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New York Times
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
How a Kentucky Man Trapped in a Cave Became a Broadway Musical
When Roger Brucker heard that the story of a trapped Kentucky cave explorer who slowly starved to death was being turned into a musical, he was doubtful. 'Aren't musicals supposed to be fun?' he thought. Brucker, 95, knows more than most about the doomed explorer Floyd Collins. He co-wrote the book 'Trapped!,' which is considered the definitive history of the events that unfolded during the so-called Kentucky Cave Wars, a period of rapid subterranean exploration in the 1920s when the state commercialized its extensive cave systems for tourism opportunities. Collins was an accomplished spelunker in 1925 when he entered Sand Cave alone, only for a 27-pound rock to pin his ankle and trap him underground. Over the course of 14 days, he died of thirst, hunger and exhaustion, compounded by hypothermia. Turning that story into 'Floyd Collins,' which made its Broadway debut at Lincoln Center Theater this week, was an exercise in bringing a bleak history to life through song. Tina Landau, the show's director, bookwriter and additional lyricist, was an undergraduate student at Yale University — decades before she conceived 'SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical' and 'Redwood' — when she came across a blurb about Collins in an anthology on American history. It focused on the media circus around the failed rescue, one of the most prominent national news stories between the two world wars. Landau, 62, said her perspective on the story was different from when she wrote the show, which premiered in 1996 at Playwrights Horizons, in her late 20s. She understands it now as an individual confronting his mortality. 'When we began, I was more attached to Floyd's hopes and dreams and aspirations,' she said. 'Now, I just personally am more invested with the journey that takes him to a place of surrender and letting go.' Brucker, who has seen at least 20 productions of 'Floyd Collins' since 1996, has firsthand experience interviewing some of the event's central characters, such as Skeets Miller, the young Louisville Courier-Journal reporter petite enough to descend into the cave and interview Collins directly. At a technical rehearsal, he spoke with the actor who plays Miller, Taylor Trensch, to stress the reporter's empathy in writing about Collins. 'He changed an anonymous farmer into a real live person called Floyd Collins,' Brucker said. Collins, of course, was not alive for an interview when 'Trapped!' was written, but Brucker has a good sense of how the man compares to the musical's character. Earlier actors in the role of Floyd, Brucker said, were too tall, too short, too leaden in affect or overly enthusiastic (Collins was generally reserved, he said, but lit up when talking about caves). But he thought the actor Jeremy Jordan, a Broadway heartthrob who recently starred in 'The Great Gatsby,' combined the best parts of Collins the character with Floyd the man. One cannot sing show tunes while beneath a rock, so Jordan spends the portion where he is resting on a tilted platform belting and yodeling. 'I thought he was the best Floyd character I've seen,' Brucker said. The musical's original title, 'Deathwatch Carnival,' came from the headline of the blurb Landau read at Yale, referring to the spectators and vendors who visited the mouth of Sand Cave while Collins was trapped inside. Journalists hungry for a scoop exaggerated details such as the size of the rock trapping Collins. As 'Floyd Collins' developed, Landau said, she and Adam Guettel, the show's composer-lyricist, leaned more into Floyd the man. The musical has been particularly lauded for its songwriting, with a final song, 'How Glory Goes,' that sees Collins accepting his death and imagining a heaven with his mother waiting for him. (The song is the name of the second studio album by Audra McDonald, who covered it.) When Landau and Guettel were in Kentucky doing research, Guettel was inspired by the cave to incorporate echoes from Collins's singing as a kind of chorus into the score. While in the state, they also came across 'Trapped!', written by Brucker and the historian Robert K. Murray, who died in 2019. The book, first published in 1979, was both a vivid and comprehensive account of the story, Landau said, which she used as a resource and inspiration. But she said turning all of that history into a musical required editing, like cutting the women who gathered at the cave mouth to propose to Collins. She synthesized a wide range of people, including Collins's extended family, into more central figures like Homer and Nellie, two of his siblings. The show is split between the cave's interior, represented by set design components that evoke the Mammoth Cave system, and its mouth where rescuers and spectators gathered. But although Sand Cave and the tight, muddy squeeze that trapped Collins are on the grounds of what is now Mammoth Cave National Park, it was not even a true cave. 'Sand Cave is presented as a giant panorama of stuff, and it isn't,' Brucker said of the show. 'You have to start thinking of it as the opening under a kneehole desk.' David Kem, who worked as a guide for the National Park Service leading tours of Mammoth Cave for more than 15 years, saw a recent touring production of 'Floyd Collins' in Bowling Green, Ky., in an audience that he said included many approving spelunkers. 'That's a unique challenge to try to convey the cave environment onstage, a place that's so cramped and otherworldly,' he said. (He had one nitpick: 'By and large, nobody walks around singing in the cave.') Kem said he appreciated that the musical presented a broader picture of Collins. 'It isn't flippant with the whole topic of Floyd's death,' he said. 'I think it does do him service.' A new edition of 'Trapped!' was published this month in honor of the 100th anniversary of Collins's descent into Sand Cave. Landau wrote the foreword. 'For me today, a hundred years after his death in Sand Cave, Floyd lives,' she writes. 'He lives in this book; in our musical; in our imaginations; in our fears and aspirations; and in the questions we continue to ask of ourselves, each other and of the universe.'
