Cave diving gone WRONG │ the David Gant HORROR

On August 15, 1992, David Gant and a friend strapped on their diving gear and illegally entered Nicajack Cave. What eventually happened is something that continues to shock the caving community and Tennessee natives to this day. Nicajack Dam is one of TBA's Tennessee Valley Authority's nine hydroelectric dams on the peaceful and scenic Tennessee River. Nicajack Lake, crated above the dam, has 215 miles of winding shorelines along the beautiful Tennessee River Gorge with its numerous coves and inlets. Nicajack Dam was named for the nearby Nicajack Cave, located about a mile east of the dam's structure, which is one of thousands of cave systems in East Tennessee. Nicajack Cave is also known as Bat Cave and is close to Chattanooga, Tennessee. The cave has been commercially exploited since at least 1872. Guides would take visitors into the cave in boats. By 1927, the cave was being shown by Lawrence Ashley, who supposedly disappeared in the cave during an exploration. His disappearance was covered by both the local Chattanooga newspapers and the New York Times. After being, quote, lost from August 15, 1927 through August 22, Lawrence reappeared, claiming he had dug his way through a new entrance about eight miles away. This entire saga was a hoax designed to gain publicity for the cave and increase the number of tourists visiting the cave. Musician Johnny Cash visited the cave in 1967, intending to do something very bad inside of it but had a spiritual experience that had caused him to stop his habit of drug abuse. Since 1980, the cave had been protected by TVA as a sanctuary for thousands of endangered Indiana bats that made it their home. The TVA made it illegal to enter the cave. A heavy chain-linked fence blocked entry, a prominent sign told of stiff penalties for violators. Further inside, a second fence waited for those who ignored the first. People were never supposed to enter this cave. Despite these restrictions, visitors and cave divers still wanted to enter after the cave's closing. Each year in other caves around the world, open water divers inevitably test their luck and venture into underwater caves, which are usually deadly. There are many rules in cave diving, but two are paramount. You don't go into an underwater cave without the proper training and certification, and you don't go without the proper equipment, including a continuous guideline to the entrance. An uncommon third rule is that you especially don't enter underwater caves that are made illegal to enter. David Gant violated those rules. David was a 31-year-old Alabama logger who dabbled in scuba diving but had no experience with cave diving. He grew up in Bryan, Alabama and was an avid outdoorsman. His family knew that if David were missing in action, he would probably be off on an adventure somewhere, usually near water. David's favorite thing to do was fishing, which he was very competitive about. He would go out with his friends in the morning and go fish and would not come home until later in the night on regular occasions. He wanted to learn more about where the fish went in the lakes around his home, so he tried scuba diving. David picked it up quickly and he wanted to become the best scuba diver he could be, so he spent his time around other seasoned divers trying to cut his learning curve. David especially liked the technical aspect that was involved in scuba diving. One day, he was out with his friends and his friend mentioned there was a secret spot near Nickajack Cave. Local legends of 200-pound catfish reputedly fattened on a food chain enriched by guano droppings from resident gray bats. The friend also mentioned that the entire site was extremely dangerous and fenced in. He also told him about the $25,000 fine for trespassers. David knew the challenge presented was too much for him to pass up. He was going to go to Nickajack Cave and catch that mythical catfish. It's no coincidence most experienced and well-known cave rescue teams are based in Chattanooga. The city's location is set in the hard limestone area where Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia come together, one of the largest caving regions in the world. Some 8,000 caverns exist within an hour and a half drive of Chattanooga. There are also many undiscovered, unmapped caves that explorers come from all over the world to find. Buddy Lane went on his first caving trip when he was 15 and knew immediately it was his calling. He is the operations manager for Steel Fabrication Company, giving him the financial freedom to explore caves worldwide. He has a prosthetic left eye, resulting from a brutal facial injury he sustained while caving in Tennessee. His various scrapes and close calls have convinced him that, in the end, cavers have to look after their own and no one else will come after them when they get in trouble. Buddy participated in the first cave rescue in 1973 and was instantly hooked, helping fellow cave members that were stuck in caves. He knew about that secret spot and the danger of Nickajack Cave, but didn't think anyone would take the risk to enter the water-filled cave. David went to the secret spot three separate times with his friend. Each time they went, they pushed the boundaries of the exploration a bit further. David was not the type of person that would give up quickly, and once he set his mind to a challenge, he would typically put all of his efforts into that thing. Nonetheless, there was a significant amount of danger present. They would not be in extreme trouble unless they entered that water-filled cave. The real problem with the cave was that some tunnels and passages were just dead ends. If you entered one of these passages and went down too far, there was no chance of getting out alive. If anyone tried to enter these passages, they would be dead as soon as they entered. The currents were constantly pushing and pulling inside the cave and the walls were jagged and meandering. Not even the most experienced cave divers would think of entering this cave. It is that bad. David was unaware of these extreme risks and did not want to know because he had