After two years of preparation, dive partners Bill Gavin and Parker Turner thought they had meticulously planned every last detail of their excursion—a must in an extreme sport like cave diving. This would be the first in a series of dives the pair intended to complete, all in previously unexplored places. They knew how long they would be under water, so they could calculate their safety decompression time, the perfect mixture of gas to use in their tanks, and the pressure their bodies would face as they descended into the depths.
It was November 17, 1991, and it was finally time for their exploration of the Indian Springs cave system near Tallahassee, Florida. Conditions were close to perfect—the temperature was a cool 59 degrees, there was no sign of rain, and there was at least 60 feet of visibility beneath the water. The pair descended into a world so different from the surface that it was practically alien. Little did the divers know, only one of them would return.
It was eerily dark as the divers swam through the cavern, but with the help of some lights, the turquoise water was shining crystal clear. They passed by walls that looked like the surface of the moon, gray stone punctuated by smooth craters. The soft, sandy floor lay still, as there was no life other than the divers to disturb it.
Just over an hour into their dive, Gavin and Turner finished exploring and began their exit. They approached an arrow that marked 500 feet until the mouth of the cave. They quickly noticed, however, that visibility had drastically decreased. Luckily, a guide line ran through the clearer, debris-free water at the top of the passage, leading them like a lighthouse would guide a ship. As the divers inched along the rope toward the entrance of the cave, visibility got even worse. Now they could see only one foot in front of them.
Unbeknownst to the duo, a narrow section of the cave still ahead of them known as Squaws Restriction had collapsed, trapping them inside and away from the spare gas tanks they had stashed on their way down. They’d planned to use those tanks—filled with a special mix of gases to reduce the effects of decompression—on their way up. In an emergency, the tanks could also be used as backup air supply if their initial tanks ran out. As they tried to follow the guide line, it disappeared beneath the sandy cave floor.
The divers tugged at the rope to no avail—it was buried beneath what was once the tunnel’s entrance walls.
For 45 minutes, Gavin and Turner tried and failed to free the trapped line by pulling it from the sand that had accumulated on top of it. In a last-ditch effort, Gavin swam farther into the cave, searching for an exit he would fail to find. When he returned, Turner was nowhere to be found. Gavin was running low on air and desperate when he noticed a backup line that had been tethered to the buried permanent line he and Turner had been trying to free. Despite not understanding where the new line had come from, Gavin followed it until the cave seemed to open up. He eventually felt something snag his gear; once he surfaced, he would learn it was Turner’s mouthpiece, which was attached to the tanks he took off.
Gavin waited there for a support crew, and during his four hours of decompression, the rescuing divers helped piece together the story of what had probably happened to Turner. Running out of air, Turner took off his spent tanks so he could shimmy through the debris, passing out just short of the decompression tanks, which would’ve helped him safely ascend to the surface. He had used his own spool of rope to lay the path Gavin would take to safety. The rescue team could not recover Turner’s body until the following day.
For 24 years the cause of the cave’s collapse remained a mystery. Then, in 2015, three researchers from Florida State University proved that bubbles were responsible for the fatal accident. According to the team’s paper, Gavin and Turner released air bubbles that reduced the buoyancy of the water and, in turn, increased the effective weight of the limestone, causing the entrance of the cave to collapse. The authors suggested that caves like the one Gavin and Turner explored should be regulated more aggressively, and that caves posing a higher risk of collapse should allow only rebreathers, a type of dive equipment that doesn’t release bubbles because it absorbs exhaled carbon dioxide.
While Turner’s death may seem like a freak accident, it isn’t unique; many other divers have unfortunately faced a similar fate in the depths of murky underwater caves. Still, Turner’s legacy in the diving community—and the lessons from that tragic day—continue to live on more than three decades later.
February / March 2026
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ Archaeologists Found a Skeleton Wearing a Silver Amulet. The Discovery Is Rewriting the History of Christianity.
➡ The Stray Dogs of Chernobyl Are Rapidly Mutating. Scientists Are Still Trying to Figure Out What It Means.
➡ New Evidence Could Upend What We Know About the Charles Lindbergh Baby Murder
➡ Police Found Mysterious Notes in a Dead Man's Pocket. They Turned Out to Be Codes That Not Even the FBI Can Break.
December 2025 / January 2026
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ An Angel of Death Preyed on Hospital Patients for Years.
➡ How America's Most Advanced Lab Brought the Killer to Justice.
➡ A 3,000-Ton Locomotive Was Loose, Unstoppable, and Filled With Toxic Cargo
➡ An Underwater Cave Promised Adventure and Glory. No One Expected It to Become a Tomb.
