Killer Earth
Killer Earth
Quicksand
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On this episode of Killer Earth, Kat and Vanessa discuss the sneaky but deadly Q U I C K S A N D.
Do you have a survivor story? Email us at killerearthpodcast@gmail.com!
You can also find us on Facebook, @killerearthpodcast on Instagram, and @KillerEarthPod on Twitter.
Earthquakes, lightning, boring rain, tornadoes, zombies in a hurricane.
unknownKiller.
SPEAKER_03Hey cat. Hey V. How are you? Good. Happy New Year. Happy New Year. How are the holidays for you?
SPEAKER_01They were simple and they were great. And very, very, very small gathering. Um, it was really fun. Same. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Same here. I usually go to a like pretty big family party every year and no party this year, but that's okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And like I brought like outfits to try to like have an excuse to dress up for once in like months. And like I just ended up wearing my PJs every single day. And it was amazing.
SPEAKER_03Your fleece um red robin printed PJs that I can't do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, I I didn't take those down, but I wear those consistently. Actually, I got more fleece PJs, so I'm like in fleece heaven, which is you guys don't know this, but that's like my thing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, not even like like not like leggings, like like pajama pants that you would wear when you were like a kid. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like wide leg, wide leg, crazy designs, colorful, and fleece.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Like, do you have a pair of Spongebob fleece pants? Because I feel like that that's the next step for you.
SPEAKER_01Um, no, but if you know my birthday's SpongeBob?
SPEAKER_03I think Betty Boop.
SPEAKER_00I have to pass.
SPEAKER_03No, you were wearing a pair one time, and I said that looks like the prison tat version of Spongebob. Maybe it was the pattern, it was so shitty. He looked like he was like melting and he was like outlined in black. I was like, Where did you get these?
SPEAKER_01Well, actually, tip if you guys want some really soft like pants, like fleece pants that last forever, the dollar store guaranteed $7.99. You can get them. And they're usually really terrible, like fake prints of things, but I don't care.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so the dollar store or dollar general or dollar tree.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, any of those. Go check it out. Yeah.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_03They're different, you know, they're different companies.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So PJ life is just a good life for me.
SPEAKER_03Same. So I actually feel like I live in like a jacked up toy store right now. Yeah. Because my four-year-old got so many gifts. Her birthday's right after Christmas. I'm lit literally sitting next to a four-foot-tall blow-up dinosaur because I have nowhere to put it. My house is small. That's amazing. Every corner of my house has toys.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh. Oh, that's just a lot. But I at least it's a dinosaur four-foot thing. I know it's actually really cool.
SPEAKER_03I really like it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. You probably like when Lola goes to bed, you probably pretend you're like in Jurassic Park and like play the theme song.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Oh, we yeah. I'm moving it closer to me.
SPEAKER_01Amazing. Yeah. Well, happy birthday to Lola. She's our little um, what do you call it at the end of our podcast? Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03She's our little, she's our little like mascot.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, she's like our sign-off person. And she's four now. I can't believe it. She's so big. I know.
SPEAKER_03Anyway, so what are we talking about today?
SPEAKER_01Um, we are going to cover um the phenomenon called quicksand. Oh, I'm so excited about this because I know next to nothing about quicksand. You know, honestly, I didn't either. Like, I learned a ton about kind of why it's dangerous, but it's for different reasons than you would think. Explain. Oh, should we get into it? Let's get into it. Okay, well, my sources are Wikipedia, Britannica, uh, mysanantonio.com, chicagotribribune.com, mailonline.com, dailymail.uk, mirror.uk, England Standard, and Mesa A Z. It's like a TV station three TV CBS5. Just had to make sure I included that. Um, by the way, this is our second time recording this episode.
SPEAKER_03Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Something happened the other night where we could not get through this episode. We were laughing so hard. I was crying. I was really laughing. We I don't know why.
SPEAKER_03We tried really hard to record, we just kept fucking things up and everything was so funny.
SPEAKER_01It was just amazing.
SPEAKER_03I think we were just tired.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we were really tired. It was just like right after the holidays, we're like, okay, we need to record, let's do it. Yeah, and then we just I was like crying.
SPEAKER_03We tried to funny, we tried to salvage it, but I was like, I don't want to deal with editing this. There's so many problems with it.
