Advice

Caves and caving, beginning caving, joining the NSS, etc.

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Advice

Postby tribal » Jan 2, 2007 2:17 am

I live in Florida and watch the cave divers all the time at Manatee Springs when my family and I go snorkeling. The only caving I have ever done is in some boulder caves next to where I lived in California when I was a kid and even though it was an amateur experience it was quite fun. I don’t belong to a club or grotto but have done a lot of repelling so I guess I am more of an adventurer than a caver.

I have a few caving questions.

I am currently writing an interactive fiction (Myst) type game and the whole concept takes place in a cave. Even though the game is fiction I want it to be as accurate as possible when it comes to what one might expect and what one must do to successfully traverse the chambers and tunnels of a cave.

I have been doing tons of research here at your forums and at the NSS. But it’s not like talking to someone who has been there and done that.

Anyway here are my questions

1- This question is for a fictional part of my game
There is a supposed cave in Tazewell VA called the “HiggingBottom #1” or “The Devil’s Slide” that is supposed to emanate strange sounds and has the locals spooked.

Has anyone heard about this cave and if so what kinds of Folklore have you heard?

2-Would there be anyone that could help me with technical advise though e-mail for the game? I don’t have any money for the game in the form of a budget as it will be released as freeware but I will give credit where credit is owed or Trade: I can program cave mapping software to your design for Windows or Windows mobile. I am very good at graphics routines. Tell me what you want and I will program it in.

I did not post this note to make anyone upset so if I did I apologize.
tribal
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Re: Advice

Postby Cheryl Jones » Jan 2, 2007 1:33 pm

tribal wrote:
1- This question is for a fictional part of my game
There is a supposed cave in Tazewell VA called the “HiggingBottom #1” or “The Devil’s Slide” that is supposed to emanate strange sounds and has the locals spooked.

Has anyone heard about this cave and if so what kinds of Folklore have you heard?


I caved in Higgenbotham #1 in the 70s, when the slide was covered in ice. We'd heard that locals thought the cave was haunted, but I didn't note any strange sounds while underground.

The top of the drop and the lower part of the "devil's slide" had a lot of loose and unstable rubble and boulders (which required us to use more than the usual care at the top of the drop and when crossing the lip on rope.) It could be that the odd noises those on the surface heard over the years were the echoing rumbles of boulders shifting, rolling down the slide, or falling over the drop at the end of the slide.

Many caves, certainly in southwest VA, feature in local folklore: Stories about how long the cave is, where a secret exit is (miles and miles away), who went in and never came out, who or what (as in livestock and ducks) went in and came out in another county, hauntings, noises, witchcraft, and murders.

Good luck with the game.
Cheryl
Last edited by Cheryl Jones on Jan 2, 2007 2:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Thanks

Postby tribal » Jan 2, 2007 1:48 pm

Thank you for the information. I found out the cave is actually called Higgenbotham and after that found wonderful pictures and a story about some cavers who explored it. It does sound
like a very dangerous place.

Here is the article
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:UdCknHJns74J:www.varegion.org/var/theVar/history71/pg195Higgenbotham.html+tazewell+%22devil%27s+slide%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=2
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