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Jack Gladney posted:Well, there's the Devil's Kettle, which features a vertical shaft into which a river flows. And nobody has any idea where the water goes or what geologic processes could have formed a pothole that conducts water away laterally to someplace or other: Has there not been any updates on this area? Surely scientists now could find something more sophisticated to drop in there besides ping pong balls. Some kind of GPS device and track its route? I know poo poo all about this kind of stuff so I guess it baffles me that they haven't figured it out yet really. edit: oh, duh. did some Googling and found a few people asking the same question. GPS won't really work underground. Well. drat, then. Double Plus Good has a new favorite as of 23:57 on Dec 15, 2014 |
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Dec 15, 2014 23:50
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Celery Face posted:There used to be a very tight cave down in Utah but it got sealed in after a guy tried to force himself through a narrow space, got stuck and couldn't be rescued. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh quote:For a few hours there were sighs of tentative relief. They finally cracked open the boxes of pizza and cases of water, and broke out in smiles suggesting the worst was over.
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Dec 15, 2014 23:57
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MightyJoe36 posted:Sometimes it is. Like, when people your age start dying of things other than accidents, or when you watch a football game on Sunday and realize you're about 10-15 years older than the "old" players. quote:List suffered from obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, and that List saw only two solutions to his situation: accept welfare, or kill his family and send their souls to Heaven.[16] Welfare was an unacceptable option, he reasoned, because it would expose the family to ridicule and violate his authoritarian father's teachings regarding the care and protection of family members quote:Destroyed along with the home was the ballroom's stained glass skylight, rumored to be a signed Tiffany original worth over $100,000. I shouldn't laugh because no doubt this oval office would have some other reason to act out his nuttiness but that's like a bad moral end to a bad book.
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Dec 16, 2014 00:20
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benito posted:Anxious to see what we standing apes can accomplish in the next few decades. Spoiler: If this thread is of any indication, the complete and total eradication of all life in the planet in the most horrific way imaginable.
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Dec 16, 2014 00:30
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Screaming Idiot posted:Spoiler: If this thread is of any indication, the complete and total
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Dec 16, 2014 00:36
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I knew four people who died in a cave in Utah about a decade ago. Sad story, kinda spooky when you put yourself in the shoes of the fifth guy who decided not to go in and was the only one to survive. It's kind of weird because the parks department didn't know the cave existed, but it is thought to be ma made and there was a guide rope to guide the way through the underwater portion to the second chamber, and another friend of the five had been there a few weeks before with no problems. Did the air in the second chamber go bad/get too high a CO2 concentration? The four were all found in the underwater tunnel, dead, in a row and facing the exit, almost like they all spontaneously died while trying to exit, but no trauma or anything to indicate what went wrong. If I remember correctly, most of their families were highly/strictly religious so I don't think any autopsy or in depth investigation occurred. Caves are pretty creepy. http://mountainsurvival.com/articles/cavedeath.html http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=95690
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Dec 16, 2014 00:54
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For gruesome and pointless caving deaths, check out the post-Everest season chat on the Everest climbing thread. That is also a good thread for weird mountaineering deaths: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3626517&perpage=40&pagenumber=48#pti34
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Dec 16, 2014 00:58
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I've been in a lot of different caves in several different states. For the most part they are enjoyable hikes underground. Serious spelunkers go through tunnels called meat grinders because you're pushing your body through a tube of jagged rock in hopes of reaching a separate cavern. If you get stuck or if water drains into the tunnel, you are royally screwed. If anyone is claustrophobic, imagine being underground in a rock tunnel that is barely the width of your shoulders and you have to inch along with your knees and elbows.
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Dec 16, 2014 01:01
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drr drr drr
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Dec 16, 2014 02:15
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benito posted:I've been in a lot of different caves in several different states. For the most part they are enjoyable hikes underground. Serious spelunkers go through tunnels called meat grinders because you're pushing your body through a tube of jagged rock in hopes of reaching a separate cavern. If you get stuck or if water drains into the tunnel, you are royally screwed. If anyone is claustrophobic, imagine being underground in a rock tunnel that is barely the width of your shoulders and you have to inch along with your knees and elbows. This is an actual recurring nightmare of mine. I don't know how anyone can willfully put themselves through something like this. The amazing part is, the caves where you can do this activity (pay some money, get taken through a tiny claustrophobic cave and come out safely on the other side) were at one point, totally unexplored. Which means that one day, somebody decided to crawl head-first into an ever-narrowing crack in the ground, not knowing if they would reach a cavern or just get stuck there and die. Nightmare fuel.