SPEAKER_01That would have been the worst editing ever. I would have felt really bad for you. So I was like, let's redo this. So here we go. Okay, so do you know what quicksand is?
SPEAKER_03Okay, so I think it's it's an area of sand or dirt that must not be packed as tightly as the area around it, and you can fall in it and it it swallows you and you you suffocate.
SPEAKER_01Well, it's a good um explanation. Um, but what it really is, which is kind of what you said, but in scientific terms, again, not a scientist. Um, quick sand forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. So when water in the sand cannot escape, it creates a liquefied soil that loses strength and cannot support weight. Um, the saturated sediment may appear solid until a sudden change in pressure or shock initiates liquefaction. Um, so this causes the sand to form a suspension and lose strength. The cushioning of water gives quicksand and other liquefied sediments a spongy, fluid-like texture. Objects in liquefied sand sink to the level at which the weight of the object is equal to the weight of the displaced soil water mix and this, yeah, and the submerged object floats due to its buoyancy. So um that's kind of like what it is. Um, but the the misconception is that you know, so many movies out there, and everything that you and I thought we knew about quicksand was that, you know, you see people get into the quicksand and then they're sinking, and then they just keep sinking and then they like die. Like they just they get submerged. Yeah. Um, so that actually is not how it works. Um, so quicksand is denser than the human body. So people and animals can get stuck in it, but they actually don't get sucked to the bottom. Um, they can actually float on the surface. Um, so our legs are pretty dense, so they may sink, but the torso contains the lungs and thus is buoyant enough to stay out of trouble.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow. So you you don't go, you don't get sucked all the way under ever?
SPEAKER_01No, no, because of your lungs from all the research I did, there has never been a case where someone's completely been submerged.
SPEAKER_03Wow, it yeah, quicksand because, like you said, like every movie, every show that ever depicts a quicksand death, it's always you the person is completely submerged.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you just like see the hand sticking up like out of the soil. Right. So I found that that to be really interesting, and I was like, really? That's so weird, but it kind of makes sense. Um, so okay. The date, the actual danger of quicksand um is that a person who is immobilized in quicksand could be engulfed and drowned by an incoming tide. So a lot of quicksand um areas are occur in tidal areas, but even these types of accidents are very rare. So again, like in a lot of research I did, you know, people are like next to the ocean or something, and they do get stuck in quicksand um and they don't know how to get out of it. So the tide like comes up and like that's how they die. They get drowned.
SPEAKER_03Oh, okay. So they could be waist deep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And then just like can't get out. So like you can get really stuck in there, and the elements are what actually kills you. It's not that you sink and get completely submerged. Mother Earth fucking strikes again. I know. Okay, so um, this is like a story I read about um records obtained by uh M, sorry, it's uh MySA.com, which is mysanantonio.com, uh reveal a man died in 2015 after getting struck in quicksand on the San Antonio River and drowning in South Texas. So Jose Ray Escobedo, who was 50 at the time of his death, was reported missing on July 7th, 2015, around 10 a.m., two days after he had picked up a prescription. Um on July 8th, which was like the next day, uh police received a call reporting a light blue car that had been parked underneath the San Antonio River Bridge in Goliad County for several days, according to Goliad County Sheriff's Office um incident report. Um, so officials found the blue sedan um on the east side of the highway 239 bridge over the San Antonio River. Um, inside authorities found Escobedo's glasses and shoes that were confirmed to be his the next day. Um, Escobedo's family told officials the 50-year-old often took to swimming alone in the river. Um, there was no indication Escobedo had gone fishing or camping just by looking at his vehicle. Um, and it didn't seem like he met someone and left with them, like leaving his car behind. So on July 11th, um, a few days later, game wardens uh Kevin Fogg and William Zappi searched the San Antonio River by boat and found Escobedo's body lodged in quicksand, 350 yards upstream from the bridge where he had parked his car. Um, so yeah, so like he definitely like got into some quicksand. Um, but this is actually what happened. So um a few days prior, um a bunch of rain fell on July 1st through the 3rd, um, and partially on July 4th. And this resulted in the river beginning to peak in into July 4th. So, and this is like way upstream, like a bunch of rain happened. Um, the San Antonio River got as high as 8.3 feet on July 4th. So the first four days of the month, um, they saw about four to five inches of rain upstream in Bexer and Comel County. Uh, normally the river hovers over around five to six feet. Um, but on July 7th, when Escobedo was reported missing, um the river was not like significantly wet. Um, and with the San Antonio River, it's going to have to go somewhere and it's going to flow down the river and it takes time to get there. So, like way down the river, a few days prior, there's a bunch of rain. And then all of a sudden the river just like rose really quickly. Um, you know, with like out any warning. Um, and so essentially there was a big rise in the river quickly, and by the time it got down to where Escobedo was, he was stuck in the quicksand and was overcome by the flow of water.
