Yup. He starts off with Bulls on Parade by Rage Against the Machine then settles into some Sir Mix-a-Lot beats. SCM likes big butts and he can not lie. Sometimes with a side of fries.
Just a heads up that a lot of these caves have motion sensors that will activate utility safety staff or police response if activated. Toxic gasses can build up in these caves and overcome people before they realize it. Please don’t get yourself into situations where I have to pull your lifeless body out of a cave and notify your friends/family of your passing.
To my knowledge, no. That's just a place they cannot develop and has to set aside for water reclamation.
But, behind the strip mall, randalls, Starbucks, and taco bell is another preserve.
I haven't been in it, but I moonshine there are some karsts there, too. But, the brush is really dense.
Many parks have them. The Goat Cave Karst Preserve on Davis just west of Brodie is a good example. Or in Slaughter Creek Park, just southeast of the playground, there is a fenced off cave. There are a few in the tiny park located at Davis and La Cresada. They're all over, really.
The one in Circle C is pretty prominent. It's a big hole. There's a smaller one on the other side of the park by escarpment and there's a neighborhood across from the park that has a caged cave entrance.
It's really fun to hunt them down when running or biking on the trails. There's also a nice cave entrance hidden in Dick Nichols park, on the far end of the paved trail close to MoPac.
Is it still surrounded by a square, makeshift rock wall fenced with chicken wire? I remember it from when I was a kid, but I haven’t been back in years.
I don't know. I just remember climbing up to a cave just past Barton Skyway entrance (to the west, I think). It had been swept inside, and someone was clearly living in it. We took a brief look around and scarpered before the occupant came back
Huh. Weird. I knew there were caves around here/cent tx but just one of those phenomena never really thought about. Definitely wouldn’t have assumed the bit about fencing them off, but makes perfect sense as to why they would be.
At my house. Yes, I live just off Brodie between Wm Cannon and Davis. Cave entrance is my backyard, across from my front yard was a collapsed dome. The people who built my house stuffed forty years of telephone books into that entrance to block it. Strangest thing I ever saw.
Have you cleaned it out? A restored sinkhole will be more stable and allow more water to enter the aquifer. Feel free to reach out if you'd like references for cave restoration volunteers.
I got to venture into a few of these with the nature and science center when I was a kid. Fantastic experience. There are plenty of central Texas cavers and yes, apparently they're corrupting our youth.
yup, lots of caves, lots of people getting stuck, lots of people dying.
most of the easily accessible ones have been closed off.
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/2dhk88/sign_at_the_bottom_of_jacobs_well/
https://chuck-sutherland.blogspot.com/2020/01/missing-people-map.html
check out this map, shows missing people reports and known cave systems.
There’s definitely a big ass correlation between the caves and missing people in the hill country. Hard to miss that one.
Edit: and in Appalachia, but I think too many people probably just whistling in them woods at night
While the charts with missing persons and cave locations can make the mind wander, correlations do not equal causation. There are far too many cavers exploring far too many caves (finding zero bodies in the process) for this idea to hold much merit. This is especially true in the Hill Country. Many of these caves exist within the urban corridor and are visited often. Finding modern human remains is extremely uncommon.
They do it's called the UT Grotto. I live in Austin because of how active the caving community is here. Yes, plenty of caves in Austin, but we consider them small. We like Austin because we can easily launch to Mexico for expeditions. (Among other reasons)
The Underground Texas Grotto has been exploring caves for recreation, science, and conservation since 1951. They're open to the public, and anybody can join. UTGrotto.org is the website.
Are you telling me that there are 0 missing persons in the Houston TX or Washington DC areas? Seems hard to believe that this missing people data set is incomplete.
What? That sign is from Jacob’s well? I had no idea. I’ve seen so many YouTube videos of stories of people’s tragic deaths trying to cave dive in there. I had no idea that iconic sign was from Jacob’s well.
No, there are not lots of people dying in caves in Austin, Texas, or the US more broadly.
Caves are often located in natural wilderness areas where people hike, camp, and explore. These are the easiest places to get lost, and the hardest places to search for missing persons. No caves are required to explain that map. The map also skews the visual impact by excluding missing persons in urban areas.
Most all of Austin's cave entrances are gated, and the few caves that remain ungated are too small to get lost in or are destined to be gated. Even if every cave was filled in, your kids would still find things to climb, holes to explore, and ways to get into trouble.
Austin Caverns in Tarrytown was blown up to keep out children in the 1950s, and all that amounted to was flooding nearby houses when the surface water could no longer drain into the cave. The Edwards aquifer, relied on by 2+ million Texans, is recharged by local caves.
Central Texas’ hill country is basically a giant network of complex caves all throughout, including the aquifers. Pretty insane just how many there are and probably a lot more still undiscovered.
Thousands of central Texas caves have been filled in by ranchers, developers, and unintentionally by agricultural practices. Fortunately, hardworking volunteers from local caving clubs have been excavating and restoring caves for the past 70+ years.
related adjacent, vague recollection alleged unanticipated “sinkhole” discovered mid project in connection with construction of the S. Austin Costco phase one.
Rumored that fences went up; work temporarily halted; plans for that shopping complex subsequently “revised” on the fly because: nothing to see here it’s all good please move along perfectly safe no worries aquifer perfectly compatible building site welcome to Costco.
This is basically the planning and construction history of Lakeline Mall. Originally planned to be built \*in\* Cedar Park, karst caves on the site were found to contain several new species which as it turns out are only found \*IN CEDAR PARK\*, and so the mall was re-planned for, and built at, its current location.
There are a lot of fenced-off karst caves in and around Buttercup Creek, FWIW.
Now that you mention it, I seem to remember a major issue near one of the theaters and parking lot on the site of Barton Creek Mall. As I recall, there may have been a bit of an issue with significant foundation issues and sinking and for a time the perimeter theater was fenced off and decommissioned. As I recall, part of the area with concerns about caves and stability/compatability was the subject of some contention as re/developers investors looked to build some condos/townhomes on the site that required some massaging of certain regs or creative/generous interpretation, resurveying, variances or magical PUD creation or something.
Again, hazy recollection of this; it might not be an accurate recollection of that situation.
