Latest / Crime and Horror / You can touch him, but you can't help him (PHOBIA TRIGGERS)

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You can touch him, but you can't help him (PHOBIA TRIGGERS) · Crime and Horror

0:00
Speaker 1: Today's story is a claustrophobic nightmare. But before we get
0:03
Speaker 1: into that story, if you're a fan of the strange,
0:05
Speaker 1: dark and mysterious delivered in story format, then you've come
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Speaker 1: of our weekly uploads. Okay, let's get into today's story.
0:43
Speaker 1: A little after three pm on March twenty second, nineteen
0:46
Speaker 1: fifty nine, a twenty year old British college student named
0:49
Speaker 1: Neil Moss stood in a cavern about a thousand feet
0:52
Speaker 1: underground in northern England, and as he stood there, he
0:55
Speaker 1: was staring with excitement into this dark hole right in
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Speaker 1: front of him. The cavern that Neil was standing inside
1:00
Speaker 1: of was known as Peak Cavern, and it was one
1:03
Speaker 1: of the biggest and most twisting cave systems in the
1:06
Speaker 1: entire country. In fact, it was so big that at
1:08
Speaker 1: one point an entire village of thirty rope makers lived
1:12
Speaker 1: inside of this cave, and then also after those rope makers,
1:16
Speaker 1: the cave system became a hideout for criminals and thieves
1:19
Speaker 1: because there were so many secret passageways and basically places
1:22
Speaker 1: to hide inside of the system. So basically Peak Cavern
1:26
Speaker 1: was a pretty famous place, and as a result, basically
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Speaker 1: all of it had been mapped out or at least
1:31
Speaker 1: explored by scientists and splunkers, except for this hole right.
1:36
Speaker 2: In front of Neil.
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Speaker 1: It was an entrance to a tunnel that nobody even
1:39
Speaker 1: knew about. Neil and the amateur exploration group that he
1:42
Speaker 1: was a part of had discovered this entryway about two
1:45
Speaker 1: weeks earlier. Now, neither Neil nor anybody else in this
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Speaker 1: group had actually gone into this hole yet, and the
1:51
Speaker 1: reason for that was it was pretty dangerous. I mean,
1:54
Speaker 1: the opening to this tunnel was pretty small. It was
1:56
Speaker 1: one and a half feet by two feet wide at
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Speaker 1: the opening, and just looking down into it, I mean
2:00
Speaker 1: it's a dark hole that you really can't tell how
2:03
Speaker 1: tight or how far it even goes. And so once
2:05
Speaker 1: you went inside of it, you know, the deeper you got,
2:08
Speaker 1: the higher the risk of entrapment. And so whoever actually
2:10
Speaker 1: went into this hole really needed to be prepared, But
2:13
Speaker 1: Neil and the rest of his amateur expiration group really
2:16
Speaker 1: felt like it would be worth it to try to
2:18
Speaker 1: go down this tunnel, not just because nobody had done
2:21
Speaker 1: it before, but specifically they thought there was a chance
2:25
Speaker 1: that beyond this tunnel, basically deep underground, if you followed
2:28
Speaker 1: it long enough, it could lead to another big open
2:31
Speaker 1: chamber that nobody had found before. And those types of
2:34
Speaker 1: big open chambers, whoever finds them gets.
2:37
Speaker 2: It named after them.
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Speaker 1: And so Neil and his group were thinking, you know, hey,
2:40
Speaker 1: if we find this big chamber, you know it'll be
2:42
Speaker 1: named after us. We'll be famous at least in you know,
2:45
Speaker 1: spelunking circles. But they also understood that there might be
2:48
Speaker 1: nothing at the other end of this tunnel.
2:50
Speaker 2: It could just be a dead end.
2:51
Speaker 1: But the only way to know for sure would be
2:53
Speaker 1: if one of the members of this group went into
2:56
Speaker 1: the hole. Now, in addition to a fear of being
2:58
Speaker 1: trapped in the hole, there were other big issues with
3:01
Speaker 1: blindly crawling into a tunnel no one's been in before, like,
3:04
Speaker 1: for example, there could be a sudden drop off or
3:06
Speaker 1: running water or some other hazard that whoever went into
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Speaker 1: the hole wouldn't know about until they were facing it.
3:13
Speaker 1: And so naturally everybody in this group was excited about
3:16
Speaker 1: the hole, but also a little apprehensive about being the
3:19
Speaker 1: guinea pig to actually go into the hole. And so
3:21
Speaker 1: after the group had kind of stood around the hole
3:23
Speaker 1: for a minute kind of talking through who was going
3:24
Speaker 1: to do it, Neil had finally courageously volunteered to be
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Speaker 1: the guinea pig.
