Want to live in a cave?

February 17, 2009 12:53 PM

Want to live in a cave? Here's your chance.
posted by slogger (43 comments total)

Maybe if it was in Festivus, Missouri...
posted by clearly at 1:12 PM on February 17

If they designed and built their cave house with as much skill and expertise as they designed and built their cave house web site, you wouldn't be able to find anything you needed, the water would take 20 minutes to load every time you turned on a faucet, and the door frames would have nested doorframes inside them that are too small to actually walk through.
posted by dersins at 1:12 PM on February 17 [11 favorites]

That said, WANT.
posted by dersins at 1:13 PM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Is this case a candidate for Mefi rescue? I'd be quite willing to make a little effort to help keep these guys' dream alive.
posted by bluefrog at 1:14 PM on February 17

is it good for my brain?
posted by sidr at 1:14 PM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Tora Bora is a fuck load cheaper.
posted by gman at 1:17 PM on February 17

If they designed and built their cave house with as much skill and expertise as they designed and built their cave house web site...

...the welcome mat would say WELCOM.
posted by steef at 1:21 PM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Fucking Hobbitses, always taking out loans they can't afford to finance their caves. They're what's ruining this country.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 1:29 PM on February 17 [6 favorites]

Want to live in a cave?

Before this moment, no. Now? Yeah, a kind of do.
posted by Astro Zombie at 1:34 PM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Jesus, I'm pretty tolerant of poor web design, but this is impossible. It took me nearly a full minute to view one image and when the "loading" bar popped up as I tried to view the next I just shut off the page. Is there another collection of images of this project that doesn't use Flash?
posted by Kraftmatic Adjustable Cheese at 1:35 PM on February 17

If they designed and built their cave house with as much skill and expertise as they designed and built their cave house web site...

...the welcome mat would say WELCOM Trespassers W
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:35 PM on February 17 [1 favorite]

I was hoping it was going to be some kind of a gameshow-style competition like that one from Japan where the dude has to win mail-in and radio contests in order to have any possessions(including food and clothes!), aside from this tiny room he lives in. If they ever bring it to the US, I know I'm signing up to at least try to be on it.
posted by christhelongtimelurker at 1:37 PM on February 17

Is it Flash Friday already?
posted by AmberV at 1:43 PM on February 17

Yeah, if they had a flickr photoset, they'd probably already have solved this by now. So often, presentation is everything. The blurry cave dog shot could have been incredible.


I'll just save someone the time:
Metafilter: The blurry cave dog shot could have been incredible.
posted by cashman at 1:45 PM on February 17

Oh, I should've highlighted this from the eBay description in a [more inside]...

The back chamber still has the stage where Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, Ike and Tina Turner, the MC5 and many other bands performed.

posted by slogger at 1:45 PM on February 17

Short answer? Yes.
posted by six-or-six-thirty at 1:52 PM on February 17

Is it just me or does it seem from the eBay listing that they were actually trying to flip a cave? Please tell me I'm being cynical.
posted by butterstick at 1:53 PM on February 17

Of course I want to live in a cave.

I'm Batman!
posted by quin at 1:56 PM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Bob Seger has often cited doing a show in a cave that made him want to quit rock and roll altogether, only to be chastised and inspired to buck up and keep rocking by another artist on the bill, Ted Nugent. Apparently this cave was the venue in question. But the history portion of the website is truncated in mid sentence and doesn't get to the rock and roll part...grrr...going to have to google or wiki for the details...
posted by bonefish at 2:09 PM on February 17

Does no one remember the titan missile silo, as depicted here? Yes, caves are awesome, but fraught with danger.
posted by filthy light thief at 2:14 PM on February 17

Of course, once you get the photo viewer loaded and running, it's great.

"Ooh, shots of building in a cave! Neat! ::click:: Cool, look at the old construction they're working around. ::click:: Wow, that view from the windows in the front is pretty excellent! ::click:: Sweet, that's definitely a clear and close up view of the dude with a nailgun nail shot straight through his thumb! ::click:: Nice, the kitchen is pretty kickass too."
posted by FatherDagon at 2:19 PM on February 17 [1 favorite]

Holy crapola! That's my old boss's cave house! I've been there and it's f**king remarkable. The construction inside is actually really well done. In the back there's also a hole to the side of one of the chambers with a spring running under it. If I had the money I'd grab it. Even though it's about a 20-30 min. drive to St. Louis the place is worth it!
posted by noriyori at 2:20 PM on February 17

I laughed to read that the school called protective services when the new kids told them they were living in a tent until their family's cave was ready move into, and Curt and Deborah were a little indignant at that.
posted by longsleeves at 2:24 PM on February 17

In this article, the cave owner recites the tale I just did above, but with the rock stars inverted (and completely out of character) in their roles!

