Sinkholes

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_00]: This claimer, the episode includes the usual amount of adult language and graphic discussions

[00:00:08] [SPEAKER_00]: you've come to expect around here.

[00:00:10] [SPEAKER_00]: But in the event it becomes an unusual amount, expecting another call from me.

[00:00:15] [SPEAKER_02]: Welcome back to Scared All The Time, I'm Chris Colari and I'm Ed Vakolo.

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_02]: And this week we're going to get swallowed up by a topic we've had a few people suggest

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_02]: to us, Sinkholes.

[00:00:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Think of a Sinkhole, like a tiny, localized earthquake.

[00:00:29] [SPEAKER_02]: But instead of shaking the ground like an earthquake, it does the scariest thing an earthquake

[00:00:34] [SPEAKER_02]: could do besides top of the whole building on your head.

[00:00:37] [SPEAKER_02]: The ground just opens up and devours you whole.

[00:00:41] [SPEAKER_02]: And not just you, it might eat your friends, cars and nearby buildings.

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_02]: A big enough Sinkhole could technically take down a city.

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Can they get that big?

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_02]: I have no idea but if I've learned anything doing this show, it's that the worst case scenario

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_02]: is not only possible, it's probably happened.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_02]: So what is the deal with Sinkholes?

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_02]: Is Mother Nature alive and hungry for human meat or is something else behind these sudden disasters?

[00:01:06] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm putting money on something else but like I said, anything is possible.

[00:01:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Hey everybody, welcome back to the show.

[00:01:25] [SPEAKER_02]: I think this week for Housekeeping, since last week's Housekeeping was kind of stupidly long,

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_02]: we'll keep this week's Housekeeping stupidly short and we are going to celebrate that

[00:01:36] [SPEAKER_02]: stupidly short housekeeping with a return of one of our favorite things to do on the show.

[00:01:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Five Star Review Corner.

[00:01:43] [SPEAKER_02]: You all know what it is or maybe you don't if this is the first episode you're listening to.

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_02]: But five Star Review Corner is where we encourage you to leave five Star Reviews of the show

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_02]: and only five Star Reviews, fuck a four Star Review.

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_02]: I think I saw somebody left a one Star Review, double fuck you.

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_03]: I'll take that over for it.

[00:02:01] [SPEAKER_02]: At least they have passionate feelings about this.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Exactly, I want passion one way or the other.

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_03]: But yeah, you leave five Star Reviews and we read some of them.

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_03]: I would actually like to start with a review unrelated to our show.

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Please, Ed start with a review unrelated to the show.

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Getting in a car accident night on a highway, I give it one stars.

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_03]: One stars because now we're making this a short housekeeping but

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_03]: it could actually be long.

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_03]: I know where to be because I got all this like PTSD of a driving on highways at night now.

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_03]: And so I just drive during the day and or surface roads.

[00:02:31] [SPEAKER_03]: So one star, one star for that.

[00:02:34] [SPEAKER_03]: Now let's get the things you like.

[00:02:36] [SPEAKER_03]: Let's get to the podcast.

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_02]: All right, here we go.

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_02]: First five Star Review from Rick Belcher, September 1st, five stars,

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_02]: headline bunch of scaredy cats.

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Rick says, I love this show.

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_02]: The host boys consistently inform an entertain.

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_02]: I was a little late to the party but I've caught up over the last few weeks and I can't wait

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_02]: for the next episode to drop.

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_02]: So thank you Rick.

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, nice.

[00:02:59] [SPEAKER_03]: So where are the host boys?

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_03]: Where are the host boys?

[00:03:01] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay, we'll take it.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_03]: I'd like that.

[00:03:03] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, it's nice.

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_03]: It's blend.

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_03]: I've been soft launching square boys but we aren't square yet.

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, you know, I'll just go with host boys.

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Now since and I haven't worked, I've been into the gym since like a week before the accident.

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_03]: So I like, I can't.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm the fucking doughboy now dude.

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_02]: You're almost a flat boy after the accident but I'm actually, that's still a goal.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Flat boy, still a goal.

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, but it is not that way.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_03]: All right, and hit me with a five star review.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_03]: All right, five star, we got Mandy Blom, Mandy BLOM.

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_03]: They write subject five stars every week,

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_03]: exclamation point nights to see.

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_03]: RIP God bless to my previous favorite podcast, scared all time, takes the cake as my number one.

[00:03:50] [SPEAKER_03]: Been listening since day one and it never gets old.

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_03]: Well, that was very nice of them.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_03]: They were really on top of punctuation till the end.

[00:03:59] [SPEAKER_03]: But I do like that is I guess there's more to come which I like to see in a review.

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I'll give you this five star review from Lil Bax.

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_02]: On July 30th, five stars Spooky Good Time.

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_02]: This is why I'm reading this one.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_02]: It starts with listen, I'm very picky when it comes to podcasts.

[00:04:18] [SPEAKER_02]: This one is a 10 out of 10 for me.

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Audio quality is always great.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_02]: Hey, right on finally somebody.

[00:04:25] [SPEAKER_02]: It works so hard on this.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Good job Ed.

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.

[00:04:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Host or hilarious.

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Topics are always fun and well researched every episode is like a spooky little vacation

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_02]: from my brain.

[00:04:35] [SPEAKER_02]: That's the spirit.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_03]: I like that.

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_03]: Sure is.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_03]: That's very nice of them.

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_03]: But if we want to keep getting five star reviews, we shouldn't have a long housekeeping.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_03]: So that's true.

[00:04:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's get into it.

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's get into it.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Here we go.

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Syncols Episode 2 season 4.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_02]: Let's get into it.

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_02]: All right Ed.

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_02]: So we've had a couple people request Syncols and you know, to be totally honest, I wouldn't say

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_02]: Syncols have ever really been on my fear tier.

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_02]: Do you think about Syncols often?

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_02]: Are you worried about them?

[00:05:04] [SPEAKER_02]: I never think about them.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Great.

[00:05:06] [SPEAKER_02]: So we're starting on the same page.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_02]: Never concert.

[00:05:09] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that's like I said in the intro.

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_02]: I like the closest they get is like an earthquake.

[00:05:13] [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like in in scary earthquake movies.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_02]: It's usually the like the 1970s earthquake of like a big crack opens up and then

[00:05:21] [SPEAKER_02]: the ground shakes and it gets bigger and then people fall in and cars fall in.

[00:05:25] [SPEAKER_03]: Like that's what I think of in terms of like yeah, like it's it's before like there's

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_03]: something that causes it like an earthquake causes the ground to open where I feel like

[00:05:34] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know.

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_03]: Maybe this is not true at all but I feel like a Syncol is its own thing.

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_03]: It's kind of maybe more akin to Quixand or something or a Starlight Pit.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, this might be the stupidest we've

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_02]: sounded at the beginning of an episode.

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh no, no.

[00:05:48] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know how Syncols were.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_02]: We're literally this is like an audience request episode.

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_03]: So yeah, I know my brother, I think in his neighborhood like somebody built a pool or

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_03]: something and I don't know if they did it wrong or if they didn't put whatever

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_03]: reason somebody built a pool and now other neighbors driveways are like starting to sink in

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_03]: and like turn like out of an angle.

[00:06:12] [SPEAKER_03]: Like other people's yards are like collapsing that might cause somebody built a pool.

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_03]: So I don't know if that has anything to do with Syncols.

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_02]: It might.

[00:06:21] [SPEAKER_02]: It might.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_02]: We'll learn about what causes Syncols in a moment and it sounds like without spoiling it.

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_02]: It sounds like there may be some of that going on with this pool situation but

[00:06:32] [SPEAKER_02]: I thought I'd start by telling our listeners that the first two words I think of when I hear

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_02]: the word Syncol are Lake Taco.

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_02]: Not Tahoe, Taco.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_02]: It's not the vacation place ruined by a Syncol.

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_02]: Though I feel like there's potential business model there.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Like when this podcast blows up maybe we should invest in food deemed vacation spots like

[00:06:57] [SPEAKER_02]: Lake Taco or Pasta Mountain.

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think we should.

[00:07:01] [SPEAKER_02]: I don't think we should invest in anything themed or burrito bay.

[00:07:05] [SPEAKER_03]: Fuck dude burrito bay?

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_03]: It's a fun name.

[00:07:08] [SPEAKER_03]: Burrito bay sounds like heaven.

[00:07:10] [SPEAKER_03]: Remember we like covered in abandoned towns there was like the Santa Claus town or whatever and

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_03]: stuff. I just feel like you shouldn't dump a bunch of investment into a themed anything.

[00:07:18] [SPEAKER_03]: That's true.

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_03]: That's true.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_03]: Now when it comes to like a themed location,

[00:07:22] [SPEAKER_03]: I know people I guess made money on that museum of ice cream or some dump shit so who knows.

[00:07:26] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah yeah yeah well we've learned some lessons from this shit.

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_02]: We have nothing to invest.

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_02]: We have nothing to invest.

[00:07:32] [SPEAKER_02]: If all of our patrons want to go in with us and buy burrito bay, let's talk.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_02]: All our patrons together might buy us a burrito.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_02]: Well in this case Lake Taco is the name for the Syncols that opened up in front of the

[00:07:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Taco Bell near my in-laws in Wilkes County, North Carolina where I wrote and research this

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_02]: episode.

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_02]: I put a link in the show notes if you want to see a post on a local Facebook page about it

[00:07:58] [SPEAKER_02]: that is full of local comments like this gem.

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_02]: Quote, still remember this.

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_02]: I was hollering at this nice looking shot he that lived right up the road.

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_02]: Me and her had our own Syncol action going on.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_02]: Know what I'm saying upside down smiley face.

[00:08:14] [SPEAKER_02]: Three right side up smiley faces.

[00:08:16] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh wow.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_02]: So this Syncol appeared outside the Wilkesboro Taco Bell in February 2017 which one?

[00:08:23] [SPEAKER_03]: The real Syncol or the one that guy's talking about like his

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_03]: son.

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_03]: The real Syncol.

[00:08:29] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh okay okay.

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_02]: Although this guy's Syncol action may have happened outside of the Wilkesboro Taco Bell.

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_02]: It's possible.

[00:08:34] [SPEAKER_02]: Sure.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_02]: Sure.

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_02]: The real Syncol appeared outside the Wilkesboro Taco Bell in February 2017 and according to a

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_02]: video produced by the Wilkes County Democrats, the Syncol was created when a 60-inch

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_02]: metal culvert at least 35 feet below the Taco Bell was damaged by a shifting boulder.

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_02]: That led the problems with storm water runoff and that in turn created the Syncols.

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_02]: And on February 12th the front of the two Syncols expanded overnight, taking a car into

[00:09:01] [SPEAKER_02]: what became a 20-foot hole.

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_02]: The Taco Bell closed that summer.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_02]: The building remained abandoned with a large Syncol filled with water in front of it.

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_02]: Terencial rains hit that June filling it even further and thus Lake Taco was born.

