A Utah cave was sealed shut with a man still inside, and 16 years later someone just visited and said ‘he’s alone out here’

It has been 16 years since the death of 26-year-old John Edward Jones inside Utah’s Nutty Putty Cave, and the site remains a sealed-off memorial. A content creator known as ScootSki recently trekked to the remote location to pay his respects, capturing footage of the area where the cave entrance was permanently closed. For those familiar with the history of the site, it is a stark reminder of the dangers that once lurked within 1,400 feet of chutes and tunnels.

First explored in 1960 by Dale Green, the cave was named for the soft, brown clay found throughout its passages. As highlighted by LADbible, before it was shut down, it was a popular spot for Boy Scout troops and college students, despite its reputation for being slippery and tight. It saw four separate rescues of people getting stuck in its narrow crevices before the fatal incident in 2009.

On November 24, 2009, John Edward Jones, a medical student, ventured into the cave with his brother Josh. They were looking for an area called the Birth Canal, a tight but navigable passage. John instead entered an unmapped, narrow vertical fissure he mistakenly believed was the turnaround point, and ended up wedged upside down in a space measuring just 10 by 18 inches. Every time he breathed, his chest expanded against the rock, trapping him further.

The cave’s design made a tragic outcome all but inevitable

Rescuers worked for 27 hours to free him, setting up a complex rope and pulley system. That system failed under strain, causing John to fall deeper into the fissure. He suffered cardiac arrest and passed away at 11:56 PM on November 25, 2009. Because the location was so dangerous and difficult to reach, his family and the landowners decided to leave his body inside and seal the cave. They used explosives to collapse the ceiling near the passage where he was trapped, and filled all entry points with concrete.

When ScootSki visited the site last November, he had to navigate through remote terrain to locate the area. The cave entrance is now hidden behind large rock formations, but memorial plaques have been set up to honor John and the rescuers who tried to save him. One plaque remembers him as a loving father, husband, and friend, while another expresses gratitude to the rescue workers for their bravery.

Standing at the site, the YouTuber reflected on the isolation: “Damn, bro. That’s the worst way to die. I am currently above his body. That is so weird. I’m the only one up here, too, like for miles. This is crazy. And he’s also just, he’s alone here. Damn, that must be lonely, bro. Buried in the middle of nowhere.”

Even before the 2009 tragedy, the site had a problematic history. In 2006, it was estimated that over 5,000 people were visiting the cave annually, often without proper safety gear. A gate was briefly installed that year to manage the flow, and it was only reopened in May 2009 after a new application process was established. The cave’s reputation as a dangerous underground space is not unusual, amid broader public fascination with what lies underground, including a viral theory about missing persons near cave systems across national parks.

Following the closure, some cavers petitioned to keep it open and attempted to cut through gated entrances, but those efforts were unsuccessful. Today, the site is owned by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration and remains strictly inaccessible. The cave has attracted other curious visitors over the years, not unlike the photographer who retrieved a camera left in a cave a decade earlier and found more than he bargained for.

While the physical cave is gone from public reach, its story has lived on through the 2016 documentary The Last Descent and through a recreation added to the game Cave Crave in 2025.