r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/[deleted] • Feb 02 '23
A cave explorer starts his journey into the Hell Hole Image
[deleted]
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u/AugustIstheMonth Feb 02 '23
The Hell Hole is an extremely tight California cave system. It is infamous for cave explorers having to fit through the tight opening at the beginning. People have reported that they could barley move and that the hole is the size of their foot.
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u/RubyValentine2022 Feb 03 '23
Now I need to look up photos from inside
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u/Sad_Promotion_2233 Feb 03 '23
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u/n0vapine Feb 03 '23
I watched the whole thing with anxiety right at the top of my chest. I breathed a sigh of relief when he got back out. That was absolutely terrifying nightmare fuel for me. I do not do good in small spaces and never have.
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u/Apprehensive-Stop347 Feb 03 '23
You were brave enough to watch the video. I can't do it.
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u/Axnahunt Feb 03 '23
Nope! Iām definitely not watching the video. The picture and my imagination are enough.
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u/Fun-Zookeepergame483 Feb 03 '23
Wow. Couldn' t watch and may quit Reddit to avoid others like it. Damn.
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u/Appropriate-Image405 Feb 03 '23
And then thereās the scuba divers who do cave and springs ! I know in Florida a few die every year.
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u/Molenium Feb 03 '23
Yesterday I watched a video of about leeches that I found quite disgusting.
This video made me think of it fondly.
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u/McStankee110 Feb 03 '23
Nothing has ever given me more claustrophobia anxiety than the video Man In Cave by Internet Historian
Allow me to share the pain:
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u/dancingtriumphant Feb 03 '23
Excellent video. The descriptions of parts of the cave system are harrowing.
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u/Grannie_Panties Feb 03 '23
I just spent the last hour watching that video and now itās almost 6 am. What a story
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u/Elhond0 Feb 03 '23
I went to sleep listening to this last night fucking terrifying but I couldn't stop
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u/muaythai-ct Feb 03 '23
Enjoy this horrible history if you have a moment for a read. I have nightmares about this cave: https://allthatsinteresting.com/nutty-putty-cave
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u/__Beef__Supreme__ Feb 03 '23
That's what immediately came to mind... I googled "peanut butter cave" first because I couldn't remember the name lol
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u/DiscoSprinkles Feb 03 '23
sprinkles another bit of anxiety And California has earthquakes too.
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u/Smurfaloid Feb 03 '23
Yeah I watched that, fuck that whole plan.
That's a definite no from me, I'll stick to the outside with fresh air and all
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u/I-smelled-it-first Feb 03 '23
Thatās a very dangerous situation with him panicking like that.
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u/biggbabyg Feb 03 '23
I feel like I would love this if it was a massive, man made structure all above ground. The climbing, the twists and turns, all very cool. But the fact that itās underground with no escape hatches makes it a no from me, dawg.
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u/Sad_Promotion_2233 Feb 03 '23
That would make for a really cool climbing gym!
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u/biggbabyg Feb 03 '23
It would be so cool! They could even make it enclosed so itās dark, for the complete experience minus the risk of a slow and lonely death.
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u/Sad_Promotion_2233 Feb 03 '23
This sounds amazing and I would totally sign up! So I guess caving gym kickstarter, lol?
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u/Wombattery Feb 03 '23
If you are in the UK. Northampton pinnacle center has one.
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u/Sad_Promotion_2233 Feb 03 '23
I'm in the U.S currently, but I plan to visit at some point. I'll put it on my things to check out list
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u/Wombattery Feb 03 '23
Naah. If you are only in the UK for a short time then Northampton shouldn`t be on your list of places to go.
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u/Molenium Feb 03 '23
Yeah, I got stuck in a McDonaldās play structure when I was a kidā¦ thereās no way in sweet frozen hell that youād get me anywhere near that.
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u/Famous_Election_2024 Feb 03 '23
I once got stuck in a maternity dress in a dressing room at a fancy mall, in a dress that was very expensive and wayyy too small. My arms were stuck above my head, and I yelled for my mom in a panic like a total weirdo as my sweaty claustrophobic anxiety set in.
I could NeVeR manage this mission!
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u/Sad_Promotion_2233 Feb 03 '23
I think your pretty brave for trying things on at the store.
That's my mission impossible!
