June 4, 2025 • 37 mins
In this powerful and heartbreaking premiere of WTF: What They Faced, Gina and Amber delve into the real-life story of John Edward Jones, a 26-year-old medical student and father who became trapped in Utah’s infamous Nutty Putty Cave in 2009.
What began as a family caving adventure turned into a 27-hour rescue mission that captivated the nation and ended in unthinkable tragedy. Using official reports, firsthand accounts, and direct quotes from rescuers and family members, this episode examines the full timeline of John’s entrapment, the harrowing rescue effort, the system failure that sealed his fate, and the aftermath that changed cave safety forever.
This is more than a story about a cave — it’s about human determination, faith, and the emotional limits of rescue. If you’ve heard of the Nutty Putty Cave but don’t know what really happened beneath the surface, this episode offers a deeply researched, respectful, and haunting look at what John Jones truly faced.
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Edited by: djaudio
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What began as a family caving adventure turned into a 27-hour rescue mission that captivated the nation and ended in unthinkable tragedy. Using official reports, firsthand accounts, and direct quotes from rescuers and family members, this episode examines the full timeline of John’s entrapment, the harrowing rescue effort, the system failure that sealed his fate, and the aftermath that changed cave safety forever.
This is more than a story about a cave — it’s about human determination, faith, and the emotional limits of rescue. If you’ve heard of the Nutty Putty Cave but don’t know what really happened beneath the surface, this episode offers a deeply researched, respectful, and haunting look at what John Jones truly faced.
🎧 Subscribe & follow Weird True Crime for more real stories, real people, and cases that refuse to be forgotten.
📩 Have a case you want us to cover? Email us at weirdtruecrime@gmail.com or send us a DM on Instagram.
Subscribe on Patreon: www.patreon.com/weirdtruecrime
Instagram: www.instagram.com/weirdtruecrime
TikTok - www.tiktok.com/weirdtruecrime
YouTube - www.youtube.com/@weirdtruecrime
Edited by: djaudio
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/weird-true-crime--5679751/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Fire Eyes Media.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Today we're doing something a little different than our lighthearted
WTF episodes we typically rotate with. Normally, WTF stands for
what the fuck because that's kind of the reaction dumb
criminals and more of the lighter side of true crime
elicit out of you, and don't worry, we'll keep bringing
(00:28):
you those episodes. But sometimes there's someone else's story that
deserves to be heard.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Real people, impossible decisions, unthinkable moments. Before a headline, there
was a human being, and behind every tragic moment, someone
faced the unimaginable. This is WTF. What they faced a
(00:57):
glimpse into the lives, pressures, and moments of people caught
in extraordinary circumstances.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Today's story is haunting and heartbreaking. It's not a true
crime story, but a real life rescue drama that unfolded
over about twenty seven hours. We'll walk through what happened
to John Jones, how a fun family outing turned into
a desperate struggle for survival. Deep underground in Nutty Putty Cave.
(01:31):
Will cover the timeline of John's descent, the misidentified passage
that got him stuck, the massive rescue effort, and the
tragic conclusion to the rescue attempt.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
This is an emotional story and there will be moments
that are hard to hear, and we're going to keep
it respectful and factual, but it's important to honor what
John and the rescuers went through. We've researched official reports,
news articles, and even incredible first hand accounts from rescuers
(02:04):
to make sure we get the details right. You'll even
hear some quotes from those involved, family members and rescue personnel.
I'm Amber and I'm Gina, and this is what John
Jones faced in Nutty Putty Cave.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Let's set the stage. It's November twenty fourth, two thousand
and nine, just two days before Thanksgiving. John Edwards Jones
is home in Utah for the holiday visiting family. He's
a medical student at the University of Virginia, a husband,
and a father to a thirteen month old daughter with
(02:56):
another baby on the way.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
John grew up spunk with his dad and brother, so
he's not a total novice to caving. To celebrate the reunion, John,
his brother Josh, and some friends and family decided to
go explore a popular local cave called Nutty Putty.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Nutty Putty cave is about fifty five miles from Salt
Lake City, out west of Utah Lake. It was well
known among Utah cavers for its tight, corkscrew like tunnels
and crawling passages. In fact, it had a bit of
a reputation. There had been several non fatal rescues there before.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
At least four different times people had gotten stuck and
needed help to get out, which led authorities to implement
a permit system and even temporarily close the cave in
two thousand and six. By two thousand and nine, Nutty
Putty had only been reopened for a few months under
stricter safety rules. So keep in mind this cave was
(04:00):
known to be tricky.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Right Nutty Putties narrow passages even had nicknames like the
birth Canal and the scout Eater because they are so
small and challenging. The cave has about fourteen hundred feet
of tunnels and its access through a single narrow hole
on the surface of a hill.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
You basically crawl in and then navigate like a subterranean maze.
John being around six feet tall and one hundred and
ninety pounds, was a big guy to be wriggling into
these passages. But that evening the group was excited and confident.
(04:45):
After all, lots of people, including boy Scouts, had explored
Nutty Putty before without serious incident.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So John, his brother Josh, and two others break off
from the main group because they want to find a
specific feature, a section of the cave dubbed the birth canal.
The birth Canal was a notoriously tight crawl that you
could shimmey through and eventually reach a larger room at
the end where you could turn around and come back.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
It was kind of a rite of passage for adventurous cavers.
They thought if they could conquer that it would be
a highlight of the trip. The trouble is, in the dark,
winding tunnels of Nutty Putty, it's easy to take a
wrong turn, and that appears to be exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
As they went searching for the birth canal, John crawled
through a low passage and believed he had found it,
but he hadn't. He had unknowingly gone into an unmapped fissure,
a passageway that was not the birth canal at all.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
In the caving community, this tight dead end crevice is
now known to be part of an area called Ed's Push,
or also referred to as Bob's Push. Its entrance is
very close to the real birth canal and look similar,
so it's an easy mistake to make. Unfortunately, Ed's Push
(06:19):
is even narrower, and it does not open up at
the end. It just pinches down tighter and tighter.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
John slithered into this passage headfirst, moving forward inch by inch.
The walls were pressing on his sides and chest. He
must have thought the tunnel would widen eventually so he
could turn around. Instead, it led him to an even
narrower vertical shoot, basically a downward sloping tunnel that suddenly
(06:53):
dropped almost straight down.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
The passage was only about ten inches high and eighteen
inches across, incredibly tight, but John believed this might be
the birth canal squeeze, with a larger room just beyond,
so he kept going wriggling deeper.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
At some point, gravity took over. He slid down that
vertical fissure headfirst and could not wriggle back out. He
was wedged in place, upside down at roughly a seventy
degree angle downward.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Try to picture it. Most of his body is encased
in rock. His arms are pinned, headlamp probably only lighting
dusty rock inches from his face. He can't turn around,
and he can't back up, and because the tunnel bends,
he's basically stuck around a corner in an L shaped
(07:59):
section rock.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
That was about nine or nine thirty pm on November
twenty fourth when John realized he was completely stuck and
in serious trouble. John's brother Josh, was nearby when it happened.
