1y ago

Why do it

205 comments

I've seen too many memes as of late. I really thought this would have been Saddam Hussein without reading this first.
- Heres one to add to your collection. Its a bit old but still kinda amusing.

Exploring a cave is great, but I sure as fuck wouldn't try crawling down a tiny hole going down at a 70 degree angle. Some spelunkers are straight nuts though, like they get to the end of a cave and say "wow, the wind is whistling through here!" and try expanding small openings with a hammer and chisel or even explosives. I went caving one time in a well known but very long cave, with experienced people, and that was really interesting. When i got back I read my friend's cave incident journal, which details all the rescues and deaths that happened in the last year, and it was... interesting. Shit like "oh, jimmy got stuck, so we had to break his ribs to get him out". Great.
- Yeah…I’m OK with going my entire life without doing any of that.
  
  We had some interesting times on the one expedition I did. It was fascinating and I would recommend trying it at least once... doesn't have to be dangerous. Even going to Carlsbad Caverns, which is a National Park and while not the real spelunking experience, pretty cool. I went to Wolf River Cave in Tennessee. Most of it was just like mountain hiking, but with a ceiling. Questionable parts included crawling in light mud on our hands and knees for 600 feet through an area where the ceiling was about 3 feet high. Also one part, you go through a 'door' and have to drop down 5 feet onto some rocks... people told me "be sure to go left when you land!!" and wtf was to the right? This giant dark pit of rocks at least 20 feet deep. Okay... then at the very bottom, there was this area with a bunch of trickling water and awesome stalagmites where you could sit on rocks by this weird little stream and ponds. We split up and sat in different rooms... the guy from Kentucky I sat with, who I'd never met before, told me "sometimes when I'm down here... i listen to the water... and it sounds like people talking..." Uh, okay.
  But anyway it was an amazing experience and profoundly strange... the 'rooms' and 'hallways' are oddly reminiscent of human construction. And if you get stuck or hurt, if you've done things properly and signed in and people know you're there, experienced cavers will come and rescue you.
- According to Wikipedia:
  Jones and three others had left their party in search of "The Birth Canal", a tight but navigable passageway with a turnaround at the end. Jones entered an unmapped passageway which he wrongly believed to be the Canal and found himself at a dead end, with nowhere to go besides a narrow vertical fissure. Believing this to be the turnaround, he entered head-first and became wedged upside-down.
- https://youtu.be/pRNCYvnt4N4
  That's what Alice from Alice in Wonderland did.
  
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  https://piped.video/pRNCYvnt4N4
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- I’m slightly claustrophobic, but it has never impacted my life. Elevator? Fine. Tiny closet? Fine. But a cave where you have to crawl for more than a few seconds? I’d die right there.

This hole was made for me
- That's what she said
  
  Just in case you're not getting the reference, the full comic for your reading pleasure.
  
  In fairness, after I got bottom surgery I got a lot of laughs with that line.
- .... drr drr drr ....

If anyone wants some nightmare fuel, here's what happened.
- I searched for an watched a YouTube video about it......and I regret it immensely.
  
  I can’t wait for someone in 2077 to make a documentary about this by plagiarizing an article that goes hour by hour.
- My god, my stomach hurts and my chest feels tight just from reading that. I went to Cave of the winds in Colorado a few years back and they had a smaller tunnel that you could crawl through to get a sense of what it was like. It was probably like 20ft long and big enough for the pretty hefty guide to get through. I got up to it and noped the fuck out.
- So sad they were so close to saving him.
  
  I know, if that rock hadn't crumbled, he would probably have survived.

Fun Fact: They never got him out, they sealed the cave with his body still there. Nutty Putty Cave is his grave.
- Nutty Putty Cave is his Nutty Putty Grave sounds better for whatever reason.
- Could you point to the fun part? 🙁
  
  The fun part is that it's called the Nutty Putty cave.
- Yeah they say that in the article... Which was linked

Brave people push boundaries so that less brave people can read things in books.
Edit: I assume the people downvoting this obvious truth think I'm calling them cowards. I assure you I will be right there with you curled up reading books about caving. Fuck all that.
- Brave people push boundaries, stupid people purposely shove their entire bodies into a hole and die
  
  Seriously. He could've shone a flashlight down there and seen it was a death trap before going down
  
  Brave people push boundaries, stupid people purposely shove their entire bodies into a hole and ~~die~~ expect to live
- Well, yes, but you can be brave and take precautions at the same time. He wouldn't have died if he'd followed proper caving guidelines.
  
