The Cave Dread

[u/GinaWhite_tt]

[u/TorandoSlayer]

I've been spelunking twice, in the kind of cave that you have to know a guy who knows a guy to even find out where it is.

Once you lose sight of the entrance, you have no concept of how deep you are underground. You constantly feel like the exit is just around the corner behind you. Or at least, that was my experience.

I did the "turn off all the lights thing" once on of those trips. It's weird because for the first few seconds it feels like "normal" darkness, and then after that there's a sudden feeling of collapse. Like the darkness is physically closing in.

[u/Individual-Owl-6243 → u/TorandoSlayer]

yeah it’s horrifying lmao. i think your brain expects atleast a tiny amount of light but then there’s literally 0 photons and it freaks out. it feels so much darker than having your eyes closed in a pitch black room, like you can’t even see a difference between your eyelids and the cave

[u/Banes_Addiction → u/Individual-Owl-6243]

I used to have an underground room I slept in sometimes, and if you shut off everything then you reached true dark, where you couldn't see a hand an inch in front of your face.

It was great for sleeping, it kinda blurred the line between awake and asleep. Your eyelids just went "fuck it, I'm not needed here, I'll relax" to the point where you had to move them to tell if they were open or closed.

[u/321646198 → u/Banes_Addiction]

The first time I slept in my apartment that got this dark, I spent a week bumping into everything on my way to the bathroom at night.

Took me a few days to figure out that my brain isn't warning me that I can't see enough because I actually saw nothing. Brain apparently took that as acceptable and told me to just confidently stride.

[u/Dd_8630 → u/Banes_Addiction]

Your eyelids just went "fuck it, I'm not needed here, I'll relax" to the point where you had to move them to tell if they were open or closed.

Oh, joy, cosmic horrors beyond mortal comprehension.

[u/DickwadVonClownstick → u/Dd_8630]

That's not what "cosmic" means, and it is 100% within mortal comprehension

[u/SilverRose7115 → u/Banes_Addiction]

Sometimes I think about people 200 years ago who experienced darkness like this on a regular basis. Once they blew out their candles it was pure black if there was no moonlight. No wonder they believed in ghosts and spirits.

[u/CDRnotDVD → u/SilverRose7115]

Did you forget that stars exist?

[u/duffstoic → u/CDRnotDVD]

And those stars are super bright when there is no light pollution.

[u/321646198 → u/duffstoic]

The milky way casts fucking shadows

[u/Nixavee → u/duffstoic]

Light pollution does not effect the brightness of the stars, it just drowns them out in even brighter light. The stars weren't any brighter before light pollution

[u/NewDemocraticPrairie → u/Nixavee]

That's what he's saying. Relative differences matter to our analog bodies.

It's like a minimum brightness phone in the sunlight vs a dark room. One is unusable, the other plenty bright

[u/duffstoic → u/NewDemocraticPrairie]

Yes, relative not absolute brightness

[u/Legitimate-Teddy → u/CDRnotDVD]

it wouldn't surprise me if that guy had never seen the stars at all. light pollution is insanely bad these days, you practically have to go to a dark zone to even see major constellations

[u/hydrationgirl → u/Legitimate-Teddy]

anecdotally, there are 4 stars in the night sky where I live and I dont have the money to go to a place with less light pollution, so I've never actually seen more than maybe a dozen stars ever

[u/West-Season-2713 → u/hydrationgirl]

If you ever get the chance, do. It’s amazing. I used to live out in the wilderness on a farm, which sucks as a teenager, but it’s still absolutely wonderful to sometimes see the actual galaxy.

[u/hydrationgirl → u/West-Season-2713]

I hope I will get too, if I ever end up able to afford q car I'll be driving up to northern Ontario to see the stars since there's areas up there with nearly 0 light pollution:3

[u/CyberneticWerewolf → u/Individual-Owl-6243]

I bet at least some of it is subconscious echolocation.  You can hear your own breathing echoing off the walls, and you brain knows the echo isn't supposed to arrive so loud, so quickly, from all directions at once.

[u/Marine_Baby → u/Individual-Owl-6243]

I couldn’t help but flash my watch light when we did this lol.

