I worked in the caves around Mammoth and Crystal Cave in Kentucky for a couple of years. Floyd's whole death became a vaudeville-like spectacle. It turned out that he was pinned in place simply by a rock about the size of a Kleenex tissue box, that had his foot wedged so tightly he couldn't move. And he lived for days down there before he died. He was embalmed and put on display in his cave, and rival cave owners stole the body once and meant to throw it into the Green River and get rid of that major tourist attraction. He lodged in a tree, and others found him and returned him to his coffin.

I visited Crystal Cave with my then-Mammoth-Cave-employee husband, another park ranger, on a tour that was held for only NPS people. The public was never allowed in that cave once the National Park Service bought it. And a few years ago they took the coffin that was in chains and gave it a proper burial. People occasionally broke into the cave and into the coffin, just to see Floyd).

Maggie Dwyer, former Diamond Caverns (Park City, KY) cave interpreter. Now, to go find my cookie. . .