Floyd Collins

Floyd Collins was a caver who became trapped in Sand Cave on January 30th, 1925 50m from the entrance by a 26 1/2 pound rock. He was found and provided with food and media attention until February 4 when a further collapse cut him off, leading to frantic tunneling attempts, but he was found dead on the 17th of February.

—Floyd Collins (Metafilter)

A good collection of links about a caving legend.

Since Collins was the subject of the first modern media circus, I’m considering doing a unit on the event in a future journalism course. I’d probably include the “Baby Jessica down the well” incident and the more recent West Virginia mining accident (where the press reported jubilation after the false word spread that most of the miners were rescued, when in fact most were dead).