Mammoth Cave: Weird stories of fish, TB, mummies and more

by Jamie Rhein on

Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is the largest known cave system in the world and one of the United States’ oldest tourist attractions. Because of its unusual geological characteristics, the cave has been a backdrop for downright odd aspects of human endeavors. Even nature has tossed in some weirdness for good measure.

The first time I visited Mammoth Cave National Park was as a child. What I remember most are the odd tales told by the tour guide. Of course, the vastness of the various chambers and the narrow squeezes of passageways between them did add a mysterious awe to my experience but the guide’s stories are what have resonated.

When I revisited Mammoth Cave as an adult years later, the weird details I remembered were still part of the tour guide’s routine. If you visit the cave, depending upon the tour you take, perhaps these details will stay with you also. Tours range from 30 minutes to more than four hours.

For 10 weird things about Mammoth Cave, keep reading.

10 Weird (or unusual )Things about Mammoth Cave

Weirdness 1: This is more unusual than weird but it is information that you can pull out at a party. If you put the second and third longest caves together, Mammoth Cave would still be the world’s longest by 100 miles.

Weirdness 2: In 1830, a preacher would gather people together for church in the cave. He would take all their lanterns, set the lanterns at the edge of the rock ledge where he stood, and preach about good and evil and the fear of God. The people couldn’t leave because he had the lanterns.


Weirdness 3: Stephen Bishop, a 17-year-old slave, gave tours of the cave to wealthy white people until he was sold (along with the cave) to a new owner. Under his new owner, Bishop became one of the cave’s greatest explorers and, even after he gained freedom, was unable to move away from the cave’s pull despite his plans to move to Liberia. He died from unknown causes a year after he became free.

Weirdness 4: Because large portions of Mammoth Cave are dry, items left there can remain intact for years and years and years. This includes dead bats and bodies of Native Americans who lived in the area thousands of years ago. (Keep this weirdness in mind; it is connected to Weirdness 5.

Weirdness 5: The mummified bodies of the Native Americans were taken outside of the cave to be used as traveling shows.

Weirdness 6: The traveling mummy shows helped grow interest in Mammoth Cave. When the cave started its reign as a tourist site, it was considered to be exotic.

Weirdness 7: In 1843, a doctor set up a tuberculosis ward in the Main Cave near the Star Chamber where he treated 16 patients. The idea was that because the cave was dry, it would help the patients’ lungs heal. It was a decent idea that didn’t work. Because of the cave’s cool temperatures, plus the fires from cooking and heating, the patients didn’t get better. After patients started to die, the doctor gave up the idea of a cave holding a cure. He died of TB a few years later.

Weirdness 8: In the early 20th century music concerts were held in certain chambers of the cave. This included bringing in food to set up a festive atmosphere.

Weirdness 9: Because of Mammoth’s Cave popularity in the 1920s, people who owned other caves in this part of Kentucky would stop travelers on the road to tell them lies about Mammouth Cave in order to get visitors to come to their caves instead.

Weirdness 10: There is a river that flows through part of the cave. Because of its darkness, the fish that live in it don’t have eyes. Depending upon the tour of the cave you take, you can travel by boat on this river.

Bonus weirdness: Up until 1976, the remains of a Native American named “Lost John” was on display in one part of the cave at the spot where he died. In 1976, it became illegal to have dead bodies on display in national parks so he was buried near where he was found.

The blind fish, Lost John and the TB hospital are the three things I remember the most. These recollections add to my thoughts about why it’s important to travel with children.

The details of the places children visit can instill a sense of mystery, curiosity and wonder that can last for a lifetime. Those feelings can keep you traveling.

Help Wanted: one witch, pays £50,000

by Sean McLachlan on

In these hard economic times it’s nice to know there are still good jobs out there. Wookey Hole, Somerset, England, is advertising for a witch.