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Dec 16, 2014 02:23
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shock.wav posted:This is an actual recurring nightmare of mine. I don't know how anyone can willfully put themselves through something like this. Proof positive that human curiosity is, in fact, a negative survival trait and we have existed as long as we have out of sheer luck and perhaps the comic whim of some unknowable and sadistic higher entity.
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Dec 16, 2014 03:07
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shock.wav posted:This is an actual recurring nightmare of mine. I don't know how anyone can willfully put themselves through something like this. Nightmare fuel indeed. I had an anxiety attack when I had to have an MRI. After reading the last few posts I need a drink. Content: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Hole_%28Red_Sea%29 quote:However, the Blue Hole is notorious for the number of diving fatalities which have occurred in the past, earning it the sobriquet "World's Most Dangerous Dive Site" and the nickname "Diver's Cemetery". The site is signposted by a sign that says "Blue hole: Easy entry". Accidents happened as divers tried to find the tunnel through the reef (known as "The Arch") connecting the Blue Hole and open water at about 52 m (170.6 feet) depth. This is beyond the PADI maximum advanced recreational diving limit of 40 meters (131.2 feet)[2] and the effect of nitrogen narcosis is significant at this depth. Divers who missed the tunnel sometimes continued descending, hoping to find the tunnel farther down and became increasingly narcosed; furthermore, the rate of consumption of air by an open-circuit diver increases the deeper the diver descends. quote:Egyptian authorities claim that 40 divers have died at this site since records began; however, many local dive guides believe that the authorities are deliberately underestimating the numbers and that there have actually been at least twice that many fatalities.[citation needed]
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Dec 16, 2014 03:07
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Cat Army
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shock.wav posted:This is an actual recurring nightmare of mine. I don't know how anyone can willfully put themselves through something like this. What is really crazy is that a lot of cave deaths like this happened before electric flashlights and other technology. From my own cave exploring going through tiny passages... I still have nightmares in which I get stuck somewhere and can't get out. I'm talking about waking up at 4 a.m. in a panic remembering the experience of an Arkansas or Missouri cave and having to go for a walk just to feel the experience of being in open air. I'm pretty sure this caver has been posted here: Floyd Collins http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Collins
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Dec 16, 2014 03:21
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I can't remember where this was linked from - maybe this very thread - but there's a really well-written article in the Independent about the Mossdale disaster, where six people were crawling through a tiny cave tunnel when it flooded. I know it's not a Wikipedia article but if you're anything like me, it's plenty unnerving.quote:Then one perhaps mutters – is it a joke? – "Eh, what's that rumbling? Not the stream going up?" It is every caver's nightmare – lying flat-out in water, not a joke that cavers like. But now everyone hears it. Unmistakably, sickeningly, the water is surging; the draught whistles like a gale. After reading this I spent a lot of time thinking about what it would be like down there. I'm not super claustrophobic or anything but there's something about it that's kind of disturbing. quote:The 900ft crawl – 10 inches high and two feet wide – was too tight for passing if they met survivors. Put your hands ten inches apart. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mossdale_Caverns
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Dec 16, 2014 04:14
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Josef K. Sourdust posted:For gruesome and pointless caving deaths, check out the post-Everest season chat on the Everest climbing thread. That is also a good thread for weird mountaineering deaths: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?noseen=0&threadid=3626517&perpage=40&pagenumber=48#pti34 Is there a place that collects weird mountaineering deaths that dials back on the nauseating toxicity and cool-internet-iconoclast-guy schtick?
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Dec 16, 2014 05:44
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Sad Mammal posted:Is there a place that collects weird mountaineering deaths that dials back on the nauseating toxicity and cool-internet-iconoclast-guy schtick? I'd say Mount Everest itself does a pretty decent job of that.
