Human beings have been exploring caves since the dawn of time. In human
prehistory, they provided shelter, as well as a canvas on which prehistoric man
could paint his desires for a good hunt. These early hunters apparently believed
depicting the outcome they desired would cause it to happen. A wonderful display
of paleolithic cave paintings was discovered on Christmas Day, 1995, at Vallon-Pont
d'Arc in Ardeche, France. Here in Tennessee you are more likely to find petroglyphs or mud glyphs than cave paintings. Usually these were made by the Archaic, Woodland or Mississipian peoples.
Among Stone Age cultures, caves had great ritual significance. The
Maya of Central America believed that caves were the gateway to the
Underworld and, therefore, any rituals performed there would quickly gain
the notice of ancestral spirits. So strong was this belief that some temples
were carved to resemble caves, or in some cases, -->built
over caves to encourage the spirits to interact with living priests. The
Native Americans of the Northern Hemisphere also believed that caves were sacred
places. Archaic and Woodland Indians sent their bravest warriors into the dark
recesses of Mammoth Cave to
mine epsomite
and gypsum
crystals. Those who returned were honored and the crystals they brought home
with them became sacred heirlooms or sought-after trade items of the tribe.
In more modern times, caves have been used for a variety of purposes:
refrigerated food storage during pioneer times, saltpeter mining and weapons
storage during the 1800s, speak-easies and hideouts for moonshine stills during
Prohibition, and dance halls during World War II. Cumberland Caverns in Tennessee
still contains a large dining hall which is regularly used for parties,
receptions and Scout camp-outs.
Currently, extreme outdoor sports have gained popularity thanks to the
"Mountain Dew" mentality of "been there, done that." For this reason, many of
those who explore caves on a regular basis (cavers)
feel they must double their efforts to educate the public to the fragile
nature of the cave environment.
Because they are mysterious and can be dangerous to the unwary or the
unprepared explorer, caves may seem dark, menacing or even evil to some people.
This image has been perpetuated by cases where caves have indeed been used as
hermitages, hideouts for criminals or fugitives, or as regular meeting places
for covens or cults. There are a substantial number of caves in TAG which show
evidence of such usage and a few which are documented in public or historical
records. However, the vast majority of caves are home only to bats and
crickets.
Nevertheless, wild stories and local legends persist. Probably the most
famous of these is the story of the Bell Witch, in particular the supposed
manifestation of an evil presence in Bell Witch Cave.
Located on a bluff overlooking Red River on the old Bell family farm, the
Bell Witch Cave is reputed througout Robertson County to be the current lair of
Ol' Kate, the vindictive spirit who tormented the John Bell family during the
early 1800's. Following is a quote, which concludes with some good references
for further reading, on the Bell Witch Cave by Aaron I. Hilbun, from the
alt.folklore.ghost-stories newsgroup:
"Sorry if this has been a little rambling, but these oral tales are sometimes
hard to commit to writing. There is an interesting note, there is a cave on the
old Bell farm (which I have personally visited) which supposedly is the seat of
all the supernatural activity. When some of the Bell children played in this
cave, something weird would always happen to them. It is easy to dismiss this as
a sort of post script attatched to the story by a later generation, until I read
that the native Americans of the area regarded the cave as spiritual, long
before the Bell family came to Tennessee. When all these factors are taken into
consideration, it is difficult indeed to say just what sort of manifestation for
sure the Bell Witch was. If you'd like to read more about this, two good books
are: The Bell Witch of Robertson County, Tennessee, by Charles Bailey Bell (John
Bell's great grandson I believe) and The Bell Witch by Charles Edwin Price
[1994]."
Many TAG cavers have heard rumors that a long-time caver was cremated and
buried in a cave somewhere in TAG. Here is the true story behind that rumor.
