Buzz
Cave diving is nothing short of madness. Though this might be the briefest yet most subjective introduction in Mytour's history, it comes with a heap of supporting facts. A grisly, submerged, deteriorating, and pitch-black heap of proof, scattered across countless tight, jagged caverns deep within the Earth.
By blending the solitude and emptiness of cave exploration with the helplessness and sometimes literal madness associated with scuba diving, cave diving undeniably presents a formidable challenge. Only the most daring and skilled adventurers even consider undertaking this extreme sport, and even for them, success is by no means assured.
This collection showcases ten accounts from cave divers who found themselves trapped in the most eerie situations. From near-death encounters to paranormal experiences and pure tragedies, these are ten of the creepiest cave diving stories.
10. The Rescue
The Tham Luang rescue is probably the most well-known cave rescue operation in history. Involving thousands of rescuers, spanning 18 days, and attracting global media coverage, the story of a Thai children’s soccer team trapped in a flooded cave became an intense cultural phenomenon. Yet, the children weren’t alone in their ordeal, and the divers who attempted to save them endured some of the most severe injuries and psychological trauma of the entire operation.
On June 23, 2018, twelve boys and their young coach ventured into the Tham Luang Nang Non cave system, only for a sudden downpour to flood the cave, trapping them inside. Beginning the very next day, international teams of rescue divers scoured the now-submerged cave for over two weeks.
In total, over 90 divers participated in rescuing the boys, and their mission proved successful; all thirteen were brought out alive. Sadly, two divers lost their lives during the operation—one during the dive itself and the other a year later from a dive-related blood infection.
9. Rummu Prison
Fortunately, the eerie nature of Rummu Quarry doesn’t involve any fatalities—at least, not directly. While the surface of the site is a basic quarry and a popular tourist spot, the dark history beneath it is somber and grim.
The quarry came into being when the limestone mine at its core fell into neglect and began to flood. While it was operational, the limestone extracted from its walls was the result of relentless, grueling labor by Soviet prisoners, particularly those sentenced to the Rummu prison work camp.
Despite its picturesque appearance on the surface, the quarry's depths still harbor remnants of the prison, including bunkers, walls, and rusted barbed wire—silent symbols of its brutality.
8. Modesto Varischetti
The tale of Italian miner Modesto Varischetti may lean more toward the peculiar than the terrifying. But there’s still plenty of eeriness to go around when considering what he endured.
In 1907, Varischetti was working in a gold mine in Bonnievale, Australia, when a violent thunderstorm rapidly flooded vast sections of the mine. He managed to find an air pocket amid the floodwaters and sat there in the cold, eerie silence, waiting for rescue.
Varischetti heard no sign of rescue for a grueling five days, until finally, a rescuer in vintage ocean-diving gear managed to reach him and deliver food. It still took another four days for rescuers to pull Varischetti out of the flooded mine.
As bizarre as it may seem, one of the miners who helped rescue Varischetti was none other than future U.S. President Herbert Hoover.
7. A Missile Silo
Introduced in 1959, the Titan I was the United States’ first intercontinental ballistic missile. These missiles were housed in underground complexes scattered throughout the Western U.S., but by the late ’60s, they were outdated, leaving the complexes obsolete.
The sites were stripped for scrap materials and largely left to decay. After one site was flooded, a private company gained permission to allow dives at the Royal City, WA silo, and these dives are as haunting as they are awe-inspiring.
In one part of the dive, the tour company’s official description reads, “You’d never suspect you were about to enter a 160-foot-high chamber that once housed a ballistic nuclear missile!” This should give you an idea of the type of people who sign up for this (manmade) cave dive. Divers may even find themselves “just inches away from where the massive Titan I ICBM once stood at the ready,” which could be unsettling for a number of reasons.
6. Ben’s Vortex
On August 18, 2010, Ben McDaniel vanished after diving into Vortex Spring in Florida. After two dive shop employees saw McDaniel enter the spring early that evening, he was never seen again.
While McDaniel’s disappearance could be written off as a tragic case of diving error or bad luck, many remain unconvinced. Throughout the investigation, several strange pieces of evidence emerged, prompting some to question what really happened that night—even considering the possibility of foul play.
For example, there was McDaniel’s peculiar behavior before his final dive; the recovered air tanks that didn’t align with his dive plans; McDaniel’s mounting personal and financial issues before he disappeared; the suspicious death of the spring’s owner the following year; and the consistent refusal by police to release crucial evidence from the case.
