# Black Ooze from 'That's Incredible' **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456 "2011-01-21T16:11:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/1 "2011-01-21T16:11:03Z")
Having failed many times to clarify a childhood memory with Google, I am appealing to the sachems of the Dope. On the TV series “That’s Incredible” (the one with John Davidson, Kathie Lee Crosby, and Fran Tarkenton) there was a feature about a house where black ooze started appearing everywhere–furniture, mirrors, counters, the whole bit. At the time, no one could figure out what the stuff was or where it was coming from, but the family moved out to avoid breathing the stuff. Does anyone know how this came out? Was it chemical waste, something innocuous, or what? ---
**Author:** ![Qwakkeddup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/90ced4/32.png) [@Qwakkeddup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qwakkeddup)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/2 "2011-01-21T16:23:47Z")
Not that I can add anything to this, but I remember the episode as well. I seem to remember that it was on everything, even the television screen. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/3 "2011-01-21T16:52:25Z")
This is the episode: [http://www.locatetv.com/tv/thats-incredible/1248974#online](http://www.locatetv.com/tv/thats-incredible/1248974#online) Discussed on SDMB > **[Please Update These THATS INCREDIBLE Stories](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=60747)** > > Remember That’s Incredible!, the cheesy TV show from the early 80’s? It had these little vignettes about weird people and events from around the world. I have vague recollections of two stories in particular. With 20 years having passed, surely... ETA: My 30-35 year old mental note says it was in South Jersey. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/4 "2011-01-21T17:25:29Z")
On the ten-year-old thread Philster cites, Inky postulates that the goo was slime mold fungus. I’ve seen my share of slime mold (probably one of the most fascinating creatures around) and if memory serves, I don’t think it looks much like the ‘That’s Incredible!’ culprit. ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/5 "2011-01-21T22:49:14Z")
I agree with the not looking like any slime mold, my memory is a thick almost foamy consistency. I put it down as a hoax immediately though. It was just too much a ghost story and the black ooze was coming from everywhere so it wasn’t affected by gravity or moisture or light or other environmental factors. My ~8 year old self just didn’t believe it for a minute. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/6 "2011-03-12T03:57:38Z")
I’m giving this a bump just in case someone’s memory is jogged. If it was a hoax, it was certainly an odd one. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/7 "2011-03-12T12:58:15Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > On the ten-year-old thread Philster cites, Inky postulates that the goo was slime mold fungus. I’ve seen my share of slime mold (probably one of the most fascinating creatures around) and if memory serves, I don’t think it looks much like the ‘That’s Incredible!’ culprit. Doesn’t that show use reenactments, though? Couldn’t they have gotten the look of the slime wrong? ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/8 "2011-03-14T14:06:31Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > Doesn’t that show use reenactments, though? Couldn’t they have gotten the look of the slime wrong? They may now, but everything was live in these shots. It didn’t look like anything remarkable–basically the mildew that tends to eat your shower grout if you don’t do anything about it–but it was EVERYWHERE. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/9 "2011-03-14T17:14:33Z")
I’ll go ask Fran. BRB. ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/10 "2011-03-14T17:37:53Z")
Fran sez been a loong time, but seems to remember they told them some type of mold. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/11 "2011-03-14T17:44:52Z")
> [@ducati](#): > > I’ll go ask Fran. > > BRB. Have I been whooshed? ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/12 "2011-03-14T17:48:45Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > Have I been whooshed? No. He’s my boss. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/13 "2011-03-14T18:17:24Z")
You work for Tarkenton? Well I’ll be. Thanks for the info, **ducati**. Ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/14 "2011-03-14T20:54:56Z")
The Dope Trope strikes again. (No matter how narrow or obscure the topic, either someone on the Dope is an expert on the subject, or has a close association with an expert.) I wonder who here is on a first-name basis with Kevin Bacon. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/15 "2011-03-14T21:05:33Z")
> [@Scuba\_Ben](#): > > I wonder who here is on a first-name basis with Kevin Bacon. His wife has called my house twice, but I’ve never spoken to him. (She had the wrong number both times, but the caller ID said, “Bacon, Kevin.” And yes, we live in the same town.) ---
**Author:** ![thirdname](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/16 "2011-03-14T22:25:44Z")
It’s a sentient alien virus. Anyone who has watch the documentary “The X-Files” should know this. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2011, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/17 "2011-03-15T15:13:25Z")
Man. Haven’t see that show since…oh…1982 at the latest. And I knew exactly what the OP was talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Eicnj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@Eicnj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eicnj)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/18 "2013-02-21T05:46:30Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > Having failed many times to clarify a childhood memory with Google, I am appealing to the sachems of the Dope. > > On the TV series “That’s Incredible” (the one with John Davidson, Kathie Lee Crosby, and Fran Tarkenton) there was a feature about a house where black ooze started appearing everywhere–furniture, mirrors, counters, the whole bit. At the time, no one could figure out what the stuff was or where it was coming from, but the family moved out to avoid breathing the stuff. > > Does anyone know how this came out? Was it chemical waste, something innocuous, or what? I was with the njdep and investigated this case when it was discovered. I am in the process of writing a book on the subject because so many years later aspects of the incident still bother me. Write me at [eicnj@aol.com](mailto:eicnj@aol.com) and I will give you some insite. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/19 "2013-02-21T08:33:45Z")
> [@Eicnj](#): > > I was with the njdep and investigated this case when it was discovered. I am in the process of writing a book on the subject because so many years later aspects of the incident still bother me. Write me at [eicnj@aol.com](mailto:eicnj@aol.com) and I will give you some insite. What a coincidence. I was with the jkviq back then. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2013, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456/20 "2013-02-21T10:15:08Z")
> [@Eicnj](#): > > I was with the njdep and investigated this case when it was discovered. I am in the process of writing a book on the subject because so many years later aspects of the incident still bother me. Write me at [eicnj@aol.com](mailto:eicnj@aol.com) and I will give you some insite. In the other thread you claimed tests came back showing it to be a petroleum product, could you elaborate in this thread? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/black-ooze-from-thats-incredible/568456.md?page=2)