A 71-year-old farmer from Ohio thought he was going to die after he got trapped in a silo used to store soybeans. Jay Butterfield climbed into the silo after one of the rods had become jammed and tried to fix the problem. He managed to unjam the rod, but was not ready for the torrent of soybeans that followed.
"I was taking a rod and pushing it down, and then finally it came down so fast," Butterfield told WCPO. "It came down so fast I couldn't handle it then. That's what got me in trouble. It was like a landslide, all came down at once."
As multiple tons of soybeans began to bury Butterfield, he screamed for help, and his brother-in-law rushed over and called 911.
Rescue workers had a difficult task because the grain was acting like quicksand, and any movements he made caused him to sink deeper into the soybeans. Officials thought about using a harness to lift him out but realized the pressure was too great and they would have broken his spine trying to pull him from the silo.
Instead, they inserted metal sheets into the soybeans to lessen the amount of pressure on him, so they could safely extract him. Butterfield thought he was going to die, but after three excruciating hours, rescue workers were finally able to free him.
"Three hours seemed like 10 hours," he said. "That was the longest three hours I ever had when you think you're going to die."
Miraculously, Butterfield was unharmed in the accident and was back working on the farm the next day.
"Everybody wants to live — I think most people," he said. "I wasn't quite done farming yet. I think I want to farm for a long time."