Touring Mammoth Cave
with the Junior Rangers Investigative Club. (Spooky Edition)
Mammoth Cave National Park is a place of astounding sites and shadowed mysteries. There are plenty of exciting things to see, do, and learn about in the more than 400 miles of dark passages, and the ground above them. Some might be creepier than others. Here are a few of the spine tingling places the more paranormal minded members of J.R.I.C. would recommend if you want a hair-raising adventure.
Rudy:
“Was that a cough? Did one of you cough? Don’t joke about that here!” - Rudy Scheer.
“What’s that creepy shack doing out here in the middle of the forest?” - Rudy
“Please, please, please, don’t be blood!” - Rudy.
“I am not a ghost magnet! . . . What was that?” - Rudy.
Rudy’s three suggestions are:
#1. The Tuberculosis Ward.
#2. The creepy shack.
#3. Echo River and the River Styx.
#4. Mammoth Dome Stairs.
Rudy doesn’t really believe in ghosts. He’s just scared of them. Also it would be awesome to document some evidence of them, or get on video with The Specter Detectors! There were plenty of places Rudy found spooky when he was in Mammoth Cave National Park, but he very quickly narrowed it down to 4 when asked, almost as though there were several places which had seared themselves into his memory.
#1. The Tuberculosis Ward. Well into Mammoth Cave from the main entrance, there stands a couple of rock walled huts without any rooves. (you don’t need a roof underground.) These buildings are monuments to a failed Tuberculosis Ward, built under the mistaken belief that Cave Air might help cure Consumption. Instead people whiled away days and months in this dark and gloomy case, only getting worse. No one was cured, and several people died down here, in the dark. Rudy would recommend pausing here to listen for echoes final coughs, or look for shadows going about the dreary memories of their last cave moments. Rudy though, would rather move on.
#2. Rudy was hiking outside of Mammoth Cave, minding his own business, (and looking for potential new caves,) when what appeared in the middle of the forest? A creepy rock hut. Why is it out here all on it’s own? Why is it locked? Who abandoned it? Who might be hiding inside? You may stumble into it yourself hiking near the visitor center.
#3. Amelia will elaborate on the stories of the deeper passages in Mammoth Cave, but Rudy really just doesn’t want to spend too much time near the water, or looking into it, afraid that it might not be as clear as he would hope.
#4. The tall staircase holds a poignant reminder of Mammoth Cave’s haunting potential, (and it’s not just because Rudy had to climb them to leave the cave.) If you want to know why, Check out The Specters of Mammoth Cave. Out now and readily available. (I need an alien jester emoji!)
Amelia.
““I don’t really believe in ghosts. We’ll be fine.” — Justin Case.
“I didn’t see you volunteering to stay there overnight. In fact, you were the one who suggested we leave before it got dark.” - Amelia. Zhang
“Ghosts don’t just haunt the places they lived. They might haunt the buildings built there after.” - Amelia Zhang.
“Cemeteries aren’t spooky themselves, but when someone says they are haunted, I believe them.” - Samantha "‘Sam’ ??? - 6th member of the Specter Detectors.
Amelia’s spooky suggestions are:
#1. Sand Cave
#2. Floyd Collins homesite (and added bonus Crystal Caverns.)
#3. The Old Guide’s Cemetery and the Flint Ridge Cemetery.
#4. The Lower Passages, especially Echo River and the River Styx
As an avid fan of the Specter Detectors, aka a Spectator, Amelia has been ghost hunting almost as long as she has been reporting. Obviously there are ghosts, and obviously there are people who are better at doccumenting them. Amelia aspires to be as good her favorite ghost hunting team someday! For now she was just happy to tag along and learn from the best.
#1. The sight of one of Mammoth Cave’s most famous tragedies. Sand Cave lies now at the end of a brief but rarely traveled trail near the entrance to the National park. It’s easy to get to, and you can learn more about the trapping of Floyd Collins, and the failed rescue attempt and media circus that came afterward while taking the short hike. You are rewarded, at the end, with an overlook of a dark maw. On damp days, sometimes fog gathers in the valley below, obscuring the entrance which once swallowed a man, and nearly swallowed others as they tried to rescue him. Rumors say that they still here people working desperately to save the dying caver, or calls from him asking for help. Stand here near sunset and listen, let me know what you hear. * (Author’s note. Maybe it’s only knowing the story, and planning for the book, but this is one of the few spots where I’ve felt the hairs on the back of my neck rise.) Amelia would like it known, that even Justin refused to stay there overnight.
#2. Ok. So, according to Bethany, the Floyd Collins Home, was not actually Floyd Collin’s home, but instead a structure named after him. The Ticket Booth may have come during Floyd’s time, or after. However, the two buildings at the end of this gravel road/trail sit upon or near the old Collin’s homesite and the entrance to Crystal Cavern. (now known to be part of Mammoth Cave.) The buildings themselves are past thier use, and now home to mice and other wildlife. (especially the Ticket Booth.) And one of the creepiest features might be bats hanging in the ceiling. (don’t get bitten) But these two structures mark one of the most historic homesites in Mammoth Cave, and an odd time when the macabre was a popular selling point on Cave Tours. As the time of this Blog, there are no tours into Crystal Cavern, but when there were for many years, Floyd Collins was put on display resting in a glass casket within the cave as part of the tour’s attraction. Fortunately, his body was recovered by his family and given a proper burial, but this doesn’t stop stories of ghostly appearances within the cave itself. Although, true to Floyd’s caving nature, these hauntings seem to be helpful to the spelunkers who traverse what is known as “the grand canyon of cave exploration” which was discovered and developed by Floyd with his brothers. Amelia was super jealous when she learned that the Specter Detectors were given special permission to camp out at the homesite. (This is not a thing you can do in real life.)
