Winter Vacation- Moaning Cavern of Calaveras County

Mewok or Mewan lore speaks of a rock giant Che-ha-lum'-che (or Yayani) that hunts for and eats human flesh.

Some say that this rock giant lives in caves of which one is now known as Moaning Cavern. According to the guide, little children were told to keep away from such a cave for if they got too close the monster that resided within would take them into the cave where he would eat them.

Digging into some Mewak lore...
Here is an excerpt from a book The Dawn of the World by C. Hart Merriam [1910]

THE ROCK GIANTS

CHE-HA-LUM'-CHE THE ROCK GIANT OF CALAVERAS COUNTY

The Northern Mewuk say:

Che-ha-lum'-che the Rock Giant carries on his back a big burden basket (che'-ka-la) which, like himself, is of rock. He lives in caves, of which there are two near Mountain Ranch or El Dorado in Calaveras County, one at Murphys, and one on Stanislaus River.

Che-ha-lum'-che comes out only at night and wanders about seeking Mewuk [people] to eat. He prefers women; of these he catches and carries off all he can find. Sometimes he makes a crying noise, hoo-oo'-oo like a baby, to lure them. If they come he seizes them and tosses them into his big pack basket and carries them to his cave, where he eats them. In the basket is a long spike which pierces their bodies when they are thrown in, so they can not escape.

In his caves are the remains of his victims--horns of deer and bones of people and different kinds of animals.

Indians never throw their dead into caves. If they did, Che-ha-lum'-che would get them. Anyman who would put a dead person in a cave would be killed by the other Indians. p. 232

This is what Moaning Cavern looked like before any structure was put in place


Today now stands a gift shop atop the entrance to the cavern. It looks nothing like this today.


The cavern's main chamber is large enough to hold the statute of liberty inside. A 100-foot steel spiral staircase, erected in 1922 to aid in the tourism of the cave. Today visitors to Moaning Cavern can climb down and then up 235 stairs, 144 of which are on the spiral staircase. (For more facts see www.caverntours.com/media_mcFACTS.html)

Its pretty amazing that only 2 steel wires anchored atop & at the bottom is what is holding the structure and its occupants from certain catastrophe. In this picture you can see a small section of the staircase.



Some rock formation. BTW this is still a living cave.


This rock is actually a giant free standing structure not connected to the rest of the carvern's wall.


This one is called the igloo


Raul and Eric took the tour into the cave so they got picture duty, so I wasn't able to take pictures of the surrounding outside. Meanwhile Ryan, Cara and I watched other children pan for gold (the water and weather was too cold for me to try and do this activity with two kids by my self). The 3 of us also got to watch a few people do the zip line ride. After Raul and Eric where done with the tour we had a picnic lunch in a nice clearing next to the cavern, accompanied by a very friendly horse.