Caving and High Strangeness

[Trixterrestrial]

I have been a caver and a seeker of the strange for many years and I wanted to open a thread to the caving world here. I'll start of with some scattered ideas of how they may be related.

SKINWALKER RANCH. The most ignored fact about this area is the literal honeycomb of caves on the south side of the Unitas. I personally have been in caves that began a dozen miles away but led between 6-10 miles underground, as far as I could follow.

I crawled down to a hub chamber, chose a low route, climbed down about three stories and swam through a black lake in a dark chamber. When I made to a rocky beach and had no clue what was ahead, my friend and I sat down and sorted our excited minds. Should we press on or head back out?

We had never heard of skinwalker ranch or other anomalies in the area. We were just cavers. But as we sat on the shore of that underground lake we both began to feel an inordinate amount of fear. We'd just swam naked across a black lake, but being on that pebbled shore freaked us out. We kept 'hearing' a mechanical roar, arising every minute or two, that sounded so far out of place that we freaked. Or we would have pushed it. After that long underground you just feel creepy, and THAT MAY HAVE BEEN IT.

But after learning of the Skinwalker ranch and pulling out the maps, I think it's a lot more. I've been back a couple times, but most recently the cave entrance has been blocked by an inflow of tree trunks into the narrow opening.

If anyone else knows anything about this tag it with Skinwalker Caves or something

I will be passing by this area in the first weeks of September if anyone wants to cave

In closing this thread should be about ALL CAVES not just skinwalker there's a lot to talk about

 

[Trixterrestrial]

Another point to about CAVES n PARASTUFF -

Many folks think that secrets connot be held by govnement/civilian agencies, and while this may be a challenge, I recommend everyone consider the extreme secrecy mixed with public knowledge about actual natural caves.

Only private show caves or national/state park caves are on maps. All other caves are protected by secrets, and This is seems good in almost every single case. Why? Because they house natural wonders that ( most human apes) would destroy either on purpose or through negligence.

All other caves ( many exist around you) are kept secret in order to preserve them.

The only way to learn the truth about the location to caves and underground hollows is to join these groups, swear fealty, and become initiated.

My point is NOT that we should go rush all the caves. My point is that SECRETS CAN BE KEPT even in the internet age.

 

[Trixterrestrial]

Ps some caves are closed to help bats w mating and white nose syndrome, so don't assume a closed cave is a conspiracy!

 

[Pigsinzen]

I have been a caver and a seeker of the strange for many years and I wanted to open a thread to the caving world here. I'll start of with some scattered ideas of how they may be related.

SKINWALKER RANCH. The most ignored fact about this area is the literal honeycomb of caves on the south side of the Unitas. I personally have been in caves that began a dozen miles away but led between 6-10 miles underground, as far as I could follow.

I crawled down to a hub chamber, chose a low route, climbed down about three stories and swam through a black lake in a dark chamber. When I made to a rocky beach and had no clue what was ahead, my friend and I sat down and sorted our excited minds. Should we press on or head back out?

We had never heard of skinwalker ranch or other anomalies in the area. We were just cavers. But as we sat on the shore of that underground lake we both began to feel an inordinate amount of fear. We'd just swam naked across a black lake, but being on that pebbled shore freaked us out. We kept 'hearing' a mechanical roar, arising every minute or two, that sounded so far out of place that we freaked. Or we would have pushed it. After that long underground you just feel creepy, and THAT MAY HAVE BEEN IT.

But after learning of the Skinwalker ranch and pulling out the maps, I think it's a lot more. I've been back a couple times, but most recently the cave entrance has been blocked by an inflow of tree trunks into the narrow opening.

If anyone else knows anything about this tag it with Skinwalker Caves or something

I will be passing by this area in the first weeks of September if anyone wants to cave

In closing this thread should be about ALL CAVES not just skinwalker there's a lot to talk about

When you say you've explored caves that lead 6 - 10 miles underground are you referring to the depth of the cave? If it makes you feel better, I think anyone who just swam naked thru an underground black lake only to hear a mechanical roar would be terrified.

 

[Tyger]

Fascinating topic. Years ago I knew a man who had been a miner in northern Quebec - and the stories he told!

Sitting beneath the earth with a complex return to the surface I could never sustain - I don't blame you that you freaked, though I think your nerves are of sterner stuff than mine would be in such a situation. I think I have more claustrophobia than I acknowledge. I could never go that deep - though that whole area of exploration is fascinating. I envy you your spelunking ability.

 

[manxman]

you will spend most of eternity atleast 2 meters under the ground tyger, so get comfortable with it.

 

[Tyger]

you will spend most of eternity atleast 2 meters under the ground tyger, so get comfortable with it.

Not me - I will be drifting on the fragrant winds across the wide Pacific, eventually precipitating down to kiss the velvet petals of a plumeria flower.

 

[Sue]

I did a lot of caving as a kid in upstate New York karst country and can't say I ever got weird vibes underground. Mostly caves were the proverbial land of endless wonder for me. Of course they were dark; they were supposed to be. Mind you, back then we didn't have or use much fancy equipment or go in for the kind of extreme or technical caving that seems to be more popular now and which I am not brave enough to do. Also, I first learned my way around relatively small, relatively safe local caves from experienced leaders. The couple times I showed college friends around these caves myself, it felt like much more of an adventure (or maybe that was the drugs).

Any kind of low-pitched mechanical throbbing, though, would freak me out. That kind of low frequency stuff consistently freaks me out above ground as well, but underground I would be worried about rain, water or a cave-in a la the original Star Trek only there's no next episode. This is why I ALWAYS keep my clothes on while swimming through underground lakes. (Seriously - the water keeps a steady temperature, but it's usually one in the lower 50s!)

The one paranormal link I can make to caving comes from when I had an attack of nostalgia and Googled some of my old caves. There are all kinds of photos online now that allowed me to relive exploring them. One set of photos had the best possible set of ghost trace evidence you could like, with smoky white sheets of ectoplasm in shot after shot apparently interacting with the people. This was one severely haunted cave! However, I knew from having been in the cave and seeing the people in the photos that the ectoplasm was probably a function of ambient temperature and moisture and the breath of the group taking the photos. To someone without that experience, though, such photos might be truly perplexing.

Okay, I realize now I have to go back and find the photos. Give me a day or two.