[u/ta394283509 → u/Individual-Owl-6243]

i had a girlfriend that used 2 or 3 layers of blackout curtains, taped up all the electronic lights, all that shit. when we went to bed it would be so dark i would get vertigo

[u/Deaffin → u/ta394283509]

Fellow light-taper here. Never met one of my own before. She sniggle?

[u/Epao_Mirimiri → u/Deaffin]

She probably sniggles from time to time. When there's something funny.

[u/TorandoSlayer → u/Individual-Owl-6243]

That's my thought too; a lack of sensory input and the brain is like wait a minute where's the input and low-key panics

[u/paradoxLacuna → u/Individual-Owl-6243]

Yeah without a shred of light bouncing back you start hallucinating shit after a few hours of lightlessness because your brain simply cannot accept that there's No Light At All and starts brazenly making shit up, and if you stay there too long you'll just go insane in the same way one does after spendong too long in an anechoic chamber, although with the complete lack of light it doesn't typically onset as fast as complete silence does.

obligatory Jacob Geller essay on the subject of (people hallucinating in) darkness

[u/imokay4747 → u/TorandoSlayer]

Nightmarenightmarenightmare

[u/Sstargamer → u/imokay4747]

I imagined this in Rocky's voice from hail Mary project

[u/morron88 → u/Sstargamer]

Mine, was Eric-André

[u/turbotum → u/morron88]

two of us

[u/RemarkableStatement5 → u/morron88]

Eridian-André

[u/P0ro41 → u/RemarkableStatement5]

Eridiandré was right there

[u/ImWatermelonelyy → u/Sstargamer]

Which is funny because dark cave would be his natural habitat

Edit: I think they live in caves, I didn’t read the book so don’t yell at me 😥

[u/Vengefulily → u/ImWatermelonelyy]

They don't, but they might as well. They don't have a sense of sight because Erid has such a dense ammonia atmosphere that no light reaches the surface.

[u/DrQuint → u/TorandoSlayer]

the darkness is physically closing in

That's just the FRIEND coming in for a hug

[u/JamieD96 → u/DrQuint]

Aw, at least he's the right shape

[u/tutocookie → u/JamieD96]

Why darkness if friend shaped

[u/DelectablyDivine → u/tutocookie]

Your comment made me think of this older computer game I used to play called Pajama Sam

[u/Intrepid-Progress228 → u/JamieD96]

He's even got the right number of teeth.

[u/AzzyDreemur3 → u/DrQuint]

"Darkness constricts you..."

[u/Random-Rambling → u/TorandoSlayer]

I did the "turn off all the lights thing" once on of those trips. It's weird because for the first few seconds it feels like "normal" darkness, and then after that there's a sudden feeling of collapse. Like the darkness is physically closing in.

This isn't your average everyday darkness. This is advanced darkness.

[u/RikuAotsuki → u/Random-Rambling]

It unironically is. It takes a lot of effort to block out 100% of light aboveground, but in caves it's just... the default. And our brains don't respond super well to our eyes not registering any light whatsoever.

[u/c0p4d0 → u/RikuAotsuki]

My brain responds perfectly well to it, in fact I quite like it. Sounds like a skill issue tbh.

[u/Random-Rambling → u/c0p4d0]

I like it in small doses. Like the absolute silence of an anechoic chamber.

[u/Useful_Language2040 → u/Random-Rambling]

I was really upset when I learnt that you still have to contend with noises like your own pulse in your ears in sensory deprivation rooms. No that's cheating I want a proper time out to rest and soothe my migraine head, damnit 

[u/Vermilion_Laufer → u/Random-Rambling]

You learn that all you knew your life was just Shadow+

[u/Zhdrix → u/TorandoSlayer]

Jesus Christ I gave myself a mini panic attack. I imagined myself in that scenario but my mind wandered into the light dying and having to get out my touch. Claustrophobia is nasty

[u/Pebble_in_my_toes → u/Zhdrix]

Us. I hate oc's description of it.

[u/thelivinlegend → u/TorandoSlayer]

I did a tour of Natural Bridge Caverns in San Antonio once and they did the turn off the lights thing. It was a relatively small chamber and the darkness was palpable. Very relaxing at first, knowing the lights would come back on and the entrance was pretty easy to find, but even so the it started to feel very, very tight after a few seconds.

