An Old Timey Podcast - 111: Floyd Collins Is Trapped in a Cave (Part 1)

Episode Date: July 8, 2026

Floyd Collins had a dream. He dreamt that one day, he’d emerge victorious in the Kentucky Cave Wars. In that era, people made easy money turning beautiful, awe-inspiring caves into tourist destinations. The tough part was *finding* the cave. Finding a cave took months of dangerous, exhausting work, but Floyd Collins was up to the task. In January of 1925, he felt certain that he was digging his way toward a magnificent one. Then he got stuck. Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from: Collins, Homer, and John Lehrberger. The Life and Death of Floyd Collins. Cave Books, 2001.David R. Kem. “The Kentucky Cave Wars.” The Kentucky Cave Wars, July 5, 2025. https://kentuckycavewars.wordpress.com/.“George Morrison (U.S. National Park Service).” https://www.nps.gov/people/george-morrison.htm.Kem, David Randolph. The Kentucky Cave Wars: The Century That Shaped Mammoth Cave National Park. David Randolph Kem, 2014.Murray, Robert K., and Roger W. Brucker. Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins. University Press of Kentucky, 1982. https://archive.org/details/trappedstoryofst0000murr.Reilly, Lucas. “The 1925 Cave Rescue That Captivated the Nation.” Mental Floss, July 13, 2018. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/544782/1925-cave-rescue-that-captivated-the-united-states-floyd-collins.“Stephen Bishop (U.S. National Park Service).” https://www.nps.gov/people/stephen-bishop.htm.Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

Hear ye, hear ye. You are listening to an old-timey podcast. I'm Normie C. And I'm Kristen Caruso. And on this episode, I'll be talking about a man trapped in a cave. Norman, this sounds terrifying. Folks, this is our fifth take of the old-timey podcast intro this week. It is.

I thought you were going to not tell people you would allow me to save some face. Folks, we are recording at night. We both spent the entire day trying to write our scripts in a competition to see who could win to tell the story. I mean, I think we now know who won. And as usual, the Norm Troopers have emerged victorious. And by the way, this is a series, so I'm locked in now for multiple weeks. I'm sorry, everyone. You know, these videos go on YouTube now, and we will, of course, title this one,

Gamer defeats feminist. I think it's going to go really well there. We're going to get millions of views. That's right. We are on YouTube now. Hello. Hello. Don't call it a comeback.

I'm back. They don't call me the bad boy of YouTube for nothing. They certainly don't. Norm, since you defeated me in our competition to tell this week's story, I am now stuck doing a Patreon plug, a Patreon plug that I did not prepare for in any way, shape, or form. Let's see how it goes. Folks, head on over to patreon.com slash old-timey podcast.

Once there, you will find our entire back catalog of bonus episodes with video. All of them quite good. Also, if you're feeling a little spendy, if you're feeling like you want to invest in pig butter, and you know you do, you can get those bonus episodes, plus you can get every single ding-dong episode of this podcast a day early, ad-free and with our very special segment of The Slop, which we do at the end of every episode, and boy, is it special. And, you know, that's about it.

Wow. Underwhelming ending, but thank you for the Patreon plug, Kristen. This week on The Slop, we are talking about our trip to Universal. They have Disney adults. Do they have universal adults? That's not really a thing. I have no idea. Maybe.

Seems like something they would have. Do you think maybe Pitbull qualifies? Mr. Worldwide? Because the universal logo is a globe? Yeah. What? This really, this really, I debated giving you the rim shot on that. An amazing joke from an incredible woman.

This intro is wacky. It really is after dark. I'm sorry, folks. Well, no, I'm not. I will not apologize for the pit bull joke. It was timely. It was relevant. It was good.

Yeah, Pitbull is definitely still relevant. Kristen, we're recording at night. We are powering through it. We are going to have a killer episode, okay? Okay. Because it's about my latest and greatest obsession, people getting stuck in caves. You are weirdly obsessed with this. You have been talking about it for a very long time, and for a long time you did not confess to me that you were working on an episode about it.

So I just thought you were getting weirder and weirder by the day. You were calling your parents telling them. He's talking about caves again. I think he's afraid he's going to get stuck in one. I'm so glad that caving is an optional activity. I can't imagine if I was forced to go digging around in a cave. What lies does your anxiety tell you, Norm, that one day you'll be forced to do all these things you don't want to do? Hey, in our dystopian future, they might...

Getting that cave, brother! Yeah, there might be some rare mineral. Uh-huh. like an avatar, the unobtainium. Yeah, they're going to force non-threatening boys like me to get their cute little asses in the caves and get that unobtainium out of there. But at least they're going to compliment your asses. That's true.

They flatter us. Yeah. And they torture us. We love to watch you go down that mine. Yeah. Hate to see him wiggle away, but love to watch him leave. Now tell me this story. I'm ready to be horrified.

All right. I'm sorry, I was genuinely surprised. Saturday, February 1st, 1925. Kentucky, the Bluegrass State. 22-year-old Homer Collins was feeling fine. He had just spent the past week in the big city, Louisville, visiting friends and buying himself. Oh, in 1925.

I bet he thought he was hot shit. He did. It's the latest and greatest. A Ford Model T. Featuring 820 horsepower four cylinder engine, a hand crank starter, and three, count them three floor pedals. Estimated retail value, $275,000, adjusted for inflation, about $5,000. Why three floor pedals? I don't know. I'm not a mechanic. I'm not a car engineer. I'm not a car scientist. I'm guessing one was a shift, you know, like, yeah, it's probably a shifter. Shifter brake acceleration, right? I think I solved the mystery as to why you beat me in the competition today. You cut corners.

Fair. Homer Collins was very excited about his new car, mainly because he had been saving up his money for a while to purchase one. And now he was driving back home through 100 miles of snow-covered road. roads to his small hometown of Cave City. Population 690. Little foreshadowing there, Cave City. I was going to say, this feels a little on the nose. If this were a movie, I'd be like, all right, this is bullshit.

Honestly, it's like the name of a town in a video game. Yeah. Like in Final Fantasy, you show up to this little village, and it's called Cave City. And the mayor's like, you have to go into this cave and kill this demon, and you'll receive the Bahamas Summon or something. Absolutely. We selected you because of your cute little butt. That's right. By the time Homer Collins arrived at around 3.30 p.m., his new car was low on gas, so he stopped at a service station to fill up before heading home. As he pumped gas into his car, a boy shouted from the service station window, Hey, have you got your brother out of the cave yet? Homer turned to him,

surprised. What? The boy shouted back. Yeah, your brother's trapped in a cave. Last I heard, he's still alive. Oh, my God. Homer Collins quickly finished up, hopped in his car, and sped off to help rescue his older brother, 37-year-old Floyd Collins. Floyd Collins, being in a cave, was not surprising. He had been exploring them since he was a little kid.

