10 Cave Explorers Who Never Made It Out Alive

We all have our hobbies. Some of us come home and go for a run, while others read a book. Still others are a bit more extreme. Maybe you enjoy BMX bike riding or whitewater rafting.

But a select few do something that most people consider quite insane: spelunkers, also known as cave explorers. Spelunkers pride themselves on maneuvering tight spaces and enduring difficult conditions on their expeditions. Unfortunately, no matter how experienced one is in cave diving, there’s also the possibility of getting stuck, drowning, or some other terrible fate.

Here are 10 cave explorers who never made it out alive.

Related: 10 Milestone Moments That Turned into Tragedy

10 Scheck Exley

One of the world’s foremost cave diving experts, Scheck Exley, wrote two books on the subject and was the first chairman of the Cave Diving section of the American National Speleological Society. But even these credentials and over 4,000 cave dives in his lifetime couldn’t save him from an untimely death.

As if venturing into a tight space wasn’t enough, in 1994, Exley attempted to reach the bottom of a cenote, or sinkhole filled with water. Because he was alone during this adventure, no one knows exactly when or how he died, but his crew knew something was wrong when they saw the unused decompression tanks. It’s generally believed that there must have been some trouble with the gas tanks, and Exley died as a result.

Maybe just stick to getting stuck in dangerous crevices that are above ground.^[1]

9 Agnes Milowka

Agnes Milowka was an internationally recognized underwater cave explorer. Her work exploring the deepest realms of a previously undiscovered cave system in Australia and her expertise in maritime archeology made her a once-in-a-lifetime talent.

Sadly, Milowka’s own lifetime was cut short. At just 29 years old, while exploring a tight underwater tunnel in Tank Cave, Australia, she ran out of air and died. Despite the terrible ending of her story, Milowka’s achievements have not gone unacknowledged. A scholarship for science and marine studies students in underprivileged schools was established in her name in 2011, and multiple geologic features across Australia have been named for the explorer.^[2]

8 James Mitchell

In the 1950s, local high school teachers Herbert Schroeder and George Buck named a cave system in New York “Schroeder’s Pants” after the seat of Schroeder’s pants ripped during discovery.

The humorous cave name only highlights the tragedy of 23-year-old James Mitchell’s death in 1965. Freezing temperatures and ice-cold waterfalls made the exploration treacherous and ultimately fatal. While trying to lower himself via a safety line, Mitchell became stuck, hanging under a major waterfall. Though help arrived quickly, hypothermia set in faster, and the young adventurer perished on Feb 13, 1965.^[3]

7 Peter Verhulsel

Like so many explorers, Peter Verhulsel’s curiosity got the best of him.

While cave diving with friends in the Sterkfontein Caves in South Africa, Verhulsel peeled away from the planned route to see what undiscovered paths he could find. He was separated and lost but found a small island with an air pocket. A lucky break, as he didn’t have enough oxygen left to make his way out.

It took six weeks to discover Verhulsel’s whereabouts. But by then, he had been reduced to a shell of his former self. He left a note written in the sand on his island: “I love you, Shirl and Ma.”^[4]

6 Eric Establie

At 45 years old, Eric Establie had an impressive resume. A professional diver and cave explorer, the Frenchman also owned an underwater engineering company and was a cave rescue operations volunteer.

His extensive experience with diving and rescuing couldn’t help in 2010 when he became trapped behind a rock on a solo mission to map the Ardeche Gorges underground tunnels.

Experts estimated Establie could survive up to two weeks in the tunnel system. One week after his disappearance, rescuers heard tapping coming from behind the rock, giving hope that he was alive. Unfortunately, these were found to be natural cave acoustics, and Establie’s lifeless body was found after only eight days.^[5]

5 Donald Weltner

Perhaps the saddest death on this list is that of Donald Welter, a Boy Scout leader who was trapped 17 feet (5.2 m) underground for three days while leading a children’s hike in 1982.

