(Handout) The man who died after getting stuck upside down in a Utah cave was no stranger to adventure. Paulson mourns the death of Jones, but insists that caving is a very safe activity, especially when it's done with the right equipment and with an experienced guide. This increase in danger led the authorities to severely restrict the number of visitors that were allowed inside Nutty Putty Cave. 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. John Jones was accompanied by various family members and friends, in particular, Josh Jones who was 23, his brother, and nine other friends and family members, and they had decided to explore Nutty Putty Cave as a way to connect with each other ahead of the holiday. Once John had been declared dead, there were discussions about How do we get him out? There were some rather distasteful discussions as well, things that nobody really wanted to do, Cannon said. To further complicate the situation, Jones ribcage would catch on a lip of rock when the rescuers attempted to pull him back up and over the crux. Formerly popular with cavers and known for its narrow passageways, Nutty Putty has been closed to the public since 2009 following a fatal accident that year.[1]. John Jones was in a part of the Nutty Putty Cave system that he thought was the Birth Canal and he inched his way into the narrow passage head first, moving forward using his hips, stomach, and fingers but he realized hed made a grave mistake when he found the passage getting narrower and not giving way like the Birth Canal should have been. Now, looking back, I see he was so right, she said. Thinking he saw a larger opening on the other side, Jones tried to squeeze headfirst through the tight spot and turn around, but he became hopelessly wedged at a 70-degree angle. John and Emily had the same daughter Lizzie at the time John got trapped in the cave and passed away in the cave. Rescuers concluded that it would be too dangerous to attempt to retrieve his body; the landowner and Jones' family came to an agreement that the cave would be permanently closed with the body sealed inside, as a memorial to Jones. John went into the cave on Nov. 24, 2009 with 10 other friends and family members on an excursion organized by his brother, Josh. They did this frequently as a bonding moment as John and Josh, his brother Josh were young and living together with their father. The new Internet Historian video uploaded the other day has me thinking about this guy. "Nutty Putty Cave Before and After the 2009 Tragedy" Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article: Dave Roos I thought: OK. Heres what you need to know, Japanese official denies Lee statement on commitment to expedite release of Lt. Ridge Alkonis, Utah Legislature finalizes record $29B budget. So, both the devout Mormon brothers prayed, Guide us as we work through this. John Edward Jones, 26, was a medical student and experienced spelunker who went cave diving with a group of friends while visiting family in Utah for Thanksgiving in 2009. All six of those trapped cavers made it out of Nutty Putty alive, but the local sheriff's office and search and rescue crews grew tired of making regular trips out to pull tourists from the cave, and they worried that the next accident would be fatal. Carlos Hathcock Was A Sniper So Badass His Exploits Can Hardly Be Believed, The Story Of Desmond Doss That Was Too Heroic Even For 'Hacksaw Ridge', What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Jones was never freed from the spot where he got stuck and eventually died in the cave, about 28 hours after he couldn't go any further. #WorstPeopleEver #GetALife t.co/OvT4dfVbZi", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Nutty_Putty_Cave&oldid=1139372021, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia cave articles with unreferenced coordinates, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 14 February 2023, at 20:06. He left behind his wife, who was pregnant, and another child. In an interview, he said Id gone in it, in the front, and kind of said, Thats it, thats enough.. This is the passage that John Jones thought he had found when he got stuck. When she attended BYU, she had been studying psychology and worked hard to build up her resume and earn good grades to someday go to graduate school and become a marriage and family therapist. Emily, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said it was her faith that sustained her. Using the pulley, rescuers started to pull John before disaster struck. Both Boy Scouts ended up trapped within a week of each other, and it took rescuers over 14 hours to free the 16-year-old Boy Scout. I agree 100%, they should've given him some Xanax or Klonopin - apparently he was having panic attacks too, he would thrash his legs and kind of freak out for a minute or 2 and then go quiet again. It was found that many people who visited the cave didnt take proper safety precautions. The story of John Jones getting stuck in the cave is one that people will use as a cautionary tale for ages to come, and it shows just how difficult and dangerous spelunking can be sometimes. Utah County Sheriff's Office 9 of 15 At the time of his death, he was 6 feet tall and weighed over 200 pounds. After this introduction began the process of rescuing John Jones from the Nutty Putty Cave, but even after about 28 hours of effort nothing could be done. This is my absolute biggest phobia. That was such a burden, she said. In fact, the cave has a 45-degree room called The Big Slide, which was predicted to be the location of a fatality by some. