In Search Of... (2018) s01e06 Episode Script
Sinkholes
[Zachary Quinto.]
For thousands of years, the fear of plummeting into the abyss has haunted mankind.
Documented in the Bible and other ancient texts, the specter of being cast into darkness, into a bottomless hole, has long terrified civilizations across the globe.
[thunderclap.]
And while we're all too familiar with the devastating fury of Mother Nature, we remain terrorized by the mysterious forces of sinkholes.
What could a man, who survived one of these deadly chasms, tell us about their incredible powers? [man.]
I heard my brother scream.
I opened the door up, everything in my brother's room was gone his TV, his dresser, his bed and there was a big hole in the floor.
Probably 15-foot wide.
Thought I heard my brother "Jeremy, please help me.
" I'm trying to dig and dig, and that was the last time I seen him.
I never thought anything like that would ever happen.
Never.
[Quinto.]
Could our nightmares about sunken depths take root in the form of sinkholes? What are these dark, bottomless pits? And what's really down there? My search begins now.
My Name is Zachary Quinto.
As an actor, I've played many supernatural characters that blurred the line between science and fiction.
I'm drawn to the unknown, the otherworldly, and those experiences so beyond belief, they call everything into question.
I'm exploring some of the most enduring mysteries that continue to haunt mankind in search of the truth wherever it leads me.
Since humans first roamed the earth, ancient texts have described savage forces ravaging the land.
Massive chasms opening without warning and devouring everything on the surface.
From the Bible's Book of Numbers, where sinners were swallowed by the earth, to the Mayans, who constructed iconic pyramids over sacred pits because they saw them as an entrance to the underworld, to recent events, such as the devastating rifts in Florida, Guatemala, and Rome.
Some believe sinkholes are a force of nature, while others speculate that sinkholes are a sign of the end of times, and perhaps even a gateway to hell.
In fact, many nicknames for these giant chasms are synonymous with the underworld.
In Turkmenistan, there is even a giant sinkhole that has been on fire ever since it opened up and devoured the land in 1971.
Locals call it the Gates of Hell.
And in Texas, there's an ancient chasm aptly called the Devil's Sinkhole, which plunges a remarkable 400 feet down inside the earth.
It makes me wonder, what could possibly explain these otherworldly forces? To get a better understanding of the devastating nature of sinkholes, I'm meeting with 41-year-old Jeremy Bush, a Florida resident who survived a trip to hell and back when the earth seized his family home.
Jeremy.
How you doing, sir? Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
Thank you for taking the time to talk with me.
Yes, sir.
And so, the fenced-in area that we're looking at back there, that was the footprint of your house? Yes, sir.
Where the highest part of the grass is is where the hole is.
Uh-huh.
They just filled this in, then? They filled it in twice.
A couple months later, it reopened up again and fell in again.
Wow.
Tell me what happened.
I came home from work.
My brother was in his room.
We heard this loud noise.
Sounded like a train hit the house.
I heard my brother yell, scream, so we all ran toward my brother's room.
I went to go open the door and walk in, and my father-in-law turned the hallway light on.
I noticed everything in my brother's room was gone.
His bed, his dresser, his TV everything was gone.
My brother was gone, and there was a big hole.
I wasn't thinking.
I just jumped in the hole.
As I'm digging with my hands, I thought I could hear my brother.
"Jeremy, help me.
" Next thing I know, I feel a cop grabbing me by my shoulder, telling me to come on.
He grabs me by my arm and just pulls me out of the hole.
Tells me the hole's still falling in.
Stuff's still falling.
It's still collapsing.
[sniffles.]
There were no forewarnings? No forewarnings at all.
Came out of the blue.
And did that hole continue to grow from that point, or was that the Yeah.
It did.
It was growing as I was in the hole.
You were in there.
Right.
I didn't know what it was until the fire department, everybody showed up, and the hole collapsed again and took all their equipment down with it.
Wow.
It just took my brother's bedroom the whole floor, everything in it.
My main focus was "Somebody, please try and save my brother.
" Of course.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But then they condemned the other houses here? They tore the other two houses down.
They said the ground was so unstable.
Were you guys able to get anything out? You able to go back in at all? No.
We weren't allowed to go back in at all.
You weren't allowed to go back in at all? No.
Wow.
We had to leave, and we had to find somewhere else to go.
They put us in a house right around the corner.
Another sinkhole opened up right there.
Is that right? They popped up and opened up immediately, everywhere around us.
Right.
It was like, are they following me, or what? Yeah.
You just realize those are everywhere.
Can happen anytime and anywhere.
[Quinto.]
You know, the earth just opens up and takes a corner of it and his brother with it.
I mean, it's just so destructive.
Jeremy's tragic story illustrates the horrific human toll that sinkholes can take.
But what causes these deathtraps to suddenly open up and swallow people? Scholars, such as Michael Erevna, believe ancient texts from around the world may hold the answers.
Sinkholes are in the Old Testament.
The very first occurrence, Moses approached the wicked men and told them that they were under judgment, and then he opened up a sinkhole right underneath them and took their lives.
All their possessions, all their belongings went down in the hole.
Then he closed the sinkhole after he opened it.
In the Bible, the Lord uses pits to punish people.
Isaiah 24:17 and 20, it talks about being ensnared in the pit with the devil.
The Bible, the Mayan civilization, the Hopi prophecy they all seem to be talking about exactly the same thing.
There's a judgment coming through for our own human behavior the dissolving of the earth.
We should expect to see more sinkholes.
They're gonna keep coming, and they're gonna keep getting worse, getting worse.
[thunderclap.]
[Quinto.]
Whether sinkholes are truly some kind of biblical prophecy, no one can say for sure.
What is certain is that these cave-ins have been happening for millions of years.
And over time, some of earth's most deadly creatures have moved into the void left behind.
I've discovered ancient sinkholes across Texas contain some of the largest Mexican free-tailed bat colonies in the world.
In the southeast, thousands of hostile American alligators recently claimed a deep 200-foot sinkhole chamber when it collapsed.
[hisses.]
And this is nothing new.
There's evidence of massive creatures from the past trapped thousands of years ago.
Excavations in Florida have unearthed giant mastodon bones that date back nearly 14,500 years, as well as other ancient fossils.
Could clues inside these ancient sinkholes help us understand them more? [birds twittering.]
I'm journeying deep inside one of the oldest and most mysterious sinkholes in America to find out for myself.
Ooh.
Wow.
[birds twittering.]
[Quinto.]
My journey to understand more about the destructive power of sinkholes has led me to Devil's Den, a mysterious cavern in Williston, Florida, that formed over 10,000 years ago.
This is not what I expected.
With the help of geology professor Manoj Chopra, I want to get a firsthand visual understanding of a sinkhole from the inside.
I mean, this feels like I don'know.
This feels like something out of a movie, like Something to do with Harrison Ford.
Yeah.
Indiana Jones.
Right.
Exactly.
Indiana Jonesor This is Indiana Jones.
Totally.
So this place is called Devil's Den.
Mm-hmm.
Is there I don't know a significant origin to that name? The temperature in here, as you can see, is in the 70s lower 70s and it stays that way the whole year.
Okay.
So when it gets cold up there, the water is quite warm, and you start to see these steam Ohplumes coming out.
And so, the first people, when they saw the steam coming out, they thought the devil's breath was coming down.
Amazing.
This opened up 9,000 years ago.
Uh-huh.
The surface couldn't just support the weight anymore, and it fell in.
