Spalunking from the Latin Spalunca, meaning cave, cavern, den, was the first word used in the Americas for cave exploration.

And I guess it kind of stuck.

Speaking of stuck, these brave adventurers who choose to squeeze themselves through tight spaces,

hundreds of feet below the surface, sometimes become stuck.

And I'm not going to sit here and judge those who decide to pursue such a hobby.

There are those who find great joy in Spalunking.

In the exploration of caves and the squeezing of themselves headfirst

through holes that contain God knows what and lead God knows where. But I will say that even if there

was the promise of diamonds rather than death down there, I'd stay up top. Call me a coward if the

price to be brave is entering a labyrinth like the Nutty Puddy Cave.

Welcome to Maroon, stories of the catastrophically lost.

I'm Jack Luna. This is Aaron Hable.

Nutty Puddy Cave was discovered in 1960 by a cave explorer named Dale Green.

The nearly 1,400-foot cave located 55 miles outside Salt Lake City, Utah, quickly revealed itself

to likely never having been explored before.

The walls were textured in a way that reminded him of Silly Puddy.

The unusual texture and the longtime hidden nature of the cave system

had much to do with it being formed from underneath. Superheated water had at one time created this

unique cave system that's made up of limestone, silica, and many other minerals that give Nutty Puddy

cave its silly putty like qualities. Basically, the walls felt more

elastic than solid to Green, and the thousands of visitors who were to come would later agree

that the cave's moniker was apt. Yeah, Green initially wanted to call the cave system

...