

"The National Park Service WANTS to sell cave property to private owners," he tells us. His love of geology brought him here in 1999. And he used to work for the Federal Emergency Management Agency as a disaster "expert" - he hates that label - which makes him a good guy to be with if something bad happens in a cave. He has a killer tan for someone who runs an underground attraction. He lives at the cave, which might explain why its entrance building and gift shop are so immaculate. (With the exception of the guys at Secret Caverns, of course.)īut Steve Silverberg is not your typical cave owner. These are notably open-minded gestures, considering that cave people are generally conservative about their attractions. And he's thumbtacked a yellowed clipping of the original Bat Boy article to a bulletin board in the gift shop. He sent the off-Broadway production of "Bat Boy: The Musical" the helmets, caribiners, and equipment that were used in its opening number. What the owners of Lost World Caverns thought of that honor is lost to time, but its current owner, Steve Silverberg, embraces the notoriety. Bat Boy's shrieking face burned itself into the brains of a generation of rabid tabloid readers. In 1992, The Weekly World News claimed that Lost World Caverns was the home of "Bat Boy" - a large-eyed, fanged human child raised in complete darkness by bats. "The War Club" stalagmite, where spelunker Bob Addis perched for two weeks.