He had a reputation for being a daredevil, a risk-taker, entering caves and claustrophobic passageways that no one else would dare attempt. friends and family would warn him about the risks, but he would always brush them off. I don't care. I ain't afraid, he'd say. In fact, Floyd Collins had been trapped in caves before, but he had always managed to make it out. But Homer felt like this situation was different. He knew Floyd had been digging a hole on a neighbor's property, looking to find a new, magnificent underground cavern to attract tourists and make some money. But the way

Floyd had described this project in the past made Homer nervous. It was a dangerous dig with lots of loose rock and debris. As Homer Collins made his way to the area, his mind raced. How long had Floyd been down there? How badly was he stuck? Was he even still alive? Homer would just have to see for himself. He arrived at the area later known as Sand Cave at around 4 p.m. Sand Cave was located on the side of a hill in an overhang of sandstone covered in moss. It sheltered an area about 40 feet in diameter. It almost looked like a little amphitheater. Can you picture it in your head?

I'm picturing it right now, baby. Good. And in the back left corner of that overhang was a small opening. The one Floyd Collins had opened up weeks prior. What Homer saw at Sand Cave made his st. stomach sink. There were around 50 to 100 people standing around, huddled around campfires, drinking, chit-chatting. If this many people were here, Floyd must have been in a really bad situation. Homer immediately grabbed a lantern and made his way to the small entrance of the cave.

A spectator called out to Homer. You can't go in there with those good clothes on. You'll tear him to pieces. Homer ignored the warning. Is my brother free yet? He has a little. He has a asked. No, but we can talk to him. Homer jumped into action. He got down on his hands and knees and entered a sand cave. But Kristen, calling this a cave is pretty generous. This was more like a long, winding, narrow tunnel going more than 55 feet underground. Oh my God. And I want you to imagine, as far as like how this would look on a map, imagine, imagine, imagine, imagine, two S's stacked on top of each other.

It was just kind of a long, winding tunnel underground. You could not stand up and walk in this cave. You were either crawling on your hands and knees or wiggling on your back or stomach. Nope, nope, nope. In some areas,

Sand Cave was only 10 inches high. How little were these fellas? Professional cavers are usually little dudes. Okay. Or skinny dudes. You did mention the cute little butts. Cute little butts, right. You weren't kidding.

No bubble butts in this crew. Mm-hmm. Oh, when the apocalypse comes, you can just get a BBL and then they won't put you down the cave. Yeah, but they're going to use me for sexual pleasure. You're going to have to make a choice more what's worse. And smacking my cute little BBL. You'd be jiggling. What would you rather have?

Forced down a cave. or have them be smacking your cute BBL whenever they pleased. Smack my ass all the live long day. I knew the answer. In this boring dystopian future, please. So yeah, this was not really a cave, Kristen. It was a very, very narrow tunnel. And did he dig this tunnel himself?

He dug it out himself, yeah. Oh, my God. Homer Collins crawled into the muddy sand cave and inhaled a strong smell of cigarettes and alcohol. Several men were sitting. around at the entrance, doing nothing. Have you seen Floyd? Homer asked. The men shook their heads. Homer, frustrated, continued crawling forward. The passageway narrowed. Homer dropped to his belly and wiggled forward like a worm, until he reached what they called a squeeze, which is a even narrower

vertical drop. Homer exhaled completely to flatten his body, pressed his arms against his side and went down to the next passageway. This pattern continued for many more yards, crawling, wiggling, squeezing, until Homer reached what was known as the turnaround room, which is exactly how it sounds. It's a room just big enough to turn your body around. A few other men were up ahead, clearing rock and gravel. Where's Floyd? Homer asked. The men pointed down into a dark pit. He's down there. You're looking very. uncomfortable. I am so uncomfortable and I just have to say because I know my sister listens to our podcast, Kyla, if you ever do this, I love you. Goodbye. I could know. If she did this to

herself. Is Kyla one to go cave-in? Is she going to start waddling into holes in the ground? I just don't want her to listen to this and be inspired. Okay. I don't want her thinking, it'll be fine. Kristen will wiggle on down. I'm just going to do a little spoiler here. No one is going to be inspired to go into a cave after listening to this series. I've never really thought of myself as claustrophobic, but I feel like my chest is tight listening to this. So yeah, the men pointed down into a dark pit to let Homer know your brother's down there. Homer Collins squeezed past the men and looked down. What he saw made his anxiety spike.

You know, Homer Collins had gone caving with his brother before, but he had really never seen anything like this. Homer described it as a dark, muddy, 10-foot pit that was, quote, a chimney no bigger around than your own body. Homer couldn't see anything even with his lantern, so he yelled out. Floyd, are you all right? An excited voice called back. Homer, I know you'd be coming down to help me. my left leg is caught in a crevice. My head is right at the bottom of the pit.

You have to come down, though. By that point, no one had been able to physically reach Floyd Collins. Homer was about to change that. He stripped down to his undies, revealing his skinny 160-pound frame. Homer paused, took a deep breath, and entered that pit feet first, wiggling down. it was a brutal dissension. Homer described the pit as being full of, quote, projecting rocks that dig into your flesh and tear your clothing.

Homer wiggled and wiggled and slowly descended, his skin tearing, until his feet finally made contact with the bottom. In the dark, Homer felt around with his feet, and he eventually touched Floyd's head. Oh, my God. Homer shuddered. Give me a lantern, he yelled. the men up top lowered one down with a rope. Now, Homer needed to contort his body to kneel down in that narrow 10-foot pit. And incredibly, he was able to do that. He shined the lantern forward. And there, Homer saw his brother Floyd's dire situation. Floyd Collins was laying on his left side in an even narrower horizontal passageway, angled 45 degrees down.

His left arm was pinned underneath him. His right arm pinned between his body and the ceiling above, which was a solid four-foot-long limestone boulder. Most of his body was covered in rocks and dirt. He was unable to move. But the biggest problem of all was his left leg was pinned underneath an extremely heavy boulder, wedging him into place.

and for the cherry on top of the shit Sunday, a drop of water slowly and repeatedly fell on Floyd's head. It was nature's form of waterboarding. I mean, that is torture. Yeah. Basically, Floyd Collins was entombed, and the cave was squeezing him to death. Now, Kristen, if this were a movie,

at this point, you would probably hear... Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I ended up in this situation. situation. Norman. Well, we are wondering that, right? How the hell did Floyd Collins get himself into this situation? Yeah.

