The Man Sealed Shut Inside A Cave For Eternity

In Salt Lake City, Utah, there sits a now infamous attraction that once seen up to 5,000 people visit it each year. Its name? The Nutty Putty Cave.

As silly a name as this sounds, when the cave was first discovered in 1960, it was found that the walls within, oozed a thick clay-like substance that was likened to that of 'silly putty'.

The cave itself was frequented by a range of characters. From boy scouts and college students, to small families seeking a thrill. Some even turned up to navigate the almost impossible crawl spaces in nothing more than sandals and neglecting to bring basic supplies.

With the cave such a hit amongst local residents and tourists who had travelled from wide and far to explore the daring passageways that the cave had to offer, it was inevitable that these amateur explorers would at times get themselves into trouble within its walls.

At the start of the millennium, a total of 6 people had found themselves stuck within the Nutty Putty's tight passageways, which were labelled with names such as "Scout eater", "Helmet eater" and "Birth canal".

Fortunately, these people were successfully rescued, but the local sheriff's office and rescue crews grew tired of having to conduct large rescue operations pulling clueless tourists from the cave. They also worried that one day, one of these accidents would be fatal.

This led to a decision in 2006, to close the cave off from the public. However, after an intervention from the Timpanogos Grotto - a society dedicated to conserving caves, it would reopen in May of 2009.

The Grotto created an online booking system that allowed one group inside the cave at any time. In this way, access was monitored and it provided a safer and more reassuring solution for all. The entrance to the cave was also padlocked at night to stop trespassers.

However, it would soon become clear that these newly enforced safety measures would not be enough to prevent the inevitable and in just 6 months time, one visitor would take a wrong turn inside the cave that would ensure he would never leave; dead or alive.

John Edward Jones was a medical student. At just 26 years old, he had a bright future ahead, a wife and a baby daughter.

In November of 2009, John and his small family had travelled to Utah to see extended family members. During this visit, John, his brother, Josh and 11 other close friends and family members made the decision to head out to the Nutty Putty Cave.

John was no amateur and it could be said that he was better equipped than most to navigate his way around the cave's dark and unforgiving passages. He had spent his childhood exploring caves with his brother and father - who happened to run the Utah Cave Rescue.

However, now standing at 6 ft and weighing 200lbs, he was no longer the slender teenage boy he had once been and even though he was still in good shape, he had not been inside a cave for many years.

The Nutty Putty cave was also more complex than any cave he had explored before. Despite this, he would enter the cave at around 8pm.

With children also present in the group, the decision was made to split up into two smaller groups. In this way, the children would not be exposed to the more dangerous areas of the cave and only those who possessed the knowledge and expertise would venture into the more challenging parts the cave had to offer.

All would be well for the first hour, but at some point, John had broken off from the rest of his group in search of one of the most famous sections known as "The Birth Canal". This was a much tighter pathway which must be navigated with precision.

When he came upon an entrance to what he had believed was the correct one, he began to crawl through. As he delved deeper and deeper, he had used all of his might to push himself into the almost impossible space, trusting that he was about to break through into a larger cavern; making use of his fingers, hips and stomach to do so. All the while, mentally telling himself that many others before him had conquered this passageway, so he could too.

What John tragically did not know was that he had mistakenly crawled into the wrong entrance. The tunnel in which he had sought named "Bob's push", was actually located in a different area of the cave. John was now in an area of the cave branded "Ed's push" - a dead end route.

Before realising his grave mistake, he made one final push. He exhaled the air from his chest, allowing him to wriggle furiously through an "L-shaped pinpoint", which had measured 10 inches wide and 18 inches high.

However, when John had breathed in again, his chest had expanded, wedging him inside the dark tunnel. Starting to panic, he knew that there was no option to turn around, but with the tight crevice engulfing him, moving any further was not an option either. He was trapped.

Meanwhile, John's brother, Josh, who had been searching for him, had now located John and noticing the dire position he was in, had frantically tried to pull him out by his legs. In a tragic turn of events, in trying to pull John out, he had only made John slide even further down the shaft.

As it could not be believed the horror could get any worse, John was now stuck upside down. One hand was trapped beneath his body and the other was wedged above his head.

With the gravity of the situation unfolding, Josh knew that he had to get help for his brother. Carefully, he navigated his way back to the cave's entrance to alert a rescue team but John was 400 ft inside the cave and 100 ft below the Earth's surface. Retrieving him was not going to be an easy task.

Susie Motola would be the first rescuer on scene, arriving at 12:30am on November 25th. John had at this point been trapped for 3 ½ hours. Despite his painful position, lack of breath and harrowing circumstances, it was noted that John was composed and polite. When Susie had introduced herself to him, he had responded:

"Hi Susie, thanks for coming but I really want to get out of here".

Over the next few hours, over 100 people would arrive on scene, working relentlessly to free John. The rescuers had to plan accordingly and weigh up their best options, limiting the danger of those trying to rescue John from the cave, but also mindful that they had to work fast as John was beginning to deteriorate.

The first thing rescuers did was to secure John, tying a rope around his legs and body to pull him out. As slow as this was, only being able to lift him 1 foot at a time, it was beginning to work.

John was pulled up just enough that a rescuer was able to make physical contact by holding his hand. They were also able to administer IV tubes into John and he was even able to speak with his wife over the radio.

This uplifting moment was soon shattered however, when one of the pulleys holding John in place suddenly snapped, putting an end to the operation. John fell back into his initial position.

With a tremendous amount of pressure pushing against John's internal organs, the mission became more intense. As the crew clambered to find new ways of freeing the helpless man, he was fast losing consciousness. In their most daring efforts yet, a rescuer was sent down to use power tools to chip away at the rock surrounding John. There was a heightened sense of emergency with limited time.

Sadly, after over 24 hours trapped upside down and struggling to garner a breath, the stress on John's body proved too much. A rescuer was able to get close enough to pronounce John dead at 11:56pm. Cardiac arrest and suffocation were listed as his cause of death.

What had initially begun as a rescue mission, was now a body recovery operation, but it became apparent that the efforts to retrieve John's now lifeless body, were just as extreme as trying to retrieve him alive. It would simply be too dangerous to even attempt.

The rescuers would later admit that the only solutions being offered up were too distasteful to carry out. The decision was ultimately made to leave John's body in place - it wasn't worth having more fatalities.

After this day, the entrance to Nutty Putty cave was promptly boarded up and declared a hazard to the public.

A Utah sheriff's deputy was placed to stand guard at the partially closed entrance before it was later sealed shut for good. A week after John's untimely death, concrete was poured into the main opening, sealing John inside its walls forever.

John left behind his wife, Emily and daughter, Lizzie. Emily, who had been expecting their second baby at the time, gave birth to a baby boy the following year, naming him after his dad.

Upon John's death, Emily and Lizzie returned to the student-housing apartment they had lived in at John's medical school in Virginia. As there was no longer a student living there, they had no choice but to move away. Emily has since remarried.

Today, a plaque in memory of John stands near the entrance to Nutty Putty Cave; an everlasting reminder of the loved family man who was taken too soon.