5. We Have to Go Back
Pluragrotta, a renowned cave diving destination in Norway, draws divers for its stunning beauty, extreme depth, and crystal-clear underwater visibility. In 2014, however, it gained notoriety as the site of a tragic diving accident, followed by an extraordinary recovery operation.
In February, five Finnish divers attempted a lengthy, deep dive through the cave system. Only three succeeded, and even they were struck by severe decompression sickness. As a result, diving was prohibited in the cave, and an international team of rescuers searched for the two missing bodies. When the mission was deemed too perilous, the three survivors decided to take action themselves.
With a large support crew but no official authorization, the survivors embarked on a bold mission to return to the cave’s depths to recover their friends' bodies. They succeeded and notified authorities of their discovery, fully prepared to face consequences for violating the cave ban. Surprisingly, they were not charged, and one of them was even awarded a medal by the Finnish president.
The documentary ‘Diving into the Unknown’ tells the full, gripping story, which is even more dramatic and intense than any Hollywood thriller.
4. The Birth Canal
The tragic story of John Edward Jones’s death has become infamous for its agonizing and drawn-out nature, with some even calling it 'the worst death of all time.'
On November 24, 2009, Jones and his friends ventured into Nutty Putty Cave, where he chose to attempt a perilous passage through a section known as the Birth Canal. This passage is extremely narrow and descends steeply, forcing Jones to enter headfirst. Unfortunately, the very act of breathing caused his torso to become wedged, leaving him stuck in the passage.
Rescue efforts to free Jones became a heartbreaking series of failures and slow suffering. At one point, Jones was briefly lifted out of the Canal by a rope and pulley, but the equipment malfunctioned, and he was dropped back into his original, trapped position. After more than 24 hours of being stuck upside down and compressed, Jones eventually lost the ability to breathe and died. Before his passing, rescuers managed to lower a radio to him, allowing him to speak to his wife one final time.
3. The Iceberg Shifted
Jill Heinerth is regarded as a true icon in the world of cave diving. Having worked on dive documentaries for major networks, authored an extensive collection of books on the subject, and explored a staggering number of caves globally, it carries significant weight when she names one particular dive as containing some of the most terrifying moments of her career.
The dive that Heinerth refers to took place inside a newly-formed, drifting iceberg. As she describes it, 'an iceberg the size of Jamaica,' the largest moving object on the planet at the time.
Accompanied by two fellow divers and documentarians, Heinerth ventured into the submerged chambers of rock and ice within the iceberg, witnessing sights no human had seen before. But the adventure came with repeated brushes with death. One of her teammates nearly froze to death, while all three found themselves trapped in a cave when its entrance suddenly slammed shut. They were tossed about by powerful currents, locked in an unexpected ice chamber, then swept away again, and trapped once more.
To make matters worse, the iceberg itself was unstable. As Heinerth recalls, 'There was our iceberg—the cave we had just been inside of, breaking into pieces, rising up in the sea and sending massive waves towards our boat. The entire square mile of ice we’d just explored was cracking and dissolving into the sea. I stood there, stunned on the ship’s rail, realizing that if we had been in the water, we’d be dead.'
2. It Was All on Tape
The death of Dave Shaw during a cave dive remains one of the most tragic and layered incidents in the history of diving. Warning: the attached video contains Shaw's personal camera footage from the moments before his death, and it is difficult to watch.
The incident began in 1994 with the death of Deon Dreyer. A decade later, while diving at the same location, Shaw discovered Dreyer's missing body. In a remarkable gesture, Shaw reached out to Dreyer’s family and promised that he would return to recover their son’s remains.
True to his word, Shaw set out on a return dive and once again reached Dreyer’s body. However, Shaw soon succumbed to nitrogen narcosis, a dangerous condition that impaired his ability to breathe and think clearly.
Tragically, Dave Shaw passed away next to Deon Dreyer’s body. The tragedy deepened when Shaw’s support diver, Don Shirley, nearly lost his life trying to rescue Shaw.
1. Mossdale
It’s impossible to create a list like this without mentioning the 1967 Mossdale disaster. Situated in the Yorkshire Dales of England, the Mossdale Caverns were once a popular spot for hiking and cave exploration. We say *were* because the tragic deaths of six cave explorers in 1967 led to a ban on further exploration of the site by the local government.
The cave was a grueling journey through uneven terrain and fluctuating water levels, which prompted four of the original ten explorers to abandon their expedition and return to safety. Unfortunately, the remaining six were unable to escape as heavy rainfall flooded parts of the cave, trapping them. After two days of rescue efforts, the bodies of the six were recovered, confirming their deaths and securing the Mossdale disaster’s place as the deadliest cave incident in British history.