So this is about 9,000 years Right.
This opening is 9,000.
This underground here could be much older.
Yeah, much older.
Right.
And so, are there discoveries made in these sinkholes? Caverns this old must contain some keys to the past, right? We had a case where a large bear was running over this and fell right through that.
That was found in this one? In this one, right here.
Wow.
And there are many other animals that have been found.
But this is the largest fossil.
Is it dangerous? I imagine there's still relative instability around the edges.
It could be dangerous.
There are a lot of caves Oh, there are? This is much wider.
It's actually a bigger mushroom than what we see.
I see.
Diving, you could have disorientation Surewhere you don't know up or down or which way you're going.
Right.
And in a cave system, that could be dangerous.
That's correct.
And how much wider than this do they go? Do you know? It's about four times the size of what we're seeing here.
[Quinto.]
It really just gave us an opportunity to be inside one, to look at what it is underneath and to see the impact that it can have on the surface.
If one shows up, you have to be concerned.
How far around a funnel would you then start to look for other funnels? That's the uncertainty again.
You just don't know.
You just don't know.
[Quinto.]
After 10,000 years, it's hard to imagine that the violent forces which formed Devil's Den are still wreaking havoc throughout our world.
However, while most humans believe they walk on solid ground, experts warn that we may be in more danger than we realize.
Twenty-five percent of the earth's surface may be prone to sinkhole formation.
Large parts of Florida are susceptible to sinkholes.
Western Kentucky, southeastern New Mexico, western Illinois.
This is a global phenomenon.
Turkey has lots of sinkholes.
China has some of the largest sinkholes on earth.
It is impossible to predict that a sinkhole is going to form at this specific time and at this specific place.
[Quinto.]
The potential for sinkholes to strike anywhere is frightening.
Is there any way to protect ourselves from such a deadly force? To find out, I'm traveling to Gainesville, Florida, to meet with a team of experts working tirelessly to stave off this mysterious phenomenon.
Tony Randazzo and Jerry Black have a company called Geohazards, which is leading the quest to try and predict where sinkholes will strike next.
In many parts of the world, the bedrock hidden below homes and buildings contains mysterious unknown caverns, and that's what we'll be looking for today.
This is the underlying limestone.
This must be 100 feet below where we're standing.
Uh-huh.
And in many parts of Florida, including here, it looks like Swiss cheese.
Right.
It has been partially dissolved by groundwater.
Uh-huh.
So the water from the surface trickles down through the limestone, and essentially eats it away? It dissolves it.
Dissolves it.
Just like sugar dissolves in a cup of coffee.
Right.
Over centuries, water weakens the rock.
When humans build on the surface, it places enormous stress on the brittle stone below.
When the rock can no longer support the weight of the structures above Like an elevator going down through an elevator shaft.
Everything above the roof collapses downward as well, and you develop a very sudden creation of this hole in the ground that you call a sinkhole.
Wow.
Does sound scary.
I understand why people are afraid of those.
Yes.
[Quinto.]
This part of Florida has seen a recent surge in sinkhole activity.
If there is a sinkhole here, the ground under our feet could give way at any moment.
With thousands of families in the vicinity, time is of the essence.
We'll be utilizing a new process called "electrical resensitivity imaging.
" [Dr.
Randazzo.]
"E.
R.
I.
" is what we say.
[Quinto.]
If we find sinkhole activity here, this entire area may need to be evacuated.
[Jerry.]
Spacing these stakes out at four feet apart.
[Quinto.]
Uh-huh.
We're putting the stakes in the ground because they will conduct the electrical current that we're moving through the ground, and measuring its resistance to flow.
[Quinto.]
Electricity travels through the earth at different intensities based on the kind of material in its path.
And depending upon whether it moves through sand, clay, limestone, or combinations, it's going to have different flow resistances.
[Quinto.]
When the power is switched on, the processor will begin identifying the various materials in the soil below.
Okay, wait.
What can I touch and not touch? You can touch anything you want.
Nothing's live.
Anything.
Until we turn it on, you're set.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
[Quinto.]
The processor creates a composite image of the layers of the earth belowground.
But even with this technology, there's really no way to tell if we're on solid ground until we turn it on.
Sometimes it can just be a small feature underground, just ten feet underneath the surface, but that's just the tip of the iceberg possibly.
Sometimes it might be a 50-foot diameter cavity that's a hundred feet tall.
It's hard to say.
Is there a point at which you can say how much time it might take for that depression to become something more threatening? I use a litmus test.
Would I sleep in that house tonight? And if I won't sleep in the house tonight get out and condemn the property.
[Quinto.]
I'm on a journey to unlock the mystery surrounding sinkholes.
These chasms can open up at any time, and have plagued civilizations going back thousands of years.
Many scholars believe these deep, crumbling caverns are a sign of the end of times.
[Erevna.]
We should expect to see more sinkholes.
They're gonna keep getting worse, getting worse.
[Quinto.]
And I'm trying to figure out what's really going on.
[Land.]
It is impossible to predict that a sinkhole is going to form at this specific time and at this specific place.
Now I'm working with a team of experts from Geohazards, using advanced technology to try and detect lethal sinkholes before they claim more lives.
You have some results from this property, right? Correct.
Let me get 'em for you.
[Quinto.]
Residents of this community in Florida have seen a recent increase in sinkhole activity.
So our experiment today will try to determine whether this area is at risk for another disaster.
It might be a 50-foot diameter cavity that's a hundred feet tall.
It's hard to say.
If the results indicate a sinkhole is forming, this entire area may need to be evacuated.
So, the reds and the yellows and the oranges are highly resistive materials.
The current does not flow through them as well.
Uh-huh.
When you get into the greens and the blues, you can be transitioning into water-saturated materials, or even more porous limestone.
[Quinto.]
Jerry believes these results are a strong indication the ground below this part of the neighborhood is stable.
But the team has analyzed other properties in the area, [camera shutter clicking.]
and some could still be at risk.
I got something that you're definitely gonna wanna take a look at over here.
It's something.
[Quinto.]
What happens when one of these mammoth sinkholes opens up and uproots an entire neighborhood without warning? In 2017, a small hole opened up on a concrete driveway in a quiet suburban area.
Within minutes, the hole in the earth started tearing this tight community apart.
Now residents of Land O' Lakes are trying to pick up the pieces.
It was the most unbelievable sight I've ever seen.
I said it was frightening but fascinating.
Right.
Right.
It was like, you couldn't take your eyes off of it.
If it wasn't 20 feet from your house, I'm sure it would be more interesting.
But many remain fearful another sinkhole could strike at any time.
So, how did this happen? It was July 14th.
A little girl was walking her dog, and she noticed a boat on a trailer with a hole under it.
And then she walked back by, and she noticed that hole was getting considerably bigger.
So she went in the house, and she called 911.
[siren wailing.]
And by the time they got out, that boat was starting to fall down in.
My neighbor called me and said, "There's something going on across the street.
" From the time he called me to the time I got here, the first house was halfway in the hole.
Are you serious? Oh, my God.
The water looked like an agitator in a washing machine.
It was slapping against the sides, and slapping under the house.
And then the second house collapsed.
And we sat here and watched it eat the street up.
Is it going to keep going? It happened so, so fast.
Oh, my gosh.
Please stop.
And am I next? Am I gonna sit here and watch this house go down? It was unbelievable.
I've never seen anything like this in my life.
I felt the power of Mother Nature like I've never seen firsthand.
