1 00:00:06,320 --> 00:00:09,279 Speaker 1: I can't remember when I got this story. It's been 2 00:00:10,199 --> 00:00:12,960 not too terribly long, but it's one of the craziest 3 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:18,039 stories I've ever read. And I've never thought about this theory. 4 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,440 What you're going to learn about now For the first 5 00:00:21,519 --> 00:00:23,800 five minutes or so, she's going to give some background 6 00:00:23,879 --> 00:00:27,519 on where she's from, what she does. Hang on because 7 00:00:27,519 --> 00:00:31,000 this is a long story and it really gets good. 8 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:34,799 I mean, it gets really creepy. Here's what Jenna writes. 9 00:00:35,719 --> 00:00:38,759 How the past year has changed my life. I cannot 10 00:00:38,759 --> 00:00:42,000 begin to express, but I will give it my best shot. 11 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,039 My name is Jenna, and I'm a twenty nine year 12 00:00:45,079 --> 00:00:50,000 old female geologist spileeologist, and I was working for the 13 00:00:50,039 --> 00:00:54,079 government within the Department of Geological Survey up until recently. 14 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,920 We were responsible to explore and map out old mind 15 00:00:59,039 --> 00:01:04,400 chefs and k systems in the eastern United States. There 16 00:01:04,439 --> 00:01:07,640 are several of these teams working throughout the country in 17 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:12,200 places like the Rockies, Texas, the Midwest, and in Washington State. 18 00:01:13,359 --> 00:01:16,159 I've heard that there are also teams in Canada and 19 00:01:16,239 --> 00:01:20,560 Mexico as well. I have been spilunking since I was 20 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:24,239 five years old with my father and older brothers, so 21 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:26,879 it became who I was and not just what I did. 22 00:01:27,879 --> 00:01:31,719 My experience through the years made me useful to this project. 23 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:36,159 I was recruited in my last year of graduate school 24 00:01:36,159 --> 00:01:39,840 at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire by Joseph, who had 25 00:01:39,879 --> 00:01:44,760 become my supervisor and mentor. My eight teammates were all 26 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:48,200 roughly the same age, and we had various degrees of 27 00:01:48,319 --> 00:01:55,719 interest of study, including engineering, archaeology, biology, herpetology and volcanology, 28 00:01:55,799 --> 00:01:59,920 as well as other fields. We were a mixture of 29 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:03,439 seven men and two women, and all have a love 30 00:02:03,480 --> 00:02:06,680 for the world below the surface, resulting in our pale 31 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,319 skin in very thin frames. Because we spent most of 32 00:02:10,360 --> 00:02:13,319 the days in the dark out of the sunlight, it 33 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:15,919 wasn't all that bad for me being a pale skinned 34 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:19,120 ginger and ten minutes in the sun I would turn 35 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:23,159 into a lobster. The meals that we take are mostly 36 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:27,240 small protein bars and water. It's easier to carry with us, 37 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:30,680 especially when we stayed in the cave system overnight. During 38 00:02:30,719 --> 00:02:35,479 the expeditions there were sometimes ten miles deeper more. We 39 00:02:35,520 --> 00:02:38,400 have done many of these over the past four years. 40 00:02:39,759 --> 00:02:42,800 We have made some remarkable discoveries and we've mapped out 41 00:02:42,879 --> 00:02:47,400 miles of cave systems in West Virginia and Kentucky using 42 00:02:47,439 --> 00:02:52,879 a combination of GPR oor, ground penetration radar and light 43 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:55,919 are from the surface, as well as some new technology 44 00:02:56,159 --> 00:02:59,319 that will make for some amazing new discoveries in the future. 45 00:03:00,560 --> 00:03:03,919 Our average expedition would start when we entered a cave 46 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:07,439 or a small hole in a mountainside and started to 47 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:12,240 evaluate if it was safe. Understand that we have left 48 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:15,199 more caves than we explored due to what appeared to 49 00:03:15,240 --> 00:03:20,599 be unsafe, or when our equipment detected gas. Once we 50 00:03:20,719 --> 00:03:23,599 determine that it is safe, we begin to move deeper 51 00:03:23,719 --> 00:03:28,120 into the cave and into the twilight zone. There is 52 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,240 no presence of light in the dark zone, and we 53 00:03:31,319 --> 00:03:35,639 see nothing if we turn out the lights. Often we 54 00:03:35,759 --> 00:03:38,680 find chambers and passages off to the sides, or even 55 00:03:38,759 --> 00:03:42,919 drop offs in sinkholes. We can use special drones with 56 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:46,039 lights and cameras to fly over the drop offs or 57 00:03:46,120 --> 00:03:50,080 down the sinkholes, or on top of shelves or ledges 58 00:03:50,199 --> 00:03:52,639 above our reach to see if there are any points 59 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,039 of interest below or above us that we need to explore. 