Pitch Lake

[Mynock]

There was a bunch of mammoths, ground sloths, bison, and cave bears who tried this a while back in California (where else?), and it didn't work out so well for them. Things went equally bad for the dire wolves and smilodons who, characteristically foolishly, decided to crash the party.

This brings to mind something I've wondered about off and on.....how is it that no one (at least to my knowledge) in modern history has ever gotten stuck at La Brea? I find it amazing that nobody's been stupid enough to stick their foot in on a dare, or pulled something really insane like "Hi I'm johnny Knoxville and my friends are going to push me into this tar pit in a shopping cart!!!"

[DangerGirl]

This brings to mind something I've wondered about off and on.....how is it that no one (at least to my knowledge) in modern history has ever gotten stuck at La Brea? I find it amazing that nobody's been stupid enough to stick their foot in on a dare, or pulled something really insane like "Hi I'm johnny Knoxville and my friends are going to push me into this tar pit in a shopping cart!!!"

They did find the bones of a young woman in the pits, but that happened thousands of years ago. As for more modern expeditions into the depths of the tar pits, there was this.

[Boppinabe]

I think the best bet would be to find some material which would have the cinematic properties of tar(black, thick, sticky) without the toxic part. I think it'd be somewhat expen$ive, though.

[YerK]

There was a bunch of mammoths, ground sloths, bison, and cave bears who tried this a while back in California (where else?), and it didn't work out so well for them. Things went equally bad for the dire wolves and smilodons who, characteristically foolishly, decided to crash the party.

This brings to mind something I've wondered about off and on.....how is it that no one (at least to my knowledge) in modern history has ever gotten stuck at La Brea? I find it amazing that nobody's been stupid enough to stick their foot in on a dare, or pulled something really insane like "Hi I'm johnny Knoxville and my friends are going to push me into this tar pit in a shopping cart!!!"

I read a brief bit about how one of the caretakers was briefly mired, having stepped into the wrong place, but he didn't go into any detail beyond having been distracted and stood too long before trying to move. No info on how hard it was to get out.

[Billie Bonce]

There was a segment about a boy who got stuck in tar in some Chinese show. The boys were playing on an abandoned factory and they got into a tank with seemingly hardened bitumen. As it proved to be later, only the surface layer was hardened. Two boys went to another place of interest, one remained experimenting with tar. Well, when he was ankle deep in tar his friends already weren't able to get him out. When the rescuers arrived, the boy was waist deep in the stuff. The show was quite long, the rescuers tried different things to get him out without much success. There were about 20 or more people pulling the rope. Finally, they got him out rather quickly after they got the good idea. The tar is soluble by kerosene. They used kerosene to soften the tar around the boy - and thus they got him out.

Also. several years ago an old drunkard Russian woman managed to fall in a puddle of bitumen on a territory of some plant. I am pretty sure we have talked about that case on this forum. When the woman was discovered, she was almost completely encased in tar. It took about 4 hours to get her out. The rescuers had to cut off almost all of her clothes and more than half of her hair. And they didn't use kerosene. Instead, for all those 4 hours they were hearing screams, swearing and curses.

And well, I have never heard about anything like Le Brea not just in my country but on the whole continent... I suppose, it is quite a unique place.

[Fred588]

I am speculating some but I think it might be possible to simulate the experience somewhat using cornstarch and some sort of colorant to make it look black. If a container was made to dimensions something like 3 feet by 3 feet and 7 inches deep it could be filled to 6 inches with 4.5 cubic feet. I don't know how much cornstarch would be needed but I would guestimate the amount at about 300 pounds. Based on what I can see by searching "bulk cornstarch" the cost should be about $135.00 or so. (I have seen 50 pound bags for about $23.00, although I did not look into shipping costs).

Cornstarch properly mixed with water in about a 10 to 1 ration will produce a thixotropic mixture like that we have seen in clips from some TV game shows. In theory, a foot placed slowly onto the mixture I have described should penetrate it easily but it the mixture would resist attempts at a rapid penetration. The mixture would also resist any efforts at a rapid extraction, thus having some element of making the foot stuck. One thing I have absolutely no knowledge of it how such a mixture would resist the movement of breathing if a person were in to the chest. If the mixture resisted the motion of breathing it could be extremely dangerous.

[Billie Bonce]

Cornstarch properly mixed with water in about a 10 to 1 ration will produce a thixotropic mixture like that we have seen in clips from some TV game shows. In theory, a foot placed slowly onto the mixture I have described should penetrate it easily but it the mixture would resist attempts at a rapid penetration. The mixture would also resist any efforts at a rapid extraction, thus having some element of making the foot stuck. One thing I have absolutely no knowledge of it how such a mixture would resist the movement of breathing if a person were in to the chest. If the mixture resisted the motion of breathing it could be extremely dangerous.

What I say is based exclusively on watching some videos from those TV game shows, plus one and the only known to me cornstarch fetish video made by Cocoa Soft. From what I have seen, whenever cornstarch mixture was made very thick (more tar-like), it wasn't sticking to skin. Also, when the mixture is flowing without external pressure, it is sticking to skin, but as soon as the pressure was applied and the mixture hardened, it literally falls off of the skin - actually, this property was used by security to extricate ladies in Brazilian show, and it was apparently the only way how the actress in the Cocoa Soft video was able to extricate herself. What about breathing, the actress in Cocoa Soft video was submerging into the stuff for awhile and subsequently safely extricated herself. She was able to breath, but she was not deep - she was lying in a tiny bath tub under rather thin layer of the cornstarch mixture.

[YerK]

And well, I have never heard about anything like Le Brea not just in my country but on the whole continent... I suppose, it is quite a unique place.

There are also the McKittrick Tar Pits. (Wiki & Google can find them for you)

According to that, men used to mine the tar by hand while naked.

[Billie Bonce]

And well, I have never heard about anything like Le Brea not just in my country but on the whole continent... I suppose, it is quite a unique place.

There are also the McKittrick Tar Pits. (Wiki & Google can find them for you)

And they not so far from La Brea on a global scale Yet, they are way too far from the country and the whole continent where I live. So, well, it only confirms my words

[jagfiles]

Hypothetically speaking here. Just what if one of the producers here were able to mix up a batch of tar for a video one idea for a story could involve two gals involved with one guy. F1 is trying to steel f2 guy. So f2 takes f1 to a tar pit to get rid of her. Just before she pushes f1 in she says "Do you know what TAR spells backwards is?
R-A-T!"
Ok it's rather corny I admit and perhaps a premature suggestion since no one has said anything to making such a video involving a tar pit.