Lost World Caverns

Useful Information

Location:	907 Lost World Rd, Lewisburg, West Virginia 24901. Greenbrier Valley, West Virginia. I-64 exit 169 Lewisburg Ronceverte, toward Lewisburg 600 m, turn right on Grand Ave, after 700 m keep right, after 1.2 km turn left, to the end of the road. Signposted from Interstate. (37.832652, -80.446842)
Open:	JAN to FEB Sat, Sun 10-16. MAR to MD daily 10-17. MD to Thanksgiving daily 9-17. Thanksgiving to DEC daily 10-16. Last toru 45 min before closing. Closed Thanksgiving, 25-DEC. [2024]
Fee:	Adults USD 12, Children (6-12) USD 6, Children (0-5) free. Wild Cave Tour: Adults USD 79. Online booking available. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	T=11 °C, L=2,000 m, VR=72 m.
Guided tours:	self guided, L=800 m, VR=30 m, D=45 min, St=350. Wild Cave Tour: D=4 h, MinAge=10.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Lost World Caverns, Rt. 6 Box 308, Lewisburg, WV 24901, Tel: +1-304-645-6677. E-mail:
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

1942	cave explored by researchers from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
1960s	surveyed.
1967	remains of a prehistoric cave bear (Arctodus pristinus) excavated.
1970	a steep shaft was dug into the main chamber with a circular stairway leading into the cave, opened to the public.
SEP-1971	Bob Addis gets the unofficial World Record for "Stalagmite Sitting", staying atop the "Warclub" formation for 15 days, 23 hours, and 34 minutes.
NOV-1973	registered as a National Natural Landmark.
1978	closed for extensive improvements.
1981	reopened with a new tunnel.
1985	a new lighting system was installed using sodium vapor lights.
1992	Weekly World News reports that Lost World Caverns was the home of "Bat Boy".
1999	purchased by Steve Silverberg, a former Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster expert.
2021	the album Madison by the band Sloppy Jane entirely recorded within the cavern.

Description

The Lost World Caverns has several notable speleothems. 40 meters below the surface lies the Snowy Chandelier. This huge white stalactite is estimated to weigh some 30 tons, and has the form of a chandelier, hence the name. Another highlight is the 10 meters high War Club stalagmite. It became famous in September 1971 when Bob Addis, the cave manager at that time, sat on it for almost 16 days. They state it earned him an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records, but actually it was an unofficial World Record for "Stalagmite Sitting". The cave officially told, neither the man nor the stalagmite got harmed. We doubt this, as speleothems stop growing for some years when simply touched, the sitting must have harmed it for decades. But obviously the damage was acceptable for the cave manager, as he got a lot of publicity in return.

The cave seems to be prone to weird stories, the weirdest is the one of Bat Boy. A newspaper reported in 1992 that he was captured by the FBI in Lost World Caverns where he lived. He survived by eating his weight in live insects every day. Weekly World News is a tabloid reporting mostly fictional "news" and outlandish cover stories often based on supernatural or paranormal themes. Weekly World News is one of those papers where the MIB get their infos. Some call them nonsense, others satirical, this story was definitely 100 % fiction. The current owner, Steve Silverberg, embraces the notoriety, supports the off-broadway musical version, and thumbtacked the original Bat Boy article to a bulletin board in the gift shop.

The largest chamber of the cave has an impressive size, it is 300 m long, 90 m wide and 37 m high. They say it was "twice the size of the interior of Notre Dame". First, we don't know if their - mostly American - visitors ever were at Notre Dame, and then we have no idea what "twice the size" means. Twice as long? Twice the volume? In any way, this chamber is quite impressive.

The cave was discovered in 1942 by researchers from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. A deep daylight shaft aka pothole was known for a long time and used by the local farmers to throw rubbish and dead animals in. Despite the nasty side effects, people did this over centuries all over the world. The explorers were the first who climbed into the pit and explored the passages behind, and they named the cave Grapevine Cavern.

The idea of making a show cave was obviously hindered by this steep entrance pit. The solution was to dig a steep shaft into the main chamber with a circular stairway. This happened in 1970 and the cave was opened to the public subsequently. Unfortunately, the spiral staircase was soon quite slippery from the dripping water and thus unsafe. As a result, the cave was closed for extensive improvements in 1978, and when it was reopened in 1981, it had a new entrance tunnel.

The cave has a small museum which is called a natural history museum, not a cave museum, obviously to allow the display of dinosaur bones. But not only Tyrannosaurus Rex and Triceratops are shown, there is also a display of the prehistoric cave bear whose remains were discovered in 1967. The Arctodus pristinus frequented cave like many other bears until today, but it is actually not the cave bear, which lived only in Europe. In 2015, the bones of one of the oldest black bears found in WV to date, were found in the cave, and are also shown in the museum.