In my field archaeology days, I was required to do just such holes in the ground, and did, too. I’m talking about the perfect sides and square corners, not the four cubic meters of earth dug up in an hour in your example.
A typical test pit would be 1 x 1 x c.0.6 meters, for a volume of 0.6 m3. Using just a shovel, I would make a bunch of these over the course of a work day (memory doesn’t quite tell how many), for maybe 3 - 4 cubic meters total for an 8-hour day, minus breaks. And the pits were beautifully shaped, too.
Never did I dig a pit that didn’t need to deal with rocks and roots, and they would indeed seriously hamper attempts to vanish a body, but soils do vary in this regard.
One thing I’ve mentioned before is how a large hole dug into the ground (and then filled) remains highly visible for a good while, especially in woodland. The disturbed soil is almost “bright” in that context. It would be dead easy for investigators to locate a secret grave, unless several weeks to several months of growing season had passed between the stashing and the searching.
Yep, or buried treasure, etc. I mean after enough time it would be hard to tell, but if you are looking for a shallow grave dug recently, just brush away dead leave and stuff and it will be obvious.
Any murderer / pirate worth her salt would try to camouflage the dig by using dead leaves etc., but it would still be obvious to anyone looking for it, and to many who weren’t, even pre-brushing away. Just specks of the fresh soil out of place would be a giveaway. And you can’t brush an entire forest floor searching for the spot, anyway.
The widely-acknowledged fact that there is no one on the planet more dangerous than… a ballerina. If you can’t dance the lead in Swan Lake, don’t even TRY to become an assassin, ladies.
From their ballet training they are in extremely good shape so they have plenty of stamina; they have intense focus and concentration; since they devote long hours to their craft and sacrifice a social life, they probably have some amount of sociopathy that would lend itself to the assassin job; a traveling ballet company is the perfect cover; finally, they are good at standing on tiptoes to get a good shot sight line over tall objects.
Well, that’s why they turn into remorseless, unemotional killers. The climactic final monologue sneered into the (former lover) hero’s face does tend to become a bit metatarsally focussed.
I’ve intentionally avoided it. Seriously. Had a friend who went to Point Park University, which had a ballet program. Met a few ballerinas. Strange creatures who always sat with their legs spread. Heard about their feet but never went beyond that.
Interesting thing about that scene - she was suspended by a hook in the center and they had to rebuild the hallway three times so her feet could reach and actually brace to hold the splits. But even with all of that her stunt double still could not physically do it at all, so Glau had to do all the test shots and set up. Ballerina training pays off.
Military training areas which have had foxholes dug in them for decades of successive soldiers usually show the location of old holes pretty clearly. It’s often easiest to dig out those holes again rather than dig a fresh one (better hope it wasn’t a latrine though) even if you have to excavate some old ration cans out of the bottom.
Unfortunately, unlike TV and movies where the protagonist always has the perfectly timed rejoinder, mine usually come 5 minutes too late, long after the moment has passed.
I once randomly grabbed a library book that had images of foot binding. Nightmarish images. Apparently there were fetishists whose thing was the unwrapping
With all the trials going on lately and streaming the original Perry Mason, witnesses hanging around in the courtroom before and/or after their testimony is given.
I guess the dramatic confession is diluted if they stick their head in from the hallway, hollering, “I did it!”