60 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,520 Using those drones have given us access to new passages 61 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:05,680 and chambers that no human has ever seen, some of 62 00:04:05,719 --> 00:04:09,560 which have led to miles of passages and enormous chambers, 63 00:04:09,759 --> 00:04:12,719 one of which was over one hundred feet tall and 64 00:04:12,800 --> 00:04:17,639 three football feels long fifty yards wide, and we nicknamed 65 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:22,439 that one the Ballroom. We have discovered entrances to cave 66 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,639 systems that were not noticeable from the top side or 67 00:04:25,639 --> 00:04:31,199 outside the cave. Some of the entrances have been behind waterfalls, crevices, 68 00:04:31,199 --> 00:04:35,079 and cliffs, and under roots of large trees, and even 69 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:37,959 behind some dead falls that appear to have been pushed 70 00:04:38,040 --> 00:04:42,399 up against it to conceal the entrance. We have mapped 71 00:04:42,480 --> 00:04:46,560 some systems that will travel miles into another exit or entrance, 72 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:49,639 with the longest one being twenty seven miles in southeast 73 00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,560 Kentucky and it goes into Tennessee and that required us 74 00:04:53,600 --> 00:04:57,519 to stay in the cave for over two weeks. We 75 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,839 have scanner units mounted onto our helmet. It's that capture 76 00:05:00,879 --> 00:05:04,000 three D imagery of the cave as we travel, and 77 00:05:04,040 --> 00:05:08,000 we also use GPS signals that rarely are detected above 78 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,319 the surface, but we still have them and occasionally get 79 00:05:11,319 --> 00:05:13,680 close enough to the surface to get our data to 80 00:05:13,759 --> 00:05:17,480 the base camp to be collected. We have other tools 81 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,560 that we have used in the past. One includes a 82 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:24,240 buoy with a GPS unit. We dropped one in a 83 00:05:24,279 --> 00:05:28,240 fast moving underground river near the West Virginia Kentucky state 84 00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:31,439 line to see where or if it would ever surface. 85 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:36,399 To our amazement, it reappeared five weeks later, almost three 86 00:05:36,439 --> 00:05:41,040 hundred miles away in the Clinch River near Kingston, Tennessee. 87 00:05:41,079 --> 00:05:45,360 We were astonished it must have traveled under another river 88 00:05:45,480 --> 00:05:49,160 system to arrive to the Clinch River. We are now 89 00:05:49,199 --> 00:05:52,879 developing equipment that we can capture imagery of the underground 90 00:05:52,959 --> 00:05:55,879 river system without our team having to dive into those 91 00:05:55,959 --> 00:05:59,839 underground rivers, with the hopes of capturing the constant location 92 00:06:00,199 --> 00:06:02,879 of the device and the depth under the sea level 93 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:06,600 as well that will be able to explain how these 94 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:11,920 rivers are crossing. Other findings are also worth mentioning. We've 95 00:06:11,959 --> 00:06:15,639 found several species of animals or insects that were unknown 96 00:06:15,839 --> 00:06:19,199 or thought to not inhabit this region, as well as 97 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:23,800 numerous cave drawings that date back over ten thousand years, 98 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:28,720 along with artifacts such as pottery from the early fourteen hundreds, 99 00:06:29,279 --> 00:06:34,240 spears and arrow heads, muskets or black powder rifles. A 100 00:06:34,279 --> 00:06:39,079 couple of swords. We found knives, shells, some gold and 101 00:06:39,120 --> 00:06:43,959 silver coins from seventeen hundred Europe, along with bones and 102 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:49,399 I mean a lot of bones. These discoveries found miles underground, 103 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:54,800 far from known entry points. We report our findings before 104 00:06:54,879 --> 00:06:59,199 moving further, and it slows down the exploration process because 105 00:06:59,240 --> 00:07:01,360 we have to wait for another team to go in 106 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:05,959 and gather the artifacts. Without us, we would contaminate the scene. 