3:29
Speaker 2: He would go down.
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Speaker 1: And in many ways, Neil was kind of like the
3:32
Speaker 1: perfect candidate for this job. He was smart, he was strong,
3:36
Speaker 1: and most importantly, he was thin, which meant he could
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Speaker 1: navigate a really tight space. The only drawback to Neil
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Speaker 1: was he was pretty tall. He was over six feet
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Speaker 1: and generally speaking, the best cavers in the world are
3:47
Speaker 1: very short and thin because it allows them to get
3:50
Speaker 1: into the smallest, tightest spaces underground. And so Neil, who
3:54
Speaker 1: was standing over the hole, began to mentally prepare himself
3:56
Speaker 1: for what he was about to do. He pulled out
3:59
Speaker 1: his flashlight and he shined it straight down into this hole,
4:01
Speaker 1: which again is a pretty narrow hole, and it basically
4:04
Speaker 1: went straight down and as he was shining it, he
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Speaker 1: saw about twelve feet down the hole kind of turned
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Speaker 1: and you couldn't see what was beyond it, and so
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Speaker 1: Neil knew the only part of this trip he would
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Speaker 1: know about is that first twelve feet once he made
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Speaker 1: that turn.
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Speaker 2: I mean, everything.
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Speaker 1: Beyond that was totally unknown. Literally, no one in the
4:22
Speaker 1: world knew what was beyond it, but Neil was about
4:25
Speaker 1: to find out. The cave explorers anchored this seventy five
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Speaker 1: foot long wire ladder that was all rolled up to
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Speaker 1: this rock that was inside the cavern right near the
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Speaker 1: opening to this hole.
4:34
Speaker 2: Once that was in place, they.
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Speaker 1: Spooled out the ladder and kind of dumped it down
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Speaker 1: into the hole, and so it fell twelve feet down
4:40
Speaker 1: and landed right where this tunnel turned and sort of
4:43
Speaker 1: went into oblivion where nobody knows what happened after that.
4:46
Speaker 1: And so Neil his job was going to be to
4:48
Speaker 1: go into this hole feet first, go down twelve feet,
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Speaker 1: and then with his feet as he kind of blindly
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Speaker 1: crawled backwards feet first into the tunnel, he'd be kicking
4:57
Speaker 1: with his feet this ladder, extending it far and farther
5:00
Speaker 1: into this tunnel. The idea was this ladder was his
5:03
Speaker 1: way back out again. So he's basically on top of
5:06
Speaker 1: the ladder making his way and at any point he
5:08
Speaker 1: can just grab the ladder and climb back out again.
5:10
Speaker 1: And so once the ladder was in place and all
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Speaker 1: the cave explorers were kind of waiting for Neil, Neil
5:15
Speaker 1: walked up.
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Speaker 2: To the edge of the hole.
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Speaker 1: He took a deep breath, and then he swung one
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Speaker 1: leg into the hole, placed it on one of the
5:21
Speaker 1: rungs of the ladder, put his other leg on the
5:23
Speaker 1: ladder as well, and kind of tested it to make
5:25
Speaker 1: sure the rock that was anchoring the ladder could hold
5:27
Speaker 1: his weight. Once he was sure it could, he said
5:29
Speaker 1: goodbye to the explorers and then began his descent feet
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Speaker 1: first down into the hole. As Neil slowly and carefully
5:36
Speaker 1: climbed down the ladder during this first twelve foot section,
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Speaker 1: he felt the walls of this hole closing in on him.
5:42
Speaker 1: When he was close to the bottom of this first section,
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Speaker 1: the walls were literally flush with his shoulders and back.
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Speaker 2: I mean, this was a really tight space.
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Speaker 1: And so finally he got to the very bottom of
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Speaker 1: this twelve foot section and he was about to step
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Speaker 1: onto what he thought was another rung because he can't
5:56
Speaker 1: actually see where he's going he's just using his feed
5:58
Speaker 1: to feel and he stepped down and he felt something hard.
6:01
Speaker 1: It was the ground. So he had reached the bottom
6:03
Speaker 1: of the twelve foot section. He kind of tested the
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Speaker 1: ground with his foot, you know, seeing if it would
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Speaker 1: support his weight, and after feeling confident, he stepped off
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Speaker 1: the ladder and just stood at the bottom of the hole.