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_02]: Wow.

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_02]: According to Mickey Minton which is a great comic book name who is also a Facebook

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_02]: They pinned the blame on J.C. Fall in company but it was a failed storm drain pipe buried

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_02]: under there and not maintained by the town county or state.

[00:09:32] [SPEAKER_02]: It was not his fault that they messed up but since it was his property they got away with it.

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_02]: Just not right.

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean yes, he could be a bit of a short cut kind of boss but not this time.

[00:09:44] [SPEAKER_03]: Look I feel a form a little bit.

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_03]: You know as a guy dealing with insurance a lot the last week or two whenever this comes out

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_03]: The insurance companies they don't they're probably like saw your franchise turning to a lake here's one dollar.

[00:09:56] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I don't know I asked my father-in-law about J.C. Fall and he had some strong opinions on

[00:10:04] [SPEAKER_02]: J.C. Fall and J.C. Fall's foibles.

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh my god this man is not well loved locally.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_02]: This is name just cheap boss.

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_02]: There you go.

[00:10:14] [SPEAKER_02]: I also heard J.C. Fall's dad so we can say whatever the fuck we want about him.

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh yeah, to take that J.C.

[00:10:21] [SPEAKER_02]: Take that J.C.

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Dancen on your mother fucking grave.

[00:10:24] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, Adios did hope your grave isn't a sinkhole.

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_02]: Well even better and really the reason I bring all this up in the first place is that this

[00:10:33] [SPEAKER_02]: particular sinkhole got a song written about it by a local DJ who goes by the name Timmy Nelson.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_02]: God I have a better DJ named than that.

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_02]: I know the song is called Taco River for some reason in the top of the lake.

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_03]: I guess he's yeah he's anticipating there be more bodies of water.

[00:10:49] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah but Ed I just sent you a link.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_02]: Oh okay sure.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Hit play on that Bob and take a listen to Taco River by Timmy Nelson.

[00:11:14] [SPEAKER_03]: Oh my god.

[00:11:15] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay he has a binder clip holding is I don't know what that is a rug.

[00:11:20] [SPEAKER_03]: I believe he's dressed as a Mexican would be I think an interpretation of this video.

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay so I'm looking at a older kind of parrot headdish like I maybe a like I think fucking

[00:11:32] [SPEAKER_03]: knows it's it's shot with a fucking potato so it's hard to tell.

[00:11:35] [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah is ethnicity but he is dressed in a I don't know a mix of a couple

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_02]: different he has a Mariachi hat on sunglasses.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_02]: I believe maybe fake teeth his teeth look very fake to me.

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_03]: Fuck behind him is just like maybe news footage from from Taco Lake and a lower third popped

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_03]: up that says this is Taco Lake so he's very aware of the name of this place and yet continues

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_03]: to call it Taco River.

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah I'm not sure I think maybe that just worked best for the song lyrics.

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm sure there's no you can't rhyme anything with Lake the song is nearly five minutes long

[00:12:13] [SPEAKER_03]: okay now there's a section where he's just kind of talking like he's the inkspots or Bob Dylan

[00:12:17] [SPEAKER_04]: or something maybe just thought I have to grab the wind and I'll pick you guys it floats by.

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_03]: Okay I will say towards I don't know the four and a half minute mark of the video

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_03]: he's laying on the ground now but before he did he got a little closer to the camera yes they

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_03]: are gigantic fake teeth.

[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_03]: I don't know if it's like a racist thing or just a like I don't know why anything I don't

[00:12:44] [SPEAKER_03]: know why anything is all I could say about this video.

[00:12:47] [SPEAKER_02]: Well anyway I hope you guys enjoyed that clip shout out to Will Spirone North Carolina Lake

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_02]: Taco I hope someone cleans you up soon or massively expands you so I can take a jet ski out

[00:12:57] [SPEAKER_03]: next time I'm in town and sorry everybody is listening at home for us for getting the turn on

[00:13:02] [SPEAKER_03]: room with us but we'll have a link to the video in some screenshots of this toned-deaf local

[00:13:07] [SPEAKER_02]: loon in the show notes for sure. That's the most recent experience I've had with the sinkhole so

[00:13:13] [SPEAKER_02]: not scary is part of part of what I'm getting out but as I learned researching this episode sinkholes

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_02]: can in fact be very scary so I guess we'll start with why are sinkholes what what causes sinkholes

[00:13:29] [SPEAKER_02]: according to the US geological service a sinkhole is a depression in the ground that has no

[00:13:35] [SPEAKER_02]: natural external surface drainage basically this means that when it rains all of the water stays

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_02]: inside the sinkhole and typically drains into the subsurface.

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_02]: sinkholes are most common in what geologists call carcestorane which I think we talked about carcestorane

[00:13:53] [SPEAKER_02]: in the caves episode maybe because these are regions where the types of rock below the land

[00:13:59] [SPEAKER_02]: can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them which is sometimes how

[00:14:04] [SPEAKER_02]: caves are formed. So some of this soluble rock includes salt beds and domes,

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_02]: gypsum limestone and other carbonate rock so Florida for instance is an area largely

[00:14:15] [SPEAKER_02]: underlain by limestone and is highly susceptible to sinkholes a point that we will return to

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_03]: again and again what is the course of this episode in Florida has a lot of marshland too which

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_03]: seems like that's I don't know just seems like what if we put what's going on in sinkhole on the

[00:14:32] [SPEAKER_03]: surface you know me just wet weird awful don't go there yeah well I think a lot of marshland

[00:14:39] [SPEAKER_02]: probably is I don't know what the I guess it doesn't it doesn't drain have the same drainage issues

[00:14:44] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah it just kind of hangs out but when water from rainfall moves down through the soil

[00:14:50] [SPEAKER_02]: the soluble rock can dissolve creating underground spaces and caverns these caverns can then

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_02]: grow to the point that there isn't enough support for the land above them at which point they

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_02]: collapse taking anything above ground with them but where does it go into the ground to wear to

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER_02]: hell it's like it goes straight to hell no it so like imagine it's essentially forming a in a

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_02]: the surface you know collapses through the ceiling of the hole that has been formed beneath the ground

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_03]: got you so it's like if your upstairs neighbors bathtub over ran and then at the water got so heavy

[00:15:34] [SPEAKER_03]: that it broke down into your apartment I guess then like kind of all this doesn't make sense look there

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_02]: will be diagrams on the website I don't know it's simply it's simply simply the best it's simply

[00:15:47] [SPEAKER_02]: water that is not draining into a river stream filtering through the ground and then below ground

[00:15:54] [SPEAKER_02]: running into let's just say limestone and eating through the limestone and then eventually there's

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_02]: a big enough hole formed beneath the ground that it can no longer support the ground above it sure

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_03]: so the ground is falling into the first floor apartment then got it the first floor apartment of

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_02]: the apartment the apartment metaphor doesn't quite work because the first floor apartment

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_03]: with already be mostly open space but it doesn't matter not as matter so what all we know is that

[00:16:25] [SPEAKER_02]: at any moment this can happen at any moment the ground can follow from beneath you and you can

[00:16:30] [SPEAKER_02]: disappear into hell there's no database of single collapses in the US so it's hard to say how many

[00:16:37] [SPEAKER_02]: happened each year but we do know that single damages over the last 15 years cost on average at least

[00:16:44] [SPEAKER_02]: $300 million per year oh that's some guy go number adds really got it out for insurance companies

[00:16:49] [SPEAKER_02]: there's going to be a lot of insurance comments throughout this episode it's a complex system

[00:16:55] [SPEAKER_02]: the estimate of $300 million per year is probably much lower than the actual costs since a lot

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_02]: of sinkholes and related damage probably go unreported either because people aren't aware that

[00:17:06] [SPEAKER_02]: was a sinkhole or it happened you know way out in the woods on an old beneath an old barn or

[00:17:12] [SPEAKER_02]: something and there was no money to recoup so in any case $300 million a year is a lot of money per

[00:17:18] [SPEAKER_02]: year for a problem that isn't closely tracked I guess it may be it's hard since it's hard to

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_02]: predict when and where a sinkhole might happen and many of them probably happen in places where

[00:17:28] [SPEAKER_02]: no one is observing them it's a little like if a tree falls in a forest and no ones around

[00:17:33] [SPEAKER_02]: like a sinkhole is not really a problem unless it happens somewhere populated yeah and then you

[00:17:39] [SPEAKER_03]: better hope you have sinkhole insurance or whatever which is probably $13 billion a year spent on

[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_03]: sinkhole insurance they've only pay out $300 million okay it's the last time I'm bringing it up

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm I'm gonna look up right now is there such a thing as sinkhole insurance yes there is you can

[00:17:55] [SPEAKER_02]: get it from value penguin oh no value penguin just a site that writes about insurance

[00:18:03] [SPEAKER_02]: progressive says a standard homeowner policy doesn't offer a sinkhole insurance coverage

[00:18:08] [SPEAKER_02]: but you may be able to purchase a writer or endorsement for a sinkhole damage so it's not considered

[00:18:13] [SPEAKER_02]: an act of God it is something you can be insured against so that's cool that's good

[00:18:18] [SPEAKER_02]: when sinkholes happen away from populated areas they can result in some of the most beautiful

[00:18:23] [SPEAKER_02]: formations in the world in fact the world's deepest sinkhole known as the heavenly pit in

[00:18:30] [SPEAKER_02]: fengji county of shongkingman in sepality in china is one of those places

[00:18:36] [SPEAKER_02]: according to the BBC this sinkhole measures 2,165 feet or 660 meters deep

[00:18:45] [SPEAKER_02]: and has a volume of 130 million cubic meters or about 4.5 billion cubic feet I don't know how big

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_02]: that is but I assume you could probably fit a couple like tacos in there oh yeah it's a taco

[00:19:00] [SPEAKER_03]: looked pretty small behind that that culturally insensitive musician yeah so you know I love

[00:19:06] [SPEAKER_02]: an infographic and I try to find ways on this show to compare big numbers to things that you can

[00:19:12] [SPEAKER_02]: get your brain around because 4.5 billion cubic square feet is made up number it might as well

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_02]: be a made up number you can't really imagine it so I try to find things that fit in 4.5 billion

[00:19:25] [SPEAKER_02]: cubic feet but it's such a large number that there wasn't much out there so here's what I settled on

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER_02]: I found an infographic that says a beer keg is about 2 cubic feet so you could fit

[00:19:37] [SPEAKER_02]: 2.4 billion beer kegs into the 4.5 billion cubic feet of the heavenly pit but that's not helpful

[00:19:45] [SPEAKER_02]: unless you can visualize more than a billion beer kegs which I cannot so you didn't party but it was

[00:19:50] [SPEAKER_02]: like you never party it's like I could do 4.5 billion kegs to yeah you don't even know bro

[00:19:55] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah I mean the old you could have uh here is something that does it's still too big to really

