Great Stalacpipe Organ

The instrument's name was derived from the resemblance of the selected thirty-seven naturally formed stalactites to the pipework of a traditional pipe organ along with its custom organ-style keyboard console.

It was designed and implemented in 1956 over three years by Leland W. Sprinkle inside the Luray Caverns near Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, USA.

One of the earliest references to performances of lithophone music in Luray Caverns comes from the tour led by co-discoverer Andrew Campbell for a group sent by the Smithsonian Institution in 1880.

According to a summary of the report incorporated into the earliest printed guides to Luray Caverns, Campbell surprised the group by playing a tune on a formation, probably the one that came to be known as the Organ.

[6] Paul Malmström (one half of the group with Jari Salo) played and recorded "In The Cave" which is featured on Pepe Deluxé's album Queen of the Wave.

Console of the organ, an electrically actuated lithophone
This postcard from 1906 illustrates the method of early lithophone performances in Luray Caverns
Sound of Stalacpipe Organ