# Is this sinkhole real (Guatemala)? **URL:** \ **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:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Svejk\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea666f/32.png) [@Svejk\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Svejk_1)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/41 "2010-06-01T22:10:51Z")
Guatemala’s _La Prensa Libre_ also reports on it and has at least one of these pictures [here](http://www.prensalibre.com/noticias/derrumba-edificio-hundimiento-zona_0_271173066.html). It’s crazy: I came back from Guatemala two weeks ago, and since then they have had a volcano erupt (one that I climbed), a tropical storm ravaged the country, and now the gates to hell have opened! :eek: I also visited Toronto this weekend, so any dopers there might like to move out to cottage country when they still can 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/42 "2010-06-01T22:59:30Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > It’s crazy: I came back from Guatemala two weeks ago, and since then they have had a volcano erupt (one that I climbed), a tropical storm ravaged the country, and now the gates to hell have opened! :eek: > > I also visited Toronto this weekend, so any dopers there might like to move out to cottage country when they still can 😃 I left a month ago. I’m safe. 🙂 On the other hand, we’re already anticipating vast snarlage duw to the G8 and G20 summits at the end of June, so I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2010, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/43 "2010-06-01T23:55:07Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > Does it have any synonyms? … > [@](#): > > [**Bell-mouth spillways**](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellmouth_spillway#Bell-mouth_spillways) > Some spillways are designed like an inverted bell so that water can enter all around the perimeter. These uncontrolled spillway devices are also called morning glory, plughole, glory hole, or bell-mouth spillways. … CMC fnord! ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/44 "2010-06-02T06:12:40Z")
There’s a flyover video now showing on [The Age](http://media.theage.com.au/national/selections)website. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/45 "2010-06-02T07:25:56Z")
So why didn’t they fly their helicopter a bit closer? Afraid something might reach out and grab them, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/46 "2010-06-02T12:42:58Z")
Obviously teething issues with a new experimental deepwater blowout-preventing ray. “Ok go ahead and fire, aim for the Gulf of Mexico” _Volcano erupts_ "Um, yeah, uh, a little to the right _Huge sinkhole appears_ “Ah, err, I’m calling a mulligan on that one” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/47 "2010-06-02T12:49:58Z")
TheKid’s ex-boyfriend is planning on moving back to Guatemala this summer. After seeing the sinkhole, she freaked. I reminded her she told him to go to hell, suggested his native country was simply trying to assist him in getting there. She laughed. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2010, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/48 "2010-06-02T13:41:56Z")
Where are the intrepid photojournalists with the guts to walk up to the edge, point a camera down and take the shot?? The kids these days… ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/49 "2010-06-03T08:15:15Z")
> [@Svejk\_1](#): > > I also visited Toronto this weekend, so any dopers there might like to move out to cottage country when they still can 😃 Be sure to visit city hall and Queens park while you are there please. Declan ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/50 "2010-06-03T11:35:35Z")
What you’ve got to think about here is, however deep that hole is, it at least has to be deep enough to completely swallow all the earth that we can already see missing! I want a spotlight shining down there, and I want to see the bottom. ---
**Author:** ![Meme\_Chose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Meme\_Chose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meme_Chose)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2010, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/51 "2010-06-03T15:09:56Z")
And so you shall: [sinkhole light](http://www.flickr.com/photos/35970237@N06/4665971023/) ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/52 "2010-06-04T02:02:24Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > That annoys the fuck out of me too. I call it “Revtim’s Law” that whenever a photo is posted of something odd, someone will say something like “that’s the worst photoshopping I’ve ever seen”, even when the pic is completely unaltered. IF this was photoshopped, I would say that they did an awesome job. This is one of those cases that IF it was photoshopped, it would be such a preposterous image that nobody would believe it was real and instantly call it photoshopped. I believe this is a real image that’s beyond the comprehension of most people, so the natural reaction is to assume it isn’t real. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/53 "2010-06-04T04:12:39Z")
[News story](http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/01/ap/latinamerica/main6538769.shtml) > [@](#): > > “I can tell you what it’s not: It’s not a geological fault, and it’s not the product of an earthquake,” said David Monterroso, a geophysics engineer at the National Disaster Management Agency. “That’s all we know. We’re going to have to descend.” Sounds like the opening scene of a horror movie. ---
**Author:** ![BaneSidhe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@BaneSidhe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaneSidhe)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/54 "2010-06-04T04:29:25Z")
I was expecting to see tentacles coming out of the hole! ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/55 "2010-06-04T05:00:05Z")
[That’s no sinkhole!](http://www.theforce.net/swtc/Pix/dvd/ep5/sslug2.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/56 "2010-06-04T11:04:25Z")
> [@Meme\_Chose](#): > > And so you shall: > [sinkhole light](http://www.flickr.com/photos/35970237@N06/4665971023/) I don’t think that really shows anything other than JPEG artifacts. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2010, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425/57 "2010-06-04T12:10:36Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > I blame the Large Hadron Collider. I blame global warming. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-this-sinkhole-real-guatemala/541425.md?page=2)