In True Tales, the author presents a fascinating collection of true horror stories and legends centered within the especially dark corners of the world—caves. Each account, typically only two or three pages in length, whets the reader’s appetite to read just one more story. Therefore, if you begin this book at night be prepared to stay up well past midnight, and when your trembling hand finally sets the book aside, do not expect to readily fall asleep.

The book is divided into five categories of stories: Murder and Mayhem, Cowboys and Indians, The Spoils of War, Suicides and Accidents, and Weirdness and the Unexplained. These categories only hint at the true contents—dungeons, apparitions, floating bodies, missing persons, and mysterious circumstances. Not every story depicts a bloodbath. A couple stories are, in fact, rather humorous, such as the account of a group of bungling criminals taking commercial cave tour leaders hostage during a cave trip and demanding a million dollars as well as a plane to Brazil. Fortunately no one was hurt, while the hostage takers were taken somewhere other than Brazil.

Another story poignantly recounts the attempted suicide by a young Johnny Cash, who crawled deep into a cave to die alone—until he discerned an ethereal presence urging him to regain his life.

After years of research, the author has gathered bizarre cave stories from across the world and from across time, dating back to the dawn of human history. The intriguing thing about many of the stories is that they present mysteries yet to be solved.  Answers to some of these puzzles, especially those centuries old, are lost in the ever-fading pages of time past, but the unsolved mysteries of recent time, including missing children last seen visiting a cave, or the murder of a person whose body was discovered underground, might yet be resolved.  Some cavers who read this book may have some familiarity with one case or another and could shed light on the story. If so, it is hoped the reader will contact the author, who could then include the information in a future edition of the book.

After reading this book, you will realize there are things darker than the lightless world of caves.