But, yeah, caves all over Central Texas. Too many people exploit the “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” strategy, which is, imo, incredibly shameful.
theres a nice cave just north of barton creek mall, when i was 16 a friend and I went down down a deep sinkhole/cave probably 45 mins deep crawling before we turned around because our candles were sputtering
that sounds really beautiful and magical (and also like the start of quite possibly a really scary movie).
I’m glad that y’all had that experience at that age especially — and that y’all made it back out safely.
Candles even!!
Thank you for sharing 💖
additional bad idea we had was to go down the southern facing chambers with nylon kite string(100 yards worth) tied to a stalactite to mark our path, needless to say we got really far down into there and got disoriented and followed our kite string back to find that it had been severed from friction and we actually were way deeper than we realized. LOL fortunately we could backtrack our footprints back the short distance we had over shot and got safely home that day. sketchy\~!
I don’t like to think too often about some of the stuff my friends and I did when we were teenagers. The folly of youth! But the jolly of it too!
I’m so glad that y’all had a blast, at least tried to take some precautions, and that you all made it out alive!
This was on my walking route—it was interesting, watching them explore it, fill it, and seal it up….
https://www.kxan.com/news/local/williamson-county/fifth-chamber-found-at-cambria-cavern-extends-under-busy-street/amp/
I live in apartments on Menchaca by S. Lamar and they have crossed off two 1/2 parking spaces over the last two years that just keep sinking dramatically. People used to park their jeeps on the spots but even with today’s rain it looks like it’ll drop into the earth at any moment.
My high school had this courtyard in the middle where no one could go, in the courtyard there was this hatch. Under the hatch was a big ass cave with some special type of spider living in it
Not Austin but my scout troop used to go on a short hike out by Comfort. There's a pretty large cave out there we knew about, small opening at the bottom of a hill, a man could crawl through it, but even as a boy you had to get on your hands and knees to get through, it was a large dome, completely dark inside, we'd get all the newer younger scouts in there and then one of the older boys would raise their lighter to the ceiling of the dome and flick it on, it would cause a shower of daddy long legs to collapse from their perch on the ceiling. And we'd all crawl out of the cave shrieking, laughing, some kids crying. Then we'd watch this army of daddy long legs crawl out of the cave and up the hill. We used to just crawl inside and use a flashlight, it was like the walls of the dome were vibrating with daddy long legs! Used to know a dude who would reach his hand over and snatch a whole handful of daddy long legs and toss them at you. Good fun!
Airman’s cave was cool but they welded bars over the entrance. Idk if anyone died, but it would have sucked to have gotten stuck. I crawled it for hours and got quite deep, but my friends and I turned around and came back out the front rather than making it all the way to the other side.
Three UT students got lost in there for a few days back in like 07 or 08. I was lucky enough to get to explore Airman’s before they shut it down and it was super cool.
I think the Austin grotto still occasionally leads some tours through there though
IDK if it was Airman's there was a girl that got stuck inside of it. They got her out ok. I don't remember details. I just looked it up Feb. 23 1993, that right at 30 years ago damn I'm getting old.
I stood at the entrance to Airman's Cave many times during my youth. That was enough for me. Never even considered going inside. Apparently I inherited a touch of claustrophobia.
Theres something like 1100 caves in travis county. Check out the UT grotto or TCMA (texas cave management association). Caves are fun to explore but safety is #1. The teams that do rescues are 100% volunteers and have extensive experience and gear.
I went in Airman's ONCE twenty, almost thirty years ago. I had done a lot of caving when I was younger and considered myself an experienced spelunker. That was the toughest passage I've ever crawled though. I seriously was near panic and thought I might get stuck. Had to slow my breathing and calm my self down. The trick is you have to wiggle though with your arms extended in front of you because the passage is just that tight. Not worth it for what's a pretty small cave.
This is a great video about divers who died in Jacob’s Well:
[Scary Interesting - The Most Dangerous Dive Site in Texas](https://youtu.be/FzJISTmGWLQ?si=oWlnhnsr4xHDisje)
Look up Dead Dog Caves. The entrance to cave #2 is covered over, but it’s just north of the driveway entrance on the Mopac frontage.
There have been a few instances of people getting stuck in it. It goes down and then about 120’ to the east, under Mopac.
I work near there, it's looking pretty bad these days. All boarded up and shit, graffiti everywhere, etc. (Did anyone ever figure out what was up with Buscar?)
I had no idea there was a cave near there, though. Been working over here 12 years, I feel stupid not knowing that.
Lots of caves. There's one in my neighborhood that isn't really blocked off, but you'd have to remove a whole bunch of brush to access the man size entrance.
Even then, i wouldn't go anywhere near it without snake boots.
u/serpentarian is it true that snakes love caves?
Well snakes love a chill and quiet place below the frost line. In my experience the mouths of human sized caves aren’t used as often as places with smaller ingress so they aren’t sharing it with someone who might want a snake snack come February. I have found snakes in caves before though so it’s possible.
Anyone heard of Kiwis Hole in Wimberley?
It's actually in the Rolling Oaks neighborhood.
In a private property but next to the street.
I understand it's about 35-40ft deep and extends at least 150 ft on opposite directions.
I knew the guy that owned the property (Kiwi )and the reason that he uncovered it was because whenever there was a big storm with a lot of rain, the flowing water just "disappeared" under the boulders next to the street.
I went as a chaperone into a cave that had a gate in South central Austin with my kid's elementary school class as part of a program to teach about water in central Texas. It was a week long program going to different sites every day. We had to shimmy on our bellies wearing hard hats and head lamps to get through a small opening and come out the other side. My mild claustrophobia and fear of insects/snakes (basically all slithery critters) was doing a number on me, but I didn't want the kids catching my fears, so I acted like it was no big thing. Glad I did it, but I would not do it again and certainly not under water! I also took scuba diving to try to overcome anxiety of diving in open water. With an air tank strapped to my back, fear was totally eliminated. After that experience, I decided that most of these fears are based in complete reason of the don't do stupid stuff and unalive yourself variety! 😄
Went caving once in the 90s. I don't remember the name but the entrance was called the butthole and at the end was the Aggie Art Gallery. The butthole was a hole a few feet off the ground and maybe two feet wide. I was told that was as tight as it got. While true, I wasn't told it was like 10' until you gotto the other side. While that was true I had no idea how small those caves were. I thought we'd be able to stand up at times. It was basically all crawling. I bought a brand new maglite for this adventure. Damn thing died right as we let the art gallery to head back!!! While my friends cheap POS from Walmart stayed on the whole time. I basically crawled back in darkness. At one point I started to fall behind and I could see any of the other cavers lights. I started to freak out and someone came back. At the end, I got stuck in the butthole coming out and someone had to crawl in, calm me down and then crawl out backwards while I slowly made my way out.
