FOWKBj ARCHEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS 93 



his family. He died in 1855, leavino; instructions that his body was 

 to be packed in salt and placed in the small cave, " with a ten-grallon 

 cask of good whisliy," the entrance then to be sealed up. In order 

 to carry out his last wishes, and at the same time to give him a 

 " Christian burial," his wife had all his internal organs removed and 

 interred in a cemetery ; his body was filled with salt, and placed 

 in a coffin, which, according to his wishes, was deposited in the cave, 

 with the whisky. On the seventh anniversary of his death the whole 

 community was to assemble to " eat, drink, and be merry." For 

 many years residents in the vicinity had used the cave as a place 

 for festive gatherings ; but this occasion was to be on a scale beyond 

 anything previously attempted. If necessary, Scriptural methods 

 were to be employed ; that is, messengers were to be sent out in all 

 directions, urging every one to come. The floor was to be enlarged, 

 and a platform erected on it. AVhen all were as- 

 sembled, the whisky and the coffin were to be 

 brought from their resting place and set on the 

 platform. Then certain famous fiddlers were to 

 ascend the platform and play, while the guests 

 danced. When the whisky was exhausted, and the 

 fiddlers in the same condition, the picnic was over 

 and the assembly would disperse. The coffin was 

 then to be replaced in the little cave, which was to 

 be again sealed up, not to be reopened until the 

 Day of Judgment. 



The preliminaries were carried out accord- ^''''- 22.— Perforator 



. . andknifefrom 



ing to program, but when the time tor the wright cave. 

 celebration came round the people were more 

 concerned with the Civil War, and especially in the activities of the 

 bushwhackers who infested that part of the country, than they were 

 in picnics; and Wilson's resurrection was brought about by persons 

 whose identity was never discovered. They got into his tomli in some 

 manner, drank all the Avhisky, broke open the coffin, and threw Wil- 

 son's bones to the outside, where they were scattered down the slope. 

 Horrified relatives gathered them up, replaced them in the cave, 

 sealed it again, and Wilson is still there awaiting his final summons. 



The entrance is 20 feet high and 45 feet Avide. Dry cave earth ex- 

 tends for 135 feet; from this point it continues, partially filled with 

 fallen rock and stalagmite, 40 feet farther, or 175 feet in all, in plain 

 daylight, at which distance the cave makes a turn ; and the cave earth 

 was followed in this to complete darkness without coming to its 

 termination. 



Beginning 100 feet from the entrance and extending for 35 feet, 

 a narrow row of loose rocks fallen from the outcrop of a stratum 

 along the center of the roof lies on the surface. The cavern here 

 measures 35 feet in width. 