SPEAKER_03So he was just swimming, and at some point he stands in the river swimming, and that's when he gets into a spot of quicksand.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and then he's like stuck, and then the river rose like quickly.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because the rain was just like coming down or the river was coming down from all that rain. I have a question. Earlier, you said that he had picked up a prescription. What's the relevance there? That was just the last time anyone had reported seeing him.
SPEAKER_03Oh, okay, okay, gotcha.
SPEAKER_01Which was like maybe some suspense, like, you know, oh my god, did his prescription? I don't know what it was, but like, did it have something to do with his disappearance? Like, what's going on?
SPEAKER_03Gotcha.
SPEAKER_01But that was like the last time he was reported being seen by anyone.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, okay, so he had died and fallen face first over the sandy outcropping, the report said, adding that his body was lodged in quicksand from his feet to his the bottom of his box.
SPEAKER_03So um, yeah, again, wait, so he so he was in the quicksand upright.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, but like when they found him, he was obviously like dead.
SPEAKER_03And but you said he fell face first.
SPEAKER_01It no, it said fallen face first over the sandy outcropping. So I think he was like upright and then that's and then like bent over, yeah.
SPEAKER_03With his face in the yeah after the river receded, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh man, so that's how like quicksand can be really dangerous. Um, that's like one example. Okay, so this is terrible. Here's another story. Um, hours after arriving on a Caribbean island, a mother of two drowned on the beach when she became trapped in quicksand while watching the sunset. Um, okay, so that's the worst thing I've ever heard. I know it's kind of this podcast is ruining people's dreams and hopes.
SPEAKER_03Because you don't think something bad is gonna happen when you're on your Caribbean island. You know, just like trying to watch the beautiful sunset on the beach.
SPEAKER_01I know. So uh Nicola Raybon, um, who was 33, had flown out to Antigua with her son and daughter to attend her father's second marriage at a five-star resort. She met friends at one of the bars and they enjoyed a drink and a chat together. Um, when the rest of the party left for dinner, she decided to stay behind to watch the beautiful sunset from the beach. Um, so again, this is like right outside of a five-star resort, too, which is kind of freaky. Um, as she walked out towards the sea near the Jolly Beach Resort, she got stuck in sinking sands. Um, with the sky darkening and the waves beginning to lap around her, she began to scream for help and police were called. So like people could hear her scream. Um, and it said people could hear terrifying cries that could be heard, but in the failing light, no one could see where she was stuck.
SPEAKER_03How did like how far did she walk? How did nobody how was nobody able to follow her screaming and find her?
SPEAKER_01It says like near the resort too, but like I don't know. Maybe like the waves were loud and like it's like disorienting because it's dark and you hear like screaming, but like it's also coming up around her. Can you imagine that would be the most terrifying way to go?
SPEAKER_03Terrifying, and you're you're right outside your resort where there's people right there, yeah, but they just can't get to you for whatever reason.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's awful. So uh Ray Bon's um sandals and mobile phone were discovered in the bar area of the hotel, and a frantic hunt was launched by family friends and hotel staff. Eventually, her body was found close to the shoreline near the hotel in the resort of the western coast of the island. There were no warnings on the beach, although other visitors had reported problems with quicksand.
SPEAKER_03Really?
SPEAKER_01Before, yeah. But I guess no one did anything about it. Um, uh, Nicola was involved in many charities and never wanted to speak ill of others. She had just moved into a new house with her partner. They were looking forward to a future together. Everyone is shocked and devastated. That's a quote from that story. So that's just really scary. Like that makes me think twice about a nice sunset walk on the beach.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, you know another thing we talk about on this podcast about the beach being dangerous.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know what? Now I'm okay. So you know when you stand in the soft area of the sand that's wet, and yeah, you stand and the water goes back out, yeah, and you let your your feet sink in and the water flows around you, that must be how it starts, and you don't think anything of it, right?