Wookey Hole, famous for its beautiful limestone caves, is home to a family theme park. The company that manages the park wants to hire someone to play a witch and is willing to pay them £50,000 ($81,000) a year to cackle at visitors, teach courses in magic, and (here’s the catch) live in the caves. It’s not the greatest job in the world, but it beats flipping burgers and asking “Do you want eye of newt with that?”

According to legend there really was a witch in the Wookey Hole Caves. Back in the Middle Ages, an evil old witch who had been unlucky in love cursed a young couple so they would never marry. The young groom-to-be was so despondent over the loss of his love that he became a monk, and swore revenge. One day he entered the cave, blessed the underground river he found flowing through it, and splashed the water onto the witch, turning her into a stalagmite that can still be seen to this day.

It sounds like a fun way to make some money off an old legend, but one thing confuses me. Considering their name, why don’t they open a Star Wars theme park and hire a Wookiee?

Check out some of these other wacky laws, place names and signs from around the world!


In the Corner of the World – Cold and glowing vs. hot and bubbly

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Over the next few weeks here at Gadling, we’ll be bringing you updates from our recent travels across New Zealand – in the process, we hope to offer a range of perspectives about what visiting this truly unique and fascinating country is all about. You can read previous entries HERE.

You’re standing on the edge of a ledge. Covered head-to-toe in a neoprene wetsuit, purple short-shorts and giant white rubber galoshes, and holding a large inner tube. You’re contemplating a jump into the frigid waters that slosh noisily just below. It’s pitch black, but your headlamp punches temporary holes in the emptiness, providing glimpses of other victims shouting and flailing wildly beneath you. A man taps you on the arm and pushes you forward – you hesitate, but there’s nothing to do but turn around and jump, plummeting ass-first towards the numbingly cold water beneath you, awaiting the inevitability of a painful impact.

This certainly wasn’t how I had pictured my day unfolding when it began. We were headed 2 hours south from Auckland, driving towards Waitomo, a village that is home to one of the largest complexes of underground caves in New Zealand. Caving is highly popular attraction in New Zealand, and the underground spaces like those found at Waitomo boast almost 400,000 visitors each year.

We had also heard about a peculiar Waitomo Cave phenomenon known as “Glowworms” – a unique species of bioluminescent insect that emits an eerie light in order to attract its prey. Glowing insects and cave exploring? Our interest was piqued – we wanted to see these strange creatures up and close and personal for ourselves. But how exactly does one go from a casual curiosity in glowing cave bugs to standing shivering, wearing a wetsuit in a pitch black cave? And how did we plan to warm ourselves up afterwards? Keep clicking below to see what happened.
Visitors to Waitomo caves have a huge range of options for viewing these amazing natural wonders and the strange wildlife like glow worms that live within them. Trips to Waitomo Caves range from more casual walking tours along guided underground paths to full-on spelunking and cave rafting expeditions.

Though a leisurely cave walk sounded fun, this was New Zealand after all – frequently cited as the home of “extreme sports.” We wanted a more “hands-on” experience so we opted for an underwater tubing trip which would take us on water voyage through the inner workings of the one of the caves. After suiting up in what is perhaps the stupidest outfit I’ve ever worn in my entire life (pictured left), we were ready to enter the caves.

As we entered the first narrow tunnel, icy cold water up to our waists, I began to wonder what I had gotten my claustrophobic self into – but the scenery quickly changed. After jumping through a few small waterfall pools, the ceiling soon opened upwards, revealing a massive underground cavern big enough to hold a cathedral and a meandering underground stream. Above us lay a miniature Milky Way of twinkling lights – a constellation of glowworm insects silently advertising for victims. We hopped aboard our inner tubes and floated lazily down the cave’s river as we gazed up at the artificial light show performance above us. Still under the hypnotic visual spell of such a strange sight, we soon emerged back into the midday light, none the worse for the wear but soaking wet and exhilarated by our recent adventure.