[00:20:01] [SPEAKER_02]: comprehend but it helps put that number at a perspective so I looked it up and heiser bush

[00:20:06] [SPEAKER_02]: only produces about 125 million barrels or kegs of beer each year so it would take the

[00:20:14] [SPEAKER_02]: boys at Budweiser 36 years of constantly brewing beer to fill that sinkhole with beer kegs that

[00:20:23] [SPEAKER_02]: it's so big that it is home to 1,285 different plant and animal species just the heavenly pit alone

[00:20:31] [SPEAKER_02]: not the woods around it the woods contain within the heavenly pit is home to 1,285 plant

[00:20:39] [SPEAKER_02]: animal species including the rare ginko plant the clouded leopard and the Chinese giant salamander

[00:20:46] [SPEAKER_02]: which depending on how giant it is I don't know maybe you can only fit four of them in there oh shit

[00:20:52] [SPEAKER_03]: did they all work at some sort of uh iPhone factory in the pit or what is it no no it's going on

[00:20:58] [SPEAKER_02]: with this pit I don't know where it isn't China yeah I don't know where the Chongqing

[00:21:01] [SPEAKER_02]: minute's ability is I did include pictures of this in this show notes and actually because these are

[00:21:06] [SPEAKER_02]: all sinkholes there's a lot of pictures in the show notes but you can also just google most of them

[00:21:11] [SPEAKER_02]: if you have trouble finding the links so you don't want to go to the links you could just google

[00:21:14] [SPEAKER_02]: heavenly pit china and you'll find photos of it yeah during the areas rainy season a waterfall

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_02]: plummet from the mouth of the pit feeding an underground river and cave network at its base locals

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_02]: have known about this sinkhole for centuries but the outside world only became aware of it in 1994

[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_02]: when British explorers attempted to map the cave system and adding to the site's mystery

[00:21:39] [SPEAKER_02]: the river's torrent was so heavy that it was too much for this British team of explorers

[00:21:45] [SPEAKER_02]: they attempted to map it five times over the course of ten years but they never succeeded in

[00:21:51] [SPEAKER_02]: producing a complete survey so as a result the deep dark underworld of heavenly pits river

[00:21:57] [SPEAKER_02]: remains one of China's great geological mysteries no one has a map well I mean I'm sure someone

[00:22:03] [SPEAKER_02]: in China does but no one outside of china has a map of where those rivers come from or go to

[00:22:09] [SPEAKER_02]: they just apparently have a very heavy flow to them because it was too much for the brits yeah

[00:22:15] [SPEAKER_02]: what isn't yeah a lot of eastern countries were too much for the brits ultimately

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_02]: shots fired musket shots fired there's another massive beautiful sinkhole that I get I

[00:22:28] [SPEAKER_02]: encourage you to go google image search this it's a sinkhole in Bolivar state venisuela called the

[00:22:34] [SPEAKER_02]: seema humble it is 352 meters or 1,155 feet wide and 314 meters or 1,030 feet deep with vertical walls

[00:22:47] [SPEAKER_02]: and it's unusual looking if you look this up this even more so than the heavenly pit it just

[00:22:54] [SPEAKER_02]: looks fake it is a perfectly round hole punched in the middle of a rain forest and this one's

[00:23:01] [SPEAKER_02]: even crazier because it formed at the top of one of the only forested to pooies in the world now

[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_02]: if you don't know what a tupooie is join the club I didn't either I don't even know if I'm

[00:23:12] [SPEAKER_02]: pronouncing correctly I'm pretty sure I am but a tupooie is one of those you've seen pictures

[00:23:17] [SPEAKER_02]: of them unlike national geographic channel or travel sites there were those flat top mountains

[00:23:22] [SPEAKER_02]: that looks like something out of a fantasy movie oh yeah sure they drop straight off into cliffs

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_02]: on all sides it looks like a place where dinosaurs were still going to be here if they would be

[00:23:32] [SPEAKER_02]: on top of one of these places got you even creepier though this particular tupooie is called

[00:23:38] [SPEAKER_02]: seero serosen yama named after the tale of the local yacuana people about an evil spirit living in

[00:23:47] [SPEAKER_02]: caves up in the mountain into vowing human flesh with the sound sorry sorry sorry um S.A.R.I.

[00:23:55] [SPEAKER_02]: sorry sorry uh I don't know what that sound has to do with eating human flesh yeah I don't

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_02]: know either I've never even eaten a hamburger with that noise no that's a nice McDonalds did you

[00:24:06] [SPEAKER_03]: see that thing about how McDonalds is like everyone's camping on everything right now and so

[00:24:10] [SPEAKER_03]: that lady had that video of like the pickles thicker than the meat no no McDonalds hamburger no what

[00:24:15] [SPEAKER_03]: I'm just saying they're making thin ass burgs over there so if anybody's food should be saying

[00:24:20] [SPEAKER_03]: sorry to you it should be fucking McDonalds burgers for for how little meat they got in there at the moment

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_02]: well if you go up onto this mountain make sure you bring some burgers no matter how thin they are

[00:24:31] [SPEAKER_02]: maybe you can trade the evil spirits for your own flesh by giving them a tasty delicious McDonalds hamburger

[00:24:39] [SPEAKER_02]: the closest road to S.A.R.S.A.R. is 35 miles away so no one even knew this sinkhole was up here

[00:24:48] [SPEAKER_02]: on top of this tapui because no one had flown over it and looked down until 1954 or possibly

[00:24:57] [SPEAKER_02]: 1961 I found some conflicting dates but literally that's kind of the only way I mean I'm sure

[00:25:03] [SPEAKER_02]: at some point in history there were some people in the area who knew that this thing was up there

[00:25:08] [SPEAKER_02]: but it took people flying over the tapui and looking down and going what the fuck is that before

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_03]: anyone knew that it even existed yeah I hope it started with some guy being like I built the most

[00:25:19] [SPEAKER_03]: beautiful home where on top of that tapui it was like where he's at on top and they were looking

[00:25:24] [SPEAKER_03]: and I promise you I see no home up there's like we're talking about it's been like six years

[00:25:28] [SPEAKER_03]: building this house and it walked 35 miles to this road to tell you about it oh no I didn't go up there

[00:25:32] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah it's just one of those things where it's like this is the worst possible place and then and then

[00:25:36] [SPEAKER_02]: of course it didn't have sinkhole insurance yeah should it talk to progressive or state farm

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_02]: or that penguin the penguin or virtual penguin or whatever so 1954 in 1961

[00:25:46] [SPEAKER_02]: either way mid century some guy who probably shot down Nazis in a dogfight a few years prior

[00:25:51] [SPEAKER_02]: hell yeah brother flew over this thing and went I got to get down there and there's actually

[00:25:56] [SPEAKER_02]: two obviously visible sinkholes from the other sea ma humboldt and then another one called

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_02]: the sea ma martel and I think there's a total of like four or five up there but humbolts the

[00:26:06] [SPEAKER_02]: big one that everyone's taking a photo of neither of these sinkholes were explored until the

[00:26:11] [SPEAKER_02]: summit of Sarisar and Yamaha was finally reached in 1974 when a helicopter was used to airlift

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_02]: 30 researchers to the top of the plateau initial investigations were done at both sinkholes

[00:26:24] [SPEAKER_02]: including a descent to the bottom of sea ma humboldt where they again just like they have

[00:26:30] [SPEAKER_02]: only pit found an entire forest and ecosystem it's so wild which is crazy to me it's an ecosystem

[00:26:37] [SPEAKER_02]: at the bottom of a sinkhole that's already like how many hundreds of thousands of feet in the air

[00:26:45] [SPEAKER_02]: are living in this little pit and have been for millions of years I mean do they grow in the pit

[00:26:51] [SPEAKER_03]: or is it just the top soil that fell into the pit is now in there like if you pulled a table

[00:26:57] [SPEAKER_03]: cloth and all the flowers kept standing you know from under all the plates and everything stayed

[00:27:02] [SPEAKER_03]: where it was like whoa that was crazy how they all like the trees all turned to each other it was

[00:27:05] [SPEAKER_03]: like I just felt like 50 feet are you you good brownies like yeah this is where we live now we live

[00:27:09] [SPEAKER_03]: down here and I'm sure what it or did they all grow like after the collapse or were they already

[00:27:14] [SPEAKER_03]: down there and the collapse revealed them like they live in an egg no they were they were living in an

[00:27:20] [SPEAKER_02]: egg okay they were living in an egg I imagine when the collapse initially happened it took a lot

[00:27:26] [SPEAKER_02]: trees in nature with it a lot of which probably anything living animal wise I'm sure perished on

[00:27:33] [SPEAKER_02]: impact but over the years trees grew back plants grew back and other animals found their way down there

[00:27:40] [SPEAKER_02]: search party found their loved ones yeah currently access to Sarri Sariniyama is restricted to

[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_02]: scientific researchers and I'm pretty sure that's because they actually did find dinosaurs up there so

[00:27:52] [SPEAKER_02]: I bet some journey to the center of the earth shit went on yeah really you can't go up there

[00:27:57] [SPEAKER_02]: only very specific highly credentialed researchers I would kill to go up there it looks

[00:28:02] [SPEAKER_02]: absolutely beautiful and very strange but look let's be real you dear listener you are not here

[00:28:15] [SPEAKER_02]: to listen to stories about the beautiful places sinkholes can become you want death in disaster

[00:28:22] [SPEAKER_02]: so let's take a look it's seven of the scariest sinkhole disasters in recent memory or as I call them

[00:28:29] [SPEAKER_02]: the seven deadly sinks oh wow hey love it I'm gonna be a dad soon so I gotta get the dad jokes going

[00:28:35] [SPEAKER_02]: so this first story comes to us from guessware florida itself a land of nightmares Jeff Bush

[00:28:44] [SPEAKER_02]: and and I put this one first because I think this and one other one later are kind of like

[00:28:51] [SPEAKER_02]: I think what people are most afraid of when it comes to sinkholes because in this situation

[00:28:57] [SPEAKER_02]: in this case Jeff Bush a 37 year old husband and father was in his bedroom on February 28th 2013

[00:29:06] [SPEAKER_02]: when the earth opened up beneath him swallowing him and everything in his room whole but what was

[00:29:12] [SPEAKER_02]: Jeff Bush doing was he still the governor at that time? No probably not uh 2013 I don't know

[00:29:18] [SPEAKER_02]: I think that might have been Charlie Chris territory okay 2013 I can't I can't be sure

[00:29:24] [SPEAKER_02]: the hole was about 20 feet wide and it almost been completely hidden by the house as it grew and shifted

[00:29:30] [SPEAKER_02]: so this particular hole seems like it had been there a while getting bigger falling apart

[00:29:35] [SPEAKER_02]: and eventually took the house into it the five other people in the home escaped on harms

[00:29:41] [SPEAKER_02]: so Jeff maybe was one of them Jeff Bush's brother Jeremy Bush the brave Bush tried

[00:29:48] [SPEAKER_02]: to save his brother by jumping into the hole but then had to be rescued himself he's quoted

[00:29:55] [SPEAKER_02]: by my fox Tampa Bay as saying I ran in there and heard somebody screaming my brother screaming

[00:30:01] [SPEAKER_02]: and I ran in there and all I see is this big hole all I see is the top of his bed

[00:30:06] [SPEAKER_02]: I didn't see anything else so I jumped in the hole and tried getting him out

[00:30:10] [SPEAKER_02]: the floor was still giving in and the dirt was still going down but I didn't care

[00:30:14] [SPEAKER_02]: I wanted to save my brother I could hear him screaming for me hollering for me I couldn't do nothing

[00:30:20] [SPEAKER_02]: if you go to the daily mail link I put the show notes you can see some photos of what the room looked

[00:30:25] [SPEAKER_02]: like after the sink hole opened up and it is scary to how localized to the bedroom it is like it

[00:30:30] [SPEAKER_02]: looks like daffy duck like used a saw from below like around the perimeter of the room

[00:30:37] [SPEAKER_02]: and it was just like whew oh my god like it's just the bedroom did he find this brother?

