WEBVTT - The Tragic Tale of Floyd Collins 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:03.480 Dude, doo doo doo. I just told Josh's trumpet bit 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:06.920 announced that we are continuing our twenty twenty three tour 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:12.240 this spring by going to DC, the Boston area and Toronto, 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:16.040 Canada yep, in that same order, May fourth, fifth, and sixth, 0:00:16.120 --> 0:00:19.680 and you can get tickets at Link Tree Slash sy 0:00:19.720 --> 0:00:23.119 sk Live for all three shows. We'll see you guys soon. 0:00:25.160 --> 0:00:35.400 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:38.360 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh and there's Chuck 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:40.879 and Jerry's here too, and that makes this Stuff you 0:00:40.880 --> 0:00:46.680 should Know part of our continuing sad Kentucky tragic history 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:49.720 era that we seem to be in right now. Are 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.720 we going to point out where this is fifteen times? No, 0:00:52.880 --> 0:00:55.240 this is this is in the Kentucky that you'd expect 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:57.360 it to be in. Okay, we had some funny Instagram 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:01.120 comments on that. I know what you're talking about about. 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:04.760 Half the people when the supper club fire thing went 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:08.000 to Instagram said where was this again? Jodsh No, I know, 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:11.200 I'm just kidding. Okay, I'm just kidding. I'm aware of 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:13.960 what goes on on Instagram. Who knows, I don't know 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:18.000 you're one of those lurkers. Yeah, totally, I totally am 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:23.440 so m speaking of lurking, Chuck Es, if you go 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:27.240 to Barron County, Kentucky, okay, one of the things that 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:30.640 you might do is a pastime is lurk in a cave. Hey, 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:33.759 look at that transition. It was okay. But the reason 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:36.280 why you might do that is because Barron County and 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:41.160 neighboring I think Edmonton or Edmondson County our home to 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:46.160 the largest cave system in the world, Mammoth Caves. Yeah, 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:48.680 we talked about Mammoth and I guess it had to 0:01:48.680 --> 0:01:51.720 be our caving episode. Certainly, there's no way you can. 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:54.200 I mean again, it's enormous, Like, as far as we know, 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:58.760 I think something like four hundred miles have been mapped. Yeah, 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:00.840 and I was reading we have a lot. We have 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:04.520 an enslaved man back in the eighteen twenties up to 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:06.760 the forties to thank for a lot of that, because 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:09.120 he was the only one brave enough to crawl over 0:02:09.200 --> 0:02:13.240 the bottomless pit and keep exploring. So that definitely extended it. 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:15.720 But they think also that there's another six hundred miles. 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:17.320 By the way, his name is Stephen Bishop. Sorry I 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.120 meant to say, but they think there's another six hundred 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:23.640 miles left to be mapped. So that's a giant old 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:29.359 cave system. Yeah, potentially a thousand miles of gave system stuff. Yes, 0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:31.480 Now I have a desire to go in almost none 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:34.880 of it. Yeah, I know, you know, but I have 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:37.120 to say, like Ruby Falls is definitely worth the visit 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:39.840 for sure. Yeah. I mean my deal is I did 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:43.200 it once and it was really cool. I would go back, 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:45.320 but I'm not, you know, dying too. I'm kind of like, 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:46.680 you know, I know what it's like now, and that's 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.160 all I really wanted to know. Yes, I was looking 0:02:49.240 --> 0:02:51.639 for a new hobby. The thing is, though, is if 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.440 you're into caves caving, even if you're not like a caver, 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:57.200 but you're, you know, into touring caves, you know that 0:02:57.240 --> 0:02:59.200 you can stand up in and there's walkways in every 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.360 short Mammoth cave is an absolute must. It's just like 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:06.120 Geological Wonder. After Geological Wonder, it's pretty neat. Yeah, you 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:09.320 like your caves to have an energy drink fridge at 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:12.239 the bottom of it, that's right, and a moving side one. 