Brooklyn Man Wedged in Upstate New York Cave Is Rescued After 6 Hours

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: New York Times

Brooklyn Man Wedged in Upstate New York Cave Is Rescued After 6 Hours

A cave explorer got stuck in a narrow crevice and developed hypothermia. Rescuers brought him miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to keep his energy up.


Rescuers helping a stuck cave explorer who is wearing a white helmet.
Rescuers on Sunday helped a cave explorer who was stuck in a subterranean passageway at Merlins Cave in Canaan, N.Y. Greg Moore

By Evan Gorelick
May 23, 2026, 3:36 p.m. ET

A group of spelunkers on Sunday was about 400 feet deep in an upstate New York cave when one of them, a Brooklyn man who was belly-crawling through a precarious stretch known as the bear trap, plunged into a crevice and was pinned for six hours, the authorities said.

Three friends tried to free him by chipping away at the rock with a hammer. But that didn’t work, and after a few hours, they all began to develop hypothermia, said Lt. John Gullen, a forest ranger with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, who led the rescue mission.

It took rescuers, including members of the Albany-Schoharie Cave Rescue Team, another three hours and a rock drill to free the man from the passageway, which is part of Merlins Cave in Canaan, N.Y., about 30 miles southeast of Albany.

The man was treated for hypothermia but was otherwise unharmed.

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The boot of the trapped cave explorer.

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https://www.nytimes.com/by/evan-gorelick

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/23/nyregion/merlin-cave-rescue-new-york.html

[Ocelot II]

1. Eek. I can imagine few hobbies as terrifying as spelunking.

Just thinking about crawling around in dark tight spaces makes me hyperventilate. Glad they finally got the guy out.

[Sneederbunk]

2. Saved by the ghost of Floyd Collins.

[underpants]

3. I'd never heard of him. Thanks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floyd_Collins

[Blumancru]

8. Yes. There is a good book about this

Trapped: The Story of Floyd Collins.
Very well written. Cultural conflicts got in the way of rescuing him, although I don’t know that they could have rescued him in time anyway.
I was a spelunker in my youth. All spelunkers know about Floyd Collins. Just before entering a cave, I used to say “Come on, Floyd!” for good luck, though some were creeped out by that.
I have visited Floyd’s grave in Kentucky.

[Norrrm]

4. 1951 movie - Ace in the Hole, also known as The Big Carnival, Kirk Douglas,

who stretched a cave rescue for personal gain.
So long that the person died.

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Big_Carnival&redirect=no

[Talitha]

5. I remember that one!

He was awful!!

[Blumancru]

9. Great Billy Wilder movie

But flopped, probably because there are no heroes. All the main characters had reasons for wanting him to stay trapped.

[catchnrelease]

7. He immediately came to my mind

I didn't remember his name, but I read an article about him decades ago in something like Smithsonian mag or similar. I have to assume it's the same man. I remember that he was upside down and had one leg bent in such a way that it essentially trapped him in place, and wasn't able to be saved. Whenever I read or hear about people in these caves I think of that guy, it's stuck with me all these years. Horrifying!

[LudwigPastorius]

6. Nope

[Orrex]

10. Trapped-in-a-cave videos are one of my favorite ways to horrify myself

That's one demise that I'm pretty sure doesn't await me.

I'm amazed and happy that they were able to get him out!

[LudwigPastorius]

11. I agree.

They are real nightmare fuel.