The Nuge's advice to Seger: "No crybabies in rock 'n' roll!"
posted by bonefish at 2:28 PM on February 17

Is it just me or does it seem from the eBay listing that they were actually trying to flip a cave? Please tell me I'm being cynical.

Your being cynical. They're going to go tits up on their loan if they don't sell it.
posted by P.o.B. at 2:31 PM on February 17

After clicking frenetically on almost every single picture I still don't have clear idea of what the finished layout looks like, but I could identify their kids from the other side of a crowded Chuck-e-Cheeze in an instant.

Also, why would they wall off all that space in the back and not put some sort of garage opening on the front, so they don't have to scrape 1/2" of ice off their Wrangler every winter morning? You could fit a couple dozen rare Bugattis back there.
posted by CynicalKnight at 2:31 PM on February 17 [1 favorite]

26 comments and no "troll" jokes?
posted by The Whelk at 2:47 PM on February 17

Trolls live under bridges, and we had the batman joke.
posted by longsleeves at 2:54 PM on February 17

At least we had one at 27.
posted by gman at 3:10 PM on February 17

Are there goats?
posted by foodbedgospel at 3:15 PM on February 17

Awesome, can I get a mortgage on that?
posted by pr0digal at 3:19 PM on February 17

If someone wants to buy this, I would live in it for you.
posted by jessamyn at 3:20 PM on February 17

I'd love to live in a cave. Let me know when you have one for sale that Ted Nugent hasn't set foot in. Thanks!
posted by Flunkie at 3:20 PM on February 17

In the caverns deep in the mountain in Anshun of southwest China's Guizhou Province, live nearly a hundred villagers. People of the Tajing village, all from the Miao minorrity group, have lived there for centuries.

Central cave, the largest cave in the area, is 230 metres long, 115 metres wide and 50 metres high. The cave-dwellers drink the water that drips from the stone, and make a living by growing grain on the hillside near the cave. They have developed into a whole tribal community with houses made of bamboo, barns, and even a primary school in the cavern.

Check the other pages for several pictures, such as of their cave-basketball court.

Also, some video of people living in smaller (more individual) caves, along with a remarkable statistic:

In China's vast interior, an estimated 40 million people still live in caves

posted by Flunkie at 3:43 PM on February 17

In any event, a cave house is no underground city.
posted by dersins at 3:47 PM on February 17

Why not live in a cave?
posted by The Whelk at 3:48 PM on February 17

damn your eyes dersins! damn them!
posted by The Whelk at 3:52 PM on February 17

Well at least I'd have an excuse when I haven't heard about the cool thing everybody is talking about.

"Why yes, as a matter of fact I have been living in a cave."
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:39 PM on February 17 [3 favorites]

I saw something on TV about the cave dwellings in Coober Pedy Australia, and it did make living in caves seem somewhat cool. I'll stick to non-cave housing though, better resale value.
posted by burnmp3s at 4:43 PM on February 17

Comic Sans is the font of choice for cave-dwellers.
posted by redteam at 5:50 PM on February 17

Caves, pfft.... I hear some guy on the Internet dug a hole.
posted by The Giant Squid at 6:57 PM on February 17 [1 favorite]

I don't know...it looks interesting, but if I lived there, would I have to join the Clan? Or, worse, the Zelandonii?
posted by epj at 8:51 PM on February 17

Curt Sleeper said the experience of playing a concert inside a Festus cave was so surreal, in fact, that after Deborah contacted a member of the MC5 for a quote for a possible book about Caveland, he admitted he thought the entire experience was just a 70s-era hallucination.

"He jumped out of his chair and said 'that was real?'" Curt Sleeper said, laughing.

And I thought I wanted the cave house BEFORE I read that story.
posted by flaterik at 11:39 PM on February 17