The Death Cave¶
The Death Cave is a blood-splattered crevice cave near a busy freeway outside Dahlonega, where the party found a man's folded face, scattered remains and a bloody pickaxe.
| Type | Location, cave |
| Aliases | Crevice cave; the cave |
| Region | Near the freeway and the Spud Hut Regional Distribution Center, outside Dahlonega |
| Victim | The Dead Man in the Cave |
| First appearance | Appalachia 02 (cold open) |
Description¶
The cave is a crevice in rock near a road, with bloody smears showing that someone went in and out. Inside is a sandy chamber reached by a tight squeeze, a worry for the Biz. The chamber is splattered with blood. Kurt found no powder marks or chemical smell and judged that the man was shredded and slung against the walls "like gators have been at a body," with bones split open, tooth marks, and muscle, organs and fat missing (Appalachia 03).
History of events there¶
Appalachia 02, cold open. A Spud Hut distribution-center worker on a smoke break was locked out when his propping rock scraped away. He followed baby-like sobbing into a rocky fissure near the plant, found an ancient pickaxe in the sand, raised it, and was attacked by a glinting-eyed, humanlike figure perched in the crevice. The scene ended in darkness and screams. The man is not named; the sobbing that drew him in suggests the creature lures victims with a baby-like cry (Appalachia 02).
Appalachia 03. Andrew Howard woke in the woods at about 3 a.m. in sweat-soaked pajamas, with bloody feet, holding a steel cigarette lighter he had never seen. The party retraced his route the next morning, followed his blood trail, and reached the cave after about 1.5 hours. Andrew squeezed in first, followed by Kurt and Huell. The party found an old bloody pickaxe, skin, bones, hair, gray cloth scraps, a cigarette pack and a man's folded face stuck to the wall. Andrew bagged the face; see Folded Face. The face belonged to a middle-aged smoker with a salt-and-pepper beard whom nobody recognized. The lighter, marked "HF" in Sharpie, held hair and fat matching the face; see HF Lighter. The cave held gray cloth shreds but no wallet. The party photographed the scene with the film camera and planted pink flags (Appalachia 03).
The blood trail ran on to the freeway, where white Spud Hut box trucks drove past toward town. The party hoped the lighter's initials would help narrow down who the dead man was. The missing Spud Hut employee Aaron Richters does not fit "HF," and the man is never identified.
Appalachia 07. Andrew Howard blurted the body count to Big Bill, including "the exploded man in the cave," and Dante's character later contrasted the cave's many fragments with the "weirdly meticulous" killing of a truck driver (Appalachia 07). See Thing That Attacked the Spud Hut Truck.
Inhabitants¶
None found. The creature that attacked in the cold open is never clearly seen, and the episodes do not connect it to the pale furry creature the party met in the mines.