# Is this sinkhole real (Guatemala)?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [May 31, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425 "2010-05-31T21:51:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@cardinal\_fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cardinal_fang)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/1 "2010-05-31T21:51:17Z")
A recent CNN story on the tropical storms in Central America includes a picture that [defies belief](http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/05/31/honduras.storm.emergency/index.html?hpt=T1). I have searched numerous news articles and cannot find it anywhere else. CNN attributes the picture to the office of Guatemala’s president.
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### Author:  [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/2 "2010-05-31T21:58:36Z")
Holy laser beam death ray from space, Bat Man!:eek:
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### Author:  [@toofs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toofs)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/3 "2010-05-31T22:00:49Z")
That giant bore hole goes down to a black cavern. It must be immense. Or a photoshop.
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### Author:  [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/4 "2010-05-31T22:03:03Z")
My wife and i just saw that article and said holy shit. The article doesn’t even mention the sinkhole. It looks Like it’s like 1000 feet deep. Something smells fishy…
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### Author:  [@cardinal\_fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cardinal_fang)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/5 "2010-05-31T22:08:43Z")
I thought it was photoshopped as well. After further research, I found [this picture](http://a.abcnews.go.com/images/US/bf7fee7f-3999-4e01-b7c9-f4eebe53f085.jpg) on ABC News (direct link to image – it doesn’t appear in any stories AFAICT) and [this video](http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Video/playerIndex?id=2904319) from a similar incident 2007. Perhaps these are not unusual in Guatemala.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/6 "2010-05-31T22:09:30Z")
The walls of that thing are too smooth. My vote is Photoshop.
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### Author:  [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/7 "2010-05-31T22:17:37Z")
Why so circular?
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### Author:  [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/8 "2010-05-31T22:18:41Z")
Here’s another [article](http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011994803_agatha31.html) confirming the sinkhole.
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/9 "2010-05-31T22:57:40Z")
CNN’s caption claims that the photo was released by the office of Guatemala’s president. So if there is any hanky-panky with the photo, it’s theirs.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/10 "2010-05-31T23:15:54Z")
The black can be where there is water. Black doesn’t mean so deep there is no light.
Look at the Sarisariñama Plateau in Venezuela near the Brazilian border.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/11 "2010-05-31T23:24:52Z")
Looks like the photo **cardinal\_fang** linked to is real and the photo in the OP was Photoshopped from that.
Or a long buried alien spacecraft came out of it. 😃
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/12 "2010-05-31T23:25:07Z")
With CNN’s liberal bias, I can only assume the photo has been altered somehow by their Department Of Photocommunism. No doubt there will be a follow-up story about how Guatemala’s national healthcare system healed up that hole in a couple weeks.
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### Author:  [@may\_be\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/may_be_ignorant)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/13 "2010-05-31T23:25:43Z")
What do they do about those? It seems like filling them up would be ridiculously expensive, and maybe nearly impossible.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/14 "2010-05-31T23:26:22Z")
> [@runner pat](#):
>
> Looks like the photo **cardinal\_fang** linked to is real and the photo in the OP was Photoshopped from that.
>
> Or a long buried alien spacecraft came out of it. 😃
Or a tad more likely, maybe it looks different because it’s a different angle?
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/15 "2010-05-31T23:31:59Z")
> [@Revtim](#):
>
> Or a tad more likely, maybe it looks different because it’s a different angle?
Look closer, you can see the walls curve in and a small portion of the bottom.
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/16 "2010-05-31T23:35:00Z")
I saw that story on CNN and my reaction was “Tropical storm, my ass. That’s a Hellmouth!”
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/17 "2010-05-31T23:35:31Z")
I think there’s some sort of optical illusion effect in the first picture that’s making the walls of the hole look vertical (and hence much deeper than it is), when they’re actually relatively gently sloped. What would be very useful would be a video that pans vertically from that point of view to the one in **cardinal\_fang** ’s first link.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2010, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/18 "2010-05-31T23:37:07Z")
> [@runner pat](#):
>
> Look closer, you can see the walls curve in and a small portion of the bottom.
I see dirt that simply looks like the inner side of the hole. I kinda see where one might think the walls curve in, but since it’s a 2-D photo it’s hard to interpret. My feeling is still that the CNN pic is genuine.
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### Author:  [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/19 "2010-06-01T01:17:58Z")
One article says the hole is 30m in diameter and 60m deep.
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### Author:  [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2010, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/20 "2010-06-01T01:31:02Z")
Karst landforms, including caves and sinkholes, are very common in southern Mexico and northern Guatemala. My vote is “genuine”. I have personally seen very large sinkholes (albeit not THIS large) appear overnight in other karst regions.
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