➡ Your Consciousness Can Predict the Future, Some Scientists Say
October / November 2025
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ Inside the Secret Island Where Death Is Optional
➡ A Legendary Ship Sank Without Warning. Fifty Years Later, Science Could Finally Solve the Mystery of the Edmund Fitzgerald.
➡ This Tech Rebel Threw Away $900 Million in a Municipal Dump. Can Robots Find His Lost Fortune?
➡ Sex Workers, LSD, and Mind Control: What Happened in the CIA's Lab of Nightmares at 225 Chestnut Street
August / September 2025
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ The Worst Air Disaster in American History Happened in Broad Daylight. Will More Mistakes Keep Happening?
➡ NASA Has a Plan to Save Earth from Planet-Destroying Asteroids. It Sounds Even Wilder than Science Fiction.
➡ A Naval Officer Says Underwater UFOs Are Legitimate Threats. The Evidence Is Hard to Ignore.
➡ When You Die, a Psychedelic Molecule Shapes Your Final Moments of Consciousness, a New Theory Reveals.
June/July 2025
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ This Undersea Explorer Found America's Greatest Sunken Treasure. Then Things Got Really Weird.
➡ Is Bigfoot Hiding in the Swamps of Florida? This Group Says It Has Proof.
➡ Scientists May Have Gotten the Global-Warming Timeline Seriously Wrong.
➡ A Third State Now Exists Between Life and Death, Some Scientists Now Believe
April/May 2025
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ Scientists Successfully Revive a Dead Brain, Redefining the Boundary Between Life and Death
➡ Fingerprints Keep Leading to Wrongful Convictions. Why Do Courts Still Rely on Them?
➡ For 80 Years, the North Sea Held a Deadly Killer. Now Scientists Are Racing to Defuse the Threat.
➡ They Built the Quietest Room in the World. Why Is Everyone So Afraid to Step Inside It?
February/March 2025
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ This Guy Says He Knows the Truth About UFOs. Should We Believe Him?
➡ Scientists Are Now One Step Away From Solving Nuclear Fusion—And Unlocking Unlimited Energy.
➡ A Million-Dollar Heist Rocked the Art World— Then Amateur Sleuths Cracked the Case
➡ A New Era of Missile Warfare Has Begun—and the U.S. Isn’t Ready
December/January 2025
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing.
It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ A Clue Hidden in a 400-Year-Old Map Might Have Just Solved One of America's Greatest Mysteries
➡ Inside the Deranged Plot to Smuggle Cocaine With an Armed Soviet-Era Submarine
➡ This Brilliant Engineer Helped Build the B2 Bomber—Then He Sold America's Stealth Secrets to China
➡ Your Consciousness Can Connect With the Whole Universe
October/November 2024
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing.
It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡Untold Secrets Reveal How the Castle Bravo Test Became America’s Worst Nuclear Disaster
➡ This Body Was Found Preserved on a Block of Ice in a Colorado Shed. It Had Been There for 30 Years.
➡ It Was Supposed to Be America's Greatest Victory in Space—Then It Became NASA’s Worst Nightmare
➡ The Sidewinder Missile Ruled the Air—Then the Soviets Stole the Design
August/September 2024
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡This Man Knows the Truth About Amelia Earhart. Why Doesn't Anyone Believe Him?
➡ The Army's Machine Gun Is No Match for Cheap Chinese Body Armor. So It's Making a New One.
➡ Russia Built a Stunning Rival to the Supersonic Concorde—and Then It Fell From the Sky
➡ A Navy Admiral Says Underwater UFOs Are a Threat—and the Pentagon is Withholding Secrets
June / July 2024
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡4 Black Eggs Have Surfaced From the Depths of the Ocean— and the Mysterious Creatures Inside Are Baffling Science
➡ A $2 Million Treasure Appeared in a Kentucky Cornfield. No One Knows Where It Came From.
➡ A Million-Dollar Heist Rocked the Art World— Then Amateur Sleuths Cracked the Case
➡ A New Era of Missile Warfare Has Begun—and the U.S. Isn’t Ready
April May / 2024
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡The Man Who Knows Too Much About Area 51
➡ How the FBI Took Down the Internet's Most Dangerous Website
➡ A Staggering New Clue Emerges in the D.B. Cooper Hijacking Mystery
➡ The Wildest Prison Break in U.S. History
➡ The Secret to a Perfect Lawn Lies in One of These 10 Electric Lawnmowers
February / March 2024
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡The Incredible Mystery of NASA’s Missing Moondust
➡ Inside the Final Fiery Minutes of the East Palestine Train Wreck
➡ Scientists Believe They’ve Unlocked Consciousness—and It Connects to the Entire Universe
➡ Why This Unstoppable Stealth Bomber Will Rule the Skies
➡ America Is Developing a New Nuclear Bomb—But Can’t Test Whether It Works
➡ The 8 Best, Expert-Recommended Solar-Powered Generators
Special Issue: Nukes
➡ How Deadly Nuclear Waste Is Menacing This St. Louis Neighborhood
➡ The Terrifying History of Russia's Nuclear Submarine Graveyard
➡ Strange Mutations in Stray Dogs Near Chernobyl Suggest They Are Rapidly Evolving
➡ America Dumped 56 Million Gallons of Radioactive Material Along the Columbia River—Then It Started to Leak
December 2023 / January 2024
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ A New Clue In Amelia Earhart's Disappearance Emerges From the Ocean
➡ How an Alleged Water Bandit Stole $25 Million in Water from Thirsty California Farms
➡ A Coal Mine Exploded and 300 Miners Died. What Went Wrong?