107 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:10,279 The real question was how did someone get this far 108 00:07:10,399 --> 00:07:13,360 into the cave system with torches, as they would have 109 00:07:13,439 --> 00:07:16,319 to have burnt out well before they got that deep. 110 00:07:17,399 --> 00:07:20,160 They would have had to carry extra torches with them, 111 00:07:20,759 --> 00:07:24,399 and why would they have traveled this deep while the 112 00:07:24,439 --> 00:07:27,040 other team was in our cave. We would go to 113 00:07:27,120 --> 00:07:29,680 another cave for several weeks until we were given the 114 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:33,439 go ahead to continue our explanation of the original cave. 115 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:37,439 Rarely were we given any information on what the other 116 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:41,920 team's findings revealed, especially when it was about bones or 117 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:45,680 modern day items like a shiny new shotgun we had found, 118 00:07:45,879 --> 00:07:49,040 or the backpack with a West Virginia Park map that 119 00:07:49,199 --> 00:07:53,120 was printed in twenty eighteen and it was over seven 120 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:57,600 thousand feet into the cave system. We would write it 121 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:00,399 off to people going beyond their limits and getting lost 122 00:08:00,439 --> 00:08:03,279 in the cave and losing their belongings as they roamed 123 00:08:03,319 --> 00:08:07,399 about in the darkness. And as for the other team, 124 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:10,959 they were a dull bunch of people with no personality. 125 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:14,560 Forget trying to talk to them. They were tight left 126 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:18,000 about their business. They were almost what we would think 127 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:23,879 of as a stiff government or maybe a CIA personality type. 128 00:08:23,959 --> 00:08:27,040 There were occasions where we would pass them coming or 129 00:08:27,079 --> 00:08:29,920 going and they wouldn't take the time to speak to anyone. 130 00:08:30,600 --> 00:08:34,960 They wouldn't drop any clues or share any findings, absolutely nothing. 131 00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:40,480 Using our newest technology that we had developed was the sphere, 132 00:08:40,679 --> 00:08:44,639 which was a mobile GPR light hoar sphere that set 133 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,240 up on a tripod in the middle of chambers, which 134 00:08:47,279 --> 00:08:52,200 we would leave overnight to scan. The results were beyond belief. 135 00:08:52,879 --> 00:08:55,519 We have found new tunnels that are blocked by large 136 00:08:55,600 --> 00:08:59,440 rocks or boulders. The stones are so heavy that several 137 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:02,039 men working together could not move them for us to 138 00:09:02,159 --> 00:09:06,039 explore further. But we knew the boulders had been placed 139 00:09:06,039 --> 00:09:09,240 there because the scars remained on the floors and walls. 140 00:09:09,879 --> 00:09:13,799 They had been rolled into position. We had a heavy 141 00:09:13,879 --> 00:09:17,600 hydraulic jack designed to lift rocks off of us should 142 00:09:17,639 --> 00:09:21,080 we become trapped, and we found that this jack could 143 00:09:21,120 --> 00:09:24,480 move the boulders enough to gain entrance into hidden chambers 144 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:28,080 or caverns. And now that I've given you a brief 145 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:31,000 description of what we do and how we do it, 146 00:09:31,519 --> 00:09:34,039 I want to tell you of my account that began 147 00:09:34,240 --> 00:09:38,960 on Friday, August the thirteenth of all days in twenty 148 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:43,240 twenty one. We had been mapping out a cave system 149 00:09:43,360 --> 00:09:46,720 south of Grayson, Kentucky, and we were five miles deep 150 00:09:46,799 --> 00:09:49,960 into the system when we dropped off of a shelf 151 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:53,480 about twenty feet using our climbing gear to discover a 152 00:09:53,519 --> 00:09:57,679 new passage. It led back east to half a mile 153 00:09:57,759 --> 00:10:00,480 to an oval shaped chamber and and at the far 154 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,720 end of the chamber was a large boulder blocking another 155 00:10:03,879 --> 00:10:07,879 passage that we found by setting up our sphere overnight. 156 00:10:09,399 --> 00:10:13,840 The following Monday was August the sixteenth, and we analyzed 157 00:10:13,879 --> 00:10:18,639 the data and we determined it was worth exploring. After 158 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:21,759 moving the rock, we followed the passage for another half 159 00:10:21,919 --> 00:10:24,600 mile and then we decided to back out and call 160 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:28,840 it a day. We returned on the seventeenth to the 161 00:10:28,879 --> 00:10:32,159 oval chamber, and we found the rock had rolled back 162 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:36,320 to block the entrance. We jacked it back open again 163 00:10:36,399 --> 00:10:38,759 and placed smaller rocks under it to keep it from 164 00:10:38,879 --> 00:10:42,919 rolling back while we were in there exploring. We then 165 00:10:43,159 --> 00:10:46,039 entered the passage and began to map out the system 166 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:49,759 where we left off. Through the day, we discovered a 167 00:10:49,840 --> 00:10:54,720 labyrinth of passages going in all directions. Some were dead 168 00:10:54,879 --> 00:10:57,879 ends and some were working their way back to the 169 00:10:57,919 --> 00:11:02,879 main cavern. The areas that didn't reconnect, we would follow 170 00:11:02,919 --> 00:11:07,000 those for five hundred feet and then turned back. There 171 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:09,559 were so many that we wanted to see, but this 172 00:11:09,720 --> 00:11:14,120 system could be thoroughly explored. Later. We were getting our 173 00:11:14,159 --> 00:11:19,480 bearings and taking notes, and we were excited about this discovery. 