  The question posed is "Why do it"
- Book title: How I fucked around.
  Epilogue:?
- This isnt brave or pushing boundaries.
  This is just an imbecile commiting suicide with extra steps.
  
  And yet, here you are reading about it, reading others' thoughts about it, and engaged in a conversation about it.
  Think of it like a book club.

I remember seeing a video of a dude exploring a cave and he was crawling through some narrow ass space tighter than under my bed. Why would one want to do this??? What if it was a dead end? How tf are you gonna turn around? Crawl backwards? I just can't with any of this
- You will never reap the rewards of being trapped under water for hours with that kind of attitude.
  
  The Eternal Reward, that is.
- I've seen such video. The dude struggled to move because he just barely fit in enough to still be able to breathe. There was water in there, and he said he has to return because it's starting to fill with water.
  Fill with water? Nope. Nope. Why would I go in such space.
  Edit: Maybe this could be it: https://youtu.be/6Yf0gDzUMFA
  
  Funny thing is I'm terrified of spelunking, but actively working towards being certified for cave diving.
  Fill it with water and I'm interested!
  I think part of it is that I can't get stuck as easily with scuba gear strapped on my back, and I don't have to worry about gravity fucking me over.
  And I'll never go anywhere that requires squeezing my fat ass through a crack.
  
  Those guys got blessed by the algorithm or something I recognize the channel and video. Don’t know why YouTube decided I would be interested in spelunking but their videos are pretty entertaining at least. Personally I’ll take heights over tight spaces anyday.
- How about this, there's people that do this underwater. They take the tank off their back, push it out ahead of them. If they get stuck, they don't have 27 hours to try and figure their shit out, they have a couple hours at best
  
  That's where I draw the line.
  Normal spelunking, minimal vertical work, the occasional belly crawl no smaller than a manhole. That's actually a pretty good time. You get wet, dirty, have a few laughs with your friends, and then shake it off with some beers back at the campsite. No need to go aggressive with ridiculously tight crawls and/or 100's of feet of vertical work, etc.
  Cave diving? Let's take an activity where it's very easy to loose track of time, and add SCUBA which requires time management down to the minute for your health and survival. Nevermind getting lost, disoriented, or wedged underwater somewhere. I get that this is very intrepid stuff, and the very distant corners of cave systems are being explored this way. But it's a big no for me; the risk does not justify the reward, IMO.
- I used to go spelunking... I honestly can't answer you. Kinda neat but mostly just being in the total dark in a tiny space surrounded by rocks.
  On the plus side i can basically fall asleep in an MRI
  
  I don't think the main problem to fall sleep in an MRI is the small space.
- Don't forget the spiders

I mean, the moment you see a passage that barely fits a child and you think to yourself "Hey, I should get in there!", you're just aiming to be the year's winner of the Darwin Awards.
- It's what I think on the rare occasions I get a look at my wife's genitalia.
  
  🤣

I love to watch caving videos: much better for someone younger and foolhardier than me to actually do the climbing and clambering with their gopros. I'll continue to enjoy things like air, vast open spaces, and vicarious experiences.
People take a lot of safety precautions now, reasonably, but every once in a while the cavers on YT will do something just stupid and it baffles me. "The water's ice cold and up to my nostrils, but I really want to see where this tunnel goes! Going to turn my lamp and camera off for now to save battery, see you in a few hours!"
- Some of the stuff describe in the spelunking journal is insane, like "okay, we'll rappel down this giant cliff, then there's a pond at the bottom, so we brought our scuba gear..." Cool to hear there's videos out there! I had never thought to look for some reason. When I went caving (around 2005), it was a 9 hour journey and my digital camera died on the 2nd photo, which sucked.
  
  “okay, we’ll rappel down this giant cliff, then there’s a pond at the bottom, so we brought our scuba gear…”
  ... I'm split between being absolutely terrified of getting stuck, and thinking what you're describing sounds awesome
- I love caving videos as well but would absolutely not do it. I like these guys videos: ActionAdventureTwins
  This video is wild, they drop down like a 600' pit in a cave. https://youtu.be/eULp72P0pNM?si=mi6Wc3_aMBC7Xrdy
  
  Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://piped.video/eULp72P0pNM?si=mi6Wc3_aMBC7Xrdy
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  Im a fan as well, their videos are excellent and they often do trips with other cavers, so you can find other small channels through them if people want more "cave content."
  What trips me out is towards the end of each video where they'll be like, "Alright, Brad is heading back so I'm going to wrap up too. We've been in the cave for 12 hours, probably a good time to head up." 8+ hours of squeezing through cold, dark passages sounds like actual nightmares I've had!