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
How an explorer stuck in a Kentucky cave for 17 days captured the world's attention
When Floyd Collins ventured into Sand Cave in Mammoth Cave, Kentucky on Jan. 30, 1925, he was searching for a destination that would draw in people in from all over world. Remarkably, the cave explorer's journey attracted national, even international, attention. But he never made it out of Sand Cave alive. For 17 days in 1925, the Western Kentucky man unwittingly ballooned into an unexpected media sensation, when a cave-in trapped him by his feet in a dark muddy pool 80 feet into a cavern. In the earliest era of in-home radios, listeners nationwide clung to hope and whispered prayers for Floyd. His horrific story captivated Americans and dominated frontpage headlines of The Courier Journal and other newspapers for more than two weeks. The jarring spectacle drew a military review, the supervision of the Kentucky's lieutenant governor, tens of thousands of spectators and even well wishes from then President Calvin Coolidge. About a week into the attempted rescue, The Courier Journal produced a film of the volunteer effort and showed it at the old Alamo Theater on South Fourth Street. Cub reporter William Burke 'Skeets' Miller won a Pulitzer Prize for venturing into the cave and interviewing Floyd in the final days of his life. Floyd's entrapment and death became arguably one of the biggest news stories in the world between the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II. And it all happened about 85 miles south of Louisville, during a period known as the Kentucky Cave Wars. A century later, Floyd is remembered among cave explorers as a hero, and unthinkable details of his death live on in The Courier Journal archive as well as in several books and even a 1990s off-Broadway musical. His homestead is also preserved of the Flint Ridge Road, in the Eastern Portion of Mammoth Cave National Park. When I stumbled upon this gripping collection of stories two months before the 100th anniversary of his death, I genuinely couldn't stop reading. I picked up the phone a few weeks later and called David Kem, the author of 'The Kentucky Cave Wars," who helped me understand why. 'He's relatable to so many people,' Kem explained. 'We can see ourselves in Floyd. We can see ourselves struggling to make a living.' That struggle is part of the reason Floyd was exploring Sand Cave in the first place. The Kentucky Cave Wars refers to a period when Western Kentucky farmers were drawing on Mammoth Cave's internationally known reputation as the longest cave in the world as a means to make money. Neighboring Crystal Cave, which is now known as Floyd Collins Crystal Cave, is one of the most beautiful and impressive caves in Western Kentucky. Even so, the Collins family had a hard time drawing in customers. Crystal Cave was located down a little back road on the far end past Mammoth Cave's historic entrance, said David Foster, the President and CEO American Cave Conservation Association. Many visitors didn't see a need to keep traveling all the way to the Collins' cave when there were so many others before it to see. 'Every poor person that had a plot of land that had a cave on it thought they had a gold mine,' Foster said. Floyd needed to find a cave closer to the crowd. He made a deal with a neighbor further up the road, who owned the land where Sand Cave was located. They agreed that if Floyd found something big, they could commercialize it and split the profits. 'Floyd had a reputation as a pretty tough caver, and he'd go a lot of places that other people wouldn't go,' Foster said. Wading into the dark unknown of Western Kentucky's cave wasn't uncommon for Floyd, but when he didn't return on Jan. 30, 1925, friends and family went out to look for him. The search party discovered the entrance to Sand Cave had collapsed and they could just faintly hear Floyd calling out for help. The group dug for hours, and by noon the next day, more than 150 people were working to free him. By the time they made a hole small enough for a young boy to crawl through, Floyd had already been trapped for at least 36 hours. 