Yeah.
The randomness of it is what you can't account for, because you have zero control over it.
It is very lucky that no one was hurt or killed.
But you certainly see the potential for that.
As of Friday, the county met me out here.
They've now determined that this whole area has an unstable subsurface, and that I will be getting a letter of condemnation, and I will have to tear down my house.
They've determined that the land that it's sitting on is too unstable to allow a home to remain.
Wow.
So, I [sighs.]
[Quinto.]
This is a community that's been broken apart, quite literally, by something that they have absolutely no control over.
There are things so much bigger than us at work all the time.
Even right outside our front doors.
Many residents in Land O' Lakes fear this incident could just be the beginning, and are scared of what gaping void might be lurking under their homes.
And even more alarming, their situation bears striking similarity to one of the most catastrophic sinkhole events in history, which also occurred in Florida.
In 1981, residents of Winter Park were alarmed to discover a 40-foot hole near the center of town.
Over the next two days, the hole expanded, swallowing five Porsche automobiles and an entire home.
By the time the ground stabilized, a quarter million cubic yards of earth had fallen into the opening.
That's over 2,000 truckloads.
And it covered an area larger than a football field.
It is just amazing that nature is really showing us the awesome power that it has, just to take things and make them disappear.
[Quinto.]
These deadly sinkhole disasters are continuing to happen all over the world, even today.
In 2010, a giant 300-foot-deep sinkhole opened in the middle of Guatemala City, killing 15 people.
This catastrophic chasm also swallowed an entire three-story building, and put an additional 300 residents' lives at risk.
And if ancient text is an accurate precursor, there's no telling when or where the next one could strike.
[Erevna.]
Sinkholes are happening randomly.
Oh, they're gonna continue to happen randomly.
Disasters can be viewed from a biblical perspective.
Just like Jesus said.
These things have to happen now.
People just don't know.
I mean, people don't understand natural order, natural law.
We're separated from nature.
We're separated from anything ancient, really.
And you have to ask yourself, "Something has to be changing within the earth.
" The whole world is under judgment.
It's not personal.
[Quinto.]
Fears of these disasters happening worldwide has Land O' Lakes residents Matt and Andrea Fuller on edge.
I think the unknown is more of, like, the scariest part, because it The mystery of it is really Yeah.
It's like, "A sinkhole? What in the world?" Like, "Wait, it ate homes?" [Quinto.]
But they have a plan to fend off disaster.
They've invited Jerry and his team to test the stability of their property, to find out whether they can stay in the home they love.
Jerry and his Geohazards team are bringing out the big guns for this test today the BR-2500 drill rig.
With 1 horsepower and 220 pound-per-feet of torque, this beast can drill to depths of 300 feet below ground.
And it's been deployed hundreds of times across Florida to detect potential sinkhole events.
All right.
[whirring.]
Jerry and his technicians will drill deep into the Fullers' soil, through layers of dirt, sand, and clay hoping to find stable limestone supporting their home.
And how far down will they go?[Jerry.]
Until they hit limestone.
[Quinto.]
As Jerry and his team drill down, one Florida family gets closer to knowing the truth about what lies beneath their home.
[Andrea.]
It's, like, very scary, you know? At one point, there was talk that they were gonna condemn the whole neighborhood.
[Quinto.]
Will the results of this test change their lives forever? [Quinto.]
Why does the earth open up and take people into its dark depths? From ancient times until today, sinkholes have been a mystery.
I'm in Land O' Lakes, Florida, one of the most dangerous areas in America when it comes to sinkholes.
These violent openings can strike at any time, and take down entire neighborhoods in minutes.
Looking at geologic maps, you can get an idea of what you should hit, but you never know until you're actually pulling it up.
[Quinto.]
I'm with Jerry Black and his team of experts, digging under the property of Matt and Andrea Fuller.
And how far down will they go? Until we hit limestone.
[Quinto.]
Our mission is to determine whether the ground under the Fullers' home is solid, or, if like much of the area nearby, it's at risk for a sinkhole collapse.
Okay.
We have hit limestone.
We were able to drill down to 55 feet.
We've hit about 25 feet of sand.
And we've got some softish clay at 30 feet.
And we hit limestone at about 50 feet.
So, right now, we're gonna do our field test to determine the quality of the limestone.
This is hydrochloric acid.
So you don't wanna get it on your skin.
[Quinto.]
If the acid triggers a strong chemical reaction with the limestone, it would confirm that the stone beneath the Fullers' home is stable.
A weak reaction could signal an extremely dangerous situation for the Fullers' property, and the entire region.
[Jerry.]
Oh, yeah, there we go.
That's reacting.
Yep.
So that means that that is made of stable limestone.
That's good.
Great.
So there's nothing to worry about here.
That's correct.
I'm glad that we could give you good news.
That makes me happy.
I would've felt terrible if I [chuckling.]
On one hand, I would've felt terrible.
On other hand, I would've felt like, oh, we gave you information you needed, but Yeah.
Yeah, but, you know, a month and a half into your new house.
I'm glad that things are looking good.
Thank you so much.
[Quinto.]
For now, the Fullers can rest easy knowing their home is built on solid rock.
But not everyone is so lucky.
The earth's surface is constantly changing, and even seemingly solid rock could have hidden caves beneath, meaning a deadly sinkhole could open up at any time.
People tend to think of the earth beneath their feet as, more or less, stable and permanent.
But we know that's not the case at all.
That the rocks beneath our feet are very much changeable and eventually unstable.
Sinkholes have been occurring throughout geologic history, really, ever since there were rocks and water on earth.
In ancient times, sinkholes and caves must've had kind of a frightening and mysterious quality.
They may have been associated with mythical deities gods and goddesses.
When there are caves, you'll get soil, and gravel, and sand getting washed down into those fissures.
And eventually, that will weaken and collapse.
Sometimes very rapidly.
[Quinto.]
I've seen how the low-lying state of Florida has become ground zero for sinkholes.
But it's not the only hotspot in America.
Thousands of miles away, and up to 1,800 feet above sea level, Missouri is under attack from a rising tide of devastating sinkholes.
[female newscaster.]
After another high-profile incident, experts believe Missouri could be experiencing a sinkhole epidemic.
[Quinto.]
I'm meeting with geologist David Weary in the Ozark Mountains to find out why this area has experienced a disturbing surge in collapses.
You work with the USGS the US Geological Survey, right? Correct.
I'm a geologic mapper.
Sinkholes aren't, like, a new phenomenon, right? They've been around for millennia.
Right.
They've been around through geologic history.
Historically, most sinkholes would've occurred in areas that were rural.
Uh-huh.
As we expand out into the countrysides and develop more areas, humans interact with areas that are prone to collapse.
You kind of upset the natural balance, and you tend to trigger sinkhole collapses.
Overall, you have a pretty good sense of what parts of the country are most vulnerable.
Right.
We try to map out areas that we think are more susceptible to sinkhole formation.
Uh-huh.
There's soluble rocks across the United States.
So a lot in Florida.
Yeah, so Florida's one of 'em.
The Ozark Plateaus area.
The black dot's where we are.
Uh, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee also.
Kansas, Colorado.
There's actually an area up in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, that surprises a lot of people.
That's incredible.
So everything we know about them, there's really no way to predict when they're gonna happen or where they're gonna happen.
It's very difficult to predict Rightspecifically where a sinkhole's going to occur.
Our science is aimed at trying to delineate areas where we think the risk is higher.
But you're correct.
