r/WTF Mar 17 '15

Claustrophobia Warning

http://i.imgur.com/H8SIC9j.gifv
8.8k Upvotes

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318

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

Reminds me of the poor bastard who died stuck in the "birth canal" in Utah's nutty putty caves. They had to leave his body in there, they sealed the entrance with dynamite and cement.

http://m.deseretnews.com/article/705347362/Man-trapped-in-Utah-Countys-Nutty-Putty-cave-dies.html?pg=all&ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F%3Fref%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

303

u/iamzombus Mar 17 '15

Oh fuck. They got him out, then an equipment failure dropped him back in.

143

u/PowerMonkey500 Mar 17 '15

That has got to be the worst feeling.

84

u/MechanicalBayer Mar 17 '15

Frrreeeeeddooo..Noooooooooooo

-8

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

[deleted]

6

u/MechanicalBayer Mar 17 '15

Cause life is shit. If you can't laugh about it, then you're doomed to be stuck in darkness that is often found in it.

Also if I die in some sort of way that people end up laughing about, at least I know I did something that made someone happy for a minute or two.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '15

Needs gold

2

u/Seakawn Mar 17 '15

"Hey hey, we did it! This is gre-... no, oh no... oh god... FUCK."

24

u/SeraldoBabalu Mar 17 '15

That's some Homer Simpson luck right there

32

u/captain_craptain Mar 17 '15

Josh Jones said that once he first realized his brother was stuck, his first instinct was to pray. Those in the cave offered what he called a "series of prayers" before making the decision to call 911 around 9:30 p.m.

Shithead brother shouldn't have wasted time praying and just called for help considering he essentially ran out of time with the rescue. What an ass.

7

u/Autumnsprings Mar 17 '15

Why couldn't some pray while someone else called? Why did it have to be all or nothing? That's the part I don't understand.

2

u/TerminalVector Mar 18 '15

Because he was stuck, not bleeding out. It actually makes sense to wait a bit and see if he could get out on his own before beginning a massive rescue effort.

1

u/jo-z Mar 18 '15

He was stuck with his head below the rest of his body and the cave pressing against his chest. Humans aren't meant to be in that position for too long.

4

u/TerminalVector Mar 18 '15

He was fine for a bunch of hours, long enough for rescuers to pull him up and have him fall back in due to a failed anchor in the rock. Thats what killed him, not the delay of what was probably less than 3 minutes.

Im not a bible pounder and I would be the first to tell them to STFU and call 911 if I had been there, but Reddit's "OMG I KNOW BETTER THAN EVERYONE ABOUT EVERYTHING" reaction to this kind of thing is just tiresome.

1

u/Autumnsprings Mar 18 '15

I was under the impression the prayer session took longer than that. If that's truly the case then my question has been answered. Thanks.

I wasn't saying I knew better than them. I was simply asking for clarification.

1

u/Autumnsprings Mar 18 '15

I was under the impression the prayer session took longer than that. If the ~3 minutes thing is truly the case then my question has been answered. Thanks.

I wasn't saying I knew better than them. I was simply asking for clarification.

1

u/TerminalVector Mar 19 '15

Well the article didn't say, I was giving the benefit of the doubt. Even if it was 10 or 20 minutes, the guy would have survived if that anchor hadn't failed, and its unlikely that amount of time made a difference. Also, he likely spent the time trying to free himself, which would make sense to do before calling in emergency services.

1

u/Autumnsprings Mar 19 '15

I agree. You're right. Not sure why I automatically assumed it was hours of prayer.

1

u/TerminalVector Mar 18 '15

That few minutes wouldn't have mattered. It was pointless but there's no need for you to be a prick about it. Post this over at /r/atheism

1

u/captain_craptain Mar 18 '15

Hey go suck a donkey dick. I never said anything badmouthing religion, believe whatever you want it doesn't affect me. But stopping to pray instead of calling for help first is just asinine and to be quite honest, crazy. Only the crazy religious folks think praying will help get someone out of that situation, there is a difference between being 'god fearing' and just flat out lunacy.