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:15.880 It is a National park now since nineteen I think 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:20.160 forty one Mammoth is and it was a big like 0:03:20.720 --> 0:03:23.280 and remains a big tourist attraction, but all the way 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.360 dating back to the Civil War, and as a result, 0:03:26.400 --> 0:03:31.280 that whole area became cave central, not just because Mammoth Caves, 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:34.280 but there's so many other cave systems around there, and 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:38.720 it became like a legitimate sort of roadside not only stop, 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:43.120 but destination for people. And the people that you know 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:45.600 was like, Hey, i'll pay me a dollar or fifty 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:47.680 cents or whatever and I'll take you down in these caves. 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:50.440 They started battling each other more and more of these 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:53.440 locals trying to drum up business for caves they had 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.520 the rights to explore, and that was known as the 0:03:56.960 --> 0:04:02.520 Kentucky Cave Wars. Yes, and it was basically just entrepreneurs 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:07.040 run amuck in Kentucky. They would burn one another's cars, 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:10.240 They would put bowlders on the road to keep tourists 0:04:10.240 --> 0:04:13.160 from being able to make it to the other cave locations. 0:04:14.160 --> 0:04:16.800 They would pose as tourists and talk about how terrible 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:19.160 one cave was. It was free yelped, so that was 0:04:19.200 --> 0:04:23.080 their live, live yelping. And then another thing they would 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:25.359 do is tell the tourists that they were all the 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:27.600 same caves. They were just different entrances. So it's all 0:04:27.600 --> 0:04:29.919 the same. Just come to mind, wow, which is sort 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:32.520 of true in a way kind of, but I think 0:04:32.560 --> 0:04:34.960 not really. Yeah, I mean that doesn't mean they're all connected, 0:04:35.000 --> 0:04:38.360 but oh they are. Well, what I mean is that 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:40.920 you can access It's like you can't get there from 0:04:40.960 --> 0:04:43.599 here kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. And also I think 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:47.080 each entrance is like, this is for all intents and purposes, 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:49.880 it is a completely separate cave system. Right, This is 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:55.080 my whole which I told you that there's something I 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:58.520 thought you were using hole as an adjective now that 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:00.760 that was the weirdest thing about when I went caving, 0:05:00.760 --> 0:05:03.280 and I'll just quickly say it again, is that I 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:07.760 expected some big cartoon like thing that you just walk 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:12.640 into and start exploring. I did not realize you could 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:15.159 literally walk by a cave entrance in the woods and 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:17.360 not notice it because it's a two by two foot 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:21.120 hole in the ground, and that makes caves exponentially scarier 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:24.640 more sure, you know. Oh yeah, when I saw that thing, 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:26.599 I was like, that's where we're going, because that means 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:28.640 the people coming to help you could walk right past 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.480 it too, and it's just I mean, it's just tampering 0:05:31.520 --> 0:05:33.479 with the pits of Hell. I don't I don't agree 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:36.920 with that. So our story moves on now to one 0:05:36.960 --> 0:05:39.320 of the great cavers of the region. There were a 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:41.480 lot of great cavers, but one was a gentleman named 0:05:41.520 --> 0:05:44.839 Floyd Collins, who if you look him up, he looks 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:48.680 a bit like Crispin Glover and sort of the same 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:51.640 way that almost all rural white men in Kentucky in 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:55.159 their early nineteen hundreds look like Crispin Glover. Yeah, he 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:59.360 just sort of had that generic Kentucky guy look. Well, 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:03.719 the cut hairdo, the shemp he had definitely helps a 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.440 lot too. So he was born in eighteen eighty seven, 0:06:06.680 --> 0:06:10.200 had a