The Tale Of Floyd Collins comes to us from Arkansas native Ronnie Hawkins, who found success and fame after following Conway Twitty's advice and relocating to Canada.
In 1960, several decades after the fact, Hawkins, a cousin of rockabilly pioneer Dale Hawkins, released this topical song about the 1925 death of cave explorer Floyd Collins who became trapped 55 feet underground in what is now part of Mammoth Cave National Park just outside of Cave City, Kentucky. Collins got stuck while exploring and though rescue teams worked around the clock to try to save him, they were ulimately unsuccessful and after 14 hellish days Collins succumbed to exposure, thirst and starvation.
In 1949 a similarly horrible event unfolded in San Marino, California when 3-year-old Kathy Fiscus fell into an uncapped well and died after a desperate rescue attempt that lasted 27 hours, mercifully brief compared to the two week ordeal that Collins suffered through.
Both events served as the basis for Billy Wilder's 1951 film Ace In The Hole, starring Kirk Douglas as a scheming and cynical reporter covering the story of a man trapped in a cave.
how does one succumb to exposure when trapped in a cave?
Posted by: that guy | January 25, 2012 at 10:24 AM
Exposure to the cold air, I think.
Posted by: Listener Greg G. | January 25, 2012 at 10:31 AM
Great post. The Floyd Collins story also inspired a musical and Robert Penn Warren's novel "The Cave".
Posted by: Reed Ennis | January 25, 2012 at 10:35 AM
Phil Alvin did a fine version of this as well on his first solo album, under the title "Collins' Cave."
Posted by: Devlin Thompson | January 26, 2012 at 07:54 AM
Never heard of this story before. Thanks for posting it is a sad one and yet intriguing at the same time. Will definitely check out the movie.
Posted by: win your boyfriend back | December 13, 2012 at 11:11 AM