia: Ellison's Cave

Full transcript:
https://pub-413c1fc5107e439dbec7a1f1c322ed45.r2.dev/transcripts/ep04.vtt

Caving Stories on YouTube:
English
Spanish
Portuguese

Follow the show in your podcast app to get each new episode as soon as it is out.

Produced by Caving Stories. Narrated with a synthetic voice (Microsoft en-US-AndrewNeural).

Carnegie Cave, Pennsylvania, 9 July 1967: the only way in and out is a tar-lined steel drain pipe under Interstate 81. Two candles left burning inside it set the tar on fire, with three inexperienced cavers still in the cave. One of them crawls out through the flames. The other two stay. Told from the National Speleological Society's accident report and the Shippensburg Fire Department's account. Content note: this story ends in a death.

The case: Carnegie Cave, near Cleversburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, 9 July 1967.

On Sunday 9 July 1967, three inexperienced cavers went into Carnegie Cave, near Cleversburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, through its only entrance: a 36-inch, tar-lined drain pipe, 150 feet long, under Interstate 81. Two candles left burning in the pipe set the tar alight. Charles Richter crawled out through the fire. The two who stayed were found safe and brought out at 6:12 p.m. Charles Richter died three days later.

Chapters

0:00 The only way out

0:34 A pipe under the interstate

0:58 Two candles

1:39 Smoke

2:09 Into the pipe

2:44 The two who stayed

3:50 Three days

4:12 What the record says

5:30 Two candles, burning

Watch this story, animated, on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI5dI5yss0o

Sources

NSS, American Caving Accidents 1967–1970 (1974), p. 7, "Pennsylvania, Carnegie Cave"

Shippensburg Fire Department history, 2008: the Vigilant Hose Company account of the Carnegie Cave fire

Wikipedia: List of United States caving fatalities

Full transcript:

https://pub-413c1fc5107e439dbec7a1f1c322ed45.r2.dev/transcripts/ep05.vtt

Caving Stories on YouTube:

English

Spanish

Portuguese

Follow the show in your podcast app to get each new episode as soon as it is out.

Produced by Caving Stories.