'RESCUERS ARE UNABLE TO FREE COLLINS ... Loose stones falling may bury him in the cave,' was the headline on the front page of the Feb. 2, 1925 edition of The Courier Journal. Two days later, Courier Journal reporter Miller becomes part of the story, and he ends up leading a few rescue attempts because of his slight frame. 'It is terrible inside,' Miller wrote for the Feb. 4, 1925 edition of The Courier Journal. 'The cold, dirty water numbs us as soon as we start in. We have come to dread it, but each of us tell ourselves that our suffering is as nothing compared to Collins. His patience during long hours of agony, his constant hope when life seemed nearing the end, is enough to strengthen the heart of anyone.' But while the cave felt ominous and grim, Floyd remained optimistic. 'Death holds no terror for Floyd Collins, he told me, when I fed him tonight more than 115 hours after he was trapped in Sand Cave, but he does not expect to die in the immediate future," Miller wrote. On that trip, Miller took a pint bottle of milk and a small bit of whiskey that Floyd had specifically requested. 'I'm cold all over,' Collins had told Miller. 'I believe a drink of whiskey would help.' Then, a second cave-in was reported in Sand Cave on Feb. 5, and Miller felt certain Floyd hadn't survived. 'A corpse now lies in a relentless trap down in a rocky tunnel where, but a few hours ago, an undaunted man lived on his faith and hope,' Miller wrote. 'Through the hours of agony, he kept his eyes on an imaginary ray of light, but the light is dark forever.' Still, the world was gripped by the story. And the headlines kept coming. On Feb. 7 in bold letters across the top of the page, The Courier Journal reads 'BROTHER RISKS HIS LIFE FOR COLLINS, GOES BACK IN CAVE BUT HITS BLOCK." Two days later, hope flickered again. Days before, the rescue team had tied an electric lightbulb around Floyd's neck. Even though he'd gone four days since his last meal, a radio test showed that the filament in the bulb moved from 22 to 26 times per minute. These ever so slight movements were a sign that Floyd could still be breathing. 'COLLINS BELIEVED ALIVE ... RADIO TEST SHOWS HIM STILL LIVING.' Meanwhile, the country continued to rally around the Kentucky man. A crowd estimated to be as large as 50,000 held vigil at the site, while soldiers kept the group back from the cave's entrance. The American Red Cross offered to pay the cost of all the materials needed to free Floyd. A church in Colorado raised money for his cause. The military began looking into a growing conspiracy theory that Floyd's rescue was purposefully botched. Rescuers even tried pumping a pungent banana oil down into the cave, hoping to find another viable entrance above ground. All the while, people kept working to save him with nothing but the filament of a lightbulb to suggest he was alive. When that powerful odor from the banana oil was detected in a nearby pit, America held its breath as this bold message appeared large letters in the Feb. 11 edition of The Courier Journal: COLLINS MAY BE OUT BY DAWN Unfortunately, it wasn't so simple. A rescue crew was ready to drop into the cave that day. The shaft they were building for the rescue was already 44 feet deep, but a crevice in the structure kept the team from going any further. Two days later, on Feb. 14, the excitement returned: COUGH HEARD FROM COLLINS TRAP; SHAFT TO REACH VICTIM AT NOON Finally, Miller, the Courier Journal reporter, went down into the rescue shaft on Feb. 15, fearing all the hiccups up to this moment might make him too late to save the man, who he now considered a friend. As the rescue team inched closer to Floyd the next day, the dangerous conditions in the cave slowed them again. Until finally horror fills the front page of the Courier Journal on Feb. 17: "COLLINS LEG TO BE CUT OFF IN CAVE TO FREE DEAD BODY." The paper featured eight-column photo of the rescue team declaring that 'FUTILE ENDING OF LONG WORK SADDENS MEN." 