Don't dig deep holes at the beach. It becomes a death trap

Jun 24, 2026 9:30 AM

'Suction effect and moisture: When digging a hole and accumulating water, the weight and density of the saturated sand act like a trap. When trying to move, the vacuum and pressure of the wet sand make it almost impossible to get out on your own. Never challenge the power of nature, because it always finds a way to remind us of its force'
https://x.com/VideosProh/status/2069044408327295399

This was in an episode of Strange and Unusual Deaths. I have so many new phobias from that show

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

the suction effect is what cause quicksand to be deadly, the force need to tear you out ... would tear you out. People don't die from the suction, but from being stuck, and the sea rising will then drown you. Good that people help.

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Philosophy has no more stronger lesson than don't bury yourself at the beach in an incoming tide.

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

"Introducing the new TikTok Death Hole Beach Challenge!"

1 month ago | Likes 37 Dislikes 2

im for it, lets clear up some traffic

1 month ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

It is up to society to protect fools from themselves but it is a neverending job.

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

That’s some Darwin Award level fun.

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

ARTAX!!...Fun Fact- a large wave could collapse the side walls, the pressure of wet sand on the chest would suffocate a child in as little as 60 seconds- faster than a rescue would be possible potentially. It also creates a vacuum that prevents just pulling them out. You have to dig them out to allow the chest to expand, breathe. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15182092/

1 month ago | Likes 31 Dislikes 0

Correct, to be more specific, when breathing out, the chest will go 'in'. The sand tightens more around the chest, preventing a (step by step) full inhalation. The body will lack oxygen at the end. Kind of how a constrictor snake works.

1 month ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

The important thing is that it may not be your life that your actions can take...but an innocent who is unaware of the size of the hole...Ask yourself...could you live with yourself and the knowledge that your actions killed someone??

1 month ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

depends. what's my net worth?

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

With coordinated effort, you can beat nature.

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

The last guy in the red shorts has the dramatic Baywatch shirt-doffing down cold.

1 month ago | Likes 86 Dislikes 0

why he needed to remove it to dig sand, we will never know.

1 month ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

seen and appreciated

1 month ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 0

That last image made me want to throw them back in again.

1 month ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Some dumb adults allow kids (and stupid teens) to do this every summer. People die unnecessarily every summer somewhere.

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I grew up in New Jersey and we lost seven members of our family this way. That is why dad moved us to Minnesota. We've only lost two family members to sand death since moving here, so that just shows it is much safer in the upper midwest!

1 month ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 1

Huh - my family moved to NJ when they arrived in the US and then moved out to MN a generation later - wonder if this is a common thing?

1 month ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

because of the sand death

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

That's actually crazy I had no idea!

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I only did this once, not even with water involved. 'Haha, it's just sand, I'll bury myself to the waist and just pull myself afterwards'.

Yeah, no, had to dig my legs out.

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Tide going out looks like the main factor in their rescue

1 month ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

So to save the boys that made the drys wet, they had to dry the wets to negate the sucks.

1 month ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

Darwin standing nearby in period full length bathing suit "NOOOO! DONT INTERFERE! .. its the way of nature.

1 month ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

He's just offshore in the HMS Beagle watching through a telescope and begging the captain to disperse the beachgoers with the cannons so he can collect more observations for his "natural selection" thesis

1 month ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

"Mr. Winters, why do we have to learn all this science stuff? It's not like I'm gonna grow up to become a scientist or nothing."

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

1 month ago | Likes 35 Dislikes 1

My hero.

1 month ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

1 month ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 0

Maybe a bit morbid, but there could be a third panel with 2+ skeletons in a flooded sand pit.

1 month ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

Saving 2 men was a community effort! Whoda thunk it??

1 month ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Typical socialists, always expecting a hand up from the hard-working people in their society. Couldn't they just pull themselves up by their own bootstraps?

1 month ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Yes, even though they have no boots?!

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

In all the years of digging big holes at the beach this never happened to us. We would also dig the holes far enough up where a wave wouldn't get to them, but we would dig down deep enough to hit water

1 month ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 2

i think it also isnt just a matter of deep holes...they made the mistake of digging a deep hole, then partially burying themselves in sand, and once water came in the sand became quicksand-like and they couldnt get out...if you just sit in a deep hole and water comes in you can just swim or climb out or something, but the loose sand on top of them created the issue...

1 month ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Practical Engineering on YT did a video explaining this not too long ago. Love watching Grady’s work.

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

So that's what happened to all the quicksand from the 80s and 90s. It got buried under new sand and had to be dug up.

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

My guy, people have been digging holes at the beach for thousands of years. Everyone in this comment section has probably dug a hole at the beach, unless they've never been to a beach for some reason. Do watch out for this, but you'll never get anywhere with a message like "don't dig holes at the beach"

1 month ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 2

You do know that OSHA/OHNS require shoring or sloped banks for anything deeper than 5 feet? And that's in anything from hard clay to sandy soils. Between 15 and 40 deaths per year plus hundreds of injuries. Any hole deeper than your waist has potential for major injuries.

1 month ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

Also - ever hear of clam digging?

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

No, I'm gay.

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Both of those guys are gonna be in a for a crappy night / next week based on the color of their backs. But at least they got to endanger a bunch of other people for internet points.

1 month ago | Likes 203 Dislikes 17

Endanger?

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

Why... why do you think they were doing this for social media? You know people just record things right?

1 month ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 0

It's literally a meme that guys dig holes in the sand. This is extremely normal dumb guy stuff that has literally nothing to do with internet points

1 month ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

Guys? They look like kids, mate

1 month ago | Likes 53 Dislikes 5

Kids can be guys, mate.

1 month ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 1

the line between fun and classical death trap is the length of time you leave boys unattended with shovels

1 month ago | Likes 165 Dislikes 3

My fun was playing with empty gatorade bottle put an inch of chlorine powder in them, than when ready would bring another bottle with 1/4 filled with milk, add the milk abd toss in ravine, had do much fun, glad i never got hurt.

1 month ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I knew a kid that went to juvie doing that because captain ding dong did that in the parking lot across from his house... which was a school. Nothing in the 5 years after 9/11 told you the police would take that lightly

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

Darwin needs sacrifices

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

We men NEVER think 2 ask 4 directions!

1 month ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I keep thinking about that teenage kid who died feet away from his dad, who was sleeping, because he dug and dug and dug and the thing collapsed on him and noone noticed. So fucking horrific.

1 month ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

This is brilliant…

1 month ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Yes .... boys ..... *hides shovel behind back*

1 month ago | Likes 17 Dislikes 0

Hey! That sheep has a shovel and a Kiwi accent! Stop it before it builds another toothbrush fence!

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Other sheep out being detectives and here you are causing trouble with a shovel.

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Or rope or hammers or bamboo poles or lawn darts or ladders or…..

1 month ago | Likes 27 Dislikes 0

My sister and I had a dispute when we were kids about the relative deadliness of throwing knife vs bow and arrow. We each stood next to a tree and she tried to throw a knife into my tree while I tried to shoot an arrow into hers. I don't remember who won.

1 month ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

my brother shot me with a bow and arrow from across the street and did the usual beg me to not tell mom.

1 month ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Did you both survive the event?

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Why did the life guard stop take his shirt off and toss it... I don't understand.

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Chicks, man.

1 month ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

So that you know he's the protagonist

1 month ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Wet fabric restricts movement, maybe?

1 month ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Surprisingly sensible answer!

1 month ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0