This hole.... it was made for him
- Drrrr drrr

Thank you for making me claustrophobic in my biggest room.
- Well then you dont wanna hear bout my recurring dream about being burried alive unable to move my arm enough to protect my face from the rats gnawing at me
  
  This is reminding me, a few days ago I read an article telling the story of this guy who was trapped in a cave in Kentucky after rubble fell on his leg. This is the story: https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/tragedy-at-sand-cave.htm of Floyd Collins, though the article I read earlier was more engaging. Oh, may have been this article: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/the-1925-cave-rescue-that-captivated-the-nation/ar-AA1kZ7Es
  
  So specific it might be a past life/death experience.

This photo gave me the heebee geebees... I'm left asking why and do I have claustrophobia now as a result?
- I'm claustrophobic and shouldn't have seen this post before sleeping...

Spelunking is great fun when you prepare properly.
Squeezes are not advisable.
- Hey spelunking is perfectly normal for anyone, spelunk all you want in the privacy of your own home. Just dont go into caves.
  
  Ass-spelunking is the most fun. I was introduced to the practice by South Park BLaU.
- Always clear your browser history first
- I’ll go in a cave no problem but anything where I can’t turn or move freely is a big old nope. And if it seems unstable or whatnot I’m out of there.

God I hate the idea of that being your last days... Why do people just purposely wander deep into caves?
- Who knows? Some people would crawl up their own colon if they could.
  
  Adventure log day 2: It has become increasingly dark, hot, and humid... And it smells like ass!
  
  I know lots of people who crawl up their own ass
- Honestly, they're pretty neat. I've gone through tours of Mammoth Caves that require waivers, and they strongly recommend that you not take that tour if any part of you has a circumference of more than 42", because you won't fit. There was a spot that was about 12" high, and 72-ish wide that you had to crawl through that took a sharp right; you had to take your helmet off to get through. But then you get out into this enormous cavern filled with rock formations that are seen by less 100 people/year.
  But if I didn't know that that crack was passable, that I'd be able to get through or get back out again? Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck no.
  
  Maybe it's because I live in a place with a lot of earthquakes, but I think I'm good off putting my head between rocks that could slightly shift and obliterate me.
  But I'm glad you enjoy it!
- I like snuggling up with a good book
- its fun
- Fun.

SADDAM HUSSEIN
- Guy should have brought a fan

He most likely pissed himself on his face.
- Who hasn't been waterboarded with their own piss?
  
  Ah but what if a nervous stomach (from being trapped upside down in the dark near death) provided some extra liquid for the water boarding
- Clothes probably soaked most of it up.
  
  Most. But not all

What I don’t get is neither path is very deep, so shining a light would reveal both dead ends. Can’t think of a worse way to go tho. And the fear and panic realizing you’re doomed.
- He likely got to a point where he couldn't turn around so he decided to just push forward and hope there's an exit.

This video detailing the event was more uncomfortable to watch than expected, if you really imagine what it must have been like.. Horrible way to go. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-TaF2DbaWw
- Honestly in some way he was lucky. There were people helping him and trying to rescue him and he could hear them directly and even see someone's face at a point, they even gave him a radio to communicate to his wife waiting outside of the cave. He was comforted and had company and hope. A lot of other "explorers" or "adventurers" who die in freak accidents don't have that much luck.
  
  I don't know if I would classify as lucky given his ultimate fate.
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The closest I'll be getting to exploring a cave is playing Microsoft Adventure. I'm not getting into a cave, no sir.

That's a crazy story, I hope someone makes an original video about it
- Man in cave 2: Plagiarism Boogaloo
- 127 hours 2: 100 hours less

Don't go in the hole
- That's what she said

nsfl
- correct

Everyone has at least one vice.
This one was adrenaline.
- Yeah, realizing you've trapped yourself with nobody to help, only your rapidly approaching death, really gets me going. Fun for the whole family (but one at a time)!
  
  And I'm sure most heroin people don't understand most meth people and vice versa. We like the drugs we like.
  
  well he did have help, but the pulley system broke
  
  He had a ton of help. Nothing worked.