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Dec 16, 2014 05:50
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dads_work_files posted:I can't remember where this was linked from stickyfngrdboy posted:This may have been posted in here before but I've been to the place this happened http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/what-lies-beneath-mossdale-caving-disaster-794268.html. It's a beautiful place. Who can blame you for forgetting, it was an entire page ago!
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Dec 16, 2014 06:36
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I get horribly scared just wandering around the underground caverns in Minecraft in peaceful mode so I'd probably die from terror just getting in to some of these tunnels. I came across a YouTube video the other day that shed light on a murder most of you have probably heard of but which was news to me: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Kendrick_Johnson A young man goes into his school's gym and ends up dead, suspended upside down inside a tightly rolled gym mat. No one knows how he got there and, though the official verdict is that he crawled in after his shoes, his family have cast doubt on this explanation. CCTV footage given to the authorities appears heavily edited and his autopsy photos cast doubt on the manner of his death. Really it seems most likely that his family are grasping at straws to try to find some deeper meaning in their son's death than just accidentally getting stuck in a mat, but it's still kind of a creepy read. Tibor has a new favorite as of 09:16 on Dec 16, 2014 |
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Dec 16, 2014 09:14
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Sad Mammal posted:Is there a place that collects weird mountaineering deaths that dials back on the nauseating toxicity and cool-internet-iconoclast-guy schtick? It doesn't bother me so much but yeah, I understand where you're coming from. It does have some experienced climbers who post and a lot of people have seen the documentaries/read the books. I suggest that if you would prefer to read something less GBS then perhaps start a thread on mountaineering and/or caving on the Ask/Tell board. The ancient history thread there has been a mine of fascinating facts and intelligent debate without the GBS attitudinal stuff. An alternative is starting a thread on the Book Barn, which would be book centred. I started a thread on polar/arctic exploration books: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3655083
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Dec 16, 2014 10:47
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I find this fairly unnerving: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_MacRae
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Dec 16, 2014 17:23
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Similarly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Kelly_(weapons_expert)
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Dec 16, 2014 17:48
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Tibor posted:I get horribly scared just wandering around the underground caverns in Minecraft in peaceful mode so I'd probably die from terror just getting in to some of these tunnels. I came across a YouTube video the other day that shed light on a murder most of you have probably heard of but which was news to me: thought this said kirk johnson and got legit concerned for a second
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Dec 16, 2014 17:55
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Tibor posted:I get horribly scared just wandering around the underground caverns in Minecraft in peaceful mode so I'd probably die from terror just getting in to some of these tunnels. I came across a YouTube video the other day that shed light on a murder most of you have probably heard of but which was news to me: I was living in Valdosta while this was happening, and most people still think there is more to this story than what the authorities claim. All of the CCTV footage was intact...except for the one camera that was covering where Johnson was, and it was missing footage and seemed to jump around. There was a known relationship between Johnson and another student, who had animosity towards each other, and the student didn't have an alibi for that time period. Even better: that student was related to the Lowndes County sheriff. When they pulled Johnson out of the mat, his face looked beaten to the point where he was almost unrecognizable; far more damage than you would expect, even from a corpse that had been upside down for that period of time. The coroner wasn't called until almost 12 hours after the body was discovered (Georgia state law says the coroner must be called immediately, and the coroner later gave a statement saying that his investigation was impeded and that he was repeatedly told to hurry up by the police. The autopsy showed he had blunt force trauma to his head, but the official cause of death was labeled as asphyxiation. Oh, and someone forgot to put his organs back in the body after the autopsy was done and instead, upon the second autopsy, his body was found to be stuffed with newspaper  Common theory is that the sheriff's relative killed Johnson after a dispute over a girl (the story is that Johnson banged the guy's girlfriend and that this was revenge), the sheriff's office covered it up, and to this day Johnson's family and supporters protest in the downtown Valdosta square. I don't think they're grasping at straws here, I legitimately think there's more to it than what we were told. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has taken over the case and has barred the Lowndes County authorities from "assisting". Last October, the U.S. Attorney's Office in Middle Georgia also opened an investigation into the case.