[00:30:42] [SPEAKER_02]: no no they never found his body and he was hollering at the shoddies down there

[00:30:47] [SPEAKER_02]: he was maybe hollering at the shoddies Jeff was down there somewhere alive and I guess getting

[00:30:53] [SPEAKER_02]: pulled deeper and deeper into the earth being covered by more dirt and yelling for his brother

[00:30:58] [SPEAKER_02]: I mean I'll go optimistic and maybe maybe this was a complex scheme to fake his own death and

[00:31:05] [SPEAKER_02]: start life over in hollow earth in which case RIP got blessed Jeff down there riding dinosaurs

[00:31:11] [SPEAKER_02]: and doing battle with more locks and probably riding some dinosaurs I think so but three days later

[00:31:16] [SPEAKER_02]: the search for Jeff Bush's body was called off as the ground was considered two unstable and dangerous to

[00:31:22] [SPEAKER_02]: continue the house was raised nearby homes were evacuated and two years later the whole reopened

[00:31:30] [SPEAKER_02]: the land is now fenced off and it serves as a memorial to Jeff which I got admit looks pretty weird

[00:31:35] [SPEAKER_02]: in aerial shots it's just a fence around what looks like very well maintained grass with a giant

[00:31:42] [SPEAKER_02]: hole in the middle of it oh wow according to sandy nettles a geology consultant in Tampa

[00:31:47] [SPEAKER_02]: there is hardly a place in Florida that's immune to sinkholes so get that sinkhole insurance just

[00:31:53] [SPEAKER_03]: know that before you go down there it's the land of opportunity yeah you'll park your fanboat

[00:31:59] [SPEAKER_03]: and then go to bed and come out to know fanboat like there's nothing safe there from the sinkholes

[00:32:04] [SPEAKER_02]: so the second deadly sink the only thing worse than a sinkhole in your bedroom is a sinkhole

[00:32:10] [SPEAKER_02]: that eats your entire house or apartment building or neighborhood and that's what happened not once

[00:32:16] [SPEAKER_02]: but twice in Guatemala the first of these man-eating sinkholes struck in 2007 it's nearly

[00:32:24] [SPEAKER_02]: 300 feet deep and almost as wide and it killed at least five people in a poor neighborhood of

[00:32:31] [SPEAKER_02]: a Malaciti the images of the aftermath are shocking sort of like the sinkhole at the top of the

[00:32:39] [SPEAKER_02]: tapui it is a perfectly cylindrical hole punched into the middle of the city with roads and

[00:32:45] [SPEAKER_02]: buildings just kind of teetering right on the edge you've probably seen a photo of this sinkhole if

[00:32:51] [SPEAKER_02]: you ever looked up sinkholes on the internet you've probably seen a photo of this one floating around

[00:32:55] [SPEAKER_02]: it looks crazy like someone just drilled a perfect circle the size of a city block into the earth

[00:33:03] [SPEAKER_03]: aren't there no such things as perfect circles in nature people say that right but then also

[00:33:08] [SPEAKER_03]: circle comes up a lot we have fairy rings we have sinkholes like circles be circling they're just

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_02]: in perfect yeah i mean here i'm gonna send you here's the link to a bunch of images of the

[00:33:25] [SPEAKER_02]: it's not it is literally just a giant i mean the only thing that would make it scarier would be

[00:33:32] [SPEAKER_02]: if it had teeth if it was literally a starlack pit yeah wow and this has like they just have

[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_03]: like tarps over it and shit oh like yeah well you know what though not one wet floor signs type of

[00:33:44] [SPEAKER_03]: thing though just tarps it really should be caution taping this off right no just laid some tarps

[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_02]: into it yeah i mean it's definitely one of the scariest sinkhole photos i've ever seen in the days

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_02]: following this initial collapse over a thousand people were evacuated from the area because of

[00:34:01] [SPEAKER_02]: officials feared that the sinkhole might grow even larger which if it got any larger it would just

[00:34:07] [SPEAKER_02]: be swallowing the whole city yeah i don't know what you're about that i guess it could take a few more

[00:34:12] [SPEAKER_03]: buildings yeah i do wonder about that because it's like i didn't see a picture of it but you said

[00:34:17] [SPEAKER_03]: they built the fence around Jeff's little sinkhole or whatever and it's like okay what's the

[00:34:21] [SPEAKER_03]: parym on that like we got to keep the fence 25 feet from it like what's the thing where we feel

[00:34:27] [SPEAKER_03]: comfortable that the ground is going to be you know hard enough and good enough that it won't

[00:34:32] [SPEAKER_03]: now move out to that space because you know there's like buildings and stuff right up on this sinkhole

[00:34:38] [SPEAKER_03]: in the Guatemalan photo and i'd have to be like okay i need a 50 in my I mean i was like

[00:34:47] [SPEAKER_03]: 100 foot perimeter or like no one should go near this that's i mean that's how i would i mean i

[00:34:51] [SPEAKER_03]: couldn't build a big enough fence around this fucking hole after yeah well here's the photo of

[00:34:55] [SPEAKER_02]: Jeff's memorial and i'm sure that these are the kinds of sinkholes that people are keeping an eye

[00:35:01] [SPEAKER_03]: on to see if okay yeah just it's pretty they've built like a pretty big square around it like you're

[00:35:06] [SPEAKER_02]: not it's not right up on it yeah and and i'm sure there's the ability to on some level when you

[00:35:12] [SPEAKER_02]: get one of these sinkholes you know once you know where there's a problem you can keep an eye

[00:35:18] [SPEAKER_02]: on to investigate the surrounding areas i'm sure there's sort of some kind of ground penetrating

[00:35:22] [SPEAKER_02]: radar that you could use to see if there's holes forming beneath the earth nearby i guess

[00:35:30] [SPEAKER_02]: her better for worse once one of these opens up the rainwater has plenty of places to go

[00:35:35] [SPEAKER_02]: because it's just gonna drain into the yeah true and you can throw a couple coi in there

[00:35:39] [SPEAKER_02]: a little pond yeah i mean make lemonade out of a sinkhole full of lemons so in any case the

[00:35:46] [SPEAKER_02]: Guatemalan government declared a state of emergency in this entire area while they investigated

[00:35:51] [SPEAKER_02]: and since Guatemala city is apparently i don't know cursed by an ancient evil another massive

[00:35:58] [SPEAKER_02]: sinkhole opened up three years after this one wow not in the same part of town but according to

[00:36:04] [SPEAKER_02]: the subsgera this next one was sixty five feet across and thirty stories deep it killed fifteen

[00:36:11] [SPEAKER_02]: people in eight a three story tall factory i don't like that they refer to it as eight like it's

[00:36:16] [SPEAKER_02]: hungry a lot of these articles refer to the sinkholes as devouring eating interesting yeah

[00:36:23] [SPEAKER_02]: i mean it does feel like the earth is just like woo nom nom nom nom but some of his pictures

[00:36:29] [SPEAKER_03]: even the like chinese ones which feel very natural they they don't because this you know the

[00:36:35] [SPEAKER_03]: pictures of the chinese ones were like elemental versus the pictures the Guatemala one where it's

[00:36:40] [SPEAKER_03]: like look at this man made city of right angles that somebody has just shot a fucking laser through

[00:36:47] [SPEAKER_03]: like you look like a laser from space it came down in like just put like a not a perfect circle

[00:36:54] [SPEAKER_03]: we've established but just like a stray shot from a fucking intergalactic war happening yeah

[00:37:01] [SPEAKER_03]: accidentally hit Guatemala city and we're all just supposed to act like it's a sinkhole

[00:37:06] [SPEAKER_03]: sure it could be a cover up maybe sinkholes are space lasers yeah and i'm sure we're going

[00:37:12] [SPEAKER_03]: to have to go to work with that fucking Tesla Elon shot out into space all those years ago

[00:37:16] [SPEAKER_03]: hits some crack some fucking civilization it makes their 9-11 yeah and then you have to be like

[00:37:22] [SPEAKER_03]: oh shit what are we going to say not us we whoever's on that planet we have to like have a cover up for

[00:37:27] [SPEAKER_02]: it yeah well what officials found in both cases supposedly although i like our new theory better

[00:37:34] [SPEAKER_02]: but supposedly in both these cases the sinkholes were likely caused by a combination of factors

[00:37:39] [SPEAKER_02]: including heavy rain and leaky sewer pipes underground Guatemala city is built on volcanic pumice

[00:37:47] [SPEAKER_02]: a soft rock that is easily eroded by water so over time that constant flow of leaky pipes and

[00:37:53] [SPEAKER_02]: heavy rain just hollows out the ground beneath the street creating a massive underground hole

[00:38:00] [SPEAKER_02]: and that's why this this crack me up some people argue that the Guatemala sinkholes aren't technically

[00:38:07] [SPEAKER_02]: sinkholes but i shit you not piping features which i don't know man your dad's a plumber would he

[00:38:14] [SPEAKER_02]: consider a 300 foot deep and wide all a piping feature feature how like it makes it easier to pipe

[00:38:21] [SPEAKER_03]: or like this is what we had planned from the piping i don't know i i just read in one of the

[00:38:28] [SPEAKER_02]: articles that i was researching this that one i don't know if it was the government somebody was

[00:38:32] [SPEAKER_02]: arguing that these were piping features which i don't understand no i don't understand what on earth

[00:38:38] [SPEAKER_02]: because i guess it makes the most sense that you'd be like oh well it's a feature of piping which is

[00:38:44] [SPEAKER_02]: when we pipe through these soft rock areas this is a feature that will form which is

[00:38:50] [SPEAKER_02]: i guess true but seems like both really bad urban planning and a really a stretch of an argument

[00:38:57] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah i mean who do person making that arguments the insurance company doesn't want to pay out