Josh made his way through the tunnel feeling a creeping apprehension,
and when he saw John's feet and how engulfed he
(08:22):
was in the rock, he knew the situation was serious.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
He tried to help. Immediately imagine the panic, Josh wrapped
his feet around John's calves and pulled, trying to free him,
but John only slid down further, getting more tightly wedged.
In fact, pulling inadvertently made John's situation worse. He became
(08:48):
tightly jammed, nearly upside down, with one arm pinned underneath
him and the other forced backward.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
He was essentially trapped standing on his head, but contorted
and unable to move in any direction. At that point,
Josh knew they needed outside help. Before climbing back out
of the tunnel, the brothers did something that speaks to
their upbringing and desperation. Josh paused and prayed out loud.
(09:19):
He later said his first instinct was to pray for
guidance and a miracle.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
After that prayer, the group scrambled to a position where
a cell phone could get reception and called nine one one.
That call went out around nine point thirty pm. So
John is deep in the cave, trapped, and now the
clock is ticking. Being stuck upside down is more than
just uncomfortable. It's extremely dangerous physically.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
When your body is inverted for too long, blood starts
pulling in your head. In upper body, your heart has
to work impossibly hard to circulate, and your organs or
under strain. If rescue doesn't come fast, an upside down
person could blackout or worse. So the race was on.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
The call for help quickly mobilized a huge response. Within
about an hour, the first rescue crews arrived at the
remote cave site. This was in a relatively isolated area
called Sunshine Canyon near Utah Lake. By late that night,
teams from Utah County Sheriff Search and Rescue local fire
departments and expert cavers from across the state were converging
(10:31):
on Nutty Putty Cave.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
In the end, more than one hundred rescue personnel would
be involved. It was one of the largest cave rescue
efforts in US history. But reaching John was not easy.
Just getting a rescuer down to where he was stuck
navigating the same tight maze John had gone through.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
The first person to actually reach John was a volunteer
rescuer named Susie Moto, who arrived around twelve thirty am
in the early hours of November twenty fifth. Susie was
a petite, experienced caver, exactly the kind of person needed
to thread through those tight passages.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
When Susie finally inched close enough to see John, he
actually greeted her. He said, Hi, Susie, Thanks for coming,
but I really really want to get out. Susie assessed
the situation and tried to keep John calm, but what
she found was daunting.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Asary said, John was nearly upside down. He was at
least one hundred and twenty five feet below the surface
and about seven hundred feet deep in the winding cave.
From the entrance, he was wedged in a shaft so
narrow that rescuers could barely reach him, let alone work
(11:56):
around him.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
One rescuer later described it as absolutely the worst spot
in the cave to be stuck. They could touch John
at what point. Rescuers managed to grab hold of his
feet and even hold his hand to comfort him, but
pulling him straight out by brute force was impossible without
(12:18):
injuring him or the rescuer. They needed a plan.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Above ground. More help kept arriving. By the early morning
hours of November twenty fifth, the cave entrance was a
busy staging area with ropes, pulleys, medical gear, and generators.
Rescue teams set up floodlights and communication lines. Family members
gathered anxiously nearby in the cold night. The media had
(12:44):
also started to assemble. His Dawn approached because word was
spreading about a man trapped in Nutty Putty Cave.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
The rescuer's plan was to use a rope and pulley system,
essentially a custom built mechanical advantage rig to slowly hauled
Jawn out of the narrow passage, but first they had
to make enough space around him.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Working in shifts, teams began carefully chipping away at the
rock around John with air powered drills and chisels. God,
can you imagine they are in a tight tunnel, lying
on their stomachs or backs, trying to carve away rock
inches from a trapped man's body, all while being careful
not to hurt him.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
That sounds so daunting. They also had to drill anchor
points into the cave walls to attach ropes, which was tricky.
At one point, their drill equipment wasn't working well, which
cost precious time. As this is happening, John's condition is
a huge concern. Remember he's been head down for hours.
(13:52):
At this point, rescuers knew they had to act fast,
but also cautiously.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
They talked to On constantly to keep him alert and hopeful.
They even started singing to him. In fact, John's family
later said that the rescuers sang hymns familiar LDS primary
songs to help comfort him through the long night in
that pitch dark crawl space. These songs and voices were
(14:20):
likely a lifeline for John, something to focus on beyond
the pain and fear. They knew they were running short
on time, because as time went on and John was talking,
his voice was growing more nasally, his breathing becoming labored.
His lungs were starting to fill with fluid.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
John's family members were gathered at the surface, praying and waiting.
They set up a radio communication system so that John
could hear his loved ones. At one point on Wednesday,
the rescuers managed to get a police radio down to John.
Through it, he had a brief but uplifting conversation with
(15:03):
his wife, Emily.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Emily was outside the cave, and she told John that
she loved him. Family on the scene also relayed messages.
According to one rescuer's account, John's father even gave him
a blessing over the radio, and Emily said a prayer
with him, telling John she felt a sense of peace
that everything would be okay.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Hearing his wife's voice gave John a much needed morale
boost even as he was trapped in darkness. Despite the
agony of his predicament, John tried to stay positive. His
brother later said, He's been really tough under the circumstances.
There were periods of panic disorientation, but he's in good
(15:48):
spirits now.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Rescuers were amazed at how resilient he was, cracking a
joke here or there and remaining responsive. This mental toughness
helped to everyone's hope. Finally, after many hours of painstaking work,
some progress. By late afternoon on November twenty fifth, John
had been stuck for roughly nineteen to twenty hours and
(16:12):
the team was ready to attempt the big pool.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
They had rigged a series of ropes and pulleys anchored
to the cave walls and large rocks on the surface.
Sometime around four thirty pm Wednesday, they gave the word
to start hoisting. Inch by inch, John's body began to move.