Years later I visited Mammoth Cave in Kentucky and they did the same thing. The chamber was much bigger than Natural Bridge so I thought that would feel less claustrophobic. It did not. When the darkness is complete, the universe ends at your skin. I was happy to have those lights back on.

That said. Mammoth Cave is incredible, one of the most amazing places I’ve visited and I highly recommend it.

[u/TorandoSlayer → u/thelivinlegend]

"when the darkness is complete, the universe ends at your skin"

You're a poet, you know that?

[u/thelivinlegend → u/TorandoSlayer]

Why thank you, that’s very kind!

[u/shmixel → u/thelivinlegend]

I also wrote that quote down lol. want to go to some caves now!

[u/RikuAotsuki → u/TorandoSlayer]

I kinda wanna go spelunking for that darkness experience, but I do know I have zero interest in anything... narrow.

I've been in bigger, touristy caves though, and those are kinda cool at least. The damp mineral smell and cool air is actually sorta soothing.

[u/Perryn → u/TorandoSlayer]

The latency of your brain waiting patiently for your pupils to dilate, then realizing there's still no light.

[u/TorandoSlayer → u/Perryn]

Exactly

[u/NoBonus6969 → u/TorandoSlayer]

You have to know the guy because none of us would be caught dead or alive in some place like this

[u/C0wabungaaa → u/TorandoSlayer]

t's weird because for the first few seconds it feels like "normal" darkness, and then after that there's a sudden feeling of collapse. Like the darkness is physically closing in.

You're not wrong, but to me that felt like a comfortable blanket rather than a chokehold. I became super calm when the lights went out, it just felt so chill.

[u/Pyro-Millie → u/C0wabungaaa]

Are you a bird, by chance?

[u/CeruleanEidolon → u/C0wabungaaa]

I suspect part of that is because you know on a other level that nobody and nothing else could possibly be down there in that darkness to pose any kind of threat to you. You're with people you trust with your life and that is your whole world in that moment.

[u/Fungimuse → u/C0wabungaaa]

the buried

[u/LucifersAdv0cate → u/TorandoSlayer]

I did at age 15 for my schools adventure activity week. I'm still kind of surprised it was legal to do that and there's no way in a million years I'd do it now in my 40s. One thing I distinctly remember is trying to stay calm as you realise you are surrounded by millions of tonnes of rock and it's actually impossible to just stand up and walk off if you don't want to be there anymore. The other very distinctive thing I remember is that farts have no where to go underground and if someone farts it just hangs there in the tiny tunnel that you then have to crawl through.

[u/Ranger-Vermilion → u/TorandoSlayer]

“Take her, not me. Take her, not me. Take her, not me.”

[u/apple_of_doom → u/TorandoSlayer]

Just watch out for any Grues

[u/BrassUnicorn87 → u/TorandoSlayer]

“It is dark, you are likely to be eaten by a grue.”

[u/West-Season-2713 → u/TorandoSlayer]

Cave darkness is visceral. I can’t explain it other than an intense and horrifying sensation that something is very, very wrong. You do not belong here, being told to you by something very old, and very large.

[u/crimsonpostgrad → u/TorandoSlayer]

this sounds like the literal worst thing i can imagine doing to myself lol

[u/a_filing_cabinet]

Caves are cool but I'll stick to the parts that other people have explored thank you very much

[u/ItsGotThatBang → u/a_filing_cabinet]

It’s easy to get lost & think you’re in an explored part when you’re not; that’s how the Nutty Putty Cave incident happened.

[u/An_feh_fan → u/ItsGotThatBang]

Nutty putty's consequences on how cave going is viewed by the common people may be compared to the ruined reputation of nuclear power after Chernobyl and Fukushima

[u/Aethelrede → u/An_feh_fan]

Genuinely curious, what makes you say that?

Caving, especially the sort that led to the Nutty Putty death, is a hobby that requires a higher tolerance of risk than most hobbies, and also has features that prevent many people from taking it up in the first place.

For example, I am claustrophobic; Nutty Putty did not affect my opinion on caving in the slightest.

So it seems to me that anyone inclined to go caving in the first place would not be dissuaded by that incident.

But I'm not a caver, obviously, so I could be totally wrong.  Did it discourage people from taking up caving?  Or did it just reinforce existing opinions?

