An expert has explained the horrific way that explorer and spelunker John Edward Jones became stuck in the infamous Nutty Putty Cave, more than 15 years ago.
The American cave explorer liked to push himself while doing his hobby, but took it a step too far when he went to the Utah desert on 24 November 2009.
Accompanied by his fellow spelunking brother, Jones took a wrong turn while inside the cave, getting stuck in an unmapped passageway called ‘the birth canal’.
The father was stuck upside for more than 24 hours in the cave, and despite authorities being called to help, Jones would suffer the ‘worst death imaginable‘.
After numerous attempts to free him, the decision was made to close the cave off and leave him inside.
Jones, 26, has been honoured with a plaque and wreath at the cave’s entrance, with the tragedy becoming so famous that a film was made about the incident.
‘The birth canal’, where he would eventually perish, was just 10 inches by 18 inches wide, located 400 ft from the cave’s entrance.
At six feet tall, Jones couldn’t be saved. Every method in the book was pulled out by rescue teams, but with every breath, the father’s chest would expand and wedge him further into the tight space.
Now, 15 years on, in November 2024, a news report for ABC4 Utah on the trainee doctor’s death was carried out, outlining exactly how Jones got stuck, and the efforts behind it.
Explaining that he got wedged in the small crevice, the news reporter added: “For over a day, search and rescue tried many methods to get John out, but they all failed.
“The fourth attempt to pull John out, the rope and pulley system used broke, dropping John back down into the cave, deeper than before.”
Speaking on the event’s 15-year anniversary, the reporter went on: “After laying upside down (for) more than 24 hours, the effect of gravity took a toll on John’s body. At midnight, Jones was declared dead.”
“Authorities determined it was too dangerous to recover Jones’s body and sealed the cave off as his final resting place. A plaque now sits at the entrance of the cave in John’s memory,” he concluded.
The report included archive footage of his brother Josh, who recalled what he saw: “The closest I could get basically was just seeing his two feet, kind of being eaten up by that little crevice, you know, I couldn’t see his body at all.”
Archive footage of Utah County Sheriff’s spokesperson, Sgt. Spencer Cannon, was also included in the report.
At the time of their rescue attempts, he spoke after the fourth attempt, which saw the rope and pulley system break.
“There’s an incredible sense of disappointment and discouragement about that having happened because they know that it was hard to get him to that point.
“Getting him back to that point again would be a real effort,” he stated in 2009.
