Case file · Haunting
Floyd Collins and Sand Cave
In January 1925 cave explorer Floyd Collins was trapped by a rock in Sand Cave, Kentucky; the rescue attempt became a national media sensation, and he died before rescuers reached him.
1925 CE · 37.17, -86.06 · status: legend
The account
Collins had opened Great Crystal Cave but sought a cave nearer the road. Crowds of tens of thousands gathered at the site. His body was later displayed in a glass coffin in Crystal Cave and was briefly stolen in 1929; guides told stories of his restless ghost.
The sceptical view
A documented tragedy; the hauntings are local tales.
Connections in the atlas
- McDowell's Cave and the girl in the copper coffin
- 'Lost John' of Mammoth Cave
- Mammoth Cave tuberculosis hospital