What on earth would drive a man to explore an underground passageway so dangerous? Well, we are going to answer those questions today on another exciting episode of an old-timey podcast. Wait, was that all an intro? Yeah. Oh, well. Kristen, our story begins in the land before time. Yep, yep, yep. Oh, I used to love that movie.

Yeah? Mm-hmm. Did you like Ducky? Well, I don't remember it, but, you know, I... I was Ducky. Okay. Sure. So yes, our story begins in the land before time,

because that is when all of those caves started forming. It all began in the Green River, which runs centrally through modern-day Kentucky. For over 20 million years. Water trickled through joints and cracks in the limestone rock beds surrounding the river, which slowly formed thousands of large subterranean caves filled with beautiful crystals, wildflowers, stalagmites, and stalactites. Kristen, how do you tell the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite? Oh, my God.

Everyone, fun fact, and this is a true one, not like the one I told you last week. Stalactites hang tight to the ceiling. That's how you remember that. Very good. Those are on the floor. Very, very good, Kristen. To be honest, I had no idea Kentucky had a bunch of caves. Did not know that was a thing.

Did you know that? Yeah. How do you know that? I'm kind of from these parts, Norm. That's true. Kentucky is close to Missouri. And, you know, when we get bored, we do like to go see a cave every now and then. Well, in Missouri, I always see billboards for the fantastic caverns.

Yeah. Yeah. So I guess, yeah, Midwest, there's a lot of caves going. on. I'm sure the Kentucky hose, which sounds like a cereal, are very disappointed in me. But anyway, these thousands of caves became a major part of everyday life for people living in the area. Native Americans and subsequently European settlers used the caves to stay cool during the hot summer, to take shelter from storms. Caves could be used as a pantry to store produce or milk or can goods. kids played hide and seek in the caves.

Illegal moonshiner's and distillers hid their stashes inside the caves. And heck, some folks just like exploring the caves for science and fun. But Kristen, not all Kentucky caves are created equal. Some of them are what you would call your standard issue cave. One way in, one way out. Boring! No, that's the way we like them. That is the safe cave, sure.

But other caves, who, we are talking massive, complex, interconnected passages that stretch for miles and miles underground. And the cave we are going to focus on today is the biggest of them all. It's called Mammoth Cave. And it is the longest known cave system in the world. And it's in freaking Kentucky. It's blowing my mind. How long is it? Yeah, actually, I didn't write that down.

Yeah. Come on. As of 2025, more than 426 miles of passageways have been surveyed. Whoa. Over one and a half times longer than the second longest cave system. Suck on that second longest cave system. That's right. Isn't that wild?

Imagine how easy it would be to be lost in there. Oh, no kidding. I think today it's a national park, so they've got it locked down. Okay. But as we're going to learn in this episode, they found a whole bunch of ways to get to that cave. Mammoth Cave is a big deal in Kentucky. Old-timers used to say God gave Texas oil and Kentucky Mammoth Cave. Legend has it that Mammoth Cave was discovered by an 18th century frontiersman named John Houchon. The story goes that John Houchon shot a bear and gave him an

ouchon. Oh, okay. The bear retreated and led John to the cave's entrance near the Green River. But, as I can see by the look on your face, you don't believe a word of that story. Well, first of all, I'm just always so thrilled. What are the chances that white guys discovered absolutely everything? Pretty lucky! But yeah, that is probably a made-up story. Native American tribes like the Cherokee, the Shawnee, the Chickasaw, had been using the caves for thousands of years. Archaeological digs have uncovered arrowheads, tomahawks, bees, bees, and, and, and, and,

torches, bones, and even poop. After the Revolutionary War, Americans headed out west, Manifest Destiny, Baby. And Kentucky was ripe for the pickin. Many folks settled along the Green River, fresh water, good soil, boat transportation, and so it was inevitable that people would soon start exploring the nearby caves. And what they discovered was that these caves were filled with potassium nitrate. That's a key ingredient in gunpowder. Oh.

And so one of the major industries in that area became mining. Settlers moved in to claim their land and set up mining operations in the caves to produce gunpowder. One fella named Valentine Simon scooped up 200 acres of land, and it just so happened the entrance to mammoth cave was on his new property. What a lucky guy. But profits from gunpowder really depended on demand. You know, things like a war could really make the price of gunpowder skyrocket. Unfortunately for Mr. Simon, there really wasn't much action going on during the first decade of the 19th century. And so Valentine Simon declared,

I'm out. Oh, no. Yep. He sold his 200 acres to two businessmen, Charles Wilkins, a local man from nearby Lexington, Kentucky, and an investor from the east named Heimann Graz, whose name roughly translates to greedy vagina. Norman, well played. I was totally ready to make a Heimann joke, but hats off to you.

Right there with you, Kristen. I was going to ask if he was a broken man. That's pretty good. I like that too. And talk about good timing, Charles Wilkins and Greedy VIII. vagina made their purchase in 1812. Guess what else happened that year, Kristen? Oh, God, the War of 1812.

That's right. The appropriately named War of 1812. Gunpowder was in high demand. We need potassium nitrate. Give it to Daddy. Ew. First of all, ew. Second of all, how dare you say this is going to be about caves?

And somehow, shoehorn wore into it. always find a way to tell me some boring war story. Guess what else I'm going to shoehorn into this episode? What? Guess. We used to have a running counter of how many times we mentioned it. Oh, no, slavery. Here we go.

Oh, yeah. This episode's got it all, baby. Profits for potassium nitrate sword. And you know it was even better? Charles Wilkins and Hymen Graz didn't have to pay for labor. They waggoned in a bunch of enslaved people to work the mines. Oh, God. The war of 1812 came to an end.

Gunpowder demand fell, profits dwindled. But luckily, a new source of revenue became available to Charles Wilkins in Heimann Gratz. Tourism! Miners working in the caves had discovered human remains like bones and even mummies. And these mummies were extremely well-preserved, thanks to the cool, dry air of the inner cave system. The most famous mummy was dubbed the Fawn Hoof mummy. It was a Native American woman wrapped in deer skin and wearing beads, feathers, and a necklace of deer hooves. Wilkins and Graz displayed the mummy in front of Mammoth Cave to attract visitors. I hate that.

Here's something I didn't write down, Kristen. Scientists determined that Native American woman was 5'10. Shut up! Yeah. A tall queen, no doubt. Okay. adjusted for inflation, she was 17 feet tall. Yeah. Amazing.

