Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1896-04-16
LOONEY CAVES HORRORS,
NO Man Ever Saw Them and
Came Out Sane.
the Mystery Of Cavern in a West vir-
gfnia Mountain The Terrible Case Of
kitsniller, the Caves Latest
Victim.

II "a stranger should visit Hans Kits
mliler's cabin now strange stor
would be heard, and the victim of tn
startling tale would doubtless be point
ed out. Hanse Kitsmiller, the head o
the family which occupies the littl
cabin on the bank of the Elk river, i
the victim. Until recently he wa
considered one of the most powerful
men in Webster, and was strong, iron
nerved, hardy mountaineer, capable O
holding up his end with the best, at !:
log-raising or elsewhere, or of endur
ing any amount of fatigue. At presen
Kitsmiller lies in the cabin, at time!
SO weak child could hold him, ana
at Others SO terrible in the maniaca
paroxysms which seize him at inter
walls that it takes four or five men tc
subdue him.
"Hev yo' hearn tell NV how Hanse
Kitsmiller wuz in Ole Looney cave p
is the one question which Websterite
propounds to another now at meeting
and it is not strange. "Ole Looney
cave" has again claimed victim, and
by its mysterious spell, as certain az
mysterious, has destroyed a mans
reason and has wrecked happy noun
tain home.
"Ole Looney cave" is a natural tunnel
extending under mountain, which,
when entered by human beings, has
never failed to afflict them with the
strangest form Of insanity What it
holds in its yawning depths has never
yet been explained, since everyone who
has ventured to explore them has re-
turned to the outer air a lunatic, with
reason entirely disenthroned, and an
expression as if a sight of unspeakable
horror had been witnessed.
Understanding as well as he did the
certain affliction which was to over
take him if he ventured in the cavern.
it is surprising that Kitsmiller should
have been drawn into IL, but it was
purely an accident. He started from
home early one Monday morning with
Abe Hardrick, his brother-in-law, to
bring home some venison. He did not
return until late Wednesday evening,
when he was brought home by Hard
rick and several others, struggling vic
lently in spite of his arms being tied
behind him, a raving maniac. He was
discovered the same day about noon
wandering along the Gauley river
banks not far from the mouth of "Ole
Looney cave" by Hardrick and others,
who had spent Monday and Tuesday
nights at the Kitsmiller cabin. The
days they passed in vainly trying to
discover the missing man.
The story of how Kitsmiller wan
dered into the cave is told by Hardrick,
who, if he had been less careful, might
now be in the same condition as his
There had been slight
fall of snow Sunday night, and it was on
nccount of this that Hardrick and Kits
miller had gone on the deer hunt. Kits
miller's cabin is near the mouth of
Sugar run, where it empties into the
Elk river, in the little Bear Cub dis
trict. The Elk river at this point. which
Is about 12 miles from Addison in the
upper part of the country. flows at
the foot Of the Panther knob. On the
other side of the knob is the Gauley
river, which drains all the country
on that side. The entrance to the
'Looney cave" is near the Gauley river,
not far from it's confluence with Cherry
river.
The two hunters started out Monday
morning crossed the Elk in a dug
out belonging to Kitsmiller and
followed the foot of Panther knob
some distance up the stream. About
sight o'clock, Hardrick says, they ran
across the track of buck in the snow.
The buck had been feeding during the
night in a laurel bed. and had gone
rom It into thicket of haw bushes.
II was supposed the buck was in the
,lump. and while one of the hunters
waited with cooked rife, the other
threw stones in to scare out
The deer. These had no effect,
md drawing his hunting knife.
Kitsmiller startedN in to see II
ne could not meet with better success
in finding the game. He was gone some
lime. and Hardr;ck began to get lit
tle anxious. when he heard Kitsmllier
AL. and started to him. When he
reached him he found Kitsmiller stand
inc at the entrance to q cave in the
side, and leading into tins
we're the tracks Of the deer. The mouth
~ the cavern was not more than four
feet high, and was as II it had pees,
,ut out of the solid rock.
The two stopped, debating some time
what to do. when Kitsmiller proposed
Kat thew should both 60 inside and
ret the deer, which. he said, could MOI
he yery far away. and Hardrick states
he positively refused to do this, espe.
,islly as he saw sign at one side OF
the entrance traced to the fiat SURFACE
~ the rocks. 1t was evidently an Indian
token. representing a rattlesnake with
Two heads. The entrance to "Ole Loon.
ey cave" had this sign with Others ana
= ardrick AYERS the idea struck him that
this might be another entrance TO ms
cave He told his companion this. put
Kitsmiller thought it was impossioie'
A 4 -. Il ~xxSv,r n