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A 26-year-old man suffered one of the worst deaths imaginable , and now, over 15 years later, a touching tribute has been made at the site where he lost his life. John Edward Jones died tragically in 2009 after he became stuck in what is known as Nutty Putty Cave, sitting roughly 55 miles outside of Salt Lake City in Utah . At the time of his death, he was a medical student and avid explorer keen to uncover new caves alongside his brother Josh and other loved ones. In fact, it was when he was with his family, just a few days before planning to celebrate Thanksgiving together, that John found himself stuck inside of a narrow tunnel. This part of the cave is often referred to as the 'birth canal', an horrifying name given what happened to John hours later. He was trying to explore what was a tight passageway with a place to turn around at the end but he took a wrong turn. That part of the cavewas unmapped, and as a tall man of six foot, not an easy space to wriggle out of. Using all of his strength in his hips, stomach and fingers, the 26-year-old soon found himself wedged in there, upside down. The L-shaped passageway holding him captive just so happened to be an impressive 400 feet from the cave’s entrance and measured a mere 10 inches by 18 inches. With each breath, he became further trapped in this incredibly tight space and, despite his brothers' best efforts, they were unable to get him out. Over the course of the next 24 hours, more than 100 rescue workers worked tirelessly to try to free John. Sadly, John never made it out of the cave and back to safety and tragically died after suffering from cardiac arrest right at the end of the day on November 25, 2009. It took 27 hours of being stuck in the cave before he lost his life, and since then, the cave has not been entered and is now sealed off completely to avoid anymore loss of life. A few years ago two YouTubers known online as the Legacy Crawlers paid a visit to the site, and in their video revealed a touching tribute that has been made by John's loved ones. There, on what was once the entrance to the cave, sat a memorial, with a picture of John, commemorating his life and his tragic death. Speaking about her late husband in 2016, John's wife Emily told Deseret News : “I can say that I know for sure, without a doubt, I know there is life after death. I know John is still alive. “I know because I’ve been able to talk to him since he died, and I’ve had several experiences where the veil has been thin, and I’ve had these sacred moments where I don’t understand everything and my faith is not perfect, but I know he’s out there, and I know there’s life after death.”
