Halloween Experts

The state of Kentucky boasts many natural, and, some say, supernatural wonders. One of the most famous and most visited sites in Kentucky is Mammoth Cave. Believed to be the largest cave in the world, evidence suggests that man has been visiting the cave for 12,000 years. Over the centuries, some of the visitors, it seems, never left. This has given Mammoth Cave a reputation as one of the most haunted locations in the world.

Ghostly tales have been told about Mammoth cave almost since the first guides began leading visitors through the underground rooms and passages by lantern light. Early man used the site as a burial ground, probably because they considered it the entrance to the underworld. Native American tribes used the area as a hunting ground, and shelter. European explorers and frontiersmen wandered through the subterranean tunnels, sometimes losing their way, and their life. Because of the minerals found in the cave, and because of the constant temperature underground, Mammoth Cave preserved some of these unfortunate visitors as mummies, which have been discovered over the years.

Many sightings of apparitions of men in period dress from the 1800′s have been reported. Some of the descriptions indicate that these spirits might have been former guides, or visitors. A woman’s voice, calling to a lost companion has been heard along the Echo River, a waterway that flows through the cave. This voice has been heard by both guides and visitors alike. One of the most famous ghosts, said to be heard and felt in the passages where he died, is that of Floyd Collins, a former owner of the area known as the Crystal Cave. While exploring the underground tunnels leading to and from the Crystal Cave, Collins became trapped by falling rock. After weeks of various unsuccessful attempts to rescue him, he died of exposure and exhaustion. The next owner of the cave displayed Floyd’s body there in a glass-covered bronze coffin for some time before he was eventually buried in the local churchyard. Some claim that his voice can still be heard calling for help along the path where he was trapped.

Is Mammoth Cave haunted? If two centuries worth of sightings and reports from guides and visitors are not evidence enough, perhaps the grudging testimony of scientists and skeptics, who have had strange and unexplainable experiences, might be. Even if there was no evidence of supernatural activity, the mystery, history and legends of Mammoth Cave are more than enough to make it a perfect Halloween Haunt!