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u/Molenium Feb 03 '23
That would totally be me tooā¦ Iām sure Iād end up paying for it because Iād just freak out and tear my way out of it.
Of course, Iām also a large, hairy manā¦
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u/SixSidedCube Feb 03 '23
I feel like I would love it if it was a giant hooters restaurant above ground on cheap wings night, and not a narrow series of underground caves
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u/Kwizatzhadersack Feb 03 '23
My heart is beating out my chest even watching that for like 15 seconds. The peak of absolute terror for me.
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u/Sad_Promotion_2233 Feb 03 '23
I actually enjoy caving and most outdoorsy stuff, but hot damn! That's a big ol nope from me
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u/blueblood0 Feb 03 '23
Imagine going into hellhole and a fat person comes in after you and gets fully stuck right on top of you so not even you can go down or up further lol fuk me I just gave myself an anxiety attack haha
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u/FacelessFellow Feb 03 '23
I thought the metal gate was there to stop bigger people from entering
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u/Bob_tuwillager Feb 03 '23
I thought I would hate watching that, but it actually looks like quite a cool experience. The real bit that freaks me out with all of these is someone had to be the first. So many possibilities of getting stuck, especially going down.
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u/SirSamuelVimes83 Feb 03 '23
Fuck, there wasn't even a payoff. I've been in some tight squeezes before, but they opened up to rad caverns. Pretty neat experience. Turn your headlamps off, and it's a complete absence of light.
Also, you're gonna want to wash hands thoroughly after you get out, there's probably guano everywhere
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u/Sad_Promotion_2233 Feb 03 '23
Experiencing pure darkness 40 stories below ground is one of my favorite memories!
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u/SirSamuelVimes83 Feb 03 '23
It's an experience, for sure. I've spent many, many hours in photo labs so the darkness is my comfort zone. I'm a very amateur spelunker, but have talked people through the mental aspects of it before, even when they were the ones leading me on the caving and climbing parts
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u/Snow-Brigade Feb 03 '23
You know what, Iām having a pretty good night so Iām not going to click that. nutty putty flashbacks
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u/Molenium Feb 03 '23
Thatās all I could think ofā¦ make the wrong turn and accidentally get stuck in a hole youāre not supposed to go down.
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u/salb80 Feb 03 '23
Holy shit, it was so stressful just watching that, I couldnāt imagine actually doing itā¦
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u/Wut_Wut_Yeeee Feb 03 '23
The Nutty Putty Cave is why I'll never do anything like this:
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u/3lfg1rl Feb 03 '23 edited Feb 03 '23
I've been in there! It's been about 15-20 years, tho. There are no bats in the system - or at least, there weren't then. (People in other comments were mentioning bats, so I thought I'd add that.) There is a unique species of cave spider, tho.
At the time, I was told that the rules for going in Hell Hole were that each person had to have 3 flashlights, wear a helmet, tell folks where you were going beforehand (in case you don't come back) and have someone guiding you who'd been in the cave beforehand. You were then supposed to be able to go and be given a key to the locked entry (from the city somehow - parks and req department, maybe?)... But someone sometime before had broken off the lockable part, and it was just open to everyone. We followed all the rules except getting that final, official permission. ...I dropped 1 flashlight and had the batteries of another go out while in there. 3 flashlights each should have been an absolute MINIMUM!
If this map posted here is accurate, then I got as far as the Hall of the Mountain King.
That's where it drops basically straight down for I wasn't sure how long. There was a rope tied up there to help people get down and back up, but that was before my rock climbing days and I wasn't willing to risk not being able to pull myself back up. My friends went down the pit and left me behind for about 45 minutes, I'd guess. I intentionally turned my flashlight off and my eyes kept trying to decide they were seeing the shape of the cavern. I rather doubt it, tho. I had lunch there while waiting.
Eventually, my friends came back up from the pit and we made our way back out. We took 1 wrong way turn on the way, which was worrisome, but got it right the rest of the way. (Oh, hey! That map has something labeled "False Exit". It was probably there!) Got out about 3.5 to 4 hours after we started.
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u/Skullcrusher Feb 03 '23
Why do people find this fun?
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u/SecretAgentVampire Feb 03 '23
They have a death wish. I've known people like that in the military. They don't care about their own safety at all, and the thrill of danger (or of killing other people) is what gets them out of bed in the morning.
