About
Ted the Caver is a creepypasta story that originally appeared as a series of blog posts written by a spelunker named Ted recounting his experiences exploring “Mystery Cave.”
Origin
Ted began an Angelfire[1] page on March 23rd, 2001 to share his caving journal online. The posts detail events that occurred in December 2000 when Ted and his friend Brad, whom he referred to as “B,” began exploring a cave they found close to their home. When they entered the cave, they found a narrow passageway with a small hole that they begin to drill through in order to explore further. The blog documents the strange occurrences Ted, Brad, and later, their friend Joe[3], encounter including ghastly screaming, unnatural wind, and strange hieroglyphs that appear deep inside the cave.
The blog abruptly ends on May 19th, 2001 with a post[4] detailing a three week period of time after their last visit to the cave. During this time, each of the cavers reportedly suffered from hallucinations and nightmares, leading to Ted, Joe and B agreeing to visit the cave one final time for closure. Prepared to enter the cave with a gun and a knife, Ted stated in the final blog post that he will update the website immediately after he returns with answers to everyone’s questions. The site has not been updated since.
Spread
The story was first discussed on the National Speleological Society’s message board[5] in November 2004. In the thread, a poster named Ralph Powers noted that he knew Brad in real life and had been in the cave. He explained that the caves went under an interstate, with the traffic overhead possibly causing the otherworldly noises Ted described. Later in January 2006, a poster named Caverdale affirmed[6] that the actual cave is named Interstate Cave[7] which is located in Utah.
Between 2006 and 2011, the link was shared and discussed on message boards including Snopes[11], Straight Dope[12], Major Geeks[13], BodyBuilding[14], Facepunch[15] and Unexplained-Mysteries.[16]
Debunkery
In 2004, a story entitled “The Fear of Darkness” by Thomas Lera[8] began circulating online. Since the story’s timeline is noted as 1987-2004, several members of the National Speleological Society message board believed this to be the original. On January 5th, 2005, Ted started a thread[9] on the board revealing that Ted the Caver’s page was his original work; he simply elaborated upon a real experience with supernatural elements. Later in the thread[10], Ted outlines what parts of Lera’s story were directly taken from his work.
As Dale mentioned the cave was opened in the 70’s, so someone could have been through before 1987. But not the new passage! As Ralph stated, and the pictures show, the story accurately describes the ‘Floyd’s Tomb’ section of the cave, the opening, and the passage beyond (although I did take a few creative liberties there with the description, such as the ‘Blair Witch’ hieroglyphics and the round rock). And Ralph, Dale, or any one of dozens of Utah cavers can testify to the approximate date the passage was opened. Now, did Thomas Lera see all of this in a crystal ball to write about it accurately? Or did someone swipe my work?
Movie Adaptation
In 2008, independent filmmaker David Hunt released a movie adaptation of the creepypasta titled “Living Dark: the Story of Ted the Caver.”[17] The next year, it was shown at several film festivals including Moondance[18], Little Rock B-Side[19], and Indie Memphis.[21] The rights to the film were sold to New Films International at the 2011 American Film Market exhibition[20] and it was featured on horror movie blogs including JoBlo[22] and Bloody Disgusting.[23] A trailer is available on the official website of New Films International.[24]
Search Interest
External References
[1]Angelfire – Welcome to the Page of Ted
[2]Wikipedia – Floyd Collins
[3]Ted the Caver – Joe’s experience
[4]Ted the Caver – Final post
[5]National Speleological Society Forums – Creepy story!
[6]National Speleological Society Forums – Caverdale’s account
[7]Utah Caves – Interstate Cave
[8]Thomas Lera – The Fear of Darkness
[9]Unreal Playground – Copy of Caver_Ted’s original post
[10]John’s Blog – Ted the Caver Mystery
[11]Snopes – Ted’s Caving Page
[12]Straight Dope – What’s the deal with Thomas Lera & “Ted the Caver” [spoilers]?
[13]Major Geeks – Ted the Caver
[14]BodyBuilding.com – Can anyone cliff me on ted the caver? (reps)
[15]Facepunch – Ted the Caver, and the Story of Mystery Cave
[16]Unexplained-Mysteries – Ted the Caver
[17]IMDb – Living Dark: The Story of Ted the Caver
[18]Moondance International Film Festival – Living Dark
[19]Little Rock – Living Dark
[20]Dread Central – AFM 2011: First Details and Sales Art – Living Dark: The Story of Ted the Caver
[21]Indie Memphis – Living Dark: The Story of Ted the Caver
[22]JoBlo – Synopsis & Promo Poster for Urban Legend Horror Flick Living Dark
[23]Bloody Disgusting – AFM‘11: Details on ’Living Dark: The Story of Ted the Caver’
[24]New Films International – Living Dark Trailer