| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moring, John | 23 | Male | Not recorded | Not recorded |
On Monday, December 22, brothers John (23) and David (19) Moring from Cincinnati, Ohio, went exploring in Brinegar Cave near Bloomington, Indiana. The elder brother had not been caving before, but the younger had gotten experience while an explorer scout. At around noon they left their station wagon at the end of Eller Road on the edge of Blenz's property (NSS Cave Files). They had two helmets, a carbide lamp, an electric headlamp, an electric hand lantern and some rope, but took only the carbide lamp, one helmet, and the rope into the cave. When their light failed sometime later they became stranded. The cavers were expected home on Monday evening and their parents apparently called the police and eventually, on Wednesday, a Cincinnati caver, Tom Gracinin was called for help. He called Blenz's place where cavers usually register before caving and relayed the info on the cavers and their equipment. Pat Ennis was there and called Don Paquette. Others were put on standby while Paquette checked the car. At about 5:30 p.m. he broke into the car and came to realize the lost cavers had only one light with them. He returned to Blenz's and put a search in progress. At 7 p.m. other cavers arrived and checked the entrances to Wayne's, Shaft, Grotto and Coons Caves. At 7:45 Paquette called Tom Rea in Indianapolis to put the Central Indiana Grotto on standby. At around 9 p.m. the search party returned having found nothing. Other cavers who had logged in at Blenz's on trips that week were called without results. At 10 p.m. several cavers checked Buckners. Lee Noon was called and a warm gas body warming system was put on standby to be flown in if needed. Hypothermia was a concern. Travel time for the system would be two hours. At 1 a.m. Thursday, the Indianapolis stand-by group was called in. Three cavers headed for Brinegar's at 2 a.m. with a more thorough search planned when more manpower arrived. The lost cavers were found in the entrance stream passage in the pits just after the crevice. They were in good shape so their rescuers recharged their lamp and they were escorted out arriving at Blenz's at 3:15 a.m.
Brinegar is not a cold cave so hypothermia was not a problem. Also, there was water in the cave which the lost cavers apparently made use of. The main theme here is the recurring one of non-organized cavers going caving ill-prepared. If they had left a note giving their objective on their car it would have made their rescue much simpler.