Since Marion Smith began caving in 1966, he’s squeezed into innumerable tight spaces like the one he entered Friday afternoon.
But this particular cranny he wedged himself into while looking for new cave openings in Van Buren County, Tenn., was more akin to an impassible hole.
A rock on Smith’s left fell and pinned him in to the space, resulting in a rescue effort that included nearly 50 people and a trip to the hospital that Smith, 71, cut short after deciding he was ready to leave.
Crews had to micro-blast the rock to dislodge it.
“I just yielded to the old temptation that I’ve yielded to for many decades and foolishly went in,” Smith said of the maneuver that resulted in his trapping. “And as soon as I got in the thing, I literally said, ‘I’ll never get out of here.’ I literally said that.”