Hey K-Zoners!

This Freaky Friday we mythbust some of the wackiest fibs and fallacies about quicksand, whirlpools and Daddy Long Legs.

Quicksand can suck a human under in minutes
Quicksand catches even the sneakiest cartoon crim, but would it work that way in real life? Nup! The slippery stuff is rarely deeper than a metre and it won’t suck you in like a living, breathing sand monster. Basically it’s just sand covered in loads of water - the soggy mixture can’t support any weight (not like the hard packed sand at the beach). When you try to place weight on it (like when you walk over it) your movement will cause you to dig deeper into it, not sink under, never to be seen again!

Giant whirlpools can sink huge ocean liners
Whirlpools are awesome vortexes of water that occur at the meeting point of two opposing currents. For example, when water going one way meets water going the other – a whirlpool begins! You prob see one every day – next time watch the water as it goes down the drain in the bath! There are cray cray stories out there about giant whirlpools sinking fishing boats (even huge sea trawlers!) but a whirlpool strong enough to do that has never been recorded.

Daddy Long Legs – the most dangerous of them all…
Daddy Long Legs have a rep for being the (cue creepy voice) most poisonous spider on eaaarrrrrtttth! The legend goes that these venomous creatures are super dangerous, but their fangs are too small to puncture human skin. The facts: not only is Daddy Long Legs’ venom not very strong (even to other insects), their fangs can actually pierce human skin (people feel a tiny sting). This creepy myth probably came about because Daddy Long Legs have been observed killing and eating Redback Spiders! Spider WWE!

Catch ya next Freaky Friday!

KZHQ