WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.720 --> 00:00:05.160
<v Speaker 1>Hello, friends, cease talking here with you this video. We're

2
00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:08.199
<v Speaker 1>going to take a look at a concrete trap, the

3
00:00:08.279 --> 00:00:12.800
<v Speaker 1>real horror of quicksand join me. Let's take a walk

4
00:00:12.839 --> 00:00:17.760
<v Speaker 1>and see now. For nearly a century, Hollywood has sold

5
00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:21.519
<v Speaker 1>us a specific nightmare. A panicked adventure stumbles into a

6
00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:25.440
<v Speaker 1>patch of bubbling mire, flails helplessly, and is sucked beneath

7
00:00:25.519 --> 00:00:28.199
<v Speaker 1>the surface in a matter of seconds, leaving only a

8
00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:31.519
<v Speaker 1>hat floating on the mud. It's a staple of Saturday

9
00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:34.759
<v Speaker 1>morning cartoons and b movies, a danger that feels as

10
00:00:34.799 --> 00:00:38.600
<v Speaker 1>antiquated and fictional as a falling anvil, and I admit,

11
00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:42.240
<v Speaker 1>growing up as a child watching it on television. Quicksand

12
00:00:42.399 --> 00:00:46.799
<v Speaker 1>was a real fear when played outside. However, the reality

13
00:00:46.840 --> 00:00:50.520
<v Speaker 1>of hikers trapped in Quicksand is both less dramatic and

14
00:00:50.640 --> 00:00:55.280
<v Speaker 1>significantly more horrifying than the movie suggest. In the real world,

15
00:00:55.439 --> 00:00:58.320
<v Speaker 1>you do not sink until you drown in the sand itself.

16
00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:03.320
<v Speaker 1>Physics prevents. The human body is roughly half the density

17
00:01:03.399 --> 00:01:06.640
<v Speaker 1>of quicksand, meaning you will float like a cork once

18
00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:09.760
<v Speaker 1>you are submerged to your waist. The true killer is

19
00:01:09.760 --> 00:01:12.280
<v Speaker 1>not the depth of the whole, but the nature of

20
00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:16.159
<v Speaker 1>the trap. Real quicksand is a prison. It holds you

21
00:01:16.239 --> 00:01:19.480
<v Speaker 1>fast while the environment, the rising tide, the freezing night,

22
00:01:19.680 --> 00:01:23.239
<v Speaker 1>or the scorching sun, moves in for the kill. The

23
00:01:23.280 --> 00:01:27.439
<v Speaker 1>following accounts are not urban legends. There are documented cases

24
00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:30.000
<v Speaker 1>of hikers who stepped onto the wrong patch of earth

25
00:01:30.400 --> 00:01:33.719
<v Speaker 1>and found themselves fighting for their lives against a phenomenon

26
00:01:34.200 --> 00:01:39.200
<v Speaker 1>that behaves less like a liquid and more like a monster. Now,

27
00:01:39.319 --> 00:01:42.239
<v Speaker 1>let's take a look at the physics of the trap.

28
00:01:43.159 --> 00:01:47.040
<v Speaker 1>Understand the hiker's ordeal, you have to understand the substance.

29
00:01:47.719 --> 00:01:52.879
<v Speaker 1>Quicksand is a non Newtonian fluid, a hydrogel consisting of

30
00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:57.120
<v Speaker 1>fine granular material such as sand, silt, or clay, saturated

31
00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:02.439
<v Speaker 1>with water. When undisturbed, appears solid, but a sudden change

32
00:02:02.439 --> 00:02:06.200
<v Speaker 1>in stress, like a hiking boat striking the surface, decreases

33
00:02:06.239 --> 00:02:10.120
<v Speaker 1>its viscosity, turning the solid ground into a liquid soup.

34
00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:14.000
<v Speaker 1>Once the hiker sinks, the sand settles out of the

35
00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:17.159
<v Speaker 1>water and forms a densely packed sediment around the legs.

