Cosmic Cavern is Underground Museum of Jewels

Jill M. Rohrbach, travel writer
Arkansas Tourism

If cloud gazing produces ships and animals in your eyes, try turning your imagination underground to the limestone formations of Cosmic Caverns in Berryville.

Walls are relatively smooth at the cave entrance where the glistening onyx that overlays the surface has been touched and damaged by locals over the past century. But, luxurious displays of the scientific wonders of water and minerals interacting underground define beauty in the lower depths.

Onyx miners worked the top level of the cave from the 1880s to early 1920s, Owner Randy Langhover explained on a recent descent into the cave bowels. In the '30s, locals rolled burning tires into the cave to smoke the bats out. Then they would try to shoot them. "They were probably not too successful," Langhover said.

The guided trek into Cosmic Cavern is about one-third of a mile or the equivalent of three blocks. "Our worst part is the first 30 steps," Langhover said. The stairs were built in 1927, when the tour's operators "gave you a lantern and said, 'Bye. I hope you come back.'"

The Buddha Room, located 50-feet under the parking lot, is accessed by another stairway. This room exhibits an "E.T. finger" and "Santa Claus." Its soft dolomite contains calcium manganese and carbon dioxide. "You could eat a bite and it'd be like eating Tums," Langhover explained. At the top of the Buddha Room is the old entrance to the cave.

Otherwise, the guided tour is an easy walk on a lighted path.

Langhover cautions visitors to take only pictures and reminds them that all Arkansas caves have protection laws against vandalism. While guests are asked not to touch living formations, tour guides do allow and encourage visitors to feel "the brain," one of the unique formations on the tour.

"We call this the operating table," Langhover said of this touch stone area as he pointed out a liver, brain, feet and tongue. Formations labeled bacon strips or elephant ears are also common. But, while you're imagination takes in the underground, don't forget to watch out for low ceilings, where you might knock your noggin, or the "rub" rock, which is also known as the "knee slammer."

Two lakes in the cave have unknown depths despite the use of sounding devices and divers to try to discover their bottoms. Looking down at Lotus Lake, Langhover remarked, "This is where the bottom of the world disappears." He added that the 1964 earthquake in Alaska made the cave water rise a foot and stay dirty for a week.

The cavern's lake water can fluctuate as much as 20 feet from the Spring to the Fall. Langhover has seen the water rise over the path rails four times. In December of 1982, Langhover said it rained for eight days in a row and the water rose 38 feet in 36 hours. Some of the cave lighting fixtures floated off and there was only three feet of air space in one of the main tour rooms.

Langhover said some of the cave formations, such as delicate soda straws, have actually received more damage from flooding over the years than from people.

A formation Langhover refers to as "the eye" marks the flood stage in one room. During summer droughts, the water level decreases but, "it never dips below a certain point."

Twenty-some weddings have been performed in the cave, usually in the Ghost Room, which was opened to the public in 1985. While this room is picturesque and appropriate size-wise for small weddings, it also contains rock that looks to have been sculpted into a coffin, and another resembling a ghost. Langhover admits weird groaning noises have been heard coming out of a hole behind the spectral figure.

Because of the sounds from that hole, Langhover worked to find a room behind the Ghost Room and did so in January of 1993. First, he and some explorers tried digging through walls of thick clay.

"That clay is just like peanut butter," Langhover said. "Fill your tub with peanut butter and walk around in it to get the idea of the consistency."

The group then dynamited the area eventually breaking through a 30-foot passageway between the Ghost Room and the area now known as Silent Splendor. This major cave discovery broke national news headlines. "We were one of the major cave discoveries in the 20th Century when we found Silent Splendor," Langhover explained.

The entry into Silent Splendor begins with white and iron oxide rich, warm orange-brown stalactites, helictites that look like spiraling, crunchy chow mein noodles, and soda straws. Gypsum crystals sparkle overhead too, but Langhover said they are extremely sharp like cactus needles.

"There is an upper level. This is the main floor. We have a flooded basement. So, it is a tri-level cave along that fault line," Langhover explained. The fault line is easily recognized on the cave ceiling. "It goes 30 miles each direction and is called the 'Ten Degree Fault.'"

The end of the line for the walking tour is on a deck overlooking a lake and the Oh My God Room, which contains a record-setting 9-foot strawmite, or soda straw that has grown into a column. "It's a one of a kind," Langhover stated.

Wild Cave Tours start from this point. "You're just looking at the tip of the iceberg," Langhover added. "The cave goes about 800 feet before it tapers again." The two-hour, $50 wild cave tours cover the 800 feet. While that doesn't seem like a lengthy trip, Langhover said "it's the quality not the quantity. We were the first cave in the Ozarks to offer wild tours in 1993. Our wild tour has no crawling, just climbing." Reservations are required. In addition to wild cave tours, you can try your hand at gemstone panning.

Coats and jackets aren't needed in the cave. "We have the warmest cave in the Ozarks," Langhover said.

Cosmic Caverns' gift shop provides snacks for tourists as well as a small museum. This history room contains a piece of soda straw returned to the cavern by a visitor with a note that reads, "Please return to the Buddha Room. This was removed five years ago and like a Hawaii lava rock has brought terrible bad luck ever since. Thank you."

The room also contains maps of caves, a geologic map of Arkansas and karst areas of the state. Memorabilia reflecting the history of the cave, its name changes, ownership changes and discoveries, is also represented. There are pictures from the 1930s and a huge Old Mystery Cave sign from the '50s.

Like many of the privately-owned show caves in the state, the cavern has been bought and sold several times over the years and the tour has changed with owners and new discoveries. In the '50s, the owner was a potter and used clay from the cave. Colorful remnants from the potter years adorn the tops of the concrete stairwell posts. "He never told anybody his ingredients," for the post tops, said Langhover, who would like to repair one small section of a post.

In 2004, Langhover welcomed the cave's 500,000 visitor since the cave has been called Cosmic Caverns. In addition to tourists, the cave welcomes school group tours. "We teach the benchmark standards to Arkansas kids," Langhover said regarding the school programs offered.