'The quest is over," the paper read. "Mother Earth after clinging grimly, in life and in death, to Floyd Collins for more than seventeen days, finally surrendered at 2:45 o'clock this afternoon and without warning opened a tiny hole between a rescue shaft and a natural tomb of a cave explorer." 'Peering down this tiny fissure into Sand Cave, the brave workers who had wade an unequal combat with the natural forces of earth, saw that what they had fought so hard for had been lost. Collins was dead.' The earth shifted again, and several more months would pass before a team could retrieve his body. For as much fandemonium as Floyd had drawn in the last two weeks of his life, his funeral was remarkably simple. About 150 people came to the the bluff of the cave on Feb. 17 for a quiet and unusual ceremony. His body still rested in the cavern below, and his friends and family paid their respects outside the entrance. The next day — for the first time since the cave rescue began more than two weeks before — Floyd wasn't mentioned anywhere on the front page of The Courier Journal. The only photo ever taken of Floyd in the cave ran on page three. While cave explorers and the Mammoth Cave region at large would always remember his name, the world moved on from, arguably, the first viral news story of the 20th century. Today, Floyd is best known for a horrible accident that cost him his life, Kem told me, but he was also remarkably talented and years ahead of his time in exploring the longest cave in the world. The Sand Cave incident wasn't the first time Floyd had a close call. He'd needed rescuing at least one other time before, but he kept going back, kept following caves into the deepest and darkest parts he knew. Staring at that dark, blotchy, bleak photo of Floyd in an old edition of The Courier Journal, I marveled at how he stayed as composed as he did during those first conscious days of the rescue when death held 'no terror' for him. Which is how I ended up asking Foster, if the rescue had succeeded — if he thought Floyd would have gone into a cave again. 'Oh, you betcha he would have,' Foster assured me. 'I guarantee it.' Features columnist Maggie Menderski writes about what makes Louisville, Southern Indiana and Kentucky unique, wonderful, and occasionally, a little weird. If you've got something in your family, your town or even your closet that fits that description — she wants to hear from you. Say hello at mmenderski@ Follow along on Instagram @MaggieMenderski. There are numerous Floyd Collins attractions at Mammoth Cave National Park. More information on these activities is available at 1. Visit the Sand Cave site at Mammoth Cave National Park. As a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it offers a look at the underground world Floyd Collins loved to explore. You can also explore the Sand Cave observation deck, where you can see the entrance to the cave where Floyd was trapped. 2. Mammoth Cave National Park is offering a Floyd Collins History Tour on select days in February. Visit for more details. 3. Visit the Collins' Homestead and old ticket office for the Great Crystal Cave, which was owned by Collins and his family. 4. Travel to Floyd Collin's final resting place at Mammoth Cave Baptist Church Cemetery on Flint Ridge Road. 5. Tour the American Cave Museum at 119 E Main St., in Horse Cave, Kentucky, which is home to artifacts and newspaper articles about Floyd's life, his days as an explorer and his entrapment and tragic death. Guest can discover the history and science of America's natural caverns through educational and informative exhibits. Admission is free. 6. The Southern Kentucky Performing Arts Center, 601 College St. in Bowling Green, will feature "Floyd Collins The Musical" on March 8. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Remembering Floyd Collins, explorer trapped at Sand Cave, Kentucky
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Yahoo
A 100-year-old tragic cave accident led to this national park. Here's what happened.