Twelve boys accompanied Weltner on this misadventure, including his two sons. Weltner crawled into a passage in Crooked Swamp Cave in New Jersey and became trapped in a narrow crevice. The boys and fellow scout leader attempted a rescue before notifying the authorities. Despite a lack of vital signs about 80 hours later, the rescue team reportedly continued to place hot water bottles on the trooper’s head and feet in case he was still alive. But Weltner died of hypothermia after three days.^[6]

4 Jari Huotarinen and Jari Uusimaki

How far would you go for your friends?

In 2014, a group of Finns got the answer to this question when one of them, Jari Huotarinen, had his scooter line entangled in a rock below the water surface of Norway’s Plura cave system. Jari Uusimaki also died underwater, likely due to panicking upon finding Huotarinen’s body.

Though devastated by the news, Norwegian authorities called off the rescue operation, declaring it too dangerous to try and retrieve the bodies. The surviving members of the party refused to leave their friends down there. They took it upon themselves to create their own recovery mission. Despite the evident dangers, the mission was a success, and both Huotarinen and Uusimaki were returned to their families for internment.^[7]

3 Neil Moss

At just 20 years old, British undergraduate student Neil Moss is the youngest explorer on this list. Moss and eight friends from the British Speleological Society entered a cave in Derbyshire hoping to find a new passage that had been discovered just two weeks earlier. A corkscrew twist in a vertical drop led Moss to become jammed between the rock and a ladder.

Though help arrived, the ropes attached to Moss were not strong enough to lift him and continued to snap or break on sharp rock edges. After a few hours, air pollution and lack of oxygen caused Moss to become irrational and disoriented, with one friend describing him as being “unconcerned about the seriousness of his plight” and even suggesting that they all go out to eat.

And Moss wasn’t the only one who was affected by the atmosphere. High levels of carbon dioxide caused three volunteer rescuers to lose consciousness. Heavy rains caused the rescue party to abandon the cavern for safety reasons. By the time they came back down, Moss had perished. His young age and bright future made his story world famous, and the area he died in is now known as Moss Chamber.^[8]

2 John Edward Jones

Don’t be fooled by its name—the Nutty Putty Cave is not cute, as John Edward Jones figured out in 2009.

Located in Utah, the Nutty Putty Cave is notable for its extremely narrow passages. Despite this, Nutty Putty was popular with both amateur and professional cave explorers, including the Boy Scouts.

Jones and three friends went into the cave hoping to find “tThe Birth Canal,” a tight passageway with a turnaround at the end. Believing a tight, unmapped area to be the area they were looking for, Jones ventured into the space, only to become stuck headfirst and upside down. Unlike many other explorers on this list, Jones was with friends, and they were able to get help immediately. No one could extract Jones from the cave despite a rope-and-pulley system and other efforts. After over 24 hours of being stuck, Jones suffered cardiac arrest and died.

The cave was deemed too dangerous for further explorers to enter and is closed off to this day—with Jones’s body still inside.^[9]

1 Floyd Collins

Though Floyd Collins was just an amateur cave explorer, his death made him arguably the most famous spelunker in history.

In 1925, Collins became trapped in what is now Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. He was there searching for new tunnels as part of the Kentucky Cave Wars, a phenomenon during the early 20th century in which Americans sought to make the caves popular tourist destinations from which to make money.

Floyd was trapped for 17 days in Sand Cave, which he had hoped to open up and lead tours in. Louisville reporter William “Skeets” Miller interviewed Collins from the cave and distributed them by telegraph across the country. This was one of the first media sensations in America, as broadcast radio continually updated citizens on Collins’s condition.

Intrigued by the situation, tens of thousands of tourists flocked to the cave, purchasing food and souvenirs, contributing to what has been described as a “circus-like” atmosphere. Collins’s misfortune was the third largest media event between the two world wars.

After 18 days, rescuers reached Collins, but it was too late. Despite his only known exploit being a failure, today Collins is known as the “Greatest Cave Explorer Ever Known.”^[10]