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T'Owd Man & Other Caving / Potholing / Spelunking Ghosts

Diver found dead in same cave where he broke US record a decade ago

Brett Hemphill, 56, dove into Phantom Springs Cave in Toyahvale, Texas, on October 4. He tied a guide rope at roughly 570 feet deep, at which point he got separated from his team.

Other divers and rescue crews searched for him down to more than 450 feet deep.

Four days later, on Sunday, they recovered his body.
In 2013, Hemphill set a new record in the US when he dove 465 feet down Phantom Springs and 8,000 back in the cave system. He discovered the deepest underwater cave ever to be measured in the country.

Hemphill won Emmy Awards working with photographer Becky Kagan Schott.

‘We won Emmys together, educated the public about safety in caves and what draws people to these places,’ wrote Schott.
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Sorry, had a great problem trying to post that from my phone. I've got a few shots of the abanndonned quarry in question too, but re-sizing is a problem.
 
Okay, this I do know about...
Wasn’t there a ghost/body of a bloke on a wreck somewhere that divers kept seeing in different locations on the ship, some said he followed them round but others said it was currents moving him about but this was on a sunken ship not in a cave, they had a name for him but can’t remember it.
That's from the Great Lakes - specifically Lake Superior, that famously "Doesn't give up her dead*". The wreck of the SS Kamloops:
https://www.paranormalcatalog.net/ghosts/old-whitey-the-haunted-corpse-of-the-ss-kamloops

Okay, they're song lyrics, but sometimes there's truth in art: "
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy"
 
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Okay, they're song lyrics, but sometimes there's truth in art: "
The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down
Of the big lake they called Gitche Gumee
The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead
When the skies of November turn gloomy"
Truly some great songwriting by Gordon Lightfoot (RIP). I always stop to listen.
 
This story about Welsh mines from the BBC site has a ghostly bit in it...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67088675
Along with the practical dangers, Ioan admits he keeps an open mind about what other things might lurk in the darkness.

"I have had some things happen underground which I can't explain," he said.
"Miners were always very superstitious. They believed in all sorts of mine goblins and guardians and such."

Ioan said one of his most frightening experiences was when he was alone underground and heard another group approaching down the passageway.
"Quite often you'll run into other explorers who have come in through another entrance," explained Ioan.

"I heard a group of other explorers coming towards me, I could hear their footsteps but when I went around the corner, I couldn't see anybody there.
"I shone my torch straight ahead, you could see for hundreds of feet, but there was nothing. And these footsteps, about ten of them, just walked straight past me."
Fabulous. I feel like grabbing Ioan's lapels and demanding more. :bthumbup:
 
The Nutty Putty caves were popular with all ages of cavers, up to 5,000 a year. There are vides on YouTube of people wriggling along the Birth Canal wearing no special gear except duct tape wrapped round the elbows!
This doesn't seem to have been unusual as the caves were open 24/7 for decades.

After a few dangerous rescues the caves were closed and later re-opened with a gate and more strictly controlled entry to weed out the more frivolous visitors. Six months later Jones was killed there and the caves were permanently closed.

Jones was an experienced caver, not a youth who'd gone there with friends on a whim. His mistake seems to have been to turn left instead of right. What he'd thought was the Birth Canal was an unexplored section.
I saw the MrBallen YT episode mentioned in this thread. It haunted me for several weeks. Harrowing can't even begin to describe his telling of the incident.

This is a recent article describing the incident for those of you who might be interested to read of it, but don't want to hear the story.

https://metro.co.uk/2024/03/09/utah...able-20386451/?ico=trending-post-strip_item_1
 
I saw the MrBallen YT episode mentioned in this thread. It haunted me for several weeks. Harrowing can't even begin to describe his telling of the incident.

This is a recent article describing the incident for those of you who might be interested to read of it, but don't want to hear the story.

https://metro.co.uk/2024/03/09/utah...able-20386451/?ico=trending-post-strip_item_1
The Metro article states that Jones was the father of a newborn child but this is wrong. He had one young child and his wife was expecting their second.

Anyway... as I've mentioned, when Escet was at SLAC he knew cavers from the area who followed the rescue attempt. They were not hopeful. Escet took an interest because his uncles are cave rescue volunteers.
 
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