History Main / QuicksandSucks

* ''Star Wars'':

* Averted and Downplayed In ''Film/RobinHood2010''. When Robin and Marion encounter a group of peasants trying to free a ram that was stuck in a mud, Marion gathers her hair and tucks it down the back of her shirt while also gathering and hiking up her skirt so that her legs are bare to the thighs and [[TemptingFate tries to free a ram stuck in the quicksand-like mud on her own without help, but she falls in mud and only manages to herself stuck along with ram]]. After falling in mud while making a loud splash on it, Marion manages to right herself while her skirt gets folded up around her body, very close to her and starts trailing in and out of the mud. Marion [[TemptingFate assures Robin and rest of the peasants near the bog that she is fine and that she does not need help to be rescued from being stuck in the mud]] as she holds one hand near the mud while raising one hand in the air to try to regain her balance and wave away peasants's concern for her. But when Marion tries to stand back up, the quicksand-like bottom grabs her for her legs and now holds her tight, causing Marion to sink low to her shoulders and to realize that she can't move her legs and that she now needs help to be rescued from being stuck in the mud as she is now helpless to do anything on her own. Leading to Robin going to rescue both Marion and ram. Fortunately, Marion is not in any danger of sinking deeper into mud to her death while being stuck in mud, she's just too stuck to free herself from the mud and has a hard time getting out of the mud. And after Robin rescues ram from mud, he also rescues Marion from mud as well.
-->'''Lady Marion Loxley:''' "Stop! You'll break its neck." (Marion swings off her horse, quickly gathers her hair and tucks it down the back of her shirt and also gathers and hikes up her skirt to that her legs are bare to the thighs, takes a hoe staff one of the peasants gives her and starts walking carefully forward into the bog, while testing the ground of the bog ahead of her for it's firmness before each step with a hoe while keeping her eyes mostly on the tricky grounds).
-->'''Robin Longstride:''' "Marion." (Marion ignores him and keeps trying to make forward progress, Robin then also swings off his horse).
-->'''Lady Marion Loxley:''' "Easy." (And as Marion is slowly approaching ram that is stuck in the mud and testing the bottom in front of her, she suddenly gasps as the hoe staff she was holding suddenly plunges all the way in the mud, taking Marion with it. Marion loses her footing and starts falling into the mud. Marion pinwheels her arms to keep herself away from falling further and deeper into the mud. Eventually, Marion falls into the mud, getting herself stuck up to her shoulders in mud. Marion makes a rather big and loud splash of muddy water that gets her tucked dark-brown hair and hiked up clothes all wet and drenched up in muddy water after she falls and gets stuck in mud. Marion manages to right herself with her arms from which drops of muddy water start falling, keeping one hand above and near the mud while briefly raising her other hand from the mud, while her skirt starts trailing in the mud. But all Marion manages to do is to get herself stuck in mud along with ram).
-->'''Lady Marion Loxley:''' [[TemptingFate "I'm alright."]] (Marion holds one hand near the mud while raising one hand in the air to try to regain her balance and wave away peasants's concern for her. When Marion tries to stand back up, the quicksand-like bottom grabs her for her legs, and now holds her tight, causing Marion to sink low to her shoulders and to realize that she can't move her legs and how she now needs help to be rescued from being stuck in the mud as she is now helpless to do anything on her own at all) "Uh, I can't move me legs. (Marion is rather embarrased and annoyed about how she got herself stuck in mud, then turns towards the shore to tell Robin and serfs that she is stuck in mud and needs help to be rescued). I can't move me legs! (Marion looks at Robin at shore who is placing a rope on his shoulders and going to rescue her and ram)."
-->'''Lady Marion Loxley:''' Thank you (Robin jumps in mud with rope over his shoulders and starts going towards the ram, much to Marion's disbelief).
-->'''Lady Marion Loxley:''' My lord? (Robin then reaches the ram and grasped its horn and pulles it gently forward, just enough that he could get both his arms around it. When Ram's legs got free, it tried to kick out, to struggle to complete freedom, splashing Marion Loxley with mud. Marion closes her eyes and tries to duck out of the way of the muddy water that was sent flying at her, but she can hardly move as the mud is still holding her tight in it's grip. Robin pivotes with the ram cradled against his chest and sees that the bank was firm right behind them. With one big effort, he lurches forward, allowing the ram to land on its feet, and trusting its shepherd would oversee its care from then on. Robin then goes to save Marion who is still stuck in mud and unable to free herself.
-->'''Lady Marion Loxley:''' [[SarcasmMode Oh, is it my turn now]]? (Robin then glances at Marion's eyes, asking her silent permission to touch her, to pick her up. She nodds slightly, and he bent down in the water, his right arm going across her shoulder blades, his left arm reaching for the backs of her knees. She put her arms around him as he found her legs and he lifted her in a princess-style of carrying a lady in arms. Marion's boots made a horrible squelching noise as the mud was forced to release her by the strength in Robin's arms as he lifted her.)
-->'''Lady Marion Loxley:''' (With Marion being finally free of the clinging mud, Robin turned to deposit her on the same patch of firm bank he had set the ram on. Marion turns out to be much bigger than the ram, but she manages to roll onto her stomach on the firm ground, splashing muddy water around herself from her hands and turning and putting her hands on the solid and firm ground to give her rescuer a heartfelt curt.) Thank you. +

-->'''Lady Marion Loxley:''' "Easy." (And as Marion is slowly approaching ram that is stuck in the mud, she suddenly gasps, loses her footing and falls into the mud, pinwheeling her arms to keep herself away from falling forward while making a loud splash after she falls in mud. Marion manages to right herself, but she only manages to get herself stuck in mud along with ram.).
-->'''Lady Marion Loxley:''' [[TemptingFate "I'm alright."]] (Marion holds one hand near the mud while raising one hand in the air to try to regain her balance and wave away peasants's concern for her, then as she tries to stand back up, the quicksand-like bottom had caught her when she fell in mud and made a loud splash after she fell in, and now holds her tight, causing Marion to sink low to her shoulders and to realize that she can't move her legs and how she now needs help to be rescued from being stuck in the mud as she is now helpless to do anything on her own at all) "Uh, I can’t move me legs. (Marion is rather embarrased and annoyed about how she got herself stuck in mud, then turns towards the shore to tell Robin and serfs that she is stuck in mud and needs help to be rescued). I can’t move me legs! (Marion looks at Robin at shore who is placing a rope on his shoulders and going to rescue her and ram)."

-->'''Lady Marion Loxley:''' [[TemptingFate "I'm alright."]] (Marion holds one hand near the mud while raising one hand in the air to try to regain her balance and wave away peasant's concern for her, then as she tries to stand back up, the quicksand-like bottom had caught her when she fell in mud and made a loud splash after she fell in, and now holds her tight, causing Marion to sink low to her shoulders and to realize that she can't move her legs and how she now needs help to be rescued from being stuck in the mud as she is now helpless to do anything on her own at all) "Uh, I can’t move me legs. (Marion is rather embarrased and annoyed about how she got herself stuck in mud, then turns towards the shore to tell Robin and serfs that she is stuck in mud and needs help to be rescued). I can’t move me legs! (Marion looks at Robin at shore who is placing a rope on his shoulders and going to rescue her and ram)."

* In ''Film/RobinHood2010'', Lady Marion Loxley tries to free a ram stuck in the quicksand-like mud on her own without help, but she falls in mud and only manages to herself stuck along with ram. After falling in mud while making a loud splash on it, Marion manages to right herself while her skirt gets folded up around her body, very close to her and starts trailing in and out of the mud. Marion assures Robin and rest of the peasants near the bog that she is fine and that she does not need help to be rescued from being stuck in the mud as she holds one hand near the mud while raising one hand in the air to try to regain her balance and wave away peasants's concern for her. But when Marion tries to stand back up, the quicksand-like bottom had caught her and now holds her tight, causing Marion to sink low to her shoulders and to realize that she can't move her legs and that she now needs help to be rescued from being stuck in the mud as she is now helpless to do anything on her own, leading to Robin going to rescue both Marion and ram. Fortunately, Marion is not in any danger of sinking deeper into mud to her death while being stuck in mud, she's just too stuck to free herself from the mud and has a hard time getting out of the mud.

