111: Floyd Collins Is Trapped in a Cave (Part 1)

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.