Sinkhole: Friend or Foe?

A few weeks ago, I posted on Fbook that one of my new greatest fears is of the sinkhole and its ability to randomly appear and dispel the idea that there is such a thing as “solid ground.” 

I never used to be afraid of sinkholes. As a teen, I used to work as a tour guide in a cave where a sinkhole was responsible for a set of skeletal remains found 100 or so years ago. The theory was that the body had been buried (as in purposely placed underground by someone who intended it to be UNDERGROUND) and the bones simply oozed down further into the soil with the rain water. I imagine this descent as a slow, completely non- violent action with absolutely no rushing water or sudden falling. Also, at that time, I was already underground most of the time. The idea of ending up someplace where I already was did not seem frightening. To me, the cave had a bottom… and that bottom was the bottom of everything.. ever… like that’s it… solid all the way to the core.

My fear was born after the images of the freaky holes in Guatemala popped up all over the interwebs.  Why do they appear all of a sudden? I wondered. Why are they so deep? And, why are they sooooo round? Really, so many of the sinkholes in Central and South America are bizarre in their circular uniformity. Now, I’m not one for conspiracy theories but HmmHmmmHmmm…. Circle shapes that appear randomly and without warning seem unnatural. So, naturally, I developed the unreasonable fear that the earth could just disappear below my feet and, provided I am not too big around to fit down the whole, I could be sucked down thousands of feet to the Earth’s core.  Here is a video that explains a theory on the horrifying formation of sinkholes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGkDouBVoLs  This theory seems plausible but I can’t help but imagine that giant alien round worms just need to surface from time to time to make contact with their mother-ship.

Strangely, when the video narrator discusses the erosion of the bedrock, the bedrock itself resembles the Shroud of Turin, which may be irrelevant but I still think it’s suspicious and weird.  

Recent events have led me to rethink my position on sinkholes. Thanks to the tremendous amount of rain we have had in the area recently, a sinkhole appeared in the entrance to our school causing schools to close for the day. No one was sucked into the hole. Though there were rumors started about crocodiles, the sinkhole was not creepy or deep nor was it perfectly round. Thanks to the sinkhole, I got to sleep until 6:30 and visit my kids at school for lunch. I also got to have coffee with a friend and spend a day pretending to be a stay-at-home mom. The day was nice and relaxing. All the while, the sinkhole was being repaired and I had nothing to be afraid of.

Update: Turns out though, the sinkhole was not really a sinkhole to begin with. The “sinkhole” was a leaking culvert under the road. Because this sinkhole was not really a sinkhole, and it was not perfectly round, I do not suspect alien round worms. All I need is an explanation ya’ll.
Here is a link to more terrible sinkholes (mostly round in shape and located in Guatemala).
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/06/photogalleries/100604-sinkhole-pictures-around-the-world-guatemala-city/