An Old Timey Podcast

By Friday, February 13th, 1925, rescue workers were getting close to Floyd Collins, who lay trapped deep down in Sand Cave. Above ground, crowds gathered and prayed for Floyd. Reporters questioned state officials for any updates. Photographers readied their cameras around the rescue shaft, hoping to capture the big moment. 
By that point, Floyd Collins had been stuck for two weeks. Rescuers were confident they would find him. They just didn’t know if they’d find him alive.
Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from: 
“Charles Lindbergh – No Fan Of The American Press – Sound Familiar?” Mr. Magazine, September 5, 2019. https://mrmagazine.me/2019/09/05/charles-lindbergh-no-fan-of-the-american-press-sound-familiar-a-mr-magazine-blast-from-the-past-circa-may-1954/.
Collins, Homer, and John Lehrberger. The Life and Death of Floyd Collins. Cave Books, 2001.
“Fingerprints and Bloodstains.” Kentucky Cop Stories, January 29, 2022. https://kentuckycopstories.wordpress.com/2022/01/29/fingerprints-and-bloodstains-louisville-ky/.
Kem, David Randolph. The Kentucky Cave Wars: The Century That Shaped Mammoth Cave National Park. David Randolph Kem, 2014.
Murray, Robert K., and Roger W. Brucker. Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins. University Press of Kentucky, 1982. https://archive.org/details/trappedstoryofst0000murr.
Reilly, Lucas. “The 1925 Cave Rescue That Captivated the Nation.” Mental Floss, July 13, 2018. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/544782/1925-cave-rescue-that-captivated-the-united-states-floyd-collins.
Theiss, Nancy. “1936 Murder Case Still Resonates in La Grange.” Courier-Journal, June 2, 2026. https://archive.is/vPbAz.
Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!
Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

Reporters swarmed. Crowds gathered. State officials arrived on scene. People were hungry for information about the trapped cave explorer, Floyd Collins. They wanted to rescue the man trapped 55 feet below the earth’s surface. But a collapse halted any further attempts through Sand Cave.
Locals and state experts disagreed on the best path forward. And as they argued, hope dwindled.
Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from:
Collins, Homer, and John Lehrberger. The Life and Death of Floyd Collins. Cave Books, 2001.
Kem, David Randolph. The Kentucky Cave Wars: The Century That Shaped Mammoth Cave National Park. David Randolph Kem, 2014.
Murray, Robert K., and Roger W. Brucker. Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins. University Press of Kentucky, 1982. https://archive.org/details/trappedstoryofst0000murr.
Reilly, Lucas. “The 1925 Cave Rescue That Captivated the Nation.” Mental Floss, July 13, 2018. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/544782/1925-cave-rescue-that-captivated-the-united-states-floyd-collins.
Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!
Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

In the dead of Winter, 1925, cave explorer Floyd Collins crawled, wiggled, and wormed 55 feet below the surface of a sandhole. He was on the hunt for a magnificent cave. But when his lantern began to flicker, he turned back. He re-entered the narrow passageway. In the confusion of darkness, he kicked a protruding rock. When he did, a boulder dropped on his leg. Dirt and debris buried him.
Floyd Collins was trapped, 55 feet underground, in the complete dark. All he could do was scream and hope that someone would come to his rescue.
Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from:
Collins, Homer, and John Lehrberger. The Life and Death of Floyd Collins. Cave Books, 2001.
Kem, David Randolph. The Kentucky Cave Wars: The Century That Shaped Mammoth Cave National Park. David Randolph Kem, 2014.
Murray, Robert K., and Roger W. Brucker. Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins. University Press of Kentucky, 1982. https://archive.org/details/trappedstoryofst0000murr.
Reilly, Lucas. “The 1925 Cave Rescue That Captivated the Nation.” Mental Floss, July 13, 2018. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/544782/1925-cave-rescue-that-captivated-the-united-states-floyd-collins.
Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!
Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

Floyd Collins had a dream. He dreamt that one day, he’d emerge victorious in the Kentucky Cave Wars. In that era, people made easy money turning beautiful, awe-inspiring caves into tourist destinations. The tough part was *finding* the cave. Finding a cave took months of dangerous, exhausting work, but Floyd Collins was up to the task.
In January of 1925, he felt certain that he was digging his way toward a magnificent one. Then he got stuck.
Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Norm pulled from: 
Collins, Homer, and John Lehrberger. The Life and Death of Floyd Collins. Cave Books, 2001.
David R. Kem. “The Kentucky Cave Wars.” The Kentucky Cave Wars, July 5, 2025. https://kentuckycavewars.wordpress.com/.
“George Morrison (U.S. National Park Service).” https://www.nps.gov/people/george-morrison.htm.
Kem, David Randolph. The Kentucky Cave Wars: The Century That Shaped Mammoth Cave National Park. David Randolph Kem, 2014.
Murray, Robert K., and Roger W. Brucker. Trapped! The Story of Floyd Collins. University Press of Kentucky, 1982. https://archive.org/details/trappedstoryofst0000murr.
Reilly, Lucas. “The 1925 Cave Rescue That Captivated the Nation.” Mental Floss, July 13, 2018. https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/544782/1925-cave-rescue-that-captivated-the-united-states-floyd-collins.
“Stephen Bishop (U.S. National Park Service).” https://www.nps.gov/people/stephen-bishop.htm.
Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!
Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

We’ve all heard the story. President William Howard Taft got stuck in the White House bathtub! A bunch of dudes had to yank him out!! They replaced the old bathtub with a new one, BIG ENOUGH TO HOLD FOUR WORKING MEN!!!
…except did he *actually* get stuck in the tub? In this episode, we do a deep dive into how this story got started and how it eventually got stuck in the bathtub of our collective imaginations.
Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Kristin pulled from:
“Popular Lore Claims That William Howard Taft Got Stuck in a Bathtub. New Research Sheds Light on the Legend’s Forgotten Origins” by Howard Dorre for Smithsonian
“Taft bathtub is world’s largest,” The Altoona Times, Jan. 27, 1909
“President Taft’s giant, bathtub, Woodrow Wilson’s wife,” by Gwen Bagni and Paul Dubov for The San Francisco Examiner, Jan. 23, 1979
“Chief justice, not president, was William Howard Taft’s dream job,” by Erick Trickey for Smithsonian Magazine
“William Howard Taft is still stuck in the tub,” Alexis Coe by The New York Times
“50 years on the Ol’ Mississip’” by Lewis R. Freeman for American Illustrated Magazine, Volume 107, 1929
“Backstairs at the White House,” by Movie Lovers on YouTube
“Taft stuck in phone booth,” The Jeffersonian, Aug. 1, 1908
“Taft opens great tunnel,” New York Herald, Sept. 24, 1909
Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!
Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.