Now imaging crawling into a cave, and being blocked by somebody else's shoes.
- Imagine dying in a place called Nutty Putty Cave.
  
  Yoinky Spelunky
  
  I mean that sounds like it could be filled with peanut butter.
  
  Imagine your grave is named Nutty Putty Cave. They left his body in there.

Going spelunking? Whatever floats your boat
Crawling into a small crack? Dangerous.
But why the fuck did he go into it head first?
- feet don’t have eyes
- That was the only way.
- He was trying to reach a particular place in the cave but wasn’t where he thought he was. Both the place he was trying to reach and the place he actually was, are extremely tight squeezes that are literally impossible to turn around in. The difference is, the place he thought he was, has a large cavern on the other end where you can stand up and turn around. Once he realized he wasn’t where he thought he was, his only real option was to move forward and hope it led somewhere with more room. Falling into the hole the way he did was largely an accident in pursuit of that goal.

The only spelunking I do is in spelunky

You can explore a cave and not be a dumbass.
I like caves (been to like only 2 or 3 though, lol), but if I become stupid enough to trap myself in one, I hope no one would risk a life to rescue me. That's what's actually the worst thing about situations like this.
- Yeah, the articles about this explain how there was a multi day rescue effort, several people were so traumatized they never wanted to cave again, one rescuer got smashed in the face with a pulley that came out of the ceiling, and the cave ended up being sealed with concrete. It was known as an easy cave though and the rescuers weren’t otherwise in danger.

Here is a WTYP pod episode about caving in general, with a part on this accident in particular.
https://youtu.be/jUJKRVu6IVA
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  https://piped.video/jUJKRVu6IVA
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- TL;DW: Don't go in the hole. When there's a hole, don't go in it

That is not what it looked like at all, really. But yes. Dude super fucked up, and got an entire cave permanently shut down.
- Well, the important thing is that he ruined potentially dying for nothing for everyone.
  
  I mean, we do have an overpopulation issue... what's a little bit of death by being trapped in a hole going to cause, really. They are helping us all!

Are tight crannies like this not what drones were invented for? Do cavers not use mini robots to scout out ahead?
- Some kind of endoscope would work, or hell, just a rock on a rope.
- If you thought you knew the way I'm sure you wouldn't use a robot. He took a wrong turn.
- I don't think those were widely used back in 2009 but he just accidentally went down the wrong pathway and he thought he was going into a chasm that opened up.
- yolo
- The word cranny sounds crass and vulgar.
  I like it though lol

Image Transcription: Twitter Post and Replies
Morbid Knowledge, @Morbidful
A diagram of how John Edward Jones was stuck for 27 hours in nutty putty cave before passing away.
kira�*, @kirawontmiss
wanna know something crazy to prevent this? not exploring a cave
- Hell, explore the cave.
  Just don't go forcing your way into places you clearly cant fit shouldnt be in, like a fucking idiot.
  That shit wasnt cute when you did it as a kid and force your parents to destroy the stair railing just to get your fat fucking head out between the bannisters, and its even less so now when you do it to the entire fucking earth.

The anxiety I felt when I looked at this picture is so immense I'm scared to read the article.

Not like this. Not like this.... 😫

At least from this diagram it looks like he managed to get to the end.

A good article about this story is here.

This is just plain stupidity IMO. Dude deserves a Darwin Award.

Fucked up cave stories? Fucked up cave stories.
This documentary by Internet Historian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNm-LIAKADw
- Someone hasn't watched the latest hbomberguy video
  
  Er... nope. The one on plagerism? YouTube has recommended it to me a couple of times. (I just watched the roblox off sound video the other day, though.) I guess I'll put that on my short list. I assume I'll find out that Internet Historian committed a lot of plagerism in creating that "Man In Cave" video I linked?
  Well that sucks. Internet Historian's entertaining, but I'm not going to be bale to feel good about watching his stuff if that's the case.
  
  Here's the original article he plagiarized. Definitely worth a read https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/544782/1925-cave-rescue-that-captivated-the-united-states-floyd-collins
  
  I looked it up and it's almost 4 hours long. I'll be getting around to that I guess...
- Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
  https://www.piped.video/watch?v=bNm-LIAKADw
  Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
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What a fucking dumbass

💯 this guy was white
- Probably still is
  
  Might be an ashy grey by now
- Because it's a cave and not KFC?
  
  Buddy, not all Asians love KFC

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