They Followed Their Friend to the Cave of Death | Gollum Cave Disaster

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Tatiana: It's August 17th, 2005,
and a group of six friends are

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out at dinner, having a good time.

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They're in Provo, Utah, like
45 minutes from salt lake city.

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And one of the girls in the group
21 year old, Jennifer Galbraith

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brings up a secret underwater cave.

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The way she talks about it sounds
like an amazing underwater expedition.

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If you can find it, you get to swim
through an underwater tunnel, to

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a secret room on the other side.

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Steve honey chimes in.

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He's 20 years old and had been
in the case before and knew

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what Jennifer was talking about.

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You remembered how cold it was.

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But many times he had been in there

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.
So she started talking about the one time
she had been in the cave and passed out

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from how ridiculously cold the water was.

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One thing led to another and they
started jokingly calling Gollum cave.

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The cave of death.

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She obviously got out safely
and was there to tell the tale.

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So the group started talking about
going to explore it themselves since

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everyone else hadn't been there yet.

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Unfortunately, they didn't realize
how accurate that nickname would be.

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I'm Tatiana.

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And this is occurrence.

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So the group decided to go to the
cave, but Steve had to bail on the

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plan since he had to go to work.

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The other has gotten a car and went to
the cave that was located on Y mountain

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by the old seven peaks golf course,
which is just east of BYU campus.

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So they parked in a parking lot near where
the cave entrance is, and it's not a far

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walk and the weather is decent enough.

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So the boys take off their shirts
and are in shorts and sandals and

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they head towards the cave entrance.

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they have a flashlight and are
searching in the dark since it's 3:00

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AM, but they locate the entrance.

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It's hidden and not big at all.

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And I imagine at first glance, everyone
was looking at this entrance skeptically.

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It's like three feet wide and partially
hidden by bushes and a couple of boulders.

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But at second glance, they realized once
they go in, they can actually hunger

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along a flat surface without water.

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and this stretch went
on for roughly 90 feet.

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So all five of them crawl along in
the dark before reaching an area

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that branches off to the right.

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To an unexplored areas of the cave.

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And straight ahead, slants down to
a hole that they would have to drop

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through vertically into the water.

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Now, four of them are from Utah.

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And if you listened to the nutty
putty episode, I did, you know,

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going into caves is something
very common for people in Utah.

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A lot of times, it's what they do for fun.

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So Blake Scott, Jennifer, and Ariel
are a bit more comfortable taking this

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chance, looking at this small hole and
dropping into water with no sense of

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what to expect once they're underwater.

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The fifth member, Joseph was from
Nevada and in a band with all of

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them, but he looked at this whole
and decided he had gone far enough.

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This was the end of his adventure.

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He was not going into that hole.

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He said, you guys got it.

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I'm going to wait here.

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So he stayed at the underwater entrance
while the others went into explore.

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They entered the low ceiling area
that slanted down and went into

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the hole and swim down six feet.

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Before swimming straight 15 feet
and the two foot wide, four foot

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high tunnel to reach the other
side to the inner chamber or room.

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There was a rope attached to a rock
in the main cave that went through

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the tunnel and was attached to a
plank of wood in the inner chamber.

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The chamber is about six feet high
from floor to ceiling with two

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to three feet of water inside.

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The water level is low enough
for people to stand comfortably.

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And the room is wide enough
for six to eight people to

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be inside at the same time.

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Now Joseph is waiting and as time
passed, he started getting concerned.

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He couldn't see or hear
anything from where he was at.

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And after 45 minutes.

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He started calling people.

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He knew that might've
been in the Cape before.

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He's calling around and some
people answer, but others don't.

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It's about 4:30 AM.

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When the others actually went under water
and most people were asleep at that time.

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But time was passing and he
couldn't shake this bad feeling.

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So at six 30, am he
caved and called 9 1 1?

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The police and rescue team arrive.

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And they're a bit confused.

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Authorities weren't aware of
this cave was even a thing.

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Let alone that for at least the past year.

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Students have been exploring it.

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Since Joseph hadn't been in the cave,
the only thing he could really tell

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them Was what Jennifer described about
them going underwater and swimming

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to a chamber on the other side.

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So the rescue team pumps air into
the cave while pumping water out.

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Thinking they would just give the
group clean air until they could

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figure out how to get to them safely.