SPEAKER_01And like that area is like super like loose too, I guess. Like, I mean, it doesn't happen all the time, but I know exactly what you're saying. Yeah, that's gonna make me think twice about feet like sand covering my face. Spared to walk on the beach now. So sorry, yeah. Okay, so another story is a group of five kids went out to the beach. Um, Kobe Nathan, who was 22, died trying to rescue his 18-year-old brother Ken after the group got stuck in quicksand on a day trip to a popular beach uh near Rye, East Sussex, which I believe is in London. Um in the UK. Yeah. Oh yeah, duh. Sorry. Not London. Thank you. Um, it is believed they were playing football on the sandbank um when the two got stuck in quicksand below the water. Um Kobe um and three other friends who are all from southeast London swam over to free Ken. Um and um this other guy named uh Inthus Inthushin. Well, anyway, they they went over to free Ken and umthushin, um, and but they became caught in rising waters and then dragged out by the powerful riptide. So there's like two stuck in the quicksand, and the three other uh friends that were there tried to go and like help them, but then the riptide took them out. So like disasters everywhere you go right now. Um people on the beach pulled three of the friends to the shore shortly after 2 p.m. on Wednesday, but despite the desperate attempts of medics, they were pronounced dead 15 minutes later. Um, so the people who got pulled out from the riptide didn't make it.
SPEAKER_03So all five of them died?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And so, like, and then it says the two other victims who were stuck in the quicksand were discovered around 8 p.m. when the tide went out on the seven mile beach, where thousands of people on holiday had just spent the hottest day of the year. Um, the family of the two brothers, Ken and Kobe, who moved to the UK eight years ago to escape Sri Lanka's Civil War, spoke of their heartbreak and told um how they believed Kobe had given his life trying to save his brother despite not being able to swim. So that's just tragic. Like all five friends died just trying to like save each other from the quicksand situation. And oh, that's devastating. Yeah, it's awful. Oh okay. Um, another story is Everett, a seventh grader at Reed Custer Middle School, and Justice F. Carr, who was 15, a freshman at Reed Custer High School, um, left their home at about 5 p.m. on May.
SPEAKER_03Where is that?
SPEAKER_01I didn't write it down. Actually, no, I did. No, I did. I'm sorry, I did. I was hoping you wouldn't ask, but I did write it down. It's actually in um Will County, Illinois.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Got it. I'm like, yeah, that Reed Custer High School. Everybody knows is where that is.
SPEAKER_02You know, just right down the road.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so uh Justice and Everett left their homes at about 5 p.m. on May 7th, 1997, which was a Wednesday. Um, and they, you know, had their fishing poles and live bait um and went to walk a few blocks down to the cooling pond of Commonwealth Edison's Braidwood nuclear power plant, um, again, which is in Will County, Illinois. Um the nuclear power plant actually serves Chicago and northern Illinois with electricity. Just a little fact for you. Um, by eight o'clock, when um this is like the the parents talking or the stepfather talking, he said by eight o'clock when I didn't hear anything, I knew something was tragically wrong. Police wouldn't believe me. They said my baby ran away, which I just hate that response from police.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, they're in they never mind.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03I was gonna say something bad. Oh, it's okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, uh Wolfenbarger and friends began looking for the boys Wednesday night, um, but it wasn't until about 8 a.m. Saturday that the bodies were found. Um, Will County coroner Pat O'Neill said that the results from the autopsies performed Sunday showed no signs of trauma or force. He said the boys died of drowning and possibly exposure. Um, it appears that the area where the where they were found was almost like quicksand, said O'Neill. To friends and family who visited the site on Sunday said that the area looked benign. They noticed a ditch about four by six feet across with about two feet of water in it. Um, Will County authorities said that officers sank in the quicksand. Um uh oh, said sorry, uh Will County authorities said their officers sank in the quicksand and had to be. Pulled out when they first came to retrieve the body. So even like the officers were like getting stuck in it.
SPEAKER_03Wow. And they couldn't get themselves out. Yeah. So like others had to get them out.
SPEAKER_01Um, authorities then used pumps to drain a large amount of water from the pool. And Wolfenberger said um they also used a backhoe to retrieve the boy's body.
