Mummies, Catacombs and Mammoth Cave

Mummies, Catacombs and Mammoth Cave recounts the discovery of Indian mummies in American caves. Over three thousand years ago Native Americans used caves as their workplace, home, and site for burials. Many are found in the Mammoth Cave area. The book traces the exploits of a number of Indiana Jones kind of adventurers and their amazing discoveries of mysterious catacombs and caves full of Indian mummies.

A catacomb of prehistoric Indian mummies was reported in an 1808 travelogue. A pioneer discovery of a dry cave full of well-preserved Indian mummies adjacent to Lexington, Kentucky - The first burials reported of this nature in an America cave. Three years later, saltpeter miners began to dig up mummies in a cave near Mammoth Cave. One of these, Fawn Hoof, the best known of all the mummies, was taken to Mammoth Cave and exhibited.

In 1816, newspapers carried Nahum Ward's report of a swashbuckling cave exploring adventure. It was an adventure like no other - stupendous rooms, exploring miles of passage, seeing sparkling formations and a petrified Indian mummy. The mummy really captivated people's attention. Tourist traveled to the cave to see this wonder of nature and relive the adventure, making Mammoth Cave a top tourist destination as a famous abode of prehistoric Indians. Today, Mammoth Cave is the longest cave in the world - with surveyed passages measuring over 400 miles in length.