It was excruciatingly slow. He had been virtually glued in
(16:37):
by pressure in gravity, but the system was working. He
was coming out of the crevice.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
This pulley system had freed a five foot seven, one
hundred and forty pound teen back in two thousand and
four from the cave, but John was bigger further down
the tunnel, and they could only reach about six inches
of John's legs. You can imagine the mix of hope
and pain in that moment. After being headed down for
(17:05):
over eight hours and stuck overall for nearly a day,
John's legs and feet finally emerged from that tight fissure,
rescuers were able to shift him into a slightly more
horizontal position.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
It was still deep in the cave, but no longer
wedged in that exact ten by eighteen pinch. Relief washed
through the rescue team. People topside heard the news and
started to celebrate. They even cracked open some pizza and
water that had been waiting, smiling in tentative relief. They
(17:41):
believed the worst was over.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
With John partially freed. Medics in the cave quickly gave
him an IVY for hydration and medication, and provided food
and water, things they hadn't been able to get to
him before. John was able to speak and even converse
a bit more freely.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Now, Yeah, he must us to have felt a flood
of hope, especially after enduring so many hours upside down.
At this point, he reportedly said softly thank you to
the rescuers helping him. Everyone thought it was just a
matter of carefully hauling him the rest of the way
up and out. The team kept pulling and pulling, but
(18:20):
John's feet hit the tunnel's low ceiling, and with his
heart struggling to keep blood flowing to his legs, when
he hit the ceiling. He cried out in pain.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
They realized that because of the angle of the tunnel
they couldn't bend John's body backward without inflicting serious injury
to John's legs, and in his weakened state, the shock
might kill him. But then the unthinkable happened. One of
the main anchors in the cave, a bolt drilled into
(18:55):
the rock to hold the pulley system, suddenly failed. The
line the stone rock itself gave away in an instant,
The entire rope system slipped, and John's body slid back
down into the claustrophobic hole with force.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
He dropped right back into the same crevice that held
him before. It was a devastating setback. One rescuer described
hearing a horrible scraping sound as John fell back into
the wedge. In that moment, all the progress was erased.
John was essentially back to square one, trapped in the
(19:36):
exact place he'd been a day before.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
You can imagine the surge of terror and despair John
must have felt as he slid back, and for the
rescuers it was a nightmare, their worst fear coming true
just when success felt close, and also when John fell
back in. One of the rescuers that was down there
with him, his name was Ryan. Ryan got small macked
(20:00):
hard in the face by a carabiner, and even though
John had been shoved back into that space, he kept
asking how is Ryan? Is Ryan okay? They later determined
the bolt failure was due to the rock's integrity. The
anchor itself had been placed correctly, but the rock couldn't
(20:20):
handle the stress.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
After the accident with a pulley, the cave fell silent
except for John's labored breathing. The rescuers, exhausted and heartbroken,
regrouped to figure out what to do next. As evening
turned tonight on Wednesday, John had now been trapped for
over twenty four hours straight.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
The situation was described by one official as tenuous at best.
John was alive, but his condition was deteriorating. He had
been upside down for so long that it was taking
a deadly toll on his body. He was having trouble breathing,
and his heart was under immense strain. He was also
(21:04):
starting to lose touch with reality. At one point, he
asked a rescuer down there with him, why did you
guys put me here?
Speaker 1 (21:15):
According to reports at some point after the pulley failure,
John uttered a gut wrenching admission. In a moment of despair,
he said, I'm going to die right here. I'm not
going to come out of here, am I. It's hard
to imagine how that felt for John, who had fought
(21:37):
so hard, and for the rescuers hearing him say those words.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
They tried to reassure him, telling him, no, we are
going to get you out. They refused to give up.
As one rescuer later said, as long as he's in there,
there will be people in there with him working, and
they truly meant it.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Rescue crew was kept rotating through the night. Some personnel
had been on scene for a full twenty four hours
or more without rest. They brought in fresh teams from
various agencies, determined to try another strategy if one could
be found. Outside, John's family and friends held vigil, hoping
(22:20):
for a miracle.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
His wife, Emily was reportedly calm and strong, surrounded by
loved ones. The rescuers noted how supportive and incredibly solid
the family was through this ordeal. They understood everyone was
doing everything possible. Unfortunately, John's body was reaching its limit.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
He had now been inverted for over a full day.
Despite rescuers getting air and ivy fluids to him, his
circulation was failing. Sometime before midnight on the twenty fifth,
John became unresponsive. A medical professional on the rescue team
crawled in as far as they could to check on him.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Brandon Kowalas, a member of the Utah Cave Rescue arrived
and took over for another rescuer. Brandon checked on John
and discovered he was unresponsive. At around eleven fifty pm,
the paramedic crawled into the cave and pronounced John dead.
Brandon had been the last person to see John alive,
(23:23):
even though he had been mostly unconscious by the time
Brandon arrived.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
The official cause of death was cardiac arrest and probably suffocation,
brought on by the strain of being upside down and
compressed for so long. The human body isn't built to
sustain itself upside down for that extended period of time,
and John's body just couldn't take it anymore. It's such
(23:51):
a heartbreaking outcome. Their rescuers on site were absolutely crushed.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
They had given everything physically, mentally, emotionally to save this
young man, and now he was gone. Utah County Sergeant
Spencer Cannon later said we weren't able to get him
out quick enough, and he acknowledged the emotional toll it
took on everyone. Around two thirty am, officials made the
sad announcement to the gathered media and family that John
(24:23):
had passed away and that the rescue operation was now
a recovery mission. John's wife, Emily and other family members
who had been waiting at the scene had left shortly
after being told of his death, their hearts broken but
remarkably composed in faith and support for the rescuers.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
In the aftermath, John's family released a public statement that
gives a sense of who he was. They said John
will be remembered for his good nature, delightful sense of humor,
strong work ethic, a love of and unwavering faith in
the Gospel of Jesus CRI and his commitment to his
family as an amazing husband, father, son, and brother. They
(25:07):
also expressed deep gratitude to the rescuers, saying they knew
everyone did all they could to get John out, including
singing primary songs to help him get through the night,
and in a very poignant line, the family said, We'll
never fully understand how or why it was John's time
to leave us, but we find comfort knowing that he
(25:29):
fulfilled his purpose here on earth and that we will
be reunited with him again. Their words showed incredible grace
and faith amid tragedy.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Now that John was gone, the focus shifted to the
recovery of his body. Rescuers actually planned to continue working
that Thanksgiving day to try to retrieve him. They even
started discussing new ideas. At one point, people considered using
heavy equipment or widening the passage, but.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
It quickly came clear that extracting John's body would be
extremely dangerous to the rescuers and possibly structurally unsound for
the cave. John was stuck in a very precarious spot,
and removing him could trigger a collapse or put others
at risk. After everything that had happened, nobody wanted another
(26:20):
injury or worse.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
By the next day, Friday, November twenty seventh, two thousand
and nine, officials made a heartbreaking and extraordinary decision. John's
body would be left in place and Nutty Putty Cave
would be permanently closed. The landowners, government authorities, and John's
family all agreed that this was the best course of action.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
It was simply too dangerous to recover him in a way.