174 00:11:20,360 --> 00:11:24,279 We started noticing different items, such as fresh leaves and 175 00:11:24,360 --> 00:11:28,279 small twigs on the cave floor. They were green, they 176 00:11:28,279 --> 00:11:30,240 weren't dead, but they shouldn't have been there in the 177 00:11:30,279 --> 00:11:34,679 first place. In the largest passage, we found a shallow 178 00:11:34,799 --> 00:11:37,799 stream with a mud and a swet bottom and bank, 179 00:11:38,840 --> 00:11:41,960 and in that mud we found tracks of all sizes. 180 00:11:42,759 --> 00:11:46,600 They were human looking tracks. Some were smaller than my 181 00:11:46,759 --> 00:11:50,279 feet and others were twenty four inches long and ten 182 00:11:50,320 --> 00:11:56,320 inches wide. Laurie, my female teammate, carefully examined the toes 183 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:58,879 to see if there were claw marks, because that would 184 00:11:58,919 --> 00:12:00,799 lead us to believe that it was a bear, but 185 00:12:00,879 --> 00:12:04,399 she found none. Well, the day was late and we 186 00:12:04,440 --> 00:12:07,759 pulled out again, marking our route with illuminated paint of 187 00:12:07,759 --> 00:12:11,480 different colors, as we always did when exploring new systems. 188 00:12:12,759 --> 00:12:16,799 The footprints gave us all concern, but it also was exciting. 189 00:12:18,000 --> 00:12:20,679 The passage was nine feet high and we could not 190 00:12:20,799 --> 00:12:23,840 imagine a giant of a man walking around in there. 191 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:28,360 But this raised questions beyond belief, so we all decided 192 00:12:28,399 --> 00:12:31,399 to keep this finding to our selves for the time being. 193 00:12:33,159 --> 00:12:36,240 On Wednesday, the eighteenth, we found that the rock had 194 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:38,960 again been rolled back over the entrance and we had 195 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:43,399 to move it with Jacks. Rodney, the archaeologist, said that 196 00:12:43,480 --> 00:12:45,639 he was going to bust it into pieces if it 197 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:49,639 happened again, and we proceeded to the stream where we 198 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:52,960 had left off the previous day to find more tracks. 199 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:57,480 We slowly moved along the stream, following the direction of 200 00:12:57,519 --> 00:13:00,639 the footprints as it flowed down the center of the cavern, 201 00:13:01,960 --> 00:13:04,200 a quarter of a mile through the passage and into 202 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:07,919 the chamber. We discovered some of the most disturbing items 203 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:12,840 we had ever found. There were numerous shoes of different sizes, 204 00:13:12,879 --> 00:13:17,559 including boots and children's sneakers, some clothing that appeared to 205 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:20,360 be torn, and some looked like it had dried blood 206 00:13:20,399 --> 00:13:22,960 on it, and they were all in piles like someone 207 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:27,639 had been sleeping on them. There were backpacks and coats. 208 00:13:27,799 --> 00:13:31,480 There was a hatchet and some knives, a couple of firearms, 209 00:13:31,519 --> 00:13:35,559 and children's toys such as dolls and barbies and action figures. 210 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:39,639 There were balls and toy cars lying all about the chamber, 211 00:13:40,919 --> 00:13:44,159 and then we found a pile of human bones of 212 00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:48,960 all sizes, including children's, all piled up against the wall 213 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:52,679 at the far end of the chamber. Laurie screamed at 214 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:56,279 the top of her lungs and began crying uncontrollably, And 215 00:13:56,320 --> 00:13:58,879 as the others tried to comfort her, out of the 216 00:13:59,000 --> 00:14:01,960 darkness of a passage at the far end of the chamber, 217 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:05,240 near the pile of bones, came a scream or a 218 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:11,120 roar of a monstrous volume that shook my insides. It 219 00:14:11,200 --> 00:14:14,759 lasted a long time and was immediately answered by another 220 00:14:14,919 --> 00:14:19,399 roar from a different cavern, and then several more The 221 