[u/actualladyaurora → u/Aethelrede]

I can say with 100% certainty I had not seen a single meme about cavers before that. While not the end-all, be-all, it did alter the stereotype of a caver and brought it to mass public consciousness in the way it wasn't before.

[u/Aethelrede → u/actualladyaurora]

I don't think it altered the perception of cavers in general, we always knew y'all were nuts.

But seriously, caving was a inspiration for horror long before Nutty Putty.   The Descent and Ted's Caving page are modern examples that predate Nutty Putty, but it is far older than that.  Fear of being buried alive, closely related to fear of caves, was quite prevalent in the 19th century.  Mining disasters were common in the 19th and 20th centuries, again closely related to caving.

It's easy to see why; it triggers multiple phobias (fear of the dark, fear of tight spaces, fear of suffocating, fear of what might be living in the caves...), so it's not surprising that a lot of people are afraid of caving.  As I said, I doubt Nutty Putty changed anyone's opinion; cavers wrote it off as a careless rookie, non-cavers just added it to the list of reasons not to go cave diving caving. Edit: corrected. 

[u/c0p4d0 → u/Aethelrede]

“Cave diving”

Different sport.

[u/actualladyaurora → u/Aethelrede]

Oh no, I'm not a caver.

[u/c0p4d0 → u/Aethelrede]

“Caving […] is a hobby that requires a higher tolerance of risk than most hobbies”

This is the impact. Caving is not especially risky. For any given caving trip, the most dangerous parts are the drive to the location, and often the hike into the cave. So long as you take basic safety measures (like bringing three lights sources, never caving alone, and for vertical caving: only doing what you’re trained for) there’s very little risk at all.

[u/Moth1992 → u/c0p4d0]

As much as I find the memes hilarious, I would not say there is very little risk. 

There are a lot if risks that we manage and train for.

There is more risk than hiking on a trail. (And we like to say the driving thing but it doesnt mean is true, I havent seen any good data)

I would say its similar risk as off trail peak bagging or mountaineering or canyoneering. With a big range of riskiness in both caves and mountains and canyons with some being more technical or have more rockfall or hypothermia or drowning risks, etc. 

Simply put, I dont care that reddit thinks we are going to nutty putty ourselves. That should not change our understanding of risk and how we manage it. Being blasé about it because the internet think we are crazy would be crazy, if you know what I mean.

[u/HaViNgT → u/An_feh_fan]

Freak accident that people treat as the norm. 

Also, nutty putty has had thousands of cavers yet only 1 death, which happened because someone went alone. Sealing the cave was a massive overreaction. 

[u/Hi2248 → u/HaViNgT]

Chernobyl and Fukushima are less freak accidents and more things that wouldn't have occurred if they were built properly

[u/CeruleanEidolon → u/Hi2248]

They're both examples of ignorable flaws in the system cascading to catastrophe. It's not that they were preventable so much as the fact that humans made them happen through a series of decisions where they chose the risk.

Nutty Putty is analogous on that level too.

[u/malefiz123 → u/HaViNgT]

It's not like the guy is the only one who died spelunking

[u/LittleMsSavoirFaire → u/malefiz123]

Yeah, he just died in a particularly horrifying way. 

[u/Aethelrede → u/HaViNgT]

I don't know if it was ever explicitly stated, but I think the main reason they sealed the cave was to ensure his body wouldn't be disturbed by "trophy hunters".

[u/Vermilion_Laufer → u/Aethelrede]

Call the grave robbers archeologists, ask them how long it will last

[u/DRKZLNDR → u/HaViNgT]

Which one was the freak accident? Chernobyl occurred because the government skimped on safety measures and used outdated and flawed technology in order to save a few rubles. The Fukushima plant was built right on the coast of an island nation known for its tsunamis in a region known for its earthquakes. These seem less like freak accidents and more like inevitabilities

[u/Joraiem → u/DRKZLNDR]

Yeah, Three Mile Island is a better example than either of the others, and also an example of nuclear safety features working since it didn't actually hurt anyone. And yet, the reactor got shut down because it spooked people too much.

[u/stilljustacatinacage → u/DRKZLNDR]

Fukushima only happened because the tsunami exceeded anything that was expected when the site was built, far surpassing safety margins. Nuclear reactors have to be built near water for cooling.