We can't predict that a sinkhole's gonna occur over there tomorrow.
Right.
In recent years, caves and underground streams in Missouri's Ozark Mountains have been creating unusual sinkholes.
This mysterious phenomenon has captivated the imagination of local residents, like Johnny Morris.
Johnny is the founder of Bass Pro Shops.
And in 2015, something strange happened on his golf course property.
A little over three years ago, there was a pond here.
Was a beautiful lake.
We woke up one morning, and where the lake was there was just this sinkhole in the earth.
We'll see where nature leads us.
[Quinto.]
It's a shocking realization the earth beneath our feet can collapse at any time.
I heard this loud noise.
Sounded like a train hit the house.
Everything in my brother's room was gone.
We don't know where these underground cavities are, and that's what the uncertain thing is.
[Quinto.]
Across America, and going back millions of years, sinkholes have opened up and taken entire neighborhoods with them.
Is it going to keep going? Oh, my gosh.
Please stop.
[Quinto.]
They can strike almost anywhere, and there's no way to see them coming.
I'm meeting with Missouri resident and founder of Bass Pro Shops, Johnny Morris.
He's made it his personal quest to unlock the mystery surrounding these strange events, starting with the massive sinkhole that opened up on his golf course in 2015.
A little over three years ago, there was a pond here.
Was a beautiful lake.
And we woke up one morning, and where the lake was, there was just this depression in the earth.
A 70-foot wide sinkhole developed near the Arnold Palmer-designed driving range.
[male newscaster.]
Pendergrass says this hole is actually one of four newly formed sinkholes on the property.
The water had gone out.
And so, you used that as an opportunity to say, "Let's see what else is down there?" Yeah.
We just went on a treasure hunt.
We said, "We're gonna start digging" Let's just dig it up.
"and see where this leads.
" Wow.
That was three years ago.
[Quinto.]
By getting deep inside a sinkhole, Johnny hopes this unprecedented mission will shed new light on the geological conditions that caused these collapses in the first place.
What did it look like before you started the excavation? How big was it compared to what it is now? It was about 20 feet deep, 30 feet wide.
But it was all clay.
We couldn't see any of these rock formations whatsoever.
Wow.
And we just started to excavate.
We have excavated a little over 70,000 dump truck loads of material.
Wow.
It's just been amazing, what we've uncovered here.
These beautiful geological formations that maybe occurred over 300 million years ago.
I mean, I know sinkholes are a relatively common occurrence around here, but was there any sense of concern? Some people still are.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Sure.
I can imagine that, actually.
But, uh, I mean, we'll see where nature'll lead us, right? We don't really know.
[Quinto.]
Johnny is not the first to become obsessed with the mystery of what lies beneath our feet.
Questions about these craters have perplexed humans for centuries.
One puzzling tale involves the legendary city of Ubar, a frankincense trading post on the Arabian Peninsula that became known as the Atlantis of the Sands after the city disappeared overnight, rumored to be eaten up by a sinkhole as punishment by God for its evil greed.
In Central America, the Mayans called sinkholes "cenotes.
" Religious leaders believed these networks of flooded underground tunnels were portals to their gods.
And then there are modern scholars who believe these historical events could serve as a warning sign for us today.
[Erevna.]
If you read anything ancient that has prophesy in it, basically, they're writing history before it happened.
There seems to be a common chapter at the end of each age from floods to hurricanes, more earthquakes, more sinkholes.
[screaming.]
In the biblical prophesy, it says there's some disconnect somewhere.
Perhaps we're living to be material.
We're living for pleasure.
We're not living for spirit.
From a biblical perspective, we're being judged collectively by our actions.
And we're actually a cancer that has to get rectified.
Those laws were written for our own protection, and if we don't live in harmony, I don't think that we're gonna make it out of this unscathed.
[Quinto.]
Whether sinkholes are the result of biblical prophesy or a complex geological force, people like Johnny Morris continue to search for answers.
It looks dramatic from up here, but when you get down below, it's really amazing.
[Quinto.]
Back in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, Johnny is ready to take me into the heart of the giant sinkhole he's been studying for over three years.
And who knows what mysterious creatures or ancient bones we might discover.
You wanna drive, or should I? Oh, boy.
We'll flip for it.
All right.
We'll flip for it.
Fair enough.
[engine revs.]
If it gets slippery, just gun it.
Okay.
[loud crackle.]
[Quinto.]
My journey to unlock the mysteries surrounding sinkholes has revealed just how powerful and destructive they can be.
[Maryann Bishop.]
And we sat here and watched it eat the street up.
It happened so, so fast.
[Quinto.]
And just how vulnerable millions of us are to their fury.
You kind of upset the natural balance, and you tend to trigger sinkhole collapses.
[Quinto.]
And although I've seen promising technology that gives us early warnings about potential sinkholes, forecasting exactly when and where the next one will strike is still more art than science.
Johnny Morris has been obsessed with sinkholes ever since one struck his Missouri golf course in 2015 A 70-foot wide sinkhole developed near the Arnold Palmer-designed driving range.
[Quinto.]
and he's been on a quest to unlock the secrets of what causes the ground to open up one shovel at a time.
I'm fired up.
Me too.
Johnny's not sure what he'll discover at the bottom of this giant chasm, but he's determined to find out.
If it gets slippery, just gun it.
Okay.
This elusive treasure hunt has pushed Johnny and his team to remove over 70,000 dump truck loads of dirt since 2015.
We're over 200 feet below the surface here.
[Quinto.]
This project has revealed a vast array of new clues and an enormous network of caves underneath.
I mean, it's amazing to think that this all started as a 20-foot wide hole.
It makes you feel pretty insignificant in the scheme of things when you're down in here looking up and Just hundreds of millions of years of erosion.
And that it can just be revealed in the blink of a collapse.
[snaps fingers.]
You never would've known this was here.
Absolutely no idea.
Crazy.
No idea.
Yeah.
It just makes you wonder what's all around here.
You know, what else there is.
Just north of here, they were working on a county road, and they punched a hole into a cave, and it was like a time capsule.
They found the remains of, uh, saber-toothed cats in there.
And there was claw marks in the clay that look like they were made just yesterday.
Wow.
We've gotta be close to Yeah.
finding, you know, that other opening.
You know, it could be the next shovel of earth that Boom, it opens up this big cavern.
[loud crackle, rocks tumbling.]
Oh, boy.
It's coming down.
[rocks continue tumbling.]
Sounds like it's still collapsing as we speak.
The destructive power of this phenomenon is so unpredictable.
There was a lot of falling rock and a lot of instability that existed around us down there.
And that's pretty scary to think about.
But to him, it was just the beginning of another adventure.
Whatever this is connected to feels really active right now.
[vehicle engine starts.]
[woman.]
Okay.
Hop in.
[engine starts.]
[Quinto.]
To this day, Johnny continues to excavate his property around the clock, driven by his desire to solve the age-old mystery of why the earth gives way without warning.
However, this quest comes with many perils.
Just one month after filming, a dangerous accident occurred on the property when a pickup truck carrying one of the workers fell over 150 feet into the massive hole.
Luckily, no one was killed.
But it is a painful reminder just how dangerous it can be to investigate sinkholes.
Like our ancient ancestors, we still marvel today at the power and fury of these giant chasms as they continue to strike our planet, mysteriously devouring homes, neighborhoods, and even people.
Perhaps we may one day be able to outrun these violent sinkhole catastrophes.
