Hey, prime members. You can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballon podcast one month early, and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. Today's podcast features three stories about people who get trapped with no way out. The audio from all three of these stories has been pulled from our main YouTube channel and has been remastered for today's episode. The links to the original YouTube videos are in the description. The first story you'll hear is called Behind the Partition, and it's about a husband who wakes up and can't find his wife. The second story you'll hear is called Molding Room, and it's about how one fateful mistake inside a factory had devastating consequences. And the third and final story you'll hear is called Within Reach, and it's about an infamous caving incident. But before we get into today's stories, if you're a fan of the Strange dark and mysterious delivered in story format, then you come to the right podcast because that's all we do, and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. So if that's of interest to you, please offer to cut the Amazon Music Follow button's front lawn.

But when you're done, be sure to blow all the grass clippings through an open window into their living room. Okay, let's get into our first story, which is called Behind the Partition.

A little birdie tells me, Colin, that you, in your youth, were quite a promising distance runner. Middle distance until Cider, which is something that Mo Farah managed to avoid. And really, that's the only difference between the two of us. Everything to play for is back with a two-parter to celebrate Olympic summer Paris 2024 on Mo Farah. Of all of the athletes we could have chosen, why Mo Farah? that was the least of Alan's worries. He knew that if these doors were shutting, these doors were automatic, that meant that the circuit board had to have been fixed, and they didn't know he was in here. And so now this molding room must be operational, which meant he only had minutes to get out of this room. And so Alan ran to the door, and with his crow bark, he began trying to try the doors open, but he couldn't. These are mechanically sealed doors. They do not just open. You need to press a button to release them.But Alan's in a in total panic. He knows what happens in this room, and he just can't get the doors open. And so he began banging on the door with his crowbar and screaming for anybody out in the factory floor to please stop this process that's surely starting inside of this room. Open these doors, get me out of here. But it was so loud out on the factory floor, nobody heard him. And so before long, Alan must have looked around and saw the walls inside of this tight, cramped space beginning to glow red. Because this molding room was actually Actually, just an oven. It reached almost 600 degrees Fahrenheit in about 10 minutes. Alan is watching as this oven is restarting and he's sealed inside of it. The walls turned bright red. Then before long, the crowbar he was using to try to open the door must have become so hot he couldn't have held it. Then the ground as well would have been red hot, and his shoes would have begun to melt. Then the air temperature inside would have gotten so unbelievably hot, he couldn't have breathed. So screaming in pain and pounding on the door, leaving his skin on the door every time he hit it, Alan eventually just collapsed to the ground in unimaginable pain as he cooked alive.Finally, when Alan caught on fire and Black When the smoke began coming off of his body and pouring out onto the factory floor, the factory realized there's a problem with this molding room, so they turned it off, they opened it up, and they discovered Alan. It would turn out after Mark and Alan had chatted about Christmas in the break room and then parted and gone their own ways, Alan had gone down to the factory floor and inside of that molding room, and his future son-in-law, Mark, had gone up to the control room where he would have no visibility of the factory floor. All he had was this big switchboard full of lights and switches and gages that controlled all of the molding rooms. And not long after he got up there and was looking at the control panel, he saw a blinking light come on. And it was for the molding room that Alan was working inside of. And that blinking light meant someone had fixed the circuit board, and so that molding room now had power. And so reflexively, Mark just turned it on. And when he did that, the molding room began its restart process, which included sealing its doors and turning on the oven.And inside of that molding room, there were no safety escapes. In fact, there was really no safety precautions at all with regards to these ovens. And so as soon as Mark flipped that switch, he had killed his future father-in-law. Five years Years later, the kayak molding company was convicted of corporate manslaughter and fined 200,000 pounds. Also, the man who actually designed these molding rooms with no safety precautions in mind, no emergency exits, nothing, he was fined £25,000 and sentenced to jail for nine months.Hello, I'm Rob Bridon. When I looked out at the podcast landscape, I thought to myself, you know, there just aren't enough podcasts. And so I launched Bridon &, where I talked to a series of interesting creative types. We're now on to our fourth series. And I've been speaking to, amongst others, Ruth Jones, Tidey, Chris McCausland, Ashtling Bee, Richard A. O. Addi, and Ewen Reon. And that's just a few. We tend to chat for about 45 minutes to an hour, never longer. It's a terrific conversation every time. Reminiscence where appropriate and an exchange of anecdotes. I do like an anecdote. So do join me, Rob Bridon, and listen to Bridon and on the WNDYRI app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on WNDYRI Plus by subscribing in the WNDYRI app or on Apple podcasts.I'm Afua Hirsch. I'm Peter Frankerpan. And in our podcast, Legacy, we explore the lives of some of the biggest characters in history.This season, we're exploring the life of Bob Marley.He managed to rise from a childhood of poverty in colonial Jamaica the entrance to a cave known as Sand Cave.And Floyd had spent the last week coming out to Sand Cave and exploring the different tunnels. But today, his plan was to go as deep and as far inside of this cave as he possibly could. Caves were a huge tourist attraction in this region, and Floyd was a very experienced caver who had been caving since he was six years old, and he knew that most of Sand Cave had not been explored. And so if he could go in there and explore all the different parts of the cave and map it all out and make sure it was safe, it was sure to be a huge money acre. He could bring people here and lead them on guided tours. So Floyd left the muddy path he had been walking on and stepped foot inside of this grand entrance to Sand Cave. It's basically this 250-foot-wide, cathedral-like space inside of this hill with ceilings high enough you could stand, but it's totally dark in there. And despite being this big open space, it very quickly funnels to this one tunnel that goes straight down and connects to all these offshoot underground ground passageways, many of which have never been explored before.And so as Floyd walked across this big open entryway, he lit his oil lamp and then began mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do, which was going to be very claustrophobia-inducing, even for a very experienced caver. And so Floyd reached the back of this huge entryway, and he reached this tunnel that would connect to the rest of the cave, and he began walking down it. And this tunnel was not very restricting. You could stand in it, you could move around in it, but it was very short. It was 15 feet straight down at an angle where at the bottom of those 15 feet was a square hole in the ground. And Floyd, having been here the previous week, knew that once you go through this hole, the real caving begins. Now you're going to be down on your hands and knees, wriggling your way through these very tight and restricting areas where you don't really know where you're going. Because again, a lot of this stuff has never been explored before. But this is why Floyd loved caving. He loved the adventure and the risk of doing things like this. And so, Floyd got to this hole.He put his oil lamp down on the ground. He casually lowered himself feet first into this hole, which dropped down several feet. And then once he was on firm ground, he reached up, grabbed his oil lamp, and pulled it into the hole with him. Once he was inside of this lower-level space, he crouched down and looked around, and off to his right was a tunnel that he could crawl through that seemed to lead to a series of other tunnels. And so he puts his lamp in front of him, he gets down, and he begins crawling through this tunnel. And after a little while, he reaches this fork in the road where he had several options of very narrow tunnels to choose from. Now, the previous week, Floyd had gone down several of these tunnels and mapped out where they went, but there was one tunnel in particular at this fork that was very narrow. It was likely the most narrow of all the tunnels. But from where he had seen the last week, it looked like it went far without obstruction. And so he immediately began going headfirst into this tunnel where he had no idea where it was going to go.Think about that. If you go headfirst into a tunnel and you get stuck, what are you going to do? You can't really go anywhere. So this guy is totally fearless, just going headfirst into what most people would consider a nightmare scenario. And so the way Floyd would approach these very tight tunnels is he would put his oil lamp out in front of him, and then he'd keep his hands over his head, and he'd wriggle his way headfirst and push his lamp along the way. And so that's what he did. He began going into this really restrictive tunnel. It's hard to breathe because the walls are so tight on his chest cavity. But as he's going, eventually, the ceiling begins to slope upward just enough that he can pull himself up onto his hands and knees and catch his breath. By this point, Floyd was approximately 55 feet underground. That's where this little pocket was where he could get up on his hands and knees and breathe. And so from this position, he still could see with his lamp that this tunnel continued to snake further and further down. And his hope was that eventually it would lead to a big underground chamber that was not just big enough to go to your hands and knees on, but was big enough you could stand and walk around in because those were the big tourist attractions, not only because it seems like another world underground that you can fully explore and walk around in, but also, as Floyd knew from his past experience of going into other caves, a lot of those big underground chambers are full of Native American artifacts.And again, that was a huge potential moneymaker for people like Floyd because it allowed him to advertise that this cave where tourists could go explore was full of all this rich history. And so, Floyd eventually, after catching his breath in this little spot, got back down onto his stomach with his hands out in front of him with a lamp out ahead of his fingers, and he began going deeper and deeper into this unexplored section of sand cave. And as he inched along, Even though the ceiling remained very tight on top of him, he's totally compressed to the ground, the walls on either side of him began to expand, which meant Floyd, if he wanted to, could actually turn himself around, although he couldn't stand up. And so Floyd is making his way down this very low ceiling area when he notices his oil lamp is beginning to flicker, which means it's going to go out soon. Now, Floyd wasn't concerned