The day before Thanksgiving in 2009 I was invited to assist with the Nutty Putty Cave rescue of John Edward Jones. I ended up being the last person to see him alive, though at the time I arrived he was mostly unconscious. Since that time I have received numerous questions from reporters and curious individuals. Recently there has been an uptick in those requests as a result of some viral videos that have been posted. This is my attempt to provide information and help answer the questions that I am qualified to answer.
The day after the rescue efforts failed I wrote up a detailed account from my perspective of the rescue while it was fresh in my mind. Keep in mind that this is only one perspective from someone who arrived at the scene toward the end of the rescue efforts.
For a more well-rounded perspective I would encourage you to read Lindsay Whitehurst’s two-part Salt Lake Tribune article.
I will provide some commentary below my report with the footnote number indicated in report in parenthesis.
WARNING: This report contains descriptions of John Jone’s condition, passing, and post-mortem condition that could be disturbing to some readers. Out of respect for John and his family, I have tried to keep descriptions as general possible while addressing the challenges we were up against.
Nutty Putty Rescue Report
Written for SAR on November 25, 2009
I received the first call at 9:00 or 10:00 AM from Spencer Christian and Rodney Mulder that there was a rescue underway at Nutty Putty. They asked me if I could assist, but after asking a few questions about what was going on it seemed there were already enough people on site to carry out the rescue. I told Spencer and Rodney that if the rescue went on for a while and people started getting exhausted, and they absolutely needed me, that I would come.
About 5 hours later Spencer called me up and asked me to respond, saying that people were getting tired and they really needed small cavers. So I left work at about 4:00 PM, ran home to grab my caving gear and then headed out to Nutty Putty. I arrived at the site at about 6:00 PM and was put on the next group to go in the cave at about 6:30 PM.
When I arrived to the main passage at the opening of the Birth Canal people were working on the 4 to 1 haul system they had installed. I assisted for about 5 minutes, until it was decided that the system didn’t seem to be working (1) and the people by John Jones (the victim) needed a break. So the cavers that were working with John headed out.
On the way out I spoke with Andy Armstrong. I asked him how John was doing and he said that he was quickly going downhill, that he was in and out of consciousness and had started talking about seeing angels and demons around him.
As soon as they were out, we decided that I would head in first to assess the situation and see if I had any ideas for removing him, and then Debbie would work with John, since she had already spent some time with him getting to know him and she thought he would feel more comfortable with her.
So I went in first. In the back of the passage, right before you arrive at where John now is, there is an extremely tight crawl perhaps 18 inches wide and about 8 to 10 inches tall that takes a sharp 90 to 120 degree turn that you have to enter feet first. You have to maneuver yourself very carefully and you cannot see where your feet are standing until you pass the restriction. As I wormed my way in I felt my feet touch something soft which ended up being John’s feet. I felt them move and immediately lifted my feet and worked my way horizontally into the crack.
John’s feet were about 6 feet past the constriction and I was able to shift myself to the side of him and down the 4 foot wide fissure. After stabilizing myself by jamming my body into a narrower section of the crack I began speaking to John asking him how he was and introducing myself. There was no response. I shifted my position a little and tapped him on the leg. I could hear him breathing a deep gurgling breath, as though his lungs were filling with fluid. Then his feet shifted as though he were trying to maneuver his legs out of the crack he was jammed in. The kicking looked fairly frantic and after a second he stopped and it looked as though he had drifted into unconsciousness. (2) I continued tapping him on the legs and hip to see if I could get a response, but there was no response.
