In addition to the lake, the caverns contain an abundance of crystal clusters called anthodites, stalactites, stalagmites, and a waterfall.

Located in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, the caverns are named after their former owner, a Cherokee Native American, Chief Craighead.

During the American Civil War, the caves were mined by Confederate soldiers for saltpeter, a commodity necessary to the manufacture of gunpowder.

George Gaylord Simpson, a vertebrate paleontologist at the museum, subsequently visited Craighead Caverns in May 1940.

Simpson referred the fossils to the large Panthera onca augusta, at that time the remains from Craighead Caverns were some of the best known of the subspecies.

The room was so large he was unable to see the ends of the space with his lantern, so he threw balls of mud in all directions and heard splashes.

By the time Ben convinced his father to go back down with him to explore further, the water level had risen, hiding the cave entrance from them.