John had sacrificed himself to ensure no one else suffered
the same fate. Because the result was that the cave
would be shut for good. As a safety.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Measure, how exactly do you close a cave in this case,
they decided to seal it forever by destroying the dangerous
section and blocking all entrances. Rescue workers placed explosives in
the tunnel where John was trapped the section called Ed's
Push and collapsed that part of the cave so it
(27:19):
filled in around his body.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Then engineers poured concrete into the main entrance and any
other known openings of Nutty Putty Cave. They effectively entombed
John in the cave, making the entire system inaccessible. Nutty
Putty Cave became John Jones's final resting place.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
This was a controversial decision in the caving community. Some
cavers were very upset that in an entire cave was
being closed off indefinitely. The man who originally discovered Nutty
Putty Cave back in nineteen sixty, Dale Green, argued that
only the dangerous section should be sealed and the rest
of the cave could have been kept open.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
He said that one spot had been a problem for years,
and even admitted that he himself had gotten stuck in
that same section decades earlier, though he was pulled out safely.
Other caving enthusiasts felt that closing the cave was an overreaction,
saying people accept risks when they go caving, and proper
(28:26):
management like gating off the narrow section could have been enough.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Despite those objections, the authorities stood firm. The cave's owners
and the county didn't want any more lives in danger.
They proceeded with the permanent closure. In fact, not long
after John's death, a few individuals tried to sneak into
the area to possibly explore or prevent the closure, but
they were stopped and cited for trespassing.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
The community overall understood that this tragedy was the final straw.
Utty Putty had claimed a life, and no one wanted
to risk a repeat by sealing the cave. They also,
in a sense, made it sort of a memorial tomb
for John. John's family, for their part, supported the decision.
(29:15):
They believed John would rest in peace.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
There It's reported that they considered the cave John's resting
place a sacred thing. He loved caving, and he ultimately
passed doing something he found adventurous. There's a small comfort
in knowing he wasn't disturbed afterward. That was always my
main thought. A plaque was placed on the rock outside
(29:40):
in his memory, and to this day, Nutty Putty Cave
remains completely closed.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
The legacy of this incident has been far reaching for
Utah's caving community and rescue teams. It was a traumatic event,
but also a learning experience. It led to a renewed
emphasis on cave's safety and training for technical rescues. A
lot of rescuers were praised for the heroic efforts. They
(30:07):
truly did everything humanly possible.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Sergeant Spencer Cannon said later, I reviewed the whole mission
wishing we'd done this tiny detail differently, or that a
little sooner. But it's no use second guessing things. We
did our best. This tragedy underscored how even the best
efforts and intentions sometimes aren't enough against nature and physics.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
The story of John Jones also spread beyond Utah. If
became something of a cautionary tale for splunkers everywhere, a
reminder of how quickly things can go wrong in an
uncharted crawl space. Several documentaries and articles were made about
the Nutty Putty incident, perhaps most notably, a feature filmed
(30:53):
called The Last Ascent was released in twenty sixteen, dramatizing
John's story the rescue attempt.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
John's widow, Emily, was involved in consulting for that film,
and she has spoken publicly about her journey through grief.
In the years after, Emily showed incredible resilience. She gave
birth to their second child, a boy whom she named
John in honor of his father, and eventually she found
love again and remarried, finding a path to healing. In
(31:25):
a twenty fourteen interview, five years after the accident, she
said that it had been a long, difficult road, but
she found ways to emerge from the darkness of that loss.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
It's inspiring to see that John's family kept his memory
alive but also continued living. They'll never forget what happened.
None of us who've heard this story will. And for
the rescuers, even though they didn't get the outcome they
prayed for, many of them have said that they take
solace in knowing that they tried everything. It's clear that
(32:01):
this incident left to mark on all who were there.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Today, Nutty Putty Cave is essentially a grave. If you
visit the area, there's nothing much to see, just a
filled in hole on a hillside and perhaps some of
the markers we mentioned earlier. But John's story continues to
echo in the caving and rescue communities. His death led
to changes that likely saved others' lives by preventing further
(32:26):
exploration of that dangerous cave. In that sense, the legacy
of Nutty Putty Cave is one of the hard lessons
learned and precautions taken.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
This story has lived in my head rent free for
so long, and we've talked about the story and wanted
to cover it and the best way to do it.
And you did such a great job covering it and
in a respectable way. And it really boggles me, like,
I'm not a person to do this kind of thing.
(33:01):
It scares the crap out of me. You will never
find me in a tight place in a cave doing
anything like this. Amber shaking her head. No, I agree
that it was the most respectful thing to do to
close the whole thing down, because they closed it down
and people still tried to go or stop, and you
(33:22):
can't just say, well, just close it off and people
won't go into the section.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
They will though, and that's the thing, because they know
there is a body on the other side of whatever barricade.
People absolutely, some people suck, sorry, and they would have
done everything that they could to go back there. So yes,
I get what other people were saying about just closing
that off, but no, if I mean, yeah, maybe if
(33:46):
people didn't completely suck, then they could have tried that,
but no, this was.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
It's the best way to respect him. Yeah, and what
happened is to close it off.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
You don't go, it's frowned upon to go into a
cemetery and start poking around at the plots and like
trying to dig to get to the caskets. This is
John's resting place, this is his burial site. Going there
when he's still there, it's like, oh, but you know,
that also kind of reminds me of Everest, which.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Is absolutely it's that morbid curiosity thing that we talked about,
And like, kudos to him for being involved in this
kind of activity, especially given he was such a big dude.
I mean, Corey six to one then about the same weight,
and I could not imagine him going into anything that's small,
(34:42):
and so to be brave enough to put yourself into
a situation like that is so commendable.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
I was talking to one of my besties about this,
because you know, I talked to her about everything, and
she had said that, like, this is one of her
like top three worst fears, you know, aside from being
lost at sea or lost out in space. And I said, oh, no, man,
you shove me out in the middle of nowhere and
(35:10):
see or space or something like that, because at least
you can see, at least you can breathe, at least
there's something that you can see. Being trapped in a
cave in a tight space like John was is my ultimate,
literal worst nightmare move. I would not he how he
handled it. He was so polite to every rescuer that
(35:34):
came down there. He was so thoughtful and caring about
their well being and how they were doing. He was
cracking jokes and bringing humor to the situation, just doing
everything that he could.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Oh, I know, just to test him into the kind
of person he was. And he's worried about the other
people that are trying to save him. Yep, it's just
and it's it just sucks. It's always it's always the
good ones that this stuff happens too, you know. Oh man, Yeah,
this is This has been a heavy story, and our
(36:08):
hearts go out to John Jones' family and the people
that fought so hard to save him. It's a stark
reminder of how fragile life can be and how even
a familiar adventure can turn in an instant. What's striking
is the humanity shown throughout John's own courage and even
courtesy in the face of death, Like we were saying
(36:30):
his first words to Susie when she reached him, the
brotherhood and faith between John and Josh as they prayed together.