36
00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:20.919
<v Speaker 1>This is where the trap snaps shut. The water is

37
00:02:20.960 --> 00:02:24.479
<v Speaker 1>squeezed out, creating a vacuum effect. To pull them straight

38
00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:27.800
<v Speaker 1>out of this medium requires a force roughly equivalent to

39
00:02:27.840 --> 00:02:32.879
<v Speaker 1>lifting a medium sized car. Quoting here, the best way

40
00:02:32.919 --> 00:02:35.280
<v Speaker 1>to describe it would be standing in a huge public

41
00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:40.319
<v Speaker 1>concrete that basically dries instantly end quote, says Brian Osman,

42
00:02:40.520 --> 00:02:44.840
<v Speaker 1>a hiker who survived a horing ordeal in Utah. His

43
00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:49.479
<v Speaker 1>description captures the terrifying reality. It's not a slow descend

44
00:02:49.479 --> 00:02:55.360
<v Speaker 1>into the abyss, but an instant, crushing immobilization. Let's take

45
00:02:55.400 --> 00:02:59.199
<v Speaker 1>a look at Ryan's story, the Zion Ordeal ten hours

46
00:02:59.199 --> 00:03:03.560
<v Speaker 1>in the Ice. On February twenty nineteen, Ryan Osmond and

47
00:03:03.599 --> 00:03:08.319
<v Speaker 1>his girlfriend Jessica McNeil were hiking the Subway, a famous

48
00:03:08.360 --> 00:03:12.280
<v Speaker 1>and strenuous route in Zion National Park, Utah. The trail

49
00:03:12.360 --> 00:03:15.680
<v Speaker 1>is renowned for its tubular canyon walls and emerald pools,

50
00:03:16.199 --> 00:03:19.560
<v Speaker 1>but in winter it's a very cold and very desolate place.

51
00:03:20.919 --> 00:03:24.520
<v Speaker 1>While crossing a small shallow stream, McNeil stepped into a

52
00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:28.919
<v Speaker 1>patch of saturated sentiment and immediately sank. Osmond managed to

53
00:03:28.919 --> 00:03:31.639
<v Speaker 1>pull her free, but in the exertion of the rescue,

54
00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:34.560
<v Speaker 1>he stepped forward and his own right leg was swallowed

55
00:03:34.639 --> 00:03:37.479
<v Speaker 1>up to the hip. I didn't realize my right leg

56
00:03:37.599 --> 00:03:40.120
<v Speaker 1>was sinking all the way into the sand. Osmond later

57
00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:43.319
<v Speaker 1>told CBS News, it felt like it had dried instantly.

58
00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:47.879
<v Speaker 1>I couldn't move my leg at all. The situation deteriorated

59
00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:51.639
<v Speaker 1>with terrifying speed. The couple was miles from the trailhead

60
00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:54.800
<v Speaker 1>with no cell service. They tried to dig him out,

61
00:03:55.159 --> 00:03:58.919
<v Speaker 1>but the nature of quicksand makes manual digging feudile. As

62
00:03:58.919 --> 00:04:01.840
<v Speaker 1>soon as you scooped the sand away, the water saturated

63
00:04:01.879 --> 00:04:06.879
<v Speaker 1>sludge blows back into the void, resealing the trap. Realizing

64
00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:10.680
<v Speaker 1>he was immovable, Osmond made the agonizing decision to send

65
00:04:10.719 --> 00:04:14.240
<v Speaker 1>McNeil to hike out alone for help. He was left

66
00:04:14.280 --> 00:04:16.839
<v Speaker 1>waist deep in the freezing mud as a winter storm

67
00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:21.120
<v Speaker 1>rolled in. About thirty minutes after she left, it started

68
00:04:21.160 --> 00:04:23.639
<v Speaker 1>snowing really hard, so I was stuck in the water.

69
00:04:23.800 --> 00:04:27.439
<v Speaker 1>While it was pouring snow, Osmond recalled, the physical toll

70
00:04:27.480 --> 00:04:30.399
<v Speaker 1>of the trap began to set in. This is a

71
00:04:30.439 --> 00:04:34.839
<v Speaker 1>medical reality known as crush syndrome or compartment syndrome, where

72
00:04:34.839 --> 00:04:38.199
<v Speaker 1>the pressure of the sand cuts off circulation, leading to

73
00:04:38.240 --> 00:04:41.680
<v Speaker 1>potential nerve damage or the release of toxins into the blood.

