‘David are you stuck? Do you need help?’ The terror of quicksand

If you’re of a certain generation you’ll have grown up with an irrational fear of encountering quicksand. But why? And what is it anyway? David Barnett treads carefully into this odd cultural phenomenon

Death by quicksand in the film ‘Two Thousand Maniacs!’ (Glasshouse/Shutterstock)

The general consensus seems to be that it’s all Tarzan’s fault. The old TV shows that were a staple of summer holiday scheduling in the Seventies and Eighties – be they the episodes from the 1960s version starring Ron Ely or the black and white movies from the 1930s with Johnny Weissmuller in the ape-man role – invariably featured, among the many jungle perils, an encounter with quicksand.

Quicksand – also known as sinking sand – was a very real concern for my generation. Even growing up in Wigan in Lancashire, I had an inordinate fear of stepping into quicksand and being sucked down who knew how far? Deep enough to get horribly killed, at the very least. Possibly even to the centre of the earth.

It wasn’t just Tarzan. A huge number of TV shows and movies from the Sixties to the Eighties featured quicksand as a hazard and plot device. Any time there was a bit of quick peril required, quicksand was the go-to solution, in shows ranging from Batman to the Dukes of Hazzard, the Incredible Hulk to the Lone Ranger. Quicksand even featured in Black Beauty, Little House on the Prairie, and I Love Lucy.