about suddenly being in the darkness inside of a cave. Now, to most people, that would be terrifying But Floyd, again, was so experienced, he was very confident that he could easily make his way out again just by touch.He didn't need the light. But he did know that trying to move around inside of a cave in the darkness was dangerous, and so he should not do that if he could avoid it. And so as much as Floyd wanted to continue and hopefully find something incredible inside of this cave, he decided he really needed to just turn around and go back to the surface and come back the next day to continue exploring. And so because this part of the tunnel he was in was really wide, he was able to turn himself around and drag his lamp until he was facing back uphill, and then he rolled onto his back. So his head is pointing back up where he came from, and his feet are pointing in the direction that he had previously been traveling, and he's on his back. And so his oil lamp is above his head. He can move his arm side to side because, again, it's pretty wide in the area he's in, and his head is pretty restricted by the ceiling. And he began inching with his heels and pushing with his arms, moving up the tunnel on his back.And as he would move, he'd use his head and his hands to push the oil lamp back up the direction he was going. And for a little while, this system worked great. But at some point, right as he was getting close to that area where he was able to previously get on his hands and knees and catch his breath, Floyd accidentally rushed and pushed his lamp too hard and knocked it over, which extinguished the light. And so suddenly, Floyd was cast into total darkness. Now, again, Floyd was not concerned or really even scared about being in darkness inside of this cave, but this was not a good scenario, and he knew it. But he told himself, Stay calm. He knew where he was in the cave. He just needed to get to that little pocket. He'd catch his breath, and then he'd continue his way back up, eventually reach that hole in the ceiling, that square hole. He'd climb out, make his way out of the cave, and boom, he'd be done. And so Floyd just continued to push the now extinguished oil lamp above his head, and he continued to inch with his heels and moved his arms around to keep going backwards up this tunnel.But then, right before Floyd reached that pocket inside of the tunnel where he could get onto his hands and knees, he heard the sound of falling rocks somewhere below him, near his legs. Now it's pitch black. He can't see And so Floyd's thinking, Thank goodness, it only landed on my ankle and not on my head or my chest, because then I'd be dead. And so after catching his breath and calming down, Floyd tensed his body and pulled his left leg as hard as he could to clear this 27-pound rock, but his foot wouldn't budge.And so Floyd thought he would just reach down and dig his foot out. He just moved the rock out of the way. But even though this cave had widened out on either side of Floyd when he had gone deeper and deeper into it, because he had retraced his steps, he was farther up the tunnel where those sides had really come in much closer to him. And so he wasn't able to actually reach down and touch the rock. The walls made it impossible. And so he wasn't able to use his hands to clear this rock. And so Floyd is pinned underground, unable to move in absolute pitch darkness inside of a cave that's practically crushing his chest because the ceiling is so low, and he knows it's unstable. The ceiling has now fallen off, so there's a chance more rocks could come in at any time. I mean, this is like a worst case scenario for anybody who goes caving. But Floyd told himself to just stay calm. He knew this was a very bad situation, but people were certain to find out he was missing, and they knew he had gone to Sand Cave, and they would come here, they would find him, and they would rescue him.And so Floyd just decided he would wait. And for an agonizing 30 hours. Remember, 30 hours of pitch blackness trapped in a totally claustrophobic environment. 30 hours of this, no food, no water, can't go to the bathroom. He's laying there for 30 hours, and then finally, he hears a voice coming from somewhere near the entrance of this cave. And when he heard that voice, it was like the sweetest sound he had ever heard, because not only did they represent help, but the voice was coming from Floyd's brother, Homer, who was also a very experienced caver. So Floyd's thinking, Thank goodness, I'm saved. And so Homer was able to navigate from the entrance down all the way to the tunnel that Floyd was in. And Homer got to that spot in the tunnel where Floyd had gone to his hands and knees, that pocket there. So Homer's in that pocket, and he can see Floyd is only a few feet away from him. He can see Floyd's head right there. And so Homer, who had a lamp, he shines the light on Floyd, and the two brothers don't waste any time with small talk. Instead, Homer, who had his oil lamp, had set it up right next to them, and he began feeding Floyd sausage sandwiches and giving him sips of water.And then, Homer would tell Floyd that he just did not have the equipment to help Floyd get out right now, but Homer was going to go back to the surface, get men, get supplies, and then come back and save Floyd. And so Floyd is very He's very relieved. He says goodbye to Homer, and Homer turns and makes his way back up to the surface. Fifteen hours later, Homer would return by himself. And so at this point, Floyd has been trapped for 45 hours. And so Floyd, he's laying there in and out of consciousness, and he hears the sound of Homer calling out to him, and then he hears the sound of Homer chiseling away at some rocks. It would turn out, Homer's plan to save Floyd was basically to chisel away the side of this section of tunnel that Floyd was stuck in in order to be able to reach down and somehow, someway, clear the rock off of Floyd's leg and then pull Floyd up. Now, Floyd understood, of course, that this plan of chiseling away the side of this tunnel to make it wider was going to take some time. But luckily, Homer had shown up with more food and water, and they chatted the whole time as Homer worked.And so Floyd was in good spirits, and Homer was very optimistic. But But after eight hours of Homer slowly chiseling his way, widening this tunnel, he hadn't made much progress, and he was totally exhausted. I mean, you got to remember that the angle he was working at was horrible. He was basically crouched down on his hands and knees, chipping away at this rock. And so after those eight hours, Homer would leave Floyd and go back home and sleep and eat and drink and recover. But he told Floyd, Don't worry, tomorrow more men will be here to help chisel away this tunnel and get Floyd out of there. But over the course of the next 50 hours, Floyd remained trapped inside of this tunnel with the rock pinning his leg. And despite Homer and several other men getting down there and very diligently chipping away at this tunnel, it just was not happening very quickly. And so over the course of those 50 hours, Homer began going in and out of consciousness, and he began not being able to differentiate between what was real and what was not. At one point, he would say that he believed the cave had opened up, and these angels riding golden chariots with flaming wheels had come in to save him.And as they were lifting him out of the cave, he smelled food and coffee, and then suddenly, his hallucination cleared, and he realized he was trapped in the darkness all alone, still in this cave, and it was like it destroyed his morale. And so Floyd is really starting to go downhill, and the rescuers are realizing they need to do something, and they need to do something now. But at the 130-hour mark, things got even worse for Floyd. As he was laying there in the tunnel, this was sometime in the middle of the night, and so no rescuers were actively down there trying to chisel their way down to him. He was laying there and he was listening to the sound of the running water somewhere outside the cave, and that sound was amplified down to him. And then all of a sudden, he heard the sound of falling rocks somewhere up above. And then when those as his rocks stopped and it went silent again, he could not hear the sound of the running water. It was very muffled. And that was when he realized that there must have been a cave in somewhere higher up in the cave, which meant potentially there could be a significant block just to get down to him.Forget about widening this tunnel. I mean, he could be actually entombed inside of Sand Cave. And so Floyd did the only thing he could do, which was to pray. It And it would turn out that cave-in had indeed blocked the way for rescuers to get down to Floyd. And because of how extensive this cave-in was, the rescuers actually decided to start carving a brand new tunnel that would join up with the side of Floyd's tunnel. I mean, this is an even bigger undertaking than just chiseling the side of the tunnel that Floyd was in, which was their original plan and had taken several days. And so now they have to build this brand new tunnel to Floyd. And so finally, on February 16th, 1925, so a staggering 17 days from the time Floyd got first stuck in this cave, the rescue team finally punched through and reached Floyd. And as soon as they did, the lead rescuer looked over at Floyd, and then he paused, he turned up and he just said, Dead. It would turn out shortly after that cave-in, which sealed Floyd in completely inside of Sand Cave, at some point over the next couple of days, those rocks began to break free and tumble down the cave and began striking Floyd until finally one or several of those rocks hit him in the head or chest and killed him.So just imagine you are trapped. You've been there for several days. You're in total darkness. You're entombed inside of this cave. And periodically, rocks just come tumbling down and smash into you. Who knows how long it took to kill him, but that has to be one of the most agonizing ways to go ever.Thank you for listening to the Mr. Balin podcast. If you enjoyed today's stories and you're looking for more strange, dark, and mysterious content, be sure to check out all of our studios' podcasts. They are this one, of course, Mr. Balin podcast, and we also have Mr. Balin's Medical mysteries, we have Bedtime Stories, and also Run Full. To find those other podcasts, all you have to do is search for Balin Studios wherever you listen to your podcasts. To watch hundreds more stories, just like the ones you heard today, head over to our YouTube channel, which is just called Mr. Balin. So that's going to do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time.See you.Hey, prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Balin podcast one month early, and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. And before you go, please tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondry. Com/survey. If you're listening to this podcast, then chances are good you are a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious. And if that's the case, then I've got some good news. We just launched a brand new Strange, Dark, and Mysterious podcast called Mr. Balin's Medical mysteries. And as the name suggests, it's a show about medical mysteries, a genre that many fans have been asking us to dive into for years. And we finally decided to take the plunge, and the show is awesome. In this free weekly show, we explore bizarre unheard of diseases, strange medical mishaps, unexplainable deaths, and everything in between. Each story is totally true and totally terrifying. Go follow Mr. Balin's Medical mysteries wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're a prime member, you can listen early and ad-free on Amazon Music.