MAMMOTH CAVE, Ky. — During a late January tour of Mammoth Cave, the guide clapped his hands, and the already dim lights went out. He had brought our group to a stop in a flat area – like a small plaza in a hollow section of limestone – to tell us how cave explorer Floyd Collins got trapped nearby almost 100 years earlier. As he described how Collins knocked his lantern over while trying to get out, 20 or so other visitors and I were enveloped by the underground darkness. The pitch black, darker than any I've ever seen, lasted for about 30 seconds, but Collins was trapped for over two weeks, dying before rescuers could reach him. Thursday marks a century since his entrapment, an incident that helped lead to the creation of Mammoth Cave National Park. Here's how. Collins is considered 'one of the greatest cave explorers of all time,' according to the National Park Service. He discovered Great Crystal Cave in 1917, which his family ran as a show cave on their farm in what is now Mammoth Cave National Park. During the Kentucky Cave Wars – when cave owners in the area competed fiercely for tourist dollars – Crystal Cave's location off the main road led Collins to search for a more convenient site. While scoping out nearby Sand Cave on Jan. 30, 1925, the 37-year-old got stuck on his way out. As he twisted and squeezed through tight passageways, his foot bumped against a loose rock, and the nearly 30-pound mass fell on his ankle. 'The way I describe it to visitors is, imagine stepping in a bear trap and it closing on you, and you just can't pull yourself out of it,' Cave Guide Jackie Wheet told a group of media outside Sand Cave last week. Icicles dangled over the entrance – which is closed to the public – on the 38-degree morning, and there was snow on the ground. The conditions during our tour were similar to those Collins saw the day he was trapped, according to Wheet. A furious rescue effort began and word spread among neighbors and local media, eventually drawing reporters from across the country, which reached a fever pitch on Feb. 8, 1925. 'It's a Sunday afternoon, and the media circus is so bad that they nicknamed it 'Carnival Sunday,' ' said Wheet. 'They estimate about 10,000 people were out here.' The National Guard was sent in to do crowd control, according to Wheet, and the American Red Cross set up tents. 'They were more or less treating people drinking too much moonshine than they were treating people digging in the rescue shaft,' he said. Rescuers finally reached him through a vertical shaft measuring 55 feet to find he had died. Collins had been trapped for 18 days. The shaft was closed due to safety concerns, Wheet said, but his body was removed after it was reopened months later. After the National Park Service was established in 1916, Congress began considering new places for national park designation. With many already located in the western U.S., a study was commissioned to review potential sites elsewhere, such as the Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah, according to Dr. Rickard Toomey, a Cave Specialist with the park. Mammoth Cave was also 'somewhat considered,' he said. 'The idea had been talked about on and off throughout the years,' Wheet added. 'But you know, World War I happens, and people kind of forget about it.' While Sand Cave is not part of the Mammoth Cave system, Collins' entrapment and the widespread attention it generated brought the area 'back to the consciousness and got it on the list,' according to Toomey. The park was authorized by Congress in 1926 and officially established in 1941. National parks aren't just places: What you should know about the people 'We like to say that Floyd Collins did have a connection with this becoming a national park, even though that wasn't his goal,' said Wheet. His legacy has lived on in other ways, too. Singer Vernon Dalhart memorialized him in his hit song, 'The Death of Floyd Collins." Collins' Crystal Cave, which remained a tourist destination until the 1960s, also became part of the national park in 1961. This spring, a musical about Collins will make its Broadway debut. Previous versions of the show ran in Philadelphia and later Off Broadway in the mid-1990s, The New York Times reported. In honor of the anniversary, visitors can attend special events at the Lodge at Mammoth Cave's Rotunda Room next month. The Life and Tragic Death of Floyd Collins will take place on Feb. 21 at 6:45 p.m., and the Floyd Collins Discussion Panel with Subject Matter Experts – including Collins family members – will be on Feb. 22 at 6:45 p.m. Both are free, and no advanced signup or tickets are required. Guides also frequently cover Collins' story on regular cave tours and during other programming. Toomey said 'having Mammoth Cave National Park include Floyd Collins as one of the central stories that we tell here at the park helps keep his story alive.' 'So, he helped create the national park, and the national park helps preserve his legacy.' Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@ This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How a tragic accident led to the creation of this national park
USA Today
30-01-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
A 100-year-old tragic cave accident led to this national park. Here's what happened.
