I?m On An Caving Expedition To Reach a Record Depth Underground. We Weren?t Expecting to Hear So Much Screaming

A few weeks ago my friend Daniel approached me about a new caving project. We?d been on several expeditions together in the past, and had been friends for a while. Daniel told me that he?d been doing some research on the abandoned Kidd Mine in Canada.
The Kidd Mine descends some 10,000 feet. Due to the already low-lying entrance, that meant that the bottom was the deepest place in the entire world.
Daniel brought out a map. He pointed out the bottom of the mine, then brought out a graph that I didn?t understand.
?This is a seismologic scan of the area that an oil company did recently,? he said excitedly, pointing to several peaks and troughs on the graph. ?Do you see it??
?Nope,? I said.
He rapped his knuckle on the paper. ?Workers reported a cave system underneath the mine. They always assumed it was a small one, but this shows that it could go on for miles and miles. I?ve already talked with the owners and they said they?ll let us in. You interested??
I hadn?t been on an expedition since a cave diving incident my sister suffered a few months back. I had canceled on the group at the last minute, but my sister had gone anyway. She... didn?t make it. I almost shook my head, but paused, staring at the map again.
A cave system underneath the deepest mine in the world? We?d make history if we explored it. On top of that, there was no diving. Caving was one of my great loves, so maybe it was time to do something like this again. I told him I was in.
We hopped on a flight to Ontario and soon had driven our rental car to the now-abandoned mine?s entrance. We double-checked our supplies as the resident caretaker unlocked a few padlocks that closed off the mine from the public.
We?d brought enough food and water for a three-day journey underground. We didn?t plan on spending days down there, but it never hurt to be careful.
We descended down the mine for several long hours, traveling down tracks and going down ladders. Some parts were extremely technical, and we had to tie ourselves up with ropes before risking the rusted out ladders.
You can see a few pictures and videos I took while we descended here:
VIDEO OF A PART OF THE MINE WE DESCENDED
PIC 1
PIC 2
As we descended, I started to feel heat coming from lower in the mine. Heat coming from the earth itself, I realized. After a few more hours of stopping and starting, we reached the end of the mine.
?Ok,? Daniel said. ?Let?s split up and feel around for any air flows.?
We did, and after a few minutes I found felt a distinct breeze pulling me to my right. I called Daniel over, and we crept through a small passageway in the rock.
It was extremely tight getting through the rock, but we managed. On the other side we found ourselves in a cave system. We paused there for an hour or so, resting our tired legs before continuing on.
To both our surprise, we found the ground smoothed out considerably at the bottom of the cave. It almost felt like we were walking down a tunnel that constantly curved down and to the right. With the smooth floor, we were able to make excellent progress. We must?ve been walking for three hours, always down and to the right, like a corkscrew into the earth.
We paused again for a quick bite and drink of water.
?How you been?? Daniel asked from where he sat in the darkness.
?Feeling good,? I said. ?My legs are holding up fine.?
?Not what I meant. You know you can--? He paused. ?Do you hear that??
I listened hard. He was right, there was some noise coming from deeper underground. It was far away, but it sounded to me like another group of cavers. The snap of carabiners was almost unmistakable.
?Is there another group down here?? I asked, shocked.
?Another group?? Daniel said. ?What do you mean? Didn?t you hear a TV??
?No, I heard carabiners and what sounded like people talking,? I said.
We got to our feet and continued down, pausing occasionally to listen for more sounds.
We pressed on for what must?ve been another three thousand feet down. The air continued to heat up; I?d guess the cave was at a temperature of around a hundred degrees.
Then, from up ahead in the darkness, I heard my sister?s laughter. She had a distinct laugh that I?d always made fun of. It was unmistakable.
From my side, Daniel stepped forward. ?Mom?? he asked.
I grabbed his arm. ?I heard my sister.?
He rubbed at his eyes. ?What the hell is with this cave, man.?
?Should we turn around??
I looked further down the still twisting tunnel. ?I don?t know.?
We took a few more steps forward. My light flashed across an object in the darkness. It was a backpack. My sister?s backpack.
I stumbled forward, opening it. Her name was written inside. ?How did this get?? I trailed off, looking over at Daniel. He was staring at his hand as if looking at something.
?Daniel?? I asked.
He didn?t look at me, instead staring down at his still-empty hand. ?This is the kind of bottle my Dad used to drink.? He looked further down the tunnel.
Then, more sounds from below. Sounds of thrashing in water, sounds of someone drowning. I knew without knowing that it was the sounds my sister had made.
Daniel recoiled, falling to the ground. ?Mom!?? he shouted. ?Mom are you down there??
We both shot to our feet and began running down the slope towards the sounds. We ran and ran and ran and ran, but the sounds never got closer. We finally collapsed with exhaustion, leaning against the side of the cave.
I felt all the pressure of the earth above me, all the heat and weight of the thousands of pounds of rock. Then I looked down, wondering at what things still lay below. That?s when the sounds of heavy footsteps from below started, slowly getting closer.
?Please tell me you hear those at least,? Daniel said.
?Yeah.? Something told me that I didn?t want to see whatever it was that was making those footsteps. That we shouldn?t be here when they got to our level.
We turned around to head back up, and I flashed my light across my sister, standing just above me in the tunnel.
She?d been following us this whole time.
She still wore her wetsuit, but her face was blue and swollen from the water. It dribbled from her mouth onto the floor when she opened it to scream.
I didn?t think about the footsteps, or Daniel, or how far underground I was. All I knew was that I had to get away from this screaming bloated creature standing over me.
I ran down the tunnel, only vaguely aware that Daniel was running beside me. We ran for what must?ve been a half-hour before slowing down, both hyperventilating.
We were alone.
Alone with nothing but each other, our lights, the silence, and the now-stiflingly-hot air surrounding us. We didn?t know what to do, but heading back up was our only option. We started out slow, always afraid of what we?d see at the next corner in the tunnel.
When we reached the entrance to the mine we almost lost our composure. We climbed the slopes and ladders and eventually reached the surface.
Neither of us have talked about what we saw down there, but I think we both know that we have to go back.
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