Caves
"Lost John," the miner under the boulder in Mammoth Cave
In 1935, guides deep in Mammoth Cave found the body of an adult man pinned under a huge boulder.
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Edmonson County
The exact place is withheld to protect the site.
He was a pre-Columbian miner who had been digging out cave minerals and disturbed the rubble holding the rock up, and it shifted and settled onto him. The dry cave air naturally mummified him, and the artifacts found with him point to an age of more than 2,000 years.
"Lost John," along with remains from other caves nearby, shows how far Woodland-era Kentuckians went underground and what it could cost them. He was displayed to visitors into the 1970s and then reburied in a secret spot inside the cave. (Grokipedia — Mammoth Cave National Park (opens in a new tab))
Kentucky today
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Sources and research
Cite this story
Cite this story
Published . Last revised .
Chicago
Snowden, Shannon. ""Lost John," the miner under the boulder in Mammoth Cave." Kentucky History Drive. Published November 5, 2026. Last revised November 5, 2026. https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/lost-john-the-miner-under-the-boulder-in-mammoth-cave/.
MLA
Snowden, Shannon. ""Lost John," the miner under the boulder in Mammoth Cave." Kentucky History Drive, published 5 Nov. 2026, last revised 5 Nov. 2026, https://kyhistorydrive.com/stories/lost-john-the-miner-under-the-boulder-in-mammoth-cave/.