But until then our ancient planet still hides its secrets.
For thousands of years, the fear of plummeting into the abyss has haunted mankind.
Documented in the Bible and other ancient texts, the specter of being cast into darkness, into a bottomless hole, has long terrified civilizations across the globe.
[thunderclap.]
And while we're all too familiar with the devastating fury of Mother Nature, we remain terrorized by the mysterious forces of sinkholes.
What could a man, who survived one of these deadly chasms, tell us about their incredible powers? [man.]
I heard my brother scream.
I opened the door up, everything in my brother's room was gone his TV, his dresser, his bed and there was a big hole in the floor.
Probably 15-foot wide.
Thought I heard my brother "Jeremy, please help me.
" I'm trying to dig and dig, and that was the last time I seen him.
I never thought anything like that would ever happen.
Never.
[Quinto.]
Could our nightmares about sunken depths take root in the form of sinkholes? What are these dark, bottomless pits? And what's really down there? My search begins now.
My Name is Zachary Quinto.
As an actor, I've played many supernatural characters that blurred the line between science and fiction.
I'm drawn to the unknown, the otherworldly, and those experiences so beyond belief, they call everything into question.
I'm exploring some of the most enduring mysteries that continue to haunt mankind in search of the truth wherever it leads me.
Since humans first roamed the earth, ancient texts have described savage forces ravaging the land.
Massive chasms opening without warning and devouring everything on the surface.
From the Bible's Book of Numbers, where sinners were swallowed by the earth, to the Mayans, who constructed iconic pyramids over sacred pits because they saw them as an entrance to the underworld, to recent events, such as the devastating rifts in Florida, Guatemala, and Rome.
Some believe sinkholes are a force of nature, while others speculate that sinkholes are a sign of the end of times, and perhaps even a gateway to hell.
In fact, many nicknames for these giant chasms are synonymous with the underworld.
In Turkmenistan, there is even a giant sinkhole that has been on fire ever since it opened up and devoured the land in 1971.
Locals call it the Gates of Hell.
And in Texas, there's an ancient chasm aptly called the Devil's Sinkhole, which plunges a remarkable 400 feet down inside the earth.
It makes me wonder, what could possibly explain these otherworldly forces? To get a better understanding of the devastating nature of sinkholes, I'm meeting with 41-year-old Jeremy Bush, a Florida resident who survived a trip to hell and back when the earth seized his family home.
Jeremy.
How you doing, sir? Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
Thank you for taking the time to talk with me.
Yes, sir.
And so, the fenced-in area that we're looking at back there, that was the footprint of your house? Yes, sir.
Where the highest part of the grass is is where the hole is.
Uh-huh.
They just filled this in, then? They filled it in twice.
A couple months later, it reopened up again and fell in again.
Wow.
Tell me what happened.
I came home from work.
My brother was in his room.
We heard this loud noise.
Sounded like a train hit the house.
I heard my brother yell, scream, so we all ran toward my brother's room.
I went to go open the door and walk in, and my father-in-law turned the hallway light on.
I noticed everything in my brother's room was gone.
His bed, his dresser, his TV everything was gone.
My brother was gone, and there was a big hole.
I wasn't thinking.
I just jumped in the hole.
As I'm digging with my hands, I thought I could hear my brother.
"Jeremy, help me.
" Next thing I know, I feel a cop grabbing me by my shoulder, telling me to come on.
He grabs me by my arm and just pulls me out of the hole.
Tells me the hole's still falling in.
Stuff's still falling.
It's still collapsing.
[sniffles.]
There were no forewarnings? No forewarnings at all.
Came out of the blue.
And did that hole continue to grow from that point, or was that the Yeah.
It did.
It was growing as I was in the hole.
You were in there.
Right.
I didn't know what it was until the fire department, everybody showed up, and the hole collapsed again and took all their equipment down with it.
Wow.
It just took my brother's bedroom the whole floor, everything in it.
My main focus was "Somebody, please try and save my brother.
" Of course.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But then they condemned the other houses here? They tore the other two houses down.
They said the ground was so unstable.
Were you guys able to get anything out? You able to go back in at all? No.
We weren't allowed to go back in at all.
You weren't allowed to go back in at all? No.
Wow.
We had to leave, and we had to find somewhere else to go.
They put us in a house right around the corner.
Another sinkhole opened up right there.
Is that right? They popped up and opened up immediately, everywhere around us.
Right.
It was like, are they following me, or what? Yeah.
You just realize those are everywhere.
Can happen anytime and anywhere.
[Quinto.]
You know, the earth just opens up and takes a corner of it and his brother with it.
I mean, it's just so destructive.
Jeremy's tragic story illustrates the horrific human toll that sinkholes can take.
But what causes these deathtraps to suddenly open up and swallow people? Scholars, such as Michael Erevna, believe ancient texts from around the world may hold the answers.
Sinkholes are in the Old Testament.
The very first occurrence, Moses approached the wicked men and told them that they were under judgment, and then he opened up a sinkhole right underneath them and took their lives.
All their possessions, all their belongings went down in the hole.
Then he closed the sinkhole after he opened it.
In the Bible, the Lord uses pits to punish people.
Isaiah 24:17 and 20, it talks about being ensnared in the pit with the devil.
The Bible, the Mayan civilization, the Hopi prophecy they all seem to be talking about exactly the same thing.
There's a judgment coming through for our own human behavior the dissolving of the earth.
We should expect to see more sinkholes.
They're gonna keep coming, and they're gonna keep getting worse, getting worse.
[thunderclap.]
[Quinto.]
Whether sinkholes are truly some kind of biblical prophecy, no one can say for sure.
What is certain is that these cave-ins have been happening for millions of years.
And over time, some of earth's most deadly creatures have moved into the void left behind.
I've discovered ancient sinkholes across Texas contain some of the largest Mexican free-tailed bat colonies in the world.
In the southeast, thousands of hostile American alligators recently claimed a deep 200-foot sinkhole chamber when it collapsed.
[hisses.]
And this is nothing new.
There's evidence of massive creatures from the past trapped thousands of years ago.
Excavations in Florida have unearthed giant mastodon bones that date back nearly 14,500 years, as well as other ancient fossils.
Could clues inside these ancient sinkholes help us understand them more? [birds twittering.]
I'm journeying deep inside one of the oldest and most mysterious sinkholes in America to find out for myself.
Ooh.
Wow.
[birds twittering.]
[Quinto.]
My journey to understand more about the destructive power of sinkholes has led me to Devil's Den, a mysterious cavern in Williston, Florida, that formed over 10,000 years ago.
This is not what I expected.
With the help of geology professor Manoj Chopra, I want to get a firsthand visual understanding of a sinkhole from the inside.
I mean, this feels like I don'know.
This feels like something out of a movie, like Something to do with Harrison Ford.
Yeah.
Indiana Jones.
Right.
Exactly.
Indiana Jonesor This is Indiana Jones.
Totally.
So this place is called Devil's Den.
Mm-hmm.
Is there I don't know a significant origin to that name? The temperature in here, as you can see, is in the 70s lower 70s and it stays that way the whole year.
Okay.
So when it gets cold up there, the water is quite warm, and you start to see these steam Ohplumes coming out.
And so, the first people, when they saw the steam coming out, they thought the devil's breath was coming down.
Amazing.
This opened up 9,000 years ago.
Uh-huh.
The surface couldn't just support the weight anymore, and it fell in.
So this is about 9,000 years Right.
This opening is 9,000.