00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:22,200 team instantly began to run toward the exit, with me 222 00:14:22,320 --> 00:14:26,120 bringing up the rear. I had a feeling that something 223 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:29,279 was behind me, and I quickly looked back over my 224 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:33,919 shoulder with my high intensity LED light, and I illuminated 225 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,440 the face of a beast that was the size of 226 00:14:36,480 --> 00:14:41,559 a refrigerator, only ten feet behind me. In that brief instant, 227 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:45,279 I could see the beast's lips were curled back, bearing 228 00:14:45,399 --> 00:14:48,919 large teeth which were like ours except for the canines, 229 00:14:48,960 --> 00:14:53,000 which were larger in proportion than a human. It had 230 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:56,519 large round of black evil eyes and a flat nose, 231 00:14:56,559 --> 00:15:00,960 and everything around the face was covered with hair. The 232 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:04,000 animal covered its eyes from the light with its hands 233 00:15:04,039 --> 00:15:07,200 and screamed in pain as if the light heard it, 234 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:10,840 and it shrank away from me and my light. It 235 00:15:10,919 --> 00:15:13,360 curled up into a ball onto the floor of the cave, 236 00:15:13,519 --> 00:15:17,759 wailing in pain. I was now backing out of the chamber, 237 00:15:17,799 --> 00:15:19,960 trying to keep the light on the beast when I 238 00:15:20,000 --> 00:15:23,519 must have passed the exit and tumbled into a sinkhole. 239 00:15:24,679 --> 00:15:27,200 I got lucky it was only five feet below the 240 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,679 chamber floor. It could have been deeper and I would 241 00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:34,159 have never gotten out of there. I am only five 242 00:15:34,200 --> 00:15:36,600 foot four to start with, and I weighed less than 243 00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:39,960 one hundred and ten pounds fully clothed, and I knew 244 00:15:40,000 --> 00:15:42,360 if I couldn't do something quick, I would end up 245 00:15:42,399 --> 00:15:46,200 in that bone pile. In front of me. I saw 246 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,200 a small crevice that looked to me about my size, 247 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:52,080 so I dove into it headfirst, and I began to 248 00:15:52,159 --> 00:15:56,000 crawl on my belly back into the darkness. I was 249 00:15:56,039 --> 00:15:58,639 ten feet into the crevice when I heard the monster 250 00:15:58,879 --> 00:16:01,840 scream into the mouth of the crevice behind me, and 251 00:16:01,919 --> 00:16:04,360 I could feel it reaching into the hole as it 252 00:16:04,399 --> 00:16:08,240 started to claw at the walls. The creature was so 253 00:16:08,440 --> 00:16:11,519 close I could smell its foul breath, and this gave 254 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:15,799 me a surge of strength to move ahead faster. I 255 00:16:15,840 --> 00:16:19,279 crawled ahead without thinking. I was in survival mode and 256 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:21,960 I wanted to get as far from this thing as possible. 257 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,440 The roars began to fade the further into the passage 258 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:29,759 I went, and after an hour, I dropped into a 259 00:16:29,879 --> 00:16:34,679 room stalactites hung from the low ceiling and I had 260 00:16:34,679 --> 00:16:37,360 to walk hunched over, but at least I could stand. 261 00:16:38,600 --> 00:16:40,919 I tried to reach my team on the radio, but 262 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,519 I got nothing in response. If I was going to 263 00:16:44,559 --> 00:16:46,679 get out of there. I had to move upward while 264 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:49,480 avoiding these creatures. I had to get to the surface. 265 00:16:49,799 --> 00:16:53,879 That's all I could think of. I turned down the 266 00:16:53,919 --> 00:16:57,200 intensity of my light to get more life from my batteries, 267 00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:02,639 and I continued walking and crawling. I wandered the uncharted 268 00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:06,400 passages and caverns alone for hours, not knowing where I 269 00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:10,640 was or if I was moving to freedom. I lost 270 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:12,960 all sense of time, and I didn't know if it 271 00:17:13,039 --> 00:17:17,079 was day or night. And to make matters worse, not 272 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:20,240 long after that, I was down to my last spare 273 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:24,160 battery pack. The only light I would have after those 274 00:17:24,200 --> 00:17:27,759 batteries died was my cell phone. I had turned it 275 00:17:27,799 --> 00:17:30,519 off long ago to save it as a last resort 276 00:17:30,599 --> 00:17:35,319 for light. And the exhaustion set in, and I clicked 277 00:17:35,319 --> 00:17:38,000 off my light and I sat in the blackness, and 278 00:17:38,079 --> 00:17:42,920 I fell asleep. I woke to the distant sounds of 279 00:17:43,079 --> 00:17:47,000 clicking and some sort of gibberish that I didn't understand. 