“Cavers” are explorers who travel through terrifying cave systems for no reason other than some sick twisted definition of fun. However, Stacy Washington doesn’t think caving is fun at all: The 22-year-old woman barely survived a near-death experience after she had a panic attack from watching a single caving video.
“It was terrifying,” Stacy shared. “I didn’t think I would make it, but I persevered. I thought, ‘If the man in this video can journey through a deep vast cave and survive, I can finish watching the video.’”
Stacy was watching a video of a man shimmying through a one-foot tall cave when she noticed she was drenched in sweat.
“I felt like I was there in that little cave with him,” Stacy explained. “When the caver pointed out all the spiders crawling above him, I just lost my shit.”
Due to their extreme nature, caving videos can induce feelings of nausea or “Oh, hell no.” Stacy claimed to have seen every major religious figure while watching a caver journey through a human-sized hole.
Stay strong, Stacy!
The 22-year-old started to rehabilitate herself post-caving video by using the tools that her therapist gave her, like meditation, breathing techniques, and watching videos of people hanging out in their safe, non-claustrophobia-inducing homes.
“I know that I don’t like things that are scary,” Stacy shared. “But I still watched that caving video. In my own way, I’m a warrior.”
This is what a strong woman looks like!
“I was just so curious about how people can crawl through such tight caves without freaking out,” she continued. “Curiosity killed the cat and it almost got me, too!”
After her near-death experience watching a caving video, Stacy says she’ll never watch caving content again, adding it to the list of things she refuses to engage with, which includes scary movies and clowns. However, she recently stumbled across freediving TikTok and is interested in exploring it a bit more.
