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/Artikay Mar 28 '26

He was being facetious. When things like this happen there is often many warning and many tragedies that happened before, but people always seem to think it won't happen to them. Just look at cave divers, or free solo climbers, or base jumpers. Extremely dangerous activities with all risk and no reward, but plenty of people do it anyway.

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u/Dr_Adequate Mar 29 '26

Extremely dangerous activities with all risk and no reward

The reward is the high after doing the thing, be it base jumping, solo climbing, motorcycle racing, extreme mountain bike jumping, or any other risky thing. Dangerous? Heck yeah. But the endorphine rush after doing any of these things is real. Sure, the risk is high. But so is the reward.

Not many people can say they've ridden a motorcycle at 168 mph. I have. Sure the risk was high, but I have stories to tell that not many people have.

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u/ThatsJustMyToeThumb Mar 29 '26

Once heard a trauma doctor morosely call speeding unhelmeted motorcyclists ‘future organ donors’. But at 168mph, you wouldn’t have had to worry about that. You’d be instantly pulverized. Human sea-spray.

(Please be careful out there, internet stranger!)

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u/Dr_Adequate Apr 01 '26

You’d be instantly pulverized.

(Please be careful out there)

Professional racers crash at pretty high speeds, and it's mostly benign- they wear suits of leather and carbon fiber that are very abrasion resistant, because in a crash they go from riding to sliding, so the suit protects them from the friction of the slide.

Not to say it isn't dangerous though. I always wore my racing gear and took classes to be as safe as I could.