that was the least of Alan's worries. He knew that if these doors were shutting, these doors were automatic, that meant that the circuit board had to have been fixed, and they didn't know he was in here. And so now this molding room must be operational, which meant he only had minutes to get out of this room. And so Alan ran to the door, and with his crow bark, he began trying to try the doors open, but he couldn't. These are mechanically sealed doors. They do not just open. You need to press a button to release them.

But Alan's in a in total panic. He knows what happens in this room, and he just can't get the doors open. And so he began banging on the door with his crowbar and screaming for anybody out in the factory floor to please stop this process that's surely starting inside of this room. Open these doors, get me out of here. But it was so loud out on the factory floor, nobody heard him. And so before long, Alan must have looked around and saw the walls inside of this tight, cramped space beginning to glow red. Because this molding room was actually Actually, just an oven. It reached almost 600 degrees Fahrenheit in about 10 minutes. Alan is watching as this oven is restarting and he's sealed inside of it. The walls turned bright red. Then before long, the crowbar he was using to try to open the door must have become so hot he couldn't have held it. Then the ground as well would have been red hot, and his shoes would have begun to melt. Then the air temperature inside would have gotten so unbelievably hot, he couldn't have breathed. So screaming in pain and pounding on the door, leaving his skin on the door every time he hit it, Alan eventually just collapsed to the ground in unimaginable pain as he cooked alive.

Finally, when Alan caught on fire and Black When the smoke began coming off of his body and pouring out onto the factory floor, the factory realized there's a problem with this molding room, so they turned it off, they opened it up, and they discovered Alan. It would turn out after Mark and Alan had chatted about Christmas in the break room and then parted and gone their own ways, Alan had gone down to the factory floor and inside of that molding room, and his future son-in-law, Mark, had gone up to the control room where he would have no visibility of the factory floor. All he had was this big switchboard full of lights and switches and gages that controlled all of the molding rooms. And not long after he got up there and was looking at the control panel, he saw a blinking light come on. And it was for the molding room that Alan was working inside of. And that blinking light meant someone had fixed the circuit board, and so that molding room now had power. And so reflexively, Mark just turned it on. And when he did that, the molding room began its restart process, which included sealing its doors and turning on the oven.

And inside of that molding room, there were no safety escapes. In fact, there was really no safety precautions at all with regards to these ovens. And so as soon as Mark flipped that switch, he had killed his future father-in-law. Five years Years later, the kayak molding company was convicted of corporate manslaughter and fined 200,000 pounds. Also, the man who actually designed these molding rooms with no safety precautions in mind, no emergency exits, nothing, he was fined £25,000 and sentenced to jail for nine months.

Hello, I'm Rob Bridon. When I looked out at the podcast landscape, I thought to myself, you know, there just aren't enough podcasts. And so I launched Bridon &, where I talked to a series of interesting creative types. We're now on to our fourth series. And I've been speaking to, amongst others, Ruth Jones, Tidey, Chris McCausland, Ashtling Bee, Richard A. O. Addi, and Ewen Reon. And that's just a few. We tend to chat for about 45 minutes to an hour, never longer. It's a terrific conversation every time. Reminiscence where appropriate and an exchange of anecdotes. I do like an anecdote. So do join me, Rob Bridon, and listen to Bridon and on the WNDYRI app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on WNDYRI Plus by subscribing in the WNDYRI app or on Apple podcasts.

I'm Afua Hirsch. I'm Peter Frankerpan. And in our podcast, Legacy, we explore the lives of some of the biggest characters in history.

This season, we're exploring the life of Bob Marley.

