Cavechat.org

I can't imagine anyone going to those lengths to lower people into a hole without getting some sort of compensation out of it.

How did they get the bucket out? Was it before the top was concreted over? When did whomever concrete that shut? All I saw was Kent's crazy rope swing thing hanging down on the side of the wall but that was in maybe 2002?

IF RF was opened as a show cave, maybe blasting open the upstream river passage from the drainage outside would be cooler than drilling into the top of the Rumble Room. Ive been all the way to the bitter downstream end but I never went upstream. Does it end in a valley collapse?

gindling, far as I know, that bucket is still at the bottom of Mystery Falls Cave. It may be rusted out by now though.
It was apparently just an old barrel with some rods welded on and a round ring at the top to attach rope or cable.
Not very safe looking.

As for Rumbling Falls Cave, there were efforts to dig into the cave via lower holes with airflow but none of them
worked out. Blasting is out of the question now as most of the land anywhere near the entrance is owned by the State
of Tennessee. The cave was not owned by the state when I found it in 1997. There is still ONE lead left on private
land but I'm not sure the owner would allow any digging there. I would like to ask the landowner about it
but I doubt the landowner would agree to it.

...or someone else could just post one, haha.

Also, both upper entrances to Mystery Falls are artificial. The "open air" entrance was blasted open, the same as the side entrance where the gate is now. The lower entrance was thru Anderson Spring, a small spring which emptied out into the Tennessee River and was the route by which it was originally discovered. The spring is no longer accessible because:
A) TVA's dam at Hales Bar rose the level of the Tennessee River and
B) Material was moved from the opposite side of the river (Moccasin Bend) to the Lookout Mountain side of the river to allow for the construction of I-24.

Nice shot of the barrel Patric. That is very similar to the picture I have of it. How many years ago was that picture taken?
That barrel still looks the same as when I took my picture in the 1980's. Have you ever been at the bottom of the pit when
a train goes by outside? That rumbling train sort of vibrates the bottom of the cave.

That photo is fairly recent; January 2014. I've seen the bucket any more times in the countless other visits I've had to Mystery and it still looks very much like that today, although I'm sure on a molecular level it's breaking down rapidly.

Yes, the train going by is always a treat. If one is listening closely you can hear it at the top of the pit as well.