# Indiana man locked in cave for 60 hours, forgotten by group **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 22, 2017, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990 "2017-09-22T18:35:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/41 "2017-09-24T16:26:20Z")
> [@ioioio](#): > > How is keeping track of copper coins easier/better than just keeping track of the miners? Presumably because you can look at the board where the coins are hung up, and see at a glance that one is missing, without the need for counting. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/42 "2017-09-24T16:38:51Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > Yep, those are some rigorous protocols all right. Counting to thirteen. :rolleyes: Jeez guys, don’t give up when you run out of fingers next time, OK? Well 12/13 is 92%. A low “A” but still an “A”, it would be hypocritical of me to criticize too much, since I considered that good enough when I was in college. ---
**Author:** ![coffeecat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coffeecat/32/3405_2.png) [@coffeecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coffeecat)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/43 "2017-09-24T17:21:03Z")
Hmm . . . 13 . . . an odd number of cavers. You think he was the one without a buddy? ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/44 "2017-09-24T17:49:23Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > I thought for sure that the term ‘Cop Out’ was from mining. Each miner had a copper coin/medallion that was collected when they left the mine. When they went into the mine they took it with them. So if a miners coin/medallion was not accounted for, they where still in the mine. > > My google fu is failing on this though. > [@ioioio](#): > > How is keeping track of copper coins easier/better than just keeping track of the miners? > [@Andy\_L](#): > > Presumably because you can look at the board where the coins are hung up, and see at a glance that one is missing, without the need for counting. I think it goes the other way around than enipla remembers, or at least, it does for a swimming board. Everyone who goes in leaves a token on the board. They remove the token when they leave. That way, you look at the board, and can instantly see who is in the water (or the mine). If there isn’t supposed to be someone still in the water or the mine, and the token is still there, then there is a discrepancy that should be solved before people start locking up and going home for the day. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/45 "2017-09-24T17:54:50Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > While I don’t think you really want a mechanism that could open _only_ from the inside, overall the Restaurant Walk-In Freezer people are already way ahead of you; in '83 I got my first real job, as a busboy in a restaurant, and was occasionally asked to help out in other areas as well, like fetching stuff from the walk-in for the cooks during startup. > > The walk-in had an external latch (for a padlock) to prevent unauthorized entry, but it also had a latch release mechanism on the inside, that worked even if the walk-in was padlocked on the outside. My first couple of jobs were in restaurants, and before I went into the walk-in cooler or freezer, I checked the latch mechanism very carefully, because I remembered that episode of The Brady Bunch. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/46 "2017-09-24T18:21:29Z")
> [@coffeecat](#): > > Hmm . . . 13 . . . an odd number of cavers. You think he was the one without a buddy? The 13th Visitor By Stephen King ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/47 "2017-09-24T18:37:11Z")
A related story (hypothermia wise anyway). Once in college a friend and I drove to a nearby national forest/state park/whatever…it was a spur of the moment thing and we intended to come home that evening. Well, it was July/August in the deep south so we were both wearing like t shirts and short. But he happened to have a supper doopy crapy tent in the car. We liked the area so much we decided to stay the night. Yeah, at night in the deep south in the heat of the summer, it does not get THAT cold. But you try sleeping in that on hard ground in a flimsy t shirt and shorts. I was never so glad to see the sun come up. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/48 "2017-09-24T18:38:19Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > My first couple of jobs were in restaurants, and before I went into the walk-in cooler or freezer, I checked the latch mechanism very carefully, because I remembered that episode of The Brady Bunch. Is there a 60’s to 80’s sitcom that didn’t’ have an episode with someone getting locked into a freezer? ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/49 "2017-09-24T18:43:03Z")
Indiana man and the Cave of Doom. ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/50 "2017-09-24T18:55:43Z")
YIPES! it’s like _Open Water_ but with a cave instead of a shark infested ocean. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/51 "2017-09-24T19:00:38Z")
> [@DLuxN8R-13](#): > > YIPES! it’s like _Open Water_ but with a cave instead of a shark infested ocean. Yeah, get rid of the fear of drowning, hypothermia, sharks, exposure to the sun, and replace with boredom and hunger. Not saying it wouldn’t have sucked, but if I had to choose, I think I’d go with being stuck in a cave over being stuck in the middle of the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/52 "2017-09-24T19:41:46Z")
