The Lake Peigneur Sinkhole Disaster

In November 1980, an oil rig crew was drilling in a shallow, ten-foot-deep freshwater lake in Louisiana. Unfortunately, they were using a map with misinterpreted coordinates. Their 14-inch drill bit missed its target and accidentally punctured the roof of an active salt mine 1,300 feet below the lakebed.

Fresh water rushed into the mine, rapidly dissolving the salt pillars holding up the ceiling. This created a monstrous, expanding whirlpool that acted like a giant bathtub drain. The ferocious maelstrom swallowed the 15-story drilling rig, a tugboat, eleven barges, a house, and 65 acres of land.

It sounds like a tragedy, but miraculously, nobody was hurt. All fifty salt miners escaped in the mine's elevators as the water poured in, and the rig crew abandoned ship before it sank. It was simply one of the most spectacular property disasters in history.