74
00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:45.439
<v Speaker 1>Once the limb is freed alone in the dark, suffering

75
00:04:45.439 --> 00:04:50.160
<v Speaker 1>from hypothermia, Osmond's mind went to dark places. I sat

76
00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:52.439
<v Speaker 1>there for twelve hours, and I knew for sure I

77
00:04:52.560 --> 00:04:56.199
<v Speaker 1>was dead, he told Outside magazine. I started to think

78
00:04:56.240 --> 00:04:59.079
<v Speaker 1>about what I could do to die faster, but I

79
00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:01.839
<v Speaker 1>didn't want to drown. If I fell again, that would

80
00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:05.759
<v Speaker 1>be the worst way to go. Rescue eventually arrived in

81
00:05:05.800 --> 00:05:07.959
<v Speaker 1>the form of park rangers, who had to utilize a

82
00:05:07.959 --> 00:05:11.319
<v Speaker 1>mechanical pulley system to break the suction holding Oustmin's leg.

83
00:05:12.560 --> 00:05:16.000
<v Speaker 1>It took significant mechanical force to free him. He was

84
00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:19.279
<v Speaker 1>airlifted to a hospital, where he eventually recovered, though he

85
00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:22.279
<v Speaker 1>suffered muscle damage from the crushing pressure of the sand.

86
00:05:24.040 --> 00:05:28.120
<v Speaker 1>Now let's take a look at an Alaska nightmare. While

87
00:05:28.160 --> 00:05:32.319
<v Speaker 1>Osmond fased the danger of exposure, honkers in Alaska face

88
00:05:32.399 --> 00:05:36.120
<v Speaker 1>a far more urgent threat, the tide. The mud flats

89
00:05:36.199 --> 00:05:40.360
<v Speaker 1>of turn Again Arm near Anchorage are composed of glacial silt,

90
00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:44.240
<v Speaker 1>a fine ground flower of rock that creates some of

91
00:05:44.279 --> 00:05:49.000
<v Speaker 1>the deadliest quicksand on Earth. Locals know the mantra stay

92
00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:52.920
<v Speaker 1>off the mud flats, but to visitors, the vast flat

93
00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:56.839
<v Speaker 1>expansions of gray silt look like solid beaches. The most

94
00:05:56.920 --> 00:06:00.199
<v Speaker 1>tragic and well documented case occurred in July nineteen eight,

95
00:06:00.879 --> 00:06:04.720
<v Speaker 1>involving a young woman named Adena Dickison. She and her

96
00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:07.600
<v Speaker 1>husband were gold dredging on the mudflats when their ATV

97
00:06:07.720 --> 00:06:11.519
<v Speaker 1>got stuck. While trying to push it out, Adena's leg

98
00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:15.680
<v Speaker 1>became ensnared in the silt. The Turn Again Arm is

99
00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:18.879
<v Speaker 1>famous for its bore tide, a rush of water that

100
00:06:18.959 --> 00:06:21.439
<v Speaker 1>can raise the water level by dozens of feet in

101
00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:26.360
<v Speaker 1>a terrifyingly short window. As Adena struggled, the silt liquified

102
00:06:26.360 --> 00:06:29.240
<v Speaker 1>around her leg and then hardened, locking her in place.

103
00:06:30.279 --> 00:06:33.759
<v Speaker 1>Rescuers arrived, but they were fighting a ticking clock. The

104
00:06:33.800 --> 00:06:36.959
<v Speaker 1>physics of the glacial silt trap were insurmountable. In the

105
00:06:37.000 --> 00:06:39.879
<v Speaker 1>time they had. They tried to dig her out. With

106
00:06:40.040 --> 00:06:42.920
<v Speaker 1>the hole filled with water. They tied a rope around

107
00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:45.120
<v Speaker 1>her and used the vehicle to try and pull her free,

108
00:06:45.399 --> 00:06:48.560
<v Speaker 1>but the suction was so intense the force required to

109
00:06:48.600 --> 00:06:51.680
<v Speaker 1>remove her would have dislocated her joints or even savered

110
00:06:51.720 --> 00:06:57.079
<v Speaker 1>her leg. Tragically, the tide rose faster than they could work.

