It is a nightmare that most people can't even finish reading about without feeling a physical tightness in their chest. You’ve likely seen the diagrams. The narrow, downward-sloping crack. The 26-year-old medical student stuck upside down at a 70-degree angle. The 28 hours of frantic, heartbreaking rescue attempts that ultimately failed. But years after the tragedy, one question lingers for those who stumble upon the story: Is John Edward Jones body still in the cave? The short answer is yes.
He is still there. He will almost certainly always be there. John Edward Jones remains entombed in the exact spot where he drew his last breath in November 2009, inside the Nutty Putty Cave in Utah. It wasn't a matter of neglect or lack of effort. It was a brutal, pragmatic decision made by officials, the family, and search-and-rescue experts who realized that bringing him out was quite literally impossible without risking more lives.
Why they couldn't get him out
People often ask why they didn't just "pull harder." It sounds simple when you're standing in the sunlight, but the physics of Nutty Putty Cave were unforgiving.
John was stuck in a fissure known as "Ed’s Push." He had mistaken it for the "Birth Canal," a popular but tight squeeze elsewhere in the cave. This specific crevice was barely 10 inches by 18 inches. Think about that. That is roughly the size of a standard opening of a clothes dryer. He wasn't just stuck; he was wedged around a lip of rock that acted like a barb. Every time he exhaled, his body sank deeper into the V-shape of the crack.
Rescuers used a complex pulley system. They worked for hours. At one point, they actually managed to lift him a few feet. They were even able to give him food and water and let him talk to his wife over a radio. But then, a bolt anchored in the fragile, "popcorn" textured rock of the cave walls snapped. The pulley system collapsed. John fell back into the hole, deeper than before.
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After he passed away from cardiac arrest—a result of being upside down for over a day, which causes blood to pool in the head and puts immense strain on the heart—the mission shifted from rescue to recovery. But the danger hadn't changed. The rock was loose. The space was claustrophobic. The logistics of breaking rock around a deceased person in such a tight space meant that more rescuers would have to spend dozens of hours in a high-risk environment.
The sealing of Nutty Putty Cave
Utah County officials and the Jones family eventually reached a somber agreement. The cave would not just be closed; it would become a tomb.
They didn't just lock the front door. They used explosives to collapse the ceiling near where John was located. Then, they poured concrete into the main entrance to ensure no one would ever go back in. There’s a plaque there now, a small memorial on the surface of the hillside, overlooking the valley. It’s a quiet place.
Some cavers were actually pretty upset about this at the time. Nutty Putty was a legendary spot for local scouts and students. It got thousands of visitors a year. But the liability and the sheer trauma of the 2009 event made the decision permanent. Honestly, when you look at the maps of how deep and twisted those tunnels were, it's a miracle more people didn't get stuck earlier. There had been several close calls in the years leading up to John’s death, including two people who got stuck in 2004. The cave was trying to tell us something long before it finally took someone.
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The physical toll of being stuck upside down
To understand why John died, you have to look at the "orthostatic" strain on the human body. Our bodies are designed to pump blood against gravity toward the brain. When you flip that equation, everything breaks.
The heart isn't used to the sheer volume of blood that rushes into the head when you’re inverted. Lungs begin to fill with fluid (pulmonary edema). It’s an agonizingly slow process. John was 6 feet tall and 190 pounds. He was a big guy. Forcing that much mass into a 10-inch crack meant his chest couldn't fully expand. Every breath was a fight.
Sheriff's Deputy Brian Higbee and the dozens of volunteers from Utah County Search and Rescue saw the toll firsthand. They saw the way the cave "swallowed" people. When the decision was made to seal the cave, it was largely to prevent another family from going through that same agonizing 28-hour wait.
Is the cave still accessible at all?
No. Don't try it.
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I’ve seen threads on Reddit and old forums where people talk about "secret" entrances or trying to dig back in. It’s not happening. The concrete plug is massive, and the area is monitored. More importantly, it’s a matter of respect. The Jones family lost a husband, a father, and a son. Treating the site like a macabre tourist attraction is something the local community takes very seriously.
The Nutty Putty Cave tragedy changed the way many people look at "wild" caving. It shifted the focus toward more regulated, mapped, and safety-conscious exploration. Many caves on public land now have much stricter gate systems and permit requirements because of what happened in that hole in 2009.
What we can learn from the Nutty Putty tragedy
If you’re a hiker or an amateur explorer, there are a few hard truths to take away from this. First, never enter a cave system without a detailed map and a "surface contact" who knows your exact exit time. John was an experienced caver, but he hadn't been in a cave for years, and he was working off old memories.
Second, understand your "point of no return." In caving, there is a physical sensation of being "pushed" by the narrowness of the walls. If you have to exhale to move forward, you are entering a zone where you might not be able to move backward.
John Edward Jones’ story is one of the most tragic in the history of mountaineering and caving rescue. It’s a story of a man who went out for a fun pre-Thanksgiving adventure with his brother and ended up in a situation that no amount of modern technology could solve.
Today, the silence inside that hill in Utah is absolute. John is still there, resting in the dark, and the cave has been returned to the earth.
Actionable insights for outdoor safety:
- Always carry three sources of light: A headlamp, a backup flashlight, and a secondary backup. Your phone does not count as a primary light source in a cave.
- Check local registries: Most caves on public land require you to sign in. This isn't just bureaucracy; it's so they know where to start looking if you don't come home.
- Know your dimensions: If you are a larger-framed person, "squeeze" caving carries exponentially higher risks of becoming wedged.
- Trust your gut: If a passage looks too tight or the rock feels "crumbly" or unstable, turn back. There is no shame in exiting a cave early.