From there I spent a few minutes studying the passage, the positioning of John, and the rig that was set up, to see how we could get him out from here. It looked very bleak. I wondered if it was even possible to get him beyond this point. We could continue trying the rig, but it looked like he could only be lifted another foot or two in his current position because of where the webbing was anchored around his knees. After a foot or two his feet would hit the ceiling. And then once he reached the ceiling, there was no way to tilt him to a horizontal position. He would have to do it himself, but he was now unconscious. And even if we could get him into a horizontal position, he would then have to maneuver the most difficult sections of the passage he was trapped in. If he were conscious and had his full strength there was a minute chance he could possibly do it. But even if that was the case it looked grim. It was even difficult for me, weighing 125 pounds, to get myself out. At the bend where the restriction was I had to creatively contort my body to slip through. So to get a 210 pound, unconscious person out seemed pretty much impossible. The other option I saw was to use a jack hammer to widen the crack he was and remove a couple of knobs and then widen the tight spot, and then pull him straight out. He would be cut up very badly and probably end up with several broken bones, but if nothing else would work, that seemed like the best option.
Between me climbing out and Debbie taking my place there was a request to take the radio down to John so that his family could say some words to him. I think it was his father, mother, and wife who spoke to him, telling him that they loved him and were praying for him and that his father had given him a blessing. His wife mentioned a feeling of peace, that everything would be OK. She talked to him about 5 to 10 minutes before I told her that we needed to get back to working at getting him out.
At that point I crawled out to let Debbie squeeze past and take a look and assess the situation, but when she got to the tight hole, both legs cramped up and she was unable to make it down. At that point I decided to try using the jack hammer. So we waited for it to arrive and then I carried it down to where John was located. The tool was much heavier than I anticipated and to hold it up while wedging my body in the crack took everything I had. Even then, I couldn’t get a good angle on the rock because of the confined space and limitations in my own mobility and positioning. I only got three tries at a small lip just below Johns foot, but because of my angle the hammer just kept sinking into the sand at the side of the rock lip. I tried shifting my position, but it seemed like everywhere else I moved I couldn’t get a handle on the jack hammer because of it’s length. I only had about 2.5 feet of space between me and the rock that needed drilled and the jack hammer was probably 3 to 4 feet long. And then trying to hold it in such an awkward position wore me out pretty quick.
At that point I requested something smaller, but there didn’t seem to be anything available, and even if there had been I don’t know if a small hammer drill would have done much against the solid limestone walls. So we returned to the Birth Canal to have a quick meeting to decide what to do.
At that point it sounded like the drills were having issues or something like that, and the only option we had for drilling was to use the compressed air hammer. It took probably an hour or so to get hose down so we could use it. While we waited, we decided that perhaps the best bet was to try widening the hole from the top down, working our way towards John instead of away from him. Once the drill arrived Debbie, Max, and I spent about an hour and a half chipping at the passage a couple of feet above the tight spot – about 7 to 9 feet away from John. Areas where the rock was softer came apart fairly easy, but the harder formations took an incredible amount of effort. The main problem was that because space was so limited it was difficult to hit the rock at the right angle, so instead of chipping off the knob you would end up cutting a hole straight into the floor.
After an hour and a half we had only knocked off about a 18” x 4” section of rock on the ceiling and on the ground. And that was at the wider section of the passage. From that point on the cave was even tighter so that if you were laying in the passage and weighed 125 pounds you only had about 3 to 6 inches of space above you. Not very ideal for holding a jack hammer or even being able to choose the most effective angle. To continue the process, or even if we switched to micro-blasters, my estimate was anywhere from 3 to 7 days to get back to where John was. So once again we regrouped to decide what the next plan of action was.
By now it was close to midnight and we were asked to check vitals on John. They sent in a smaller paramedic to see if he could get back to John. In the event he couldn’t he showed me how to use the stethoscope and thermometer and where to check for a pulse. It was 11:30 PM when we left the group by the birth canal and ventured down the passage. It took about 15 minutes to get to John. I went first to check, just in case the paramedic couldn’t fit. I first tried the stethoscope and was only able to get it about 3 inches up and to the right of his naval. I didn’t hear a distinct heart beat, only some ruffling, fluttering sounds that were probably a result of me shaking as I tried to steady myself in an awkward location. I then jammed my hand between the rock and pressed as far up his torso I could go to feel for breathing. I didn’t think I felt anything, but again it was difficult to tell as I was shaking from trying to steady myself. His chest, where it was pressed up against the rock, felt warmer than the rest of his body and was sweaty, but every where else his body temperature was close to the temperature of the rock on the cave walls. From there I removed his shoe and attempted to check his temperature. The thermometer read nothing, which the paramedic said was because the temperature was below the range. As I took his shoes off and moved his feet I noticed that his feet and legs were significantly stiffer than they had been earlier and it was difficult to his leg more than a few inches.