I said this joke last week, but this giant woman will destroy us all. Which is what you should put on your tombstone, I think. Well, no, if it's on my tombstone, this giant woman destroyed us all. Oh. Yeah, it happened. There you go. Newspapers around the country covered the story, and sure enough, more and more people started showing up, hoping to explore a mammoth cave.

In 1827, Charles Wilkins died, and his estate sold their interest in Mammoth Cave to Hyman Graz, who went all in on the tourism business. He abandoned the mines and started buying up more and more land in the area, trying to scoop up even more cave entrances, 1,600 acres total, he bought. Gratz also set up a cute little rustic inn just outside the entrance of Mammoth Cave. Visitors could stay the night, grab some food, and then pay a few, to enter and explore the cave. And people took advantage of this.

Eggheads started surveying the caves, drawing out maps and writing about it for science. But unfortunately for Heimann Graz, tourism died down over the years. Settlers moved further and further west. Kentucky was no longer considered an adventurous wild frontier. It was kind of like the backwoods.

And so in 1838, Heimengratz declared, Wow. Yep. He sold his acreage to native Kentuckian and lawyer Franklin Goren. The price, $5,000. Adjust for inflation, around $200,000. Wow, that seems cheap.

It's very cheap for 1,600 acres of land. Yeah. And an established business. Established business, yeah. Franklin Goren wasn't ready to give up on the tourism angle. He wanted to make Mammoth Cave Great again. So he built a bigger, better in at the entrance to the cave. And then he took his enslaved people and made them tour guides.

For a small fee, they would take visitors deep into uncharted areas of mammoth cave. Oh, so that's more than a tour guide. That's a risk-your-life guide. Oh, yeah, for sure. Gorin's most popular guide was a young black man named Stephen Bishop. Bishop had been exploring Mammoth Cave since he was a teenager, and his knowledge of the cave was unrivaled. Bishop became so popular as a tour guide,

visitors from the East already knew him by name and requested his assistance. One tourist wrote, Stephen, who has a share in all the principal explorations and discoveries, is almost as widely known as the cave itself. Dang. Yeah. Tourism at Mammoth Cave was picking up steam. But amazingly, in less than two years, new owner Franklin Gorin declared, Why? Why do these people keep leaving?

Well, it seemed as though Franklin Gorin had gotten an offer he couldn't refuse. Somebody offered him $10,000 for everything. That was double what he paid for the caves. And he took that offer. And by the way, that included his enslaved people like Stephen Bishop. Wow. Just for inflation, Franklin Goran, sold his property for around $400,000.

Mammoth Cave was now in the hands of a Louisville physician named Dr. John Krogan. So, Kristen, pop quiz. Why would a doctor want to purchase a large cave in the backwoods of Kentucky? Oh, well, great place for a morgue. I'm sure. I'm sure there are all kinds of things that you could be like, This is medicinal down here. Oh, here's a hot spring in this cave.

I don't know. You're in the right track there. Okay. This will cure everything from diabetes to sepsis. Wow, sepsis. Incredible. I'm going to give you credit for this. Hey.

Good job. Thank you. It's because Dr. John Krogan believed the cave had healing powers. Specifically, he believed that the cave's cool, dry air. could cure tuberculosis. There we go. AKA consumption. I was so close with sepsis.

Inside the cave, Dr. John Krogan constructed huts. For $2 a night, guests could stay in those huts and heal up. And for an additional dollar, Stephen Bishop would provide a cave to her. And that medical angle, it worked really well.

Customer testimonials raved about the healing, powers of mammoth cave. One man claimed that after a week in the cave, his cough was gone. His appetite and strength were back. He concluded, quote, I would rather live in the cave than elsewhere. Wow. But it wasn't just the promise of curing tuberculosis that got people visiting. Dr. John Krogan also managed to convince the Kentucky State Legislature to build some damn roads to the entrance of Mammoth Cave. These roads came from nearby towns like Rowlets, dripping springs, and Cave City. And that really boosted tourism.

It was now much easier to get to Mammoth Cave. Dr. John Krogan really helped improve Mammoth Cave, but sadly, his theory on the cave curing tuberculosis was incorrect. You're kidding. All of his patients eventually died from the disease. See you laughing over there. You chuckled. I did chuckle And damn it

This video is on Patreon and YouTube So everyone's gonna know You cannot escape Just the way The way you said it So it's in a way it's your fault I was just telling you a fact

All of his patients eventually died From the disease known as Tuberculosis A.k.a. consumption And then in a sad twist of irony Dr. John Krogan himself succumbed to tuberculosis In 1849

Why didn't he go in the cave? Kristen, I'm going to bail you out on this one. Dr. Krogan never married. He had no children. And so the property and business were put into a trust run by his family. As for Stephen Bishop, the enslaved tour guide, Dr. John Krogan wrote in his will that Bishop was to be free in seven years. What the fuck?

What, you kidding me? You know, I'm naive enough that I had some hope. What about, hey man, have this cave. Hell no, Kristen. You're the star of the show. You're as famous as the cave. Have at it. I mean, he really was a future topic for sure.

Stephen Bishop was yet another unsung black American that did incredible things. But what is, what's cool to me is that it sounds like he was. was kind of sung, so to speak. I mean, I don't think many people know about Stephen Bishop. Well, no, not today, Norm, but, like, just the fact that, like, back then, all of these people were coming, like, to see him. They wanted him to give them a tour. That's a big deal. Yeah, for sure.

Uh-huh. Sung hero. Maybe I used the wrong word there. You sure did. A forgotten black American. How about that? Okay. There we go.

Stephen Bishop continued to explore and provide tours of Mammoth Cave. During his lifetime, he discovered and named several key areas of the cave, including the River Sticks. Great Relief Hall. And my favorite, Kristen, a long, winding narrow passage he dubbed Fat Man's Misery. Very good. Okay, Great Relief Hall. Did people pee there? I feel like he could have been being cute about more than one of these names.

I think it was just a big, big cave. No, Norm, it was the bathroom. Maybe. Maybe it's a little piece of history you have yet to uncover. Yeah, go sniff it and find out. I'm going to drink the water in there and tell you what it tastes like. Stephen Bishop was also able to draw out an impressively detailed map of Mammoth Cave, all from memory. He was one of the first people to theorize that most of the caves in the region were all connected together.