He managed to rise from a childhood of poverty in colonial Jamaica the entrance to a cave known as Sand Cave.And Floyd had spent the last week coming out to Sand Cave and exploring the different tunnels. But today, his plan was to go as deep and as far inside of this cave as he possibly could. Caves were a huge tourist attraction in this region, and Floyd was a very experienced caver who had been caving since he was six years old, and he knew that most of Sand Cave had not been explored. And so if he could go in there and explore all the different parts of the cave and map it all out and make sure it was safe, it was sure to be a huge money acre. He could bring people here and lead them on guided tours. So Floyd left the muddy path he had been walking on and stepped foot inside of this grand entrance to Sand Cave. It's basically this 250-foot-wide, cathedral-like space inside of this hill with ceilings high enough you could stand, but it's totally dark in there. And despite being this big open space, it very quickly funnels to this one tunnel that goes straight down and connects to all these offshoot underground ground passageways, many of which have never been explored before.And so as Floyd walked across this big open entryway, he lit his oil lamp and then began mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do, which was going to be very claustrophobia-inducing, even for a very experienced caver. And so Floyd reached the back of this huge entryway, and he reached this tunnel that would connect to the rest of the cave, and he began walking down it. And this tunnel was not very restricting. You could stand in it, you could move around in it, but it was very short. It was 15 feet straight down at an angle where at the bottom of those 15 feet was a square hole in the ground. And Floyd, having been here the previous week, knew that once you go through this hole, the real caving begins. Now you're going to be down on your hands and knees, wriggling your way through these very tight and restricting areas where you don't really know where you're going. Because again, a lot of this stuff has never been explored before. But this is why Floyd loved caving. He loved the adventure and the risk of doing things like this. And so, Floyd got to this hole.He put his oil lamp down on the ground. He casually lowered himself feet first into this hole, which dropped down several feet. And then once he was on firm ground, he reached up, grabbed his oil lamp, and pulled it into the hole with him. Once he was inside of this lower-level space, he crouched down and looked around, and off to his right was a tunnel that he could crawl through that seemed to lead to a series of other tunnels. And so he puts his lamp in front of him, he gets down, and he begins crawling through this tunnel. And after a little while, he reaches this fork in the road where he had several options of very narrow tunnels to choose from. Now, the previous week, Floyd had gone down several of these tunnels and mapped out where they went, but there was one tunnel in particular at this fork that was very narrow. It was likely the most narrow of all the tunnels. But from where he had seen the last week, it looked like it went far without obstruction. And so he immediately began going headfirst into this tunnel where he had no idea where it was going to go.Think about that. If you go headfirst into a tunnel and you get stuck, what are you going to do? You can't really go anywhere. So this guy is totally fearless, just going headfirst into what most people would consider a nightmare scenario. And so the way Floyd would approach these very tight tunnels is he would put his oil lamp out in front of him, and then he'd keep his hands over his head, and he'd wriggle his way headfirst and push his lamp along the way. And so that's what he did. He began going into this really restrictive tunnel. It's hard to breathe because the walls are so tight on his chest cavity. But as he's going, eventually, the ceiling begins to slope upward just enough that he can pull himself up onto his hands and knees and catch his breath. By this point, Floyd was approximately 55 feet underground. That's where this little pocket was where he could get up on his hands and knees and breathe. And so from this position, he still could see with his lamp that this tunnel continued to snake further and further down. And his hope was that eventually it would lead to a big underground chamber that was not just big enough to go to your hands and knees on, but was big enough you could stand and walk around in because those were the big tourist attractions, not only because it seems like another world underground that you can fully explore and walk around in, but also, as Floyd knew from his past experience of going into other caves, a lot of those big underground chambers are full of Native American artifacts.And again, that was a huge potential moneymaker for people like Floyd because it allowed him to advertise that this cave where tourists could go explore was full of all this rich history. And so, Floyd eventually, after catching his breath in this little spot, got back down onto his stomach with his hands out in front of him with a lamp out ahead of his fingers, and he began going deeper and deeper into this unexplored section of sand cave. And as he inched along, Even though the ceiling remained very tight on top of him, he's totally compressed to the ground, the walls on either side of him began to expand, which meant Floyd, if he wanted to, could actually turn himself around, although he couldn't stand up. And so Floyd is making his way down this very low ceiling area when he notices his oil lamp is beginning to flicker, which means it's going to go out soon. Now, Floyd wasn't concerned about suddenly being in the darkness inside of a cave. Now, to most people, that would be terrifying But Floyd, again, was so experienced, he was very confident that he could easily make his way out again just by touch.He didn't need the light. But he did know that trying to move around inside of a cave in the darkness was dangerous, and so he should not do that if he could avoid it. And so as much as Floyd wanted to continue and hopefully find something incredible inside of this cave, he decided he really needed to just turn around and go back to the surface and come back the next day to continue exploring. And so because this part of the tunnel he was in was really wide, he was able to turn himself around and drag his lamp until he was facing back uphill, and then he rolled onto his back. So his head is pointing back up where he came from, and his feet are pointing in the direction that he had previously been traveling, and he's on his back. And so his oil lamp is above his head. He can move his arm side to side because, again, it's pretty wide in the area he's in, and his head is pretty restricted by the ceiling. And he began inching with his heels and pushing with his arms, moving up the tunnel on his back.And as he would move, he'd use his head and his hands to push the oil lamp back up the direction he was going. And for a little while, this system worked great. But at some point, right as he was getting close to that area where he was able to previously get on his hands and knees and catch his breath, Floyd accidentally rushed and pushed his lamp too hard and knocked it over, which extinguished the light. And so suddenly, Floyd was cast into total darkness. Now, again, Floyd was not concerned or really even scared about being in darkness inside of this cave, but this was not a good scenario, and he knew it. But he told himself, Stay calm. He knew where he was in the cave. He just needed to get to that little pocket. He'd catch his breath, and then he'd continue his way back up, eventually reach that hole in the ceiling, that square hole. He'd climb out, make his way out of the cave, and boom, he'd be done. And so Floyd just continued to push the now extinguished oil lamp above his head, and he continued to inch with his heels and moved his arms around to keep going backwards up this tunnel.But then, right before Floyd reached that pocket inside of the tunnel where he could get onto his hands and knees, he heard the sound of falling rocks somewhere below him, near his legs. Now it's pitch black. He can't see And so Floyd's thinking, Thank goodness, it only landed on my ankle and not on my head or my chest, because then I'd be dead. And so after catching his breath and calming down, Floyd tensed his body and pulled his left leg as hard as he could to clear this 27-pound rock, but his foot wouldn't budge.And so Floyd thought he would just reach down and dig his foot out. He just moved the rock out of the way. But even though this cave had widened out on either side of Floyd when he had gone deeper and deeper into it, because he had retraced his steps, he was farther up the tunnel where those sides had really come in much closer to him. And so he wasn't able to actually reach down and touch the rock. The walls made it impossible. And so he wasn't able to use his hands to clear this rock. And so Floyd is pinned underground, unable to move in absolute pitch darkness inside of a cave that's practically crushing his chest because the ceiling is so low, and he knows it's unstable. The ceiling has now fallen off, so there's a chance more rocks could come in at any time. I mean, this is like a worst case scenario for anybody who goes caving. But Floyd told himself to just stay calm. He knew this was a very bad situation, but people were certain to find out he was missing, and they knew he had gone to Sand Cave, and they would come here, they would find him, and they would rescue him.And so Floyd just decided he would wait. And for an agonizing 30 hours. Remember, 30 hours of pitch blackness trapped in a totally claustrophobic environment. 