See now I'm emotional because this story has like been
in my head for so long. The rescuer's singing to
keep hope alive, and the family's gracious statement afterward. There
was a lot of love and community in that dark
(36:52):
cave alongside the fear.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
We want to thank you for sticking with us throughout
this intense episode. Not every story has a heroic rescue
or happy ending, but there is always something to learn
from what they faced. We hope we've honored John's memory
by telling his story with the respect it deserves. And
to John, we never met you, but we won't forget
(37:16):
what you faced.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Until next time, stay safe.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
And make good choices.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Bye bye,
Fire Eyes Media.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Today we're doing something a little different than our lighthearted
WTF episodes we typically rotate with. Normally, WTF stands for
what the fuck because that's kind of the reaction dumb
criminals and more of the lighter side of true crime
elicit out of you, and don't worry, we'll keep bringing
(00:28):
you those episodes. But sometimes there's someone else's story that
deserves to be heard.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Real people, impossible decisions, unthinkable moments. Before a headline, there
was a human being, and behind every tragic moment, someone
faced the unimaginable. This is WTF. What they faced a
(00:57):
glimpse into the lives, pressures, and moments of people caught
in extraordinary circumstances.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Today's story is haunting and heartbreaking. It's not a true
crime story, but a real life rescue drama that unfolded
over about twenty seven hours. We'll walk through what happened
to John Jones, how a fun family outing turned into
a desperate struggle for survival. Deep underground in Nutty Putty Cave.
(01:31):
Will cover the timeline of John's descent, the misidentified passage
that got him stuck, the massive rescue effort, and the
tragic conclusion to the rescue attempt.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
This is an emotional story and there will be moments
that are hard to hear, and we're going to keep
it respectful and factual, but it's important to honor what
John and the rescuers went through. We've researched official reports,
news articles, and even incredible first hand accounts from rescuers
(02:04):
to make sure we get the details right. You'll even
hear some quotes from those involved, family members and rescue personnel.
I'm Amber and I'm Gina, and this is what John
Jones faced in Nutty Putty Cave.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Let's set the stage. It's November twenty fourth, two thousand
and nine, just two days before Thanksgiving. John Edwards Jones
is home in Utah for the holiday visiting family. He's
a medical student at the University of Virginia, a husband,
and a father to a thirteen month old daughter with
(02:56):
another baby on the way.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
John grew up spunk with his dad and brother, so
he's not a total novice to caving. To celebrate the reunion, John,
his brother Josh, and some friends and family decided to
go explore a popular local cave called Nutty Putty.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Nutty Putty cave is about fifty five miles from Salt
Lake City, out west of Utah Lake. It was well
known among Utah cavers for its tight, corkscrew like tunnels
and crawling passages. In fact, it had a bit of
a reputation. There had been several non fatal rescues there before.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
At least four different times people had gotten stuck and
needed help to get out, which led authorities to implement
a permit system and even temporarily close the cave in
two thousand and six. By two thousand and nine, Nutty
Putty had only been reopened for a few months under
stricter safety rules. So keep in mind this cave was
(04:00):
known to be tricky.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
Right Nutty Putties narrow passages even had nicknames like the
birth Canal and the scout Eater because they are so
small and challenging. The cave has about fourteen hundred feet
of tunnels and its access through a single narrow hole
on the surface of a hill.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
You basically crawl in and then navigate like a subterranean maze.
John being around six feet tall and one hundred and
ninety pounds, was a big guy to be wriggling into
these passages. But that evening the group was excited and confident.
(04:45):
After all, lots of people, including boy Scouts, had explored
Nutty Putty before without serious incident.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
So John, his brother Josh, and two others break off
from the main group because they want to find a
specific feature, a section of the cave dubbed the birth canal.
The birth Canal was a notoriously tight crawl that you
could shimmey through and eventually reach a larger room at
the end where you could turn around and come back.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
It was kind of a rite of passage for adventurous cavers.
They thought if they could conquer that it would be
a highlight of the trip. The trouble is, in the dark,
winding tunnels of Nutty Putty, it's easy to take a
wrong turn, and that appears to be exactly what happened.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
As they went searching for the birth canal, John crawled
through a low passage and believed he had found it,
but he hadn't. He had unknowingly gone into an unmapped fissure,
a passageway that was not the birth canal at all.
Speaker 2 (05:57):
In the caving community, this tight dead end crevice is
now known to be part of an area called Ed's Push,
or also referred to as Bob's Push. Its entrance is
very close to the real birth canal and look similar,
so it's an easy mistake to make. Unfortunately, Ed's Push
(06:19):
is even narrower, and it does not open up at
the end. It just pinches down tighter and tighter.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
John slithered into this passage headfirst, moving forward inch by inch.
The walls were pressing on his sides and chest. He
must have thought the tunnel would widen eventually so he
could turn around. Instead, it led him to an even
narrower vertical shoot, basically a downward sloping tunnel that suddenly
(06:53):
dropped almost straight down.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
The passage was only about ten inches high and eighteen
inches across, incredibly tight, but John believed this might be
the birth canal squeeze, with a larger room just beyond,
so he kept going wriggling deeper.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
At some point, gravity took over. He slid down that
vertical fissure headfirst and could not wriggle back out. He
was wedged in place, upside down at roughly a seventy
degree angle downward.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Try to picture it. Most of his body is encased
in rock. His arms are pinned, headlamp probably only lighting
dusty rock inches from his face. He can't turn around,
and he can't back up, and because the tunnel bends,
he's basically stuck around a corner in an L shaped
(07:59):
section rock.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
That was about nine or nine thirty pm on November
twenty fourth when John realized he was completely stuck and
in serious trouble. John's brother Josh, was nearby when it happened.
Josh made his way through the tunnel feeling a creeping apprehension,
and when he saw John's feet and how engulfed he
(08:22):
was in the rock, he knew the situation was serious.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
He tried to help. Immediately imagine the panic, Josh wrapped
his feet around John's calves and pulled, trying to free him,
but John only slid down further, getting more tightly wedged.
In fact, pulling inadvertently made John's situation worse. He became
(08:48):
tightly jammed, nearly upside down, with one arm pinned underneath
him and the other forced backward.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
He was essentially trapped standing on his head, but contorted
and unable to move in any direction. At that point,
Josh knew they needed outside help. Before climbing back out
of the tunnel, the brothers did something that speaks to
their upbringing and desperation. Josh paused and prayed out loud.
