Nutty Putty Cave: The Story of John Jones' Tragic Fate and Its Aftermath

Discovered in 1960 near Salt Lake City, Utah, Nutty Putty Cave quickly became a popular spot for Boy Scout troops and college students, drawing in 5,000 visitors annually. This all changed after the tragic accident in 2009, when 26-year-old John Edward Jones, a father and medical student, got trapped upside down in a tight fissure. Despite the efforts of rescuers, they were unable to reach him in time.

Since then, Nutty Putty Cave has remained closed, with Jones' body left inside, making the site a solemn memorial. Today, visitors can only find a plaque honoring Jones and the concrete seal that now blocks the cave's entrance.

More than ten years after the tragic event, we revisit the fateful day, hear from seasoned Utah cavers about their experiences exploring Nutty Putty Cave, learn about its history and geology, and reflect on how the 2009 accident affected the local caving community.

A Wrong Turn

On November 24, 2009, John Jones, a Virginia resident in Utah for Thanksgiving, joined his brother and a group of 10 others on a visit to Nutty Putty. After years of not caving, they began exploring around 8 p.m., going through the Big Slide. Jones, his brother, and two friends decided to search for the Birth Canal, one of the cave's most confined passages.

John entered headfirst into a tight, waist-high hole but quickly realized there was no way to turn around. Spotting a fissure, he believed he could squeeze through and return. However, he likely exhaled to fit through the narrow space and ended up wedged upside down at a 70-degree angle.

John's younger brother tried desperately to rescue him but quickly realized the gravity of the situation. "Seeing his feet and how deeply he was trapped by the rock, that’s when I knew it was serious," the brother recalled to the St. Lake Tribune. "It was really serious."

It was time to call for help.

A Rescue Mission

Realizing Jones was stuck upside down, rescuers sprang into action. Susie Motola, a 5-foot-3-inch caver, was in the midst of moving but stopped everything to assist. She spent two hours trying every possible method to either free him or make him more comfortable. When she needed a break, another rescuer took over.

After considering their options, the team began to work on a pulley system. When Ryan Shurtz reached Jones, he found that talking about Jones' family helped him refocus. They also set up a way for Jones to communicate with his wife, who urged him to keep fighting.

By the time the system was fully prepared, he had been hanging upside down for 19 hours. As rescuers slowly began to lift him, the rope couldn’t support Jones' weight combined with the force exerted by the rescuers. A carabiner struck Ryan in the face, knocking him unconscious. Upon regaining consciousness, Ryan insisted that someone had to stay with Jones, leading his father, Dave Shurtz, to descend in his place. Eventually, Jones stopped speaking.

Dave continued his efforts to free Jones but became stuck himself. He had to use all his strength to escape the cave. When he emerged, Dave reported to the Utah County sheriff, "He's dying right now. He has a heartbeat, but he struggled to breathe before I arrived. There’s no way to bring anyone down there in time to save him."

Pronounced Dead

Brandon Kowallis was the last rescuer to reach Jones. "I ended up being the last person to see him alive, though by the time I arrived, he was mostly unconscious," he recounted in a blog post detailing his experience.

Kowallis described his attempts to drill and requested lighter tools to aid in freeing Jones, but none of the equipment proved effective. With Jones already unconscious, there was no way to release him.

"Even if we managed to position him horizontally, he would still need to navigate the most challenging parts of the passage where he was trapped," he wrote. "If he were conscious and had all his strength, there might have been a slight chance he could do it. But even in that case, the situation appeared bleak. It was hard enough for me, weighing 125 pounds, to get out. At the bend where the restriction occurred, I had to twist my body in a creative way to slip through. So, trying to remove a 210-pound unconscious person seemed virtually impossible."

Kowallis and a paramedic eventually descended to check Jones' vitals. The paramedic instructed Kowallis on how to use a stethoscope and thermometer in case Kowallis couldn't make it to Jones himself. Kowallis went first and applied the tools.

"I didn’t detect a clear heartbeat, just some rustling, fluttering sounds that were likely caused by my own trembling as I tried to stabilize myself in a tight position," he wrote. "I then shoved my hand between the rock and reached as far up his torso as I could to feel for any signs of breathing. I wasn’t sure if I felt anything. His chest, where it was pressed against the rock, was warmer than the rest of his body and sweaty, but everywhere else, his body temperature matched the temperature of the cave walls."

He relayed his findings to the paramedic and stepped aside to let him approach Jones. The paramedic officially declared Jones dead.

'A Crawly Little Cave'

Like so many Boy Scouts before him, Matt Paulson's first experience with caving took place at Nutty Putty. At just 12 years old, he was "grossly underprepared," but he nervously followed his troop down into the cave entrance, crawling on his stomach through a narrow, muddy passageway that led into a larger downward shaft known as the Big Slide.

Today, Paulson serves as the Chair of the Timpanogos Grotto, the local branch of the National Speleological Society, which once oversaw access to Nutty Putty. According to Paulson, Nutty Putty was easily the "most popular cave" in the area.

Richard Downey, the Grotto's treasurer and historian, had spent decades leading those same Boy Scout trips into Nutty Putty.

"It was a crawly little cave," Downey recalls. "There were also some larger passages. It was thought to be quite easy, which is why Boy Scouts and locals would enter with just flashlights and sandals. You had to go out of your way to get into trouble."

Formed From Below

Most caves are formed in limestone, which over time is gradually eroded by slightly acidic groundwater. Nutty Putty, however, is also a limestone cave, but instead of being shaped by water dripping from above, it was formed from the bottom up through hydrothermal activity.

Paulson clarifies that Nutty Putty is a hypogenic cave, created when superheated water is forced upward into a layer of limestone, and the minerals in the water gradually erode the rock above, creating cave shafts.