[00:39:01] [SPEAKER_03]: the sinkhole insurance yeah probably a piping feature you can i mean obviously if i were to

[00:39:08] [SPEAKER_02]: hire a planner to pipe my home yeah i would expect it i would welcome it oh my god what

[00:39:15] [SPEAKER_03]: do you said you said you've on pipes in there he said you found pipes in there right there bro

[00:39:18] [SPEAKER_03]: feature not a bug feature not a bug i'm sorry but you didn't have the pipe a denim on your

[00:39:24] [SPEAKER_03]: on your sinkhole insurance or over so you're shit out of luck like a good neighbor state farm is there

[00:39:29] [SPEAKER_02]: 300 feet dead at the bottom of a sinkhole the third deadly sink this one add is a car guy

[00:39:42] [SPEAKER_02]: we were just on our live episode if any of you were there a few weeks ago now you heard Scott

[00:39:48] [SPEAKER_02]: filver from a sonishing legends talking to add about being a gear head and as a gear head

[00:39:53] [SPEAKER_02]: this one might be the worst one yet no one died but some car collectors souls certainly did

[00:40:00] [SPEAKER_02]: in February 2014 a sinkhole opened up under the national corvette museum in bolding green

[00:40:07] [SPEAKER_02]: Kentucky the 45 foot wide 30 foot deep hole swallowed eight classic corvettes including

[00:40:14] [SPEAKER_02]: this may mean something to you it didn't mean anything to me but including a 1962 quote black

[00:40:21] [SPEAKER_02]: corvette a 1984 ppg paste car a 2009 zr1 blue devil the 1992 white one millionth

[00:40:32] [SPEAKER_02]: corvette you can let that one go a 1993 ruby red 40th anniversary corvette a 2001

[00:40:40] [SPEAKER_02]: mallet hammer z0 6 corvette the 2009 white one and a half millionth corvette which doesn't seem as

[00:40:49] [SPEAKER_02]: impressive yeah so one millionth but they got both of them and ending on the least impressive

[00:40:56] [SPEAKER_03]: sounding a 1993 zr1 spider yeah I mean anything in the 90s you can just let them go into a whole

[00:41:04] [SPEAKER_03]: car car maybe the black corvette significance it really wasn't a pick a color people chose a lot like

[00:41:10] [SPEAKER_03]: I think it was called tuxedo black or something but black cars weren't cool until like

[00:41:14] [SPEAKER_03]: way later I feel like hmm I don't know all right pgob less to those cars I guess I mean corvettes

[00:41:19] [SPEAKER_02]: they made a lot of them so they all sound very fancy and expensive all told it was about a million

[00:41:25] [SPEAKER_02]: dollars in damage to the cars and five million dollars of damage total including what it

[00:41:30] [SPEAKER_02]: was to repair the sink hole and the photos of the aftermath of this accident or I guess it's not

[00:41:35] [SPEAKER_02]: an accident it's a it's a sink hole but the photos of the aftermath of the disaster are crazy they

[00:41:41] [SPEAKER_02]: kind of look like close up someone took up hot wheels stuffed into a hole because your brain doesn't

[00:41:47] [SPEAKER_02]: quite comprehend how all this fancy steel and glass is stacked on top of each other covered in dirt

[00:41:54] [SPEAKER_02]: just sitting in a hole their weird look in if you're a car fan who's a real glutton for punishment

[00:42:00] [SPEAKER_02]: make sure to check out the security video of the sink hole opening up that I put in the show notes

[00:42:05] [SPEAKER_02]: wow unlike most sink holes this one formed on video and so the link in the show notes is actually

[00:42:12] [SPEAKER_02]: a youtube clip of a local news story that has the security footage in the news story because I

[00:42:19] [SPEAKER_02]: found a clip of just the sink hole opening itself but I thought it was a little better with some

[00:42:24] [SPEAKER_03]: attacks because it's not a very long clip so well I will say in the in the most American way ever

[00:42:31] [SPEAKER_03]: I've googled this and I now see exactly what we're talking about how it all just looks like

[00:42:35] [SPEAKER_03]: match price cars and stuff because yeah it's what's in a dome and it's yeah all that stuff but

[00:42:41] [SPEAKER_03]: they it's now been converted into the Corvette cave in exhibit the Skydome sink hole experience

[00:42:48] [SPEAKER_02]: yes that's kind of a happy ending because they managed to turn it into an exhibit like kind of a

[00:42:55] [SPEAKER_02]: little event they have an interactive display about the sink hole and there's a manhole cover

[00:43:01] [SPEAKER_02]: that lets visitors look into a recreation of the sink hole I'd kind of be like hey is this fine now

[00:43:09] [SPEAKER_03]: like are we supposed to be here like it seems like build it don't show me the security

[00:43:14] [SPEAKER_03]: camp footage as I'm walking into the sink hole exhibit yeah there's like you are here right where

[00:43:19] [SPEAKER_02]: the floor collapsed and took five million dollars worth of cars into the ground people all the time

[00:43:24] [SPEAKER_03]: say like I want to be buried with my car well there you go here you go here's your chance come to

[00:43:30] [SPEAKER_02]: the sink hole exhibit there's a guy in the video this is made my favorite thing there's a guy in that

[00:43:35] [SPEAKER_02]: news footage marveling that this is actually PR that Corvette could never even pay for because

[00:43:42] [SPEAKER_02]: apparently after they pulled a bunch of these cars back up to the surface after falling 30 feet

[00:43:48] [SPEAKER_02]: deep into the earth they pulled these cars up and they turned on like nothing happened oh well

[00:43:54] [SPEAKER_02]: so Corvette makes up not just a nice looking car but it can take a beating hey the Corvette

[00:44:00] [SPEAKER_03]: that caused the multi car accident I was in it drove away well that's fucking drove away from

[00:44:06] [SPEAKER_02]: the accident that's what I told you on the live show was Scott that one of the reasons that

[00:44:11] [SPEAKER_02]: it was so weird is we just done sudden death and then I had just finished researching Corvette

[00:44:17] [SPEAKER_02]: cave in and then you were in a sudden death moment caused by a Corvette that's correct little weird

[00:44:24] [SPEAKER_03]: little weird let all synchronizedity this season so far hopefully we don't do it we should do

[00:44:28] [SPEAKER_03]: the rest of the season is like being afraid of getting a bunch of money from nothing or we should

[00:44:34] [SPEAKER_03]: do the rest of the show real quick this season before we fall into a sink hole oh my god yeah I

[00:44:40] [SPEAKER_03]: got about that we've already had to come true the sucks I know we should never have done what

[00:44:45] [SPEAKER_02]: this is we'll put the fear of falling into a large amount of money we'll put that one in the chamber

[00:44:51] [SPEAKER_02]: and see if we can get any get any synchronicities lining up on that one yeah for real but that

[00:44:56] [SPEAKER_02]: takes us to the fourth deadly sink and this one makes the list because no one should have to deal

[00:45:02] [SPEAKER_02]: with a sink hole on vacation especially in Disney worlds what but that's exactly what happened

[00:45:08] [SPEAKER_02]: on August 11th 2015 a sink hole opened up at the summer bay resort near Disney world in Florida

[00:45:14] [SPEAKER_02]: because again like I said we will be returning to Florida over and over again as we

[00:45:20] [SPEAKER_02]: don't before maybe stay away from Florida the sink hole was 60 feet wide in 15 feet deep which isn't

[00:45:26] [SPEAKER_02]: too bad if the three story building it started to swallow wasn't connected to a second three story

[00:45:34] [SPEAKER_02]: building that then collapsed as the first sink deeper and deeper into the ground wait this is

[00:45:40] [SPEAKER_03]: I remember this isn't that like apartment building collapse like by my no that was by my amy

[00:45:45] [SPEAKER_02]: this is different no yeah that was a different that was a different I know what you're talking about

[00:45:48] [SPEAKER_02]: that was a different one this is okay sure this had the 35 vacation guests inside these buildings

[00:45:53] [SPEAKER_02]: when they started to go down everyone managed to get out safely oh wow so slow single it was

[00:45:59] [SPEAKER_02]: it took it took quite a long time about 40 minutes for the entire building to come down but I just

[00:46:05] [SPEAKER_02]: I can't even like as I may have just revealed for the first time earlier I'm about to have a kid

[00:46:10] [SPEAKER_02]: can you imagine you get to the resort it Disneyland you finally get your kid quiet maybe you've

[00:46:17] [SPEAKER_02]: turned on some Jimmy Buffett or a history channel documentary about mustard gas or whatever

[00:46:23] [SPEAKER_02]: and you're selling down with a little beverage and over the course about 40 minutes you start

[00:46:28] [SPEAKER_02]: hearing like banging and cracking sounds and you're like what the fuck is that and then it turns

[00:46:34] [SPEAKER_02]: out it's the entire building getting sucked into a sink hole sure not a vacation well don't

[00:46:39] [SPEAKER_03]: worry you're not gonna have the money to go on vacation anytime soon resort guest Maggie

[00:46:45] [SPEAKER_02]: Tamry told the local news she sent trouble before the collapse what is she fucking the long island

[00:46:51] [SPEAKER_02]: medium she might have been no she had a much more directed clear reason to send trouble she said

[00:46:58] [SPEAKER_02]: I was walking into the room and I heard bang bang bang and glass breaking and I've ran back to the

[00:47:05] [SPEAKER_02]: car and I told my family we have three toddlers with us I told my family jump in the car I have a bad

[00:47:11] [SPEAKER_02]: feeling I thought someone was getting into an altercation I mean I do appreciate that people who get

[00:47:16] [SPEAKER_02]: shot of people who stand around but who who's getting into an altercation the fucking Hulk yeah

[00:47:22] [SPEAKER_02]: if the building is shaking and glass is breaking yeah I don't know what kind of fight you

[00:47:28] [SPEAKER_02]: stay hearing but yeah she's he said that's some Percy Jackson shit right there yeah uh the fifth

[00:47:34] [SPEAKER_02]: deadly sink is a is a shorty but a truly deadly one a couple of these haven't really been all

[00:47:40] [SPEAKER_02]: that deadly this one's deadly there's not much information on it but I've included it because I

[00:47:44] [SPEAKER_02]: think it's sort of the pathotonic ideal of devastating sink hold death and you can watch it happen

[00:47:51] [SPEAKER_02]: live on camera Ed I have another link for you that I've included in the show notes oh boy okay

[00:47:57] [SPEAKER_02]: click this link and you'll be transported oh what to August 2nd 2020 12 on a street in Taiwan

[00:48:04] [SPEAKER_02]: did I just see someone die yes why did you send me this well I mean to be clear to the people just

[00:48:11] [SPEAKER_02]: listening you don't really see him die you see him disappear I mean there's it's it's it is implied

[00:48:18] [SPEAKER_02]: it's implied it's implied it's called raw video Taiwan man falls into huge sink hole he sure does