(09:19):
He later said his first instinct was to pray for
guidance and a miracle.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
After that prayer, the group scrambled to a position where
a cell phone could get reception and called nine one one.
That call went out around nine point thirty pm. So
John is deep in the cave, trapped, and now the
clock is ticking. Being stuck upside down is more than
just uncomfortable. It's extremely dangerous physically.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
When your body is inverted for too long, blood starts
pulling in your head. In upper body, your heart has
to work impossibly hard to circulate, and your organs or
under strain. If rescue doesn't come fast, an upside down
person could blackout or worse. So the race was on.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
The call for help quickly mobilized a huge response. Within
about an hour, the first rescue crews arrived at the
remote cave site. This was in a relatively isolated area
called Sunshine Canyon near Utah Lake. By late that night,
teams from Utah County Sheriff Search and Rescue local fire
departments and expert cavers from across the state were converging
(10:31):
on Nutty Putty Cave.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
In the end, more than one hundred rescue personnel would
be involved. It was one of the largest cave rescue
efforts in US history. But reaching John was not easy.
Just getting a rescuer down to where he was stuck
navigating the same tight maze John had gone through.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
The first person to actually reach John was a volunteer
rescuer named Susie Moto, who arrived around twelve thirty am
in the early hours of November twenty fifth. Susie was
a petite, experienced caver, exactly the kind of person needed
to thread through those tight passages.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
When Susie finally inched close enough to see John, he
actually greeted her. He said, Hi, Susie, Thanks for coming,
but I really really want to get out. Susie assessed
the situation and tried to keep John calm, but what
she found was daunting.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Asary said, John was nearly upside down. He was at
least one hundred and twenty five feet below the surface
and about seven hundred feet deep in the winding cave.
From the entrance, he was wedged in a shaft so
narrow that rescuers could barely reach him, let alone work
(11:56):
around him.
Speaker 1 (11:57):
One rescuer later described it as absolutely the worst spot
in the cave to be stuck. They could touch John
at what point. Rescuers managed to grab hold of his
feet and even hold his hand to comfort him, but
pulling him straight out by brute force was impossible without
(12:18):
injuring him or the rescuer. They needed a plan.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Above ground. More help kept arriving. By the early morning
hours of November twenty fifth, the cave entrance was a
busy staging area with ropes, pulleys, medical gear, and generators.
Rescue teams set up floodlights and communication lines. Family members
gathered anxiously nearby in the cold night. The media had
(12:44):
also started to assemble. His Dawn approached because word was
spreading about a man trapped in Nutty Putty Cave.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
The rescuer's plan was to use a rope and pulley system,
essentially a custom built mechanical advantage rig to slowly hauled
Jawn out of the narrow passage, but first they had
to make enough space around him.
Speaker 2 (13:09):
Working in shifts, teams began carefully chipping away at the
rock around John with air powered drills and chisels. God,
can you imagine they are in a tight tunnel, lying
on their stomachs or backs, trying to carve away rock
inches from a trapped man's body, all while being careful
not to hurt him.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
That sounds so daunting. They also had to drill anchor
points into the cave walls to attach ropes, which was tricky.
At one point, their drill equipment wasn't working well, which
cost precious time. As this is happening, John's condition is
a huge concern. Remember he's been head down for hours.
(13:52):
At this point, rescuers knew they had to act fast,
but also cautiously.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
They talked to On constantly to keep him alert and hopeful.
They even started singing to him. In fact, John's family
later said that the rescuers sang hymns familiar LDS primary
songs to help comfort him through the long night in
that pitch dark crawl space. These songs and voices were
(14:20):
likely a lifeline for John, something to focus on beyond
the pain and fear. They knew they were running short
on time, because as time went on and John was talking,
his voice was growing more nasally, his breathing becoming labored.
His lungs were starting to fill with fluid.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
John's family members were gathered at the surface, praying and waiting.
They set up a radio communication system so that John
could hear his loved ones. At one point on Wednesday,
the rescuers managed to get a police radio down to John.
Through it, he had a brief but uplifting conversation with
(15:03):
his wife, Emily.
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Emily was outside the cave, and she told John that
she loved him. Family on the scene also relayed messages.
According to one rescuer's account, John's father even gave him
a blessing over the radio, and Emily said a prayer
with him, telling John she felt a sense of peace
that everything would be okay.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
Hearing his wife's voice gave John a much needed morale
boost even as he was trapped in darkness. Despite the
agony of his predicament, John tried to stay positive. His
brother later said, He's been really tough under the circumstances.
There were periods of panic disorientation, but he's in good
(15:48):
spirits now.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Rescuers were amazed at how resilient he was, cracking a
joke here or there and remaining responsive. This mental toughness
helped to everyone's hope. Finally, after many hours of painstaking work,
some progress. By late afternoon on November twenty fifth, John
had been stuck for roughly nineteen to twenty hours and
(16:12):
the team was ready to attempt the big pool.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
They had rigged a series of ropes and pulleys anchored
to the cave walls and large rocks on the surface.
Sometime around four thirty pm Wednesday, they gave the word
to start hoisting. Inch by inch, John's body began to move.
It was excruciatingly slow. He had been virtually glued in
(16:37):
by pressure in gravity, but the system was working. He
was coming out of the crevice.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
This pulley system had freed a five foot seven, one
hundred and forty pound teen back in two thousand and
four from the cave, but John was bigger further down
the tunnel, and they could only reach about six inches
of John's legs. You can imagine the mix of hope
and pain in that moment. After being headed down for
(17:05):
over eight hours and stuck overall for nearly a day,
John's legs and feet finally emerged from that tight fissure,
rescuers were able to shift him into a slightly more
horizontal position.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
It was still deep in the cave, but no longer
wedged in that exact ten by eighteen pinch. Relief washed
through the rescue team. People topside heard the news and
started to celebrate. They even cracked open some pizza and
water that had been waiting, smiling in tentative relief. They
(17:41):
believed the worst was over.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
With John partially freed. Medics in the cave quickly gave
him an IVY for hydration and medication, and provided food
and water, things they hadn't been able to get to
him before. John was able to speak and even converse
a bit more freely.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
Now, Yeah, he must us to have felt a flood
of hope, especially after enduring so many hours upside down.
At this point, he reportedly said softly thank you to
the rescuers helping him. Everyone thought it was just a
matter of carefully hauling him the rest of the way
up and out. The team kept pulling and pulling, but
(18:20):
John's feet hit the tunnel's low ceiling, and with his
heart struggling to keep blood flowing to his legs, when
he hit the ceiling. He cried out in pain.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
They realized that because of the angle of the tunnel
they couldn't bend John's body backward without inflicting serious injury
to John's legs, and in his weakened state, the shock
might kill him. But then the unthinkable happened. One of
the main anchors in the cave, a bolt drilled into
(18:55):
the rock to hold the pulley system, suddenly failed. The
line the stone rock itself gave away in an instant,
The entire rope system slipped, and John's body slid back
down into the claustrophobic hole with force.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
He dropped right back into the same crevice that held
him before. It was a devastating setback. One rescuer described
hearing a horrible scraping sound as John fell back into
the wedge. In that moment, all the progress was erased.