30 hours of this, no food, no water, can't go to the bathroom. He's laying there for 30 hours, and then finally, he hears a voice coming from somewhere near the entrance of this cave. And when he heard that voice, it was like the sweetest sound he had ever heard, because not only did they represent help, but the voice was coming from Floyd's brother, Homer, who was also a very experienced caver. So Floyd's thinking, Thank goodness, I'm saved. And so Homer was able to navigate from the entrance down all the way to the tunnel that Floyd was in. And Homer got to that spot in the tunnel where Floyd had gone to his hands and knees, that pocket there. So Homer's in that pocket, and he can see Floyd is only a few feet away from him. He can see Floyd's head right there. And so Homer, who had a lamp, he shines the light on Floyd, and the two brothers don't waste any time with small talk. Instead, Homer, who had his oil lamp, had set it up right next to them, and he began feeding Floyd sausage sandwiches and giving him sips of water.And then, Homer would tell Floyd that he just did not have the equipment to help Floyd get out right now, but Homer was going to go back to the surface, get men, get supplies, and then come back and save Floyd. And so Floyd is very He's very relieved. He says goodbye to Homer, and Homer turns and makes his way back up to the surface. Fifteen hours later, Homer would return by himself. And so at this point, Floyd has been trapped for 45 hours. And so Floyd, he's laying there in and out of consciousness, and he hears the sound of Homer calling out to him, and then he hears the sound of Homer chiseling away at some rocks. It would turn out, Homer's plan to save Floyd was basically to chisel away the side of this section of tunnel that Floyd was stuck in in order to be able to reach down and somehow, someway, clear the rock off of Floyd's leg and then pull Floyd up. Now, Floyd understood, of course, that this plan of chiseling away the side of this tunnel to make it wider was going to take some time. But luckily, Homer had shown up with more food and water, and they chatted the whole time as Homer worked.And so Floyd was in good spirits, and Homer was very optimistic. But But after eight hours of Homer slowly chiseling his way, widening this tunnel, he hadn't made much progress, and he was totally exhausted. I mean, you got to remember that the angle he was working at was horrible. He was basically crouched down on his hands and knees, chipping away at this rock. And so after those eight hours, Homer would leave Floyd and go back home and sleep and eat and drink and recover. But he told Floyd, Don't worry, tomorrow more men will be here to help chisel away this tunnel and get Floyd out of there. But over the course of the next 50 hours, Floyd remained trapped inside of this tunnel with the rock pinning his leg. And despite Homer and several other men getting down there and very diligently chipping away at this tunnel, it just was not happening very quickly. And so over the course of those 50 hours, Homer began going in and out of consciousness, and he began not being able to differentiate between what was real and what was not. At one point, he would say that he believed the cave had opened up, and these angels riding golden chariots with flaming wheels had come in to save him.And as they were lifting him out of the cave, he smelled food and coffee, and then suddenly, his hallucination cleared, and he realized he was trapped in the darkness all alone, still in this cave, and it was like it destroyed his morale. And so Floyd is really starting to go downhill, and the rescuers are realizing they need to do something, and they need to do something now. But at the 130-hour mark, things got even worse for Floyd. As he was laying there in the tunnel, this was sometime in the middle of the night, and so no rescuers were actively down there trying to chisel their way down to him. He was laying there and he was listening to the sound of the running water somewhere outside the cave, and that sound was amplified down to him. And then all of a sudden, he heard the sound of falling rocks somewhere up above. And then when those as his rocks stopped and it went silent again, he could not hear the sound of the running water. It was very muffled. And that was when he realized that there must have been a cave in somewhere higher up in the cave, which meant potentially there could be a significant block just to get down to him.Forget about widening this tunnel. I mean, he could be actually entombed inside of Sand Cave. And so Floyd did the only thing he could do, which was to pray. It And it would turn out that cave-in had indeed blocked the way for rescuers to get down to Floyd. And because of how extensive this cave-in was, the rescuers actually decided to start carving a brand new tunnel that would join up with the side of Floyd's tunnel. I mean, this is an even bigger undertaking than just chiseling the side of the tunnel that Floyd was in, which was their original plan and had taken several days. And so now they have to build this brand new tunnel to Floyd. And so finally, on February 16th, 1925, so a staggering 17 days from the time Floyd got first stuck in this cave, the rescue team finally punched through and reached Floyd. And as soon as they did, the lead rescuer looked over at Floyd, and then he paused, he turned up and he just said, Dead. It would turn out shortly after that cave-in, which sealed Floyd in completely inside of Sand Cave, at some point over the next couple of days, those rocks began to break free and tumble down the cave and began striking Floyd until finally one or several of those rocks hit him in the head or chest and killed him.So just imagine you are trapped. You've been there for several days. You're in total darkness. You're entombed inside of this cave. And periodically, rocks just come tumbling down and smash into you. Who knows how long it took to kill him, but that has to be one of the most agonizing ways to go ever.Thank you for listening to the Mr. Balin podcast. If you enjoyed today's stories and you're looking for more strange, dark, and mysterious content, be sure to check out all of our studios' podcasts. They are this one, of course, Mr. Balin podcast, and we also have Mr. Balin's Medical mysteries, we have Bedtime Stories, and also Run Full. To find those other podcasts, all you have to do is search for Balin Studios wherever you listen to your podcasts. To watch hundreds more stories, just like the ones you heard today, head over to our YouTube channel, which is just called Mr. Balin. So that's going to do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time.See you.Hey, prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Balin podcast one month early, and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. And before you go, please tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondry. Com/survey. If you're listening to this podcast, then chances are good you are a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious. And if that's the case, then I've got some good news. We just launched a brand new Strange, Dark, and Mysterious podcast called Mr. Balin's Medical mysteries. And as the name suggests, it's a show about medical mysteries, a genre that many fans have been asking us to dive into for years. And we finally decided to take the plunge, and the show is awesome. In this free weekly show, we explore bizarre unheard of diseases, strange medical mishaps, unexplainable deaths, and everything in between. Each story is totally true and totally terrifying. Go follow Mr. Balin's Medical mysteries wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're a prime member, you can listen early and ad-free on Amazon Music.