In truth, quicksand, while real, isn't terribly common; exerts none of its movie counterpart's mythical "sucking" power; and isn't nearly the StickySituation the movies made it look like. In fact, real quicksand is so dense that you ''can't'' sink in it (with more than half your body). The usual advice for someone who finds themselves caught in deep quicksand is to simply relax and float on their back. Struggling in a panic may actually cause you to drag yourself down instead of up, and survival guides stress the importance of staying still if this starts to happen. While animals and people ''do'' sometimes die in quicksand, it's almost never from drowning — it's from exposure, dehydration or predation after exhausting themselves struggling to get out. However, with the right combination/consistency of sand, clay, water, and salt, it is nearly impossible to escape quicksand without help.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29ht6SSWQMs This video]] shows off most of the mechanics behind quicksand and other shear thinning non-Newtonian fluids in action, courtesy of a silt mudflat on the banks of a river. While at first, it's possible to walk on and even jump around on the surface of the mudflat, once a stick is jammed into the ground (which takes some effort), the supersaturated silt and water mix takes on its shear thinning properties, and the ground around the demonstrator and the stick becomes increasingly 'spongy' and elastic, creating the weird imagery where it seems possible to jump off the surface of the quicksand as if it were a trampoline, though standing on it for too long results in the demonstrator's feet sinking into the ground slightly.

* In the ''Literature/AToZMysteries'' book "The Quicksand Question", the kids' investigation into who stole the fundraising money for a bridge for the ducks crossing the nearby road leads them to a marshy part of the river where an elderly man says that he saw a jeep with the duck bank storing the change for the ducks charge off the road near there. As they're wading in for clues, the kids run into a patch of quicksand that formed in the riverbed recently. Fortunately, Dink remembered to lean back into the water and not struggle in order to not sink in any further and has Josh do the same thing. Even more fortunately, Ruth Rose wasn't far enough into the river at that point to also get stuck in the quicksand, so she was able to get out of the river and run to the nearby fire department to get help. [[spoiler:The incident also ends up solving the case because Josh felt a jeep antenna poking at his leg before he was rescued. Once the fire department fishes the jeep out of the quicksand and find the fundraising money stored inside, and the police department runs its registration, the culprit is found and arrested. Officer Fallon speculates that the reason why the culprit didn't get stuck in the quicksand when he ended up accidentally driving the jeep into the river is that he either jumped out of the jeep to the solid riverbed when it got stuck or he just swam from the jeep to the edge and never touched the bottom in the process]].
--> '''Ruth Rose:''' I never even knew there was quicksand in Connecticut.\\

* In Music/NickCave's novel ''Literature/AndTheAssSawTheAngel'', the narrator recounts his story while sinking into a bog. The unlikelihood of this contingency is easy to swallow compared to some of the other stuff we're [[MagicRealism asked to believe]], or [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness asked not to believe]].
* In one of the ''Literature/BillTheGalacticHero'' books, a SpaceMarine in a heavy suit of PoweredArmor lands in a bog. All his squadmates tell him to take the suit off because it's so heavy that all they'd accomplish trying to help is to drown as well, but that takes ''an hour'' so it guzzles him up.
* In ''Literature/CloudsOfWitness'' by Creator/DorothyLSayers, Lord Peter Wimsey, walking on the Yorkshire moors in fog, accidentally strays into a notorious local bog with the coincidental but appropriate name of Peter's Pot. It immediately begins to suck him in; the suction is so powerful that Bunter is entirely unable to pull him out, and just barely manages to hold onto him until help arrives. The incident is also notable for the normally made-of-iron Wimsey being prostrated (although not for very long) by the strain of the event.
* ''Literature/TheCommissar'' by Creator/SvenHassel. The protagonists [[AllForNothing lose all the gold they've stolen]] when a bombing raid sets off a landslide of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quick_clay quick clay]], dragging under most of their vehicles with it.
* In Creator/BramStoker's short story "Crooken Sands", rich Englishman on a vacation to Scotland is menaced by a ghostly {{Doppelganger}} who is constantly sinking into quicksand, and tries to lure him into same fate.
* In Creator/HPLovecraft's short story "{{Literature/Dagon}}", it is mentioned that after the narrator's boat landed on what [[ScienceMarchesOn he claims to be a piece of the ocean floor brought to the surface by volcanic upheaval]], he had to wait three days for the land to dry sufficiently enough for him to walk on.
* In one of the smaller ''Literature/{{Dinotopia}}'' books, Magnolia and Paddlefoot, her dinosaur companion, get mired in quicksand. However, the author has done their research -- Magnolia and Paddlefoot are experts about water, so they simply lie flat and float. Eventually [[ABoyAndHisX a boy and his Triceratops]] come along and give them a hand out.
* During ''{{Literature/Dinoverse}}: Raptor Without A Cause'' an Acrocanthusaurus ends up in deep mud that is noted to be "like quicksand". She panics and thrashes, sinking, and the other Acros make a [[ChainOfPeople Chain Of Dinosaurs]] to get her out. The closer ones all also sink somewhat, but are pulled out by their fellows.
* In ''Literature/DreamPark'', when Griffin enters the South Seas Treasure Game as an alternate, the party finds him trapped waist-deep in quicksand.

* In ''The Law of the Gun'' by Creator/JTEdson, the main bad guy perishes when he attempts to escape the heroes by diving of the trail through the cane brakes along the Rio Grande and plunging into quicksand where he vanishes without trace.
* In Book 7 of ''Literature/TheHardyBoys Casefiles'', ''Deathgame'', Joe starts sinking in the quicksand and knows enough to float on it, but then has to force himself to sink below the surface to hide from his attacker. The caked mud later serves him as improvised camouflage.
* In ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'', the swamp is dangerous to enter even if you know the way, and nigh impossible to traverse without a guide. [[spoiler:Stapleton, who boasts that he is the only one who can safely cross, falls victim when he tries to escape justice in a hurry. In the 1959 Hammer Films movie adaptation, it is his daughter who dies that way, after they had saved Watson from it earlier in the film.]]
* In the ''Literature/KnownSpace'' stories of Creator/LarryNiven some areas of Mars have sand that is so fine that it essentially is a liquid and people can sink in it.
* The Shivering Sand in ''Literature/TheMoonstone'' by Creator/WilkieCollins. Dangerous, but not an impossible trap. It's used by a certain character to [[spoiler:hide an incriminating piece of evidence, using a locked box and a chain, and to commit suicide]].

* In ''Literature/ThePavilionOnTheLinks'' by Creator/RobertLouisStevenson, the quicksand even has a name: Graden Floe, a piece of treacherous terrain which is said to swallow a man in "four minutes in a half". The protagonist saves his love interest from walking into it. One of the antagonists is not so lucky; only his hat remains as proof of his gruesome demise.
* In ''The Sea Mystery'' by Creator/FreemanWillsCrofts, two men are supposed to have drowned in a bog on Dartmoor. The local police sergeant explains how it's possible to escape from such a situation by lying on one's back. Later, Inspector French wonders if a dead body could have been sunk in the bog, but the sergeant is dubious: unless weighted the body would float, while the person carrying the body would be vertical and so sink. So they'd have needed to support themselves on a plank while dumping the body, and that would have left obvious traces.
* About halfway through ''Literature/SwissFamilyRobinson,'' Fritz falls into a quicksand while taking a shortcut back to camp from collecting bamboo. He uses the bamboo reeds as floaties until a zebra wanders by, which is tame enough (the family had been using them as regular horses) to let him hitch a ride.
* In ''Literature/TheTakers'' (a modern TwoFistedTale-homage by Creator/JerryAhern) the protagonist and his PluckyGirl get caught in quicksand while wading through a swamp on a Caribbean island.