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. She returned with Lizzie to their family apartment at Johns school in Virginia, but because it was student-family housing and there was no longer a student living there, they had to move. In 2009, John Jones became stuck while exploring the Nutty Putty Cave near Elberta and died before rescuers could free him. Jones died after being trapped for over 24 hours. John Edward Jones was born on the 21st of January of 1983. When they married in August 2012, her father, an LDS bishop, performed the ceremony, and Johns father walked her down the aisle. Press J to jump to the feed. It was 8 p.m. on Wednesday, just a few days before Thanksgiving when they arrived at the cave site. However, he never managed to get past the entrance. In 2016, filmmaker Isaac Halasima produced and directed a full-length feature film about the life and failed rescue of John Jones. Susie Motola arrived at the cave at about 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 25 and at that time John had been trapped for three and a half hours. John Jones died after being trapped in the cave. After this look at Nutty Putty Cave and the tragic death of John Edward Jones, read about some of the bodies of climbers left behind on Mount Everest, including those of Green Boots and George Mallory. He was born in 1983 and was a Utah native. But suddenly, and without warning, one of the pulleys failed. Anyways I just discovered the John Jones story and am fascinated by it. But a pre-Thanksgiving outing to the cave left John, 26, trapped. A memorial plaque to John was placed near the entrance to Nutty Putty Cave. Yes, the Nutty Putty cave is closed, it was sealed off right after the death of John Jones who was trapped inside. He died after spending 27 hours in a small opening in the cave, unable to be extricated by rescuers. "It was a perfect cave for beginner cavers, recreational cavers and Boy Scout groups," he said. One was, I dont know, maybe 6 or 7 hours long. He passed away at the age of 23 leaving his wife (Emily) as well as one daughter (Lizzie) and a third baby in the process of being born by June 10, 2010. On November 24, 2009, a man named John Edward Jones (January 21, 1983 November 25, 2009) became stuck and subsequently died in the cave after being trapped inside for 28 hours. We had two rescues within about a week of each other about four years earlier. I guess at least he was in contact with people. The Optimistminds editorial team is made up of psychologists, psychiatrists and mental health professionals. The cave system was named after the soft, brown, putty-like texture of the clay found in many of its passages. [7] A large team of rescue workers came to his assistance but were unable to retrieve Jones using a sophisticated rope-and-pulley system after a pulley failed mid-extrication. The two Boy Scouts had become trapped within a week of each other. I wonder why they didn't give him enough drugs to knock him out. But even once help came, John was still trapped 400 feet into the cave and 100 feet below the Earths surface. At that point, John had been trapped for three and a half hours. The best plan they had was to use a system of pulleys and ropes to try to free John from his perilously tight spot. "Had he been oriented the other way, it's my opinion he would have gotten out.". He was actually beyond that in an unnamed, really unexplored part of the cave.. John Jones was an average 26 year old married guy who went caving in the Nutty Putty cave in Utah on November 24th 2009 with his family and friends, but tragically got stuck and eventually died in the cave. Thanksgiving has now become a time when Emily hears from those who think of her and John and reach out. 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. Web After those rescues in 2004 the Nutty Putty Cave was closed to the public. Unfortunately, Johns first expedition into Nutty Putty Cave, southwest of Utah Lake and about 55 miles from Salt Lake City, was his last. He is so supportive of that, of having the kids know their dad and be close to the Jones, Emily said. (Photo: Dave Cawley, KSL Newsradio). Many of the passages in this cave are this narrow or even narrower. At roughly 8 pm, the group stepped into the cave's narrow entrance and began exploring. "We're here to inform, teach and get people into caving safely.". The book is also available in audio and is rated 4.7/5.0 Definitely a good read to know more about this event. I believe it was about 30 yards that poured down into the main opening to give it as permanent of closure as you could get for it.. His body was deemed unrecoverable and the cave was sealed off. Downey remembers getting a phone call at 1 or 2 a.m. "I was the Grotto secretary and I had all of the contact information for the local caving community," says Downey. Today she points to a song to recall the anguish and what it took to overcome her husband's death, the subsequent birth of their child, wading through difficult changes and single parenthood, and then to remarry and give birth to a third child. At 11:56 p.m. on the night before Thanksgiving, the search and rescue team determined Jones had died. Jones, of Stansbury Park, died just before midnight Wednesday about 28 hours after getting wedged into a tight, unmapped passage of Nutty Putty Cave. This was because John was stuck 100 feet below the surface and 400 feet into the cave system. (Image: Jones Family Handout) But after more than 24 hours trapped upside down, the pressure and stress on his body . At 28 hours upside down in the Nutty Putty Cave, rescuers attempted one last pull using a series of complex pulleys. She remains close with the family, including Johns siblings, who still call and check on her and ensure her family can make it to the annual Jones family reunion. The Nutty Putty Cave was known for its notoriously narrow spaces. But the incident of John Edward Jones highlighted its presence