I do hope that whoever was leading the trip is sanctioned in some way. Not accounting for everyone after a potentially dangerous activity is totally unacceptable. I almost got stuck in a cave once through miscommunication. I went on a caving trip with a group from the University of Auckland to the Waitomo Caves in New Zealand about 1984. It was my first caving trip. Four of us planned to go in the main, walk-in entrance of a cave and then exit through a vertical sink hole. The plan was that other cavers were supposed to have left a rope ladder there so we could climb out. After a couple hour trip, including sections where we had to squirm through low passages on our bellies, we got to the sink hole only to find that there was no ladder there. It was impossible to climb out. The problem was that we were using old-style carbide lamps for lighting (this being before the days of light-weight LED lights). Retracing our steps would take twice as long as we had planned and there was the danger we would run out of fuel. If that had happened we would have had to sit in the dark until our friends came to look for us. They did know our plans and when we were expected back, so we weren’t in real danger. Still, it was a big relief when our lights lasted long enough to get to the main entrance. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/53 "2017-09-24T19:51:31Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I do hope that whoever was leading the trip is sanctioned in some way. Not accounting for everyone after a potentially dangerous activity is totally unacceptable. > . It’s probably a bunch of college students. And it isn’t that the caving part made it dangerous…it’s the somebody got locked in somewhere part that represented the danger. IMO, it’s a variation of the kid left in hot car scenario…except the car isn’t even particularly hot. People die/get hurt/get put in danger all the time…often without anything approaching IMO criminal negligence. It is a dangerous world out there and people fuck up sometimes. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/54 "2017-09-24T20:12:53Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Is there a 60’s to 80’s sitcom that didn’t’ have an episode with someone getting locked into a freezer? It goes back to the 1950s, with Lucy being locked in a freezer in 1952. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/55 "2017-09-24T21:04:06Z")
I suspect whoever was in charge just yelled, “Everybody here? Okay,” and they headed for the bus. I was almost left behind at the Jefferson Memorial on a field trip, because I went to the bathroom. However, the teacher did take attendance and when back to get me before the bus left. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/56 "2017-09-24T23:04:40Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > It’s probably a bunch of college students. Ya’ figure? Given that it was a university Caving Club, that’s not a remarkable deduction.😉 > [@](#): > > And it isn’t that the caving part made it dangerous…it’s the somebody got locked in somewhere part that represented the danger. Caving is intrinsically dangerous. It involves climbing around in slippery muddy conditions in places which often have sheer drops, tight squeezes, icy water, and other hazards concealed in pitch darkness. It would have been hazardous to have left the guy unaccounted for even if there hadn’t been a locked gate at the mouth of the cave. He could have easily have gotten into some kind of trouble farther back in the cave and been unable to make it to the exit. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/57 "2017-09-24T23:14:36Z")
There are a few more details in [this article](http://www.idsnews.com/article/2017/09/iu-freshman-found-after-surviving-three-days-in-a-cave) from the student newspaper. For one thing, there were twelve people there, not thirteen. The article also explains just how the kid got separated from the rest of the two groups. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/58 "2017-09-24T23:15:30Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Ya’ figure? Given that it was a university Caving Club, that’s not a remarkable deduction.😉 > > Caving is intrinsically dangerous. It involves climbing around in slippery muddy conditions in places which often have sheer drops, tight squeezes, icy water, and other hazards concealed in pitch darkness. It would have been hazardous to have left the guy unaccounted for even if there hadn’t been a locked gate at the mouth of the cave. He could have easily have gotten into some kind of trouble farther back in the cave and been unable to make it to the exit. Yes, leaving Bob somewhere in the cave would be hella stupid. And that is what could have happened. But what DID happen is Bob got locked in the cave. The cave danger is secondary to getting locked somewhere and died because of lack of water/food/hypothermia. The cave is just the backdrop. People not accounting for everyone else is the main issue. And 99.999999 percent of the time people get this right. and 99.99999 percent of the time even when they get it wrong…there is no real risk. Somebody (ies) fucked up. Shit happens. PS. caving is not that intrinsically dangerous. Swimming is probably more so than caving IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/59 "2017-09-24T23:23:11Z")
My daughter was at a sailing camp when she was 8, and she got blown way down the bay on her little boat. She capsized and ended up clinging to a buoy for 2 hours until she was rescued by fisherman. No one had any idea she was missing till the fishing boat dropped her back at the camp. The camp leader promptly instituted a tag board so they could keep track of who was on and off the water. Actually, they had one already, but they hadn’t been taking it seriously. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2017, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990/60 "2017-09-24T23:56:38Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > People not accounting for everyone else is the main issue. But it’s a heck of a lot more dangerous when that happens on a caving expedition rather than a trip to the mall. > [@](#): > > Shit happens. And when shit like this happens due to pure carelessness, those responsible should take the blame. > [@](#): > > PS. caving is not that intrinsically dangerous. Swimming is probably more so than caving IMO. Caving is intrinsically dangerous, and it’s absurd to minimize the danger. It may have a lower rate of fatality or injuries because people do recognize that danger and take more precautions than they do for more common activities like swimming. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indiana-man-locked-in-cave-for-60-hours-forgotten-by-group/796990.md?page=4)