This underground here could be much older.
Yeah, much older.
Right.
And so, are there discoveries made in these sinkholes? Caverns this old must contain some keys to the past, right? We had a case where a large bear was running over this and fell right through that.
That was found in this one? In this one, right here.
Wow.
And there are many other animals that have been found.
But this is the largest fossil.
Is it dangerous? I imagine there's still relative instability around the edges.
It could be dangerous.
There are a lot of caves Oh, there are? This is much wider.
It's actually a bigger mushroom than what we see.
I see.
Diving, you could have disorientation Surewhere you don't know up or down or which way you're going.
Right.
And in a cave system, that could be dangerous.
That's correct.
And how much wider than this do they go? Do you know? It's about four times the size of what we're seeing here.
[Quinto.]
It really just gave us an opportunity to be inside one, to look at what it is underneath and to see the impact that it can have on the surface.
If one shows up, you have to be concerned.
How far around a funnel would you then start to look for other funnels? That's the uncertainty again.
You just don't know.
You just don't know.
[Quinto.]
After 10,000 years, it's hard to imagine that the violent forces which formed Devil's Den are still wreaking havoc throughout our world.
However, while most humans believe they walk on solid ground, experts warn that we may be in more danger than we realize.
Twenty-five percent of the earth's surface may be prone to sinkhole formation.
Large parts of Florida are susceptible to sinkholes.
Western Kentucky, southeastern New Mexico, western Illinois.
This is a global phenomenon.
Turkey has lots of sinkholes.
China has some of the largest sinkholes on earth.
It is impossible to predict that a sinkhole is going to form at this specific time and at this specific place.
[Quinto.]
The potential for sinkholes to strike anywhere is frightening.
Is there any way to protect ourselves from such a deadly force? To find out, I'm traveling to Gainesville, Florida, to meet with a team of experts working tirelessly to stave off this mysterious phenomenon.
Tony Randazzo and Jerry Black have a company called Geohazards, which is leading the quest to try and predict where sinkholes will strike next.
In many parts of the world, the bedrock hidden below homes and buildings contains mysterious unknown caverns, and that's what we'll be looking for today.
This is the underlying limestone.
This must be 100 feet below where we're standing.
Uh-huh.
And in many parts of Florida, including here, it looks like Swiss cheese.
Right.
It has been partially dissolved by groundwater.
Uh-huh.
So the water from the surface trickles down through the limestone, and essentially eats it away? It dissolves it.
Dissolves it.
Just like sugar dissolves in a cup of coffee.
Right.
Over centuries, water weakens the rock.
When humans build on the surface, it places enormous stress on the brittle stone below.
When the rock can no longer support the weight of the structures above Like an elevator going down through an elevator shaft.
Everything above the roof collapses downward as well, and you develop a very sudden creation of this hole in the ground that you call a sinkhole.
Wow.
Does sound scary.
I understand why people are afraid of those.
Yes.
[Quinto.]
This part of Florida has seen a recent surge in sinkhole activity.
If there is a sinkhole here, the ground under our feet could give way at any moment.
With thousands of families in the vicinity, time is of the essence.
We'll be utilizing a new process called "electrical resensitivity imaging.
" [Dr.
Randazzo.]
"E.
R.
I.
" is what we say.
[Quinto.]
If we find sinkhole activity here, this entire area may need to be evacuated.
[Jerry.]
Spacing these stakes out at four feet apart.
[Quinto.]
Uh-huh.
We're putting the stakes in the ground because they will conduct the electrical current that we're moving through the ground, and measuring its resistance to flow.
[Quinto.]
Electricity travels through the earth at different intensities based on the kind of material in its path.
And depending upon whether it moves through sand, clay, limestone, or combinations, it's going to have different flow resistances.
[Quinto.]
When the power is switched on, the processor will begin identifying the various materials in the soil below.
Okay, wait.
What can I touch and not touch? You can touch anything you want.
Nothing's live.
Anything.
Until we turn it on, you're set.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
[Quinto.]
The processor creates a composite image of the layers of the earth belowground.
But even with this technology, there's really no way to tell if we're on solid ground until we turn it on.
Sometimes it can just be a small feature underground, just ten feet underneath the surface, but that's just the tip of the iceberg possibly.
Sometimes it might be a 50-foot diameter cavity that's a hundred feet tall.
It's hard to say.
Is there a point at which you can say how much time it might take for that depression to become something more threatening? I use a litmus test.
Would I sleep in that house tonight? And if I won't sleep in the house tonight get out and condemn the property.
[Quinto.]
I'm on a journey to unlock the mystery surrounding sinkholes.
These chasms can open up at any time, and have plagued civilizations going back thousands of years.
Many scholars believe these deep, crumbling caverns are a sign of the end of times.
[Erevna.]
We should expect to see more sinkholes.
They're gonna keep getting worse, getting worse.
[Quinto.]
And I'm trying to figure out what's really going on.
[Land.]
It is impossible to predict that a sinkhole is going to form at this specific time and at this specific place.
Now I'm working with a team of experts from Geohazards, using advanced technology to try and detect lethal sinkholes before they claim more lives.
You have some results from this property, right? Correct.
Let me get 'em for you.
[Quinto.]
Residents of this community in Florida have seen a recent increase in sinkhole activity.
So our experiment today will try to determine whether this area is at risk for another disaster.
It might be a 50-foot diameter cavity that's a hundred feet tall.
It's hard to say.
If the results indicate a sinkhole is forming, this entire area may need to be evacuated.
So, the reds and the yellows and the oranges are highly resistive materials.
The current does not flow through them as well.
Uh-huh.
When you get into the greens and the blues, you can be transitioning into water-saturated materials, or even more porous limestone.
[Quinto.]
Jerry believes these results are a strong indication the ground below this part of the neighborhood is stable.
But the team has analyzed other properties in the area, [camera shutter clicking.]
and some could still be at risk.
I got something that you're definitely gonna wanna take a look at over here.
It's something.
[Quinto.]
What happens when one of these mammoth sinkholes opens up and uproots an entire neighborhood without warning? In 2017, a small hole opened up on a concrete driveway in a quiet suburban area.
Within minutes, the hole in the earth started tearing this tight community apart.
Now residents of Land O' Lakes are trying to pick up the pieces.
It was the most unbelievable sight I've ever seen.
I said it was frightening but fascinating.
Right.
Right.
It was like, you couldn't take your eyes off of it.
If it wasn't 20 feet from your house, I'm sure it would be more interesting.
But many remain fearful another sinkhole could strike at any time.
So, how did this happen? It was July 14th.
A little girl was walking her dog, and she noticed a boat on a trailer with a hole under it.
And then she walked back by, and she noticed that hole was getting considerably bigger.
So she went in the house, and she called 911.
[siren wailing.]
And by the time they got out, that boat was starting to fall down in.
My neighbor called me and said, "There's something going on across the street.
" From the time he called me to the time I got here, the first house was halfway in the hole.
Are you serious? Oh, my God.
The water looked like an agitator in a washing machine.
It was slapping against the sides, and slapping under the house.
And then the second house collapsed.
And we sat here and watched it eat the street up.
Is it going to keep going? It happened so, so fast.
Oh, my gosh.
Please stop.
And am I next? Am I gonna sit here and watch this house go down? It was unbelievable.
I've never seen anything like this in my life.
I felt the power of Mother Nature like I've never seen firsthand.
Yeah.
The randomness of it is what you can't account for, because you have zero control over it.