Sadly, Bishop only got to live one year as a free man. He died in 1857 at the young age of 36. And once again, future topic? Hell yeah. Yeah. Over the second half of the 19th century, new railroads and steamboats brought many more visitors to Mammoth Cave. And by the early 20th century,

40,000 people were visiting Mammoth Cave annually. All profits from the caves, still went to Dr. John Krogan's family. Specifically, his nieces, who were now little old bitches living in San Francisco, California. Norman? Meanwhile, business competition was brewing among the locals. They had witnessed the staggering amounts of money

to be made from the caves. And the locals wanted in on that action. You know, farming was one way to make money, but it wasn't exactly profitable, The soil was full of rocks. There were lots of hills. Many local farmers had side jobs. They worked as cave tour guides or they sold souvenirs on the side of the road.

They all knew the real money was in owning a cave. Ticket sales were pure profit. The problem was the Krogan estate sort of had a monopoly on the caving business. They owned around 1,600 acres, and that included the main entrance to Mammoth Cave, which was easily the most popular cave in the area. But you know what, Kristen, those locals, they were ready to do battle with those old bitches in San Francisco. Do we know that they're bitches are just being rude? I'm just getting in the mindset of these local Kentuckians.

Okay, all right. It would feel pretty exceptionally shitty to be a local person struggling to get. by knowing that outsiders were making all this money and doing no work for it. On their cave. They're in San Francisco, chilling. Eating rice erroney. Probably. Yeah.

Rice pudding. Depends how old they are, you know. Might not be able to chew anymore. Uh-huh. You know those ladies could afford dentures. Come on now. So yeah, these locals were ready to take them on. They would dig all over their properties to find their own.

super cool cave, and maybe even find another way into Mammoth Cave. Thus began an era we know of as the Kentucky Cave Wars. Future topic as well, by the way. Norm, I am feeling really bad now. Why? We started this episode, and I was hardcore judging. Luckily, I didn't say it all out loud, but I was like, This idiot went looking, digging around, and then all these people are going to save him.

What the hell was he thinking? But now I am totally on his side rooting for him. Is he still down there? May I move a boulder for him? You know what I just did, Kristen? You contested me out of my judgment. I contested the shit out of you. I was being one of the old bitches from San Francisco.

If you're an old bitch in San Francisco. Anyway, moving on. I like how you're the one who did that weird song, but you're also the one saying, hey, there's no time. There's no time to sing about it. Inside of me are two wolves. One of them wants to sing a parody song, and the other wants to continue with the story.

And they're constantly battling each other. All the time. So let's move on. Sure. There were a few decent competitors to Mammoth Cave. There are places like Colossal Cavern and the Great Onix Cave. They were decent, but they really could never match the success of Mammoth Cave. You know what their problem was?

What's that? I can tell you right now. Okay. Mammoth Cave is the one everyone's trying to be. So they're coming up with these very admittedly cool names, colossal cavern. Yeah, that's good. What they need. Itty Bitty Cave.

You've never seen a cave this small, then you're different. You've differentiated yourself from the competition. But that just sounds like a tourist trap. It is a tourist trap! It's the tiniest cave you've ever seen! It is a tourist trap! Just admitting. These are all tourist traps!

No, no. Oh, I'm sorry, Norm. Let me rephrase that. In my teeny tiny, itty-bitty cave, if you go in there, And I mean, you can get maybe like your pinky in there. It will cure tuberculosis in there. Okay, so there you go. Listen, Mammoth Cave is not a tourist trap.

It's a national park today. It's a big deal. Colossal Cavern and Great Onyx Cave are also part of that national park. Okay, they weren't tourist traps. What I'm about to tell you, those were tourist traps, okay? So I told you about some of the competitors. But many of the caves in the area were absolute total duds. I mean, you're talking about some guys just literally dug a hole in the ground and they're like,

here's my fancy schmancy cave. Come on in. Five bucks a ticket. I mean, some were legit caves, but like, they just weren't interesting. There weren't cool rock formations. There weren't crystals. There weren't wildflowers. You know, but that did not stop the owners of these caves from trying to sell tickets.

It was a tourist trap hellhole, okay? And the jig was always the same. Some local would find a rinky dinky cave. That's a good name for a cave. Rinky dinky cave! And then they'd go to the bank and they would borrow money to set up a little shack as like a ticket office or a gift shop. And then they'd go out onto the main highway and they would stop tourists driving by and they'd be like, hey, come check out this new amazing cave. And many of them would also lie about their competitors.

Oh, you're headed to colossal cavern. Oh, that place shut down. It got caved in. You got to come check out my cave. Others would also lie and say, oh, you know, all of these caves are, they're all interconnected. It really doesn't make a difference which cave you enter because you're going to see the same thing in every cave no matter what. And my entrance fees are $2 cheaper. Yeah, exactly.

I would be so great at running one of these caves, Norm. Really? I think I was born to make a tourist trap. First of all, itsy, bitty, teeny, wieny cave. I know you hate it, but it doesn't matter. It cures tuberculosis. Also, I'm thinking if I had like a me maw in my life, I'd wrap her up real good, be like, I found this lady in this game. I found a mummy.

And she's still alive. Legend has it that if you poke her, she'll go, ugh. She'll grunt. You know what? You would do a good job running a kid. Thank you. You fit right into these Kentucky Cave Wars. But regardless, Mammoth Cave continued to reign supreme.

That is, until a fella named George D. Morrison came into town. George D. Morrison was a self-proclaimed oil man and a mining engineer from Louisville, Kentucky. He claimed he had moved to the area to search for oil. And he was like, oh, I think there's going to be some oil right here, just southeast of the Mammoth Cave. Mm-hmm. So George Morrison started digging, and he just kept telling everyone, yep, just looking for oil, just looking for oil. So full of shit. Yeah, the locals were not buying it.

They knew the truth. He was looking for his own cave. Yes. When locals would run into Morrison in Cave City, they would jokingly ask him, find any oil yet? I love the sass. It was true. George D. Morrison didn't want oil. he wanted to find another way into Mammoth Cave, and he would stop at nothing to do it.

Morrison routinely sent hired goons into Mammoth Cave to try and find new passages. As Morrison drilled up above, his goons were in Mammoth Cave, listening for the sound of his equipment. Morrison even had his goons set off freaking dynamite inside Mammoth Cave while he looked above ground for signs of damage. George D. Morrison was eventually caught, and he had to pay a $75 trespassing fine. What was the point of lying and pretending he was looking for oil? He didn't want people to know what he was up to. He wanted to find that cave entrance first. Okay, but eventually, if everyone knows you farted, you've got to just admit you farted, right?

I mean, what's the... It's not a lie if you believe, Kristen. Who are we fooling? Well, unfortunately, you know, he had to pay that $75 fine. It's just for inflation. $3 million. Shut up. No, I didn't look up what it was.

