May 27…. See in the dark

Today’s tour of Mammoth Cave was the Star Chamber Lantern Tour.

Most tours of this and other caves I’ve been in are all done with electric lights. Placed strategically around the passages, they light the way and highlight the features. Seeing where you’ve been and where you’re headed lets you feel the size (or lack thereof) of the place.

Today’s tour was a lantern tour. Forty people and a dozen kerosene lanterns. No lights. Just like the tourists in the 1800’s, you could see where you were, and a few feet in any direction, but that was about it. No idea where you had just come from or where you were headed, passageways just appeared as we walked and disappeared right behind us. Some of the tour covered the same passage as yesterday’s but without lights it’s a completely different experience.

Along the way, we passed several stone huts, used in the 1880’s as an experimental tuberculosis hospital. 😳

It was thought back then that TB was caused by “bad air”, and that if patients could just live in the “good air” of the cave for a while, they would be cured. Oddly enough, cold damp air is not the best treatment for TB. Who knew. 😣 After a half dozen patients had died in the cave, the experiment was halted.

If you come to Mammoth Cave, be sure to take one of the lantern tours. It’s well worth it.