A man’s bones lay in a cave for 41 years.
Attempts to recover Mitchell’s 185-pound body failed when part of the cave collapsed from heavy drilling. Workers then lowered the body, dynamited the cave, and placed a headstone above it. He would not be brought home for over four decades.
It was Christian Lyon, a Dolgeville native whose grandfather discovered the cave in 1947, who had the blessing of Mitchell’s family and local officials to finally recover the body, filming the event for a documentary.
It took six workers and about four hours to finish the recovery. There were no complications except the cold underground. Mitchell’s bones lay scattered at the bottom of a 60-foot dropoff, with more remains found 30 feet below.