280 00:17:48,279 --> 00:17:51,039 The sounds weren't close, thank goodness, but they were looking 281 00:17:51,079 --> 00:17:54,640 for me. Once it sounded so human that I thought 282 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:56,920 it might be in my team members calling for me, 283 00:17:57,319 --> 00:18:00,200 and I almost shouted to them, but I waited to 284 00:18:00,279 --> 00:18:03,440 make sure, and I'm glad I did, because minutes later 285 00:18:03,759 --> 00:18:08,559 another roar came from the same direction. I drank the 286 00:18:08,599 --> 00:18:11,960 last of my water and I ate the final protein bar. 287 00:18:13,039 --> 00:18:15,279 I then turned my light off and I curled into 288 00:18:15,279 --> 00:18:18,480 a fetal position, hoping the sounds would stop so I 289 00:18:18,480 --> 00:18:23,160 could move again. Strangely, I felt an evil presence near me, 290 00:18:23,720 --> 00:18:27,480 and I knew the creatures were near, but still I waited. 291 00:18:29,480 --> 00:18:32,880 Hours later, the noises stopped, and I assumed they had 292 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:35,440 given up their search for me. So I got moving, 293 00:18:35,680 --> 00:18:39,880 always trying to move upward. Freedom was above me, and 294 00:18:39,920 --> 00:18:44,400 I had to get there. Two maybe three days later, 295 00:18:44,880 --> 00:18:48,720 I felt hope slipping away. I had lost all sense 296 00:18:48,759 --> 00:18:51,759 of time, and I was weakened now from hydration, and 297 00:18:51,839 --> 00:18:56,599 I was starving to death. I only used my headlamp briefly. 298 00:18:56,880 --> 00:18:58,799 I would click it on, look ahead as far as 299 00:18:58,880 --> 00:19:00,799 I could see, and then turn it on, and then 300 00:19:00,839 --> 00:19:03,440 I would feel my way to something until I needed 301 00:19:03,519 --> 00:19:09,240 light again. While alone in a place this silent, your 302 00:19:09,279 --> 00:19:12,960 sense of hearing heightens. There are no other noises to 303 00:19:13,039 --> 00:19:17,279 interfere with what you were hearing. While taking a break, 304 00:19:17,279 --> 00:19:20,200 and without the noise of my movements, I heard the 305 00:19:20,319 --> 00:19:24,359 hum of traffic. I moved toward the sound until I 306 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:27,839 saw a faint rays of light penetrating the passage wall. 307 00:19:28,759 --> 00:19:31,440 I was overjoyed, and I was filled with a surge 308 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:35,400 of energy. There was a small crevice that would be 309 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:38,799 tight even for my small body to escape through, but 310 00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:43,079 I pushed through it anyway into the sunlight. I was 311 00:19:43,079 --> 00:19:45,799 standing at the base of a cliff that I would 312 00:19:45,839 --> 00:19:49,720 later find out was next to Kentucky State Route seven. 313 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:54,880 Cars were speeding past below me. I had made it 314 00:19:55,039 --> 00:19:59,759 out alive. My phone still had a charge, and I 315 00:19:59,839 --> 00:20:03,640 call my supervisor. Well. She was ecstatic to hear from me. 316 00:20:04,279 --> 00:20:07,640 She said they picked up my GPS tracker twenty minutes ago. 317 00:20:08,599 --> 00:20:11,559 My tracker must have started broadcasting when I got near 318 00:20:11,599 --> 00:20:16,039 the crevice, and state troopers were on their way, she said. 319 00:20:17,039 --> 00:20:19,960 The police took me back to my hotel room, and 320 00:20:20,000 --> 00:20:22,559 I felt like I drank a gallon of water while 321 00:20:22,559 --> 00:20:25,920 we drove. Now, I wanted to get a shower in 322 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,759 something to eat, but as I got out of the car, 323 00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,640 four men approached and ushered me into a small hotel 324 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:36,799 conference room. I assumed they knew I was exhausted and 325 00:20:36,920 --> 00:20:40,039 hungary and that this meeting would not take long, but 326 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:44,000 I was wrong. Two of the men were from the 327 00:20:44,079 --> 00:20:48,000 Department of the Interior, one was a Federal Game and 328 00:20:48,039 --> 00:20:52,359 Fish official, and the last was with the US Geological Survey. 