About five years ago, there was a flood, and the backwater left behind a sea of silt and washed in sand. On the other side of the road, a beautiful sand bar had washed in and extended out into the little pond, forming a pretty little point with a perfect view of the sunset. So I walked out there to sit and relax.
Carrying my shoes, I stepped gingerly onto the damp sand. It felt solid, so I continued out. About half way out (aprox. 60 feet) the sand started to give a little, and I watched my feet sink under the surface. I dropped my shoes and walked out about 10 feet further. Then suddenly, with one step, I felt the sand change from solid to a thick slurry. I dropped in instantly to my upper thighs! I had been in mud this deep before, so it didn't scare me much until I slightly shifted my weight and felt the sand change under my feet, sinking in to my waist. I threw my wallet (not wanting it to get soaked!) and my clean shirt back toward my shoes. Just the action of throwing my stuff caused the mass to shift again and I sank up to my chest. I poked gingerly with my hands, trying to lift myself out ot the goo. The soft semi-liquid yielded readily, and I sank another couple of inches.
Up to my armpits in this McDonalds Shake-like substance, I finally felt my body "floating" in the soup. So, you really DON't get "sucked" under, I remember thinking with relief! As I tried to move, I found that the quicksand provided nothing against which to push, but was thick enough to keep my body in one spot. I tried several swimming-like strokes, and found that a slow, breast-stroke actually moved me forward about 1-2 inches.
Doing this a couple more times, I reached the "edge" of the soup around me (about 3 feet from me in all directions) and found that the previously solid ground had now shifted and become a slurry like I was in. So for almost an hour, I continued along at this pace, with the ground giving way just out of my reach, and the thicker mud below holding me back. When I got near my shoes and wallet (which was resting on my shirt) I noticed the heavy, mud laden shoes slipping beneath the surface. The shirt fortunately provided enough support to keep my wallet afloat, but as I got to the shoes, they were under about a foot of mud! So I pulled them out, tossed them all back inward another 30 feet, and continued my slow swim!
Finally, I felt the mud thicken to a point where my arms could sort of support my weight, and was able to drag myself through the thick goo to firmer ground. Over 30 minutes after my initial "drop", I finally stood upright on solid ground.