| The Mammoth Cave system, in Kentucky, consists of 330 miles of passageways on five levels. It is the largest cave in the world. For years Mammoth Cave has been explored and probed, and no one has seen the end of it yet. Like many caves, Mammoth Cave is a dangerous place for a novice to explore -- so large that a person can get easily lost in the maze of tunnels and never find their way outside. It has only been fairly recently that the cave was commercially developed open to the public. Before that, some of the locals knew enough about the twists and turns to find their way out, or even to get another person lost if they wanted to. It had happened dozens of times before. One person would take another into the cave, get them thoroughly lost, then suddenly disappear. Most of the time it was meant as a prank. After a time, the "guide" would always reappear and lead the befuddled, frightened victim to safety. One time, however, this prank turned into tragedy. There was once a beautiful young woman living near Mammoth Cave. Her name was Melissa. Melissa's father was one of the great land holders in the vicinity and the family was financially well off. They even had enough money to hire a tutor to teach young Melissa. That's when the trouble started. Melissa was a romantically-inclined girl who easily fell in love. Her tutor was a serious young single man from Boston and very handsome. It was only natural that the student would fall in love with the teacher. But there was a great age difference between them. Although the young man could not help but see that Melissa was a very pretty girl, she was still a girl -- much too young for him. Instead he fell in love with another woman. The spurned Melissa was beside herself with jealousy. She would get even with the ungrateful man if it was the last thing she ever did. Having lived near Mammoth Cave most of her life, Melissa had explored the caverns many times. She was familiar with every twist and turn, every nook and cranny. One day, she invited her tutor to go cave exploring with her. The young man, having never been in a cave, thought it would be a great adventure. Melissa and her tutor walked around the cave for nearly an hour, using candles to light their way. The tutor was fascinated with the spectacular limestone formations that Melissa pointed out to him. Even in feeble candlelight, they were breathtaking. Then, when he looked around, Melissa was gone. The man called frantically. No answer. Back at the entrance, Melissa was quite pleased with herself. She had had her revenge. The tutor was probably completely terrified by now. Now it was time to go get him and bring him out. But, when she retraced her steps to where she had left him, the young man was nowhere to be found. Melissa called and called, but there was no answer. She searched every tunnel and side tunnel that she knew. Nothing. The man was lost forever. He would never find his way out now. He would wander around inside the maze of corridors until he either died of starvation or fell into a deep crevice. Melissa's practical joke had turned into tragedy. When Melissa went home and told her father what she had done, he rallied the entire countryside to search the cave for the missing tutor. They searched Mammoth Cave for a week. Finally the search was called off. The young man was never found. For the rest of her life, Melissa lived with the horrible guilt of what she had done. Finally she died, an old and bitter woman. But that was not the end of it, not by a long shot. Now her ghost roams the dark tunnels of Mammoth Cave, still looking for the young man on whom she had played such a cruel trick over 150 years before. She has been seen countless times -- the apparition of a beautiful young woman, silently roaming the dank corridors, eternally searching for someone who will never be found. |