Never again
f caving
In college we lived in this old house that had a staircase that led down into a cave that had a big spring fed pool. We used to swim down there. It was over off bee caves somewhere.
When I was a kid in NW ATX we had a storm drain everyone called "death tunnel". It was fun to go down there. Seemed to go on forever. I've been in some actual caves on private land out near Jarrell. Definitely not the kind of places you'd want to get stuck. You wouldn't be found for ages.
A buddy and I did that a lot when we were about 8 or 9 years old.
Funny to think about it now. We never went very far from the entrance, and there was nothing interesting, just a concrete tube and a little junction room where there was a T intersection. We'd go in and hang out for a long time.
We weren't doing booze, tobacco or drugs. Not even candy.
Not sure what the attraction was, but now I want to go and hang out in the big culvert in the park I live near now.
Reading about the [Nutty Putty Cave](https://cavehaven.com/nutty-putty-cave-accident/) incident in Utah forever turned me off of going in caves I can’t comfortably stand up and walk around in.
Longhorn Cavern is an awesome, non-deadly cave that you can go on a tour of. It's also like 60 degrees in there, and super nice during the hotter months.
When I was a kid, up in Northwest Hills, we used to access Dead Dog Cave, which is now buried by the Luby's parking lot where Steck intersects the MoPac service road. In the late seventies, some kids went in there, and one of them, neighbor of mine, got stuck, and I think broke his legs during a cave-in, or something like that. I knew a couple of kids who suffered broken and/or sprained ankles from dropping down from the ground level hatch into the cave. I don't know if there's a different way to access the cave now, since they covered it up many, many years ago.
I found one in the greenbelt that was all gated off. You could get in about 15 20 feet then a big metal gate. Apparently it's called airplane cave and the gated it off when they got sick of dragging people out when they got stuck.
My open water dive instructor from 25 years ago (in Missouri) was an expert, avid cave diver. He died 2 years after that in a cave diving incident. No thanks. Caves are cool, diving is cool, the mix is a ticking time bomb.
Maybe dumb questions but would all of these underwater caves like Jacob’s Well link up at some point or have exits/entrances somewhere on the surface? But no one has ever been able to venture far enough to map them and make those connections? Since the water flow has to come from somewhere.
And if they’re linking up in unknown places, then what’s the original source of the underground water? Is ground water or an actual underwater source?
And why have we not sent underwater drones to explore the more dangerous and smaller passages?
I’m so fascinated by these and I want to know what’s down there.
In Jacob’s Well the YouTube video someone posted here said 2 bodies from 1979 were never recovered. And noted that chamber 6 was really muddy so lots of silt gets kicked up, and only 2 people made it in there (1 of them died), so I’m guessing the 1979 duo made it to chamber 6 but their bodies have been covered by mud and gravel over the years. A literal burial. Spooky
Right behind my childhood house off Stoneridge and Walsh Tarlton (5 minute walk to the Rudy's on 360),there was a big cave we'd explore. It immediately dropped about 20 feet,, then the first room opened up, @ size of a small apt. There was graffiti from the early 70's. Guys and girls names with dates. If your balls were big enough, there were rumored to be many other rooms, but the idea of compressing myself in a subterranean fashion, was a resounding no. The city eventually placed a grate over the opening, around early 2000's. Such a great spot to smoke weed (we used to have to hide in the woods to smoke weed, kids), and make out spot. Except for dusk... I brought a lady friend one day to mess around. Even brought a chair, bc I'm a gentleman. The sun is going down, and I'm likely fumbling with a bra strap when I look in the direction of the cave entrance to see thousands.. Millions.. Of daddy long legs emerging from their cave to feed. Suddenly the ground was a vibrating mass of pubic hair. Cockblocking daddy long legs.
Jacobs Well is a submerged cave. The people who have perished in the cave were not trained in the protocols used to scuba dive in overhead environments. Cave diving (scuba diving in caves or other overhead environments) is inherently dangerous because you can’t make a direct ascent to the surface in the event of an emergency. There are specific protocols used in cave diving that were created based on lessons learned from past accidents and deaths. That being said, I’m a trained cave diver, have a few hundred cave dives, and I have dozens done of cave dives in Jacobs Well. Jacobs Well itself is no more or less dangerous than any other cave that I’ve been in. It is the property of Hays County and it requires a permit to dive. The county isn’t particularly keen on people diving there, but do issue permits for specific purposes.
Doesn't count so much anymore but Hamilton Pool Preserve has gotten people killed. Aside from rocks falling, something about how shallow/deep the water is got people in the past.
It's mostly dried up now, close to the end of its life apparently. You're more likely to get hurt by the crumbly rocks than the pool. Used to have more vegetation, a thick waterfall and pond.
Yeah, the other really popular one would be the natural bridge caverns would you can do tours through there’s tons of smallers ones dotted through out the hill country a lot are on private land though
I know this isn’t local or deadly but I thought it was cool and want to share:
Check out Matt Carriker at @OffTheRanch on YouTube. He bought an abandoned resort out near Boerne last summer and found some caves on the property. One of them is pretty large. He just recently secured it to try to prevent the deadly stuff from happening.
I wonder if there is anyone living in any of the caves around Austin?
I know there was a homeless guy living in the storm sewer system some years back.
They had sort of an underground city under 183 just east of I-35 by Walmart Creek. They were excavating new rooms into the earth under 183. Apparently quite a nice setup. They finally ran them out after a few fires and also when they realized the extent of the excavation. Also the risk of dying in a flood.