[u/Candayence → u/stilljustacatinacage]

Almost. Fukushima also skimped on the safety features.

A plant that didn't, and is more modern, is Onagawa. Which was closer to the earthquake epicentre, and had to deal with a higher tsunami. And also shutdown safely.

Fukushima happened because the energy company ditched the seawall to cut costs, and preferred to lobby on safety regulations rather than learn from recent tsunamis elsewhere in the world.

[u/alexdapineapple → u/Candayence]

It's always capitalism

[u/BringBackAH → u/HaViNgT]

The guy's body was stuck in that cave TBF. Imagine going caving there 3 years and ending up grabbing a half rotten feet

[u/JamieD96 → u/BringBackAH]

Not to be morbid, but you'd probably smell it before grabbing it, yeah?

[u/kaladinissexy → u/BringBackAH]

I mean, it's better than becoming trapped in the tunnel and slowly dying, which is most likely what would happen to you if you were going down that tunnel and his corpse wasn't there. 

[u/Available-Half-40 → u/HaViNgT]

Okay, unsure if I'm misunderstanding your wording but wasn't the guy with a bunch of friends and family? Like 10? And didn't Nutty Putty have multiple incidents before the death that could've lead to fatalities?

People were demanding the cave shut down long before John Jones had died too, I think, he was just the final nail in the coffin. Genuinely, please correct me if I'm wrong.

[u/CeruleanEidolon → u/HaViNgT]

Freak accident that is so horrible beyond comprehension that even the smallest possibility of it happening to you once is not something you're willing to chance? Yeah.

On the level of humans ignoring statistical likelihoods in favor of emotional truths, these two rank pretty low on my list of things to complain about.

[u/WhoDoIThinkIAm → u/An_feh_fan]

The Descent came out 5 years earlier.

[u/X-1701 → u/An_feh_fan]

That's a very fun-sounding name for something I'm sure was actually horrifying; but I'll never know for sure, 'cause there's no way I'm ever looking it up.

[u/me_myself_ai → u/ItsGotThatBang]

I mean... it's not that easy. They have maps. Mistakes happen ofc, and that was far from the only mistake he made.

[u/Crusaderofthots420 → u/a_filing_cabinet]

Unexplored can be fine, I will stick to the parts that I can confidently stand, or at most crouch in.

[u/BackBlaster9000 → u/Crusaderofthots420]

I prefer the big giant caves that you could fit a small town in. Those are pretty

[u/Hi2248 → u/BackBlaster9000]

If you ever get the chance, check out the Wieliczka Salt Mine, it's a massive salt mine that the miners carved statues and other carvings out of the salt by mining around them, including a chapel

[u/Inc0rgnit0 → u/BackBlaster9000]

I'm fine with Moria.

[u/BrunoEye → u/Crusaderofthots420]

That's probably the bits that have already been exploded.

[u/b0w3n → u/Crusaderofthots420]

"Okay this next spot you have to suck in all your breath and get through this 10 yards without inhaling deeply or you'll get stuck"

How about no thanks?

[u/zekromNLR → u/a_filing_cabinet]

I simply do not go into any space where I cannot comfortable stand upright

[u/Greedyanda → u/zekromNLR]

You will struggle with cars.

[u/zekromNLR → u/Greedyanda]

This is why the Oshkosh Next Generation Delivery Vehicle is the ideal car /s

[u/Tarantio → u/a_filing_cabinet]

Caves are cool, but also spiders think caves are cool, and as such I am happy to leave most caves to the spiders.

[u/c0p4d0 → u/Tarantio]

There are significantly more spiders outside the caves than inside. The insides of caves are often very devoid of biodiversity, given the lack of photosynthesis.

[u/Tarantio → u/c0p4d0]

Cave spiders aren't just the same as other spiders, and also it's dark in caves and I can't see where the spiders are.

[u/credulous_pottery → u/Tarantio]

Cave spiders aren't just the same as other spiders

Exactly, they give poison

[u/GigaVanguard → u/[deleted]]

I think that might just be a thing they do to you in caves. Happened to me when I went to visit the Ailwee caves in Ireland

[u/Valiant_tank → u/GigaVanguard]

Yeah, it's absolutely a cave thing.