After all the freezing water from the morning’s caving activities, it was time to warm up and relax. We headed 150 kilometers east towards Rotorua, a city that lies on the edge of one of New Zealand’s more active geothermal hotspots. In addition to geysers and mud pools, Rotorua is also an outdoor activities destination offering the chance to mountain bike, raft, fish and swim. But a morning of cave-exploring had just about done us in at this point – we were ready to just hang out. We stopped by the Polynesian Spa to take a soak in their naturally heated thermal waters, renting a private pool with a view of Lake Rotorua for 30 minutes.

As we immersed ourselves in the warm embrace of the nearly 100 degree water, the starry night sky above us punctuated by the Southern Cross, we had a chance to think back. Our day had taken us across two huge extremes in temperature. From a morning sloshing through knee-deep freezing water, looking up at ghostly glowworms to a heated hot-spring pool and starlit New Zealand sky. Going from cold to hot – it was just the kind of extreme transition we’d come to find down in New Zealand, the corner of the world.

Gadling + BootsnAll – Picks of the Week (4.3.09)

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Another Friday is upon us, and we’re back with another round of weekly picks from our friends at BootsnAll, the independent travel experts. What strange stories, great lists and secret travel tips caught our eye? Take a look below and find out:

  • ABC’s of Study Abroad – spending a semester abroad has become an increasingly popular option for university students in recent years. Aaron Shew gives us a rundown of great tips on the whole process, covering everything from why to do it, where to go and how to make it work for you. If you’ve ever thought about studying abroad, here’s where you can take that first step!
  • Secret Wine Country – European regions like Bordeaux and Tuscany are synonymous with vineyards, tastings and great wine. But did you ever think to try a few bottles in the Ukraine? Or in Hungary? Eileen Smith fills us in on six unexpected Eastern European hotspots where you can try a few unique vintages.
  • Cave Culture – the first reaction of most people to word “cave” is not great. Pitch black spaces, flying bats and freezing cold water all suggest caves are not particularly great places to hang out. But as Deanna Hyland points out, caves are actually fascinating places to visit, filled with amazing rock formations, unique human history and fascinating wildlife. Take a look at her list of 12 Exciting Caves to Explore around the world.

That’s all for now – see you again next Friday for another installment of our ongoing Picks of the Week series. Stay tuned.

Through the Gadling Lens: taking photographs in caves

by Karen Walrond on

This week, I got a great email from Gadling reader Matthew, about a really exciting upcoming trip:

Dear Karen,

My friends and I are going on a week long trip to Varadero in Cuba in two weeks. One of the main attractions that I’m looking forward to is the cuevas de bellamar, I’ll be taking my Nikon D60 with the stock lens. I’m not sure what settings I should be using to capture that low ambient lighting in the caves. I was able to find some pictures of the caves on Flickr. Any tips? I love the column keep them coming.

– Matthew

I love this question, and as it happens, I’ve had a little bit of experience shooting in in caves: one of my favourite places to visit when I go home to Trinidad is the Gasparee caves, and the last time I was there, I tried my hand at trying to capture some images of them. What did I learn? Shooting in caves isn’t easy. But I’ll share some of the tricks I picked up, and hopefully, Matthew, you’ll end up grabbing some really memorable shots.


1. First off, caves are dark. I know, I know — I’m stating the obvious. But, still, the fact that it’s dark is a good thing to keep in mind. The reason?

Chances are, if you use the flash on your camera, you’re going to get a shockingly bright shot of the stalactite right in front of you, and the dark void behind it. Turn the flash off.

I know it might seem counterintuitive to turn your flash off in a cave, but trust me on this — and a great example is the beautiful shot uploaded by StrudelMonkey into the Gadling flickr pool, above. In this shot, StrudelMonkey used the available light in the cave to really capture the eerieness and mystery of the surroundings. And Matthew, since you’ve already done a search of the Cuevas de Bellamar on Flickr, you know that these Cuban caves are similarly lit to enhance their beauty — and therefore, the trick is going to be how to capture the available light.