John was essentially back to square one, trapped in the
(19:36):
exact place he'd been a day before.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
You can imagine the surge of terror and despair John
must have felt as he slid back, and for the
rescuers it was a nightmare, their worst fear coming true
just when success felt close, and also when John fell
back in. One of the rescuers that was down there
with him, his name was Ryan. Ryan got small macked
(20:00):
hard in the face by a carabiner, and even though
John had been shoved back into that space, he kept
asking how is Ryan? Is Ryan okay? They later determined
the bolt failure was due to the rock's integrity. The
anchor itself had been placed correctly, but the rock couldn't
(20:20):
handle the stress.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
After the accident with a pulley, the cave fell silent
except for John's labored breathing. The rescuers, exhausted and heartbroken,
regrouped to figure out what to do next. As evening
turned tonight on Wednesday, John had now been trapped for
over twenty four hours straight.
Speaker 2 (20:43):
The situation was described by one official as tenuous at best.
John was alive, but his condition was deteriorating. He had
been upside down for so long that it was taking
a deadly toll on his body. He was having trouble breathing,
and his heart was under immense strain. He was also
(21:04):
starting to lose touch with reality. At one point, he
asked a rescuer down there with him, why did you
guys put me here?
Speaker 1 (21:15):
According to reports at some point after the pulley failure,
John uttered a gut wrenching admission. In a moment of despair,
he said, I'm going to die right here. I'm not
going to come out of here, am I. It's hard
to imagine how that felt for John, who had fought
(21:37):
so hard, and for the rescuers hearing him say those words.
Speaker 2 (21:42):
They tried to reassure him, telling him, no, we are
going to get you out. They refused to give up.
As one rescuer later said, as long as he's in there,
there will be people in there with him working, and
they truly meant it.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
Rescue crew was kept rotating through the night. Some personnel
had been on scene for a full twenty four hours
or more without rest. They brought in fresh teams from
various agencies, determined to try another strategy if one could
be found. Outside, John's family and friends held vigil, hoping
(22:20):
for a miracle.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
His wife, Emily was reportedly calm and strong, surrounded by
loved ones. The rescuers noted how supportive and incredibly solid
the family was through this ordeal. They understood everyone was
doing everything possible. Unfortunately, John's body was reaching its limit.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
He had now been inverted for over a full day.
Despite rescuers getting air and ivy fluids to him, his
circulation was failing. Sometime before midnight on the twenty fifth,
John became unresponsive. A medical professional on the rescue team
crawled in as far as they could to check on him.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Brandon Kowalas, a member of the Utah Cave Rescue arrived
and took over for another rescuer. Brandon checked on John
and discovered he was unresponsive. At around eleven fifty pm,
the paramedic crawled into the cave and pronounced John dead.
Brandon had been the last person to see John alive,
(23:23):
even though he had been mostly unconscious by the time
Brandon arrived.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
The official cause of death was cardiac arrest and probably suffocation,
brought on by the strain of being upside down and
compressed for so long. The human body isn't built to
sustain itself upside down for that extended period of time,
and John's body just couldn't take it anymore. It's such
(23:51):
a heartbreaking outcome. Their rescuers on site were absolutely crushed.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
They had given everything physically, mentally, emotionally to save this
young man, and now he was gone. Utah County Sergeant
Spencer Cannon later said we weren't able to get him
out quick enough, and he acknowledged the emotional toll it
took on everyone. Around two thirty am, officials made the
sad announcement to the gathered media and family that John
(24:23):
had passed away and that the rescue operation was now
a recovery mission. John's wife, Emily and other family members
who had been waiting at the scene had left shortly
after being told of his death, their hearts broken but
remarkably composed in faith and support for the rescuers.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
In the aftermath, John's family released a public statement that
gives a sense of who he was. They said John
will be remembered for his good nature, delightful sense of humor,
strong work ethic, a love of and unwavering faith in
the Gospel of Jesus CRI and his commitment to his
family as an amazing husband, father, son, and brother. They
(25:07):
also expressed deep gratitude to the rescuers, saying they knew
everyone did all they could to get John out, including
singing primary songs to help him get through the night,
and in a very poignant line, the family said, We'll
never fully understand how or why it was John's time
to leave us, but we find comfort knowing that he
(25:29):
fulfilled his purpose here on earth and that we will
be reunited with him again. Their words showed incredible grace
and faith amid tragedy.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Now that John was gone, the focus shifted to the
recovery of his body. Rescuers actually planned to continue working
that Thanksgiving day to try to retrieve him. They even
started discussing new ideas. At one point, people considered using
heavy equipment or widening the passage, but.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
It quickly came clear that extracting John's body would be
extremely dangerous to the rescuers and possibly structurally unsound for
the cave. John was stuck in a very precarious spot,
and removing him could trigger a collapse or put others
at risk. After everything that had happened, nobody wanted another
(26:20):
injury or worse.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
By the next day, Friday, November twenty seventh, two thousand
and nine, officials made a heartbreaking and extraordinary decision. John's
body would be left in place and Nutty Putty Cave
would be permanently closed. The landowners, government authorities, and John's
family all agreed that this was the best course of action.
Speaker 1 (26:45):
It was simply too dangerous to recover him in a way.
John had sacrificed himself to ensure no one else suffered
the same fate. Because the result was that the cave
would be shut for good. As a safety.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Measure, how exactly do you close a cave in this case,
they decided to seal it forever by destroying the dangerous
section and blocking all entrances. Rescue workers placed explosives in
the tunnel where John was trapped the section called Ed's
Push and collapsed that part of the cave so it
(27:19):
filled in around his body.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
Then engineers poured concrete into the main entrance and any
other known openings of Nutty Putty Cave. They effectively entombed
John in the cave, making the entire system inaccessible. Nutty
Putty Cave became John Jones's final resting place.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
This was a controversial decision in the caving community. Some
cavers were very upset that in an entire cave was
being closed off indefinitely. The man who originally discovered Nutty
Putty Cave back in nineteen sixty, Dale Green, argued that
only the dangerous section should be sealed and the rest
of the cave could have been kept open.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
He said that one spot had been a problem for years,
and even admitted that he himself had gotten stuck in
that same section decades earlier, though he was pulled out safely.