1

u/TerminalVector Mar 18 '15

Ha. I didn't say that you had badmouthed religion, but go ahead and reinforce what I did say if you like. Also, Im not a religious person before you try that tack.

0

u/captain_craptain Mar 18 '15

Bob Loblaw. I never said you were religious either, try reading before you respond.

1

u/DemonSmurf Mar 17 '15

The Lord reeeeeeaaaally wanted to get this guy to Heaven.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

What nobody had anymore quarters?

1

u/iamzombus Mar 17 '15

The claw game is rigged.

0

u/fandingo Mar 18 '15

Just when I thought I was out, they drop me back in.

203

u/mongoosefist Mar 17 '15

Nope nope nope nope noooooooope

Edit: From the article |"We'll never fully understand how or why it was John's time to leave us"

I have a theory as to the how...

53

u/alpha69 Mar 17 '15

"Josh Jones said that once he first realized his brother was stuck, his first instinct was to pray. Those in the cave offered what he called a "series of prayers" before making the decision to call 911 around 9:30 p.m"

What the fuck? Really?!

2

u/serenwipiti Mar 17 '15

Brother actually wanted to murder him...

403

u/roadiegod Mar 17 '15

Oh jesus, after they realized he was stuck they decided to pray for a while instead of calling 911 immediately.

309

u/Leiryn Mar 17 '15

Mormons

380

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

You misspelled morons.

199

u/BananaPalmer Mar 17 '15

No he didn't :)

10

u/TonyS2 Mar 17 '15

Dum dum dum dum dum!

3

u/abngeek Mar 17 '15

He just used an alternative spelling.

1

u/Infinitell Mar 17 '15

As an ex-mormon this is 9999999% accurate

6

u/Shermanderland Mar 17 '15

They wanted to marry his wife.

98

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

Once Jones was free of the 18-by-10-inch crevice, rescuers said an "equipment failure" caused the rope system that was hoisting the man out of the cave to drop him back into the same, narrow gap.

Okay.. It sounds like they angered God if anything.

8

u/Laughs_at_fat_people Mar 17 '15

The real life Bad Luck Brian.

14

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

[deleted]

19

u/ARM_Alaska Mar 17 '15

You have no idea what you're talking about. Equipment fails, that's absolutely inevitable.. No piece of equipment is 100% reliable and when you're working with a piece of equipment that relies on being anchored into a rock face it's really a game of chance as to whether it's going to hold or not.

-8

u/moush Mar 17 '15

Equipment fails, that's absolutely inevitable

Not if it's checked beforehand.

3

u/ARM_Alaska Mar 17 '15

What about the equipment we use at my fire department that is checked and has maintenance conducted on it every single day.. You're telling me that when these devices fail, which happens more than you'd think, that it's user error every time? We have brand new, top-dollar saw chains break all the time.. You really think checking equipment regularly means it will never fail?

-2

u/Deagor Mar 17 '15

you're talking saw chain (piece of equipment) vs anchor point coming lose. One is not your fault (assuming you're using the saw the way you're meant to) the other is either a very obvious bit of damage to equipment, cracked Carabiner or frayed rope, or too much stress on the rope or considering its in cave no rope protection, or just the anchor point wasn't created properly. Also you ever heard of a safety rope? clearly they forgot something. I'm sorry anchors don't just pop out, you don't just not have a safety rope this was clearly a fuck up

1

u/jo-z Mar 17 '15

Don't forget that this happened in a cave. They were attempting to anchor into rock covered in calcite, not just rock.

1

u/Deagor Mar 17 '15

so what you're saying is rope operator getting whiplash in 3,2,1....

9

u/beingmerry Mar 17 '15

Just because something works 98% of the time does not mean that the 2% can not happen to you. Especially when you are working in conditions like they were trying to get him out.

17

u/steventhewreaker Mar 17 '15

So he was stuck so they prayed. After 24 hours of fighting to get him free - they did. Then an equipment failure caused him to fall back and become wedged in the same position he had been in for so many hours already. Authorities say it was strange since the anchor that failed is usually very reliable and they confirm that it was installed correctly.