the entrance to a cave known as Sand Cave.

And Floyd had spent the last week coming out to Sand Cave and exploring the different tunnels. But today, his plan was to go as deep and as far inside of this cave as he possibly could. Caves were a huge tourist attraction in this region, and Floyd was a very experienced caver who had been caving since he was six years old, and he knew that most of Sand Cave had not been explored. And so if he could go in there and explore all the different parts of the cave and map it all out and make sure it was safe, it was sure to be a huge money acre. He could bring people here and lead them on guided tours. So Floyd left the muddy path he had been walking on and stepped foot inside of this grand entrance to Sand Cave. It's basically this 250-foot-wide, cathedral-like space inside of this hill with ceilings high enough you could stand, but it's totally dark in there. And despite being this big open space, it very quickly funnels to this one tunnel that goes straight down and connects to all these offshoot underground ground passageways, many of which have never been explored before.

And so as Floyd walked across this big open entryway, he lit his oil lamp and then began mentally preparing himself for what he was about to do, which was going to be very claustrophobia-inducing, even for a very experienced caver. And so Floyd reached the back of this huge entryway, and he reached this tunnel that would connect to the rest of the cave, and he began walking down it. And this tunnel was not very restricting. You could stand in it, you could move around in it, but it was very short. It was 15 feet straight down at an angle where at the bottom of those 15 feet was a square hole in the ground. And Floyd, having been here the previous week, knew that once you go through this hole, the real caving begins. Now you're going to be down on your hands and knees, wriggling your way through these very tight and restricting areas where you don't really know where you're going. Because again, a lot of this stuff has never been explored before. But this is why Floyd loved caving. He loved the adventure and the risk of doing things like this. And so, Floyd got to this hole.