329 00:20:53,680 --> 00:20:56,880 The date was August twenty second, and they wanted me 330 00:20:56,960 --> 00:21:02,119 to recount the last ninety six hours my scanner was 331 00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:05,759 still operating. From that data, we found that I had 332 00:21:05,799 --> 00:21:09,079 traveled eleven miles underground from the point at which I 333 00:21:09,079 --> 00:21:13,680 fell into the sinkhole. They began asking me about the 334 00:21:13,720 --> 00:21:17,880 bear we had encountered. Well, I was a biology major, 335 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:19,960 but I knew damn well that the creature was not 336 00:21:20,039 --> 00:21:23,759 a bear, and I said so. I described the creature 337 00:21:23,759 --> 00:21:27,200 in great detail, but still they continued calling it a bear. 338 00:21:28,480 --> 00:21:33,519 They questioned me for three hours. At some point I 339 00:21:33,599 --> 00:21:36,480 told them I had answered every question and that I 340 00:21:36,599 --> 00:21:39,799 was done, and after walking out, I headed to my 341 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:43,559 room and I took a long shower. Some food was 342 00:21:43,559 --> 00:21:45,720 brought to me, so I ate like I had never 343 00:21:45,799 --> 00:21:50,079 tasted food, and then I went to sleep. I was 344 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:53,079 still a bit confused when I woke, but I felt 345 00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:56,640 rested and ready to find my teammates. I went to 346 00:21:56,720 --> 00:21:59,079 all their rooms and the only one who remained there 347 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:03,240 was Tony. He told me that Laurie was so upset 348 00:22:03,279 --> 00:22:05,880 after the event that she had to be sedated and 349 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,720 was taken to a local hospital. She had been released 350 00:22:09,759 --> 00:22:13,559 and sent home. The other members of the team had 351 00:22:13,559 --> 00:22:16,799 been put on leaving sent home. They had all been 352 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,160 notified that I made it out, and Tony said they 353 00:22:20,200 --> 00:22:22,480 allowed him to stay because he was the only one 354 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:25,599 who wasn't freaking out. I think that came from his 355 00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:30,880 military training. I later learned that a task force had 356 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,960 come in and Tony guided them back into the cave. 357 00:22:35,359 --> 00:22:37,839 There were way too many people there to be looking 358 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:42,000 for a bear, though their main mission, Tony later decided 359 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:46,960 was to gather the human remains in clothing. Tony searched 360 00:22:47,000 --> 00:22:49,440 the area with those men, and he found no sign 361 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,720 of a bear, and then they made castings of several 362 00:22:52,839 --> 00:22:55,599 tracks in the mud before they destroyed all the evidence 363 00:22:55,640 --> 00:22:59,680 they could find. They spent days in that cave system 364 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,359 for that bear, they said, but they never found an animal. 365 00:23:04,720 --> 00:23:07,039 And then it occurred to me that I may have 366 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:10,319 been the only one who had seen this creature, because 367 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:14,000 Tony never mentioned it. He kept saying they searched for 368 00:23:14,079 --> 00:23:16,799 a bear, and I think that is what he thought 369 00:23:16,839 --> 00:23:19,839 we were dealing with, and I had never told him 370 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,759 about the creature. I had seen only the men in 371 00:23:22,799 --> 00:23:26,920 the conference room. I was going to leave the next day, 372 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:29,799 but that evening we went to the bar, and there 373 00:23:29,839 --> 00:23:34,200 we found two members of the task force drinking. After 374 00:23:34,240 --> 00:23:38,559 several drinks, one of them began to talk. This fellow 375 00:23:38,599 --> 00:23:41,599 told us that this team was a unit of special 376 00:23:41,799 --> 00:23:46,000 forces that were used to hunt down Bigfoot. I had 377 00:23:46,079 --> 00:23:48,599 yet to think of a Bigfoot, and I was stuck 378 00:23:48,680 --> 00:23:52,920 on an unknown monster until then, and bigfoot was a myth, 379 00:23:53,079 --> 00:23:57,039 wasn't it. He continued to tell us that this was 380 00:23:57,079 --> 00:24:00,519 only the second underground assignment they had been on, and 381 00:24:00,559 --> 00:24:03,759 that his unit hated the darkness of the cave systems, 382 00:24:03,799 --> 00:24:07,279 even though they were equipped with special equipment that allowed 383 00:24:07,319 --> 00:24:10,160 them to see in the dark zone, or the part 384 00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:12,799 of the cave where there was a complete absence of light. 385 00:24:14,599 --> 00:24:16,920 He said, we were some of the luckiest people he 386 00:24:16,960 --> 00:24:20,720 had ever met, and my falling into that sinkhole gave 387 00:24:20,759 --> 00:24:24,640 all my friends an opportunity to escape because it had 388 00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:27,640 captured the interest of the bigfoot trying to catch me. 389 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:32,519 He admitted that the government has proof that these animals 390 00:24:32,599 --> 00:24:35,720 are traveling underground as much as they are in the moonlight, 391 00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:39,720 and there is also evidence of them kidnapping people and 392 00:24:39,799 --> 00:24:43,839 eating them. That was obvious to me. I had seen 393 00:24:43,880 --> 00:24:48,000 the chamber with a pile of bones. He was about 394 00:24:48,039 --> 00:24:51,880 to continue with more