I reported my findings to the paramedic above and then crawled out so that he could see if he could squeeze in. He was able to get dow to the point where he could feel his feet and confirm he had passed away. John Edward Jones was pronounced dead at 11:52, I believe it was.
At that point we decided to return topside for a debrief to discuss what our next plan of action would be. As everyone headed out, the paramedic and I went back in to take pictures of the passage and John’s position.
With John now deceased the effort required to remove his body would be exponentially more challenging. His stiffening body wouldn’t be able to make the bend through the tight spot above his feet, without significant alterations to the passage, which could take days or weeks with a hammer drill, perhaps slightly faster with micro-blasters. Any swelling would make it next to impossible to get him out of the crack he was wedged in until the swelling had reduced. There was no way to connect him to a rope other than by his feet. After a few days, we would need a hazmat suit and masks to work with the body, which would severely overheat any rescuers trying to get him out. With pants and a short sleeve shirt a person is usually dripping with sweat in about 10 to 15 minutes and can work for about 30 to an hour before needing a break. With a hazmat suit and mask you could probably work for 5-10 minutes before needing a break, not to mention the limit to your mobility. The body recovery idea looks very grim. (3)
Photos from the Rescue
NOTES
- The 4 to 1 haul didn’t work because there were so many twists and turns in the cave between where there was room for a group to stand and haul and John’s position that the friction, even with pulleys in place was enough to render the haul system ineffective.
- This was the moment he passed away.
- Ultimately it was decided it would be too risky to rescuers to attempt to remove the body, and to this day Nutty Putty Cave is the final resting place of John Jones.
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COMMENTS
Comment about Comments Below
I really appreciate everyone’s kind and encouraging words in the comments below, as well as your questions. Unfortunately, I no longer have time to respond to questions and comments. I will continue to approve the comments you post as long as they are family friendly, but just know that I only log in to approve comments every few weeks.
Thanks again for your kind words!
1. Most records are going to have inconsistencies when there are several records of the same event and they are based on the biased perspectives of multiple people. Like the story of the blind men and the elephant. https://www.peacecorps.gov/educators-and-students/educators/resources/blind-men-and-elephant/story-blind-men-and-elephant/. Plus you have a lot of people interpreting those and making statements.
2. I just sort of moved on after about a month or so when the loose ends were wrapped up, and didn’t really think much of it after that, so yes, I was pretty surprised when people started reaching out to me years later.
I think what you are seeing are some rocks and a flashlight stuffed back in the crack. That area pinched off a few inches beyond the paramedics far leg.
Hi Brandon, I just have a couple questions.
1)Do you think its possible to retrieve john’s body from that cave? I heard about the incident around 8 years ago. The fact that his body still remains in that ghastly position still doesn’t sit well with me.
2)Seeing your responses it seems as if you barely have any emotional thoughts on the matter. Is it that it has been so long and/or you have seen many similar situations that you don’t feel it’s that big of a deal? or is it that it has been so long that your feelings on the matter has dulled greatly. Or maybe your feelings on the matter wasn’t strong from the start.
3)No one other than the few people(6 people including you) i believe has seen john jones after he got stuck in that cave. Many images claiming to be john jones (his 2 legs) were shared around but none of them were verifiably true. Reading through one of the articles you linked, I heard that a part of his jeans was cut in order to make more space. Do you have any pictures of John Jones in his final resting place? I Have searched far and wide for the existence of such pictures but have never found any.
4)Do you have anymore pictures of Ed’s Push that you can share? maybe the paramedic has some sitting about? Something that can give wider scope than the ones we have access to.