2. Switch your camera to program (or “fully automatic”) mode. You were expecting to tell you how to adjust your aperture to get great depth of field, or adjust your shutter speed, and that sort of thing, weren’t you? Yeah, forget all that. I mean, it’s a great idea, in theory, to manually adjust all of these items on your camera, but honestly? See #1 above — you’re in a cave. It’s dark. And you’re not going to be able to see what you’re doing. It’s just much better if you set the camera to help you take the shot as easily as possible.

3. Examine your light source, and adjust your white balance accordingly. We haven’t actually talked about white balance before, so let’s take a moment to step back and understand what your white balance does.

Have you ever taken a shot inside of your house at night, say, and you decided not to use your flash, but instead try to capture the scene in the available light — and the result is this very yellow image? This is because in general, your camera is designed to take photographs in sunlight — and your lamplight is cooler and more yellow than sunlight. Also, ever notice how green you look in florescent light? So guess what colour your photographs will look under that light?

This is where white balance comes in: if you refer to your camera manual and look at your camera (and Matthew, I know that you shoot with a Nikon D60), you’ll notice that there’s likely a setting for “white balance” or “WB.” This helps tell your camera what kind of light source is available for you to take your shot. So, therefore, if you’re shooting in caves that are lit like the ones where StrudelMonkey took his photograph in the shot above, you’ll probably want to set your camera to take photographs in incandescent light (probably indicated by a little lightbulb icon) — that way your photographs won’t end up looking too yellow.



If, however, the spot where your taking your shots actually is lit by sunlight, through openings in the cave ceiling or walls (as shown in the beautiful image captured by Bernard-SD, above), then make sure that your camera is set to take photographs in natural light (likely indicated by a small sun icon) — and that way, your photographs won’t end up looking too blue.

4. Get yourself a gorillapod. A Gorillapod is a small, portable tripod that twists in ways that you can steady your camera on just about any kind of surface. In this dark setting, a Gorillapod can be invaluable, and here’s why:

Remember when, a few months ago, we talked about ISOs and “light catchers”? Because you’re going to be in a low light setting, and you’ve set your camera to fully automatic, your camera is going to notice how dark it is, and think to itself, “Self, I’m going to have to keep the shutter open forever, so that the light catchers are able to catch as much available light as possible in order to develop the photograph.” And when that happens, the slightest movement of the camera … the slightest movement of your wrist … is going to create image blur. So to make sure that your images are as crisp as possible, you’re going to want to steady the camera — and since flat surfaces might be hard to come by in the caves, a tripod which can steady itself on a rock outcropping, a stalagmite, or even just around the railing of the steps into the cave would be worth its weight in gold. And happily? Gorillapods don’t cost the same as krugerrands — the large one, suitable for most SLR cameras, is currently available for US$ 44.95 online.

5. Set your ISO to a relatively low number, aim, and shoot. Okay, so now you’ve set your camera to automatic, you’ve secured it to the Gorillapod, and you’ve secured it to … whatever. A lower ISO number is going to give you a less grainy shot than a high ISO number, so sort of ballpark it — 400 or 600, say. Then aim the camera, set the self-timer, click the shutter, and walk away. Why set the self-timer, you ask? Because in the dark, even the action of pressing the shutter might cause blur. So set the timer, press the shutter, and then step away, and let the camera settle itself to take the shot. The shutter is going to stay open for a long time (see #4, above), but don’t worry, let it do its thing. Once you look at your image, you’ll likely have a lovely, crisp, ambient shot.

So, that’s about it! Matthew, good luck on your trip and safe travels — I know there’s a lot to take in here on this post
, but my suggestion? Practice in a dark room in your house, with low light, and play with the settings as I’ve suggested, and see how it works for you (and obviously, if you have any questions, feel free to email me). Also, when you return, I hope you’ll share your shots with us here at Gadling. I can’t wait to see what you capture!

Karen is a writer and photographer in Houston, Texas. You can see more of her work at her site, Chookooloonks, and feel free to send her your photography questions directly to karenDOTwalrondATweblogsincDOTcom. She’ll happily tackle them in upcoming posts.
And for more Through the Gadling Lens, click here.