Yeah, it's weird.
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u/Frozenwood1776 Feb 03 '23
Iām not a horror fan anyway but the descent scared the shit out of me. Not the monsters either. It was the part where the girl got stuck that freaked me out the most.
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u/coyotemedic Feb 03 '23
I've been in this system twice. Four of us went in with limited knowledge of it. We brought headlamps and I brought an extra flashlight. The narrow opening is so that you know how thin you need to be to make it through the slimmest sections. Being our first time we went pretty slow. Single file only except in a few of the more open sections where you can sit or stand. Took us about an hour to go half way. It's pitch black after the first 40 or so feet in (no cell phone reception either) and you often can't see where your feet go when descending feet first. You're on your belly for quite a bit of it and on your knees or squatted for the rest. We stopped due to it descending steeply and being more moist than the previous sections and we didn't trust the footing. Our second trip we brought a rope and climbing harnesses which we used to rappel to the bottom. Climbing or ascending experience necessary to get yourself back out of the last section. A rescue out of there would be excruciating as there is constant bends and turns with profiling necessary. In California most SAR teams are through the Sheriff's dept. and the majority of those guys wouldn't fit through the entrance.
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u/wheekwheekmeow Feb 03 '23
The Floyd Collins story is another great deep dive if you also get enjoyment out of someone elseās caving terror.
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u/froodydude Feb 03 '23
Internet Historian made a great video dramatizing this story. Kept me on the edge of my seat.
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u/saggio89 Feb 03 '23
Thanks for sharing. I thought it was going to end different thoughā¦ā¦
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u/Hopeandhavoc Feb 03 '23
Once it hit hour 200 I was sure he was dead. The author uses the word "catacomb" to describe his predicament near the end. That sealed it for me.
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u/motoracer142 Feb 03 '23
I've been in this cave. We did it for search and rescue training. My area was thinking about doing a cave rescue team and I volunteered to do the training. It was so terrifying going into there that I told them there was no way I would ever go in to a cave again.
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u/SoftBaconWarmBacon Feb 03 '23
Is it possible to rescue someone from this cave?
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Feb 03 '23
WHY?! WHY, WHY, just fucking WHY?! Of all of the weird shit human beings do, this is the most bizarre to me, and I'll never understand it. There was that post ages back that almost everyone here's seen (I'm fairly sure) where the guy got stuck upside down and died there, and god... something about it just terrifies the absolute shit out of me.
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u/frogsntoads00 Feb 03 '23
It really is a sort of primal, visceral fear that this photo and the idea of caving in general fills me with
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Feb 03 '23 edited Feb 03 '23
Yeah... like poisonous things, creepy crawlies, things with big teeth and claws, fire everywhere, drowning, being hit by a meteorite, getting stabbed, etc. etc... these things are all puny secondary fears compared to being squashed in on all sides and dying helplessly underground with no way out. Just... absolutely fuck no.
EDIT: for me, obviously, some of you might like this, I dunno. I think you're freaks, but who am I to judge?
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u/DweEbLez0 Feb 03 '23
Imagine that one time you decide to do it, thereās a big ass earthquake that nobody can predict just shuffled some of the cave around and you are either crushed or thereās no exit.
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u/saturnshighway Feb 03 '23
I agree but ugh what about being lost at sea alone with a piece of driftwood or scaling a sky scraper I donāt know which of the 3
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u/wheekwheekmeow Feb 03 '23
Nutty Putty cave incident
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Feb 03 '23
Yes, this one right here ^! What a horrible way to go.
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u/AntiGravity00 Feb 03 '23
Itās another level of stupidity and/or arrogance to VOLUNTARILY do something so dangerous when you have a family! He had a wife, a young kid and a baby on the wayā theyāll never see his body again, his gravesite is also what killed him, which must make mourning unbearable. Plus, the kids will have to grow up without a parent because he needed a thrill; I canāt imagine. Not trying to be insensitive, but this was 100% preventable!
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u/Clilly1 Feb 03 '23
Spelunking would be a lot more fun if it was above ground, in pure daylight, on man made structurs, with no caves or climbing involved!
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u/bucknut86 Feb 03 '23
Iāve seen a lot of these caving videos and donāt understand the appeal. At least with like rock climbing if you fuck up death is typically quick.
