Sand Cave

Useful Information

Location:	Cave City, Old Mammoth Cave Road. I-65, exit 53, west on Hwy 70 toward Mammoth Cave National Park for 8 km. (37.1544533, -86.0470483)
Open:	no restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	Viewing platform: free. Cave: may cost your live. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	n/a
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Howard W Hartley (1925): Tragedy of Sand Cave, Louisville, KY. online
Address:	Mammoth Cave National Park, P.O. Box 7, Mammoth Cave, KY 42259, Tel: +1-270-758-2180, Fax: +1-270-758-2349.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

30-JAN-1925	Floyd Collins enters Sand Cave and is trapped by a falling rock in a crawl.
02-FEB-1925	the media frenzy starts.
16-FEB-1925	Floyd Collins’s dead body found by a miner.

Description

Sand Cave is no special cave at all. To be honest it is a narrow and annoying little hole in the ground, a crawl. Still it is one of the most famous caves in the USA. Or let’s say infamous, as it is the location of the most tragic death in the history of cave exploration. In this cave Floyd Collins died after a rescue attempt which took 18 days. The story of Floyd Collins is told on his own page.

This cave is an important place of American show cave history, and thus it is a tourist site now. There are paths leading to the entrance and signs telling about Floyd Collins. There is a wooden viewing platform where visitors can see the cave entrance. From the trailhead at the Old Mammoth Cave Road it’s an easy 200 m, 5 minutes hike. Nevertheless, it is still not a show cave.