Watch the video about what is deep underground in the Luray Caverns.
Video Transcript
Interviewer: Um, let me ask you a little bit about this. This is a really interesting story as how these were discovered. It all started with a hole in the ground?
Interviewee: Yes, ma'am. By three local men. They were actually prospecting for a caverns and they knew that there were other caverns in the area. So they were actually walking on a field and they found a hole and it was very cool for an August day. So they began digging and within six hours they were able to come into a caverns and they discovered this.
Interviewer: And this is huge. How, how large is this? Do you do this in terms of square feet? How, how large is this cavern?
Interviewee: So it covers 64 acres and you're only seeing 47 of it. Um, so it's very large. Um, different caverns are measured differently, but we measure by air space.
Interviewer: And their idea was, they thought if they could find this cavern they were going to try and make some money off this.
Interviewee: Yes. Yeah. They were, uh, looking for a way to make money. So when they came into the caverns, they, um, bought the land and then unfortunately they lost it because they didn't disclose what they had found.
Interviewer: And what year was this?
Interviewee: Uh, 1878.
Interviewer: 1878. And so when they came in here, I mean this was pitch black. They were coming in with what, lanterns and just hoping that they could find their way out. That had to be dangerous.
Interviewee: Yes.
Interviewer: I mean they, they, they were really taking a risk. Um, you said they six hours it took them to get down and then but once they got in, it's not like they had to dig anymore, right? They just were walking through this open space.
Interviewee: Yep. And what you see is what they saw.
Interviewer: Wow. And talk a little bit about the, the changes. It's changing a little bit every year.
Interviewee: Yes. So every 120 years, it'll grow a cubic inch.
Interviewer: So these stalactites hanging from the ceiling are going to grow a little in, you know, over 120 years. So it looked different 120 years ago.
Interviewee: Yes. Yes. So come back.
Interviewer: We'll be back for the next one. Okay.
Man: Oh yeah. I can see where it could get slick.
Interviewee: Yeah.
Man: Wow. So this was just sitting underneath and hidden. Nobody knew this was here until they just dug, they found it because you said a small little quarter-sized hole.
Interviewee: Yes.
Man: Wow. When they came into the caverns. Can you imagine coming in here without any light?
Interviewer: Uh, no I cannot.
Man: This is, they were very brave. And then always that fear you get lost in here.
Interviewee: Absolutely.
Man: So it opened up that year in Sept- was it September?
Interviewee: September.
Man: I think it was September.
Interviewee: September of 1878.
Man: Oh really?
Interviewee: Yeah, they opened, they tried to open immediately.
Man: Uh-huh.
Interviewee: So they could start making money.
Man: To have people come in. But of course they weren't doing what we're doing on a nice paved path.
Interviewee: Yes.
Man: So it was, it was probably what, they were, it was still the water flow at that time going through?
Interviewee: No, that had, uh, dissipated.
Man: So now it was, okay.
Interviewee: Yeah.
Man: So they were just following what had been the water flow like we are.
Interviewee: Yes, ma'am. And up here you'll see actually the second view of Pluto's Ghost.
Man: Oh okay.
Interviewee: So we just kind of made a circle on the other side.
Man: I'd be heading here on those 95 degree days, I think.
Interviewee: Absolutely. Yep. So right down there is Pluto's Ghost. The other side. And there's the actual, uh, box up that is on a player piano kind of type and that's how it's played.
Man: And it's tapping the-
Interviewee: Yes. That's what's doing the tapping sound so, uh, as you can see all the wiring there. So what's happening is a large drum is signaling that device there by completing an electrical circuit. And that turns electrical energy into magnetic energy and that causes that rod there to go forward and makes the piece of rubber strike the formation, creating a sound. Uh, then if we could see but on this one here there's actually a bolt going through it allowing for another device called a magnetic pickup to read the vibrations, send the electronic equivalent off to speakers hidden just out of view.
Man: Gotcha.
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