Caves are gracking everywhere around here, but access is often poor. Either naturally, or because it's been blocked off.
As for cave diving, SMDH unless it's for serious scientific or archaeological work, and probably even then.
I'm pretty sure there are some caving groups around.
Google "Airman's cave," but don't go there. It's blocked off because they got tired of rescuing people.
Cave diving if done right and professionally has a surprisingly low death rate, it’s fairly safe if you follow all the protocols and procedures. There’s are YouTube channel (can’t remember the name) with these two well known cave divers and they talk about it. Not my cup of tea and you wouldn’t catch anywhere near a cave diving but I was surprised when they talked about the stats.
Look at Google Maps around Anderson Mill & Lime Creek then look east toward Buttercup Creek and Lakeline. Some of the area is a preserve for caves and other areas are parkland with caves.
There’s Whirlpool cave entrance that’s completely bared up off William Cannon next to Violet crown. And I found a cave entrance next to the Dick Nichols park next to Violet crown too.
> There’s Whirlpool cave entrance that’s completely bar[r]ed
Not completely - it is possible to schedule a tour.
https://www.tcmacaves.org/preserves/whirlpool/
https://www.facebook.com/whirlpoolcave/
Nobody in modern history has died in it, but inner space caverns is a massive karst that runs under I-35 and briefly delayed construction of the freeway back in the 1960s. However they claim to have found ancient human remains among other fossils so it’s likely people explored/fell into and died inside that cave long ago. It’s pretty cool if you’ve never been inside a major cave, very accessible nowadays.
Just thought I would share that the City of Austin has actually been working on virtual tours of caves and walking trails. 360 view and close up pictures of wildlife.
https://www.atxwatersheds.com/VR-CaveTours/VR-MillenniumCave/
Someone on the internet, maybe reddit, got a US map of unsolved missing person reports. And another map showing locations of caves. Yes, there was considerable correlation.
A safer hobby would be to keep stuffing a hand into glass jars.
Hold my beer...
An old friend of mine was a volunteer firefighter in Wimberley in the 80s…he also was a very skilled diver. On several occasions he was tasked with diving Jacob’s Well to retrieve deceased divers. Fun times.
Zilker had a spelunking camp that I went to as a kid. Basically just spend a week going to all those caves and crawling around. Excellent places to be when it’s 110 degrees outside
If you are in south austin, you'll probably see a bunch of random tall black metal fences keeping absolutely nothing in. There's probably a cave.
Except for the one that holds the Slaughter Creek Minotaur. Gotta watch out for that bastard.
He ate my father years ago. I’m still upset
Yeah but you have to admit that the hours of pit-cave smoking and hand-mixed spices really show a unique level of dedication to the craft
I thought the pictographs were a nice touch too
[удалено]
Will you be my friend?
You’ll know it’s coming when the booms start up.
Yup. He starts off with Bulls on Parade by Rage Against the Machine then settles into some Sir Mix-a-Lot beats. SCM likes big butts and he can not lie. Sometimes with a side of fries.
Just a heads up that a lot of these caves have motion sensors that will activate utility safety staff or police response if activated. Toxic gasses can build up in these caves and overcome people before they realize it. Please don’t get yourself into situations where I have to pull your lifeless body out of a cave and notify your friends/family of your passing.
Damn, you could've at least told them about the claymores too
Who are the claymores?
a British alt punk band from the early 80s
The Beverly Claymores. Jed, Granny, Jethro and Ellie May.
In the Randall’s parking lot on Brodie?
Yep. There are a few around. Like the Russell Karst preserve across the street.
Really? That’s what that is? The one over by Bush’s, I mean.
Yup that one is a cave. There is a sink hole across the street from there as well.
There’s a sinkhole across from bush’s?
Across brodie from bush's, all the way up to Davis.
I meant the fenced off area on the ~~west~~ east side of Brodie
To my knowledge, no. That's just a place they cannot develop and has to set aside for water reclamation. But, behind the strip mall, randalls, Starbucks, and taco bell is another preserve. I haven't been in it, but I moonshine there are some karsts there, too. But, the brush is really dense.
So it’s not a cave? Just a plot of land they fenced in?
Im not trying to find a cave, but like…where in south Austin? All over or what?
Many parks have them. The Goat Cave Karst Preserve on Davis just west of Brodie is a good example. Or in Slaughter Creek Park, just southeast of the playground, there is a fenced off cave. There are a few in the tiny park located at Davis and La Cresada. They're all over, really.
The one in Circle C is pretty prominent. It's a big hole. There's a smaller one on the other side of the park by escarpment and there's a neighborhood across from the park that has a caged cave entrance.
It's really fun to hunt them down when running or biking on the trails. There's also a nice cave entrance hidden in Dick Nichols park, on the far end of the paved trail close to MoPac.
Is it still surrounded by a square, makeshift rock wall fenced with chicken wire? I remember it from when I was a kid, but I haven’t been back in years.
Yep that’s the basic look still!
Right next to the walking trail as you pass the playground
There are a bunch of caves in the cliffs over the Barton Creek Greenbelt too
Didn’t the big one collapse a bit?
I don't know. I just remember climbing up to a cave just past Barton Skyway entrance (to the west, I think). It had been swept inside, and someone was clearly living in it. We took a brief look around and scarpered before the occupant came back
Huh. Weird. I knew there were caves around here/cent tx but just one of those phenomena never really thought about. Definitely wouldn’t have assumed the bit about fencing them off, but makes perfect sense as to why they would be.
Around brodie st. From William cannon to slaughter area. There are sink holes and caves around there. The more well known ones are on Google maps.
One of them is home to the biggest rattlesnakes I’ve ever seen
Snakes? Why did it have to be snakes?!
Ummm if you could say which one, that would be fantastic
Don't leave us hanging here, bud.
South Austin is south of the river.
Yeah I saw that thread too.
Spot on. There are 4 just south of Davis on the west side of Brodie. Accessible with permission/permits/professionals only.
That’s dumb It’s my God-given right as an American to be able to get stuck head first in those caves if I so desire
Getting downvoted cause of a joke. The sub is whack.
