A LOOK INSIDE THE WORLD OF CAVING

There is a certain dark quality and imperceptible mystery that has always been attached to the sport of recreational caving. While mountaineering, deep sea diving and other outdoor pastimes have been romanticized by the sporting world, caving has always stood alone, shunned by the claustrophobic and the weak at heart.

      Veteran caver Paul Steward proudly states that “part of caving is the sense of the unknown; you never know what’s going to be waiting around the next bend.”

      In his book True Tales of Terror in the Caves of the World, published earlier this year, Steward details sixty of the goriest cave tales taken from areas all across the globe, ranging from New Jersey to Malaysia.

      The cover of Steward’s book ominously depicts a picture of two hollow human skulls found in a burial cave in China. Inside, the reader can read up on grisly accounts of murder, witchcraft and the occasional unfortunate accident that have taken place in caves.

      Steward’s retellings of the morbid stories hold an element of the fantastic, proving that the truth can often be stranger than fiction.

      Tales of Terror is the second book Steward has published on caves. Steward believes that it is important to write about caves because “the history of the world can be found inside them.” From biblical times to present day, caves naturally serve as anthropological time capsules, preserving the history of ancient worlds as well as providing palettes for new history to be made.

      Steward first became inspired to write Tales of Terror in 2001 after reading a book of horror stories about Mammoth Cave, the longest cave in the world.

      He spent the next couple of years compiling information, chasing clues from news reports and history books. To get a better idea of his subject matter, Steward even visited some of the caves to do some further investigation.

      On a family vacation to Niagara Falls, Steward made a stop at Devil’s Hole, a cave detailed in a chapter of True Tales of Terror. Nearly 250 years ago, Devil’s Hole was the site of a massacre of a British supply convoy by a tribe of Seneca Indians.

      Steward states that the true horror of the story was enhanced upon seeing the dried up creek of blood, formerly known as the Bloody Run, still evident on the cave floor.

      Despite the macabre tales in his book, Steward assures that “caves themselves aren’t dangerous; they’re just holes in the ground. It’s careless people that make them dangerous.”

      With the right equipment, proper guidance and certain degree of physical fitness, anyone can be a caver, he says.

      While there is a general public hesitance attached to caving, Steward encourages everyone with a love for adventure to try the sport.

      “Caving changes you. Everything you come to know about the surface of the earth goes away underground. It’s so different and alien going to places where so few people have been. It’s like visiting another world.”

      As he reminisces over his caving adventures, Steward recalls stumbling into a passage inside Mammoth Cave. Steward and his fellow explorers were taken aback to find a passage that seemed to be coated in a layer of snow, hidden miles from the nearest entrance. The white powder was in fact gypsum, a byproduct of limestone and the same substance used to make drywall.

      Steward asserts that caving is something to be experienced at least once.

      “Everyone’s in a cave for a different reason, whether it be escaping traffic or cell phones or just for the sake of exploring. When you’re in a cave, the outside world disappears completely. Caving quite literally takes you away from everyday life.”

      Steward someday aspires to go caving at Lechuguilla, a cave in New Mexico commonly known as the “Mt. Everest of caving.” Besides being the deepest cave in the United States, Lechuguilla is a goldmine of natural beauty, hosting an array of unique crystal and cave formations.

      Steward, 45, has lived in Ewing all his life. When he is not caving, Steward is a production control and material specialist for Lockheed Martin. He currently resides on the same street he grew up on with his wife Diana and his children Danielle, 15, and Bryan, 12. Steward is chairman of the Central New Jersey Grotto (caving club) and has caved in areas all over the United States.

      True Tales of Terror in the Caves of the World can be purchased online at www.cavebooks.com by clicking on the link to download the Cave Books catalog. If you have a desire to go caving, contact the National Speleological Society at www.caves.org and they will direct you to your local caving community.