Other caving enthusiasts felt that closing the cave was an overreaction,
saying people accept risks when they go caving, and proper
(28:26):
management like gating off the narrow section could have been enough.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Despite those objections, the authorities stood firm. The cave's owners
and the county didn't want any more lives in danger.
They proceeded with the permanent closure. In fact, not long
after John's death, a few individuals tried to sneak into
the area to possibly explore or prevent the closure, but
they were stopped and cited for trespassing.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
The community overall understood that this tragedy was the final straw.
Utty Putty had claimed a life, and no one wanted
to risk a repeat by sealing the cave. They also,
in a sense, made it sort of a memorial tomb
for John. John's family, for their part, supported the decision.
(29:15):
They believed John would rest in peace.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
There It's reported that they considered the cave John's resting
place a sacred thing. He loved caving, and he ultimately
passed doing something he found adventurous. There's a small comfort
in knowing he wasn't disturbed afterward. That was always my
main thought. A plaque was placed on the rock outside
(29:40):
in his memory, and to this day, Nutty Putty Cave
remains completely closed.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
The legacy of this incident has been far reaching for
Utah's caving community and rescue teams. It was a traumatic event,
but also a learning experience. It led to a renewed
emphasis on cave's safety and training for technical rescues. A
lot of rescuers were praised for the heroic efforts. They
(30:07):
truly did everything humanly possible.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Sergeant Spencer Cannon said later, I reviewed the whole mission
wishing we'd done this tiny detail differently, or that a
little sooner. But it's no use second guessing things. We
did our best. This tragedy underscored how even the best
efforts and intentions sometimes aren't enough against nature and physics.
Speaker 1 (30:32):
The story of John Jones also spread beyond Utah. If
became something of a cautionary tale for splunkers everywhere, a
reminder of how quickly things can go wrong in an
uncharted crawl space. Several documentaries and articles were made about
the Nutty Putty incident, perhaps most notably, a feature filmed
(30:53):
called The Last Ascent was released in twenty sixteen, dramatizing
John's story the rescue attempt.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
John's widow, Emily, was involved in consulting for that film,
and she has spoken publicly about her journey through grief.
In the years after, Emily showed incredible resilience. She gave
birth to their second child, a boy whom she named
John in honor of his father, and eventually she found
love again and remarried, finding a path to healing. In
(31:25):
a twenty fourteen interview, five years after the accident, she
said that it had been a long, difficult road, but
she found ways to emerge from the darkness of that loss.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
It's inspiring to see that John's family kept his memory
alive but also continued living. They'll never forget what happened.
None of us who've heard this story will. And for
the rescuers, even though they didn't get the outcome they
prayed for, many of them have said that they take
solace in knowing that they tried everything. It's clear that
(32:01):
this incident left to mark on all who were there.
Speaker 2 (32:05):
Today, Nutty Putty Cave is essentially a grave. If you
visit the area, there's nothing much to see, just a
filled in hole on a hillside and perhaps some of
the markers we mentioned earlier. But John's story continues to
echo in the caving and rescue communities. His death led
to changes that likely saved others' lives by preventing further
(32:26):
exploration of that dangerous cave. In that sense, the legacy
of Nutty Putty Cave is one of the hard lessons
learned and precautions taken.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
This story has lived in my head rent free for
so long, and we've talked about the story and wanted
to cover it and the best way to do it.
And you did such a great job covering it and
in a respectable way. And it really boggles me, like,
I'm not a person to do this kind of thing.
(33:01):
It scares the crap out of me. You will never
find me in a tight place in a cave doing
anything like this. Amber shaking her head. No, I agree
that it was the most respectful thing to do to
close the whole thing down, because they closed it down
and people still tried to go or stop, and you
(33:22):
can't just say, well, just close it off and people
won't go into the section.
Speaker 2 (33:25):
They will though, and that's the thing, because they know
there is a body on the other side of whatever barricade.
People absolutely, some people suck, sorry, and they would have
done everything that they could to go back there. So yes,
I get what other people were saying about just closing
that off, but no, if I mean, yeah, maybe if
(33:46):
people didn't completely suck, then they could have tried that,
but no, this was.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
It's the best way to respect him. Yeah, and what
happened is to close it off.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
You don't go, it's frowned upon to go into a
cemetery and start poking around at the plots and like
trying to dig to get to the caskets. This is
John's resting place, this is his burial site. Going there
when he's still there, it's like, oh, but you know,
that also kind of reminds me of Everest, which.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Is absolutely it's that morbid curiosity thing that we talked about,
And like, kudos to him for being involved in this
kind of activity, especially given he was such a big dude.
I mean, Corey six to one then about the same weight,
and I could not imagine him going into anything that's small,
(34:42):
and so to be brave enough to put yourself into
a situation like that is so commendable.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
I was talking to one of my besties about this,
because you know, I talked to her about everything, and
she had said that, like, this is one of her
like top three worst fears, you know, aside from being
lost at sea or lost out in space. And I said, oh, no, man,
you shove me out in the middle of nowhere and
(35:10):
see or space or something like that, because at least
you can see, at least you can breathe, at least
there's something that you can see. Being trapped in a
cave in a tight space like John was is my ultimate,
literal worst nightmare move. I would not he how he
handled it. He was so polite to every rescuer that
(35:34):
came down there. He was so thoughtful and caring about
their well being and how they were doing. He was
cracking jokes and bringing humor to the situation, just doing
everything that he could.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Oh, I know, just to test him into the kind
of person he was. And he's worried about the other
people that are trying to save him. Yep, it's just
and it's it just sucks. It's always it's always the
good ones that this stuff happens too, you know. Oh man, Yeah,
this is This has been a heavy story, and our
(36:08):
hearts go out to John Jones' family and the people
that fought so hard to save him. It's a stark
reminder of how fragile life can be and how even
a familiar adventure can turn in an instant. What's striking
is the humanity shown throughout John's own courage and even
courtesy in the face of death, Like we were saying
(36:30):
his first words to Susie when she reached him, the
brotherhood and faith between John and Josh as they prayed together.
See now I'm emotional because this story has like been
in my head for so long. The rescuer's singing to
keep hope alive, and the family's gracious statement afterward. There
was a lot of love and community in that dark
(36:52):
cave alongside the fear.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
We want to thank you for sticking with us throughout
this intense episode. Not every story has a heroic rescue
or happy ending, but there is always something to learn
from what they faced. We hope we've honored John's memory
by telling his story with the respect it deserves. And
to John, we never met you, but we won't forget
(37:16):
what you faced.
Speaker 1 (37:18):
Until next time, stay safe.
Speaker 2 (37:21):
And make good choices.
Speaker 1 (37:23):
Bye bye,
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