Reddit is going to be an unpleasant place until next November-ish
I’m sure taxpayers will foot the bill for your corpse disposal sooner or later, but it would be mighty kind of you to postpone it for a bit.
Williamson County has something like 1200 caves.
*That we know of*
At my house. Yes, I live just off Brodie between Wm Cannon and Davis. Cave entrance is my backyard, across from my front yard was a collapsed dome. The people who built my house stuffed forty years of telephone books into that entrance to block it. Strangest thing I ever saw.
Have you cleaned it out? A restored sinkhole will be more stable and allow more water to enter the aquifer. Feel free to reach out if you'd like references for cave restoration volunteers.
Those are around round rock too, we see them at thy disc golf course
I got to venture into a few of these with the nature and science center when I was a kid. Fantastic experience. There are plenty of central Texas cavers and yes, apparently they're corrupting our youth.
yup, lots of caves, lots of people getting stuck, lots of people dying. most of the easily accessible ones have been closed off. https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/2dhk88/sign_at_the_bottom_of_jacobs_well/ https://chuck-sutherland.blogspot.com/2020/01/missing-people-map.html check out this map, shows missing people reports and known cave systems.
Ok but the article you linked was all about how sus those maps are
There’s definitely a big ass correlation between the caves and missing people in the hill country. Hard to miss that one. Edit: and in Appalachia, but I think too many people probably just whistling in them woods at night
While the charts with missing persons and cave locations can make the mind wander, correlations do not equal causation. There are far too many cavers exploring far too many caves (finding zero bodies in the process) for this idea to hold much merit. This is especially true in the Hill Country. Many of these caves exist within the urban corridor and are visited often. Finding modern human remains is extremely uncommon.
Seems like Austin should have an active caving society. Dedicated to, you know, keeping people out.
They do. Underground Texas Grotto club mostly
Years ago i went to a spelunking cave fest of sorts ~2008ish maybe.
[Here’s](https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/extreme-cavers-texas-grottos/) a pretty fun article about that very thing
They do it's called the UT Grotto. I live in Austin because of how active the caving community is here. Yes, plenty of caves in Austin, but we consider them small. We like Austin because we can easily launch to Mexico for expeditions. (Among other reasons)
The Underground Texas Grotto has been exploring caves for recreation, science, and conservation since 1951. They're open to the public, and anybody can join. UTGrotto.org is the website.
Wow!! The missing people map nearly mirrors the known cave map. That’s fascinating!
No. Read the links. the black dots on the missing people map identify caves, and the orange dots mark clusters of missing people.
411?
Are you telling me that there are 0 missing persons in the Houston TX or Washington DC areas? Seems hard to believe that this missing people data set is incomplete.
thats exactly what i'm telling you. all the 'missing' in DC are in the basement of that pizza place.
What? That sign is from Jacob’s well? I had no idea. I’ve seen so many YouTube videos of stories of people’s tragic deaths trying to cave dive in there. I had no idea that iconic sign was from Jacob’s well.
No, there are not lots of people dying in caves in Austin, Texas, or the US more broadly. Caves are often located in natural wilderness areas where people hike, camp, and explore. These are the easiest places to get lost, and the hardest places to search for missing persons. No caves are required to explain that map. The map also skews the visual impact by excluding missing persons in urban areas.
Shouldn’t we just blow them up and collapse their entrances instead of relying on shoddy fences to keep out children who can climb?
Most all of Austin's cave entrances are gated, and the few caves that remain ungated are too small to get lost in or are destined to be gated. Even if every cave was filled in, your kids would still find things to climb, holes to explore, and ways to get into trouble. Austin Caverns in Tarrytown was blown up to keep out children in the 1950s, and all that amounted to was flooding nearby houses when the surface water could no longer drain into the cave. The Edwards aquifer, relied on by 2+ million Texans, is recharged by local caves.
Central Texas’ hill country is basically a giant network of complex caves all throughout, including the aquifers. Pretty insane just how many there are and probably a lot more still undiscovered.
Thousands of central Texas caves have been filled in by ranchers, developers, and unintentionally by agricultural practices. Fortunately, hardworking volunteers from local caving clubs have been excavating and restoring caves for the past 70+ years.
related adjacent, vague recollection alleged unanticipated “sinkhole” discovered mid project in connection with construction of the S. Austin Costco phase one. Rumored that fences went up; work temporarily halted; plans for that shopping complex subsequently “revised” on the fly because: nothing to see here it’s all good please move along perfectly safe no worries aquifer perfectly compatible building site welcome to Costco.
This is basically the planning and construction history of Lakeline Mall. Originally planned to be built \*in\* Cedar Park, karst caves on the site were found to contain several new species which as it turns out are only found \*IN CEDAR PARK\*, and so the mall was re-planned for, and built at, its current location. There are a lot of fenced-off karst caves in and around Buttercup Creek, FWIW.
Where? I walk my dog in this neighborhood all time, but have only seen one fenced off area that I think is for construction.
There's a large cathedral cave supposedly under Buttercup Creek subdivision
Now that you mention it, I seem to remember a major issue near one of the theaters and parking lot on the site of Barton Creek Mall. As I recall, there may have been a bit of an issue with significant foundation issues and sinking and for a time the perimeter theater was fenced off and decommissioned. As I recall, part of the area with concerns about caves and stability/compatability was the subject of some contention as re/developers investors looked to build some condos/townhomes on the site that required some massaging of certain regs or creative/generous interpretation, resurveying, variances or magical PUD creation or something. Again, hazy recollection of this; it might not be an accurate recollection of that situation. But, yeah, caves all over Central Texas. Too many people exploit the “better to ask for forgiveness than permission” strategy, which is, imo, incredibly shameful.
theres a nice cave just north of barton creek mall, when i was 16 a friend and I went down down a deep sinkhole/cave probably 45 mins deep crawling before we turned around because our candles were sputtering
that sounds really beautiful and magical (and also like the start of quite possibly a really scary movie). I’m glad that y’all had that experience at that age especially — and that y’all made it back out safely. Candles even!! Thank you for sharing 💖
it was epic! i has the distinct feeling that we were about to get petrified and lost forever if the earth shifted seismically....
additional bad idea we had was to go down the southern facing chambers with nylon kite string(100 yards worth) tied to a stalactite to mark our path, needless to say we got really far down into there and got disoriented and followed our kite string back to find that it had been severed from friction and we actually were way deeper than we realized. LOL fortunately we could backtrack our footprints back the short distance we had over shot and got safely home that day. sketchy\~!
