I never understood why people are freaked out by corpses. It’s the living that do all the damage. Skulls are just left over calcium. They’re no scarier than the dead skin cells that make up most of household dust. The Paris catacombs, however, are beautiful and a remarkable piece of medieval history.
I suppose if you believe in an afterlife I can see how it might be scary, since you reject the empirical fact that the person just plain ends at death.
Great horror movie.
search teams and rescue dogs
Must find boys… Must find… bone Bone! BONE!!! … No! Focus! Must find boys… Must find… bone Bone! BONE!!!
ad nauseum
I don’t believe in an afterlife, but I can understand why being around human remains could make one uncomfortable. (Not so much afraid.)
Intellectually, it’s easy to know that you’re going to die at some point. But being up-close with the formerly-living can be a powerful, visceral memento mori.
“Hey there dead people. Respect! I don’t believe in an afterlife, but if you do, a little help or I’ll soon be joining you for the rest of time and I’m that guy.”
Solid point. When I’ve been around human remains, I’ve mostly just hoped they lived well and feel a bit of sadness they’re story is ended. If I was close to the person the remains belonged to, I might be more sad. I guess that’s a kind of uncomfortable. I’ve never really feared human remains. I can remember being told about ghosts as a kid and feeling really bad for them as it sounds like a horrible existence. Even now when I’m alone, just in case I’m badly wrong, I occasionally look up and say I’m sorry. Because if there is an afterlife, no one should have to spend it watching me read through the latest Hugo nominees. And if they do so by choice, then Dude, get an afterlife. I’m not interesting enough to haunt.
When I was about twelve, I was exploring a cave complex with a friend when our torches died. Took us about four hours to feel our way out, including a few encounters with invisible-but-substantial fall hazards.
Somewhat alarming at the time, but fun in retrospect.
I’d be inclined to add a fire starter, mini cook pot and a small hatchet. Boiled water beats purified water any day, and with a hatchet you can make just about any other tool you might need.
FWIW, I think there’s a big difference between those who plan for the fall of civilization, and people like you and I who’re ready for the wait to be rescued by civilization.
Also seconding @Wanderfound’s sage advice. You can go a lot longer without food than you think, and not nearly as long without potable water as you imagine (for generic you, since personal you may already be well aware of that).
That’s just what’s in my commuting laptop bag, with lighter, matches, small knife, useful lengths of dental floss. If I was expecting anything, I’d add the GSI cook set with iso-propane burner, first aid kit, 3L hydration pack and the tin of soup mixes, coffee, tea and stuff.
Rescued by civilization? We are civilization. In the event of a subway emergency, the glo-sticks come out. If someone’s in shock and needs to be kept warm? Emergency blanket. Someone’s scarf caught in an escalator? I have a knife. Personal survival without helping other people would really suck.
Hatchets, while very useful, might not be of particular use in a dark maze full of skeletons. Unless you plan to make a bone knife, in which case you’d best hide it as soon as you hear the hounds.
When I took the obligatory tourist walk through the catacombs I remember being somewhat awed by the sheer number of bones. And thinking that, all things being equal, I’d rather not spend the night down there.
Exceptionally well said. I riffed on this snarkily earlier today, but the full John Donne quote, from which pieces are so often pulled, remains among the most useful bits of advice in human history…
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.”
Well, the walls made of human bones do kind of constantly drive home the point of what will happen to you if you don’t find a way out, so I can see how they would be an aggravating factor in this situation.
Maybe, just as we evolved to be repelled by the stench of rotting food, the presence of human remains causes a visceral gtfo response.
Thank You!
Actually the cell reception down there is fantastic.
Fantastic, if you want to make a call to
THE DEAD!
Don’t worry. At any moment, at least a thousand people on the planet have got to be fapping.
Being lost, in the dark, underground, where no one will find you… I don’t see it getting worse than that.
I never thought of that. Could be, and would make sense since human remains are a breeding ground for human pathogens (which is why cannibalism is so dangerous to the cannibal and why even the meat of genetically close animals such as pigs needs to be so thoroughly cooked prior to human consumption).
For more details about that:
