Cass Cave is a cave located in
Cass, West Virginia
Cass is a census-designated place (CDP) and unincorporated communityon the Greenbrier River in Pocahontas County, West Virginia, United States. The population was 38 at the 2020 census. The community, founded in 1901, was named for Joseph Kerr C ...
, on
Cheat Mountain
Cheat Mountain is an exceptionally high and rugged ridge situated in the Allegheny Mountains of eastern West Virginia, USA. It is about long (north to south) and more than five miles (8 km) wide at its widest. Its highest point is at its sou ...
.
Cass Cave has the highest
subterranean waterfall in
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...
and
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
, Lacy Suicide Falls, with a height of 139 ft. This high waterfall was misnamed; a suicide did occur but it was at a small drop very near the entrance. The cave is not open to the general public.
One of the rooms in the cave (the "Big Room") is 800 ft long, 180 ft high and 75 ft wide.
The June 1964 Issue of
National Geographic featured a two-page fold-out color photograph by Huntley Ingalls of a caver climbing a wire ladder adjacent to the waterfall. The photo was illuminated by a series of #2 Press photo flashbulbs laid over an aluminum foil reflector spread on the slope below..
Cave rescues and deaths
On March 16, 1968, eight people were trapped and later rescued in the cave.
In 1976, an amateur caver was trapped in the cave for more than 15 hours, falling 40 feet to the cave floor after an equipment malfunction.
In 1977, a climber was trapped in the waterfall and died of hypothermia due to being drenched by falling water.
See also
*
List of waterfalls of West Virginia
References
External links
Cass Cave
{{coord missing, West Virginia
Caves of West Virginia