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Speaker 1: At this point, Neil used his feet to kick the
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Speaker 1: ladder that was still coiled up at the bottom of
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Speaker 1: the hole into the next turn, into the next section
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Speaker 1: of the tunnel that he'd be going down, and as
6:22
Speaker 1: soon as he kicked it, he heard it kind of
6:24
Speaker 1: spool out as it tumbled down. This next section, however,
6:27
Speaker 1: it was not a straight drop like this first section was.
6:30
Speaker 1: This next section he'd be going into was more of
6:32
Speaker 1: a gradual decline, just based on the sound this ladder
6:35
Speaker 1: was making as it tumbled down. And so after the
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Speaker 1: ladder had stopped making noise and he knew it had stopped,
6:40
Speaker 1: Neil gave one final look up at his friends above
6:42
Speaker 1: gave them a little wave, even though he could barely
6:44
Speaker 1: move his hands because it's so tight around him, and
6:46
Speaker 1: then he got down on his stomach and feet first
6:49
Speaker 1: began shimmying himself down into this next section. Now, during
6:53
Speaker 1: the first twelve feet and during the initial turn into
6:56
Speaker 1: this new section, Neil had been able to turn his
6:59
Speaker 1: head and basically look down and see where his feet
7:01
Speaker 1: were going. But after only a few feet of going
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Speaker 1: into this new section, the walls had become so tight
7:08
Speaker 1: on his body that he couldn't even move his head.
7:10
Speaker 1: He really was blind and had no idea where he
7:13
Speaker 1: was going. Now, for a lot of people, this would
7:15
Speaker 1: have been a claustrophobic nightmare. Neil is in this unbelievably
7:20
Speaker 1: tight space. He has no idea what's going to happen next.
7:22
Speaker 1: He doesn't know if it's going to get so tight
7:24
Speaker 1: he'll get wedged in there. It's cold, it's damp, I mean,
7:28
Speaker 1: it's pitch black in there.
7:29
Speaker 2: He does have a.
7:29
Speaker 1: Headlamp, but his head is like kind of pressed to
7:32
Speaker 1: the ground and he can't really move it, so, you know,
7:34
Speaker 1: he's not really able to look around him. And periodically,
7:37
Speaker 1: as he was shimming his way down deeper into this tunnel,
7:41
Speaker 1: he would dislodge rocks from the wall and he would
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Speaker 1: hear them strike the wall as they tumble down into oblivion.
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Speaker 1: He had no idea if these rocks were tumbling into
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Speaker 1: a dead end, or if they were tumbling off a
7:51
Speaker 1: ledge somewhere, a ledge that he wouldn't be aware of
7:54
Speaker 1: until he got to it. But for Neil, this environment
7:57
Speaker 1: was something he thrived in. It was why he was
8:00
Speaker 1: so drawn to cave exploration. As much as cave exploring
8:03
Speaker 1: was a physical exercise and a physical test, it was
8:06
Speaker 1: much more a mental test. I mean, can you handle
8:09
Speaker 1: being in these tight spaces and persevering and continuing on
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Speaker 1: when you're all by yourself and it's like dangers all
8:15
Speaker 1: around you. And also Neil just loved being alone and
8:19
Speaker 1: in the dark, so cave exploration was like perfect for him.
8:22
Speaker 1: When Neil had made it about ten feet down this
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Speaker 1: new section, his feet touched the rolled up section of
8:27
Speaker 1: the ladder, and so with his toes he kind of
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Speaker 1: gave it a kick, and the ladder tumbled for a
8:32
Speaker 1: second and he could hear it, and then it just
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Speaker 1: kind of vanished all together, like the ladder had gone
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Speaker 1: over a cliff. And so Neil realized, very likely, just
8:40
Speaker 1: beyond his feet, even though he cannot see it, is
8:43
Speaker 1: a ledge, and very likely either a drop off or
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Speaker 1: a new cavern you know, the thing they hope is
8:48
Speaker 1: on the other end of this tunnel, and so this
8:50
Speaker 1: was exciting for Neil.
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Speaker 2: He felt a rush of adrenaline.
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Speaker 1: You know, there's a new turn in the tunnel, and
8:54
Speaker 1: for all he knows, this is the cavern they're looking for,
8:57
Speaker 1: or it's just another section of tunnel he would have
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Speaker 1: to explore. But either way he's making progress. And so
9:03
Speaker 1: Neil very carefully scooched backwards until he felt the edge,
9:06
Speaker 1: at which point he let his legs go over the edge.
