The Nutty Putty Cave Rundown
The Nutty Putty Cave is dangerous. Furthermore, the hydrothermal cave located westbound of Utah Lake in Utah County, United States. The cave is well known among regular and professional cavers because of its narrow pathways. It’s also known among college students and Boy Scout troops.
How Was the Cave First Discovered
The discovery of the Nutty Putty Cave was marked in 1960 by Dale Green and his companions. The name of the cave originates from the resources inside it like the soft, brown, putty texture of the clay found in most of its pathways. Basically, the clay is silicon dioxide, usually found in sand.
Green originally was going to name it “Silly Putty” but his final thought was “Nutty Putty” because it sounded better. Minerals complete the complex structure because the cave was formed with extreme heated water which forms limestone.
A Series of Accidents
Due to the popularity of the cave, it attracted thousands of visitors who wanted to see what it was like so of course a few accidents would come with that. Through 1999-2004, six accidents happened in the Nutty Putty Cave.
In one of those incidents, six people got stuck in a narrow passageway. Fortunately, they made it out of Nutty Putty Cave alive. There was a huge worry that the next incident may be a fatal one.
What contributed to this was the disastrous drowning deaths of four young people who explored another cave. It’s interesting that the cave is nearby the Nutty Putty Cave on “Y” Mountain. This incident would close down the Nutty Putty Cave for a few years.
John Jones’ Upbringing
John Edward Jones, born on Jan. 21, 1983, would grow up and develop a passion for caving. Jones and his brother, Josh, were taken on caving expeditions as little children by their father. He experienced the underground world at such an early age. The father opened the gate of caving to Jones and Josh, exposing them to the dark extent.
The Fatal Day
On Nov. 25, 2009, Jones and three others scattered in search of “The Birth Canal,” a tight and navigable passageway. When Jones entered an unmapped passageway, he thought was the Canal, it marked the start of his demise. The passageway was dead-end. Jones had nowhere else to go but a narrow vertical fissure.
However, Jones got stuck in the Nutty Putty Cave. After being trapped for 28 hours, the caver died.
Tragic Conclusion
Jones thought the fissure was a turning point, so he entered head-first and got stuck upside-down. The fissure was 400 feet away from the main entrance of Nutty Putty. A huge team of rescue workers arrived at the scene and set up a rope-and-pulley system trying to extricate him.
The rope-pulley system was put under strain, and it failed; causing Jones fall into the hole once again. Furthermore, he went into cardiac arrest after the strain sat on his body for over several hours. It was fatal because of the state his body was in.
Aftermath
It was too dangerous to try and get his body out, so the landowner and jones’ family made an agreement to permanently close the cave. Jones’ body would forever stay in Nutty Putty Cave and both families made a memorial of it.
Concrete filled the entrance hole, leaving no access to the cave. Sadly, Jones left behind an his daughter who was unborn at the time.
By Kam’ron Stinson
All That’s Interesting: The Harrowing Death of John Jones Inside Nutty Putty Cave
howstuffworks: Nutty Putty Cave: Before and After the 2009 Tragedy
GRUNGE: The Tragic Death of John Edward Jones at Nutty Putty Cave
Top and Featured Image Courtesy of Pete‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Petr Hykš‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