bunch of brothers and sisters from his mom 0:06:10.240 --> 0:06:14.080 and then a previous marriage that his father had lee. Yeah, 0:06:14.120 --> 0:06:16.360 and they were really close to the Mammoth Caves about 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.080 four years old. So from the time he was a 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:22.440 little kid, like six years old, he was out there 0:06:22.720 --> 0:06:24.960 caving and doing his thing like you would when you're 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:29.200 six in nineteen o seven or whatever. Yeah, Plus there 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:31.599 was not a lot else to do, Like if you 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:34.239 were a farmer, you were eking out a really hard 0:06:34.279 --> 0:06:37.039 living in this area. Apparently the soil wasn't very helpful 0:06:37.120 --> 0:06:41.400 because again because astone cave system, right, so it's kind 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:44.800 of tough to grow things on bare limestone. And so 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:48.440 what Floyd Collins figured out very quickly is that there 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:54.159 were a lot of Native American indigenous artifacts, including remains, 0:06:54.160 --> 0:06:57.720 in these caves, and that he could take these things 0:06:57.720 --> 0:06:59.960 out of the caves and go to the Mammoth Cave Hotel, 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:04.200 this huge hotel that was built expressly for the tourists, 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:07.160 and sell them to those tourists. And he was so 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:09.600 profitable that he dropped out of school at age ten 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:14.320 to pursue his looting activities full time. Yeah, which, you know, um, 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:16.840 I'm not going to judge the guy from here in 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.400 twenty twenty three for being a ten year old trying 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:25.640 to make a living. Yeah neither. Yeah. Ye, surprising word, no, 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.560 of course, it's surprised to keep everybody on their toes um. 0:07:28.680 --> 0:07:32.880 So fast forward a bit. It's nineteen seventeen now and 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:36.080 Floyd Collins is still doing his his caving. He's still 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:39.040 one of the foremost experts in the region, and he 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.280 found a new system or at least, no one had 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:45.000 discovered this system as far as he knew, and it 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:50.160 was really beautiful. It had these almost marble like walls, 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:52.280 is how Dave Ruce put it. Dave helped us with this, 0:07:52.920 --> 0:07:55.440 and it was just one of the more gorgeous caves 0:07:55.440 --> 0:07:57.920 on the inside, and so he named it the Great 0:07:57.960 --> 0:08:01.160 Crystal Cave and told his he said, hey, we need 0:08:01.200 --> 0:08:04.640 to scrape together what money we have so we can 0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:07.040 lease this land, because this thing is going to be 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.360 our meal tickets. It's prettier than any of the other 0:08:09.360 --> 0:08:12.720 caves around. Yeah. He went in halfers with his dad, 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.720 Lee and another man by the last name of Gerard, 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:19.440 and they basically developed this Great Crystal Cave, which was 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.400 a wonderful fine. He was incredibly lucky to have come 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:25.640 upon this cave and be able to get the rights 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.200 to it. There was a huge problem with it though, 0:08:28.200 --> 0:08:33.439 it never became really financially successful because it was at 0:08:33.440 --> 0:08:36.199 the other end of the cave system, so by that 0:08:36.400 --> 0:08:38.880 you really had to know that it was there and 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.640 want to go there. If you were just a tourist 0:08:41.679 --> 0:08:44.480 wandering around visiting caves, there was very little chance you're 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:46.800 going to end up there accidentally. And then what with 0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.560 this being the Cave Wars and everybody who was a 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:52.840 competitor of his, but also we're probably neighbors and second cousins. 