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But a couple hours later when they had a
plan formed and what to go inside to get

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the group out, they didn't get far before
stumbling onto the remains of Jessica.

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And just passed her where
the other three in the group.

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It appeared as though everyone had
drowned, trying to get back out

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of the tunnel because the way they
were positioned had them facing

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the tunnel entrance in a line with
pretty much one behind the other.

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Everyone was retrieved from the
tunnel and the cause of death

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was determined to be drowning.

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This was a known unknown with
the young people in the area.

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And prior to this, no one
had died doing this activity.

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And for the past 20 years in this area,
there hadn't been any cave accidents.

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So there are a few theories.

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The last one being a
pretty interesting tape.

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But

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the first theory is on the way back.

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Jennifer was in front.

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She was the one who knew the
cave and introduced everyone

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else in the group to it.

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So of course you would be the
one to guide them back out.

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The first time she was in the
cave, she passed out from the cold.

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It may have happened again
while she was under water.

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This time.

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And her losing consciousness and
the tight tunnel prevented everyone

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from being able to push through.

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Jennifer goes first and maybe passed out
and the second person to go, wouldn't

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have known she didn't get through.

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So when they went to swim out, they ran
into her and would have been shocked to

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come across her and moving in the tunnel.

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They would have tried to push
her forwards or going around.

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But there just wasn't enough space
and the two foot wide tunnel.

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And if it had even crossed the second
person's mind to go and reverse

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back out into the inner chamber.

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Before they started running out of air.

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The third person would have been behind
them and blocking them in by now.

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The pattern would have continued to
the fourth person as everyone drowned.

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Unable to go forward and too
panicked or having too little

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air to try and go backwards.

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Another theory.

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Is that what happened is similar to what
almost happened before with Brian Lambri.

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He was a former student that had
apparently gone into the cave

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three weeks before this happened.

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When he went to swim back out.

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He swim past the entrance to the waterhole
and hit a dead end on the other side.

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The dirt that gets kicked up when swimming
through the tunnel kept him from being

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able to see even with a flashlight.

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So he was panicking and patting his hands
along the ceiling while pushing backwards.

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Just when he was about to run out of
air and suck in a bunch of water, he

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grabbed onto the edge of the waterhole
and pushed his head through the

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surface and was able to get out.

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He immediately knew he would
never go back there and would

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never show it to anyone he knew.

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And he was with people who were
frequent visitors to the cave.

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So that could have happened to Jennifer.

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She just couldn't find the entrance.

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And then the chain reaction happened
leading to everyone drowning.

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The last theory is also plausible,
but hasn't been confirmed.

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The chamber, they swim too.

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On the other side was sealed.

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We know they had a few feet of
clearance to be able to stand

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with their heads above water.

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But there was no open
airflow to let fresh air in.

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And when the rescue team went into the
chamber, . They found old used candles.

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So we know our normal breathable
air is made of roughly 78%

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nitrogen and 21% oxygen.

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With small amounts of
other gases mixed in there.

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It's possible that the
stagnant water in close space.

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Lit candles and multiple people over
time breathing and talking increase the

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amount of carbon dioxide in the chamber
while the oxygen level was depleted.

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So this change in the air composition
would have turned the air bad and made

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it difficult to breathe fairly quickly.

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The group would have noticed
this and may have started feeling

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lightheaded with their thinking
and movements . Becoming impaired.

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Jessica would have left first
knowing the way better, but

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with already poor air quality.

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That deep breath everyone takes before
going underwater wouldn't have lasted

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her as long as good air would have.

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The second, third and fourth person
going out with a minute or two of

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waiting between each of them . Would
mean that one by one, they had to leave

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with increasingly impaired movements
and lowered breathing capacity.

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Not to mention the increase in panic,
knowing you have to wait for the tunnel to

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be clear, but not being able to breathe.

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They each would have gone back through
the tight, dark tunnel, unable to see.

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Thinking, they just had to make it
to the entrance on the other side.

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They had no way to know.

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There was no way back until they ran
into the friend in front of them.

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After the disaster, the authority sealed
up the cave with concrete and rocks.

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They said their regret was not knowing
about the cave sooner because they would

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have sealed it off before to prevent
something like this from happening at all.

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So, what do you think about
the Gollum cave tragedy?

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Leave your thoughts in the comments?

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And if you like stories like this, don't
forget to follow or subscribe for more.

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Stay safe and I'll see you next time.