9:09
Speaker 1: He found his footing on the ladder, and it was
9:11
Speaker 1: at this point when he kind of turned around a
9:13
Speaker 1: little bit that he could see this was not some
9:16
Speaker 1: big open cavern he had found. It was just a
9:18
Speaker 1: turn in the tunnel system. It was now going back
9:21
Speaker 1: to basically a vertical hole big enough to fit inside of.
9:24
Speaker 1: But Neil has no idea how deep it goes or
9:27
Speaker 1: what it leads to. But Neil was totally undeterred. He
9:30
Speaker 1: lowered his whole body into the section, got on the
9:32
Speaker 1: ladder and began descending, and very quickly. As he began
9:36
Speaker 1: this descent, the walls of this section, this new vertical section,
9:40
Speaker 1: were so tight it was about eighteen inches in diameter
9:44
Speaker 1: that he actually couldn't just go straight down. His body
9:47
Speaker 1: didn't fit just trying to maneuver down. So the only
9:50
Speaker 1: way he could get himself to go down further was
9:53
Speaker 1: to like shimmy himself side to side like a corkscrew,
9:56
Speaker 1: basically forcing his body deeper and deeper in to this hole.
10:00
Speaker 1: And so Neil continued doing this for an additional eighteen
10:03
Speaker 1: feet down in this new section of tunnel, which put
10:06
Speaker 1: him at a total of forty feet down into this
10:09
Speaker 1: tunnel from the entrance where the rest of his friends were.
10:12
Speaker 1: And when he got down there eighteen feet down, he
10:14
Speaker 1: went to step onto the rung to continue his descent,
10:17
Speaker 1: but his foot hit rock and he felt around with
10:19
Speaker 1: his feet and he realized this tunnel did not lead
10:22
Speaker 1: to a big new chamber. It instead was a dead
10:25
Speaker 1: end after all. Now, just to be sure, Neil actually
10:28
Speaker 1: kicked as hard as he could. You know, he's kind
10:30
Speaker 1: of restricted, but he kicked with his legs as much
10:32
Speaker 1: as he could to see if maybe this wasn't a
10:34
Speaker 1: true dead end, maybe it was just an obstruction and
10:37
Speaker 1: he could clear it. But he could tell, you know,
10:39
Speaker 1: after a few stomps, this was not moving. This really
10:42
Speaker 1: was the end. Now, part of Neil was disappointed because
10:45
Speaker 1: he was hoping that by doing this they would discover
10:48
Speaker 1: this big new chamber and they'd get it named after them.
10:50
Speaker 1: But on the other hand, he was also relieved because
10:53
Speaker 1: by this point it was extremely claustrophobic, even for a
10:57
Speaker 1: guy who thrived in this environment. You know, by the
11:00
Speaker 1: bottom of this forty foot section, he is completely wedged
11:03
Speaker 1: in place, and so Neil decided it was time to
11:05
Speaker 1: head back to the surface. But from where he was
11:07
Speaker 1: at he couldn't even hear his friends. He's way down
11:10
Speaker 1: deep in this tunnel. It's totally pitch black, and so
11:12
Speaker 1: what he needed to do was just begin climbing back
11:15
Speaker 1: up the ladder and then you know, about halfway up
11:17
Speaker 1: he could call up to his friends and tell them, hey,
11:19
Speaker 1: you know, I'm returning, But remember to get to where
11:22
Speaker 1: Neil is. He has literally forced his body down into
11:26
Speaker 1: this tiny hole, basically corkscrewing himself as deep as he
11:30
Speaker 1: could get, and so he's totally restricted and his arms
11:33
Speaker 1: are basically by his side and his hands are basically
11:36
Speaker 1: pinned in front of his body, and so Neil tried
11:40
Speaker 1: to grab the ladder which is literally pressed up against
11:42
Speaker 1: his chest to begin the ascent. But even though his
11:45
Speaker 1: fingers could touch the rungs of the ladder, he couldn't
11:49
Speaker 1: actually move his arms to pull himself up the ladder.
11:53
Speaker 2: He could just hold the rung that was it.