It was a lot. It was probably a couple thousand. Yeah. A small price to pay for glory. You know, George D. Morrison was down, but he was not out. He took a few years off to recoup some money. And when he returned in 1921, he struck gold. George D. Morrison blew open a sinkhole on his business.

property and it uncovered a beautiful cave passage below full of crystals and rock formations. Wow. And after exploring the cave for several weeks, George D. Morrison discovered it led directly into Mammoth Cave. Now this was a big deal. Yeah. Because George Morrison's entrance was closer to town than Mammoth Cave. Well, and it sounds beautiful.

It was. One author said it was perhaps even more beautiful than the actual mammoth cave. In fact, people would have to drive past George Morrison's cave entrance to get to the original mammoth cave entrance. Yeah. Business cat mode activated. George Morrison renovated his entrance. He built a massive staircase so people could easily and safely go in and out of his cave. He constructed a 25-room hotel offering food, tours, and souvenirs.

And finally, he put up a big-ass road sign with the words. You ready for this? Yeah. The new entrance to Mammoth Cave. Rude. Rude, but brilliant. I knew you would love it. I knew you would respect the hell out of this.

I know you are feeling tinglies right now in every part of your body. Point it in all my caves. That's right. This guy's a showman. You are into it? I do. I do. You want him to rip your blouse open?

I hate to love a showman. As you can imagine, Dr. John Krogan's estate was absolutely furious. Those two little old ladies in San Francisco were so mad. Well, they're about to be bitches now. Very good. Because they quickly sued George Morrison for using the words mammoth cave in his advertising. His entrance leads into Mammoth Cave. That's what it's called.

That's correct. So, sorry, ladies, go suck on your San Francisco treats, I guess. I mean, I don't know what to tell you, right? You know what I forgot to say? What? Those two old bitches in San Francisco, look George Morrison in the eye and they said, Let's go to court! In court, George Morrison defended himself.

He provided detailed maps of his entrance and how it directly connected to Mammoth Cave. In fact, someone could enter Mammoth Cave from his property and then leave Mammoth Cave from the Krogan Estate property. The court ruled in George Morrison's favor. Yeah. He could advertise using the words Mammoth Cave. However, if you bought a ticket to the new entrance to Mammoth Cave, you could only go so far into the cave because then it would leave George Morrison's property

and get into the Krogan Estate property. That makes sense to me. Yeah. I do think it's weird that like these property lines extend underground like into these caves. I've always wondered about the legality of that because I'm like, okay, well, if we're going underground, do I own all the property in the air too? I think you kind of do. Well, then if I see a plane flying above our house, I'm going to take out my bazooka. I'm going to fire a scud missile at it and say, I was just defending my property.

Well, regardless of these new restrictions, the new entrance to Mammoth Cave was a massive success. It severely cut into the Krogan Estate Empire. And it was inspiring to others, especially these locals. You know, maybe some of them had their own secret entrance into Mammoth Cave on their property. And that is how one local, a man named Floyd Collins, got involved in the Kentucky Cave War. Let me tell you about the Collins family, Kristen. They were of Scottish Irish ancestry.

They had lived in the mammoth cave area since the late 1700s. The Collins were your typical family in the area. They were poor, simple, god-fearing Baptist farmers who rarely ventured outside the county lines. The Collins family lived in a small one-floor rectangular house. Their main income was farming, growing oats, corn, and wheat. But as a side hustle, they did everything from making pies for cave hotels to constructing railroad ties out of downed trees. The head of the family was Leonidas Lee Collins.

What a name that is. Leonidas is kind of a badass name. Also, what county are we in? Barron County, Kentucky. Okay. Leonidas, Lee Collins was a stocky, mild-mannered teetotaler with dark bushy eyebrows. He and his wife, Maltha, had eight children. Their third child was a boy, William Floyd Collins, born on April 20, 1887.

At a young age, Floyd Collins developed an intense interest in caves. He was sticking his noggin in just about every hole in the ground that he could find. He loved scouring the surrounding caves for Native American artifacts and selling them to tourists on the side of the road. His fascination with the caves made him a not-so-great student. Floyd dropped out of school at the age of 10. A childhood friend observed that Floyd Collins seemed more comfortable beneath the ground than above it. Floyd claimed he could hear the caves breathing. They spoke to him.

He regularly explored alone, carrying only a lantern in a can of beans. His tall, slender build allowed him to easily maneuver, wiggle, and squire. worm through tight passages, no sane person would ever attempt. Many locals said, his cave fascination bordered on mania. Floyd didn't seem to have any close friends or show any interest in the opposite sex. I didn't write this part down, but there was speculation he may have been a homosexual. Author Robert Murray wrote, quote, For Floyd, caving was like a religion.

It spoke to his soul and provided him a contact with the, the mystery of the unknown, which he evidently needed. Yeah. Floyd's caving expeditions gave him a ton of practical knowledge and a reputation as one of the best cavers in the area. Locals often recommended Floyd Collins to visitors, including geologists who wanted help exploring the various caves. And in return, those geologists further educated Floyd Collins on the science behind these

incredible caves, crystals, and rock formations. When he was 23 years old, Floyd Collins discovered his very own cave on his family's property, and he named it Floyd's cave. Floyd was ecstatic. Although no one else seemed to share his excitement, his cave was described as, quote, 800 feet long, rather damp, and not very beautiful. But it was his, damn it. It was.

Also, you know, I think it was named appropriately, not an exciting name from not an exciting cave. Yeah, it was never going to be a commercial success. But it did inspire Floyd. You know, up to that point, most of his caving was done kind of just as a hobby. His main occupation was still working on his family's farm. But like a modern day influencer, Floyd asked himself, What if he could turn his passions into profit? And so he began his multi-year search for a,

commercially viable cave. Five years later, in 1917, Floyd Collins believed his hard work had finally paid off. That year, he was gathering up an animal trap on his family's property. When he noticed a small crevice in the ground, Floyd claimed he could hear breathing

through that crevice. And he was convinced there was a massive underground cave there. He quickly ran inside to ask his dad, Lee Collins, if he could start digging. Lee Collins was very skeptical. You know, it never really bothered him that Floyd caved as a hobby. In fact, all of his kids did caving in some form or another. But to try and make it your job, Lee considered it a total waste of time. And he wished Floyd would focus his efforts on

other things. Floyd made his dad an offer, though. He said, hey, if I find a kick-ass cave here, we'll set up shop and we can split the profits 50-50. Lee was an old man. He walked with a limp. He really couldn't do much physical work anymore. So he agreed to do it. He had nothing to lose. Floyd's going to do all the work.

