Holiday lights at the Louisville Mega Cavern run from November 13th through January 3rd. The Mega Cavern offers year round event space and activities including an aerial rope course, zip lines, a tram tour, walking tour and bike tours.
The Mega Cavern is 4 million square feet and reaches depths of 90 ft. It’s a man made limestone mine that operated from the 1930’s to the 1970’s.
After the mine was out of limestone, it sat dormant for 20 years and eventually sold to private owners who turned it into a business center, a recycling center and a recreational center.
They have an “eco friendly” bike track that was created with recycled materials they used to fill parts of the mine. They offer bicycle rentals and have different types of track. It’s a very unique, multi purpose space that includes massive amounts of storage for large items such as boats and event space that can hold large parties of 800 people.
I read that Zac Bagans from Ghost Adventures said the Mega Cavern was haunted but I couldn’t find any information or an episode of the Mega Cavern having any haunted history. I subscribed to Hulu just so I could find the haunted cavern episode but I didn’t. If you have any information on haunted Mega Cavern history I’d love to hear about it! They do have multiple zip lines and one will take you to hell. During Halloween season they turn the Cavern into a “zombie” theme.
This was my co-worker Alana’s first trip with me. We didn’t know what to expect, other than holiday lights. The Mega Cavern is nestled in a suburban neighborhood. It’s near a grocery store, church, fast food and underneath the Louisville Zoo. The exterior is roads leading into 4 caves, the sides of the caves have moss growing and water leaking down the sides. You enter through a door that doesn’t look like it’s for the public down a long warehouse corridor. I’m sure Alana felt like “WTF did I sign up for?” We had to fill out release waivers and we waited for our guided walking tour. It seems that driving is the most popular option and we were the only two people on the walking tour, which turned out to be the better option. We had a guide all to ourselves and we set our own pace.
The guide shared with us that they keep the massive lighted tunnels up year round since they require so much time and effort to install.
It’s approximately a 2 mile walk, which ended being about an hour for us. It’s the largest underground light display in the world.
I’m surprised we didn’t see anything relating to aliens and I didn’t come across any conspiracy theories online since it was, or is used as an underground high security area for military and government agencies. Government officials deemed it a nuclear fallout shelter in the 1960s, capable of holding 50,000 people.
Another interesting fact is the cavern is always 58F inside. The moist air that is released from the cavern will turn into snow if the outside temperature is below freezing.
The tour was better than we both expected. We took an Uber to the Highlands for lunch and some record shopping.
Cheers to a new friend and another long day.
Long Days 