Floyd Collins' Leg

Floyd Collins, the world's greatest cave explorer of his time, died tragically in 1925 trapped under the weight of a rockslide while searching for a connecting passageway between Sand Cave and Mammoth Cave. Most people who have heard of Floyd Collins know this much.

What is lesser known is that Collins has the peculiar distinction of having at least four different resting places. First he was left under the rocks in the cave as his resting place, since the authorities were afraid to attempt to remove the body. Then his brother Homer managed to raise the money to have a team remove the body and give him a proper burial. Years later, his body was unearthed and placed back in the cave, in a glass-topped coffin so tourists could gawk at his corpse. Ultimately he was finally buried again in 1989, this time in Mammoth Cave National Park.

But what is even lesser known is that after being placed in the see-through coffin, unknown persons stole Collins' body. It turned up in a field a few months later with one leg amputated. To this day no one has a clue who stole the body, or where his missing leg is.