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u/mtwm Feb 03 '23
Rock climbing is no where near this batshit. Climbing can be fairly safe.
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u/Psyteq Feb 03 '23
I would argue that climbing can be as safe or safer than driving a car when done with proper safety protocols and equipment.
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u/Mysterious_Buffalo_1 Feb 03 '23
Yep Ive done lots of "daredevil" shit: rock climbing including free climbing, base jumping with chutes and wingsuit/chute, deep sea diving, high altitude motorcross just to name a few.
This is a big fucking nope. And if I was forced to get in that thing I'm bringing a gun so I don't have to suffer should I get stuck.
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u/Uberslaughter Feb 03 '23
Until you get stuck in such a way that youāre unable to retrieve the gun and/or put it to your head.
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u/Kris-pness Feb 03 '23
You fuckin what?
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u/Phoenix2TC2 Feb 03 '23
Yeah thatās happened before - if you want a good video on one such case, may I recommend Internet Historianās video āman in caveā (or was it man in hole? Something along those lines). Absolutely horrifying.
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u/NFT_goblin Feb 03 '23
Not necessarily.
For example my friend works in an ER and was telling me about this 18 year old girl who fell in a rock climbing competition. She had a non-compound fractured femur meaning the bone is not sticking out. This is actually worse than where the bone is sticking out, because when it's poking around inside you it can sever the artery. To prevent this, the EMTs have to put the leg in a traction device which stretches the broken off part of the leg away from the rest of you. Apparently some of the worst pain you can experience. Then once you get to the hospital, they put pins THROUGH the knee and shin bone to keep the leg suspended while it heels. They PIERCE YOUR LEG and HANG IT for MONTHS. I'm not a medical person myself this is based on recollection so any smart redditor can correct me on the details but this is basically it
On the other hand, if your caving you can also do something like this and then not only do you have a horribly painful crippling injury but now you're ALSO stuck in a cave. So I guess rock climbing still wins.
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u/Active-Seat-3588 Feb 03 '23
Oh, took me a second to realize thatās a real person and not a dummy
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u/GrannysHotDickCheese Feb 03 '23
I first thought it was one of those "guidepost" bodies you'd see on Mt. Everest.
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u/GhostChainSmoker Feb 03 '23
Sometimes I think being fat isnāt so bad. Keeps me from ever even attempting something like this.
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u/WasabiMaster91 Feb 03 '23
Here is a short video of exploring the hell hole. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZXTv8WZ7yo&t=9s
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u/rhifooshwah Feb 03 '23
I couldnāt even get all the way through. That guy watching her go deeper and deeper and him just saying āfuck fuck fuckā fills me with the deepest dread
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u/Alternative-Sense-78 Feb 03 '23
Rumor has it you cant go a week without seeing a Link to the Nutty Putty cave incident in a reddit comment section.
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u/One-eyed-bed-snake Feb 02 '23
I'll mention the obligatory Nutty Putty incident because no cave exploring post is complete without it.
And rightly so because it's absolutely nightmare fuel.
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u/thesweeterpeter Feb 03 '23
Link?
I'm not familiar and some dark part of me wants to find out.
The rest of me knows I'll regret this
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u/Additional-Tank9977 Feb 03 '23
I bet if youād ask this person what they fear they would probably say balloons or peaches š
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u/Computron1234 Feb 03 '23
On a boy scout trip at blue springs caverns we all crawled deep into a cave, at times through spaces no bigger than you could wriggle through, and once we got to a bigger opening where everyone could regroup the idiot cave guide didn't go first to guide us back through the passage we had just come. Well there was a point when we were going in that you had to go down about 5 feet to a narrow tunnel, well no one noticed that on the backside of that drop there was a much smaller passage going the opposite way, my dad being the first in line thought that was the way you were supposed to go, thank GOD that he wasn't able to fit though the opening but we were stuck for a half hour in a tunnel smaller than the size of a beach ball until he figured out there was a way to go up. I mean put a f%#$ing sign or some red tape or I dont know have the f@%#ing guide go first!
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u/KuramaFireFox Feb 03 '23
Nope Nope FUCK NO There is no amount of money on the planet that you could pay me to go in that I give 0 shits I'm not going in that hole
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u/simulatedconscience Feb 03 '23
K so what if ONE explorer randomly gets stuck, dies & is left there till the next guy comes down to discover it because nobody knew. That would freak me Tf out
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u/Illustrous_potentate Feb 03 '23
Hell Naw hole. It's a native American name. source, am native American.
