#popham

Day 337: December 2, 2020

Laura Popham, 09.11.2014, Lancashire. 

Laura briefly recounts her bonding with her sister Alena over caving after she lost her job and house. Alena was never as into caving as her sister, but the two went on around a trip a year. In June 2014 they decided to explore Death’s Head hole - moving into Gavel Pot before doing their first cave dive between Gavel Pot and Lost Johns’ cave.  

They begin their descent - conditions were perfect but the site was deserted. Laura notes some squeezes were far tighter than indicated on some of the maps, and eventually they stop for lunch. Lost Johns’ cave derives its name from two men named John who became lost in the caves and were never seen again (their candles went out). During the cave dive Alena tricks Laura by hitting her helmet with rock when she tries to resurface. Upon deciding to return, Laura hears a low grating voice asking how lost she really is. This rattles her, and the two start to leave. 

Laura experiences issues with judging the distance back, and comes out in an unknown space. She waits for her sister, but decides to try find somewhere to turn around when she does not resurface as the space is too tight to move. The tunnel becomes tighter and tighter as she goes along, and she panics when trying to wriggle back but discovering the cave wall up against her feet - blocking her way back. She screamed and her light went out. She sees a candle light approaching from a long way off, and when it gets close enough for her to see a pale hand holding a candle, she hears her sister scream and closes her eyes. She realises the light is daylight and is at the surface in less than an hour - where she screams until her husband and the rescue services find her. 

Notes: Alena was never found. Jon notes that audio taken from Laura’s video camera has recorded her whispering over and over again “take her, not me”. Laura is likely marked by both the buried and the dark given that she loves caving for the darkness it provides and tells an anecdote of her love of caving/the dark since she was young. Also to do with the candle/light in the dark. Tim and Sasha worked on this one as Martin suffers from claustrophobia.

Entities: The buried, the dark (?)

Names mentioned: 

Alena Sanderson (Laura’s sister - missing)