#3. Why would a ghost haunt a cemetery? Is it because they are tethered to their mortal remains, or does the haunted nature of cemeteries have more to do with questions we have that only their residence may be able to answer? Sam the Specter Detector has a weird habit of saluting a cemetery any time she’s near one. It’s something Amelia noticed once she started taking the newest Specter Detector seriously. There are many notable cemeteries in Mammoth Cave, but stories of ghostly encounters mostly come from the Old Guide’s Cemetery. Perhaps because one of the local legends is buried there, (as are several victims of the tuberculosis ward,) or perhaps because it’s the easiest cemetery to access, being within a 5 minute walk of the visitor center. The Cemetery on Flint Ridge Road is the final resting place for Floyd, amongst his family. Stop there to pay your respects. There are ghost stories from the one room church nearby, and people leave coins on the lectern as some from of payment to the ferryman of Mammoth Cave’s River Styx. (Amelia might have left a Quarter when no one was looking.)
#4. Mammoth Cave has been an enduring part of American literature for at least two centuries now, and some of the stories draw out the terror of being underground in the dark. One of the earliest horror stories was submitted to a literary magazine in the late 1800s in the form of an anonymous letter. In truth, its more of a confessional, and entirely fictional, but the stories of the ghosts it spawned still have a legacy in the park to this day. There’s marginal chance that the story of Melissa is true, but even so, perhaps she wanders the lower chambers of Mammoth Cave looking for her abandoned love. Whispers, shadows and the breath of clothes on the move. Amelia heard all of these, but was it her companions, or was someone else lurking in the shadows?
Bethany:
“What!? It’s my park, I get to be on both lists.” - Bethany Caulfield.
“There’s just something different about the northern side of the park.” - Bethany Caulfield
“There’s so much history hidden beneath the dead leaves, and spread throughout the park.” - Bethany
Bethany’s suggestions are:
#1. The Northern side of the park.
#2. Off trail hiking.
#3. The Methodist Church
Bethany remains undecided on the issue of ghosts. (She might simply refuse to take sides.) But, having spent many years in Mammoth Cave, as her brother Ric worked there, she has heard many of the most popular ghost stories. She’ll save her lecture on Mammoth Cave Mummies for another day, and instead focus on three of the things she finds spooktacular about the park.
#1. The trails twist and wind, (make sure you have a map.) The whole feel of the Northern Side of the park is different. There’s an eerie air about the place, and shadows which linger as night begins to fall. Bethany doesn’t really know any ghost stories related to part of Mammoth Cave National Park north of Green River, but she did once get lost while hiking with a friend. They ended up wandering through the woods at night, guided by eerie music which cut through the crisp air of an early fall. Sticking to the trail, the eventually returned to habitation, and learned that the music was coming from speakers of someone living at the Maple Grove Research Station, but Bethany will never forget the vague feeling of unease, or the worry that there might be something watching them from the deep dark woods.
#2. Despite that, Bethany has had many an opportunity to go off trail hiking in Mammoth Cave, an activity best done with friends, especially people who know where they are going. (See above) And in many of these off trail hikes, she’s seen old homesteads, foundations of houses long gone, wells in the middle of a maturing forest, and even a car. “What are abandoned houses but the bones of families now gone?”
#3. The only ghost story that Ric ever told Bethany was about an added visitor. He’d stopped near the Methodist Church, a section within Mammoth Cave where sermons were once given to salt peter miners, as they stood in the dark, with the only flame illuminating the preacher himself. Ric had stopped to turn off the lights, to plunge the tour into the absolute darkness within Mammoth Cave. He did a head count before flipping the switch, 21 people. He did a headcount when he turned the lights on again, 23. At the turberculosis ward, there were still 23. But when they returned to the entrance, only 21. He couldn’t remember the faces of the two who seemed to be missing, and before he could launch a search party, he checked in. It was a good thing he did, because there were only supposed to be 21 people on the tour. Who were the other 2, why were they there, and where had they come from? Those are questions Ric cannot answer. He also refuses to answer a more simple question. “Ric, you’re a maintenance ranger, why were you giving tours?” (Bethany thinks he might have borrowed this story from another ranger. It does make her wonder, every time she walks through the Methodist Church, if anyone new will be joining her group.
Most of these places are accessible to guests of Mammoth Cave National Park. (Except Crystal Caverns, and I highly recommend trying to find a group who knows the area, and the rules, before you off-trail hike.) The ghost stories, while tied to the history of Mammoth Cave, are up for your interpretation. There are better sources of haunted stories from Mammoth Cave. Maybe I’ll do a recommended other reading soon. The Specters of Mammoth Cave is fiction after all, but I tried to keep as much truth to the tale as I could. And for those events more story related, well, who knows? I guess you’ll have to check out The Specters of Mammoth Cave, out now on Amazon, Barnes and Noble.com, and mostly anywhere which sells books. (although, in most other places you might have to make the request)