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   A few miles from the tiny town of Bell's Cove, deep in the rugged mountains of Virginia, is an unexplored underground wonderland in the little-known Buck Hill caverns. While the nearby Natural Bridge is visited each year by several hundred thousand vacationers, the cave has not been opened as a tourist attraction. People who have entered into the cave are convinced something supernatural lurks within its dark passages. ‘It's haunted,’ is a common statement. Jake Fitzgerald was one of the few men to venture deep within the astonishing wonderland. In October, 1889, Fitzgerald was paid a dollar a day to explore the cave. "I've heard some stories about the strange beauty in there," Col. Henry Parsons said. "You tell me what you discover."

   Armed with kerosene lanterns, candles, ropes, picks and shovels, Jake Fitzgerald and his brother, Joe, disappeared into the cave. A curious group of mountaineers waited at the entrance. The sun was sinking below the mountain ridge when the two youths returned. Excitedly, they told of a limitless wonderland of jewel-like magnificence beneath the ground. Vast open chambers, crystal lakes, strangely shaped stone formations, jewel-like stalagmites and stalactites intermingled with underground rivers, waterfalls and even beautiful cave flowers.

   Fired with enthusiasm, a team of eight men entered the cave. They planned to open Buck Hill Caverns for the public. For several weeks they mapped the vast network of underground passageways and moved deeper into the earth's bowels. One day, the workmen were resting beside a frozen, stone waterfall. To their left was a yawning pit that seemingly had no bottom. They had dropped pans into the opening and listened for the sound of landing. There was only silence.