1. Probably not.
2. I do feel the pain and suffering John and his family had to endure. I’m just able to mentally work through traumatic things like that fairly quickly (within a few hours to a week or so), and don’t put much thought to those experiences after I’ve worked through them. It doesn’t do me any good to dwell on something that I have no control over.
3 and 4. All the pictures I have are posted here.
Thank you for your rescue efforts, for posting your original post, and for continuing to answer questions on this matter.
I have one question. Why would it have necessitated breaking his legs to haul him out, as I’ve heard mentioned/alluded to many times? He was able to move his body in ways to get in, so I don’t understand why his body couldn’t have been moved around in ways to extract him.
Thank you.
Brandon there is a page on Facebook that was created due to this event feel free to check it out and post if you feel comfortable it’s all about facts of the case
Hey Brandon, I have another question.
When Spencer and Rodney first called you about the rescue, did you think it would be simple or challenging? When you came to assist and saw John’s position, what did you immediately think?
Thank you
Ty
Cool. Thanks for sharing Andrew.
I don’t remember discussing breaking his legs as an option for getting him out. If someone did it probably would have been in response to trying to figure out how to get him around the tight bend just above where he was stuck, once he became incapacitated. It would be hard to move someone his size through that without enormous force which would potentially cause some broken bones.
Your story is incredible. Thank you for everything you did in that situation to try and rescue John. You are forever a hero ❤️
Thanks for your reply.
I believe I’ve seen reference to breaking his legs in other places online where I’d read about this incident or watched video. It was always in connection with extracting him from where he was wedged, not in connection with subsequent maneuvering him through the passages. See, for example, https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/07/09/nutty-putty-i-really/ (“The team pulled. They pulled again. But John’s feet hit the tunnel’s low ceiling. With his heart struggling to pump blood into his legs, the contact made him scream in pain. The rescuers came to a horrible realization: The angle of the tunnel meant they couldn’t bend John’s body backward without likely breaking his legs..”)
Perhaps this is consistent with what Bobe says above: “Pretty impossible, but John needed to have been hoisted up from his hips. That way his legs could have been free to back up without hitting the ceiling.” So I guess if you’re pulling from the feet, the legs/lower body aren’t free to pivot at the pelvis the way they would have when going in.
In any event, I can’t imagine being in that predicament. I could hardly watch the scenes in Last Descent where he got into the situation, it was so claustrophobia-inducing. (Similarly, having been in tight spaces diving, I shuddered watching the entire documentary on Netflix about Thai soccer team cave rescue……..) Props to you, again, for what you do.
Hi Brandon, I’m really sorry to hear about the incident. I only just now heard about it, and wanted to know or ask a few questions if it’s ok.
1: What were you feeling the second you entered the cave?
2: Did you have any thoughts thinking “could these cave collapse while I’m down here?”
3: Does the incident still make you feel a sense of sadness, not including the other rescuers?
4: The images gave me claustrophobia just looking at them, I can’t imagine what you were feeling deep inside actually being there. If you don’t mind me asking, did you REALLY want to go down, or was it the desperation to save John that drove you to go?
That’s all I have for now. I wish you and John’s family well.
J didn’t mean to make the 4th question to sound personal, I couldn’t figure out how to word it differently 😅
1. Nothing out of the ordinary. I’ve been in hundreds of caves. This was just another day underground to help someone out.
2. Never crossed my mind. Caves are exceptionally stable. If a portion of a cave collapses while a caver it is it, it would have been really bad luck on their part and most likely it was just their time to go and they would have died in some other way that day if they hadn’t died in the collapse. Witness a collapse in a cave is extremely rare.
3. Not really. I don’t think about it much these days, other than when I respond to comments here. It’s a distant memory. I stopped thinking much about it probably a month after the incident occurred.
4. I’d been down the same are John was stuck in before when we mapped it (albeit feet first) and it never really bothered me. I didn’t push beyond where John’s head is, because I was more certain it didn’t go than that it did go and because I wasn’t about to put myself in there head first to see if it did because I knew that would have put me in a very precarious position. But it never really bothered me. I’m pretty comfortable in tight places.
