Man has been using caves as shelter for hundreds of thousands of years. They came to terms with the darkness and the creatures that hide within, but there is still to this day a reticence, a caution at the thought of being enclosed in a shelter that could hide just about anything without our knowing. Let's explore some of the scariest finds in caves -
Casa Grande, AZ
Sawney Bean
Along the coastline in Scotland in the 15th and 16th centuries, an incestuous family of 48 members hid out in a cave where they apparently killed and ate as many as 1000 people. When discovered, a group of vigalantes dragged them out and they were executed without a trial, leaving behind a cave filled with bones of their victims.
Apache Death Cave
I got to explore the cave with the property keeper. It definitely had the most bizarre vibe and I've been in many caves before.
red-haired giants
Lovelock Cave, Nevada
There had been legends among the Paiute tribe of Nevada, telling of red-haired giants that once cannabalized their people to the point that the tribe burned the entrance to their cave hiding place. That cave, Lovelock Cave, was mined for bat guano in the early 1900s when the crew found giant skeletons under all the muck. There were no scientific teams to study it or handle the find and eventually they were lost to the locals who wanted souvenoirs and a young worker told to bury them in the ground outside the cave. This find seemed to prove the legends of the Paiute.
torso found in a cave
Wyoming
Forty years ago, a torso was found in Buffalo Cave in Wyoming when a family hunting for arrowheads found a shallow grave and the torso wrapped in cloth. It was a mystery until 1991 when a girl exploring the cave found a mummified hand. Investigators then found an arm and two legs wrapped in burlap. Even with many groups helping to search, no more remains were found. Thanks to the local university, DNA was extracted to find that this person was descended from settlers in the Mormon faith. Upon investigating the family tree, they found Joseph Henry Loveless. They found a grave marker for him, but no signs it was an actual burial site. This man's history showed two marriages, the first ending in divorce for abandonment and he had a history of bootlegging and counterfeiting. He went by many aliases. He was imprisoned for the murder of his wife, but escaped. He died in 1916 shortly after his escape. How he ended up dismembered in a cave is an ongoing cold case.
chickosaurus
A research associate in the Pacific Northwest entered a cave to explore with a colleague. They found it was a grueling exploration with almost four hours on their knees in tight spaces until they came to the end of the cave, just past stalactites that were so close together, the men had to turn sideways and suck in their stomachs to fit through. There, on the ground, sat an ostrich-like skeleton as if a big bird curled up on a nest and died. The head and feet were gone. They looked back at the way they had to get in there, the flashlights they used, the tight spaces, and wondered how this creature got all the way back in there in the dark and in crawlspaces and between the stalactites. In fact, they couldn't take the whole carcass with them through tight spaces, so they opted to take the neck. I got to keep it safe and measure and examine it. I asked many universities and experts their opinion with either utter silence or ridiculous notions like a trumpeter swan (skeleton below).
This is an ostrich (above) and it has a deep rib cage. It does not seem to align at all with this thing.
It was never decided what it was, but upon comparing with numerous known skeletons, I reverted to ancient transitional dinosaurs/theropods to bird types. It actually seemed to have more of those qualities.
This one comes from the early 2000s when a military unit was sent out to find a missing unit. They found a cave in Kandahar and entered it, supposedly finding bones and bloody torn uniforms and weapons. They encountered a gigantic red-haired giant that speared one of their men like he was a hot dog on a stick. It took much gunfire to bring him down and apparently a helicopter came and carried it off in a net. None of thise was ever verified, but the story is chilling.
Son Doong Cave, Vietnam
Son Doong cave in Vietnam is not only the largest cave in the world, but it has a long history from locals of housing a lizard-like devil creature within. This is not the first time we've heard of reptilians within caves. Missouri and Germany, among other locations, have reported encounters deep within by unsuspecting explorers. Some reported the reptilians rode around on motorcycle like hovercrafts within and had the ability to walk through walls.
Caves seem scary enough when you consider bats, spiders, hibernating bears, tight places, cave-in's, and more. But, if you look at the earth like a piece of clothing, the caves are its pockets and pockets are made to hide things, whether it's a wallet or a knife, whatever you don't want seen....