Nutty Putty Cave

Once one of Utah's most popular caves, Nutty Putty Cave is a twisting underground maze that was explored by college students, Boy Scouts and amateur cavers. They would put themselves to the test against passages named the Birth Canal and the Big Slide.

Today, it is sealed with concrete to keep explorers from entering. It was permanently closed following the tragic death of 26-year-old medical student John Edward Jones after he became trapped upside down in a narrow crevice. His body remains inside the cave, making it his final resting place as well as a memorial.

Nutty Putty Cave Location

Located west of Utah Lake in Utah County, roughly 55 miles south of Salt Lake City, Nutty Putty Cave is a hydrothermal limestone cave.

First explored in 1960 by Dale Green and several friends. A local rancher told Dale about the cave after noticing warm air rising from it. Inside the cave, the group found a network of chutes, chambers, and narrow passageways. It extended approximately 1,400 feet. Dale also encountered soft brown clay that was similar to putty when squeezed. First, he thought about calling the site Silly Putty Cave, but later decided Nutty Putty sounded better.

Formed differently from many other limestone caves, Nutty Putty is classified as a hypogenic cave, meaning hydrothermal water rose from below, dissolving the surrounding rock. This created irregular shafts, fissures and tight squeezes instead of spacious horizontal caverns.

Despite the warm air that the rancher noticed near the entrance, temperatures in much of the cave remained in the mid-50s Fahrenheit, but many of the cramped areas could feel much warmer due to humidity, body heat, and limited airflow.

Notorious Status

It was frequently described as a beginner cave, but this concealed some serious hazards.

The passageways were narrow, irregular and slippery. The heavy foot traffic the cave was getting gradually polished portions of the cave walls, giving cavers less friction to work with. While moving through certain areas of the cave, explorers would have to creatively contort their bodies, crawl on their stomachs or exhale to fit through a rather tight spot.

One of the most famous areas of the cave, the Birth Canal, was extremely narrow but led to a space where cavers could turn around. The other popular feature was the Big Slide, and other passages such as Ed's Push extended toward much tighter, less forgiving areas.

There were several cave explorers that became stuck before 2009, two rescues occurred within about a week in 2004, including the rescue of a teenager who was trapped upside down for hours.

Nutty Putty attracted an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 visitors annually at its peak. There was a gate installed in 2006 to limit access. Later, the cave closed while the Timpanogos Grotto, a local chapter of the National Speleological Society, attempted to develop a management plan with the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, the owner of the property.

The cave was reopened in May 2009 with an application and reservation process. Six months following the reopening, John Jones entered the cave for what would become its last descent.

How John Edward Jones Was Trapped

On November 24th, 2009, John Jones entered Nutty Putty Cave with a group of family members and friends. He was a second-year medical student at the University of Virginia. He was married with a young daughter, as well as expecting a second child with his wife.

Jones and several others decided to separate from the larger group to find the Birth Canal. Jones ended up taking a wrong turn into a narrowing passage somewhere near Ed's Push, this narrow passage ended in a steep fissure.

He thought he had found the Birth Canal's turnaround, so he entered the narrow passage headfirst. He proceeded to crawl over a small rock lip and continued downward until he was no longer able to move forward or reverse direction.

The space that his body was pinned in was commonly described as approximately 10 by 18 inches. Jones was about 6 feet tall and weighed close to 200 pounds. He was wedged at a steep angle with his head below his feet.

Once he was stuck, his brother, Josh Jones, attempted to pull him free, but was unable to. Two friends eventually made their way out of the cave to call for help.

The Rescue Attempt

A large rescue team was assembled by the Utah County Sheriff's Office, 137 people participated in the roughly 27-hour operation.

Reaching Jones was difficult in itself. Rescue workers had to pass through hundreds of of feet of narrow, twisting cave. That was all before they arrived at the location where only a few people could work at once.

They attempted to pull Jones out by hand, they also tried to remove sections of rock and construct a rope-and-pulley system anchored to the cave walls. These pulleys were intended to shift his weight and move him toward a horizontal position.

Their efforts seemed to be working for a time, Jones moved upward far enough for rescuers to improve their access to him. Eventually his feet reached the low cave ceiling, however, preventing rescuers from changing his angle.

An anchor then pulled loose from the weak rock. The pully system lost its tension and Jones slipped back into the crevice. One of the rescuers, Ryan Shurtz, was injured by equipment during this.

But, the problem wasn't just the ropes, the cave walls could not reliably support the immense force needed to lift Jones around the rock lip that was holding his torso.

There was another hazard as well. Jones was trapped upside down. The human body isn't designed to remain inverted for many hours. Blood is forced toward the head buy gravity, making it harder for the heart to circulate blood effectively. Add on the pressure against the chest that can prevent the lungs from expanding normally to the danger as well.

Jones was compressed and nearly vertical, making every breath more difficult. Hours passed and he became less able to assist rescuers. His body temperature and other vitals were becoming increasingly concerning.

Eventually, rescuers were unable to get a response from him. Jones was pronounced dead by a paramedic shortly before midnight on November 25, 2009. He was trapped for approximately 27 hours.

John Jones's Body

His body remains inside Nutty Putty Cave.

After his death, officials considered whether they were able to recover his remains and concluded that removing the body would expose additional people to an unacceptable risk.

Jones's family and government officials agrees that the cave would become his final resting place. Explosives were used to collapse part of the passage near his body and the entrance was blocked off with poured concrete as well as another internal opening.