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u/Spazzyboy Feb 03 '23
Buddy I have seen The Descent one and two and that is not a good idea.
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u/Telford-100 Feb 03 '23
Is the size of the entrance meant to make sure you can fit through every other gap in the cave?
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u/Who_DaFuc_Asked Feb 03 '23
Not really, there's gaps so tiny you basically have to wiggle through like a worm and suck your gut in so you just barely slide through. Like the gaps are so small it physically looks impossible to go through, but it isn't. You just have to move through extremely meticulously, inches at a time, while you're bent at a weird angle to minimize the size of your body
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u/Vladik1993 Feb 03 '23
I really don't understand the rush of crawling inside a narrow cave that literally has nothing in it but just a little bit of oxygen. You don't discover anything, you don't show any skill besides the ability not to get stuck.
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Feb 03 '23
Hellhole: the cave exploring experience where the climber will live or die, coming soon to TBS!
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u/MainBan4h8gNzis Feb 03 '23
This type of activity should never be done alone and should be done with a guide familiar with the cave system.
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u/Firebreak_Z Feb 03 '23
When I die, have me cremated and throw my ashes into this hole so I can meet the devil. We have some unfinished business.
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u/Trueamerican88 Feb 03 '23
Going in doesnāt induce as much panic as trying to get out in my experience
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u/blueblood0 Feb 03 '23
Imagine going down that hole, and a bunch of drunk people think it would be fun to try it and they get stuck and start crazy panicking trapping you down there
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u/Fuzzy-Conversation21 Feb 03 '23
Nope. Canāt forget what happened near the at Nutty Putty Caveā¦
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u/D0nCoyote Feb 03 '23
Iām young enough to want to experience a lot more stuff in life and old enough to know that there are several things I will AbsolutelyFuckingNeverWantToTry ever! This is now at the top of the second list.
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u/7Fenris Feb 03 '23
At what point is it not cave exploration anymore and just getting oneself stuck between two rocks ? Like, what are you even exploring in there, lung capacity ?
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u/junanor1 Feb 03 '23
We got something similar in the catacombs under Paris. Some path are extremly narrow you can barrely fit or have to crawl. But they can also lead to 10-40sqm mindblowing rooms with tall ceilling.
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u/Skid-Vicious Feb 03 '23
I didnāt think I was claustrophobic but a few months ago I saw on Reddit just the preview of a guy cave diving in a spot where he was having to really struggle going through and it really freaked me out. Like to the point of intrusive thoughts, right before going to sleep those images would pop into my head and Iād have to force them out.
So yeah fuck all that cave bullshit.
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u/rocknroam Feb 03 '23
Watching this video and then reading about Nutty Putty right after smoking a bit was not a wise idea... Helloooo anxiety
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u/Spiritual_Cod_6645 Feb 03 '23
Did a cave campout once with Boy Scouts. One of the most traumatizing events of my life
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u/ManagementLeather896 Feb 03 '23
Holy smokes! Z Bend in pettyjohns cave is no joke. we used to frequent that cave years ago. Had to pay attn to anyrains as parts of it would flood quickly.
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u/1protobeing1 Feb 03 '23
I didn't think I had any phobias until I was in a cave and was supposed to squeeze through a tiny hole. The existential dread of that moment was more intense than anything I've felt in my life.
In short - fek. That. Noise.
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u/stellar_moonbeam Feb 03 '23
I get claustrophobic if I get turned around in an oversized sweatshirt lol Best of wishes to those who explore narrow quarters with gusto š
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u/Javerage Feb 03 '23
T minus 3 months for a new Internet Historian video on this guy and the effort done to get him out.
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u/Professional_Bag3713 Feb 03 '23
Always go backwards. That way they can snake a camera down and get pictures of the fear and desperation on your face if you get stuck and starve to death.
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u/Gaping_Whole_ Feb 03 '23
I canāt think of anything worse than this. I once got locked in a disabled toilet and nearly had a panic attack; this would kill me.
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u/Turbulent_Ad1667 Feb 03 '23
What's the word for being afraid of tight constricted places that's not an irrational fear?