11:55
Speaker 1: But Neil had been in similar situations before, and what
11:58
Speaker 1: you do is you just use your leg You drive
12:01
Speaker 1: with your legs and push your body up until your
12:03
Speaker 1: arms can go above your head, and then you continue
12:05
Speaker 1: the ascent. However, his legs also were basically in the
12:09
Speaker 1: same situation. It was so unbelievably tight around his legs
12:13
Speaker 1: that he couldn't lift his legs up. He could just
12:16
Speaker 1: basically wiggle his feet. Basically, there was no way physically
12:20
Speaker 1: for Neil to get himself out. He would need his
12:23
Speaker 1: team up above to pull him out. And so Neil
12:26
Speaker 1: began shouting as loud as he could, trying to get
12:29
Speaker 1: the attention of his friends up above, you know, telling them, hey,
12:32
Speaker 1: I'm stuck, pull me out. And then also as best
12:35
Speaker 1: as he could with his hands on the wrong he
12:37
Speaker 1: kind of pulled on the ladder, signaling to them like, hey,
12:40
Speaker 1: get me out of here now. He couldn't really hear
12:42
Speaker 1: anything up above. It was sort of muffled, and you know,
12:45
Speaker 1: he couldn't tell if they were yelling back down to him,
12:47
Speaker 1: but as he was holding onto the ladder, he felt
12:49
Speaker 1: a little bit of tension, suggesting they were pulling on him. However,
12:53
Speaker 1: as he held on waiting to be pulled up and out,
12:56
Speaker 1: he didn't budge, like despite the tension on this ladder
12:59
Speaker 1: clearly coming from the surface from his friends, he wasn't moving.
13:02
Speaker 1: And that's when Neil realized he had made a critical mistake.
13:06
Speaker 1: When he had reached the bottom of this tunnel, when
13:08
Speaker 1: he realized it was a dead end, he had stomped
13:11
Speaker 1: with his feet to confirm it really was a dead end,
13:14
Speaker 1: and when he had done that, he had inadvertently kicked
13:17
Speaker 1: the rungs of this ladder into a crevice, and then
13:21
Speaker 1: rocks which he had heard kind of falling when he
13:23
Speaker 1: was kicking, landed on top of it, basically pinning the
13:26
Speaker 1: ladder in place. Basically, this ladder was now anchored inside
13:31
Speaker 1: the cave, which meant no matter how hard his friends
13:34
Speaker 1: on the surface polled, they would not be able to
13:37
Speaker 1: pull the ladder up, which meant they couldn't pull Neil
13:39
Speaker 1: up and Neil. Once he realized this was the issue,
13:42
Speaker 1: he tried to move his feet to clear the rocks
13:44
Speaker 1: off the bottom of the ladder, but he couldn't. It
13:47
Speaker 1: was too tight around him and so Neil was totally stuck.
13:54
Speaker 1: As many of you may know, aside from telling stories
13:56
Speaker 1: on this YouTube channel, I also tell stories on my
13:59
Speaker 1: Flotaship podcast, the Mister Ballin Podcast Strange, Dark and Mysterious Stories.
14:04
Speaker 1: And in addition to that podcast, we over at Balin
14:07
Speaker 1: Studios actually have a whole slate of other incredible, strange,
14:12
Speaker 1: dark and mysterious podcasts for you to enjoy. If you're
14:14
Speaker 1: into baffling and horrifying medical mysteries, we'll check out my
14:18
Speaker 1: other podcast I host called Mister Ballin's Medical Mysteries. Or
14:23
Speaker 1: maybe you want to hear somebody else from Ballin Studios
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Speaker 1: with a far better radio voice tell you a story,
14:28
Speaker 1: like Luke LEHMANA. Luke has two podcasts under the Ballin
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Speaker 1: Studios Umbrella.
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Speaker 2: One is called.
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Speaker 1: Wartime Stories, which sort of mirrors what he does on YouTube.
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Speaker 1: Also called Wartime Stories, it's like the Strange, Dark and
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Speaker 1: So if any of these shows appeal to you, make
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15:28
Speaker 1: along and tune in each week for new episodes. The
15:37
Speaker 1: members of Neil's exploration group pretty much immediately realized this
15:42
Speaker 1: was a crisis because not only was Neil stuck in
15:45
Speaker 1: this cave, but in these tight little tunnels underground, there's
15:49
Speaker 1: limited oxygen. So it's not just a matter of oh,
15:52
Speaker 1: you know, we'll figure it out and get Neil out somehow.
15:54
Speaker 1: It's like, no, you have a limited amount of time
15:57
Speaker 1: before Neil runs out of oxygen down there. Even if
16:00
Speaker 1: you come up with a solution, it might be too late.