Right. He just owned the land. Well, sure enough, Floyd Collins was right. After two weeks of digging, he uncovered a huge underground cave that was 65 feet high. And it was beautiful. It had these massive vertical walls. It had beautiful wild cave flowers, crystals, and more. Floyd ran back to the house.

And he was like, Okay, it's happening. Everybody stay calm. What's the procedure, everyone? What's the procedure? Stay fucking gone. This was it. This was the cave that would bring the Collins family riches.

Yeah. And so for the next year, Everyone in the family chipped in to work on this cave, including Floyd's little brother, Homer Collins. They widened the entrance. They installed stairs. They constructed trails. They smoothed out the floor. They set up road signs.

They did the whole thing. The Collins family was extremely proud of their hard work. And Floyd believed they had one of the most beautiful caves in the areas. And he named it Crystal Cave. There we go. Unfortunately, not many people came to see Crystal Cave. Was it too far out of the way? It was.

Okay. The problem was location, location, location. Crystal Cave was way off the main road. It was four and a half miles off the main road. That was quite a detour back then. Mm-hmm. This was also the year 1918, some boring event called World War I was going on.

Who's ever heard of that? Tourism was way down because of that. Floyd Collins did his best to convince potential customers to check out Crystal Cave. He even tried taxing people himself to the cave, but nothing really seemed to work. And that's too bad because if you did go to Crystal Cave, Floyd Collins would have given the tour himself, and he was an incredible guide. Competitors also gave Floyd trouble. Sometimes they would block the road to Crystal Cave with boulders. Homer Collins claimed that he had to chase off a few thugs with a shotgun who were threatening Floyd. Whatever the case may be, Daddy Lee Collins was done putting money

into Crystal Cave. And so he declared, I'm out. Yeah. Lee Collins had even found a potential buyer for Crystal Cave. But he could not pull the trigger without his son's permission. They were a 50-50 partnership. And Floyd Collins refused to sell. Crystal Cave was like his baby. Yeah. He'd invested so much time and energy into it. There was still more to explore. Who knows, maybe it eventually connects all the way to Mammoth Cave. But Daddy Lee was unconvinced. He wanted to sell. both men would not back down from their positions, and it really soured their relationship. This is why you should never have a 50-50 business relationship.

Tell us more, Kristen. What do you mean? It seems like you have some insight into this. You can deadlock, and then it's just dead. Mm-hmm. Nothing happens. But this dad, okay, so it was on his property. Right.

There's no skin off his ass, is it? Well, the Collins family invested money into sprucing up Crystal Cave, and it required maintenance, and it required, I think they hired a manager to, like, help run the operations. Okay, then unless you're a dick, agree to be bought out. Right? Like, the dad should be bought out. Yeah. He doesn't want to do that, does he? He wants it his way or the highway.

I mean, yeah, he's old daddy Lee Collins. Well, and give his full name. Leonidas Lee Collins If my name was Leonidas No one could push me around I'm just telling you right now King of the Spartans King Leonidas

Who? I think that's where the name comes from Oh okay He was king of Sparta Oh well Long long ago Future topic Oh my god

Maybe Eventually Floyd Collins He'd be better off Writing solo He would find himself A new cave one with a much better location near the main road where tourists could easily access it. And even more, maybe he could find one that also connected to the Great Mammoth Cave.

And who knows, maybe it would also connect to his Crystal Cave. You know, connecting to Mammoth Cave, that strategy was really paying off for George D. Morrison. Floyd Collins believed he could do that too. And so for months, Floyd planned his new project. He studied maps of the area. He talked with other cavers. And eventually he focused in on one specific spot. It was a sandhole located about 300 yards from the Cave City Highway Road.

If Floyd could uncover a cave in that sandhole, it would be the very first attraction on the road from Cave City to Mammoth Park. So huge potential there. The sandhole was located. on the side of a hill under a large overhanging sandstone rock shelter. That property belonged to a farmer named Beasley Doyle, but everyone called him B. But this new potential cave could potentially stretch further into other property, which was owned by two other men, Edward Estes and Jesse Lee. So Floyd Collins had to sit all three farmers down, and he made them a joint offer.

He was like, hey, let me explore your properties. If I find an awesome kick-ass cave, we'll open up a business. We will split everything 50-50. He's doing another 50-50 business? Yeah, I think it was like, as long as it's not with my dad, I'll be okay. I think he just was sick of his dad. Yeah, yeah. So all three of these farmers, they knew Floyd Collins.

They knew his caving reputation. They knew he would be doing most of the work. This could be potentially huge for everybody. The location was really, really good. And so they all agreed to go in on this. Floyd Collins was so excited. He got started right away. In January of 1925, he started probing that sandhole on B. Doyle's property.

He dug, and he dug, and he dug. And as he dug, Floyd wiggled and warmed his way underground. This was a dangerous expedition. The passageway had a lot of loose rock and debris. You know, it was a sandhole. Yeah. The chances of a cave-in were very high.

No normal, sane caver would have undertaken this project. But Floyd Collins was filled with determination. He believed this passageway would save him some serious time. it would lead to a massive limestone cave below, and that meant dollars. He was a business cat. He was. He was a man on a mission, too. Floyd regularly stayed the night at B. Doyle's house, rather than make the four-mile trip home. You know, gave him more time to dig during the day.

Besides, at home, we'd have to deal with questions from his dad, who was now beginning to question his new project. By Monday, January 26th, 1925, Floyd believed he was close to the cave. He had dug down about 55 feet underground before hitting a large crop of rocks. Floyd took some dynamite and blasted him away, and he spent the rest of that week removing rock debris. As he did, he was able to collect some stalactites. More proof, he was close to a massive discovery. By Thursday evening, Floyd believed he had cleared enough rock to make the final push down to a potential cave. Friday, January 30th, 1925.

It was a chilly, damp morning. The sun barely peaked through the clouds. Floyd Collins wolfed down a breakfast of pork, potatoes, cornbread, and coffee at B. Doyle's house. Today was the day. Floyd would finally uncover a new incredible cave. But B. Doyle was pretty nervous. He wondered if Floyd should maybe dig somewhere else. Floyd was like, don't you worry none.

This thing will turn out, I just know it. And with that, Floyd Collins took off. It was the last time the two men would see each other. Floyd arrived at the cave entrance with a lantern and a 72-foot rope. He hung his heavy wool coat on a nearby rock, lit the lantern, dropped to his hands and knees, and he crawled in. And from there, he wiggled. He squeezed. He pressed his way forward, all the way down to the turnaround room. He picked up a crowbar he had left there the day before, and he continued on. He squeezed himself down feet first into that ten-foot pit, wiggling into another narrow, horizontal passageway.

at the end of it was a small opening, maybe the size of a waste basket. Oh. That's where Floyd had set off dynamite days earlier. He was really eager to see what was on the other side of that hole. Floyd descended, pushing his rope and lantern carefully ahead of him as he wiggled further and further toward the opening.