0:08:52.880 --> 0:08:56.480 By the way, they were doing everything they could to 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:58.720 keep those tourists from making their way back to Great 0:08:58.720 --> 0:09:00.560 Crystal Cave. So it's great a cave as it was, 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:04.160 it just wasn't viable. Yeah, the big city guy came 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.080 in and said, son, you'd never learned the first rule 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:11.320 of business, location, location, location, And Floyd went, why are 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:15.960 you saying location three times? Yeah, yeah, it's sad, but true. 0:09:15.960 --> 0:09:19.440 That's a direct quote everybody, it really is. So now 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:23.200 they're in a situation where Floyd says, all right, that 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:25.520 this didn't quite work out, But now they're in a 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:27.960 situation where they're kind of even more desperate than before 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:32.360 to find some means of revenue. So he set out 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:35.880 to find another amazing cave and a better location, and 0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:40.480 he found one that wasn't quite so amazing as far 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:44.120 as is aesthetics go, but it was on Cave City 0:09:44.200 --> 0:09:47.480 Road before you even got to Mammoth. So that was like, 0:09:47.640 --> 0:09:51.600 that's the location, location, location that he didn't understand that 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:54.880 he needed, but right got it. That's how that's how 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:57.840 important it was that you could have a so so cave. 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:00.800 But if the entrance was on the weight of the 0:10:00.840 --> 0:10:03.760 bigger caves than you had, you had a gym mine 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:05.720 even if there were no gems in the cave, because 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:09.000 you could lie and say there are right, Say it's 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.920 the same entrance or the different entrance to the same thing. Right. 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:15.160 So yeah, he went into business with a different guy, 0:10:15.200 --> 0:10:18.520 a man named B. Doyle Beasley Doyle and another man 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:24.160 named ed Estes, and Doyle and Stes went half on 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:27.800 their half, and they said that they would give Floyd 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.599 the other half if he would explore and develop this 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:33.719 cave so that they could start taking tourists down in it. 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:37.120 And so Floyd Collins is being I haven't seen it 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:41.800 expressly written out, but he spent so much time in 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:46.120 caves from such a young age, and he had been 0:10:46.160 --> 0:10:48.920 at it for so long and had become such a 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.720 respected caver that I suspect this is the one. Like 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:54.320 when he woke up, the one thing he wanted to 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:56.800 do was go into caves, like he just loved what 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:58.559 he was doing. So this is probably like a dream 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:01.960 gig for him too. Yeah, But he started exploring this 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:04.880 cave and started to develop it. But he ran into 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:07.680 a problem very early. You mentioned that this cave was 0:11:08.160 --> 0:11:11.200 not so great as far as caves go, right, Yeah, 0:11:11.240 --> 0:11:14.400 and we didn't mention it was called sand cave. And 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:17.600 it was called sand cave for a reason because it 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.880 was not solid limestone like you know, most of the 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:23.720 rest of these caves, which made it, you know, pretty 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:27.360 tourist friendly to walk around, kind of like you would 0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:30.480 have a ruby falls, let's say, the smooth limestone. Yeah, 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:35.360 the good stuff. This is actually loose rock and muddy sand. 0:11:35.600 --> 0:11:40.360 So sand Cave is is an apt name. And Floyd 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:42.280 was like, I've got to make this work, though, Like 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:44.440 I'm even more desperate than I was before because now 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:48.040 signed onto this thing, and so I'm gonna, like, there's 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:51.319 good stuff down there that's deeper. I just have to 0:11:51.920 --> 0:11:55.320 carve out a passageway that's safe enough to get tourists 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:58.720 in here. And so he did that for weeks and 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:02.320 weeks and weeks, working all our days clearing out and 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:03.960 it was you know, it was really cold at the time, 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:07.960 clearing out this mud and ice and water and rock 0:12:08.559 --> 0:12:13.280 and trying to build what looked like a legitimate entrance way. Yeah, 0:12:13.320 --> 0:12:15.800 which I mean I think his premise was that he 0:12:15.880 --> 0:12:18.120 would if he if he dug enough of this stuff out, 0:12:18.120 --> 0:12:21.320 he would reach those smooth limestone walls. Eventually. It was 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:23.600 just going to take some extra work, right, Yeah, And 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:27.000 he was down to work. He was dtw and you 0:12:27.080 --> 0:12:30.320 keep making mention like he really needed this. Um. I 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:32.560 mean he was able to like make ends meet here 0:12:32.600 --> 0:12:34.560 or there. I think he and his brother like chopped 0:12:34.679 --> 0:12:38.040 timber for the railroad ties to the local lines that 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:41.280 were built. Like again, Mammoth Caves was such an enormous attraction. 