A name familiar to many original TAG cavers is Art Bosnak. Art was a giant of
a man (well over 7 feet tall), certainly the largest caver in TAG, with a
passion for cave research and photography. When he walked through a house, the
walls shook. When he sat down, furniture creaked and strained. Yet he drove
around in a teeny tiny MGB convertible with the front seat removed, and his
greatest joy in life was exploring caves. In particular, he took great joy in
seeing the many varieties of formations and in exploring pristine passages.
In the late 70s and early 80s, Art was one of the prime instigators of the
Spectre Grotto, which eventually moved from Sparta to Cookeville, Tennessee. His
dedication and enthusiasm for exploration, photography, surveying and biological
research made him widely known and liked throughout TAG. To this day, many
widely recognized cave photos and many cave maps or cave features bear his name,
including the largest walking borehole in Tennessee, Bosnak Borehole in Blue
Springs Cave, which was named to honor him posthumously.
After some routine dental work, Art became quite ill. Two of Art's friends,
Ross Cardwell and Marvin Bullock, took him to the emergency room of the
hospital, where it was discovered that a bacterial infection had attacked Art's
heart valves. Following a three-month stay in the hospital in Nashville, Art
went to visit his parents at their home in Ohio. Three days later, on April 16,
1985, Art died of heart failure at the age of 38. TAG cavers mourned his passing
in true TAG fashion, with parties, caving trips and bonfires.
Art had requested that his body be cremated. Following his instructions, his
friends placed his ashes in a sealed length of PVC pipe and buried it at the
bottom of Ellison's Cave, where Art could enjoy the beautiful formations he had
loved so dearly for all eternity.
According to some sources, Art's closest friends have periodicaly removed
Art's ashes from their resting place and reinstated them in another cave for a
time. Although this may seem like a macabre tradition, it is their way of
reminding themselves of their friend. So, if you hear someone say they are going
to take Art caving, you now know who and what they are talking about.
A Spirit in the Mist
(A poem about a man who, in death, becomes what he most loved in
life)
There exists in the earth, in a cavern deep, the spirit of a very large
man. Buried there in the sand, among the formations tall, and near the bottom
of a Mountainous Hall. Bound in plastic, his universe is small, nowhere to
go, no one to show the wonders of his world of darkness. Darkness so
black, no match to light, no candle to burn bright. He is all alone, except
for an occasional bat or a caver in a hard hat. Hard-core to find his home,
hidden by those who know and visit seldom, the shadow of his dome. Large in
life, gentle in mind and thought, formations were what he sought. Now in a
place he once could only dream of, to stay for all eternity. Surrounded by
what he loved, gone from this world of strife, aware or not aware of what
goes on in this life. Carried by friends, (three), into the mountain in
PVC, many pits to drop before the bearers of this pall could find his
final place of rest at the bottom of the falls. Who knows for sure where now
he lies, if his ashes have shifted and moved and fallen through some groove
to become one with the cave and he lives once again as a formation never
known to this world. Now to be admired by those who see the underground
beauty of the Spirit in the Mist and in seeing this can know that God surely
does exist.
A stalagmite,
a type of speleothem
which grows upward from a surface (Here's a simple mnemonic devise: the "g" in
stalagmite stands for "ground;" the "c" in stalactite stands for "ceiling."), is
formed when water containing dissolved minerals (frequently calcite,
but there are other types) is deposited on the same spot over thousands or
millions of years. This process works about the same for many types of cave
formations. The mineral solution gradually forms a mineral deposit over time and
grows upward, or downward in the case of stalactites.
The development of some speleothems is interrupted by variations in the type of
mineral dissolved in the water or other factors and is "detoured;" these
formations may eventually become fantastically shaped formations called helictites.
In this era of cybercaving, you can explore the beauty and wonders of Lechuguilla Cave in New Mexico
without even getting your boots muddy. This photo map, provided by Garry Petrie,
author of WinKarst software, has clickable links (denoted by the white circles) to some
beautiful photos of the cave.
Touching an "active" formation causes growth to cease in that area because
dirt or oil from your skin prevents water from reaching the growing formation.
Enough touches, and the formation will "die."
For more information on cave formations, explore the Virtual Cave!