It is very lucky that no one was hurt or killed.
But you certainly see the potential for that.
As of Friday, the county met me out here.
They've now determined that this whole area has an unstable subsurface, and that I will be getting a letter of condemnation, and I will have to tear down my house.
They've determined that the land that it's sitting on is too unstable to allow a home to remain.
Wow.
So, I [sighs.]
[Quinto.]
This is a community that's been broken apart, quite literally, by something that they have absolutely no control over.
There are things so much bigger than us at work all the time.
Even right outside our front doors.
Many residents in Land O' Lakes fear this incident could just be the beginning, and are scared of what gaping void might be lurking under their homes.
And even more alarming, their situation bears striking similarity to one of the most catastrophic sinkhole events in history, which also occurred in Florida.
In 1981, residents of Winter Park were alarmed to discover a 40-foot hole near the center of town.
Over the next two days, the hole expanded, swallowing five Porsche automobiles and an entire home.
By the time the ground stabilized, a quarter million cubic yards of earth had fallen into the opening.
That's over 2,000 truckloads.
And it covered an area larger than a football field.
It is just amazing that nature is really showing us the awesome power that it has, just to take things and make them disappear.
[Quinto.]
These deadly sinkhole disasters are continuing to happen all over the world, even today.
In 2010, a giant 300-foot-deep sinkhole opened in the middle of Guatemala City, killing 15 people.
This catastrophic chasm also swallowed an entire three-story building, and put an additional 300 residents' lives at risk.
And if ancient text is an accurate precursor, there's no telling when or where the next one could strike.
[Erevna.]
Sinkholes are happening randomly.
Oh, they're gonna continue to happen randomly.
Disasters can be viewed from a biblical perspective.
Just like Jesus said.
These things have to happen now.
People just don't know.
I mean, people don't understand natural order, natural law.
We're separated from nature.
We're separated from anything ancient, really.
And you have to ask yourself, "Something has to be changing within the earth.
" The whole world is under judgment.
It's not personal.
[Quinto.]
Fears of these disasters happening worldwide has Land O' Lakes residents Matt and Andrea Fuller on edge.
I think the unknown is more of, like, the scariest part, because it The mystery of it is really Yeah.
It's like, "A sinkhole? What in the world?" Like, "Wait, it ate homes?" [Quinto.]
But they have a plan to fend off disaster.
They've invited Jerry and his team to test the stability of their property, to find out whether they can stay in the home they love.
Jerry and his Geohazards team are bringing out the big guns for this test today the BR-2500 drill rig.
With 1 horsepower and 220 pound-per-feet of torque, this beast can drill to depths of 300 feet below ground.
And it's been deployed hundreds of times across Florida to detect potential sinkhole events.
All right.
[whirring.]
Jerry and his technicians will drill deep into the Fullers' soil, through layers of dirt, sand, and clay hoping to find stable limestone supporting their home.
And how far down will they go?[Jerry.]
Until they hit limestone.
[Quinto.]
As Jerry and his team drill down, one Florida family gets closer to knowing the truth about what lies beneath their home.
[Andrea.]
It's, like, very scary, you know? At one point, there was talk that they were gonna condemn the whole neighborhood.
[Quinto.]
Will the results of this test change their lives forever? [Quinto.]
Why does the earth open up and take people into its dark depths? From ancient times until today, sinkholes have been a mystery.
I'm in Land O' Lakes, Florida, one of the most dangerous areas in America when it comes to sinkholes.
These violent openings can strike at any time, and take down entire neighborhoods in minutes.
Looking at geologic maps, you can get an idea of what you should hit, but you never know until you're actually pulling it up.
[Quinto.]
I'm with Jerry Black and his team of experts, digging under the property of Matt and Andrea Fuller.
And how far down will they go? Until we hit limestone.
[Quinto.]
Our mission is to determine whether the ground under the Fullers' home is solid, or, if like much of the area nearby, it's at risk for a sinkhole collapse.
Okay.
We have hit limestone.
We were able to drill down to 55 feet.
We've hit about 25 feet of sand.
And we've got some softish clay at 30 feet.
And we hit limestone at about 50 feet.
So, right now, we're gonna do our field test to determine the quality of the limestone.
This is hydrochloric acid.
So you don't wanna get it on your skin.
[Quinto.]
If the acid triggers a strong chemical reaction with the limestone, it would confirm that the stone beneath the Fullers' home is stable.
A weak reaction could signal an extremely dangerous situation for the Fullers' property, and the entire region.
[Jerry.]
Oh, yeah, there we go.
That's reacting.
Yep.
So that means that that is made of stable limestone.
That's good.
Great.
So there's nothing to worry about here.
That's correct.
I'm glad that we could give you good news.
That makes me happy.
I would've felt terrible if I [chuckling.]
On one hand, I would've felt terrible.
On other hand, I would've felt like, oh, we gave you information you needed, but Yeah.
Yeah, but, you know, a month and a half into your new house.
I'm glad that things are looking good.
Thank you so much.
[Quinto.]
For now, the Fullers can rest easy knowing their home is built on solid rock.
But not everyone is so lucky.
The earth's surface is constantly changing, and even seemingly solid rock could have hidden caves beneath, meaning a deadly sinkhole could open up at any time.
People tend to think of the earth beneath their feet as, more or less, stable and permanent.
But we know that's not the case at all.
That the rocks beneath our feet are very much changeable and eventually unstable.
Sinkholes have been occurring throughout geologic history, really, ever since there were rocks and water on earth.
In ancient times, sinkholes and caves must've had kind of a frightening and mysterious quality.
They may have been associated with mythical deities gods and goddesses.
When there are caves, you'll get soil, and gravel, and sand getting washed down into those fissures.
And eventually, that will weaken and collapse.
Sometimes very rapidly.
[Quinto.]
I've seen how the low-lying state of Florida has become ground zero for sinkholes.
But it's not the only hotspot in America.
Thousands of miles away, and up to 1,800 feet above sea level, Missouri is under attack from a rising tide of devastating sinkholes.
[female newscaster.]
After another high-profile incident, experts believe Missouri could be experiencing a sinkhole epidemic.
[Quinto.]
I'm meeting with geologist David Weary in the Ozark Mountains to find out why this area has experienced a disturbing surge in collapses.
You work with the USGS the US Geological Survey, right? Correct.
I'm a geologic mapper.
Sinkholes aren't, like, a new phenomenon, right? They've been around for millennia.
Right.
They've been around through geologic history.
Historically, most sinkholes would've occurred in areas that were rural.
Uh-huh.
As we expand out into the countrysides and develop more areas, humans interact with areas that are prone to collapse.
You kind of upset the natural balance, and you tend to trigger sinkhole collapses.
Overall, you have a pretty good sense of what parts of the country are most vulnerable.
Right.
We try to map out areas that we think are more susceptible to sinkhole formation.
Uh-huh.
There's soluble rocks across the United States.
So a lot in Florida.
Yeah, so Florida's one of 'em.
The Ozark Plateaus area.
The black dot's where we are.
Uh, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee also.
Kansas, Colorado.
There's actually an area up in Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, that surprises a lot of people.
That's incredible.
So everything we know about them, there's really no way to predict when they're gonna happen or where they're gonna happen.
It's very difficult to predict Rightspecifically where a sinkhole's going to occur.
Our science is aimed at trying to delineate areas where we think the risk is higher.
But you're correct.
We can't predict that a sinkhole's gonna occur over there tomorrow.
