Very interesting articles in the NSS News about Schroeder’s Pants Cave. I wonder if I am the only one who has noticed the inconsistencies in the “Eyewitness Accounts” from the Rescue Squad.
(1) In Mr. Bill Karras’s account (the leader of the rescue team) from the NSS News of April 1965 he states he lowered an electronic stethoscope down to Jim Mitchell to determine if he was alive.
(2) But in the “16 year old hard core caver with the necessary skills” Mr. Scott Thybony’s eyewitness account in the NSS News 10/2007 he states they lowered Mr. Karras down to the victim and checked him with a stethoscope.
(3) Now the eyewitness account of Mr. Doug Bradford as told to The Florida Times-Union July 3, 2006.And I quote from Mr. Bradford’s article.
“At the end of the passage, a rope had been lowered in a deep cavern. Water from melting snow was pouring into the cavern and over Mitchell’s body 15 feet below like a waterfall, Bradford said.
Bradford was lowered on another rope to Mitchell. But when he grabbed Mitchell’s ice-cold arm, Bradford said he knew the man was dead.
After checking for vital signs, Bradford and other rescue team members decided to lower Mitchell 60 feet to the floor of the cavern. Mitchell’s rope was cut while Bradford held his body and the two were lowered to the bottom.”
Mr. Bradford’s article can be found on Jackson.com at
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/s ... 8776.shtml
These are just the initial misconceptions that jumped out at me when I read the “Eyewitness Account”.
There are more and I may write again. It’s too bad that the “team” that was there cannot even get their “own stories” straight.
Remember folks that these are the “eyewitness accounts” that the “fictional movie/documentary” are being based on. There are too many inaccuracies in this article and Christians letter for me to let this go. After all, I was the first desecrater and saw first hand what the rescue team did “and” did not do. Also after me there were many NSS members and some people that Christian does not even know of who were on my third trip to the bottom of the pit. Perhaps Christian should talk to people who lived here when the accident happened and not rely on “ fictional eyewitness accounts”! Then maybe he would find out that Tim Downey’s account is much closer to the truth of what took place. Not that I am calling anyone a liar but I was in the cave the fall before the accident and the spring following the accident. I know what the weather was that week. Not some weather bureau 100 miles away! He should talk to people willing to tell the truth and not a different story every time they speak!
Thank you
Jim Crane NSS # 8344