one goal on his mind. Worrying about danger was not included in that plan. The idea of catching the catfish was all fun at first, but now it was something that had to happen. David and his friend were also not concerned that they were breaking the law each time they entered that restricted area by the cave. After three unsuccessful trips to the site without catching the catfish they were after, they decided to plan one more trip. They agreed that the fourth trip would be their last, including going inside that water-filled cave, and they agreed to never return if they didn't achieve their goal on this final trip. At about 8pm on Saturday, August 15th, 1992, David Gant and his friend entered the water outside the fence. The night before, he speared a giant catfish, the largest he's ever seen in his life, but it came off the spear and fled back into the dark water. Visibility in the lake's murky waters was about 2 feet, but David and his friend knew it would be somewhat clear inside. As they descended, the beams of their dive lights disappeared into a greenish nothingness, illuminating a foggy, rocky bottom. They made their way through the cave, searching for any signs of the fish. They were not paying attention to what passages they were entering or how they would get back out of the cave. David's friend was in the lead, and David was doing his best to try to not lose sight of him. However, David thought they might be in trouble, so he was starting to get anxious and wanted to leave the cave. Later, still seeing no sign of the fish, David checked his air gauge. It was low, and by this point, he's really had enough of the adventure. He felt very uneasy and wanted to escape the cave as soon as he could. He signaled for his friend's attention that it was time to get out of there. Together, they followed their bubbles upwards, expecting to emerge into an air-filled portion of the cave, only to see a solid cave ceiling appear in their lights. This was horrifying. They had wandered too far back into the cave, in a no-man's land of completely flooded passages. This situation played out in David's mind when they first entered the cave, but now it was happening. Rapidly exchanging hand signals, the pair dropped lower into the water and swam in the direction they thought would lead them out of the cave, then rose toward the surface. Again, they hit the ceiling of the cave. David's heart started beating at a breakneck pace, and he was having difficulty breathing. He almost spit his regulator out of his mouth by mistake, but he was also terrified. At this moment, the friend saw David struggling in the water and then went into a full-on panic attack himself. If they didn't figure out a way to calm down, they would die due to inhaling water and drown. As this was all happening, their dive fins also stirred up the sill on the cave floor into a murky underwater fog, giving the two men zero visibility. In a fit of panic, both David and his friend started swimming as hard as they could to hopefully hit an air passage. Their tanks were just about out of oxygen at this point, and this desperate action would be their last unless they found the air to breathe, ASAP. David's friend swam madly in one direction, and David one in the other. David's luck ran out, and he went deeper into the cave. Finally, he surfaced alone, with an air pocket completely cut off from his friend. As soon as he breathed in air from the small space above the water, the reality of the situation set in and he lost all control of his emotions. The friend tried to guess the direction of the cave's exit and somehow navigated through and made it out. After almost drowning, he took a couple moments to calm himself down and then alerted the authorities. At 2AM on Sunday, David's friend notified Tennessee Valley Authority Dam Security on the situation that his friend was in at Nickajack Cave, and a rescue operation was initiated. The call had initially gone out as a water rescue, and several dive rescue teams had responded. After evaluating the situation and assuming that David would have died either from drowning, hypoxia, asphyxiation in an air pocket had he been lucky enough to find one, or hypothermia, the incident commander of the lead dive team declared that it was a recovery operation rather than an active rescue. While highly skilled in open water search and rescue, none of the rescue divers were trained in cave diving. The nearest teams with that specialty were two hours away in Atlanta, and then added another hour or two for the teams to get together. Of the 10 agencies and 100 plus rescuers who gathered at the entrance, not one person was qualified to dive in the murky depths of the Nickajack Cave. Either way, they would put their own lives at risk. At around 6PM, Buddy Lane, captain of the Hamilton County Cave Rescue Team, heard about the incident. Buddy and his team have more experience in cave rescue than any other team in the United States, and most likely any team in the world. Knowing that the divers on the scene before him were not experienced in cave diving, Buddy pleaded that more trained cave divers needed to be called in. He asked that he, as a specialist in cave rescue, be allowed to come to the rescue scene to assess the situation. In the intense politics of rescue, a team must be invited to Nickajack Cave by the incident commander or the lead agency. His request was refused. The incident commander said that this was a water rescue, not a cave rescue. Refusing permission even to approach the cave, Buddy pleaded that cave divers needed to be used. The incident commander is also responsible for the safety of all rescue teams, and he did not want to further endanger any of the divers by sending them deep into the cave. This place was a death trap. By dawn, the teams at Nickajack Cave had made their dives into the cave's main cavern entrance. The divers had performed a circular search near the entrance, finding absolutely no sign of David. Exhausted from the search, the divers finally tried to convince the incident commander that they needed help. Then, he finally agreed that they needed specialized cave divers to