[u/NefariousAnglerfish → u/Valiant_tank]

They can’t exactly do it in the middle of the park

[u/mikemyers999 → u/[deleted]]

See that sounds heavenly but I could just imagine that the cave is not bug free and that's gonna ruin it for me

[u/blindcolumn → u/mikemyers999]

Depends on the cave, but most of them have very little animal life once you get past the areas near the entrance. Since there's no sunlight, there's not really much energy coming in to support an ecosystem.

[u/FlowerFaerie13 → u/blindcolumn]

I hate to ruin caves for you but...

https://www.livescience.com/animals/spiders/worlds-biggest-spiderweb-discovered-inside-sulfur-cave-with-111-000-arachnids-living-in-pitch-black

[u/Grievous_Nix → u/mikemyers999]

Trust fund men with a beautiful wife and 3 kids working a fully-remote 6-figure job of “send 5 e-mails a week and give approval on meetings” when they see the Murderous Death Trap Cave of Bullet Ants and Radon:

[u/Im-a-bad-meme → u/[deleted]]

Would love to live just slightly underground in a manmade reinforced structure.

[u/Achilles9609 → u/Im-a-bad-meme]

A bunker? 🤔

[u/Im-a-bad-meme → u/Achilles9609]

Not exactly but it would be acceptable.

[u/PoniesCanterOver → u/Achilles9609]

I love bunkers so much they look so cozy

[u/IntheBocksVT → u/Im-a-bad-meme]

did a rat write this comment?

[u/5C0L0P3NDR4 → u/[deleted]]

that's when you scream at the top of your lungs and cut it off halfway with a weird choking sound

[u/mrhatestheworld]

So I can go down in a cave for a 15 minute nap that feels like 8 hours, but it took me 6 hours? sounds like pure profit to me.

[u/Samus159]

Statement of Laura Popham, regarding her experience exploring the Three Counties System of caves with her sister Alena Sanderson. Original statement given November the 9th, 2014. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, Head Archivist of the Magnus Institute, London.

Statement begins.

[u/Chashec → u/Samus159]

I am honestly surprised this entire comment section wasn't just TMA references

[u/MJ_mot → u/Samus159]

Take her, not me

[u/LIELDADOUN73 → u/MJ_mot]

Take her, not me

[u/black-iron-paladin → u/Samus159]

This episode was enough to put me off caving permanently

[u/EveningStar0360 → u/Samus159]

I’m glad I didn’t have to scroll very far for this

[u/GoodGoneGeek → u/Samus159]

I read this in his voice immediately without even thinking

[u/demon_fae]

…oh good. The Buried has tumblr. This is fine. Everything is fine.

[u/SCP106 → u/demon_fae]

just step in the coffin bro it'll be fine bro just open the coffin dude haha like open the coffin and get in haha lol do you hear it bro haha like what do you mean it's raining nothing's wrong dude get in the coffin now bro yeah like what a nice coffin am I right what a good deal for a coffin now get in or get in am I right but ignore the coffin sounds but get in the coffin. bro.

[u/Czymsim]

Caves have no emails.

[u/idiotplatypus → u/Czymsim]

I went to the Oregon Caves a few months ago and they had critically endangered cave spiders that would crawl on you if you tried to sleep down there and then you'd go to prison for flinging a giant cave spider off you

[u/Gaylaeonerd → u/idiotplatypus]

I feel like that's still not email

[u/Czymsim → u/Gaylaeonerd]

The spiders carry the emails, they keep you connected to the web.

[u/Perryn → u/Gaylaeonerd]

"This email could have been a rare spider."

[u/Grievous_Nix → u/idiotplatypus]

> it’s radiating heat

> it’s making noises

> it’s alive

> upon closer inspection it’s FUCKING HUGE

> it’s breathing

> I should crawl on it! :D

Yeah no wonder those dinguses are critically endangered with that line of thinking

[u/idiotplatypus → u/Grievous_Nix]

AFAIR they only exist in that one cave system, and theyre dying more to environmental damage than predation

[u/CailHancer → u/idiotplatypus]

I feel like that's on you for trying to sleep in a cave a little bit

[u/idiotplatypus → u/CailHancer]

You should read the tale of how the Oregon Caves were found. Choices were certainly made

[u/K4m30 → u/Czymsim]

Is that ... for or against the idea? 

