Aimee Walker
A terrifying simulation shows how an explorer suffered the ‘worst death imaginable.’
For years, thousands of people would flock to Nutty Putty Cave in Utah County, Utah, U.S.
It was a popular spot for Boy Scout troops, college students, and amateur and professional cavers, keen to explore its narrow passageways.
Such exploration came to a tragic end in 2009, following the untimely death of 26-year-old John Edward Jones.
Now the site is a grave, with a plaque dedicated to the father and medical student.
On November 24, 2009, Jones, who was in Utah for Thanksgiving, joined his brother and a group of others at Nutty Putty Cave.
According to reports, the group entered the cave at around 8 p.m. local time and went through the Big Slide.
Jones, his brother, and a few others then decided to search for the Birth Canal, which is known to be one of the site’s narrowest passages.
This is when things took a horrifying turn.
Although Jones had spelunked before, he now stood at six feet tall and around 200-Ibs – which meant he couldn’t get through the tight spaces he once could.
He had no choice but to press forward, exhaling his chest to fit through a space barely 10 inches across and 18 inches high.
Yet when Jones went to inhale he found himself officially stuck, with nowhere to turn and no way to wiggle himself back out.
Jones’ brother was the first to find him and after attempting to rescue him, he quickly realized the situation was troubling.
“Seeing his feet and seeing how swallowed he was by the rock, that’s when I knew it was serious,” his brother told the St. Lake Tribune. “It was really serious.”
Knowing that Jones was positioned upside down, rescuers quickly set about their mission to try and free him.
Susie Motola worked for two hours trying everything she could to save him, and at least make his situation more comfortable.
The rescuers built a pulley system, which wouldn’t be ready until Jones had been trapped in the cave for 19 hours.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work – the rope gave under the spelunker’s weight and force of rescuers.
Eventually, Jones stopped speaking.
The rescuers came to the devastating conclusion that it would be ‘impossible’ to rescue Jones in time.
Brandon Kowallis, the final rescuer to make it down to Jones, wrote in a blog post: “Even if we could get him into a horizontal position, he would then have to maneuver the most difficult sections of the passage he was trapped in.
“If he were conscious and had his full strength there was a minute chance he could possibly do it. But even if that was the case it looked grim. It was even difficult for me, weighing 125 pounds, to get myself out.
“At the bend where the restriction was I had to creatively contort my body to slip through. So to get a 210-pound, unconscious person out seemed pretty much impossible.”
After being trapped inside Nutty Putty Cave for 27 hours, Jones was pronounced dead.
Jones’ tragic death is remembered years later and as his story is passed on, so are simulations that show how truly terrifying his situation was.
After watching one such simulation, a viewer writes: “I got claustrophobia just watching it.”
“Dying upside down in a cave is so scary,” another adds. “I feel so bad for him.”
“That is actually terrifying,” comments somebody else.
A fourth person says: “This is traumatizing.”
@zackdfilms92The Nutty Putty Cave Incident 😨♬ original sound – Zack D. Films
Nutty Putty Cave was closed following the tragic death of John Edward Jones, with the site being made the final resting place of the young father.
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