* The [=RainWings=] in ''Literature/WingsOfFire'' use quicksand as a makeshift prison for [[spoiler:Mastermind]] (they don't have a real prison since they've always punished criminals with exile). They have to pull him out of the quicksand every few hours so he doesn't just die.
* The ''Literature/WarriorCats'' novels ''The Fourth Apprentice'' and ''Mothwing's Secret'' both take place during droughts and involve cats trying to cross land that would normally be covered by water. While neither resulted in a death, both were life-threatening events and required the help of others to escape.

%%** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'': There is a pool of quicksand whose dangers are carefully described by Vamp. Seconds later, the boss starts swimming through it with ease (it's justified in-universe because he has superpowers). This has been implicated in the loss of ships at sea, because of a subsidence or other event on the seabed which causes a dramatic release of gas.

%%* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': Nesquik Sand! Calhoun has to [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan smack some sense]] into Felix to get him to stop making it worse with his panicking, which actually helps them figure out an escape via slapstick. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.

%%* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' provides a HandWave for the inaccurate depiction by having Indy explain that what he and Marion are sinking into is not actually quicksand, but some sort of collapsing dry sand pit. It's parodied when Indy starts to lecture Mutt on the difference between quick sand and dry sand, only to be interrupted before he can actually explain anything informative. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.

* ''VideoGame/{{B3313}}'' takes the quicksand physics from ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' and uses them at unexpected points to fit with the overall surreal vibe of the game:

%%* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'' doesn't have this in the traditional sense (not only because it has no desert levels, but also because sand as a whole is very rarely present in the game), but the creek of poo in the Great Mighty Poo's lair has more or less the same effect: if Conker falls in, he sinks and drowns. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaPhantomHourglass'' Zigzagged. There's only regular sand in both the desert-themed Isle of Gust and its dungeon the sandy Temple of Wind (the actual threat is the wind currents and geysers, sand is harmless otherwise); but in the Goron Temple, '''all''' sand can suck anyone within and is deadly for Link (luckily, his Bombchus can navigate through them just fine).

%%** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'': There is a pool of this whose dangers are carefully described by Vamp. Who then, seconds later, starts swimming through it with ease (He does have superpowers). This has been implicated in the loss of ships at sea, because of a subsidence or other event on the seabed which causes a dramatic release of gas. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' has quicksand in the ShiftingSandLand level with three intensities. First there is light quicksand where you slowly and steadily sink in; you can eventually free yourself by jumping. (This quicksand was used for the most realistic pit, just outside the pyramid, where you go in only halfway, and also for a deadlier pit inside the pyramid, a quicksand bin above the pit, a thorn patch in Tall Tall Mountain, and the domain of the giant Venus Fire Traps in Tiny-Huge Island, the latter two being so shallow that all they do is impede your jumping.) Second a middle type that sucks Mario in quickly but not instantly. It's the most common type. Last is dark quicksand that instantly sucks you in, thus counting as a bottomless pit.

*** In the boards Spiny Desert (''VideoGame/MarioParty3'') and Pyramid Park (''VideoGame/MarioParty7''), there are two quicksand pits connected from the underground and surrounded by Event Spaces. If a player lands into one of those spaces, the quicksand pit will transport them to the other (and, in ''7'', viceversa to anyone located in the opposite pit).

%%* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992'' had ''underwater'' quicksand. %%Example needs context to make sense on its own.

Quicksand is a common and deadly element of [[SwampsAreEvil swamp]], [[HungryJungle jungle]], and [[ThirstyDesert desert]] terrain. ScienceFiction stories written before [[UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace the Moon landings]] are also liable to describe thick layers of extremely fine lunar dust on the Moon's surface that are treated as functionally equivalent to quicksand. In all cases, its most dangerous feature is its ability to suck people and animals down and drown them in a malevolent blend of sand and water. Although most victims blunder blindly into quicksand, it sometimes seems that the merest touch of an extremity is enough to pull the unwary into its muddy and all-consuming depths like iron filings to a magnet.

* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasTheLegendOfTheSunKing'' has a guilt-ridden Prince Tio setting off on a solo quest to rescue his LoveInterest, Kuku, in the jungles. Nobita, Doraemon and their friends quickly catch up and manage to find Tio - nearly drowning in a quicksand, with his hand holding on a root until Doraemon pulls him out with a gadget.
* The 2016 remake of ''Anime/DoraemonNobitaAndTheBirthOfJapan'' contains a MythologyGag for ''Three Visionary Swordsmen'' above when the gang gets assaulted by two gigantic elephant-headed robots sent by the main villain, Gigazombie. Doraemon produces the quicksand powder and tells Gian, Suneo and Shizuka to drop the powder at the robots' foot; it works, and both of them sinks in a manner reminiscent to General Ganbosu.
%%* ''Manga/GakuenAlice'': Mikan and a friend of hers encounter this in episode 3.
%%* A scene of this happens in episode 5 of ''Anime/DeltoraQuest''.
%%* A scene of this happens in episode 8 of a forgotten anime known as ''FortuneQuestL''.
* In ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', Gaara's jutsu essentially can both play this straight and invert it, the former having been done in his fight against Kimimaro and the latter having been done in his fight against Shigure.

** Caribou's devil fruit basically allows him to transform his entire body into this trope, though he's never seen using it to suffocate anyone to death, simply using it to knock them out and preserve them so he can sell them for slavery.

* Creator/JohnMulaney opened one set by remarking on some of the changes in perspective he gained after reaching adulthood, citing the ubiquity of this trope in old media vs. the reality of it as one example:

* ''ComicBook/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast1992'': Link, using the Book of Mudora in the Desert of Mystery, reveals a scorpion statue that has the Pendant of Power hang on it. Before Link can approach it, he sinks into the quicksand — and resurfaces on top of a Lanmola. Eep!

** This is also a common tactic of Spidey villain Sandman, though the fact that he's a man made of sentient sand means he could consciously pull Spidey down in a manner like Hollywood quicksand.

* ''ComicBook/WhiteSand'': Mentioned when Kenton notices a patch of loose sand and makes a mention of its danger. Of course, the final sphere he has to acquire to pass his exam sits right in its centre.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Crabgrass}}'': [[https://www.gocomics.com/crabgrass/2020/09/30 This comic]], Kevin gets stuck in what appears to be quicksand, and for a moment it seems this trope is going to occur as Kevin sinks up to his chin. Subverted when [[https://www.gocomics.com/crabgrass/2020/10/05 it turns out]] he was just playing a prank, and the quicksand was actually just mud.

* A favorite of ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'', with a collection of hats usually floating on the surface to indicate who the last unlucky victim was.

* Averted in a ''ComicStrip/HagarTheHorrible'' strip. Hägar and Lucky Eddie seem to be sinking in quicksand, but a local (whom only Eddie can speak to, so we only see gibberish) informs them that it isn't quicksand. [[spoiler:It's concrete.]]

** [[GentleGiantSauropod Arlo the apatosaurus]] is first introduced stuck in quicksand. Ultimately downplayed in that he ultimately ends up largely in more danger from getting eaten by a pack of ceratosaurus and combined bask of diplosaurus and amphicotylus then he is of sinking beneath the surface of the quicksand.

* {{Downplayed}} in ''Fanfic/SisterFloriana'', where it's presented more realistically: a group of kindergartners caught in it don't find themselves in any danger, but are forced to discard their boots to free themselves.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBraveLittleToaster'', Kirby and the others trying to pull him out get sucked into a mud pit in a [[SwampsAreEvil swamp]] that acts much the same way.
* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsSpringBreakdown'': Rainbow Dash falls into a pit of quicksand when she visits a small island, but sinks realistically slowly as she struggles to escape it. Sunset also tells Rainbow not to struggle, and it's only when a ManEatingPlant shows up that forces the issue that Rainbow begins to rapidly sink from trying to get free. [[spoiler:It turns out to be a PortalPool to Equestria]].
* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/OnceUponAForest''. The quail firmly believe this trope, leaving one poor bastard who gets stuck in the mud to die. Luckily for him, the party comes through and TheSmartGuy has them build a lever device to pry him out.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfNIMH'', [[spoiler:A house made from a cinder block is disposed of like this-after being dropped by crane onto Nicodemus. As a murder weapon. The residents are also still inside.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/WreckItRalph'': Nesquik Sand! Calhoun has to [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan smack some sense]] into Felix to get him to stop making it worse with his panicking, which actually helps them figure out an escape via slapstick.