Hi Brandon,
I’m very interested in the part where you say John started to see angels and demons around him.
Is it possible that you could expand on that, please?.
Hi! Thank you so much for your post. This really helped me to process his death. It really affected me and made me feel so much sadness when I came across it.
If I may, can I ask a question. I just don’t understand how nobody else was stuck where he got stuck in all the years that Nutty Putty was open to the public. Is there a reason for this? Did people just avoid that section of the cave because it wasn’t mapped? Thank you.
Wow man you are truly a hero.
I have difficulties to understand how his arms was placed?
How far the feets were above the ground?
HAve you watched the movie?
I wonder how he can have good air, oxygen if he was trapped in a hole?
While his chest was stuck, he cannot takes deep breath, man that’s gotta be atrocious.
You have all our respect, I’m glad there ar epeople lime you in this world.
I don’t speak english so excuse my mistakes.
Unfortunately, all I know is that he was incoherent. No one for sure knows exactly what he meant or why he was saying what he was saying.
I don’t know either. I’m pretty sure of the thousands of people who visited Nutty Putty that a few of them must have ventured back there, but who knows. It’s not too terrible if a person goes in feet first instead of headfirst. It’s not easy, but definitely not deadly. Maybe he was the first person to attempt it headfirst. We’ll never know.
No problem.
1. One is up against his side the other down and above his head.
2. Not sure I understand that question.
3. Yes.
4. The air in caves generally circulates with changes in barometric pressure. The ground is porous and so there is always an abundance of oxygen.
Brandon, It’s so awesome to see you answer all these questions in depth. I learned so much reading through this, never stop being a gem to the community!
Hi Brandon, thanks for being so attentive to peoples questions after such a sudden surge of interest in this case. I’m a blogger from Russia and while editing this story I was amazed by how hard the rescue team worked and tried to do what they can in such an impossible situation. So I wanted to focus a little more on rescuers’ efforts rather than on John’s pain and suffering. I also thoroughly enjoyed the tactful and calm way you write and ask questions about this unfortunate event.
In case you know, could you please tell more about Ryan Shurtz and his injury when the pulley system failed?
I’ve also heard that one of the rescuers got stuck for a while in the same crevice with John while trying to put the rope around him, do you know anything about that?
I wish you the best of luck!
And would be happy to recite your phrase from above about how taking well calculated risks is what makes life worth living, as a conclusion for my video about this incident.
Best,
Anya
Greetings Brandon,
There’s one idea that’s bothering me. What if they chiseled the “ceiling” above John, then put a part of pulley system to get him out of this position, drawing him horizontal, with no legs being obstruction no more? Would that be possible?
Thank you for your time and care in explaining what happened. It’s a very sad story and scary story because one mistake took his life. Or did he make more than one mistake? Obviously it wasn’t a good idea to squeeze head-first, straight down into a tight space. But how do you know when it’s safe to creep forward head-first and when it’s not? Why didn’t he just back up? What would more experienced caver done in his situation? Thank you for your efforts to save his life.
Hey Brandon, I hope all is well.
1) Do you recall ever losing your composure or were you pretty level-headed and focused the whole time?
2) Obviously everyone there wanted nothing more than to rescue Jon, and I can imagine the tensions were extremely high with many frustrating moments – but I’m curious what the sentiment was regarding his positioning. Do you remember anyone saying things such as “what was he thinking?” or “I can’t believe he went head first”. In other words, do you think it was perceived as an innocent ‘freak accident’ or was that area of the cave known well enough that rescuers were perplexed that he would go head first?
3) What do you think it is that separates people that are afraid of tight spaces from those of us who don’t generally feel panic in tight spaces but rather enjoy it? Have you noticed any other corresponding personality traits for either type?
4) Have you done any caving in Arkansas or Missouri?
5) If you could choose 3 words to describe/sum up the Jon Jones incident and its impact on you what would they be?
Awesome photographs, btw! Take care and thanks for responding to us.