The Five Burials of Floyd Collins – The Greatest Story Seldom Told

In the year 2022, William Floyd Collins rests peacefully just outside the abandoned Mammoth Cave Baptist Church which is tucked deep in the woods of South Central Kentucky down a long windy road about ten minutes from the Mammoth Cave National Park Visitor’s Center. Better know simply as Floyd Collins, he is now buried alongside his family with his headstone inscription boldly declaring “The Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known.” This headstone, which is otherwise unremarkable, marks the fifth and hopefully the final resting place of this cave explorer, entrepreneur and unwitting international media sensation.

In the 1920s Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave, the World’s Largest Cave and one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was attracting visitors from all over as the idea of recreational travel and the affordable family vacation was spreading across the United States due largely to automobiles now being more affordable. During that time many of the locals in the area who were struggling to make ends meet, saw an opportunity to get in on the substantial tourist dollars flooding into Mammoth Cave and they started opening their own caves in the areas around Mammoth Cave blasting sinkholes on their farmland to find entrances to the multitudes of cave systems in the area. Thus began the Kentucky “Cave Wars.” The Cave Wars happened during a period where competing tourist caves would engage in all kinds of underhanded tactics to gain an advantage over their competitors. One of the primary “acts of war” were multiple and varied attempts to siphon off business from unsuspecting tourists en route to Mammoth Cave. These shady tactics included fabricating signs falsely claiming that Mammoth Cave was closed, rerouting directional signs to point tourists to their cave entrance, starting rumors via flyers, ads or word of mouth of caves harboring contagious diseases, impersonating police officers to misdirect traffic towards their cave entrance, burning down competitors tickets huts and lord only knows what else. There were also people who wore uniforms and hats to make them look like “official authorities” called “Cappers” that would jump up on the running boards of approaching automobiles as they would enter the area to try and persuade them to patronize their cave using any tactics necessary including exaggeration, misdirection, confusion or sometimes outright lies. There were over 20 competing caves surrounding Mammoth Cave during the Cave Wars and some of these “Cave Hucksters” would even go so far as to claim their cave was an entrance to Mammoth Cave just to lure in tourists who wouldn’t know the difference and would leave never realizing that they’d been had.

First Burial

In 1925 Floyd Collins, who had originally discovered an entrance to Great Crystal Cave in 1917, realized that if he wanted to make big money, he would need to discover a new entrance to Mammoth Cave and began exploring the nearby Sand Cave. Unfortunately, he became trapped in a small passage and a large boulder fell on his leg pinning him in place leaving him stuck in the cave. Floyd was known to disappear without notice to explore various caves and was crashing at three different houses at this time so it was over a day before anyone realized that he had gone missing. His coat was spotted outside the Sand Cave entrance and his brother, Homer began rescue efforts by crawling through the narrow passages of the cave until discovering Floyd 55 feet below trapped by a 27 pound boulder on his left ankle in a small passage unable to move or turn but still alive. Although they could not move Floyd, they could still get close enough to pass him food and water. Homer brought his brother sausages and coffee but he could not manage to free him. As word began to spread, many people showed up to offer assistance but as there was no official leadership the rescue efforts were fraught with chaos, fighting and various unsuccessful attempts to rescue Floyd. After 72 hours being trapped in the cold dark passage, Floyd began to lose touch with reality and began to hallucinate, seeing visions of angels and chariots as well as olfactory hallucinations, smelling various foods that were not there. A fire chief from Louisville asked Floyd if he would agree to being pulled out in a way that would involve ripping his foot off and in his distressed mental state Floyd agreed. Floyd’s family and other rescuers would not allow this plan to happen so Floyd remained trapped in the cave. After surviving for five days like this, the passage giving access to Floyd collapsed and rescue workers were no longer able to provide food or water.

A reporter from Louisville’s Courier-Journal, William “Skeets” Miller, who was said to be “of small stature” was able to get close enough to Collins to interview him as the rescue efforts escalated. This ever expanding rescue attempt was happening during the rise of broadcast radio and Skeets would file his report via telegraph every day and the story quickly became an international media sensation which captured the imagination of the nation making the front page of papers everywhere including The New York Times.

Once word got out of the saga of this cave explorer trapped in a cave and the growing rescue efforts, thousands of spectators began to arrive in Kentucky’s Cave Country and gathered in masses around the area of Sand Cave. Vendors began to setup selling food, booze and souvenirs creating a “circus-like” atmosphere. After the first week, it is estimated that there were almost 5,000 cars parked in the area stretching four miles in every direction with license plates from over 20 different states and a crowd of over 10,000 people.