* The British PSA ''Film/{{Apaches}}'' has one of the children fall into a slurry pit [a pit full of liquefied cow manure] that basically works in the same manner. The boy sinks under and drowns the same way as if it were quicksand. Which is an accurate depiction of how slurry works.

* Featured in Valentin's failed silent film, ''Tears of Love,'' in ''Film/TheArtist''.

* ''Film/TheCurseOfTheLivingCorpse'': Bruce and Vivian dispose of Letty’s body in a quicksand pool which swallows her instantly. [[spoiler: Philip tries to drown Deborah in quicksand, but winds up being dragged down himself.]]

* In ''Film/{{Django}}'', the titular hero nearly downs in one after the gold-loaded coffin he drags behind him slips from his grasp. There's a bit of foreshadowing at the start of the film; Django kills a handful of mooks, the last mook falls into the quicksand and is instantly swallowed.
* ''Film/{{Fauve}}'' has a realistic and man-made example when two boys go playing in an open-pit AbandonedMine. The mine appears to be asbestos, and there are pools of standing water in the bottom of the pits, and the asbestos and the water make a sucking mud that plays out just like this trope.
* ''Film/GameraVsBarugon'' has this as one of the threats Keisuke's expedition to New Guinea encounters along the way to the Valley of Rainbows, nearly costing Onodera his life before Keisuke and Kawajiri come to his rescue. Seeing as how [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Onodera repays their compassion]] by letting Kawajiri die to a scorpion sting, then attempting to seal Keisuke in the Valley of Rainbows by triggering a rock fall with explosives, [[FarmerAndTheViper this sequence comes off as especially ironic.]]
* ''Film/GunsOfDarkness'' is one of the earliest examples to play this realistically on film. The protagonists run their station wagon into quicksand as they're trying to smuggle the deposed President of Tibulación out of the country. After getting his wife across to safety, Tom Jordan goes back to help the President across. The human characters barely go in up to their necks in the course of all this, and the car takes several minutes to go completely under despite being a lot heavier than the three of them combined.

* While it may be a magical plant rather than quicksand and actively pulls down anything that ends up in its grasp, the devil's snare in the film version of ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone'' fits the functional parts of the trope perfectly. When it grabs the heroes and starts crushing them, Hermione remembers that devil's snare only reacts to panicked movement, so she and Harry relax, slipping through the plant's vines and into the room below. Ron, on the other hand, is so freaked out that he keeps flailing around and will obviously get strangled. Hermione manages to remember another weakness of devil's snare and uses it to free him.

* Probably the most accurate portrayal of quicksand in a film is the notorious scene in ''Film/IceColdInAlex'', in which Anthony Quayle's "Nazi Spy Disguised As South African Officer" falls into some, and is exposed by his inability to remember the Afrikaans for "Quicksand" ("Wilsand"). Only reason he even sank was because he was rushing to get to his listening device to sink it before the others saw what it was, and because he kept struggling afterwards when they tried to get him out.
* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' provides a HandWave for the inaccurate depiction by having Indy explain that what he and Marion are sinking into is not actually quicksand, but some sort of collapsing dry sand pit. It's parodied when Indy starts to lecture Mutt on the difference between quick sand and dry sand, only to be interrupted before he can actually explain anything informative.
* ''Film/{{Jumanji}}'': Alan's penultimate turn in the titular game turns the floor on which they're sitting into quicksand which starts to suck him in. Judy's next roll causes the floor to freeze up again just before Alan's face is pulled under. Strangely, when characters go downstairs they can see Alan's legs hanging out of the ceiling.

* The live-action film version of ''Film/{{The Jungle Book|1994}}'' by Creator/StephenSommers has this happen to a villain. He even explicitly states "It's sucking me down!" while struggling.
* One of the policemen in ''Film/KekexiliMountainPatrol'' dies from this.
* The heroes in ''Film/{{Krull}}'' run afoul of this in a swamp. It is heavily implied [[BigBad The Beast]] is using his dark magic to make them get sucked in.

* In ''[[Film/TheMummy1999 The Mummy]]'', a biplane sinks into a pit of quicksand... in the middle of a desert. The protagonists stand atop a dune and solemnly watch it sink. The sequence takes so long that it's hard to tell if it's [[LampshadeHanging Lampshading]] its own absurdity or just deathly oblivious to it.
* ''Film/TheNeverendingStory'' contains a particularly heartbreaking scene in which Atreyu's horse Artax sinks to his death in quicksand in the [[SwampsAreEvil Swamp of Sadness]]. It is [[HandWave explained]], however, that Artax' sinking [[VoodooShark was not due to quicksand]], but sadness.

* Parodied in the book and movie ''Film/ThePrincessBride'', which featured a super-quicksand called "lightning sand," which is dangerous because its grains are so small that you fall straight through it. At least as dangerous (in the novel, at any rate) is the way the stuff gets into your lungs.

* Done in ''[[Film/CountYorga The Return of Count Yorga]]'' which the titular vampire has a pit right behind his house which uses to conveniently dump bodies of those he doesn't want turned undead, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OqJymbuvG8&list=PLB68E5143DC0E74BA&index=8 or dealing with meddling priests.]]
* Averted and Downplayed In ''Film/RobinHood2010''. Lady Marion Loxley tries to free a ram stuck in the quicksand-like mud on her own without help, but she falls in mud and only manages to herself stuck along with ram. After falling in mud while making a loud splash on it, Marion manages to right herself while her skirt gets folded up around her body, very close to her and starts trailing in and out of the mud. Marion assures Robin and rest of the peasants near the bog that she is fine and that she does not need help to be rescued from being stuck in the mud as she holds one hand near the mud while raising one hand in the air to try to regain her balance and wave away peasants's concern for her. But when Marion tries to stand back up, the quicksand-like bottom had caught her and now holds her tight, causing Marion to sink low to her shoulders and to realize that she can't move her legs and that she now needs help to be rescued from being stuck in the mud as she is now helpless to do anything on her own Leading to Robin going to rescue both Marion and ram. Fortunately, Marion is not in any danger of sinking deeper into mud to her death while being stuck in mud, she's just too stuck to free herself from the mud and has a hard time getting out of the mud.
-->'''Lady Marion Loxley:''' [[TemptingFate "Stop! You'll break its neck." (Marion swings off her horse, quickly gathers her hair and tucks it down the back of her shirt and also gathers and hikes up her skirt to that her legs are bare to the thighs, takes a hoe staff one of the peasants gives her and starts walking carefully forward into the bog, while testing the ground of the bog ahead of her for it's firmness before each step with a hoe while keeping her eyes mostly on the tricky grounds). Robin: "Marion." (Marion ignores him and keeps trying to make forward progress, Robin then also swings off his horse). Marion: "Easy." (And as Marion is slowly approaching ram that is stuck in the mud, she suddenly gasps, loses her footing and falls into the mud, pinwheeling her arms to keep herself away from falling forward while making a loud splash after she falls in mud, getting herself stuck in mud along with ram. Marion manages to right herself while her skirt gets folded up around her body, very close to her and starts trailing in and out of the mud). Marion: "I'm all right." (Marion holds one hand near the mud while raising one hand in the air to try to regain her balance and wave away peasants's concern for her, then as she tries to stand back up, the quicksand-like bottom had caught her when she fell in mud and made a loud splash after she fell in, and now holds her tight, causing Marion to sink low to her shoulders and to realize that she can't move her legs and how she now needs help to be rescued from being stuck in the mud as she is now helpless to do anything on her own at all) "Uh, I can’t move me legs. (Marion says rather embarrased and annoyed, then turns towards the shore to tell Robin and peasants that she is stuck in mud and needs help to be rescued). I can’t move me legs! (Marion says a little louder this time)."]]

