Discovery and History
Cosmic Cavern was discovered in 1845 by a prospector named John Moore, who was searching for lead. The areas near the entrance to the cave were, upon its discovery, mined for much of its onyx. Soot from their torches can still be seen. Since these early visitors of the cave were afraid of bats, they originally dropped burning tires into the cave to smoke them out. After 70 years, the population is just now beginning to return.
The cave changed hands more than 14 times until its present owners, the Randy Langhover family, bought it in 1980.
Reportedly, the gangsters Bonnie and Clyde were in the neighborhood in the early 1930s. They used the road west of the cave as an escape from Missouri lawmen. They cruised by with a storekeeper they had kidnapped in Missouri in 1933, on their way to releasing him in the Berryville square.
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