111
00:06:57.720 --> 00:07:01.199
<v Speaker 1>Adena Dickison drowned in the rising water, despite the presence

112
00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:04.800
<v Speaker 1>of rescuers just feet away. It remains one of the

113
00:07:04.839 --> 00:07:08.879
<v Speaker 1>most harrowing examples of the immovable object nature of quicksand

114
00:07:10.879 --> 00:07:15.319
<v Speaker 1>This danger persists today. In May twenty twenty three, another

115
00:07:15.399 --> 00:07:19.839
<v Speaker 1>man became trapped in the same mudflats. Fortunately, rescue technology

116
00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:24.279
<v Speaker 1>is improved. Firefighters used a specialized tool called a mud lance,

117
00:07:24.720 --> 00:07:27.480
<v Speaker 1>which injects high pressure water and air into the silt

118
00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:32.040
<v Speaker 1>around the trap leg. This process, known as liquification, used

119
00:07:32.079 --> 00:07:36.279
<v Speaker 1>intentionally this time, breaks the suction of the vacuum. The

120
00:07:36.279 --> 00:07:39.680
<v Speaker 1>man was extracted just minutes before the freezing tide would

121
00:07:39.720 --> 00:07:44.079
<v Speaker 1>have reached him. Now let's look at a modern rescue

122
00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:49.959
<v Speaker 1>the stuck quicksand hiker. Even experienced hikers with modern technology

123
00:07:49.959 --> 00:07:53.519
<v Speaker 1>can fall victim to the trap. In a very recent

124
00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:57.120
<v Speaker 1>case from December twenty twenty five, a Season three hiker

125
00:07:57.199 --> 00:08:02.680
<v Speaker 1>named Austin Dirks found himself immobilized in Arches National Park, Utah.

126
00:08:03.079 --> 00:08:06.680
<v Speaker 1>Dirks was hiking the Heyduke Trail, a rugged eight hundred

127
00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:09.120
<v Speaker 1>mile route, when he stepped into what looked like a

128
00:08:09.160 --> 00:08:13.399
<v Speaker 1>shallow stream bed in Courthouse Wash. In seconds, he was

129
00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:17.160
<v Speaker 1>trapped up to his knee. Unlike the movie characters who

130
00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:21.079
<v Speaker 1>Flail and Sink, Dirks found himself in a stalemate. I

131
00:08:21.160 --> 00:08:24.560
<v Speaker 1>tried my trekking poles he would write later. They sank

132
00:08:24.600 --> 00:08:27.240
<v Speaker 1>to the handles the moment I leaned on them. The

133
00:08:27.279 --> 00:08:30.279
<v Speaker 1>stream water rushing past him filled every hole he tried

134
00:08:30.279 --> 00:08:33.159
<v Speaker 1>to dig, and the angle of his leg became torture.

135
00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:37.559
<v Speaker 1>He says, quote my knee bent to a painful forty

136
00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:40.759
<v Speaker 1>five degrees over my foot, and I could not straighten

137
00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:46.279
<v Speaker 1>it end quote. Dirks possessed a garment in rached satellite messenger,

138
00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:50.440
<v Speaker 1>a device that likely saved his life. With frozen fingers,

139
00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:52.679
<v Speaker 1>he typed a message that was as brief as it

140
00:08:52.759 --> 00:08:59.039
<v Speaker 1>was terrifying, stuck quicksand hiker. The rescue operation highlighted the

141
00:08:59.039 --> 00:09:04.240
<v Speaker 1>sheer difficulty extraction. It wasn't enough to just pull. Search

142
00:09:04.279 --> 00:09:07.200
<v Speaker 1>and rescue teams had to deploy traction boards and ladders

143
00:09:07.559 --> 00:09:11.120
<v Speaker 1>to distribute their own weight so they wouldn't become victims themselves.

144
00:09:11.759 --> 00:09:15.039
<v Speaker 1>Then they had to carefully escavate his leg, battling the

145
00:09:15.080 --> 00:09:20.120
<v Speaker 1>freezing water and the refilling sand. When they finally pulled

146
00:09:20.159 --> 00:09:23.279
<v Speaker 1>me free, Dirks recounted, my shoe almost tore off, but

147
00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:26.159
<v Speaker 1>held on. My leg, had no feeling left in it,

148
00:09:26.600 --> 00:09:31.399
<v Speaker 1>and nearly collapsed when I put weight on it. Now,

149
00:09:31.480 --> 00:09:37.039
<v Speaker 1>let's look at the psychology of the stuck. What connects Osmond, Dickinson,

150
00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:40.799
<v Speaker 1>and Dirks is a psychological shock of the trap. In

151
00:09:40.879 --> 00:09:44.799
<v Speaker 1>all three cases, the ground, the one element humans rely

152
00:09:44.960 --> 00:09:48.480
<v Speaker 1>on to be static, betrayed them. You see this stuff

153
00:09:48.480 --> 00:09:50.679
<v Speaker 1>in movies and you don't think of it happened to you.