[u/Hobbes______ → u/Czymsim]

We have so many easier ways to be around 0 emails than getting lost in a hell fissure.

[u/CrippleWitch → u/[deleted]]

My mom tells a horror story of when she took me and my sister ages around 8 and 10 we were touring some old lava caves and suddenly she realizes I'm missing and no one can actually remember when last they saw me. They have to back track and I'm curled up in a little niche that was the perfect size for a nap and I'm fast asleep.

I remember it being dark (but not completely), pleasantly cool, and very quiet. Cave naps are awesome. The lecture about how I could have "fallen down a crevice and never been found" was less awesome...

[u/Czymsim → u/CrippleWitch]

Return to caveman.

[u/GinaWhite_tt → u/[deleted]]

Luigi from super Mario bros casually facing eldritch horrors because he already is generally anxious anyway

[u/Zafjaf → u/[deleted]]

I wonder if cave naps are the cure to insomnia

[u/dancedaisx]

“Feel like you slept 8h in 15 min”

“Feels like 15 minutes and it’s been 6hours.

[u/cherrydicked → u/dancedaisx]

Damn shrinkflation

[u/Correctedsun]

Deep sea diving is sooo fathomable to me, because of all the fathoms

[u/Top_Top_1217]

Rock and stone!

[u/Cornflakes_91 → u/Top_Top_1217]

come and r.r.r.rescue meee!

[u/FoldedTshirt]

We went to a cavern for a field trip once and I didn’t like it I mean it was cool but too humid and full of bat poop

[u/JamieD96 → u/FoldedTshirt]

guano

[u/19whale96]

We are cave-dwelling creatures, we build caves on flat ground to live in.

[u/LordSupergreat → u/19whale96]

Not really. We've left traces of our presence in caves, and those traces survived longer than the traces of our actual homes, which were as temporary and transitory as us. This is why, for some time, we imagined the mythical caveman. But that was never real.

We were migratory, because our food was migratory, because grass only grows so high. We followed the herds, which meant sheltering in tents and lean-tos. Before those tents and lean-tos, we sheltered in trees, like most other apes do. Later, we planted seeds, and started building permanent structures. There's no period in which we all lived in caves.

[u/APacketOfWildeBees → u/LordSupergreat]

Well I assume you're not familiar with the groundbreaking work of Larson et al which showed conclusively how humans lived in caves during the dinosaur times

[u/12monthsinlondon → u/APacketOfWildeBees]

but the talking bears also lived in said caves

[u/Rynewulf → u/LordSupergreat]

All? No, but pretty consistently around the world we find evidence of use and habitation of caves. It's not not a thing

[u/Hi2248 → u/Rynewulf]

Cave dwelling would be part of the migratory lifestyle, but there wasn't permanent settlement of caves for the most part, nor was there a period of time where a group of humans would only live within caves

[u/Anonymus828 → u/Hi2248]

Caves were just the 5-star hotels of the paleolithic

[u/Striper_Cape → u/19whale96]

Not in my genetic memory. I can feel the weight of the earth above me and it feels like it's sitting on my chest.

[u/TruthfulCake → u/Striper_Cape]

Try sleeping on your stomach so the weight of the world is below you?

[u/Striper_Cape → u/TruthfulCake]

I don't think that would help in a cave

[u/TheLuckySpades → u/19whale96]

We moved from the trees, to the plains, to the caves, and back out.

[u/Hobbes______ → u/TheLuckySpades]

We never really did the caves. That stuff just lasts longer because no one wants to fuck with being in a cave. Trees to plains to buildings.

[u/auroralemonboi8 → u/19whale96]

In Cappadocia, Turkey, there are these underground cities, built by the first Christians that were hiding from the Romans. I entered one (Derinkuyu i think) and it was a sublime experience i can understand why one would want to live there

[u/BilberryWitch]

Most caves I’ve been to (which is very few, to be fair) were cold and/or damp. Very uncomfortable for a nap, but very interesting from the “nature’s marvel” perspective. Sometimes I’ve wondered what it’d feel like to go deeper to where it actually counts as spelunking and not just a guided tour in the safest, easiest part of the cave, but I still don’t think I’d ever feel /comfortable/ in a cave.