He put his oil lamp down on the ground. He casually lowered himself feet first into this hole, which dropped down several feet. And then once he was on firm ground, he reached up, grabbed his oil lamp, and pulled it into the hole with him. Once he was inside of this lower-level space, he crouched down and looked around, and off to his right was a tunnel that he could crawl through that seemed to lead to a series of other tunnels. And so he puts his lamp in front of him, he gets down, and he begins crawling through this tunnel. And after a little while, he reaches this fork in the road where he had several options of very narrow tunnels to choose from. Now, the previous week, Floyd had gone down several of these tunnels and mapped out where they went, but there was one tunnel in particular at this fork that was very narrow. It was likely the most narrow of all the tunnels. But from where he had seen the last week, it looked like it went far without obstruction. And so he immediately began going headfirst into this tunnel where he had no idea where it was going to go.

Think about that. If you go headfirst into a tunnel and you get stuck, what are you going to do? You can't really go anywhere. So this guy is totally fearless, just going headfirst into what most people would consider a nightmare scenario. And so the way Floyd would approach these very tight tunnels is he would put his oil lamp out in front of him, and then he'd keep his hands over his head, and he'd wriggle his way headfirst and push his lamp along the way. And so that's what he did. He began going into this really restrictive tunnel. It's hard to breathe because the walls are so tight on his chest cavity. But as he's going, eventually, the ceiling begins to slope upward just enough that he can pull himself up onto his hands and knees and catch his breath. By this point, Floyd was approximately 55 feet underground. That's where this little pocket was where he could get up on his hands and knees and breathe. And so from this position, he still could see with his lamp that this tunnel continued to snake further and further down. And his hope was that eventually it would lead to a big underground chamber that was not just big enough to go to your hands and knees on, but was big enough you could stand and walk around in because those were the big tourist attractions, not only because it seems like another world underground that you can fully explore and walk around in, but also, as Floyd knew from his past experience of going into other caves, a lot of those big underground chambers are full of Native American artifacts.

And again, that was a huge potential moneymaker for people like Floyd because it allowed him to advertise that this cave where tourists could go explore was full of all this rich history. And so, Floyd eventually, after catching his breath in this little spot, got back down onto his stomach with his hands out in front of him with a lamp out ahead of his fingers, and he began going deeper and deeper into this unexplored section of sand cave. And as he inched along, Even though the ceiling remained very tight on top of him, he's totally compressed to the ground, the walls on either side of him began to expand, which meant Floyd, if he wanted to, could actually turn himself around, although he couldn't stand up. And so Floyd is making his way down this very low ceiling area when he notices his oil lamp is beginning to flicker, which means it's going to go out soon. Now, Floyd wasn't concerned about suddenly being in the darkness inside of a cave. Now, to most people, that would be terrifying But Floyd, again, was so experienced, he was very confident that he could easily make his way out again just by touch.

He didn't need the light. But he did know that trying to move around inside of a cave in the darkness was dangerous, and so he should not do that if he could avoid it. And so as much as Floyd wanted to continue and hopefully find something incredible inside of this cave, he decided he really needed to just turn around and go back to the surface and come back the next day to continue exploring. And so because this part of the tunnel he was in was really wide, he was able to turn himself around and drag his lamp until he was facing back uphill, and then he rolled onto his back. So his head is pointing back up where he came from, and his feet are pointing in the direction that he had previously been traveling, and he's on his back. And so his oil lamp is above his head. He can move his arm side to side because, again, it's pretty wide in the area he's in, and his head is pretty restricted by the ceiling. And he began inching with his heels and pushing with his arms, moving up the tunnel on his back.

And as he would move, he'd use his head and his hands to push the oil lamp back up the direction he was going. And for a little while, this system worked great. But at some point, right as he was getting close to that area where he was able to previously get on his hands and knees and catch his breath, Floyd accidentally rushed and pushed his lamp too hard and knocked it over, which extinguished the light. And so suddenly, Floyd was cast into total darkness. Now, again, Floyd was not concerned or really even scared about being in darkness inside of this cave, but this was not a good scenario, and he knew it. But he told himself, Stay calm. He knew where he was in the cave. He just needed to get to that little pocket. He'd catch his breath, and then he'd continue his way back up, eventually reach that hole in the ceiling, that square hole. He'd climb out, make his way out of the cave, and boom, he'd be done. And so Floyd just continued to push the now extinguished oil lamp above his head, and he continued to inch with his heels and moved his arms around to keep going backwards up this tunnel.

But then, right before Floyd reached that pocket inside of the tunnel where he could get onto his hands and knees, he heard the sound of falling rocks somewhere below him, near his legs. Now it's pitch black. He can't see And so Floyd's thinking, Thank goodness, it only landed on my ankle and not on my head or my chest, because then I'd be dead. And so after catching his breath and calming down, Floyd tensed his body and pulled his left leg as hard as he could to clear this 27-pound rock, but his foot wouldn't budge.

And so Floyd thought he would just reach down and dig his foot out. He just moved the rock out of the way. But even though this cave had widened out on either side of Floyd when he had gone deeper and deeper into it, because he had retraced his steps, he was farther up the tunnel where those sides had really come in much closer to him. And so he wasn't able to actually reach down and touch the rock. The walls made it impossible. And so he wasn't able to use his hands to clear this rock. And so Floyd is pinned underground, unable to move in absolute pitch darkness inside of a cave that's practically crushing his chest because the ceiling is so low, and he knows it's unstable. The ceiling has now fallen off, so there's a chance more rocks could come in at any time. I mean, this is like a worst case scenario for anybody who goes caving. But Floyd told himself to just stay calm. He knew this was a very bad situation, but people were certain to find out he was missing, and they knew he had gone to Sand Cave, and they would come here, they would find him, and they would rescue him.