* A cave in ''Film/TheScorpionKing'' featured this. Like ''The Mummy'' and ''The Jungle Book'' examples, it was also by Creator/StephenSommers.
* ''Film/TyrannosClaw'' has the two bumbling cavemen sidekicks accidentally stumbling across a quicksand in a valley (while being stalked by a pterosaur). One of them falls in, and while his partner tries searching for him by sticking both hands into the quicksand, the partner managed to grab on something and pull it out... and turns out he had grabbed a human skull.

* ''Film/TankGirl''. A non-liquid version: the dust/sand covering the Rippers' subgates.
* In ''Film/TheTerror'', Gustav stops Andre from walking into a patch of quicksand on the path to the Baron's castle. He demonstrates its lethality by tossing a large stone into it, where it is immediately sucked down. The quicksand in an unfired ChekhovsGun, as originally Gustav was later supposed to die in it, but the script was changed so he was attacked by a falcon and fell of a cliff instead.
* The moondust version is seen in ''Film/TwelveToTheMoon'' (1960). One RedShirt gets sucked under 'pumice dust' while dramatically clutching at nothing, while the lead character is pulled out by a 'magna-buoy', which [[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]] mockingly refer to as "some sort of anti-sand device".
* How one of the protagonist's escape attempts fails in ''Film/WomanInTheDunes''. He manages to make his way out of the sand pit where he's being held prisoner and seems to be on his way to freedom, when he stumbles into quicksand. He has to call to his pursuers for help.
* TheMovie of ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' has this happen first to Justin and later to Jerry.

** ''Literature/CreatureOfHavoc'' have the marshes of Bu Fon Fen, filled with soggy quicksands and inhabited by hostile a [[FrogMen frogman]] tribe. In the correct path, as you're about to be killed by several frog men, your friend Grog pulls a HeroicSacrifice by tackling the frogmen leader into a quicksand, dragging him into it, allowing you to flee in the confusion.
** In ''Literature/FangsOfFury'' you can come across a pair of goblins struggling to drag a chest out of a quicksand, but if they see you they will abandon their treasure and attack you on sight. You'll need to kill both goblins within a handful of Attack Rounds if you intend to check out the chest - take too long and the chest is lost forever.

* ''Literature/{{Sorcery}}'': Invoked on purpose with the Quicksand spell, which can create instant puddles of quicksand by throwing grains of sands at the intended target's feet.

* ''Literature/TheThirteenAndAHalfLivesOfCaptainBluebear'' plays a little with the trope, in that the Minipirates mix quicksand in the soap when swabbing the deck, to avoid the deck getting slippery. More dramatic is the ''intelligent quicksand'' encountered by Bluebear [[note]](in a story he made up, though the narrative does point out that the intelligent quicksand does exist, it was just Bluebear's encounter with it that was made up)[[/note]]. This quicksand is not only intelligent, but benevolent and can communicate telepathically with potential victims to warn them away. However, if someone chooses to ignore the warnings and step into the quicksand anyway, there's not a lot the quicksand can do about it other than say "I told you so" and offer its condolences as the poor victims sink to their deaths.
* Averted in the ''Literature/AToZMysteries'' book "The Quicksand Question" in a case of ShownTheirWork. The kids' investigation into who stole the fundraising money for a bridge so the ducks that live in the river that surrounds Green Lawn can safely cross the nearby road without being run over by cars leads them to a marshy part of the river where an elderly man says that he saw a jeep with the duck bank storing the change for the ducks charge off the road near there. As they're wading in for clues, the kids run into a patch of quicksand that formed in the riverbed recently. Fortunately, Dink remembered to lean back into the water and not struggle in order to not sink in any further and has Josh do the same thing. Even more fortunately, Ruth Rose wasn't far enough into the river at that point to also get stuck in the quicksand, so she was able to get out of the river and run to the nearby fire department to get help. [[spoiler:The incident also ends up solving the case because Josh felt a jeep antenna poking at his leg before he was rescued. Once the fire department fishes the jeep out of the quicksand and find the fundraising money stored inside, and the police department runs its registration, the culprit is found and arrested. Officer Fallon speculates that the reason why the culprit didn't get stuck in the quicksand when he ended up accidentally driving the jeep into the river is that he either jumped out of the jeep to the solid riverbed when it got stuck or he just swam from the jeep to the edge and never touched the bottom in the process]].

'''Firefighter Lenny:''' Quicksand can be anywhere there's water and sand. I was a [[UsefulNotes/NavySeals Navy SEAL]], and I saw ''plenty'' of the stuff.\\

* Music/NickCave's novel ''Literature/AndTheAssSawTheAngel'' uses this as a framing device. The narrator recounts his story while sinking into a bog. The unlikelihood of this contingency is easy to swallow compared to some of the other stuff we're [[MagicRealism asked to believe]], or [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness asked not to believe]].

* Alluded to in Creator/HPLovecraft's short story "{{Literature/Dagon}}", where it is mentioned that after the narrator's boat landed on what [[ScienceMarchesOn he claims to be a piece of the ocean floor brought to the surface by volcanic upheaval]], he had to wait three days for the land to dry sufficiently enough for him to walk on.

* ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear: Eaten Alive'' features a similar effect on [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace D'vouran]], but [[spoiler:it happens because the ground itself is an organism that pulls people down and suffocates them.]]

* Occurs in Book 7 of ''Literature/TheHardyBoys Casefiles'', ''Deathgame''. Joe starts sinking in the quicksand and knows enough to float on it, but then has to force himself to sink below the surface to hide from his attacker. The caked mud later serves him as improvised camouflage.
* ''Literature/TheHoundOfTheBaskervilles'' uses the swamp version, which is dangerous to enter even if you know the way, and nigh impossible to traverse without a guide. [[spoiler:Stapleton, who boasts that he is the only one who can safely cross, falls victim when he tries to escape justice in a hurry. In the 1959 Hammer Films movie adaptation, it is his daughter who dies that way, after they had saved Watson from it earlier in the film.]]

* In ''Literature/ThePavilionOnTheLinks'' by Creator/RobertLouisStevenson, the quicksand even has a name: Graden Floe, a piece of treacherous terrain which is said to swallow a man in "four minutes in a half". The protagonist saves his love interest from walking into it. One of the antagonists is not so lucky - only his hat remains as proof of his gruesome demise.
* DiscussedTrope in ''The Sea Mystery'' by Creator/FreemanWillsCrofts, where two men are supposed to have drowned in a bog on Dartmoor. The local police sergeant explains how it's possible to escape from such a situation by lying on one's back. Later, Inspector French wonders if a dead body could have been sunk in the bog, but the sergeant is dubious: unless weighted the body would float, while the person carrying the body would be vertical and so sink. So they'd have needed to support themselves on a plank while dumping the body, and that would have left obvious traces.

* ''Literature/TheVorGame'': During a stint of being ReassignedToAntarctica, Miles Vorkosigan runs across a nasty arctic version called a "Permofrost Inversion Zone"; this appears to be solid ground, but has the potentially lethal property of unexpectedly thawing into a gooey sea of mud. Miles manages to sink an entire "scat-cat" (a kind of arctic all-terrain jeep) in one after he parks on top of it rather than try to drive back to base at night, and very nearly dies because he chained his tent to it.

* A couple of mud examples are seen in ''Literature/WarriorCats'', such as in ''The Fourth Apprentice'' and ''Mothwing's Secret'', which both take place during droughts and involve cats trying to cross land that would normally be covered by water. While neither resulted in a death, both were life-threatening events and required the help of others to escape.

* This effect was used in one of the reality shows on Discovery Channel. They put an area of sand with perforated pipes in front of a bank door, with brick pavers over the top and a similar larger and deeper one at the exit to the parking lot. When the simulated bank was simulatedly robbed, the air was turned on, he sank to above his knees and was trapped when the air was turned off; the driver of the getaway SUV was sunk in the other one to the point where he couldn't open the door.

