The Great Stalacpipe Organ
In a Virginia cave, rubber mallets tap stalactites to play music, on what's often called the largest instrument in the world.
What was reported
In 1954 Leland Sprinkle, a mathematician and engineer, visited Luray Caverns and noticed that stalactites gave off musical tones when tapped. He spent three years searching the cave for formations with the right pitches, shaving some to tune them.
The finished Great Stalacpipe Organ uses rubber-tipped mallets, wired to a keyboard, to strike stalactites spread across about 1.4 hectares of the cave.
Explanations offered
Each stalactite is a column of hard calcite that rings at a particular pitch, like a tuning fork, depending on its size and shape. The organ plays automatically for visitors on cave tours.
- When
- Completed in 1956
- Where
- Luray Caverns, Virginia, USA
- Witnesses
- Cave visitors
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.