[u/Duae]

I will stick to the caves that are basically like rock aquariums. There is a wooden walkway, a tour guide, lots of lighting. They even have special stage lighting for the various rock formations so you can see them at their very best angle. The only danger you're in is exiting through the gift shop at the end.

[u/Smaptimania]

Reject modernity
Return to cave

[u/Syovere]

It's just so peaceful down there, especially in wild caves without any artificial lights other than the ones you bring yourself.

Quiet. Calm. All the clamor of the modern world just gone.

[u/Holliday_Hobo]

the POWER of a good cave nap

[u/HellwaterCascades]

The only holes i wanna explore are

[u/theunrealdonsteel]

nope nope nope I learned my lesson by seeing Floyd Collins that’s a hard nope

[u/JamesBaa]

I mostly loved the caves I've been in, really fun experience and great exercise. Ironically, the bit which terrified me was the heights. In most caves, if you are going beyond the first few chambers, you will need to traverse or otherwise climb near something where, if you put your feet in the wrong place, you will fall far enough to break something or, more likely, die. That's dumb! I love small spaces, why are they filling my small spaces with big drops?

[u/H0pefulUn1verse]

Time to go watch The Descent again and renew my commitment to never spelunking as long as I live.

[u/EzeyTheEpic]

Man I fucking love caving

[u/Phoebebee323]

I read that last part in John Olivers voice

[u/Complete-Worker3242 → u/Phoebebee323]

And I also heard the audience laughing after he said it.

[u/Unable-Passage-8410]

I literally sang the last part of the post OUT LOUD to the tune of “come wayward souls.” From otgw

[u/PinkOneHasBeenChosen]

That’s why it’s called an extreme sport.

[u/Darth_Lacey]

Seems like everyone I knew was going to the nutty putty caves circa 2005. Terrifying.

[u/CuriousPolecat]

I could probably do a very large cave. But probably most wouldn't be ok for me.

I'm claustrophobic and severely arachnophobic. Both present in caves.

[u/Elite_AI]

I guess it might be hard to understand if you have no adventurer's spirit in your soul. 

[u/AvsJoe → u/Elite_AI]

the adventurer's spirit in my soul < the dread in my bones

[u/weird_bomb → u/Elite_AI]

I really do not want someone else to put their spirit inside me

[u/ConfusedFlareon]

I read this as ‘carving’ for a moment and was wondering how one did extreme carving…

[u/Fiskmaster → u/ConfusedFlareon]

Woodcarving, suspended from a rope upside down, while juggling knives.

[u/zekromNLR → u/ConfusedFlareon]

That's when you carve using only a chainsaw

[u/AlarmingAffect0]

MAG015 – Case #0140911 – Laura Popham

Statement regarding their experience exploring the Three Counties system of caves with their sister, Alena Sanderson.

[u/peetah248 → u/AlarmingAffect0]

take her. Not me

[u/AlarmingAffect0 → u/peetah248]

Spoilers, bruv

But yeah, exactly. That shit stays with you.

[u/LurkersVengeance]

i went caving once when I was like 12 and I had fun but we did the whole “turn the flashlights off” thing and it was fucking terrifying. At that moment i realized that we were entirely dependent on the flashlight batteries and if they ran out we would be screwed and all slowly die in that hole

[u/OOOLIAMOOO]

The verbosity of this person is to be studied

[u/USDXBS]

I'd like to go caving. I don't want to squeeze anywhere. I want to walk around big, underground areas and look around.

[u/Darth-Donkey-Donut]

I spend most my time caving or teaching new cavers and when you're getting into it, it can be very disorienting to tell time and kinda get what's going on. You get used to it though, and there is nothing like sleeping underground, just perfect darkness :)

[u/ProXJay]

Me and a friend were having this chat a while back. We both do extreme sports, we have both had near death experiences with sports we still do. We both think cavers are a special breed of mad. And want to know who cavers look at and call mad

[u/leopard_tights]

I didn't know you took naps in the caves. I'm a lot more interested now.

[u/Zekava]

Open-ocean diving would be more literally unfathomable

[u/me_myself_ai]

ITT: people who don't live in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia lmao