154
00:09:50.759 --> 00:09:55.399
<v Speaker 1>Osmond said. This cognitive distance often leads to panic, which

155
00:09:55.440 --> 00:10:00.000
<v Speaker 1>speeds up the entrapman. When a person struggles, they essentially

156
00:10:00.120 --> 00:10:03.519
<v Speaker 1>churn the mix, forcing more water out of the suspension

157
00:10:03.559 --> 00:10:08.000
<v Speaker 1>and packing the sand tired around their limbs. Doctor Daniel Bond,

158
00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:12.000
<v Speaker 1>a physicist who published a study on quicksand in Nature magazine,

159
00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:15.039
<v Speaker 1>confirmed that it is impossible for a human to be

160
00:10:15.120 --> 00:10:19.919
<v Speaker 1>fully submerged. You cannot drown in quicksand, Bond stated, but

161
00:10:20.000 --> 00:10:22.799
<v Speaker 1>if you get stuck, the sand settles around your feet

162
00:10:22.840 --> 00:10:25.799
<v Speaker 1>and forms the sentiment that acts like a solid. You

163
00:10:25.840 --> 00:10:30.000
<v Speaker 1>can get out, but it requires patience and specific technique.

164
00:10:32.000 --> 00:10:35.720
<v Speaker 1>In conclusion, the reality of quicksand is not the fast paced,

165
00:10:35.759 --> 00:10:39.679
<v Speaker 1>breathless drounding depicted in Saying the Princess Bride. It's a slow,

166
00:10:39.879 --> 00:10:42.799
<v Speaker 1>cold and crushing ordeal. It's the panic of a limb

167
00:10:42.879 --> 00:10:45.720
<v Speaker 1>that won't move, the pain of a knee twisted against

168
00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:48.519
<v Speaker 1>the weight of the earth and the terrifying realization that

169
00:10:48.600 --> 00:10:51.039
<v Speaker 1>you're rooted to the spot while the omens close in.

170
00:10:52.000 --> 00:10:55.000
<v Speaker 1>Hikers are taught to look for bears, to watch for storms,

171
00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:58.679
<v Speaker 1>and to carry enough water, but the ground itself remains

172
00:10:58.720 --> 00:11:04.440
<v Speaker 1>an overlooked predator. As Ryan Osmond's Public Concrete proves, the

173
00:11:04.519 --> 00:11:06.759
<v Speaker 1>earth does not need to swallow you hole to kill you.

174
00:11:07.279 --> 00:11:09.440
<v Speaker 1>It only needs to hold you tight enough and long

175
00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:13.919
<v Speaker 1>enough for something else to finish the job. The survival

176
00:11:13.960 --> 00:11:17.919
<v Speaker 1>advice from experts contradicts our instincts. Do not struggle, do

177
00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:20.440
<v Speaker 1>not have a friend pull you, and if possible, lean

178
00:11:20.519 --> 00:11:24.559
<v Speaker 1>back to distribute your weight. Does these cases show once

179
00:11:24.559 --> 00:11:27.679
<v Speaker 1>the trap is set, the only thing that matters is

180
00:11:27.720 --> 00:11:32.879
<v Speaker 1>how fast help can arrive. Well, friends, there you have it.

181
00:11:33.759 --> 00:11:37.399
<v Speaker 1>As always, I look forward to your comments on this one.

182
00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:40.399
<v Speaker 1>As for me, I'll see you a little further on

183
00:11:40.480 --> 00:11:43.519
<v Speaker 1>down the trail. Watch out for that quicksand I'm Steve

184
00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:47.200
<v Speaker 1>Stockton and I'll talk to you next time. Be good

185
00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:49.639
<v Speaker 1>to each other and tell your animals I said hi.