Right.
In recent years, caves and underground streams in Missouri's Ozark Mountains have been creating unusual sinkholes.
This mysterious phenomenon has captivated the imagination of local residents, like Johnny Morris.
Johnny is the founder of Bass Pro Shops.
And in 2015, something strange happened on his golf course property.
A little over three years ago, there was a pond here.
Was a beautiful lake.
We woke up one morning, and where the lake was there was just this sinkhole in the earth.
We'll see where nature leads us.
[Quinto.]
It's a shocking realization the earth beneath our feet can collapse at any time.
I heard this loud noise.
Sounded like a train hit the house.
Everything in my brother's room was gone.
We don't know where these underground cavities are, and that's what the uncertain thing is.
[Quinto.]
Across America, and going back millions of years, sinkholes have opened up and taken entire neighborhoods with them.
Is it going to keep going? Oh, my gosh.
Please stop.
[Quinto.]
They can strike almost anywhere, and there's no way to see them coming.
I'm meeting with Missouri resident and founder of Bass Pro Shops, Johnny Morris.
He's made it his personal quest to unlock the mystery surrounding these strange events, starting with the massive sinkhole that opened up on his golf course in 2015.
A little over three years ago, there was a pond here.
Was a beautiful lake.
And we woke up one morning, and where the lake was, there was just this depression in the earth.
A 70-foot wide sinkhole developed near the Arnold Palmer-designed driving range.
[male newscaster.]
Pendergrass says this hole is actually one of four newly formed sinkholes on the property.
The water had gone out.
And so, you used that as an opportunity to say, "Let's see what else is down there?" Yeah.
We just went on a treasure hunt.
We said, "We're gonna start digging" Let's just dig it up.
"and see where this leads.
" Wow.
That was three years ago.
[Quinto.]
By getting deep inside a sinkhole, Johnny hopes this unprecedented mission will shed new light on the geological conditions that caused these collapses in the first place.
What did it look like before you started the excavation? How big was it compared to what it is now? It was about 20 feet deep, 30 feet wide.
But it was all clay.
We couldn't see any of these rock formations whatsoever.
Wow.
And we just started to excavate.
We have excavated a little over 70,000 dump truck loads of material.
Wow.
It's just been amazing, what we've uncovered here.
These beautiful geological formations that maybe occurred over 300 million years ago.
I mean, I know sinkholes are a relatively common occurrence around here, but was there any sense of concern? Some people still are.
Yeah.
Uh-huh.
Sure.
I can imagine that, actually.
But, uh, I mean, we'll see where nature'll lead us, right? We don't really know.
[Quinto.]
Johnny is not the first to become obsessed with the mystery of what lies beneath our feet.
Questions about these craters have perplexed humans for centuries.
One puzzling tale involves the legendary city of Ubar, a frankincense trading post on the Arabian Peninsula that became known as the Atlantis of the Sands after the city disappeared overnight, rumored to be eaten up by a sinkhole as punishment by God for its evil greed.
In Central America, the Mayans called sinkholes "cenotes.
" Religious leaders believed these networks of flooded underground tunnels were portals to their gods.
And then there are modern scholars who believe these historical events could serve as a warning sign for us today.
[Erevna.]
If you read anything ancient that has prophesy in it, basically, they're writing history before it happened.
There seems to be a common chapter at the end of each age from floods to hurricanes, more earthquakes, more sinkholes.
[screaming.]
In the biblical prophesy, it says there's some disconnect somewhere.
Perhaps we're living to be material.
We're living for pleasure.
We're not living for spirit.
From a biblical perspective, we're being judged collectively by our actions.
And we're actually a cancer that has to get rectified.
Those laws were written for our own protection, and if we don't live in harmony, I don't think that we're gonna make it out of this unscathed.
[Quinto.]
Whether sinkholes are the result of biblical prophesy or a complex geological force, people like Johnny Morris continue to search for answers.
It looks dramatic from up here, but when you get down below, it's really amazing.
[Quinto.]
Back in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, Johnny is ready to take me into the heart of the giant sinkhole he's been studying for over three years.
And who knows what mysterious creatures or ancient bones we might discover.
You wanna drive, or should I? Oh, boy.
We'll flip for it.
All right.
We'll flip for it.
Fair enough.
[engine revs.]
If it gets slippery, just gun it.
Okay.
[loud crackle.]
[Quinto.]
My journey to unlock the mysteries surrounding sinkholes has revealed just how powerful and destructive they can be.
[Maryann Bishop.]
And we sat here and watched it eat the street up.
It happened so, so fast.
[Quinto.]
And just how vulnerable millions of us are to their fury.
You kind of upset the natural balance, and you tend to trigger sinkhole collapses.
[Quinto.]
And although I've seen promising technology that gives us early warnings about potential sinkholes, forecasting exactly when and where the next one will strike is still more art than science.
Johnny Morris has been obsessed with sinkholes ever since one struck his Missouri golf course in 2015 A 70-foot wide sinkhole developed near the Arnold Palmer-designed driving range.
[Quinto.]
and he's been on a quest to unlock the secrets of what causes the ground to open up one shovel at a time.
I'm fired up.
Me too.
Johnny's not sure what he'll discover at the bottom of this giant chasm, but he's determined to find out.
If it gets slippery, just gun it.
Okay.
This elusive treasure hunt has pushed Johnny and his team to remove over 70,000 dump truck loads of dirt since 2015.
We're over 200 feet below the surface here.
[Quinto.]
This project has revealed a vast array of new clues and an enormous network of caves underneath.
I mean, it's amazing to think that this all started as a 20-foot wide hole.
It makes you feel pretty insignificant in the scheme of things when you're down in here looking up and Just hundreds of millions of years of erosion.
And that it can just be revealed in the blink of a collapse.
[snaps fingers.]
You never would've known this was here.
Absolutely no idea.
Crazy.
No idea.
Yeah.
It just makes you wonder what's all around here.
You know, what else there is.
Just north of here, they were working on a county road, and they punched a hole into a cave, and it was like a time capsule.
They found the remains of, uh, saber-toothed cats in there.
And there was claw marks in the clay that look like they were made just yesterday.
Wow.
We've gotta be close to Yeah.
finding, you know, that other opening.
You know, it could be the next shovel of earth that Boom, it opens up this big cavern.
[loud crackle, rocks tumbling.]
Oh, boy.
It's coming down.
[rocks continue tumbling.]
Sounds like it's still collapsing as we speak.
The destructive power of this phenomenon is so unpredictable.
There was a lot of falling rock and a lot of instability that existed around us down there.
And that's pretty scary to think about.
But to him, it was just the beginning of another adventure.
Whatever this is connected to feels really active right now.
[vehicle engine starts.]
[woman.]
Okay.
Hop in.
[engine starts.]
[Quinto.]
To this day, Johnny continues to excavate his property around the clock, driven by his desire to solve the age-old mystery of why the earth gives way without warning.
However, this quest comes with many perils.
Just one month after filming, a dangerous accident occurred on the property when a pickup truck carrying one of the workers fell over 150 feet into the massive hole.
Luckily, no one was killed.
But it is a painful reminder just how dangerous it can be to investigate sinkholes.
Like our ancient ancestors, we still marvel today at the power and fury of these giant chasms as they continue to strike our planet, mysteriously devouring homes, neighborhoods, and even people.
Perhaps we may one day be able to outrun these violent sinkhole catastrophes.
But until then our ancient planet still hides its secrets.