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:44.640 There was a special railroad line that was established and 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:46.760 built just to take people to this, Right, so there 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:49.800 was some money to be made. But to say that 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:55.240 Floyd Collins and his eight siblings were poor as an understatement. 0:12:55.520 --> 0:12:58.959 I saw a picture of the house that the siblings 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.959 all lived in with their parents, and the ticket booth 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.600 for Great Crystal Cave, and the ticket booth is slightly 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:08.240 bigger than the house, Like it is like they were 0:13:08.480 --> 0:13:11.440 they were. Yeah, they live basically hand to mouth to 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:14.640 say the least. Yeah, so this needed to work. That's 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:17.199 why you put in all this work painstakingly digging this 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:25.640 passage and eventually on January thirty, nineteen twenty five, he said, 0:13:25.679 --> 0:13:28.520 all right, I've got an opening here, and I believe 0:13:28.520 --> 0:13:30.920 I can get down to the depths that I so desire. 0:13:31.880 --> 0:13:36.280 And he did. He got down about fifty feet deep 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:40.920 and then came to a ten foot drop that's shaped 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:43.960 like a chimney, So it's a ten foot shoot that 0:13:44.080 --> 0:13:46.200 he can go down. And at the bottom of this shoot, 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.320 it kind of makes not the hardest L, but it 0:13:49.360 --> 0:13:53.000 would like a soft L shape to where it goes horizontal. 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.720 But that horizontal opening was not very big. It was 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.480 just enough for Floyd to like get down there on 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:04.520 his back, go in kind of feet first, with the 0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:10.840 top of the the shoot like inches above his face. Yeah, 0:14:10.880 --> 0:14:14.079 he was in this crack. So the chimney itself was 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:16.240 not like exactly like a drop. He had to kind 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:19.040 of shimmy down it, but with that crack was like 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:21.360 a whole other thing altogether. He couldn't take a full 0:14:21.360 --> 0:14:25.400 breath in there. We shoko a warning a trigger warning 0:14:25.440 --> 0:14:29.320 for people that suffer from claustrophobia, because yeah, I don't 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:31.520 even and a lot of this felt like I was 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:33.560 about to have a panic attack. Yeah, I have a 0:14:33.640 --> 0:14:37.000 vague sense of claustrophobia. It takes a lot to trigger it, 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.120 Like just hearing about the stuff, I'm like, oh my gosh, 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:41.000 but I can handle it. But I'll bet there's people 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:43.480 out there who sure couldn't even hear this, So way 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.400 to go chalk. Yeah, So that CoA and another one, 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.400 which is when you're dealing with old stories like this, 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:51.680 we found that there are a lot of facts that 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:55.160 get mixed up depending on what sorts you're using. So yeah, 0:14:55.240 --> 0:15:00.280 we're doing our best moving forward. Well, also, like we're 0:15:00.600 --> 0:15:02.640 in the age where we've really just woken up to 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:06.400 the fact that back in the twenties, say, newspapers would 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:08.960 print whatever, and we've long been like, well it was 0:15:09.000 --> 0:15:13.520 in the newspaper, so it's probably well researched, not true, necessarily, 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:18.680 not at all. So he's sliding through this crack and 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:20.960 you're probably getting pretty nervous, but hold on to that 0:15:21.040 --> 0:15:22.720 because he makes it through the crack and on the 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:24.640 other side he finds a big I think like fifty 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:27.480 foot deep room, a big chamber, and this is what 0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:29.760 he's been looking for. This is the kind of stuff 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:33.080 tourists want to see. And he starts exploring it. He's 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:36.240 repelling down and I think it's I don't even know 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:37.760 if he made it to the bottom or not, but 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:41.840 his lantern started flickering, and that is a sign if 0:15:41.880 --> 0:15:44.320 you are exploring a cave for the first time, to 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:47.560 go to get out of the cave. So that's what 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:49.520 he did. He was a smart guy. He wasn't dumb. 