16:03
Speaker 1: And so immediately members of the Expiration group left Pete
16:06
Speaker 1: Cavern to go get help, and before long, over two
16:09
Speaker 1: hundred people had flooded the cavern, including a mountain rescue
16:12
Speaker 1: unit and a coal mining extraction team and a whole
16:15
Speaker 1: bunch of civilians who were all there to try to
16:18
Speaker 1: figure out how to get Neil out now. At first,
16:21
Speaker 1: Neil was very optimistic about his recovery. He could hear
16:24
Speaker 1: clearly all the commotion forty feet above him. He couldn't
16:27
Speaker 1: fully discern what was going on there, but he could
16:30
Speaker 1: clearly tell a major rescue operation was afoot. And so
16:33
Speaker 1: as ropes were cast down and ladders were cast down
16:36
Speaker 1: to try to get him out, and they continued to fail,
16:39
Speaker 1: and as the air he was breathing began to thin
16:41
Speaker 1: out and it was getting harder to breathe, Neil's reaction
16:44
Speaker 1: was to kind of be positive. He actually began cracking
16:47
Speaker 1: jokes and calling up like, hey, how much longer do
16:49
Speaker 1: you have to wait down here. But as the minutes
16:52
Speaker 1: turned into hours and none of the efforts by any
16:55
Speaker 1: of the rescuers were working, Neil began to panic. His
16:57
Speaker 1: heart was racing, not only from his nerves, but also
17:00
Speaker 1: because he was running out of oxygen. He had begun
17:03
Speaker 1: to grit his teeth really hard to kind of control
17:05
Speaker 1: his fear, but he was really starting to lose it.
17:08
Speaker 1: At one point, the rescuers threw down an oxygen mask
17:11
Speaker 1: for him to breathe, because it was clear the air was.
17:13
Speaker 2: Becoming a real issue.
17:15
Speaker 1: But even though the mask literally tumbled down and hit
17:18
Speaker 1: him right on the head, so it's right here, he
17:20
Speaker 1: couldn't get his arms up to put the mask on,
17:23
Speaker 1: and so there it is salvation, but he couldn't use it.
17:25
Speaker 1: And so before long Neil sort of began drifting in
17:28
Speaker 1: and out of consciousness. You know, one moment he'd be
17:31
Speaker 1: calling up to his rescuers, you know, asking for an update.
17:34
Speaker 1: The next they'd call down to him and get no response.
17:37
Speaker 1: Clearly this situation was becoming dire. Now to this point,
17:40
Speaker 1: the way the rescue had gone was the rescuers were
17:43
Speaker 1: basically throwing equipment into the hole be it ladders or
17:46
Speaker 1: ropes or oxygen masks for Neil to grab onto or
17:50
Speaker 1: put on him. And they were hoping that basically Neil
17:53
Speaker 1: could get himself out of the hole, because the great
17:55
Speaker 1: fear was if we send a rescuer or rescuer's plural
17:59
Speaker 1: into this hole to get him, they could get stuck.
18:02
Speaker 1: And now we have an even bigger problem. But when
18:04
Speaker 1: Neil began losing consciousness, when they couldn't get him to
18:06
Speaker 1: call back to them, they knew they were genuinely running
18:09
Speaker 1: out of time, and so they began pumping oxygen into
18:12
Speaker 1: the hole to hopefully buy some extra time. And then
18:14
Speaker 1: they decided, we got to send someone into the hole.
18:17
Speaker 1: Someone has to go in there, get Neil and pull
18:19
Speaker 1: them out. And so one by one, these courageous rescuers
18:23
Speaker 1: went down into the hole, and eight times they tried,
18:27
Speaker 1: and eight times they failed. All eight either got stuck
18:30
Speaker 1: along the way or they passed out along the way.
18:33
Speaker 1: Three people actually reached Neil and actually touched Neil, but
18:36
Speaker 1: there was no way to grab him and pull him out.
18:39
Speaker 1: And so Neil, who was conscious for a lot of this,
18:42
Speaker 1: like he's hearing and literally in some cases seeing rescue.
18:46
Speaker 1: It's right there, it's right in front of him. But
18:48
Speaker 1: it just didn't work. By the time the eighth man
18:51
Speaker 1: was pulled back out of the hole, they could hear
18:54
Speaker 1: in the hole this horrible sound, which was Neil gasping
18:57
Speaker 1: for air. Even though they were attempting to hump air
19:00
Speaker 1: into this hole, it wasn't enough and Neil just couldn't
19:04
Speaker 1: fill his lungs with enough oxygen. And so the rescuers
19:06
Speaker 1: yelled into the hole for Neil to just hold on.
