On January 30th 1925, an American cave explorer named Floyd Collins entered Sand Cave in Kentucky intending to excavate a small passage and found himself trapped in a collapsed narrow crawlway 55-feet below the ground. After a national rescue operation failed to retrieve him alive, Floyd passed away from starvation, hunger and exposure. 

Following his passing, all of the rescue shafts were closed and Floyd was laid to rest in the cave where he passed. However, his brother Homer, who had championed the rescue efforts, was not satisfied with the cave being his brother's final resting place and reopened the shaft two months later with the help of some friends and recovered Floyd's remains. The family held a burial service for him to be laid to rest at the Collin's family farm. 

But this was not to be Floyd's final resting place. Two years later, Floyd's father sold the family land, including the plot where his son was laid to rest, to a fellow cave-owner named Dr. Harry Thomas. The new owner had Floyd's body laid to rest back inside of the cave, this time in a glass-topped coffin so that his corpse could be placed on display and used as a part of the attraction when the cave was to be opened to tourists shortly after.

The body remained on display for two years in the cave before being moved to a more secluded area of the system and placed in a chained and locked casket. 

In 1961, the Crystal Cave was purchased by the Mammoth Cave National Park and was permanently closed to the public. The Collins family put forth a request that the body be removed from the cave and laid to rest in a cemetery. The National Park Service agreed to the request and re-interred him at Mammoth Cave Baptist Church Cemetery, where he rests to this day. 

However, it is my firm belief that the final move of Collins' body to the Mammoth Cemetery was wrong and should never have happened. And it's far beyond time to #PutTheManBackInTheCave. Allow me to make my case:

First, the request for Collins' body to be removed from the cave was based on the family's objection to the body being "on display" in the cave. As previously mentioned, the body was only on display for two years. For the following thirty-one years, Collins' body was laid to rest in a secluded part of the cave in a chained casket with a respectful headstone. Furthermore, if what the family wanted was privacy for Floyd, a cave system that is closed permanently to the public would be far more secluded than a public cemetery. Moving Floyd back to the cave system would achieve what the family wanted most.

Second, cave exploring was Floyd's passion from the age of six, when he first began exploring caves in the search of Native American artefacts to sell to tourists, to the moment he passed away lying in one. Floyd was even integral to the discovery of caves in the area, such as Donkey's Cave, Dossey's Dome Cave, and the Great Onyx Cave. Given that Floyd dedicated a great deal of his life to cave exploration, it seems like an act of reverence and respect to put him to rest in one. Floyd Collins never showed an avid interest in ditch laying or cemeteries, so putting him to rest in one makes no logical sense.

This is no novelty request, people are laid to rest in places they were passionate about all of the time. Every year ashes are spread illegally in Disney Land parks and nature reserves out of respect for the loved ones. All I ask is that we #PutTheManBackInTheCave and bury Floyd Collins in his preferred location. 

Please sign the petition and tweet with the hashtag #PutTheManBackInTheCave to show your support for this movement.

I will be regularly providing updates about the movement over on my stream at https://www.Twitch.tv/Miorby  

Thank you for your consideration.