worldwide. She said she feels blessed to have her children, to have found Donovan, to have learned all that she has learned. Web A medical student with a wife and 2-year-old daughter Jones was exploring the cave when he suddenly found . Then came the tragic death of John Edward Jones in 2009, when the 26-year-old father and medical student became hopelessly trapped upside down inside a narrow fissure and couldn't be rescued. Here is everything to know about the caves and the dreadful incident. NUTTY PUTTY CAVE, UTAH: The body of John Edward Jones, who died in the Nutty Putty Cave in Utah, is still yet to be recovered more than a decade after his death. She said that was the last thing she was interested in after John died. Web john edward Jones. The entrance of Nutty Putty Cave on Blowhole Hill in Utah County on March 7, 2019. Analyses done on the clay in the 1960s found that it was composed of tiny particles of silicon dioxide (the main component of sand) roughly 3 microns (less than 0.0001 inches) in diameter. Shaun Roundy, one of the rescuers on the scene, explained the difficulties facing anyone, even experienced spelunkers, who went into Nutty Putty Cave. A film about the tragedy titled The Last Descent was released on September 16, 2016. Luego vino la trgica muerte de John Edward Jones en 2009, cuando el padre de 26 aos y estudiante de medicina qued irremediablemente . It was very characteristic of a hypogenic cave.". SO SO SAD HOW HE PASSED. Workers had tried feverishly to free. Of all the fascinating horror stories on YouTube this one I keep coming back to cuz it really unsettles me 11 years after the event I still feel for the guy. His former wife Emily has since left and has re-married. Web It was at BYU that John met his sweetheart Emily Dawn Petersen and they were married in 2006. Concern mounted in 2005 after the tragic drowning deaths of four young Utahns in a nearby cave on "Y" Mountain. I was talking with my daughter about thissaid and thought the Exact same thing you said! That is why they could not even get his body out when he died. This man went through hell and died anyway. Theyre a really amazing family.. John Jones died in Nutty Putty Cave Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009. Deborah Elizabeth Sawyer Age, Justin Fuente Net Worth: Is He Actually Fired? He was originally described to have been in an area called Bobs Push which is just near the Birth Canal area, both restricted physical features inside the cave that are challenging, Utah County Sheriffs Sgt. John Jones died in Nutty Putty Cave Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009. Not even after his death did the authorities manage to remove his body. The Grotto set up an online reservation system that only allowed one group in the cave at a time, and the entrance to the cave was padlocked shut at night. I heard about John and his devastating fate when I watched Isacc Halasimas The Last Descent that was recommended by a friend. I planned on helping John get through medical school, raising our family together and being a mom.. She said she had several experiences that left her certain that John continued to exist, despite his death. He left behind his wife Emily, a young daughter and a baby boy on the way (he's named John). ", From 1999 to 2004, six different people became stuck in one of Nutty Putty's narrow passages. He was born January 21, 1983 in Sandy, Utah. Get more stuff like this in your inbox. How Do You Survive Getting Lost in a Cave? He wanted to explore one of the narrowest tunnels of. With this realization it was becoming more and more evident that it would probably not be possible to get him out in time, because even as all these processes were happening, John Joness body was going through massive cardiovascular stress because he was stuck upside down. Life is still wonderful and beautiful and good, even though bad things happen, because Heavenly Father has a plan for us., Copyright 2023 Deseret News Publishing Company. The cave is 55 to 60 . Eventually, he got trapped upside down in a narrow bend measuring only 40 cm at its widest point. What a horrible way to go. About an hour into the caving expedition, John Jones decided to find the Nutty Putty Cave formation known as the Birth Canal, which is a tight passage that spelunkers must crawl through carefully and in addition to being extremely narrow and slippery, it is also extremely perpendicular to the ground, meaning that the person needs to go headfirst towards gravity, the opposite of what the human body is meant to do. But its no use second-guessing things. Subscribe to our mailing list and get interesting stuff and updates to your email inbox. After this, hundreds of excited cavers went spelunking into the Nutty Putty Cave, looking for adventure. https://www.deseret.com/2014/11/24/20553477/five-years-after-tragedy-nutty-putty-cave-remains-sealed, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutty_Putty_Cave. Spelunker John Jones stuck upside down in a cave. John hadn't gone cave diving in quite awhile, so he never should've received a permit to even go down into the cave. John Jones would have turned back at this stage of his cave exploration when he realized that he wasnt in the right branch of the cave, but the problem was that it was too narrow to even wriggle back out the way hed come which meant that he had to try to press forward because he thought that there was a widening of the crevasse in front of him which would allow him enough space to twist and turn and come back out. John Jones, 26, of Stansbury Park died about 12:30. A medical student from the University of Virginia, John Edward Jones explored the Nutty Putty Cave in November 2009. Rescuers and people with knowledge of the area also said that even if John Jones