- Hello deathlings! You tell me all the time what
freaks you out about death. Now I'm not complaining. You should tell me what
freaks you out about death. This is the place for it. I'd like to think of my channel
as a place of fear, and fun. Of existential despair, and whimsy. But today I'm gonna tell you
about the one death thing that really freaks me out! (water gurgling)
(eerie, dramatic music) What are those nightmares? What are those nightmares? What are those nightmares? What are those nightmares? Nightmares, nightmares? What nightmares? (chuckles) You're a nightmare, shut up! I do have one major dead body phobia. It's (gasping) Underwater
Cave Diving Corpses. I know, I know, you're thinking, "Really? "After all the stuff you've talked about, "Cave Diving Corpses freak you out?" Bear with me. For those of you who
aren't haunted by the image of dead bodies floating
in a dark, watery grave, cave diving is basically
spelunking, only under water. Typically scuba divers dive in open water, without anything between
themselves and the surface. But cave divers use
special scuba equipment to explore underwater caves and tunnels, very often in extreme depths. In cave diving, a diver always has
something looming overhead, like the rocky ceiling
of an underground chamber or one's own mortality.
(water bubbling) Even amongst expert divers, cave diving is considered one
of the most dangerous sports a person can partake in. At the Eagle's Nest Sinkhole in Florida, this sign is actually posted
underwater to deter cave divers from passing what could
be the point of no return. I don't know, when the grim
reaper is there beckoning you, saying, "Come on in! "The water's fine!" Maybe you should re-think this adventure. Hundreds of people have died
in cave diving accidents, more than can officially be recorded. And not just inexperienced divers who ventured beyond their capabilities, but experts and instructors with thousands of hours
of dive time logged. Sheck Exley the man who literally wrote
the book on cave diving, and was a mentor to many
cave divers, lost his life when diving in a fresh
water sinkhole in Mexico. In fact, a lot of the deaths
attributed to cave diving occur when experts are attempting to retrieve the corpses
of cave diving victims. Once in the depths of the
earth's ancient flooded caves, it's cold, there's no light, the pressure on the
human lungs is enormous, and something called nitrogen
narcosis can take place. Nitrogen narcosis occurs
when the mixture of oxygen and nitrogen and a
diver's breathing is unbalanced. The deeper they go the worse it gets, leading to a feeling of
inebriation, euphoria, and lack of judgment. And that's when accidents can happen. With little to no visibility, especially if silt has
been kicked up by flippers, divers can get disoriented and lost, sending them in the wrong direction. In cave diving, you don't just need enough
oxygen mix to descend, you also need enough to
decompress and get the hell out, which can actually take hours to do. Not to mention, it's unknown
exactly how deep and expansive some underwater cave networks are. With this perfect storm of problems that can plague cave divers, it's a sad fact that many of the world's
most famous sinkholes have hosted a few corpses, some of which have yet to be found. For some reason the idea
of coming upon a corpse in the dark, deep, claustrophobic depths is, for me, a
no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no! If a diver happens upon a
corpse in an underwater cave, it's not as simple as just towing the corpse
back up to the surface. Very often the corpse is partially buried, or tangled in a line, or wedged in a place that it can't easily be pulled free from. Like we talked about on Mouth Everest, in many cases, leaving the dead behind is a matter of survival for the living. Let me now tell you the
story that first led me to fully realize that the
recovery of cave corpses is my least favorite thing in the world. Expert Australian diver, David Shaw, was diving in Bushman's
Hole in South Africa, at a depth of around 890
feet, aka The Death Zone. While he's down there he discovers the dead body
of fellow diver, Deon Dreyer, who's corpse had been
missing for 10 years. It had been assumed Deon
would never be found. So David Shaw decides he wants to go back down
there several months later and bring Deon up for his parents to finally have some kind of closure. It's a great idea! It's a great idea, in theory. David Shaw finds Deon again
during the retrieval mission. But when he tries to cut him free, he becomes entangled with the body. You see, the corpse was supposed to
become negatively buoyant but instead it floated. This was because,
surprise, fats in the body had turned into a soapy substance called adipocere or Corpse Wax. Essentially a floating soap mummy. and once cut free from
its harness, it floated. At one point, while Shaw
wrestles with the corpse, it's head actually comes off and bobs in front of his
helmet camera for a moment. (groans) Wrestling with a swollen corpse, just floating there in the
watery darkness is creepy enough, but this story isn't over. David Shaw used up so much energy trying to settle down this floating body and the pressure was so
wildly high at these depths that he suffered respiratory
failure, and also died. So now there are two corpses down there. In a strange twist of fate, a few days later Shaw's body was found on the roof of the underwater cave, and below him, was Deon Dreyer, floating in the glow of his flashlight. So awful as this was, he was able to bring Deon
Dryer back to his parents. So, now you know deathlings,
that's my Kryptonite. Exploding corpses? Bring 'em on! Bog bodies? Yes, please! Meeting an unexpected corpse
in an underwater cave? Nope! (buzzing) What are your corpse or
death-related phobias? Tell us in the Comments and we can all have
night terrors together. Okay, for the record, I
would gladly tend to the body of a recovered cave diver on land. Of course! I just don't want to
encounter one in the wild. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you about my book. It's coming out in less than a month now. Ahh!
(soft, melodic music) And a reminder, pre-orders help me a lot because they make me seem real
to bookstores and libraries. Like a real book writer,
a writer of books. Help me seem real. I think I'm also going
to do a book themed Q & A in the next few weeks, and I'm gonna leave it pretty open. Do you wanna know about
death around the world? Do you wanna know about
book deals and publishing? Do you want book recommendations? Leave those in the Comments. Thumbs Up other people's
questions that you like, and I'll base that video off
you guys and what you want. Year of Content. This video was made
with generous donations from death enthusiasts just like you. No-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no, no,
no, no, no, no-no-no-no, no!
Omg ask a mortician! I forgot about her existence I used to watch her religiously when I was younger
I'm actually more terrified of open water, but this is pretty creepy too.