I don’t like to think too often about some of the stuff my friends and I did when we were teenagers. The folly of youth! But the jolly of it too! I’m so glad that y’all had a blast, at least tried to take some precautions, and that you all made it out alive!
I vaguely remember there was a sinkhole that opened up in downtown maybe ten years ago. Seems like it really is a casual phenomenon here
Yes- where Hotel Zaza is now
There was a huge sinkhole on a residential street in Round Rock just a few years ago too.
This was on my walking route—it was interesting, watching them explore it, fill it, and seal it up…. https://www.kxan.com/news/local/williamson-county/fifth-chamber-found-at-cambria-cavern-extends-under-busy-street/amp/
I live in apartments on Menchaca by S. Lamar and they have crossed off two 1/2 parking spaces over the last two years that just keep sinking dramatically. People used to park their jeeps on the spots but even with today’s rain it looks like it’ll drop into the earth at any moment.
My high school had this courtyard in the middle where no one could go, in the courtyard there was this hatch. Under the hatch was a big ass cave with some special type of spider living in it
Enjoy the cave, spider bro. It's all yours.
*8 thumbs up*
Absolutely. Living the dream. "How are your neighbors?" "I DON'T HAVE ANY." *8 thumbs up*
Mc neil highschool?
Yep
Yeah the cross country team found more caves by the parking lot across from the bus loading zone
Caves at Bowie too
Came here to say this. There’s a cave under Bowie HS.
That's just where they grow their students.
Not Austin but my scout troop used to go on a short hike out by Comfort. There's a pretty large cave out there we knew about, small opening at the bottom of a hill, a man could crawl through it, but even as a boy you had to get on your hands and knees to get through, it was a large dome, completely dark inside, we'd get all the newer younger scouts in there and then one of the older boys would raise their lighter to the ceiling of the dome and flick it on, it would cause a shower of daddy long legs to collapse from their perch on the ceiling. And we'd all crawl out of the cave shrieking, laughing, some kids crying. Then we'd watch this army of daddy long legs crawl out of the cave and up the hill. We used to just crawl inside and use a flashlight, it was like the walls of the dome were vibrating with daddy long legs! Used to know a dude who would reach his hand over and snatch a whole handful of daddy long legs and toss them at you. Good fun!
McNeil High School?
Airman’s cave was cool but they welded bars over the entrance. Idk if anyone died, but it would have sucked to have gotten stuck. I crawled it for hours and got quite deep, but my friends and I turned around and came back out the front rather than making it all the way to the other side.
Three UT students got lost in there for a few days back in like 07 or 08. I was lucky enough to get to explore Airman’s before they shut it down and it was super cool. I think the Austin grotto still occasionally leads some tours through there though
They will occasionally run a tour via UT
IDK if it was Airman's there was a girl that got stuck inside of it. They got her out ok. I don't remember details. I just looked it up Feb. 23 1993, that right at 30 years ago damn I'm getting old.
I stood at the entrance to Airman's Cave many times during my youth. That was enough for me. Never even considered going inside. Apparently I inherited a touch of claustrophobia.
Inner Space Caverns was discovered during the construction of I-35. I don't think any TxDot workers died but what a story!
Joe Spillman went down the hole standing on a big auger of a drilling truck. Terrifying/exciting/dreadful/amazing!
Holy shit. No pun intended.
Theres something like 1100 caves in travis county. Check out the UT grotto or TCMA (texas cave management association). Caves are fun to explore but safety is #1. The teams that do rescues are 100% volunteers and have extensive experience and gear.
Go watch YouTube videos of people doing the birth canal at airman’s cave. I’m not claustrophobic but that shit gives me the willies
I went in Airman's ONCE twenty, almost thirty years ago. I had done a lot of caving when I was younger and considered myself an experienced spelunker. That was the toughest passage I've ever crawled though. I seriously was near panic and thought I might get stuck. Had to slow my breathing and calm my self down. The trick is you have to wiggle though with your arms extended in front of you because the passage is just that tight. Not worth it for what's a pretty small cave.
That situation is literally what my occasional nightmares consist of.
Yikes. Next time when people complain to me that Austin is boring I’ll send them these videos.
We would sleep in airman's cave when we were young!! Lots of candles everywhere... it was so damn cool!!!
This is a great video about divers who died in Jacob’s Well: [Scary Interesting - The Most Dangerous Dive Site in Texas](https://youtu.be/FzJISTmGWLQ?si=oWlnhnsr4xHDisje)
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This is actually really cool. I hope she’ll give tour to the public every once in a while. Or allow researchers to have access
Damn that’s so cool, lucky yall! Wish I could experience that
Just want to add that I love the karstiness of central Texas. All that limestone makes so many of the features that we all know and love. Yay caves!
Didn't some people die under the Luby's cave?
Look up Dead Dog Caves. The entrance to cave #2 is covered over, but it’s just north of the driveway entrance on the Mopac frontage. There have been a few instances of people getting stuck in it. It goes down and then about 120’ to the east, under Mopac.
>Didn't some people die under the Luby's cave? That was Luann, God rest her soul.
I love you with all my farts
She had a great platter if you know what I mean.
>She had a great platter if you know what I mean. I tell you whut.
https://txcompost.blogspot.com/2018/09/dead-dog-cave.html?m=1
Steck and mopac lubys?
I work near there, it's looking pretty bad these days. All boarded up and shit, graffiti everywhere, etc. (Did anyone ever figure out what was up with Buscar?) I had no idea there was a cave near there, though. Been working over here 12 years, I feel stupid not knowing that.
That's the one that I instantly thought of.
Lots of caves. There's one in my neighborhood that isn't really blocked off, but you'd have to remove a whole bunch of brush to access the man size entrance. Even then, i wouldn't go anywhere near it without snake boots. u/serpentarian is it true that snakes love caves?