information. I mean, this guy was 395 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:54,920 a real bliber mouth. But one of the men who 396 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,400 questioned me grabbed a hold of him by the shoulder 397 00:24:57,400 --> 00:24:59,839 and said that that was enough, soldier, and you should 398 00:24:59,839 --> 00:25:04,480 try This fellow then sat down and he asked us 399 00:25:04,519 --> 00:25:07,880 what we were told. Well, at first we were hesitant 400 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:10,720 to tell him, but we did so any way, to 401 00:25:10,799 --> 00:25:13,680 which he told us that the soldier was drunk and 402 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:16,440 he was telling tall tales to scare us, and we 403 00:25:16,480 --> 00:25:21,200 shouldn't put much faith in what he was saying. The 404 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,519 next day, we were informed that our project had lost 405 00:25:24,559 --> 00:25:28,200 its funding and we were all terminated and were given 406 00:25:28,319 --> 00:25:32,960 a year's wages a severance pay. I've kept in touch 407 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,000 with the others, and it seems that I'm the only 408 00:25:35,039 --> 00:25:39,319 one who has been able to find work in this field. Currently, 409 00:25:39,559 --> 00:25:43,640 I do geological and soul analysis for a general contractor 410 00:25:43,759 --> 00:25:48,799 for building foundations. None of our group have returned to 411 00:25:48,880 --> 00:25:52,079 the darkness of the underworld and its secrets that we 412 00:25:52,160 --> 00:25:56,319 loved and cherished up until that August week. I have 413 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:59,559 been left with more questions than I care to imagine. 414 00:26:00,759 --> 00:26:04,759 Was that a Bigfoot we encountered in that cave? Are 415 00:26:04,799 --> 00:26:09,799 they using the cave systems to travel undetected? Do they 416 00:26:09,839 --> 00:26:14,440 really kidnap people and eat them? What does the government know? 417 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:18,359 What was the real purpose of the government funding of 418 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:21,519 our expeditions and mapping out the cave systems in the 419 00:26:21,519 --> 00:26:26,480 first place. Why won't the government inform people of these 420 00:26:26,559 --> 00:26:31,720 animals and the dangers? And that's the end of her story. 421 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:35,119 Have y'all ever heard a story like that. I've never 422 00:26:35,160 --> 00:26:38,279 heard anything like that. Now Again, like I said in 423 00:26:38,319 --> 00:26:42,440 my last video, I don't know if any of these 424 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:45,119 stories that I read are true, but this was a 425 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:49,119 sure enough story email to me. She has enough information 426 00:26:49,559 --> 00:26:53,839 on the job and the spielunking equipment and all that 427 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:57,960 stuff that adds a little bit of credibility to the story. 428 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,000 But you know who knows either way, It was a 429 00:27:01,039 --> 00:27:04,319 real good story. And I tell you what, you couldn't 430 00:27:04,400 --> 00:27:06,640 pay me to go into one of those caves. And 431 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:10,039 it's not because I think Bigfoot is in there. I 432 00:27:10,079 --> 00:27:13,960 am not terribly claustrophobic, but I've read articles and I've 433 00:27:14,000 --> 00:27:18,440 seen videos where people get stuck in these caves. They 434 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:21,079 can send in twenty or thirty men and they cannot 435 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:23,480 get them unstuck, and the people just have to lay 436 00:27:23,480 --> 00:27:27,680 there and die. What a horrible, horrible way to die. 437 00:27:28,279 --> 00:27:31,440 And I just I can't. And I've seen other videos 438 00:27:31,480 --> 00:27:36,039 with these guys. They squeak through these real type rock formations, 439 00:27:36,160 --> 00:27:38,960 or they'll be flat on their stomach and the rock 440 00:27:39,079 --> 00:27:42,319 is just right down on them. I always think, man, 441 00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:46,480 if that rock formation shifted just a fraction of an inch, 442 00:27:46,960 --> 00:27:50,000 it would just squash you right there. I know everything 443 00:27:51,559 --> 00:27:53,519 you know. I know that's probably not the way it works, 444 00:27:53,519 --> 00:27:55,960 but it could anyway. I don't want to get stuck 445 00:27:56,000 --> 00:27:58,200 in a dark cave somewhere and die in the dark. 446 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:02,480 That's just me anyway. Jenna, thank you for sending this story. 447 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:06,880 I really admire your profession. You're a pretty brave girl. 448 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:09,920 All right, that's gonna wind this podcast up. I hope 449 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:11,519 you guys enjoyed it, and we'll see you on the 450 00:28:11,559 --> 00:28:12,480 next one. Thank you.