Based on data turned in to the Tennessee Cave Survey (TCS), Tennessee
currently has more discovered caves than any other state at over 8,400. Officers
of the TCS guess that the state may harbor as many as 15,000 caves. However,
because of differences in how state cave surveys define caves (see below), this
record is a hard one to pin down accurately.
Most states define caves as natural features that can be entered by human
beings and which are totally dark at some point along their lengths. However,
many state cave surveys also have additional qualifications, usually pertaining
to length or size, for what constitutes a cave.
To qualify as a cave in Tennessee, a cave-like feature must also fulfill the
following requirements. It must either be longer than 50 feet (total horizontal
distance or THD), have a total vertical distance of over 40 feet (TVD), or
contain a pit deeper than 30 feet. Missouri contains a little over 5500 known
caves (as of the May 1996 MSS meeting), but in Missouri any cave- like feature
longer than 30 feet can be considered a cave. In Alabama, a cave-like feature is
only a cave if it has 50 feet TSL (total survey length). For example, 20 feet of
horizontal passage followed by a 30-foot pit would qualify, as would a 50-foot
horizontal cave or a 50-foot pit. Any cave which contains "obligatory
cavernicolous fauna" (troglobitic species) qualifies automatically under the
Alabama Cave Survey's definition.
One reason cave qualifications are not consistant from state to state is
because different types of karst
features are prevalent in different areas. Each cave survey has developed the
set of qualifications most meaningful in light of its state's geology and
terrain.
STATE
TSL
THD
TVD
Pit Depth
# Reported *
AL:
50'
--
--
--
3400+ ^
CO:
**
**
**
**
Few hundred (F)
FL:
--
50'
20'
15'
?
GA:
--
30'
30'
30'
500+
IL:
20'
--
--
--
200+ &
IN:
25'
--
--
--
2500+ ~
MO:
30'
--
--
--
5500+ @
TN:
--
50'
40'
30'
8400+
TX:
5m.
--
--
--
3800+ (F) $
NOTES: * Number Reported denotes caves, except where marked with an
"(F)." "(F)" signifies that features, rather than caves, are reported. Other
punctuation marks adjacent to the totals in this column indicate there is a note
pertaining to this state below the table. ^ Alabama's definition allows any
combination of THD, TVD or pit depth to reach the required total survey length
of 50 feet. The presence of troglobitic species qualifies a feature
automatically. ** Colorado has no established definition for what
constitutes a cave. & Illinois' definition describes a cave as being at
least 20 feet long. ~ Indiana's definition allows any combination of THD, TVD
or pit depth to equal the required 25' length. @ Missouri's definition counts
any feature as a cave if it is longer than 30', using any combination of THD,
TVD or pit depth. $ Texas' definition allows any combination of THD, TVD, or
pit depth to meet the required length of 5 meters; however, it specifically
excludes any feature with an entrance which exceeds the length or depth in any
dimension. This rule was designed to exclude rock shelters and sinkholes.
We welcome your comments or bug reports via email to your friendly,
neighborhood speleoweb hostess, April
Hannah, NSS #35012.
This page, http://orgs.tntech.edu/grotto/facts.html, validates
as
(C) Copyright 2024, April Hannah for the Upper Cumberland Grotto
of the NSS. All Rights Reserved. Photos available on this web site are the
property of individual members of the Upper Cumberland Grotto except where noted. Failure to
request permission before saving these images to disk for your own use is a
violation of the U.S. Copyright Law.
Human beings have been exploring caves since the dawn of time. In human
prehistory, they provided shelter, as well as a canvas on which prehistoric man
could paint his desires for a good hunt. These early hunters apparently believed
depicting the outcome they desired would cause it to happen. A wonderful display
of paleolithic cave paintings was discovered on Christmas Day, 1995, at Vallon-Pont
d'Arc in Ardeche, France. Here in Tennessee you are more likely to find petroglyphs or mud glyphs than cave paintings. Usually these were made by the Archaic, Woodland or Mississipian peoples.
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