Kayaker Disappeared on Arkansas River, 2 Years Later His GoPro Was Found Underground – News

In the dim glow of his failing light, he had heard something that made him go completely still.

Voices.

Human voices echoing through the cave system from somewhere ahead.

“Hello,” Marcus called out, his relief evident even through the poor audio quality. “Hello. Can you help me? I’m lost.”

The voices stopped.

Then after a long pause, they resumed, but quieter now, more cautious.

Marcus began moving toward the sound, his camera bouncing with each step, the beam of his dying headlamp creating a disorienting strobe effect against the cave walls.

“Please,” Marcus shouted. “I’ve been lost for hours. I need help getting out.”

That was when the nature of the voices became clear.

As Marcus got closer to their source, individual words became audible on the recording. What investigators heard made them realize Marcus Holloway had not stumbled into an empty cave system.

He had walked into the middle of something that was very much occupied by people who had no interest in helping a lost photographer find his way home.

Part 2

The 1st clear word Marcus’s camera captured was quiet.

Then someone’s coming.

Then get the lights.

What followed was perhaps the most chilling portion of the 14-hour recording.

Marcus continued moving toward the voices, unaware that he was walking deeper into a cave system that had been carefully modified over many years into something that served purposes far removed from natural wonder or scientific study.

The beam of his failing headlamp began to pick up details that did not belong in a pristine limestone cave. Electrical cables, black and thick, snaked along the walls and disappeared into side passages. The smell in the air changed, no longer the clean mineral scent of underground water, but something chemical, acrid, familiar to anyone who had driven past certain rural properties at the wrong time of night.

“Hello,” Marcus called again, his voice careful now, controlled. “I can see your lights. I just need directions back to the entrance.”

The response came from multiple directions simultaneously, flashlight beams converging on Marcus from at least 3 different passages.

In the sudden brightness, his GoPro captured his 1st clear view of where he actually was.

The chamber was enormous, easily 100 ft across, with a ceiling that disappeared beyond his headlamp’s reach.