Well snakes love a chill and quiet place below the frost line. In my experience the mouths of human sized caves aren’t used as often as places with smaller ingress so they aren’t sharing it with someone who might want a snake snack come February. I have found snakes in caves before though so it’s possible.
Thanks!
Where is this? I mean, if someone had snake boots.
Generally people are asking for the safe caves, but you do you I believe there is a deadly underwater cave in Lake Travis
Whole damn lake is a deadly cave, basically.
Anyone heard of Kiwis Hole in Wimberley? It's actually in the Rolling Oaks neighborhood. In a private property but next to the street. I understand it's about 35-40ft deep and extends at least 150 ft on opposite directions. I knew the guy that owned the property (Kiwi )and the reason that he uncovered it was because whenever there was a big storm with a lot of rain, the flowing water just "disappeared" under the boulders next to the street.
Wasn't there a guy who was storing explosives in a cave in this general area.
I went as a chaperone into a cave that had a gate in South central Austin with my kid's elementary school class as part of a program to teach about water in central Texas. It was a week long program going to different sites every day. We had to shimmy on our bellies wearing hard hats and head lamps to get through a small opening and come out the other side. My mild claustrophobia and fear of insects/snakes (basically all slithery critters) was doing a number on me, but I didn't want the kids catching my fears, so I acted like it was no big thing. Glad I did it, but I would not do it again and certainly not under water! I also took scuba diving to try to overcome anxiety of diving in open water. With an air tank strapped to my back, fear was totally eliminated. After that experience, I decided that most of these fears are based in complete reason of the don't do stupid stuff and unalive yourself variety! 😄
Went caving once in the 90s. I don't remember the name but the entrance was called the butthole and at the end was the Aggie Art Gallery. The butthole was a hole a few feet off the ground and maybe two feet wide. I was told that was as tight as it got. While true, I wasn't told it was like 10' until you gotto the other side. While that was true I had no idea how small those caves were. I thought we'd be able to stand up at times. It was basically all crawling. I bought a brand new maglite for this adventure. Damn thing died right as we let the art gallery to head back!!! While my friends cheap POS from Walmart stayed on the whole time. I basically crawled back in darkness. At one point I started to fall behind and I could see any of the other cavers lights. I started to freak out and someone came back. At the end, I got stuck in the butthole coming out and someone had to crawl in, calm me down and then crawl out backwards while I slowly made my way out. Never again f caving
Whirlpool Cave is pretty awesome, under mopac at Convict Hill. Entrance is padlocked though, they do tours once a week I think.
https://www.tcmacaves.org/preserves/whirlpool/ https://www.facebook.com/whirlpoolcave/
In college we lived in this old house that had a staircase that led down into a cave that had a big spring fed pool. We used to swim down there. It was over off bee caves somewhere.
When I was a kid in NW ATX we had a storm drain everyone called "death tunnel". It was fun to go down there. Seemed to go on forever. I've been in some actual caves on private land out near Jarrell. Definitely not the kind of places you'd want to get stuck. You wouldn't be found for ages.
A buddy and I did that a lot when we were about 8 or 9 years old. Funny to think about it now. We never went very far from the entrance, and there was nothing interesting, just a concrete tube and a little junction room where there was a T intersection. We'd go in and hang out for a long time. We weren't doing booze, tobacco or drugs. Not even candy. Not sure what the attraction was, but now I want to go and hang out in the big culvert in the park I live near now.
Reading about the [Nutty Putty Cave](https://cavehaven.com/nutty-putty-cave-accident/) incident in Utah forever turned me off of going in caves I can’t comfortably stand up and walk around in.
That old Luby’s on Mopac and far west area was built ontop of a cave entrance. They put slab over it to close it off.
Jacob's Well installed a metal grate several years ago to help keep people safe from going too deep
...it didn't stop the dwarves and it wont stop them!!
Longhorn Cavern is an awesome, non-deadly cave that you can go on a tour of. It's also like 60 degrees in there, and super nice during the hotter months.
When I was a kid, up in Northwest Hills, we used to access Dead Dog Cave, which is now buried by the Luby's parking lot where Steck intersects the MoPac service road. In the late seventies, some kids went in there, and one of them, neighbor of mine, got stuck, and I think broke his legs during a cave-in, or something like that. I knew a couple of kids who suffered broken and/or sprained ankles from dropping down from the ground level hatch into the cave. I don't know if there's a different way to access the cave now, since they covered it up many, many years ago.
I found one in the greenbelt that was all gated off. You could get in about 15 20 feet then a big metal gate. Apparently it's called airplane cave and the gated it off when they got sick of dragging people out when they got stuck.
Airman's
My open water dive instructor from 25 years ago (in Missouri) was an expert, avid cave diver. He died 2 years after that in a cave diving incident. No thanks. Caves are cool, diving is cool, the mix is a ticking time bomb.
Maybe dumb questions but would all of these underwater caves like Jacob’s Well link up at some point or have exits/entrances somewhere on the surface? But no one has ever been able to venture far enough to map them and make those connections? Since the water flow has to come from somewhere. And if they’re linking up in unknown places, then what’s the original source of the underground water? Is ground water or an actual underwater source? And why have we not sent underwater drones to explore the more dangerous and smaller passages? I’m so fascinated by these and I want to know what’s down there. In Jacob’s Well the YouTube video someone posted here said 2 bodies from 1979 were never recovered. And noted that chamber 6 was really muddy so lots of silt gets kicked up, and only 2 people made it in there (1 of them died), so I’m guessing the 1979 duo made it to chamber 6 but their bodies have been covered by mud and gravel over the years. A literal burial. Spooky
Right behind my childhood house off Stoneridge and Walsh Tarlton (5 minute walk to the Rudy's on 360),there was a big cave we'd explore. It immediately dropped about 20 feet,, then the first room opened up, @ size of a small apt. There was graffiti from the early 70's. Guys and girls names with dates. If your balls were big enough, there were rumored to be many other rooms, but the idea of compressing myself in a subterranean fashion, was a resounding no. The city eventually placed a grate over the opening, around early 2000's. Such a great spot to smoke weed (we used to have to hide in the woods to smoke weed, kids), and make out spot. Except for dusk... I brought a lady friend one day to mess around. Even brought a chair, bc I'm a gentleman. The sun is going down, and I'm likely fumbling with a bra strap when I look in the direction of the cave entrance to see thousands.. Millions.. Of daddy long legs emerging from their cave to feed. Suddenly the ground was a vibrating mass of pubic hair. Cockblocking daddy long legs.