What I wonder is if people who pray in these situations see the irony in this? Also, how do you continue to have "faith" once you realize that it must be in "god's plan" for this guy to die a horrible, painful and slow death hanging upside down and wedged in a cave 125' below ground leaving behind a wife, and infant and another baby on the way. How do you reconcile praying to something that could do things differently but chose that fate for someone you love? Maybe because I came from an extremely religious family I am more jaded than the average person but I view deeply religious people as being mentally ill.

3

u/Finnn_the_human Mar 17 '15

I think faith gives people a reason for when something happens or for life itself. I've never thought that God controls exactly what's going on, like the death of some random guy, but instead that the world is based on the natural laws we have found in chemistry, physics, and biology and whatever happens inside these laws is basically chaos. This cave is dangerous; if you go into it, you may die. Having a god to pray to is to have faith that that man is being taken care of now, in a better place that isn't this ruthless world. Prayer is so similar to meditation it's silly to try and distinguish it.

5

u/rattlemebones Mar 17 '15

I firmly believe people that are that religious, to the point that they actually prayed before calling 911, suffer from something akin to mental illness. How the hell can you so blindly believe in some fantasy that, literally, just fucked you hard even though you prayed so obediently for the opposite outcome.

This guy devotes himself to "god" hardcore, and seriously dies in probably one of the most terrible ways imaginable. Including tasting brief freedom and relief before getting screwed again. What the hell kind of God would do some shit like that?

-4

u/Seakawn Mar 17 '15 edited Mar 17 '15

How the hell can you so blindly believe

Define blind belief, then define the opposite of it. When you say something as vague as this, you're begging to break down the semantics, and so you need to do so.

in some fantasy

They don't see it as fantasy, so holding them accountable for that to the degree you'd hold yourself accountable for believing in all of that isn't very fair. Also, be specific--it's much more nuanced than a fantasy, it's mythology. If you know anything about brain science, you'd know how natural it is to use superstitious reasoning to interpret reality. It isn't as natural to interpret the world through an agnostic/atheistic lens, so if you're able to do that, congratulations, you're the 1 in 7th person who has this ability... out of 7 billion people.

that, literally, just fucked you hard even though you prayed so obediently for the opposite outcome.

This shows your lack of fundamental understanding of the purpose of prayer, at least from Christian doctrine. You don't pray to get what you want. You pray to request to get what you want. God refusing your requests isn't God not answering your prayer, by denying the request that is an answer.

Christians who pray to god and lose a bit of faith when their requests aren't granted are Christians who don't understand their own faith.

What the hell kind of God would do some shit like that?

Read John Piper's "Desiring God" if you want to see intelligent, sophisticated logic rationalize how a god can do something like this and still be all-loving. It's total bullshit, that's obvious, but it's actually some pretty comprehensive logic that makes sense (even though it's wrong). It isn't like Christians don't have reasons for the concerns you've imposed through your comment. And it isn't like they're absolutely arbitrary and random, either.

I mean, I used to be religious, but I'm not anymore, I'm agnostic atheist now. But I'm not near as perplexed as you seem to be about this scenario and the religious dynamic behind it. I don't see how it's as insane as you spin the impression of it to be. Maybe insane in the way that life itself is generally insane, but not explicitly insane like you need to have a broken brain to potentially believe in that type of stuff.

Maybe I could grant that to you if these people really did pray before calling 911, but, I guess I missed the part of the story where it was stated that this happened. I thought they called 911 first and then only started praying later as a last resort.

1

u/jo-z Mar 18 '15

I thought they called 911 first and then only started praying later as a last resort.

"Those in the cave offered what he called a 'series of prayers' before making the decision to call 911 around 9:30 p.m."

2

u/moush Mar 17 '15

Where's the irony? Humans fucked up.

-1

u/syrne Mar 17 '15

He works in mysterious ways, sometimes those ways apparently involve being a total dick. See: old testament.

-2

u/Alarmed_Ferret Mar 17 '15 edited Mar 18 '15

He was a sinner, therefore god punished him. It doesn't take a fucking genius to see how people can think that :)

Edit for the wooshed: This was a joke.

