Jump Scares At Kent’s Cavern

There are some places you go to on holiday because they’re pretty. And then there are places you go to because they’re… there. Kents Cavern was definitely the second kind. It was one of the things I wasn't exactly desperate to do on our first trip to Torquay, but I went because our Dad thought it would be good. I needed some convincing.

A cave? That was the entire concept? No rides? No beach? No ice cream?

Just…a cave. 

It wasn't just me. My Mum and sister weren't entirely sold on the idea either. Caves are, by definition dark, damp, cold and slightly ominous. And Kent's Cavern delivers on all of that. You walk in, the temperature drops instantly and the air changes. Everything becomes quieter, heavier and the light is artificial and carefully placed. Everywhere you look, there are stalactites hanging down like stone icicles, stalagmites pushing up like they're trying to escape from the surface.

Kent’s Cavern is one of the most important prehistoric sites in Britain. Evidence of human life there dates back hundreds of thousands of years. Neanderthals and early humans lived there. People were sheltering there long before anyone ever ventured to Devon for a holiday. 

Anyway... Caves don’t smell like I expect. I'd entered Kent's Cavern predicting something musty, unpleasant, overwhelming and putrid. It wasn't like that though. It was clean and neutral. Which somehow made it even stranger? 

My enduring memory is at one point during the tour, they turn the lights off. When I say it's dark, I mean it's not just a bit dim. It's not like you can see shapes if you squint. There's literally nothing but absolute blackness. It doesn't matter if your eyes are opened or closed. This darkness feels like it's pressing in on you. 

And then the lights came back on, and there was a man, about six foot five, build like an absolute unit. Completely terrified, white as a ghost, clutching his wife's hand like his life depended on it. He looked like he was going to have a nervous breakdown.

Since I was just mildly unsettled, seeing this giant of a grown man react like this triggered the thought that maybe adults didn't have it together in the way kids think they do. Maybe being big, strong and grown up didn't guarantee you could handle whatever life threw at you.

It was the first time I remember thinking along those lines.

Maybe that's why Kent's Cavern is a core memory for me. Not because it was fun or beautiful or anything worth talking about. but because, for a few seconds, it stripped everything back to something very simple and very real. As kids, we like to think adults are in control and they've got everything figured out. All it takes is one visit to a random cave somewhere in England and you realise that's not always the case.