The tragic death of John Jones and the most horrifying caving accident ever

15 years ago, a 26-year-old caver went exploring in a cave and never made it out again after becoming stuck upside down in a narrow crevice.

John Edward Jones suffered a horrifying death after becoming trapped while exploring Utah’s famous Nutty Putty cave.

It would go on to become a cautionary tale for cavers on the dangers of spelunking (the exploration of caves) as his body still remains entombed inside the cave to this day, with rescuers unable to retrieve it.

The Nutty Putty cave in Utah was first discovered in 1960 and became well-known among explorers for its narrow passages the would wind into a series of larger caverns.

Different sections of the cave had different names and difficulties, but it became a favourite ‘beginner’ cave with Richard Downey, treasurer and historian of the Timpanogos Grotto, telling How Stuff Works that, “You had to work hard to get in trouble”.

Though six rescues took place between 1999 and 2004, all who were stuck were able to be safely freed.

Concerned by the potential for a fatality, in 2006 the Timpanogos Grotto shut the cave to the public for three years. When it reopened, safety features included padlocking the entrance at night and setting up an online reservation system for cavers.

In 2009, Jones explored the cave as part of a group of nine, which splintered off into two groups, with Jones and his brother Josh forming one of them.

Jones suggested they explore a part of the cave named “The Birth Canal” – a known difficult and narrow part of the cave that involved squeezing down long passageways.

Utah County Sheriff’s Office

They wrongly believed a very tight opening to be the entrance. Jones crawled into the tiny hole first and wriggled deeper, believing it would lead to a large cavern. However, they had actually unknowingly entered an unmapped part of the cave.

Believing it would open up, Jones kept pushing himself further into the tunnel. At a fissure, he sucked his chest in to fit over a lip of rock and into a 10-inch-wide side of the crevice, but found himself stuck when his chest expanded out again.

Attempts to get free resulted in him falling further down and he was trapped upside-down with his arms close to his chest in a crevice that was no wider than the opening of a washing machine.

“Seeing his feet and seeing how swallowed he was by the rock, that’s when I knew it was serious,” Josh told the Salt Lake Tribune. “It was really serious.”

He attracted help but rescuers were unable to tug him out with rope tied to his feet due to the angle and narrowness of the cave. Rescuers tried everything from lubricating the walls, the drilling the area.

As the rescue efforts continued, being held upside-down took a toll on Jones’ body, as he was having difficulty breathing and his heart was having to work harder to move blood around his body to counteract gravity that was sending it to his brain.

Further efforts to pull him out appeared to be working, but one of the pulleys collapsed under the strain and Jones went falling even deeper into the cave. Jones had become unresponsive when rescue teams attempted to try again.

After more than 25 hours trapped, a doctor certified that he had died of cardiac arrest and suffocation.

Ever since, the cave has been completely sealed off.

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