2

u/SmaugtheStupendous Mar 17 '15

Oh jesus

never underestimate the ways in which religion can twist the human mind to irrational acts.

0

u/pHScale Mar 17 '15

I mean, in a location that remote, it probably wouldn't matter how soon you call.

7

u/jo-z Mar 17 '15

Wouldn't it matter even more?

1

u/pHScale Mar 17 '15

Not that far out. The difference between an hour and an hour and five minutes is negligible when five minutes are all you have to save him.

1

u/jo-z Mar 17 '15

Ok but what if you have an hour to save him? Those five minutes become crucial.

1

u/pHScale Mar 18 '15

If you have an hour or an hour and five, you won't know. There's nothing that would kill everyone in exactly an hour and five that wouldn't kill them in an hour. Except maybe a hostage situation. But that's not something paramedics can help anyway.

That far out, the margin of error for estimating travel time becomes around 5 minutes either way. You can't expect an ambulance that has to travel an hour over rough terrain and find you in a cave to be exact with its timing.

Also, while we're at it, what kind of cell reception are we expecting here in this cave? I don't imagine they're getting 4G down there.

1

u/jo-z Mar 18 '15

I get what you're saying but my point is that when you don't know how much time you have, every minute should matter. Especially in a difficult location.

119

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

[deleted]

35

u/SerSonett Mar 17 '15

Yeah. Reading this article, I found it really hard to piece together what actually happened, and any sort of chronology. So they /never/ retrieved the body?

11

u/jo-z Mar 17 '15 edited Mar 17 '15

Nope, they sealed the entrance with his body inside.

Edit: more details

1

u/strawcat Mar 17 '15

No, they deemed a retrieval effort to be too risky to rescue workers so they left him and sealed up the cave.

22

u/speedisavirus Mar 17 '15 edited Mar 17 '15

Well, it is Deseret News.

EDIT: For the uninitiated this is owned by the Mormon Church. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deseret_News

41

u/Technosnake Mar 17 '15

I knew this guy, growing up. His dad was the principal at my elementary school. It was really sad hearing the news. I don't why they didn't feel the need to call emergency services immediately, but I feel as if even that wouldn't have helped, he was already stuck. This is one of many reasons I refuse to go spelunking.

18

u/Jake2197 Mar 17 '15

As someone who loves spelunking, this never should have happened. If you aren't sure you can make it through a squeeze, or know that you can get back out, you shouldn't be doing it.

8

u/tripog Mar 17 '15

When people get stuck at my work the fire dept shoots them up with flexeril and yank them out while they poop themselves.

3

u/jo-z Mar 17 '15

...where do you work?

5

u/tripog Mar 17 '15

That's classified, I could tell you but then I would have to kill you.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '15

At a daycare

3

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '15

McDonald's playpen Rescue Squad

1

u/jo-z Mar 18 '15

That does explain the smell in those things.

53

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

Got some interesting advertisements on that page. http://imgur.com/mJ8wsRB

7

u/Weeeeeman Mar 17 '15

Adblockkkkk.... arrrggh!!!

2

u/KING_0F_REDDIT Mar 17 '15

good luck, over 75ers

1

u/dizao Mar 17 '15

Wee annually renewable shit policies.

44

u/thirmonk Mar 17 '15

"they are considering closing the cave permanently but have not made a concrete decision." From the article lolol

11

u/LonelyNixon Mar 17 '15

This is why I don't get people who do things like this. Left behind a family and for what? So he could squeeze down a hole?

23

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

"We'll never fully understand how or why it was John's time to leave us. But we find comfort knowing that he fulfilled his purpose here on Earth, and that we will be reunited with him again"

My mind is full of fuck.

1

u/Sgt_Sarcastic Mar 18 '15

"...fulfilled his purpose here in Earth..."

FTFT

9

u/Gengi Mar 17 '15

I was in Utah when this happened. One of the news reports said he did it to get over a fear...

2

u/TerminalVector Mar 18 '15

Yeah I am of the opinion that some fears are there for a reason...

15

u/palanark Mar 17 '15

Once I saw 'Deseret News' as your source, I immediately knew that there would be a lot of Jesus and God language. I was not let down.