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Dec 16, 2014 19:29
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Celery Face posted:There used to be a very tight cave down in Utah but it got sealed in after a guy tried to force himself through a narrow space, got stuck and couldn't be rescued. dude i read about this a while ago and it is messed up. a good read if you want to be horrified though
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Dec 16, 2014 20:00
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HonorableTB posted:I was living in Valdosta while this was happening, and most people still think there is more to this story than what the authorities claim. All of the CCTV footage was intact...except for the one camera that was covering where Johnson was, and it was missing footage and seemed to jump around. There was a known relationship between Johnson and another student, who had animosity towards each other, and the student didn't have an alibi for that time period. Even better: that student was related to the Lowndes County sheriff. When they pulled Johnson out of the mat, his face looked beaten to the point where he was almost unrecognizable; far more damage than you would expect, even from a corpse that had been upside down for that period of time. The coroner wasn't called until almost 12 hours after the body was discovered (Georgia state law says the coroner must be called immediately, and the coroner later gave a statement saying that his investigation was impeded and that he was repeatedly told to hurry up by the police. The autopsy showed he had blunt force trauma to his head, but the official cause of death was labeled as asphyxiation. Oh, and someone forgot to put his organs back in the body after the autopsy was done and instead, upon the second autopsy, his body was found to be stuffed with newspaper We had a long thread on this back in the day, and basically everything about the conspiracy theory was shot down as being ridiculous, though I don't remember many details. I know specifically that the "blunt force trauma" bit was nonsense, and the damage was pretty consistent to somebody who was upside down all day. The newspaper bit I do remember and it was really weird.
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Dec 16, 2014 20:03
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Screaming Idiot posted:Proof positive that human curiosity is, in fact, a negative survival trait Not really, because it's on a family/tribe level, in the same vein as the altruistic sacrifice of a warrior defending his home. If your curiosity increases the survival odds of anyone in your blood family, say by discovering a new source of water, food, or shelter for them, then it's a positive survival trait, even if you die.
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Dec 16, 2014 20:20
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caveman thug poo poo posted:I also started listening to Serial and I'm on episode 8 of 10 so far. I've really enjoyed listening to it for the same reasons I enjoy reading this thread. If anyone knows of any similar podcasts of similar quality I'd love the recommendations. I've found one called Sword and Scale, which, while not quite the same as Serial, is definitely in the scary-fuckin-poo poo category. For me as a non-american there's cases I've never heard about before, such as the case of the Dozier school for boys (unbearable in parts), and an insight into psychopaths in which a child sex offender explains how and why he abused his stepdaughter. Very, very scary.
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Dec 16, 2014 20:36
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Josef K. Sourdust posted:It doesn't bother me so much but yeah, I understand where you're coming from. It does have some experienced climbers who post and a lot of people have seen the documentaries/read the books. I suggest that if you would prefer to read something less GBS then perhaps start a thread on mountaineering and/or caving on the Ask/Tell board. The ancient history thread there has been a mine of fascinating facts and intelligent debate without the GBS attitudinal stuff. An alternative is starting a thread on the Book Barn, which would be book centred. I started a thread on polar/arctic exploration books: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3655083 Admitedly it got better after the first few pages. There's only so much "ha ha dumb bitch should have seen it coming" I can take.
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Dec 16, 2014 21:14
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MightyJoe36 posted:I was born in 1961. Hey grandpa! Did you cut a mean rug back in your day! - I'm also having a mild panic attack now because of reading the cave things. 
JD-Smith has a new favorite as of 22:08 on Dec 16, 2014 |
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Dec 16, 2014 21:46
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Not sure if it was posted yet : Lake Peigneur Drilling Disaster A nice recount of what happened : http://www.damninteresting.com/lake-peigneur-the-swirling-vortex-of-doom/ quote:Shortly after they abandoned the $5 million Texaco drilling platform, the crew watched in amazement as the huge platform and derrick overturned, and disappeared into a lake that was supposed to be shallow. Soon the water around that position began to turn. It was slow at first, but it steadily accelerated until it became a fast-moving whirlpool a quarter of a mile in diameter, with its center directly over the drill site.
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Dec 16, 2014 23:33
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Celery Face posted:There used to be a very tight cave down in Utah but it got sealed in after a guy tried to force himself through a narrow space, got stuck and couldn't be rescued. "Josh Jones said that once he first realized his brother was stuck, his first instinct was to pray. Those in the cave offered what he called a "series of prayers" before making the decision to call 911 around 9:30 p.m." Talking about good and bad survival instincts/traits...
