All language subtitles for In Search Of s01e06 Sinkholes.eng

[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--

Oh....plumes 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--

Sure....where 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.

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--

Right....specifically 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.

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