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:52.400 He was he was very gutsy, but he didn't like 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:54.840 just you know, he wasn't. He didn't gamble with his 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.960 life for no reason. Yeah, he knew what he was doing. Yes, 0:15:58.400 --> 0:16:01.880 So he crawled back up the rope, took his lamp 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:04.240 with him, and started to make his way back through 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:08.040 the crack. He was oriented the same way that he 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:10.960 was going in, so he went in feet first. This 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:14.360 time he went in head first. Yeah, and he made it. 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:17.560 I believe his head made it out when he kind 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:19.960 of kicked into the ground to kind of give himself 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:21.920 purchase to push himself the rest of the way through 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:25.280 the crack. When he did that, he moved some some dirt, 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:28.920 some sand, and I've seen up to a seven ton boulder, 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:34.080 came down from the ceiling and lodged his foot in 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.440 place firmly. It was not. He was not moving anymore, 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.800 and he was stuck in this crack hopelessly. Yeah, and 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:45.680 that's one great example. I saw seven ton, and then 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:49.600 everywhere else I saw twenty six pounds. Big. I mean, 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:53.720 could you really not like shimmy a twenty seven pound 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.120 Maybe not in a crack like that, I mean twenty 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:59.160 six pounds on a foot in a crack. And we 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:02.880 should mention too, that his lamp went out while he 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:06.800 was in there, and again I saw various things from that. 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:09.520 It finally flickered out to he accidentally kicked it out, 0:17:10.680 --> 0:17:13.320 kicked it over and made it go out. So now 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:17.040 he is laying there with his arms by his side, 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:22.800 stuck in this crevice, in the complete blackness. And Dave 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:24.760 pointed out and I can verify, and if you've ever 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:28.320 been caving, it is a blackness like you've never understood 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.600 before in your life. I don't want to understand that. 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:35.520 It is the blackest of black. You literally cannot see 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:38.199 your hand in front of your face. So he's, you know, 0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:42.600 literally laying there in pitch blackness, which he's sort of 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:44.960 used to because he's I'm sure he's been without a 0:17:45.000 --> 0:17:46.760 light before in a cave and gotten out of it, 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:50.720 but he was in a bad way. He was, and 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:52.960 he wasn't panicking because he knew that he was right 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.600 almost at the base of that chimney and that if 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:57.560 he could get to the chimney, not only could he 0:17:57.640 --> 0:18:00.600 relight his lamp, he could shimmy up the chimney easily. 0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.760 So he was almost there. But the problem was again 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:07.160 that rock, whether it was twenty seven pounds or seven tons, 0:18:07.240 --> 0:18:10.560 wasn't letting him go. And so Floyd Collins was alone 0:18:10.600 --> 0:18:12.959 in the dark traps in a crack, and no one 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.919 knew he was down there. Yeah, and before we go 0:18:16.040 --> 0:18:18.720 to break, because I know this where we're headed. The 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:22.280 final little cherry on top of danger danger cherry is 0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:26.199 it's sixteen degrees. Very nice, Chuck, all right, we'll be 0:18:26.280 --> 0:18:51.879 right back, so Chuck, before we get started again, I 0:18:51.920 --> 0:18:55.280 want to shout out a source. There's an article from 0:18:55.400 --> 0:19:00.080 nineteen seventy six in American Heritage magazine, a great history 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:04.880 source by Michael Leasy L. S Y. And he actually 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:08.359 was the guy who wrote or compiled Wisconsin Death Trip 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:12.280 a few years before he wrote that article, and it's 0:19:12.280 --> 0:19:14.880 called Dark Carnival, and it is really worth a read. 