When you think about how you’re going to die, most people imagine being old and grey and taking their last breath peacefully with their loved ones at their side. Unfortunately for 26-year-old John Edward Jones, that’s not what happened. During a caving expedition in Utah in 2009, he became stuck upside down in a cave and eventually died.
- Jones had been caving all his life. So, when the opportunity arose to check out Nutty Putty Cave, about 60 miles from Salt Lake City, he and his family headed over to see what it was all about.
- It was supposed to be a trip that helped the family connect. John and his brother Josh headed up the trip, which took place a few days before Thanksgiving, and a number of other family members and close friends were in attendance, as well.
- John went looking for the “Birth Canal.” The six-foot, 200-pound man was trying to find the passage through which explorers have to crawl to make it through the other side. Thinking he found it, he began crawling through head-first, only to soon realize he was very wrong.
- He soon realized he was stuck. The passage he’d crawled into not only wasn’t the “Birth Canal,” it also wasn’t wide enough for him to make his way back out of. It was only 10 inches by 18 inches, which left no room to push himself back out or move around.
- John exhaled all the air from his lungs hoping he’d be able to get out. However, it didn’t work, and when he inevitably had to breathe in again, he was wedged tightly with no way out.
- Josh tried to pull his brother from the small space. However, it was totally impossible, and Josh had to leave his brother in the space, roughly 400 feet from the opening of the cave, to go and get help.
- Over the next 24 hours, a massive rescue mission took place. Specialist equipment was brought down into the cave, and more than 100 rescue workers came to aid in the operation.
- For a while, it almost seemed like it was going to work. At one point, rescuers managed to rig a pulley system to pull John a few feet out of passage, but one of them broke and John slipped further down, trapping him permanently.
- Sadly, John died of a cardiac arrest. After being trapped for more than 24 hours upside down, his heart experienced severe stress from trying to keep his blood flowing around his body. Just before midnight on November 25, he was pronounced dead.
- Authorities later sealed the cave off forever. Unable to remove John’s body, they sealed the cave with him still inside, hoping to keep others from meeting the same tragic end.
