Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1896-02-13
LOONEY CAVES HORRORS.
No Man Ever Saw Them and
Came Out Sane. YIN.
The Mystery of n Cavern in West Vir-
piuia Mountain-The Terrible Case OF
KitsmilIer, the Caves Latest
Victim.

Riuia MOuntatn-The IerriDlc Sdso "a
KitsmilIer, the Caves Latest
Victim.
If a stranger should visit Hans Kits
miller's cabin now strange story
would be heard, and the victim OF the
startling tale would doubtless be point
ed out. Hanse Kitsmiller, the head of
the family which occupies the little
cabin on the bank of the Elk river, Is
the victim. Until recently he was
considered one of the most powerful
men in Webster, and was strong, iron
nerved, hardy mountaineer, capable OF
holding up his end with the best, at a
log-raising or elsewhere, or of endur-
ing any amount of fatigue. At present
Kitsmiller lies in the cabin, at times
so weak a child could hold him, and
at others so terrible in the maniacal
paroxysms which seize him at inter-
walls that it takes four or five men to
subdue him.
"Hev 20 hearn tell Nv how Hanse
Kitsmiller wuz in Ole Looney cave?"
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 it's mysterious spell, as certain as
mysterious, has destroyed a mans
reason and has wrecked happy noun
tain home. ....,
"Ole Looney cave" is natural tunnel
extending under a mountain, which,
when entered by human beings, has
never failed to afflict them with the
strangest form of insanity. What it
holds in it's yawning depths has never
yet been explained, since everyone who
has ventured to explore them has re-
turned to the outer air lunatic, with
reason entirely disenthroned, and an
expression as if 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 it, 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 vio
lently in spite of his arms being tied
behind him, raving maniac. He was
discovered the same day about noon
wandering along the Gauley river
banks not far from the mouth of sole
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
brother-in-law. There had been a slight
fall of snow Sunday night, and it was on
account 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 IL miles from Addison in the
upper part or 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 its confluence with Cherry
river.
The two hunters started out Monday
morning crossed the Elk in dug
out belonging to Kitsmiller and
Coll
some distance up the stream. About
eight o'clock, Hardrick says, they ran
across the track of buck in the, snow
The buck had be en- feeding during the
night in laurel bed, and had gone
from it into a thicket of haw bushes
IT was supposed the buck was in tn,
clump, and while one of the hunter.
waited with cooked rifle, the other
threw stones in to scare ou
the deer. These had no effect
and drawing his hunting knife
Kitsmiller started in to see i
ne could not meet with better success!
in finding the game. He was gone some
time, and Hardrick began to get lit
tie anxious, when he heard Kitsmillel
call, and started to him. When h,
reached him he found Kitsmiller stand
ing at the entrance to cave in tn,
mountain side, and leading into thi
were the tracks of the deer. The mouth
of the cavern was not more than fou
feet high, and was as if it had bee,
cut out of the solid rock
The two stopped, debating some tim
what to do, when Kitsmiller propose,
THAT they should both &c inside an
SET the deer, which, he said, could no