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:18.640 But he got all of his sources directly from newspapers, 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:21.439 so basically every word he wrote had been reported in 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:26.480 the newspaper somehow or some way. So that is probably 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.520 why that's the only source for the seven ton. It 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:33.720 was probably misreported, but he's still a pretty good source 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:36.359 for facts. He's a professional historian, so he knew what 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:38.600 he was doing. But he was also really fascinating too. 0:19:39.080 --> 0:19:41.680 All Right, so he's down there, no one knows he's 0:19:41.720 --> 0:19:43.679 there for a while. He was known to disappear for 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:47.800 you know, many hours and days exploring these caves, so 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:51.919 it's not like the people got too concerned at first. 0:19:52.200 --> 0:19:55.560 It would be twenty five hours before anyone even knew 0:19:55.560 --> 0:19:58.120 anything was going on with him, and that was when 0:19:59.400 --> 0:20:02.840 the Sun of Sts his name was Jewel, pretty cool name, 0:20:04.040 --> 0:20:07.000 seventeen year old went to go check. He'd kind of 0:20:07.000 --> 0:20:09.199 been hanging out with Floyd and caving with him, and 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:13.080 I think Floyd even said like, you know, I could 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:15.160 die in here to the guy the day or two before. 0:20:16.080 --> 0:20:19.400 And he's the one who went down there called out 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.960 for Floyd and heard Floyd call back that he was 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:26.440 hung up and needed help. Right, So this is good, 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:28.080 I mean it's been a full day, but at least 0:20:28.080 --> 0:20:32.040 now somebody knows he's down there. So juel Estes runs 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:33.800 back and starts getting help, and I think in very 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:38.399 short order, word got to his brother, Homer, who I 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:40.639 guess younger brother because I think Floyd was thirty at 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:43.200 the time, and I think Homer was twenty two or fourteen, 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:47.479 depending on where he can I hadn't seen fourteen, so Homer, 0:20:47.680 --> 0:20:49.800 either way, he rushed. I get the impression that he 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:52.920 was a man by then, so I'm gonna say twenty two, okay. 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:57.720 But he rushed to the site and basically became the 0:20:57.760 --> 0:21:01.200 first person who was willing to actually go in and 0:21:01.600 --> 0:21:05.080 try to rescue Floyd. There are other people who had 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:09.080 given it a shot before Homer arrived, but they apparently 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:11.719 that chimney scared every single one of them off. They 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:14.400 were like, I'm sorry, I'm I like Floyd a lot, 0:21:14.440 --> 0:21:17.280 but that's I'm not going through that chimney. Yeah. So 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:21.199 he shows up, says, Floyd's like, can I get some 0:21:21.240 --> 0:21:25.520 food first and foremost, so his brother said, sure, here's 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:28.320 the worst thing possible you could eat when you're pinned 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:32.879 in a cave. Here's some sausage and coffee. Yeah, so 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:35.840 let's get that heart rate up ensure that you're gonna 0:21:35.880 --> 0:21:38.840 have to urinate, and then just the sausage is just 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:42.399 a bonus, yeah, just to fill you up. Yeah, and 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:46.800 to make that really flow. But he had food. I'm 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:48.520 kind of kidding around here. This is what people ate 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:52.280 back then. So he just needed some some calories in 0:21:52.320 --> 0:21:56.000 his body. And Homer was down there working hard, trying 0:21:56.040 --> 0:21:59.840 everything he could do to get him loose. Every time 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:03.240 he dug rubble out, more rubble would fall down where 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:06.520 that rubble was. He brought a crowbar back to try 0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:11.720 and dislodge some bigger stones. Nothing was working. He's exhausted 0:22:11.720 --> 0:22:14.600 and cold. At this point, he's offering up like advice 0:22:14.680 --> 0:22:17.240 is coming in from around the country by this point, 0:22:17.280 --> 0:22:20.120 like word had gotten out of like how to do it. 0:22:20.200 --> 0:22:23.320