* Subverted in the 1960's ''Series/Batman1966'' series. At the end of the episode "Batman's Anniversary", Batman and Robin are caught in a DeathTrap consisting of a 15 foot deep pool of quicksand. At the beginning of the next episode "A Ridding Controversy", Batman realizes that they won't sink deeply enough into it to drown. The Dynamic Duo escape by using the experimental "heel and toe Bat Rockets" in their boots.
* ''Series/BillNyeTheScienceGuy'' was one of the earliest series to have disproved this. Bill gets stuck in a tidal flat. He takes the opportunity to explain that you won't be buried alive in the sand, or mud in this case: you're more likely to drown or get stranded, especially if no one knows where you are. The trouble is if you're in a place where a high tide comes in; some rescue workers pulled him out safely before it can get that far.
* This is how Britany Jenkins dies [[spoiler:for the first time]] in ''Series/LeCoeurASesRaisons'', when in Africa in search for Brett.
* ''Series/TheCoroner'': Done realistically in "The Drop Zone". Beth gets stuck in quicksand on a secluded beach, but is not actively being sucked down. She cannot save herself by lying back and floating (assuming that Beth would even know this) because doing so would cause her to put her head underwater. She has to call Davey to come and rescue her.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E6TheDoctorsDaughter "The Doctor's Daughter"]], Martha falls into a pool of this while traversing the hostile surface of an alien planet. The [[FishPeople Hath]] accompanying her ends up sacrificing himself to get her out.
* ''Series/{{Emergency}}'' has a more believable variant with the paramedics responding to a call about a woman who fell into a forgotten well barely covered by soil. When the paramedics take a careful look, they see the woman waist deep in really thick mud at the bottom and sinking into it. Fortunately, the crew of Station 51 is able to quickly set up some ladders and ropes to pull her out.
* Shows up in the pilot of ''Series/TheFrankensteinChronicles''. One of the river gangsters, after their boats capsize, runs straight into one after swimming to the shore. Strangely, he sets foot in it and is instantly up to his neck, then takes 30 seconds for his head to go under; enough time for Marlette to call for some rope and the man to whimper in horror.
* Justified in ''Series/GetSmart'' when Max, 99 and the Chief are on an artificial island created by [=KAOS=] and are captured. To kill them, Siegfried forces them on a patch of synthetic sand, which is specifically designed to be a quicksand DeathTrap. They escape with the series' usual silliness: they use a small powerful magnet they have on their person to try to interact with a giant horseshoe magnet used to capture shipping so as to use their mutual attraction to pull them out. Unfortunately, their magnet somehow proves more powerful than the giant one and all they accomplish is to force the giant magnet to reorient itself to them without pulling them out. However, this ridiculous situation saves them since the giant magnet pulls a submerged submarine to the island to the point of plowing through the ground and into the synthetic sand pit, thus allowing our heroes to grab on the periscope and ride the sub to solid ground.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Lassie}}'', Timmy gets stuck in the swamp version of this.
* Subverted in an episode of ''Series/MagnumPI'': Rick stumbles in what he believes is quicksand and yells for help; when TC and Magnum arrive, Magnum tells Rick he's in a swamp - "There is no quicksand in Hawaii."

* Merlin pulls Nimue out of one in ''Series/{{Merlin1998}}'', with his first ever use of magic allowing him to make a tree branch grow long enough to reach her. She was warned to StayOnThePath as well.
* In one episode of ''Series/{{Merlin2008}}'', this happens to Arthur on his quest but he manages to pull himself out.
* In TheNineties series ''Series/MissingPersons1993'', two children have disappeared on the way to school. It turns out they're caught in the grain bin version of this trope, after climbing on top of a railway car and getting stuck in the grain.
* This trope has been comprehensively [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BhVebTMiiY disproved]] by the ''Series/{{MythBusters}}''.
* {{Conversed}} in an episode of ''Series/NCISLosAngeles'' between [[HeterosexualLifePartners Callen and Sam]] when they visit the La Brea Tar Pits on a case. Specifically, Callen wonders why it's not used so much anymore.

* Even ''Franchise/PowerRangers'' has used this, a couple times over the years. "Ninja Quest" in season three, and "Fire Heart" in ''Mystic Force''.
* Alan Davies laments the decline of quicksand in an episode of ''Series/{{QI}}''.

* A version appeared in an episode of ''Series/SeaQuestDSV''. A French leisure submarine was lost and the [=SeaQuest=] was sent to investigate. Their findings? Small underwater caverns were filled with fresh water, and they caved in like undersea potholes. Rather than aerated water causing the issue, the freshwater mixed with the sea water and desalinated it through dilution. This made the vessels too heavy to remain buoyant in the brackish zone, and they fell to the bottom of the freshwater pockets, unable to escape as their oxygen dwindled.

* One cannot discuss TV quicksand without mention of the 1966 ''Tarzan'' television series, which (at this time) doesn't appear to have a tvtropes entry. Any number of heroes and villains were rescued or consumed by African quicksand.
* A version with mud appears in the Bolivia Special on ''Series/TopGear'' when Jeremy Clarkson gets stuck in river mud along the Amazon's riverbank and slowly sinks about eighteen inches before Hammond and May are able to get him free.

* In ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess,'' one round with Xena's EvilCounterpart, Callisto, culminates in Xena and Callisto falling into this, Xena manages to get out, Callisto doesn't. [[BackFromTheDead Not that her death lasted long.]]

* The song "The Legend of Wooley Swamp", by the Charlie Daniels Band, involves quicksand. A group of hoodlums murder an old man who lives in the titular swamp by beating him up and throwing him in a pond. When they turn around, they sink into a quicksand with the laughter of the old man's ghost ringing in their ears. The legend is that on certain nights, you can hear the hoodlums screaming and the old man laughing at them.

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* ''Literature/TheBible'': This happens to Jeremiah during an assassination attempt in [[Literature/BookOfJeremiah Jeremiah 38]]. He was rescued, though.

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* Pops up in the ''Podcast/CoolKidsTable'' game ''Creepy Town'', sort-of. [[spoiler:Spencer's]] fear is drowning, and the monster ends up pulling him into the floor like it was water.
[[/folder]]

* The ultimate fate of a number of students in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittestMini'', courtesy of the tar pits that form a part of several arenas. First appearing in SOTF-TV, where a single student was drowned in tar, they later returned in Second Chances and ultimately claimed the bodies of a sizable portion of the cast.
* Shows up in ''Roleplay/SurvivalOfTheFittest'', where it's used to kill both [[spoiler:Melina Frost]] and [[spoiler:Beth Vanallen]], one getting stuck in the sand long enough to be stabbed, the other being pulled in head first and drowned.

* ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' supplement ''Fragments of Fear'', adventure "Valley of the Four Shrines". While traveling through the jungle the {{PC}}s can fall into quicksand. If they do, they will be sucked under and start to drown in about 1 minute unless they either (a) realize they can use their Swim skill to stay afloat or (b) pull themselves out or are pulled out by their fellow {{PC}}s.

** Q1 ''Queen of the Demonweb Pits''. One of the rooms in Lolth's spider ship has a quicksand floor to trap unwary {{PC}}s.

** Bog Imps, swamp-dwelling Fey introduced in the supplement ''Heroes of Horror'', have this as an supernatural ability for anyone not standing on solid ground. [[SwampsAreEvil Guess where one might find them]]. Gibbering Mouthers have a similar ability, but in their case it's more about [[MuckingInTheMud being stuck]] and eaten alive than sinking.

** Mayfair Games' Role Aids supplement ''Dark Folk''. Quicksand is one of the many dangers of the Jovian Swamp. The {{PC}}s will encounter a WillOWisp monster that will try to lure them into some quicksand.