SPEAKER_03A backhoe.
SPEAKER_01I actually know what that is because my nephew loves the show Blippy.
SPEAKER_03You know what a backhoe is?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I didn't know.
SPEAKER_03Really?
SPEAKER_01Well, like there's so many different kinds of those things, like a bucket truck, a backhoe.
SPEAKER_03It's called okay, it's called a bucket loader. My my dad owns an excavation company.
SPEAKER_01Oh, okay. Well, my bad. But yeah, Blippy has taught me more about machines than it's like a kid's show.
SPEAKER_03It was funny the way you said it. You're like, and I know what a backhoe is. Well, you know what? About a year ago, I wasn't sure. So I'm learning. Lola watches Blippy too. And oh my god, my mom hates blippy.
SPEAKER_01And I actually know all the songs from Blippy. I'm an exator. Hey, dirt, see you later. Okay, anyway, shout out to Blippy for doing amazing things and teaching adults like me what a backhoe is.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, Blippy.
SPEAKER_01Um, okay, so authorities then use pumps to drown out or to drain out the water. Um, they use the backhoe to get the two boys' bodies. Um, police had mentioned there were claw and scratch marks in the sand, which is just terrible. Oh, God. Yeah. Um, parts of the area were formerly swampy and were being filled in and excavated for a construction site. Um, quicksand is a condition in uh which loose sand is saturated with water that it behaves slurry and will not support heavy weights.
SPEAKER_03So just another I know we already went over that, but if if an area is quicksand, does it ever subside and just become regular stable ground?
SPEAKER_01I think I think that's why like you can if it's like part of construction site, you can actually there's ways to fill it in and make sure like water doesn't get in there.
SPEAKER_03I'm wondering if it just naturally recovers itself though.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. That's a really good question. I I think it can if it I think it all has to do with the amount of water in the area, because that's like what kind of collapses everything.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01Um, but I'm not sure. Good question. Uh so August Coaster Van Gross, head of the geology department of the University of Illinois at Chicago, uh, said quicksand may lurk under the surface at construction sites if it does not fill, sorry, if the fill does not settle properly. Um, so that's like another common area that you need to watch out for if you know you're playing around in a construction site, because that could have quicksand in it.
SPEAKER_03I did a lot when I was little.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure. With my friends, yeah, for sure. Um, it can look solid, but if you step on it, the disturbance can cause all these loosely packed grains to move and it liquefies, he said. Um, suddenly the solidness of the soil you expect is not there anymore. And when you try to get out, you lift one leg but move more weight to the other. Um, so you struggle and get stuck. That's yeah, isn't that weird? So it's like when you're struggling like that and you try to lift one leg, the other leg gets more stuck.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow, yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh the sand then flows like water and you sink. But again, you can't sink all the way. Um, they could have just stepped on it not knowing and thinking it was very shallow water. That's what um this director of geology said. Um, if they fight it, they just sink down more and more. As a parent myself, this is just a nightmare, he says. It's uncertain in what position the boys' bodies were found. Despite the autopsy reports, Wolfenberger said he believes the boy was met with foul play. So that's a different side of the story. So a lot of like people said they were stuck in like quicksand, but then like this detective also said that he thinks the boys were met with foul play because their fishing poles um had not been found. Um, he said the boys usually walk home do north up cemetery drive. The area where the bodies were found was east of the of both their homes. Um to get there, they would have had to cut through the cemetery. Um, I think they were thrown there um and buried.
SPEAKER_03What oh, so so they think that they were murdered and then put in quicksand?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, they're well that that's the thing though. Like they there's mixed reports on that story because the um the autopsy said they drowned and it was because the elements, so like they clearly, like, you know, or they could have gotten stuck and drowned in the tide. That's again okay, or someone had murdered them and put them in there, like murdered them by putting them in quicksand knowing they were gonna drown.
SPEAKER_03Maybe that's their cause of death, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like they don't know, it's like mixed reports.
SPEAKER_03A quicksand serial killer out there.
SPEAKER_01Oh my god, that is like crazy. Wow, that's like really, really messed up.
SPEAKER_03If there is, you know, this is not appropriate for younger listeners of this program, but um, I have heard of quicksand porn. I heard someone talk about it on a weird, I didn't watch it, but like it's like just a naked girl just sinking in quicksand and it like people like people watch it, and it's like an up close.
