Harrowing last words of explorer who suffered ‘worst death imaginable’ inside Nutty Putty cave
The Nutty Putty Cave was already notorious among the caving community and welcomed thousands of visitors each year, but it became infamous across the world following the tragic passing of John Edward Jones.
The 26-year-old is said to have suffered the 'worst death imaginable' inside the tourist attraction, situated southwest of Utah Lake and around 55 miles from Salt Lake City, when he fatefully headed inside with his family.
John and three of his relatives had decided to explore the Nutty Putty Cave on 24 November, 2009, just a few days before the Thanksgiving holiday in the US - but sadly, the dad-of-one never made it back out.
The medical student and explorer, who considered himself an experienced caver, is said to have essentially 'crawled into his own grave' when he climbed inside the hydrothermal cave 15 years ago.
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Although even Boy Scout troops and college students had been inside the Nutty Putty Cave, it was well known for being extremely narrow with tight twists, turns and crawls, where four separate rescue operations had already taken place.
Despite this, the six foot tall and 200lbs John was keen to travel deep into an extremely tight, but still doable, passageway which had a turnaround at the end, known as 'The Birth Canal'.
But the young man had unknowingly taken a wrong turn and had mistakenly entered an unmapped passageway - where he ended up getting trapped in an area measuring just 10 inches by 18 inches.
John was stuck upside-down inside the cave, before he went on to endure what YouTuber FatalBreakdown described as '27-hours of claustrophobic hell' while his brother Josh helplessly watched on.
He was wedged around 400ft from the cave's entrance with no way to turn around, while one arm rested above his head and the other dangled down by his side - prompting a huge rescue mission.
Volunteer Susie Motola explained that despite being trapped on a downward angle, John was still quite chipper.
He told her: "Hi Susie, thanks for coming but I really, really want to get out."
Moments of utter panic did ensue though, during which John said: "I'm going to die right here. I'm not going to come out of here, am I?"
More than 100 emergency responders were involved in the efforts and they set up a rope-and-pulley system in the hopes of being able to free him from the passageway.
It seemed to be working for a second and the team were able to lift him high enough to make eye contact with the rescuer who was closest to him, who asked how he was doing.
John responded: "It sucks. I’m upside down. I can’t believe I’m upside down. My legs are killing me."
But suddenly, the pulley system failed under the strain which plunged John back down into the hole and into an even more unfortunate position.
A metal carabiner had slammed into rescuer Ryan Shurtz face and injured him in the chaos - which is what John was more concerned about, even though he was confined inside the Nutty Putty Cave.
He apparently asked: "Is he OK? I think he's really hurt bad."
Another rescuer switched positions with Shurtz, who then realised that John's breathing had become much more shallow and a lot less frequent as he struggled to hold on any longer after an exhausting 27 hours being stuck upside down.
Ultimately, the responders were unable to reach the dad to free him and he was pronounced dead on 25 November, 2009, after he suffered a cardiac arrest.
It was deemed far to dangerous to try and retrieve his body, prompting the Jones' family and the landowner to come to an agreement to permanently close the cave with John still inside.
The Nutty Putty Cave became a memorial to Jones, while the entrance hole was filled with concrete to prevent further access - while John's story lives on as a cautionary tale to cavers around the world.
Olivia Burke