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Dec 17, 2014 00:40
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Doctor Malaver posted:"Josh Jones said that once he first realized his brother was stuck, his first instinct was to pray. Those in the cave offered what he called a "series of prayers" before making the decision to call 911 around 9:30 p.m." Had nothing to do with it, really. They got him free, but the equipment failed and he fell back in. Getting emergency personnel there faster wouldn't have accomplished anything. It actually sounds like he wasn't that screwed until after he fell back in.
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Dec 17, 2014 00:47
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theflyingorc posted:Had nothing to do with it, really. They got him free, but the equipment failed and he fell back in. Getting emergency personnel there faster wouldn't have accomplished anything. It actually sounds like he wasn't that screwed until after he fell back in. Ughh I just can't shake how awful that wave of dread and despair would hit you when you fell back in.. To be almost to safety and loving have a freak accident do that to you. Just thinking about it makes my stomach do that elevator drop thing.
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Dec 17, 2014 01:00
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The bit I don't understand about it, doesn't it say that his brother managed to lift him but then had no way to keep him up. Couldn't they tie a rope around his leg and then get the rescuers to pull on it? I can't imagine a situation he could get into that they physically couldn't get him out of.
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Dec 17, 2014 01:09
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theflyingorc posted:Had nothing to do with it, really. They got him free, but the equipment failed and he fell back in. Getting emergency personnel there faster wouldn't have accomplished anything. It actually sounds like he wasn't that screwed until after he fell back in. The article is poorly written so I'll admit I don't understand the timeline completely, but I don't think the optimal course of action is ever to first offer a series of prayers and then call 911.
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Dec 17, 2014 01:12
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Praseodymi posted:The bit I don't understand about it, doesn't it say that his brother managed to lift him but then had no way to keep him up. Couldn't they tie a rope around his leg and then get the rescuers to pull on it? IIRC He was upside down, everytime he breathed in things got worse, like a big cave python
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Dec 17, 2014 01:13
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djssniper posted:IIRC He was upside down, everytime he breathed in things got worse, like a big cave python So he was literally wedged in, Christ. Can't think of anything worse.
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Dec 17, 2014 01:17
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Praseodymi posted:So he was literally wedged in, Christ. Can't think of anything worse. It's a big part of why Ted the Caver, the internet scary story, really freaked me out. It's fiction, but with well done pictures, and the guy is having to chisel out a gap in the rock so that it gets big enough that he can squeeze through the incredibly narrow gap. (There's also something evil on the other side and the entire time you're reading it you know he's going to have to come back through the narrow gap with no way to speed up ahhhhh)
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Dec 17, 2014 01:24
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Praseodymi posted:So he was literally wedged in, Christ. Can't think of anything worse. Also being upside down isn't what your heart is designed for
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Dec 17, 2014 01:33
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Imagined posted:Not really, because it's on a family/tribe level, in the same vein as the altruistic sacrifice of a warrior defending his home. If your curiosity increases the survival odds of anyone in your blood family, say by discovering a new source of water, food, or shelter for them, then it's a positive survival trait, even if you die. Proof positive that humanity's inability to recognize a facetious statement will lead to its downfall when an alien species with a powerful, yet extremely passive-aggressive army decides to sardonically invade. (I'm kidding, you're correct, you made a good post, and your avatar is adorable.) And speaking of alien invasion, ever hear of the Fermi paradox? To quote the linked article, "According to this line of thinking, the Earth should already have been colonized, or at least visited. But no convincing evidence of this exists. Furthermore, no confirmed signs of intelligence (see Empirical resolution attempts) elsewhere have yet been spotted in our galaxy or (to the extent it would be detectable) elsewhere in the observable universe. Hence Fermi's question, 'Where is everybody?'" I'm starting to believe that we are truly alone in this universe. No god, no little green men, nothing except our fellow earthlings on our little blue-green oblate spheroid spinning away in the endless night. But as depressing as that thought may be, it's important to note that there is more knowledge to be gained about our tiny little ball of mud than we could ever hope to accumulate. It's reason enough to look past our minor differences and embrace one another regardless of sex, gender, race, nationality, or any of the other artificial barriers we put up.
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Dec 17, 2014 01:37
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