SPEAKER_02That's really disturbing. I will not be researching that as part of this podcast. I'm gonna put a link to some that I'm gonna Google it, put a link in this episode's description.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right. That is amazing. Okay, so survivor alert. Um, Ryan Osman, who was 34, was with his girlfriend Jessica McNeil at Zion National Park. Zion. I know in Utah. Another, like, you know, if you're not hiking, you there's quicksand. So if you're not watching falling off a cliff, you're getting in quicksand, potentially. Yeah. So they're in Zion National Park um on Saturday afternoon when McNeil fell into quicksand. Uh he started to help, sorry, he started to help me out um by himself and realized I wasn't going anywhere. Uh, so the girlfriend like sank into quicksand, I guess. And then he the boyfriend was trying to get him out or her out, sorry. Um, he had tried a pulley system with wrapping it around my waist and under my arms, hooked it to a rock and started to pull it, but just but it just felt like it was starting to rip my leg and my whole hips off my body, and it didn't feel like it was going anywhere.
SPEAKER_03Oh, it's like suction-y.
SPEAKER_01Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_03Oh.
SPEAKER_01Um, Osman was eventually able to pull her out, but then became stuck himself.
SPEAKER_03Oh, fuck.
SPEAKER_01I know. So he's knee deep in quicksand at this point, and they're struggling to free him for 30 minutes until McNeil went on a three-hour hike to reach cell phone reception to dial 911. So she's like a hero. Like, I was like, Well, I'm gonna leave you for you know, three-mile hike to get 911. Well, she had to to get service. Um, McNeil spent hours hiking alone in the frigid cold and snow. Doctors said she suffered hypothermia on her hike to find help. She said the only thing scarier than hiking alone was leaving Osman alone and sinking quicksand. Um, she said, luckily I did, and I was able to make the call, and they were able to rescue Ryan. It was pretty scary.
SPEAKER_00Oh I know.
SPEAKER_01Help eventually arrived, and Osman was freed after two hours. He said the pain of being yanked and pulled in freezing quicksand was the worst pain he's ever felt in his life.
SPEAKER_03So was he deeper when they found him?
SPEAKER_01Maybe he um it doesn't say, but it does say it, it does say this. I I'm imagining he was struggling trying to get out himself, but like probably made it worse for himself. Um, but the best way to describe it was just standing in a huge puddle of concrete that basically just dries instantly, he said. Your foot doesn't move. You can move the sand a couple of inches at the top of your leg where my waist is at, but just as quick as you can move it, the sand refills, so there's no chance of moving at all. Wow. Yeah. So it's like a concrete feeling, it's like you're crushed. Holy shit. So, like, imagine like it's so I don't anyway. I'll tell you like some tips on how to survive it in a little bit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I was gonna say you'll you'll probably get to this, but I'm now remembering something I saw about what to do, but I won't, I won't spoil it.
SPEAKER_01No, it's yeah, whatever. Yeah, it's fine. Um, it's it's really I wouldn't have I wouldn't think to do what you're supposed to do, but I'll I'll I'm getting right into that.
SPEAKER_03We need those survival tips.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we do. Um, he said while it was the worst pain he's ever felt, getting out of the quicksand and learning that McNeil was safe was the best feeling in the world. He also suffered hypothermia exposure and other injuries, but both of them are expected to be okay. They think the rescuers, uh, who they say kept them warm and in good spirits all night.
SPEAKER_03He's pretty he's pretty sharp for rigging up that little like pulley system to get his GF out.
SPEAKER_01I'm wondering like how he ended up getting her out and then because like the he's the pulley system didn't work. Remember it like he got her out eventually, but remember it was like pulling at her weight. Maybe he did use it, but it was like really painful for her. I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_03Maybe uh yeah, I mean, maybe you you have to go through like the pain is unavoidable.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it sounds like it.
SPEAKER_03Maybe he was like, I would rather get her out and be the one stuck than I know, not get her out.