[00:48:26] [SPEAKER_03]: and then as they're doing the news after to be like here's where the man fell in it's falling apart more yeah

[00:48:31] [SPEAKER_02]: like behind them he's just walking around and it's one of those security videos that's like five frames per

[00:48:38] [SPEAKER_02]: second it's not every frame yeah so it's like grainy and this guy's just like walking around

[00:48:44] [SPEAKER_02]: mining his own business probably if I had to guess probably whistling like a cartoon and then

[00:48:51] [SPEAKER_03]: the ground just disappears and he's gone I mean this could have been in sudden death this is

[00:48:56] [SPEAKER_03]: that's bananas yeah that's all I'd see their bad luck or a very expensive assassination attempt

[00:49:01] [SPEAKER_03]: on this one man yeah because there's no one else around like you know how I feel about like

[00:49:06] [SPEAKER_03]: not everything happens for a reason but things happen yeah and there's something happened to this

[00:49:11] [SPEAKER_03]: motherfucker like he was just like like shuffling around and then all of a sudden the earth opened

[00:49:16] [SPEAKER_03]: below him yeah he's like walking in a circle sort of like you know saying it almost seems it seems

[00:49:21] [SPEAKER_03]: a lot to conspiracy theory about here but no yeah that was I you should warn me though if I'm

[00:49:27] [SPEAKER_02]: going to watch a man die on camera I will I will I wish I could have found more information about this

[00:49:34] [SPEAKER_02]: but I could not I don't know who he was he might have been a fucking demon that like the devil

[00:49:41] [SPEAKER_03]: had to bring back like you don't even mean it was like who got out I'll take care of that yeah and

[00:49:47] [SPEAKER_03]: it was like keep him keep him walking you keep him walking right there son of a bitch I should have

[00:49:53] [SPEAKER_02]: thought to warn you the night that the Trump nearest assassination happened my wife was on her phone

[00:49:59] [SPEAKER_02]: she's like oh I guess the somebody shot the guy who shot Trump it she turned her phone around and it was

[00:50:04] [SPEAKER_02]: like the unsensored picture of the guy with his face like missing yeah I was like what the fuck

[00:50:10] [SPEAKER_03]: I got hit with that too dude it was like you know Twitter is just fucking the wild west again

[00:50:15] [SPEAKER_03]: and yeah same thing it was like well before the news said anything I was looking at like a dead kid

[00:50:21] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah unlike the fucking Twitter feed and I'm like this is gross and terrible yeah he's even the

[00:50:26] [SPEAKER_03]: third version was not leaving much to the imagination no it certainly was not and it was like hours

[00:50:32] [SPEAKER_03]: before anything was really put in hours but like well before anything was posted on television

[00:50:36] [SPEAKER_03]: they very sanitized way this was like oh Jesus why is this just circulating yes so so warning

[00:50:42] [SPEAKER_03]: if you click this footage you do see a guy died I mean it was not anywhere near as bad as the

[00:50:47] [SPEAKER_03]: fucking assassination attempt person like we saw way worse from that yeah I'm just saying that

[00:50:52] [SPEAKER_03]: was a man and I wasn't expecting the only man on this fucking sidewalk to disappear into the earth

[00:50:59] [SPEAKER_02]: it's all I'm saying I just wasn't expecting that to be where it happened and be dead yeah yeah no

[00:51:04] [SPEAKER_02]: fair enough fair enough alright so we've got two sinks left to go the sixth deadly sink is a

[00:51:10] [SPEAKER_02]: little bit more on the man-made side of these disasters but I'm including it because I'd never heard

[00:51:17] [SPEAKER_02]: of it until I started researching sink holes for this episode and I think it mostly counts and

[00:51:22] [SPEAKER_02]: it's also one of those that if you try to imagine what this must have been like in the moment

[00:51:27] [SPEAKER_02]: it's crazy so this is actually brought to us from an article written by trivia and jeopardy

[00:51:35] [SPEAKER_02]: extraordinary Ken Jennings writing for Konday Nass Traveler and Ken Jennings who also you

[00:51:42] [SPEAKER_02]: speak like one of the funniest guys on Twitter I don't think of like because he's I think very

[00:51:47] [SPEAKER_02]: publicly more men I don't think of Mormons as super funny people but he's hilarious

[00:51:51] [SPEAKER_03]: well I watched jeopardy every night when I'm home with my family and we have never laughed anything

[00:51:56] [SPEAKER_02]: he said I don't think he's funny on jeopardy I think he's just on Twitter he's like he's very

[00:52:01] [SPEAKER_02]: witty and clever anyway this article is also not witty and clever but it is just it's interesting

[00:52:07] [SPEAKER_03]: well I guess you think Ken's listening and you felt that you had to fucking I want to

[00:52:11] [SPEAKER_03]: really get to pay him always compliments and Ken come on if you're listening come on I mean you got

[00:52:15] [SPEAKER_02]: real super fan on the earth I got a kiss Ken Jennings asked just in case so he was ready for

[00:52:22] [SPEAKER_02]: Konday Nass Traveler and he tells us on November 21st 1980 Lake Taco Pague Newer oh

[00:52:29] [SPEAKER_02]: oh yeah no Lake Pague Newer in Louisiana became the site of one of the most bizarre and spectacular

[00:52:36] [SPEAKER_02]: manmade disasters in history Texaco decided to drill for oil in this relatively shallow lake

[00:52:43] [SPEAKER_02]: about 10 feet deep at its deepest and it had installed a 150 foot high Derek man by 12 men out in the

[00:52:51] [SPEAKER_02]: middle of the lake now I'm not sure how much oil had successfully been drilled at this point

[00:52:57] [SPEAKER_02]: I'm thinking not very much when they heard a strange series of loud pops and their drill suddenly

[00:53:03] [SPEAKER_02]: seized up below the surface of the water within minutes the Derek started to tilt into the water

[00:53:10] [SPEAKER_02]: and the dozen men on board fled according to the article quote an hour and a half later

[00:53:16] [SPEAKER_02]: the men watched their five million dollar one hundred and fifty foot high Derek somehow vanish

[00:53:21] [SPEAKER_02]: into a lake that had an average depth of less than three feet and here's why it seems their drill

[00:53:28] [SPEAKER_02]: had accidentally penetrated a main shaft of the diamond crystal salt mine whose tunnels

[00:53:35] [SPEAKER_02]: crisscross the rock under the lake now just in a side to mention I read elsewhere that this

[00:53:42] [SPEAKER_02]: particular salt mine was supported by literal pillars of salt below the ground which is not

[00:53:49] [SPEAKER_02]: the kind of pillar that you want to get sprayed with millions of gallons of water flowing in from the walls

[00:53:56] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah it's not a combination you want to to come into contact with when you are hundreds of feet

[00:54:03] [SPEAKER_02]: underground in the salt mines so back to Ken's writing here he says lake water was now rushing

[00:54:09] [SPEAKER_02]: into the mine through the rapidly expanding 14 inch hole in the salt dome with a force 10 times

[00:54:16] [SPEAKER_02]: that of a fire hydrant fifty minors the ones working in the salt mine unaware they were being drilled

[00:54:23] [SPEAKER_02]: into from above were racing the rising waters using mine carts and an agonizingly slow elevator

[00:54:30] [SPEAKER_02]: to exit the mine eight at a time oh my god I would be like I'm the last guy not shit elevator

[00:54:37] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah you don't even have time to draw straws that's just a fist fight to who gets the

[00:54:41] [SPEAKER_02]: obviously but here's the good news all the miners escaped okay so everyone underground got out

[00:54:47] [SPEAKER_02]: while the oilman quote watched in shock as the water now you're on the shore of a lake watching

[00:54:53] [SPEAKER_02]: as the water began to circle around its new quote drain turning the lake into a swirling

[00:55:00] [SPEAKER_02]: vortex of mud trees and barges oh wow it became the largest man-made world pool in history 11

[00:55:08] [SPEAKER_02]: barges a tugboat a dock another drilling platform a parking lot at a big chunk of nearby

[00:55:16] [SPEAKER_03]: Jefferson Island got sucked into the abyss oh my god this is like a little kid pulling the

[00:55:22] [SPEAKER_03]: gun the fucking tub thing out all this toys are like swirling to the drain yeah except

[00:55:27] [SPEAKER_02]: this drain was so strong that the suction reversed the flow of a 12 mile long canal

[00:55:34] [SPEAKER_02]: that normally drain the lake into the Gulf of Mexico and the temporary reversal created a 150 foot

[00:55:42] [SPEAKER_02]: waterfall which is the largest waterfall in Louisiana's history wow fucking you know the shit that

[00:55:49] [SPEAKER_03]: happens looking for oil yeah truly I took my dad to the librae a tarpets and I'd been there a

[00:55:56] [SPEAKER_03]: bunch of times before but I never really read any of the signs to like this most recent time

[00:56:01] [SPEAKER_03]: and I was in the it's a fucking environmental disaster is what it is I thought it was like

[00:56:07] [SPEAKER_03]: we're dinosaurs on out no and there are these dinosaur bones there and stuff but really it's just like

[00:56:12] [SPEAKER_03]: we fucked this so bad drilling for oil that like we just gave it to the state like it's so crazy

[00:56:19] [SPEAKER_03]: speaking of texica which I don't know if that was texica or here but uh Christopher Lloyd

[00:56:24] [SPEAKER_03]: Doc Brown from um Matt's the future his grandfather started texica no shit I didn't know that so he

[00:56:29] [SPEAKER_03]: would have been fine even if he didn't get the fucking roll but I'm glad he did these it's a great role

[00:56:34] [SPEAKER_03]: it is but I was just thinking about that the whole time you were talking about texica yes it's the only

[00:56:38] [SPEAKER_03]: texica so he only texica uh piece of trivia I know yeah I don't know if there's any disaster

[00:56:44] [SPEAKER_02]: that drilling for oil won't cause on a long time line they will find a way to fucking all up

[00:56:50] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah I know it's so nuts dude there will be blood yeah well on top of reversing a 12 mile

[00:56:57] [SPEAKER_02]: long canal and creating a 150 foot tall waterfall into like the center of the earth when the

[00:57:03] [SPEAKER_02]: mine filled with water the pressure below ground started to build up and eventually a 400 foot tall

[00:57:10] [SPEAKER_03]: geyser also burst out of the mine shaft what yeah I'm okay now speaking of geysers is all of this

[00:57:18] [SPEAKER_03]: gonna happen at like old faithful like that that's a geyser does that mean it's got like you meet

[00:57:24] [SPEAKER_03]: the super volcano oh I don't know anything about that you just said that like pressure from this

[00:57:29] [SPEAKER_03]: forming to a geyser and I was like okay so that maybe there's pressure yeah and there's water

[00:57:33] [SPEAKER_03]: under there cause it's spraying water I just feel like anywhere there's a geyser I mean that's

[00:57:37] [SPEAKER_03]: relief right that's like yeah it's venting something so yeah I don't know what this super volcano