19:09
Speaker 1: They were gonna get him out of there. Just be strong,
19:11
Speaker 1: hold on. But by this point Neil he wasn't even
19:14
Speaker 1: saying anything back. He just continued making these awful gasping sounds.
19:18
Speaker 1: By about seven pm, when Neil had been stuck in
19:20
Speaker 1: this hole for four hours, the rescuers decided to send
19:23
Speaker 1: one more guy into this hole, this really small civilian,
19:27
Speaker 1: and he went down there with a rope to attach
19:29
Speaker 1: around Neil and hopefully pull him out. And this little
19:32
Speaker 1: civilian managed to get all the way down all the
19:35
Speaker 1: way to Neil, and when he found Neil, Neil was
19:37
Speaker 1: unconscious but alive, and the rescuer put the rope around
19:41
Speaker 1: Neil's shoulders and then signaled to the surface to begin pulling,
19:44
Speaker 1: and so from the surface they pulled on this rope
19:47
Speaker 1: and slowly but surely, Neil began to be pulled out
19:50
Speaker 1: of the hole and he moved about eighteen inches, being
19:53
Speaker 1: monitored by the civilian who was down there. However, because
19:57
Speaker 1: they were pulling so hard on this rope to get
19:59
Speaker 1: Neil to mo the pressure from that rope was basically
20:02
Speaker 1: crushing Neil's chest and he stopped breathing, and the civilian
20:06
Speaker 1: who was down there with Neil noticed it and yelled
20:08
Speaker 1: up to the group to stop, and they had to
20:10
Speaker 1: take the rope off because yeah, they might be able
20:12
Speaker 1: to pull him out this way, but they would kill him.
20:15
Speaker 2: He would suffocate.
20:16
Speaker 1: And so once the civilian rescuer came out of the hole,
20:18
Speaker 1: he told the group, like, look, Neil's body is simply
20:22
Speaker 1: too big to be yanked out of the hole safely.
20:24
Speaker 2: He needs to be conscious.
20:26
Speaker 1: And able to contort and twist his body, basically undoing
20:30
Speaker 1: what Neil did to get down there in order to
20:32
Speaker 1: get out again, Like, we need his participation and he's unconscious,
20:36
Speaker 1: so we can't do that. And so at this point
20:38
Speaker 1: the rescuers were totally desperate, you know, they know Neil
20:42
Speaker 1: is still alive. They can hear some of his ragged
20:44
Speaker 1: breathing coming out of the hole. But they knew they
20:46
Speaker 1: had to do something drastic right now or Neil was
20:49
Speaker 1: going to die. And so they came up with this
20:50
Speaker 1: plan for this even smaller rescuer, this woman, to go
20:55
Speaker 1: down into the hole, get to Neil and break his
20:58
Speaker 1: collarbone to try to shrink his body to be able
21:01
Speaker 1: to pull him out. And so this woman she goes
21:03
Speaker 1: down there and she reaches Neil, but she failed to
21:06
Speaker 1: break his collar bone, and so she too had to
21:08
Speaker 1: come out of the hole, leaving Neil behind. And so
21:11
Speaker 1: once the woman came out of the hole, it became
21:13
Speaker 1: clear to the rescuers that Neil was not getting out
21:16
Speaker 1: of this hole, even though he was just forty feet
21:18
Speaker 1: away and at this moment still very much alive. They
21:22
Speaker 1: could hear his ragged breathing, but there was just nothing
21:24
Speaker 1: anybody could do. And so one of the rescuers called
21:27
Speaker 1: Neil's father and told him, you need to come out
21:30
Speaker 1: to Peak Cavern. Not long after that, Neil's father, Eric Moss,
21:33
Speaker 1: arrived at Pete Cavern. Now he knew going into this
21:36
Speaker 1: that his son was stuck. That's why he got the
21:38
Speaker 1: phone call to come out here, but he did not
21:41
Speaker 1: understand just how dire the situation really was. But as
21:44
Speaker 1: soon as he got to Pete Cavern and saw these
21:46
Speaker 1: vehicles outside and the hundreds of rescuers coming in and
21:50
Speaker 1: out of the cave with these sad, dark expressions on
21:52
Speaker 1: their faces, Eric knew this was really bad, and so
21:56
Speaker 1: Eric made his way into Peak Cavern and for hours
21:59
Speaker 1: he just hoped and prayed that whatever was happening would
22:02
Speaker 1: be enough to get his son out. And for hours
22:05
Speaker 1: Eric just stood there in Peak Cavern, hoping to see
22:08
Speaker 1: his son emerge from the hole, hoping to come up
22:10
Speaker 1: and say everything is okay. But he didn't, and things
22:13
Speaker 1: only got worse. It eventually began to rain, and unfortunately,
22:18
Speaker 1: Peak Cavern, and specifically the hole that Neil was stuck
22:21
Speaker 1: inside of, flood when it rains. And so as rainwater
22:26
Speaker 1: is pouring into this cavern and Neil is still alive
22:29
Speaker 1: but stuck in this hole, they had to make the
22:32
Speaker 1: heart wrenching decision in front of Neil's father to abandon
22:35
Speaker 1: the operation and get out of the cave, knowing Neil
22:39
Speaker 1: was going to die. Rescuers were finally able to get
22:41
Speaker 1: back into Peak Cavern at about three am on March
22:44
Speaker 1: twenty fourth, which is approximately thirty six hours after Neil
22:47
Speaker 1: got trapped. By this point, the rains had subsided, the
22:50
Speaker 1: flood had cleared, and so they went in there hoping
22:53
Speaker 1: for a miracle. And when they got to the hole
22:56
Speaker 1: and listened into it, they actually heard Neil's still breathing.
