Whatever Happened to Quicksand?

Remember when it used to be an existential threat?

There was a time when the misfortune of drowning in quicksand was an existential threat.

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The threat was real

As a kid, I was petrified that I’d have the misfortune of being gobbled up by quicksand.

Similar to the Bermuda Triangle fear, this particular cause of childhood anxiety wasn’t helped by popular culture at the time.

It was everywhere - TV shows, movies, sometimes even as part of the news.

Where this quicksand existed, I didn’t know, but it really didn’t matter.

It was a threat. A very big threat, looming over the lives of anyone who dared to venture into an area where it existed.

And that was the question.

Where, exactly was this quicksand?

If you watched television on a regular basis as I did in the 70s (latchkey kid here, TV was my companion), the threat was real…