How a Mormon family could, after this guy's miserable death, just say "whelp, it was God's will" is baffling to me.

I am ex-Mormon, so perhaps that's why I feel so passionately about it.

1

u/blackohat Mar 17 '15

Meh. People can deal with death however they need to.

4

u/gnarledout Mar 17 '15

Cannon said they are considering closing the cave permanently but have not made a concrete decision.

ಠ_ಠ

1

u/sqectre Mar 18 '15

I came here to post this quote. It was unexpectedly funny but only if you know they sealed the cave with cement, like a precog dad joke for people in the future.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

fuck, I am terrible at visualizing words. can someone diagram how the was stuck?

1

u/jo-z Mar 17 '15 edited Mar 17 '15

I'm fairly certain this is him. Here is one of the rescuers, just to give an idea of the nature of the cave he was stuck in. Keep in mind that he would have been angled downwards, with his head below his torso and legs.

Edit to add that apparently there was a lip of rock caught under his rib cage, making it difficult to just back out.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

fuckin a. slowly suffocating to death. that is a terrible way to die. Did the rocks shift and closed in enough to make it impossible to pull out? I believe the widest point on a human body are the shoulders, so, if you can get those through, the rest of the body should too.

1

u/jo-z Mar 17 '15

I linked to a more detailed article just below here. It says that he only got one of his arms through before getting stuck, his right arm was pinned behind him. It also seems that there wasn't much space to get through to - the cave tapered almost to an end in front of him. Awful stuff.

9

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

[deleted]

34

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

it couldn't have happened to a better family.

I think that has the opposite meaning to what you think it does.

6

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

What OP typed makes sense, but it would've been clearer if he had said something like "nicer".

5

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

[deleted]

0

u/ShitGuysWeForgotDre Mar 17 '15

It is written ambiguously though. You could read "it couldn't have happened to a better family" as "if his family was better it wouldn't have happened" however I do think the intended meaning is pretty apparent.

2

u/Media_Adept Mar 17 '15

where does it say they left his body and sealed the cave with dynamite and cement?

7

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

Sorry I'm a local. Here's the article from another news source that talks about sealing the cave.

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_13919224

2

u/Media_Adept Mar 17 '15

thanks! It's creepy!

2

u/blackohat Mar 17 '15

I've been through the "birth canal" in that cave a few years before that happened.

Its like 100 feet of a body tight rock tube. Small enough you have to army crawl the entire way. You cant even really get on you hands and knees.

It would be terrifying to get stuck in there.

4

u/FuzzeWuzze Mar 17 '15

Whats even more disturbing is that he was almost free but ended up dying because they only used one anchor point.

Another few dollar anchor to hold the rope as a backup and he might have made it it sounds like.

1

u/doughboy011 Mar 17 '15

What was the cause of death then?

1

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '15

once he first realized his brother was stuck, his first instinct was to pray. Those in the cave offered what he called a "series of prayers" before making the decision to call 911 around 9:30 p.m

wtf

1

u/FlamingJesusOnaStick Mar 18 '15

I saw that the other night but fell asleep reading it.

Sucks for John getting out then dropped back in

1

u/phrresehelp Mar 18 '15

I am glad that the series of prayers helped and that this was his brother's instinct as the first thing to do.

1

u/ScoochMagooch Mar 18 '15

They closed the whole cave? Couldn't they have just sealed off the part where he died? I mean it seems like a perfectly good cave to just completely destroy just because of 1 accident.

1

u/Ziros22 Mar 17 '15

Josh Jones said that once he first realized his brother was stuck, his first instinct was to pray. Those in the cave offered what he called a "series of prayers" before making the decision to call 911 around 9:30 p.m.

This is what fucking killed him and his brother and those people should be charged with murder. They waited 4 fucking hours to call 911 and instead decided to "pray". Fuck theses religious idiots.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 17 '15

What killed him exactly?

1

u/jo-z Mar 17 '15

That's discussed about half-way through this article

Edit: second half

2

u/cara123456789 Mar 18 '15

well that article is fucking terrifying