[00:57:43] [SPEAKER_02]: talking about maybe we can do an episode about it though oh we probably will the caldera in uh

[00:57:49] [SPEAKER_02]: zealous stone there's a volcano that if it were to explode it would probably end all life on earth

[00:57:57] [SPEAKER_02]: oh tight tight tight tight yeah yeah it's it's a bad one I will do that we'll do an episode on

[00:58:02] [SPEAKER_02]: it only took a few hours for the 10 foot deep freshwater lake to transform into a 200 foot deep

[00:58:11] [SPEAKER_02]: salt water lake the impact on the area was unsurprisingly pretty massive the changes in the lake

[00:58:18] [SPEAKER_02]: destroyed much of the surrounding ecology and the event effectively ended the local mining industry

[00:58:24] [SPEAKER_02]: days after the disaster once the water pressure equalized nine of the 11 sunken barges popped out

[00:58:30] [SPEAKER_02]: the whirlpool and reflote on the lake surface so not all was lost we got a majority of the boats back

[00:58:37] [SPEAKER_03]: oh good but they are buoyant yeah yeah famously well there is someone who I hope we didn't get back

[00:58:43] [SPEAKER_03]: uh as an employee whoever the guy who was like this is where we should do it I've I've looked at

[00:58:48] [SPEAKER_03]: the paperwork and this is where we build the derrix well so get this in the that's just what I was

[00:58:54] [SPEAKER_02]: getting to in the aftermath of the disaster numerous lawsuits for filed eventually resulting in

[00:59:00] [SPEAKER_02]: Mexico and the salt mine company paying forty five million dollars out to local landowners

[00:59:04] [SPEAKER_02]: and businesses although it seems low it seems low and it doesn't seem like it's the salt company's fault

[00:59:09] [SPEAKER_02]: but whatever the mine safety and health administration was unable to officially determine blame

[00:59:14] [SPEAKER_02]: because they could not determine whether Texaco was drilling in the wrong place or if the mine's

[00:59:21] [SPEAKER_02]: maps were inaccurate although Ken Jenning says that the Texaco platform was drilling in the wrong place

[00:59:28] [SPEAKER_02]: because of a mapping mistake and this is the person that you were just saying needs to be fired

[00:59:33] [SPEAKER_02]: an engineer mistook transverse mercator projection coordinates for UTM coordinates oh good i mean

[00:59:41] [SPEAKER_02]: that's a simple mistake I guess I don't know what either of those all but yeah needed it he

[00:59:47] [SPEAKER_02]: he lied in his fucking resume dude yeah yeah yeah he was on linkedin just firing out resumes like

[00:59:53] [SPEAKER_02]: I took a semester of geology it's like I might minor in drills bro yeah did you do anything

[01:00:01] [SPEAKER_03]: in map making no no actually I didn't have no cartographer experience no drafting experience

[01:00:07] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah I lied on my resume when's lunch he thinks transverse mercator projections is the name

[01:00:12] [SPEAKER_02]: of a tool album yeah so that takes us to the seventh deadly sink which is sort of another tale

[01:00:19] [SPEAKER_02]: of industrial hubris and long lasting consequences although this one is Soviet we got to beat up

[01:00:26] [SPEAKER_02]: on the Russians a little bit welcome to Brerishniki Rasha home to one of the world's largest sinkholes

[01:00:34] [SPEAKER_02]: affectionately I don't know why affectionately but affectionately nicknamed the grandfather so

[01:00:41] [SPEAKER_02]: better as niki is a city of more than 150,000 people and it was built directly on top of a

[01:00:49] [SPEAKER_02]: potash mine again I didn't know what potash was I thought it was maybe like a special uh

[01:00:55] [SPEAKER_02]: vodka potato or something but it is a salt that contains potassium and is used as a fertilizer

[01:01:02] [SPEAKER_02]: it's big business and better as niki produces around 10% of the world's supply or it did the

[01:01:10] [SPEAKER_02]: mines are the city's biggest employer so the city is physically and economically built on potash

[01:01:16] [SPEAKER_02]: after nearly a century of extraction deep voids were left underneath bersniki and much like

[01:01:23] [SPEAKER_02]: the salt mine in Louisiana the ceilings of these massive underground caverns were supported only by

[01:01:30] [SPEAKER_02]: pillars of soluble salts which someone should have seen this coming in 2006 a freshwater spring

[01:01:37] [SPEAKER_02]: began flowing into the mine about somewhere the numbers again were a little fuzzy and there's

[01:01:42] [SPEAKER_02]: some of it's between 720 or 1500 feet below the surface so big difference there but yeah well

[01:01:49] [SPEAKER_02]: they probably hired that guy I did the fucking other map you looked at the wrong you looked at

[01:01:53] [SPEAKER_02]: the wrong coordinates the freshwater spring dissolved the salt water pillars and the grandfather

[01:01:59] [SPEAKER_02]: was born and grandfather isn't just big he's hungry oh shit like I said we're always call

[01:02:05] [SPEAKER_02]: these things hungry consuming eating since the grandfather's appearance it's been steadily

[01:02:11] [SPEAKER_02]: consuming the entire town of bersniki which is what I said at the beginning I was pretty sure

[01:02:16] [SPEAKER_02]: this could happen and it can and it has we're talking entire blocks of apartment schools businesses

[01:02:23] [SPEAKER_02]: in 2007 it swallowed the city's main rail line in 2011 and in a highway it's like Godzilla if

[01:02:31] [SPEAKER_02]: we were a hole a tach of the giant hole which sounds like a porn parody kaijumi I hope it never

[01:02:41] [SPEAKER_02]: comes out I do think there is a potent monster movie metaphor here about the manifestation of

[01:02:47] [SPEAKER_02]: greed and endless search for production and growth unleashing a force that devours the very town

[01:02:52] [SPEAKER_02]: and lives it was promised to support but I'll leave that to the Russians to make yes

[01:02:58] [SPEAKER_02]: to date the grandfather is 780 feet deep and 1,020 feet wide nine more sinkholes have sprung up

[01:03:06] [SPEAKER_02]: in and around the town and in 2008 the Russian government finally decided enough was enough

[01:03:10] [SPEAKER_02]: and began relocating residents but lots of people don't want to leave this one local oleg

[01:03:16] [SPEAKER_02]: paschgov gave an interview to the news outlet madusa and oleg says the whole city lives close to

[01:03:27] [SPEAKER_02]: the air not now though the closest sinkhole is 400 meters away i don't see far enough

[01:03:34] [SPEAKER_02]: that's not seen far enough for me no way dude but you know what they're built different

[01:03:39] [SPEAKER_02]: over there they sure are yeah and they sure are federal officials and company executives

[01:03:44] [SPEAKER_02]: are debating whether to relocate the entire city to the opposite bank of the comma river where

[01:03:49] [SPEAKER_02]: the bedrock and solid but engineers have assured them that the era of sinkhole formation is over

[01:03:55] [SPEAKER_02]: and no new holes will open as much of the mine is now flooded oh that sounds that's not an

[01:04:00] [SPEAKER_02]: assurance that i do yeah as we all know when the Russian government tells you it's fine it's

[01:04:06] [SPEAKER_02]: historically totally fine yep totally nothing to see here folks nothing to sink here nothing to sink

[01:04:12] [SPEAKER_02]: here so that's the 7 deadly sinks but we're not done yet this situation with the grandfather

[01:04:22] [SPEAKER_02]: and people not wanting to leave town reminded me of one of my other favorite sinkhole stories

[01:04:27] [SPEAKER_02]: and it comes from my favorite place on earth pencilvania of course it does i think we've talked

[01:04:33] [SPEAKER_03]: about sinkhole you know we never if we mentioned centralia it was in passing because we never

[01:04:38] [SPEAKER_03]: released our full centralia audio so if you guys like centralia they're we have more in our lives

[01:04:44] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah i visited since you're a last fall because we were gonna do a whole episode on it and i

[01:04:49] [SPEAKER_03]: have a bunch of pictures which is to say a whu l e episode not a whole episode on it this is the only

[01:04:55] [SPEAKER_03]: whole episode we're doing correct and an entire yes an entire episode someday we'll do centralia someday

[01:05:02] [SPEAKER_02]: and you'll probably hear this story again in our centralia episode but the point is that this town

[01:05:08] [SPEAKER_02]: is famous for the minefire burning beneath it that will keep burning for hundreds of years

[01:05:14] [SPEAKER_02]: it was the inspiration for silent hill with the smoke in the air but centralia's most terrifying

[01:05:20] [SPEAKER_02]: story is actually sinkhole related i mean still minefire related but a sinkhole is involved

[01:05:27] [SPEAKER_02]: on valentines day 1981 a group of Pennsylvania state politicians came to town to meet with centralia

[01:05:34] [SPEAKER_02]: borough officials to figure out what to do about the fire that had been burning below ground for

[01:05:39] [SPEAKER_02]: about 20 years at this point since 1969 residents had been suffering from headaches and nausea

[01:05:46] [SPEAKER_02]: caused by the smoke and the gas leaking from below ground and all of the various plans enacted

[01:05:52] [SPEAKER_02]: to keep the fire contained by digging underground trenches were clearly failing and so anyway these

[01:05:59] [SPEAKER_02]: politicians showed up and in small towns were travels fast and this woman Florence domboski

[01:06:06] [SPEAKER_02]: sent her son Todd on a mission to determine why these strangers in suits has shown up in town

[01:06:13] [SPEAKER_02]: along the way Todd noticed thin wisps of smoke coming from a grassy area near a tree which of

[01:06:20] [SPEAKER_02]: course peaked his curiosity as it would any young kid and he walked over to check it out

[01:06:25] [SPEAKER_02]: as he walked over to check out the smoke coming from beneath the tree the earth dropped from beneath

[01:06:31] [SPEAKER_02]: him and dragged him up to his knees in a muddy smokey pit sort of like quicksand as he struggled

[01:06:38] [SPEAKER_02]: to pull himself out the ground dropped further and his problem became much more treacherous gases

[01:06:45] [SPEAKER_02]: from the mine fire poured out and Todd began to scream for help and all the while he was still sinking

[01:06:52] [SPEAKER_02]: until his head was several feet below the surface and I don't think several feet below the

[01:06:58] [SPEAKER_02]: surface as it completely covered but just as in he was sliding several feet below the surface

[01:07:04] [SPEAKER_02]: and you couldn't see him yeah like he could still see out probably but he's you know singing

[01:07:08] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah as he sank Todd managed to grasp onto an exposed route near by tree thank you route

[01:07:14] [SPEAKER_02]: thank you thank you life saving route yes he continued to yelver help and held on for his life

[01:07:19] [SPEAKER_02]: and unless in a minute his cousin with the badass name Eric Wolfgang appeared on the scene

[01:07:25] [SPEAKER_02]: and was able to pull Todd to safety Todd was quoted in the paper at the time is saying