Every night people across the country and in other parts of the world would gather around their radios to hear if Floyd Collins would survive another day and if the rescue workers could get to him in time to save his life. The well-meaning but highly unorganized rescue workers were working in very cold conditions and were reportedly drinking moonshine to stay warm which only further deteriorated the progress. The National Guard was called in to help control the growing crowds. Due to a lack of leadership, various rescuers with different ideas on how to best free Floyd would go to the local Court arguing which idea was best and all the while Floyd Collins was still trapped in that dark cave with no food or water. Journalists became desperate for updates to report and rumors began spreading. Some of the reporting turned dark and some would report one of the four main theories that were floating around: 1) It was a colossal hoax to lure tourists to Kentucky’s Cave Country. 2) Collins was murdered by someone unknown after he entered the cave. 3) Food and water are purposely being withheld from him so he will die. 4) Collins is still alive and travels out of the cave and back each night.

Floyd survived for what is estimated to be a total of 14 days before ultimately dying from starvation and exposure. By the time rescuers reached his body 17 days after Floyd was trapped, he had been dead for at least 3 days. The rescuer who found him said his body was cold to the touch and there was a cricket sitting on Floyd’s nose. This massive news story was the first American international media event and ranks second overall in the history of global media events behind the two World Wars.

Due to not wanting to risk further lives or injuries to the rescue workers, funeral services were held on the surface of Sand Cave and Floyd’s body remained entombed in the collapsed cave for another two months. This would be the first burial of William Floyd Collins.

Second Burial

Floyd’s brother Homer along with his father Lee took to the Vaudeville circuit to capitalize on the fame and interest of the event telling Floyd’s story (often inaccurately) to try and raise money to get him out of the cave and to provide a proper burial. After over two months, Floyd’s father couldn’t stand it anymore and rallied Floyd’s brothers and their friends to reopen the original rescue shaft and they were able to finally excavate Floyd’s body from the cave. Floyd’s body was then embalmed in Cave City and after a two-day funeral visitation, the body was taken to the Collins family farm where he was buried on a hillside just over the family cave he had discovered which was renamed “Floyd Collins’ Crystal Cave.” This would be the second burial of William Floyd Collins.

Third Burial

Floyd rested peacefully on the family farm until two years later when a rival cave operator and dentist, Dr. Harry Thomas, purchased the family farm from Lee Collins. Dr. Thomas promptly dug up Floyd’s body and placed it in a glass-topped coffin so he could have the corpse of the famous cave explorer on display in his newly acquired Crystal Cave. The notoriety of Floyd Collins from the international media coverage made the idea of viewing his body an enticing feature and strong selling point for tourists visiting the area so ticket sales skyrocketed. This placement in the glass-topped coffin would be the third burial of William Floyd Collins.

Fourth Burial

The Cave Wars were in full swing during this time and one night in March of 1929, someone broke in to Crystal Cave and stole the body of Floyd Collins from the glass-covered coffin. It was most likely a rival cave owner jealous of the popularity and success due to having Floyd’s famous corpse on display. Accounts vary as to what was done with Floyd’s body but a leading theory is he was thrown into the nearby Green River just off of Dixie Highway. This would be the fourth burial of William Floyd Collins.

Floyd’s body was later discovered in burlap sack in a field near the banks of the Green River about 400 yards from the cave entrance only now his previously injured left leg was missing. The leg has still not been found to this day.

Fifth Burial

After this, Floyd’s body was kept hidden in a chained casket in a secret corridor of Crystal Cave for another 30+ years until 1961 when Mammoth Cave National Park purchased Crystal Cave and closed it to the public. At the request of the Collins family, Mammoth Cave National Park did eventually (almost 30 years later) re-inter Floyd’s body at the Mammoth Cave Baptist Church in 1989. It took a team of 15 men three days to remove the tomb and casket from Crystal Cave. This would be the fifth and hopefully final burial of William Floyd Collins.

All of the attention and the saga of Floyd Collins brought to the area inspired a movement to have Mammoth Cave designated as a National Park. The designation was granted just over 15 years after Floyd’s death and Mammoth Cave National Park began to purchase nearby and competing cave entrances effectively putting an end to the Cave Wars. By the time the park purchased Crystal Cave and became stewards of Floyd’s remains in 1961, the cut throat spirit of the Cave Wars gave way to a more cooperative relationship between rival cave owners in the area and Mammoth Cave National Park which continues to be the areas biggest tourist draw.

Long live the legend of Floyd Collins and may he finally rest in peace outside that tiny abandoned church near Mammoth Cave. He would never live to learn of his immense fame as the subject of the first American international media event. If you’re ever in the Mammoth Cave area, take a few minutes to drive down the scenic winding hills of Flint Ridge Road to see the fifth and final resting place of old William Floyd Collins. Leave a coin on his grave out of recognition for what he endured both in life and in death. It’s the least you can do.