Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/06/06/quicksand-is-back-and-this-woman-almost-succumbed-to-it.html
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… and they’re touring with Hot Water Music!
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I’m more afraid of these dune sinkholes.
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“You’ll sink in, but you can remove yourself if you relax and work yourself out of it.”
Yeah, he only says that because he can’t see the dozens of skeletons down under all that quicksand!
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I do remember hearing that if you get caught in quicksand the worst thing to do is struggle to get out. Remain calm and try to float on your back. Then you can eventually work your way out, calmly.
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They were very fortunate they didn’t encounter the fire swamp and ROUS’s as well
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I don’t think they exist
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She should have walked without rhythm.
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How totally timely. As a child of the 70s, I also grew up with an odd fear of quicksand. Must’ve featured prominently on TV or something. I never encountered anything like it until just this weekend.
I was riding the Katy trail across MO and spotted a beautiful stream as I crossed over it. It was hot and I had a lot of miles already in the legs so decided that a brief respite to soak the legs was in order. There was a steep trail down to a stone ledge where I sat to take my shoes and socks off. The water was crystal clear and only a few inches deep. Imagine my surprise when the first step had me mid-thigh before I could lunge back to that ledge.
I got brave after a couple minutes - dammit, I did want to explore a little - and worked my way along the edge carefully. It was bizarre. Some areas were normal and I could walk along the creek bed but then one more step would have me mid-thigh again and lunging for a handhold on the rocky bank. In the end I decided that soaking my feet from the safety of the shore was the best bet.
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It always seemed to be a staple of the old Tarzan TV episodes, so I suspect that’s where I first became creeped out by it.
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Yes! That’s definitely one I remember.
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Those old Tarzan movies/episodes lied to me about so much. The dangers of quicksand, the locomotive benefits of vine-based brachiation, the feasibility of befriending a chimp with feline envy, the efficiency of loincloths and yodeling as an intimidation tactic…
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Every Gen Xer nodding about the clear dangers and caution needed around quicksand.
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“Quicksand! Now we will have to divert the railroad through Rock Ridge!”
-Headly Lamarr
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We all saw Blazing Saddles. We learned about the dangers of quicksand and overestimating the intelligence of rural Johnsons.
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wasn’t it on scooby doo and in a punch of atari games?
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That actually works. At least on me.
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… Hollywood happens to be in a geographical area where “tar pits” are an actual safety hazard, so maybe it’s not that surprising that they show up in old movies 
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I remember diligently remembering this, because I was pretty sure it would be useful knowledge.
The closest I got was at the foot of a glacier in the Rockies, when I was about 12. I stepped into what looked like ordinary mud, and sank half-way to my knee. It was that fine-ground glacial rock and water forming a really thick mud.
I was wearing gumboots, so my foot was dry and comfy. But the gumboot was stuck solidly. I just stepped out of it, then leaned down and pulled it loose with both hands. Without my foot in it, it had some wiggle and I got it out. It did give me pause to think what that might’ve been like with a bigger puddle. Deeper? Both feet? Yikes.
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