[01:07:30] [SPEAKER_02]: the ground just started dropping I went out of my knees then my waist and I just kept going down

[01:07:36] [SPEAKER_02]: I grabbed out of some roots it was screaming for Eric I couldn't see him and there was smoke everywhere

[01:07:41] [SPEAKER_02]: I heard him screaming for me to put my hand up then he grabbed me it was real hot and it's

[01:07:47] [SPEAKER_02]: stank and it sounded as though the wind was howling down there oh wow whoa so he was like I was in

[01:07:52] [SPEAKER_03]: hell he wasn't hell I mean it's in trailia is hell I mean basically right like it's like in

[01:07:57] [SPEAKER_03]: terms of if you just had to paint a picture of hell of like fire beneath the ground yeah but

[01:08:02] [SPEAKER_03]: it also it does seem like every single story you could just be like it's a doorway to hell these

[01:08:07] [SPEAKER_02]: are all doorway to hell yeah although this is the only one that I think actually came with fire

[01:08:12] [SPEAKER_02]: and broomstone sure because this wasn't a traditional sinkhole this wasn't formed by ground water

[01:08:19] [SPEAKER_02]: eating through limestone or whatever this was formed by sin this was formed by a town full of

[01:08:25] [SPEAKER_02]: centers who were finally being punished yeah Todd emerged from the whole covered in warm mud it was

[01:08:33] [SPEAKER_02]: otherwise okay later analysis would show the whole was expelling deadly quantities of carbon monoxide

[01:08:38] [SPEAKER_02]: and if Todd had remained there for only a few more minutes he likely would have asphyxiate it oh wow

[01:08:43] [SPEAKER_02]: old mine maps also showed that a shaft had once existed at that location and though it had been filled in

[01:08:50] [SPEAKER_02]: the mine fire gases heating and loosened the material causing it to give way and open up into this

[01:08:56] [SPEAKER_02]: near deadly sinkhole so the near death of Todd Dumboski was sort of a big turning point for

[01:09:02] [SPEAKER_02]: the history of citrelia started installing fences well they the politicians who were there that day

[01:09:07] [SPEAKER_02]: quickly found out that this kid fell into hell and uh promptly went to work trying to find a

[01:09:15] [SPEAKER_02]: profit off of it yeah no they well unfortunately for the residents of citrelia they were just all

[01:09:21] [SPEAKER_02]: forcefully told to leave and eventually their zip code was revoked it was changed to 666

[01:09:28] [SPEAKER_02]: 666 all the addresses were now 666 and truly have yep but yeah the town was evacuated

[01:09:35] [SPEAKER_02]: and much like the Russian town a lot of people didn't want to leave and I think I mean when I was

[01:09:41] [SPEAKER_02]: up there there were still two homes standing and I believe that they are both occupied I think the

[01:09:47] [SPEAKER_02]: deal that got struck was that like residents of a certain age were allowed if they so chose were

[01:09:53] [SPEAKER_02]: allowed to live out the rest of their lives on their property in their homes so I think there's a

[01:09:58] [SPEAKER_02]: handful of like very old people still hanging on but once they're gone I believe centrally a

[01:10:06] [SPEAKER_02]: truly be no more yeah well unfortunately for Todd the incident would not co-quietly from his mind

[01:10:13] [SPEAKER_02]: it left a deep scar on his psyche and according to a Facebook post embedded in one of the articles

[01:10:20] [SPEAKER_02]: I read on the sinkhole Todd died in 2022 at the age of 53 he struggled with drug addiction is an

[01:10:27] [SPEAKER_02]: adult one of the victims apparently of the Mount Carmel opioid doctor who I will look into for a

[01:10:34] [SPEAKER_02]: trip to the other side because that sounds like a story there but Todd had also long suffered

[01:10:39] [SPEAKER_02]: nightmares about his near death and in his dream he would be writing his bicycle along a

[01:10:45] [SPEAKER_02]: centrally a sidewalk and it would open up and swallow him oh yeah the PTSD you must have from

[01:10:51] [SPEAKER_03]: just at any moment the ground can eat you yeah and you have like physical muscle memory

[01:10:56] [SPEAKER_02]: evidence of that I can only imagine I think about that sometimes not just for people who

[01:11:00] [SPEAKER_02]: have sinkholes but explosion whether it's an explosion from a bomb or just from a gas accident

[01:11:08] [SPEAKER_02]: or something like people who survived sudden terrifying things the PTSD must be crazy and you

[01:11:15] [SPEAKER_03]: let me get in the rental car today you need an ask about we find well no add your stronger your

[01:11:21] [SPEAKER_03]: stronger than mine that's true I am that's true not physically but I am mentally mentally strong

[01:11:26] [SPEAKER_02]: but also I mean even that you were in a car on the highway like as opposed to someone who just was

[01:11:32] [SPEAKER_02]: walking down the street you know or in bed like that's got to be a whole other level yeah so it's a

[01:11:38] [SPEAKER_03]: place it's like when you get in a car you're you're basically agreeing to the fact that anything

[01:11:43] [SPEAKER_03]: can happen in the world of fast moving automobiles yeah if you're not agreeing to fall into the

[01:11:49] [SPEAKER_02]: ground so yeah you're right but still either way I mean it's a scary world out there man that's

[01:11:54] [SPEAKER_02]: what we do this show because I think if you are a person like Edna who even those sinkholes weren't

[01:12:01] [SPEAKER_02]: really on our radar they are now and you know you walk around with this stuff in your head

[01:12:07] [SPEAKER_02]: and you got to find a way to blow off a little bit of steam and laugh at it sometimes because

[01:12:12] [SPEAKER_02]: otherwise I mean you're going to fall into a sinkhole driven opioid addiction yeah yeah well

[01:12:17] [SPEAKER_02]: I guess with that Ed how we feel about the fear tier for this one where I know we both came into

[01:12:24] [SPEAKER_02]: this with sinkholes not even on our radar not on the fear tier at all yeah but I think they may

[01:12:30] [SPEAKER_03]: have risen a little bit after all this yeah I put them at like a six or seven I think it's like

[01:12:35] [SPEAKER_03]: above maybe it's around the middle maybe a little bit above because there's you know I go to Florida

[01:12:40] [SPEAKER_03]: sometimes for what why you go to Florida for yeah my friends kids compete in like a national

[01:12:45] [SPEAKER_03]: rolling competition in Sarasota oh that's cool yeah and so as long as these kids keep making

[01:12:50] [SPEAKER_03]: it to the championships there's a tournament or whatever then we'll keep going and also there's

[01:12:54] [SPEAKER_03]: seven area who knows locations there which as you know I feel like we're missing that you can

[01:13:00] [SPEAKER_03]: edit it in California so pretty cool and the waitress is all love you I'm sure no it's not about

[01:13:06] [SPEAKER_03]: that it's just cracks me up that it's going so so well there like it's when you're in the Sarasota

[01:13:11] [SPEAKER_03]: airport it's advertised is that's the actual language seven area locations yeah I mean I was like

[01:13:18] [SPEAKER_03]: let's fucking go good job good job having such a stronghold but that said if I'm going there to

[01:13:23] [SPEAKER_03]: eat some sort of John daily themed menu item at Hooters I'm within 400 meters of a single potentially

[01:13:30] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah I mean I guess I feel like if you're living in a state without many singles you got to have

[01:13:35] [SPEAKER_02]: some place to go blow off steam yeah I get a couple of pictures doesn't look like any who

[01:13:39] [SPEAKER_02]: there's have ever fallen into a single that's why you go there do they're fucking the only safe

[01:13:45] [SPEAKER_03]: ways well as of this summer they fell into a financial sinkhole well yeah but that's going to

[01:13:51] [SPEAKER_03]: go even run into that like no one could survive COVID and then maintain profits necessary uh post it so

[01:13:58] [SPEAKER_02]: yeah they close dozens of locations this year non-sero soda West Palm Beach oh my god all right pick up

[01:14:04] [SPEAKER_02]: bless all right pick up bless Hooters what were we talking about oh we were talking about where are

[01:14:09] [SPEAKER_02]: the fear tier sinkholes fall and you were saying like a six or a seven or a five or six yeah I would say a

[01:14:14] [SPEAKER_03]: six or seven yeah because it's like you could happen and as a person who is pretty readily followed by

[01:14:20] [SPEAKER_03]: sudden death it's one more tool in the sudden death arsenal yeah it's one more trick in deaths playbook

[01:14:27] [SPEAKER_03]: yeah sudden death or also over 48 minutes low death so it's you know yeah yeah you know I would put

[01:14:34] [SPEAKER_02]: mine about the same place it's a very realistic very possible very scary and sudden way to go I

[01:14:40] [SPEAKER_02]: guess in a sense it kind of pairs well with the first episode of the season because it is

[01:14:45] [SPEAKER_02]: it is a sudden way to go that we didn't really talk about on that episode but yeah I would I guess

[01:14:50] [SPEAKER_02]: I'd put it at a six or a seven it just hoped that the ground beneath my feet remains strong and

[01:14:55] [SPEAKER_03]: un-eaten by rainwater yeah that's all you can do you can just hope that the world is not

[01:15:01] [SPEAKER_03]: a road enough around you you know you don't want Swiss cheese under there mm-hmm I think six or seven

[01:15:07] [SPEAKER_03]: we're good learned about them sinkholes are interesting if they happen out in the woods they can

[01:15:12] [SPEAKER_03]: create these unbelievable bio dome level like extraordinary ecosystems if they're caused by oil

[01:15:20] [SPEAKER_03]: bearings it's bad for everyone and if it's like just in the city if it's a pipe feature refuct so yeah I

[01:15:27] [SPEAKER_03]: think you know I'm pros sinkholes in the woods or like the forests or mountains I'm antsy sinkholes

[01:15:34] [SPEAKER_02]: where we hang out agreed agreed and we can agree on that and I think that's a great place to wrap

[01:15:40] [SPEAKER_02]: up this episode so I hope you've enjoyed learning about sinkholes with us or are now extra terrified

[01:15:46] [SPEAKER_02]: of them now that you know that they can eat everything up to and including entire lakes,

[01:15:52] [SPEAKER_02]: neighborhoods, to pooies and god knows what else but I'm sure next week we'll be back with the

[01:16:00] [SPEAKER_02]: terrifying in this all the hooters have closed after so 33 season four hooterless but until next time

[01:16:10] [SPEAKER_02]: this has been scared all the time I'm Chris Colari and I'm Ed Focola and we will see you next week

[01:16:16] [SPEAKER_03]: bye! Scarlet time is co-produced by Chris Colari and Ed Focola written by Chris Colari

[01:16:22] [SPEAKER_03]: edited by Ed Focola. Additional support and keeper of sanity is test-fifel. Our theme song is the

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[01:16:51] [SPEAKER_00]: No part of the show can be re-produced anywhere without permission. Copyright and stop machine

[01:16:54] [SPEAKER_04]: night we are in this together together together