"Traditionally, these caves are highly intricate, with numerous domes and three-dimensional passages, which was the case with Nutty Putty," Paulson recalls. "It had narrow squeezes that led into large chambers, followed by more tight passages. It was a prime example of a hypogenic cave."

Perhaps due to its hydrothermal origins, temperatures inside Nutty Putty remained at a steady 55 degrees Fahrenheit (12.7 degrees Celsius) year-round. A 2003 survey mapped 1,355 feet (413 meters) of the cave, reaching a depth of 145 feet (44 meters) from the surface.

The cave's most distinctive feature was the strangely thick clay seeping from some of its walls. The cave's first explorer, Dale Green, likened it to Nutty Putty, the original name for Silly Putty. Just like Silly Putty, the clay transformed from a solid to an elastic fluid when gently squeezed.

Downey explains that the clay was "sound active," meaning if you yelled at it, it would start to ooze and shift. Research conducted on the clay in the 1960s revealed that it consisted of tiny particles of silicon dioxide (the primary component of sand), measuring about 3 microns (less than 0.0001 inches) in diameter.

Hints of Trouble

Given Nutty Putty's immense popularity, drawing thousands of visitors each year, it was almost inevitable that some amateur cavers would find themselves in trouble.

"Many of those visiting Nutty Putty were novices, or they were trying to impress a date or something else," Downey says. "They often found themselves in situations they wouldn't have gotten into if they had simply taken a moment to stop and think it over."

Between 1999 and 2004, six different individuals got stuck in one of Nutty Putty's narrow passages. It's no surprise that three of the cave's tightest squeezes are nicknamed "The Helmet Eater," "The Scout Eater," and "The Birth Canal."

While all six of those trapped cavers managed to escape Nutty Putty unharmed, the Utah County Sheriff's Office and search and rescue teams grew weary of making frequent trips to rescue tourists from the cave. They began to fear that the next incident might result in a fatality.

Concerns escalated in 2005 following the tragic drowning deaths of four young Utahns in a nearby cave on "Y" Mountain.

Nutty Putty Cave was closed in 2006 due to safety issues, but reopened in May 2009 after a cave management plan was established with the Timpanogos Grotto. The Grotto implemented an online reservation system that allowed only one group to enter the cave at a time, and the cave's entrance was padlocked overnight.

A Jones Family Outing Ends in Disaster

"As cavers, we're taught to avoid going head-first into a narrow downward squeeze," Paulson explains. "Had he been positioned the other way around, I believe he would have made it out safely."

News cameras captured the 27-hour struggle as 137 volunteers worked tirelessly to rescue John, who was slipping in and out of consciousness as blood accumulated in his head, placing immense pressure on his heart. Downey recalls receiving a phone call around 1 or 2 a.m. during the ordeal.

"I was the Grotto secretary and had all the contact details for the local caving community," Downey recalls. "They told me, 'We need contact information for really skinny cavers.'"

Despite the valiant efforts to rescue John Jones, he passed away just before midnight, the night before Thanksgiving. He left behind his wife, Emily, a young daughter, and a son on the way, who would be named John in his honor.

According to Downey, many of the volunteer rescuers were left deeply shaken by the experience, and some have not been able to enter a cave since. When it became clear that Jones' body could not be recovered, Nutty Putty was permanently sealed, marking it as his final resting place.

Paulson expresses sorrow over Jones' death but maintains that caving remains a safe activity, especially when undertaken with proper equipment and guided by an experienced professional.

"That’s the reason grottos of the National Speleological Society, like ours, can be found across the United States," Paulson says. "We aim to educate, guide, and help people enjoy caving safely."

Cave Safety

Incidents like Nutty Putty have served to emphasize the critical importance of caving safety.

The Tham Luang Cave Rescue (2018) stands as one of the most incredible survival stories in recent history. In Thailand, 12 young soccer players and their coach found themselves trapped in the cave for more than two weeks after a sudden flood. The mission to rescue them involved a coordinated international effort, including skilled divers and military experts, culminating in the safe rescue of all 13. This dramatic event captured the attention of the world and underscored the risks of cave exploration, especially during monsoon seasons.

The Tham Luang Cave incident (2018) became a global sensation when 12 young boys and their soccer coach were trapped underground due to a sudden flood. The group was trapped for over two weeks before being rescued by an international team of divers and military personnel. The mission was a testament to human determination and the challenges faced by rescuers in perilous situations, drawing international attention to the dangers of cave exploration in flooded conditions.

The Mossdale Caverns Tragedy (1967) is remembered as one of the most devastating cave accidents in the United Kingdom. In this incident, six skilled cavers became trapped in the caverns after heavy rainfall led to flash flooding. Tragically, none survived. This disaster highlighted the importance of strict safety protocols for caving, leading to significant changes in the safety measures for cave explorations in the UK.

In 1967, the Mossdale Caverns in North Yorkshire, England, became the site of a heartbreaking tragedy. A group of six experienced cavers found themselves trapped when sudden rainfall triggered a flood. All of them perished, and the event led to the reformation of caving safety protocols across the UK, ensuring greater protection for those venturing into the caves.

The tragic Floyd Collins Cave Accident (1925) remains one of the most notable incidents in cave exploration history. Floyd Collins, an experienced caver, became trapped in a narrow passage within Sand Cave in Kentucky. Despite attempts to rescue him, he died after being stuck for over two weeks, a story that drew nationwide attention and spurred changes in rescue operations for caving accidents.

Floyd Collins' tragic entrapment in Sand Cave in Kentucky led to one of the most highly publicized rescue attempts in history. Despite multiple efforts to free him, Collins died, and his ordeal captivated the nation, shining a spotlight on the dangers of cave exploration and inspiring widespread media coverage.