Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Nutty Putty Cave Incident

Episode Date: February 5, 2025

This is the story of John Jones and the Nutty Putty Cave Incident.

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Colagard is available by prescription only. Learn more or request a prescription today at colagard.com slash screen. So this guy, his name's John, and John is about to die in the scariest way I can think of. Prepare to have nightmares. Now John, he's 26, he's a smart dude, he's about to start med school, but one day, John and his younger brother, who will call little brother, John, little brother, and a bunch of their friends, they all decide to go spulunking or cave exploring. They want to explore this local cave that people explore all the time. So they all drive over to this cave, and they find the end. entrance and it's not like one of those big caves you'd see in a cartoon, it's a little guy that you

pretty much have to crawl into. So soon, John and Little Brother and like nine of their friends, they descend into this little cave entrance and they make their way into the open area. And they're crawling around and they're exploring and they're having a good time. And then about an hour later, they're still at it. And John and Little Brother and a couple of their friends, they decide to check out this area called the Birth Canal, which is a long, narrow tunnel that you'd have to crawl through. And that tunnel eventually opens up into a bigger area. So they explore deeper into this cave, and John crawls through the narrow tunnel part of the birth canal.

And this passageway is really pretty tight, and as he crawls deeper into it, it gets tighter and tighter. But no matter how narrow this tunnel gets, John, he keeps pushing forward because he knows the larger area of the birth canal is coming up. But then, like out of nowhere, suddenly the tunnel takes a sharp downturn. And bam, he slides down into an even smooth, And then, kaboom, he's stuck. Because John was never in the birth canal.

He actually took a wrong turn and ended up in a dead end tunnel, and now he can't get out. So John immediately tries not to panic, but his arms are pinned in such a way that he can't use them. And to make it worse, he's upside down. So all the blood is quickly rushing to his head. Here, let me show you a diagram I found of how he was stuck. Like, look at that. Imagine being stuck like that. Like that is nightmare fuel.

So John is scared and he yells out for help. And little brother, he catches up to him and he sees John's feet kind of sticking out of the crevice. And he tries with all his force to pull him out. But unfortunately, he can't get any leverage because he's in a narrow tunnel too. So pretty quickly, little brother crawls back out of the cave and he calls 911. And he's like, come quick. My brother is stuck upside down in a cave. And four hours later, the rescue team starts to arrive.

And it took a while because it's late at night and this cave is way out there. Now, the first to arrive on the scene is this woman, Susie. And she's small, but she's an experienced spillunker. So she crawls into the cave and she gets to John pretty quickly and she's like, we're gonna get you out of here. So Susie ties a rope around John's ankles and she tries to pull him out. But she immediately realizes there is no way she can do this on her own. So they bring the rope outside to the entrance of the cave where there's room for multiple people to pull it.

So they all grab the rope and they pull and they pull, but the rope keeps getting caught on the rocks. And it's just not working and they can't get him out. And even more time passes. And by this time, a whole ass rescue team has showed up. And they put their heads together and they decide the only way to get John out is to set up a legit rope and pulley system. Which means they're going to have to drill into the walls of the tunnel. So they start drilling into the walls of this tunnel. But this process is excruciatingly slow.

Not to mention, it's humid as fuck in that cave. So after a couple of hours of them drilling, Susie, who is the closest to John, she can't do it anymore, she has to tap out. So then another rescuer steps in, this guy, Ryan. So now Ryan's in the cave closest to John, and he's basically just looking at John's feet. And he and John talk and have conversations for like hours as they wait for the team to set up this pulley system.

Meanwhile, John's wife, this woman, Emily, she's back at her in-law's house. And they've been informed that all this is going on. And she's just there waiting on this phone call of someone saying, John is okay and he's out of the cave. But unfortunately, that call doesn't come. So then the next morning, she and some other family members, they head over to the cave site and they get there.

And by this time, there's over a hundred people there, all working to get John out and they still can't do it. And the rescue workers, they like set up a two-way radio system so that Emily can talk to John and they talk and they tell each other that they love each other and whatnot, and it's a nice moment. But then even more time passes. And at this point, John has been in there upside down for 19 hours. And the pulley system is finally ready.

So Ryan secures the rope around John. And Susie and seven others on the ground outside, they count down and they start pulling. And they pull and they pull as hard as they can. And suddenly, John starts to slowly rise out of the dark. And they pull again and again and again. And by the fourth pull, John lifts out of the crevice. He's almost out. Until.

Suddenly, a boom, a small arch in the cave crumbles. And one of those metal rings snaps forward and hits Ryan in the face so hard that it knocks him unconscious. And John immediately falls back down into the crevice. And shortly after, when Ryan regains consciousness, he's bleeding and his jaw is broken. So he has to leave the cave and go get medical attention. And so Ryan's dad comes in and takes over that spot. And then Ryan's dad ends up getting stuck in part.

of the tunnel. But luckily it's only for a while and he's eventually able to get himself out. And this whole time, while they're trying to get him out, the worst is happening to John. His breathing starts to get more and more shallow and little by little he gets less and less responsive. Being upside down in that position for so long is putting strain on his heart. Okay, let me explain to you why this is so dangerous for John. Because I know you're probably thinking, Ray. So what if he's upside down? Was it going to make him dizzy? Is it going to going to give him a headache? No, it is much worse than that. Your body is designed to function and pump blood right side up. That's what it's always done. Its whole life, it is accustomed to dealing

with gravity in only one direction. So when you go upside down for a long period of time, gravity causes blood to rush toward your head, which will cause your heart to work harder to pump all that blood against gravity, which is going to greatly increase the stress on your cardiovascular system. The human heart can actually deal with this kind of stress for a long period of time. I mean, hours, I'm sure. But eventually, it's going to give out. Not to mention, all of those organs in your lower abdomen are now sitting above your lungs, meaning they can push down and put weight on your lungs, making it much harder for you to breathe. And if this sounds like torture to you, that's because it is, literally, many cultures in the past used to hang people upside down as a form

of torture. It's called inverted hanging. Because a normal hanging generally unalives you instantly, but an inverted hanging is a long, painful way to die. Anyway, the rescue team keeps trying. And they drill even more holes to re-rig the pulley system so they can give it another shot. But that's taken a long time and everyone's working their ass off to make this happen. But then, just before midnight, John has become completely unresponsive. And they have a paramedic crawl into the cave to check his vitals, and the paramedic determines that, sadly, John has passed away. He had been trapped upside down for over 27 hours until he died of cardiac arrest. And here's what John looked like in real life.

And the worst part is, John is so deep in that cave that they can't retrieve his body, so they just have to leave him there permanently. And ultimately, they close that cave to the public forever, and they seal it shut. And eventually, they put a bronze plaque where the entrance of the cave used to be, a plaque that memorializes John, and is a reminder of probably the worst way to die.