*** Issue #25 adventure "Hrothgar's Resting Place". If the {{PC}}s decide to travel through the moors they are at risk of falling into quicksand. If they do, they will sink to their deaths in two minutes unless rescued - they can't save themselves by normal means.
*** Issue #33 adventure "That Island Charm". The {{PC}}s may fall into a 20 foot deep pit of quicksand. Anyone who does so and can't free themselves somehow will sink into it and suffocate.
*** Issue #38 adventure "Things That Go Bump in the Night". The {{PC}}s find two firbolg giants, one of which is trapped in a pit of quicksand. The trapped giant will sink under the surface in six minutes and suffocate four minutes later if not rescued by the {{PC}}s.

* ''TabletopGame/MarvelSuperHeroes'' supplement ''Uncanny X-Men'' boxed set "Adventure Book". In chapter 5 "Nightmare in New Guinea" the {{PC}}s can accidentally fall into pools of quicksand while trying to rescue a woman. If they do, they will sink at a rate of one foot per minute.

** ''Demons of the Burning Night''. The {{PC}}s can run into this deadly threat in the Elder Swamp near the city of Tarek Nev.

** Adventure 3 ''Twilight's Peak'' has quicksand as a possible encounter in wetlands on the planet Fulacin. If {{PC}}s get into it, they will be trapped and sucked down with no chance to save themselves.
** In Double Adventure 4 ''Marooned/Marooned Alone'', {{PC}}s can encounter dangerous quicksand in the jungles of the planet Pagliacci. If trapped, they'll be sucked under in 4-9 minutes.
** Supplement 2 ''Animal Encounters''. {{PC}}s can randomly encounter quicksand in swamp terrain on two types of planets: small worlds with thin atmospheres and medium sized worlds with standard atmospheres. Both types can pull an adventurer under the surface to drown.

%%* ''VideoGame/AdventuresOfDinoRiki'' has quicksand whirlpools popping up from the ground.
* ''VideoGame/{{Armello}}'': This appears in the "Sinking Caravan" quest. A merchant is late and he was last seen entering a swamp. When you get there, his wagon is stuck in a quicksand and you have the choice to either try to get it unstuck (body test) or to tell him to leave it.

* ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'': Subverted. While there is quicksand in Mayahem Temple and Terrydactyland, it doesn't pull you down, the Dragundas living in it do, then spit you back onto solid ground. The wading boots are used to cross the quicksand. The Dragundas are also in Grunty Industries' toxic waste and polluted water.
* ''VideoGame/BerenstainBearsCampingAdventure'': Downplayed, as the Bears can jump out of it easily. Still, it is an obstacle, and they have to use a conveniently placed Beach Ball or log to cross it.
%%* ''VideoGame/BillyHatcherAndTheGiantEgg'': The Sandy Ruin level features a lot of quicksand.

%%* ''VideoGame/ChoroQ: Gadget Racers'': The town sections of Hot Sand Ruin have these as obstacles.
* ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'' doesn't have this in the traditional sense (not only because it has no desert levels, but also because sand as a whole is very rarely present in the game), but the creek of poo in the Great Mighty Poo's lair has more or less the same effect: if Conker falls in, he sinks and drowns.

* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'': Subverted. While the quicksand in Angry Aztec will damage you steadily the longer you stay in it and also slow you down, you don't sink in it.

%%* ''VideoGame/HappyTreeFriendsAdventures'': Quicksand is featured in the many desert levels of the series.
* ''VideoGame/HenryHatsworthInThePuzzlingAdventure'': Some of Mysteria's levels have this. If you are completely submerged in it, you will actually take damage over time, presumably due to drowning. If you have the Golden Pipe, on the other hand, you won't take damage.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': A variant occurs with bottomless bogs, patches of sucking mud encountered throughout Hyrule. Link will sink steadily the moment he enters them; he can cross them safely if he hurries, but staying in one for more than a few seconds will see him sucked down below the surface. Notably, objects that normally float when dropped in water, such as wooden weapons and monsters parts, will also sink instantly in this substance; however, amphibious enemies such as lizalfos and water octoroks can swim and float in it just fine.
* ''VideoGame/TheLostVikings'': This appears in the Egypt levels. You have to get across by having coconuts drop into the quicksand and landing on the coconuts.

** ''VideoGame/MegaMan10'': Commando Man's level has Mega Man rushing through quicksand pits. Although he can move and shoot normally in them, even completely buried, he needs to jump to exit it, and if he's dragged to the bottom of the screen, he dies as if he had fallen in a bottomless pit. ''VideoGame/MegaMan4'' has it as well.
%%** ''VideoGame/MegaManAndBass'': Ground Man's stage also features quicksand.

** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'': There is a pool of this whose dangers are carefully described by Vamp. Who then, seconds later, starts swimming through it with ease (He does have superpowers). This has been implicated in the loss of ships at sea, because of a subsidence or other event on the seabed which causes a dramatic release of gas.

* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'': Motavia features quicksand areas that act as BrokenBridge, blocking your party from progressing until a certain point in the plot.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': The seventh generation of the games, starting with ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', adds the sand castle-like Pokémon Palossand, who absorbs the life of the prey it catches. In [[http://www.pokemon-sunmoon.com/media/uploads/aug_18_19/pokemon-770x562-palossand.jpg one illustration]], it is seen swallowing a [[SeriesMascot Pikachu]] in a very similar way to a quicksand.
* ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia2'': An early puzzle required you to jump between a set of stone platforms in a displayed but randomly-selected order. Quicksand comes in because the platforms are suspended in it, and if you miss a jump, or jump onto a platform not in the sequence, you're sucked in.
* ''VideoGame/RagnarokRoguelike'': Quicksand is especially dangerous, as it's impossible to free yourself without a grappling hook, or by using magical means. Otherwise, you'll eventually get pulled downwards and drown.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

** ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'': Used rather realistically (given the medium). In Sandopolis Zone (and the 2-player mode Desert Palace level), quicksand would slowly pull the character under but it could be escaped by jumping properly. Marble Garden Zone also featured surfaces that acted the same way, but looked like black water.
** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'': In Tails' Hidden Base and Eggman's Sand Ocean levels. Quicksand is usually no problem, but since they're piloting walking mechs, it functions like a BottomlessPit, meaning they lose a life if they fall in. In Sonic's boss fight with the Egg Golem, he can easily jump out of the sand if the player spams the jump button. Interestingly, in Hidden Base, there's a specific shifting platform that raises and lowers just enough for the player to start sinking in quicksand only to seemingly be pushed back out to safety. However, Tails will still die in mid-air as the programmers likely never expected a player to escape the quicksand in a mech stage.

%%* ''VideoGame/SummonNightTwinAge'' has around 60% of different sinky stuff in the game, like "Poison Marshes" and "Desert Quicksand"...

** ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'' and its DS remake play this on the ShiftingSandLand level with three intensities. First there is light quicksand where you slowly and steadily sink in; you can eventually free yourself by jumping. (This quicksand was used for the most realistic pit, just outside the pyramid, where you go in only halfway, and also for a deadlier pit inside the pyramid, a quicksand bin above the pit, a thorn patch in Tall Tall Mountain, and the domain of the giant Venus Fire Traps in Tiny-Huge Island, the latter two being so shallow that all they do is impede your jumping.) Second a middle type that sucks Mario in quickly but not instantly. It's the most common type. Last is dark quicksand that instantly sucks you in, thus counting as a bottomless pit.

** ''Mario Teaches Typing 2'': During a cutscene, Mario and Luigi fall through a hole in a bridge and are saved by a pool of quicksand below, inverting the trope.

%%* ''VideoGame/{{Turok}} 2'': The Death Marshes have insta-death quicksand.

%%* ''VideoGame/{{Wildsio}}'': A removed 1v1 Arena map has a quicksand pit that functions in this manner.

* In ''WebAnimation/DoraNoMore'' Dora sinks in quicksand quickly due to being pushed in by Boots.

* [[https://homestarrunner.com/toons/marzipans-answering-machine-14 This]] ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' cartoon involves Homestar making this type of overestimation, as applies to a sandbox crudely labeled "[=QUiCK SAnD=]". "If you have any vines or roots you can toss my way, I would be really, ''really'' still alive."

