The real history behind 'Floyd Collins' on Broadway

Discover the real people and events that inspired this bluegrass musical about a trapped cave explorer, now making its Broadway premiere after nearly 30 years.

Raise your hand if you’ve gone into a cave on a school field trip or recreational tour. You can thank cave explorers like Floyd Collins for the opportunity to safely explore the underground world of stalactites, stalagmites, and weaving rock formations.

In the 1920s, the cave tourism industry was booming, and everyone wanted a piece of the action. Collins, a native Kentuckian and struggling farmer, sought out to set his family up for success by attempting to discover his own cavern that would rake in the big bucks. Unfortunately, he was trapped underground, bringing in more press than anyone could have imagined.

His story caught the eye of playwright/director Tina Landau, who read about it in Reader’s Digest. While students at Yale University, she and composer/lyricist Adam Guettel teamed up to develop the musical Floyd Collins, now on Broadway with Lincoln Center Theater after premiering off Broadway in 1996.

“Floyd Collins is the story of someone who goes in search of something that they believe in and that they think will allow them and their loved ones to lead a better life," Landau said. "He's faced with his own mortality, but ultimately he finds a peace and glory that is not what he expected.”

Below, learn more about the real people and events featured in Floyd Collins on Broadway.

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The great Kentucky Cave Wars

Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is the largest known cave system in the world, with over 400 miles explored. Local Indigenous peoples used this system as early as 5,000 BCE, but European settler interest began in the late 18th century, and the first organized tour of the cave took place in 1812. Over the years, commercialization of the cave increased as the American railroad and highway systems grew, sending more tourists into the area.

Local landowners then began exploring caves on their own land, hoping to wrangle tourists, and a fortune, for themselves. Many of these entrepreneurs were farmers hoping to build an easier life than one spent toiling the rocky, low-yield Kentucky soil. Floyd Collins was one of them.

He discovered a cave on his family farm that he dubbed the Great Crystal Cave, commercialized it with his father's help, and opened it to tourists a year later. But the success of private caves depended largely on their proximity to the Mammoth Cave Railroad Line, and the Collins’ farm was in a remote location, so visitors were few.

Not taking failure as an option, Collins set out to find a new cave more accessible to tourists. This venture led him to discover Sand Cave, in which he became trapped and ultimately died.

Today, his family's land, Sand Cave, the Great Crystal Cave, and Mammoth Cave are all preserved as part of Mammoth Cave National Park, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981.

Media in the time of Floyd Collins

When a local newspaper, the Courier Journal, caught wind of Floyd's peril, they sent a young, unknown journalist named William Burke "Skeets" Miller to cover the story. As depicted in the musical, Miller went so far as to enter the cave and speak to Collins directly, becoming a character in his own reporting as he delivered Collins food and took part in rescue attempts. His daily dispatches were picked up nationally in print and on radio, a newly established journalistic medium.

Collins was trapped for two weeks, and public interest continually grew. Thousands of gawkers and dozens of reporters traveled to watch the rescue attempts. At one point, an English reporter made the first transatlantic call to come out of Cave City, Kentucky.

“This is considered one of, if not the first great American media circus,” said Landau. “It was the birth of radio at the time, and the way the story was told and retold and built and expanded upon, in both the print press and on the radio, was very similar to how stories get built and expanded today.”

Conspiracy theories also began to circulate. The most popular was that Collins orchestrated the event to draw visitors; some claimed he exited the cave every night and reentered it every morning. It was also rumored that Collins was murdered inside the cave, that food and water were purposefully being withheld from him to accelerate his death, and that the rescue attempts were being deliberately delayed to milk the media spotlight.

Historical figures in Floyd Collins

Most of the main characters in the Floyd Collins musical are based on real people. Explore more about them below.

William Floyd Collins (1887-1952)

Floyd Collins was a farmer and cave explorer who attempted to discover a cave he could turn into a tourist attraction. One of many spelunkers seeking to capitalize on the popularity of local cave systems, he got pinned by a rock on his way out of Sand Cave.

Rescue attempts were futile, but they drew media attention that had wide-ranging impacts on the Collins family and local community. A rescue team dug for 11 days to reach him but found him dead upon breaking through to the crevice in which he was trapped. Collins's story is an early example of a media circus and encapsulates the dangers of the Kentucky Cave Wars.

Jeremy Jordan plays Floyd Collins on Broadway, earning a 2025 Tony Award nomination for his performance.