And so Floyd just decided he would wait. And for an agonizing 30 hours. Remember, 30 hours of pitch blackness trapped in a totally claustrophobic environment. 30 hours of this, no food, no water, can't go to the bathroom. He's laying there for 30 hours, and then finally, he hears a voice coming from somewhere near the entrance of this cave. And when he heard that voice, it was like the sweetest sound he had ever heard, because not only did they represent help, but the voice was coming from Floyd's brother, Homer, who was also a very experienced caver. So Floyd's thinking, Thank goodness, I'm saved. And so Homer was able to navigate from the entrance down all the way to the tunnel that Floyd was in. And Homer got to that spot in the tunnel where Floyd had gone to his hands and knees, that pocket there. So Homer's in that pocket, and he can see Floyd is only a few feet away from him. He can see Floyd's head right there. And so Homer, who had a lamp, he shines the light on Floyd, and the two brothers don't waste any time with small talk. Instead, Homer, who had his oil lamp, had set it up right next to them, and he began feeding Floyd sausage sandwiches and giving him sips of water.

And then, Homer would tell Floyd that he just did not have the equipment to help Floyd get out right now, but Homer was going to go back to the surface, get men, get supplies, and then come back and save Floyd. And so Floyd is very He's very relieved. He says goodbye to Homer, and Homer turns and makes his way back up to the surface. Fifteen hours later, Homer would return by himself. And so at this point, Floyd has been trapped for 45 hours. And so Floyd, he's laying there in and out of consciousness, and he hears the sound of Homer calling out to him, and then he hears the sound of Homer chiseling away at some rocks. It would turn out, Homer's plan to save Floyd was basically to chisel away the side of this section of tunnel that Floyd was stuck in in order to be able to reach down and somehow, someway, clear the rock off of Floyd's leg and then pull Floyd up. Now, Floyd understood, of course, that this plan of chiseling away the side of this tunnel to make it wider was going to take some time. But luckily, Homer had shown up with more food and water, and they chatted the whole time as Homer worked.

And so Floyd was in good spirits, and Homer was very optimistic. But But after eight hours of Homer slowly chiseling his way, widening this tunnel, he hadn't made much progress, and he was totally exhausted. I mean, you got to remember that the angle he was working at was horrible. He was basically crouched down on his hands and knees, chipping away at this rock. And so after those eight hours, Homer would leave Floyd and go back home and sleep and eat and drink and recover. But he told Floyd, Don't worry, tomorrow more men will be here to help chisel away this tunnel and get Floyd out of there. But over the course of the next 50 hours, Floyd remained trapped inside of this tunnel with the rock pinning his leg. And despite Homer and several other men getting down there and very diligently chipping away at this tunnel, it just was not happening very quickly. And so over the course of those 50 hours, Homer began going in and out of consciousness, and he began not being able to differentiate between what was real and what was not. At one point, he would say that he believed the cave had opened up, and these angels riding golden chariots with flaming wheels had come in to save him.

And as they were lifting him out of the cave, he smelled food and coffee, and then suddenly, his hallucination cleared, and he realized he was trapped in the darkness all alone, still in this cave, and it was like it destroyed his morale. And so Floyd is really starting to go downhill, and the rescuers are realizing they need to do something, and they need to do something now. But at the 130-hour mark, things got even worse for Floyd. As he was laying there in the tunnel, this was sometime in the middle of the night, and so no rescuers were actively down there trying to chisel their way down to him. He was laying there and he was listening to the sound of the running water somewhere outside the cave, and that sound was amplified down to him. And then all of a sudden, he heard the sound of falling rocks somewhere up above. And then when those as his rocks stopped and it went silent again, he could not hear the sound of the running water. It was very muffled. And that was when he realized that there must have been a cave in somewhere higher up in the cave, which meant potentially there could be a significant block just to get down to him.

Forget about widening this tunnel. I mean, he could be actually entombed inside of Sand Cave. And so Floyd did the only thing he could do, which was to pray. It And it would turn out that cave-in had indeed blocked the way for rescuers to get down to Floyd. And because of how extensive this cave-in was, the rescuers actually decided to start carving a brand new tunnel that would join up with the side of Floyd's tunnel. I mean, this is an even bigger undertaking than just chiseling the side of the tunnel that Floyd was in, which was their original plan and had taken several days. And so now they have to build this brand new tunnel to Floyd. And so finally, on February 16th, 1925, so a staggering 17 days from the time Floyd got first stuck in this cave, the rescue team finally punched through and reached Floyd. And as soon as they did, the lead rescuer looked over at Floyd, and then he paused, he turned up and he just said, Dead. It would turn out shortly after that cave-in, which sealed Floyd in completely inside of Sand Cave, at some point over the next couple of days, those rocks began to break free and tumble down the cave and began striking Floyd until finally one or several of those rocks hit him in the head or chest and killed him.

So just imagine you are trapped. You've been there for several days. You're in total darkness. You're entombed inside of this cave. And periodically, rocks just come tumbling down and smash into you. Who knows how long it took to kill him, but that has to be one of the most agonizing ways to go ever.

Thank you for listening to the Mr. Balin podcast. If you enjoyed today's stories and you're looking for more strange, dark, and mysterious content, be sure to check out all of our studios' podcasts. They are this one, of course, Mr. Balin podcast, and we also have Mr. Balin's Medical mysteries, we have Bedtime Stories, and also Run Full. To find those other podcasts, all you have to do is search for Balin Studios wherever you listen to your podcasts. To watch hundreds more stories, just like the ones you heard today, head over to our YouTube channel, which is just called Mr. Balin. So that's going to do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time.

See you.

Hey, prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Balin podcast one month early, and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. And before you go, please tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondry. Com/survey. If you're listening to this podcast, then chances are good you are a fan of the Strange, Dark, and Mysterious. And if that's the case, then I've got some good news. We just launched a brand new Strange, Dark, and Mysterious podcast called Mr. Balin's Medical mysteries. And as the name suggests, it's a show about medical mysteries, a genre that many fans have been asking us to dive into for years. And we finally decided to take the plunge, and the show is awesome. In this free weekly show, we explore bizarre unheard of diseases, strange medical mishaps, unexplainable deaths, and everything in between. Each story is totally true and totally terrifying. Go follow Mr. Balin's Medical mysteries wherever you get your podcasts. And if you're a prime member, you can listen early and ad-free on Amazon Music.