23:00
Speaker 1: He was still alive, but it was very clear he
23:03
Speaker 1: was at the end of his life, and all they
23:05
Speaker 1: could do was just sit around this hole and listen
23:07
Speaker 1: as Neil took his last few final ragged breaths. And
23:11
Speaker 1: then eventually they listened as Neil took his final breath
23:14
Speaker 1: and the hole went silent. Now, at this point it
23:17
Speaker 1: was too dangerous to send anybody back down into this hole,
23:20
Speaker 1: and so no one could get physically close enough to
23:22
Speaker 1: Neil to actually confirm that he really is dead. However,
23:26
Speaker 1: after the hole remained silent for quite a while, a
23:29
Speaker 1: doctor who was on site did walk over and declare
23:32
Speaker 1: Neil dead, and so at this point the rescue operation
23:35
Speaker 1: became a recovery operation. However, as rescuers were getting ready
23:40
Speaker 1: to go back down into the hole to retrieve Neil's body.
23:43
Speaker 1: It was at this point that Neil's father, Eric Moss,
23:45
Speaker 1: who had been there this whole time and had been
23:48
Speaker 1: witnessed to the doctor declaring his son dead. It was
23:51
Speaker 1: at this point that he stepped in and said, stop,
23:53
Speaker 1: get everybody out of the cave.
23:55
Speaker 2: I don't want anybody else to lose their lives.
23:57
Speaker 1: And so ultimately Eric made the decision to will leave
24:00
Speaker 1: his son's body where it was. Eventually, once it was
24:03
Speaker 1: one hundred percent certain that Neil really must be dead,
24:06
Speaker 1: at this point, they would fill in the hole that
24:08
Speaker 1: Neil had climbed down inside of with loose rocks from
24:11
Speaker 1: the cave and tombing him inside of it forever and
24:14
Speaker 1: in his memory. The tunnel that Neil died inside of was.
24:18
Speaker 2: Named after him. It's called Moss Chamber.
24:27
Speaker 1: I'm about to play you a clip from one of
24:29
Speaker 1: our Ball and Studios podcasts called Wartime Stories. After you're
24:32
Speaker 1: done listening, be sure to check them out on any
24:35
Speaker 1: podcast platform and give them a follow up new episodes
24:38
Speaker 1: every Monday.
24:39
Speaker 2: Enjoy.
24:48
Speaker 3: The story you are about to hear comes from the
24:51
Speaker 3: front lines of World War One, a place where many
24:54
Speaker 3: men lost everything, their friends, their limbs, their lives. Some
25:00
Speaker 3: men survived but lost something else their minds, perhaps borne
25:06
Speaker 3: out of the delusions that any man might suffer when
25:09
Speaker 3: taken from his ordinary life and subjected to an unfamiliar
25:13
Speaker 3: and hillacious environment that pushes both his body and his
25:17
Speaker 3: mind to the breaking point. Some of these young men
25:20
Speaker 3: returned home with far more than the usual stories of combat.
25:25
Speaker 3: They spoke of something else that they encountered, something unnatural,
25:30
Speaker 3: a highly intelligent creature that prowled the front line trenches.
25:35
Speaker 3: The men who might have assured us that what they
25:37
Speaker 3: saw was indeed real and not a figment of their imagination.
25:41
Speaker 3: They are now gone, but their incredible story remains the
25:47
Speaker 3: story of the Hound of Mands