Scholars have confirmed that after many years of searching, the signature of Samuel Clemens, who used the pen name Mark Twain to write his iconic works including the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, has been located in Mark Twain Cave in Hannibal.
The discovery was made during a Clemens Conference in July, and happened by chance.
During a tour by Twain scholars, Mark Twain Cave owner Linda Colberd and Museum Executive Director Cindy Lovell were scanning the walls with a flashlight in an unlit portion of the cave.
After the signature was found, experts on Clemens were called in to authenticate the discovery.
The walls of the cave contain around 250 thousand signatures on the 6 miles of walls in the cave.