➡ China Just Built a Terrifying New Aircraft Carrier and May Soon Dominate the Seas
October / November 2023
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ How Rats Took Over Our Cities—And Why We Can't Stop Them
➡ This Language Is on the Verge of Extinction. Can It Be Saved?
➡ America's Deadliest Warplane Returns in a New Doomsday Role
➡ This Amateur Diving Group Kept Solving Cold Cases. Then Its Own Skeletons Surfaced.
➡ The Scientific Breakthrough That Could Put an End to Gray Hair.
August/September 2023
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ Immortality Is in Reach. But It’s Not What We Imagined.
➡ Your Next iPhone (and Nuclear Subs) Will Be Powered By Space Metal
➡Scientists Now Think We Can Build a Warp Drive
➡ China and Russia Have Cracked the Stealth Code. Can the U.S. Regain Air Dominance?
June/July 2023
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ The CIA’s Secret Plan to Build a Laser Beam Powered by the Human Mind
➡ The 747 Ruled the Skies—Then One Slammed Into a Mountain
➡The Race to Contain AI Before Singularity
➡ These Florida Homes Aren’t Just Hurricane-Proof—They’re Blueprints for the Future
April/May 2023
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ AI Is on the Cusp of Taking Control—This Is How It May All Go Wrong
➡ There’s No Weapon Russia Fears More Than the HIMARS Rocket Launcher
➡The Nuclear-Submarine Arms Race Is Getting Intense, and the U.S. Just Took a Massive Leap Forward
➡ Iran Is Becoming a Drone Superpower—By Stealing American Technology
February/March 2023
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ The Greatest Treasure Hunt in American History Ended—and Then Things Got Weird
➡ These Are the High-Powered Weapons Ukraine Needs to Send Russia Running
➡ The Secret War to Take Out Iran’s Fleet of F-14 Jets
➡ Russia Is Trying to Intimidate the U.S. with Hypersonic Missiles and Big, Scary Nukes—And It's More Than a Threat
December 2022/January 2023
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ Is Death Real?
➡ China and Russia Are Dominating the Hypersonic Arms Race—And It’s Not Even Close
➡ When the South Fork Dam Broke, a Pennsylvania City Washed Away. Which Town Is Next?
➡ The Navy’s New $13 Billion Aircraft Carrier Is Already Obsolete. This Weapon Can Save It.
October/November 2022
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ Can America's M1 Abrams Still Compete With China's and Russia's Latest Battle Tanks?
➡ Inside the Final Minutes of the Concorde Disaster—and How It Doomed Supersonic Travel for Decades
➡ How the Massive Cargo Ship Felicity Ace Sank, Taking $400 Million Worth of Exotic Supercars With It
➡ I Turned My Old Gas-Guzzler Into a Zippy EV for $15,000
August/September 2022
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ Cosmic Secrets of the 17 Most Powerful Mega-Telescopes on Earth—and Beyond
➡ Can the Air Force's Secret, Hypersonic Jet Reclaim the Skies From Russia and China?
➡ For 50 Years, the Zodiac Killer's 340 Cipher Stumped the FBI—Then Three Amateurs Cracked the Code
➡ America's Most Fearsome Howitzer Has Entered the War in Ukraine
June/July 2022
This issue is optimized for mobile/tablet viewing. It's also available on Apple News+.
Featuring:
➡ Every Single Drone Fighting in the Skies Over Ukraine
➡ How to Buy a New Car in 2022 Without Getting Fleeced
➡ This Megastructure Could Keep Us Alive Forever
➡ The Race to Revolutionize EV Batteries
Emma Frederickson graduated from Pace University where she studied communication and media. Prior to her time as an editor, she was a freelance science reporter. She enjoys covering everything from shipwrecks to pimple popping, but her favorite topics include climate change, conspiracy theories, and weird biology. When she’s not writing, Emma can be found hopping between coffee shops on the hunt for the world’s best oat milk cappuccino.
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理，仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。