On his way down the narrow passage, he carefully checked the surrounding walls. There was a lot of loose rock and debris. On the ceiling above him was a giant limestone boulder. It was about four feet long. Floyd also noticed a protruding rock on the ceiling near the end of the passage. He carefully avoided it as he wiggled forward, feet first, to that waste basket-sized hole. Finally, he pushed through.

This was it. A beautiful cave awaited him on the other side. but instead Floyd emerged onto a ledge. Huh. Beneath Floyd was a large pit, maybe 60 to 80 feet deep. You know, it wasn't the beautiful cave he had hoped for, but this large hole,

Floyd thought, well, this could potentially lead to an even greater cave, like bigger than what I imagined. Yeah. Floyd tied his rope to a nearby boulder, and he descended down the pit. But as he did, his lantern, began flickering. And for him, that was a sign. You got to get out of the cave. So Floyd worked his way back up the rope to the ledge. And he left the rope there because he assumed, well, I'll be back

later to explore this again. And then Floyd carefully climbed back into that narrow passageway that he had just wiggled out of. He was head first, on his back, arms at his side. He sucked in his stomach as much as possible and slowly wiggled his way up, pressing his feet against the walls and floor pushing himself. Every few inches, he carefully

placed his lantern ahead of him. But eventually, the lantern fell over, and the light went out. Oh, my God. Floyd didn't panic. He had been in plenty of caves before without light,

and so he kept wiggling forward using his hips and shoulders. Floyd believed his head was near the bottom of the 10-foot pit. He just needed one final push to get up into the pit. And he remembered that large, four-foot-long limestone boulder on the ceiling of that narrow passageway. And he thought, well, if I press my feet against it, I can kick out and get up into the pit. So that's what he did. Unfortunately, in the confusion of darkness, Floyd did not kick that long.

large four-foot boulder, he had accidentally kicked the large protruding rock on the ceiling that he had carefully avoided earlier. Oh. In an instant, a 27-pound boulder collapsed from the ceiling directly onto Floyd's left ankle. Floyd yelled out in pain. He tried to free himself using his right foot, kicking at the heavy boulder trapping his left leg. But that only made things worse.

The passageway rumbled. loose rock fell from everywhere. And when the dust settled, Floyd's right leg was now pinned by loose rock immobilizing it. His left arm was pinned underneath him. He could move his right arm, but barely, there was only inches of room between his chest and that large four-foot limestone boulder on the ceiling. Author Robert Murray described Floyd as being, quote, entirely surrounded by rock and earth in a coffin-like straitjacket. Floyd panicked. He had been stuck in caves before, but nothing like this.

Trapped 55 feet below the surface and in the complete dark, Floyd Collins did the only thing he could do. He screamed. On the next episode of an old-timey podcast, The rescue of Floyd Collins begins. Wow. You told that very well I really feel for him

And I don't just mean like Oh he's in a cave I hope he's safe I mean like The motivation I get it Yeah I get how you would have that dream

And Frankly it doesn't even sound Like an unrealistic dream Given his skill set And where he lives Sure Yeah Of course you read

You you hear about This cave he was digging out And like how narrow and tiny it was. Yeah. I mean, it just, it gives me the shivers thinking about it. I know.

It's creepy. Yeah. And as you'll see in the next episode, rescuers were very scared trying to get him out of there. Yeah, I'm telling you, I'd be like, I'm sorry, Floyd. It's an incredible story.

Okay, you kept mentioning no sane man. Mm-hmm. Do you think he wasn't quite mentally there? Or what are you thinking? He does have such a singular focus. Yeah, and maybe that was the wrong word to use. I guess what I was trying to say is like, I think most cavers would not do what he was doing.

Right, okay. I think many would have started digging in that sandhole and been like, they would have either like taken their time and made the passageway much wider and they would have shored up the walls, which is like you put in wooden boards to like. Sure, yeah. Give it some stability.

But Floyd just, he just dug and dug it. As long as his body kind of fit through there, he was okay with it. That's terrifying. Yeah. But, you know, he'd been doing it for his whole life. You know, he was 37 years old. He'd been caving since he was six. So he probably that was just another day of work.

He also had that motivation that came from, you know, he found this beautiful cave. Crystal Cave, yeah. Yeah, it didn't quite check all the boxes. So he just has to find another one. It has to happen so fast. You know, in reality, I'm sure it didn't need to happen that fast. But I understand the sense of urgency. Yeah.

And on that note, I think it's time we got into The Slop, which is a Patreon exclusive segment. If you sign up on the pig butter investor tier at patreon.com slash old-timey podcast, you get to hear this segment where we talk about our trip to you. Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, which we went first week of June when we were on our little vacay. Yeah. Yeah. All right.

Let's get into it. Folks, if you are not on the $10 tier, then you don't really love us. You don't love us. You will be spanked. No, wait. I can't do that. No, because we legit had a reviewer get upset that I was threatening to spank them. So I take it back.

Really? Don't you remember? No. We got like an Apple review where on the episode where I talked about I'm going to spank people who don't sign up for the patron. That's right. That's right. They were like, the host was threatening to spank me for not supporting their show. I was disgusted.

The lady doth protest too much. So no, I'm not going to spank anybody. But you just missed our slop segment where we talked about our Universal Studios Island epic. universe, adventure, whatever, and reviews of all the rides. So there you go. It was a good time. It was a good time. Next week will be part two of the rescue of Floyd Collins.

But until then... You know what they say about history hoes. We always cite our sources. That's right. For this episode, I got my information from the books. Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins by Robert Murray and Roger Brucker. The Life and Death of Floyd Collins by Homer Combs and John Lerberger,

The Kentucky Cave Wars by David Kim, and the article, The 1925 Cave Rescue that captivated the nation by Lucas Riley for the website Mental Floss. Plus more, please refer to the show notes. That's all for this episode. Thank you for listening to an old-timey podcast. Please give us a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts. And while you're at it, subscribe. Support us on Patreon.

Patreon.com slash old-timey podcast. Join the Reddit community, R slash old-timey podcast. Follow us on Facebook and YouTube and Instagram at Old Timey Podcast. You can also follow us individually on Instagram. She is the beautiful Kristen Pitts-Karuso. I go by a gaming historian,

and until next time, Tudaloo, Tata, and Cheerio. Goodbye. Bye. See ya. See ya.