A trio of explorers made their way to the Utah cave where spelunker John Edward Jones infamously became stuck and died, and they were surprised to find some heartwarming details.
Jones was an adrenaline junkie who enjoyed cave exploration in his spare time, but when choosing to explore the Nutty Putty cave in the Utah desert in November 2009, he took a wrong turn and got stuck in an unmapped passageway.
The 26-year-old was then left upside down for over 24 hours, in a tourist attraction that had been explored by boy scout troops and college students in the past.
Jones would then go on to suffer the ‘worst death imaginable’, with the experienced caver essentially getting into his own grave.
The six-foot tall explorer was stuck upside down, 400 ft from the cave’s entrance, in an area called ‘the birth canal’, which was just 10 inches by 18 inches wide.
Authorities attempted a rescue mission, trying almost everything to get him out but sadly, it just wasn’t possible. Every time the 26-year-old took a breath, his chest expanded, further wedging him inside the tight space with no chance of escape.
His brother Josh, who entered the cave with him, had no choice but make his way back to the top to get help.
Despite the rescue attempts, the trainee doctor eventually stopped breathing and became unresponsive, with his body remaining in the cave over a decade on.
And now, YouTuber Brandon Kowallis has travelled to Nutty Putty Cave, showing his viewers what it looks like following the 2009 tragedy, with it now being sealed off from the public.
Revealing that he was at the ‘Nutty Putty cave entrance’, the content creator said that he assumed that he was on the cement that was used to seal the cave off.
Panning his camera across the entrance, a plaque in honour of the late medical student can be seen, almost acting as a tombstone as his body lay below.
A wreath can also be seen laying by the entrance, while another plaque reveals a message from his family, asking for visitors to ‘enjoy and respect this sacred space’.
Describing his experience in the video description, Kowallis said: “There’s not much to it. It’s a cement-plugged entrance and that’s about it.
“It was nice to read through the memorial plaques though and remember John and his family. This was the first time I’d been up there since the rescue.”
A film based on Jones’ story was made in 2016, titled The Last Descent, starring Chadwick Hopson Jones as John, alongside Jacob Omer as Josh.