could have gone forward into the cave it could not have mattered, as there wasnt nearly enough space even further to do what John had been wanting to do, and he was going to be stuck either way because the chamber closed off after the point where he was at. John Edward Jones, 26, will have his final resting place in the Nutty Putty Cave, as members of the Utah County Sherriff's office announced there will be no more rescue efforts due to the. Ultimately the decision was made that it was too much risk for the rescuers to remain there in an effort to get him out and the decision was made to leave him in place.. A film was created about the life of John Jones, called The Last Descent. Cave Haven reports that Jones was a married medical student with one child who was just looking for a bit of fun and family time that day. It had reopened just six months before John Jones had entered the cave. Regardez le Salaire Mensuel de John Jones Nutty Putty Cave Pictures en temps rel. All John and Josh, both devout Mormons, could do at this point was pray. It was their first time in Nutty Putty and a throwback to. Evander Holyfield Spouse: Who Is Candi Calvana Smith. Right before the thanksgiving holiday in November 2009, the Jones family decided to take a trip to one of the nearby cave systems, known as the Nutty Putty cave, as a way of spending time with each other, and this huge group decided to explore this cave because they never had before. Unfortunately, the pulley system failed and Jones sank deeper into the hole. Although Jones' death is the first known fatality since cavers began exploring Nutty Putty's narrow passageways in the 1960s, rescuers have been called to the cave five times in the last 10 years. The two started talking on the phone and, when Donovan had a conference in New York City, part of a model United Nations class, she decided to go meet him. But when her son John was around 1 year old, she started to notice that he would latch on to any man who spent time with him. "Hes such a little joy and Lizzie and John just adore him," she said. John was back home to Utah on vacation with his family when they decided to go caving, also known as spelunking. John knew he was now just about stuck and had no room to turn around. Donovan then took a teaching job in Dallas through Teach for America, and the couple welcomed a son, Emerson, last December. A second tip suggesting the same arrived one day later. "They told me, 'I need to get contact information for really skinny cavers.'". . The story was both tragic and frightening in the same moment. They were coming to announce that they were expecting their second child. They split up to search for it, and this was when John got stuck in one particular passage. The reason this happened was because having his chest sucked in caused him to go into an even narrower portion of the cave, and because of this he was jammed at a point where he could not possibly go forward from and could not come back out either. John Jones felt in this part of the cave that he would perhaps not be able to move forward unless he sucked his chest in a bit, or perhaps he did it instinctively, it is not known, but rescuers believe that his sucking his chest in at this point was the reason he went farther than he could have had he not done so, and right after that, when his chest expanded again because of his natural breathing rhythm, he got stuck. While wriggling forward through one particularly tight passageway in a far reach of the cave, Jones became stuck. Knock me out and if I wake up with broken or even amputated legs it's better than what really happened to him. The closure of the cave was opposed by some members of the spelunking community. Jones died after being trapped for over 24 hours. What a HORRIBLE way to die! No matter what he tried, he wasnt able to get out of the jam he was in. Johns brother Josh found him soon after he had gotten stuck, and he tried to figure out some way to get his brother out, but to no avail, because the space was too narrow for Josh himself to do any significant pulling on his own as well, and even though Josh tried to pull at his brothers calves John just slid down into the passage even further, because the Nutty Putty cave is extremely slippery. Imagine you were stuck there and no one knew about it. Id had my fair share of doubts and struggles, but after my experiences after Johns death, I knew death wasnt the end. Jones family via Deseret NewsJohn Edward Jones, the man who died inside Nutty Putty Cave in 2009. And now, with John Edward Jones trapped inside the cave, time was running out. (Photo: Dave Cawley, KSL Newsradio). Between 1999 and 2004, six individuals became trapped in one of the . casey_h6 President Joe Biden's doctor said no further treatment was required for a skin lesion that was removed and found to be cancerous. The body of John Jones is also still inside the Nutty putty cave because the operation that would have been required to get his body would likely have endangered even more people, and therefore led to more injuries or even deaths, which is why the decision was taken to seal off the cave with him inside. According to Halasima, he had also tried to go spelunking in the Nutty Putty Cave. We did our best.. Web On May 18 2009 the cave was reopened to the public. John was at the Nutty Putty cave with his brother and nine other friends and family members. You had to work hard to get in trouble.". 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. Johns death had caused such a stir that the Nutty Putty Cave was immediately closed to the public due to safety concerns. It is where this new family of five make their home. If you have any questions or comments about John Jones cave please feel free to reach out to us at any time.