Beast In the Cave - Insight

As many of you know, I collect ghost stories. I was at half-price bookstore today and got a copy of Scary Stories of Mammoth Cave. I'd never seen it before, but it looked too cool to pass up for $5.99 and I had a 15% off coupon.

It's by Colleen O'Connor Olson and Charles Hanion (2002, Cave Books Publishing).

Beast in the cave wasn't HPL's favorite, but it is one of mine. In the 1860 "A Guide manual to the mammoth cave of Kentucky, Charles Wright warned of straying (a very unlikely event even in 1860!) ..."A person lost in mammoth Cave, without any hope of escape, would undoubtedly die in a short period of time ...".

Olson goes on to quote "Beast" at length on page 3ff ! The words HPL uses is eerily similar to the 1860 version, "I was lost, completely, hopelessly lost ...".

In 1900 one Curtis G Lloyd (of Cincinnati) was exploring, and told his guide he was going off o his own. Lloyd was very familiar with the cave, but still got turned around - 12 hours later they found Lloyd only 50 yards from the exit, but he at least had presence of mind to stand still and wait. He'd strayed there smoking his stash of cigars.

I'd love to know if the Providence Journal carried this article, and maybe 10 year old HPL saw it? There is a very strong chance the the wealthy Lloyd family backed the botanical and other researches of Packard, but no smoking gun as of yet.
The most famous 19th century lost incident is recorded in Olson's book, and in an old text:

AN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE MAMMOTH CAVE OF KENTUCKY.

INCLUDING EXPLANATIONS OF THE CAUSES CONCERNED IN ITS FORMATION, ITS ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS, ITS CHEMISTRY, GEOLOGY, ZOOLOGY, ETC. FULL SCIENTIFIC DETAILS OF THE EYELESS FISHES. BY W. STUMP FOKWOOD, M.D., MEMBER or TDE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION, OF THE MEDICAL AND CHIRURGICAL FACULTY OF MARYLAND, ETC. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS.

PHILADELPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1870. p.24 ff


"It was while I owned the property that a nephew of mine, Mr. Charles F. Harvey (now a merchant in Louisville, Ky.), was lost in the Cave for thirty-nine hours. After he was found, I determined to have further explorations made."

The story goes that the Harveys stopped for water at a spring, the boy left his hat, went back, retrieved it, and made a wrong turn to catch up. 39 hours of searching, later, they found him. An addendum, perhaps apocryphal, had Harvey Jr banging rocks until the noise attracted the search party. The rescuers said, "Great idea to get our attention.". Harvey is said to have stated, "I didn't bang on the rocks for you to hear me, the silence was driving me mad."

Of course, rocks play a significant role in HPL's story for a different reason. However, in issues such as these, coincidences weigh slight, but they do weigh and pique the curiosity. These stories, orally or in text form at the library, might easily have been available to HPL.

OK, time for Chrispy to run off for food, and hopefully to watch Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein with Mrs. Chris, always a Halloween treat.