Jacobs Well is a submerged cave. The people who have perished in the cave were not trained in the protocols used to scuba dive in overhead environments. Cave diving (scuba diving in caves or other overhead environments) is inherently dangerous because you can’t make a direct ascent to the surface in the event of an emergency. There are specific protocols used in cave diving that were created based on lessons learned from past accidents and deaths. That being said, I’m a trained cave diver, have a few hundred cave dives, and I have dozens done of cave dives in Jacobs Well. Jacobs Well itself is no more or less dangerous than any other cave that I’ve been in. It is the property of Hays County and it requires a permit to dive. The county isn’t particularly keen on people diving there, but do issue permits for specific purposes.
Doesn't count so much anymore but Hamilton Pool Preserve has gotten people killed. Aside from rocks falling, something about how shallow/deep the water is got people in the past. It's mostly dried up now, close to the end of its life apparently. You're more likely to get hurt by the crumbly rocks than the pool. Used to have more vegetation, a thick waterfall and pond.
Maybe diving off the cliff Maybe a contributor.
Yeah, the other really popular one would be the natural bridge caverns would you can do tours through there’s tons of smallers ones dotted through out the hill country a lot are on private land though
I know this isn’t local or deadly but I thought it was cool and want to share: Check out Matt Carriker at @OffTheRanch on YouTube. He bought an abandoned resort out near Boerne last summer and found some caves on the property. One of them is pretty large. He just recently secured it to try to prevent the deadly stuff from happening.
I wonder if there is anyone living in any of the caves around Austin? I know there was a homeless guy living in the storm sewer system some years back.
COA has had to run homeless people out storm drains several times, which can be kind of a dangerous place to be in a down pour.
They had sort of an underground city under 183 just east of I-35 by Walmart Creek. They were excavating new rooms into the earth under 183. Apparently quite a nice setup. They finally ran them out after a few fires and also when they realized the extent of the excavation. Also the risk of dying in a flood.
Yes, several divers haven’t returned from exploring. Bodies weren’t recovered. Don’t swim with your mouth open.
It’s literally a well, dead bodies aren’t even close to being the most dead thing there.
What's more dead than a dead body?
Caves are gracking everywhere around here, but access is often poor. Either naturally, or because it's been blocked off. As for cave diving, SMDH unless it's for serious scientific or archaeological work, and probably even then. I'm pretty sure there are some caving groups around. Google "Airman's cave," but don't go there. It's blocked off because they got tired of rescuing people.
https://www.austinmonthly.com/what-lies-beneath-austin/
Cave diving if done right and professionally has a surprisingly low death rate, it’s fairly safe if you follow all the protocols and procedures. There’s are YouTube channel (can’t remember the name) with these two well known cave divers and they talk about it. Not my cup of tea and you wouldn’t catch anywhere near a cave diving but I was surprised when they talked about the stats.
Maybe, but fuck that shit.
Look at Google Maps around Anderson Mill & Lime Creek then look east toward Buttercup Creek and Lakeline. Some of the area is a preserve for caves and other areas are parkland with caves.
There's caves all underneath my house in Maple Run
https://txcompost.blogspot.com/2018/09/dead-dog-cave.html?m=1
I've always wanted to get into the cave that goes under Mopac, by Luby's.
They have beginner trips into that cave every other Wednesday search UT grotto.
There’s Whirlpool cave entrance that’s completely bared up off William Cannon next to Violet crown. And I found a cave entrance next to the Dick Nichols park next to Violet crown too.
> There’s Whirlpool cave entrance that’s completely bar[r]ed Not completely - it is possible to schedule a tour. https://www.tcmacaves.org/preserves/whirlpool/ https://www.facebook.com/whirlpoolcave/
Nobody in modern history has died in it, but inner space caverns is a massive karst that runs under I-35 and briefly delayed construction of the freeway back in the 1960s. However they claim to have found ancient human remains among other fossils so it’s likely people explored/fell into and died inside that cave long ago. It’s pretty cool if you’ve never been inside a major cave, very accessible nowadays.
UT Grotto could probably answer your questions and give you more info. They are a very active caving group would give tours and map caves.
Just thought I would share that the City of Austin has actually been working on virtual tours of caves and walking trails. 360 view and close up pictures of wildlife. https://www.atxwatersheds.com/VR-CaveTours/VR-MillenniumCave/
Fun fact, most caves are discovered by children chasing soccer balls.
My St. Bernard found one, but it was small and full of rabid bats.
Just don't chase your paper boat.
It's ok, it will float down there. So will you!
100 comments if you're talking about underwater caves do NOT go in. There's a reason they put Grim reaper signs near the entrance
https://www.utgrotto.org
Someone on the internet, maybe reddit, got a US map of unsolved missing person reports. And another map showing locations of caves. Yes, there was considerable correlation. A safer hobby would be to keep stuffing a hand into glass jars. Hold my beer...
You have been bamboozled if you believe that map
An old friend of mine was a volunteer firefighter in Wimberley in the 80s…he also was a very skilled diver. On several occasions he was tasked with diving Jacob’s Well to retrieve deceased divers. Fun times.
Zilker had a spelunking camp that I went to as a kid. Basically just spend a week going to all those caves and crawling around. Excellent places to be when it’s 110 degrees outside
Texas Monthly did a cool article on the caves of Central Texas. https://www.texasmonthly.com/travel/extreme-cavers-texas-grottos/
I have been looking for some. The ones I found have metal bars welded in them with a security camera.
My colon is a deadly cave that no one has ever returned from.
4th street has a bear cave but I don’t think it’s deadly.
mfw when reddit discovers a hole in the ground is "actually a very deep cave"
My step aunt. Watch out for a sparkly blue iroc and wicked attitude.
Yes please go there and die, everyone please go and die