SPEAKER_01She probably they probably had some like you know, strained like limbs after that. And then she had to hike for three miles to get help, so it's incredible. But that I love survivor stories. Um, anyways, okay, so to get out of quicksand, um, Daniel Bonn, a physics professor at the University of Amsterdam, told National Geographic um the way to do it is wiggle your legs around. This creates a space between the legs and the quicksand through which water can flow down to loosen the sand. You can get yeah, so you can get out using this technique if you do it slowly and progressively. So instead of trying to lift a leg up and then the other one will sink, you have to like wiggle both around to create like a little bit of like space, air, air space in your pocket. Um, if you do find yourself stuck in quicksand, the best I this is terrifying to me, but this is what it says. The best idea is to lean back so that the weight of your body is distributed over a wider area.
SPEAKER_03This is what I heard.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so you're like supposed to like lean back on it, like make me so scared. Yeah. Because like, what if you like what if you're but again you have air in your lungs, so that helps keep you afloat. But it's like, what if you lean back and you get like, oh god, that's just so scary.
SPEAKER_03That's what you're supposed to do. It seems like the last thing you would want to do, but yeah, it's um I've heard that moving won't cause you to sink.
SPEAKER_01In fact, slow back and forth movements can actually let water into the cavity around a trapped limb, loosening the quicksand's hold. Um, getting out will take a while, though. Physicists have calculated the force required to extract your foot from quicksand at a rate at one centimeter per second is roughly equal to the force needed to lift a medium-sized car.
SPEAKER_03Oh my god.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, it sucks. So wiggle, lean back, distribute the weight evenly, be patient, be really patient. You're probably gonna be stuck there for that's the scary part though, because like you don't have a lot of time if you're stuck on the beach. Well, yeah, if the tide is coming and you're screwed, you're gonna need to be saved by someone, and you're probably like freaking out, you know, so it's not helping your patience, right? Oh, so that's terrifying. So that is the stories about quicksand brought to you by Killer Earth.
SPEAKER_03So interesting. I really never even think about quicksand.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I don't know why I would, but um yeah, the other thing like that I had a misconception about was when I think of quicksand, I think of like the jungle, like the Amazon or a place that I like deep in the jungle somewhere, or like places in India, like in the jungle, like that's what I like thought about, but I didn't realize how quicksand could literally be like outside our front door in a construction site or like at the beach. Like I didn't even said I didn't think of it.
SPEAKER_03I didn't know it was possible to get in quicksand on the beach. I don't know why I didn't think about that, but yeah, yeah. I I I guess again from movies, like I think of like deserty sand and like the jungle. Also, I I don't think about random places.
SPEAKER_01I know.
SPEAKER_02So now you have to just be really careful about where you walk. Oh, too many things to have to think about for survival.
SPEAKER_01I know, but yeah, I hope everyone learned something. And again, just you know, try those tips if you ever get into that situation and try not to panic, even though it's you know hard to avoid.
SPEAKER_03I mean, the wiggle, the wiggle tip to make air and the lean back or lean forward tip, those everybody should know that. Yeah, because that's so simple.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I don't know if you're supposed to lean forward though. I think you're only supposed to lean back.
SPEAKER_03Oh, I the thing I remember watching, I don't know if it was like mythbusters or something, but it was like try to lay flat on your stomach.
SPEAKER_01Okay, I mean I didn't look I didn't see that, but it could be a thing. I know you just want to evenly distribute your body weight, so like whatever that is, you know, do that. But I I feel like I'd be so panicky on my stomach just in case my head like got buried or something.
SPEAKER_03I would be panicking regardless.
SPEAKER_01I know. Well, thanks, Mother Earth, for creating wonderful things, such as quicksand, pockets of death jerk.
SPEAKER_02You jerk.
SPEAKER_01All right. Well, if you guys have any crazy survival stories, we are here to listen. Um, you can email us at killer earthpodcast at gmail.com. Um write us in.
SPEAKER_03We have yet to receive any emails from survivors. We've only interviewed survivors, we know. Yeah. But or if you know of a survivor and you're a listener, hook us up. We um we are gonna have so many new topics in the in the year 21.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm so excited. It's 2021. It's gonna be a good one. I can feel it.
SPEAKER_03Me too. It's gonna be the year of Killer Earth. No, just kidding.
SPEAKER_01Well, maybe well, hopefully it just doesn't kill us, but it's like our year. True. Well, thanks for listening, everyone, and we will be back next time.
SPEAKER_03See you later.
SPEAKER_01See you later. Kitchen, it's not cool.