Mossdale Caverns, Yorkshire Dales, Saturday 24 June 1967: ten cavers go in on a fine summer day. Four turn back. Then the weather breaks, Mossdale Beck floods the entrance, and six men are cut off deep inside. Rescuers dig a trench and dam the beck to reach them. Told from published accounts of the tragedy. Content note: this story ends with six deaths.

The case: Mossdale Caverns, Upper Wharfedale, Yorkshire Dales, England, 24 June 1967.

On Saturday 24 June 1967, ten cavers entered Mossdale Caverns in Upper Wharfedale, in the Yorkshire Dales. Four turned back after about three hours. Heavy rain swelled Mossdale Beck and flooded the entrance and much of the cave. Rescuers diverted the beck with a trench and a dam; the bodies of five of the six cavers left inside were found in the Far Marathon Crawls, and the sixth later. The cave was sealed.

Chapters

0:00 The entrance

0:29 Ten cavers

0:59 The beck

1:24 The dam

1:52 Far Marathon

2:22 Sealed

2:45 What the record says

Sources

Wikipedia, "Mossdale Caverns" (the 1967 tragedy, with its references)

"Remembering Mossdale fifty years on", with John Conway's account, Darkness Below, 2017

Full transcript:

https://pub-413c1fc5107e439dbec7a1f1c322ed45.r2.dev/transcripts/ep12.vtt

Caving Stories on YouTube:

English

Spanish

Portuguese

Follow the show in your podcast app to get each new episode as soon as it is out.

Produced by Caving Stories.