join in this rescue effort. As the rescue was happening, members of David's family had gathered behind a police line at the scene, holding a prayer vigil and praying hard for a miracle. Meanwhile, Buddy was researching the cave and trying to find and devise a rescue plan. Buddy had a suspicion, and he was starting to figure out that it was confirmed. It was apparent that there were air pockets in many places in the cave, and Buddy now believed that David might be alive treading water in one of these air pockets. He was ecstatic to find this connection. Buddy contacted Mark Caldwell, who volunteered his time as a state emergency services coordinator. Mark lived in Chattanooga and had extensive experience assisting Buddy with rescue operations in the tri-state area. Mark drove to the cave and was greeted by the incident commander and then proceeded to explain his case. Mark already decided that Buddy was correct in his assumption that David might still be alive. Mark talked with David's family members and was really moved by their prayers, and then he promised them that until he could further establish that David was in fact deceased, he would have the incident commander treat the incident as an act of rescue. This would change everything. Mark then told the incident commander that he would veto the recovery status of the operation and then proceeded to call Buddy and his team to the scene. Meanwhile, deep inside Nickajack Cave, David was sure he was going to die. For many hours, he had been floating in darkness, keeping his head above the water in a pocket of air only 8 inches high deep inside the flooded passages of Nickajack Cave. At first, bursting out of the water into this air pocket with near zero visibility of the cave had seemed incredibly lucky. Now, it seemed like a cruel joke. The airspace around him was running out. He could feel his breath coming on faster and faster as the level of carbon dioxide rose and oxygen declined. Hypoxia was taking its toll. Back outside the cave, knowing that David's only hope for survival assumed that he was found in an air pocket, Mark determined that the only thing they could do to increase David's slim chance of survival was to have the Tennessee Valley Authority open up generators and bypass spillways at nearby Nickajack Dam to lower the water level of the 46-mile lake system. This could get some fresh air into David and make the cave passages available to the divers, meaning Buddy and his team could enter deep into the cave. Mark weighed this decision heavily knowing it would cost the Tennessee Valley Authority hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost electrical generating capacity, but determined this action had to be taken. Amazingly, on a Sunday morning, Mark got through the bureaucratic maze with just one call. The TVA system operators in Chattanooga responded immediately. Within an hour, Nickajack Cave had dropped 14 inches, the max amount of drop allowed before navigation would be impeded on the river system. The Tennessee Valley Authority had moved 389.6 trillion gallons of water to lower the lake. Buddy and his lieutenant Dennis Curry swam into the cave using borrowed fins and caving gear. Although they only had about two inches to breathe, they made their way deep into the cave, and they were instantly alarmed when they ran into a giant catfish that swam right by them unexpectedly. When they made their way up to an air pocket, they would scream David, hoping he would shout back. They constantly did this as they worked their way through the cave. To their amazement, suddenly they heard something, as someone shouted from deeper in the cave. They swam towards David's shouts and found out he was separated from them by a section of very low airspace. The two men popped out in front of David's astonished face, their lights blinding his eyes. By some miracle, David was alive. Just as the oxygen level in his air pocket had diminished to a critical level when he was moments away from losing consciousness, the water concealing the passage in his air pocket had dropped to a crucial last fraction of an inch thanks to the rescuers lowering the water level. Though the Nickajack Lake had been dropped to a maximum of 14 inches, only the last 1.5 inches provided air to David and a passage for Buddy and Dennis to access him for rescue. David then shouted out, you are angels, unsure whether he was seeing a hallucination or whether he was indeed about to meet God. In the last moments of his 17 hour nightmare, alone in the dark of that air passage, David had experienced a vision of two angels coming to take him home. He had visions of the divers searching futilely near the entrance and could see his family waiting and praying outside. David was guided out through the low cave passages with those genuine angels to a waiting boat, which would take him to the mouth of the cave in daylight he never thought he would see again. As he emerged from the cave, a wave of shouts, he's alive, spread down the banks of the river to the incident command post area and David's family. It was a miraculous rescue and reunion. So many things needed to happen right for David to live through this episode. The fact that David's friend got back to the entrance of the cave to get help. David's finding the air pocket that would keep him alive for 17 hours. The fact that Buddy and Dennis were contacted and found 30-year-old maps of the cave, maps which noted the passage ceiling's heights accurately, gaining access to the incident, and despite no evidence that David had survived, reinitiating an active rescue, even though by the time certified cave diving teams would have arrived, David would have died. Convincing Tennessee Valley Authority to drop the lake to a minimum elevation, only the last inch of which got air to the rescuers and David. All these things had to align perfectly for David, and they did. I want to say thanks for watching the video and don't forget to subscribe if you like the content. As always, please be extra nice to the like button and I have many other disaster videos on my channel that you might want to check out. See you at the next one!