Why Utah’s Nutty Putty Cave Is Sealed Up With One Spelunker Inside
His brother saw his feet sticking out of the narrow passage where he was trapped, but there was nothing they could do to save him.
John Edward Jones loved spelunking with this family. His father frequently took him and his brother, Josh, on caving expeditions in Utah when they were kids. The boys learned to love the underground depths and their dark beauty. Unfortunately, John’s first expedition into Nutty Putty Cave, southwest of Utah Lake and about 55 miles from Salt Lake City, was his last.
See the photos and learn the horrifying true story of why Utah’s Nutty Putty cave is sealed up with one spelunker still inside —
John Edward Jones entered Nutty Putty Cave at around 8 p.m. local time on the evening of Nov. 24, 2009, a few days before Thanksgiving. John, 26 at the time, and Josh, 23, along with nine other friends and family members, decided to explore Nutty Putty Cave as a way to connect with each other ahead of the holiday.
At age 26, John was in the prime of his life. He was married, had a one-year-old daughter, and was attending medical school in Virginia. He had come back home to Utah to spend some relaxing holiday time with his family.
Things did not go according to plan.
It had been years since John was in any cave. And at six feet tall and 200 pounds, he wasn’t the little kid he used to be.
About an hour into the caving expedition, John decided to find the Nutty Putty Cave formation known as the Birth Canal, a tight passage that spelunkers must crawl through carefully if they dare. He found what he thought was the Birth Canal and inched his way into the narrow passage head first, moving forward using his hips, stomach, and fingers. But within minutes, he realized he’d made a grave mistake.
John knew he was now just about stuck and had no room to turn around. He didn’t even have room to wriggle back out the way he’d come. He had to try to press forward.
He tried to exhale the air in his chest so that he could fit through a space that was barely 10 inches across and 18 inches high, about the size of the opening of a clothes dryer.
But when John inhaled again and his chest puffed back out, he got stuck for good.
John Edward Jones’s brother was the first to find him. Josh tried to pull at his brother’s calves to no avail. But then John slid down into the passage even further, becoming trapped worse than before. His arms were now pinned beneath his chest and he couldn’t move at all.
All John and Josh, both devout Mormons, could do at this point was pray. “Guide us as we work through this,” Josh prayed. “Save me for my wife and kids,” John said.
Eventually, Josh scrambled toward the exit of the cave to get help. But even once help came, John was still trapped 400 feet into the cave and 100 feet below the Earth’s surface. Getting people, equipment, and supplies down that far took an hour.
The first rescuer to reach John was a woman named Susie Motola, who arrived at about 12:30 AM on November 25. At that point, John had been trapped for three and a half hours. Motola introduced herself to John, even though all she could see of him was a pair of navy and black running shoes.
“Hi Susie, thanks for coming,” John said, “but I really, really want to get out.”
Over the next 24 hours, more than 100 rescue personnel worked feverishly to free John Edward Jones from the depths of Nutty Putty Cave. The best plan they had was to use a system of pulleys and ropes to try to free John from his perilously tight spot.
Shaun Roundy, one of the rescuers on the scene, explained the difficulties facing anyone, even experienced spelunkers, who went into Nutty Putty Cave. Most of the passages were dangerously narrow, even at the entrance, where warning signs had been placed.
Undiluted Relationship and information bring you undiluted serial killer story, serial killers facts, murder, true crime, true crimecommunity, horror, truecrime addict, crime , tedbundy , homicide ,halloween, killer, rodneyalcala, murder on my mind, ,history ,netflixandchill ,deadlymen ,crimewatchdaily ,murderisthenewblack ,historic ,fearthyneighbor ,netflixandcrime ,crime memes ,dark ,murderer ,horrormovies ,insane ,history and many. Feel free to share and comment. Bringing you the best. Undiluted Relationship and Information
Comments
Post a Comment