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Black and Joy fall for this in the episode 12 of ''Webcomic/BlackAdventures''.
* In ''Webcomic/WorkSucks'', Zeppy escapes from the vine of a carnivorous plant, but only to run straight into such a pit.
[[/folder]]

** Implied in ''In the Bayou." We hear a ghost, who manifests as a decaying body in a tree, shreiking in terror. The sole survivor of a witch's curse states that the woman who's ghost it is drowned trying to climb the tree she appears in.

** An odd take in the episode "Can't Bayou Love", where Jambalaya Jake lures Darkwing into wet cement mixed with ''actual'' quicksand as a trap. Darkwing escapes by firing a rocket from his gun to push himself out and into the air.
** Another subversion occurs in "Water Way To Go", where Darkwing and Launchpad think they've fallen into quicksand. Instead, it turns out to be a hidden entrance to Steelbeak's lair.
* Happens with Shareena and Gug in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQaWUjY6dxo this clip]] from a ''WesternAnimation/{{Detention}}'' episode. Actually, the "quicksand" is just a sinkhole.

** In "Wrongway in Ronguay", Scrooge sinks into a quicksand pit in the middle of the desert. He escapes by swimming out using a box of scuba gear he had brought with him!

* [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow''. Ed and Eddy at first appear to be sinking in quicksand, and appear to die as Edd attempts to save them. However, as Edd mourns their deaths, it turns out it was [[KickTheDog just a joke that Ed and Eddy played on him.]] Naturally, Edd gets [[DudeNotFunny pissed off at the two]] [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere and immediately leaves them to return to the cul-de-sac,]] [[LesserOfTwoEvils preferring to be punished by the kids for]] [[NoodleIncident the scam that backfired and sent them on the run in to first place]] rather then continue on the journey with [[JerkAss Ed and Eddy]].
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' has Jorgen turn the floor of a room into "[[BlatantLies quicksand]]" that is a black hole in all but name. Rather than sinking in it, the kids in the room get sucked into the centre at hyper fast speeds and then fall into it. Its appearance is also clearly modelled after a black hole (albeit probably an [[UnrealisticBlackHole unrealistic one]]) as well.
* Happened to the whole cast of ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends''. They were rescued by BEES. A bit perplexing, even if you DO accept imaginary beings springing into life for no explained reason. The ending of the episode implied it was AllJustADream, with the whole camping trip being imaginary, but, possibly, YourMindMakesItReal. Not that that makes it any less perplexing, as imagination, despite its life-giving powers in the setting, was never shown to have power to that degree before or since.
* Duke falls into a pit of quicksand while escaping from Cobra in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/GIJoe'' and goes in over his head in a matter of seconds. Fortunately, this convinces his pursuers that [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat he's a goner]], allowing him to grab a nearby vine and pull himself free after [[GenreBlindness they leave]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Kaeloo}}'': One episode had [[BitchInSheepsClothing Kaeloo]], [[TheChewToy Stumpy]], Quack Quack and [[AlphaBitch Pretty]] try to find the ancient tomb of a pharaoh hidden in a desert. On their journey, Stumpy falls into a pit of quicksand and starts sinking. Of course, this being a show like ''Kaeloo'', nobody cares. [[SkewedPriorities At least until he reminds them that he has their bag of supplies with him.]]

* Several episodes of the Disney's ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfTarzan'' cartoon had this happen; Tarzan always rescued them before they drowned, however. Unless, like in the books, it is used to dispose of an antagonist (in one episode, a Giant Ape-Eating Python).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1992'' had ''underwater'' quicksand.
* ''WesternAnimation/MaxSteel'' both plays this straight and partially subverts it. In season two, Max and Berto walk in to quicksand and start sinking, having to use a vine to pull themselves out. In season three, Berto and Kat walk in to quicksand; however, Berto says that the human body is lighter and they manage to swim out of it.
* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' run into this a couple of times in the episode "Welcome to the Jungle."

* Parodied in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/Rugrats1991'', where the babies didn't know the proper term for it, but Chuckie described it as "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin some kind of sand that I'm sinking into really quick]]".
* In ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower (2018)'' the Crimson Waste are filled with quicksand pits. Right after being warned about how dangerous the place is, Glimmer walks right into one of these. Adora drives right in to save her, forgetting about Glimmer's FlashyTeleportation power, who has no problem getting out herself. Only to port back to get Adora back.

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' uses this trope in "The Epic Quest of Unfathomable Difficulty" Quicksand is one of many obstacles they must face on the quest and if that weren't bad enough, this quicksand inflicts LaserGuidedAmnesia!

* ''WesternAnimation/TheWildThornberrys'' subverts this completely, as the "evil swamp" Darwin was so worried about was only about two inches deep. Eliza still lost a shoe, though.

* Rodolfo Fierro, a General at the service of Francisco Villa died this way. He fell along with his horse and fell to the bottom because of the weight he was carrying (it's said it was gold). He was very well known as a sadistic bastard so his death could be a KarmicDeath.
* The effects of ''Film/ThePrincessBride'''s "lightning sand" can be mimicked by forcing a burst of air through sand (a phenomenon that happens daily in the [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Fire Swamps]], of course). An object placed on top sinks instantly to the bottom. Fortunately the events required to create this dry quicksand are highly unlikely to occur in nature.

* [[http://www.slate.com/id/2264312/ An interesting article on the rise and fall of this trope can be found here.]]
* Non-Newtonian fluids behave in a similar way; they are so viscous that if a great deal of force is applied to them, they behave like solids or liquids, but if the same force is applied slower and gentler (shear thickening) or faster and more abrupt (shear thinning) the opposite is true. It can be very difficult to get something out from being trapped in a pool of a non-Newtonian fluid. These same properties also explain such phenomena as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz9KnPZWOgs being able to walk on the surface of a pool filled with custard]], [[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/physicist-has-figured-out-best-way-get-ketchup-out-bottle-180961641/ hitting the ketchup bottle to be able to pour out what's inside]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hP88C-_LgnE being able to hit corn starch with a hammer]].

* Soil liquefaction, a rare phenomenon associated with earthquakes, can cause water-saturated sandy ground to temporarily turn so slippery and unstable that it becomes too weak to support buildings' foundations. This can also lead to an interesting inverse of this trope, in which objects underground may float upward, as seen in several earthquakes where [[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chuetsu_earthquake-earthquake_liquefaction1.jpg manholes and pipes did just that, breaching pavements and roads damaged in the quake.]]

* As mentioned under the entry for ''Apaches'', slurry pits are another artificial and agricultural example of this trope, being big drums filled with water, decaying plant matter, manure and just about any other organic material you can think of that is suitable for consumption and decomposition by bacteria into fertiliser for use on the fields. Here, the main risk to one’s life isn’t just drowning (though that certainly happens, as these pits have a very large capacity, and the material inside isn’t nearly as solid), but from inhaling poisonous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrogen_sulfide hydrogen sulfide]] gas, which is produced in large amounts by the bacteria at work breaking down all the organic material in the pit. It's heavier than air, so it accumulates inside the drum, forming a layer of gas above the material inside. According to [[https://www.hse.gov.uk/offshore/infosheets/is6-2009.htm this document]] by the United Kingdom's Health and Safety Executive, A mere 0.0047 parts per million is enough for 50% of humans to be able to smell it. 10-20 parts per million is the lower threshold for eye irritation. At 150 to 250 parts per million, the victim's olfactory nerve is paralysed within a few breaths, preventing them from smelling it at all, while the victim's awareness of the danger they're in often fades by this point. Concentrations of 320 to 530 ppm are enough to cause dangerous fluid build up in the lungs. A concentration of 800ppm kills 50% of humans exposed to it for 5 minutes, and once concentrations of the gas hit 1000 ppm, it can knock someone out with just a single inhalation. If the toxic gas doesn’t kill you by causing respiratory collapse, you’ll fall unconscious through inhalation of the gas or your own fatigue, then drown in the pit’s contents, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath in a particularly gross way to go.]]