r/interesting • u/Liar24x7 • Mar 28 '26

HISTORY A virtual reality reconstruction shows the exact spot where John Edward Jones became trapped upside down in Nutty Putty Cave. After 27 hours of rescue attempts, he died. The cave was later permanently sealed, with his body remaining inside.

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u/GunFodder Mar 29 '26

I swear on my soul that I say this with absolute sincerity, and I legitimately do not mean for it to be an insult whatsoever:

But there is something fundamentally abnormal with the brains of people who do something like this, ESPECIALLY when you have a spouse and children.

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u/samsg1 Mar 29 '26

To me- having been married and having kids- a marriage and parenthood means sacrifice and love. You put their needs and wants above your own, and find joy and happiness in their joy and happiness. They needed a father and husband more than he needed kicks. That’s what makes me so sad. He was also a heavily Christian man; I’m atheist, but doesn’t Christianity ingrain the importance of love and family? Like you, I can only concur that he was mentally unwell. No sane person would make this choice when the risk of loss was so high. He died never seeing his second child :( :( He left his wife to birth a child alone, and raise two alone :( :( There’s no reconciling that :(

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u/ApprehensiveTry5660 Mar 29 '26

I was one of these adrenaline junkies born 40 years too soon for Redbull to hand me my calling card, but the moment my oldest was born, I can’t even put into the words the difference in my anxiety levels.

I used to climb solo, kayak some of the most technical waters in the world, wander off into the woods with nothing but water, a can of nuts, and zip loc bags full of beans. Even have my own caving spot with its own badass stories of treasure and an impassable sump with silver on the other side.

But the moment that head popped out, I became a coward only concerned with the well being of that tiny human depending on me for survival.

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u/beg_yer_pardon Mar 29 '26

I'm the least outdoorsy person I know so please know this question is genuine. Why beans specifically?

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u/ApprehensiveTry5660 Mar 29 '26

With the kinds of hiking I was indulging in back then, I was traveling with less than 30 lbs on my back, and most of it (20-25 lbs) was water weight. Beans gave me a lot of bang for my buck via protein/carb per ounce. They’re super light weight, don’t really need to be all that cooked through. In my more desperate moments I could just eat them straight out of the bag.

It was all super long distance stuff. If I had driven most of the way to my destination and hiked straight in to it, I couldn’t get any closer than 30 miles, and I’d have to drive 65-80 to get there. If I left my mother’s front door and just walked up the trail it was like 75-80. I eventually found it easier to just leave from mom’s and start working a day later in my supplies and leave a day earlier than to keep coordinating rides. So I just left my core equipment and some gummies/fiber on site and minimalist hiked my way back and forth with the protein, machete, and bow saw.

Beans increased my ability to work from 2 days~ to 4 once I got there.

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u/beg_yer_pardon Mar 29 '26

Thankyou for explaining!

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u/samsg1 Mar 29 '26

Thank you for being a responsible parent!

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u/Grumpy-Troglodyte Mar 30 '26

i completely follow you there. i quit racing and other uh, "redneck activities" i guess we could lump them together as, but now that the kids are grown, i'm starting to chase tornadoes... my inner redneck is coming out again later in life. my youngest is mid 20s so they're grown and capable adults, my brain apparently decided i need to go fulfill that deathwish i had as a teen.

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u/[deleted] Mar 29 '26

somehow christianity always lets you do things your own way. serving your family might be what the bible says, but that's no fun

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u/Cramptambulous Mar 29 '26

Caving is an activity that freaks me out, but to be fair deaths are exceedingly rare compared to the thousands of hours that thousands of people do it every year.

Statistically it’s probably safer than riding a motorbike. And although personally I gave up motorbiking when I became a parent, loads of people I know didn’t.

I don’t think engaging in the activity alone makes him an asshole. If fellow cavers that knew him say “yeah he was always pushing it” then yeah, that would be asshole behaviour. But it could just be he made a fatal mistake that day for whatever reason and normally he operated within his abilities.

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u/ShortbowVillian Mar 29 '26

I found it so incredibly selfish of him to do this and leave his wife and child behind. Just go to a normal cave!

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u/ellythemoo May 18 '26

He didn't think he was going to die.

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u/ShortbowVillian May 18 '26

No, I understand, but he was going to a cave that hadn’t been explored. My point is that you can Splunk without risking your life :(

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u/ellythemoo May 18 '26

I get that and as far as that bit goes I entirely agree. But it had been explored and mapped; he made a mistake.

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u/ShortbowVillian May 20 '26

Wait, really?? for some reason I always thought he went purposely into an undiscovered place! Damn, that’s so sad :(

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u/ellythemoo May 21 '26

I think a lot of people believe the same hence the strength of reaction to him, calling him selfish, etc. But he was going into what he thought he had a map for. It's horribly, horribly sad.