AI-assisted summary Cave explorer Floyd Collins got trapped in Sand Cave in Kentucky 100 years ago and later died. The incident drew national attention and helped lead to the creation of Mammoth Cave National Park. Collins' legacy lives on through the park, a popular song and an upcoming Broadway musical. MAMMOTH CAVE, Ky. — During a late January tour of Mammoth Cave, the guide clapped his hands, and the already dim lights went out. He had brought our group to a stop in a flat area – like a small plaza in a hollow section of limestone – to tell us how cave explorer Floyd Collins got trapped nearby almost 100 years earlier. As he described how Collins knocked his lantern over while trying to get out, 20 or so other visitors and I were enveloped by the underground darkness. The pitch black, darker than any I've ever seen, lasted for about 30 seconds, but Collins was trapped for over two weeks, dying before rescuers could reach him. Thursday marks a century since his entrapment, an incident that helped lead to the creation of Mammoth Cave National Park. Here's how. Who was Floyd Collins? Collins is considered 'one of the greatest cave explorers of all time,' according to the National Park Service. He discovered Great Crystal Cave in 1917, which his family ran as a show cave on their farm in what is now Mammoth Cave National Park. Enjoy your worry-free vacation: Best travel insurance policies During the Kentucky Cave Wars – when cave owners in the area competed fiercely for tourist dollars – Crystal Cave's location off the main road led Collins to search for a more convenient site. While scoping out nearby Sand Cave on Jan. 30, 1925, the 37-year-old got stuck on his way out. As he twisted and squeezed through tight passageways, his foot bumped against a loose rock, and the nearly 30-pound mass fell on his ankle. 'The way I describe it to visitors is, imagine stepping in a bear trap and it closing on you, and you just can't pull yourself out of it,' Cave Guide Jackie Wheet told a group of media outside Sand Cave last week. Icicles dangled over the entrance – which is closed to the public – on the 38-degree morning, and there was snow on the ground. The conditions during our tour were similar to those Collins saw the day he was trapped, according to Wheet. A furious rescue effort began and word spread among neighbors and local media, eventually drawing reporters from across the country, which reached a fever pitch on Feb. 8, 1925. 'It's a Sunday afternoon, and the media circus is so bad that they nicknamed it 'Carnival Sunday,' ' said Wheet. 'They estimate about 10,000 people were out here.' The National Guard was sent in to do crowd control, according to Wheet, and the American Red Cross set up tents. 'They were more or less treating people drinking too much moonshine than they were treating people digging in the rescue shaft,' he said. Rescuers finally reached him through a vertical shaft measuring 55 feet to find he had died. Collins had been trapped for 18 days. The shaft was closed due to safety concerns, Wheet said, but his body was removed after it was reopened months later. How did Floyd Collins help create Mammoth Cave National Park? After the National Park Service was established in 1916, Congress began considering new places for national park designation. With many already located in the western U.S., a study was commissioned to review potential sites elsewhere, such as the Great Smoky Mountains and Shenandoah, according to Dr. Rickard Toomey, a Cave Specialist with the park. Mammoth Cave was also 'somewhat considered,' he said. 'The idea had been talked about on and off throughout the years,' Wheet added. 'But you know, World War I happens, and people kind of forget about it.' While Sand Cave is not part of the Mammoth Cave system, Collins' entrapment and the widespread attention it generated brought the area 'back to the consciousness and got it on the list,' according to Toomey. The park was authorized by Congress in 1926 and officially established in 1941. National parks aren't just places:What you should know about the people 'We like to say that Floyd Collins did have a connection with this becoming a national park, even though that wasn't his goal,' said Wheet. His legacy has lived on in other ways, too. Singer Vernon Dalhart memorialized him in his hit song, 'The Death of Floyd Collins." Collins' Crystal Cave, which remained a tourist destination until the 1960s, also became part of the national park in 1961. This spring, a musical about Collins will make its Broadway debut. Previous versions of the show ran in Philadelphia and later Off Broadway in the mid-1990s, The New York Times reported. 'The national park helps preserve his legacy' In honor of the anniversary, visitors can attend special events at the Lodge at Mammoth Cave's Rotunda Room next month. The Life and Tragic Death of Floyd Collins will take place on Feb. 21 at 6:45 p.m., and the Floyd Collins Discussion Panel with Subject Matter Experts – including Collins family members – will be on Feb. 22 at 6:45 p.m. Both are free, and no advanced signup or tickets are required. Guides also frequently cover Collins' story on regular cave tours and during other programming. Toomey said 'having Mammoth Cave National Park include Floyd Collins as one of the central stories that we tell here at the park helps keep his story alive.' 'So, he helped create the national park, and the national park helps preserve his legacy.' Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at ndiller@
