Bizarre North Alabama

I have been having a really rough time with my pregnancy this month and having my children pulling at my heals all summer has also slowed me down.   Blogger has also been giving me a really tough time as well.  I can't comment on alot of my favorite blogs and I can't even respond to comments on my own blog.  After hours of work,  I still can't fix my blogger account.  Sadly, my blog has slowed down to almost a halt.  I think my blog may stay slow until the kids return to school in August.  However,  I have some plans for some little blog posts between now and then and I was able to go on a road trip into the bizarre realm that is North Alabama.   I found a museum dedicated to objects left behind in luggage.   In that museum, I found the original Muppet used in Labyrinth.   The Muppet was for the character Hoggle.  There were also some rather strange props from the movie.  I found a cemetery with an interesting stone gate.  I also found a cave haunted by phantom animals.  I captured an amazing number of orbs in the photos I took from one section of the cave by an old bridge.  The orbs are in the last picture.  Here are some photos from my journey.

The Cave of Ghosts

They don't tell you about the ghosts on the tour of Cathedral Caverns. They talk about the cave's history and about Mr. Gurley who discovered the cave.  Although, Cathedral Caverns are ancient,  the enormous mouth of this cave was completely hidden from human view by thick overgrowth and enormous trees.   It was first discovered by Hans Kennamer in 1803 but it wasn't until Mr. Gurly discovered in 1952 that the cave became famous.  Of course, the tour guides don't tell you this either.  In fact, most of what the guides tell you is not true at all.  A cave statistical site I visited confirmed that much of the information you will hear and find about the cave is false.  This false information may be entirely believed by the tour guides, but it is still untrue.
For example, the cave is advertised as having the widest commerical cave entrance in the world, which is a record held in reality by Deer Cave, 100m wide and 120m high, and the largest single cave passage in the world,

As you sort through the many lies and tall tales and strange fantasies your tour guide will tell you about Cathedral Caverns,  you will eventually begin to tune the guide out and study the beauty of the cavern itself.  The cave is incredibly beautiful and doesn't need lies to capture the imagination of visitors.   The caverns are hauntingly beautiful and if you can sense the otherworldly you will feel a chill run down your spine.  You'll know that there is more to Cathedral Caverns than you can see.  If you pull the guide aside,  you'll find the mysterious and true story of the ghosts that wander this cave.  The ghosts that hide here are not human.  They don't speak or interact with visitors.  For the larger part of Cathedral Cavern's history, it was not a place for humans.  It belonged to the animals and when the lights shut off and darkness settles back on the cave, the ghosts of dead animals retake this ancient cavern.  According to one guide I spoke with,  every morning he sees footprints leading back into the darkness of the cave, but none come out.   He also reported strange noises and movements when he is alone in the cave.  Yet despite this, no animals are ever seen in the cave and the cave is far to dark for any animal, except bats and a few bugs, to be able to navigate alone.  The footprints change in shape and size, but every morning they are there,  serving as a reminder of  a time when the cave belonged to the wild and not to the tour guides.