Homer Collins (1902-1969)

Homer Collins was Floyd’s younger brother, who made several unsuccessful rescue attempts. When the National Guard took over the operation, Homer clashed with rescue leaders Brigadier General Henry Denhart and engineer Henry Carmichael. He would eventually be banned due to rising tensions. In the years following Floyd’s death, Homer said he believed he would have rescued Floyd on his own if the government had not stepped in.

After Floyd’s death, attempting to recover the body was deemed too difficult and dangerous, so Sand Cave was sealed. Homer strongly opposed leaving Floyd’s body trapped but lacked the funds to commission its recovery. He was approached by an agent who suggested he go on a speaking tour to tell Floyd’s story. Homer initially rejected the proposal, but he realized it could raise the money.

After several weeks of speaking engagements, he commissioned the excavation of Floyd’s body and gave him a proper burial on the Collins family farm. Homer also co-authored a book about Floyd’s life and legacy, The Life and Death of Floyd Collins, with John L. Lehrberger.

Jason Gotay plays Homer Collins in the musical.

Nellie Collins Leach (1900-1970)

Nellie Collins was Floyd and Homer’s sister. Not much is known about her, but reports say she was institutionalized shortly after Floyd’s death. In the musical, Nellie has just returned from an institution. She is portrayed as having a deep, spiritual connection to both Floyd and the land.

Lizzy McAlpine plays Nellie Collins on Broadway.

William Burke "Skeets" Miller (1904-1983)

Skeets Miller was a journalist for the Courier Journal of Louisville, Kentucky, who covered the story of Floyd Collins’s entrapment in Sand Cave. After Homer Collins brushed him off, telling him to go down into the cave himself if he wanted more information, the intrepid 20-year-old realized he was small enough to squeeze into the crevice where Collins was. (He had earned the nickname “Skeets” in reference to him being the size of a mosquito.)

In reaching Collins, Miller was able to interview him directly. Miller made seven trips down to Collins over the course of three days, reporting on cave conditions and Collins’s attitude as the days wore on. He delivered sustenance to Collins and aided in several rescue attempts.

Miller's reporting was picked up nationally and distributed via telegraph, print, and radio. Dozens of reporters eventually attempted to cover the story, but only Miller would enter the cave. Miller won a Pulitzer Prize in 1926 for his reporting on Floyd Collins and had a long career in radio and broadcast journalism with NBC.

Taylor Trensch, a 2025 Tony Award nominee, plays Skeets Miller on Broadway.

Henry St. George Tucker Carmichael (1881-1949)

The character of H.T. Carmichael is an amalgam of two historical figures: Brigadier General Henry Denhart and engineer Henry Carmichael, who were together appointed by Kentucky governor William J. Fields to oversee Floyd's rescue.

The real Henry Carmichael was the superintendent of the Kentucky Rock Asphalt Company, who immediately called for the drilling of a shaft directly down to where Floyd was trapped. Homer and other locals opposed, fearing the use of drills, dynamite, or other heavy machinery would cause a cave collapse.

After manual attempts to free Floyd from within the existing cave system, Carmichael ordered the digging of the shaft, compromising by only allowing the use of shovels. His team dug for 11 days, eventually reaching Floyd but finding him already dead of exposure.

Sean Allan Krill plays H.T. Carmichael in Floyd Collins.

Other historical characters in Floyd Collins

• Lee Collins (Marc Kudisch) was Floyd's father. Lee Collins’s first wife, and the mother of the Collins children, died of tuberculosis in 1915, after which Lee Collins remarried. After Floyd’s death, Lee Collins renamed the family’s cave “Floyd Collins' Crystal Cave.”
• Serilda Jane "Miss Jane" Tappscott (Jessica Molaskey) was Floyd's stepmother. She died in 1926, just one year after Floyd. Her final request was to be buried next to him.
• Arthur Beesley “Bee” Doyle (Wade McCollum) was a landowner who had an agreement with Floyd that allowed him to explore the caves present there. Floyd discovered, and became trapped in, Sand Cave on his land.
• Jewell Estes (Cole Vaughan) was a local teenager and one of the only people small enough to fit into the shaft where Floyd was trapped. He was the first one to make contact with him underground.
• Cliff Roney represents an agent who suggested Homer engage in a speaking tour to tell Floyd’s story. After serious hesitation, Homer reluctantly accepted the opportunity to raise money to exhume Floyd’s body and give him a proper burial. In the show, the character is an out-of-town filmmaker who tempts Homer with the opportunity to become a star. He is portrayed as a distraction to Homer and a symptom of the media circus surrounding Floyd’s entrapment.

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Photo credit: Floyd Collins on Broadway. (Photos by Joan Marcus)